the attic stelai - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

THE ATTIC STELAI 247
strotcata, something spread out for lying upon.23 The dapis, as the tapes, then, is a
rug which could be spread upon the floor or on a bed.
3. ITl,3X TlOV (I, 219-223). Bedspread. The word is known only from our
inscription.236 The first four letters are not preserved on the stone, but were first
restored by Wilhelm,237 who suggested that epibletia was identical with E7TL,8/3X?jar and
ETLt,3o0XaLat of Pollux VI, 10, and that the meaning was 'bedspread' ('Bettdecken').
This meaning has been adopted in Liddell-Scott-Jones, and it would accord with the
position of our word in Stele I, where it follows KVEbacXXov (lines 217-218).
4. Ka6vva (I, 238). Reed, reed-mat. Kcanna is defined by Hesychius, Eustathius
23 and the Ravenna scholiast to Aristophanes, Vespae, 394, as Otiaoo0. Suidas
mentions it in conjunction with reeds (kalamoi) ." Pollux (X, 183-184) is the chief
source of information about the word. He quotes its use in Aristophanes, Pherekrates,
Kratinos, Hipponax, and Eupolis (in X, 192), and defines it as wickerwork. In X,
166, he states that it is a psiathos or mat, used in light boats. For the Sumerian origin
of the word through the intermediary of Babylonian, see Boisacq, Dictionnaire4, s.v.
5. KVE'baXov (I, 217, 218; II, 218, 219). Cushion, mattress. Of the Greek
words for pillows, cushions, mattresses, two occur in our inscription: KvEaAcXXov and
TrpOOrKEbaAXatov.40 Other words of this meaning are listed in Ransom, Couches and
Beds, p. 110. The manufacture of cushionls and its place in ancient industry are discussed
by Bliimner, Technologie, IP, pp. 215-218. The R.E. article on this subject is by
Herzog-Hauser, s.v. Torus (with bibliography), but there are references to pillows in
Mau's article s.v. Betten and in Herzog-Hauser's article s.v. Tomentum. The subject
is treated by Graillot in Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionnaire, s.v. Torus, with references
to illustrations published throughout the Dictionnaire.
Knephcllon is defined by both Hesychius and Suidas as Tv'XA.24 Pollux (X, 41)
speaks of it as soft bedding. The most interesting passage on the word is probably
235
Frag. 116: ed. E. Schwabe.
236
Cf. Liddell-Scott-Jones and Buck and Petersen, Reverse Index, p. 114.
237
Jahreshefte, VI, 1903, p. 240.
238
1344, 42: ad II., XXIV, 189.
239
Cf. Thesaurus, s.v.
240
It should be noted that the qtda0oo, rush-mat, was also used as a mattress and in Stele II,
when the word follows proskephalaion and knephallon, the position would lead us to favor this meaning.
See below, p. 254.
241 For the derivation of TVAX3, see Boisacq, Dictionnaire4, s.v. o. The word originally meant
'callus' (cf. Hesychius, s.v.), and was applied to a 'hump,' especially one that had been hardened
by carrying burdens (see Starkie ad Aristophanes, Ach., 860). When used as the word for a
cushion, it could be applied even to the 'shoulder-pad' as in Diogenes Laertius, IX, 53. Artemidoros
(V, 8) refers to a tyle stuffed with wheat. From such passages one might expect that the
tyle was a hard cushion and knephallon a soft one, and this would be favored by the etymologies.
In Sappho, 50 (Bergk), however, the adjective /aXOa9K-, ' soft,' is applied to a tyle.