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Eupolis says a)po\ staurou= ["from a fence"].[1]
And Demosthenes [writes]: "and they set the wickers on fire."[2] And [sc. the term can also mean] places which are fenced in; also Persian shields [made] out of twigs.[3]
And Attic [writers use] gerra for all sorts of coverings. Some are coverings which are Persian and of hide, which they use instead of shields.[4]
It also means any genitalia.[5]
And elsewhere Herodotus [writes]:[6] "Cyrus, dispensing with most of the military practices, left for the soldiers only the task of fighting with sword and shield and corslet."[7]
"And hoplites carrying wicker-shields had next to them ones with wooden shields that reached to their feet; these were said to be Egyptians."[8]

*ge/rroin: a)po\ staurou= fhsin *eu)/polis. kai\ *dhmosqe/nhs: ta\ ge/rra e)nepi/mprasan. kai\ oi( to/poi oi( peripefragme/noi: kai\ a)spi/des *persikai\ e)k lu/gwn. kai\ *ge/rra ta\ skepa/smata pa/nta *)attikoi/. tina\ de\ derma/tina skepa/smata kai\ *persika\, oi(=s a)nt' a)spi/dwn e)xrw=nto. shmai/nei de\ kai\ pa=n ai)doi=on. kai\ au)=qis *(hro/dotos: *ku=ros perielw\n ta\ polla\ tw=n polemikw=n kate/lipe mo/non to\ suno\n toi=s stratiw/tais maxai/ra| kai\ ge/rrw| kai\ qw/raki ma/xesqai. kai\ gerrofo/roi o(pli=tai e)xo/menoi tou/twn su\n podh/resi kai\ culi/nais a)spi/sin. *ai)gu/ptioi de\ ou(=toi e)le/gonto.

The first part of this entry is also in Photius and elsewhere. The headword is genitive/dative dual of ge/rron; see further, next note.
[1] Eupolis fr. 405 Kock (where however Kock emends the transmitted a)po\ staurou= to the infinitive a)postaurou=n: "to fence off with a pair of wickers"), now 440 K.-A.
[2] Demosthenes 18.169 (web address 1 below).
[3] cf. Aelius Dionysius fr. 105; see also gamma 178, gamma 199.
[4] Scholium to Plato, Laches 191C (where there is mention of "gerra-bearers" at the battle of Plataea).
[5] cf. gamma 177.
[6] Herodotus 7.61.1 mentions gerra (web address 2). But the quotation which follows is from Xenophon, for which see n.7.
[7] An abridgement of Xenophon, Cyropaedia 2.1.21 (web address 3).
[8] From the description of the Persian battle-order at the battle of Kounaxa: Xenophon, Anabasis 1.8.9 (web address 4).

Catharine Roth (added cross-references and keywords) on 13 July 2002@11:36:32.
David Whitehead (added keywords; cosmetics) on 14 July 2002@05:26:53.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; betacode and other cosmetics) on 6 June 2012@06:39:52.
David Whitehead on 6 June 2012@06:43:05.
Catharine Roth (typo, upgraded links) on 8 September 2012@01:38:53.
David Whitehead on 23 December 2014@10:26:14.

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