♦ ‘Dial. Mer. & Vulc.’ replaced with ‘Dialogi Deorum’
Apollocrătes, a friend of Dion, supposed by some to be the son of Dionysius.
Apollodōrus, a famous grammarian and mythologist of Athens, son of Asclepias and disciple to Panætius the Rhodian philosopher. He flourished about 115 years before the christian era, and wrote a history of Athens, besides other works. But of all his compositions, nothing is extant but his Bibliotheca, a valuable work, divided into three books. It is an abridged history of the gods, and of the ancient heroes, of whose actions and genealogy it gives a true and faithful account. The best edition is that of Heyne, Göttingen, in 8vo, 4 vols., 1782. Athenæus.—Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 37.—Diodorus, bks. 4 & 13.——A tragic poet of Cilicia, who wrote tragedies entitled Ulysses, Thyestes, &c.——A comic poet of Gela in Sicily, in the age of Menander, who wrote 47 plays.——An architect of Damascus, who directed the building of Trajan’s bridge across the Danube. He was put to death by Adrian, to whom, when in a private station, he had spoken in too bold a manner.——A writer who composed a history of Parthia.——A disciple of Epicurus, the most learned of his school, and deservedly surnamed the illustrious. He wrote about 40 volumes on different subjects. Diogenes Laërtius.——A painter of Athens, to whom Zeuxis was a pupil. Two of his paintings were admired at Pergamus, in the age of Pliny; a priest in a suppliant posture, and Ajax struck with Minerva’s thunders. Pliny, bk. 35, ch. 9.——A statuary in the age of Alexander. He was of such an irascible disposition, that he destroyed his own pieces upon the least provocation. Pliny, bk. 34, ch. 8.——A rhetorician of Pergamus, preceptor and friend to Augustus, who wrote a book on rhetoric. Strabo, bk. 13.——A tragic poet of Tarsus.——A Lemnian who wrote on husbandry.——A physician of Tarentum.——Another of Cytium.
Apollonia, a festival at Ægialea in honour of Apollo and Diana. It arose from this circumstance: these two deities came to Ægialea, after the conquest of the serpent Python; but they were frightened away, and fled to Crete. Ægialea was soon visited with an epidemical distemper, and the inhabitants, by the advice of their prophets, sent seven chosen boys, with the same number of girls, to entreat them to return to Ægialea. Apollo and Diana granted their petition, in honour of which a temple was raised to πειθω, the goddess of persuasion; and ever after a number of youths, of both sexes, were chosen to march in solemn procession, as if anxious to bring back Apollo and Diana. Pausanias, Corinth.——A town of Mygdonia,——of Crete,——of Sicily,——on the coast of Asia Minor.——Another on the coast of Thrace, part of which was built on a small island of Pontus, where Apollo had a temple.——A town of Macedonia, on the coasts of the Adriatic.——A city of Thrace.——Another on mount Parnassus.
Apolloniădes, a tyrant of Sicily, compelled to lay down his power by Timoleon.
Apollonias, the wife of Attalus king of Phrygia, to whom she bore four children.
Apollonĭdes, a writer of Nicæa.——A physician of Cos at the court of Artaxerxes, who became enamoured of Amytis, the monarch’s sister, and was some time after put to death for slighting her after the reception of her favours.
Apollonius, a Stoic philosopher of Chalcis, sent for by Antoninus Pius, to instruct his adopted son Marcus Antoninus. When he came to Rome, he refused to go to the palace, observing that the master ought not to wait upon his pupil, but the pupil upon him. The emperor hearing this, said, laughing, “It was then easier for Apollonius to come from Chalcis to Rome, than from Rome to the palace.”——A geometrician of Perge in Pamphylia, whose works are now lost. He lived about 240 years before the christian era, and composed a commentary on Euclid, whose pupils he attended at Alexandria. He wrote treatises on conic sections, eight of which are now extant; and he first endeavoured to explain the causes of the apparent stopping and retrograde motion of the planets, by cycles and epicycles, or circles within circles. The best edition of Apollonius is Dr. Halley’s, Oxford, folio, 1710.——A poet of Naucratis in Egypt, generally called Apollonius of Rhodes, because he lived for some time there. He was pupil, when young, to Callimachus and Panætius, and succeeded to Eratosthenes as third librarian of the famous library of Alexandria, under Ptolemy Evergetes. He was ungrateful to his master Callimachus, who wrote a poem against him, in which he denominated him Ibis. Of all his works, nothing remains but his poem on the expedition of the Argonauts, in four books. The best editions of Apollonius are those printed at Oxford, in 4to, by Shaw, 1777, 2 vols.; and in 1 vol., 8vo, 1779; and that of Brunck, Strasbourg, 12mo, 1780. Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 1.——A Greek orator, surnamed Molo, was a native of Alabanda in Caria. He opened a school of rhetoric at Rhodes and Rome, and had Julius Cæsar and Cicero among his pupils. He discouraged the attendance of those whom he supposed incapable of distinguishing themselves as orators, and he recommended to them pursuits more congenial to their abilities. He wrote a history, in which he did not candidly treat the people of Judæa, according to the complaint of Josephus, against Apion.—Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 1, chs. 28, 75, 126, & 130; Letters to his Friends, bk. 3, ltr. 16; De Inventione, bk. 1, ch. 81.—Quintilian, bk. 3, ch. 1; bk. 12, ch. 6.—Suetonius, Cæsar, ch. 4.—Plutarch, Cæsar.——A Greek historian about the age of Augustus, who wrote upon the philosophy of Zeno and of his followers. Strabo, bk. 14.——A Stoic philosopher, who attended Cato of Utica in his last moments. Plutarch, Cato.——An officer set over Egypt by Alexander. Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 8.——A wrestler. Pausanias, bk. 5.——A physician of Pergamus, who wrote on agriculture. Varro.——A grammarian of Alexandria.——A writer in the age of Antoninus Pius.——Thyaneus, a Pythagorean philosopher, well skilled in the secret arts of magic. Being one day haranguing the populace at Ephesus, he suddenly exclaimed, “Strike the tyrant, strike him; the blow is given, he is wounded, and fallen!” At that very moment the emperor Domitian had been stabbed at Rome. The magician acquired much reputation when this circumstance was known. He was courted by kings and princes, and commanded unusual attention by his numberless artifices. His friend and companion, called Damis, wrote his life, which 200 years after engaged the attention of Philostratus. In his history the biographer relates so many curious and extraordinary anecdotes of the hero, that many have justly deemed it a romance; yet for all this, Hierocles had the presumption to compare the impostures of Apollonius with the miracles of Jesus Christ.——A sophist of Alexandria, distinguished for his Lexicon Græcum Iliadis et Odysseæ, a book that was beautifully edited by Villoison, in 4to, 2 vols., Paris, 1773. Apollonius was one of the pupils of Didymus, and flourished in the beginning of the first century.——A physician.——A son of Sotades at the court of Ptolemy Philadelphus.——Syrus, a Platonic philosopher.——Herophilus, wrote concerning ointments.——A sculptor of Rhodes.
