Epirus or Epeiros, in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, is the daughter of Agave

Agave (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Agave was the daughter of Cadmus, the king and founder of the city of Thebes, Greece, and of the goddess Harmonia. Her sisters were Autonoë, Ino and Semele, and her brother was Polydorus. She married Echion, one of the five Spartoi, and was the mother of Pentheus, a king of...

 and Echion

Echion

In Greek mythology, the name Echion "son of the viper", cf. ἔχις echis "viper") referred to five different beings.*One of the Gigantes.*One of the surviving Spartoi, the "sown men" that sprang up from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus; "it was Echion who, for his great valor, was preferred by...

. She accompanied Cadmus

Cadmus

Cadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology was a Phoenician prince, the son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa. He was originally sent by his royal parents to seek out and escort his sister Europa back to Tyre after she was abducted from the shores...

 and Harmonia

Harmonia (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Harmonia is the immortal goddess of harmony and concord. Her Roman counterpart is Concordia, and her Greek opposite is Eris, whose Roman counterpart is Discordia.-Origins:...

 while they were carrying the body of Pentheus

Pentheus

In Greek mythology, Pentheus was a king of Thebes, son of the strongest of the Spartes, Echion, and of Agave, daughter of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, and the goddess Harmonia....

. While in Epirus

Epirus

The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...

, she died and was buried in a thicket; this thicket was later considered sacred to her and the entire country was renamed after her. This same thicket was also considered the place where the king's son Cichyrus accidentally slew a young girl named Anthippe while hunting. In remorse he flung himself into a ravine and was killed. The king's people, the Chaonians

Chaonians

The Chaonians were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Epirus located in the north-west of modern Greece and southern Albania. On their southern frontier lay another Epirote kingdom, that of the Molossians, to their southwest stood the kingdom of the Thesprotians, and to their...

, founded the city of Cichyrus around the ravine.