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[381] Αἰγάς. The first interpretation of Schol. V.E. , sc. “Αἰγαί, πόλις Ἀχαΐας”, seems on the whole the most probable. In Il.8. 203“Αἰγαί” is coupled with the Achaean “Ἑλίκη”, as cities connected with the cult of the Ionian Poseidon; cp. also Il.13. 21.How the sea spent its fury on this coast may be gathered from Ovid's description of Helice and Buris, as cities overwhelmed but still visible in the water ( Met.15. 293). The Schol. P. describes Aegae as a submerged island beyond Euboea, or else near Samothrace. Pliny (N. H. 4. 18) understands by Aegae a precipitous islet between Tenos and Chios. The word itself is descriptive of waves and storms, being connected with “ἀίσσω, ἐπ-αιγ-ίζω”, etc. Cp. Artemidor. 2. 12 “καὶ γὰρ τὰ μεγάλα κύματα αἶγας ἐν τῇ συνηθείᾳ λέγομεν, καὶ τὸ φοβερώτατον πέλαγος Αἰγαῖον λέγεται”. The same root appears in Aegina, “αἰγιαλός, Αἰγιάλεια”, etc.

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

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