Apollŏphănes, a Stoic, who greatly flattered king Antigonus, and maintained that there existed but one virtue, prudence. Diogenes Laërtius.——A physician in the court of Antiochus. Polybius, bk. 5.——A comic poet. Ælian, De Natura Animalium, bk. 6.
Apomyīos, a surname of Jupiter.
Aponiana, an island near Lilybæum. Hirtius, African War, ch. 2.
Marcus Aponius, a governor of Mœsia, rewarded with a triumphal statue by Otho, for defeating 9000 barbarians. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 1, ch. 79.
Apŏnus, now Abano, a fountain, with a village of the same name, near Patavium in Italy. The waters of the fountain, which were hot, were wholesome, and were supposed to have an oracular power. Lucan, bk. 7, li. 194.—Suetonius, Tiberius, ch. 14.
Apostrophia, a surname of Venus in Bœotia, who was distinguished under these names, Venus Urania, Vulgaria, and Apostrophia. The former was the patroness of a pure and chaste love; the second of carnal and sensual desires; and the last incited men to illicit and unnatural gratifications, to incests, and rapes. Venus Apostrophia was invoked by the Thebans, that they might be saved from such unlawful desires. She is the same as the Verticordia of the Romans. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 16.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 15.
Apotheōsis, a ceremony observed by the ancient nations of the world, by which they raised their kings, heroes, and great men to the rank of deities. The nations of the east were the first who paid divine honours to their great men, and the Romans followed their example, and not only deified the most prudent and humane of their emperors, but also the most cruel and profligate. Herodian, bk. 4, ch. 2, has left us an account of the apotheosis of a Roman emperor. After the body of the deceased was burnt, an ivory image was laid on a couch for seven days, representing the emperor under the agonies of disease. The city was in sorrow, the senate visited it in mourning, and the physicians pronounced it every day in a more decaying state. When the death was announced, a band of young senators carried the couch and image to the Campus Martius, where it was deposited on an edifice in the form of a pyramid, where spices and combustible materials were thrown. After this the knights walked round the pile in solemn procession, and the images of the most illustrious Romans were drawn in state, and immediately the new emperor, with a torch, set fire to the pile, and was assisted by the surrounding multitude. Meanwhile an eagle was let fly from the middle of the pile, which was supposed to carry the soul of the deceased to heaven, where he was ranked among the gods. If the deified was a female, a peacock, and not an eagle, was sent from the flames. The Greeks observed ceremonies much of the same nature.
Appia via, a celebrated road leading from the porta Capena at Rome to Brundusium, through Capua. Appius Claudius made it as far as Capua, and it received its name from him. It was continued and finished by Gracchus, Julius Cæsar, and Augustus. See: Via. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 285.—Statius, bk. 2, Sylvæ, poem 2, li. 12.—Martial, bk. 9, ltr. 104.—Suetonius, Tiberias, ch. 14.
Appiădes, a name given to these five deities, Venus, Pallas, Vesta, Concord, and Peace, because a temple was erected to them near the Appian road. The name was also applied to those courtesans at Rome who lived near the temple of Venus by Appiæ Aquæ, and the forum of Julius Cæsar. Ovid, de Ars Amatoria, bk. 3, li. 452.
Appiānus, a Greek historian of Alexandria, who flourished A.D. 123. His universal history, which consisted of 24 books, was a series of history of all the nations that had been conquered by the Romans, in the order of time; and in the composition, the writer displayed, with a style simple and unadorned, a great knowledge of military affairs, and described his battles in a masterly manner. This excellent work is greatly mutilated, and there is extant now only the account of the Punic, Syrian, Parthian, Mithridatic, and Spanish wars, with those of Illyricum and the civil dissensions, with a fragment of the Celtic wars. In his preface, Appian has enlarged on the boundaries of that mighty empire, of which he was the historian. The best editions are those of Tollius and Variorum, 2 vols., 8vo, Amsterdam, 1670, and that of Schweigheuserus, 3 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1785. He was so eloquent that the emperor highly promoted him in the state.
Appii Forum, now Borgo Longo, a little village not far from Rome, built by the consul Appius. Horace, bk. 1, satire 5.
Appius, the prænomen of an illustrious family at Rome.——A censor of that name, A.U.C. 442. Horace, bk. 1, satire 6.
Appius Claudius, a decemvir who obtained his power by force and oppression. He attempted the virtue of Virginia, whom her father killed to preserve her chastity. This act of violence was the cause of a revolution in the state, and the ravisher destroyed himself when cited to appear before the tribunal of his country. Livy, bk. 3, ch. 33.——Claudius Cæcus, a Roman orator, who built the Appian way and many aqueducts in Rome. When Pyrrhus, who was come to assist the Tarentines against Rome, demanded peace of the senators, Appius, grown old in the service of the republic, caused himself to be carried to the senate house, and by his authority dissuaded them from granting a peace which would prove dishonourable to the Roman name. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 6, li. 203.—Cicero, Brutus & Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 4.——A Roman who, when he heard that he had been proscribed by the triumvirs, divided his riches among his servants, and embarked with them for Sicily. In their passage the vessel was shipwrecked, and Appius alone saved his life. Appian, bk. 4.——Claudius Crassus, a consul, who, with Spurius Naut. Rutilius, conquered the Celtiberians, and was defeated by Perseus king of Macedonia. Livy.——Claudius Pulcher, a grandson of Appius Claudius Cæcus, consul in the age of Sylla, retired from grandeur to enjoy the pleasures of a private life.——Clausus, a general of the Sabines, who, upon being ill treated by his countrymen, retired to Rome with 5000 of his friends, and was admitted into the senate in the early ages of the republic. Plutarch, Poplicola [Publicola].——Herdonius, seized the capitol with 4000 exiles, A.U.C. 292, and was soon after overthrown. Livy, bk. 3, ch. 15.—Florus, bk. 3, ch. 19.——Claudius Lentulus, a consul with Marcus Perpenna.——A dictator who conquered the Hernici.——The name of Appius was common in Rome, and particularly to many consuls, whose history is not marked by any uncommon event.
Appŭla, an immodest woman, &c. Juvenal, satire 6, li. 64.
Apries and Aprius, one of the kings of Egypt in the age of Cyrus, supposed to be the Pharaoh Hophra of Scripture. He took Sidon, and lived in great prosperity till his subjects revolted to Amasis, by whom he was conquered and strangled. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 159, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 1.
