DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0766
The axes of Penelope
691
The name Penelope or Penelopeia is a legitimate derivative ofpene-
lops1, 'wild duck' or 'goose2.' According to Didymos Chalkenteros,
an Alexandrine savant whose life-time covered the beginning of our
era, Penelope was first called i\meirake or Arnakia, but, when cast
into the sea by Nauplios in revenge for the fate of his son Palamedes
and rescued from that predicament by wild ducks, was re-named
Penel6pez. Others said that her name had been changed from Arnaia4
or Arnea (?)5 to Penelope because, when flung into the sea by her own
parents, she was brought safely ashore and restored to them by wild
ducks. Recent critics, discussing the Penelope of epic and non-epic
tradition, have resolved her into an Arcadian or Laconian goddess6.
Thus E. Meyer7, laying stress on the common Greek belief8 that she
was by Hermes the mother of the Arcadian Pan9, concludes that
originally a goddess (Artemis ?) surnamed Penelope gave birth to Pan
at Mantineia10, where in later days her grave was shown11. F. Solmsen12
too regards it as certain that Penelope was an ancient goddess whose
home was Arkadia, especially eastern x^rkadia, and Lakonike. Here
in the second millennium B.C., at a time when theriomorphic con-
ceptions were wide-spread throughout Greece, she took the form of
the bird penelops. Lastly, J. A. K. Thomson13 in his venturesome but
of the lovers, and that a very primitive and obsolete incident of wedding ritual assumed this
rather clumsy form in the later recension'). But id. ib. p. 131 n. 4 cites J. T Bent The Cy-
clades London 1885 p. 22 for a parallel in modern Greece to the bed as described by Homer.
In Folk-Lore 1906 xvii. 172 f. I have given some examples of life-trees built into castles.
1 A. Fick—F. Bechtel Die griechischen Personennamen'2 Gottingen 1894 p. 418, F.
Solmsen 'Odysseus und Penelope' in the Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Sprachforschung
1909 xlii. 232 f. I tentatively advocated this view in the Transactions of the Third In-
ternational Congress for the History of Religions Oxford 1908 ii. 194.
2 On the TT7]ve\o\p see D'Arcy W. Thompson A Glossary of Greek Birds Oxford 1895
p. 147 f., O. Keller Die antike Tierwelt Leipzig 1913 ii. 234^
i Didymos ap. Eustath. in Od. p. 1422, 6 ff. and schol. Oil. 4. 797.
4 Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 792 ('Apvaia codd.).
5 Schol. Pind. 01. 9. 79 ('Apvea codd. B.C.E. 'Apveav cod. Q. But A. B. Drachmann
restores 'Apvaia from Tzetz. loc. cit.). See further J. Schmidt in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii.
1906, K. Tiimpel in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Eric. i. 1820, ii. 1201—1203.
6 Nonn. Dion. 14. 92 f. speaks of ~$vfj.<pris \.. .YlyveXoTreiris (cp. id. 24. 87), whom how-
ever he does not identify with the Homeric heroine. Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 772 says expressly
6 Ilaf yap Ep/toO /cat iT^j'eXoTr^s aWrjs.
7 E. Meyer 'Der Ursprung des Odysseusmythus' in Hermes 1895 xxx. 264.
8 Hdt. 2. 145.
9 W. H. Roscher 'Die Sagen von der Geburt des Pan' in Pliilologus 1894 liii. 368 ff.,
id. Lex. Myth. iii. 1380.
10 Apollod. epit. 7. 38. See also W. H. Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 1354 f., 1357, 1380.
11 Paus. 8. 12. 5 fT.
12 F. Solmsen in the Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Sprachforschung 1909 xlii. 233.
13 J. A. K. Thomson Studies in the Odyssey Oxford 1914 p. 48 ff. This book does not
deserve all the hard things said of it by a somewhat petulant critic in the Joum. Hell.
Stud. 1914 xxxiv. 335.
