A Reading Course in Homeric Greek, Book 2

A Reading Course in Homeric Greek

105. NOTES

174 τυτθὰ : a substantive (“little bits”) functioning as a predicate to the direct object τροχόν in

the previous line (“I, having cut up with sharp bronze a big wheel of wax [into] little bits,

kept squeezing [them] with my strong hands.”)

177 ἐπ’ : Take with ἄλειψα (“I sealed”).

179 ἐκ δ’ αὐτοῦ : See the note at line 162.

182 διώκοντες here means “driving.” τὰς : the Sirens, direct object of λάθεν.

183 ὀρνυμένη : supplementary ptc. with λάθεν in previous line (= “sped not unnoticed”).

184 ἄγ’ : See the note on line 36, above. ἰών : §8 above.

187 πρίν ... ἀκοῦσαι : §66.

192 φάσαν : 3 pl. impf. act. ind. φημί (§595 in Book 1). ἱεῖσαι : §89.

μελίγηρυς, -υος [adj.] sweet-voiced

νευστάζω I nod, I motion

νωΐτερος, -η, -ον our [of two only]

παρ-ελαύνω, -ἐλάω, -ἔλασ(σ)α I drive past, I sail

past

πεῖραρ, -ατος [n.] rope

πολύαινος, -ον much praised, glorious

πουλυβότειρα, -ης [adj.] feeding many, fruitful

προ-πίπτω, etc. I bend forward

τροχός, -οῦ [m.] wheel; round mass

τυτθός, (-ή), -όν small

Ὑπερῑονίδης, -ᾱο = Ὑπερῑ ́ων, -ονος [m.] son of

Hyperion [epithet of Helius]

ὠκύαλος, -ον swift on the sea

184 -191 The Sirens, in claiming that no man gets past without listening to them,

contradict Circe (41-46); moreover, νεῖται (188) can mean “returns home.”

They characterize the knowledge gained from their song along with the τέρψις

(188) as a benefit to the traveler rather than a danger. Nor is the pile of bones

mentioned here. In addition, the Sirens reveal the content of their song as

the war at Troy (ἴδμεν γάρ τοι πάνθ’ ὅσ’ ἐνὶ Τροίῃ εὐρείῃ / Ἀργεῖοι Τρῶές

τε θεῶν ἰότητι μόγησαν). P. Pucci (see note on 39-54, above) has shown the

Iliadic character of the diction in this passage; for example, the noun-epithet

combination πολύαιν’ Ὀδυσεῦ, μέγα κῦδος Ἀχαιῶν (184) is used only here in

the Odyssey but twice in the Iliad, in passages featuring Odysseus in important

roles. Pucci argues that the Sirens sing the events of the Iliad and define

Odysseus as the Iliad’s Odysseus. The Odyssey’s hero, therefore, longs to hear

the Iliad, and perhaps his own exploits at Troy, just as he does at Od. 8. 499ff.

Putting Circe’s warning about the Sirens together with the Sirens’ appeal to

Odysseus here, it seems the Odyssey is attributing to the Iliad a morbid power

and focus, one opposite to the Odyssey’s own focus on survival.