Apsinthii, a people of Thrace. They received their name from a river called Apsinthus, which flowed through their territory. Dionysius Periegetes.
Apsinus, an Athenian sophist in the third century, author of a work called Præceptor de Arte Rhetoricâ.
Apsus, a river of Macedonia falling into the Ionian sea between Dyrrhachium and Apollonia. Lucan, bk. 5, li. 46.
Aptĕra, an inland town of Crete. Ptolemy.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.
Apuleia lex, was enacted by Lucius Apuleius the tribune, A.U.C. 652, for inflicting a punishment upon such as were guilty of raising seditions, or showing violence in the city.——Varilia, a granddaughter of Augustus, convicted of adultery with a certain Manlius, in the reign of Tiberius. Tacitus, Annals, ch. 50.
Apuleius, a learned man, born at Madaura in Africa. He studied at Carthage, Athens, and Rome, where he married a rich widow called Pudentilla, for which he was accused by some of her relations of using magical arts to win her heart. His apology was a masterly composition. In his youth, Apuleius had been very expensive; but he was, in a maturer age, more devoted to study, and learnt Latin without a master. The most famous of his works extant is the Golden Ass, in 11 books, an allegorical piece, replete with morality. The best editions of Apuleius are the Delphin, 2 vols., 4to, Paris, 1688, and Pricæi, 8vo, Goudæ, 1650.
Apūlia, now Puglia, a country of Italy between Daunia and Calabria. It was part of the ancient Magna Græcia, and generally divided into Apulia Daunia and Apulia Peucetia. It was famous for its wool, superior to all the produce of Italy. Some suppose that it is called after Apulus, an ancient king of the country before the Trojan war. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 11.—Cicero, de Divinatione, bk. 1, ch. 43.—Strabo, bk. 6.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Martial, Apophoreta, ltr. 155.
Apuscidāmus, a lake of Africa. All bodies, however heavy, were said to swim on the surface of its waters. Pliny, bk. 32, ch. 2.
Aquarius, one of the signs of the zodiac, rising in January and setting in February. Some suppose that Ganymede was changed into this sign. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 3, li. 304.
Aquilaria, a place of Africa. Cæsar, bk. 2, Civil War, ch. 23.
Aquileia, or Aquilegia, a town founded by a Roman colony, called from its grandeur, Roma secunda, and situate at the north of the Adriatic sea, on the confines of Italy. The Romans built it chiefly to oppose the frequent incursions of the barbarians. The Roman emperors enlarged and beautified it, and often made it their residence. Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 605.—Martial, bk. 4, ltr. 25.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.
Aquilius Niger, an historian mentioned by Suetonius, Augustus, ch. 11.——Marcus, a Roman consul who had the government of Asia Minor. Justin, bk. 36, ch. 4.——Sabinus, a lawyer of Rome, surnamed the Cato of his age. He was father to Aquilia Severus, whom Heliogabalus married.——Severus, a poet and historian in the age of Valentinian.
Aquillia and Aquilia, a patrician family at Rome, from which few illustrious men rose.
Aquĭlo, a wind blowing from the north. Its name is derived, according to some, from Aquila, on account of its keenness and velocity.
Aquilonia, a city of the Hirpini in Italy. Livy, bk. 10, ch. 38.
Aquinius, a poet of moderate capacity. Cicero, bk. 5, Tusculanæ Disputationes.
Aquīnum, a town of Latium, on the borders of the Samnites, where Juvenal was born. A dye was invented there, which greatly resembled the real purple. Horace, bk. 1, ltr. 10, li. 27.—Strabo.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 404.—Juvenal, satire 3, li. 319.
Aquitania, a country of Gaul, bounded on the west by Spain, north by the province of Lugdunum, south by the province called Gallia Narbonensis. Its inhabitants are called Aquitani. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 17.—Strabo, bk. 4.
Ara, a constellation, consisting of seven stars, near the tail of the Scorpion. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 138.
Ara lugdunensis, a place at the confluence of the Arar and Rhone. Juvenal, satire 1, li. 44.
Arabarches, a vulgar person among the Egyptians, or perhaps an unusual expression for the leaders of the Arabians, who resided in Rome. Juvenal, satire 1, li. 130. Some believe that Cicero, bk. 2, ltr. 17, Letters to Atticus, alluded to Pompey under the name of Arabarches.
Arăbia, a large country of Asia, forming a peninsula between the Arabian and Persian gulfs. It is generally divided into three different parts, Petræa, Deserta, and Felix. It is famous for its frankincense and aromatic plants. The inhabitants were formerly under their own chiefs, an uncivilized people, who paid adoration to the sun, moon, and even serpents, and who had their wives in common, and circumcised their children. The country has often been invaded, but never totally subdued. Alexander the Great expressed his wish to place the seat of his empire in their territories. The soil is rocky and sandy, the inhabitants are scarce, the mountains rugged, and the country without water. In Arabia, whatever woman was convicted of adultery was capitally punished. The Arabians for some time supported the splendour of literature which was extinguished by the tyranny and superstition which prevailed in Egypt, and to them we are indebted for the invention of algebra, or the application of signs and letters to represent lines, numbers, and quantities, and also for the numerical characters of 1, 2, 3, &c., first used in Europe, A.D. 1253.—Herodotus, bks. 1, 2, 3.—Diodorus, bks. 1 & 2.—Pliny, bks. 12 & 14.—Strabo, bk. 16.—Xenophon.—Tibullus, bk. 2, poem 2.—Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 1.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 1, li. 57.——Also the name of the wife of Ægyptus. Apollodorus.
Arabĭcus sinus, a sea between Egypt and Arabia, different, according to some authors, from the Red sea, which they supposed to be between Æthiopia and India, and the Arabian gulf further above, between Egypt and Arabia. It is about 40 days’ sail in length, and not half a day’s in its most extensive breadth. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 11.—Strabo.
Arăbis, Arabius, Arbis, an Indian river. Curtius, bk. 9, ch. 10.
Arabs and Arăbus, a son of Apollo and Babylone, who first invented medicine, and taught it in Arabia, which is called after his name. Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 56.
Aracca and Arecca, a city of Susiana. Tibullus, bk. 4, poem 1.
Arachne, a woman of Colophon, daughter to Idmon a dyer. She was so skilful in working with the needle, that she challenged Minerva, the goddess of the art, to a trial of skill. She represented on her work the amours of Jupiter with Europa, Antiope, Leda, Asteria, Danae, Alcmene, &c.; but though her piece was perfect and masterly, she was defeated by Minerva, and hanged herself in despair, and was changed into a spider by the goddess. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, fable 1, &c.——A city of Thessaly.
