=Éphŏrus=: historian of Cumae, _fl._ _c._ 340 B.C. His history, once very famous and much discussed, covered a period of 750 years.
=Epichármus=: _c._ 540-450 B.C.; the great comic poet of Sicily, chiefly associated with the court of Hiero I (q.v.) at Syracuse.
=Epicúrus=: 342-270 B.C. Athenian philosopher and founder of the Epicurean school, of which the aim was ‘peace of mind’ or ‘freedom from emotional disturbance’. His own life (as his tenets required) was simple and wholesome, and the self-indulgence of the sect in later days was either a parody or a misconception of his teachings. A voluminous writer on physics and ethics, but with a bad style.
=Epiménȋdes=: priest-prophet and bard of Crete, with peculiar knowledge of medicine and methods of purification. Many fables were current concerning him (e.g. of his sleep of fifty-seven years). He was called in by the Athenians (_c._ 596 B.C.) to cleanse their city of a plague.
=Epimétheus=: brother of Prometheus (q.v.). The name was taken to mean ‘After-thinker’, and hence arose a notion that he ‘thought too late’.
=Erasístrătus=: a very distinguished physician in the earlier part of the third century B.C. He practised and taught in Syria and Alexandria. An eminent student of anatomy.
=Eratósthĕnes=: librarian of Alexandria under the Ptolemies; a writer on mathematical geography, history, and grammar. Died about 196 B.C.
=Érĕsus=: a town on the south-west coast of Lesbos (Mytilene); birthplace of Theophrastus.
=Erétria=: the second town of Euboea, a little south of Chalcis. See Lelantum.
=Erínys=: a spirit of vengeance sent up from the underworld to punish unnatural crimes and offences.
=Éteŏcles=: (legendary): son of Oedipus, joint king of Thebes with Polyneices, whom he expelled through a selfish desire to rule alone.
=Euénus=: two poets of Paros are so named, one of the date of Socrates and one earlier. It is, and was anciently, difficult to distinguish between the two.
=Eúmĕnes=: an eminent and very able general (and also secretary) of Alexander, after whose death he obtained (322 B.C.) the chief command in Asia. His subordinate Neoptolemus, governor of Armenia, made head against him with the help of Craterus. Their defeat, mentioned in the article on Garrulity, took place in Cappadocia in 321 B.C.