Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/116

98 been destroyed by the Cretans. (Paus. 1.41.5.) In this work he was said to have been assisted by Apollo, and the stone, upon which the god used to place his lyre while he was at work, was even in late times believed, when struck, to give forth a sound similar to that of a lyres. 1.4.1 ; Ov. Met. 8.15, &c.; Virg. Cir. 105; Theogn. 751.) Echepolis, one of the sons of Alcathous, was killed during the Calydonian hunt in Aetolia, and when his brother Callipolis hastened to carry the sad tidings to his father, he found him engaged in offering a sacrifice to Apollo, and thinking it unfit to offer sacrifices at such a moment, he snatched away the wood from the altar. Alcathous imagining this to be an act of sacrilegious wantonness, killed his son oi the spot with a piece of wood. (Paus. 1.42.7.) The acropolis of Megara was called by a name derived for that of Alcathous. (1.42.7.)

2. A son of Porthaon and Euryte, who was slain by Tydeus. (Apollod. 1.7.10, 8.5 ; Diod. 4.65.)

3. A son of Aesyetes and husband of Hippodameia, the daughter of Anchises and sister of Aeneas, who was educated in his house. (Hom. Il. 13.466.) In the war of Troy he was one of the Trojan leaders, and was one of the handsosmest and bravest among them. (Il. 12.93, 13.427.) He was slain by Idomeneus with the assistance of Poseidon, who struck Alcathous with blindness and paralyzed his limbs so that he could not flee. (Il. 13.433, &c.)--Another personage of this name is mentioned by Virgil, Aen. 10.747.

 ALCEIDES, according to some accounts the name which Heracles originally bore (Apollod. 2.4.12), while, according to Diodorus, his original name was ALCAEUS.

 ALCESTIS or ALCESTE ( or ), a daughter of Pelias and Anaxibia, and mother of Eumelus and Admetus. (Apollod. 1.9.10, 15.) Homer (Hom. Il. 2.715) calls her the fairest among the daughters of Pelias. When Admetus, king of Pherae, sued for her hand, Pelias, in order to get rid of the numerous suitors, declared that he would give his daughter to him only who should come to his court in a chariot drawn by lions and boars. This was accomplished by Admetus, with the aid of Apollo. For the farther story, see ADMETUS. The sacrifice of herself for Admetus was highly celebrated in antiquity. (Aelian, Ael. VH 14.45, Animal. 1.15; Philostr. Her. 2.4; Ov. Ars Am. 3.19; Eurip. Alcestis.) Towards her father, too, she shewed her filial affection, for, at least, according to Diodorus (4.52 ; comp. however, Palaeph. De incredib. 41), she did not share in the crime of her sisters, who murdered their father. Ancient as well as modern critics have attempted to explain the return of Alcestis to life in a rationalistic manner, by supposiung that during a severe illness she was restored to life in a physician of the name of Heracles. (Palaeph. l.c. ; Plut. Amator. p. 761.) Alcestis was represented on the chest of Cypselus, in a group shewing the funeral solemnities of Pelias. (Paus. 5.17.4.) In the museum of Florence there is an alto relieve, the work of Cleomenes, which is believed to represent Alcestis devoting herself to death. (Meyer, Gesch. der bildend. Künste, i. p. 162, 2.159.)

 A′LCETAS, whose age is unknown, was the author of a work on the offerings (ἀναθήματα) in Delphi, of which Athenaeus quotes the second book. (xiii. p. 591c.)

 A′LCETAS I., king of EPIRUS, was the son of Tharypus. For some reason or other, which we are not informed of, he was expelled from his kingdom, and took refuge with the elder Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, by whom he was reinstated. After his restoration we find him the ally of the Athenians, and of Jason, the Tagus of Thessaly. In B. C. 373, he appeared at Athens with Jason, for the purpose of defending Timotheus, who, through their influence, was acquitted. On his death the kingdom, which till then had been governed by one king, was divided between his two sons, Neoptolemus and Arybbas or Arymbas. Diodorus (19.88) calls him Arybils. (Paus. 1.11.3; Dem. Timoth. pp. 1187, 1190 ; Diod. 15.13. 36.)

 A′LCETAS II., king of EPIRUS, was the son of Arymbas, and grandson of Alcctas I. On account of his ungovernable temper, he was banished by his father, who appointed his younger son, Aeacides, to succeed him. On the death of Aeacides, who was killed in a battle fought with Cassander B. C. 313, the Epirots recalled Alcetas. Cassander sent an army against hint under the command of Lyciscus, but soon after entered into an alliance with him (B. C. 312). The Epirots, incensed at the outrages of Alcetas, rose against him and put him to death, together with his two sons; on which Pyrrhus, the son of Aeacides, was placed upon the throne by his protector Glaucias, king of the Illyrians, B. C. 307. (Paus. 1.11.5; Diod. 19.88, 89 ; Plut. Pyrrh. 3.)

 A′LCETAS, the eighth king of MACEDSONIA, counting from Caranus, and the fifth, counting from Perdiccas, reigned, according to Eusebius, twenty-nine years. He was the father of Amyntas I., who reigned in the latter part of the sixth century B. C. (Hdt. 8.139.)

 A′LCETAS, the brother of PERDICCAS and son of Orontes, is first mentioned as one of Alexander's generals in his Indian expedition. (Arrian, 4.27.) On the death of Alexander, he espoused his brother's party, and, at his orders, murdered in B. C. 322 Cyane, the half-sister of Alexander the Great, when she wished to marry her daughter Eurydice to Philip Arrhidaeus. (Dioed. 19.52; Polyaen. 8.60; Arrian, apud Phot. p. 70, ed. Bekker.) At the time of Perdiccas' murder in Egypt in 321, Alcetas was with Eumenes in Asia Minor engaged against Crateris; and the army of Perdiccas, which had revolted from him and joined Ptolemy, condemned Alcetas and all the partizans of his brother to death. The war against Alcetas, who had now left Eumenes and united his forces with those of Attalus, was entrusted to Antigonus. Alcetas and Attalus were defeated in Pisidia in 320, and Alcetas retreated to Termessus. He was surrendered by the elder inhabituants to Antigonus, and, to avoid falling into his hands alive, slew himself. (Diod. 18.29, 37, 44-46; Justin, 13.6, 8; Arrian, apud Phot. l.c.）

<section end="Alcetas 5." /> <section begin="Alcibiades" />ALCIBI′ADES, the son of Cleinias, was born at Athens about B. C. 450, or a little earlier. His father fell at Coroneia B. C. 447, leaving Alcibiades and a younger son. (Plat. Protag. p. 320a.) The last campaign of the war with Potidaea was in B. C. 429. Now as Alcibiades served in this war, and the young Athenians were not sent out on foreign military service before they<section end="Alcibiades" />