Arachosia, a city of Asia, near the Massagetæ. It was built by Semiramis.——One of the Persian provinces beyond the Indus. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 23.—Strabo, bk. 11.
Arachōtæ and Arachōti, a people of India, who received their name from the river Arachotus which flows down from mount Caucasus. Dionysius Periegetes.—Curtius, bk. 9, ch. 7.
Arachthias, one of the four capital rivers of Epirus near Nicopolis, falling into the bay of Ambracia. Strabo, bk. 7.
Aracillum, a town of Hispania Tarraconensis. Florus, bk. 4, ch. 12.
Aracosii, an Indian nation. Justin, bk. 13, ch. 4.
Aracynthus, a mountain of Acarnania, between the Achelous and Evenus, not far from the shore, and thence called Actæus. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 2.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 2, li. 24.
Arădus, an island near Phœnicia, joined to the continent by a bridge. Dionysius Periegetes.
Aræ, rocks in the middle of the Mediterranean, between Africa and Sardinia, where the Romans and Africans ratified a treaty. It was upon them that Æneas lost the greatest part of his fleet. They are supposed to be those islands which are commonly called Ægates. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 113.
Aræ Philænorum, a maritime city of Africa, on the borders of Cyrene. Sallust, Jugurthine War, chs. 19 & 79.
Arar, now the Saone, a river of Gaul, flowing into the Rhone, over which Cæsar’s soldiers made a bridge in one day. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 1, ch. 12.—Silius Italicus, bk. 3, li. 452.
Arărus, a Scythian river flowing through Armenia. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 48.
Arathyrea, a small province of Achaia, afterwards called Asophis, with a city of the same name. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.—Strabo, bk. 8.
Arātus, a Greek poet of Cilicia, about 277 B.C. He was greatly esteemed by Antigonus Gonatas king of Macedonia, at whose court he passed much of his time, and by whose desire he wrote a poem on astronomy, in which he gives an account of the situations, rising and setting, number and motion of the stars. Cicero represented him as unacquainted with astrology, yet capable of writing upon it in elegant and highly finished verses, which, however, from the subject, admit of little variety. Aratus wrote, besides, hymns and epigrams, &c., and had among his interpreters and commentators many of the learned men of Greece whose works are lost, besides Cicero, Claudius, and Germanicus Cæsar, who in their youth, or moments of relaxation, translated the Phænomena into Latin verse. The best editions of Aratus are, Grotius, 4to, apud Raphalengius, 1600; and Oxford, 8vo, 1672. Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 2, ch. 41.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 2.—Ovid, Amores, bk. 1, poem 15, li. 26.——The son of Clinias and Aristodama, was born at Sicyon in Achaia, near the river Asopus. When he was but seven years of age, his father, who held the government of Sicyon, was assassinated by Abantidas, who made himself absolute. After some revolutions, the sovereignty came into the hands of Nicocles, whom Aratus murdered to restore his country to liberty. He was so jealous of tyrannical power, that he even destroyed a picture which was the representation of a tyrant. He joined the republic of Sicyon to the Achæan league, which he strengthened, by making a treaty of alliance with the Corinthians, and with Ptolemy king of Egypt. He was chosen chief commander of the forces of the Achæans, and drove away the Macedonians from Athens and Corinth. He made war against the Spartans, but was conquered in a battle by their king Cleomenes. To repair the losses he had sustained, he solicited the assistance of king Antigonus, and drove away Cleomenes from Sparta, who fled to Egypt, where he killed himself. The Ætolians soon after attacked the Achæans; and Aratus, to support his character, was obliged to call to his aid Philip king of Macedonia. His friendship with this new ally did not long continue. Philip showed himself cruel and oppressive; and put to death some of the noblest of the Achæans, and even seduced the wife of the son of Aratus. Aratus, who was now advanced in years, showed his displeasure by withdrawing himself from the society and friendship of Philip. But this rupture was fatal. Philip dreaded the power and influence of Aratus, and therefore he caused him and his son to be poisoned. Some days before his death, Aratus was observed to spit blood; when apprised of it by his friends, he replied, “Such are the rewards which a connection with kings will produce.” He was buried with great pomp by his countrymen; and two solemn sacrifices were annually made to him, the first on the day that he delivered Sicyon from tyranny, and the second on the day of his birth. During those sacrifices, which were called Arateia, the priests wore a ribbon bespangled with white and purple spots, and the public schoolmaster walked in procession at the head of his scholars, and was always accompanied by the richest and most eminent senators, adorned with garlands. Aratus died in the 62nd year of his age, B.C. 213. He wrote a history of the Achæan league, much commended by Polybius. Plutarch, Lives of the Roman Emperors.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 8.—Cicero, de Officiis, bk. 2, ch. 23.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Livy, bk. 27, ch. 31.—Polybius, bk. 2.
Araxes, now Arras, a celebrated river which separates Armenia from Media, and falls into the Caspian sea. Lucan, bk. 1, li. 19; bk. 7, li. 188.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 728.—Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 202, &c.——Another in Europe, now called Wolga.
Arbāces, a Mede who revolted with Belesis against Sardanapalus, and founded the empire of Media upon the ruins of the Assyrian power, 820 years before the christian era. He reigned above 50 years, and was famous for the greatness of his undertakings, as well as for his valour. Justin, bk. 1, ch. 3.—Paterculus, bk. 1, ch. 6.
Arbēla (orum), now Irbil, a town of Persia, on the river Lycus, famous for a battle fought there between Alexander and Darius, the 2nd of October, B.C. 331. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 1.—Plutarch, Alexander.
Arbĕla, a town of Sicily, whose inhabitants were very credulous.
Arbis, a river on the western boundaries of India. Strabo.
Arbocāla, a city taken by Annibal as he marched against Rome.
Arbuscŭla, an actress on the Roman stage, who laughed at the hisses of the populace while she received the applauses of the knights. Horace, bk. 1, satire 10, li. 77.
Arcădia, a country in the middle of Peloponnesus, surrounded on every side by land, situate between Achaia, Messenia, Elis, and Argolis. It received its name from Arcas son of Jupiter, and was anciently called Drymodes, on account of the great number of oaks (δρυς) which it produced, and afterwards Lycaonia and Pelasgia. The country has been much celebrated by the poets, and was famous for its mountains. The inhabitants were for the most part all shepherds, who lived upon acorns, were skilful warriors, and able musicians. They thought themselves more ancient than the moon. Pan, the god of shepherds, chiefly lived among them.—Aristotle, bk. 4, Metaphysics, says that the wine of Arcadia, when placed in a goat’s skin near a fire, will become chalky, and at last be turned into salt. Strabo, bk. 1.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 5.—Pausanias, bk. 8, chs. 1, 2, &c.—Athenæus, bk. 14.——A fortified village of Zacynthus.
