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[134] θύσθλα is another word whose exact meaning can hardly be ascertained. It would naturally mean the thyrsi, but the scholia explain it of various other objects of mystic significance: “οἱ μὲν τοὺς κλάδους, οἱ δὲ ἀμπέλους, οἱ δὲ τοὺς θύρσους, τούτεστι τὰς Βακχικὰς δράκας, ἅ ἐστι Διονυσιακὰ μυστήρια: ἔνιοι δὲ πάντα κοινῶς τὰ πρὸς τὴν τελετήν”. (This sense of “δράξ” is not mentioned by L. and S.) The same may be said of βουπλήξ, which does not again occur in Homer, and is explained either as ox-goad or pole-axe, in which sense later writers use it. It may possibly have some mystical connexion with “ταῦρος” as a name of Dionysos. Note how MSS. drop into the familiar contraction Λυκούργου when possible. Read of course “ἀνδροφόνου Λυκόεργου”.

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

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