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[854] ὑπέρ: vulg. “ὑπ᾽ ἐκ”, which appears to be accepted by almost all edd., though no approximately satisfactory explanation has been given of the word, which can only mean ‘from under.’ Athene of course is on, not under, the chariot; and to suppose that she could direct the shaft from a place where she was not herself is to make her very unlike a Homeric deity. Still, the old idea seems to have been that Athene actually put her arm under the chariot, for Schol. B on 851 says of “ὑπέρ” there “τινὲς ἀντὶ τῆς ὑπό, ἵνα τρώσηι αὐτόν λαθών”. Ares' ‘underhand’ stroke is met by Athene in a similar way. With the reading of A there is no difficulty whatever.

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

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