cf. alpha 1358, alpha 1359, alpha 1360.
[1] The headword is neuter plural of this adjective, with the same or similar glossing in other lexica, including Timaeus' Platonic Lexicon; it is very probably quoted from Plato, Republic 429D.
[2] Greek Anthology 6.292.1 (Hedylus); cf. lambda 63, mu 1136. On this epigram, Niconoe's tribute to Priapus for her victory in a beauty competition, see Gow and Page (vol. I, 100); (vol. II, 289-290); and further excerpts at alpha 1539, theta 12, kappa 241, lambda 468, and pi 2936. On the purple dye produced from shellfish, see generally OCD(4) s.v. (1242-3) and Blümner (234). Niconoe's robes are evidently colored with the purple dye produced along the Laconian coast, surpassed in quality--as Pausanias explains (3.21.6, web address 1)--only by that from shellfish harvested from the Phoenician sea. Gow and Page observe (vol. II, 289) that goddesses normally preside over beauty competitions; that Niconoe would offer her dedication to Priapus (Priapos; cf. pi 2275, pi 2276, and pi 2277) suggests that she might be a hetaera (cf. epsilon 3265 and epsilon 3266).