Arcadius, eldest son of Theodosius the Great, succeeded his father A.D. 395. Under him the Roman power was divided into the eastern and western empire. He made the eastern empire his choice, and fixed his residence at Constantinople; while his brother Honorius was made emperor of the west, and lived in Rome. After this separation of the Roman empire, the two powers looked upon one another with indifference; and, soon after, their indifference was changed into jealousy, and contributed to hasten their mutual ruin. In the reign of Arcadius, Alaricus attacked the western empire, and plundered Rome. Arcadius married Eudoxia, a bold and ambitious woman, and died in the 31st year of his age, after a reign of 13 years, in which he bore the character of an effeminate prince, who suffered himself to be governed by favourites, and who abandoned his subjects to the tyranny of ministers, while he lost himself in the pleasures of a voluptuous court.
Arcānum, a villa of Cicero’s near the Minturni. Cicero, bk. 7, Letters to Atticus, ltr. 10.
Arcas, a son of Jupiter and Calisto. He nearly killed his mother, whom Juno had changed into a bear. He reigned in Pelasgia, which from him was called Arcadia, and taught his subjects agriculture and the art of spinning wool. After his death, Jupiter made him a constellation with his mother. As he was one day hunting, he met a wood nymph, who begged his assistance, because the tree over which she presided, and on whose preservation her life depended, was going to be carried away by the impetuous torrent of a river. Arcas changed the course of the waters, and preserved the tree, and married the nymph, by whom he had three sons, Azan, Aphidas, and Elatus, among whom he divided his kingdom. The descendants of Azan planted colonies in Phrygia. Aphidas received for his share Tegea, which on that account has been called the inheritance of Aphidas; and Elatus became master of mount Cyllene, and some time after passed into Phocis. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 4.—Hyginus, fables 155 & 176.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 8.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 1, li. 470.——One of Actæon’s dogs.
Arce, a daughter of Thaumas, son of Pontus and Terra. Ptolemy Hephæstion.
Arcēna, a town of Phœnicia, where Alexander Severus was born.
Arcens, a Sicilian who permitted his son to accompany Æneas into Italy, where he was killed by Mezentius. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 581, &c.
Arcesilāus, son of Battus king of Cyrene, was driven from his kingdom in a sedition, and died B.C. 575. The second of that name died B.C. 550. Polyænus, bk. 8, ch. 41.—Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 159.——One of Alexander’s generals, who obtained Mesopotamia at the general division of the provinces after the king’s death.——A chief of Catana, which he betrayed to Dionysius the elder. Diodorus, bk. 14.——A philosopher of Pitane in Æolia, disciple of Polemon. He visited Sardis and Athens, and was the founder of the middle academy, as Socrates founded the ancient, and Carneades the new one. He pretended to know nothing, and accused others of the same ignorance. He acquired many pupils in the character of teacher; but some of them left him for Epicurus, though no Epicurean came to him; which gave him occasion to say that it is easy to make a eunuch of a man, but impossible to make a man of a eunuch. He was very fond of Homer, and generally divided his time among the pleasures of philosophy, love, reading, and the table. He died in his 75th year, B.C. 241, or 300 according to some. Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.—Persius, bk. 3, li. 78.—Cicero, de Finibus.——The name of two painters,——a statuary,——a leader of the Bœotians during the Trojan war.——A comic and elegiac poet.
Arcēsius, son of Jupiter, was grandfather to Ulysses. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 144.
Archæa, a city of Æolia.
Archæănax of Mitylene, was intimate with Pisistratus tyrant of Athens. He fortified Sigæum with a wall from the ruins of ancient Troy. Strabo, bk. 13.
Archæatĭdas, a country of Peloponnesus. Polybius.
Archăgăthus, son of Archagathus, was slain in Africa by his soldiers, B.C. 285. He killed his grandfather, Agathocles tyrant of Syracuse. Diodorus, bk. 20.—Justin, bk. 22, ch. 5, &c., says that he was put to death by Archesilaus.——A physician at Rome, B.C. 219.
Archander, father-in-law to Danaus. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 98.
Archandros, a town of Egypt.
Arche, one of the Muses, according to Cicero.
Archegētes, a surname of Hercules.
Archelāus, a name common to some kings of Cappadocia. One of them was conquered by Sylla, for assisting Mithridates.——A person of that name married Berenice, and made himself king of Egypt; a dignity he enjoyed only six months, as he was killed by the soldiers of Gabinius, B.C. 56. He had been made priest of Comana by Pompey. His grandson was made king of Cappadocia by Antony, whom he assisted at Actium, and he maintained his independence under Augustus, till Tiberius perfidiously destroyed him.——A king of Macedonia, who succeeded his father Perdiccas II. As he was but a natural child, he killed the legitimate heirs to gain the kingdom. He proved himself to be a great monarch; but he was at last killed by one of his favourites, because he had promised him his daughter in marriage, and given her to another, after a reign of 23 years. He patronized the poet Euripides. Diodorus, bk. 14.—Justin, bk. 7, ch. 4.—Ælian. Varia Historia, bks. 2, 8, 12, 14.——A king of the Jews, surnamed Herod. He married Glaphyre, daughter of Archelaus king of Macedonia, and widow of his brother Alexander. Cæsar banished him, for his cruelties, to Vienna, where he died. Dio Cassius.——A king of Lacedæmon, son of Agesilaus. He reigned 42 years with Charilaus, of the other branch of the family. Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 204.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 2.——A general of Antigonus the younger appointed governor of the Acrocorinth, with the philosopher Persæus. Polyænus, bk. 6, ch. 5.——A celebrated general of Mithridates against Sylla. Polyænus, bk. 8, ch. 8.——A philosopher of Athens or Messenia, son of Apollodorus and successor to Anaxagoras. He was preceptor to Socrates, and was called Physicus. He supposed that heat and cold were the principles of all things. He first discovered the voice to be propagated by the vibration of the air. Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 5.—Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.—Augustine, City of God, bk. 8.——A man set over Susa by Alexander, with a garrison of 3000 men. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 2.——A Greek philosopher, who wrote a history of animals, and maintained that goats breathed not through the nostrils, but through the ears. Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 50.——A son of Electryon and Anaxo. Apollodorus, bk. 2.——A Greek poet who wrote epigrams. Varro, de Re Rustica, bk. 3, ch. 16.——A sculptor of Priene, in the age of Claudius. He made an apotheosis of Homer, a piece of sculpture highly admired, and said to have been discovered under ground, A.D. 1658.——A writer of Thrace.
Archemăchus, a Greek writer, who published a history of Eubœa. Athenæus, bk. 6.——A son of Hercules,——of Priam. Apollodorus, bks. 2 & 3.
Archemŏrus, or Opheltes, son of Lycurgus king of Nemæa, in Thrace, by Eurydice, was brought up by Hypsipyle queen of Lemnos, who had fled to Thrace, and was employed as a nurse in the king’s family. Hypsipyle was met by the army of Adrastus, who was going against Thebes: and she was forced to show them a fountain where they might quench their thirst. To do this more expeditiously, she put down the child on the grass, and at her return found him killed by a serpent. The Greeks were so afflicted at this misfortune, that they instituted games in honour of Archemorus, which were called Nemæan, and king Adrastus enlisted among the combatants, and was victorious. Apollodorus, bks. 2 & 3.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 48.—Statius, Thebiad, bk. 6.
Archepŏlis, a man in Alexander’s army, who conspired against the king with Dymnus. Curtius, bk. 6, ch. 7.
Archeptolĕmus, son of Iphitus king of Elis, went to the Trojan war, and fought against the Greeks. As he was fighting near Hector, he was killed by Ajax son of Telamon. It is said that he re-established the Olympic games. Homer, Iliad, bk. 8, li. 128.
Archestrătus, a tragic poet, whose pieces were acted during the Peloponnesian war. Plutarch, Aristotle.——A man so small and lean, that he could be placed in a dish without filling it, though it contained no more than an obolus.——A follower of Epicurus, who wrote a poem in commendation of gluttony.
Archetīmus, the first philosophical writer in the age of the seven wise men of Greece. Diogenes Laërtius.
Archetius, a Rutulian, killed by the Trojans. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 12, li. 459.
Archia, one of the Oceanides, wife to Inachus. Hyginus, fable 143.
Archias, a Corinthian descended from Hercules. He founded Syracuse, B.C. 732. Being told by an oracle to make choice of health or riches, he chose the latter. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 2.——A poet of Antioch, intimate with the Luculli. He obtained the rank and name of a Roman citizen by the means of Cicero, who defended him in an elegant oration, when his enemies had disputed his privileges of citizen of Rome. He wrote a poem on the Cimbrian war and began another concerning Cicero’s consulship, which are now lost. Some of his epigrams are preserved in the Anthologia. Cicero, For Archias.——A polemarch of Thebes, assassinated in the conspiracy of Pelopidas, which he could have prevented, if he had not deferred to the morrow the reading of a letter which he had received from Archias the Athenian high priest, and which gave him information of his danger. Plutarch, Pelopidas.——A high priest of Athens, contemporary and intimate with the polemarch of the same name. Plutarch, Pelopidas.——A Theban taken in the act of adultery, and punished according to the law, and tied to a post in the public place, for which punishment he abolished the oligarchy. Aristotle.
Archibiădes, a philosopher of Athens, who affected the manners of the Spartans, and was very inimical to the views and measures of Phocion. Plutarch, Phocion.——An ambassador of Byzantium, &c. Polyænus, bk. 4, ch. 44.
Archibius, the son of the geographer Ptolemy.
Archidamia, a priestess of Ceres, who, on account of her affection for Aristomenes, restored him to liberty when he had been taken prisoner by her female attendants at the celebration of their festivals. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 17.——A daughter of Cleadas, who upon hearing that her countrymen the Spartans were debating whether they should send away their women to Crete against the hostile approach of Pyrrhus, seized a sword, and ran to the senate house, exclaiming that the women were as able to fight as the men. Upon this the decree was repealed. Plutarch, Pyrrhus.—Polyænus, bk. 8, ch. 8.
Archidāmus, son of Theopompus king of Sparta, died before his father. Pausanias.——Another, king of Sparta, son of Anaxidamus, succeeded by Agasicles.——Another, son of Agesilaus of the family of the Proclidæ.——Another, grandson of Leotychidas by his son Zeuxidamus. He succeeded his grandfather, and reigned in conjunction with Plistoanax. He conquered the Argives and Arcadians, and privately assisted the Phocians in plundering the temple of Delphi. He was called to the aid of Tarentum against the Romans, and killed there in a battle, after a reign of 33 years. Diodorus, bk. 16.—Xenophon.——Another, son of Eudamidas.——Another, who conquered the Helots, after a violent earthquake. Diodorus, bk. 11.——A son of Agesilaus, who led the Spartan auxiliaries to Cleombrotus at the battle of Leuctra, and was killed in a battle against the Lucanians. B.C. 338.——A son of Xenius Theopompus. Pausanias.
Archidas, a tyrant of Athens, killed by his troops.
Archidēmus, a Stoic philosopher, who willingly exiled himself among the Parthians. Plutarch, de Exilio.
Archidēus, a son of Amyntas king of Macedonia. Justin, bk. 7, ch. 4.
Archidium, a city of Crete, named after Archidius son of Tegeates. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 53.
Archigallus, the high priest of Cybele’s temple. See: Galli.
Archigĕnes, a physician, born at Apamea in Syria. He lived in the reign of Domitian, Nerva, and Trajan, and died in the 73rd year of his age. He wrote a treatise on adorning the hair, as also 10 books on fevers. Juvenal, satire 6, li. 235.
Archilŏchus, a poet of Paros; who wrote elegies, satires, odes, and epigrams, and was the first who introduced iambics in his verses. He had courted Neobule the daughter of Lycambes, and had received promises of marriage; but the father gave her to another superior to the poet in rank and fortune; upon which Archilochus wrote such a bitter satire, that Lycambes hanged himself in a fit of despair. The Spartans condemned his verses on account of their indelicacy, and banished him from their city as a petulant and dangerous citizen. He flourished 685 B.C., and it is said that he was assassinated. Some fragments of his poetry remain, which display vigour and animation, boldness and vehemence, in the highest degree; from which reason, perhaps, Cicero calls virulent edicts, Archilochia edicta. Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 1.—Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 1.—Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 12.—Horace, Art of Poetry, li. 79.—Athenæus, bks. 1, 2, &c.——A son of Nestor, killed by Memnon in the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.——A Greek historian who wrote a chronological table, and other works, about the 20th or 30th olympiad.
