[519] μελίκρητον is a mixture of honey and milk, so Eur. Orest.115“μελίκρατα γάλακτος”, cp. Eur. I. T.159“χοὰς μέλλω κρατῆρά τε τὸν φθιμένων”
“ὑδραίνειν γαίας ἐν νώτοις”“πηγάς τ᾽ οὐρείων ἐκ μόσχων”
“βάκχου τ᾽ οἰνηρὰς λοιβὰς”,
“ξουθᾶν τε πόνημα μελισσᾶν”. The whole process described is an offering of the ordinary supports of life to the dead, a superstition that made it common to place food near or in the graves of the departed, or to bury with them their arms or treasures for use in another world, or as here (v. 523) ‘to pile the pyre with costly things.’
