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[679] For the early form of the Oidipodes legend (“Οἰδίπους” is not an Homeric form) see Od. 11.271-80, and Jebb, Oed. Tyr. Int.pp. xii.-xv. Pausanias saw the tomb of Oidipus in Attica, and on inquiry found that in accordance with this form of the legend the bones had been brought there from Thebes (i. 28. 7, with Frazer's note, ii. p. 366). Brandreth takes Οἰδιπόδης to be a patronymic, meaning Eteokles; but this does not seem tenable. ὅς, i.e. Mekisteus. δεδουπότος was explained by the “γλωσσογράφοι” as identical (“ἓν ἀνθ᾽ ἑνός”) with “τεθνηκότος”. This Ar. controverted, holding that the word could be used only of death in battle with the clang of armour (“δούπησεν δὲ πεσών”), though there is no legend of any war in which Oidipus can have died. (An alternative explanation that it might mean death by a fall from a height — “ἢ κατακρήμνισεν ἑαυτόν” — seems to be a later addition to the scholion of Aristonikos; cf. Lehrs, Ar. 104.) The only similar use of the word in H. is 13.426, q.v.; but it is imitated in Ap. Rhod.i. 1304, iv. 557, Lykophron 492. Compare also “ἐριπέντι Πολυνείκεϊ”, Pind. O. ii. 43.Needless to say it cannot be used of a ‘fall,’ in the modern sense, from greatness. For the form cf. H. G. § 26 (5). ἐς τάφον, to the burying, goes with “ἦλθε”, not of course with “δεδουπότος”.

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):
    • Homer, Iliad, 13.426
    • Homer, Odyssey, 11.271
    • Pindar, Olympian, 2
    • Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1.1304
    • Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 4.557
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