Epaeiti
ἐπάριτοι
Epaeiti (ἐπάριτοι), the name of a corps of picked troops in Arcadia, which was formed to preserve the independence of the Arcadian towns, when they became united as one state after the defeat of the Spartans at Leuctra. They were 5,000 in number, and were paid by the state. (In Xen. Hell. 7.4, § § 22, 33, 36; 7.5.3, the name occurs without explanation, but it was probably of Arcadian origin. In Diod. 15.62, 67 they are οἱ καλούμενοι ἐπίλεκτοι ὄντες πεντακισχίλιοι. Cf. Hesych. sub voce ἐπαρόητοι: Thirlwall, 5.90; Grote, ch. 78, 7.203; Gilbert, Staatsalterth. 2.134, 352.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.