Archimēdes, a famous geometrician of Syracuse, who invented a machine of glass that faithfully represented the motion of all the heavenly bodies. When Marcellus the Roman consul besieged Syracuse Archimedes constructed machines which suddenly raised up in the air the ships of the enemy from the bay before the city, and let them fall with such violence into the water that they sunk. He set them also on fire with his burning glasses. When the town was taken, the Roman general gave strict orders to his soldiers not to hurt Archimedes, and he even offered a reward to him who should bring him alive and safe into his presence. All these precautions were useless; the philosopher was so deeply engaged in solving a problem, that he was even ignorant that the enemy were in possession of the town; and a soldier, without knowing who he was, killed him, because he refused to follow him, B.C. 212. Marcellus raised a monument over him, and placed upon it a cylinder and a sphere; but the place remained long unknown, till Cicero, during his questorship in Sicily, found it near one of the gates of Syracuse, surrounded with thorns and brambles. Some suppose that Archimedes raised the site of the towns and villages of Egypt, and began those mounds of earth by means of which communication is kept from town to town during the inundations of the Nile. The story of his burning glasses had always appeared fabulous to some of the moderns, till the experiments of Buffon demonstrated it beyond contradiction. These celebrated glasses were supposed to be reflectors made of metal, and capable of producing their effect at the distance of a bowshot. The manner in which he discovered how much brass a goldsmith had mixed with gold in making a golden crown for the king is well known to every modern hydrostatic, as well as the pumping screw which still bears his name. Among the wild schemes of Archimedes, is his saying that, by means of his machines, he could move the earth with ease, if placed on a fixed spot near it. Many of his works are extant, especially treatises de sphærâ et cylindro, circuli dimensio, de lineis spiralibus, de quadraturâ paraboles, de numero arenæ, &c.; the best edition of which is that of David Rivaltius, folio, Paris, 1615. Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 1, ch. 25; De Natura Deorum, bk. 2, ch. 34.—Livy, bk. 24, ch. 34.—Quintilian, bk. 1, ch. 10.—Vitruvius, bk. 9, ch. 3.—Polybius, bk. 7.—Plutarch, Marcellus.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 7.
Archīnus, a man who, when he was appointed to distribute new arms among the populace of Argos, raised a mercenary band, and made himself absolute. Polyænus, bk. 3, ch. 8.——A rhetorician of Athens.
Archipĕlăgus, a part of the sea where islands in great number are interspersed such as that part of the Mediterranean which lies between Greece and Asia Minor, and is generally called Mare Ægeum.
Archipŏlis, or Archepolis, a soldier who conspired against Alexander with Dymnus. Curtius, bk. 6, ch. 7.
Archippe, a city of the Marsi, destroyed by an earthquake, and lost in the lake of Fucinus. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 19.
Archippus, a king of Italy, from whom, perhaps, the town of Archippe received its name. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 752.——A philosopher of Thebes, pupil to Pythagoras.——An archon at Athens.——A comic poet of Athens, of whose eight comedies only one obtained the prize.——A philosopher in the age of Trajan.
Archītis, a name of Venus, worshipped on mount Libanus.
Archon, one of Alexander’s generals, who received the provinces of Babylon, at the general division after the king’s death. Diodorus, bk. 18.
Archontes, the name of the chief magistrates of Athens. They were nine in number, and none were chosen but such as were descended from ancestors who had been free citizens of the republic for three generations. They were also to be without deformity in all the parts and members of their body, and were obliged to produce testimonies of their dutiful behaviour to their parents, of the services they had rendered their country, and the competency of their fortune to support their dignity. They took a solemn oath that they would observe the laws, administer justice with impartiality, and never suffer themselves to be corrupted. If they ever received bribes, they were compelled by the laws to dedicate to the god of Delphi a statue of gold of equal weight with their body. They all had the power of punishing malefactors with death. The chief among them was called Archon. The year took its denomination from him; he determined all causes between man and wife, and took care of legacies and wills; he provided for orphans, protected the injured, and punished drunkenness with uncommon severity. If he suffered himself to be intoxicated during the time of his office, the misdemeanour was punished with death. The second of the archons was called Basileus . It was his office to keep good order, and to remove all causes of quarrel in the families of those who were dedicated to the service of the gods. The profane and the impious were brought before his tribunal; and he offered public sacrifices for the good of the state. He assisted at the celebration of the Eleusinian festivals, and other religious ceremonies. His wife was to be related to the whole people of Athens, and of a pure and unsullied life. He had a vote among the Areopagites, but was obliged to sit among them without his crown. The Polemarch was another archon of inferior dignity. He had the care of all foreigners, and provided a sufficient maintenance from the public treasury for the families of those who had lost their lives in defence of their country. These three chief archons generally chose each of them two persons of respectable character, and of an advanced age, whose counsels and advice might assist and support them in their public capacity. The six other archons were indistinctly called Thesmothetæ, and received complaints against persons accused of impiety, bribery, and ill behaviour. They settled all disputes between the citizens, redressed the wrongs of strangers and forbade any laws to be enforced but such as were conducive to the safety of the state. These officers of state were chosen after the death of king Codrus; their power was originally for life, but afterwards it was limited to 10 years, and at last to one year. After some time, the qualifications which were required to be an archon were not strictly observed. Adrian, before he was elected emperor of Rome, was made archon at Athens, though a foreigner; and the same honours were conferred upon Plutarch. The perpetual archons, after the death of Codrus, were Medon, whose office began B.C. 1070; Acastus, 1050; Archippus, 1014; Thersippus, 995; Phorbas, 954; Megacles, 923; Diognetus, 893; Pherecles, 865; Ariphron, 846; Thespius, 826; Agamestor, 799; Æschylus, 778; Alcmæon, 756; after whose death the archons were decennial, the first of whom was Charops, who began 753; Æsimedes, 744; Clidicus, 734; Hippomenes, 724; Leocrates, 714; Apsander, 704; Eryxias, 694; after whom the office became annual, and of these annual archons Creon was the first. Aristophanes, The Clouds & The Birds.—Plutarch, Convivium Septem Sapientium, ch. 1.—Demosthenes.—Pollux.—Lysias.
Archy̆lus Thurius, a general of Dionysius the elder. Diodorus, bk. 14.
Archytas, a musician of Mitylene, who wrote a treatise on agriculture. Diogenes Laërtius.——The son of Hestiæus of Tarentum, was a follower of the Pythagorean philosophy, and an able astronomer and geometrician. He redeemed his master, Plato, from the hands of the tyrant Dionysius, and for his virtues he was seven times chosen, by his fellow-citizens, governor of Tarentum. He invented some mathematical instruments, and made a wooden pigeon which could fly. He perished in a shipwreck about 394 years before the christian era. He is also the reputed inventor of the screw and the pulley. A fragment of his writings has been preserved by Porphyry. Horace, bk. 1, ode 28.—Cicero, bk. 3, On Oratory.—Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.
Arcĭtĕnens, an epithet applied to Apollo, from his bearing a bow, with which, as soon as born, he destroyed the serpent Python. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 75.
Arctīnus, a Milesian poet, said to be pupil to Homer. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 1.
Arctophy̆lax, a star near the great bear, called also Bootes. Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 2, ch. 42.
Arctos, a mountain near Propontis, inhabited by giants and monsters.——Two celestial constellations near the north pole, commonly called Ursa Major and Minor; supposed to be Arcas and his mother, who were made constellations. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 1.—Aratus.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 3, li. 107.
