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[421] The simile is clear evidence of the existence in Homeric times of the ‘common-field’ system of agriculture, where the land of the community is portioned out in temporary tenure from time to time. For the οὖρα see 10.351: they are stones (21.405) marking off the allotments, and are easily movable by a fradulent neighbour (22.489). Such a fraud could only be detected by remeasurement, and it is over such a dispute that the two men are engaged. The common field was usually cut up into very small strips, of which each man had several in different parts, so as to apportion fairly the various qualities of soil. It is easy to see how such a system would lead to continual disputes about boundaries. The point of the simile of course is that the two parties stand close to one another divided by the breastwork, as the two neighbours are only divided by the stone over which they are quarrelling. The ἴση (see 11.705) is the allotted space of land. (So Ridgeway in J. H. S. vi. 319 ff. on The Homeric Land System.）

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

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