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[158] Cf. Hes. Theog. 606 “ἀποφθιμένου δὲ διὰ κτῆσιν δατέονται χηρωσταί”. The general meaning of the word χηρωσταί is sufficiently evident from the context, ‘inheritors of the bereaved father,’ i.e. the next-of-kin, “οἱ μακρόθεν συγγενεῖς” (Hesych.). The form of the word, however, is not so easily explicable; it should have an active sense, perhaps originally ‘those who divided up the estate of the bereaved’ for distribution among the tribe at large. But we have no evidence whether in Homeric days the reversion of property (i.e. chattels, not land) belonged to the family or the tribe; nor does the word itself recur, except in the two passages named, and in Qu. Smyrnaeus. Eust. explains it by “ὀρφανισταί”, guardians, used by Soph. Aj. 512, and identical in form.

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

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  • Commentary references from this page (2):
    • Hesiod, Theogony, 606
    • Sophocles, Ajax, 512
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