Beazley, quoted by Fraenkel ad loc., has suggested that τρίτον Άθῷον αἶπος Ζηνὁς alludes to τρίτος (Σωτήρ) Ζεύς. The role played by Ζεὺς Σωτήρ in the religious thought of Aeschylus and in his treatment of the Oresteia myth is important (cf. Fraenkel on 1387), but this is not by itself sufficient to prove the allusion here. The route Ida-Lemnos-Athos shows no signs of having been artificially contrived in order to bring Athos into the third place, and while Aeschylus evidently intends to give the signal a divine send-off, so to speak, with the triad Hephaestus, Hermes and Zeus, the importation of a particular Zeus into the context makes no useful contribution to this end. τρίτον may undoubtedly evoke thoughts Σωτήρ, but Aeschylean evocations of thought usually have point; hence, perhaps, the caution detectable in Fraenkel's approach to Beazley's suggestion. Our doubts may be resolved by the fact that even if we restrict τρίτον to the literal sense, Σωτήρ is already present in the context by implication, in the word Ἀθῷον. No audience could distinguish between Ἀθῷον and ἀθῷον, and three of the manuscripts have not succeeded in doing so either (ἄθωον MFTr). Aeschylus frequently embarks on word-play, particularly with proper names (see, e.g., Suppl. 45–7, 315; PV 732–4, 848–52; Ag. 681 ff.; Αἰτν. fr. 27 Mette), and in some of the cases is probably exercising the poet's prerogative to coin his own etymologies, but this may be an instance drawn from popular usage. Athos, rising to a height of 2033 m.
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