A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY, ETC., ETC. (continued 3)

Alcioneus, a man killed by Perseus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 4.

Alciphron, a philosopher of Magnesia, in the age of Alexander. There are some epistles in Greek that bear his name, and contain a very perfect picture of the customs and manners of the Greeks. They are by some supposed to be the production of a writer of the fourth century. The only edition is that of Leipzig, 12mo, 1715, cum notis Bergleri.

Alcippe, a daughter of the god Mars, by Agraulos. She was ravished by Halirrhotius. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 14.――The wife of Metion and mother to Eupalamus. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 16.――The daughter of Œnomaus, and wife of Evenus, by whom she had Marpessa.――A woman who brought forth an elephant. Pliny, bk. 7.――A country-woman. Virgil, Eclogues, poem 7.

Alcippus, a reputed citizen of Sparta, banished by his enemies. He married Democrite, of whom Plutarch, Amatoriæ narrationes.

Alcis, a daughter of Ægyptus. Apollodorus.

Alcithoe, a Theban woman, who ridiculed the orgies of Bacchus. She was changed into a bat, and the spindle and yarn with which she worked, into a vine and ivy. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, fable 1.

Alcmæon, was son of the prophet Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. His father going to the Theban war, where, according to an oracle, he was to perish, charged him to revenge his death upon Eriphyle, who had betrayed him. See: Eriphyle. As soon as he heard of his father’s death, he murdered his mother, for which crime the Furies persecuted him till Phlegeus purified him and gave him his daughter Alphesibœa in marriage. Alcmæon gave her the fatal collar which his mother had received to betray his father, and afterwards divorced her, and married Callirhoe the daughter of Achelous, to whom he promised the necklace which he had given to Alphesibœa. When he attempted to recover it, Alphesibœa’s brothers murdered him on account of the treatment which he had shown their sister, and left his body a prey to dogs and wild beasts. Alcmæon’s children by Callirhoe revenged their father’s death by killing his murderers. See: Alphesibœa, Amphiaraus. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 17; bk. 6, ch. 18; bk. 8, ch. 24.—Plutarch, de Exilio.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 7.—Hyginus, fables 73 & 245.—Statius, Thebiad, bks. 2 & 4.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 2, li. 44; Metamorphoses, bk. 9, fable 10.――A son of Ægyptus, the husband of Hippomedusa. Apollodorus.――A philosopher, disciple to Pythagoras, born in Crotona. He wrote on physic, and he was the first who dissected animals to examine into the structure of the human frame. Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 6, ch. 27.――A son of the poet Æschylus, the 13th archon of Athens.――A son of Syllus, driven from Messenia with the rest of Nestor’s family, by the Heraclidæ. He came to Athens, and from him the Alcmæonidæ were descended. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 18.

Alcmæŏnĭdæ, a noble family of Athens, descended from Alcmæon. They undertook for 300 talents to rebuild the temple of Delphi, which had been burnt, and they finished the work in a more splendid manner than was required, in consequence of which they gained popularity, and by their influence the Pythia prevailed upon the Lacedæmonians to deliver their country from the tyranny of the Pisistratidæ. Herodotus, bks. 5 & 6.—Thucydides, bk. 6, ch. 59.—Plutarch, Solon.

Alcman, a very ancient lyric poet, born in Sardinia, and not at Lacedæmon, as some suppose. He wrote in the Doric dialect six books of verses, besides a play called Colymbosas. He flourished B.C. 670, and died of the lousy disease. Some of his verses are preserved by Athenæus and others. Pliny, bk. 11, ch. 33.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 41; bk. 3, ch. 15.—Aristotle, History of Animals, bk. 5, ch. 31.

Alcmēna, was daughter of Electryon king of Argos, by Anaxo, whom Plutarch, ♦Theseus calls Lysidice, and Diodorus, bk. 2, Eurymede. Her father promised his crown and his daughter to Amphitryon, if he would revenge the death of his sons, who had been all killed, except Licymnius, by the Teleboans, a people of Ætolia. While Amphitryon was gone against the Ætolians, Jupiter, who was enamoured of Alcmena, resolved to introduce himself into her bed. The more effectually to insure success in his amour, he assumed the form of Amphitryon, declared that he had obtained a victory over Alcmena’s enemies, and even presented her with a cup, which he said he had preserved from the spoils for her sake. Alcmena yielded to her lover what she had promised to her future husband; and Jupiter, to delay the return of Amphitryon, ordered his messenger, Mercury, to stop the rising of Phœbus, or the sun, so that the night he passed with Alcmena was prolonged to three long nights. Amphitryon returned the next day; and after complaining of the coldness with which he was received, Alcmena acquainted him with the reception of a false lover the preceding night, and even showed him the cup which she had received. Amphitryon was perplexed at the relation, and more so upon missing the cup from among his spoils. He went to the prophet Tiresias, who told him of Jupiter’s intrigue; and he returned to his wife proud of the dignity of his rival. Alcmena became pregnant by Jupiter, and afterwards by her husband; and when she was going to bring forth, Jupiter boasted in heaven that a child was to be born that day to whom he would give absolute power over his neighbours, and even over all the children of his own blood. Juno, who was jealous of Jupiter’s amours with Alcmena, made him swear by the Styx, and immediately prolonged the travails of Alcmena, and hastened the bringing forth of the wife of Sthenelus king of Argos, who, after a pregnancy of seven months, had a son called Eurystheus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, fable 5, &c., says that Juno was assisted by Lucina to put off the bringing forth of Alcmena, and that Lucina, in the form of an old woman, sat before the door of Amphitryon with her legs and arms crossed. This posture was the cause of infinite torment to Alcmena, till her servant, Galanthis, supposing the old woman to be a witch, and to be the cause of the pains of her mistress, told her that she had brought forth. Lucina retired from her posture, and immediately Alcmena brought forth twins, Hercules conceived by Jupiter, and Iphiclus by Amphitryon. Eurystheus was already born, and therefore Hercules was subjected to his power. After Amphitryon’s death, Alcmena married Rhadamanthus, and retired to Ocalea, in Bœotia. This marriage, according to some authors, was celebrated in the island of Leuce. The people of Megara said that she died ♠on her way from Argos to Thebes, and that she was buried in the temple of Jupiter Olympius. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 41; bk. 5, ch. 18; bk. 9, ch. 16.—Plutarch, ♦Theseus & Romulus.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 11; Iliad, bk. 19.—Pindar, Pythian, ♣poem 4.—Lucian, Dialogi Deorum.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Hyginus, fable 29.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, chs. 4, 7; bk. 3, ch. 1.—Plautus, Amphitruo.—Herodotus, bk. 2, chs. 43 & 45.――See: Amphitryon, Hercules, Eurystheus.

Alcon, a famous archer, who one day saw his son attacked by a serpent, and aimed at him so dexterously that he killed the beast without hurting his son.――A silversmith. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, fable 5.――A son of Hippocoon. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 14.――A surgeon under Claudius, who gained much money by his profession, in curing hernias and fractures.――A son of Mars.――A son of Amycus. These two last were at the chase of the Calydonian boar. Hyginus, fable 173.

♦Alcyŏna, a pool of Greece, whose depth the emperor Nero attempted in vain to find. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 37.

Alcyŏne, or Halcyŏne, daughter of Æolus, married Ceyx, who was drowned as he was going to Claros to consult the oracle. The gods apprised Alcyone in a dream of her husband’s fate; and when she found, on the morrow, his body washed on the sea-shore, she threw herself into the sea, and was with her husband changed into birds of the same name, who keep the waters calm and serene, while they build and sit on their nests on the surface of the sea, for the space of 7, 11, or 14 days. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 1, li. 399.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, fable 10.—Hyginus, fable 65.――One of the Pleiades, daughter of Atlas. She had Arethusa by Neptune, and Eleuthera by Apollo. She, with her sisters, was changed into a constellation. See: Pleiades. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 30; bk. 3, ch. 18.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 10.—Hyginus, fable 157.――The daughter of Evenus, carried away by Apollo after her marriage. Her husband pursued the ravisher with his bow and arrows, but was not able to recover her. Upon this, her parents called her Alcyone, and compared her fate to that of the wife of Ceyx. Homer, Iliad, bk. 9, li. 558.――The wife of Meleager. Hyginus, fable 174.――A town of Thessaly, where Philip, Alexander’s father, lost one of his eyes.

Alcyŏneus, a youth of exemplary virtue, son to Antigonus. Plutarch, Pyrrhus.—Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 4.――A giant, brother to Porphyrion. He was killed by Hercules. His daughters, mourning his death, threw themselves into the sea, and were changed into Alcyons by Amphitrite. Claudian, De Raptu Proserpinæ.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 6.

Aldescus, a river of European Sarmatia, rising from the Riphæan mountains, and falling into the northern sea. Dionysius Periegetes.

Alduăbis. See: Dubis.

Alea, a surname of Minerva, from her temple built by Aleus son of Aphidas, at Tegæa in Arcadia. The statue of the goddess made of ivory was carried by Augustus to Rome. Pausanias, bk. 8, chs. 4 & 46.――A town of Arcadia, built by Aleus. It had three famous temples, those of Minerva, Bacchus, and Diana the Ephesian. When the festivals of Bacchus were celebrated, the women were whipped in the temple. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 23.

Alēbas, a tyrant of Larissa, killed by his own guards for his cruelties. Ovid, Ibis, li. 323.

Alēbion and Dercynus, sons of Neptune, were killed by Hercules for stealing his oxen in Africa. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 5.

Alecto, one of the Furies (a, ληγω, non desino), is represented with flaming torches, her head covered with serpents, and breathing vengeance, war, and pestilence. See: Eumenides. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 324, &c.; bk. 10, li. 41.

Alector, succeeded his father Anaxagoras in the kingdom of Argos, and was father to Iphis and Capaneus. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 18.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 6.

Alectryon, a youth whom Mars, during his amours with Venus, stationed at the door to watch against the approach of the sun. He fell asleep, and Apollo came and discovered the lovers, who were exposed by Vulcan, in each other’s arms, before all the gods. Mars was so incensed that he changed Alectryon into a cock, which, still mindful of his neglect, early announces the approach of the sun. Lucian, Alectryon [Gallus].

Alectus, a tyrant of Britain, in Diocletian’s reign, &c. He died 296 A.D.

Alēius Campus, a place in Lycia, where Bellerophon fell from the horse Pegasus, and wandered over the country till the time of his death. Homer, Iliad, bk. 6, li. 201.—Dionysius Periegetes, li. 872.—Ovid, Ibis, li. 257.

Alemanni, or Alamanni, a people of Germany. They are first mentioned in the reign of Caracalla, who was honoured with the surname of Alemannicus for a victory over them.

Alēmon, the father of Myscellus. He built Crotona in Magna Græcia. Myscellus is often called Alemonides. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15, lis. 19 & 26.

Alemusii, inhabitants of Attica, in whose country there was a temple of Ceres and of Proserpine. Pausanias, Attica.

Alens, a place in the island of Cos.

Aleon, or Ales, a river of Ionia, near Colophon. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 5; bk. 8, ch. 28.

Alēse, a town of Sicily, called afterwards Achronidion, after the founder. The Romans made it an independent city.

Alēsia, or Alexia, now Alise, a famous city of the Mandubii in Gaul, founded by Hercules, as he returned from Iberia, on a high hill. Julius Cæsar conquered it. Florus, bk. 3, ch. 10.—Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 7, ch. 68.

Alēsium, a town and mountain of Peloponnesus. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 10.

Aletes, a son of Ægisthus, murdered by Orestes. Hyginus, fable 122.

Alēthes, the first of the Heraclidæ, who was king of Corinth. He was son of Hippotas. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 4.――A companion of Æneas, described as a prudent and venerable old man. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 125; bk. 9, li. 246.

Alethia, one of Apollo’s nurses.

Aletĭdas (from ἀλαομαι, to wander), certain sacrifices at Athens, in remembrance of Erigone, who wandered with a dog after her father Icarius.

Aletrium, a town of Latium, whose inhabitants are called Aletrinates. Livy, bk. 9, ch. 42.

Alētum, a tomb near the harbour of Carthage in Spain. Polybius, bk. 10.

Aleuādæ, a royal family of Larissa in Thessaly, descended from Aleuas king of that country. They betrayed their country to Xerxes. The name is often applied to the Thessalians without distinction. Diodorus, bk. 16.—Herodotus, bk. 7, chs. 6, 172.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 8; bk. 7, ch. 10.—Ælian, De Natura Animalium, bk. 8, ch. 11.

Alēus, a son of Aphidas king of Arcadia, famous for his skill in building temples. Pausanias, bk. 8, chs. 4 & 53.

Alex, a river in the country of the Brutii. Dionysius Periegetes.

Alexamēnus, an Ætolian, who killed Nabis tyrant of Lacedæmon, and was soon after murdered by the people. Livy, bk. 35, ch. 34.

Alexander I., son of Amyntas, was the tenth king of Macedonia. He killed the Persian ambassadors for their immodest behaviour to the women of his father’s court, and was the first who raised the reputation of the Macedonians. He reigned 43 years, and died 451 B.C. Justin, bk. 7, ch. 3.—Herodotus, bks. 5, 7, 8, & 9.

Alexander II., son of Amyntas II., king of Macedonia, was treacherously murdered, B.C. 370, by his younger brother Ptolemy, who held the kingdom for four years, and made way for Perdiccas and Philip. Justin, bk. 7, ch. 5, says Eurydice, the wife of Amyntas, was the cause of his murder.

Alexander III., surnamed the Great, was son of Philip and Olympias. He was born B.C. 355, that night on which the famous temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt by Erostratus. This event, according to the magicians, was an early prognostic of his future greatness, as well as the taming of Bucephalus, a horse which none of the king’s courtiers could manage; upon which Philip said, with tears in his eyes, that his son must seek another kingdom, as that of Macedonia would not be sufficiently large for the display of his greatness. Olympias, during her pregnancy, declared that she was with child by a dragon; and the day that Alexander was born, two eagles perched for some time on the house of Philip, as if foretelling that his son would become master of Europe and Asia. He was pupil to Aristotle during five years, and he received his learned preceptor’s instructions with becoming deference and pleasure, and ever respected his abilities. When Philip went to war, Alexander, in his 15th year, was left governor of Macedonia, where he quelled a dangerous sedition, and soon after followed his father to the field, and saved his life in a battle. He was highly offended when Philip divorced Olympias to marry Cleopatra, and he even caused the death of Attalus, the new queen’s brother. After this he retired from court to his mother Olympias, but was recalled; and when Philip was assassinated, he punished his murderers; and, by his prudence and moderation, gained the affections of his subjects. He conquered Thrace and Illyricum, and destroyed Thebes; and after he had been chosen chief commander of all the forces of Greece, he declared war against the Persians, who under Darius and Xerxes had laid waste and plundered the noblest of the Grecian cities. With 32,000 foot and 5000 horse, he invaded Asia, and after the defeat of Darius at the Granicus, he conquered all the provinces of Asia Minor. He obtained two other celebrated victories over Darius at Issus and Arbela, took Tyre after an obstinate siege of seven months, and the slaughter of 2000 of the inhabitants in cold blood, and made himself master of Egypt, Media, Syria, and Persia. From Egypt he visited the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and bribed the priests, who saluted him as the son of their god, and enjoined his army to pay him divine honours. He built a town which he called Alexandria, on the western side of the Nile, near the coast of the Mediterranean, an eligible situation which his penetrating eye marked as best entitled to become the future capital of his immense dominions, and to extend the commerce of his subjects from the Mediterranean to the Ganges. His conquests were spread over India, where he fought with Porus, a powerful king of the country; and after he had invaded Scythia, and visited the Indian ocean, he retired to Babylon loaded with the spoils of the east. His entering the city was foretold by the magicians as fatal, and their prediction was fulfilled. He died at Babylon the 21st of April, in the 32nd year of his age, after a reign of 12 years and 8 months of brilliant and continued success, 323 B.C. His death was so premature that some have attributed it to the effects of poison, and excess of drinking. Antipater has been accused of causing the fatal poison to be given him at a feast; and perhaps the resentment of the Macedonians, whose services he seemed to forget, by entrusting the guard of his body to the Persians, was the cause of his death. He was so universally regretted, that Babylon was filled with tears and lamentations; and the Medes and Macedonians declared that no one was able or worthy to succeed him. Many conspiracies were formed against him by the officers of his army, but they were all seasonably suppressed. His tender treatment of the wife and mother of king Darius, who were taken prisoners, has been greatly praised; and the latter, who had survived the death of her son, killed herself when she heard that Alexander was dead. His great intrepidity more than once endangered his life; he always fought as if sure of victory, and the terror of his name was often more powerfully effectual than his arms. He was always forward in every engagement, and bore the labours of the field as well as the meanest of his soldiers. During his conquests in Asia, he founded many cities, which he called Alexandria, after his own name. When he had conquered Darius, he ordered himself to be worshipped as a god; and Callisthenes, who refused to do it, was shamefully put to death. He also murdered at a banquet, his friend Clitus, who had once saved his life in a battle, because he enlarged upon the virtues and exploits of Philip, and preferred them to those of his son. His victories and success increased his pride; he dressed himself in the Persian manner, and, giving himself up to pleasure and dissipation, he set on fire the town of Persepolis in a fit of madness and intoxication, encouraged by the courtesan Thais. Yet, among all his extravagances, he was fond of candour and of truth; and when one of his officers read to him, as he sailed on the Hydaspes, a history which he had composed of his wars with Porus, and in which he had too liberally panegyrized him, Alexander snatched the book from his hand, and threw it into the river, saying, “What need is there of such flattery? Are not the exploits of Alexander sufficiently meritorious in themselves, without the colourings of falsehood?” He in like manner rejected a statuary, who offered to cut mount Athos like him, and represent him as holding a town in one hand, and pouring a river from the other. He forbade any statuary to make his statue except Lysippus, and any painter to draw his picture except Apelles. On his death-bed he gave his ring to Perdiccas, and it was supposed that by this singular present he wished to make him his successor. Some time before his death, his officers asked him whom he appointed to succeed him on the throne; and he answered, “The worthiest among you; but I am afraid,” added he, “my best friends will perform my funeral obsequies with bloody hands.” Alexander, with all his pride, was humane and liberal, easy and familiar with his friends, a great patron of learning, as may be collected from his assisting Aristotle with a purse of money to effect the completion of his natural history. He was brave often to rashness; he frequently lamented that his father conquered everything, and left him nothing to do; and exclaimed, in all the pride of regal dignity, “Give me kings for competitors, and I will enter the lists at Olympia.” All his family and infant children were put to death by Cassander. The first deliberation that was made after his decease, among his generals, was to appoint his brother Philip Aridæus successor, until Roxane, who was then pregnant by him, brought into the world a legitimate heir. Perdiccas wished to be supreme regent as Aridæus wanted capacity; and, more strongly to establish himself, he married Cleopatra, Alexander’s sister, and made alliance with Eumenes. As he endeavoured to deprive Ptolemy of Egypt, he was defeated in a battle by Seleucus and Antigonus, on the banks of the river Nile, and assassinated by his own cavalry. Perdiccas was the first of Alexander’s generals who took up arms against his fellow-soldiers, and he was the first who fell a sacrifice to his rashness and cruelty. To defend himself against him, Ptolemy made a treaty of alliance with some generals, among whom was Antipater, who had strengthened himself by giving his daughter Phila, an ambitious and aspiring woman, in marriage to Craterus, another of the generals of Alexander. After many dissensions and bloody wars among themselves, the generals of Alexander laid the foundation of several great empires in the three quarters of the globe. Ptolemy seized Egypt, where he firmly established himself, and where his successors were called Ptolemies, in honour of the founder of their empire, which subsisted till the time of Augustus. Seleucus and his posterity reigned in Babylon and Syria. Antigonus at first established himself in Asia Minor, and Antipater in Macedonia. The descendants of Antipater were conquered by the successors of Antigonus, who reigned in Macedonia till it was reduced by the Romans in the time of king Perseus. Lysimachus made himself master of Thrace; and Leonatus, who had taken possession of Phrygia, meditated for a while to drive Antipater from Macedonia. Eumenes established himself in Cappadocia, but was soon overpowered by the combinations of his rival Antigonus, and starved to death. During his lifetime, Eumenes appeared so formidable to the successors of Alexander, that none of them dared to assume the title of king. Curtius, Arrian, & Plutarch have written an account of Alexander’s life. Diodorus, bks. 17 & 18.—Pausanias, bks. 1, 7, 8, & 9.—Justin, bks. 11 & 12.—Valerius Maximus.—Strabo, bk. 1, &c.――A son of Alexander the Great, by Roxane, put to death, with his mother, by Cassander. Justin, bk. 15, ch. 2.――A man who, after the expulsion of Telestes, reigned in Corinth. Twenty-five years after, Telestes dispossessed him, and put him to death.――A son of Cassander king of Macedonia, who reigned two years conjointly with his brother Antipater, and was prevented by Lysimachus from revenging his mother Thessalonica, whom his brother had murdered. Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, put him to death. Justin, bk. 16, ch. 1.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 7.――A king of Epirus, brother to Olympias, and successor to Arybas. He banished Timolaus to Peloponnesus, and made war in Italy against the Romans, and observed that he fought with men, while his nephew, Alexander the Great, was fighting with an army of women (meaning the Persians). He was surnamed Molossus. Justin, bk. 17, ch. 3.—Diodorus, bk. 16.—Livy, bk. 8, chs. 17 & 27.—Strabo, bk. 16.――A son of Pyrrhus, was king of Epirus. He conquered Macedonia, from which he was expelled by Demetrius. He recovered it by the assistance of the Acarnanians. Justin, bk. 26, ch. 3.—Plutarch, Pyrrhus.――A king of Syria, driven from his kingdom by Nicanor son of Demetrius Soter, and his father-in-law Ptolemy Philometer. Justin, bk. 35, chs. 1 & 2.—Josephus, bk. 13, Antiquities of the Jews.—Strabo, bk. 17.――A king of Syria, first called Bala, was a merchant, and succeeded Demetrius. He conquered Nicanor by means of Ptolemy Physcon, and was afterwards killed by Antiochus Gryphus son of Nicanor. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, bk. 13, ch. 18.――Ptolemy was one of the Ptolemean kings in Egypt. His mother Cleopatra raised him to the throne, in preference to his brother Ptolemy Lathurus, and reigned conjointly with him. Cleopatra, however, expelled him, and soon after recalled him; and Alexander, to prevent being expelled a second time, put her to death, and for this unnatural action was himself murdered by one of his subjects. Josephus, bk. 13, Antiquities of the Jews, ch. 20, &c.—Justin, bk. 39, chs. 3 & 4.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 9.――Ptolemy II., king of Egypt, was son of the preceding. He was educated in the island of Cos, and, falling into the hands of Mithridates, escaped to Sylla, who restored him to his kingdom. He was murdered by his subjects a few days after his restoration. Appian, bk. 1, Civil Wars.――Ptolemy III., was king of Egypt after his brother Alexander the last mentioned. After a peaceful reign, he was banished by his subjects, and died at Tyre, B.C. 65, leaving his kingdom to the Roman people. See: Ægyptus and Ptolemæus. Cicero, De Lege Agraria contra Rullum.――A youth, ordered by Alexander the Great to climb the rock Aornus, with 30 other youths. He was killed in the attempt. Curtius, bk. 8, ch. 11.――An historian mentioned by Plutarch, Marius.――An Epicurean philosopher. Plutarch.――A governor of Æolia, who assembled a multitude on pretence of showing them an uncommon spectacle, and confined them till they had each bought their liberty with a sum of money. Polyænus, bk. 6, ch. 10.――A name given to Paris son of Priam. See: Paris.――Jannæus, a king of Judea, son of Hyrcanus and brother of Aristobulus, who reigned as a tyrant, and died through excess of drinking, B.C. 79, after massacring 800 of his subjects for the entertainment of his concubines.――A Paphlagonian, who gained divine honours by his magical tricks and impositions, and likewise procured the friendship of Marcus Aurelius. He died 70 years old.――A native of Caria, in the third century, who wrote a commentary on the writings of Aristotle, part of which is still extant.――Trallianus, a physician and philosopher of the fourth century, some of whose works in Greek are still extant.――A poet of Ætolia, in the age of Ptolemy Philadelphus.――A peripatetic philosopher, said to have been preceptor to Nero.――An historian, called also Polyhistor, who wrote five books on the Roman republic, in which he said that the Jews had received their laws, not from God, but from a woman whom he called Moso. He also wrote treatises on the Pythagorean philosophy, B.C. 88.――A poet of Ephesus, who wrote a poem on astronomy and geography.――A writer of Myndus, quoted by Athenæus and Ælian.――A sophist of Seleucia, in the age of Antoninus.――A physician in the age of Justinian.――A Thessalian, who, as he was going to engage in a naval battle, gave to his soldiers a great number of missile weapons, and ordered them to dart them continually upon the enemy to render their numbers useless. Polyænus, bk. 6, ch. 27.――A son of Lysimachus. Polyænus, bk. 6, ch. 12.――A governor of Lycia, who brought a reinforcement of troops to Alexander the Great. Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 10.――A son of Polyperchon, killed in Asia by the Dymæans. Diodorus, bks. 18 & 19.――A poet of Pleuron son of Satyrus and Stratoclea, who said that Theseus had a daughter called Iphigenia by Helen. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 22.――A Spartan, killed with 200 of his soldiers by the Argives, when he endeavoured to prevent their passing through the country of Tegea. Diodorus, bk. 15.――A cruel tyrant of Pheræ, in Thessaly, who made war against the Macedonians, and took Pelopidas prisoner. He was murdered, B.C. 357, by his wife called Thebe, whose room he carefully guarded by a Thracian sentinel, and searched every night, fearful of some dagger that might be concealed to take away his life. Cicero, de Inventione, bk. 2, ch. 49; de Officiis, bk. 2, ch. 9.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 9, ch. 13.—Plutarch & Cornelius Nepos, Pelopidas.—Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 5.—Diodorus, bks. 15 & 16.—Ovid, Ibis, li. 321.――Severus, a Roman emperor. See: Severus.

