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[184] οὐρανόθεν, from the summit of Olympos (which, though H. does not identify it with “οὐρανός”, still, as a mountain, reached into heaven). Here, as in other places, MSS. vary between δὲ στεροπήν and “δ᾽ ἀστεροπήν”. Ar. seems to have held that “ἀστεροπή” meant not the lightning flash but the ‘thunderbolt’ as the weapon of Zeus, “ὅπερ τινασσόμενον τὴν ἀστραπὴν ἀποτελεῖ” (cf. “ἀστεροπητής”). Both forms of the word are confirmed by the metre, for we have 16.298 “στεροπηγερέτα,” 13.242, 14.386 “ἀστεροπή”.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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