previous next

[391] κεῖνος, as though pointing to him; 19.344, etc. δινωτοῖσι: cf. Od. 19.56 “κλισίην δινωτὴν ἐλέφαντι καὶ ἀργύρωι”. Ariston. explains “ἤτοι διὰ τὸ τετορνεῦσθαι” (turned in a lathe) “τοὺς πόδας, ἢ διὰ τὴν ἔντασιν τῶν ἱμάντων” (i.e. apparently, that the leathern straps — for which see Od. 23.201 — were tightened by twisting or winding them). But this latter does not suit the chair in “τ”, while the idea of ‘turning’ is not easily connected with ivory and silver ornament. In 13.407 a shield is “ῥινοῖσι βοῶν καὶ νώροπι χαλκῶι”

“δινωτήν” where the circular plates of the shield are meant. The most probable explanation of the word here is ‘adorned with circles or spirals’ of silver or the like, inlaid. This pattern is of high antiquity, being found e.g. by Dr. Schliemann at Mykenai in profusion. See the illustrations in Murray Hist. Gr. Sculp. pp. 38-40, ‘the forms which most naturally arise from copper working are spirals and circles, into either of which a thread of this metal when released at once casts itself.’ The use of “ἀμφιδεδίνηται” is similar in Od. 8.405, 23.562.

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

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (6 total)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: