DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0553
Apollon and Artemis
481
it is permissible to conjecture that the Eridanos, which—as I shall
subsequently argue1—appears to have meant ' River of Life,' was at
the outset none other than the Milky Way, and that, when a different
conception of this starry phenomenon gained ground and drove out
the old appellation, room was still found in the nocturnal sky for the
constellation Eridanus2. Moreover, if we may rely (as we are fully
entitled to do) on the statement of Hyginus3 that some authorities
spoke of this constellation as the Nile, and that many called it
Oceanus, certain further consequences immediately present them-
selves. The Nile is described in the Odyssey* by the remarkable
adjective Diipetes, which properly denotes a river 'that falls in the
Zeus,' 'in the clear Sky"'.' This description would apply with strict
accuracy only to the Milky Way, but might be extended to all
rivers6 conceived as rillets of that great flood7. Pursuing the same
line of thought we can hardly avoid another conclusion, viz. that
'back-flowing Okeanos8,' the very 'source of the gods1',' was not
1 Infra Append. G.
2 R. Brown Eridanus: river and constellation London 1883 p. 44 would connect the
Milky Way ' with the heavenly Eridanus, subsequently reduplicated in the particular
constellation of that name' : cp. ib. p. 71.
3 Hyg.poet. astr. 2. 32 eridanus. hunc alii Nilum, complures etiam Oceanum esse
dixerunt.
4 Od. 4. 477 ( = 4. 581) AiyvirroLO, Ati7rereos Trora/xoTo with schol. adlcc. According to
schol. E.H.q., ZrjvoSoros.. .ypd(peL dienrereos 5ta tt?s ei dupdoyyov. Supra i. 349 n. 2.
F. Solmsen in the Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der
indogermanischen Sprachen 1911 xliv. 162 f., followed by F. Bechtel Lexilogns zu Homer
Halle a. d. S. 1914 p. 101, would write dienrereos, holding that the dative Atei-, correct in
such a formation as At/~et<£t\os, forced its way at an early date into other compounds, in
which it was incorrect,—Aifci-defiis, Aiei-Tpe<prjs, 5iet-7rer?js. But the locative An- in
Ainrer-qs, explained as in the text, gives a perfectly satisfactory meaning. H. Lehmann
Zur Lehre vom Locativ bei Homer Neustettin 1870 p. 8 renders : ' in der Helle fliessend.'
5 Cp. the analogous formation AuTrerr/s, 'that flies in the Zeus,' 'in the clear Sky'
(A. Aphr. 4 oiwvovs re Auirireas. So H. Ebeling for 5u7rereas codd. W. Schulze Quaes-
tiones epicae Gueterslohae 1892 p. 237 f. proposes dLeiwerias).
6 Skamandros (//. 21. 268, 326), Spercheios (//. 16. 174), a river in Phaiakia (Od. 7.
284), a river in some unidentified locality (Hes. frag. 212 Flach, 217 Rzach ap. schol.
Ap. Rhod. 1. 757), a river in a simile (//. 17. 263). For later developments in the
meaning of AuweT-qs see Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling. ii. 1527 c—1528B. The earlier
significance may perhaps be traced in its application to the thunderbolt (an oracle ap.
Euseb. praep. ev. 6. 3. i=Cougny Anth, Pal. Append. 6. 146. 23 irvpaQv aidopcuai
AuTrereeacri dapJi)vai, cp. et. mag. p. 275, 19).
7 Cp. Euseb. praep. ev. 3. 11. 51 6 NeiXos, bv e| ovpavov narcupe'peadai oiovrai.
8 77. 18. 399, Od. 20. 65, Hes. theog. 776 a\poppoov 'fkectfoto.
9 77. 14. 201 and 302 'ilKeavov re 8ei2v yeveatv /cat /uyrepa TtjOvv, cp. ib. 245 f. iroTa/j.oio
piedpa I 'Slueavou, 6s wep yevedLS wavTeadL rervKTai, Orph. h. Okean. 83. 1 f. 'SlKeavov...
