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[225] ἐρίζεσκον only means ‘matched themselves;’ which interpretation can alone suit (223) “προτέροισιν ἐριζέμεν”. And of the two men mentioned Eurytus alone actually contended with immortals. Nitzsch notices that, according to Homer (cp. Od.11. 606), Heracles is represented with the bow. The club and the lion's skin were first assigned to him by Peisander of Rhodes ( Ol.33); or by Stesichorus, somewhat later. See Amphitryon's praise of the advantages of archery in battle, Fur. Eurip. Herc.190 foll.

The bow of Eurytus descended through his son Iphitus to Odysseus, in whose hands its fame did not suffer. Thus Odysseus stands in the same relation to Eurytus as Philoctetes to Heracles. This part of the story is rehearsed in Od.21. 13.The epithet Οἰχαλιῆι refers to Oechalia, a Thessalian town on the Peneus. There were several towns of the same name, in Euboea, in Aetolia, and in Messenia, which all laid claim to Eurytus as their countryman. But the claim lies only between the Thessalian and Messenian town in the present passage; see Il.2. 596 Il., 730.The form of the story in Od.21. 14 foll. seems to suggest a preference for the Messenian locality.

περὶ τόξων, ‘about archery.’ So “ἐρίζειν περὶ ἴσης” Il.12. 423, “ἐρίζειν περὶ μύθων” Il.15. 284.

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

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