Alexandra, the name of some queens of Judæa mentioned by Josephus.――A nurse of Nero. Suetonius, Nero, ch. 50.――A name of Cassandra, because she assisted mankind by her prophecies. Lycophron.

Alexandri Aræ, the boundaries, according to some, of Alexander’s victories, near the Tanais. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 16.

Alexandrīa, the name of several cities which were founded by Alexander, during his conquests in Asia; the most famous are:—A grand and extensive city, built B.C. 332, by Alexander, on the western side of the Delta. The illustrious founder intended it not only for the capital of Egypt, but of his immense conquests, and the commercial advantages which its situation commanded continued to improve from the time of Alexander till the invasion of the Saracens in the seventh century. The commodities of India were brought there, and thence dispersed to the different countries around the Mediterranean. Alexandria is famous, among other curiosities, for the large library which the pride or learning of the Ptolemies had collected there, at a vast expense, from all parts of the earth. This valuable repository was burnt by the orders of the caliph Omar, A.D. 642; and it is said that, during six months, the numerous volumes supplied fuel for the 4000 baths, which contributed to the health and convenience of the populous capital of Egypt. Alexandria has likewise been distinguished for its schools, not only of theology and philosophy, but of physic, where once to have studied was a sufficient recommendation to distant countries. The astronomical school, founded by Philadelphus, maintained its superior reputation for 10 centuries, till the time of the Saracens. The modern town of Scanderoon has been erected upon the ruins of Alexandria, and, as if it were an insult to its former greatness, it scarce contains 6000 inhabitants. Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 8.—Strabo, bk. 17.—Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 10.――Another in Albania, at the foot of mount Caucasus.――Another in Arachosia, in India.――The capital of Aria, between Hecatompylon and Bactra.――Another of Carmania.――Another in Cilicia, on the confines of Syria.――Another the capital of Margiana.――Another of Troas, &c. Curtius, bk. 7.—Pliny, bk. 6, chs. 16, 23, & 25.

Alexandrĭdes, a Lacedæmonian, who married his sister’s daughter, by whom he had Dorycus, Leonidas, and Cleombrotus.――A native of Delphi, of which he wrote a history.

Alexandrīna aqua, baths in Rome, built by the emperor Alexander Severus.

Alexandropŏlis, a city of Parthia, built by Alexander the Great. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 25.

Alexānor, a son of Machaon, who built in Sicyon a temple to his grandfather Æsculapius, and received divine honours after death. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 11.

Alexarchus, a Greek historian.

Alexas, of Laodicea, was recommended to Marcus Antony by Timagenes. He was the cause that Antony repudiated Octavia to marry Cleopatra. Augustus punished him severely after the defeat of Antony. Plutarch, Antonius.

Alexia, or Alesia. See: Alesia.

Alexicăcus, a surname given to Apollo by the Athenians, because he delivered them from the plague during the Peloponnesian war.

Alexīnus, a disciple of Eubulides the Milesian, famous for the acuteness of his genius and judgment, and for his fondness for contention and argumentation. He died of a wound which he had received from a sharp-pointed reed, as he swam across the river Alpheus. Diogenes Laërtius, Euclides.

Alexion, a physician intimate with Cicero. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 13, ltr. 25.

Alexippus, a physician of Alexander. Plutarch, Alexander.

Alexiraes, son of Hercules by Hebe. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 7.――A place of Bœotia, where Alexiraes was born, bears also this name. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 25.

Alexirhoe, a daughter of the river Granicus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, li. 763.

Alexis, a man of Samos, who endeavoured to ascertain, by his writings, the borders of his country.――A comic poet, 336 B.C., of Thurium, who wrote 245 comedies, of which some few fragments remain.――A servant of Asinius Pollio.――An ungrateful youth of whom a shepherd is deeply enamoured, in Virgil’s Eclogues, poem 2.――A statuary, disciple to Polycletes, 87th Olympiad Pliny, bk. 34, ch. 8.――A schoolfellow of Atticus. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 7, ltr. 2.

Alexon, a native of Myndos, who wrote fables. Diogenes Laërtius.

Alfaterna, a town of Campania, beyond mount Vesuvius.

Publius Alfēnus Varus, a native of Cremona, who, by the force of his genius and his application, raised himself from his original profession of a cobbler to offices of trust at Rome, and at last became consul. Horace, bk. 1, satire 3, li. 130.

Algĭdum, a town of Latium near Tusculum, about 12 miles from Rome. There is a mountain of the same name in the neighbourhood. Horace, bk. 1, ode 21.

Aliacmon and Haliacmon, a river of Macedonia, separating it from Thessaly. It flows into the Ægean sea. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 10.

Aliartus (or um) and Haliartus, a town of Bœotia, near the river Permessus, taken by Marcus Lucretius. Livy, bk. 42, ch. 63.――Another in Peloponnesus, on the coast of Messenia. Statius, Thebiad, bk. 7, li. 274.

Alĭcis, a town of Laconia.――A tribe of Athens.

Aliēnus Cæcīna, a questor in Bœotia, appointed, for his services, commander of a legion in Germany, by Galba. The emperor disgraced him for his bad conduct, for which he raised commotions in the empire. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 1, ch. 52.

Alīfæ, Alifa, or Alipha, a town of Italy, near the Vulturnus, famous for the making of cups. Horace, bk. 2, satire 8, li. 39.—Livy, bk. 8, ch. 25.

Alilæi, a people of Arabia Felix.

Alimentus Cincius, an historian in the second Punic war, who wrote in Greek an account of Annibal, besides a treatise on military affairs. Livy, bks. 21 & 30.

Alindæ, a town of Caria. Arrian.

Aliphēria, a town of Arcadia, situate on a hill. Polybius, bk. 4, ch. 77.

Alirrothius, a son of Neptune. Hearing that his father had been defeated by Minerva, in his dispute about giving a name to Athens, he went to the citadel, and endeavoured to cut down the olive, which had sprung from the ground and given the victory to Minerva; but in the attempt he missed his aim, and cut his own legs so severely that he instantly expired.

Tiberius Alledius Severus, a Roman knight, who married his brother’s daughter to please Agrippina.――A noted glutton in Domitian’s reign. Juvenal, satire 5, li. 118.

Allia, a river of Italy, falling into the Tiber. The Romans were defeated on its banks by Brennus and the Gauls, who were going to plunder Rome, 17th July, B.C. 390. Plutarch, Camillus.—Livy, bk. 5, ch. 37.—Florus, bk. 1, ch. 13.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 717.—Ovid, Ars Amatoria, bk. 1, li. 413.

Alliēnos, a pretor of Sicily, under Cæsar. Hirtius, African War, ch. 2.

Allŏbrŏges, a warlike nation of Gaul near the Rhone, in that part of the country now called Savoy, Dauphiné, and Vivarais. The Romans destroyed their city because they had assisted Annibal. Their ambassadors were allured by great promises to join in Catiline’s conspiracy against his country; but they scorned the offers, and discovered the plot. Dio Cassius.—Strabo, bk. 4.—Tacitus, Histories, bk. 1, ch. 66.—Sallust, Jugurthine War.

Allobry̆ges, a people of Gaul, supposed to be the same as the Allobroges. Polybius, bk. 30, ch. 56.

Allotrĭges, a nation on the southern parts of Spain. Strabo, bk. 2.

Allutius, or Albutius, a prince of the Celtiberi, to whom Scipio restored the beautiful princess whom he had taken in battle.

Almo, a small river near Rome falling into the Tiber. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 387.—Lucan, bk. 1, li. 600.

