THE GREEK WORD TEKTŌN IN HOMER

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TEKTŌN IN HOMER:

In the Iliad Tekton is a character, the son of Harmon, “ whose hands were skilled to fashion all manner of curious work.” (Iliad 5:59-60).

STILL FOR THE MOST PART THE FOCUS OF THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TERM TEKTŌN AND WORKING WITH WOOD IS PRESENT:

"He sat down upon the ashen threshold within the doorway, leaning against a post of cypress wood, which of old a tektōn had skilfully planed, and made straight to the line" (Odyssey 17:337-341)

"...the gable-rafters of a high house, which some famous tektōn joineth together" (Iliad 23.712)

AND YET SINCE SHIPS ARE MADE OF WOOD HOMER'S WORD FOR "SHIPBUILDER" IS TEKTŌN:

"And he fell as an oak falls, or a poplar, or a tall pine that among the mountains tektones fell with whetted axes to be a ship's timber” (Iliad 13.390-91 AND 16:439-84).

"For the Cyclopes have at hand no ships...nor are there tektones in their land who might build them well-benched ships" (Odyssey 9.125-127).

HOMER ALSO USES TEKTŌN TO DESCRIBE MAKERS OF FINELY CRAFTED FURNITURE WITH EMBELLISHMENTS MADE OF OTHER MATERIAL INCLUDING IVORY AND SILVER:

"Then wise Penelope came forth...and for her they set...a chair inlaid with spirals of ivory and silver, which of old the tektōn Icmalius had made, and had set beneath it a foot-stool for the feet, that was part of the chair" (Odyssey 17. 53-57).

AS AN EXTENSION OF THIS WORK IN IVORY, IT IS ALSO A TEKTŌN WHO CRAFTS A BOW OF HORN FOR LYCOAN'S SON:

We also find tektones crafting other fine things, such as the bow of Lycaon’s son, made from the horns of a wild ibex sixteen palms wide. "These a tektōn had wrought and fitted together, and smoothed all with care, and set thereon a tip of gold.” (Iliad 4.110).

Comments

  1. Tom Hobson2 March 2020 at 16:46

    I make the case for other kinds of construction from the LXX in my Patheos post "Christ the Builder?"

    ReplyDelete

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