A Traditional Formula in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite

Abstract

Abstract Lines 256‒7 of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite can be translated in two ways (τὸν μέν, ἐπὴν δὴ πρῶτον ἴδῃ φάος ἠeλίοιο | Νύμφαι μιν θρέ- ψουσιν ὀρeσκῷοι βαθύκολποι). In the first, a comma is usually inserted after μέν, and τὸν is not included in the ἐπὴν clause. In this case, the phrase should be translated “him, when he sees the sunlight, the deep-bosomed mountain nymphs will bring him up”. However, in the second version, the comma is absent and τὸν is included in the ἐπὴν clause. In this case, the phrase should be translated “when the sunlight sees him, the…nymphs will bring him up”. Most editors choose the first interpretation and the main reason is that the phrase “to see the sunlight (φάος ἠeλίοιο)” in the first version is very common while the phrase “the sunlight sees”, as in the second version, is very rare. However there are the two most significant objections to the first interpretation. First, verse-initial relative pronouns followed by a subordinating conjunction are elsewhere construed...