ABA and Abæ, a town of Phocis, famous for an oracle of Apollo, surnamed Abæus. The inhabitants, called Abantes, were of Thracian origin. After the ruin of their country by Xerxes, they migrated to Eubœa, which from them was called Abantis. Some of them passed afterwards from Eubœa into Ionia. Herodotus, bk. 8, ch. 33.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 55.——A city of Caria.——Another of Arabia Felix.——A mountain near Smyrna. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 24.—Strabo, bk. 10.
Abacēne, a country of Sicily near Messana. Diodorus, bk. 14.
Abălus, an island in the German ocean, where, as the ancients supposed, the amber dropped from the trees. If a man was drowned there, and his body never appeared above the water, propitiatory sacrifices were offered to his manes during a hundred years. Pliny, bk. 37, ch. 2.
Abāna, a place of Capua. Cicero, De Lege Agraria contra Rullum.
Abantes, a warlike people of Peloponnesus, who built a town in Phocis called Aba, after their leader Abas, whence also their name originated. They afterwards went to Eubœa. See: Abantis. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 146.
Abantias and Abantiădes, a patronymic given to the descendants of Abas king of Argos, such as Acrisius, Danae, Perseus, Atalanta, &c. Ovid.
Abantĭdas, made himself master of Sicyon, after he had murdered Clinias the father of Aratus. He was himself soon after assassinated, B.C. 251. Plutarch, Aratus.
Abantis, or Abantias, an ancient name of the island of Eubœa, received from the Abantes, who settled in it from Phocis. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.——Also a country of Epirus. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 22.
Abarbarea, one of the Naiades, mother of Æsepus and Pedasus by Bucolion, Laomedon’s eldest son. Homer, Iliad, bk. 6, li. 23.
Abarīmon, a country of Scythia, near mount Imaus. The inhabitants were said to have their toes behind their heels, and to breathe no air but that of their native country. Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 2.
Abăris, a man killed by Perseus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 86.——A Rutulian killed by Euryalus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 344.——A Scythian, son of Seuthes, in the age of Crœsus, or the Trojan war, who received a flying arrow from Apollo, with which he gave oracles, and transported himself wherever he pleased. He is said to have returned to the Hyperborean countries from Athens without eating, and to have made the Trojan Palladium with the bones of Pelops. Some suppose that he wrote treatises in Greek; and it is reported, that there is a Greek manuscript of his epistles to Phalaris, in the library of Augsburg. But there were probably two persons of that name. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 36.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 33.
Abārus, an Arabian prince, who perfidiously deserted Crassus in his expedition against Parthia. Appian, Parthia.——He is called Mezeres by Florus, bk. 3, ch. 11, and Ariamnes by Plutarch, Crassus.
Abas, a mountain in Syria, where the Euphrates rises.——A river of Armenia Major, where Pompey routed the Albani. Plutarch, Pompey.——A son of Metanira, or Melaninia, changed into a lizard for laughing at Ceres. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 7.——The 11th king of Argos, son of Belus, some say of Lynceus and Hypermnestra, was famous for his genius and valour. He was father to Prœtus and Acrisius, by Ocalea, and built Abæ. He reigned 23 years, B.C. 1384. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 16; bk. 10, ch. 35.—Hyginus, fable 170, &c.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 2.——One of Æneas’s companions, killed in Italy. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 170.——Another lost in the storm which drove Æneas to Carthage. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 125.——A Latian chief, who assisted Æneas against Turnus, and was killed by Lausus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 170, &c.——A Greek, son of Eurydamus, killed by Æneas during the Trojan war. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 286.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 5, li. 150.——A centaur, famous for his skill in hunting. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 306.——A soothsayer, to whom the Spartans erected a statue in the temple of Apollo, for his services to Lysander. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 9.——A son of Neptune. Hyginus, fable 157.——A sophist who wrote two treatises, one on history, the other on rhetoric. The time in which he lived is unknown.——A man who wrote an account of Troy. He is quoted by Servius in Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9.
Abāsa, an island in the Red sea, near Æthiopia. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 26.
Abasītis, a part of Mysia in Asia. Strabo.
Abassēna, or Abassinia. See: Abyssinia.
Abassus, a town of Phrygia. Livy, bk. 38, ch. 15.
Abastor, one of Pluto’s horses.
Abătos, an island in the lake near Memphis in Egypt, abounding with flax and papyrus. Osiris was buried there. Lucan, bk. 10, li. 323.
Abdalonīmus, one of the descendants of the kings of Sidon, so poor, that to maintain himself, he worked in a garden. When Alexander took Sidon, he made him king, in the room of Strato the deposed monarch, and enlarged his possessions on account of the great disinterestedness of his conduct. Justin, bk. 11, ch. 10.—Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 1.—Diodorus, bk. 17.
Abdēra, a town of Hispania Bætica, built by the Carthaginians. Strabo, bk. 3.——A maritime city of Thrace, built by Hercules, in memory of Abderus, one of his favourites. The Clazomenians and Teians beautified it. Some suppose that Abdera the sister of Diomedes built it. The air was so unwholesome, and the inhabitants of such a sluggish disposition, that stupidity was commonly called Abderitica mens. It gave birth, however, to Democritus, Protagoras, Anaxarchus, and Hecatæus. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 4, ltr. 16.—Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 186.—Martial, bk. 10, ltr. 25.
Abdēria, a town of Spain. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 5.
Abderītes, a people of Pæonia, obliged to leave their country on account of the great number of rats and frogs which infested it. Justin, bk. 15, ch. 2.
Abdērus, a man of Opus in Locris, arm-bearer to Hercules, torn to pieces by the mares of Diomedes, which the hero had entrusted to his care when going to war against the Bistones. Hercules built a city, which, in honour of his friend, he called Abdera. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 5.—Philostratus, bk. 2, ch. 25.
Abeătæ, a people of Achaia, probably the inhabitants of Abia. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 30.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 6.
Abella, a town of Campania, whose inhabitants were called Abellani. Its nuts, called avellanæ, and also its apples, were famous. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 740.—Justin, bk. 20, ch. 5.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 544.
Abelux, a noble of Saguntum, who favoured the party of the Romans against Carthage. Livy, bk. 22, ch. 22.
Abenda, a town of Caria, whose inhabitants were the first who raised temples to the city of Rome. Livy, bk. 45, ch. 6.
Abia, formerly Ire, a maritime town of Messenia, one of the seven cities promised to Achilles by Agamemnon. It is called after Abia, daughter of Hercules and nurse of Hyllus. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 30.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 9, li. 292.
Abii, a nation between Scythia and Thrace. They lived upon milk, were fond of celibacy, and enemies to war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 13, li. 6.—According to Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 6, they surrendered to Alexander, after they had been independent since the reign of Cyrus.
Abĭla, or Abyla, a mountain of Africa, in that part which is nearest to the opposite mountain called Calpe, on the coast of Spain, only eighteen miles distant. These two mountains are called the columns of Hercules, and were said formerly to be united, till the hero separated them, and made a communication between the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas. Strabo, bk. 3.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 5; bk. 2, ch. 6.—Pliny, bk. 3.
Abisăres, an Indian prince, who offered to surrender to Alexander. Curtius, bk. 8, ch. 12.
Abisăris, a country beyond the Hydaspes in India. Arrian.
Abisontes, some inhabitants of the Alps. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 20.
Ablētes, a people near Troy. Strabo.
Abnoba, a mountain of Germany. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 1.
Abobrĭca, a town of Lusitania. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 20.——Another in Spain.
Abœcrĭtus, a Bœotian general, killed with a thousand men, in a battle at Chæronea, against the Ætolians. Plutarch, Aratus.
Abolāni, a people of Latium, near Alba. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 5.
Abōlus, a river of Sicily. Plutarch, Timoleon.
Aboniteichos, a town of Galatia. Arrian, Periplus of the Euxine Sea.
Aborāca, a town of Sarmatia.
Aborigĭnes, the original inhabitants of Italy; or, according to others, a nation conducted by Saturn into Latium, where they taught the use of letters to Evander the king of the country. Their posterity was called Latini, from Latinus, one of their kings. They assisted Æneas against Turnus. Rome was built in their country.—The word signifies without origin, or whose origin is not known, and is generally applied to the original inhabitants of any country. Livy, bk. 1, ch. 1, &c.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 1, ch. 10.—Justin, bk. 43, ch. 1.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Strabo, bk. 5.
Aborras, a river of Mesopotamia. Strabo, bk. 16.
Abradātes, a king of Susa, who, when his wife Panthea had been taken prisoner by Cyrus, and humanely treated, surrendered himself and his troops to the conqueror. He was killed in the first battle he undertook in the cause of Cyrus, and his wife stabbed herself on his corpse. Cyrus raised a monument on their tomb. Xenophon, Cyropædia, bks. 5, 6, &c.
Abrentius, was made governor of Tarentum by Annibal. He betrayed his trust to the enemy to gain the favours of a beautiful woman, whose brother was in the Roman army. Polyænus, bk. 8.
Abrocŏmas, son of Darius, was in the army of Xerxes, when he invaded Greece. He was killed at Thermopylæ. Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 224.—Plutarch, Cleomenes.
Abrodiætus, a name given to Parrhasius the painter, on account of the sumptuous manner of his living. See: Parrhasius.
Abron, an Athenian, who wrote some treatises on the religious festivals and sacrifices of the Greeks. Only the titles of his works are preserved. Suidas.——A grammarian of Rhodes, who taught rhetoric at Rome.——Another who wrote a treatise on Theocritus.——A Spartan, son of Lycurgus the orator. Plutarch, Decem Oratorum.——A native of Argos, famous for his debauchery.
Abronius Silo, a Latin poet in the Augustan age. He wrote some fables. Seneca.
Abronycus, an Athenian, very serviceable to Themistocles in his embassy to Sparta. Thucydides, bk. 1, ch. 91.—Herodotus, bk. 8, ch. 21.
Abrŏta, the wife of Nisus, the youngest of the sons of Ægeus. As a monument to her chastity, Nisus, after her death, ordered the garments which she wore to become the models of fashion in Megara. Plutarch, Quæstiones Græcæ.
Abrotŏnum, the mother of Themistocles. Plutarch, Themistocles.——A town of Africa, near the Syrtes. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 4. ——A harlot of Thrace. Plutarch, Aratus.
Abrus, a city of the Sapæi. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 10.
Abrypŏlis, an ally of Rome, driven from his possessions by Perseus, the last king of Macedonia. Livy, bk. 42, chs. 13 & 41.
Abseus, a giant, son of Tartarus and Terra. Hyginus, preface to fables.
Absinthii, a people on the coasts of Pontus, where there is also a mountain of the same name. Herodotus, bk. 6, ch. 34.
Absŏrus, Absyrtis, Absyrtides, islands in the Adriatic, or near Istria, where Absyrtus was killed, whence their name. Strabo, bk. 7.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 190.
Absyrtos, a river falling into the Adriatic sea, near which Absyrtus was murdered. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 190.
Absyrtus, a son of Æetes king of Colchis, and Hypsea. His sister Medea, as she fled away with Jason, tore his body to pieces, and strewed his limbs in her father’s way, to stop his pursuit. Some say that she murdered him in Colchis, others, near Istria. It is said by others, that he was not murdered, but that he arrived safe in Illyricum. The place where he was killed has been called Tomos, and the river adjoining to it Absyrtos. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 190.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Hyginus, fable 23.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9.—Flaccus, bk. 8, li. 261.—Ovid, Tristia, bk. 3, poem 9.—Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 3, ch. 19.—Pliny, bk. 3, chs. 21 & 26.
Abulītes, governor of Susa, betrayed his trust to Alexander, and was rewarded with a province. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 2.—Diodorus, bk. 17.
Abydēnus, a disciple of Aristotle, too much indulged by his master. He wrote some historical treatises on Cyprus, Delos, Arabia, and Assyria. Philo Judæus.—Josephus, Against Apion.
Abȳdos, a town of Egypt, where was the famous temple of Osiris. Plutarch, on De Iside et Osiride.——A city of Asia, opposite Sestos in Europe, with which, from the narrowness of the Hellespont, it seemed, to those who approach it by sea, to form only one town. It was built by the Milesians, by permission of king Gyges. It is famous for the amours of Hero and Leander, and for the bridge of boats which Xerxes built there across the Hellespont. The inhabitants, being besieged by Philip the father of Perseus, devoted themselves to death with their families, rather than fall into the hands of the enemy. Livy, bk. 31, ch. 18.—Lucan, bk. 2, li. 674.—Justin, bk. 2, ch. 13.—Musæus, Hero & Leander.—Flaccus, bk. 1, li. 285.
Abȳla. See: Abila.
Abȳlon, a city of Egypt.
Abyssinia, a large kingdom of Africa, in Upper Æthiopia, where the Nile takes its rise. The inhabitants are said to be of Arabian origin, and were little known to the ancients.
Acacallis, a nymph, mother of Philander and Phylacis by Apollo. These children were exposed to the wild beasts in Crete; but a goat gave them her milk, and preserved their life. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 16.——A daughter of Minos, mother of Cydon by Mercury, and of Amphithemis by Apollo. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 53.—Apollonius, bk. 4, li. 1493.
Acacēsium, a town of Arcadia, built by Acacus son of Lycaon. Mercury, surnamed Acacesius, because brought up by Acacus as his foster-father, was worshipped there. Pausanias, bk. 8, chs. 3, 36, &c.
Acacius, a rhetorician in the age of the emperor Julian.
Acadēmia, a place near Athens surrounded with high trees, and adorned with spacious covered walks, belonging to Academus, from whom the name is derived. Some derive the word from ἑκας δημος, removed from the people. Here Plato opened his school of philosophy, and from this, every place sacred to learning has ever since been called Academia. To exclude from it profaneness and dissipation, it was even forbidden to laugh there. It was called Academia vetus, to distinguish it from the second Academy, founded by Arcesilaus, who made some few alterations in the Platonic philosophy, and from the third which was established by Carneades. Cicero, de Divinatione, bk. 1, ch. 3.—Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 3.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 3, ch. 35.
Acadēmus, an Athenian, who discovered to Castor and Pollux where Theseus had concealed their sister Helen, for which they amply rewarded him. Plutarch, Theseus.
Acalandrus, or Acalyndrus, a river falling into the bay of Tarentum. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 11.
Acalle, a daughter of Minos and Pasiphae. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 1.
Acamarchis, one of the Oceanides.
Acămas, son of Theseus and Phædra, went with Diomedes to demand Helen from the Trojans after her elopement from Menelaus. In his embassy he had a son called Munitus, by Laodice the daughter of Priam. He was concerned in the Trojan war, and afterwards built the town of Acamantium in Phrygia, and on his return to Greece called a tribe after his own name at Athens. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 26.—Quintus Smyrnæus, bk. 12.—Hyginus, fable 108.——A son of Antenor in the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 11, li. 60, &c.——A Thracian auxiliary of Priam in the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 11.
