Note 17 — Chapter III

It is observable that Homer attributes special honor to a few of his heroes, who appear to have been the male representatives of their race,—as to Agamemnon of the race of Pelops, and to Aeneas of the race of Assaracus. With respect to each of them, it is mentioned that he was honored as a God by his people. “Θεὸς δ’ ὣς τίετο δήμῳ.” Among the Maori these chiefs would have been distinguished by the title of Ariki. Homer gives them the title “ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν,” the old meaning of which words has been a matter of much inquiry. Mr Gladstone (Homer and Homeric Age, vol. I. p. 456) says, “It seems to me that this restraint in the use of the name ‘ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν’ was not unconnected with a sense of reverence towards it;” and he suggests the word chieftain as its fit representative. Might not its original meaning have been similar to that of Ariki?