Epidaurus, a town at the north of Argolis in Peloponnesus, chiefly dedicated to the worship of Æsculapius, who had there a famous temple. It received its name from Epidaurus son of Argus and Evadne. It is now called Pidaura. Strabo, bk. 8.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 3, li. 44.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 21.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.——A town of Dalmatia, now Ragusi Vecchio,——of Laconia.
Epidium, one of the western isles of Scotland, or the Mull of Cantyre, according to some. Ptolemy.
Epidius, a man who wrote concerning unusual prodigies. Pliny, bk. 16, ch. 25.
Epidotæ, certain deities who presided over the birth and growth of children, and were known among the Romans by the name of Dii Averrunci. They were worshipped by the Lacedæmonians, and chiefly invoked by those who were persecuted by the ghosts of the dead, &c. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 17, &c.
Epigĕnes, a Babylonian astrologer and historian. Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 56.
Epigeus, a Greek killed by Hector.
Epigŏni, the sons and descendants of the Grecian heroes who were killed in the first Theban war. The war of the Epigoni is famous in ancient history. It was undertaken 10 years after the first. The sons of those who had perished in the first war resolved to avenge the death of their fathers, and marched against Thebes, under the command of Thersander; or, according to others, of Alcmæon the son of Amphiaraus. The Argives were assisted by the Corinthians, the people of Messina, Arcadia, and Megara. The Thebans had engaged all their neighbours in their quarrel, as in one common cause, and the two hostile armies met and engaged on the banks of the Glissas. The fight was obstinate and bloody, but victory declared for the Epigoni, and some of the Thebans fled to Illyricum with Leodamas their general, while others retired into Thebes, where they were soon besieged and forced to surrender. In this war Ægialeus alone was killed, and his father Adrastus was the only person who escaped alive in the first war. This whole war, as Pausanias observes, was written in verse; and Callinus, who quotes some of the verses, ascribes them to Homer, which opinion has been adopted by many writers. “For my part,” continues the geographer, “I own that, next to the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, I have never seen a finer poem.” Pausanias, bk. 6, chs. 9 & 25.—Apollodorus, bks. 1 & 3.—Diodorus, bk. 4.——This name has been applied to the sons of those Macedonian veterans, who in the age of Alexander formed connections with the women of Asia.
Epĭgŏnus, a mathematician of Ambracia.
Epigranea, a fountain in Bœotia. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 7.
Epīi and Epēi, a people of Elis.