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οἵα Χρ. ζώει. These words, explanatory of “τῶν ἔνδον”, seem to mean simply, ‘such as Chrysothemis, who is living,’ etc. (For “οἵα Χρ. ζώει”,=“οἵα Χρ. ἐστίν, ζώει”, cp. O. T. 1451 n.).

Acc. to the version followed by Sophocles, Agamemnon had four daughters, Iphigeneia, Electra, Chrysothemis, Iphianassa. This was the account given in the cyclic “Κύπρια ἔπη”, as the schol. here mentions; a poem of which there is another trace in this play (566 ff.). Sophocles wrote an “Ἰφιγένεια” (Nauck, frag. Soph. 284—292); but her name is not mentioned in the reference to her death below (530—594). In Il. 9. 145Agamemnon has three daughters, Chrysothemis, Laodicè, Iphianassa: Homer does not mention Iphigeneia. Lucretius gives the name of Iphianassa to the victim at Aulis (1. 85).

ζώει has more point when it is remembered that one sister had perished. The Ionic form occurs also in O. C. 1213.—Others understand: ‘considering the manner in which Chr.lives’ etc.;—i.e., Electra is found to be “περισσά” relatively to the standard of moderation which her sisters set. This seems to strain “οἵα...ζώει”.

καὶ Ἰφιάνασσα: so in Il. 9. 145Χρυσόθεμις καὶ Λαοδίκη καὶ Ἰφιάνασσα”, the name having the digamma.


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hide References (4 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (4):
    • Homer, Iliad, 9.145
    • Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, 1213
    • Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus, 1451
    • Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 1.85
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