Almon, the eldest of the sons of Tyrrhus. He was the first Rutulian killed by the Trojans; and from the skirmish which happened before and after his death, arose the enmities which ended in the fall of Turnus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 532.

Alŏa, festivals at Athens in honour of Bacchus and Ceres, by whose beneficence the husbandmen received the recompense of their labours. The oblations were the fruits of the earth. Ceres has been called from this, Aloas and Alois.

Aloēus, a giant, son of Titan and Terra. He married Iphimedia, by whom Neptune had the twins Othus and Ephialtus. Aloeus educated them as his own, and from that circumstance they have been called Aloides. They made war against the gods, and were killed by Apollo and Diana. They grew up nine inches every month, and were only nine years old when they undertook their war. They built the town of Ascra, at the foot of mount Helicon. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 29.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 582.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 5; Odyssey, bk. 11.

Aloīdes and Aloidæ, the sons of Aloeus. See: Aloeus.

Alŏpe, daughter of Cercyon king of Eleusis, had a child by Neptune, whom she exposed in the woods, covered with a piece of her gown. The child was preserved, and carried to Alope’s father, who, upon knowing the gown, ordered his daughter to be put to death. Neptune, who could not save his mistress, changed her into a fountain. The child, called Hippothoon, was preserved by some shepherds and placed by Theseus upon his grandfather’s throne. Pausanias, bk. 1, chs. 5 & 39.—Hyginus, fable 187.――One of the Harpies. Hyginus, fable 14.――A town of Thessaly. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 7.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 2, li. 682.

Alopĕce, an island in the Palus Mæotis. Strabo.――Another in the Cimmerian Bosphorus. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.――Another in the Ægean sea opposite Smyrna. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 31.――A small village of Attica, where was the tomb of Anchimolius, whom the Spartans had sent to deliver Athens from the tyranny of the Pisistratidæ. Socrates and Aristides were born there. Aeschines, Against Timarchus.—Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 64.

Alopius, a son of Hercules and Antiope. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 35.

Alos, a town of Achaia. Strabo, bk. 9.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 7.

Alotia, festivals in Arcadia, in commemoration of a victory gained over Lacedæmon by the Arcadians.

Alpēnus, the capital of Locris, at the north of Thermopylæ. Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 176, &c.

Alpes, mountains that separate Italy from Spain, Gaul, Rhætia, and Germany; considered as the highest ground in Europe. From them arise several rivers, which, after watering the neighbouring countries, discharge themselves into the German, Mediterranean, and Euxine seas. The Alps are covered with perpetual snows, and distinguished, according to their situation, by the different names of Cottiæ, Carnicæ, Graiæ, Noricæ, Juliæ, Maritimæ, Pannoniæ, Penninæ, Pœnæ, Rhætiæ, Tridentinæ, Venetæ. A traveller is generally five days in reaching the top in some parts. They were supposed for a long time to be impassable. Hannibal marched his army over them, and made his way through rocks, by softening and breaking them with vinegar. They were inhabited by fierce uncivilized nations, who were unsubdued till the age of Augustus, who, to eternize the victory which he had obtained over them, erected a pillar in their territory. Strabo, bks. 4 & 5.—Livy, bk. 21, ch. 35.—Juvenal, satire 10, li. 151.—Horace, bk. 2, satire 5, li. 41.—Lucan, bk. 1, li. 183.—Tacitus, Histories, bk. 3, ch. 53.

Alpheia, a surname of Diana in Elis. It was given her when the river Alpheus endeavoured to ravish her without success.――A surname of the nymph Arethusa, because loved by the Alpheus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 487.

Alphēnor, one of Niobe’s sons. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, fable 6.

Alphēnus. See: Alfenus.

Alphesibœa, daughter of the river Phlegeus, married Alcmæon son of Amphiaraus, who had fled to her father’s court after the murder of his mother. See: Alcmæon. She received, as a bridal present, the famous necklace which Polynices had given to Eriphyle, to induce her to betray her husband Amphiaraus. Alcmæon being persecuted by the means of his mother, left his wife by order of the oracle, and retired near the Achelous, whose daughter Callirrhoe had two sons by him, and begged of him, as a present, the necklace which was then in the hands of Alphesibœa. He endeavoured to obtain it, and was killed by Temenus and Axion, Alphesibœa’s brothers, who thus revenged their sister who had been so innocently abandoned. Hyginus, fable 244.—Propertius, bk. 8, poem 15, li. 15.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 24.

Alphesibœus, a shepherd, often mentioned in Virgil’s eclogues.

Alphēus, now Alpheo, a famous river of Peloponnesus, which rises in Arcadia, and after passing through Elis falls into the sea. The god of this river fell in love with the nymph Arethusa, and pursued her till she was changed into a fountain by Diana. The fountain Arethusa is in Ortygia, a small island near Syracuse; and the ancients affirm that the river Alpheus passes under the sea from Peloponnesus, and without mingling itself with the salt waters, rises again in Ortygia, and joins the stream of Arethusa. If anything is thrown into the Alpheus in Elis, according to their traditions, it will reappear, after some time, swimming on the waters of Arethusa, near Sicily. Hercules made use of the Alpheus to clean the stables of Augeas. Strabo, bk. 6.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 694.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 10.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 176.—Statius, Thebiad, bks. 1 & 4.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 7; bk. 6, ch. 21.—Marcellinus, bk. 25.—Pliny, bk. 2, ch. 103.

Alphius, or Alfeus, a celebrated usurer ridiculed in Horace, Epodes, poem 2.

Alphius Avitus, a writer in the age of Severus, who gave an account of illustrious men, and a history of the Carthaginian war.

Alpīnus, belonging to the Alps. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 4, li. 442.

Alpīnus (Cornelius), a contemptible poet, whom Horace ridicules for the awkward manner in which he introduces the death of Memnon in a tragedy, and the pitiful style with which he describes the Rhine, in an epic poem which he attempted on the wars in Germany. Horace, bk. 1, satire 10, li. 36.――Julius, one of the chiefs of the Helvetii. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 1, ch. 68.

Alpis, a small river falling into the Danube.

Alsium, a maritime town at the west of the Tiber, now Statua. Silius Italicus, bk. 8.

Alsus, a river of Achaia in Peloponnesus, flowing from mount Sipylus. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 27.――A shepherd during the Rutulian wars. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 12, li. 304.

Althæa, daughter of Thestius and Eurythemis, married Œneus king of Calydon, by whom she had many children, among whom was Meleager. When Althæa brought forth Meleager, the Parcæ placed a log of wood in the fire, and said, that as long as it was preserved, so long would the life of the child just born be prolonged. The mother saved the wood from the flames, and kept it very carefully; but when Meleager killed his two uncles, Althæa’s brothers, Althæa, to revenge their death, threw the log into the fire, and as soon as it was burnt, Meleager expired. She was afterwards so sorry for the death she had caused, that she killed herself, unable to survive her son. See: Meleager. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, fable 4.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 9.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 45; bk. 10, ch. 31.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 8.

Althæmĕnes, a son of Creteus king of Crete. Hearing that either he or his brothers were to be their father’s murderers, he fled to Rhodes, where he made a settlement, to avoid becoming a parricide. After the death of all his other sons, Creteus went after his son Althæmenes; when he landed in Rhodes, the inhabitants attacked him, supposing him to be an enemy, and he was killed by the hand of his own son. When Althæmenes knew that he had killed his father, he entreated the gods to remove him, and the earth immediately opened, and swallowed him up. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 2.

Altīnum, a flourishing city of Italy, near Aquileia, famous for its wool. Martial, bk. 14, ltr. 25.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 18.

Altis, a sacred grove round Jupiter’s temple at Olympia, where the statues of the Olympic conquerors were placed. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 20, &c.

Altus, a city of Peloponnesus. Xenophon, Hellenica.

Aluntium, a town of Sicily. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 8.—Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 4.

Alus, Aluus, and Halus, a village of Arcadia, called also the temple of Æsculapius. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 25.

Alyattes I., a king of Lydia, descended from the Heraclidæ. He reigned 57 years.

Alyattes II., king of Lydia, of the family of the Mermnadæ, was father to Crœsus. He drove the Cimmerians from Asia, and made war against the Medes. He died when engaged in a war against Miletus, after a reign of 35 years. A monument was raised on his grave with the money which the women of Lydia had obtained by prostitution. An eclipse of the sun terminated a battle between him and Cyaxares. Herodotus, bk. 1, chs. 16, 17, &c.—Strabo, bk. 13.

Aly̆ba, a country near Mysia. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.

Alycæa, a town of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 27.

Alycæus, son of Sciron, was killed by Theseus. A place in Megara received its name from him. Plutarch, Theseus.

Aly̆mon, the husband of Circe.

Alyssus, a fountain of Arcadia, whose waters could cure the bite of a mad dog. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 19.

Alyxothoe, or Alexirhoe, daughter of Dymus, was mother of Æsacus by Priam. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, li. 763.

Alyzia, a town of Acarnania on the western mouth of the Achelous, opposite to the Echinades. Cicero, Letters to his Friends, bk. 16, ltr. 2.

Amadŏcus, a king of Thrace, defeated by his antagonist Seuthes. Aristotle, bk. 5, Politics, ch. 10.

Amage, a queen of Sarmatia, remarkable for her justice and fortitude. Polyænus, bk. 8, ch. 56.

Amalthæa, daughter of Melissus king of Crete, fed Jupiter with goat’s milk. Hence some authors have called her a goat, and have maintained that Jupiter, to reward her kindnesses, placed her in heaven as a constellation, and gave one of her horns to the nymphs who had taken care of his infant years. This horn was called the horn of plenty, and had the power to give the nymphs whatever they desired. Diodorus, bks. 3, 4, 5.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 5, li. 113.—Strabo, bk. 10.—Hyginus, fable 139.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 26.――A Sibyl of Cumæ, called also Hierophile and Demophile. She is supposed to be the same who brought nine books of prophecies to Tarquin king of Rome, &c. Varro.—Tibullus, bk. 2, poem 5, li. 67. See: Sibyllæ.

Amalthēum, a public place which Atticus had opened in his country house, called Amalthea, in Epirus, and provided with everything which could furnish entertainment and convey instruction. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 1, ltr. 13.

Amăna, or Amanus, part of mount Taurus in Cilicia. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 244.

Cn. Salvius Amandus, a rebel general under Diocletian, who assumed imperial honours, and was at last conquered by Diocletian’s colleague.

Amantes, or Amantīni, a people of Illyricum descended from the Abantes of Phocis. Callimachus.

Amānus, one of the deities worshipped in Armenia and Cappadocia. Strabo, bk. 11.――A mountain in Cilicia.

Amārăcus, an officer of Cinyras, changed into marjoram.

Amardi, a nation near the Caspian sea. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 3.

Amartus, a city of Greece. Homer, Hymn to Apollo.

Amaryllis, the name of a countrywoman in Virgil’s eclogues. Some commentators have supposed that the poet spoke of Rome under this fictitious appellation.

Amarynceus, a king of the Epeans, buried at Buprasium. Strabo, bk. 8.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 1.

Amarynthus, a village in Eubœa, whence Diana is called Amarysia, and her festivals in that town Amarynthia.――Eubœa is sometimes called Amarynthus. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 31.

Amas, a mountain of Laconia. Pausanias, bk. 3.

