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

AEGEUS. AEGIDIUS. 25
sacred to Aegeria, one near Aricia (Virg. Aen. vii. Fab. 26.) Aegeus was one of the eponymic
761, &c.; Ovid, Fast. iii. 263, &c.; Strab. v. heroes of Attica; and one of the Attic tribes
p. 239; Plut. Nzun. 4; Lactant. i. 22. ~ 1), and (Aegeis) derived its name from him. (Paus. i. 5.
the other near the city of Rome at the Porta ~ 2.) His grave, called the heroum of Aegeus, was
Capena, in the valley now called Caparella, where believed to be at Athens (Paus. i. 22. ~ 5), and
the sacred shield had fallen from heaven, and Pausanias mentions two statues of him, one at
where Numa was likewise believed to have had Athens and the other at Delphi, the latter of which
interviews with his beloved Camena. (Plut. Num. had been made of the tithes of the booty taken
13; Juv. iii.12.) Ovid (Met. xv. 431, &c.; by the Athenians at Marathon. (Paus. i. 5. ~ 2,
compare Strab. /. c.) relates that, after the death x. 10. ~ 1.)
of Numa, Aegeria fled into the shady grove in the 2. The eponymic hero of the phyle called the
vale of Aricia, and there disturbed by her lamen- Aegeidae at Sparta, was a son of Oeolycus, and
tations the worship of Diana which had been grandson of Theras, the founder of the colony in
brought thither from Tauris by Orestes, or, ac- Thera. (Herod. iv. 149.) All the Aegeids were
cording to others, by Hippolytus. Virgil (Aen. believed to be Cadmeans, who formed a settlement
vii. 761) makes Hippolytus and Aegeria the at Sparta previous to the Dorian conquest. There
parents of Virbius, who was undoubtedly a native is only this difference in the accounts, that, acItalian hero. This is one of the most remarkable cording to some, Aegeus was the leader of the
instances of the manner in which the worship of a Cadmean colonists at Sparta, while, according to
Greek divinity or hero was engrafted upon and Herodotus, they received their name of Aegeids
combined with a purely Italian worship. Aegeria from the later Aegeus, the son of Oeolycus. (Pind.
was regarded as a prophetic divinity, and also as 'Pth. v. 101; Isih. vii. 18, &c., with the Schol.)
the giver of life, whence she was invoked by There was at Sparta a heroum of Aegeus. (Paus.
pregnant women. (Festus, s. v. Egeriae; compare iii. 15. ~ 6; compare iv. 7. ~ 3.) [L. S.]
Wagner, Commedtatio de IEeriae fonte et 7specu AEGIALE or AEGIALEIA (AyiayLrl or
eiusque situ, Marburg, 1824; Hartung, Die Relig. Al'ylhlea), a daughter of Adrastus and Amder Rm-ir, ii. p. 203, &c. and 213, &c.) [L. S.] phithea, or of Aegialeus the son of Adrastus,
AEGIESUS. [ACESTES.] whence she bears the surname of Adrastine. (Hom.
AEGE US (AlirVs). 1. According to some II. v. 412; Apollod. i. 8. ~ 6, 9. ~ 13.) She was
accounts a son of Pandion II. king of Athens, and married to Diomedes, who, on his return from
of Pylia, while others call himn a son of Scyrius or Troy, found her living in adultery with Cometes.
Phemius, and state that he was only an adopted (Eustath, ad II. v. p. 566.) The hero attributed
son of Pandion. (Paus. i. 5. ~ 3, &c.; Schol. ad this misfortune to the anger of Aphrodite, whom
Lycoplr. 494; A1pollod. iii. 15. ~ 5.) Pandion he had wounded in the war against Troy, but
had been expelled from his kingdom by the when Aegiale went so far as to threaten his life,
Metionids, but Aegeus in conjunction with his he fled to Italy. (Schol. ad Lycophr. 610; Ov.
brothe.s, Pallas, Nysus, and Lycus restored him, Mliet. xiv. 476, &c.) According to Dictys Cretensis
and Aegeus being the eldest of the brothers suc- (vi. 2), Aegiale, like Clytemnestra, had been
ceeded Pandion. Aegeus first married Meta, a seduced to her criminal conduct by a treacherous
daughter of Hoples, and then Chalciope, the report, that Diomedes was returning with a Trojan
daughter of Rhexenor, neither of whom bore him woman who lived with him as his wife, and on his
any children. (Apollod. iii. 15. ~ 6,&c.) He ascrib- arrival at Argos Aegiale expelled him. In Ovid
ed this misfortune to the anger of Aphrodite, and (Ibis, 349) she is described as the type of a bad
in order to conciliate her introduced her worship wife. [L.S.]
at Athens. (Paus. i. 14. ~ 6.) Afterwards he begot AEGI'ALEUS (Ali'yTatevs). 1. A son of
Theseus by Aethra at Troezen. (Plut. Thes. 3; Adrastus and Amphithea or Demoanassa. (Apollod.
Apollod. iii. 15. ~ 7; Hygin. Fab. 37.) When i. 9. ~ 13; Hygin. Fab. 71.) He was the only
Theseus had grown up to manhood, and was in- one among the Epigones that fell in the war
formed of his descent, he went to Athens and de- against Thebes. (Apollod. iii. 7. ~ 3; Paus. ix. 5. ~7;
feated the fifty sons of his uncle Pallas, who compare ADRASTUS.) He was worshipped as a
claiming the kingly dignity of Athens, had made hero at Pegae in Megaris, and it was believed
war upon Aegeus and deposed him, and also that his body had been conveyed thither from
wished to exclude Theseus from the succession. Thebes and been buried there, (Paus. i. 44. ~ 7.)
(Plut. Thes. 13.) Aegeus was restored, but died 2. A son of Inachus and the Oceanid Melia,
soon after. His death is related in the following from whom the part of Peloponnesus aftermanner: When Theseus went to Crete to deliver wards called Achaia derived its name of Aegialeia.
Athens from the tribute it had to pay to Minos, (Apollod. ii. 1. ~ 1.) According to a Sicyonian
he promised his father that on his return he would tradition he was an autochthon, brother of Phorohoist white sails as a signal of his safety. On his neus and first king of Sicyon, to whom the
approach to the coast of Attica he forgot his foundation of the town of Aegialeia was ascribed.
promise, and his father, who was watching on a (Paus. ii. 5. ~ 5, vii. 1. ~ 1.)
rock on the.seacoast, on perceiving the black sail, 3. A son of Aeites. [AusYaiTus.] [L. S.]
thought that his son had perished and threw him- AEGI'DIUS, a Roman commander in Gaul
self into the sea, which according to some tradi- under Majorianus. (A. D. 457-461.) After the
tions received from this event the name of the death of the latter, he maintained an independent
Aegaean sea. (Plut. Thes. 22; Diod. iv. 61; sovereignty in Gaul, and was elected by the Franks
Pads. i. 22. ~ 5; Hygin. Fab.,43; Serv. ad Aen. iii. as their king, after they had banished CLilderic.
"74.) Medeia, who was believed to have spent Four years afterwards, Childeric was restored; but
some time at Athens on her retu-rn from Corinth Aegidius did not oppose his return, and he retained
to Colchis, is said to have become mother of a son, his influence in Gaul till his death. (Gregor. TuMedus, by Aegeus. (Apolloid i 9. ~ 28; Hysgin. on. ii. 12.)