Epigŏni

, the sons and descendants of the Grecian heroes who were killed in the first Theban war. The war of the Epigoni is famous in ancient history. It was undertaken 10 years after the first. The sons of those who had perished in the first war resolved to avenge the death of their fathers, and marched against Thebes, under the command of Thersander; or, according to others, of Alcmæon the son of Amphiaraus. The Argives were a isted by the Corinthians, the people of Me ina, Arcadia, and Megara. The The bans had engaged all their neighbours in their quarrel, as in one common cause, and the two hostile armies met and engaged on the banks of the Gli as. The fight was obstinate and bloody, but victory declared for the Epigoni, and some of the The bans fled to Illyricum with Leodamas their general, while others retired into Thebes, where they were soon besieged and forced to surrender. In this war Ægialeus alone was killed, and his father Adrastus was the only person who escaped alive in the first war. This whole war, as Pausanias observes, was written in verse; and Call in us, who quotes some of the verses, ascribes them to Homer, which opinion has been adopted by many writers. “For my part,” continues the geographer, “I own that, next to the Iliad and Ody ey of Homer, I have never seen a finer poem.” Pausanias , bk. 6 , chs. 9 & 25.— Apollo dor us , bks. 1 & 3.— Diodorus , bk. 4 .――This name has been applied to the sons of those Maced on i an veterans, who in the age of Alexander formed connections with the women of Asia.