Amăsēnus, a small river of Latium falling into the Tyrrhene sea. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 685.

Amasia, a city of Pontus, where Mithridates the Great and Strabo the geographer were born. Strabo, bk. 12.—Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 3.

Amāsis, a man who, from a common soldier, became king of Egypt. He made war against Arabia, and died before the invasion of his country by Cambyses king of Persia. He made a law that every one of his subjects should yearly give an account to the public magistrates of the manner in which he supported himself. He refused to continue in alliance with Polycrates the tyrant of Samos, on account of his uncommon prosperity. When Cambyses came into Egypt, he ordered the body of Amasis to be dug up, and to be insulted and burnt; an action which was very offensive to the religious notions of the Egyptians. Herodotus, bks. 1, 2, 3.――A man who led the Persians against the inhabitants of Barce. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 201, &c.

Amastris, the wife of Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily, was sister to Darius, whom Alexander conquered. Strabo.――Also, the wife of Xerxes king of Persia. See: Amestris.――A city of Paphlagonia, on the Euxine sea. Catullus.

Amastrus, one of the auxiliaries of Perses, against Ætes king of Colchis, killed by Argus son of Phryxus. Flaccus, bk. 6, li. 544.――A friend of Æneas, killed by Camilla in the Rutulian war. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 673.

Amāta, the wife of king Latinus. She had betrothed her daughter Lavinia to Turnus, before the arrival of Æneas in Italy. She zealously favoured the interest of Turnus, and when her daughter was given in marriage to Æneas, she hung herself to avoid the sight of her son-in-law. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, &c.

Amăthus (genitive: untis), now Limisso, a city on the southern side of the island of Cyprus, particularly dedicated to Venus. The island is sometimes called Amathusia, a name not unfrequently applied to the goddess of the place. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 51.—Claudius Ptolemy, bk. 5, ch. 14.

Amaxampēus, a fountain of Scythia, whose waters imbitter the stream of the river Hypanis. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 52.

Amaxia, or Amaxīta, an ancient town of Troas.――A place of Cilicia abounding with wood fit for building ships. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 9.—Strabo, bk. 14.

Amazēnes, or Mazēnes, a prince of the island Oaractus, who sailed for some time with the Macedonians and Nearchus in Alexander’s expedition to the east. Arrian, Indica.

Amazŏnes, or Amazŏnĭdes, a nation of famous women who lived near the river Thermodon in Cappadocia. All their life was employed in wars and manly exercises. They never had any commerce with the other sex, but, only for the sake of propagation, they visited the inhabitants of the neighbouring country for a few days, and the male children which they brought forth were given to the fathers. According to Justin, they were strangled as soon as born, and Diodorus says that they maimed them and distorted their limbs. The females were carefully educated with their mothers, in the labours of the field; their right breast was burnt off that they might hurl a javelin with more force, and make a better use of the bow; from that circumstance, therefore, their name is derived (a non, μαζα mamma). They founded an extensive empire in Asia Minor, along the shores of the Euxine, and near the Thermodon. They were defeated in a battle near the Thermodon by the Greeks; and some of them migrated beyond the Tanais, and extended their territories as far as the Caspian sea. Themyscyra was the most capital of their towns; and Smyrna, Magnesia, Thyatira, and Ephesus, according to some authors, were built by them. Diodorus, bk. 3, mentions a nation of Amazons in Africa more ancient than those of Asia. Some authors, among whom is Strabo, deny the existence of the Amazons, and of a republic supported and governed by women, who banished or extirpated all their males; but Justin and Diodorus particularly support it; and the latter says that Penthesilea, one of their queens, came to the Trojan war on the side of Priam, and that she was killed by Achilles, and from that time the glory and character of the Amazons gradually decayed, and was totally forgotten. The Amazons of Africa flourished long before the Trojan war, and many of their actions have been attributed to those of Asia. It is said, that after they had subdued almost all Asia, they invaded Attica, and were conquered by Theseus. Their most famous actions were their expeditions against Priam, and afterwards the assistance they gave him during the Trojan war; and their invasion of Attica, to punish Theseus, who had carried away Antiope, one of their queens. They were also conquered by Bellerophon and Hercules. Among their queens, Hippolyte, Antiope, Lampeto, Marpesia, &c., are famous. Curtius says that Thalestris, one of their queens, came to Alexander, whilst he was pursuing his conquests in Asia, for the sake of raising children from a man of such military reputation; and that, after she had remained 13 days with him, she retired into her country. The Amazons were such expert archers, that, to denote the goodness of a bow or quiver, it was usual to call it Amazonian. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 311.—Jornandes, Getica, ch. 7.—Philostratus Major, Imagines, bk. 2, ch. 5.—Justin, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Curtius, bk. 6, ch. 5.—Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 7; bk. 14, ch. 8; bk. 36, ch. 5.—Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 110.—Strabo, bk. 11.—Diodorus, bk. 2.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 4.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 2.—Plutarch, Theseus.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, chs. 3 & 5.—Hyginus, fables 14 & 163.

Amazŏnia, a celebrated mistress of the emperor Commodus.――The country of the Amazons, near the Caspian sea.

Amazŏnium, a place in Attica, where Theseus obtained a victory over the Amazons.

Amazŏnius, a surname of Apollo at Lacedæmon.

Ambarri, a people of Gallia Celtica, on the Arar, related to the Ædui. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 1, ch. 11.

Ambarvālia, a joyful procession round the ploughed fields, in honour of Ceres the goddess of corn. There were two festivals of that name celebrated by the Romans, one about the month of April, the other in July. They went three times round their fields crowned with oak leaves singing hymns to Ceres, and entreating her to preserve their corn. The word is derived ab ambiendis arvis, going round the fields. A sow, a sheep, and a bull, called ambarvaliæ hostiæ, were afterwards immolated, and the sacrifice has sometimes been called suovetaurilia, from sus, ovis, and taurus. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 1, lis. 339 & 345.—Tibullus, bk. 2, poem 1, li. 19.—Cato, de Re Rustica, ch. 141.

Ambĕnus, a mountain of European Sarmatia. Flaccus, bk. 6, ch. 85.

Ambialītes, a people of Gallia Celtica. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 3, ch. 9.

Ambiānum, a town of Belgium, now Amiens. Its inhabitants conspired against Julius Cæsar. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 2, ch. 4.

Ambiatīnum, a village of Germany, where the emperor Caligula was born. Suetonius, Caligula, ch. 8.

Ambigātus, a king of the Celtæ, in the time of Tarquinius Priscus. Seeing the great population of his country, he sent his two nephews, Sigovesus and Bellovesus, with two colonies, in quest of new settlements; the former towards the Hercynian woods, and the other towards Italy. Livy, bk. 5, ch. 34, &c.

Ambiōrix, a king of the Eburones in Gaul. He was a great enemy to Rome, and was killed in a battle with Julius Cæsar, in which 60,000 of his countrymen were slain. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 5, chs. 11, 26; bk. 6, ch. 30.

Ambivius, a man mentioned by Cicero, de Senectute.

Amblada, a town of Pisidia. Strabo.

Ambracia, a city of Epirus near the Acheron, the residence of king Pyrrhus. Augustus, after the battle of Actium, called it Nicopolis. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 1.—Polybius, bk. 4, ch. 63.—Strabo, bk. 10.

Ambracius Sinus, a bay of the Ionian sea, near Ambracia, about 300 stadia deep, narrow at the entrance, but within near 100 stadia in breadth, and now called the gulf of Larta. Polybius, bk. 4, ch. 63.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Florus, bk. 4, ch. 11.—Strabo, bk. 10.

Ambri, an Indian nation. Justin, bk. 12, ch. 9.

Ambrōnes, certain nations of Gaul, who lost their possessions by the inundation of the sea, and lived upon rapine and plunder, whence the word Ambrones implied a dishonourable meaning. They were conquered by Marius. Plutarch, Marius.

Ambrōsia, festivals observed in honour of Bacchus in some cities in Greece. They were the same as the Brumalia of the Romans.――One of the daughters of Atlas, changed into a constellation after death.――The food of the gods was called ambrosia, and their drink nectar. The word signifies immortal. It had the power of giving immortality to all those who eat it. It was sweeter than honey, and of a most odoriferous smell; and it is said that Berenice, the wife of Ptolemy Soter, was saved from death by eating ambrosia given her by Venus. Titonus was made immortal by Aurora, by eating ambrosia; and in like manner Tantalus and Pelops, who, on account of their impiety, had been driven from heaven, and compelled to die upon earth. It had the power of healing wounds, and therefore Apollo, in Homer’s Iliad, saves Sarpedon’s body from putrefaction, by rubbing it with ambrosia; and Venus also heals the wounds of her son, in Virgil’s Æneid, with it. The gods used generally to perfume the hair with ambrosia; as Juno when she adorned herself to captivate Jupiter, and Venus when she appeared to Æneas. Homer, Iliad, bks. 1, 14, 16, & 24.—Lucian, de Dea Syria.—Catullus, poem 100.—Theocritus, Idylls, poem 15.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 407; bk. 12, li. 419.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2.—Pindar, bk. 1, Olympian.

Ambrosius, bishop of Milan, obliged the emperor Theodosius to make penance for the murder of the people of Thessalonica, and distinguished himself by his writings, especially against the Arians. His three books, de Officiis, are still extant, besides eight hymns on the creation. His style is not inelegant, but his diction is sententious, his opinions eccentric, though his subject is diversified by copiousness of thought. He died A.D. 397. The best edition of his works is that of the Benedictines, 2 vols., folio, Paris, 1686.

Ambrȳon, a man who wrote the life of Theocritus of Chios. Diogenes Laërtius.

Ambryssus, a city of Phocis, which receives its name from a hero of the same name. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 35.

Ambūbājæ, Syrian women of immoral lives, who, in the dissolute period of Rome, attended festivals and assemblies as minstrels. The name is derived by some from Syrian words, which signify a flute. Horace, bk. 1, satire 2.—Suetonius, Nero, ch. 27.

Ambulli, a surname of Castor and Pollux, in Sparta.

Ameles, a river of hell, whose waters no vessel could contain. ♦Plato, bk. 10, Republic.

Amenanus, a river of Sicily, near mount Ætna, now Guidicello. Strabo, bk. 5.

Amenīdes, a secretary of Darius the last king of Persia. Alexander set him over the Arimaspi. Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 3.

Amenŏcles, a Corinthian, said to be the first Grecian who built a three-oared galley at Samos and Corinth. Thucydides, bk. 1, ch. 13.

Ameria, a city of Umbria, whose osiers (Amerinæ salices) were famous for the binding of vines to the elm trees. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 14.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 1, li. 265.

Amestrătus, a town of Sicily, near the Halesus. The Romans besieged it for seven months, and it yielded at last after a third siege, and the inhabitants were sold as slaves. Polybius, bk. 1, ch. 24.

Amestris, queen of Persia, was wife to Xerxes. She cruelly treated the mother of Artiante, her husband’s mistress, and cut off her nose, ears, lips, breast, tongue, and eyebrows. She also buried alive 14 noble Persian youths, to appease the deities under the earth. Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 61; bk. 9, ch. 111.――A daughter of Oxyartes, wife to Lysimachus. Diodorus, bk. 20.

Amīda, a city of Mesopotamia, besieged and taken by Sapor king of Persia. Ammianus, bk. 19.

