[4] χρυσαόρου: Hermann thought that the epithet could only have been chosen by an interpolator. But Demeter is “ξιφηφόρος” in Lycophr. 153, where the schol. notes “ἐν τῇ Βοιωτίᾳ ἵδρυται Δημήτηρ ξίφος ἔχουσα”. Possibly the title may suggest that the goddess has won her land by the sword, and protects her agricultural worshippers (so Kern in Pauly-Wissowa 2749, comparing Callim. h. Dem. 137 “φέρβε καὶ εἰράναν, ἵν᾽ δς ἄροσε τῆνος ἀμάσῃ”, and the name of the hero Triptolemus); but in any case there is little or no fixity of divine attributes in early literature; the golden sword is an epithet of Artemis in orac.ap. Herod.viii. 77.See further on h. Apoll. 395; for the nominative form “χρυσάορος”, h. Apoll. 123.
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The Homeric Hymns, edited, with preface, apparatus criticus, notes, and appendices. Thomas W. Allen. E. E. Sikes. London. Macmillan. 1904.
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