The pyre is to be built with (1) oak, sacred to Zeus (1168); and (2) the wild olive, which Heracles himself had brought to Greece: Paus.5. 7. 7“κομισθῆναι δὲ ἐκ τῆς Ὑπερβορέων γῆς τὸν κότινόν φασιν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἐς Ἕλληνας”. Pindar, in treating that legend, uses the generic word, “ἐλαία”, O. 3. 13. Pliny H. N. 16. 89 “Olympiae oleaster, ex quo primus Hercules coronatus est:” where he also mentions that, near Heracleia in Pontus, were “quercus duae ab Hercule satae.” κείραντα, like Il.24. 450“δοῦρ᾽ ἐλάτης κέρσαντες”. In Attic prose, “κείρειν”, ‘to shear,’ is said only of cutting off hair, or devastating land. The prose word here would be “κόψαντα.—ἐκτεμόνθ̓”, cutting it from the stump, close to the ground: Il.12. 148“ἄγνυτον ὕλην”, | “πρυμνὴν ἐκτάμνοντες” (‘at the root’). In Lys. or. 7 § 19 “ἐξέτεμνον τὰ πρέμνα” refers to cutting the roots of an olive out of the ground.— ἄγριον ἔλαιον: the “κότινος” was also called “ἄγριος ἔλαιος” ( Pind. fr. 21), “ἀγριέλαιος”, or “ἀγριελαία”. The epithet ἄρσενα expresses its sturdy vigour. Acc. to Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. 4. 13) the “κότινος” lives longer than the “ἐλαία”. Ovid says, “Ure mares oleas” （Fast.4. 741). πολλὸν=“πολύν”, as Ant.86“πολλὸν”=“πολύ”: the only instance of this Ionic form in tragedy.— σῶμα τοὐμὸν is repeated, the sentence having become so long: cp. “νιν” in 289, after “ἐκεῖνον”.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part V: The Trachiniae. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1902.
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