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

AEGUS.
to be surprised by the return of Agamemnon, he
sent out spies, and when Agamemnon came,
Aegisthus invited him to a repast at which he had
him treacherously murdered. (Hoem. Od. iv. 524,
&c.; Paus. ii. 16. ~ 5.) After this event Aegisthus
reigned seven years longer over Mycenae, until in
the eighth Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, returned home and avenged the death of his father
by putting the adulterer to death. (Hom. Od. i.
28, &c.; compare AGAMEMNON, CLYTEMNESTRA,
ORESTES.) [L. S.]
AEGLE (Ai7yXtn). 1. The most beautiful of the
Naiads, daughter of Zeus and Neaera (Virg. Eclog.
vi. 20), by whom Helios begot the Charites.
(Paus. ix. 35. ~ 1.)
2. A sister of Phaeton, and daughter of Helios
and Clymene. (Hygin. Fab 154, 156.) In her
grief at the death of her brother she and her sisters
were changed into poplars.
3. One of the Hesperides. (Apollod. ii. 5. ~ 11;
Serv. ad Aen. iv. 484; comp. HESPERIDES.)
4. A nymph, daughter of Panopeus, who was
beloved by Theseus, and for whom he forsook Ariadne. (Plut. Thes. 20; Athen. xiii. p. 557.) [L. S.]
AEGLE (AYyAq), one of the daughters of
Aesculapius (Plin. IH. N. xxxv. 40. ~ 31) by
Lampetia, the daughter of the Sun, according to
Hermippus (ap. Schol. in Aristopkh. Plut. 701), or
by Epione, according to Suidas. (s. v. 'Hiriv.)
She is said to have derived her name Aegle,
" Brightness," or " Splendour," either from the
beauty of the human body when in good health,
or from the honour paid to the medical profession.
(J. H. Meibom. Comment. in Hippocr. " Jusjur."
Lugd. Bat. 1643, 4to. c. 6. ~ 7, p. 55.) [W.A.G.]
AEGLE'IS (AIyATqis), a daughter of Hyacinthus
who had emigrated from Lacedaemon to Athens.
During the siege of Athens by Minos, in the reign
of Aegeus, she together with her sisters Antheis,
Lytaea, and Orthaea, were sacrificed on the tomb
of Geraestus the Cyclop, for the purpose of averting a pestilence then raging at Athens. (Apollod.
iii. 15. ~ 8.) [L. S.]
AEGLES (Af'yA7ls), a Samian athlete, who was
dumb, recovered his voice when he made an effort
on one occasion to express his indignation at an
attempt to impose upon him in a public contest.
(Gell. v. 9; Val. Max. i. 8, ext. 4.)
AEGLE'TES (AiyATvs), that is, the radiant
god, a surname of Apollo. (Apollon. Rhod. iv.
1730; Apollod. i. 9. ~ 26; Hesych. s. v.) [L. S.]
AEGO'BOLUS (Al-yoed\os), the goat-killer, a
surname of Dionysus, at Potniae in Boeotia.
(Paus. ix. 8. ~ 1.) [L. S.]
AEGO'CERUS (Alyoicepwos), a surname of Pan,
descriptive of his figure with the horns of a goat,
but is more commonly the name given to one of the
signs of the Zodiac. (Lucan, ix. 536; Lucret. v.
614; C. Caes. Germ. inArat. 213.) [L. S.]
AEGO'PHAGUS (Aiyo pdcyos), the goat-eater,
a surname of Hera, under which she was worshipped by the Lacedaemonians. (Paus. iii. 15. ~ 7;
Hesych. and Etym. M. s. v.) [L. S.]
AEGUS and ROSCILLUS, two chiefs of the
Allobroges, who had served Caesar with great
fidelity in the Gallic war, and were treated by
him with great distinction. They accompanied
him in his campaigns against Pompey, but having
been reproved by Caesar on account of depriving
the cavalry of its pay and appropriating the booty
to themselves, they deserted to Pompey in Greece.

AELIA GENS. 27
(Caes. Bell. Civ. iii. 59, 60.) Aegus was afterwards killed in an engagement between the cavalry
of Caesar and Pompey. (iii. 84.)
AEGYPTUS (ATyvrTos), a son of Belus and
Anchinoe or Achiroe, and twin-brother of Danaus.
(Apollod. ii. 1. ~ 4; Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 382,
1155.) Euripides represented Cepheus and Phineus likewise as brothers of Aegyptus. Belus
assigned to Danaus the sovereignty of Libya, and
to Aegyptus he gave Arabia. The latter also subdued the country of the Melampodes, which lie
called Aegypt after his own name. Aegyptus by
his several wives had fifty sons, and it so happened that his brother Danaus had just as many
daughters. (Apollod. ii. 1. ~ 5; Hygin. Fab. 170.)
Danaus had reason to fear the sons of his brother,
and fled with his daughters to Argos in Peloponnesus. Thither he was followed by the sons of
Aegyptus, who demanded his daughters for their
wives and promised faithful alliance. Danaus
complied with their request, and distributed his
daughters among them, but to each of them he
gave a dagger, with which they were to kill their
husbands in the bridal night. All the sons of
Aegyptus were thus murdered with the exception.
of Lynceus, who was saved by Hypermnestra.
The Danaids buried the heads of their murdered
husbands in Lerna, and their bodies outside the
town, and were afterwards purified of their crime
by Athena and Hermes at the command of Zeus.
Pausanias (ii. 24. ~ 3), who saw the monument under
which the heads of the sons of Aegyptus were believed to be buried, says that it stood on the way to
Larissa, the citadel of Argos, and that their bodies
were buried at Lerna. In Hyginus (Fab. 168)
the story is somewhat different. According to
him, Aegyptus formed the plan of murdering
Danaus and his daughters in order to gain possession of his dominions. When Danaus was informed of this he fled with his daughters to Argos.
Aegyptus then sent out his sons in pursuit of the
fugitives, and enjoined them not to return unless
they had slain Danaus. The sons of Aegyptus
laid siege to Argos, and when Danaus saw that
further resistance was useless, he put an end to the
hostilities by giving to each of the besiegers one of
his daughters. The murder of the sons of Aegyptus then took place in the bridal night. There
was a tradition at Patrae in Achaia, according to
which Aegyptus himself came to Greece, and died
at AroU with grief for the fate of his sons. The
temple of Serapis at Patrae contained a monument
of Aegyptus. (Paus. vii. 21. ~ 6.) [L. S.]
AEIMNESTUS ('AeAV-t-ros), a Spartan, who
killed Mardonius in the battle of Plataea, B. c. 479,
and afterwards fell himself in the Messenian war.
(Herod. ix. 64.) The Spartan who killed Mardonius, Plutarch (Arist. 19) calls Arimnestus
('Apip(tv'oaros).
AE'LIA GENS, plebeian, of which the familynames and surnames are CATUS, GALLUS, GRACILIS, LAMIA, LIGUR, PAETUS, STAIENUS,
STILO, TUBERO. Onl coins this gens is also
written Aild, but Allia seems to be a distinct
gens. The only family-names and surnames of the
Aelia gens upon coins are Bala, Lamia, P'aetus,
and S(&amus. Of Bala nothing is known. Sejants is the name of the favorite of Tiberius, who
was adopted by one of the Aelii. [SEJANUS.]
I The first member of this gens, who obtained the
consulship, was P. Aelius Paetus, in B. c. 337.