Iliad 3.341, ἐστιχόωντο δεινὸν δερκόμενοι

[bcrowell]

The context is that Menelaus and Paris have agreed to single combat, and the onlooking crowd of soldiers are marveling at their awesomeness.

Οἳ δ ̓ ἐπεὶ οὖν ἑκάτερθεν ὁμίλου θωρήχθησαν,
ἐς μέσσον Τρώων καὶ Ἀχαιῶν ἐστιχόωντο
δεινὸν δερκόμενοι·...

I'm thinking that δέρκομαι expresses "to watch," i.e., the passive is used for the meaning that we would express in English using the active. Δεινὸν is a singular accusative adjective. So I would translate it like this:

And then after being given their arms by their respective supporters, in the crowd on both sides, they strutted into the terrible gauntlet [the middle] of the watching Trojans and Achaians.

Buckley, who is trying to do a literal translation, renders it this way:

But they, when they were armed from each side of the throne, advanced to the middle between the Trojans and Greeks, looking dreadfully:...

I'm confused by Buckley's translation for a couple of reasons. First, I don't see anything about a throne in the edition I'm working from (wikisource, which is based on OCT: https://archive.org/details/homeriopera ... 9/mode/2up ). Also, it seems weird to me that he translates the adjective δεινὸν as an English adverb. And in my dialect of English, "looking dreadfully" could mean "looking around themselves fearfully," but there's no way it can mean "glaring so as to inspire dread" (if the participle refers to Menelaus and Paris) or "watching in awe" (if it refers to the onlookers).

Am I confused or off base?

[theoldlove]

Is throne maybe a typo for throng?

δεινόν is an adverb formed from the neuter singular. See the second meaning in Cunliffe https://logeion.uchicago.edu/δεινός

[jeidsath]

In book 11 you hear about Γοργὼ βλοσυρῶπις ... δεινὸν δερκομένη on a certain shield. Not many options for what that could mean, I think.

[bcrowell]

Is throne maybe a typo for throng?

Aha, you're brilliant! I'm using the Project Gutenberg text of Buckley. I checked the scan of the printed book, and in the copy they scanned, someone had actually corrected the typo by hand:
https://archive.org/details/iliadlitera ... 9/mode/1up

δεινόν is an adverb formed from the neuter singular. See the second meaning in Cunliffe https://logeion.uchicago.edu/δεινός

I see. Thanks for explaining that. In case it's useful to others, here's where Monro discusses the relevant grammar: https://dcc.dickinson.edu/grammar/monro/uses-accusative (sec 134).