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MYRMIDONES

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 114 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MYRMIDONES , in See also:

Greek See also:legend, an Achaean See also:race, in Homeric times inhabiting Phthiotis in See also:Thessaly. According to the See also:ancient tradition, their See also:original See also:home was See also:Aegina, whence they crossed over to Thessaly with See also:Peleus, but the converse view is now more generally accepted. Their name is derived from a supposedancestor, son of See also:Zeus and Eurymedusa, who was wooed by the See also:god in the See also:form of an See also:ant (Gr. /lbw? ); or from the repeopling of Aegina (when all its inhabitants had died of the See also:plague) with ants changed into men by Zeus at the See also:prayer of See also:Aeacus, See also:king of the See also:island. The word " myrmidon " has passed into the See also:English See also:language to denote a subordinate who carries out the orders of his See also:superior without See also:mercy or See also:consideration for others. See See also:Strabo viii. 375, ix. 433; See also:Homer, Iliad, ii. 681; schol. on See also:Pindar Nem. iii. 21; Clem. Alex., Protrepticon, p.

34, ed. See also:

Potter. MYROBALANS, the name given to the astringent fruits of several See also:species of Terminalia, largely used in See also:India for See also:dyeing and tanning and exported for the same purpose. They are large See also:deciduous trees and belong to the See also:family Combretaceae. The See also:chief kinds are the chebulic or See also:black myrobalan, from Terminalia Chebula, which are smooth, and the beleric, from T. belerica, which are five-angled and covered with a greyish down.

End of Article: MYRMIDONES

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