famous of her time and considered to rank with those of Homer. Of her best-known poem, Ἠλακάτη (the Distaff), written in a mixture of Aeolic and Doric, which contained 300 hexameter lines, only 4 lines are now extant. Three epigrams in the Palatine anthology, also ascribed to her, probably belong to a later date.
The fragments have been edited (with those of Alcaeus) by J. Pellegrino (1894).
ERINYES (Lat. Furiae), in Greek mythology, the avenging
deities, properly the angry goddesses or goddesses of the curse
pronounced upon evil-doers. According to Hesiod (Theog. 185)
they were the daughters of Earth, and sprang from the blood
of the mutilated Uranus; in Aeschylus (Eum. 321) they are
the daughters of Night, in Sophocles (O.C. 40) of Darkness and
Earth. Sometimes one Erinys is mentioned, sometimes several;
Euripides first spoke of them as three in number, to whom later
Alexandrian writers gave the names Alecto (unceasing in anger),
Tisiphone (avenger of murder), Megaera (jealous). Their home
is the world below, whence they ascend to earth to pursue
the wicked. They punish all offences against the laws of human
society, such as perjury, violation of the rites of hospitality, and,
above all, the murder of relations. But they are not without benevolent
and beneficent attributes. When the sinner has expiated
his crime they are ready to forgive. Thus, their persecution of
Orestes ceases after his acquittal by the Areopagus. It is said
that on this occasion they were first called Eumenides (“the
kindly”), a euphemistic variant of their real name. At Athens,
however, where they had a sanctuary at the foot of the Areopagus
hill and a sacred grove at Colonus, their regular name was
Semnae (venerable). Black sheep were sacrificed to them during
the night by the light of torches. A festival was held in their
honour every year, superintended by a special priesthood, at
which the offerings consisted of milk and honey mixed with water,
but no wine. In Aeschylus, the Erinyes are represented as
awful, Gorgon-like women, wearing long black robes, with snaky
locks, bloodshot eyes and claw-like nails. Later, they are winged
maidens of serious aspect, in the garb of huntresses, with snakes
or torches in their hair, carrying scourges, torches or sickles.
The identification of Erinyes with Sanskrit Saranyu, the swift-speeding
storm cloud, is rejected by modern etymologists;
according to M. Bréal, the Erinyes are the personification of the
formula of imprecation (ἀρά), while E. Rohde sees in them the
spirits of the dead, the angry souls of murdered men.
See C. O. Müller, Dissertations on the Eumenides of Aeschylus, (Eng. tr., 1835); A. Rosenberg, Die Erinyen (1874); J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903); and Journal of Hellenic Studies, xix. p. 205, according to whom the Erinyes were primarily local ancestral ghosts, potent for good or evil after death, earth genii, originally conceived as embodied in the form of snakes, whose primitive haunt and sanctuary was the omphalos at Delphi; E. Rohde, Psyche (1903); A. Rapp in Roscher’s Lexikon der Mythologie, and J. A. Hild in Daremberg and Saglio’s Dictionnaire des antiquités, s. v. Furiae.
ERIPHYLE, in Greek mythology, sister of Adrastus and wife
of Amphiaraus. Having been bribed by Polyneices with the
necklace of Harmonia, she persuaded her husband to take part
in the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, although he knew
it would prove fatal to him. Before setting out, the seer charged
his sons to slay their mother as soon as they heard of his death.
The attack on Thebes was repulsed, and during the flight the
earth opened and swallowed up Amphiaraus together with his
chariot. His son Alcmaeon, as he had been bidden, slew his
mother, and was driven from place to place by the Erinyes,
seeking purification and a new home (Apollodorus iii. 6. 7).
ERIS, in Greek mythology, a sister of the war-god Ares (Homer,
Iliad, iv. 440), and in the Hesiodic theogony (225) a daughter of
Night. In the later legends of the Trojan War, Eris, not having
been invited to the marriage festival of Peleus and Thetis, flings
a golden apple (the “apple of discord”) among the guests, to
be given to the most beautiful. The claims of the three deities
Hera, Aphrodite and Athena are decided by Paris in favour of
Aphrodite, who as a reward assists him to gain possession of
Helen (Hyginus, Fab. 92; Lucian, Charidemus, 17). Hesiod
also mentions (W. and D. 24) a beneficent Eris, the personification
of honourable rivalry. In Virgil (Aeneid, viii. 702) and other
Roman poets Eris is represented by Discordia.
