Commentary on the Odyssey (1886)

Commentary on the Odyssey (1886)
By W. Walter Merry
Oxford Clarendon Press 1886-1901

Perseus Documents Collection Table of Contents

Funded by The Annenberg CPB/Project

Book 5 (ε)

Commentary on line 3

qw=ko/nde kaqi/zanon. This is the ordinary daily gathering of the gods in the hall of Zeus. In the same sense we have θεῶν ἕδεα Il.1. 533; compare also Il.4. 1οἱ δὲ θεοὶ πὰρ Ζηνὶ καθήμενοι ἠγορόωντο

χρυσέῳ ἐν δαπέδῳ. The summoning of a special assembly is described in distinctly different terms, as in Il.8. 2Ζεὺς δὲ θεῶν ἀγορὴν ποιήσατο . . αὐτὸς δέ σφ' ἀγόρευε, Il.20. 4Ζεὺς δὲ Θέμιστα κέλευσε θεοὺς ἀγορήνδε καλέσσαι . . ἡ δ' ἄρα πάντῃ
φοιτήσασα κέλευσε Διὸς πρὸς δῶμα νέεσθαι. With the construction θῶκόνδε καθίζανον cp. Od.4. 51ἔς ῥα θρόνους ἕζοντο, they went to their seats and sate down: but θῶκος or θόωκος is rather the session than the seat; compare Od.2. 26οὔτ' ἀγορὴ οὔτε θόωκος, where θόωκος is equivalent to βουλή.