Erĕbus, a deity of hell, son of Chaos and Darkness. He married Night, by whom he had the light and the day. The poets often used the word Erebus to signify hell itself, and particularly that part where dwelt the souls of those who had lived a virtuous life, from whence they passed into the Elysian fields. Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 3, ch. 17.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 4, li. 26.
Erechtheus, son of Pandion I., was the sixth king of Athens. He was father of Cecrops II., Merion, Pandorus, and of four daughters, Creusa, Orithya, Procris, and Othonia, by Praxithea. In a war against Eleusis he sacrificed Othonia, called also Chthonia, to obtain a victory which the oracle promised for such a sacrifice. In that war he killed Eumolpus, Neptune’s son, who was the general of the enemy, for which he was struck with thunder by Jupiter at Neptune’s request. Some say that he was drowned in the sea. After death he received divine honours at Athens. He reigned 50 years, and died B.C. 1347. According to some accounts, he first introduced the mysteries of Ceres at Eleusis. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, li. 877.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 25.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 15.—Cicero, For Sestius, ch. 21; Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 1, ch. 48; Natura Deorum, bk. 3, ch. 15.
Erechthĭdes, a name given to the Athenians, from their king Erechtheus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 7, li. 430.
Erembi, a people of Arabia.
Erēmus, a country of Ethiopia.
Erenēa, a village of Megara. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 44.
Eressa, a town of Æolia.
Erēsus, a town of Lesbos, where Theophrastus was born.
Erĕtria, a city of Eubœa on the Euripus, anciently called Melaneis and Arotria. It was destroyed by the Persians, and the ruins were hardly visible in the age of Strabo. It received its name from Eretrius, a son of Phaeton. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 8, &c.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.—Cornelius Nepos, Miltiades, ch. 4.
Erētum, a town of the Sabines near the Tiber, whence came the adjective Eretinus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 711.—Tibullus, bk. 4, poem 8, li. 4.