Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Electra

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βᾶτε κατ᾽ ἀντιθύρων, ‘make for the vestibule.’ If the words are sound, “κατά”, lit. ‘down upon,’ denotes the point on which the rapid movement is directed. The application of “κατά”, with gen., to downward movement, in the literal sense, is not rare; cp. Il. 13. 504“αἰχμὴ..κατὰ γαίης” | “<*>χετ̓”: 3. 217 “κατὰ χθονὸς ὄμματα πήξας”. Again, it can denote ‘descent upon’ in a purely figurative sense (“λεγειν κατά τινος”). The peculiarity here is that, while the movement is literal, the descent is figurative. Even “κατὰ σκοποῦ τοξεύειν” (Herodian 6. 7. 19) is different, since the arrow is conceived as describing a curve. I do not know any real paraliel for this use of “κατά”. It seems to justify some suspicion of the text.

The word “ἀντίθυρον” is known only from the following passages. (1) Od. 16. 159“στῆ δὲ κατ᾽ ἀντίθυρον κλισίης”, describing a position outside of the hut: usually rendered, ‘he stood over against the doorway.’ (2) In Lucian Alex. 16“τὸ ἀντίθυρον” is the wall opposite to the door of a room; in this wall a second door is made, to admit of a crowd streaming through the room. In Lucian Symp. 8 the sense is the same.

Here, “τὰ ἀντίθυρα” seems to mean, as in the Odyssey, a place close to the doors; probably just inside of them, and (from that point of view) ‘over against them’; a vestibule, or entrance-hall. Cp. 328 “πρὸς θυρῶνος ἐξόδοις”. As “προθυρὼν” was a collateral form of “πρόθυρον” (Etym. Magn. 806. 4, etc.), “<*>ντιθυρὼν” may have been such a form of “ἀντίθυρον”. If so, the desirable accus. for “κατὰ” could be at once obtained by κατ᾽ ἀντιθυρῶν̓. The corrupt v. l. in one MS. (“Γ”), “κατάντι θυρῶν”, is also noteworthy. “κατάντι” does not occur: but in Il. 23. 116 we have “κάταν-” “τα”, ‘down hill,’ as opp. to “ἄναντα”. This suggests another possibility, with “θυρῶνα, ”

βᾶτε κάταντα θυρῶν̓, where “κάταντα” would be explained by a gesture, ‘haste down there to the porch.’