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[131] “δηθά, ἐκ πολλοῦδηλονότι καιροῦ”, Schol. B, ‘you have long been sacrificing bulls’; ἱερεύετε and καθίετε being pres., not impf. Cf. Od. 1.49 “ὃς δὴ δηθὰ φίλων ἄπο πήματα πάσχει”, ‘has long been suffering.’ The use is not so harsh as to afford a ground for athetesis. For the sacrifice of a bull to a river cf. 11.728; it is connected with the common personification of a river in the form of a bull or bull-headed man. The sacrifice of live horses in the next line has no parallel in H., and is perhaps mentioned by Achilles contemptuously as a barbarous custom. So it appears also in Herod.iv. 61Herod., vii. 113.See however Greek instances in Paus.viii. 7. 2, and Frazer's valuable note on the passage (with Hehn p. 42). The sacrifice is invariably made to water-gods.

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):
    • Herodotus, Histories, 4.61
    • Herodotus, Histories, 7.113
    • Homer, Iliad, 11.728
    • Homer, Odyssey, 1.49
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.7.2
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