Note 3 — Chapter II
Reading edition
Ἤπειρος is simply the mainland, and came only gradually to mean a particular country. We may compare the use of ‘terra firma’ in South America. In the catalogue (Iliad, ii. 620-635), after the island subjects of Odysseus have been reckoned up, we read: οἵ τ᾽ Ἤπειρον ἔχον, ἠδ᾽ ἀντιπέραι᾽ ἐνέμοντο. This must mean the land afterwards called Akarnania. It was remarked at a later time that the Akarnanians were the only people of Greece who did not appear in the catalogue.