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[413] Cf. 11.147 “ὅλμον δ᾽ ὣς ἔσσευε κυλίνδεσθαι δι᾽ ὁμίλου”. The traditional meaning of στρόμβος is whipping-top, also called “βέμβιξ”, and in this sense Virgil imitates the simile, “ceu quondam rapido volitans sub verbere turbo,” Aen. vii. 378 . Others took it to mean a spindle, others again a “ῥόμβος” or ‘bullroarer’ (see Lang Custom and Myth pp. 29-44). Aischylos uses the word of a whirlwind, and in later Greek it usually means a spiral shell. It is not very clear whether Hector or the stone is the object of the comparison and the subject of “ἔδραμε”, i.e. whether Aias whirls the stone like a “στρόμβος” or makes Hector spin like a “στρόμβος”. The latter is implied by the order of events, though the former seems more natural.

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

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