DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0435
OP THE MILITARY AFFAIRS OF GREECE.
413
Silver and gold his chariot did adorn.
And another of Diomedes (1),
Chariots richly adorn'd with gold and tin.
They were likewise adorned with curious hangings ; whence we read of
Lycaon's chariot (2),
--d/nqt cf« 7re7f\oi
Tli7rrnvra.i.
Like wings its hangings are expanded wide.
And the poet calls that of Achilles «£(jwra sZ xzKvKC/M^ha, (3).
The chariots in Homer are drawn, for the most part, by two horses
coupled together ; that of Achilles had no more, the names of his horses
being only Xanthus and Balius. To these two they sometimes added a
third, which was not coupled with the other two, but governed with reins,
and therefore called tistgcuos, aetgxQopos, ifagxrieipes, &c. but in Homer usual-
ly ir«gj$»£»s, andthe rein wherewith he was held in Tctpyopicc. The same
custom was practised by the Romans till the time of Dionysius the Hali-
carnassian (4), though left off in Greece long before. In the eighth Iliad,
Hector's chariot seems to be drawn by four horses ; for there the hero
thus bespeaks them:
Sii'vfls ts, i) <ru XloS'agyiJ ij A'Btev, Aa.fx.7tt tt in-
And however some ancient critics will have the two former to be no more
than epithets of the latter, because Hector afterwards speaks to them in
the dual number ;
NUV [J.01 THV X.OfX.lS'h aVtlTJVJTOV-■-
Yet it is evident, from other places, that even in Homer's time it was cus-
tomary to have chariots drawn by four horses ; as, when he tells us, the
Phaeacian ship shaped her course,
--tit iv Ttio^'.m Tergowgsc Wirst. (5).
Every chariot carried two men, whence it was termed Sipgog, q. JY^a-
gos(6) ; though that word does not, in its strict and proper acceptation,
denote the whole chariot, but only that part wherein the men were plac-
ed. One of these was called jjvi'o^og, because he governed the reins,
which in those days was not a servile or ignorable office, but frequently
undertaken by men of quality ; for we find Nestor (7), Hector (8), and
several others of note employed in it; and that not on extraordinary oc-
casions, but frequently some of them making it their profession. Yet the
charioteer was inferior, if not always in dignity, at least in strength and
valour, to the warrior who was called **t>aSa.rit\g, and had command of the
other, and directed him which way to drive, as Eu^tathius observes (9).
When he came to encounter in close fight, he alighted out of the chariot,
(1) Iliad, V. (2) Iliad, v. (3) Iliad. ». (4) Antiquit. Rom. lib. vii.
«)Obyss. v' (6) Eustathius. (7) Iliad. 3-'. (8) Iliad. ?' (9) Iliad. 5'
413
Silver and gold his chariot did adorn.
And another of Diomedes (1),
Chariots richly adorn'd with gold and tin.
They were likewise adorned with curious hangings ; whence we read of
Lycaon's chariot (2),
--d/nqt cf« 7re7f\oi
Tli7rrnvra.i.
Like wings its hangings are expanded wide.
And the poet calls that of Achilles «£(jwra sZ xzKvKC/M^ha, (3).
The chariots in Homer are drawn, for the most part, by two horses
coupled together ; that of Achilles had no more, the names of his horses
being only Xanthus and Balius. To these two they sometimes added a
third, which was not coupled with the other two, but governed with reins,
and therefore called tistgcuos, aetgxQopos, ifagxrieipes, &c. but in Homer usual-
ly ir«gj$»£»s, andthe rein wherewith he was held in Tctpyopicc. The same
custom was practised by the Romans till the time of Dionysius the Hali-
carnassian (4), though left off in Greece long before. In the eighth Iliad,
Hector's chariot seems to be drawn by four horses ; for there the hero
thus bespeaks them:
Sii'vfls ts, i) <ru XloS'agyiJ ij A'Btev, Aa.fx.7tt tt in-
And however some ancient critics will have the two former to be no more
than epithets of the latter, because Hector afterwards speaks to them in
the dual number ;
NUV [J.01 THV X.OfX.lS'h aVtlTJVJTOV-■-
Yet it is evident, from other places, that even in Homer's time it was cus-
tomary to have chariots drawn by four horses ; as, when he tells us, the
Phaeacian ship shaped her course,
--tit iv Ttio^'.m Tergowgsc Wirst. (5).
Every chariot carried two men, whence it was termed Sipgog, q. JY^a-
gos(6) ; though that word does not, in its strict and proper acceptation,
denote the whole chariot, but only that part wherein the men were plac-
ed. One of these was called jjvi'o^og, because he governed the reins,
which in those days was not a servile or ignorable office, but frequently
undertaken by men of quality ; for we find Nestor (7), Hector (8), and
several others of note employed in it; and that not on extraordinary oc-
casions, but frequently some of them making it their profession. Yet the
charioteer was inferior, if not always in dignity, at least in strength and
valour, to the warrior who was called **t>aSa.rit\g, and had command of the
other, and directed him which way to drive, as Eu^tathius observes (9).
When he came to encounter in close fight, he alighted out of the chariot,
(1) Iliad, V. (2) Iliad, v. (3) Iliad. ». (4) Antiquit. Rom. lib. vii.
«)Obyss. v' (6) Eustathius. (7) Iliad. 3-'. (8) Iliad. ?' (9) Iliad. 5'