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

,8;EPIMENIDES. EPIPHANIUS.
when he had' already arrived at an advanied age. allusion to' Epimenides seems'o be iniate in-St.
lie was looked upon by the Greeks as a great sage Paul's Epistle to Titus (i. 12). Comp. Fabric.
and as the favourite of the gods. The Athenians Bibl. Graec. vol. i. pp. 30, &c., 844; HIckh, Kreta,
who were visited by a plague in consequence of vol. iii. p. 246, &c.; Bode, Gesch. der Hellen. Dichltk.
the crime of Cylon [CYLON], consulted the Del- vol. i. p. 463, &c., and more especially C. F. Heinphic oracle about the means of their delivery. rich,' Epimenides aus Creta, Leipzig, 1801, 8vo.
The god commanded them to get their city puri- 2. The author of a History of Rhodes, which
fled, and the Athenians sent out Nicias with a was written in the Doric dialect. (Diog. Ladrt. i.
ship to Crete to invite Epimenides to come and 115; Schol. ad Pind. 01. vii. 24, ad Apollon. Rhod.
undertake the purification.' Epimenides accord- i. 1125, iii. 241, iv. 57; Eudoc. p. 81; Heinrich,
ingly came to Athens, about B. c. 596 or Olymp. Epimenid. p. 134.)
46, and performed the desired task by certain 3. The author of a work on genealogies. (Diog.
mysterious rites and sacrifices, in consequence of Lagrt. i. 115.) [L. S.]
which the plague ceased. -The grateful Athenians EPIME'THEUS. [PROMETHEUS and PANdecreed to reward him with a talent and the vessel DORA.]
which was to carry him back to his native island. EPINI'CUS ('E7rEvLKos), an Athenian comic
But Epimenides refused the money, and only de- poet of the new comedy, two of whose plays are
sired that a friendship should be established be- mentioned,'T~roBaxA4uevaL and M/71o7'TrdkAeJoS.
tween Athens and Cnossus. Whether Epimenides The latter title determines his date to the time of
died in Crete or at Sparta, which in later times Antiochus the Great, about B. C. 217, for Mnesipboasted of possessing his tomb (Diog. Laert. i. tolemus was an historian in great favour with that
115), is uncertain, but he is said to have attained king. (Suid. s.v.; Eudoc. p. 166; Athen. x. p. 432,
the age of 154, 157, or even of 299 years. Such b., xi. pp. 469, a., 497, a., 500, f.; Meineke, Frag.
statements, however, are as fabulous as the story Com. Graec. vol. i. p. 481, iv. pp. 505-508.) [P.S.]
about his fifty-seven years' sleep. According to EPI'PHANES, a surname of Antiochus IV.
some accounts, Epimenides was reckoned among and Antiochus XI., kings of Syria, [see vol. i.
the seven wise men of Greece (Diog. Laiirt. Prooem. pp. 198, 199], and also of Antiochus IV. king of
~ 13; Plut. Sol. 12); but all that tradition has Commagene, one of whose sons had likewise the
handed down about him suggests a very different same surname, and is the one meant by Tacitus,
character from that of those seven, and he must when he speaks (Hist. ii. 25) of "Rex Epipharather be ranked in the class of priestly bards and nes." [See vol. i. p. 194.]
sages who are generally comprised under the name EPIPHA'NIUS ('E7rcpdVros). 1. Of ALEXof the Orphici; for everything we hear of him, is ANDRIA, son of the mathematician Theon, who adof a priestly or religious nature: he was a puri- dresses to him his commentaries on Ptolemy.
fying priest of superhuman knowledge and wisdom, (Theon, Commentary on Ptolemy, ed. Halma, Paris,
a seer and a prophet, and acquainted with the 1821-22.) Possibly this Epiphanius is one of
healing powers of plants. These notions about the authors of a work 7repi 6Bporvcv Kal do&rGparczv,
Epirnenides were propagated throughout antiquity, by Epiphanius and Andreas, or Andrew, formerly
and it was probably owing to the great charm at- in the library of Dr. George Wheeler, canon of
tached to his name, that a series of works, both in Durham. ( Catal. MASS. Angliae et Hiberniae,
prose and in verse, were attributed to him, though Oxon. 1697.)
few, if any, can be considered to have been genu- 2. Bishop of CONSTANTIA (the ancient Salamis),
ine productions of Epimenides; the age at which he and metropolitan of CYPRUS, the most eminent of
he livedwas certainly notan age of prose composition all the persons of the name of Epiphanius. (See
in Greece. Diogenes Lairtius (i. 112) notices as below.)
prose works, one on sacrifices, and another on the 3. Of CONSTANTIA and metropolitan of CYPRUS,
Political Constitution of Crete. There was also distinguished from the preceding as the Younger,.a Letter on the Constitution which Minos had given was represented at the third council of Constantito Crete; it was said to have been addressed by nople (the sixth general council) by the bishop of
Epimenides to Solon; it was written in the modern Trimithus, one of his suffragans. Several of the disAttic dialect, and was proved to be spurious by courses which have been regarded as written by
Demetrius of Magnesia. Diogenes himself has the great Epiphanius are by acuter judges ascribed
preserved another letter, which is likewise ad- either to this Epiphanius, or to a third of the same
dressed to Solon; it is written in the Doric dia- name and bishopric. [No. 4 below.] A work
lect, but is no more genuine than the former.'The extant in MS. in the Library of St. Mark at Venice,
reputation of Epimenides as a poet may have rested and in the Imperial Library at Vienna, is also by
onil a somewhat surer foundation; it is at any rate some ascribed to this writer or the following.
more likely that he should have composed such (Labbe, Concilia, vol. vi. col. 1058; Fabric. Bibl.
poetry as Xpvlyuol and KaOap/Cot than any other. Graec. vol. viii. pp. 258, 273, &c., x. pp. 249, 276,
(Suidas, s. v.'E7ripevi8s; Strab. x. p. 479; 279, 302; Petavius, Preface to the second volume of
Paus. i. 14..~ 4.) It is, however, very doubtful his edition of Epiphanius; Oudin, Commentarius de
whether he wrote the. relveos ali Oeoyovioa of the Scriptor. Eccles. vol. ii. 318. 19.)
Curetes and Corybantes in 5000 verses, the epic 4. Third bishop of CONSTANTIA of the name.
on Jason and the Argonauts in 6500, and the epic A letter of his, congratulating Joannes or John on
on Minos and Rhadamanthys in 4000 verses; all his restoration to the patriarchate of Constantinople
of which works are mentioned by Diogenes. There (A. D. 867), is given, with a Latin version, by
cannot, however, be any doubt but that there ex- Labbe. (Concilia, vol. viii. col. 1276.) See the preisted in antiquity certain old-fashioned poems ceding article.
written upon skins; and the. expression,'EMr[evi- 5. Of CONSTANTINOPLE. On the death of
aEiov.&epua was used by the ancients to designate Joannes or John II., the Cappadocian, patriarch of
anything old-fashioned, obsolete, and curious. An Constantinople, Epiphanius, then a presbyter, was