Does ἀπολαγχάνω here (and in general) convey the idea of “obtain by drawing lots” i.e. at random or does it just mean generally “to be alloted”? Here again, the authorities (translations, dictionaries) are divided, with the ones I perhaps consider the most authoritative siding with the first interpretation.
I imagine it’s meant more or less literally, of obtaining by drawing lots, the method used even by Homer’s gods for divvying up the universe (Posidon at Il.15.189, ελαχον πολιην αλα ναιεμεν). That seems to be the implication, at least, and Herodotus like all Greeks was familiar with the system. And after all, if it just meant being allotted, who would do the allotting?
Thanks. That’s the feeling I had and that’s how it’s translated by Legrand, who I think is along Macauley the most reliable translator of Herodotus. Powell strangely gives “received by lot” in his translation, but his dictionary has “receive one’s share of”. It’s not the first time I see his translation and dictionary take a slightly different take on things. Perhaps in the Greek way seeing things they are more or less the same, though you could imagine a number of different ways of alloting - age, birthright etc.
Acts 1:17 describes how Judas became an apostle as “ἔλαχεν τὸν κλῆρον” to describe him being chosen by Jesus. But then in Acts 1:26 Matthias becomes an apostle by an actual lot process: “καὶ ἔδωκαν κλήρους αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἔπεσεν ὁ κλῆρος ἐπὶ Μαθθίαν”.
Both descriptions use κλῆρος, but the one that actually has λαγχάνω is not the one describing a drawing of lots.
I think it could be argued that ἔλαχεν τὸν κλῆρον in the Acts example does contain the idea of drawing lots in a metaphorical sense, and this use goes way back (though I didn’t know it still continues in the NT). κλῆρος means both ”lot” and ”plot of land” already in Homer and Herodotus, and is typically associated with the verb λαγχάνω. I think that with both these words the concrete and metaphorical senses are so inextricably intertwined that sometimes like in this Hdt 5.57 example it’s difficult to say which is meant.
καὶ ἔδωκαν κλήρους αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἔπεσεν ὁ κλῆρος ἐπὶ Μαθθίαν
This also is surprisingly similar in Homer. The verb is ἔπεσεν and not ἔλαχεν because the lot is the subject, not the person whose lot it is. In Homer the procedure is that every hero marks a pebble of some sort with a symbol of his own and puts it in a helmet. The helmet is shaken until one of the lots falls out: Il. 7.182 ἐκ δʼ ἔθορε κλῆρος κυνέης
I can’t say which procedure ἐπὶ Μαθθίαν exactly implies though.