Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/51

Rh EPIGONI. meiit which ascribes the invention of tragedy to the Sicj'onians. We do not know the period at which Epigenes flourished, and the point was a doubtful one in the time of Suidas, who sa3's (s. v. ®4ains) that, according to some, he was the 16th before Thespis, while, according to others, he almost immediately preceded him. (See Mliller, Dor. iv, 7. § 8 ; Meineke, Hist. Grit. Com. Graec. p. 354 ; Ari'st. Pott. 3 ; Fabric. BM. Graec. vol. ii. pp. 160, 303, vol. iv. p. 10 ; Diet, of Ant. p. 980, a.) [E. E.] EPIGENES (•E7rt76Vr;s) of B3'zantium is sup- posed to have lived about the time of Augustus by some, and several centuries earlier by others ; no- thing, in fact, is known of his date, except what may be inferred from the slight mention of him by Seneca, Pliny, and Censorinus. According to Seneca {Nat. Quaest. vii. 30.), Epigenes professed to have studied in Chaldea, from whence he brought, among other things, the notions of the Chaldeans on comets, in his account of which he is held to differ much from Apollonius Myndius [see his life], though it is not, we think, difficult to reconcile the two. Pliny (H.N. .56) has a pas- sage about Epigenes, which states that he asserts the Chaldeans to have had observations recorded on brick (coctilibus laierculis) for 720 {?) years, and tliat Berosus and Critodemus say 420 (?) years. But among the various readings are found 720 thousand and 420 thousand., which seem to be the true * ones, for on them Pliny goes on to remark " Ex quo apparet aeternus litterarum usus." Fa- bricius and IBayle (Diet. art. Babylon) adopt the larger readings, and also Bailly, who takes them to mean days. Pliny may perhaps seem to say that Epigenes is the first author of note who made any such assertion about the Chaldeans : " Epi- genes . . . docet gravis auctor imprimis ; " and thus interpreted, he is made to mean that Epigenes was older than Berosus, and therefore than Alexander the Great. Weidler adopts this conclusion on dif- ferent and rather hypothetical grounds. LA. De M.] EPIGE'NIUS, comes et magister memoriae, one of the commission of sixteen, appointed by Theodosius in A. d. 435, to compile the Theodosian Code, and one of the eight who actually signalized themselves in its composition. [Diodorus, vol. i. p. 1018.] [J. T. G.] EPPGONI ('ETTiVi/oi), that is, the heirs or descendants. By this name ancient mythology understands the sons of the seven heroes who had undertaken an expedition against Thebes, and had perished there. [Adrastus.] Ten years after that catastrophe, the descendants of the seven heroes went against Tiiebes to avenge their fathers, and this war is called the war of the Epigoni. According to some traditions, this war was under- taken at the request of Adrastus, the only surviver of the seven heroes. The names of the Epigoni are not the same in all accounts (Apollod. iii. 7. § 2, &c. ; Diod. iv. 66 ; Pans. x. 10. § 2 ; Hygin. Fab. 71); but the common lists contain Alcmaeon, Aegialeus, Diomedes, Promachus, Sthenelus, Ther- sander, and Euryalus. Alcmaeon undertook the command, in accordance with an oracle, and col- lected a considerable band of Argives. The Thebans marched out against the enemy, under the command themselves 473,000 years. EPIMENDIES. 37 of Laodamas, after whose fall they took to flight to protect themselves within their city. On the part of the Epigoni, Aegialeus had fallen. The seer Teiresias, however, induced the Thebans to quit their town, and take their wives and children with them, while they sent ambassadors to the enemy to sue for peace. The Argives, however, took possession of Thebes, and razed it to the ground. The Epigoni sent a portion of the booty and Manto, the daughter of Teiresias, to Delphi, and then returned to Peloponnesus. The war of the Epigoni was made the subject of epic and tragic poems. (Paus. ix. 9. § 3.) The statues of the seven Epigoni were dedicated at I>elphi. (Paus. X. 10. § 2.) [L. S.J EPI'GONUS ('E7rf7oj/os) of Thessalonica, the author of two epigrams in the Greek Anthology. (Brunck. Anal. vol. ii. p. 306 ; Jacobs, vol. iii. p, 19, vol. xiii. p. 889.) [P. S.] EPI'GONUS, a Greek statuary, whose works were chiefly in imitation of other artists, but who displayed original power in two works, namely, a trumpeter, and an infant caressing its slain mother. It is natural to suppose that the latter work was an imitation of the celebrated picture of Aristeides. (Plin. xxiv. 8. s. 19. § 29.) [P. S.] EPILY'CUS ('E7n'A.i;Kos), an Athenian comic poet of the old comedy, who is mentioned by an ancient grammarian in connexion with Aristo- phanes and Philyllius, and of whose play KcxipaAiaKos a few fragments are preserved. (Suid. s. v.; Athen, iv. pp. 133, b., 140, a., xiv. p. 650, c, xv. p. 691, c. ; Bekker, Anecd. p. 411. 17 ; Phot. Lex. s. v. TfTTiyoviov; Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. vol. i. p. 269, ii. pp. 887, 889 ; Bergk, de Reliq. Com. Att. Ant. p. 431.) An epic poet of the same name, a brother of the comic poet Crates, is mentioned by Suidas (s. v. Kparrys). [P. S.J EPI'MACHUS, a distinguished Athenian archi- tect and engineer, built the Helepolis of Demetrius Poliorcetes. (Vitruv. x. 2.) * [P. S.] EPIME'DES (*E7rj/i7jSrjs), one of the Curetes. (Paus. V. 7. § 4, 14. § 5 ; comp. Curetes ; Dac- TYLI ) [L. S.] EPIME'NIDES ('ETTi/xei/i'STjs). 1. A poet and prophet of Crete. His father's name was Dosi- ades or Agesarces. We have an account of him in Diogenes Laertius (i. c. 10), which, however, is a very uncritical mixture of heterogeneous tradi- tions, so that it is difficult, if not altogether impos- sible, to discover its real historical substance. The mythical character of the traditions of Epimenides is sufficiently indicated by the fact of his being called the son of a nymph, and of his being reck- oned among the Curetes. It seems, however, pretty clear, that he was a native of Phaestus in Crete (Diog. Laert. i. 109; Plut. Sol. ]2 ; de Defect. Orac. 1 ), and that he spent the greater part of his life at Cnossus, whence he is sometimes called a Cnossian. There is a story that when yet a boy, he was sent out by his father to f^tch a sheep, and that seeking shelter from the heat of the mid- day sun, he went into a cave. He there fell into a sleep in which he remained for fifty-seven years. On waking he sought for the sheep, not knowing how long he had been sleeping, and was astonished to find everything around him altered. When he returned home, he found to his great amazement, that his younger brother had in the meantime grown an old man. The time at which Epimenides lived, is determined by his invitation to Athens,
 * Diodorus (ii. 8) says the Chaldeans claim for