Acampsis, a river of Colchis. Arrian.
Acantha, a nymph loved by Apollo, and changed into the flower Acanthus.
Acanthus, a town near mount Athos, belonging to Macedonia, or, according to others, to Thrace. It was founded by a colony from Andros. Thucydides, bk. 4, ch. 84.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.——Another in Egypt near the Nile, called also Dulopolis. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 28.——An island mentioned by Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 32.
Acăra, a town of Pannonia.——Another in Italy.
Acaria, a fountain of Corinth, where Iolas cut off the head of Eurystheus. Strabo, bk. 8.
Acarnania, anciently Curetis, a country of Epirus, at the north of the Ionian sea, divided from Ætolia by the Achelous. The inhabitants reckoned only six months in the year; they were luxurious, and addicted to pleasure, so that porcus Acarnas became proverbial. Their horses were famous. It received its name from Acarnas. Pliny, bk. 2, ch. 90.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Strabo, bks. 7 & 9.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 24.—Lucian, Dialogi Meretricii.
Acarnas and Amphoterus, sons of Alcmæon and Callirhöe. Alcmæon being murdered by the brothers of Alphesibœa his former wife, Callirhöe obtained from Jupiter, that her children, who were still in the cradle, might, by a supernatural power, suddenly grow up to punish their father’s murderers. This was granted. See: Alcmæon. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 24.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 9, fable 10.
Acarnas and Acarnan, a stony mountain of Attica. Seneca, Hippolytus, li. 20.
Acasta, one of the Oceanides. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 356.
Acastus, son of Pelias king of Thessaly by Anaxibia, married Astydamia or Hippolyte, who fell in love with Peleus son of Æacus, when in banishment at her husband’s court. Peleus, rejecting the addresses of Hippolyte, was accused before Acastus of attempts upon her virtue, and soon after, at a chase, exposed to wild beasts. Vulcan, by order of Jupiter, delivered Peleus, who returned to Thessaly, and put to death Acastus and his wife. See: Peleus and Astydamia. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, li. 306; Heroides, poem 13, li. 25.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9, &c.——The second archon at Athens.
Acathantus, a bay in the Red sea.—Strabo, bk. 16.
Acca Laurentia, the wife of Faustulus shepherd of king Numitor’s flocks, who brought up Romulus and Remus, who had been exposed on the banks of the Tiber. From her wantonness, she was called Lupa, prostitute, whence the fable that Romulus was suckled by a she-wolf. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 1, ch. 18.—Livy, bk. 1, ch. 4.—Aulus Gellius, bk. 6, ch. 7.——The Romans yearly celebrated certain festivals [See: Laurentalia] in honour of another prostitute of the same name, which arose from this circumstance: the keeper of the temple of Hercules, one day playing at dice, made the god one of the number, on condition that if Hercules was defeated, he should make him a present, but if he conquered he should be entertained with an elegant feast, and share his bed with a beautiful female. Hercules was victorious, and accordingly Acca was conducted to the bed of Hercules, who in reality came to see her, and told her in the morning to go into the streets, and salute with a kiss the first man she met. This was Tarrutius, an old unmarried man, who, not displeased with Acca’s liberty, loved her, and made her the heiress of all his possessions. These, at her death, she gave to the Roman people, whence the honours paid to her memory. Plutarch, Quæstiones Romanæ, Romulus.——A companion of Camilla. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 820.
Accia, or Atia, daughter of Julia and Marcus Atius Balbus, was the mother of Augustus, and died about 40 years B.C. Dio Cassius.—Suetonius, Augustus, ch. 4.——Variola, an illustrious female, whose cause was eloquently pleaded by Pliny. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 33.
Accĭla, a town of Sicily. Livy, bk. 24, ch. 35.
Lucius Accius, a Roman tragic poet, whose roughness of style Quintilian has imputed to the unpolished age in which he lived. He translated some of the tragedies of Sophocles, but of his numerous pieces only some of the names are known; and among these his Nuptiæ, Mercator, Neoptolemus, Phœnice, Medea, Atreus, &c. The great marks of honour which he received at Rome may be collected from this circumstance: that a man was severely reprimanded by a magistrate for mentioning his name without reverence. Some few of his verses are preserved in Cicero and in other writers. He died about 180 years B.C. Horace, bk. 2, ltr. 1, li. 56.—Ovid, Amores, bk. 1, poem 15, li. 19.—Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 1.—Cicero, Letters to Atticus & Brutus or de Claris Oratoribus, bk. 3, ch. 16.——A famous orator of Pisaurum in Cicero’s age.——Labeo, a foolish poet mentioned Persius, bk. 1, li. 50.——Tullius, a prince of the Volsci, very inimical to the Romans. Coriolanus, when banished by his countrymen, fled to him, and led his armies against Rome. Livy, bk. 2, ch. 37.—Plutarch, Coriolanus.
Acco, a general of the Senones in Gaul. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 6, chs. 4 & 44.——An old woman who fell mad on seeing her deformity in a looking-glass. Hesychius.
