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[8] Ἀλαλκομενηΐς: Pausanias (ix. 33. 5) testifies to a cultus of Athene at Alalkomenai, near the Tritonian lake in Boiotia, down to the times of Sulla. The local hero was “Ἀλαλκομενεύς”, and the name is evidently connected with some very primitive cult; cf. the interesting fragment in Bergk P. L. ^{3} frag. adesp. 83 (Pindar?) “χαλεπὸν δ᾽ ἐξευρεῖν εἴτε Βοιωτοῖς Ἀλ<αλ>κομενεὺς ὑπὲρ λίμνης Κηφισίδος ἀνέσχε πρῶτος ἀνθρώπων εἴτε κτλ.” (followed by a list of local myths about the origin of man). The local fem. form is “Ἀλαλκομενία”, one of a trio of local (chthonian?) goddesses, absorbed as usual by the Olympian (ibid.). The name becomes here attributive rather than local, meaning ‘the guardian.’ It recurs in literature only 5.908 (the only other place in H. where Hera is called “Ἀργείη”) but is found in Chios on an inscr. Hence also the Boiotian month “Ἀλαλκομένιος”.

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

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