Amilcar, a Carthaginian general of great eloquence and cunning, surnamed Rhodanus. When the Athenians were afraid of Alexander, Amilcar went to his camp, gained his confidence, and secretly transmitted an account of all his schemes to Athens. Trogus, bk. 21, ch. 6.――A Carthaginian, whom the Syracusans called to their assistance against the tyrant Agathocles, who besieged their city. Amilcar soon after favoured the interest of Agathocles, for which he was accused at Carthage. He died in Syracuse, B.C. 309. Diodorus, bk. 20.—Justin, bk. 22, chs. 2 & 3.――A Carthaginian, surnamed Barcas, father to the celebrated Annibal. He was general in Sicily during the first Punic war; and after a peace had been made with the Romans, he quelled a rebellion of slaves, who had besieged Carthage, and taken many towns of Africa, and rendered themselves so formidable to the Carthaginians that they begged and obtained assistance from Rome. After this, he passed into Spain with his son Annibal, who was but nine years of age, and laid the foundation of the town of Barcelona. He was killed in a battle against the Vettones, B.C. 237. He had formed the plan of an invasion of Italy, by crossing the Alps, which his son afterwards carried into execution. His great enmity to the Romans was the cause of the second Punic war. He used to say of his three sons, that he kept three lions to devour the Roman power. Cornelius Nepos, Lives of Distinguished Romans.—Livy, bk. 21, ch. 1.—Polybius, bk. 2.—Plutarch, Life of Hannibal.――A Carthaginian general, who assisted the Insubres against Rome, and was taken by Cnaeus Cornelius. Livy, bk. 32, ch. 30; bk. 33, ch. 8.――A son of Hanno, defeated in Sicily by Gelon, the same day that Xerxes was defeated at Salamis by Themistocles. He burnt himself, that his body might not be found among the slain. Sacrifices were offered to him. Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 165, &c.

Amĭlos, or Amĭlus, a river of Mauritania, where the elephants go to wash themselves by moonshine. Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 1.――A town of Arcadia. Pausanias, Arcadia.

Amimŏne, or Amymŏne, a daughter of Danaus, changed into a fountain which is near Argos, and flows into the lake Lerna. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 240.

Amĭnea, or Amminea, a part of Campania, where the inhabitants are great husbandmen. Its wine was highly esteemed. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 97.――A place of Thessaly.

Aminias, a famous pirate, whom Antigonus employed against Apollodorus tyrant of Cassandrea. Polyænus, bk. 4, ch. 18.

Aminius, a river of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 30.

Aminŏcles, a native of Corinth, who flourished 705 B.C., &c.

Amisēna, a country of Cappadocia. Strabo, bk. 12.

Amisias, a comic poet, whom Aristophanes ridiculed for his insipid verses.

Amissas, an officer of Megalopolis in Alexander’s army. Curtius, bk. 10, ch. 8.

Amiternum, a town of Italy, where Sallust was born. The inhabitants assisted Turnus against Æneas. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 710.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Livy, bk. 28, ch. 45.

Amithāon, or Amythāon, was father to Melampus the famous prophet. Statius, Thebiad, bk. 3, li. 451.

Ammālo, a festival in honour of Jupiter in Greece.

Ammiānus. See: Marcellinus.

Ammon and Hammon, a name of Jupiter, worshipped in Libya. He appeared under the form of a ram to Hercules, or, according to others, to Bacchus, who, with his army, suffered the greatest extremities for want of water, in the deserts of Africa, and showed him a fountain. Upon this Bacchus erected a temple to his father, under the name of Jupiter Ammon, i.e. sandy, with the horns of a ram. The ram, according to some, was made a constellation. The temple of Jupiter Ammon was in the deserts of Libya, nine days’ journey from Alexandria. It had a famous oracle, which, according to ancient tradition, was established about 18 centuries before the time of Augustus, by two doves which flew away from Thebais in Egypt, and came, one to Dodona, and the other to Libya, where the people were soon informed of their divine mission. The oracle of Hammon was consulted by Hercules, Perseus, and others; but when it pronounced Alexander to be the son of Jupiter, such flattery destroyed its long-established reputation, and in the age of Plutarch it was scarce known. The situation of the temple was pleasant; and according to Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15, li. 310,—Lucretius, bk. 6, li. 147,—Herodotus, Melpomene.—Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 7, there was near it a fountain whose waters were cold at noon and midnight, and warm in the morning and evening. There were above 100 priests in the temple, but only the elders delivered oracles. There was also an oracle of Jupiter Ammon in Æthiopia. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 29.—Strabo, bks. 1, 11, & 17.—Plutarch, de Defectu Oraculorum, & Iside et Osiride.—Curtius, bk. 6, ch. 10; bk. 10, ch. 5.—Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 6; bk. 2, chs. 32 & 55; bk. 4, ch. 44.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 18; bk. 4, ch. 23.—Hyginus, fable 133; Poeticon Astronomicon, bk. 2, ch. 20.—Justin, bk. 1, ch. 9; bk. 11, ch. 11.――A king of Libya, father to Bacchus. He gave his name to the temple of Hammon, according to Diodorus, bk. 8.

Ammon and Brothas, two brothers famous for their skill in boxing. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 107.

Ammōnia, a name of Juno in Elis, as being the wife of Jupiter Ammon. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 15.

Ammōnii, a nation of Africa, who derived their origin from the Egyptians and Æthiopians. Their language was a mixture of that of the two people from whom they were descended. Herodotus, bks. 2, 3, & 4.

Ammōnius, a christian philosopher, who opened a school of Platonic philosophy at Alexandria, 232 A.D., and had amongst his pupils Origen and Plotinus. His treatise, Περι Ὁμοιων, was published in 4to by Valckenaer, Leiden, 1739.――A writer who gave an account of sacrifices, as also a treatise on the harlots of Athens. Athenæus, bk. 13.――An Athenian general surnamed Barcas. Polybius, bk. 3.

Ammothea, one of the Nereides. Hesiod, Theogony.

Amnias, a river of Bithynia. Appian, Mithridatic Wars.

Amnīsus, a port of Gnossus, at the north of Crete, with a small river of the same name, near which Lucina had a temple. The nymphs of the place were called Amnisiades. Callimachus.

Amœbæus, an Athenian player of great reputation, who sung at the nuptials of Demetrius and Nicæa. Polyænus, bk. 4, ch. 6.

Amomētus, a Greek historian. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 17.

Amor, the son of Venus, was the god of love. See: Cupido.

Amorges, a Persian general, killed in Caria, in the reign of Xerxes. Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 121.

Amorgos, an island among the Cyclades, where Simonides was born. Strabo, bk. 10.

Ampĕlus, a promontory of Samos.――A town of Crete,――of Macedonia,――of Liguria,――and Cyrene.――A favourite of Bacchus, son of a satyr and a nymph, made a constellation after death. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 3, li. 407.

Ampelūsia, a promontory of Africa, in Mauritania. Mela, bk. 1, chs. 5 & 6.

Amphēa, a city of Messenia, taken by the Lacedæmonians. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 5.

Amphialāus, a famous dancer in the island of the Phæacians. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 8.

Amphiănax, a king of Lycia in the time of Acrisius and Prœtus. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 2.

Amphiarāus, son of Oicleus, or, according to others, of Apollo by Hypermnestra, was at the chase of the Calydonian boar, and accompanied the Argonauts in their expedition. He was famous for his knowledge of futurity and thence he is called by some son of Apollo. He married Eriphyle, the sister of Adrastus king of Argos, by whom he had two sons, Alcmæon and Amphilochus. When Adrastus, at the request of Polynices, declared war against Thebes, Amphiaraus secreted himself, not to accompany his brother-in-law in an expedition in which he knew he was to perish. But Eriphyle, who knew where he had concealed himself, was prevailed upon to betray him by Polynices, who gave her as a reward for her perfidy a famous golden necklace set with diamonds. Amphiaraus being thus discovered, went to the war, but previously charged his son Alcmæon to put to death his mother Eriphyle, as soon as he was informed that he was killed. The Theban war was fatal to the Argives, and Amphiaraus was swallowed up in his chariot by the earth, as he attempted to retire from the battle. The news of his death was brought to Alcmæon, who immediately executed his father’s command, and murdered Eriphyle. Amphiaraus received divine honours after death, and had a celebrated temple and oracle at Oropos in Attica. His statue was made of white marble, and near his temple was a fountain, whose waters were ever held sacred. They only who had consulted his oracle, or had been delivered from a disease, were permitted to bathe in it, after which they threw pieces of gold and silver into the stream. Those who consulted the oracle of Amphiaraus first purified themselves, and abstained from food for 24 hours, and three days from wine, after which they sacrificed a ram to the prophet, and spread the skin upon the ground, upon which they slept in expectation of receiving in a dream the answer of the oracle. Plutarch, De Defectu Oraculorum, mentions that the oracle of Amphiaraus was once consulted in the time of Xerxes, by one of the servants of Mardonius, for his master, who was then with an army in Greece; and that the servant, when asleep, saw in a dream the priest of the temple, who upbraided him and drove him away, and even threw stones at his head when he refused to comply. This oracle was verified in the death of Mardonius, who was actually killed by the blow of a stone which he received on the head. Cicero, de Divinatione, bk. 1, ch. 40.—Philostratus, Lives.—Apollonius, bk. 2, ch. 11.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 15, li. 243, &c.—Hyginus, fables 70, 73, 128, & 150.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Ovid, bk. 9, fable 10.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 34; bk. 2, ch. 37; bk. 9, chs. 8 & 19.—Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, chs. 8 & 9; bk. 3, ch. 6, &c.—Strabo, bk. 8.

Amphiarāĭdes, a patronymic of Alcmæon as being son of Amphiaraus. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 2, li. 43.

Amphicrătes, an historian who wrote the lives of illustrious men. Diogenes Laërtius.

Amphictyon, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, reigned at Athens after Cranaus, and first attempted to give the interpretation of dreams, and to draw omens. Some say that the deluge happened in his age. Justin, bk. 2, ch. 6.――The son of Helenus, who first established the celebrated council of the Amphictyons, composed of the wisest and most virtuous men of some cities of Greece. This august assembly consisted of 12 persons, originally sent by the following states: the Ionians, Dorians, Perhæbians, Bœotians, Magnesians, Phthians, Locrians, Malians, Phocians, Thessalians, Dolopes, and the people of Œta. Other cities in process of time sent also some of their citizens to the council of the Amphictyons, and in the age of Antoninus Pius, they were increased to the number of 30. They generally met twice every year at Delphi, and sometimes sat at Thermopylæ. They took into consideration all matters of difference which might exist between the different states of Greece. When the Phocians plundered the temple of Delphi the Amphictyons declared war against them, and this war was supported by all the states of Greece, and lasted 10 years. The Phocians, with their allies the Lacedæmonians, were deprived of the privilege of sitting in the council of the Amphictyons, and the Macedonians were admitted in their place, for their services in support of the war. About 60 years after, when Brennus, with the Gauls, invaded Greece, the Phocians behaved with such courage, that they were reinstated in all their former privileges. Before they proceeded to business, the Amphictyons sacrificed an ox to the god of Delphi, and cut his flesh into small pieces, intimating that union and unanimity prevailed in the several cities which they represented. Their decisions were held sacred and inviolable, and even arms were taken up to enforce them. Pausanias, Phocis & Achaia.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Suidas.—Hesychius.—Aeschines.

