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Alcmaeon

[alk-mee-uh n]
noun Classical Mythology.
  1. a son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle who commanded the second expedition against Thebes. He killed his mother for sending his father to certain death and was driven mad by the Furies.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for alcmaeon

Historical Examples of alcmaeon

  • Alcmaeon is considered in the companion chapter on Greek Medicine.

    The Legacy of Greece

    Various

  • Alcmaeon, the head, for that is the commanding and the principal part of the body.

  • It led to the death of Eriphyle, of Alcmaeon, of Phegeus and his sons.

  • However, Alcmaeon's sin was too great for any such cleansing.

    Euripedes and His Age

    Gilbert Murray

  • Alcmaeon slew his mother and became in consequence mad and accursed.

    Euripedes and His Age

    Gilbert Murray

alcmaeon in Medicine

Alcmaeon

(ălk-mē′ən)fl. sixth century bc.
  1. Greek physician and philosopher. He was the first known anatomist and probably the first to perform scientific dissections of human bodies.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.