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[2] πολύχαλκον. The older commentators and Eustath. interpret this epithet as signifying ‘solid’ or ‘firm,’ comparing with it “χάλκεος” ( Il.17. 425) and “σιδήρεος” ( Od.15. 329) “οὐρανός”. So in Pind. Nem.6. 3 we have “ὁ δὲ χάλκεος ἀσφαλὲς αἰὲν ἕδος μένει οὐρανός”, which may remind us of our use of ‘firmament,’ the Latin equivalent of the LXX. “στερέωμα”. Others render the word ‘bright-flashing,’ and refer the idea to the decorated palaces of the Gods, e. g. “Διὸς χαλκοβατὲς δῶ” Il.1. 426.The most picturesque notion seems to be that which regards the sky as a vault of burnished metal. Compare Job 37. 18 ‘Hast thou with Him spread out the sky which is strong and as a molten looking glass?’ Coleridge ( Mariner Anc.) speaks of a ‘hot and copper sky.’

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

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