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[267] ῥυτοῖσιν is, literally, ‘hauled,’ i.e. as being too big to be carried, “τοῖς μὴ δυναμένοις ἐπ᾽ ὤμων φέρεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἑλκομένοις διὰ τὸ μέγεθος” Schol. Stones that a man can carry are called, Od.10. 121, “χερμάδια ἀνδραχθέα”, but those that have to be brought on a cart are called in Thucydides (1. 93) “λίθοι ἁμαξιαῖοι”. The wall round the house of Eumaeus ( Od.14. 10) is also described as built “ῥυτοῖσι λάεσσι”. Such walls resemble the so-called Cyclopean architecture, a name derived from the description of the yard round the Cyclops' cave, Od.9. 185“ὑψηλὴ δέδμητο κατωρυχέεσσι λίθοισι”. We are not to suppose that the “ἀγορά” was paved with these blocks (such a construction belongs to the time of Roman road-making, in which ‘apta iungitur arte silex’ Tibull. 1. 7. 60); but rather that they form a low wall round it, and perhaps seats within it, as in Od.8. 5, 6“ἀγορὴν ἥ σφιν παρὰ νηυσὶ τέτυκτο:”

“ἐλθόντες δὲ καθῖζον ἐπὶ ξεστοῖσι λίθοισι”. The stone blocks were partly sunk in the ground, “ὧν τὸ μὲν κατορυκτὸν τὸ δὲ ὑπερφαίνεται” Schol.

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

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