Arctūrus, a star near the tail of the great bear, whose rising and setting were generally supposed to portend great tempests. Horace, bk. 3, ode 1. The name is derived from its situation, ἀρκτος ursus, οὐρα cauda. It rises now about the beginning of October, and Pliny tells us it rose in his age on the 12th, or, according to Columella, on the 5th of September.
Ardălus, a son of Vulcan, said to have been the first who invented the pipe. He gave it to the Muses, who on that account have been called Ardalides and Ardalīotides. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 31.
Ardalia, a country of Egypt. Strabo.
Ardaxānus, a small river of Illyricum. Polybius.
Ardea, formerly Ardua, a town of Latium, built by Danae, or, according to some, by a son of Ulysses and Circe. It was the capital of the Rutuli. Some soldiers set it on fire, and the inhabitants publicly reported that their city had been changed into a bird, called by the Latins Ardea. It was rebuilt, and it became a rich and magnificent city, whose enmity to Rome rendered it famous. Tarquin the Proud was pressing it with a siege, when his son ravished Lucretia. A road called Ardeatina branched from the Appian road to Ardea. Cornelius Nepos, Atticus, ch. 14.—Livy, bk. 1, ch. 57; bk. 3, ch. 71; bk. 4, ch. 9, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 412.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 14, li. 573.—Strabo, bk. 5.
Ardericca, a small town on the Euphrates, north of Babylon.
Ardiæi, a people of Illyricum, whose capital was called Ardia. Strabo, bk. 7.
Ardonea, a town of Apulia. Livy, bk. 24, ch. 20.
Ardua, an ancient name of Ardea. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 411.
Arduenna, now Ardenne, a large forest of Gaul, in the time of Julius Cæsar, which extended 50 miles from the Rhine to the borders of the Nervii. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 8, ch. 42.—Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 6, ch. 29.
Arduine, the goddess of hunting among the Gauls; represented with the same attributes as the Diana of the Romans.
Ardyenses, a nation near the Rhone. Polybius, bk. 3.
Ardys, a son of Gyges king of Lydia, who reigned 49 years, took Priene, and made war against Miletus. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 15.
Area, a surname of Minerva, from her temple on Mars’ hill (ἀρης) erected by Orestes. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 28.
Areacidæ, a nation of Numidia. Polybius.
Areas, a general chosen by the Greeks against Ætolia. Justin, bk. 24, ch. 1.
Aregŏnis, the mother of Mopsus by Ampyx. Orpheus, Argonautica.
Arelātum, a town of Gallia Narbonensis. Strabo, bk. 4.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 5.
Arellius, a celebrated painter of Rome in the age of Augustus. He painted the goddesses in the form of his mistresses. Pliny, bk. 35, ch. 10.——A miser in Horace.
Aremorĭca, a part of Gaul, at the north of the Loire, now called Britany. Pliny, bk. 4.
Arēna and Arene, a city of Messenia in Peloponnesus. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.
Arenăcum, a town of Germany. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 5, ch. 20.
Areopagītæ, the judges of the Areopagus, a seat of justice on a small eminence near Athens, whose name is derived from Αρεος παγος, the hill of Mars, because Mars was the first who was tried there, for the murder of Hallirhotius, who had offered violence to his daughter Alcippe. Some say that the place received the name of Areopagus because the Amazons pitched their camp there, and offered sacrifices to their progenitor Mars, when they besieged Athens; and others maintain that the name was given to the place because Mars is the god of bloodshed, war, and murder, which were generally punished by that court. The time in which this celebrated seat of justice was instituted is unknown. Some suppose that Cecrops, the founder of Athens, first established it, while others give the credit of it to Cranaus, and others to Solon. The number of judges that composed this august assembly is not known. They have been limited by some to 9, to 31, to 51, and sometimes to a greater number. The most worthy and religious of the Athenians were admitted as members, and such archons as had discharged their duty with care and faithfulness. In the latter ages of the republic, this observance was often violated, and we find some of their members of loose and debauched morals. If any of them were convicted of immorality, if they were seen sitting at a tavern, or had used any indecent language, they were immediately expelled from the assembly, and held in the greatest disgrace, though the dignity of a judge of the Areopagus always was for life. The Areopagites took cognizance of murders, impiety, and immoral behaviour, and particularly of idleness, which they deemed the cause of all vice. They watched over the laws, and they had the management of the public treasury; they had the liberty of rewarding the virtuous, and of inflicting severe punishment upon such as blasphemed against the gods, or slighted the celebration of the holy mysteries. They always sat in the open air, because they took cognizance of murder; and by their laws it was not permitted for the murderer and his accuser to be both under the same roof. This custom also might originate because the persons of the judges were sacred, and they were afraid of contracting pollution by conversing in the same house with men who had been guilty of shedding innocent blood. They always heard causes and passed sentence in the night, that they might not be prepossessed in favour of the plaintiff or of the defendant by seeing them. Whatever causes were pleaded before them, were to be divested of all oratory and fine speaking, lest eloquence should charm their ears and corrupt their judgment. Hence arose the most just and most impartial decisions, and their sentence was deemed sacred and inviolable, and the plaintiff and defendant were equally convinced of its justice. The Areopagites generally sat on the 27th, 28th, and 29th days of every month. Their authority continued in its original state till Pericles, who was refused admittance among them, resolved to lessen their consequence and destroy their power. From that time the morals of the Athenians were corrupted, and the Areopagites were no longer conspicuous for their virtue and justice; and when they censured the debaucheries of Demetrius, one of the family of Phalereus, he plainly told them, that if they wished to make a reform in Athens, they must begin at home.
Areopăgus, a hill in the neighbourhood of Athens. See: Areopagitæ.
Arestæ, a people of India, conquered by Alexander. Justin, bk. 12, ch. 8.
Aresthanas, a countryman, whose goat suckled Æsculapius, when exposed by his mother. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 26.
Arestorĭdes, a patronymic given to the hundred-eyed Argus, as son of Arestor. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 584.
Arĕta, the mother of Aristippus the philosopher. Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 2.——A daughter of Dionysius, who married Dion. She was thrown into the sea. Plutarch, Dion.——A female philosopher of Cyrene, B.C. 377.
Arēta, a daughter of Rhexenor, descended from Neptune, who married her uncle Alcinous, by whom she had Nausicaa. Homer, Odyssey, bks. 7 & 8.—Apollodorus, bk. 1.
Aretæus, a physician of Cappadocia, very inquisitive after the operations of nature. His treatise on agues has been much admired. The best edition of his works which are extant, is that of Boerhaave, Leiden, folio, 1735.