Aidoneus

Use in the book

The absence of a clarifying epithet makes the physical identification especially dependent on other evidence. The introduction reports an earth identification in Aëtius and an air identification in other ancient accounts. In the latter case Hippolytus explains air as that through which other things are visible while it itself remains unseen. The same introduction discusses a modern argument for fire, involving the range of aither and the underground setting of fire in Sicily. The short root list cannot adjudicate among these arguments.

B 52's underground fires show why a purely spatial equation “underworld equals earth” is not compulsory. They do not, however, mention Aidoneus. Conversely, the Hades named in the promise of B 1112 and in the damaged B 142 is not automatically a covert reference to whichever root a reader has selected for B 6. Those passages concern bringing back a dead person's strength and exclusion from divine dwellings, respectively. Reading them requires attention to their own wording and transmission.

Aidoneus should therefore function as a point where the lexicon makes disagreement visible. The root's divinity is explicit; its material identification remains an interpretive problem rather than a solved vocabulary exercise.

Places to read

1. B 6.2Aidoneus is the third named divinity, without an accompanying epithet.
2. B 52Underground fire offers a comparison relevant to some interpretations, but Aidoneus is not named.
3. Introduction V (editorial discussion)The introduction distinguishes earth, air, and a modern fire interpretation.

Translation in this edition

The translation transliterates the name instead of rendering it “earth,” “air,” or “fire.” The spelling Aidoneus should not be confused with aidēlon, the epithet of fire in B 109: resemblance in English transliteration does not establish identity.

Use in the book

Aëtius identifies Aidoneus with earth, reversing the mapping found in the Homeric Allegories, Hippolytus and Diogenes, where the name denotes air. The two elaborated air-identifications are themselves distinct. The Homeric Allegories says air has no light of its own and is illuminated by sun, moon and stars. Hippolytus argues instead from air’s transparency: one sees all things through it while not seeing air itself. Lack of intrinsic luminosity and invisibility are related explanatory moves, not the same physical claim.

The entry therefore cannot present “the unseen one = air” as the settled key to B6. It can show why that key was persuasive to certain ancient readers and why the alternative earth identification remains part of the transmitted dossier. The disagreement affects Hera at the same time: switching one identification switches the other, so each article must be read with its partner.

Places to read

1. A 33 (testimony)2Aëtius I 3,20. Assigns Aidoneus to earth.
2. A 33 (testimony)2Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus. Assigns Aidoneus to air because air receives light from other celestial sources.
3. A 33 (testimony)2Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29. Explains Aidoneus as air through the invisibility of the medium through which other things are seen.
4. A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony)Diogenes Laertius VIII 76. Agrees with the air identification without reproducing either explanatory argument.

Translation in this edition

The different spellings are transmitted forms in this edition. Its endorsement of Hippolytus’ argument is a modern judgment, not additional evidence that the argument belonged to the poem.