adav6.Ttov re deuiv yevecnv dvrjrGiv r avdpumwv. The use of the word yiveats in this con-
nexion is peculiar, and may imply that Okeanos was at one time regarded as the very seed
of the sky-god, giving rise to a whole succession of divine forms (cp. the Tarragona tablet
infra Append. G med.). Certain pundits in antiquity declared that Homer was bor-
rowing from the lore of Egypt, and went about to prove that Okeanos and Tethys were
C. II.
3i
481
it is permissible to conjecture that the Eridanos, which—as I shall
subsequently argue1—appears to have meant ' River of Life,' was at
the outset none other than the Milky Way, and that, when a different
conception of this starry phenomenon gained ground and drove out
the old appellation, room was still found in the nocturnal sky for the
constellation Eridanus2. Moreover, if we may rely (as we are fully
entitled to do) on the statement of Hyginus3 that some authorities
spoke of this constellation as the Nile, and that many called it
Oceanus, certain further consequences immediately present them-
selves. The Nile is described in the Odyssey* by the remarkable
adjective Diipetes, which properly denotes a river 'that falls in the
Zeus,' 'in the clear Sky"'.' This description would apply with strict
accuracy only to the Milky Way, but might be extended to all
rivers6 conceived as rillets of that great flood7. Pursuing the same
line of thought we can hardly avoid another conclusion, viz. that
'back-flowing Okeanos8,' the very 'source of the gods1',' was not
1 Infra Append. G.
2 R. Brown Eridanus: river and constellation London 1883 p. 44 would connect the
Milky Way ' with the heavenly Eridanus, subsequently reduplicated in the particular
constellation of that name' : cp. ib. p. 71.
3 Hyg.poet. astr. 2. 32 eridanus. hunc alii Nilum, complures etiam Oceanum esse
dixerunt.
4 Od. 4. 477 ( = 4. 581) AiyvirroLO, Ati7rereos Trora/xoTo with schol. adlcc. According to
schol. E.H.q., ZrjvoSoros.. .ypd(peL dienrereos 5ta tt?s ei dupdoyyov. Supra i. 349 n. 2.
F. Solmsen in the Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der
indogermanischen Sprachen 1911 xliv. 162 f., followed by F. Bechtel Lexilogns zu Homer
Halle a. d. S. 1914 p. 101, would write dienrereos, holding that the dative Atei-, correct in
such a formation as At/~et<£t\os, forced its way at an early date into other compounds, in
which it was incorrect,—Aifci-defiis, Aiei-Tpe<prjs, 5iet-7rer?js. But the locative An- in
Ainrer-qs, explained as in the text, gives a perfectly satisfactory meaning. H. Lehmann
Zur Lehre vom Locativ bei Homer Neustettin 1870 p. 8 renders : ' in der Helle fliessend.'
5 Cp. the analogous formation AuTrerr/s, 'that flies in the Zeus,' 'in the clear Sky'
(A. Aphr. 4 oiwvovs re Auirireas. So H. Ebeling for 5u7rereas codd. W. Schulze Quaes-
tiones epicae Gueterslohae 1892 p. 237 f. proposes dLeiwerias).
6 Skamandros (//. 21. 268, 326), Spercheios (//. 16. 174), a river in Phaiakia (Od. 7.
284), a river in some unidentified locality (Hes. frag. 212 Flach, 217 Rzach ap. schol.
Ap. Rhod. 1. 757), a river in a simile (//. 17. 263). For later developments in the
meaning of AuweT-qs see Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling. ii. 1527 c—1528B. The earlier
significance may perhaps be traced in its application to the thunderbolt (an oracle ap.
Euseb. praep. ev. 6. 3. i=Cougny Anth, Pal. Append. 6. 146. 23 irvpaQv aidopcuai
AuTrereeacri dapJi)vai, cp. et. mag. p. 275, 19).
7 Cp. Euseb. praep. ev. 3. 11. 51 6 NeiXos, bv e| ovpavov narcupe'peadai oiovrai.
8 77. 18. 399, Od. 20. 65, Hes. theog. 776 a\poppoov 'fkectfoto.
9 77. 14. 201 and 302 'ilKeavov re 8ei2v yeveatv /cat /uyrepa TtjOvv, cp. ib. 245 f. iroTa/j.oio
piedpa I 'Slueavou, 6s wep yevedLS wavTeadL rervKTai, Orph. h. Okean. 83. 1 f. 'SlKeavov...
adav6.Ttov re deuiv yevecnv dvrjrGiv r avdpumwv. The use of the word yiveats in this con-
nexion is peculiar, and may imply that Okeanos was at one time regarded as the very seed
of the sky-god, giving rise to a whole succession of divine forms (cp. the Tarragona tablet
infra Append. G med.). Certain pundits in antiquity declared that Homer was bor-
rowing from the lore of Egypt, and went about to prove that Okeanos and Tethys were
C. II.
3i