previous next

[427] λύγοισι. This word properly denotes the pliant twigs of the agnus castus (Vitex agnus L.). Dioscorides, 1. 136, thus describes it: “ἄγνος ἢ λύγος θάμνός ἐστι δενδρώδης παρὰ ποταμοῖς τραχέσι τε τόποις καὶ χαράδραις φυόμενος, ῥάβδους ἔχων δυσθραύστους μακράς: φύλλα δὲ ὥσπερ ἐλαίας, ἁπαλώτερα δέ: τὸ δ᾽ ἄνθος ἡ μέν τις λευκὸν σὺν ὑποπορφυρίζοντι, ἡ δὲ πορφυροῦν φέρει”. The profusion of scented flowers of the “ἄγνος” is noticed in the opening scene of Plato's Phaedrus. With λύγοι Achilles binds two prisoners, Il.11. 105; and with the same Odysseus ties together the legs of the great stag which he had shot, Od.10. 166.The same sort of ‘green withes’ were used to bind Samson (Judges 16. 7). The stem “λυγ”, Lat. lig-are, appears in the Skt. liG. The tree is still called “λυγειά” in Greece.

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 (2 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (2):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: