Elec´tra. A daughter of Agamemnon, king of Argos. She incited her brother Orestes to revenge his father’s death by assassinating his mother Clytemnestra. Her adventures and misfortunes form the subject of one of the finest of the tragedies of Sophocles.
Eleu´sinia. A great festival observed by the Lacedæmonians, Cretans, and others, every fourth year, and by the people of Athens every fifth year, at Eleusis in Attica, where it was introduced by Eumolpus, B.C. 1356. It was the most celebrated of all the religious ceremonies of Greece. The term “Mysteries” is often applied to it. The expression “Eleusinian mysteries,” as applied to anything that is inexplicable, has become proverbial.
Elys´ium. The Elysian Fields, a place in the infernal regions, where, according to the ancients, the souls of the virtuous existed after death.
Emped´ocles. A philosopher, poet, and historian of Agrigentum in Sicily, who lived 444 B.C. He was a Pythagorean, and warmly espoused the belief in the transmigration of souls.
Endym´ion. A shepherd, son of Æthlius and Calyce. He is said to have required of Jupiter that he might be always young. Diana saw him as he slept on Mount Latmus, and was so struck with his beauty that she came down from heaven every night to visit him.
En´nius. An ancient poet, born in Calabria. He obtained the privileges of a Roman citizen on account of his learning and genius.
E´os. The name of Aurora among the Greeks.
Epaminon´das. A famous Theban descended from the ancient kings of Bœotia. At the head of the Theban armies he defeated the Spartans at the celebrated battle of Leuctra about 370 B.C. He was killed in battle in the forty-eighth year of his age.
Eph´esus. A city of Ionia, famous for a temple of Diana, which was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world.
Epicte´tus. A Stoic philosopher of Hieropolis, originally the slave of Epaphroditus, the freedman of Nero. He supported the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.