Note 308 — Chapter X · THE HOMERIC POEMS.

Iron is mentioned altogether 48 times. In nine cases it is spoken of merely as a substance—a possession or article of trade. To these we may add fifteen more in which the word is used metaphorically as a standard of hardness, etc., and one (Od. IX 393) which refers to the testing of iron in water. Iron tools or implements are mentioned thirteen times, apart from the two references to knives given above. We hear also of iron chains (Od. I 204), the iron axle-tree of a (divine) chariot-wheel (Il. V 723), and the iron door of Tartarus (ib. VIII 15); cf. Cauer, Grundfragen der Homerkritik2, p. 281 ff.