Ægis

[Gr. aigis, a goatskin coat. The shield of Jupiter, who is called by Homer the Ægis-bearer. According to the Greek poet, the shield was covered with the skin of the goat A mal the a. Minerva afterwards fixed upon it the Gorgon's head, and thus endowed it with the power of turning into stone all those who looked at it. The term was also employed to denote the breastplate of a god, and finally it came to be applied to the cuira of distinguished persons. - In a figurative sense, ægis [Fr. égide] denotes protection. Æg'isthus, king of Argos, was son of Thyestes, by his daughter Polopea. Being left guardian of Agamemnon's kingdoms and of his wife Clytemnestra, he fell in love and lived with her. They were both put to death afterwards, by Orestes, after a reign of seven years from the murder of his father, Agamemnon. Fig . 38. MINERVA, WITH EGIS. Æg'ipan. ( Myth.) A name of Pan, because he had the feet of a goat. Æg'irin, or EGYRIN. ( Min . ) A mineral of the angite family, occurring at Brevig, in Norway, sometimes in very large crystals belonging to the monoclinic system. Color greenish-black; lustre vitreous. E'gle. ( Myth.) A nymph, daughter of Sol and Neæra.One of the Hesperides. One of the Graces. E'gles, a Samian wrestler, born dumb. Seeing some unfair measure practised in a contest, he broke the string which held his tongue, through the desire of speaking, and always afterwards spoke with ease. Eg'letes. ( Myth .) A surname of Apollo. Egoceros, or CAPRIC OR NUS. ( Myth .) An animal into which Pan transformed himself when flying before Typhon, in the war with the giants. Jupiter made him a constellation.