Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/126

108 and when Hyllus had cut off the head of Eurystheus, Alcmene satisfied her revenge by picking the eyes out of the head. (Apollod. 2.8.1.) The accounts of her death are very discrepant. According to Pausanias (1.41.1), she died in Megaris, on her way from Argos to Thebes, and as the sons of Heracles disagreed as to whether she was to be carried to Argos or to Thebes, she was buried in the place where she had died. at the command of an oracle. According to Plutarch, (De Gen. Socr. p. 578,) her tomb and that of Rhadamanthys were at Haliartus in Boeotia, and hers was opened by Agesilaus, for the purpose of carrying her remains to Sparta. According to Pherecydes (Cap. Anton. Lib. 33), she lived with her sons, after the death of Eurystheus, at Thebes, and died there at an advanced age. When the sons of Heracles wished to bury her, Zeus sent Hermes to take her body away, and to carry it to the islands of the blessed, and give her in marriage there to Rhadamanthys. Hermes accordingly took her out of her coffin, and put into it a stone so heavy that the Heraclids could not move it from the spot. When, on opening the coffin, they found the stone, they erected it in a grove near Thebes, which in later times contained the sanctuary of Alcmene. (Paus. 9.16.4.) At Athens, too, she was worshipped as a heroine, and an altar was erected to her in the temple of Heracles. (Cynosarges, Paus. 1.19.3.) She was represented on the chest of Cypselus (Paus. 5.18.1), and epic as swell as tragic poets made frequent use of her story, though no poem of the kind is now extant. (Hes. Scut. Herc. init.; Paus. 5.17.4, 18.1.)

ALCON or ALCO (Ἄλκων). 1. A son of Hippocoon, and one of the Calydonian hunters, was killed, together with his father and brothers, by Heracles, and had a heroum at Sparta. (Apollod. 3.10.5; Hyg. Fab. 173; Paus. 3.14.7, 15.3.)

2. A son of Erechtheus, king of Athens, and father of Phalerus the Argonaut. (Apollon. 1.97; Hyg. Fab. 14.) Valerius Flaccus (1.399, &c.) represents him as such a skilful archer, that once, when a serpent had entwined his son, he shot the serpent without hurtinn his chlid. Virgil (Eclog. 5.11) mentions an Alcon, whom Servius calls a Cretan, and of whom he relates almost the same story as that which Valerius Flaccus ascribes to Alcon, the son of Erechtheus. Two other personages of the same name occur in Cicero (de Nat. Deor. 3.21), and in Hyginus. (Fab. 173.)

ALCON, a surgeon (vulnerum medicus) at Rome in the reign of Claudius, A. D. 41-54, who is said by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 29.8) to have been banished to Gaul, and to have been fined ten million of sesterces : H. S. centies cent. mill. (about 78,125l.). After his return from banishment, he is said to have gained by his practice an equal sum within a few years, which, however, seems so enormous (compare ALBUCIUS and ARRUNTIUS), that there must probably be some mistake in the text. A surgeon of the same name, who is mentioned by Martial (Epigr. 11.84) as a contemporary, may possibly be the same person.

ALCON, a statuary mentioned by Pliny. (H. N. 34.14. s. 40.) He was the author of a statue of Hercules at Thebes, made of iron, as symbolical of the god's endurance of labour.

ALCY'ONE or HALCY'ONE (Ἀλκυόνη). 1. A Pleiad, a daughter of Atlas and Pleione, by whom Poseidon begot Aethusa, Hyrieus and Hyperenor. (Apollod. 3.10.1; Hygin. Praef. Fab. p. 11, ed. Staveren; Ov. Ep. 19.133.) To these children Pausanias (2.30.7) adds two others, Hyperes and Anthas.

2. A daughter of Aeolus and Enarete or Aegiale. She was married to Ceÿx, and lived so happy with him, that they were presumptuous enough to call each other Zeus and Hera, for which Zeus metamorphosed them into birds, ἀλκυών and κήυξ. (Apollod. 1.7.3, &c.; Hyg. Fab. 65.) Hyginus relates that Ceÿx perished in a shipwreck, that Alcyone for grief threw herself into the sea, and that the gods, out of compassion, changed the two into birds. It was fabled, that during the seven days before, and as many after, the shortest day of the year, while the bird ἀλκυών was breeding, there always prevailed calms at sea. An embellished form of the same story is given by Ovid. (Met. 11.410, &c.; comp. Verg. G. 1.399.)

3. A surname of Cleopatra, the wife of Meleager, who died with grief at her husband being killed by Apollo. (Hom. Il. 9.562; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 776; Hyg. Fab. 174.)

ALCY'ONEUS (Ἀλκυονεύς). 1. A giant, who kept possession of the Isthmus of Corinth at the time when Heracles drove away the oxen of Geryon. The giant attacked him, crushed twelve waggons and twenty-four of the men of Heracles with a huge block of stone. Heracles himself warded off the stone with his club and slew Alcyoneus. The block, with which the giant had attempted the life of Heracles, was shewn on the Isthmus down to a very late period. (Pind. N. 4.44, with the Schol.) In another passage (Isth. 6.45, &c.) Pindar calls Alcyoneus a Thracian shepherd, and places the struggle with him in the Phlegraean plains.

2. One of the giants. [GIGANTES.]

ALCYO'NIDES (Ἀλκυονίδες), the daughters of the giant Alcyoneus (2). After their father's death, they threw themselves into the sea, and were changed into ice-birds. Their names are Phthonia, Anthe, Methone, Alcippe, Pallene, Drimo, and Asteria. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 776; Suidas, s. v. Ἀλκυονίδες.)

A'LEA (Ἀλέα) a surname of Athena, under which she was worshipped at Alea, Mantineia. and Tegea. (Paus. 8.23.1, 9.3, 2.17.7.) The temple of Athena Alea at Tegea, which was the oldest, was said to have been built by Aleus, the son of Apheidas, from whom the goddess probably derived this surname. (Paus. 8.4.5.) This temple was burnt down in B. C. 394, and a new one built by Scopas, which in size and splendour surpassed all other temples in Peloponnesus, and was surrounded by a triple row of columns of different orders. The statue of the goddess, which was made by Endoeus all of ivory, was subsequently carried to Rome by Augustus to adorn the Forum Augusti. (Paus. 8.45.4, 46 § 1 and 2, 47.1.) The temple of Athena Alea at Tegea was an ancient and revered asylum, and the names of many persons are recorded who saved themselves by seeking refuge in it. (Paus. 3.5.6, 2.17.7, 3.7.8.) The priestess of Athena Alea at Tegea was always a maiden, who held her office only until she reached the age of puberty. (Paus. 8.47.2.) Respecting the architecture and the scultures of this temple, see