Ζεὺς αὐτὸς ἐρίγδουπος πόσις Ἥρης
At 10.5 Zeus is named only as “the husband of Hera with her beautiful hair” (πόσις Ἥρης ἠϋκόμοιο); here, his name is combined with the epithet phrase “the loud-sounding husband of Hera.” These two epithets reveal more about how oral traditional language operates within composition-in-performance. Zeus is called the husband of Hera with these two formulas, and Alexander is called “radiant Alexander, the husband of Helen, with her beautiful hair” (δῖος Ἀλέξανδρος Ἑλένης πόσις ἠϋκόμοιο, Iliad 3.329 = 7.355 = 8.82; see also Iliad 11.369 and 11.505, where δῖος is replaced by αὐτάρ and εἰ μή, respectively). In Homeric diction the word πόσις is used in other cases, such as that of Hektor as the husband of Andromache (Iliad 6.484, 8.190, 22.439) and of Odysseus as the husband of Penelope in the Odyssey (18.253, 19.126, 19.549), when the wife of a man is part of his epic identity and so is used in naming him within the tradition. In the case of Paris and Zeus, then, that key relationship has been fashioned into traditional epithets. Their epithets that include the adjective ἠϋκόμοιο have likely been formed by analogy. Parry notes that the formula found on this line is especially associated with prayer, whether expressing a wish or calling Zeus to witness oaths (MHV 181–182; for an oath, compare Iliad 7.411). See above on 10.305 for the prefix ἐρι-.