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[129] ἑπτὰ βοῶν ἀγέλαι. See Eustath. ad loc. “ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι τὰς ἀγέλας ταύτας, καὶ μάλιστα τὰς τῶν βοῶν, φασὶ τὸν Ἀριστοτέλην ἀλληγορεῖν εἰς τὰς κατὰ δωδεκάδα τῶν σεληνιακῶν μηνῶν ἡμέρας, γιγνομένας πεντήκοντα πρὸς ταῖς τριακοσίαις, ὅσος καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἀγέλαις, ἐχούσαις ἀνὰ πεντήκοντα ζῶα. διὸ οὔτε γόνον αὐτῶν γίνεσθαι Ὅμηρος λέγει, οὔτε φθοράν. τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ ποσὸν ἀεὶ ταῖς τοιαύταις ἡμέραις μένει”. We need not however follow Eustath. into further details, nor suppose with him that the eating of the cows was a poetical way of expressing waste of time. But he goes on to say rightly “ὅτι δὲ καθ᾽ ἱστορίαν ἀγέλας ὅλας ἡμέρων ζώων Ἕλληνες ἀφιέρουν δαίμοσιν, ὧν οὐκ ἦν θεμιτὸν ἅπτεσθαί τινας, ἐν οἷς καὶ πτηνὰ ὡσιοῦντο ἱεροῖς ἀνειμένα, οἷον ταῶνες καὶ χῆνες καὶ τοιαῦτά τινα, καθωμίληται ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις. Ἡρόδοτος δὲ” (9. 92) “ἱστορεῖ ἐν τῷ Ἰονίῳ κόλπῳ ἱερὰ εἶναι Ἡλίου πρόβατα, περὶ πολλοῦ ὄντα τοῖς ἐκεῖ Ἀπολλωνιάταις, οἷς ἀπὸ τόπου τὸ ὄνομα”. Gladstone (Hom. Synchr. 252) sees in this account of the cows and sheep of the Sun-god, and the awful punishment visited on those who laid hands on them, a real influence of Egyptian usage. The sheep he would connect with the ram of Ammon (Ammon-Ra); and the sanctity of the cows with the well-known worship of that animal in Egypt. In the Vêdic hymns the rays of the sun are spoken of as his ‘cows.’

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

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