44—2
691
The name Penelope or Penelopeia is a legitimate derivative ofpene-
lops1, 'wild duck' or 'goose2.' According to Didymos Chalkenteros,
an Alexandrine savant whose life-time covered the beginning of our
era, Penelope was first called i\meirake or Arnakia, but, when cast
into the sea by Nauplios in revenge for the fate of his son Palamedes
and rescued from that predicament by wild ducks, was re-named
Penel6pez. Others said that her name had been changed from Arnaia4
or Arnea (?)5 to Penelope because, when flung into the sea by her own
parents, she was brought safely ashore and restored to them by wild
ducks. Recent critics, discussing the Penelope of epic and non-epic
tradition, have resolved her into an Arcadian or Laconian goddess6.
Thus E. Meyer7, laying stress on the common Greek belief8 that she
was by Hermes the mother of the Arcadian Pan9, concludes that
originally a goddess (Artemis ?) surnamed Penelope gave birth to Pan
at Mantineia10, where in later days her grave was shown11. F. Solmsen12
too regards it as certain that Penelope was an ancient goddess whose
home was Arkadia, especially eastern x^rkadia, and Lakonike. Here
in the second millennium B.C., at a time when theriomorphic con-
ceptions were wide-spread throughout Greece, she took the form of
the bird penelops. Lastly, J. A. K. Thomson13 in his venturesome but
of the lovers, and that a very primitive and obsolete incident of wedding ritual assumed this
rather clumsy form in the later recension'). But id. ib. p. 131 n. 4 cites J. T Bent The Cy-
clades London 1885 p. 22 for a parallel in modern Greece to the bed as described by Homer.
In Folk-Lore 1906 xvii. 172 f. I have given some examples of life-trees built into castles.
1 A. Fick—F. Bechtel Die griechischen Personennamen'2 Gottingen 1894 p. 418, F.
Solmsen 'Odysseus und Penelope' in the Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Sprachforschung
1909 xlii. 232 f. I tentatively advocated this view in the Transactions of the Third In-
ternational Congress for the History of Religions Oxford 1908 ii. 194.
2 On the TT7]ve\o\p see D'Arcy W. Thompson A Glossary of Greek Birds Oxford 1895
p. 147 f., O. Keller Die antike Tierwelt Leipzig 1913 ii. 234^
i Didymos ap. Eustath. in Od. p. 1422, 6 ff. and schol. Oil. 4. 797.
4 Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 792 ('Apvaia codd.).
5 Schol. Pind. 01. 9. 79 ('Apvea codd. B.C.E. 'Apveav cod. Q. But A. B. Drachmann
restores 'Apvaia from Tzetz. loc. cit.). See further J. Schmidt in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii.
1906, K. Tiimpel in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Eric. i. 1820, ii. 1201—1203.
6 Nonn. Dion. 14. 92 f. speaks of ~$vfj.<pris \.. .YlyveXoTreiris (cp. id. 24. 87), whom how-
ever he does not identify with the Homeric heroine. Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 772 says expressly
6 Ilaf yap Ep/toO /cat iT^j'eXoTr^s aWrjs.
7 E. Meyer 'Der Ursprung des Odysseusmythus' in Hermes 1895 xxx. 264.
8 Hdt. 2. 145.
9 W. H. Roscher 'Die Sagen von der Geburt des Pan' in Pliilologus 1894 liii. 368 ff.,
id. Lex. Myth. iii. 1380.
10 Apollod. epit. 7. 38. See also W. H. Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 1354 f., 1357, 1380.
11 Paus. 8. 12. 5 fT.
12 F. Solmsen in the Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Sprachforschung 1909 xlii. 233.
13 J. A. K. Thomson Studies in the Odyssey Oxford 1914 p. 48 ff. This book does not
deserve all the hard things said of it by a somewhat petulant critic in the Joum. Hell.
Stud. 1914 xxxiv. 335.
44—2