Cynaegirus

Who is Cynaegirus?

Cynegeirus or Cynaegeirus or Cynegirus was an ancient Greek hero of Athens and had three siblings. His two brothers were the playwright Aeschylus and Ameinias, the hero of the battle of Salamis, while his sister was Philopatho, the mother of the Athenian tragic poet Philocles.

He was the son of Euphorion from Eleusis and member of the Eupatridae, the ancient nobility of Attica. In 490 BC Cynegeirus and his brothers Aeschylus and Ameinias fought to defend Athens against Darius's invading Persian army at the Battle of Marathon. Despite the numerical superiority of the Persians, they were routed and fled to their ships. The Athenians pursued the Persians back to their ships, and Cynegeirus in his attempt to hold on the stern of a Persian ship with his bare hands had his hand cut off with an axe and died. According to another version of his death, recorded by the Roman historian Justin, when Cynaegyrus lost his right hand, he grasped the enemy's vessel with his left. Here the hero, having successively lost both his hands, hangs on by his teeth, and even in his mutilated state fought desperately with the last mentioned weapons, " like a rabid wild beast!"