Eumēnĭdes, a name given to the Furies by the ancients. They sprang from the drops of blood which flowed from the wound which Cœlus received from his son Saturn. According to others they were daughters of the earth, and conceived from the blood of Saturn. Some make them daughters of Acheron and Night, or Pluto and Proserpine, or Chaos and Terra, according to Sophocles, or, as Epimenides reports, of Saturn and Evonyme. According to the most received opinions, they were three in number, Tisiphone, Megara, and Alecto, to which some add Nemesis. Plutarch mentions only one, called Adrasta, daughter of Jupiter and Necessity. They were supposed to be the ministers of the vengeance of the gods, and therefore appeared stern and inexorable; always employed in punishing the guilty upon earth, as well as in the infernal regions. They inflicted their vengeance upon earth by wars, pestilence, and dissensions, and by the secret stings of conscience; and in hell they punished the guilty by continual flagellation and torments. They were also called Furiæ, Erinnyes, and Diræ, and the appellation of Eumenides, which signifies benevolence and compassion, they received after they had ceased to persecute Orestes, who in gratitude offered them sacrifices, and erected a temple in honour of their divinity. Their worship was almost universal, and people presumed not to mention their names or fix their eyes upon their temples. They were honoured with sacrifices and libations, and in Achaia they had a temple, which, when entered by any one guilty of crimes, suddenly rendered him furious, and deprived him of the use of his reason. In their sacrifices, the votaries used branches of cedar and of alder, hawthorn, saffron, and juniper, and the victims were generally turtledoves and sheep, with libations of wine and honey. They were generally represented with a grim and frightful aspect, with a black and bloody garment, and serpents wreathing round their head instead of hair. They held a burning torch in one hand, and a whip of scorpions in the other, and were always attended by terror, rage, paleness, and death. In hell they were seated around Pluto’s throne, as the ministers of his vengeance. Aeschylus, Eumenides.—Sophocles, Œdipus at Colonus.
Eumĕnĭdia, festivals in honour of the Eumenides, called by the Athenians σεμναι θεαι, venerable goddesses. They were celebrated once every year with sacrifices of pregnant ewes, with offerings of cakes made by the most eminent youths, and libations of honey and wine. At Athens none but free-born citizens were admitted, such as had led a life the most virtuous and unsullied. Such only were accepted by the goddesses, who punished all sorts of wickedness in a severe manner.
Eumēnius, a Trojan killed by Camilla in Italy. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 666.
Eumolpe, one of the Nereides. Apollodorus.
Eumolpĭdæ, the priests of Ceres at the celebration of her festivals of Eleusis. All causes relating to impiety or profanation were referred to their judgment, and their decisions, though occasionally severe, were considered as generally impartial. The Eumolpidæ were descended from Eumolpus, a king of Thrace, who was made priest of Ceres by Erechtheus king of Athens. He became so powerful after his appointment to the priesthood, that he maintained a war against Erechtheus. This war proved fatal to both; Erechtheus and Eumolpus were both killed, and peace was re-established among their descendants, on condition that the priesthood should ever remain in the family of Eumolpus, and the regal power in the house of Erechtheus. The priesthood continued in the family of Eumolpus for 1200 years; and this is still more remarkable, because he who was once appointed to the holy office, was obliged to remain in perpetual celibacy. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 14.
Eumolpus, a king of Thrace, son of Neptune and Chione. He was thrown into the sea by his mother, who wished to conceal her shame from her father. Neptune saved his life, and carried him into Æthiopia, where he was brought up by Amphitrite, and afterwards by a woman of the country, one of whose daughters he married. An act of violence to his sister-in-law obliged him to leave Æthiopia, and he fled to Thrace with his son Ismarus, where he married the daughter of Tegyrius the king of the country. This connection with the royal family rendered him ambitious; he conspired against his father-in-law, and fled, when the conspiracy was discovered, to Attica, where he was initiated in the mysteries of Ceres of Eleusis, and made Hierophantes or high priest. He was afterwards reconciled to Tegyrius, and inherited his kingdom. He made war against Erechtheus the king of Athens, who had appointed him to the office of high priest, and perished in battle. His descendants were also invested with the priesthood, which remained for about 1200 years in that family. See: [Eumolpidæ]. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 5, &c.—Hyginus, fable 73.—Diodorus, bk. 5.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 14.
Eumonides, a Theban, &c. Plutarch.
Eunæus, a son of Jason, by Hypsipyle daughter of Thoas. Homer, Iliad, bk. 7.
Eunapius, a physician, sophist, and historian, born at Sardis. He flourished in the reign of Valentinian and his successors, and wrote a history of the Cæsars, of which few fragments remain. His life of the philosophers of his age is still extant. It is composed with fidelity and elegance, precision and correctness.
Eunŏmia, a daughter of Juno, one of the Horæ. Apollodorus.