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New light on Priam's wagon?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2013

M. A. Littauer  and
J. H. Crouwel
M. A. Littauer
Affiliation:
Syossett, Long Island
J. H. Crouwel
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
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Extract

Homer's description of the harnessing of a wheeled vehicle has puzzled commentators since antiquity because of the unusual technical terms used.

Type
Notes
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 108 , November 1988 , pp. 194 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1988

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References

1 We are most grateful to Mrs I. J. F. de Jong for her help with the textual material and to her and Professor Dr C. J. Ruijgh for comments upon a draft text. For discussion of the passage in recent times, see esp. Helbig, W., Das homerische Epos aus den Denkmäler erläutert2 (Leipzig 1887) 147–55 with fig. 44Google Scholar; Leaf, W., JHS v (1884) 187–94 with fig. 3Google Scholar; Reichel, W., Homerische Waffen2 (Wien 1901) 128–42 with fig. 69Google Scholar; Wiesner, J., Fahren und Reiten. Archeologia Homerica F (Göttingen 1968) 6–9, 16 fGoogle Scholar; cf. Delebecque, E., Le cheval dans l'Iliade (Paris 1951) 178, 180Google Scholar.

2 For Homeric chariots, see esp. Wiesner (n. 1) and Delebecque (n. 1).

3 See Lex. des frühgriechischen Epos I, s.v. ‘άπήνη’: the choice between άπηνη and άμαξα depends on metrical criteria.

4 Passages collected in Wiesner (n. 1) 5-11. We are not convinced that the amaxa, referred to by Hesiod (Op. 421–31), is a wagon rather than a cart, cf. Richardson, N. J., JHS ci (1982) 227Google Scholar.

5 Note that explicit representations of wagons in Iron Age Greece are rare, in marked contrast to those of carts, see Crouwel, J. H., Chariots and other means of land transport in Bronze Age Greece. Allard Pierson Series 3 (Amsterdam 1981) 57Google Scholar.

6 See Helbig (n. 1) and Leaf (n. 1); cf. Stubbings, F. H. in A companion to Homer (London 1962) 540 fGoogle Scholar.

7 See Spruytte, J., Early harness systems (London 1983) 25 and n. 5Google Scholar; Littauer, M. A. and Crouwel, J. H., Wheeled vehicles and ridden animals in the ancient Near East (Leiden-Köln 1979) 85, 113, 101 with fig. 52Google Scholar (mule cart); idem, Chariots and related equipment from the tomb of Tut'ankhamūn. Tut'ankhamūn Tomb Series 8 (Oxford 1985) 79 f.Google Scholar; Crouwel (n. 5) 97 f.

8 See Crouwel (n. 5) 98, cf. 93 (profile views showing the binding from the side).

9 Reichel (n. 1) 131 f. with fig. 70; G. Piccardi, Studi Etruschi (1950-1) 249-60 with figs. 1-2; M. A. Littauer, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, xiiil (1977) 254 with pl. 19; Spruytte (n. 7) pl. 2:1.

10 Lines 273-4 are hard to explain in detail, but they suggest that the zugodesmon was wound around both the yoke, which was fitted with a knob (τρίς δ' έκάτερθεν έδησαν έπ' όμφαλόν), and the pole (αύτάρ έπειτα έξειης κατέδησαν). Cf. Reichel's reconstruction (n. 1) fig. 69, and also Wiesner (n. 1) 16-18.

11 LSJ s.v. ‘ʒυγοδέσμιον’ etc.

12 P. Fayum 121, 5, ed. B. P. Grenfcll, A. S. Hunt, D. G. Hogarth (London 1900).

13 P. Fayum 115, 15.