Accua, a town in Italy. Livy, bk. 24, ch. 20.
Ace, a town in Phœnicia, called also Ptolemais, now Acre. Cornelius Nepos, Datames, ch. 5.——A place of Arcadia near Megalopolis, where Orestes was cured from the persecution of the furies, who had a temple there. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 34.
Acerātus, a soothsayer, who remained alone at Delphi when the approach of Xerxes frightened away the inhabitants. Herodotus, bk. 8, ch. 37.
Acerbas, a priest of Hercules at Tyre, who married Dido. See: Sichæus. Justin, bk. 18, ch. 4.
Acerīna, a colony of the Brutii in Magna Græcia, taken by Alexander of Epirus. Livy, bk. 8, ch. 24.
Acerræ, an ancient town of Campania, near the river Clanius. It still subsists; and the frequent inundations from the river which terrified its ancient inhabitants, are now prevented by the large drains dug there. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 225.—Livy, bk. 8, ch. 17.
Acersecŏmes, a surname of Apollo, which signifies unshorn. Juvenal, satire 8, li. 128.
Aces, a river of Asia. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 117.
Acesia, part of the island of Lemnos, which received this name from Philoctetes, whose wound was cured there. Philostratus.
Acesīnes, a river of Sicily. Thucydides, bk. 4, ch. 25.
Acesīnus, or Acesīnes, a river of Persia falling into the Indus. Its banks produce reeds of such an uncommon size, that a piece of them, particularly between two knots, can serve as a boat to cross the water. Justin, bk. 12, ch. 9.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.
Acesius, a surname of Apollo, in Elis and Attica, as god of medicine. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 24.
Acesta, a town of Sicily, called after king Acestes, and known also by the name of Segesta. It was built by Æneas, who left there part of his crew, as he was going to Italy. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 746, &c.
Acestes, son of Crinisus and Egesta, was king of the country near Drepanum in Sicily. He assisted Priam in the Trojan war, and kindly entertained Æneas during his voyage, and helped him to bury his father on mount Eryx. In commemoration of this, Æneas built a city there called Acesta, from Acestes. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 746.
Acestium, a woman who saw all her relations invested with the sacred office of torch-bearer in the festivals of Ceres. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 37.
Acestodōrus, a Greek historian, who mentions the review which Xerxes made of his forces before the battle of Salamis. Plutarch, Themistocles.
Acestorĭdes, an Athenian archon.——A Corinthian, governor of Syracuse. Diodorus, bk. 19.
Acetes, one of Evander’s attendants. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 30.
Achabȳtos, a lofty mountain in Rhodes, where Jupiter had a temple.
Achæa, a surname of Pallas, whose temple in Daunia was defended by dogs which fawned upon the Greeks, but fiercely attacked all other persons. Aristotle, de Mirabilibus.——Ceres was called Achæa, from her lamentations (ἀχεα) at the loss of Proserpine. Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride.
Achæi, the descendants of Achæus, at first inhabited the country near Argos, but being driven by the Heraclidæ, 80 years after the Trojan war, they retired among the Ionians, whose 12 cities they seized and kept. The names of these cities are Pellene, Ægira, Æges, Bura, Tritæa, Ægion, Rhypæ, Olenos, Helice, Patræ, Dyme, and Pharæ. The inhabitants of these three last began a famous confederacy, 284 years B.C., which continued formidable upwards of 130 years, under the name of the Achæan league, and was most illustrious whilst supported by the splendid virtues and abilities of Aratus and Philopœmen. Their arms were directed against the Ætolians for three years, with the assistance of Philip of Macedon, and they grew powerful by the accession of neighbouring states, and freed their country from foreign slavery, till at last they were attacked by the Romans, and, after one year’s hostilities, the Achæan league was totally destroyed, B.C. 147. The Achæans extended the borders of their country by conquest and even planted colonies in Magna Græcia.——The name of Achæi is generally applied to all the Greeks, indiscriminately, by the poets. See: Achaia. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 145; bk. 8, ch. 36.—Statius, Thebaid, bk. 2, li. 164.—Polybius.—Livy, bks. 27, 32, &c.—Plutarch, Philopœmen.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 5.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 605.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 1, &c.——Also a people of Asia on the borders of the Euxine. Ovid, Ex Ponto, bk. 4, poem 10, li. 27.
Achæium, a place of Troas, opposite Tenedos. Strabo, bk. 8.
Achæmĕnes, a king of Persia, among the progenitors of Cyrus the Great; whose descendants were called Achæmenides, and formed a separate tribe in Persia, of which the kings were members. Cambyses, son of Cyrus, on his death-bed, charged his nobles, and particularly the Achæmenides, not to suffer the Medes to recover their former power, and abolish the empire of Persia. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 125; bk. 3, ch. 65; bk. 7, ch. 1.—Horace, bk. 2, ode 12, li. 21.——A Persian, made governor of Egypt by Xerxes, B.C. 484.
Achæmenia, part of Persia, called after Achæmenes. Hence Achæmenius. Horace, Epodes, poem 13, li. 12.
