A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

108 ALCYONE.
and when Hyllus had cut off the head of Eurystheus, Alcmene satisfied her revenge by picking
the eyes out of the head. (Apollod. ii. 8. ~ 1.)
The accounts of her death are very discrepant.
According to Pausanias (i. 41. ~ 1), she died in
Megaris, on her way from Argos to Thebes, and
as the sons of Heracles disagreed as to whether
she was to be carried to Argos or to Thebes, she
was buried in the place where she had died, at the
command of an oracle. According to Plutarch,
(De Gen. Socr. p. 578,) her tomb and that of Rhadamanthys were at Haliartus in Boeotia, and hers
was opened by Agesilaus, for the purpose of carrying her remains to Sparta. According to Pherecydes (Cap. Anton. Lib. 33), she lived with her
sons, after the death of Eurystheus, at Thebes,
and died there at an advanced age. When the
sons of Heracles wished to bury her, Zeus sent
Hermes to take her body away, and to carry it to
the islands of the blessed, and give her in marriage
there to Rhadamanthys. Hermes accordingly took
her out of her coffin, and put into it a stone so
heavy that the Heraclids could not move it from
the spot. When, on opening the coffin, they found
-the stone, they erected it in a grove near Thebes,
which in later times contained the sanctuary of
Alcmene. (Paus. ix. 16. ~ 4.) At Athens, too,
she was worshipped as a heroine, and an altar was
erected to her in the temple of Heracles. (Cynosarges,
Paus. i. 19. ~ 3.) She was represented on the chest
of Cypselus (Paus. v. 18. ~ 1), and epic as well as
tragic poets made frequent use of her story, though
no poem of the kind is now extant. (Hes. Scut. Herc.
init.; Paus. v. 17. ~ 4, 18. ~ 1.) [L. S.]
ALCON or ALCO (AAKCV). 1. A son of Hippocoon, and one of the Calydonian hunters, was
killed, together with his father and brothers, by
Heracles, and had a heroum at Sparta. (Apollod.
iii. 10. ~ 5; Hygin. Fab. 173; Paus. iii. 14. ~ 7,
15. ~ 3.)
2. A son of Erechtheus, king of Athens, and
father of Phalerus the Argonaut. (Apollon. Rhod.
i. 97; Hygin. Fab. 14.) Valerius Flaccus (i. 399,
&c.) represents him as such a skilful archer, that
once, when a serpent had entwined his son, he
shot the serpent without hurting his child. Virgil
(Eclog. v. 11) mentions an Alcon, whom Servius
calls a Cretan, and of whom he relates almost the
same story as that which Valerius Flaccus ascribes
to Alcon, the son of Erechtheus.
Two other personages of the same name occur in
Cicero (de Nat. Deer. iii. 21), and in Hyginus.
(Fab. 173.) [L. S.]
ALCON, a surgeon (vulnerum medicus) at Rome
in the reign of Claudius, A. D. 41-54, who is said
by Pliny (H. N. xxix. 8) to have been banished
to Gaul, and to have been fined ten million of
sesterces: H.S. eenties cent. mill. (about 78,1251.).
After his return from banishment, he is said to
have gained by his practice an equal sum within a
few years, which, however, seems so enormous
(compare ALBUCIUS and AaRUNTIUS), that there
must probably be some mistake in the text. A
surgeon of the same name, who is mentioned by
Martial (Epigr. xi. 84) as a contemporary, may
possibly be the same person. [W. A. G.]
ALCON, a statuary mentioned by Pliny. (H.N.
xxxiv. 14. s. 40.) He was the author of a statue
of Hercules at Thebes, made of iron, as symbolical
of the god's endurance of labour. [C. P. M.]
ALCY'ON E or HALCY'ONE ('AAXKiU'o).

ALEA.
1. A Pleiad, a daughter of Atlas and Pleione, by
whom Poseidon begot Aethusa, Hyrieus and Hyperenor.. (Apollod. iii. 10. ~ 1; Ilygin. Praef.
Fab. p. 11, ed. Staveren; Ov. Heroid. xix. 133.)
To these children Pausanias (ii. 30. ~ 7) adds two
others, Hyperes and Anthas.
2. A daughter of Aeolus and Enarete or Aegiale.
She was married to Ceyx, and lived so happy with
him, that they were presumptuous enough to call
each other Zeus and Hera, for which Zeus metamorphosed them into birds, dhlcUKV and Kij5v.
(Apollod. i. 7. ~ 3, &c.; Hygin. Fab. 65.) Hyginus
relates that Ceyx perished in a shipwreck, that
Alcyone for grief threw herself into the sea, and
that the gods, out of compassion, changed the two
into birds. It was fabled, that during the seven
days before, and as many after, the shortest day of
the year, while the bird dcKvWu, was breeding,
there always prevailed calms at sea. An embellished form of the same story is given by Ovid,
(Met. xi. 410, &c.; comp. Virg. Geory. i. 399.)
3. A surname of Cleopatra, the wife of Meleager, who died with grief at her husband beinc
killed by Apollo. (Hom. II. ix. 562; Eustath
ad Hom. p. 776; Hygin. Fab. 174.) [L. S.]
ALCY'ONEUS ('AXcvovess). 1. A giant, wh(
kept possession of the Isthmus of Corinth at th<
time when Heracles drove away the oxen o
Geryon. The giant attacked him, crushed twelvi
waggons and twenty-four of the men of Heracle
with a huge block of stone. Heracles himsel
warded off the stone with his club and slew Alcy
oneus. The block, with which the giant had at
tempted the life of Heracles, was shewn on th
Isthmus down to a very late period. (Pind. New
iv. 44, with the Schol.) In another passage (Ist/
vi. 45, &c.) Pindar calls Alcyoneus a Thracia:
shepherd, and places the struggle with him in th
Phlegraean plains.
2. One of the giants. [GIGANTES.] [L. S.]
ALCYO'NIDES ('AAholIss), the daughter
of the giant Alcyoneus (2). After their father
death, they threw themselves into the sea, an
were changed into ice-birds. Their names ai
Phthonia, Anthe, Methone, Alcippe, Pallenm
Drimo, and Asteria. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 776
Suidas, s. v. 'AAcvoviass.) [L. S.]
A'LEA ('AAsa), a surname of Athena, und(
which she was worshipped at Alea, Mantinei;
and Tegea. (Paus. viii. 23. ~ 1, 9. ~ 3, ii. 17. ~ 7
The temple of Athena Alea at Tegea, which w<
the oldest, was said to have been built by Aleu
the son of Apheidas, from whom the goddess pr
bably derived this surname. (Paus. viii. 4. ~ 5
This temple was burnt down in B. c. 394, at
a new one built by Scopas, which in size at
splendour surpassed all other temples in Pelopo
nesus, and was surrounded by a triple row
columns of different orders. The statue of t]
goddess, which was made by Endoeus all of ivor
was subsequently carried to Rome by Augustus
adorn the Forum Augusti. (Paus. viii. 45. ~ 4, 4
~ 1 and 2, 47. ~ 1.) The temple of Athena Al
at Tegea was an ancient and revered asylum, ai
the names of many persons are recorded who say
themselves by seeking refuge in it. (Paus. iii.
~ 6, ii. 17. ~ 7, iii. 7. ~ 8.) The priestess
Athena Alea at Tegea was always a maiden, w
held her office only until she reached the age
puberty. (Paus. viii. 47. ~ 2.) Respecting t
architecture and the sculptures of this temple, f