Scholia in Iliadem 21.194.1-21 (ed. Heyne)

[njmolinari]

Hello Friends,

This is the longest attempt for me without any assistance. It is a really interesting passage for a variety of reasons. In terms of rationale for the translation, none of the words or phrases were inaccesible but my phrasing might not be perfectly consistent with the Greek grammar, since in many cases I had to insert words in parentheses. Based on my progress in Taylor's Greek to GCSE, that seems to be a common occurance in translating Greek. I'm happy to explain my rationale for any words or phrases that are wrong. I know how to spot participles and do well on quizzes, but translating them into English while being true to the Greek is still a work in progress.

Ἀχ 395. This scholium presents an odd and hitherto unattested variation of the Herakles-Acheloios episode, in which Herakles has to descend to the underworld where he meets Melagros, whom he asks for the hand of his sister, Deianeira. He then returns to the surface and defeats Acheloios to win her as a bride. It is also notable that Okeanos seems to have been in possession of the horn of Amaltheia—another previously unattested detail. Finally, the author cites Pindar as having explored the topic of “Acheloios” to mean “water” as such, presumably referring to Ἀχ ###.

Scholia in Iliadem 21.194.1-21 (ed. Heyne)

Ἀχελώϊος. Ποτα-
μὸς μεταξὺ Αἰτωλίας καὶ Ἀκαρνανίας.
κοινῶς δὲ πᾶν ὕδωρ Ἀχελῷος καλεῖται.
Ἰσοφαρίζει. Ἶσός ἐστιν, ἐξισοῦται. Τῷ
οὔτε κρείων Ἀχελώϊος ἰσοφαρίζει. Ἡ-
ρακλῆς εἰς ᾅδου κατελθὼν ἐπὶ τὸν Κέρ-
βερον, συνέτυχε Μελεάγρῳ τῷ Οἰνέως.
οὗ καὶ δεηθέντος γῆμαι τὴν ἀδελφὴν Δη-
ϊάνειραν, ἐπανελθὼν εἰς φῶς, ἔσπευσεν
εἰς Αἰτωλίαν πρὸς Οἰνέα. καταλαβὼν δὲ
μνηστευομένην τὴν κόρην Ἀχελῷον τὸν
πλησίον ποταμὸν, διεπάλαισεν αὐτῷ ταύ-
ρου μορφὴν ἔχοντι. οὗ καὶ ἀποσπάσας τὸ
ἕτερον τῶν κεράτων ἔλαβε τὴν παρθένον.
φασὶ δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν Ἀχελῷον παρ’ Ἀ-
μαλθείας τῆς Ὠκεανοῦ κέρας λαβόντα
δοῦναι τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ καὶ τὸ ἴδιον ἀπολα-
βεῖν. δοκεῖ δὲ τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι ποταμῶν
μέγιστος εἶναι ὁ Ἀχελῷος, διὸ καὶ πᾶν
ὕδωρ τῇ τούτου προσηγορίᾳ καλεῖται.
ἱστορεῖ Πίνδαρος.

Molinari:

"Acheloios." A river
between Aetolia and Acarnania.
In general, all water is called Acheloios.
"Ἰσοφαρίζει." It is the same, it is equalized. "To
him not even lord Acheloios is equal." Herakles,
having gone down into Hades, [came] upon Cer-
-berus, [and also] met Meleagros son of Oineus.
And having pleaded [for] marriage to his sister De-
-ianeira, returning to the light, he hurried
into Aetolia towards Oineus. Holding
the girl betrothed to Acheloios, the
neighboring river, he wrestled him [Acheloios]
[who was] in the form of a bull, and tore away
one of his horns and took the virgin.
It is said that Acheloios, taking
the horn of Amalthea from Okeanos,
gave it to Herakles and took his own
away. It seems that in Greece Acheloios
is the greatest of rivers, because all
water is called by this name.
Pindar examines this.

Themata: Cornucopia; Deianeira; Form; Identified with water; Location: Aetolia/Akarnania; Oineus; Okeanos; Status

[njmolinari]

I’d love to know the date of this particular scholium. Does anyone have access to a physical copy of Heyne’s work?

[mwh]

It’s not Heyne you want but the D-scholia, which incorporate a collection of ιστοριαι known as the Mythographus Homericus.

And for the myth see Pindar Dith.2, Bacchylides 5, and Apollodorus 2.148.

[njmolinari]

Thank you--I got the above excerpt from TLG so I had assumed Heyne (TLG's source) reproduced the text with commentary!