- Van Thiel, Helmut, Scholia D in Iliadem, (Köln: Universitäts- und Stadt Bibliothek, 2014), p. 485. [Source can be found here: https://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/5586/].Il 233/Zs Δευκαλίων γὰρ μετὰ τὸν ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ γενόμενον κατακλυσμὸν παραγενόμενος εἰς τὴν Ἤπειρον ἐμαντεύεντο ἐν τῆι δρυΐ. πελειάδος δὲ χρησμὸν αὐτῶι δούσης κατοικίζει τὸν τόπον συναθροίσας τοὺς περιλειφθέντας ἀπὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ
In my previous post I mentioned this fragment from Homer's scholia (thanks again for the help).
It is an interesting fragment, as it is the first non-Biblical and non-Mesopotamian mention of a dove (or any bird) in relation to the flood hero I've found (not including Berosus).
But it gets better (or worse?).
The text mentions Deucalion consults (ἐμαντεύεντο) an oak/oak oracle (δρυΐ), and the oracle (χρησμός) is then given to him by a dove (πελειάδος).
Question: this seems to imply a talking dove, unless the oracle is non-verbal? Could that be the case?
And then a step further down the rabbit hole:
In Euripides, Cyclops, line 615, Odysseus uses an oak branch (δρυὸς) to poke out the cyclops' eye. But a little earlier, in line 455, he plans to use an olive branch (ἀκρεμὼν ἐλαίας). This is commonly translated as an olive-stake, possibly to harmonize with the oak branch mentioned later.
Question: does anyone know more about the traditions surrounding the kind of wood Odysseus used, or perhaps if olive and oak wood are ever confused or conflated elsewhere?
Ps. the LXX uses περιστερά for "dove" and the "fresh olive branch" is described as a φύλλον ἐλαίας κάρφος, so the connection isn't very strong on the word level.