Achæmenĭdes, a native of Ithaca, son of Adramastus, and one of the companions of Ulysses, abandoned on the coast of Sicily, where Æneas, on his voyage to Italy, found him. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 624.—Ovid, Ibis, li. 417.
Achæorum littus, a harbour in Cyprus. Strabo.——In Troas,——in Æolia,——in Peloponnesus,——on the Euxine. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 34.
Achæorum statio, a place on the coast of the Thracian Chersonesus, where Polyxena was sacrificed to the shades of Achilles, and where Hecuba killed Polymnestor, who had murdered her son Polydorus.
Achæus, a king of Lydia, hung by his subjects for his extortion. Ovid, Ibis.——A son of Xuthus of Thessaly. He fled, after the accidental murder of a man, to Peloponnesus; where the inhabitants were called from him, Achæi. He afterwards returned to Thessaly. Strabo, bk. 8.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 1.——A tragic poet of Eretria, who wrote 43 tragedies, of which some of the titles are preserved, such as Adrastus, Linus, Cycnus, Eumenides, Philoctetes, Pirithous, Theseus, Œdipus, &c.; of these only one obtained the prize. He lived some time after Sophocles.——Another of Syracuse, author of 10 tragedies.——A river which falls into the Euxine. Arrian, Periplus of the Euxine Sea.——A relation of Antiochus the Great, appointed governor of all the king’s provinces beyond Taurus. He aspired to sovereign power, which he disputed for eight years with Antiochus, and was at last betrayed by a Cretan. His limbs were cut off, and his body, sewed in the skin of an ass, was exposed on a gibbet. Polybius, bk. 8.
Achaia, called also Hellas, a country of Peloponnesus at the north of Elis on the bay of Corinth, which is now part of Livadia. It was originally called Ægialus (shore) from its situation. The Ionians called it Ionia, when they settled there; and it received the name of Achaia, from the Achæi, who dispossessed the Ionians. See: Achæi.——A small part of Phthiotis was also called Achaia, of which Alos was the capital.
Achaicum bellum. See: Achæi.
Achăra, a town near Sardis. Strabo, bk. 14.
Acharenses, a people of Sicily near Syracuse. Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 3.
Acharnæ, a village of Attica. Thucydides, bk. 2, ch. 19.
Achātes, a friend of Æneas, whose fidelity was so exemplary that Fidus Achates became a proverb. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 316.——A river of Sicily.
Achĕlōĭdes, a patronymic given to the Sirens as daughters of Achelous. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 15.
Achelorium, a river of Thessaly. Polyænus, bk. 8.
Achelōus, the son of Oceanus or Sol by Terra or Tethys, god of the river of the same name in Epirus. As one of the numerous suitors of Dejanira daughter of Œneus he entered the lists against Hercules and being inferior, changed himself into a serpent, and afterwards into an ox. Hercules broke off one of his horns, and Achelous being defeated, retired in disgrace into his bed of waters. The broken horn was taken up by the nymphs, and filled with fruits and flowers, and after it had for some time adorned the hand of the conqueror, it was presented to the goddess of plenty. Some say that he was changed into a river after the victory of Hercules. This river is in Epirus, and rises in mount Pindus, and after dividing Acarnania from Ætolia, falls into the Ionian sea. The sand and mud which it carries down, have formed some islands at its mouth. This river is said by some to have sprung from the earth after the deluge. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 10.—Strabo, bk. 10.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, fable 5; bk. 9, fable 1; Amores, bk. 3, poem 6, li. 35.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, chs. 3 & 7; bk. 2, ch. 7.—Hyginus, preface to fables.——A river of Arcadia falling into the Alpheus.——Another flowing from mount Sipylus. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 38.
Acherdus, a tribe of Attica; hence Acherdusius, Demosthenes.
Acherĭmi, a people of Sicily. Cicero, bk. 3, Against Verres.
Achĕron, a river of Thesprotia, in Epirus, falling into the bay of Ambracia. Homer called it, from the dead appearance of its waters, one of the rivers of hell, and the fable has been adopted by all succeeding poets, who make the god of the stream to be the son of Ceres without a father, and say that he concealed himself in hell for fear of the Titans, and was changed into a bitter stream, over which the souls of the dead are at first conveyed. It receives, say they, the souls of the dead, because a deadly languor seizes them at the hour of dissolution. Some make him son of Titan, and suppose that he was plunged into hell by Jupiter, for supplying the Titans with water. The word Acheron is often taken for hell itself. Horace, bk. 1, ode 3, li. 36.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 292; Æneid, bk. 2, li. 295, &c.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 16.—Silius Italicus, bk. 2.—Sylvæ, poem 6, li. 80.—Livy, bk. 8, ch. 24.——A river of Elis in Peloponnesus.——Another on the Riphæan mountains. Orpheus.——Also a river in the country of the Brutii in Italy. Justin, bk. 12, ch. 2.
Acherontia, a town of Apulia on a mountain, thence called Nidus by Horace, bk. 3, ode 4, li. 14.
