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[245] ὅρκια here and 269, oath-offerings, including wine as well as victims, the epithet πιστά being curiously transferred from the abstract sense. In the phrase “ὅρκια τάμνειν”, 252, the victims alone are signified, properly speaking; but the original signification of the phrase became so conventional that ultimately “ὅρκια” = a treaty, cf. 94, 256, 4.269, and even the sing. “ὅρκιον” is found, 4.158. Buttmann has an excellent article on the Greek conception of oaths (Lexil. s.v.). The significance of the verb “τάμνειν” may be well illustrated by the note in Frazer Paus. iii. 367, where it is shewn that in many oaths, Greek as well as savage, the actual division of the animal into two or more parts is an essential element of the ceremony.

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

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