About
Menu

λίθος

λίθος, λίθος, λίθου, ὁ, stone

λίθος [ῐ], ου, ὁ (v. infr. II),
  • stone, Hom., etc.; esp. of the stones thrown by warriors, τρηχὺς λ., λ. ὀκριόεις, Il. 5.308, 8.327; also, stonequoit, Od. 8.190; ἑλέσθαι . . ἐκ γαίας λίθον A. Fr. 199.4; of building- stones, λίθοι βασιλικοί PSI 4.423.28, PCair.Zen. 499.20 (both iii B.C.): prov., ἐν παντὶ γάρ τοι σκορπίος φρουρεῖ λίθῳ S. Fr. 37; λίθον ἕψειν ‘to lose oneʼs labour’, Ar. V. 280; also of stupid persons, ‘blockheads’, λίθοι Id. Nu. 1202, cf. Thgn. 568, Pl. Hp.Ma. 292d, Gal. 9.656; λ. τις, οὐ δούλη Herod. 6.4; προσηγορεύθη διὰ τὸ μὴ φρονεῖν λ., of Niobe, Philem. 101; ὥσπερ λίθον ζῆν Pl. Grg. 494a sq.; λίθῳ λαλεῖς prov. of ἀναίσθητοι, Macar. 5.61.
      • 2 stone as a substance, opp. wood, flesh, etc., ἐπεὶ οὔ σφι λ. χρὼς οὐδὲ σίδηρος Il. 4.510; λαοὺς δὲ λίθους ποίησε turned into stone, petrified, 24.611, cf. Pl. Smp. 198c; so [νῆα] θεῖναι λ. Od. 13.156; as an emblem of hard-heartedness, σοὶ δʼ αἰεὶ κραδίη στερεωτέρη ἐστὶ λίθοιο 23.103, cf. Theoc. 3.18.
    • II λίθος, ἡ, twice in Hom., Il. 12.287, Od. 19.494, just like masc., also in Theoc. 7.26, Bion Fr. 1.2: later mostly of some special stone, as the magnet is called Μαγνῆτις λ. by E. Fr. 567 (but ἡ λίθος simply in Democr. 11k, Arist. Ph. 267a2, cf. v.l. de An. 405a20); also Λυδία λ. by S. Fr. 800 (but in B. Fr. 10 J. Λυδία λ. = touchstone); Ἡρακλεία λ. by Pl. Ion 533d, Epicur. Fr. 293; so of a touchstone, Pl. Grg. 486d; ἡ διαφανὴς λ. a piece of crystal used for a burning-glass, Ar. Nu. 767, cf. Luc. Alex. 21; χυτὴ λ. was perh. a kind of glass, and so an older name for ὕαλος, Epin. 1.8 (the same thing as the ἀρτήματα λίθινα χυτά in Hdt. 2.69; cf. τὴν ὕαλον . . ὅσα τε λίθων χυτὰ εἴδη καλεῖται Pl. Ti. 61c); λ. = precious stone is fem. in Hp. Nat.Mul. 99, IG 2(2).1421.92, 1460.21, but masc. in Hdt. 2.44, etc.; in the sense of marble mostly masc., λευκὸς λ. Id. 4.87 (simply λίθος 1.164), S. Fr. 330 (λευκοὶ λ. is opp. πέτρινοι λ. Supp.Epigr. 4.446.8 (Didyma)); Πάριος λ. Pi. N. 4.81, Hdt. 3.57; Ταινάριος λ. Str. 8.5.7; λ. Θάσιος, Αἰγύπτιος, etc., Paus. 1.18.6, etc.; κογχίτης Id. 1.44.6; κογχυλιάτης X. An. 3.4.10; but Παρία λ. Theoc. 6.38, Luc. Am. 13; cf. λυχνίας, -ίτης; πώρινος λ. tufa, Hdt. 5.62.
      • 2 collectively, πέφυκε λίθος . . ἄφθονος, ἐξ οὗ . . X. Vect. 1.4.
    • III grave-stone (fem.), Call. Epigr. 8.1.
    • IV at Athens, λίθος, ὁ, was a name for various blocks of stone used for rostra or platforms, as,
      • 1 the βῆμα (q.v.) of the Pnyx, Ar. Ach. 683, Pax 680, Ec. 87.
      • 2 another in the ἀγορά used by the κήρυκες, Plu. Sol. 8; prob. the same as ὁ πρατὴρ λ., on which the auctioneer stood when selling slaves, etc., Poll. 3.78, cf. 126.
      • 3 an altar in the ἀγορά, at which the Thesmothetae, arbitrators, and witnesses took their oaths, Philoch. 65, D. 54.26 (restored from Harp. s.v. λίθος), Arist. Ath. 7.1, 55.5, Plu. Sol. 25; cf. λιθωμότης.
      • 4 two stones on which litigants stood in the Areopagus, Paus. 1.28.5.
    • V piece on a draughtboard, Alc. 82, Theoc. 6.18, cf. γραμμή III.1: hence pron., πάντα λίθον κινεῖν Zen. 5.63 (who explains it differently).
    • VI Medic., stone in the bladder, calculus, Arist. HA 519b19, Hp. Morb. 4.55, al.
    • VII Δία λίθον ὀμνύναι, = Lat. Jovem lapidem jurare, Plb. 3.25.6.
    • VIII λίθοι χαλάζης hail- stones, LXX Jo. 10.11.
    • IX λ. ὁ οὐ λ. the philosophers’ stone, Zos. Alch. p.122 B.

Saved

Recent