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[307] μινυνθαδίω is explained by vv. 318-320; with the form of adjective compare “κρυπτάδιος, διχθάδιος, αἰφνίδιος”. The name Aloeus is from “ἀλωή”. He is the ‘man of the threshing-floor;’ and his son Otus (“ὠθέω”) tramples the corn from the husk, while Ephialtes (“ἐπι-ἰάλλω”, Eustath. quoting the reading “Ἐπιάλτης”, see La Roche ad loc.) tosses it up for the wind to winnow it. Others connect Ephialtes with “ἐπὶἅλλομαι”, making the name descriptive of the leaping upon the grapes in the wine-press. Anyhow, the names commemorate the early glories of agriculture—a fact further pointed to by the words θρέψε ζείδωρος ἄρουρα. The size of these giant children of the soil reminds us of the “γηγενής” Tityus, “ὁ δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἐννέα κεῖτο πέλεθρα”, inf. 577. Otus and Ephialtes are represented in the Iliad (5. 385 foll.) as having imprisoned Ares for thirteen months “χαλκέῳ ἐν κεράμῳ”, on which Schol. D. remarks, “τοὺς Ἀλωείδας φασὶ καταπαῦσαι τὸν πόλεμον καὶ τὰς ἐς αὐτὸν παρασκευὰς, καὶ ἐν εἰρήνῃ ποιῆσαι βιοτεύειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους”.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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