Mæmacteria, sacrifices offered to Jupiter at Athens in the winter month Mæmacterion. The god surnamed Mæmactes was intreated to send mild and temperate weather, as he presided over the seasons, and was the god of the air.
Mænădes, a name of the Bacchantes, or priestesses of Bacchus. The word is derived from μαινομαι, to be furious, because in the celebration of their festivals, their gestures and actions were those of mad women. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 458.
Mænăla, a town of Spain.
Mænălus (plural, Mænala), a mountain of Arcadia sacred to the god Pan, and greatly frequented by shepherds. It received its name from Mænalus, a son of Lycaon. It was covered with pine trees, whose echo and shade have been greatly celebrated by all the ancient poets. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 216.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 1, li. 17; Eclogues poem 8, li. 24.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 3.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.——A town of Arcadia.——A son of Lycaon.——The father of Atalanta.
Mænius, a Roman consul.——A dictator accused and honourably acquitted, &c.——A spendthrift at Rome. Horace, bk. 1, ltr. 15, li. 26.
Mænon, a tyrant of Sicily, B.C. 285.
Mænus, a river of Germany, now called the Mayne, falling into the Rhine at Mayence.
Mæŏnia, a country of Asia Minor, the same as Lydia. It is to be observed, that only part of Lydia was known by the name of Mæonia, that is, the neighbourhood of mount Tmolus, and the country watered by the Pactolus. The rest on the sea coast was called Lydia. Strabo, bk. 12.—Ovid, Metamorphoses.——The Etrurians, as being descended from a Lydian colony, are often called Mæonidæ (Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 759), and even the lake Thrasymenus in their country is called Mæonius lacus. Silius Italicus, bk. 15, li. 35.
Mæŏnĭdes, a name given to the Muses, because Homer, their greatest and worthiest favourite, was supposed to be a native of Mæonia.
Mæŏnĭdes, a surname of Homer, because, according to the opinion of some writers, he was born in Mæon. Ovid.——The surname is also applied to Bacchus, as he was worshipped in Mæonia.