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Eupolis says a)po\ staurou= ["from a fence"].[1]
And Demosthenes [writes]: "and they set the wickers on fire."[2] And [sc. the term can also mean] places which are fenced in; also Persian shields [made] out of twigs.[3]
And Attic [writers use] gerra for all sorts of coverings. Some are coverings which are Persian and of hide, which they use instead of shields.[4]
It also means any genitalia.[5]
And elsewhere Herodotus [writes]:[6] "Cyrus, dispensing with most of the military practices, left for the soldiers only the task of fighting with sword and shield and corslet."[7]
"And hoplites carrying wicker-shields had next to them ones with wooden shields that reached to their feet; these were said to be Egyptians."[8]

Gerroin: apo staurou phêsin Eupolis. kai Dêmosthenês: ta gerra enepimprasan. kai hoi topoi hoi peripephragmenoi: kai aspides Persikai ek lugôn. kai Gerra ta skepasmata panta Attikoi. tina de dermatina skepasmata kai Persika, hois ant' aspidôn echrônto. sêmainei de kai pan aidoion. kai authis Hêrodotos: Kuros perielôn ta polla tôn polemikôn katelipe monon to sunon tois stratiôtais machairai kai gerrôi kai thôraki machesthai. kai gerrophoroi hoplitai echomenoi toutôn sun podêresi kai xulinais aspisin. Aiguptioi de houtoi elegonto.

The first part of this entry is also in Photius and elsewhere. The headword is genitive/dative dual of ge/rron; see further, next note.
[1] Eupolis fr. 405 Kock (where however Kock emends the transmitted a)po\ staurou= to the infinitive a)postaurou=n: "to fence off with a pair of wickers"), now 440 K.-A.
[2] Demosthenes 18.169 (web address 1 below).
[3] cf. Aelius Dionysius fr. 105; see also gamma 178, gamma 199.
[4] Scholium to Plato, Laches 191C (where there is mention of "gerra-bearers" at the battle of Plataea).
[5] cf. gamma 177.
[6] Herodotus 7.61.1 mentions gerra (web address 2). But the quotation which follows is from Xenophon, for which see n.7.
[7] An abridgement of Xenophon, Cyropaedia 2.1.21 (web address 3).
[8] From the description of the Persian battle-order at the battle of Kounaxa: Xenophon, Anabasis 1.8.9 (web address 4).

Catharine Roth (added cross-references and keywords) on 13 July 2002@11:36:32.
David Whitehead (added keywords; cosmetics) on 14 July 2002@05:26:53.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; betacode and other cosmetics) on 6 June 2012@06:39:52.
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Catharine Roth (typo, upgraded links) on 8 September 2012@01:38:53.
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