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

EPIGONL EPIMENDIES.:37
ment which ascribes the invention of tragedy to of Laodamas, after whose fall they toolk to flight
the Sicyonians. We. do not know the period at to protect themselves within their city. On the
which Epigenes flourished, and the point was a part of the Epigoni, Aegialeus had fallen. The
doubtful one in the time of Suidas, who says (s. v. seer Teiresias, however, induced the Thebans to
e'asris) that, according to some, he was the 16th quit their town, and take their wives and children
before Thespis, while, according to others, he with them, while they sent ambassadors to the
almost immediately preceded him. (See Miller, enemy to sue for peace. The Argives, however,
Dor. iv. 7. ~ 8; Meineke, Hist. Crit. Comn. Graec. took' possession of Thebes, and razed it to the
p. 354; Arist. Poet. 3; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ground. The Epigoni sent a portion of the booty
ii. pp. 160, 303, vol. iv. p. 10; Diet. of Ant. p. and Manto, the daughter of Teiresias, to Delphi,
980, a.) [E. E.] and then returned to Peloponnesus. The war of
EPI'GENES ('E7rnys'rsls) of Byzantium is sup- the Epigoni was made the subject of epic and
posed to have lived about the time of Augustus by tragic poems. (Paus. ix. 9. ~ 3.) The statues
some, and several centuries earlier by others; no- of the seven Epigoni were dedicated at Delphi.
thing, in fact, is known of his date, except what (Paus. x. 10. ~ 2.) [L. S.]
may be inferred from the slight mention of him EPI'GONUS ('E7rlyovos) of Thessalonica, the
by Seneca, Pliny, and Censorinus. According to author of two epigrams in the Greek Anthology.
Seneca (Nat. Quaest. vii. 30.), Epigenes professed (Brunck. Aral. vol. ii. p. 306; Jacobs, vol. iii. p.
to have studied in Chaldea, from whence he 19, vol. xiii. p. 889.) [P. S.]
brought, among other things, the notions of the - EPI'GONUS, a Greek statuary, whose works
Chaldeans on comets, in his account of which he were chiefly in imitation of other artists, but who
is held to differ much from Apollonius Myndius displayed original power in two works, namely, a
[see his life], though it is not, we think, difficult to trumpeter, and an infant caressing its slain mother.
reconcile the two. Pliny (H.N. vii.56) has apas- It' is natural to suppose that the latter work was
sage about Epigenes, which states that he asserts an imitation of the celebrated picture of Aristeides.
the Chaldeans to have had observations recorded on' (Plin. xxiv. 8. s. 19. ~ 29.) [P. S.]
brick (coctilibus laterculis) for 720 (?) years, and EPILY'CUS ('ErfAulvcos), an Athenian comic
that Berosus and Critodemus say 420 (?).years. poet of the old comedy, who is mentioned by
But among the various readings are found 720 an ancient grammarian in connexion with Aristothousand and 420 thousand, which seem to be the phanes and Philyllius, and of whose play KopaAhiKos
true* ones, for on them Pliny goes on to remark a few fragments are preserved. (Suid. s. v.; Athen.
"Ex quo' apparet aeternus litterarum usus." Fa- iv. pp. 133, b., 140, a., xiv. p. 650, c., xv. p. 691,
bricius and Bayle (Dict. art. Babylon) adopt the c.; Bekker, Anecd. p. 411. 17; Phot. Lex. s. v.
larger readings, and also Bailly, who takes them'TETT'yovLOP; Meineke, Frag. Com.'Graec. vol. i. p.
to mean days. Pliny may perhaps seem to say 269, ii. pp. 887, 889; Bergk, de Reliq. Com. Att.
that Epigenes is the first author of note who made Ant. p. 431.) An epic poet of the same name, a
any such assertion about the Chaldeans: " Epi- brother of the'comic poet Crates, is mentioned
genes... docet gravis auctor imprimis;" and thus by Suidas (s. v. Kpr-Ts). [P. S.]
interpreted, he is made to mean that Epigenes was EPI'MACHUS,' a distinguished Athenian archi-.older than Berosus, and therefore than Alexander tect and engineer, built the Helepolis of Demetrius
the Great. Weidler adopts this conclusion on dif- Poliorcetes. (Vitruv. x. 2.) [P. S.]
ferent and rather hypothetical grounds. EPIME'DES ('Emrqpt5t7s), one of the Curetes.
[A. De M.] (Paus. v. 7. ~ 4, 14. ~ 5; comp. CURaTES; DACEPIGE'NIUS, comes et magister memoriae, TYLI.)' [L. S.]
one of the commission of sixteen, appointed by EPIME'NIDES ('E7rL,uev't77s). 1. A poet and
Theodosius in A. D. 435,- to compile the Theodosian prophet of Crete. His father's name was DosiCode, and one of the eight who actually signalized ades or Agesarces. We have an account of him
themselves in its composition. [DIODORUS, vol. i. in Diogenes Laertius (i. c. l0), which, however, is
p. 1018.] [J. T. G.] a very uncritical mixture of heterogeneous tradiEPI'GONI ('E7rSyovoe), that is, the heirs or tions, so that it is difficult, if not altogether imposdescendants. By this name ancient mythology sible, to discover its real historical substance. The
understands the sons of the seven heroes who had mythical character of the traditions of Epimenides
undertaken an expedition against Thebes, and had is sufficiently indicated by the fact of his being
perished there. [ADRAsTus.] Ten years after called the son of a nymph, and of his being reckthat catastrophe, the descendants of the seven oned among the Curetes. It seems, however,
heroes went against Thebes to avenge their fathers, pretty clear, that he was a native of Phaestus in
and this war is called the war of the Epigoni. Crete (Diog. Laert. i. 109; Plut. Sol. 12; de
According to some traditions, this war was under- Defect. Orac. 1), and that he spent the greater part
taken at the request of Adrastus, the only surviver of his life at Cnossus, whence he is sometimes
of the seven heroes. The names of the Epigoni called a Cnossian. There is a story that when yet a
are not the same in all accounts (Apollod. iii. 7. boy, he was sent out by his father to fetch a sheep,
~ 2, &c.; Diod. iv. 66; Paus. x. 10. ~ 2; Hygin. and that seeking shelter from the heat of the midFab. 71); but the common lists contain Alcmaeon, day' sun, he went into a cave. He there fell into
Aegialeus, Diomedes, Promachus, Sthenelus, Ther- a sleep in which he remained for fifty-seven years.
sander, and Euryalus. Alcmaeon undertook the' On waking he sought for the sheep, not knowing
command, in accordance with an oracle, and col- how long he had been sleeping, and was astonished
lected a'considerable band of Argives. The Thebans to find everything around him altered. When he
marched out against the enemy, under-the command returned home, he found to his great amazement,
that his younger brother had in the meantime
* Diodorus (ii. 8) says the Chaldeans claim for grown an old man. The time at which Epimenides
themselves 473,000 years. lived, is determined by his invitation to Athens,