London: Institute of Classical Studies.
ADYRMACHIDAE (Ἀδυρμαχίδαι, οἱ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Nomadic Libyan (North African) tribe dwelling along the MEDITERRANEAN coast, in the western part of modern‐day EGYPT (BA 73 D2). Herodotus states that the Adyrmachidae follow mostly Egyptian customs other than their Libyan DRESS, and he notes two other customs which make them unique among the Libyans: the women bite lice, and the king is allowed to sleep with a bride‐to‐be of his choosing (4.168).
SEE ALSO: Ethnography; Libya; nomos; Women in the Histories
FURTHER READING
1 Corcella in ALC, 695–96.
AEA (Αἶα, ἡ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
A city in COLCHIS, in Greek MYTH the home of MEDEA and location of the Golden Fleece, the object of the journey of the Argonauts (7.193.2). Its location is unknown (cf. BA 87 H2), but Pliny the Elder in the first century CE placed it fifteen miles up the PHASIS River and called it the most famous city of the region (HN 6.13). The name must be connected with Aeëtes, father of Medea and king of the region. Herodotus reports (1.2.2) that according to the Persians, the Argonauts’ abduction of Medea from Aea/Colchis was the second injustice committed by the Greeks against ASIA; their refusal to return her or pay a penalty encouraged ALEXANDER (Paris) to abduct HELEN, which led to the TROJAN WAR.
SEE ALSO: Argo; Prologue; Source Citations
FURTHER READING
1 IACP, p. 926.
2 Lordkipanidze, Otar. 2000. Phasis: The River and City in Colchis. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.
AEACES (Αἰάκης, ὁ) father of Polycrates
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Aeaces is named as the father of POLYCRATES of Samos twice by Herodotus (2.182; 3.39) but makes no appearance himself in the narrative. If this is the same Aeaces named in an INSCRIPTION on a statue, which probably dates to c. 540 BCE, found on the ancient ACROPOLIS of SAMOS (IG XII.6.ii.561 = ML 16), he may have held a magistracy there during a period of stability and prosperity in the second quarter of the sixth century (Carty 2015, 49–66). The inscription itself may have been added by his grandson and namesake AEACES SON OF SYLOSON.
SEE ALSO: Epigraphy; Heraion (Samos); Pantagnotus; Syloson
REFERENCE
1 Carty, Aideen. 2015. Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos: New Light on Archaic Greece. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.
AEACES (Αἰάκης, ὁ) son of Syloson
AIDEEN CARTY
Aeaces succeeded his father, SYLOSON, as a Persian‐backed TYRANT of SAMOS, and participated in the Scythian expedition of DARIUS I c. 514 BCE (4.138). He was ousted from power at the start of the IONIAN REVOLT (c. 499), but was reinstated after persuading the majority of the Samian contingent to withdraw from the Battle of LADE in 494 (6.13–14). As a result of this withdrawal, Samos alone suffered no reprisals from the Persians in the revolt’s aftermath (6.25.1). In protest against Aeaces’ restoration, some of the wealthier Samians emigrated to ZANCLE in SICILY (6.22). Aeaces had died or been removed from power by 480, when XERXES, after the Battle of SALAMIS, appointed THEOMESTOR as tyrant of Samos (8.85.3). A nephew of the tyrant and thalassocrat POLYCRATES, Aeaces appears to have been named after his grandfather, who was commemorated for donating booty at the HERAION on Samos (IG XII.6.ii.561 = ML 16).
SEE ALSO: Aeaces father of Polycrates; Ionians
FURTHER READING
1 Lateiner, Donald. 1982. “The Failure of the Ionian Revolt.” Historia 31.2: 129–60.
2 Shipley, Graham. 1987. A History of Samos, 800–188 B.C., 105–8. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
AEACUS, AEACIDAE (Αἰακός, Αἰακίδαι)
EMILY VARTO
Dalhousie University
Ancestral hero and legendary first king of AEGINA, son of ZEUS and the nymph AEGINA DAUGHTER OF ASOPUS, for whom Zeus named the ISLAND (Pind. Nem. 8.6–8, 13; Isthm. 8.16–24; Apollod. Bibl. 3.12.6; Diod. Sic. 4.72.5–6; Paus. 2.29.2). Aeacus was the father of PELEUS and TELAMON, thus grandfather of Achilles and AJAX (Alcmeonis, PEG F1; Pind. Isthm. 6.19–27, Pyth. 8.100; Bacchyl. 13.96–104), although in HOMER Aeacus is only the father of Peleus and grandfather of Achilles, who is sometimes called “Aeacides” (Il. 2.874–75, 11.804–5, 16.15, 18.433, 21.188–89). Aeacus was known as a pious and just arbitrator (Paus. 1.39.5; Diod. Sic. 4.6.1–2; Plut. Thes. 10), becoming a judge (Pl. Grg. 524a) or doorkeeper (Ar. Ran. 465–78) in the underworld.
Athenian traditions often associate Aeacus and his descendants, the Aeacidae—especially Ajax—with Aegina, SALAMIS, and ATHENS (Thomas 1989, 161–73; Fowler 2013, 474–80; Duplouy 2006, 61–64). The family of MILTIADES THE ELDER traced their ancestry back to Aeacus and Aegina as well as Salamis through Philaeus, son of Ajax, who was the first Athenian of that family (Hdt. 6.35; Pherecydes BNJ 3 F2). Herodotus recounts how the Aeginetans sent images of the Aeacidae to assist the Thebans in attacking Athens, on the grounds that THEBE (1) and Aegina were both daughters of ASOPUS, but when the attack failed, the Aeginetans themselves launched an attack on Athens (5.80–81). In the midst of their hostilities with Aegina, the Athenians consecrated a sanctuary to Aeacus in the AGORA on the advice of the Delphic ORACLE (5.89). Later, before the Battle of Salamis, the Athenians ask the Aeacidae for aid, calling upon Ajax and Telamon in particular, and bringing cult images of Aeacus and the Aeacidae from Aegina (8.64, 83–84).
SEE ALSO: Genealogies; Heroes and Hero Cult; Myth; Thebes (Boeotian)
REFERENCES
1 Duplouy, Alain. 2006. Le prestige des élites: recherches sur les modes de reconnaisance sociale en Grèce entre les Xe et Ve siècles avant J.‐C. Paris: Belles Lettres.
2 Fowler, Robert L. 2013. Early Greek Mythography. Vol. 2, Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3 Thomas, Rosalind. 1989. Oral Tradition and Written Record in Classical Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
FURTHER READING
1 Figueira,
