[71] Cp. _Iliad_, xxii., 406, 470. [72] _Ibid._, xxii., 468 f. [73] _Odyssey_, xvi., 173; xxiii., 155, etc. The various parts which composed this head-dress have given rise to much discussion. The passage runs: τῆλε δ᾽ ἀπὸ κρατὸς βάλε δέσματα σιγαλόεντα, ἄμπυκα κεκρύφαλόν τε ἰδὲ πλεκτὴν ἀναδέσμην κρήδεμνόν θ᾽. [_Iliad_, xxii., 468.] “And far from her head she flung the shining bonds, diadem and kerchief, and meshy net and veil.” The δέσματα σιγαλόεντα are explained by the words which follow, and which stand in apposition. No question is raised as to the nature of the ἄμπυξ; it was a metal diadem like the στεφάνη, worn across the front of the hair. The κρήδεμνον has already been explained; the κεκρύφαλος and the πλεκτὴ ἀναδέσμη need some comment. The former is sometimes taken to mean a “net,” but it will be shown later that this meaning is better applied to the πλεκτὴ ἀναδέσμη; the word κεκρύφαλος is obviously connected with the verb κρύπτω to cover, and therefore means “something which covers,” “a covering.” In all probability, then, the κεκρύφαλος is simply a kerchief worn on top of the head behind the ἄμπυξ. The ἀναδέσμη is obviously something which serves to bind up (ἀναδέω) the hair and hold it in place, which is the proper function of a net. The epithet πλεκτή, which Helbig[74] has tried to explain as “folded,” means primarily “plaited”; it is applied elsewhere in the Homeric poems to baskets,[75] which shows its perfect appropriateness to the meshes of a net. We need give no other meaning, then, to the πλεκτὴ ἀναδέσμη, but can easily explain it as a net that confined the long hair behind. This completes the head-dress proper, the κρήδεμνον being a separate scarf or shawl worn over it. [74] _Das Homerische Epos_, p. 157, f. [75] _Iliad_, xviii., 40. The women’s dress in Homer is completed by sandals, and for ornament they wore, in addition to the brooches which fastened their clothes, ear-rings and necklaces of varied workmanship; the γναμπταὶ ἕλικες and κάλυκες of which we read[76] are perhaps spiral-shaped brooches and ear-rings or necklaces in the shape of lilies, such as have been found in the later Mycenæan graves. [76] _Odyssey_, ix., 247.