Acherūsia, a lake of Egypt near Memphis, over which, as Diodorus, bk. 1, mentions, the bodies of the dead were conveyed, and received sentence according to the actions of their life. The boat was called Baris, and the ferryman Charon. Hence arose the fable of Charon and the Styx, &c., afterwards imported into Greece by Orpheus, and adopted in the religion of the country.——There was a river of the same name in Epirus, and another in Italy in Calabria.
Acherūsias, a place or cave in Chersonesus Taurica, where Hercules, as is reported, dragged Cerberus out of hell. Xenophon, Anabasis, bk. 6.
Achetus, a river of Sicily. Silius Italicus, bk. 14.
Achillas, a general of Ptolemy, who murdered Pompey the Great. Plutarch, Pompey.—Lucan, bk. 8, li. 538.
Achillēa, a peninsula near the mouth of the Borysthenes. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 1.—Herodotus, bk. 4, chs. 55 & 76.——An island at the mouth of the Ister, where was the tomb of Achilles, over which it is said that birds never flew. Pliny, bk. 10, ch. 29.——A fountain of Miletus, whose waters rise salted from the earth, and afterwards sweeten in their course. Athenaeus, bk. 2, ch. 2.
Achilleienses, a people near Macedonia. Xenophon, Hellenica, bk. 3.
Achillēis, a poem of Statius, in which he describes the education and memorable actions of Achilles. This composition is imperfect. The poet’s premature death deprived the world of a valuable history of the life and exploits of this famous hero. See: Statius.
Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis, was the bravest of all the ♦Greeks in the Trojan war. During his infancy, Thetis plunged him in the Styx, and made every part of his body invulnerable, except the heel, by which she held him. His education was entrusted to the centaur Chiron, who taught him the art of war and made him master of music, and by feeding him with the marrow of wild beasts, rendered him vigorous and active. He was taught eloquence by Phœnix, whom he ever after loved and respected. Thetis, to prevent him from going to the Trojan war, where she knew he was to perish, privately sent him to the court of Lycomedes, where he was disguised in a female dress, and, by his familiarity with the king’s daughters, made Deidamia mother of Neoptolemus. As Troy could not be taken without the aid of Achilles, Ulysses went to the court of Lycomedes, in the habit of a merchant, and exposed jewels and arms to sale. Achilles, choosing the arms, discovered his sex, and went to the war. Vulcan, at the entreaties of Thetis, made him a strong suit of armour, which was proof against all weapons. He was deprived by Agamemnon of his favourite mistress, Briseis, who had fallen to his lot at the division of the booty of Lyrnessus, and for this affront, he refused to appear in the field till the death of his friend Patroclus recalled him to action, and to revenge. See: Patroclus. He slew Hector the bulwark of Troy, tied the corpse by the heels to his chariot, and dragged it three times round the walls of Troy. After thus appeasing the shades of his friend, he yielded to the tears and entreaties of Priam, and permitted the aged father to ransom and to carry away Hector’s body. In the 10th year of the war, Achilles was charmed with Polyxena; and as he solicited her hand in the temple of Minerva, it is said that Paris aimed an arrow at his vulnerable heel, of which wound he died. His body was buried at Sigæum, and divine honours were paid to him, and temples raised to his memory. It is said, that after the taking of Troy, the ghost of Achilles appeared to the Greeks, and demanded of them Polyxena, who accordingly was sacrificed on his tomb by his son Neoptolemus. Some say that this sacrifice was voluntary, and that Polyxena was so grieved at his death that she killed herself on his tomb. The Thessalians yearly sacrificed a black and a white bull on his tomb. It is reported that he married Helen after the siege of Troy; but others maintain, that this marriage happened after his death, in the island of Leuce, where many of the ancient heroes lived, as in a separate elysium. See: Leuce. When Achilles was young, his mother asked him, whether he preferred a long life, spent in obscurity and retirement, or a few years of military fame and glory? and that, to his honour, he made choice of the latter. Some ages after the Trojan war, Alexander going to the conquest of Persia, offered sacrifices on the tomb of Achilles, and admired the hero who had found a Homer to publish his fame to posterity. Xenophon, On Hunting.—Plutarch, Alexander; De facie in orbe Lunæ; De Musica; De amicorum multitudine; Quæstiones Græcæ.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 18, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 17.—Statius, Achilleid.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, fable 3, &c.; Tristia, bk. 3, poem 5, li. 37, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, lis. 472, 488; bk. 2, li. 275; bk. 6, li. 58, &c.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 13.—Hyginus, fables 96 & 110.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Pliny, bk. 35, ch. 15.—Maximus of Tyre, Oration 27.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 8; bk. 2, odes 4 & 16; bk. 4, ode 6; bk. 2, ltr. 2, li. 42.—Homer, Iliad & Odyssey.—Dictys Cretensis, bks. 1, 2, 3, &c.—Dares Phrygius.—Juvenal, satire 7, li. 210.—Apollonius, bk. 4, Argonautica, li. 869.——There were other persons of the same name. The most known were—a man who received Juno when she fled from Jupiter’s courtship——the preceptor of Chiron the centaur——a son of Jupiter and Lamia, declared by Pan to be fairer than Venus——a man who instituted ostracism at Athens——Tatius, a native of Alexandria, in the age of the emperor Claudius, but originally a pagan, converted to Christianity, and made a bishop. He wrote a mixed history of great men, a treatise on the sphere, tactics, a romance on the loves of Clitophon and Leucippe, &c. Some manuscripts of his works are preserved in the Vatican and Palatinate libraries. The best edition of his works is that in 12mo, Leiden, 1640.
