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[174] ἐννῆμαρ, the regular ‘round’ number in Homer, followed by “δεκάτη” as in 1.53, 24.610, Od. 7.253. The entertainment of a guest before inquiring his name was an essential condition of hospitality in days when it was an even chance that a man might be an enemy, so that the inquiry itself would be a mark of suspicion. So at the court of Alkinoos Odysseus is not formally asked his name till the second day of his sojourn (Od. 8.550), and even simpler questions are not put to him on the first day till he has been entertained (Od. 7.238).

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

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