[Meaning] of the recess; for they used to call hollows this by metaphor; hence also the cavities in Aetna are called 'craters'.[1]
Sophocles [writes]: "in the vicinity of a hollow crater."
*koi/lou krath=ros: tou= muxou=: ta\ ga\r koi=la ou(/tws e)ka/loun e)k metafora=s: o(/qen kai\ ta\ e)n th=| *ai)/tnh| koilw/mata krath=res kalou=ntai. *sofoklh=s: koi/lou pe/las krath=ros.
Sophocles,
Oedipus at Colonus 1593 (web address 1), with comments from the
scholia. The commentary derives from the fact that the original meaning of 'crater' (
krath/r), literally 'mixer', was a large open-mouthed vessel in which wine was mixed with water for consumption at symposia (cf.
kappa 2338). Generally modern scholars follow the
scholia here in reading
Sophocles' usage as metaphorical, referring to a cleft in the rock at Colonus, but some have suggested that he is referring to an actual mixing-bowl sunk in the ground to receive sacrificial liquids.
[1] For 'Aetna' (Etna) cf.
alphaiota 374,
alphaiota 375,
alphaiota 376. For
krath/r as the crater/mouth of a volcano see LSJ s.v., II.2.
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