The Siren Vase — Odysseus bound to the mast; Attic red-figure, c. 480 BC, British Museum
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Odyssey 3.136 · Book 3, lines 136–140

A meeting called at sundown

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ἥ τʼ ἔριν Ἀτρεΐδῃσι μετʼ ἀμφοτέροισιν ἔθηκε. τὼ δὲ καλεσσαμένω ἀγορὴν ἐς πάντας Ἀχαιούς, μάψ, ἀτὰρ οὐ κατὰ κόσμον, ἐς ἠέλιον καταδύντα, οἱ ἦλθον οἴνῳ βεβαρηότες υἷες Ἀχαιῶν, μῦθον μυθείσθην, τοῦ εἵνεκα λαὸν ἄγειραν.

She it was who set strife between both the sons of Atreus. The two of them, summoning all the Achaeans to assembly — rashly, and not in due order, at the setting of the sun — they came, the sons of the Achaeans, heavy with wine, and spoke their word, for whose sake they had gathered the host.

Word by word

hḗ[she] whoτʼt’(and)ἔρινérinstrifeἈτρεΐδῃσιAtreḯdēisibetween the Atreidaeμετʼmet’(among)ἀμφοτέροισινamphotéroisinbothἔθηκεéthēkeset.τὼtṑ[the] twoδὲ(and)καλεσσαμένωkalessaménōhaving summonedἀγορὴνagorḕnan assemblyἐςes(to)πάνταςpántasallἈχαιούςAchaioústhe Achaeans,μάψmápsrashly,ἀτὰρatàrandοὐounotκατὰkatàinκόσμονkósmondue order,ἐςesatἠέλιονēélionthe sunκαταδύνταkatadýntasetting,οἱhoitheyἦλθονêlthoncameοἴνῳoínōiwith wineβεβαρηότεςbebarēótesheavyυἷεςhuîesthe sonsἈχαιῶνAchaiônof the Achaeans,μῦθονmŷthona wordμυθείσθηνmytheísthēnthe two spoke,τοῦtoûfor whoseεἵνεκαheínekasakeλαὸνlaònthe hostἄγειρανágeiranthey had gathered.

The setting

Nestor pinpoints how Athena's anger worked in practice: she split the two commanders, Agamemnon and Menelaus, and a disorderly assembly followed.

A note on this passage

Nestor names the exact form the goddess's anger took: she set strife between Agamemnon and Menelaus. The brothers call the whole army to assembly, and everything about the meeting is wrong — done on impulse, in no proper order, at sundown, with the men already heavy with wine.

In Homer's world a lawful assembly belongs to the morning, sober, held κατὰ κόσμον, in due order. Here every mark of good procedure is inverted, and the piled-up wrongness is not just color: it is how divine ruin shows itself, as a breakdown of custom. Before a single fatal word is spoken, the scene tells you the decision will be a bad one — the seed of Agamemnon's long doom is a badly called meeting.

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