[574] For a true analogy we must of course turn to councils which were attached to the king's court. Such appears to have been the case with the twelve chiefs of the Uppland Swedes who, according to St Olaf's Saga (Heimskr.), cap. 96, constantly attended the Swedish king, sitting in judgement with him and giving him advice in matters of difficulty. If the meaning of Od. XIII 130 is that the Phaeacians in general are descended from Poseidon, we have a further analogy with the same community, who appear to have claimed descent from the god Frey. Cf. Saxo, p. 260 (in the catalogue of Ringo's warriors at Bravalla): At Sueonum fortissimi hi fuere.... qui quidem Frø dei necessarii erant et fidissimi numinum arbitri.... iidem quoque ad Frø deum generis sui principium referebant.
[575] For Genseric's disregard of the general opinion of those present a parallel is presented by Agamemnon's conduct in Il. I 22 ff.
[576] Cf. Seymour, Life in the Homeric Age, p. 81.
[577] It may be observed here that we often hear also of journeys for trade and other purposes, as in Od. III 366 ff., where Athene, disguised as Mentor, says she is going to the land of the Caucones to collect a debt. Voyages even to countries as distant as Egypt and Phoenicia are not unknown.
[578] Cf. XXIII 296 ff., where a certain Echepolos (presumably a fictitious character) is said to have given Agamemnon a mare in order that he might be excused from the expedition. This person belongs to Sicyon, another adjacent city and likewise included in Agamemnon's domain in the Catalogue of Ships.
[579] The evidence of the Catalogue as to the dimensions of Diomedes' dominions is not corroborated elsewhere in the Iliad. The author may of course have derived his information from other sources, e.g. from poems dealing with the story of Adrastos and the expedition against Thebes. But it is at least equally possible that he was influenced by the desire of providing each king with dominions comprised in a compact geographical area.
[580] The passage suggests that the σκῆπτρον is regarded as a symbol of authority. Thyestes here appears between Atreus and Agamemnon. In Od. IV 517 f. Aigisthos is said to have dwelt where Thyestes had formerly dwelt, though unfortunately the locality is not stated. The two passages however are not necessarily inconsistent, for it does not follow that Agamemnon, when he took the imperium, would deprive his relative of the estate on which he lived. For the method of succession—which was of course extremely liable to produce strife—many Teutonic parallels might be cited. We may refer to the events which took place on the death of Alfred the Great.
[581] Thucydides (I 9) relates how Atreus acquired the sovereignty at Mycenae; but his account seems to be largely in the nature of a conjecture.
[582] Among the Teutonic peoples we have records of such gatherings from the first century (cf. p. [369], note) to the eleventh (at Upsala; cf. p. [383]. note). There is evidence also for similar festivals among the Lithuanians and Prussians; cf. Matthias a Michov, De Sarm. Europ., Lib. II (in Grynaeus' Novus Orbis Terrarum, etc., Basel 1537, p. 519): insuper prima Octobris die maxima per Samagittas in syluis praefatis celebritas agebatur, et ex omni regione uniuersus utriusque sexus conueniens illuc populus cibos et potus quilibet iuxta suae conditionis qualificationem deferebat; quibus aliquot diebus epulati diis suis falsis, praecipue deo lingua eorum appellato Perkuno, id est tonitru, ad focos quisque suos offerebat libamina.
[583] It is important to notice that the tendency appears to have been by no means so far developed as in the Teutonic Heroic Age. We cannot tell, it is true, how far the various dependent cities and districts remained in the hands of native royal families and how far they were governed by officials. In the latter category we may include such a person as Phoinix (Il. IX 483 f.). But it is clear that the royal families form a much larger proportion of the population than was the case among the Teutonic peoples of the fifth century.