"ἔνθ᾽ ἐπεὶ ἐς λιμένα κλυτὸν ἤλθομεν, ὃν πέρι πέτρη
ἠλίβατος τετύχηκε διαμπερὲς ἀμφοτέρωθεν,
ἀκταὶ δὲ προβλῆτες ἐναντίαι ἀλλήλῃσιν
ἐν στόματι προύχουσιν, ἀραιὴ δ᾽ εἴσοδός ἐστιν,90
ἔνθ᾽ οἵ γ᾽ εἴσω πάντες ἔχον νέας ἀμφιελίσσας.
αἱ μὲν ἄρ᾽ ἔντοσθεν λιμένος κοίλοιο δέδεντο
πλησίαι· οὐ μὲν γάρ ποτ᾽ ἀέξετο κῦμά γ᾽ ἐν αὐτῷ,
οὔτε μέγ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ὀλίγον, λευκὴ δ᾽ ἦν ἀμφὶ γαλήνη·
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν οἶος σχέθον ἔξω νῆα μέλαιναν,95
αὐτοῦ ἐπ᾽ ἐσχατιῇ, πέτρης ἐκ πείσματα δήσας·
ἔστην δὲ σκοπιὴν ἐς παιπαλόεσσαν ἀνελθών.
ἔνθα μὲν οὔτε βοῶν οὔτ᾽ ἀνδρῶν φαίνετο ἔργα,
καπνὸν δ᾽ οἶον ὁρῶμεν ἀπὸ χθονὸς ἀίσσοντα.
δὴ τότ᾽ ἐγὼν ἑτάρους προΐειν πεύθεσθαι ἰόντας,100
οἵ τινες ἀνέρες εἶεν ἐπὶ χθονὶ σῖτον ἔδοντες,
ἄνδρε δύω κρίνας, τρίτατον κήρυχ᾽ ἅμ᾽ ὀπάσσας.
οἱ δ᾽ ἴσαν ἐκβάντες λείην ὁδόν, ᾗ περ ἄμαξαι
ἄστυδ᾽ ἀφ᾽ ὑψηλῶν ὀρέων καταγίνεον ὕλην,
κούρῃ δὲ ξύμβληντο πρὸ ἄστεος ὑδρευούσῃ,105
θυγατέρ᾽ ἰφθίμῃ Λαιστρυγόνος Ἀντιφάταο.
ἡ μὲν ἄρ᾽ ἐς κρήνην κατεβήσετο καλλιρέεθρον
Ἀρτακίην· ἔνθεν γὰρ ὕδωρ προτὶ ἄστυ φέρεσκον·
οἱ δὲ παριστάμενοι προσεφώνεον ἔκ τ᾽ ἐρέοντο
ὅς τις τῶνδ᾽ εἴη βασιλεὺς καὶ οἷσιν ἀνάσσοι·110
ἡ δὲ μάλ᾽ αὐτίκα πατρὸς ἐπέφραδεν ὑψερεφὲς δῶ.
οἱ δ᾽ ἐπεὶ εἰσῆλθον κλυτὰ δώματα, τὴν δὲ γυναῖκα
εὗρον, ὅσην τ᾽ ὄρεος κορυφήν, κατὰ δ᾽ ἔστυγον αὐτήν.
ἡ δ᾽ αἶψ᾽ ἐξ ἀγορῆς ἐκάλει κλυτὸν Ἀντιφατῆα,
ὃν πόσιν, ὃς δὴ τοῖσιν ἐμήσατο λυγρὸν ὄλεθρον.115
αὐτίχ᾽ ἕνα μάρψας ἑτάρων ὡπλίσσατο δεῖπνον·
τὼ δὲ δύ᾽ ἀίξαντε φυγῇ ἐπὶ νῆας ἱκέσθην.
