Cynaegeirus

(Κυναίγειρος), son of Euphorion and brother of the poet Aeschylus, distinguished himself by his valour at the battle of Marathon, B. C. 490. According to Herodotus, when the Persians had fled and were endeavouring to escape by sea, Cynaegeirus seized one of their ships to keep it back, but fell with his right hand cut off. The story lost nothing by transmission. The next version related that Cynaegeirus, on the loss of his right hand, grasped the enemy's vessel with his left; and at length we arrive at the acme of the ludicrous in the account of Justin. here the hero, having successively lost both his hands, hangs (on by his teeth, and even in his mutilated state fights desperately with the last mentioned weapons, "like a rabid wild beast!" (Hdt. 6.114; Suid. s. v. Κυναίγειρος; Just. 2.9; V. Max. 3.2.22; comp. Sueton. Jul. 68.) [E.E]