Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/222

 190 HISTORY OF GEEECE. Such was the splendid heroic genealogy of the JEakids, a family renowned for military excellence. The jEakeion at -ZEgi- na, in which prayer and sacrifice were offered to JEakus, remain- ed in undiminished dignity down to the time of Pausanias. 1 This genealogy connects together various eminent gentes in Achaia Phthiotis, in JEgina, in Salamis, hi Cyprus, and amongst the Epirotic Molossians. Whether we are entitled to infer from it that the island of JEgina was originally peopled by Myrmidones from Achaia Phthiotis, as O. Miiller imagines, 2 I will not pretend to affirm. These mythical pedigrees seem to unite together spe cial clans or gentes, rather than the bulk of any community just as we know that the Athenians generally had no part in the JEakid genealogy, though certain particular Athenian families laid claim to it. The intimate friendship between Achilles and the Opuntian hero Patroclus and the community of name and fre- quent conjunction between the Locrian Ajax, son of Oileus, and Ajax, son of Telamon connect the JEakids with Opus and the Opuntian Locrians, in a manner which we have no farther means of explaining. Pindar too represents Mencetius, father of Patro- clus, as son of Aktor and JEgina, and therefore maternal brother of ^Eakus.3 title by Pacuvias (Cicero de Orat. i. 58 ; ii. 46) ; Sophokl. Ajax, 892 ; Pacuvii Fragm. Tcucr. 15. " Tc repudio, nee recipio, natum abdico, Facesse." The legend of Teukros was connected in Attic archaeology with the peculiar functions and formalities of the judicature, lv Quarrel (Paasan. i. 28, 1 2 j ii. 29, 7). 1 Hesiod, Fragm. Diintz. Eoiai, 55, y. 43. 'AA/c^v ftev yap eJw/cev 'OAti/OTtof AlaKidaim, NoOv cP ' A.[iv&aovidai, IT?J>VTOV S 1 lirop 1 'ArpettJyo-t. Polyb. v. 2. Alanidas, Teokeuty /ce^apjyorrtf rjvri 6airi. 9 See his JEginetica, p. 14, his earliest work. 3 Pindar, Olymp. ix. 74. The hero Ajax, son of Ollcus, was especially worshipped at Opus ; solemn festivals and games were celebrated in his honor.