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[509] The epithet χρυσάορος recurs only in 15.256 in H. (also Hymn. Ap. 123, Hes. Opp. 771, Pind. P. v. 104), and has caused some surprise, since the sword is not the weapon of Phoebus. So in the oracle of ‘Bakis’ (Herod.viii. 77) Artemis, and in Hymn. Cer. 4 even Demeter are called “χρυσάορος”, and according to the schol. on 15.256 “Πίνδαρος χρυσάορα Ὀρφέα φησίν”. Hence some of the old grammarians explained “ἄορ” as having meant originally ‘implement,’ “ὅπλον”, in the widest sense, to include both the winnowing-fan of Demeter and the lyre of Apollo; or, still more loosely, hung with gold, i.e. with the golden lyre. But there is no trace in Greek of such a wide meaning of the word “ἄορ”. The epithet, like other archaic titles of gods, is beyond our knowledge. The acc. “χρυσάορα” in Pindar, Hymn. Ap., and Hesiod shews that we should read “χρυσάορος” here. The alteration is evidently due to the hiatus in 15.256.

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

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hide References (4 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (4):
    • Herodotus, Histories, 8.77
    • Hesiod, Works and Days, 771
    • Homer, Iliad, 15.256
    • Pindar, Pythian, 5
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