λίθος — stone · Greek word G3037

A stone, Hom., etc.; esp. of the stones thrown by warriors, τρηχὺς λ., λ. ὀκριόεις, Il. 5.308, 8.327; also, stonequoit, Od. 8.190; ἑλέσθαι.. ἐκ γαίας λίθον A. Fr. 199.4; of building- stones, λίθοι βασιλικοί PSI 4.423.28, PCair.Zen. 499.20 (both iii B.C.): prov., ἐν παντὶ γάρ τοι σκορπίος φρουρεῖ λίθῳ S. Fr. 37; λίθον ἕψειν ‘to lose one’s labour’, Ar. V. 280; also of stupid persons, ‘blockheads’, λίθοι Id. Nu. 1202, cf. Thgn. 568, Pl. Hp.Ma. 292d, Gal. 9.656; λ. τις, οὐ δούλη Herod. 6.4; προσηγορεύθη διὰ τὸ μὴ φρονεῖν λ., of Niobe, Philem. 101; ὥσπερ λίθον ζῆν Pl. Grg. 494a sq.; λίθῳ λαλεῖς prov. of ἀναίσθητοι, Macar. 5.61.

2 stone as a substance, opp. wood, flesh, etc., ἐπεὶ οὔ σφι λ. χρὼς οὐδὲ σίδηρος Il. 4.510; λαοὺς δὲ λίθους ποίησε turned into stone, petrified, 24.611, cf. Pl. Smp. 198c; so [ νῆα] θεῖναι λ. Od. 13.156; as an emblem of hard-heartedness, σοὶ δ’ αἰεὶ κραδίη στερεωτέρη ἐστὶ λίθοιο 23.103, cf. Theoc. 3.18.

II λίθος, ἡ, twice in Hom., Il. 12.287, Od. 19.494, just like masc., also in Theoc. 7.26, Bion Fr. 1.2: later mostly of some special stone, as the magnet is called Μαγνῆτις λ. by E. Fr. 567 (but ἡ λίθος simply in Democr. 11k, Arist. Ph. 267a2, cf. v.l. de An. 405a20 ); also Λυδία λ. by S. Fr. 800 (but in B. Fr. 10 J. Λυδία λ. = touchstone); Ἡρακλεία λ. by Pl. Ion 533d, Epicur. Fr. 293; so of a touchstone, Pl. Grg. 486d; ἡ διαφανὴς λ. a piece of crystal used for a burning-glass, Ar. Nu. 767, cf. Luc. Alex. 21; χυτὴ λ. was perh. a kind of glass, and so an older name for ὕαλος, Epin. 1.8 (the same thing as the ἀρτήματα λίθινα χυτά in Hdt. 2.69; cf. τὴν ὕαλον.. ὅσα τε λίθων χυτὰ εἴδη καλεῖται Pl. Ti. 61c ); λ. = precious stone is fem. in Hp. Nat.Mul. 99, IG 22.1421.92, 1460.21, but masc. in Hdt. 2.44, etc.; in the sense of marble mostly masc., λευκὸς λ. Id. 4.87 (simply λίθος 1.164 ), S. Fr. 330 (λευκοὶ λ. is opp. πέτρινοι λ. Supp.Epigr. 4.446.8 (Didyma)); Πάριος λ. Pi. N. 4.81, Hdt. 3.57; Ταινάριος λ. Str. 8.5.7; λ. Θάσιος, Αἰγύπτιος, etc., Paus. 1.18.6, etc.; κογχίτης Id. 1.44.6; κογχυλιάτης X. An. 3.4.10; but Παρία λ. Theoc. 6.38, Luc. Am. 13; cf. λυχνίας, -ίτης; πώρινος λ. tufa, Hdt. 5.62.

2 collectively, πέφυκε λίθος.. ἄφθονος, ἐξ οὗ.. X. Vect. 1.4.

III grave-stone (fem.), Call. Epigr. 8.1.

IV at Athens, λίθος, ὁ, was a name for various blocks of stone used for rostra or platforms, as,

1 the βῆμα (q.v.) of the Pnyx, Ar. Ach. 683, Pax 680, Ec. 87.

2 another in the ἀγορά used by the κήρυκες, Plu. Sol. 8; prob. the same as ὁ πρατὴρ λ., on which the auctioneer stood when selling slaves, etc., Poll. 3.78, cf. 126.

3 an altar in the ἀγορά, at which the Thesmothetae, arbitrators, and witnesses took their oaths, Philoch. 65, D. 54.26 (restored from Harp. s.v. λίθος ), Arist. Ath. 7.1, 55.5, Plu. Sol. 25; cf. λιθωμότης.

4 two stones on which litigants stood in the Areopagus, Paus. 1.28.5.

V piece on a draughtboard, Alc. 82, Theoc. 6.18, cf. γραμμή 111.1: hence pron., πάντα λίθον κινεῖν Zen. 5.63 (who explains it differently).

VI Medic., stone in the bladder, calculus, Arist. HA 519b19, Hp. Morb. 4.55, al.

VII Δία λίθον ὀμνύναι, = Lat. Jovem lapidem jurare, Plb. 3.25.6.

VIII λίθοι χαλάζης hail- stones, LXX Jo. 10.11.

IX λ. ὁ οὐ λ. the philosophers’ stone, Zos. Alch. p.122 B.