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[441] βωμοῖσι, stands on which the upper part of the chariot was placed when the wheels were taken off. That this was habitually done is clear from 5.722. So the mule-car has a detachable top, “ὑπερτερίη” (or “πείρινθος”) in 24.190, Od. 6.70. “βωμός” is used again to mean the base of a statue in Od. 7.100, but these two appear to be the only passages in classical Greek where the word is used of anything but an altar. The variants “ἀμβωμοῖσι, ἀμβώνεσσι” both seem to have been taken to mean ‘on the steps’ (“ἀνάβαθρα”) of the palace. For the custom of covering up a chariot with a cloth when not in use cf. 2.777, 5.194. It is impossible to say whether λῖτα, which is found besides only in the dative “λιτί”, is a masculine singular or neuter plural.

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

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