αὐτὰρ ὁ τεῦχε βοὴν διὰ ἄστεος· οἱ δ᾽ ἀίοντες
φοίτων ἴφθιμοι Λαιστρυγόνες ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος,
μυρίοι, οὐκ ἄνδρεσσιν ἐοικότες, ἀλλὰ Γίγασιν.120
οἵ ῥ᾽ ἀπὸ πετράων ἀνδραχθέσι χερμαδίοισιν
βάλλον· ἄφαρ δὲ κακὸς κόναβος κατὰ νῆας ὀρώρει
ἀνδρῶν τ᾽ ὀλλυμένων νηῶν θ᾽ ἅμα ἀγνυμενάων·
ἰχθῦς δ᾽ ὣς πείροντες ἀτερπέα δαῖτα φέροντο.
ὄφρ᾽ οἱ τοὺς ὄλεκον λιμένος πολυβενθέος ἐντός,125
τόφρα δ᾽ ἐγὼ ξίφος ὀξὺ ἐρυσσάμενος παρὰ μηροῦ
τῷ ἀπὸ πείσματ᾽ ἔκοψα νεὸς κυανοπρῴροιο.
αἶψα δ᾽ ἐμοῖς ἑτάροισιν ἐποτρύνας ἐκέλευσα
ἐμβαλέειν κώπῃς, ἵν᾽ ὑπὲκ κακότητα φύγοιμεν·
οἱ δ᾽ ἅλα πάντες ἀνέρριψαν, δείσαντες ὄλεθρον.130
ἀσπασίως δ᾽ ἐς πόντον ἐπηρεφέας φύγε πέτρας
νηῦς ἐμή· αὐτὰρ αἱ ἄλλαι ἀολλέες αὐτόθ᾽ ὄλοντο.
notes
Odysseus and his men encounter the Laestrygonians, where King Antiphates make Odysseus’ men his dinner. As the men flee, the Laestrygoninas sink the ships with boulders. Only the ship of Odysseus manages to escape.
Chagrined by the cost of their carelessness, the Greeks press on, arriving next at the island of the Laestrygonians. The shape of the island’s harbor receives close attention:
read full essay
There we entered a splendid harbor, with
a towering cliff running all around both sides;
two thrusting promontories, facing each other,
jut out into the mouth, and the entrance is narrow…
Odyssey 10.87–90
The setting reflects its inhabitants. Imagery suggesting female sexuality—the curving embrace of the harbor with its narrow entrance and deceptively welcoming calm—always signals potential danger for the Greek masculine hero. Like the caves of Calypso and Polyphemus—and the house of Circe to come—this enclosed space lures the Greeks sailors to their doom, all but Odysseus, who characteristically distances himself from his companions, anchoring outside the cliffs.
Odysseus sends out an advance party to scout, an assignment that never ends well for his sailors. They meet a stout (ἰφθίμῃ, 106) young woman drawing water from a well, the daughter of the king Antiphates, who directs them to her father’s house. Once inside, they meet not Antiphates but his queen. This sequence of events mirrors almost exactly Odysseus’s arrival at the island of the Phaeacians: a royal princess near water, who directs the traveler to the king’s palace (in Book 6 the role is doubled, first Nausicaa and then Athena in disguise), there to encounter the queen first, then the king. This latter version is stripped down, with none of the characteristic Homeric elaboration that marks the earlier episode, the lively and informative exchanges with both Nausicaa and Athena, a full genealogy of the royal family, detailed description of the palace and its surroundings. The poet takes care to link this episode to the interlude on Scheria but seems disinclined to develop the situation beyond the bare bones.
Once the scouts reach the queen, things take a disastrous turn. Unlike the wise and commanding Phaeacian royal spouse Arete, this queen is gigantic, as “big as mountain” and the visitors are “horrified,” κατὰ δ᾽ ἔστυγον (113) at the sight of her. From this point on, the pace of the narrative speeds up even more, now echoing the Cyclops episode, with a crewman eaten by the king, then all the ships and their sailors inside the harbor destroyed by boulders hurled from the cliffs by more giants. Odysseus, having hedged his bets when arriving, now escapes with just one ship.
