[MGSA-L] a question on Scythians and Herodotus

[Panos Liverakos]

I would be grateful if someone could provide me with a short reply to the
question posed below.

 

Herodotus wrote about the ancient history of Scythians:

 

"According to the telling of the Scythians, their people is the youngest
among all. The origin of these people is as follows. The first resident of
this... country was a man called Targitay. The parents of Targitay .. were
Zeus and the daughter of the river Borisfena. That was the origin of
Targitay and he had three sons: Lipoksais, Arpoksais and the youngest son -
Kolaksais. During their reign, there fell on the Scythian land from the sky
golden items: plow, yoke, pole-axe and a bowl. The elder brother was first
to notice these items. The moment he approached in order to pick them up the
gold would flare. Then he stepped away and the second brother approached and
the gold again flared. But when the third, youngest brother approached the
flame disappeared, and he took the gold home. Therefore, the elder brothers
agreed to give the whole kingdom to the youngest brother. Thus, from
Lipoksais there originated a Scythian tribe called akhvats, from Arpoksais
there originated a tribe called katiars and traspies. From the youngest
brother - Kolaksais - the king - took its root a tribe called paralats. All
these tribes altogether were called skolots, meaning imperial. Ellins called
them Scythians.

 

The question: the golden items that fell from the sky - plow, yoke, pole-axe
and a bowl - how are they translated from the ancient Greek to English or to
modern Greek?

(the reason for asking this is that too often the Russian translations tend
to be distorted and misinterpreted)

 

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