[92] μέγα ἔργον here has a bad sense, a ‘violent’ or ‘outrageous deed’: so in 3. 261., 11. 272., 12. 373., 24. 426, 458. Elsewhere it is neutral in meaning, as in 3. 275, 4. 663., 16. 346., 22. 149, 408, and always in the Iliad.
σῇ κεφαλῇ ἀναμάξεις ‘thou shalt wipe out the stain of it with thine own head.’ The traditional explanation is that this refers to a belief that the pollution incurred by murder could be got rid of by the murderer wiping off the blood from his weapon on the hair of the slain man's head. So Clytemnestra, when she murdered Agamemnon, “κάρᾳ κηλῖδας ἐξέμαξεν” ( Soph. El.445). The expression however owes some of its force to the use of “κεφαλή” in the sense of ‘life,’ as in Il.4. 161“σύν τε μεγάλῳ ἀπέτισαν, σὺν σφῇσιν κεφαλῇσι κτλ.” It is borrowed by Herodotus Il., 1. 155“τὰ μὲν γὰρ πρότερον ἐγώ τε ἔπρηξα καὶ ἐγὼ ἐμῇ κεφαλῇ ἀναμάξας φέρω”. Cp. also Od.22. 218“σῷ δ᾽ αὐτοῦ κράατι τίσεις”.Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:
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Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.
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