(409).
AEOLUS (Αἴολος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic, mythical, father of ATHAMAS (7.197.1 and 3). This Aeolus was a son of HELLEN and eponymous ancestor of the AEOLIANS, one of the three major Greek ethnic groups along with DORIANS and IONIANS (Hes. F9 M‐W). Other mythical figures by this name appear, including the ruler of the WINDS (Hom. Od. 10.1–79), and they seem to have been confused at an early date (Gantz, EGM 167–69; cf. Diod. Sic. 4.67.2–6).
SEE ALSO: Ethnicity; Myth
FURTHER READING
1 Hall, Jonathan M. 2002. Hellenicity: Between Ethnicity and Culture, 161–71. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
AËROPUS (Ἀέροπος, ὁ)
EMILY VARTO
Dalhousie University
The name of two descendants of TEMENUS mentioned by Herodotus in connection to the founding of the Argead dynasty of Macedon. The earlier Aëropus was one of three Argive brothers (Aëropus, PERDICCAS, and GAUANES) who were exiled from ARGOS and came to MACEDONIA, where Perdiccas founded the Argead dynasty (8.137–39). The later Aëropus was a descendant of this Perdiccas and is cited among the ancestors of Alexander I by Herodotus (8.139). The name Aëropus occurs again in the Macedonian royal family of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE (LGPN IV, 8 (no. 1)).
SEE ALSO: Alexander son of Amyntas; Genealogies
FURTHER READING
1 Sprawski, Sławomir. 2010. “The Early Temenid Kings to Alexander I.” In A Companion to Ancient Macedonia, edited by Joseph Roisman and Ian Worthington, 127–44. Malden, MA: Wiley‐Blackwell.
2 Thomas, Carol. 2007. Alexander the Great in his World. Malden, MA: Wiley‐Blackwell.
AËROPUS (2) , see EËROPUS
AESANIAS (Αἰσανίας, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic, father of GRINNUS, king of THERA (4.150.2). His ancestors include THERAS, former regent of SPARTA and founder of Thera, and through him the mythical CADMUS SON OF AGENOR. Nothing more is known of Aesanias.
FURTHER READING
1 Corcella in ALC, 676–67.
AESCHINES (Αἰσχίνης, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
When the Persians sailed against EUBOEA in 490 BCE, the Eretrians requested aid from ATHENS. However, Herodotus reports, the Eretrians were still undecided about whether to resist or submit. When Athenian forces arrived, Aeschines, a leading citizen of ERETRIA, warned them of the situation and begged them to leave before they too could be destroyed by the Persians (6.100). After a six‐day SIEGE, Eretria was betrayed by two other leading citizens, EUPHORBUS and PHILAGRUS (6.101.2); the Persians sacked the city and enslaved the populace, who were eventually relocated to ARDERICCA near SUSA (6.119). Aeschines was a common name at Eretria; nothing more is known of this man (LGPN I, 20 (no. 11)).
SEE ALSO: Ionian Revolt; Migration; Persia; Prisoners of War; Slavery; Treachery
FURTHER READING
1 Hurst, André. 1978. “La prise d’Erétrie chez Hérodote (6, 100–101).” MH 35.4: 202–11.
AESCHRAEUS (Αἰσχραῖος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic, father of LYCOMEDES, Athenian, probably of the DEME Phlya (8.11.2). The name “Aeschraeus” appears on the fragment of a casualty list for the Battle of MARATHON discovered in 2000 (SEG 56‐430), but this is unlikely to be the same man given the Athenian tribal affiliation (Erechtheis) of that list.
SEE ALSO: Athens; Democracy
AESCHRIONIAN TRIBE (ἡ Αἰσχριωνίη ϕυλή)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Herodotus refers (3.26.1) to “Samians said to be of the Aeschrionian tribe (phylē)” who inhabit OASIS—also called ISLAND OF THE BLESSED—in the DESERT west of Egyptian THEBES, a seven days’ march. These Samians may have ended up at this desert outpost after serving as MERCENARIES for the Cyrenean king ARCESILAUS III c. 530 BCE (4.163–64; Shipley 1987, 106). The Greek term Herodotus uses, phylē, normally means “tribe,” but scholars think it more likely to refer to a clan (genos) in this and other instances. Herodotus’ mention of this group in this context could reveal a Samian source for the story of the failed Persian attack on the Ammonians under CAMBYSES (II). The tribal name is not attested at SAMOS; Aeschrion as a personal name occurs three times in later periods (LGPN I, 21 s.v. Αἰσχρίων (24–26)).
SEE ALSO: Ammon; Cyrene; Egypt; Family; Sources for Herodotus
REFERENCE
1 Shipley, Graham. 1987. A History of Samos, 800–188 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
AESCHYLUS (Αἰσχύλος, ὁ)
EMMA BRIDGES
Institute of Classical Studies, University of London
Athenian tragic dramatist (?525/4–456/5 BCE), author of around eighty or ninety plays, only seven of which survive intact. Herodotus identifies Aeschylus as son of Euphorion and as author of a (now lost) play based on the story of ARTEMIS. Herodotus asserts that the version of the MYTH which Aeschylus used as the basis for this play (in which, unlike his predecessors, he made Artemis the daughter of DEMETER) originated in an Egyptian account of the relationship between the gods (2.156.6; cf. Paus. 8.37.6). Herodotus correlates Artemis with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, whom he names BUBASTIS.
Although Herodotus names the tragedian on only one occasion, it is clear that the historian was familiar with Aeschylus’ plays, and in particular with his tragedy Persians, first performed in 472 (Immerwahr 1954, 27–30), perhaps using this as a source for his own work. Herodotus’ narrative—as seen in particular in several of the SPEECHES—contains verbal echoes of the Aeschylean text, and there are areas