What are we to make of this curiously spare interlude? The pace of the story and lack of thematic elaboration create the feeling that Homer is in a hurry. Scholars have puzzled over details of the geography—what does Τηλέπυλον (82) mean? Where is this island, in the extreme west, the far north, or somewhere in the Euxine Sea east of Troy? The first option appears in an early Greek source, the pseudo-Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, which places both the Cyclopes and the Laestrygonians in Sicily; the description of the shepherds who pass each other, one going out to the pasture, another coming in, where “the courses of day and night lie close together” (86), suggests a place with long northern nights; finally, the name of the spring, Ἀρτακίη (109) is thought to come from an early version of the story of Jason and the Argonauts, which would put it in the east. However interesting, none of this speculation takes us very far in understanding the function of the episode. As we have said, the geography of the Odyssey between the time the Greeks pass Kythera until they reach Ithaka does not bear much inspection. Homer draws freely on various sources for his stories, without being too fastidious about whether the journey follows any recognizable path across the sea. The whole point, as we have said, is that these exotic places are not part of the everyday world of the audience.
The encounter with Laestrygonians does not particularly enrich the familiar themes it touches on, rushing through them with just enough detail to hold the audience’s attention. Rather, Homer seems to be working primarily to create a slightly longer pause between his big showpieces, the Cyclops and Circe episodes, where the poem’s major themes are richly elaborated. Coming upon Circe too soon after Polyphemus would diminish the impact of both encounters. One of Homer’s great strengths as a storyteller is his sense of pacing in the narrative. We are looking for the climactic duel between Hector and Achilles as early as the end of Book 18 of the Iliad, but the poet makes us wait for over 1,500 verses, teasing us with near misses, giving us a glimpse into the souls of both warriors, so when the great chase begins in Book 22 we are hanging on every syllable. Likewise, the slow approach of Odysseus to Penelope, from Book 18–23, builds the suspense to a fever pitch. Given the origins of the Odyssey in a rich oral tradition, those in the audience of the earliest performances of the poem might well have known that Circe was lying in wait for the hero, making the Laestrygonians the same kind of tease.
Meanwhile, we should pause to consider that eleven of the twelve ships in Odysseus’s original fleet, plus all their sailors, are now gone. That the poet marks the sailors’ passing so cursorily reminds us of their minimal importance to the poem’s message. Like the suitors, they exist primarily to model their inferiority to Odysseus, marked by their inability to control their baser impulses.
Further Reading
Page, D. 1973. Folktales in Homer’s Odyssey, 25–48. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
87 ὃν πέρι: “around which,” anastrophe (the preposition follows its noun, causing the accent on the preposition to fall back onto the first syllable).
88 τετύχηκε: “extends," pf. > τυγχάνω, translated as present (Smyth 1946).
88 διαμπερὲς ἀμφοτέρωθεν: "without a break on either side," that is, the wall of stone is continuous and unbroken around the inside of the harbor from one headland to the other.
89 ἐναντίαι ἀλλήλῃσιν: “facing each other”
90 ἐν στόματι: “at the mouth (of the harbor)”
90 προύχουσιν: “jut out” > προέχω
91 οἵ: Odysseus’s crew
91 ἔχον: “were holding," in the sense of "holding" the ships' course.
92 αἱ: the ships
92 ἔντοσθεν: “inside,” with the genitive.
92 δέδεντο: “were tied up,” unaugmented plupf. pass. > δέω (LSJ δέω Α, "to bind," not to be confused with δέω Β "to lack, need").
93 πλησίαι: “side by side”
93 ἐν αὐτῷ: i.e., in the harbor
94 ἀμφὶ: "all around," adverbial.
95 σχέθον: “moored” (lit., “held”), Epic aor. > ἔχω.
96 πέτρης ἐκ: anastrophe
96 δήσας: “tying” > δέω A
97 ἔστην: "I stood," 1st sing. aor., intransitive > ἵστημι
98 φαίνετο: unaugmented impf. pass.; singular verb with neuter plural subject.
99 οἶον: “only,” “nothing but”
99 ὁρῶμεν: unaugmented 1st plural impf. > ὁράω. Note the shift from the 1st singular in line 97 to the 1st plural here, indicating that Odysseus's men have joined him on the headland.