♦ ‘Geeeks’ replaced with ‘Greeks’
Achillēum, a town of Troas near the tomb of Achilles, built by the Mityleneans. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 30.
♦Achilleus, or Aquileus, a Roman general in Egypt, in the reign of Diocletian, who rebelled, and for five years maintained the imperial dignity at Alexandria. Diocletian at last marched against him; and because he had supported a long siege, the emperor ordered him to be devoured by lions.
♦ Placed in alphabetical order
Achīvi, the name of the inhabitants of Argos and Lacedæmon before the return of the Heraclidæ, by whom they were expelled from their possessions 80 years after the Trojan war. Being without a home, they drove the Ionians from Ægialus, seized their 12 cities, and called the country Achaia. The Ionians were received by the Athenians. The appellation of Achivi is indiscriminately applied by the ancient poets to all the Greeks. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 1, &c. See: Achaia.
Achladæus, a Corinthian general, killed by Aristomenes. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 19.
Acholōe, one of the Harpies. Hyginus, fable 14.
Acichōrius, a general with Brennus in the expedition which the Gauls undertook against Pæonia. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 10.
Acidālia, a surname of Venus, from a fountain of the same name in Bœotia, sacred to her. The Graces bathed in the fountain. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 720.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 468.
Acidāsa, a river of Peloponnesus, formerly called Jardanus. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 5.
Acilia, a plebeian family at Rome, which traced its pedigree up to the Trojans.——The mother of Lucan.
Acilia lex, was enacted, A.U.C. 556, by Acilius the tribune, for the plantation of five colonies in Italy. Livy, bk. 32, ch. 29.——Another called also Calpurnia, A.U.C. 684, which enacted, that no person convicted of ambitus, or using bribes at elections, should be admitted in the senate, or hold an office.——Another concerning such as were guilty of extortion in the provinces.
Marcus Acilius Balbus, was consul with Portius Cato, A.U.C. 640. It is said that during his consulship, milk and blood fell from heaven. Pliny, bk. 2, ch. 56.——Glabrio, a tribune of the people, who with a legion quelled the insurgent slaves in Etruria. Being consul with Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, A.U.C. 563, he conquered Antiochus at Thermopylæ, for which he obtained a triumph, and three days were appointed for public thanksgiving. He stood for the censorship against Cato, but desisted on account of the false measures used by his competitor. Justin, bk. 31, ch. 6.—Livy, bk. 30, ch. 40; bk. 31, ch. 50; bk. 33, ch. 10, &c.——The son of the preceding, erected a temple to Piety, which his father had vowed to this goddess when fighting against Antiochus. He raised a golden statue to his father, the first that appeared in Italy. The temple of piety was built on the spot where once a woman had fed with her milk her aged father, whom the senate had imprisoned, and excluded from all aliments. Valerius Maximus, bk. 2, ch. 5.——The enactor of a law against bribery.——A prætor in the time that Verres was accused by Cicero.——A man accused of extortion, and twice defended by Cicero. He was proconsul of Sicily, and lieutenant to Cæsar in the civil wars. Cæsar, Civil War, bk. 3, ch. 15.——A consul, whose son was killed by Domitian, because he fought with wild beasts. The true cause of this murder was, that young Glabrio was stronger than the emperor, and therefore envied. Juvenal, satire 4, li. 94.
Acilla, a town of Africa, near Adrumetum. Some read Acolla. Cæsar, African War, ch. 33.
Acis, a shepherd of Sicily, son of Faunus and the nymph Simæthis. Galatæa passionately loved him; upon which his rival Polyphemus, through jealousy, crushed him to death with a piece of a broken rock. The gods changed Acis into a stream, which rises from mount Ætna. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, fable 8.
Acmon, a native of Lyrnessus, who accompanied Æneas into Italy. His father’s name was Clytus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 128.
Acmonĭdes, one of the Cyclops. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 288.
Acœtes, the pilot of the ship whose crew found Bacchus asleep, and carried him away. As they ridiculed the god, they were changed into sea monsters, but Acœtes was preserved. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3, fable 8, &c. See: Acetes.
Acontes, one of Lycaon’s 50 sons. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 8.
Aconteus, a famous hunter changed into a stone by the head of Medusa, at the nuptials of Perseus and Andromeda. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 201.——A person killed in the wars of Æneas and Turnus, in Italy. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 615.
Acontius, a youth of Cea, who, when he went to Delos to see the sacrifice of Diana, fell in love with Cydippe, a beautiful virgin, and being unable to obtain her, on account of the obscurity of his origin, wrote these verses on an apple, which he threw into her bosom: