[1] Used as such (amongst other things) but in fact, in itself, a naturally-occurring iron oxide deposit. In classical Greece, associated particularly with the island of Keos.
[2] Homer, Iliad 2.637; Odyssey 9.125.
[3] Greek Anthology 6.103.5-6 (Philip); again at psi 12, where the key adjective is correctly miltofurh=. Find further extracts from this epigram, a carpenter's dedication, at alpha 3875, pi 2298, sigma 988, and sigma 1761. See LSJ s.v. ya/llw: "a carpenter's red line, which is twitched and then suddenly let go, so as to leave a mark".
[4] Aelian fr. 62e Domingo-Forasté (59 Hercher); more briefly at epsilon 3791 and epsilon 3882. The context is the siege of Tyre by Alexander the Great (332 BCE), and the episode in question here occurs also in Plutarch, Alexander 24: Tyrians dream of Apollo deserting them, and of their doing this to his statue.
[5] A slightly abbreviated version of Aristophanes, Ecclesiazusae 378-9, followed by comment from the scholia there. For this spectacle of classical Athens, designed to force loiterers to attend Assembly meetings, cf. mu 564, sigma 1810.