Thomas W. Allen, E. E. Sikes, Commentary on the Homeric Hymns

[99] Παρθενίῳ φρέατι: for the metre of “φρέατι_” cf. 101, 248; La Roche Hom. Unter. i. p. 49, H. G. § 373. The local dative is amply supported by examples in H. G. § 145; it is here not harsher than “τραπέζῃ” “at table” (Od. 21.35). See further on 308 and h. Aphr. 173. Gemoll objects that the “Ionic” form is “φρείατι” (“φρήατι”), while in Attic “φρέατι” has a long. But Herodotus uses “φρέαρ”, and the hymn - writer might naturally adopt the epic quantity (“φρεία^τα Φ” 197). On the forms of the word see Brugmann Grundriss ii. p. 236, 342 f., Prellwitz s.v.

The “Maiden well” is not mentioned again in the hymn; it is most probably identical with the “Flowery well,” at which, according to Pamphos, Demeter sat; cf. Paus.i. 39. 1“φρέαρ ἐστὶν Ἄνθιον καλούμενον. ἐποίησε δὲ Πάμφως ἐπὶ τούτῳ τῷ φρέατι καθῆσθαι Δήμητρα κτλ.” Frazer (l.c.) thinks it may be the spring called Vlika, about a mile and a half west of Eleusis, on the road to Megara. The well is not to be confused with the Callichorum, which was close to the precinct of Eleusis (see on 272), although the fame of this latter well led several ancient writers to identify it with the place where Demeter rested; cf. Callim. h. Dem. 16, Nicand. Ther.486, Apollod.i. 5. 1; in Orph. Arg. 729 a river in Asia is called both Parthenius and Callichorus, probably in view of this literary tradition. The accounts of Pamphos and the present hymn no doubt follow the ancient Eleusinian tradition; see further on 200. The last hemistich is a formula: Od. 7.131 “, ρ” 206.