Amphiclea, a town of Phocis, where Bacchus had a temple.

Amphidāmus, a son of Aleus, brother to Lycurgus. He was of the family of the Inachidæ. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 4.――One of the Argonauts. Flaccus, bk. 1, li. 376.――A son of Busiris, killed by Hercules. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 5.

Amphidrŏmia, a festival observed by private families at Athens, the fifth day after the birth of every child. It was customary to run round the fire with a child in their arms; whence the name of the festivals.

Amphigenīa, a town of Messenia in Peloponnesus. Statius, Thebiad, bk. 4, li. 178.

Amphilŏchus, a son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. After the Trojan war, he left Argos, his native country, and built Amphilochus, a town of Epirus. Strabo, bk. 7.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 18.――An Athenian philosopher who wrote upon agriculture. Varro, de Re Rustica, bk. 1.

Amphily̆tus, a soothsayer of Acarnania, who encouraged Pisistratus to seize the sovereign power of Athens. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 62.

Amphimăche, a daughter of Amphidamus, wife of Eurystheus. Apollodorus, bk. 2.

Amphimăchus, one of Helen’s suitors, son of Cteatus. He went to the Trojan war. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 10.—Hyginus, fable 97.――A son of Actor and Theronice. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 3.

Amphimĕdon, a Libyan killed by Perseus, in the court of Cepheus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 75.――One of Penelope’s suitors, killed by Telemachus. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 22, li. 283.

Amphinŏme, the name of one of the attendants of Thetis. Homer, Iliad, bk. 18, li. 44.

Amphinŏmus, one of Penelope’s suitors, killed by Telemachus. Homer, Odyssey, bks. 16 & 22.

Amphinŏmus and Anapius, two brothers, who, when Catana and the neighbouring cities were in flames, by an eruption from mount Ætna, saved their parents upon their shoulders. The fire, as it is said, spared them while it consumed others by their side; and Pluto, to reward their uncommon piety, placed them after death in the island of Leuce, and they received divine honours in Sicily. Valerius Maximus, bk. 5, ch. 4.—Strabo, bk. 6.—Silius Italicus, bk. 14, li. 197.—Seneca, de Beneficiis.

Amphīon, was son of Jupiter, by Antiope daughter of Nycteus, who had married Lycus, and had been repudiated by him when he married Dirce. Amphion was born at the same birth as Zethus, on mount Citheron, where Antiope had fled to avoid the resentment of Dirce; and the two children were exposed in the woods, but preserved by a shepherd. See: Antiope. When Amphion grew up, he cultivated poetry and made such an uncommon progress in music, that he is said to have been the inventor of it, and to have built the walls of Thebes at the sound of his lyre. Mercury taught him music, and gave him the lyre. He was the first who raised an altar to this god. Zethus and Amphion united to avenge the wrongs which their mother had suffered from the cruelties of Dirce. They besieged and took Thebes, put Lycus to death, and tied his wife to the tail of a wild bull, which dragged her through precipices till she expired. The fable of Amphion’s moving stones and raising the walls of Thebes at the sound of his lyre, has been explained by supposing that he persuaded, by his eloquence, a wild and uncivilized people to unite together and build a town to protect themselves against the attacks of their enemies. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 11.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, chs. 5 & 10.—Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 6; bk. 6, ch. 20; bk. 9, chs. 5 & 17.—Propertius, bk. 3, poem 15.—Ovid, de Ars Amatoria, bk. 3, li. 323.—Horace, bk. 3, ode 11; Art of Poetry, li. 394.—Statius, Thebiad, bk. 1, li. 10.――A son of Jasus king of Orchomenos, by Persephone daughter of Mius. He married Niobe daughter of Tantalus, by whom he had many children, among whom was Chloris the wife of Neleus. He has been confounded by mythologists with the son of Antiope, though Homer in his Odyssey speaks of them both, and distinguishes them beyond contradiction. The number of Amphion’s children, according to Homer, was 12, six of each sex; according to Ælian, 20; and according to Ovid, 14, seven males and seven females. When Niobe boasted herself greater, and more deserving of immortality than Latona, all her children, except Chloris, were destroyed by the arrows of Apollo and Diana; Niobe herself was changed into a stone, and Amphion killed himself in a fit of despair. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 11, lis. 261 & 282.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 12, li. 36.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, fable 5.――One of the Argonauts. Hyginus, fable 14.――A famous painter and statuary, son of Acestor of Gnossus. Pliny, bk. 36, ch. 10.――One of the Greek generals in the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 13, li. 692.

Amphipŏles, magistrates appointed at Syracuse by Timoleon, after the expulsion of Dionysius the younger. The office existed for above 300 years. Diodorus, bk. 16.

Amphipŏlis, a town on the Strymon, between Macedonia and Thrace. An Athenian colony, under Agnon son of Nicias, drove the ancient inhabitants, called Edonians, from the country, and built a city, which they called Amphipolis, i.e. a town surrounded on all sides, because the Strymon flowed all around it. It has been also called Acra, Strymon, Myrica, Eion, and the town of Mars. It was the cause of many wars between the Athenians and Spartans. Thucydides, bk. 4, ch. 102, &c.—Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 126; bk. 7, ch. 114.—Diodorus, bks. 11, 12, &c.—Cornelius Nepos, Cimon.

Amphipy̆ros, a surname of Diana, because she carries a torch in both her hands. Sophocles, Trachiniæ.

Amphirētus, a man of Acanthus, who artfully escaped from pirates who had made him prisoner. Polyænus, bk. 6.

Amphiroe, one of the Oceanides. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 361.

Amphis, a Greek comic poet of Athens, son of Amphicrates, contemporary with Plato. Besides his comedies he wrote other pieces, which are now lost. Suidas.—Diogenes Laërtius.

Amphisbæna, a two-headed serpent in the deserts of Libya, whose bite was venomous and deadly. Lucan, bk. 9, li. 719.

Amphissa, or Issa, a daughter of Macareus, beloved by Apollo. She gave her name to a city of Locris near Phocis, in which was a temple of Minerva. Livy, bk. 37, ch. 5.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15, li. 703.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 172.――A town of the Brutii on the east coast.

Amphissēne, a country of Armenia.

Amphissus, a son of Dryope. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 9, fable 10.

Amphisthĕnes, a Lacedæmonian, who fell delirious in sacrificing to Diana. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 16.

Amphistīdes, a man so naturally destitute of intellect, that he seldom remembered that he ever had a father. He wished to learn arithmetic, but never could comprehend beyond the figure 4. Aristotle, Problemata, bk. 4.

Amphistrătus and Rhecas, two men of Laconia, charioteers to Castor and Pollux. Strabo, bk. 11.—Justin, bk. 42, ch. 3.

Amphitea, the mother of Ægialeus by Cyanippus, and of three daughters, Argia, Deipyle, and Ægialea, by Adrastus king of Argos. She was daughter to Pronax. Apollodorus, bk. 1.――The wife of Autolycus, by whom she had Anticlea the wife of Laertes. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 19, li. 416.

Amphitheātrum, a large round or oval building at Rome, where the people assembled to see the combats of gladiators, of wild beasts, and other exhibitions. The amphitheatres of Rome were generally built with wood. Statilius Taurus was the first who made one with stones, under Augustus.

Amphithĕmis, a Theban general, who involved the Lacedæmonians into a war with his country. Plutarch, Lysander.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 9.

Amphithoe, one of the Nereides.

Amphītrīte, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, married Neptune, though she had made a vow of perpetual celibacy. She had by him Triton, one of the sea deities. She had a statue at Corinth in the temple of Neptune. She is sometimes called Salatia, and is often taken for the sea itself. Varro, de Lingua Latina, bk. 4.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 930.—Apollodorus, bk. 3.—Claudian, de Raptu Proserpinæ, bk. 1, li. 104.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 14.――One of the Nereides.

Amphĭtryon, a Theban prince, son of Alcæus and Hipponome. His sister Anaxo had married Electryon king of Mycenæ, whose sons were killed in a battle by the Teleboans. Electryon promised his crown and daughter Alcmena to him who could revenge the death of his sons upon the Teleboans; and Amphitryon offered himself and was received, on condition that he should not approach Alcmena before he had obtained a victory. Jupiter, who was captivated with the charms of Alcmena, borrowed the features of Amphitryon when he was gone to the war, and introduced himself to Electryon’s daughter as her husband returned victorious. Alcmena became pregnant of Hercules by Jupiter, and of Iphiclus by Amphitryon, after his return. See: Alcmena. When Amphitryon returned from the war, he brought back to Electryon the herds which the Teleboans had taken from him. One of the cows having strayed from the rest, Amphitryon, to bring them together, threw a stick, which struck the horns of the cow, and rebounded with such violence upon Electryon, that he died on the spot. After this accidental murder, Sthenelus, Electryon’s brother, seized the kingdom of Mycenæ, and obliged Amphitryon to leave Argolis, and retire to Thebes with Alcmena. Creon king of Thebes purified him of the murder. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 213.—Propertius, bk. 4, poem 10, li. 1.—Hesiod, Shield of Heracles.—Hyginus, fable 29.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 14.

Amphitryōniădes, a surname of Hercules, as the supposed son of Amphitryon. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 103.

Amphitus, a priest of Ceres, at the court of Cepheus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 5.

Amphotĕrus, was appointed commander of a fleet in the Hellespont by Alexander. Curtius, bk. 3, ch. 1.――A son of Alcmæon.

Amphrȳsus, a river of Thessaly, near which Apollo, when banished from heaven, fed the flocks of king Admetus. From this circumstance the god has been called Amphryssius, and his priestess Amphryssia. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 580.—Lucan, bk. 6, li. 367.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 3, li. 2; Æneid, bk. 6, li. 398.――A river of Phrygia, whose waters rendered women liable to barrenness. Pliny, bk. 32, ch. 2.

Ampia Labiena lex, was enacted by Titus Ampius and ♦Titus Labienus, tribunes of the people, A.U.C. 693. It gave Pompey the Great the privilege of appearing in triumphal robes and with a golden crown at the Circensian games, and with a prætexta and golden crown at theatrical plays.

Ampracia. See: Ambracia.

Ampysĭdes, a patronymic of Mopsus son of Ampyx. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, li. 316.

Ampyx, a son of Pelias. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 18.――A man mentioned by Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 184.――The father of Mopsus. Orpheus, Argonauts.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 17.

Amsactus, a lake in the country of the Hirpini, at the east of Capua, whose waters are so sulphureous that they infect and destroy whatever animals come near the place. It was through this place that Virgil made the fury Alecto descend into hell, after her visit to the upper regions. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 565.—Cicero, de Divinatione, bk. 1, ch. 36.

Amūlius, king of Alba, was son of Procas and youngest brother to Numitor. The crown belonged to Numitor by right of birth; but Amulius dispossessed him of it, and even put to death his son Lausus, and consecrated his daughter Rhea Sylvia to the service of Vesta, to prevent her ever becoming a mother. Yet, in spite of all these precautions, Rhea became pregnant by the god Mars, and brought forth twins, Romulus and Remus. Amulius, who was informed of this, ordered the mother to be buried alive for violating the laws of Vesta, which enjoined perpetual chastity, and the two children to be thrown into the river. They were providentially saved by some shepherds, or, as others say, by a she-wolf; and when they had attained the years of manhood, they put to death the usurper, Amulius, and restored the crown to their grandfather. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 3, li. 67.—Livy, bk. 1, chs. 3 & 4.—Plutarch, Romulus.—Florus, bk. 1, ch. 1.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus.――A celebrated painter. Pliny, bk. 35, ch. 10.