99 ἀΐσσοντα: “rising up”
100 προΐειν: 1st sing. impf. > προίημι.
100 πεύθεσθαι: “to learn,” infinitive of purpose > πεύθομαι. This line and the following are the same as 9.88–89.
101 οἵ τινες … εἶεν: indirect question with optative in secondary sequence.
101 σῖτον ἔδοντες: “eating food” (i.e., mortal)
102 κρίνας: “choosing,” aor. act. ptc. > κρίνω. The antecedent is Odysseus.
102 τρίτατον κήρυχ᾽ ἅμ᾽ ὀπάσσας: “sending a third along with them as a herald” ( > ὀπάζω, “to send along as a companion”). This line is the same as 9.90.
103 ἴσαν: 3rd pl. impf. > εἶμι.
103 λείην ὁδόν: “along a smooth road,” accusative of extent of space.
103 ᾗ: “by which,” dative of means
104 καταγίνεον: unaugmented, uncontracted impf.
104 ὕλην: “firewood”
105 κούρῃ: dative with a compound verb
105 ξύμβληντο: “encountered,” 3rd pl. aor. mid. > συμβάλλω.
105 ὑδρευούσῃ: pres. ptc. ( > ὑδρεύω, “to draw, or fetch, water”).
106 θυγατέρ(ι): dat., in apposition to κούρῃ
108 φέρεσκον: “they (i.e., the Laestrygonians) were used to carrying,” unaugmented iterative impf. Note the shift from the 3rd singular, referring to the girl, to the 3rd plural, referring to the Laestrygonians in general.
109 οἱ: the men sent by Odysseus.
109 παριστάμενοι: “approaching” > παρίστημι
109 ἔκ … ἐρέοντο: “came right out and asked.” ἐκ, used adverbially, indicates an “absence of restraint” (Cunliffe).
110 ὅς τις … εἴη …ἀνάσσοι: indirect questions with optatives in secondary sequence.
110 οἷσιν ἀνάσσοι: “over whom he rules.” ἀνάσσω takes a dative object.
111 ἐπέφραδεν: “showed them,” = Att. ἔφρασαν, 3rd sing. Epic reduplicated aor. > φράζω.
111 δῶ: δῶμα
113 ὅσην: “as tall as,” the relative clause is attracted to the case of the antecedent, τὴν γυναῖκα (Monro 271.1; Smyth 2532).
113 κατὰ … ἔστυγον: “shuddered at,” “were horror-struck by,” tmesis (separation of the preposition and verb in a compound verb) > καταστυγέω, with accusative.
115 ὃν: "her," possessive adjective.
115 τοῖσιν: "for them," that is, for Odysseus's men.
115 ἐμήσατο: “devised,” “contrived” > μήδομαι
116: ὡπλισσατο: “prepared.” Compare this line with 9.311.
117 τὼ δὲ δύ᾽: “those (other) two,” dual
117 ἀΐξαντε: dual nom. aor. ptc. > ἀϊσσω (“to leap up”)
117 φυγῇ: “in flight,” “fleeing,” dative of manner
117 ἱκέσθην: dual aor. mid. indic. > ἱκνέομαι
118 ὁ: the Laestrygonian
118 τεῦχε: ἔτευχε, “made”
119 φοίτων: unaugmented 3rd pl. impf. > φοιτάω
119 ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος: “from all directions”
120 ἐοικότες: “like,” “resembling,” with dative.
121 ἀπὸ πετράων: i.e., from the cliffs above the harbor
122 βάλλον: “were hitting us with” (+ dat.), unaugmented 3rd pl. impf.
122 κατὰ νῆας: “among the ships,” “over the ships.” Notice the alliteration of κακὸς κόναβος κατὰ, perhaps mimicking the sound of rocks hitting the ships.
123 θ᾽: τε
124 ἰχθῦς δ᾽ ὣς πείροντες: “spearing them like fish," simile.
124 ἰχθῦς: acc. pl.
124 ἀτερπέα δαῖτα: "as a joyless feast," predicate.
124 φέροντο: "they carried them (home)," that is, the Laestrygonians carried Odysseus's dead comrades back to the city to feast on them.
