ἑστιοῦχον … πόλιν, the city containing the “ἑστίαι” of those on whose flesh the bird has fed. The sing. is used, although several “πόλεις” are concerned, since the case of one city is the case of all. For the adj., cp. Aesch. Pers. 510 “ἥκουσιν ἐκφυγόντες, οὐ πολλοί τινες, ι ἐφ᾽ ἑστιοῦχον γαῖαν”, ‘the land of their homes.’ Eur. Andr. 283 “ἑστιοῦχον αὐλάν”, the abode that contains his hearth. Here, the word serves to suggest a pollution of hearth and altar (1016). Pollution, in a ceremonial sense, could be brought by the “ὀσμή”, even without an actual transport of carrion. And it is only the birds that are said to carry the taint.—See Appendix on 1080 ff.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part III: The Antigone. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1900.
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