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[331] ἀμφίπολοι. It was usual for ladies to be attended by handmaidens, when they came into the presence of men. So Helen, Il.3. 143; Andromache, Il.22. 450; as Penelope herself acknowledges Od.18. 183οἴη δ᾽ οὐκ εἴσειμι μετ᾽ ἀνέρας”. Similarly, two attendants sleep at the door of their mistress Nausicaa, Od.6. 18.The word “ἀμφίπολοι” is always feminine in Homer, and the etymology of it points to this custom; a custom which, as Ameis remarks, was continued on the Attic stage.

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