The Iliad, a Final Word

Homer, Iliad 24.804

“And so they were completing the burial of horse-taming Hektor”

῝Ως οἵ γ’ ἀμφίεπον τάφον ῞Εκτορος ἱπποδάμοιο.

Schol. bT ad. Hom. Il. 21.804

“Menekrates claims that because he sensed his own weakness and inability [to tell their stories] equally, the poet decided to stay silent about the events after Hektor. The rest of the story is served up well in [the stories] told in the Odyssey. There is really only a summary about the house of Odysseus there. The leftovers remain in the stories Odysseus, Nestor, Menelaus, and lyre-playing Demodokos relate. The brief sack of the city is not worth describing”

Μενεκράτης (cf. F.H.G. II p. 345) φησὶν αἰσθόμενον ἑαυτοῦ ἀσθενείας τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ τοῦ μὴ ὁμοίως δύνασθαι φράζειν σιωπῆσαι τὰ μεθ’ ῞Εκτορα. καλῶς δὲ ἐταμιεύσατο τὰ λοιπὰ ἑαυτῷ τῶν †ζητημάτων† εἰς τὴν ᾿Οδύσσειαν· μικρὰ γὰρ ἦν ἡ ὑπόθεσις περὶ τῆς οἰκίας ᾿Οδυσ-σέως μόνον· τὰ γὰρ λείψανα ἐκεῖ ἃ μὲν ᾿Οδυσσεύς (cf. ι 39—μ 453), ἃ δὲ Νέστωρ (cf. γ 98—312) καὶ Μενέλαος (cf. δ 341—586), ἃ δὲΔημόδοκος κιθαρίζων (cf. θ 73—82. 499—520) φασίν. ἄλλως τε πολιορκίαν μακρὰν οὐκ ἄξιον διηγεῖσθαι.

 

Schol. T ad. Hom. Il. 21.804a

“Some people write “and so they were completing the burial of Hektor. Then the Amazon came / the daughter of Ares, the great-hearted man-killer”

τινὲς γράφουσιν „ὣς οἵ γ’ ἀμφίεπον τάφον ῞Εκτορος· ἦλθε δ’ ᾿Αμαζών, / ῎Αρηος θυγάτηρ μεγαλήτορος ἀνδροφόνοιο” (804. 804a).

This photograph shows a section of the GISP2 ice core from 1837-1838 meters in which annual layers are clearly visible. The appearance of layers results from differences in the size of snow crystals deposited in winter versus summer and resulting variations in the abundance and size of air bubbles trapped in the ice. Counting such layers has been used (in combination with other techniques) to reliably determine the age of the ice. This ice was formed ~16250 years ago during the final stages of the last ice age and approximately 38 years are represented here. By analyzing the ice and the gases trapped within, scientists are able to learn about past climate conditions.

 

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