Note 297 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
Odyss. XV. 460:—
χρύσεον ὅρμον ἔχων, μετὰ δ᾿ ἠλέκτροισιν ἔερτο. "Bringing a golden necklace set with amber."
And XVIII. 296:—
ὅρμον δ᾿ Εὐρυμάχῳ πολυδαίδαλον αὐτίκ' ἔνεικεν χρύσεον, ἠλέκτροισιν ἐερμένον, ἠέλιον ὥς. "He brought immediately to Eurymachus an artistic golden necklace, set with amber like the sun."
In both cases the plural agrees exactly with the sense of amber-beads set in a gold mounting.
The third passage, Odyss. IV. 73—
χρυσοῦ τ᾿ ἠλέκτρου τε καὶ ἀργύρου ἠδ᾿ ἐλέφαντος—
occurs in the description of the palace of Menelaus; and here the yellow gold and amber seem placed in poetic parallelism with the white silver and ivory.