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[273] This cutting off a lock of hair from the victims' heads is called “τρίχας ἀπάρχεσθαι” in the parallel pass., 19.254; cf. Od. 14.422 “ἀπαρχόμενος κεφαλῆς τρίχας ἐν πυρὶ βάλλεν”. The hair is regarded as a foretaste of the victim, and was no doubt a devotion of the whole body to the gods (see 310, and note on Od. 23.135). It is not burnt here, because no fire is used in the oath-sacrifice. Every one of the chieftains takes a portion of the hair in order to participate in the sacrifice. Zen.'s “ἀρνέων” he explained as an adj. = “ἀρνείων” (cf. “ἱππείων” 11.536).

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

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