[144] The explanation of Athenæus (Bk. I. 16, 22 and 46) is ingenious. Homer never represents fish or birds, or vegetables, or fruit “as being put on the table to eat, lest to mention them would seem like praising gluttony, thinking besides there would be a want of decorum in dwelling on the preparation of such things, which he considered beneath the dignity of Gods and Heroes.” The latest explanation—by Professor J. A. Scott, _Class. Journ._; _Chicago_, 1916-17, p. 329—that “Homer looked upon fish with great disfavour, because as a native of Asia Minor he had been trained to regard fish as an unhealthful and distasteful food to be eaten only as a last resort,” would attain nearer “what seems the solution of this vexed question” (Scott’s words), if he produced (1) data establishing Homer’s country of birth, and (2) evidence far stronger than “Tips to Archæological Travellers” (even though these be written by Sir Wm. Ramsay) as regards the general “unhealthfulness” of the fish of Asia Minor. [145] Schrader, _Reallexikon_ (Strassburg, 1901), p. 244, states that in neither the Avesta nor the Rig-Veda is there any mention of fishing, nor in the Aryan period were there any common names for fish, and that throughout the Homeric age, which generally knows fishing as an existent occupation, there still seems to be a recollection of a time when the Greek hero ate fish just as little as he rode, wrote, or cooked soup! [146] It is but fair, however, to add that the Scholiast notes this passage as the only one in the _Iliad_ where fish is mentioned as a food, while Monro makes the ingenious comment that these oysters, or shell fish, are to be regarded not as luxuries, but as a way of satisfying the hunger of a crew at sea. Of oysters this is the only mention in the Homeric Poems. As oyster shells and even unopened oyster shells were found by Dr. Schliemann at Mycenæ, the liking for oysters is not likely to have been lost between the Mycenæan and the Homeric times. The remains of the Homeric (sixth) city at Troy yielded very many cockle shells, but of cockles there seems no mention in the poems. Numerous representations of fishes are found on Mycenæan and Cretan works of art. [147] J. W. Mackail, _Lectures on Greek Poetry_ (London, 1910), p. 47. [148] Monro’s Note on _Iliad_, XVIII. 468-608. [149] Presidential Address to the British Association, 1916. [150] Eustathius (on _Il._, V. 487) after stating that by the Homeric heroes fishing and fowling were very rarely employed, continues Οὐκ ἠσαν ὑδροθῆραι παρ’ αὐτοῖς εἰ μὴ ἄρα ἐν λιμῷ. [151] _Od._, VI. 102 ff. W. W. Merry _ad loc._ well compares Soph. _El._, 566 ff. [152] G. Rodenwaldt in _Tiryns_ (Athens, 1912), II. 96 ff. pls. 12 f. CHAPTER II HOMER—METHODS OF FISHING Whether Homer lived before or after the adoption of fish as a food, we find in the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ several references to fishing with the Spear, the Net, the Hand-line, and the Rod.