ponos
idea · 2 works · 12 mentions · 18 anchored passages
toil · labor · ordeal · trouble · ordeals · stress · the struggle · working
in the texts
Iliad
The concept of toil, labor, or stress endured in war, named explicitly with the bracketed Greek term ponos.
They were in such haste and stress [ ponos] as they bore him that no one thought of drawing the spear from his thigh so as to let him walk uprightly.
but Antilokhos the son of Nestor saw him and sprang forward, fearing that the king might come to harm and thus bring all their labor [ ponos] to nothing;
but they could not ask him how it had all happened, for they had too much pain [ ponos] with the turmoil raised by Ares and by Strife, who raged insatiably in their midst.
Odyssey
The concept of an ordeal or grueling toil, explicitly glossed as the kind of struggle Odysseus is drawn to.
"‘You dare-devil,’ replied the goddess, ‘you are always wanting to fight somebody or something and to undergo an ordeal [ ponos];
but the others, when they had finished their work and the feast was ready, left off working [ ponos], and took each his proper place on the benches and seats.
Then, when they had finished their labor [ ponos] and the meal was ready, they ate it, and every man had his full share so that all were satisfied.