Ephialtes, or Ephialtus, a giant, son of Neptune, who grew nine inches every month. See: [Aloeus].——An Athenian, famous for his courage and strength. He fought with the Persians against Alexander, and was killed at Halicarnassus. Diodorus, bk. 17.——A Trachinian who led a detachment of the army of Xerxes by a secret path to attack the Spartans at Thermopylæ. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 4.—Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 213.
Ephŏri, powerful magistrates at Sparta, who were first created by Lycurgus; or, according to some, by Theopompus, B.C. 760. They were five in number. Like censors in the state, they could check and restrain the authority of the kings, and even imprison them, if guilty of irregularities. They fined Archidamus for marrying a wife of small stature, and imprisoned Agis for his unconstitutional behaviour. They were much the same as the tribunes of the people at Rome, created to watch with a jealous eye over the liberties and rights of the populace. They had the management of the public money, and were the arbiters of peace and war. Their office was annual, and they had the privilege of convening, proroguing, and dissolving the greater and less assemblies of the people. The former was composed of 9000 Spartans, all inhabitants of the city; the latter of 33,000 Lacedæmonians, inhabitants of the inferior towns and villages. Cornelius Nepos, Pausanias, ch. 3.—Aristotle, Politics, bk. 2, ch. 7.
Ephŏrus, an orator and historian of Cumæ in Æolia, about 352 years before Christ. He was disciple to Isocrates, by whose advice he wrote a history which gave an account of all the actions and battles that had happened between the Greeks and barbarians for 750 years. It was greatly esteemed by the ancients. It is now lost. Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 1.
Ephy̆ra, the ancient name of Corinth, which it received from a nymph of the same name, and thence Ephyreus is applied to Dyrrhachium, founded by a Grecian colony. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 264.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 239.—Lucan, bk. 6, li. 17.—Statius, Thebiad, bk. 4, li. 59.—Silius Italicus, bk. 14, li. 181.——A city of Threspotia in Epirus.——Another in Elis.——Ætolia.——One of Cyrene’s attendants. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 343.
Epicaste, a name of Jocasta the mother and wife of Œdipus. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 5.——A daughter of Ægeus, mother of Thestalus by Hercules.
Epicerides, a man of Cyrene, greatly esteemed by the Athenians for his beneficence. Demosthenes.
Epichăris, a woman accused of conspiracy against Nero. She refused to confess the associates of her guilt, though exposed to the greatest torments, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 15, ch. 51.
Epicharmus, a poet and Pythagorean philosopher of Sicily, who introduced comedy at Syracuse, in the reign of Hiero. His compositions were imitated by Plautus. He wrote some treatises upon philosophy and medicine, and observed that the gods sold all their kindnesses for toil and labour. According to Aristotle and Pliny, he added the two letters χ and θ to the Greek alphabet. He flourished about 440 years before Christ, and died in the 90th year of his age. Horace, bk. 2, ltr. 1, li. 58.—Diogenes Laërtius, bks. 3 & 8.—Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 1, ltr. 19.
Epicles, a Trojan prince killed by Ajax. Homer, Iliad, bk. 12, li. 378.
Epiclīdes, a Lacedæmonian of the family of the Eurysthenidæ. He was raised to the throne by his brother Cleomenes III. in the place of Agis, against the laws and constitution of Sparta. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 9.