Χρυσοϋν γένος (fr. 320)

509

most general (usage). But Philyllios in Auge says “over the hands”, as follows (fr. 3):
-. Menander in Hydria (fr. 360):-
Meter κατά χειρός ύδωρ scans and could be accommodated in
e. g. iambs, anapaests or dactyls.
Citation context From a discussion of χέρνιβον and cognate vocabulary.
Ar.Byz. fr. 368 (treating the alleged difference between κατά χειρός ύδωρ,
“(water) over the hand”, and άπονίψασθαι, “to wash up [after the meal]”;
from his Regarding Callimachus’ Tablets') follows, and Slater 1986. 135 suggests
that all this material is drawn from some unknown authority attempting to
refute Aristophanes’ views, perhaps Polemon (cited at Ath. 9.410c-d in a very
similar connection).
Interpretation Moer. κ 52 (κατά χειρός Αττικοί· κατά χειρών ύδωρ "Ελληνες
(“Attic authors [say] ‘over the hand’; Greeks generally [say] ‘water over the
hands’”); cf. Oros frr. B 37; 83) identifies κατά χειρός (ύδωρ) as an Atticism,
and the surviving evidence supports Aristophanes of Byzantium’s claim that
it referred specifically to hand-washing before a meal rather than after one
(Ar. V. 1216 ύδωρ κατά χειρός; Αν. 464 κατά χειρός ύδωρ φερέτω ταχύ τις; fr.
516.1 φέρε, παΐ, ταχέως κατά χειρός ύδωρ; Clearch. Com. fr. 4.1 λάβ’ ύδωρ
κατά χειρός; Nicostr. Com. fr. 26.2 κατά χειρός ... είληφότας; Alex. fr. 263.2
κατά χειρός έδόθη; Arched, fr. 2.3 δίδου κατάχειρός; cf. Telecl. fr. 1.2 ειρήνη ...
ήν ώσπερ ύδωρ κατά χειρός).
Washing-water was poured “over the hand” or “hands” from a pitcher into
a catch-basin, as already in Homer (e. g. Od. 1.136-8); cf. fr. 129 n. The point of
the singular is presumably that guests at a banquet reclined on their left side
and could thus use only their right hand to take food from the common serving
vessels, so that it alone was washed before the meal. But both hands were used
to eat, and both were accordingly washed after dinner “on simple practical
grounds” (Orth 2013. 17 on Ale. Com. fr. 16, although he takes the pre-dinner
washing to have a primarily religious rather than hygienic significance; cf.
Philyll. fr. 3.3 κατά χειρών έκάστη; Antiph. fr. 280 κατά χειρών τ’ εϊχομεν;
Philox. PMG 836b.40 νιπτρ’ έδοσαν κατά χειρών; Totaro 1998. 180 on Amips.
fr. 20).294 Homeric banqueters, by contrast, sit up to eat, and both their hands
are therefore washed before the meal as well (e. g. Od. 1.146).

294 Note, however, that in all these cases multiple diners seem to be in question,
rendering the sense of the plural less obvious. Men. fr. 360 presumably refers to
after-dinner handwashing as well, but too little context is preserved to be certain.