FOOTNOTES:
[451] It has been held that the Aeolic settlements in the Troad itself date only from the seventh century (cf. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, II pp. 203, 463 f.), and there is some evidence that movements of this kind were in operation about that time. But the excavations at Troy brought to light the fact that the district had been occupied, in times long subsequent to the destruction of the fortress, by a semi-barbarous people, apparently from the region of the Danube. The evidence at our disposal seems to indicate that there were Greek settlements in existence before this time, but that they were temporarily overthrown by the barbarians (cf. Brückner, Troja und Ilion, p. 567 ff.). At all events it is clear that the Homeric poets were familiar with the district.
[452] For a full account of this story see Mawer, Ragnar Lothbrók and his sons (published in the Saga-Book of the Viking Club, Jan. 1909).
[453] Cf. Βαιάκη. πόλις τῆς Χαονίας. Ἑκαταῖος. κ.τ.λ. (Steph. Byz., s.v.) From this notice we gather that at the beginning of the fifth century (or earlier) the Greeks knew of a city or state called Baiace in Chaonia, i.e. opposite the island of Corfu, which was usually identified with Scheria in ancient times. It has been remarked by several scholars that the name Βαιάκη is obviously independent of Homeric poetry. We may infer also (i) that it was derived from a non-Greek source and (ii) that if Βαιακ- and Φαιηκ- are identical the latter name must have become known to the Greeks in very early times. It is not impossible that in the Heroic Age the Greeks may have been familiar with more than the name of this people; but there is no evidence, so far as I am aware, for the existence of a prehistoric civilisation on the Albanian coast—such as we find depicted in Od. VI-VIII. Until such evidence is forthcoming probability is in favour of the view that the picture drawn of the Phaeacian community in the Odyssey is derived from a different region—most likely from the Aegean.
[454] Possibly Θερσίτης is another example of this type. It seems to me more probable however that it is a nickname, similar to Ἶρος (Od. XVIII 6 f.). It has been well connected with Θηρίτας, a Laconian name for Ares or Enyalios (cf. Usener, S.-B. d. Akad. zu Wien, CXXXVII, p. 53). But I cannot see any justification for the hypothesis (ib., p. 57) that the practices described by Pausanias (III 14. 8 f.; XIX 7 f.; XX 2. 8) represent a contest between Enyalios and Achilles, or for connecting them in any way with the story of the killing of Thersites by Achilles in the Aithiopis. Achilles was worshipped elsewhere in connection with athletic practices (cf. Pausanias, VI 23. 3; also the Δρόμος Ἀχιλλέως mentioned by Arrian, Peripl. 21. 1), probably for the same reason that worship was paid to famous athletes of the past (cf. Pindar, Isth. VII 37, 59 ff.).
[455] Curiously enough the most suspicious names are those of the two chief characters, Εὐρύμαχος son of Πόλυβος, and Ἀντίνοος son of Εὐπείθης.
[456] Under the head of fiction I think we may probably include many national names and names derived from cities, rivers, etc. It has been remarked above (p. [268], note) that these names occur chiefly among the Trojans and their allies, e.g. Τρώς (son of Alastor), Δάρδανος (son of Bias), Μύγδων, Ἀσκάνιος, Δρύοψ, Δόλοψ, Τεύθρας, Πήδαιος, Ἴμβριος, Ἰδαῖος, Σκαμάνδριος, Θηβαῖος, Θυμβραῖος. I do not mean of course to suggest that all such names are necessarily fictitious. The type doubtless was ancient, but it possessed obvious facilities for the formation of names for fictitious characters of foreign nationality.
[457] This point seems to me to be of fundamental importance; but it is apparently not always recognised. Prof. Meyer (Geschichte des Alterthums, II p. 207) holds, rightly as I think, that there is no valid reason for doubting that Troy actually was destroyed by a king of Mycenae. Yet elsewhere (ib., p. 186 f., etc.) he regards Agamemnon himself as a Spartan deity and most of the other chief Achaean heroes as mythical or fictitious or at least unconnected originally with the story of Troy. According to my view the interest in heroic poetry, Greek as well as Teutonic, Welsh or Servian, was from the beginning essentially bound up with individual characters, e.g. not with a (nameless) king of Mycenae—which is comparatively seldom mentioned (cf. p. [274])—but with King Agamemnon. It is true that under certain conditions one name occasionally does displace another in heroic stories; but we have seen no reason for believing that the conditions favourable to such changes ever prevailed in the history of Greek heroic poetry. Neither the name Ἀγαμέμνων nor the later inferences to Ζεύς Ἀγαμέμνων seem to me to afford any valid ground for doubting that Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae originally concerned in the story.
[458] Note should be taken also of the fact that the peculiar type of nomenclature which we find among the Phaeacians (cf. p. [299]) is not confined to the list of athletes but spread over the whole of this section of the poem. It is quite possible of course that the few exceptional names, such as Ἀλκίνοος, may be derived from tradition or from an earlier poet.
[459] Cf. Robert, Studien zur Ilias, p. 406 ff.; Bethe, N. Jahrb., XIII p. 1 ff.; Cauer, Grundfragen2 p. 197 ff.