Note 159 — Chapter II · HOMER—METHODS OF FISHING

It is with something of a shock I find such careful translators as Butcher and Lang translating γναμπτοῖσιν ἀγκίστροισιν in Od., IV. 369, as “bent,” and in Od., XII. 332, as “barbed” hooks, without one word of explanation. These weapons differ in appearance, execution, and date of invention. To evolve the barbed from the bent hook required probably as many generations of men, and centuries of effort, as the development of the bent hook from the primitive gorge. See Introduction.