AAEKTPYflN AAIAETOI 27 



AAIAETOI (continued']. 



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

 ix. 34, 620 6va>7r<TTaTOS /zeV eori, KCU ra TCKVO. avayK.a(i en ^iXd oi/ra 

 Trpos TOI> rj\iov (BXeTreiv, Km TOV p.f] (Bov\6p.evov KOTTTCI KOI <rrpe<pei, KCU 

 OTTorepou civ e/Lwrpocr$ev ol o<p$aXp.oi daKpixraxnVj TOVTOV dTTOKreiVei, TOV 5' 

 erepov KTpe(pi. [The same story, s. v. aeVoy, in Ael. H. A. ii. 26, also 

 Plin. N. H. x. 3, and in Gesner, &c.] fj Orjpevutv TOVS irepl rfjv 6a\arrav 

 opviOctS) K.r.X. Arist. De Mirab. 60, 835 e*c TOV fvyovs TO>V derail' BaTfpov 

 TOSV eyyovwv aXidfTos yiverai TrapaXXa^, &c., cf. Dion. De Av. ii. i. Men- 

 tioned also Ar. Av. 891, Eur. fr. 637 6p<S 5' eV UKTO'IS vo^dSa KvpaTocpOopov 

 aXidcTov : Opp. Hal. i. 425 Kparepoi ^' dXtateroi dpiraKT^pes, &C. 



See also Nonn. Dion. xlii. 531, where dXiaero?, associated with 

 Poseidon, seizes a dove from the clutches of KI'PKOS, faidofjicvois 6vi>x^fo-i 

 HTap(TLov opviv dei'poo^. 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 Haliaetus, with which bird dXtdero? is commonly identified 

 by mediaeval and modern commentators ; but the description of the 

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

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

 to under the generic name deros, e. g- Pind. N. v. 21 irtpav TTOVTOLO 

 TraXXoi/T* euerot' : Soph. Oen. fr. 423, ap. Ar. Av. 1337 yevoipav tueroy 

 v^nreTaS) as av noTcidfiijv vTrep drpvyerov yXavKas eV ol8p,a \ifJLvas I 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. n, 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, 

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

 the Daulian maids, Pandion, theAnserLedae, 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 tVo^ 

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

 by Boios. The name Nisus is akin to nesher^ m'sr, an eagle (vide 