Amy̆ci Portus, a place in Pontus, famous for the death of Amycus king of the Bebryces. His tomb was covered with laurels, whose boughs, as is reported, when carried on board a ship, caused uncommon dissensions among the sailors. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 32.—Arrian.

Amy̆cla, a daughter of Niobe, who, with her sister Melibœa, was spared by Diana, when her mother boasted herself greater than Diana. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 22.――Homer says that all the daughters perished. Iliad, bk. 24. See: Niobe.――The nurse of Alcibiades.

Amy̆clæ, a town of Italy between Caieta and Tarracina, built by the companions of Castor and Pollux. The inhabitants were strict followers of the precepts of Pythagoras, and therefore abstained from flesh. They were killed by serpents, which they thought impious to destroy, though in their own defence. Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 29. Once a report prevailed in Amyclæ that the enemies were coming to storm it; upon which the inhabitants made a law that forbade such a report to be credited, and when the enemy really arrived, no one mentioned it, or took up arms in his own defence, and the town was easily taken. From this circumstance the epithet of tacitæ has been given to Amyclæ. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 564.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 529.――A city of Peloponnesus, built by Amyclas. Castor and Pollux were born there. The country was famous for dogs. Apollo, called Amyclæus, had a rich and magnificent temple there, surrounded with delightful groves. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 18.—Statius, Thebiad, bk. 4, li. 223.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 3, li. 345.—Ovid, de Ars Amatoria, bk. 2, li. 5.

Amyclæus, a statuary. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 13.――A surname of Apollo.

Amyclas, son of Lacedæmon and Sparta, built the city of Amyclæ. His sister Eurydice married Acrisius king of Argos, by whom she had Danae. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 1; bk. 7, ch. 18.――The master of a ship in which Cæsar embarked in disguise. When Amyclas wished to put back to avoid a violent storm, Cæsar, unveiling his head, discovered himself, and bidding the pilot pursue his voyage, exclaimed, Cæsarem vehis, Cæsarisque fortunam. Lucan, bk. 5, li. 520.

Amy̆cus, son of Neptune by Melia, or Bithynis, according to others, was king of the Bebryces. He was famous for his skill in the management of the cestus, and he challenged all strangers to a trial of strength. When the Argonauts, in their expedition, stopped on his coasts, he treated them with great kindness, and Pollux accepted his challenge, and killed him when he attempted to overcome him by fraud. Apollonius, bk. 2, Argonautica.—Theocritus, Idylls, poem 22.—Apollonius, bk. 1, ch. 9.――One of the companions of Æneas, who almost perished in a storm on the coast of Africa. He was killed by Turnus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 225; bk. 9, li. 772.――Another, likewise killed by Turnus. Ibis, bk. 12, li. 509.――A son of Ixion and the cloud.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 245.

Amy̆don, a city of Pæonia in Macedonia, which sent auxiliaries to Priam during the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.

Amȳmōne, daughter of Danaus and Europa, married Enceladus son of Ægyptus, whom she murdered the first night of her nuptials. She wounded a satyr with an arrow which she had aimed at a stag. The satyr pursued her, and even offered her violence, but Neptune delivered her. It was said that she was the only one of the 50 sisters who was not condemned to fill a leaky tub with water in hell, because she had been continually employed, by order of her father, in supplying the city of Argos with water in a great drought. Neptune saw her in this employment, and was enamoured of her. He carried her away, and in the place where she stood, he raised a fountain by striking a rock. The fountain has been called Amymone. She had Nauplius by Neptune. Propertius, bk. 2, poem 26, li. 46.—Apollodorus, bk. 2.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 37.—Ovid, Amores, bk. 1, li. 515.—Hyginus, fable 169.――A fountain and rivulet of Peloponnesus, flowing through Argolis into the lake of Lerna. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 240.

Amyntas I., was king of Macedonia after his father Alcetas. His son Alexander murdered the ambassadors of Megabyzus, for their wanton and insolent behaviour to the ladies of his father’s court. Bubares, a Persian general, was sent with an army to revenge the death of the ambassadors; but instead of making war, he married the king’s daughter, and defended his possessions. Justin, bk. 7, ch. 3.—Herodotus, bks. 5, 7, & 8.――The second of that name was son of Menelaus, and king of Macedonia after his murder of Pausanias. He was expelled by the Illyrians, and restored by the Thessalians and Spartans. He made war against the Illyrians and Olynthians, and lived to a great age. His wife Eurydice conspired against his life; but her snares were seasonably discovered by one of his daughters by a former wife. He had Alexander, Perdiccas, and Philip, Alexander the Great’s father, by his first wife; and by the other he had Archelaus, Aridæus, and Menelaus. He reigned 24 years; and soon after his death his son Philip murdered all his brothers, and ascended the throne.—Justin, bk. 7, chs. 4 & 9.—Diodorus, bk. 14, &c.—Cornelius Nepos & Plutarch, Pelopidas.――There is another king of Macedonia of the same name, but of his life few particulars are recorded in history.――A man who succeeded Dejotarus, in the kingdom of Gallogræcia. After his death it became a Roman province under Augustus. Strabo, bk. 12.――One of Alexander’s officers.――Another officer who deserted to Darius, and was killed as he attempted to seize Egypt. Curtius, bk. 3, ch. 9.――A son of Antiochus, who withdrew himself from Macedonia, because he hated Alexander.――An officer in Alexander’s cavalry. He had two brothers, called Simias and Polemon. He was accused of a conspiracy against the king, on account of his great intimacy with Philotas, and acquitted. Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 15; bk. 6, ch. 9; bk. 8, ch. 12.――A shepherd’s name in Virgil’s Eclogues.――A Greek writer who composed several works quoted by Athenæus, 10 & 12.

Amyntiānus, an historian in the age of Antoninus, who wrote a treatise in commendation of Philip, Olympias, and Alexander.

Amyntor, a king of Argos, son of Phrastor. He deprived his son Phœnix of his eyes, to punish him for the violence which he had offered to Clytia his concubine. Hyginus, fable 173.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, li. 307.—Apollodorus, bk. 3.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 9.――A general of the Dolopes. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 364.――A son of Ægyptus, killed by Damone the first night of his marriage. Hyginus, fable 170.

Amyris, a man of Sybaris, who consulted the oracle of Delphi concerning the probable duration of his country’s prosperity, &c.

Amyrīcus Campus, a plain of Thessaly. Polybius, bk. 3.

Amyrius, a king by whom Cyrus was killed in a battle. Ctesias.

Amy̆rus, a town of Thessaly.――A river mentioned by Valerius Flaccus, bk. 2, li. 11.

Amystis, a river of India falling into the Ganges. Arrian, Indica.

Amythāon, a son of Cretheus king of Iolchos, by Tyro. He married Idomene, by whom he had Bias and Melampus. After his father’s death, he established himself in Messenia with his brother Neleus, and re-established or regulated the Olympic games. Melampus is called Amythaonius, from his father Amythaon. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 3, li. 550.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Apollodorus, bk. 1.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 11.――A son of Hippasus, who assisted Priam in the Trojan war, and was killed by Lycomedes. Homer, Iliad, bk. 17.

Amytis, a daughter of Astyages, whom Cyrus married. Ctesias.――A daughter of Xerxes, who married Megabyzus, and disgraced herself by her debaucheries.

Anăces, or Anactes, a name given to Castor and Pollux among the Athenians. Their festivals were called Anaceia. Plutarch, Theseus.—Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 3, ch. 21.

Anacharsis, a Scythian philosopher, 592 B.C., who, on account of his wisdom, temperance, and extensive knowledge, has been called one of the seven wise men. Like his countrymen, he made use of a cart instead of a house. He was wont to compare laws to cobwebs, which can stop only small flies, and are unable to resist the superior force of large insects. When he returned to Scythia from Athens, where he had spent some time in study, and in the friendship of Solon, he attempted to introduce there the laws of the Athenians, which so irritated his brother, who was then on the throne, that he killed him with an arrow. Anacharsis has rendered himself famous among the ancients by his writings, and his poems on war, the laws of Scythia, &c. Two of his letters to Crœsus and Hanno are still extant. Later authors have attributed to him the invention of tinder, of anchors, and of the potter’s wheel. The name of Anacharsis is become very familiar to modern ears, by that elegant, valuable, and truly classical work of Barthelemi, called the travels of Anacharsis. Herodotus, bk. 4, chs. 56, 47, & 48.—Plutarch, Quæstiones Convivales.—Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 5, ch. 32.—Strabo, bk. 7.

Anacium, a mountain with a temple sacred to the Anaces in Peloponnesus. Polyænus, bk. 1, ch. 21.

Anacreon, a famous lyric poet of Teos in Ionia, highly favoured by Polycrates and Hipparchus son of Pisistratus. He was of a lascivious and intemperate disposition, much given to drinking, and deeply enamoured of a youth called Bathyllus. His odes are still extant, and the uncommon sweetness and elegance of his poetry have been the admiration of every age and country. He lived to his 85th year, and, after every excess of pleasure and debauchery, choked himself with a grape stone and expired. Plato says that he was descended from an illustrious family, and that Codrus, the last king of Athens, was one of his progenitors. His statue was placed in the citadel of Athens, representing him as an old drunken man, singing, with every mark of dissipation and intemperance. Anacreon flourished 532 B.C. All that he wrote is not extant; his odes were first published by H. Stephens, with an elegant translation. The best editions of Anacreon are that of Maittaire, 4to, London, 1725, of which only 100 copies were printed, and the very correct one of Barnes, 12mo, Cambridge, 1721, to which may be added that of Brunck, 12mo, Strasbourg, 1778. Pausanias, bk. 1, chs. 2, 25.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 9, ch. 4.—Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 4, ch. 33.—Horace, epode 14, li. 20.—Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 7.—Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 121.

Anactoria and Anactorium, a town of Epirus, in a peninsula towards the gulf of Ambracia. It was founded by a Corinthian colony, and was the cause of many quarrels between the Corcyreans and Corinthians. Augustus carried the inhabitants to the city of Nicopolis, after the battle of Actium. Strabo, bk. 10.—Thucydides, bk. 1, ch. 55.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 1; bk. 5, ch. 29.――An ancient name of Miletus.

Anactŏrie, a woman of Lesbos, wantonly loved by Sappho. Ovid, Heroides, poem 15, li. 17.

Anadyomĕne, a valuable painting of Venus, represented as rising from the sea, by Apelles. Augustus bought it and placed it in the temple of Julius Cæsar. The lower part of it was a little defaced, and there were found no painters in Rome able to repair it. Pliny, bk. 35, ch. 10.

Anagnia, now Anagni, a city of the Hernici in Latium, where Antony struck a medal when he divorced Octavia and married Cleopatra. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 684.—Strabo, bk. 5.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 392.

Anagogia, a festival, celebrated by the people of Eryx in Sicily, in honour of Venus. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 1, ch. 15; Natura Animalium, bk. 4, ch. 2.