ERITH, an urban district in the north-western parliamentary
division of Kent, England, 14 m. E. by S. of London, on the
South Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. (1891) 13,414; (1901)
25,296. It lies on the south bank of the Thames and extends
up the hills above the shore, many villas having been erected
on the higher ground. The park of a former seat, Belvedere,
was thus built over (c. 1860), and the mansion became a home for
disabled seamen. The church of St John the Baptist, though
largely altered by modern restoration, retains Early English to
Perpendicular portions, and some early monuments and brasses.
Erith has large engineering and gun factories, and in the neighbourhood
are gunpowder, oil, glue and manure works. The
southern outfall works of the London main drainage system are at
Crossness in the neighbouring lowland called Plumstead Marshes.
Erith is the headquarters of several yacht clubs. Erith, the name
of which is commonly derived from A.S. Ærra-hythe (old haven),
was anciently a borough, and was granted a market and fairs
in 1313. Down to the close of the 17th century it was of some
importance as a naval station.
ERITREA, an Italian colony on the African coast of the Red
Sea. It extends from Ras Kasar, a cape 110 m. S. of Suakin, in
18° 2′ N., as far as Ras Dumeira (12° 42′ N.), in the Strait of
Bab-el-Mandeb, a coast-line of about 650 m. The colony is
bounded inland by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Abyssinia and
French Somaliland. It consists of the coast lands lying between
the capes named and of part of the northern portion of the
Abyssinian plateau. The total area is about 60,000 sq. m.
The population is approximately 450,000, of which, exclusive
of soldiers, not more than 3000 are whites.
The land frontier starting from Ras Kasar runs in a south-westerly direction until in about 14° 15′ N., 36° 35′ E. it reaches the river Setit, some distance above the junction of that stream with the Atbara. This, the farthest point inland, is 198 m. S.W. of Massawa. The frontier now turns east, following for a short distance the course of the river Setit; thence it strikes north-easterly to the Mareb, and from 38° E. follows that river and its tributaries the Belesa and Muna, until within 42 m. of the sea directly south of Annesley Bay. At this point the frontier turns south and east, crossing the Afar or Danakil country at a distance of 60 kilometres (37.28 m.) from the coast-line. About 12° 20′ N. the French possessions in Somaliland are reached. Here the frontier turns N.E. and so continues until the coast of the Red Sea is again reached at a point south of the town of Raheita. In the southern part of the colony are small sultanates, such as those of Aussa and Raheita, which are under Italian protection. The Dahlak archipelago and other groups of islands along the coast belong to Eritrea.
Physical Features.—The coast-line is of coral formation and is, in the neighbourhood of Massawa, thickly studded with small islands. The chief indentations are Annesley Bay, immediately south of Massawa, and Assab Bay in the south. The colony consists of two widely differing regions. The northern division is part of the Abyssinian highlands. The southern division, part of the Afar or Danakil country, includes all the territory of the colony south of Annesley Bay. These two regions are connected by a narrow strip of land behind Annesley Bay, where the Abyssinian hills approach close to the sea. From this bay the coast-line trends S.E. so that at Tajura Bay the distance between the Abyssinian hills and the sea is over 200 m. The Afar country is part of the East African rift-valley, and in the southern parts of the valley its surface is diversified by ranges of hills, frequently volcanic, and by lakes. The plains, however, extend over large areas, they are generally arid and are often covered with mimosa trees which form a kind of jungle called by the natives khala. The torrents which descend from the Abyssinian plateau usually fail to reach the sea. They are mostly bordered by dense vegetation; in the dry season water is found in pools in the river beds or can be obtained by digging. The principal rivers enter and are lost in one or other of two salt plains or basins, that of Asali in the north and that of Aussa in the south. The Hawash flows through the Aussa country in a N.E. direction, but is lost in lakes Abbebad and Aussa (see Abyssinia). The Raguali and other rivers drain into the Asali basin. This basin, like that of Aussa, is in places 200 ft. below sea-level. On the west the Asali basin reaches to the Abyssinian foot-hills; in its southern part is the small lake Alelbad. The eastern edge of the basin is formed by a
