[564] Cf. especially Cook, Folk-Lore, XV 385 f.
[565] Chil. I 474 (τοὺς βασιλεῖς δ' ἀνέκαθε Δίας ἐκάλουν πάντας) and elsewhere. On this subject see Cook, Class. Rev. XVII 409, and Folk-Lore, XV 303 f. (cf. 301), where full references are given.
[566] The parallel must not be pressed too far of course. According to Tzetzes all kings were called Ζεύς. But apparently not all kings were descended from Zeus; Nestor, for example, was sprung from Poseidon according to Od. XI 254 ff. We may refer however to Hesiod, Theog. 96, where kings are said to derive their authority from Zeus, and to the Homeric epithet διοτρεφής (possibly also διογενής) which is commonly applied to kings. Frey on the other hand was an ancestral god but not the chief of the gods, though he is sometimes in poetry called folkvaldi goða, which Saxo translates by satrapa deorum.
[567] A trace of the belief that kings had power over the seasons (cf. p. [367]) may perhaps be found in Od. XIX 109 ff.
[568] I cannot help thinking that evidence derived from the Achaean gatherings in the Iliad is somewhat precarious ground on which to build up a theory regarding the constitutional rights possessed by the ἀγορή at home. The same remark applies to such a passage as Od. XII 297, where an important constitutional change (cf. Fanta, op. cit., p. 91) has been inferred from the mutinous behaviour of a ship's crew.
[569] It cannot fairly be argued from Od. II 192 f. that the assembly (apart from the king) has a right to impose fines, for the suitors here are relying not upon any 'constitutional' rights but on force majeure. It is to be remembered too that Eurymachos appears to have designs upon the throne (cf. p. [358] f.).
[570] It has been suggested that the true name for such a gathering was θόωκος (θῶκος) and that this was something different from the ἀγορή (cf. Fanta, op. cit., p. 77); but the evidence for such a distinction is very far from convincing. We may refer to such passages as Od. XII 318 and, more especially, to V 3 (θῶκόνδε), which is clearly parallel to Il. XX 4 (ἀγορήνδε). Cf. Finsler, N. Jahrb., XIII 327.
[571] In the Hymn to the Delian Apollo, v. 146 ff., mention is made of a festal gathering of Ionians at Delos, apparently on a considerable scale. Similar gatherings may have been in existence quite as early, or even earlier, in other parts of Greece. For the festival at Pylos however much better parallels are to be found in the great religious gatherings which took place every nine years at Leire and Upsala, the old Danish and Swedish capitals. Cf. Thietmar of Merseburg, Chron. I 9: est unus in his partibus locus ... Lederun nomine ... ubi post nouem annos, mense Ianuario ... omnes conuenerunt et ibi diis suismet XCIX homines et totidem equos cum canibus et gallis pro accipitribus oblatis immolant. And Adam of Bremen, IV 27: solet quoque post nouem annos communis omnium Sueoniae prouintiarum sollempnitas in Ubsola celebrari. ad quam uidelicet sollempnitatem nulli praestatur immunitas. reges et populi omnes et singuli sua dona transmittunt ad Ubsolam. It does not appear however that on these occasions—in contrast with the festival at Pylos—any of the victims were eaten. In this respect they are probably to be compared rather with the great quadrennial sacrifices of the Gauls; cf. Diodoros, v. 32.
[572] It is scarcely capable of proof that the picture of the Phaeacian community in the Odyssey is derived from a Greek model (cf. p. [297] f. and note); but I believe I am following the generally accepted view in assuming this to be the case. The features noted here are such as we might expect to find in a Greek community if we take into account the evidence of later times.
[573] We may refer also to the rökstólar (judgement-seats) on which the gods sit when they gather in session (Völuspá, str. 9, 23, 25).