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The Erinys is the personified curse of a father or mother; cf. Soph. O. C. 1299τὴν σὴν Ἐρινύν” (of Oedipus). The curses here are those of Laius on Oedipus and of Oedipus on his two sons. Paus. iii. 15. 6 tells us there were shrines at Sparta to the heroes Cadmus, Oeolycus, and Aegeus. For the belief in a curse making a family die out cf. Sir H. Spelman's famous book on Sacrilege (1698).

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