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A characteristic of Homer's style is the use of epithets, as in "rosy-fingered" Dawn or "swift-footed" Achilles.Epithets are used because of the constraints of the dactylic hexameter (i.e., it is convenient to have a stockpile of metrically fitting phrases to add to a name) and because of the oral transmission of the poems; they are mnemonic aids to the singer and the audience alike.
Thus, her most common epithet of the goddess in the Homeric epics is Rhododactylos, or "rosy-fingered", a reference to the sky's colours at dawn, and Erigeneia, "early-born". Although primarily associated with the dawn and early morning, sometimes Eos would accompany Helios for the entire duration of his journey, and thus she is even seen ...
Rosy-fingered Dawn ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς rhododáktulos Ēṓs "rosy-fingered Dawn" This phrase occurs frequently in the Homeric poems referring to Eos, the Titanic goddess of the dawn. Eos opened the gates of heaven so that Helios could ride his chariot across the sky every day.
Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was hastening from the streams of Okeanos, to bring light to mortals and immortals, Thetis reached the ships with the armor that the god had given her. — (19.1) But soon as early Dawn appeared, the rosy -fingered, then gathered the folk about the pyre of glorious Hector .
Much of the surviving text of the poem is occupied by an extended simile which compares the Lydian woman to the "rosy-fingered moon". [22] This is an adaptation of the common Homeric epithet "rosy-fingered Dawn". [23] Margaret Williamson interprets this metaphor as presenting the Lydian woman as a goddess. [24]
In Homeric verse, a phrase like rhododaktylos eos ("rosy fingered dawn") or oinopa ponton ("winedark sea") occupies a certain metrical pattern that fits, in modular fashion, into the six-foot Greek hexameter, which aids the aoidos or bard in extemporaneous composition.
Rosy cheeks are usually considered a good thing: After all, don’t people apply blush to give themselves a pinkish glow? “In romantic circumstances, a blush unveils our interest in the other ...
[66] [67] Homer frequently uses set phrases such as epithets ('crafty Odysseus', 'rosy-fingered Dawn', 'owl-eyed Athena', etc.), Homeric formulae ('and then answered [him/her], Agamemnon, king of men', 'when the early-born rose-fingered Dawn came to light', 'thus he/she spoke'), simile, type scenes, ring composition and repetition. These habits ...