125-26 ὄφρ᾽ … / τόφρα: “while … meanwhile …,” correlatives
125 οἱ τοὺς: οἱ refers to the Laestrygonians, τοὺς to Odysseus’s men.
125 ἐντός: with the genitive.
126 ἐρυσσάμενος: “drawing,” aor. mid. ptc. > ἐρύω
126 παρὰ μηροῦ: “from beside my thigh”
127 τῷ: “with it” (the sword)
127 ἀπὸ … ἔκοψα: tmesis > ἀποκόπτω, “to cut off”
128 ἐμοῖς ἑτάροισιν: both ἐποτρύνω and κελεύω take a dative object.
129 ἐμβαλέειν κώπῃς: “to fall on their oars” (i.e., to row).
129 κώπῃς: = κώπαις, dative with compound verb.
129 ἵν᾽ … φύγοιμεν: purpose clause with optative in secondary sequence.
130 ἀνέρριψαν: “tossed up,” “churned up” (i.e., with their oars).
131 φύγε: = ἔφυγε, unaugmented aor.
vocabulary
λιμήν –ένος ὁ: harbor
κλuτός –ή –όν: illustrious, glorious
πέτρη –ης ἡ: rock, cliffs, shelf of rock
ἠλίβατος –ον: high, steep, precipitous
διαμπερές: continuous
ἀμφοτέρωθεν: on both sides, in both directions
ἀκτή –ῆς ἡ: headland, foreland, promontory
προβλής –ῆτος: forestretching, jutting
προέχω προσχήσω/προέξω προέσχον προέσχηκα προέσχημαι προεσχέθην: to be ahead, jut forward; (mid.) to hold before oneself 90
ἀραιός –ά –όν: thin, narrow, slight, slender
εἴσοδος –ου ἡ: a way in, entrance
εἴσω (or ἔσω): in, into, inside
ἀμφιέλισσα (fem. only): rowed on both sides
ἄρα: now, then, next, thus
ἔντοσθε: (from) within
λιμήν –ένος ὁ: harbor
κοῖλος –η –ον: hollow
πλησίος –α –ον: near
ἀέξω ἀεξήσω ἠέξησα ἠέξηκα ἠέξημαι ἀεξήθην: to increase, enlarge, foster, strengthen
κῦμα –ατος τό: wave
λευκός –ή –όν: white; light, bright
γαλήνη –ης ἡ: stillness of the sea, calm
ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet 95
οἶος –α –ον: alone
μέλας μέλαινα μέλαν: black, dark, obscure
αὐτοῦ: at the very place, here, there
ἐσχατιά –ᾶς ἡ: the furthest part, edge, border, verge
πέτρη –ης ἡ: rock, cliffs, shelf of rock
πεῖσμα –ατος τό: a ship's cable, cable, rope
σκοπιά –ᾶς ἡ: a lookout-place, a mountain-peak
παιπαλόεις –εσσα –εν: rugged
ἀνέρχομαι ἀνελεύσομαι/ἄνειμι ἀνῆλθον ἀνελήλυθα: to go up
καπνός –οῦ ὁ: smoke
οἶος –α –ον: alone
χθών χθονός ἡ: the earth, ground
ἀίσσω ––– ἤῑξα ἀίξασκον ––– ἠίχθην: to rise up
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion 100
προίημι προήσω προῆκα προεῖκα προεῖμαι προείθην: to send ahead; to shoot
πεύθομαι: to find out, learn
χθών χθονός ἡ: the earth, ground
σῖτος –ου ὁ: grain; bread
ἔδω ἔδομαι ἤδα ἔδηδα ἐδήδοται ἠδέσθην: to eat
τρίτατος –η –ον: third (lengthd. poet. for τρίτος)
κῆρυξ –υκος ὁ: messenger, herald
ὀπάζω ὀπάσσω ὤπασα: to make (accusative) come along as a companion, to take (accusative) with one
ἐκβαίνω ἐκβήσομαι ἐκέβην ἐκβέβηκα ––– –––: to disembark
λεῖος –α –ον: smooth; (of places or terrain) flat, even
ἄμαξα –ης ἡ: wagon, cart
ἄστυδε: into, to, or towards the city
ὑψηλός –ή –όν: high, lofty, high-hearted
καταγινέω/κατάγω κατάξω κατῆξα/κατήγαγον κατῆχα/καταγήοχα κατῆγμαι κατήχθην: to lead or bring down; (of sailing) (mid.) to bring to land, port, put in (+ dat.)
ὕλη –ης ἡ: woods, forest; firewood
κόρη (or κούρη) –ης ἡ: girl, maiden; daughter 105
συμβάλλω συμβαλῶ συμέβαλον συμβέβληκα συμβέβλημαι συμεβλήθην: throw together, meet, unite
ἄστυ ἄστεως τό: town
ὑδρεύω ὑδρεύσω ὕδρευσα: to draw or fetch water
ἴφθιμος [–η] –ον: strong, robust, vigorous
Λαιστρυγών –όνος ὁ: Laestrygon
Ἀντιφάτης –ου ὁ: Antiphates, a Trojan; a Greek, son of Melampus; or, king of the Laestrȳgons
ἄρα: now, then, next, thus
κρήνη –ης ἡ: a well, spring, fountain
καταβαίνω καταβήσομαι κατέβην καταβέβηκα ––– –––: step down, go down
καλλιρέεθρος –ον: beautiful-flowing
Ἀρτακίη –ης ἡ: Artacie, name of a fountain in the country of the Laestrȳgons
ἔνθεν: from here, from there
ἄστυ ἄστεως τό: town
παρίστημι παρήσω παρέστησα (or παρέστην) παρέστηκα παρέσταμαι παρεστάθην: to stand by or near
προσφωνέω προσφωνήσω προσεφώνησα ––– ––– –––: to call
ἀνάσσω ἀνάξω ἤναξα: to be king, lord, or master of, rule over, reign 110
ὑψερεφής –ές: high-roofed, high-vaulted
δῶμα –ατος τό: house (often in plural)
εἰσέρχομαι εἰσελεύσομαι εἰσῆλθον εἰσελήλυθα ––– –––: go in/into, enter
κλuτός –ή –όν: illustrious, glorious
δῶμα –ατος τό: house (often in plural)
κορυφή –ῆς ἡ: head, top, highest point
καταστυγέω -στυγήσω -έστυγον: to shudder at or be horror-struck by, feel horror for (+ acc.)
αἶψα: rapidly, speedily, suddenly
ἀγορή –ῆς ἡ: market place, assembly
κλuτός –ή –όν: illustrious, glorious
Ἀντιφάτης –ου ὁ: Antiphates, a Trojan; a Greek, son of Melampus; or, king of the Laestrȳgons
ἑός ἑή ἑόν: his, her, own
πόσις –ιος/–εως ἡ: drinking, drink 115
μήδομαι μήσομαι ἐμησάμην: to meditate, prepare, plot
λυγρός –ά –όν: sad, mournful, miserable
ὄλεθρος –ου ὁ: ruin, destruction, death
μάρπτω μάρψω ἔμαρψα ––– ––– –––: to catch, lay hold of, seize
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
ὁπλίζω ὁπλίσομαι ὥπλισα ὥπλικα ὥπλισμαι ὡπλίσθην: to equip, make ready; to arm
δεῖπνον –ου τό: meal, supper
ἀίσσω ––– ἤῑξα ἀίξασκον ––– ἠίχθην: to rise up
φυγή –ῆς ἡ: flight, exile
ἱκνέομαι ἵξομαι ἱκόμην ––– ἷγμαι –––: to come, reach
ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet
τεύχω τεύξω ἔτευξα τέτευχα τέτυγμαι ἐτύχθην: to make, build, prepare, fasten; to bring about
βοή –ῆς ἡ: shout
ἄστυ ἄστεως τό: town
ἀΐω ἀΐσω ἤϊσα: perceive
φοιτάω φοιτήσω ἐφοίτησα πεφοίτηκα ––– –––: to go to and fro, roam, to resort to
ἴφθιμος [–η] –ον: strong, robust, vigorous
Λαιστρυγών –όνος ὁ: Laestrygon
