Αλς

Hals (the Sea) was the name of an enchantress, the servant and companion of Circe. She was said to be of Etruscan origin, and to have given her name to some sort of a city called Halos Pyrgos, or the Tower of Hals, in Etruria. When Odysseus paid his second visit to Circe (in the legends which described a sequel to the Odyssey) he visited Hals, who used her spells to transform him into a horse. She kept him by her side and fed him well until he died of old age. This legend was intended to explain the mysterious verse in the Odyssey, which foretold that death would come to Odysseus 'from the Sea'.

{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}

Hals (?), n. [AS. heals; akin to D., G., & Goth. hals. See Collar.]

The neck or throat.

[Obs.]

Do me hangen by the hals. Chaucer.

 

© Webster 1913.

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