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[486] These lines, with the almost identical Od. 5.272-75, where Bootes is named, tell us nearly all that is known about Homeric astronomy (see Miss Clerke Fam. Studies, 39 ff.). Πληϊάδες and Ὑάδες are generally explained ‘the sailing stars’ (as their heliacal rising in May indicates the season when voyages begin to be safe; cf. Hes. Opp. 383 “Πληϊάδων Ἀλαγενέων ἐπιτελλομενάων ἄρχεσθ᾽ ἀμητοῦ”), and ‘the rainy stars’ of autumn. It is more probable, however, that the latter are the same as the Lat. suculae, ‘the litter of pigs.’ Possibly too the Pleiades are ‘the flight of doves’ (as if “πελειάδες”), fleeing, like the bear, from before the hunter Orion; “ἔστι δ᾽ ἐοικὸς ὀρειᾶν γε Πελειάδων μὴ τηλόθεν Ὀαρίωνα ϝεῖσθαι”, Pind. N. ii. 12; “Πληϊάδες σθένος ὄβριμον Ὠρίωνος φεύγουσαι”, Hes. Opp. 619; Aisch. fr. 285 “αἱ δ᾽ ἕπτ᾽ Ἄτλαντος παῖδες . . νυκτέρων φαντασμάτων ἔχουσι μορφὰς ἄπτεροι πελειάδες”. (They are still the ‘seven dovelets’ in Sicily, as they are the ‘hen and chickens’ in England — Fam. St. p. 54.) This however may be a later interpretation; the name may be connected with “πλεῖος”, as though=the crowd. The other names (“ἄρκτος, Βοώτης” Od. 5.272) are taken from the huntsman's and shepherd's life, not from the sailor's. P. Knight pointed out that the correct form is not Ὠρίων but “Ὠαρίων” (perhaps for “Ὀαρίων” with lengthening by metrical necessity) which is found in Pindar (I. iv. 49, fr. 72), Korinna and Kallimachos. The contracted “Ὠρίων” has always “ι^” in later poets (exc. once in Babrios); and in H. the “ι” never has the ictus to explain the lengthening. As the open form is of course the oldest and can always be restored, it clearly is right, though there is no authority for it in our MSS. of Homer and Hesiod. For the legend of Orion see Od. 5.121-24.

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

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hide References (5 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (5):
    • Hesiod, Works and Days, 383
    • Hesiod, Works and Days, 619
    • Homer, Odyssey, 5.121
    • Homer, Odyssey, 5.272
    • Pindar, Nemean, 2
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