AAEKTPYilN— AAIAETOI 27 



AAIAETOI {continued). 

 meaningless and may be an interpolation ; cf. the next reference.] 



IX. 34) 620 o^v(i)ivi(TTaTO^ \ikv e'arif Ka\ ru T€Kva avnyKa^ei en \|^iX(i wra 

 irpos rov -qXiov (SXeneiv, Ka\ top /hi) ^ovXofxevov Konrei Ka\ (rrpecpei, Koi 

 QTTOTepov av i'fXTTpoadev 01 o0^aX/not 8aKpv(xa>aiv, tovtov anoKTelvei, tw S' 

 fTfpov eKTpe(f)€i. [The same story, s. v. aeVoy, in Ael. H. A. ii. 26, also 

 PHn. N. H. X. 3, and in Gesner, &c.] CiJ Gr]pevmv tovs nepl rrjv ddXarrav 

 oppidai, K.r.X. Arist. De Mirab. 60, 835 f/c rov (fvyovi rav aeroiv Ourepov 

 TQ)v f-yyovtov aXuifToy yiuerai TrapitXXd^, Sic, cf. Dion. De Av. ii. I. Men- 

 tioned also Ar. A v. 891, Eur. fr. 637 opm 5' in aKTms vopdBa Kvp.aTocfidopoi' 

 aXiderop : 0pp. Hal. i. 425 Kparepoi 6' aXiaUroi dpTTaKTTJpes, &.C. 



See also Nonn. Dion. xlii. 531, where oXuieTos, associated with 

 Poseidon, seizes a dove from the clutches of KipKos, (^eiSo/xeVois ovvxfira-i 

 fxerdpaiop opptp deipcov. Cf. Sil. Ital. Punic, iv. 105. 



A good omen to fishermen, Dion. De Avib, ii, i. 



On the fabled metamorphosis of Nisus or Pandareus see Ovid, Met. 

 viii. 146, xii. 560 ; Boios ap. Anton. Lib. c. xi ; Hygin. Fab. 98 ; Virg.(?) 

 Ciris 536, and Keller, op. c. p. 259. 



Arist. H. A. ix. 32, 619 is apparently descriptive of the Osprey, 

 Pandion Haliai'/us, with which bird dXuuTOi is commonly identified 

 by mediaeval and modern commentators ; but the description of the 

 chase after sea-birds (ix. 620) applies rather to Aqtiila naevia, or 

 Hal. albicilla (Sundevall). A Sea-eagle is very frequently alluded 

 to under the generic name afros, e.g. Pind. N. v. 21 iripav ttoptoio 

 naXXopT aUroi : Soph. Oen. fr. 423, ap. Ar. Av. 1337 yevoipap ciUtos 

 vyfnTTfTas, ws ap TVOTaQfiijp vnep drpvyeTov yXuvKas en otS/xa Xipvas '. Theocr. 

 xiii. 24. 



An Eagle with a fish is frequent on coins, e.g. Acragas (Imhoof-Bl. 

 and K. pi. iv. 31), Sinope (ibid. v. 11, 12), and many other towns 

 especially in the Black Sea and Hellespont (Keller, op. c. p. 262). 



In all the above references, as in most passages relating to the Eagle, 

 a mystical and symbolic meaning outweighs the zoological. The poem 

 of Ciris is of great importance for the understanding of the myth. It 

 is noteworthy how many birds, or names associated with birds, occur, 

 \vith more or less obscure significance, in this poem ; to wit, Procne, 

 the Daulian maids, Pandion, the Anser Ledae, Haliaetus or Nisus, and 

 lastly Ciris. I accept the theory that we have here to do with an 

 elaborate Sun and Moon myth. The golden or purple lock in Nisus' 

 hair (cui splendidus ostro Inter honoratos medio de vertice canos 

 Crinis inhaerebat, Ov. Met. viii. 8, cf. Ciris 122, Apollod. ii. 4. 5), 

 recalls, on the one hand, the Samson-legend (as we are expressly told 

 by Tzetzes in Lye. 648), and on the other, the crest of the solar eno^ 

 or picus, both of which birds appear in the version of the legend given 

 by Boios. The name Nisus is akin to fiesher, ?iisr, an eagle (vide 



