ΚΑΙ Κ’ EΤEΟΔΜΩΩΝ: PTOLEMY OF ASCALON’S READING OF OD. 16.305

This article argues that at Od. 16.305 καί κ’ ἐτεοδμώων is to be preferred to the medieval vulgate καί κέ τεο δμώων . The latter is metrically anomalous and semantically obscure, and its awkwardness prompted secondary variants and conflicting interpretations. By contrast, the reading associated with Ptolemy of Ascalon is metrically sound and semantically apt, meaning ‘true slaves’. The evidence further suggests that ἐτεοδμώων was already regarded in antiquity as an authentic manuscript reading. Since both readings derive from the same unaccented sequence ( ΚEΤEΟΔΜΩΩΝ ), the issue is not one of conjectural intervention but of correct division and interpretation. Future editions should therefore adopt καί κ’ ἐτεοδμώων .