ἄλλοθεν: from elsewhere
μυρίος –α –ον: numberless, infinite 120
Γίγας –αντος ὁ: the Giants
πέτρη –ης ἡ: rock, cliffs, shelf of rock
ἀνδραχθής –ές: loading a man, as much as a man can carry
χερμάδιον –ου τό: a large stone, a boulder
ἄφαρ: straightway, forthwith, at once, quickly, presently
κόναβος –ου ὁ: a ringing, clashing, din
ὄρνυμι ὄρσω ὦρσα ὄρωρα ὀρώρεμαι –––: to stir up, move; (mid.) to rise, get up
ὄλλυμι ὀλῶ ὤλεσα (or ὠλόμην) ὀλώλεκα (or ὄλωλα) ––– –––: to demolish, kill; to lose, suffer the loss of (+ acc.); (mid.) to die, perish, be killed
ἀγνύω/ἄγνυμι ἄξω ἔαξα ἔαγα: to break, smash
ἰχθυς –ύος ὁ/ἡ: fish
πείρω πειρῶ ἔπειρα – πέπαρμαι ἐπάρην: to pierce quite through, fix
ἀτερπής –ές: unpleasing, joyless, melancholy
δαίς δαιτός ἡ: feast, banquet, meal
ὄφρα: while; until; so that; ὄφρα … τόφρα, while … for so long 125
ὀλέκω ὀλέξω ὤλεξα ὤλεκα: to ruin, destroy, kill
λιμήν –ένος ὁ: harbor
πολυβενθής –ές: very deep
ἐντός: within, inside
τόφρα: at that very moment, so long; tόφρα … ὄφρα, as long as … until
ξίφος –ους τό: sword
εἰρύω/ἐρύω ἐρύσω/ἐρύω εἴρυσα/ἔρυσα/ἔρυσσα εἴρυσα/ἔρυσα/ἔρυσσα –– –– εἰρύσθην: to pull, draw, drag; to guard
μηρός –οῦ ὁ: the thigh
πεῖσμα –ατος τό: a ship's cable, cable, rope
κόπτω κόψω ἔκοψα κέκοφα κέκομμαι ἐκόπην: to beat, strike, hit
κυανόπρῳρος –ον: with dark-blue prow, dark-prowed
αἶψα: rapidly, speedily, suddenly
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
ἐποτρύνω ἐποτρυνῶ ἐπώτρυνα: to incite, urge on; to provoke; (mid.) to speed up, make hurry
ἐμβάλλω ἐμβαλῶ ἐνέβαλον ἐμβέβληκα ἐμβέβλημαι ἐνεβλήθην: to throw (into or onto); to cause to enter, embark, put
κώπη –ης ἡ: hilt, handle
ὑπέκ: out from under, from beneath, away from
κακότης –ητος ἡ: badness
ἅλς ἁλός ὁ: salt (m.); sea (f.) 130
ἀναρρίπτω ἀναρρίψω ἀνέρριψα ἀνέρριφα ἀνέρριμμαι ἀνερρίφθην: to toss up, churn up
δείδω δείσομαι ἔδεισα δέδοικα (or δίδια) ––– –––: to fear
ὄλεθρος –ου ὁ: ruin, destruction, death
ἀσπάσιος [–α] –ον: well-received, welcome, pleasing; pleased, glad; (adv.) ἀσπασίως gladly, joyfully, willingly
πόντος –ου ὁ: sea, open sea
ἐπηρεφής –ές: overhanging
πέτρη –ης ἡ: rock, cliffs, shelf of rock
ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet
ἀολλής –ές: all together, in throngs or crowds
αὐτόθι: on the spot, right there
ὄλλυμι ὀλῶ ὤλεσα (or ὠλόμην) ὀλώλεκα (or ὄλωλα) ––– –––: to demolish, kill; to lose, suffer the loss of (+ acc.); (mid.) to die, perish, be killed