ITES

An early sect of heretics belonging to the Gnostics, so called from Heracleon, whose tenets they embraced. They rejected all the ancient prophecies, regarded themselves as superior to the Apostles, and, under the pretext of a sublime or elevated exposition of the Scriptures, propounded the wildest and most extravagant paradoxes. HERACi>l'DjE. A general designation for the descendants of Hercules, who, after the death of that hero, ■were expelled from the Peloponnesus by Eurystheus, king of MycenoB. The return of the Heraclidae, which took place about 140 years after their expulsion, or 80 years after the siege of Troy, forms a celebrated epoch m ancient chronology, as it has been generally considered to mark the transition from the heroic or fabulous ages to the period of authentic history. HERiEA. The name of a celebrated festival instituted at Argos in honour of Juno, whom the Greeks called Hera. Another festival of this name, in honour of the same_godd.e , was held at Elis every five years. [s. 563]