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[314] Perhaps the Greeks had abstained from ablution during the plague in sign of mourning, and now typically threw off their sin, the restitution having been made. εἰς ἅλα, because “θάλασσα κλύζει πάντα τἀνθρώπων κακά” (Eur. I. T. 1193). λύματα, defilement, as in 14.170 (“Ἥρη”) “ἀπὸ χροὸς ἱμερόεντος λύματα πάντα κάθηρεν”. Thus it is meant that they washed in the sea, not that they washed on land and threw the defiled water into the sea. Cf. “καθάρματα” in Aisch. Cho. 98.The Neapolitans used to practise an annual lustration in the sea down to 1580 A.D., doubtless a survival from Greek times.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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hide References (3 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (3):
    • Aeschylus, Libation Bearers, 98
    • Euripides, Iphigeneia in Taurus, 1193
    • Homer, Iliad, 14.170
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