Evenus

(Εὔηνος), the name of three mythical personages. (Hes. Th. 345; Hom. Il. 2.692, 9.557; Plut. Parall. Min. 40; Apollod. 1.7.8.) [L.S]

(Εὔηνος or Εὐηνός, but the former is more correct). In the Greek Anthology there are sixteen epigrams under this name, which are, however, the productions of different poets. (Brunck, Anal. vol. i. pp. 164-167; Jacobs, Anth. Graec vol. i. pp. 96-99.) In the Vatican MS. some of the epigrams are headed Ευΐνου, the 7th is headed Εὐήνου Ἀσκαλωνίτου, the 12th Εὐΐνου Ἀθηναίου, the 14th Εὐήνου Σικελιώτου, and the last Εὐήνου γραμματικοῦ.

The best known poets of this name are two elegiac poets of Paros, mentioned by Eratosthenes (apud Harpocrat. s. v. Εὔηνος), who says that only the younger was celebrated, and that one of them (he does not say which) was mentioned by Plato. There are, in fact, several passages in which Plato refers to Evenus, somewhat ironically, as at once a sophist or philosopher and a poet. (Apolog. Socr. p. 20b., Phaed. p. 60d., Phaedr. p. 267a.) According to Maximus Tyrius (Diss. 38.4. p. 225), Evenus was the instructor of Socrates in poetry, a statement which derives some countenance from a passage in Plato (Phaed. l.c.), from which it may also be inferred that Evenus was alive at the time of Socrates's death, but at such an advanced age that he was likely soon to follow him. Eusebius (Chron. Arm.) places him at the 30th Olympiad (B. C. 460) and onwards. His poetry was gnomic, that is, it formed the vehicle for expressing philosophic maxims and opinions. The first six of the epigrams in the Anthology are of this character, and may therefore be ascribed to him with tolerable certainty. Perhaps, too, the fifteenth should be assigned to him.

The other Evenus of Paros wrote Ἐρωτικά, as we learn from the express testimony of Artemidortus (Oneirocr. 1.5), and from a passage of Arrian (Epictet. 4.9), in which Evenus is mentioned in conjunction with Aristeides. [See vol. i. p. 296.] A few other fragments of his poetry are extant. Among them is a line which Aristotle (Aristot. Met. 4.5, Eth. Eudem. 2.7) and Plutarch (Moral. ii. p. 1102c.) quote by the name of Evenus, but which is found in one of the elegies of Theognis (vv. 467-474), whence it is supposed that that elegy should be ascribed to Evenus. There are also two hexameters of Evenus. (Aristot. EN 7.11.)

None of the epigrams in the Anthology are expressly assigned to this Evenus; but it is not unlikely that the 12th is his. If the 8th and 9th, on the Cnidian Aphrodite of Praxiteles, and the 10th and 11th, on Myron's cows, are his, which seems not improbable, then his date would be fixed. Otherwise it is very difficult to determine whether he lived before or after the other Evenus. As he was certainly less famous than the contemporary of Socrates, the statement of Eratosthenes that only the younger was celebrated, would imply that lie lived before him : and this view is maintained, in opposition to the general opinion of scholars, in the Zeitschrift für die Allerthumswissenschaft, 1840, p. 118.

Of the other poets of this name next to nothing is known beyond the titles, quoted above, in the Palatine Anthology. Jacobs conjectures that the Sicilian and the Ascalonite are the same, the name Σικελιώτου being a corruption of Ἀσκαλωνίτου, but he gives no reason for this conjecture. The epigrams of one of these poets, we know not which, were in the collection of Philip, which contained chiefly the verses of poets nearly contemporary with Philip himself.

(Wagner, de Evenis Poetis elegiacis, Vratisl. 1828; Schreiber, Disput. de Evenis Pariis, Götting. 1839; Souchay, Sur les Poètes élégiaques, in the Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscript. vol. x. p. 598; Schneidewin, Delect. Poes. Graec. eleg. vol. i. p. 133; Gaisford, Poet. Min. Graec. vol. iii. p. 277; Boissonade, Graec. Poet. p. 163; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol, xiii. pp. 893, 894; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i. p. 727.) [P.S]

EVE´NUS (Εὔηνος, less frequently, Εὐηνός: Fidhari or Fidharo), originally called LYCORMAS (Λυκόρμας). an important river of Aetolia, rising in the highest summit of Mt. Oeta in the territory of the Bomienses, a subdivision of the Aetolian tribe of the Ophienses. (Strab. p. 451.) Dicaearchus (61) was mistaken in saying that the Evenus rises in Pindus: Ptolemy (Ptol. 3.16.6) more correctly places its source in Callidromus, which is a part of Oeta. Strabo relates that the Evenus does not flow at first through the territory of the Curetes, which is the same as Pleuronia, but more to the E. by Chalcis and Calydon, that it afterwards turns to the W. towards the plains in which Old Pleuron was situated, and that it finally flows in a southerly direction into the sea, at the distance of 120 stadia from the promontory of Antirrhium. (Strab. pp. 451, 460; comp. Thuc. 2.83; Mel. 2.3; Plin. Nat. 4.3.) Its real direction however is first westerly, and afterwards south-west. It receives numerous torrents from the mountains through which it flows, and in winter it becomes a considerable river, flowing with great rapidity, and difficult to cross on account of the great stones which are carried down by its stream. ( Eveni rapidae undae,Ov. Met. 9.104; Ποταμὸν πολλῷ κυμαίνοντα καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰς ὄχθας αἰρόμενον, Philostr. Jun. Imag. 16.) The Evenus is celebrated in mythology on account of the death of the centaur Nessus, who was slain by Hercules because he offered violence to Deïnaeira, as he carried her across this river. (Soph. Track. 557.) This tale is, perhaps, only a figure of the impetuosity of the river, and of the danger to which unwarytravellers are exposed in crossing its channel from the rise of the waters when swollen by sudden showers. (Mure, Tour in Greece, vol. 1. p. 170.) The river is said to have derived its name from Evenus, the son of Ares, and the father of Marpessa. When his daughter was carried off by Idas, the son of Aphareus, he pursued the ravisher; but being unable to overtake him he threw himself into the Lycormas, which was henceforward called after him. (Apollod. 1.7.8; Ov, Ibis, 515; Prop. 1.2. 18.) Its modern name of Fidharo or Fidhari is derived from Φίδι, the Romaic form of Ὄφις, and is therefore supposed by Leake to be a vestige of Ὀφιεῖς, the ancient people in whose territory the river rose. (Leake, Norsthern Greece, vol. 2. p. 625; comp. p. 599.) From Evenus is formed the adjective Eveninus. ( Matres Calydonides Eveninae,Ov. Met. 8.527)

EVE´NUS (Εὔηνος), a small river of Mysia, flowing in a southern direction from Mount Temnus into the Elaeus Sinus, near Pitane. An aqueduct from it supplied the town of Adramyttium with water. (Strab. 13. p. 614; Plin. Nat. 5.32.)

(Εὔηνος). (1) A river of Aetolia, rising in Mount Oeta, and flowing into the sea, 120 stadia west of Antirrhium. It derived its name from Evenus, the father of Marpessa, who was carried off by Idas, the son of Aphareus; and Evenus, being unable to overtake the latter, threw himself into the river, which was henceforth called after him.

(2) A river of Mysia, falling into the Sinus Elaïticus near Pitané.

• father of Marpessa: Paus. 5.18.2, Apollod. 1.7.7
• throws himself into a river, which is named after him: Apollod. 1.7.7