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Book Eleven
482 8ai9pova 7roiKiAouf|Tnv: here and 5X Od. As a generic epithet of
heroes 5ctf9pcov must bear the sense 'war-minded' and be derived from Bats,
but it is clear that in the Odyssey the word has been reinterpreted and
associated with 5orqvai: see nn. to 5.181, and West's discussion at Od.
1.48—911. It is possible that 'prudent' was the sense understood here to
complement 7TOiKiAo|if)Tnv, but we can never be sure of the exact nuances
of epithets that appear only as formular attributes.
485 =7.219= 17.128. cpepcov CTOCKOS fjUTE irupyov: see 7.219^, and
15.645-8. for other reminiscences of the 'tower-shield'. Aias is the only
hero consistently associated with this cumbrous protection, a fact that has
encouraged much speculation about the antiquity of stories about him, see
Page, HHI232-5. It is a moot point whether the formula originally meant
that the shield looked like a tower or that Aias fought from behind it as one
would from a m/pyos. The poet can cite some of the tactics appropriate to
the tower-shield and apparently understands them, e.g. in the protection of
archers, 8.266-72 (perhaps contemporary oriental practice, but cf. the Lion
Hunt dagger blade from Shaft Grave IV, Lorimer, HM 140 fig. 1), and that
understanding was sufficient to prevent (TOKOS and dams falling together as
synonyms, although confusion between the two is frequent. See also 526-7n.
The expression cpspcov CTOCKOS (as opposed e.g. to vco[if]aai (3cov, 7.238) may
be more significant than it seems; there is an epithet 96p£aaaKf)s at [Hesiod],
Aspis 13. a&KOS and dcorris are not wholly interchangeable: Akhilleus and
Aias have the CT&KOS, their opponents, Hektor and Aineias, the da-rris, see
Whallon, Formula, Character, and Context 49-54, for this bias in the use of the
terms. — Some MSS add a plus-verse 485a XCCAKSOV STTTa|36eiov 6 oi Tuxios
KOCUE Teuxcov ( = 7.220), a typical example of'concordance interpolation'.
No elaboration of Aias' equipment is needed here.
487—8 Odysseus' is a disabling wound. It is mentioned again at the same
places as Diomedes' (661 = 16.26, 14.29 = 380, 19.48-9) but, again like
that of Diomedes, is forgotten in the Funeral Games of book 23.
488 The chariot is clearly that of Menelaos. bT explain that being an
islander Odysseus had no chariot, cf. Od. 4.605—8. Aias, another islander,
never mounts a chariot either.
4&9~595 Aias covers the withdrawal of Odysseus and slays several Trojans. Meanwhile
Hektor has moved Howards the left 3 , where Paris wounds Makhaon with an
arrow. Nestor takes Makhaon back to the ships. Hektor continues to do execution and
Zeus forces Aias to retreat. Eurupulos endeavours to second his efforts but is shot by
Paris. Finally Aias makes it back to the main Achaean forces
The episode repeats many of the themes used in those preceding: rally and
temporary success, retreat under pressure, the menace of Hektor, Paris'
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