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Search results for pi,3251 in Adler number:
Headword:
*purfo/ros
Adler number: pi,3251
Translated headword: fire-bearer
Vetting Status: high
Translation: [Meaning someone] carrying fire. They used to call 'fire-bearers' the priests kindling the fire on an altar. So during wars those who won were in the habit of sparing the priests. When defeat and destruction in war had been total, however, the custom was to employ exaggeration and say that the losses were such that not even a fire-bearer -- the same as saying a priest -- remained from the army.[1]
Greek Original:*purfo/ros: pu=r fe/rwn. purfo/rous de\ e)/legon tou\s i(ere/as tou\s e)pibw/mion pu=r a)na/ptontas. e)n toi=s ou)=n pole/mois ei)w/qasi tw=n i(ere/wn oi( nenikhko/tes fei/desqai. e)pi\ de\ tw=n pantelw=s h(tthqe/ntwn kai\ sumpathqe/ntwn e)n tw=| pole/mw|, ei)w/qasin u(perbolh=| xrw/menoi ou(/tws le/gein, o(/ti ou(/tws a)pw/lonto, w(/ste ou)de\ purfo/ros [tau)to\n de\ ei)pei=n i(ereu/s] u(pelei/fqh tw=| stratw=|.
Notes:
Likewise or similarly in other lexica (and elsewhere): references at
Photius pi1579 Theodoridis.
For a different, impersonal sense of the headword see
pi 3252.
[1] cf.
omicron 813,
omicron 814.
Translated by: David Whitehead on 30 September 2002@07:00:20.
Vetted by:
No. of records found: 1
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