172

Όδυσσεύς (fr. 35)

Kapparis 1999 on [D.] 59.19) and was nicknamed Λαγυνίων.66 Despite the fact
that the two men seem to be more or less contemporary and to have been well-
known enough in Athens to have received nicknames, albeit different ones,
there is little reason to identify them. Schweighauser suggested a reference to
the Democles mentioned at Timae. FGrHist 566 F 32 as a κόλαξ of Dionysius
II; this is unlikely, given that there is no evidence that that man man ever left
Sicily or would have been known in Athens.
Ζωμός The generic name for broth made from boiling meat, and often
described as black (μέλας) because of the high blood content. The word can
refer to the peculiarly Spartan broth (e. g. Antiph. fr. 46.4; Plu. Lyc. 12; Mor.
236f; cf. Weber 1887. 9), but broth was a common part of Attic fare as well
(e. g. fr. 42.13, 40; Metag. fr. 18; Nicostr. Com. fr. 16; Alex. fr. 168); for a general
discussion, see Olson-Sens 1999 on Matro fr. 1.94 (SH 534).
The two possibilities for the point of comparison between Democles’ ex-
cessive use of oil and ζωμός are that he douses himself to such an extent that
he drips, or that his appearance has a sheen similar to that of the bloody,
greasy soup.67 The speaker of Aristopho fr. 5 seems also to be called Ζωμός,
although the point there is obscure; cf. also Bechtel 1898. 76.
6 αύχμών ‘Dry’, i. e. unanointed with oil; cf. Denniston 1939 on E. El.
239. Note the use of the word at Ar. Nu. 442 (what Strepsiades will be like at the
Phrontisterion; cf. 836), 920 (Just Argument as described by Unjust Argument);
Thphr. Char. 26.5 (a poor commoner); cf. αύχμηροκόμας at fr. 42.9. Thus this
line, when compared with the previous one, offers the opposite extreme.
Both αύχμέω and αύχμάω are apparently acceptable forms of the verb.
The dictum at Phryn. PS p. 10.4-6 that the participle derives from αύχμάω but

66 Some doubt must be attached to this story, at least regarding the nickname, since
the vessel known as a lagynos (the modern identification is almost certainly correct)
does not seem to have been produced before the third century, while this anecdote
must have arisen in the early part of the fourth century Note, however, that the word
λάγυνος does occur earlier (esp. Stesich. PMG181 τριλάγυνον) than the appearance
of the vessel and so must have had a wider use; for discussion and bibliography, see
Agora XXIX, p. 226; Amyx 1958. 210-11. Still, the earliest occurrences suggest that
the word was used originally for the name of measurement (= one Attic chous) and
thus may be thought inappropriate for a nickname (although cf. English ‘half-pint’).
Alternatively, if the two men are to be identified, the nickname Λαγυνίων could
derive from the extravagent amount of oil he used. Against the idea that it might
be inappropriate for a nickname, cf. Plaut. Cure. 77-81.
67 If the latter, it is perhaps likely that boiling the meat caused a fatty surface on the
soup and that this glistening gave rise to the comparison; thus Blumner 1891. 83-4.