The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Группа авторов
(I) father of Alcmaeon; Megacles (IV) son of Hippocrates; Treachery; Tyrants
FURTHER READING
1 Davies, J. K. 1971. Athenian Propertied Families, 600–300 B.C., 368–85. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
2 Hornblower, Simon, ed. 2013. Herodotus: Histories Book V, 182–85. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ALCMAEONIDES (Ἀλκμεωνίδης, ὁ)
CAMERON G. PEARSON
University of Warsaw
An Alcmaeonides is known from two inscribed athletic DEDICATIONS dated to the middle of the sixth century BCE (IG I3 597 and 1469), making him the brother of MEGACLES (II) SON OF ALCMAEON (Davies 1971, 372–73). In the best manuscript readings of Herodotus’ Histories at 1.64.3, Alcmaeonides is named as the leader of the fleeing Athenians after the Battle of Pallene in 546/5. However, he lacks an introduction or even a patronymic. All modern editors and translators, except for Rosén (1987), follow the suggestion (though not emendation) of Wesseling (1763, 31 n. 11) to change μετ’ Ἀλκμεωνίδεω (“with Alcmaeonides”) to μετ’ Ἀλκμεωνιδέων (“with [the] ALCMAEONIDAE”). Either the earliest editors misunderstood the name Alcmaeonides to be equivalent to the family name, Alcmaeonidae, or we are missing a section of Herodotus which introduced him. Wilson (2015a, 1: 36) is the first to cite one late manuscript that reads “Alcmaeonidae” (possibly a late alteration).
SEE ALSO: Editions; Manuscripts; Pallene (Deme)
REFERENCES
1 Davies, J. K. 1971. Athenian Propertied Families, 600–300 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
2 Rosén, Haiim B., ed. 1987. Herodoti Historiae. Vol. I. Leipzig: Teubner.
3 Wesseling, P., and L. C. Valckenaer, eds. 1763. Herodoti Halicarnassei Historiarum Libri IX. Amsterdam: Peter Schouten.
4 Wilson, N. G., ed. 2015a. Herodoti Historiae. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
FURTHER READING
1 Dillon, Matthew P. J. 2014. “Hdt. 1.64.3: Ἀλκμεωνίδεω or Ἀλκμεωνιδέων. Did Alkmeonides Lead the Exiles from the Battle of Pallene (546 b.c.)?” Hermes 142.2: 129–42.
2 Fortunato, Gaetana. 2008. “L’esilio di Alcmeonide (Erodoto, 1,64,3).” Athenaeum 96.1: 327–33.
3 Wilson, N. G. 2015b. Herodotea. Studies on the Text of Herodotus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ALCMENE (Ἀλκμήνη, ἡ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Mythical, mother of HERACLES (2.145.4). In most traditions, ZEUS fathers Heracles on Alcmene by seduction or DECEPTION (Gantz, EGM 374–78), but Herodotus refers to Heracles only as the son of AMPHITRYON, Alcmene’s mortal husband and cousin. The couple’s grandfather PERSEUS, in Herodotus’ telling, was of Egyptian descent (2.91.5; 6.53). Herodotus uses this fact in his argument that the Greeks took the name of Heracles from the Egyptians, rather than vice versa (2.43.2). After her death, Zeus had Alcmene transported to the Islands of the Blessed where she married Rhadamanthys (see e.g., Pherecydes BNJ 3 F84). She may have received cult honors at Boeotian THEBES (Paus. 9.16.7).
SEE ALSO: Myth; Proof
FURTHER READING
1 Fowler, Robert L. 2013. Early Greek Mythography. Vol. 2, Commentary, 342–44. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 Trendall, Arthur Dale. 1981. “Alkmene.” In LIMC I.1, 552–56.
ALCON ( Ἄλκων, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Alcon, a Molossian, appears as one of the thirteen men who came to SICYON as a suitor for Cleisthenes’ daughter AGARISTE (I), sometime in the sixth century BCE (6.127.4). Nothing more is known of him, nor does Herodotus provide a patronymic.
SEE ALSO: Cleisthenes of Sicyon; Competition; Hippocleides; Megacles (II); Molossians
FURTHER READING
1 Hornblower, Simon. 2014. “Agariste’s Suitors. An Olympic Note.” In Patterns of the Past. Epitēdeumata in the Greek Tradition, edited by Alfonso Moreno and Rosalind Thomas, 217–32. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 Papakonstantinou, Zinon. 2010. “Agariste’s Suitors: Sport, Feasting and Elite Politics in Sixth‐Century Greece.” Nikephoros 23: 71–93.
ALEA , see ATHENA; TEGEA
ALEIAN PLAIN (τὸ Ἀλήιον πεδίον)
ALISON LANSKI
University of Notre Dame
A large plain in CILICIA between the Sarus and Pyramus rivers, east of Tarsus (BA 66 G3; Müller II, 93–95). In Greek MYTH, Bellerophon famously wandered this plain (Hom. Il. 6.201). Historically it was an important military crossroads and staging point: the army of DARIUS I assembles at the Aleian Plain in 490 BCE before embarking for the AEGEAN SEA (6.95).
SEE ALSO: Armies; Marathon
FURTHER READING
1 Scott, Lionel. 2005. Historical Commentary on Herodotus Book 6, 340. Leiden: Brill.
ALEUADAE (Ἀλευάδαι, οἱ)
EMILY VARTO
Dalhousie University
The “sons of Aleuas,” an elite Thessalian FAMILY named for a legendary founder figure Aleuas, who was selected as king of THESSALY by the PYTHIA (Plut. De frat. amor. 492a–b); powerful in LARISSA as politicians and legendary founders of the Thessalian state (Hellanicus BNJ 4 F52; Arist. Pol. 5.6). In Pythian 10, PINDAR is called upon by the sons of Aleuas to PRAISE a Thessalian victor (Pyth. 10.5), who presumably belonged to the family. The ode was commissioned by THORAX, member of the Aleuadae, and praises him and his unnamed brothers for their good governance of the Thessalian state (Pyth. 10.64–72). These are seemingly the same brothers—Thorax, EURYPYLUS, and THRASYDEIUS—named by Herodotus (9.58) as the Aleuadae who surrendered Thessaly to the Persians and made an alliance with XERXES in 480 BCE (cf. 7.6, 130, 172; 9.1). In this, Herodotus puts the Aleuadae on par with other Medizing elite families like the PEISISTRATIDAE at ATHENS (7.6), who welcomed the Persian invasion. In the Histories, Xerxes assumes the alliance with the Aleuadae represents FRIENDSHIP with Thessaly as a whole (7.130); however, Herodotus later recounts that the Thessalians, maneuvering against the Aleuadae’s alliance with PERSIA, send their own embassies to the Greeks in advance of Xerxes’ invasion (7.172), implying that the Aleuadae could not force Thessaly as a whole to cooperate with Persia. According to Herodotus, Thorax accompanied Xerxes back to ASIA on his retreat from Greece and continued to press MARDONIUS to invade again (9.1).
SEE ALSO: Allies; Athletes and Athletic Games; Medize
FURTHER READING
1 Helly, Bruno. 1995. L’état