previous next

[169] ἐν Λέσβῳ. The first day's sail was to Tenedos (159); the second to Lesbos; the third to Geraestus (177); which corresponds with the statement in 180 “τέτρατον ἦμαρ ἔην”. The “δολιχὸς πλόος” is the passage straight across the Aegean (“πέλαγος μέσον εἰς Εὔβοιαν τέμνειν”); which was shorter than going round by the islands, but involved a longer run without touching at any port. Nitzsch remarks upon this, that the Achaeans, in seamanship, were behind Phoenicians, Taphians, and Cretans. They were ‘pondering about the long sea-voyage,’ namely, whether to adopt it or not: whether they should take a course sea-ward of Chios, etc., or inside Chios. Geraestus, the extreme south point of Euboea, lay south-west of Lesbos, at a distance of some 150 miles, and the straight course to it would pass a good way to the north west of Chios, but would keep as close as possible to the north-west coast of Psyria. ἐπὶ Ψυρίης may be rendered ‘in the direction of Psyria,’ on the analogy of “ἐπ᾽ οἴκου”, for this force of “ἐπί” with the gen., though rare, is found in Homer, as Il.3. 5“πέτονται ἐπ̓ Ὠκεανοῖο ῥοάων”. But it seems better to translate ‘close by the island of Psyria, having the island itself on our left;’ the word αὐτήν being thus emphatic, showing that they were not merely to pass ‘within sight of it.’ The Scholl. seem to have been uncertain whether “αὐτήν” referred to “Ψυρίην” or “Χίον”. We must suppose “ἡ Ψυρίη” to have been the oldest name of the island, (unless we take “Ψυρίης” as the genitive of the adjective agreeing with “νήσου”,) as we find “ζεφυρίη” for “ζέφυρος” Od.7. 119.In Strabo Od., 14. 645, the name given is “τὰ Ψύρα, νῆσος ἀπὸ πεντήκοντα σταδίων τῆς ἄκρας” (sc. “Μελαίνης” in Chios), “ὑψηλὴ, πόλιν ὁμώνυμον ἔχουσα: κύκλος δὲ τῆς νήσου τετταράκοντα στάδιοι”. The change from “Ψυρίη” to [“τὰ] Ψύρα” may be compared with that from “Συρίη” ( Od.15. 403) to “Σύρα” Laert. Diog.1. 113.Modern travellers give the circumference of the island as eighteen miles, and its distance from Chios 20. It present name is Psara, or, as the Turks pronounce it, Ipsara. The alternative course lay first south, between Chios and the peninsula of Erythrae, ‘past the gusty Mimas’ (a mountain-chain, properly an off-shoot of Tmolus, that traverses the peninsula from north to south), and then westward, by short voyages from Cyclad to Cyclad, till they made Euboea. The meaning of ὑπένερθε depends upon that assigned to καθύπερθε. Cp. Il.24. 545, where, with reference to the situation of Troy, we read “ὅσσον Λέσβος ἄνω, Μάκαρος ἕδος, ἐντὸς ἐέργει”,

“καὶ Φρυγίη καθύπερθε καὶ Ἑλλήσποντος ἀπείρων”. This must allude to the northerly position of Phrygia. See also Hdt.4. 7“τὰ δὲ κατύπερθε” (sc. “τῆς Σκυθικῆς”） “πρὸς βορέην λέγουσι ἄνεμον τῶν ὑπεροίκων τῆς χώρης οὐκ οἷά τε εἶναι ἔτι προσωτέρω ὁρᾶν”. The four points of the compass are thus given by Hdt.1. 142“οὔτε τὰ ἄνω χωρία οὔτε τὰ κάτω οὔτε τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ οὔτε τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέρην”. But “καθύπερθε” may also be used to denote the country inland.

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

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (7 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (7):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: