A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY
Transcriber’s Notes
The cover image was provided by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Punctuation has been standardized.
To facilitate usage by modern readers, most abbreviated Latin words and names have been expanded to their common non-abbreviated form. (Example: Hom. expanded to Homer; Hor. expanded to Horace.) Also, labels have been added to references for book (bk.), chapter (ch.), line (li.), and letter (ltr.) for clarity.
This book was written in a period when many words had not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated with a Transcriber’s Note.
The symbol ‘‡’ indicates the description in parenthesis has been added to an illustration. This may be needed if there is no caption or if the caption does not describe the image adequately.
In the listings, the alphabetical order of topics has been corrected, but no topics have been added or removed. The letters “I” and “J”, and the letters “U” and “V”, are considered synonymous and alphabetized together by the author.
Footnotes are identified in the text with a superscript number and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which they appear.
Transcriber’s Notes are used when making corrections to the text or to provide additional information for the modern reader. These notes are identified by ♦♠♥♣ symbols in the text and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which they appear.
LEMPRIERE’S CLASSICAL DICTIONARY.
A
CLASSICAL DICTIONARY
CONTAINING A COPIOUS ACCOUNT
OF ALL THE PROPER NAMES
MENTIONED IN ANCIENT AUTHORS
WITH
THE VALUE OF COINS, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES USED AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS
AND
A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
BY
J. LEMPRIERE, D.D.
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, Limited
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON AND CO.
1904
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
At the Ballantyne Press
PREFACE
TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.
In the following pages it has been the wish of the author to give the most accurate and satisfactory account of all the proper names which occur in reading the Classics, and by a judicious collection of anecdotes and historical facts to draw a picture of ancient times, not less instructive than entertaining. Such a work, it is hoped, will not be deemed a useless acquisition in the hands of the public; and while the student is initiated in the knowledge of history and mythology, and familiarized with the ancient situation and extent of kingdoms and cities that no longer exist, the man of letters may, perhaps, find it not a contemptible companion, from which he may receive information, and be made, a second time, acquainted with many important particulars which time, or more laborious occupations, may have erased from his memory. In the prosecution of his plan, the author has been obliged to tread in the steps of many learned men, whose studies have been directed, and not without success, to facilitate the attainment of classical knowledge, and of the ancient languages. Their compositions have been to him a source of information, and he trusts that their labours have now found new elucidation in his own, and that, by a due consideration of every subject, he has been enabled to imitate their excellences, without copying their faults. Many compositions of the same nature have issued from the press, but they are partial and unsatisfactory. The attempts to be concise, have rendered the labours of one barren and uninstructive, while long and unconnected quotations of passages from Greek and Latin writers, disfigure the page of the other, and render the whole insipid and disgusting. It cannot, therefore, be a discouraging employment now, to endeavour to finish what others have left imperfect, and with the conciseness of Stephens, to add the diffuse researches of Lloyd, Hoffman, Collier, &c. After paying due attention to the ancient poets and historians, from whom the most authentic information can be received, the labours of more modern authors have been consulted, and every composition distinguished for the clearness and perspicuity of historical narration, or geographical descriptions, has been carefully examined. Truly sensible of what he owes to modern Latin and English writers and commentators, the author must not forget to make a public acknowledgment of the assistance he has likewise received from the labours of the French. In the Siècles Payens of l’Abbé Sabatier de Castres he has found all the information which judicious criticism, and a perfect knowledge of heathen mythology, could procure. The compositions of l’Abbé Banier have also been useful; and in the Dictionnaire Historique, of a literary society, printed at Caen, a treasure of original anecdotes, and a candid selection and arrangement of historical facts, have been discovered.
It was the original design of the author of this Dictionary to give a minute explanation of all the names of which Pliny and other ancient geographers make mention; but, upon a second consideration of the subject, he was convinced that it would have increased his volume in bulk, and not in value. The learned reader will be sensible of the propriety of this remark, when he recollects that the names of many places mentioned by Pliny and Pausanias occur nowhere else in ancient authors; and that to find the true situation of an insignificant village mentioned by Strabo, no other writer but Strabo is to be consulted.
This Dictionary being undertaken more particularly for the use of schools, it has been thought proper to mark the quantity of the penultimate of every word, and to assist the student who can receive no fixed and positive rules for pronunciation. In this the authority of Smethius has been followed, as also Leede’s edition of Labbe’s Catholici Indices.
As every publication should be calculated to facilitate literature, and to be serviceable to the advancement of the sciences, the author of this Dictionary did not presume to intrude himself upon the public, before he was sensible that his humble labours would be of some service to the lovers of the ancient languages. The undertaking was for the use of schools, therefore he thought none so capable of judging of its merit, and of ascertaining its utility, as those who preside over the education of youth. With this view, he took the liberty to communicate his intentions to several gentlemen in that line, not less distinguished for purity of criticism, than for their classical abilities, and from them he received all the encouragement which the desire of contributing to the advancement of learning can expect. To them, therefore, for their approbation and friendly communications, he publicly returns his thanks, and hopes that, now his labours are completed, his Dictionary may claim from them that patronage and that support to which, in their opinion, the specimen of the work seemed to be entitled. He has paid due attention to their remarks, he has received with gratitude their judicious observations, and cannot pass over in silence their obliging recommendations, and particularly the friendly advice he has received from the Rev. R. Valpy, master of Reading School.
For the account of the Roman laws, and for the festivals celebrated by the ancient inhabitants of Greece and Italy, he is particularly indebted to the useful collections of Archbishop Potter, of Godwyn, and Kennet. In the tables of ancient coins, weights and measures, which he has annexed to the body of the Dictionary, he has followed the learned calculations of Dr. Arbuthnot. The quoted authorities have been carefully examined, and frequently revised: and, it is hoped, the opinions of mythologists will appear without confusion, and be found divested of all obscurity.
Therefore, with all the confidence which an earnest desire of being useful can command, the author offers the following pages to the public, conscious that they may contain inaccuracies and imperfections. A Dictionary, the candid reader is well aware, cannot be made perfect all at once; it must still have its faults and omissions, however cautious and vigilant the author may have been; and in every page there may be found, in the opinion of some, room for improvement and for addition. Before the candid, therefore, and the impartial, he lays his publication, and for whatever observations the friendly critic may make, he will show himself grateful, and take advantage of the remarks of every judicious reader, should the favours and the indulgence of the public demand a second edition.
A
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE,
FROM
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD
TO
THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
IN THE WEST, AND IN THE EAST
[¹] In the following table, I have confined myself to the more easy and convenient eras of before (B.C.) and after (A.D.) Christ. For the sake of those, however, that do not wish the exclusion of the Julian period, it is necessary to observe that, as the first year of the christian era always falls on the 4714th of the Julian years, the number required either before or after Christ will easily be discovered by the application of the rules of subtraction or addition. The era from the foundation of Rome (A.U.C.) will be found with the same facility, by recollecting that the city was built 753 years before Christ; and the Olympiads can likewise be recurred to by the consideration that the conquest of Corœbus (B.C. 776) forms the first Olympiad, and that the Olympic games were celebrated after the revolution of four years.
|
Before Christ.[¹] |
|
|---|---|
| The world created in the 710th year of the Julian period | 4004 |
| The deluge | 2348 |
| The tower of Babel built, and the confusion of languages | 2247 |
| Celestial observations are first made at Babylon | 2234 |
| The kingdom of Egypt is supposed to have begun under Misraim the son of Ham, and to have continued 1663 years, to the conquest of Cambyses | 2188 |
| The kingdom of Sicyon established | 2089 |
| The kingdom of Assyria begins | 2059 |
| The birth of Abraham | 1996 |
| The kingdom of Argos established under Inachus | 1856 |
| Memnon the Egyptian said to invent letters, 15 years before the reign of Phoroneus | 1822 |
| The deluge of Ogyges, by which Attica remained waste above 200 years, till the coming of Cecrops | 1764 |
| Joseph sold into Egypt by his brethren | 1728 |
| The chronology of the Arundelian marbles begins about this time, fixing here the arrival of Cecrops in Attica, an epoch which other writers have placed later by 26 years | 1582 |
| Moses born | 1571 |
| The kingdom of Athens begun under Cecrops, who came from Egypt with a colony of Saites. This happened about 780 years before the first Olympiad | 1556 |
| Scamander migrates from Crete, and begins the kingdom of Troy | 1546 |
| The deluge of Deucalion in Thessaly | 1503 |
| The Panathenæa first celebrated at Athens | 1495 |
| Cadmus comes into Greece, and builds the citadel of Thebes | 1493 |
| The first Olympic games celebrated in Elis by the Idæi Dactyli | 1453 |
| The five books of Moses written in the land of Moab, where he dies the following year, aged 110 | 1452 |
| Minos flourishes in Crete, and iron is found by the Dactyli by the accidental burning of the woods of Ida, in Crete | 1406 |
| The Eleusinian mysteries introduced at Athens by Eumolpus | 1356 |
| The Isthmian games first instituted by Sisyphus king of Corinth | 1326 |
| The Argonautic expedition. The first Pythian games celebrated by Adrastus king of Argos | 1263 |
| Gideon flourishes in Israel | 1245 |
| The Theban war of the seven heroes against Eteocles | 1225 |
| Olympic games celebrated by Hercules | 1222 |
| The rape of Helen by Theseus, and, 15 years after, by Paris | 1213 |
| Troy taken, after a siege of 10 years. Æneas sails to Italy | 1184 |
| Alba Longa built by Ascanius | 1152 |
| Migration of the Æolian colonies | 1124 |
| The return of the Heraclidæ into Peloponnesus, 80 years after the taking of Troy. Two years after, they divide the Peloponnesus among themselves; and here, therefore, begins the kingdom of Lacedæmon under Eurysthenes and Procles | 1104 |
| Saul made king over Israel | 1095 |
| The kingdom of Sicyon ended | 1088 |
| The kingdom of Athens ended in the death of Codrus | 1070 |
| The migration of the Ionian colonies from Greece, and their settlement in Asia Minor | 1044 |
| Dedication of Solomon’s temple | 1004 |
| Samos built | 986 |
| Division of the kingdom of Judah and Israel | 975 |
| Homer and Hesiod flourished about this time, according to the marbles | 907 |
| Elias the prophet taken up into heaven | 896 |
| Lycurgus, 42 years old, establishes his laws at Lacedæmon, and, together with Iphitus and Cleosthenes, restores the Olympic games at Elis, about 108 years before the era which is commonly called the first Olympiad | 884 |
| Phidon king of Argos is supposed to have invented scales and measures, and coined silver at Ægina. Carthage built by Dido | 869 |
| Fall of the Assyrian empire by the death of Sardanapalus, an era placed 80 years earlier by Justin | 820 |
| The kingdom of Macedonia begins, and continues 646 years, till the battle of Pydna | 814 |
| The kingdom of Lydia begins, and continues 249 years | 797 |
| The triremes first invented by the Corinthians | 786 |
| The monarchical government abolished at Corinth, and the Prytanes elected | 779 |
| Corœbus conquers at Olympia, in the 28th Olympiad from the institution of Iphitus. This is vulgarly called the first Olympiad, about 23 years before the foundation of Rome | 776 |
| The Ephori introduced into the government of Lacedæmon by Theopompus | 760 |
| Isaiah begins to prophesy | 757 |
| The decennial archons begin at Athens, of which Charops is the first | 754 |
| Rome built on the 20th of April, according to Varro, in the year 3961 of the Julian period | 753 |
| The rape of the Sabines | 750 |
| The era of Nabonassar king of Babylon begins | 747 |
| The first Messenian war begins, and continues 19 years, to the taking of Ithome | 743 |
| Syracuse built by a Corinthian colony | 732 |
| The kingdom of Israel finished by the taking of Samaria by Salmanasar king of Assyria. The first eclipse of the moon on record March 19th, according to Ptolemy | 721 |
| Candaules murdered by Gyges, who succeeds to the Lydian throne | 718 |
| Tarentum built by the Parthenians | 707 |
| Corcyra built by the Corinthians | 703 |
| The second Messenian war begins, and continues 14 years, to the taking of Ira, after a siege of 11 years. About this time flourished the poets Tyrtæus and Archilochus | 685 |
| The government of Athens intrusted to annual archons | 684 |
| Alba destroyed | 665 |
| Cypselus usurps the government of Corinth, and keeps it for 30 years | 659 |
| Byzantium built by a colony of Argives or Athenians | 658 |
| Cyrene built by Battus | 630 |
| The Scythians invade Asia Minor, of which they keep possession for 28 years | 624 |
| Draco established his laws at Athens | 623 |
| The canal between the Nile and the Red sea begun by king Necho | 610 |
| Nineveh taken and destroyed by Cyaxares and his allies | 606 |
| The Phœnicians sail round Africa, by order of Necho. About this time flourished Arion, Pittacus, Alcæus, Sappho, &c. | 604 |
| The Scythians are expelled from Asia Minor by Cyaxares | 596 |
| The Pythian games first established at Delphi. About this time flourished Chilo, Anacharsis, Thales, Epimenides, Solon, the prophet Ezekiel, Æsop, Stersichorus | 591 |
| Jerusalem taken by Nebuchadnezzar, 9th of June, after a siege of 18 months | 587 |
| The Isthmian games restored and celebrated every first and third year of the Olympiads | 582 |
| Death of Jeremiah the prophet | 577 |
| The Nemæan games restored | 568 |
| The first comedy acted at Athens by Susarion and Dolon | 562 |
| Pisistratus first usurped the sovereignty at Athens | 560 |
| Cyrus begins to reign. About this time flourished Anaximenes, Bias, Anaximander, Phalaris, and Cleobulus | 559 |
| Crœsus conquered by Cyrus. About this time flourished Theognis and Pherecydes | 548 |
| Marseilles built by the Phocæans. The age of Pythagoras, Simonides, Thespis, Xenophanes, and Anacreon | 539 |
| Babylon taken by Cyrus | 538 |
| The return of the Jews by the edict of Cyrus, and the rebuilding of the temple | 536 |
| The first tragedy acted at Athens on the waggon of Thespis | 535 |
| Learning encouraged at Athens, and a public library built | 526 |
| Egypt conquered by Cambyses | 525 |
| Polycrates of Samos put to death | 522 |
| Darius Hystaspes chosen king of Persia. About this time flourished Confucius the celebrated Chinese philosopher | 521 |
| The tyranny of the Pisistratidæ abolished at Athens | 510 |
| The consular government begins at Rome after the expulsion of the Tarquins, and continues independent 461 years, till the battle of Pharsalia | 509 |
| Sardis taken by the Athenians and burnt, which became afterwards the cause of the invasion of Greece by the Persians. About this time flourished Heraclitus, Parmenides, Milo the wrestler, Aristagoras, &c. | 504 |
| The first dictator, Lartius, created at Rome | 498 |
| The Roman populace retire to mount Sacer | 493 |
| The battle of Marathon | 490 |
| The battles of Thermopylæ, August 7th, and Salamis, October 20th. About this time flourished Æschylus, Pindar, Charon, Anaxagoras, Zeuxis, Aristides, &c. | 480 |
| The Persians defeated at Platæa and Mycale on the same day, 22nd September | 479 |
| The 300 Fabii killed at Cremera, July 17th | 477 |
| Themistocles, accused of conspiracy, flies to Xerxes | 471 |
| The Persians defeated at Cyprus, and near the Eurymedon | 470 |
| The third Messenian war begins, and continues 10 years | 465 |
| Egypt revolts from the Persians under Inarus, assisted by the Athenians | 463 |
| The Romans send to Athens for Solon’s laws. About this time flourished Sophocles, Nehemiah the prophet, Plato the comic poet, Aristarchus the tragic, Leocrates, Thrasybulus, Pericles, Zaleucus, &c. | 454 |
| The first Sacred war concerning the temple of Delphi | 448 |
| The Athenians defeated at Chæronea by the Bœotians | 447 |
| Herodotus reads his history to the council of Athens, and receives public honours in the 39th year of his age. About this time flourished Empedocles, Hellanicus, Euripides, Herodicus, Phidias Artemones, Charondas, &c. | 445 |
| A colony sent to Thurium by the Athenians | 444 |
| Comedies prohibited at Athens, a restraint which remained in force for three years | 440 |
| A war between Corinth and Corcyra | 439 |
| Meton begins here his 19 years’ cycle of the moon | 432 |
| The Peloponnesian war begins, May the 7th, and continues about 27 years. About this time flourished Cratinus, Eupolis, Aristophanes, Meton, Euctemon, Malachi the last of the prophets, Democritus, Gorgias, Thucydides, Hippocrates, &c. | 431 |
| The history of the Old Testament finishes about this time. A plague at Athens for five years | 430 |
| A peace of 50 years made between the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, which is kept only during six years and ten months, though each continued at war with the other’s allies | 421 |
| The scene of the Peloponnesian war changed to Sicily. The Agrarian law first moved at Rome | 416 |
| Egypt revolts from the Persians, and Amyrtæus is appointed king | 414 |
| The Carthaginians enter Sicily, where they destroy Selinus and Himera, but they are repulsed by Hermocrates | 409 |
| The battle of Ægospotamos. The usurpation of Dionysius | 405 |
| Athens taken by Lysander, 24th of April. The end of the Peloponnesian war, and the appointment of 30 tyrants over the conquered city. About this time flourished Parrhasius, Protagoras, Lysias, Agathon, Euclid, Cebes, Telestes, &c. | 404 |
| Cyrus the younger killed at Cunaxa. The glorious retreat of the 10,000 Greeks, and the expulsion of the 30 tyrants from Athens by Thrasybulus | 401 |
| Socrates put to death | 400 |
| Agesilaus of Lacedæmon’s expedition into Asia against the Persians. The age of Xenophon, Ctesias, Zeuxis, Antisthenes, Evagoras, Aristippus of Cyrene, and Archytas | 396 |
| The Corinthian war begun by the alliance of the Athenians, Thebans, Corinthians, and Argives, against Lacedæmon | 395 |
| The Lacedæmonians, under Pisander, defeated by Conon at Cnidus; and, a few days after, the allies are defeated at Coronæa, by Agesilaus | 394 |
| The battle of Allia, July 17th, and the taking of Rome by the Gauls | 390 |
| Dionysius besieges Rhegium, and takes it after 11 months. About this time flourished Plato, Philoxenus, Damon, Pythias, Iphicrates, &c. | 388 |
| The Greek cities of Asia tributary to Persia, by the peace of Antalcidas, between the Lacedæmonians and Persians | 387 |
| The war of Cyprus finished by a treaty, after it had continued two years | 385 |
| The Lacedæmonians defeated in a sea-fight at Naxos, September 20th, by Chabrias. About this time flourished Philistus, Isæus, Isocrates, Arete, Philolaus, Diogenes the cynic, &c. | 377 |
| Artaxerxes sends an army under Pharnabazus, with 20,000 Greeks, commanded by Iphicrates | 374 |
| The battle of Leuctra, July 8th, where the Lacedæmonians are defeated by Epaminondas the general of the Thebans | 371 |
| The Messenians, after a banishment of 300 years, return to Peloponnesus | 370 |
| One of the consuls at Rome elected from the plebeians | 367 |
| The battle of Mantinea gained by Epaminondas, a year after the death of Pelopidas | 363 |
| Agesilaus assists Tachos king of Egypt. Some of the governors of Lesser Asia revolt from Persia | 362 |
| The Athenians are defeated at Methone, the first battle that Philip of Macedon ever won in Greece | 360 |
| Dionysius the younger is expelled from Syracuse by Dion. The second Sacred war begins, on the temple of Delphi being attacked by the Phocians | 357 |
| Dion put to death, and Syracuse governed seven years by tyrants. About this time flourished Eudoxus, Lycurgus, Ibis, Theopompus, Ephorus, Datames, Philomelus, &c. | 354 |
| The Phocians, under Onomarchus, are defeated in Thessaly by Philip | 353 |
| Egypt is conquered by Ochus | 350 |
| The Sacred war is finished by Philip taking all the cities of the Phocians | 348 |
| Dionysius recovers the tyranny of Syracuse, after 10 years’ banishment | 347 |
| Timoleon recovers Syracuse and banishes the tyrant | 343 |
| The Carthaginians defeated by Timoleon near Agrigentum. About this time flourished Speusippus, Protogenes, Aristotle, Æschines, Zenocrates, Demosthenes, Phocion, Mamercus, Icetas, Stilpo, Demades | 340 |
| The battle of Cheronæa, August 2nd, where Philip defeats the Athenians and Thebans | 338 |
| Philip of Macedon killed by Pausanius. His son Alexander, on the following year, enters Greece, destroys Thebes, &c. | 336 |
| The battle of the Granicus, 22nd of May | 334 |
| The battle of Issus in October | 333 |
| Tyre and Egypt conquered by the Macedonian prince, and Alexandria built | 332 |
| The battle of Arbela, October 2nd | 331 |
| Alexander’s expedition against Porus. About this time flourished Apelles, Callisthenes, Bagoas, Parmenio, Philotas, Memnon, Dinocrates, Calippus, Hyperides, Philetus, Lysippus, Menedemus, &c. | 327 |
| Alexander dies on the 21st of April. His empire is divided into four kingdoms. The Samian war, and the reign of the Ptolemies in Egypt | 323 |
| Polyperchon publishes a general liberty to all the Greek cities. The age of Praxiteles, Crates, Theophrastus, Menander, Demetrius, Dinarchus, Polemon, Neoptolemus, Perdiccas, Leosthenes | 320 |
| Syracuse and Sicily usurped by Agathocles. Demetrius Phalereus governs Athens for 10 years | 317 |
| Eumenes delivered to Antigonus by his army | 315 |
| Seleucus takes Babylon, and here the beginning of the era of the Seleucidæ | 312 |
| The conquests of Agathocles in Africa | 309 |
| Democracy established at Athens by Demetrius Poliorcetes | 307 |
| The title of kings first assumed by the successors of Alexander | 306 |
| The battle of Ipsus, where Antigonus is defeated and killed by Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander. About this time flourished Zeno, Pyrrho, Philemon, Megasthenes, Crantor, &c. | 301 |
| Athens taken by Demetrius Poliorcetes, after a year’s siege | 296 |
| The first sun-dial erected at Rome by Papirius Cursor, and the time first divided into hours | 293 |
| Seleucus, about this time, built about 40 cities in Asia, which he peopled with different nations. The age of Euclid the mathematician, Arcesilaus, Epicurus, Bion, Timocharis, Erasistratus, Aristyllus, Strato, Zenodotus, Arsinoe, Lachares, &c. | 291 |
| The Athenians revolt from Demetrius | 287 |
| Pyrrhus expelled from Macedon by Lysimachus | 286 |
| The Pharos of Alexandria built. The Septuagint supposed to be translated about this time | 284 |
| Lysimachus defeated and killed by Seleucus. The Tarentine war begins, and continues 10 years. The Achæan league begins | 281 |
| Pyrrhus of Epirus goes to Italy to assist the Tarentines | 280 |
| The Gauls, under Brennus, are cut to pieces near the temple of Delphi. About this time flourished Dionysius the astronomer, Sostratus, Theocritus, Dionysius Heracleotes, Philo, Aratus, Lycophron, Persæus, &c. | 278 |
| Pyrrhus, defeated by Curius, retires to Epirus | 274 |
| The first coining of silver at Rome | 269 |
| Athens taken by Antigonus Gonatas, who keeps it 12 years | 268 |
| The first Punic war begins, and continues for 23 years. The chronology of the Arundelian marbles composed. About this time flourished Lycon, Crates, Berosus, Hermachus, Helenus, Clinias, Aristotimus, &c. | 264 |
| Antiochus Soter defeated at Sardis by Eumenes of Pergamus | 262 |
| The Carthaginian fleet defeated by Duilius | 260 |
| Regulus defeated by Xanthippus. Athens is restored to liberty by Antigonus | 256 |
| Aratus persuades the people of Sicyon to join the Achæan league. About this time flourished Cleanthes, Homer junior, Manetho, Timæus, Callimachus, Zoilus, Duris, Neanthes, Ctesibius, Sosibius, Hieronymus, Hanno, Laodice, Lysias, Ariobarzanes | 251 |
| The Parthians under Arsaces, and the Bactrians under Theodotus, revolt from the Macedonians | 250 |
| The sea-fight of Drepanum | 249 |
| The citadel of Corinth taken by Aratus, 12th of August | 243 |
| Agis king of Sparta put to death for attempting to settle an Agrarian law. About this period flourished Antigonus Carystius, Conon of Samos, Eratosthenes, Apollonius of Perga, Lacydes, Amilcar, Agesilaus the ephor, &c. | 241 |
| Plays first acted at Rome, being those of Livius Andronicus | 240 |
| Amilcar passes with an army to Spain, with Annibal his son | 237 |
| The temple of Janus shut at Rome, the first time since Numa | 235 |
| The Sardinian war begins, and continues three years | 234 |
| Original manuscripts of Æschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, lent by the Athenians to Ptolemy for a pledge of 15 talents | 233 |
| The first divorce known at Rome, by Spurius Carvilius. Sardinia and Corsica conquered | 231 |
| The Roman ambassadors first appeared at Athens and Corinth | 228 |
| The war between Cleomenes and Aratus begins, and continues for five years | 227 |
| The colossus of Rhodes thrown down by an earthquake. The Romans first cross the Po, pursuing the Gauls, who had entered Italy. About this time flourished Chrysippus, Polystratus, Euphorion, Archimedes, Valerius Messala, C. Nævius, Aristarchus, Apollonius, Philocorus, Aristo Ceus, Fabius Pictor the first Roman historian, Philarchus, Lysiades, Agro, &c. | 224 |
| The battle of Sellasia | 222 |
| The Social war between the Ætolians and Achæans, assisted by Philip | 220 |
| Saguntum taken by Annibal | 219 |
| The second Punic war begins, and continues 17 years | 218 |
| The battle of the lake Thrasymenus, and next year that of Cannæ, May 21st | 217 |
| The Romans begin the auxiliary war against Philip in Epirus, which is continued by intervals for 14 years | 214 |
| Syracuse taken by Marcellus, after a siege of three years | 212 |
| Philopœmen defeats Machanidas at Mantinea | 208 |
| Asdrubal is defeated. About this time flourished Plautus, Archagathus, Evander, Teleclus, Hermippus, Zeno, Sotion, Ennius, Hieronymus of Syracuse, Tlepolemus, Epicydes | 207 |
| The battle of Zama | 202 |
| The first Macedonian war begins and continues near four years | 200 |
| The battle of Panius, where Antiochus defeats Scopas | 198 |
| The battle of Cynoscephale, where Philip is defeated | 197 |
| The war of Antiochus the Great begins, and continues three years | 192 |
| Lacedæmon joined to the Achæan league by Philopœmen | 191 |
| The luxuries of Asia brought to Rome in the spoils of Antiochus | 189 |
| The laws of Lycurgus abrogated for a while at Sparta by Philopœmen | 188 |
| Antiochus the Great defeated and killed in Media. About this time flourished Aristophanes of Byzantium, Asclepiades, Tegula, C. Lælius, Aristonymus, Hegesinus, Diogenes the stoic, Critolaus, Massinissa, the Scipios, the Gracchi, Thoas, &c. | 187 |
| A war, which continues for one year, between Eumenes and Prusias, till the death of Annibal | 184 |
| Philopœmen defeated and killed by Dinocrates | 183 |
| Numa’s books found in a stone coffin at Rome | 179 |
| Perseus sends his ambassadors to Carthage | 175 |
| Ptolemy’s generals defeated by Antiochus, in a battle between Pelusium and mount Cassius. The second Macedonian war | 171 |
| The battle of Pydna, and the fall of the Macedonian empire. About this period flourished Attalus the astronomer, Metrodorus, Terence, Crates, Polybius, Pacuvius, Hipparchus, Heraclides, Carneades, Aristarchus, &c. | 168 |
| The first library erected at Rome, with books obtained from the plunder of Macedonia | 167 |
| Terence’s Andria first acted at Rome | 166 |
| Time measured out at Rome by a water-machine, invented by Scipio Nasica, 134 years after the introduction of sun-dials | 159 |
| Andriscus the Pseudophilip assumes the royalty of Macedonia | 152 |
| Demetrius king of Syria defeated and killed by Alexander Balas | 150 |
| The third Punic war begins. Prusias king of Bithynia put to death by his son Nicomedes | 149 |
| The Romans make war against the Achæans, which is finished the next year by Mummius | 148 |
| Carthage is destroyed by Scipio, and Corinth by [♦]Mummius [♦] ‘Mummus’ replaced with ‘Mummius’ | 147 |
| Viriathus is defeated by Lælius, in Spain | 146 |
| The war of Numantia begins, and continues for eight years | 141 |
| The Roman army of 30,000, under Mancinus, is defeated by 4000 Numantines | 138 |
| Restoration of learning at Alexandria, and universal patronage offered to all learned men by Ptolemy Physcon. The age of Satyrus, Aristobulus, Lucius Accius, Mnaseas, Antipater, Diodorus the peripatetic, Nicander, Ctesibius, Sarpedon, Micipsa, &c. | 137 |
| The famous embassy of Scipio, Metellus, Mummius, and Panætius, into Egypt, Syria, and Greece | 136 |
| The history of the Apocrypha ends. The Servile war in Sicily begins, and continues for three years | 135 |
| Numantia taken. Pergamus annexed to the Roman empire | 133 |
| Antiochus Sidetes killed by Phraates. Aristonicus defeated by Perpenna | 130 |
| Demetrius Nicator defeated at Damascus by Alexander Zebina | 127 |
| The Romans make war against the pirates of the Beleares. Carthage is rebuilt by order of the Roman senate | 123 |
| Caius Gracchus killed | 121 |
| Dalmatia conquered by Metellus | 118 |
| Cleopatra assumes the government of Egypt. The age of Erymnæus, Athenion, Artemidorus, Clitomachus, Apollonius, Herodicus, Lucius Cælius, Castor, Menecrates, Lucilius, &c. | 116 |
| The Jugurthine war begins, and continues for five years | 111 |
| The famous sumptuary law at Rome, which limited the expenses of eating every day | 110 |
| The Teutones and Cimbri begin their war against Rome, and continue it for eight years | 109 |
| The Teutones defeat 80,000 Romans on the banks of the Rhone | 105 |
| The Teutones defeated by Caius Marius at Aquæ Sextiæ | 102 |
| The Cimbri defeated by Marius and Catulus | 101 |
| Dolabella conquers Lusitania | 99 |
| Cyrene left by Ptolemy Apion to the Romans | 97 |
| The Social war begins, and continues three years, till finished by Sylla | 91 |
| The Mithridatic war begins, and continues 26 years | 89 |
| The civil wars of Marius and Sylla begin, and continue six years | 88 |
| Sylla conquers Athens, and sends its valuable libraries to Rome | 86 |
| Young Marius is defeated by Sylla, who is made dictator | 82 |
| The death of Sylla. About this time flourished Philo, Charmidas, Asclepiades, Apellicon, Lucius Sisenna, Alexander Polyhistor, Plotius Gallus, Diotimus, Zeno, Hortensius, Archias, Posidonius, Geminus, &c. | 78 |
| Bithynia left by Nicomedes to the Romans | 75 |
| The Servile war, under Spartacus, begins, and, two years after, the rebel general is defeated and killed by Pompey and Crassus | 73 |
| Mithridates and Tigranes defeated by Lucullus | 69 |
| Mithridates conquered by Pompey in a night battle. Crete is subdued by Metellus, after a war of two years | 66 |
| The reign of the Seleucidæ ends in Syria, on the conquest of the country by Pompey | 65 |
| Catiline’s conspiracy detected by Cicero. Mithridates kills himself | 63 |
| The first triumvirate in the person of Julius Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus. About this time flourished Apollonius of Rhodes, Terentius Varro, Tyrannion, Aristodemus of Nysa, Lucretius, Dionysius the grammarian, Cicero, Antiochus, Spurinus, Andronicus, Catullus, Sallust, Timagenes, Cratippus, &c. | 60 |
| Cicero banished from Rome, and recalled the next year | 58 |
| Cæsar passes the Rhine, defeats the Germans, and invades Britain | 55 |
| Crassus is killed by Surena, in June | 53 |
| Civil war between Cæsar and Pompey | 50 |
| The battle of Pharsalia about May 12th | 48 |
| Alexander taken by Cæsar | 47 |
| The war of Africa. Cato kills himself. This year is called the year of confusion, because the calendar was corrected by Sosigenes, and the year made to consist of 15 months, or 445 days | 46 |
| The battle of Munda | 45 |
| Cæsar murdered | 44 |
| The battle of Mutina. The second triumvirate in Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus. Cicero put to death. The age of Sosigenes, Cornelius Nepos, Diodorus Siculus, Trogus Pompey, Didymus the scholiast, Varro the poet, &c. | 43 |
| The battle of Philippi | 42 |
| Pacorus general of Parthia defeated by Ventidius, 14 years after the disgrace of Crassus, and on the same day | 39 |
| Pompey the younger defeated in Sicily by Octavius | 36 |
| Octavius and Antony prepare for war | 32 |
| The battle of Actium, 2nd September. The era of the Roman emperors properly begins here | 31 |
| Alexander taken, and Egypt reduced into a Roman province | 30 |
| The title of Augustus given to Octavius | 27 |
| The Egyptians adopt the Julian year. About this time flourished Virgil, Manilius, Dioscorides, Asinius Pollio, Mæcenas, Agrippa, Strabo, Horace, Macer, Propertius, Livy, Musa, Tibullus, Ovid, Pylades, Bathyllus, Varius, Tucca, Vitruvius, &c. | 25 |
| The conspiracy of Muræna against Augustus | 22 |
| Augustus visits Greece and Asia | 21 |
| The Roman ensigns recovered from the Parthians by Tiberius | 20 |
| The secular games celebrated at Rome | 17 |
| Lollius defeated by the Germans | 16 |
| The Rhæti and Vindelici defeated by Drusus | 15 |
| The Pannonians conquered by Tiberius | 12 |
| Some of the German nations conquered by Drusus | 11 |
| Augustus corrects the calendar, by ordering the 12 ensuing years to be without intercalation. About this time flourished Damascenus, Hyginus, Flaccus the grammarian, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Dionysius the geographer | 8 |
| Tiberius retires to Rhodes for seven years | 6 |
| Our Saviour is born, four years before the vulgar era, in the year 4709 of the Julian period, A.U.C. 749, and the fourth of the 193rd Olympiad | 4 |
| Tiberius returns to Rome |
A.D. 2 |
| The leap year corrected, having formerly been every third year | 4 |
| Ovid banished to Tomos | 9 |
| Varus defeated and killed in Germany by Arminius | 10 |
| Augustus dies at Nola, August 19th, and is succeeded by Tiberius. The age of Phædrus, Asinius Gallus, Velleius Paterculus, Germanicus, Cornel. Celsus, &c. | 14 |
| Twelve cities in Asia destroyed by an earthquake | 17 |
| Germanicus, poisoned by Piso, dies at Antioch | 19 |
| Tiberius goes to Capreæ | 26 |
| Sejanus disgraced | 31 |
| Our Saviour crucified, Friday, April 3rd. This is put four years earlier by some chronologists | 33 |
| St. Paul converted to Christianity | 35 |
| Tiberius dies at Misenum, near Baiæ, March 16th, and is succeeded by Caligula. About this time flourished Valerius Maximus, Columella, Pomponius Mela, Appion, Philo Judæus, Artabanus, and Agrippina | 37 |
| St. Matthew writes his Gospel | 39 |
| The name of christians first given, at Antioch, to the followers of our Saviour | 40 |
| Caligula murdered by Chæreas, and succeeded by Claudius | 41 |
| The expedition of Claudius into Britain | 43 |
| St. Mark writes his Gospel | 44 |
| Secular games celebrated at Rome | 47 |
| Caractacus carried in chains to Rome | 51 |
| Claudius succeeded by Nero | 54 |
| Agrippina put to death by her son Nero | 59 |
| First persecution against the christians | 64 |
| Seneca, Lucan, and others put to death | 65 |
| Nero visits Greece. The Jewish war begins. The age of Persius, Quintus Curtius, Pliny the elder, Josephus, Frontinus, Burrhus, Corbulo, Thrasea, Boadicea, &c. | 66 |
| St. Peter and St. Paul put to death | 67 |
| Nero dies, and is succeeded by Galba | 68 |
| Galba put to death. Otho, defeated by Vitellius, kills himself. Vitellius is defeated by Vespasian’s army | 69 |
| Jerusalem taken and destroyed by Titus | 70 |
| The Parthians revolt | 77 |
| Death of Vespasian, and succession of Titus. Herculaneum and Pompeii destroyed by an eruption of mount Vesuvius, November 1st | 79 |
| Death of Titus, and succession of Domitian. The age of Silius Italicus, Martial, Apollon. Tyanæus, Valerius Flaccus, Solinus, Epictetus, Quintilian, Lupus, Agricola, &c. | 81 |
| Capitoline games instituted by Domitian, and celebrated every fourth year | 86 |
| Secular games celebrated. The war with Dacia begins, and continues 15 years | 88 |
| Second persecution of the christians | 95 |
| Domitian put to death by Stephanus, &c., and succeeded by Nerva. The age of Juvenal, Tacitus, Statius, &c. | 96 |
| Nerva dies, and is succeeded by Trajan | 98 |
| Pliny proconsul of Bithynia sends Trajan an account of the christians | 102 |
| Dacia reduced to a Roman province | 103 |
| Trajan’s expedition against Parthia. About this time flourished Florus, Suetonius, Pliny junior, Philo Biblius, Dion, Prusæus, Plutarch, &c. | 106 |
| Third persecution of the christians | 107 |
| Trajan’s column erected at Rome | 114 |
| Trajan dies, and is succeeded by Adrian | 117 |
| Fourth persecution of the christians | 118 |
| Adrian builds a wall in Britain | 121 |
| Adrian visits Asia and Egypt for seven years | 126 |
| He rebuilds Jerusalem, and raises there a temple to Jupiter | 130 |
| The Jews rebel, and are defeated after a war of five years, and all banished | 131 |
| Adrian dies, and is succeeded by Antoninus Pius. In the reign of Adrian flourished Teon, Phavorinus, Phlegon, Trallian, Aristides, Aquila, Salvius Julian, Polycarp, Arian, Ptolemy, &c. | 138 |
| Antoninus defeats the Moors, Germans, and Dacians | 145 |
| The worship of Serapis brought to Rome | 146 |
| Antoninus dies, and is succeeded by Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, the last of whom reigned nine years. In the reign of Antoninus flourished Maximus Tyrius, Pausanias, Diophantus, Lucian, Hermogenes, Polyænus, Appian, Artemidorus, Justin the martyr, Apuleius, &c. | 161 |
| A war with Parthia, which continues three years | 162 |
| A war against the Marcomanni, which continues five years | 169 |
| Another, which continues three years | 177 |
| Marcus Aurelius dies, and Commodus succeeds. In the last reign flourished Galen, Athenagoras, Tatian, Athenæus, Montanus, Diogenes, Laërtius | 180 |
| Commodus makes peace with the Germans | 181 |
| Commodus put to death by Martia and Lætus. He is succeeded for a few months by Pertinax, who is murdered 193; and four rivals arise, Didius Julianus, Pescennius Niger, Severus, and Albinus. Under Commodus flourished Julius Pollux, Theodotion, St. Irenæus, &c. | 192 |
| Niger is defeated by Severus at Issus | 194 |
| Albinus defeated in Gaul, and killed at Lyons, February 19th | 198 |
| Severus conquers the Parthians | 200 |
| Fifth persecution against the christians | 202 |
| Severus visits Britain, and two years after builds a wall there across from the Frith of Forth | 207 |
| Severus dies at York, and is succeeded by Caracalla and Geta. In his reign flourished Tertullian, Minutius Felix, Papinianus, Clemens of Alexandria, Philostratus, Plotianus, and Bulas | 211 |
| Geta killed by his brother Caracalla | 212 |
| The Septuagint discovered. Caracalla murdered by Macrinus. Flourished Oppian | 217 |
| Opilius [♦]Macrinus killed by the soldiers, and succeeded by Heliogabalus [♦] ‘Macrinius’ replaced with ‘Macrinus’ | 218 |
| Alexander Severus succeeds Heliogabalus. The Goths then exacted an annual payment not to invade or molest the Roman empire. The age of Julius Africanus | 222 |
| The Arsacidæ of Parthia are conquered by Artaxerxes king of Media, and their empire destroyed | 229 |
| Alexander defeats the Persians | 234 |
| The sixth persecution against the christians | 235 |
| Alexander killed and succeeded by Maximinus. At that time flourished Dion Cassius, Origen, and Ammonius | 235 |
| The two Gordians succeeded Maximinus, and are put to death by Pupienus, who soon after is destroyed, with Balbinus, by the soldiers of the younger Gordian | 236 |
| Sarbinianus defeated in Africa | 240 |
| Gordian marches against the Persians | 242 |
| He is put to death by Philip, who succeeds, and makes peace with Sapor the next year. About this time flourished Censorius, and Gregory Thaumaturgus | 244 |
| Philip killed, and succeeded by Decius. Herodian flourished | 249 |
| The seventh persecution against the christians | 250 |
| Decius succeeded by Gallus | 251 |
| A great pestilence over the empire | 252 |
| Gallus dies, and is succeeded by Æmilianus, Valerianus, and Gallienus. In the reign of Gallus flourished St. Cyprian and Plotinus | 254 |
| The eighth persecution against the christians | 257 |
| The empire is harassed by 30 tyrants successively | 258 |
| Valerian is taken by Sapor and flayed alive | 260 |
| Odenatus governs the east for Gallienus | 264 |
| The Scythians and Goths defeated by Cleodamus and Athenæus | 267 |
| Gallienus killed, and succeeded by Claudius. In this reign flourished Longinus, Paulus Samosatenus, &c. | 268 |
| Claudius conquers the Goths, and kills 300,000 of them. Zenobia takes possession of Egypt | 269 |
| Aurelian succeeds | 270 |
| The ninth persecution against the christians | 272 |
| Zenobia defeated by Aurelian at Edessa | 273 |
| Dacia ceded to the Barbarians by the emperor | 274 |
| Aurelian killed, and succeeded by Tacitus, who died after a reign of six months, and was succeeded by Florianus, and, two months after, by Probus | 275 |
| Probus makes an expedition into Gaul | 277 |
| He defeats the Persians in the east | 280 |
| Probus is put to death, and succeeded by Carus, and his sons Carinus and Numerianus | 282 |
| Diocletian succeeds | 284 |
| The empire attacked by the Barbarians of the north. Diocletian takes Maximianus as his imperial colleague | 286 |
| Britain recovered, after a tyrant’s usurpation of 10 years. Alexandria taken by Diocletian | 296 |
| The tenth persecution against the christians, which continues 10 years | 303 |
| Diocletian and Maximianus abdicate the empire, and live in retirement, succeeded by Constantius Chlorus and Galerius Maximianus the two Cæsars. About this period flourished Julius Capitolinus, Arnobius, Gregory and Hermogenes the lawyers, Ælius Spartianus, Hierocles, Flavius Vopiscus, Trebellius Pollio, &c. | 304 |
| Constantius dies, and is succeeded by his son | 306 |
| At this time there were four emperors, Constantine, Licinius, Maximianus, and Maxentius | 308 |
| Maxentius defeated and killed by Constantine | 312 |
| The emperor Constantine begins to favour the christian religion | 319 |
| Licinius defeated and banished by Constantine | 324 |
| The first general Council of Nice, composed of 318 bishops, who sit from June 19th to August 25th | 325 |
| The seat of the empire removed from Rome to Constantinople | 328 |
| Constantinople solemnly dedicated by the emperor on the 11th of May | 330 |
| Constantine orders all the heathen temples to be destroyed | 331 |
| The death of Constantine, and succession of his three sons, Constantinus, Constans, and Constantius. In the reign of Constantine flourished Lactantius, Athanasius, Arius, and Eusebius | 337 |
| Constantine the younger defeated and killed by Constans at Aquilea | 340 |
| Constans killed in Spain by Magnentius | 350 |
| Gallus put to death by Constantius | 354 |
| One hundred and fifty cities of Greece and Asia ruined by an earthquake | 358 |
| Constantius and Julian quarrel, and prepare for war; but the former dies the next year, and leaves the latter sole emperor. About this period flourished Ælius Donatus, Eutropius, Libanius, Ammian. Marcellinus, Jamblicus, St. Hilary, &c. | 360 |
| Julian dies, and is succeeded by Jovian. In Julian’s reign flourished Gregory Nazienzen, Themistius, Aurelius Victor, &c. | 363 |
| Upon the death of Jovian, and the succession of Valens and Valentinian, the empire is divided, the former being emperor of the east, and the other of the west | 364 |
| Gratian taken as partner in the western empire by Valentinian | 367 |
| Firmus tyrant of Africa defeated | 373 |
| Valentinian II. succeeds Valentinian I. | 375 |
| The Goths permitted to settle in Thrace, on being expelled by the Huns | 376 |
| Theodosius the Great succeeds Valens in the eastern empire. The Lombards first leave Scandinavia and defeat the Vandals | 379 |
| Gratian defeated and killed by Andragathius | 383 |
| The tyrant Maximus defeated and put to death by Theodosius | 388 |
| Eugenius usurps the western empire, and is two years after defeated by Theodosius | 392 |
| Theodosius dies, and is succeeded by his sons, Arcadius in the east and Honorius in the west. In the reign of Theodosius flourished Ausonius, Eunapius, Pappus, Theon, Prudentius, St. Austin, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, &c. | 395 |
| Gildo, defeated by his own brother, kills himself | 398 |
| Stilicho defeats 200,000 of the Goths at Fesulæ | 405 |
| The Vandals, Alani, and Suevi permitted to settle in Spain and France by Honorius | 406 |
| Theodosius the younger succeeds Arcadius in the east, having Isdegerdes king of Persia as his guardian, appointed by his father | 408 |
| Rome plundered by Alaric king of the Visigoths, August 24th | 410 |
| The Vandals begin their kingdom in Spain | 412 |
| The kingdoms of the Burgundians is begun in Alsace | 413 |
| The Visigoths found a kingdom at Toulouse | 415 |
| The Alani defeated and extirpated by the Goths | 417 |
| The kingdom of the French begins on the Lower Rhine | 420 |
| The death of Honorius, and succession of Valentinian III. Under Honorius flourished Sulpicius Severus, Macrobius, Anianus, Panodorus, Stobæus, Servius the commentator, Hypatia, Pelagius, Synesius, Cyrill, Orosius, Socrates, &c. | 423 |
| Theodosius establishes public schools at Constantinople, and attempts the restoration of learning | 425 |
| The Romans take leave of Britain and never return | 426 |
| Pannonia recovered from the Huns by the Romans. The Vandals pass into Africa | 427 |
| The French defeated by Ætius | 428 |
| The Theodosian code published | 435 |
| Genseric the Vandal takes Carthage, and begins the kingdom of the Vandals in Africa | 439 |
| The Britons, abandoned by the Romans, make their celebrated complaint to Ætius against the Picts and Scots, and three years after the Saxons settle in Britain, upon the invitation of Vortigern | 446 |
| Attila king of the Huns ravages Europe | 447 |
| Theodosius II. dies, and is succeeded by Marcianus. About this time flourished Zozimus, Nestorius, Theodoret, Sozomen, Olympiodorus, &c. | 450 |
| The city of Venice first began to be known | 452 |
| Death of Valentinian III., who is succeeded by Maximus for two months, by Avitus for 10, and, after an interregnum of 10 months, by Majorianus | 454 |
| Rome taken by Genseric in July. The kingdom of Kent first established | 455 |
| The Suevi defeated by Theodoric on the Ebro | 456 |
| Marcianus dies, and is succeeded by Leo, surnamed the Thracian. Vortimer defeated by Hengist at Crayford, in Kent | 457 |
| Severus succeeds in the western empire | 461 |
| The paschal cycle of 532 years invented by Victorius of Aquitain | 463 |
| [♦]Anthemius succeeds in the western empire, after an interregnum of two years [♦] ‘Athemius’ replaced with ‘Anthemius’ | 467 |
| Olybrius succeeds Anthemius, and is succeeded, the next year, by Glycerius, and Glycerius by Nepos | 472 |
| Nepos is succeeded by Augustulus. Leo junior, son of Ariadne, though an infant, succeeds his grandfather Leo in the eastern empire, and, some months after, is succeeded by his father Zeno | 474 |
| The western empire is destroyed by Odoacer king of the Heruli, who assumes the title of king of Italy. About this time flourished Eutyches, Prosper, Victorius, Sidonius Apollinaris | 476 |
| Constantinople partly destroyed by an earthquake, which lasted 40 days at intervals | 480 |
| The battle of Soissons and victory of Clovis over Siagrius the Roman general | 485 |
| After the death of Zeno in the east, Ariadne married Anastasius, surnamed the Silentiary, who ascends the vacant throne | 491 |
| Theodoric king of the Ostrogoths revolts about this time, and conquers Italy from the Heruli. About this time flourished Boethius and Symmachus | 493 |
| Christianity embraced in France by the baptism of Clovis | 496 |
| The Burgundian laws published by king Gondebaud | 501 |
| Alaric defeated by Clovis at the battle of Vorcillè near Poitiers | 507 |
| Paris made the capital of the French dominions | 510 |
| Constantinople besieged by Vitalianus, whose fleet is burned with a brazen speculum by Proclus | 514 |
| The computing of time by the christian era, introduced first by Dionysius | 516 |
| Justin I., a peasant of Dalmatia, makes himself emperor | 518 |
| Justinian I. nephew of Justin succeeds. Under his glorious reign flourished Belisarius, Jornandes, Paul the Silentiary, Simplicius, Dionysius, Procopius, Proclus, Narses, &c. | 527 |
| Justinian publishes his celebrated code of laws, and four years after his digest | 529 |
| Conquest of Africa by Belisarius, and that of Rome, two years after | 534 |
| Italy is invaded by the Franks | 538 |
| The Roman consulship suppressed by Justinian | 542 |
| A great plague, which arose in Africa, and desolated Asia and Europe | 543 |
| The beginning of the Turkish empire in Asia | 545 |
| Rome taken and pillaged by Totila | 547 |
| The manufacture of silk introduced from India into Europe by monks | 551 |
| Defeat and death of Totila the Gothic king of Italy | 553 |
| A dreadful plague over Africa, Asia, and Europe, which continues for 50 years | 558 |
| Justin II., son of Vigilantia the sister of Justinian, succeeds | 565 |
| Part of Italy conquered by the Lombards from Pannonia, who form a kingdom there | 568 |
| Tiberius II., an officer of the imperial guards, is adopted, and soon after succeeds | 578 |
| Latin ceases to be the language of Italy about this time | 581 |
| Maurice the Cappadocian, son-in-law of Tiberius, succeeds | 582 |
| Gregory I., surnamed the Great, fills St. Peter’s chair at Rome. The few men of learning who flourished the latter end of this century were Gildas, Agathias, Gregory of Tours the father of French history, Evagrius, and St. Augustin the monk | 590 |
| Augustin the monk, with 40 others, comes to preach christianity in England | 597 |
| About this time the Saxon heptarchy began in England | 600 |
| Phocas, a simple centurion, is elected emperor after the revolt of the soldiers, and the murder of Maurice and of his children | 602 |
| The power of the popes begins to be established by the concessions of Phocas | 606 |
| Heraclius, an officer in Africa, succeeds, after the murder of the usurper Phocas | 610 |
| The conquests of Chosroes king of Persia, in Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, and afterwards his siege of Rome | 611 |
| The Persians take Jerusalem with the slaughter of 90,000 men, and the next year they overrun Africa | 614 |
| Mahomet, in his 53rd year, flies from Mecca to Medina, on Friday, July 16th, which forms the first year of the Hegira, the era of the Mahometans | 622 |
| Constantinople is besieged by the Persians and Arabs | 626 |
| Death of Mahomet | 632 |
| Jerusalem taken by the Saracens, and three years after Alexandria and its famous library destroyed | 637 |
| Constantine III. son of Heraclius, in partnership with Heracleonas, his brother by the same father, assumes the imperial purple. Constantine reigns 103 days, and after his death, his son. Constantine’s son Constans is declared emperor, though Heracleonas, with his mother Martina, wished to continue in possession of the supreme power | 641 |
| Cyprus taken by the Saracens | 648 |
| The Saracens take Rhodes, and destroy the Colossus | 653 |
| Constantine IV., surnamed Pogonatus, succeeds, on the murder of his father in Sicily | 668 |
| The Saracens ravage Sicily | 669 |
| Constantinople besieged by the Saracens, whose fleet is destroyed by the Greek fire | 673 |
| Justinian II. succeeds his father Constantine. In his exile of 10 years the purple was usurped by Leontius and Absimerus Tiberius. His restoration happened 704. The only men of learning in this century were Secundus, Isidorus, Theophylactus, Georgius Pisides, Callinicus, and the venerable Bede | 685 |
| Pepin engrosses the power of the whole French monarchy | 690 |
| Africa finally conquered by the Saracens | 709 |
| Bardanes, surnamed Philippicus, succeeds at Constantinople, on the murder of Justinian | 711 |
| Spain is conquered by the Saracens. Accession of Artemius, or Anastasius II., to the throne | 713 |
| Anastasius abdicates, and is succeeded by Theodosius III., who, two years after, yields to the superior influence of Leo III., the first of the Isaurian dynasty | 715 |
| Second, but unsuccessful, siege of Constantinople by the Saracens | 717 |
| Tax called Peter-pence begun by Ina king of Wessex, to support a college at Rome | 727 |
| Saracens defeated by Charles Martel between Tours and Poitiers in October | 732 |
| Constantine V., surnamed Copronymus, succeeds his father Leo | 741 |
| Dreadful pestilence for three years over Europe and Asia | 746 |
| The computation of years from the birth of Christ first used in historical writings | 748 |
| Learning encouraged by the race of Abbas caliph of the Saracens | 749 |
| The Merovingian race of kings ends in France | 750 |
| Bagdad built, and made the capital of the caliphs of the house of Abbas | 762 |
| A violent frost for 150 days from October to February | 763 |
| Monasteries dissolved in the east by Constantine | 770 |
| Pavia taken by Charlemagne, which ends the kingdom of the Lombards, after a duration of 206 years | 774 |
| Leo IV. son of Constantine succeeds, and, five years after, is succeeded by his wife Irene and his son Constantine VI. | 775 |
| Irene murders her son and reigns alone. The only men of learning in this century were Johannes Damascenus, Fredegaire, Alcuinus, Paulus Diaconus, and George the monk | 797 |
| Charlemagne is crowned emperor of Rome and of the western empire. About this time the popes separate themselves from the princes of Constantinople | 800 |
| Egbert ascends the throne of England, but the total reduction of the Saxon heptarchy is not effected till 26 years after | 801 |
| Nicephorus I., great treasurer of the empire, succeeds | 802 |
| Stauracius son of Nicephorus, and Michael I., surnamed Rhangabe, the husband of Procopia sister of Stauracius, assume the purple | 811 |
| Leo V. the Armenian, though but an officer of the palace, ascends the throne of Constantinople | 813 |
| Learning encouraged among the Saracens by Almanon, who made observations on the sun, &c. | 816 |
| Michael II. the Thracian, surnamed the Stammerer, succeeds, after the murder of Leo | 821 |
| The Saracens of Spain take Crete, which they call Candia | 823 |
| The Almagest of Ptolemy translated into Arabic by order of Almanon | 827 |
| Theophilus succeeds his father Michael | 829 |
| Origin of the Russian monarchy | 839 |
| Michael III. succeeds his father Theophilus with his mother Theodora | 842 |
| The Normans get possession of some cities in France | 853 |
| Michael is murdered, and succeeded by Basil I. the Macedonian | 867 |
| Clocks first brought to Constantinople from Venice | 872 |
| Basil is succeeded by his son Leo VI. the philosopher. In this century flourished Mesué, the Arabian physician Eginhard, Rabanus, Albumasar, Godescalchus, Hincmarus, Odo, Photius, John Scotus, Anastasius the librarian, Alfraganus, Albategni, Reginon, John Asser | 886 |
| Paris besieged by the Normans, and bravely defended by bishop Goslin | 887 |
| Death of Alfred king of England, after a reign of 30 years | 900 |
| Alexander brother of Leo succeeds, with his nephew Constantine VII., surnamed Porphyrogenitus | 911 |
| The Normans establish themselves in France under Rollo | 912 |
| Romanus I., surnamed Lecapenus, general of the fleet, usurps the throne, with his three sons, Christopher, Stephen, and Constantine VIII. | 919 |
| Fiefs established in France | 923 |
| Saracen empire divided by usurpation into seven kingdoms | 936 |
| Naples seized by the eastern emperors | 942 |
| The sons of Romanus conspire against their father, and the tumults this occasioned produced the restoration of Porphyrogenitus | 945 |
| Romanus II. son of Constantine VII., by Helena the daughter of Lecapenus, succeeds | 959 |
| Romanus, poisoned by his wife Theophana, is succeeded by Nicephorus Phocas II., whom the empress, unable to reign alone under the title of protectress of her young children, had married | 963 |
| Italy conquered by Otho, and united to the German empire | 964 |
| Nicephorus, at the instigation of Theophana, is murdered by John Zimisces, who assumes the purple | 969 |
| Basil II., and Constantine IX., the two sons of Romanus by [♦]Theophana, succeed on the death of Zimisces [♦] ‘Theopana’ replaced with ‘Theophana’ | 975 |
| The third or Capetian race of kings in France begins July 3rd | 987 |
| Arithmetical figures brought into Europe from Arabia by the Saracens | 991 |
| The empire of Germany first made elective by Otho III. The learned men of this century were Eudes de Cluni, Azophi, Luitprand, Alfarabius, Rhazes, Geber, Abbo, Aimoin, Gerbert | 996 |
| A general massacre of the Danes in England, Nov. 13th | 1002 |
| All old churches about this time rebuilt in a new manner of architecture | 1005 |
| Flanders inundated in consequence of a violent storm | 1014 |
| Constantine becomes sole emperor on the death of his brother | 1025 |
| Romanus III., surnamed Argyrus, a patrician, succeeds by marrying Zoe the daughter of the late monarch | 1028 |
| Zoe, after prostituting herself to a Paphlagonian money-lender, causes her husband Romanus to be poisoned, and afterwards marries her favourite, who ascends the throne under the name of Michael IV. | 1034 |
| The kingdoms of Castile and Arragon begin | 1035 |
| Zoe adopts for her son Michael V., the trade of whose father (careening vessels) had procured him the surname of Calaphates | 1041 |
| Zoe and her sister Theodora are made sole empresses by the populace, but after two months Zoe, though 60 years old, takes for her third husband Constantine X., who succeeds | 1042 |
| The Turks invade the Roman empire | 1050 |
| After the death of Constantine, Theodora recovers the sovereignty, and, 19 months after, adopts, as her successor, Michael VI., surnamed Stratioticus | 1054 |
| Isaac Commenus I. chosen emperor by the soldiers | 1057 |
| Isaac abdicates, and when his brother refuses to succeed him, he appoints his friend Constantine XI., surnamed Ducas | 1059 |
| Jerusalem conquered by the Turks from the Saracens | 1065 |
| The crown of England is transferred from the head of Harold by the battle of Hastings, October the 14th, to William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy | 1066 |
| On the death of Ducas, his wife Eudocia, instead of protecting his three sons, Michael, Andronicus, and Constantine, usurps the sovereignty, and marries Romanus III., surnamed Diogenes | 1067 |
| Romanus being taken prisoner by the Turks, the three young princes ascend the throne, under the name of Michael Parapinaces VII., Andronicus I., and Constantine XII. | 1071 |
| The general Nicephorus Botaniates III. assumes the purple | 1078 |
| Doomsday-book begun to be compiled from a general survey of the estates of England, and finished in six years | 1080 |
| Alexius Commenus I. nephew of Isaac I. ascends the throne. His reign is rendered illustrious by the pen of his daughter, the princess Anna Commena. The Normans, under Robert of Apulia, invade the eastern empire | 1081 |
| Asia Minor finally conquered by the Turks | 1084 |
| Accession of William II. to the English throne | 1087 |
| The first crusade | 1096 |
| Jerusalem taken by the crusaders 15th July. The only learned men of this century were Avicenna, Guy d’Arezzo, Glaber, Hermannus, Franco, Peter Damiani, Michael Celularius, George Cedrenus, Berenger, Psellus, Marianus Scotus, Arzachel, William of Spires, Suidas, Peter the Hermit, Sigebert | 1099 |
| Henry I. succeeds to the throne of England | 1100 |
| Learning revived at Cambridge | 1110 |
| John, or Calojohannes, son of Alexius, succeeds at Constantinople | 1118 |
| Order of Knights Templars instituted | 1118 |
| Accession of Stephen to the English crown | 1135 |
| Manuel son of John succeeds at Constantinople | 1143 |
| The second crusade | 1147 |
| The canon law composed by Gratian, after 24 years’ labour | 1151 |
| The party names of Guelfs and Gibbelines begin in Italy | 1154 |
| Henry II. succeeds in England | 1154 |
| The Teutonic order begins | 1164 |
| The conquest of Egypt by the Turks | 1169 |
| The famous council of Clarendon in England, January 25th. Conquest of Ireland by Henry II. | 1172 |
| Dispensing of justice by circuits first established in England | 1176 |
| Alexius II. succeeds his father Manuel | 1180 |
| English laws digested by Glanville | 1181 |
| From the disorders of the government, on account of the minority of Alexius, Andronicus the grandson of the great Alexius is named Guardian, but he murders Alexius, and ascends the throne | 1183 |
| Andronicus is cruelly put to death, and Isaac Angelus, a descendant of the great Alexius by the female line, succeeds | 1185 |
| The third crusade, and siege of Acre | 1188 |
| Richard I. succeeds his father Henry in England | 1189 |
| Saladin defeated by Richard of England in the battle of Ascalon | 1192 |
| Alexius Angelus brother of Isaac revolts, and usurps the sovereignty by putting out the eyes of the emperor | 1195 |
| John succeeds to the English throne. The learned men of this century were Peter Abelard, Anna Commena, St. Bernard, Averroes, William of Malmesbury, Peter Lombard, Otho [♦]Frisingensis, Maimonides, Humenus, Wernerus, Gratian, Jeoffry of Monmouth, Tzetzes, Eustathius, John of Salisbury, Simeon of Durham, Henry of Huntingdon, Peter Comestor, Peter of Blois, Ranulph Glanville, Roger Hoveden, Campanus, William of Newburgh [♦] ‘Trisingensis’ replaced with ‘Frisingensis’ | 1199 |
| Constantinople is besieged and taken by the Latins, and Isaac is taken from his dungeon and replaced on the throne with his son Alexius. This year is remarkable for the fourth crusade | 1203 |
| The father and son are murdered by Alexius Mourzoufle, and Constantinople is again besieged and taken by the French and Venetians, who elect Baldwin count of Flanders emperor of the east. In the mean time, Theodore Lascaris makes himself emperor of Nice; Alexius grandson of the tyrant Andronicus becomes emperor of Trebizond; and Michael, an illegitimate child of the Angeli, founds an empire in Epirus | 1204 |
| The emperor Baldwin is defeated by the Bulgarians, and next year is succeeded by his brother Henry | 1205 |
| Reign and conquests of the great Zingis Khan first emperor of the Moguls and Tartars, till the time of his death, 1227 | 1206 |
| Aristotle’s works imported from Constantinople are condemned by the council of Paris | 1209 |
| Magna Charta granted to the English barons by king John | 1215 |
| Henry III. succeeds his father John on the English throne | 1216 |
| Peter of Courtenay, the husband of Yolanda sister of the two last emperors, Baldwin and Henry, is made emperor by the Latins | 1217 |
| Robert son of Peter Courtenay succeeds | 1221 |
| Theodore Lascaris is succeeded on the throne of Nice by his son-in-law John Ducas Vataces | 1222 |
| John of Brienne, and Baldwin II. son of Peter, succeeded on the throne of Constantinople | 1228 |
| The inquisition which had been begun 1204 is now trusted to the Dominicans | 1233 |
| Baldwin alone | 1237 |
| Origin of the Ottomans | 1240 |
| The fifth crusade | 1248 |
| Astronomical tables composed by Alphonso XI. of Castile | 1253 |
| Ducas Vataces is succeeded on the throne of Nice by his son Theodore Lascaris II. | 1255 |
| Lascaris succeeded by his son John Lascaris, a minor | 1259 |
| Michael Palæologus son of the sister of the queen of Theodore Lascaris ascends the throne, after the murder of the young prince’s guardian | 1260 |
| Constantinople is recovered from the Latins by the Greek emperors of Nice | 1261 |
| Edward I. succeeds on the English throne | 1272 |
| The famous Mortmain act passes in England | 1279 |
| Eight thousand French murdered during the Sicilian vespers, 30th of March | 1282 |
| Wales conquered by Edward and annexed to England | 1283 |
| Michael Palæologus dies, and his son Andronicus, who had already reigned nine years conjointly with his father, ascends the throne. The learned men of this century are Gervase, Diceto, Saxo, Walter of Coventry, Accursius, Anthony of Padua, Alexander Halensis, William of Paris, Peter de Vignes, Matthew Paris, Grosseteste, Albertus, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventura, John Joinville, Roger Bacon, Cimabue, Durandus, Henry of Ghent, Raymond Lulli, Jacob Voragine, Albertet, Duns Scotus, Thebit | 1293 |
| A regular succession of English parliaments from this time | 1293 |
| The Turkish empire begins in Bithynia | 1298 |
| The mariner’s compass invented or improved by Flavio | 1302 |
| The Swiss cantons begin | 1307 |
| Edward II. succeeds to the English crown | 1307 |
| Translation of the holy see to Avignon, which alienation continues 68 years, till the return of Gregory XI. | 1308 |
| Andronicus adopts, as his colleagues, Manuel, and his grandson the younger Andronicus. Manuel dying, Andronicus revolts against his grandfather, who abdicates | 1320 |
| Edward III. succeeds in England [♦] ‘1337’ replaced with ‘1327’ | [♦]1327 |
| First comet observed, whose course is described with exactness, in June | 1337 |
| About this time flourished Leo Pilatus, a Greek professor at Florence, Barlaam, Petrarch, Boccace, and Manuel Chrysoloras, where may be fixed the era of the revival of Greek literature in Italy | 1339 |
| Andronicus is succeeded by his son John Palæologus in the ninth year of his age. John Cantacuzene, who had been left guardian of the young prince, assumes the purple. First passage of the Turks into Europe | 1341 |
| The knights and burgesses of parliament first sit in the same house | 1342 |
| The battle of Crecy, August 26th | 1346 |
| Seditions of Rienzi at Rome, and his elevation to the tribuneship | 1347 |
| Order of the Garter in England established April 23rd | 1349 |
| The Turks first enter Europe | 1352 |
| Cantacuzene abdicates the purple | 1355 |
| The battle of Poictiers, September 19th | 1356 |
| Law pleadings altered from French into English as a favour from Edward III. to his people, in his 50th year | 1362 |
| Rise of Timour, or Tamerlane, to the throne of Samarcand, and his extensive conquests till his death, after a reign of 35 years | 1370 |
| Accession of Richard II. to the English throne | 1377 |
| Manuel succeeds his father John Palæologus | 1391 |
| Accession of Henry IV. in England. The learned men of this century were Peter Apono, Flavio, Dante, Arnoldus Villa, Nicholas Lyra, William Occam, Nicephoras Gregoras, Leontius Pilatus, Matthew of Westminster, Wickliff, Froissart, Nicholas Flamel, &c. | 1399 |
| Henry IV. is succeeded by his son Henry V. | 1413 |
| Battle of Agincourt, October 25th | 1415 |
| The island of Madeira discovered by the Portuguese | 1420 |
| Henry VI. succeeds to the throne of England. Constantinople is besieged by Amurath II. the Turkish emperor | 1422 |
| John Palæologus II. succeeds his father Manuel | 1424 |
| Cosmo de Medici recalled from banishment, and rise of that family at Florence | 1434 |
| The famous pragmatic sanction settled in France | 1439 |
| Printing discovered at Mentz, and improved gradually in 22 years | 1440 |
| Constantine, one of the sons of Manuel, ascends the throne after his brother John | 1448 |
| Mahomet II. emperor of the Turks besieges and takes Constantinople on the 29th of May. Fall of the eastern empire. The captivity of the Greeks, and the extinction of the imperial families of the Commeni and Palæologi. About this time the House of York in England began to aspire to the crown, and, by their ambitious views, to deluge the whole kingdom in blood. The learned men of the 15th century were Chaucer, Leonard Aretin, John Huss, Jerome of Prague, Poggio, Flavius Blondus, Theodore Gaza, Frank Philelphus, Georgius Trapezuntius, Gemistus Pletho, Laurentius Valla, Ulugh Beigh, John Guttemberg, John Faustus, Peter Schoeffer, Wesselus, Peurbachius, Æneas Sylvius, Bessarion, Thomas à Kempis, Argyropulus, Regiomontanus, Platina, Agricola, Pontanus, Ficinus, Lascaris, Tiphernas, Annius of Viterbo, Merula, Savonarola, Picus, Politian, Hermolaus, Grocyn, Mantuanus, John Colet, Reuchlin, Lynacre, Alexander ab Alexandro, Demetrius Chalcondyles, &c. | 1453 |
A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY,
ETC., ETC.
A
ABA and Abæ, a town of Phocis, famous for an oracle of Apollo, surnamed Abæus. The inhabitants, called Abantes, were of Thracian origin. After the ruin of their country by Xerxes, they migrated to Eubœa, which from them was called Abantis. Some of them passed afterwards from Eubœa into Ionia. Herodotus, bk. 8, ch. 33.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 55.——A city of Caria.——Another of Arabia Felix.——A mountain near Smyrna. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 24.—Strabo, bk. 10.
Abacēne, a country of Sicily near Messana. Diodorus, bk. 14.
Abălus, an island in the German ocean, where, as the ancients supposed, the amber dropped from the trees. If a man was drowned there, and his body never appeared above the water, propitiatory sacrifices were offered to his manes during a hundred years. Pliny, bk. 37, ch. 2.
Abāna, a place of Capua. Cicero, De Lege Agraria contra Rullum.
Abantes, a warlike people of Peloponnesus, who built a town in Phocis called Aba, after their leader Abas, whence also their name originated. They afterwards went to Eubœa. See: [Abantis]. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 146.
Abantias and Abantiădes, a patronymic given to the descendants of Abas king of Argos, such as Acrisius, Danae, Perseus, Atalanta, &c. Ovid.
Abantĭdas, made himself master of Sicyon, after he had murdered Clinias the father of Aratus. He was himself soon after assassinated, B.C. 251. Plutarch, Aratus.
Abantis, or Abantias, an ancient name of the island of Eubœa, received from the Abantes, who settled in it from Phocis. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.——Also a country of Epirus. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 22.
Abarbarea, one of the Naiades, mother of Æsepus and Pedasus by Bucolion, Laomedon’s eldest son. Homer, Iliad, bk. 6, li. 23.
Abarīmon, a country of Scythia, near mount Imaus. The inhabitants were said to have their toes behind their heels, and to breathe no air but that of their native country. Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 2.
Abăris, a man killed by Perseus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 86.——A Rutulian killed by Euryalus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 344.——A Scythian, son of Seuthes, in the age of Crœsus, or the Trojan war, who received a flying arrow from Apollo, with which he gave oracles, and transported himself wherever he pleased. He is said to have returned to the Hyperborean countries from Athens without eating, and to have made the Trojan Palladium with the bones of Pelops. Some suppose that he wrote treatises in Greek; and it is reported, that there is a Greek manuscript of his epistles to Phalaris, in the library of Augsburg. But there were probably two persons of that name. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 36.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 33.
Abārus, an Arabian prince, who perfidiously deserted Crassus in his expedition against Parthia. Appian, Parthia.——He is called Mezeres by Florus, bk. 3, ch. 11, and Ariamnes by Plutarch, Crassus.
Abas, a mountain in Syria, where the Euphrates rises.——A river of Armenia Major, where Pompey routed the Albani. Plutarch, Pompey.——A son of Metanira, or Melaninia, changed into a lizard for laughing at Ceres. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 7.——The 11th king of Argos, son of Belus, some say of Lynceus and Hypermnestra, was famous for his genius and valour. He was father to Prœtus and Acrisius, by Ocalea, and built Abæ. He reigned 23 years, B.C. 1384. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 16; bk. 10, ch. 35.—Hyginus, fable 170, &c.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 2.——One of Æneas’s companions, killed in Italy. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 170.——Another lost in the storm which drove Æneas to Carthage. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 125.——A Latian chief, who assisted Æneas against Turnus, and was killed by Lausus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 170, &c.——A Greek, son of Eurydamus, killed by Æneas during the Trojan war. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 286.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 5, li. 150.——A centaur, famous for his skill in hunting. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 306.——A soothsayer, to whom the Spartans erected a statue in the temple of Apollo, for his services to Lysander. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 9.——A son of Neptune. Hyginus, fable 157.——A sophist who wrote two treatises, one on history, the other on rhetoric. The time in which he lived is unknown.——A man who wrote an account of Troy. He is quoted by Servius in Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9.
Abāsa, an island in the Red sea, near Æthiopia. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 26.
Abasītis, a part of Mysia in Asia. Strabo.
Abassēna, or Abassinia. See: [Abyssinia].
Abassus, a town of Phrygia. Livy, bk. 38, ch. 15.
Abastor, one of Pluto’s horses.
Abătos, an island in the lake near Memphis in Egypt, abounding with flax and papyrus. Osiris was buried there. Lucan, bk. 10, li. 323.
Abdalonīmus, one of the descendants of the kings of Sidon, so poor, that to maintain himself, he worked in a garden. When Alexander took Sidon, he made him king, in the room of Strato the deposed monarch, and enlarged his possessions on account of the great disinterestedness of his conduct. Justin, bk. 11, ch. 10.—Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 1.—Diodorus, bk. 17.
Abdēra, a town of Hispania Bætica, built by the Carthaginians. Strabo, bk. 3.——A maritime city of Thrace, built by Hercules, in memory of Abderus, one of his favourites. The Clazomenians and Teians beautified it. Some suppose that Abdera the sister of Diomedes built it. The air was so unwholesome, and the inhabitants of such a sluggish disposition, that stupidity was commonly called Abderitica mens. It gave birth, however, to Democritus, Protagoras, Anaxarchus, and Hecatæus. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 4, ltr. 16.—Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 186.—Martial, bk. 10, ltr. 25.
Abdēria, a town of Spain. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 5.
Abderītes, a people of Pæonia, obliged to leave their country on account of the great number of rats and frogs which infested it. Justin, bk. 15, ch. 2.
Abdērus, a man of Opus in Locris, arm-bearer to Hercules, torn to pieces by the mares of Diomedes, which the hero had entrusted to his care when going to war against the Bistones. Hercules built a city, which, in honour of his friend, he called Abdera. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 5.—Philostratus, bk. 2, ch. 25.
Abeătæ, a people of Achaia, probably the inhabitants of Abia. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 30.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 6.
Abella, a town of Campania, whose inhabitants were called Abellani. Its nuts, called avellanæ, and also its apples, were famous. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 740.—Justin, bk. 20, ch. 5.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 544.
Abelux, a noble of Saguntum, who favoured the party of the Romans against Carthage. Livy, bk. 22, ch. 22.
Abenda, a town of Caria, whose inhabitants were the first who raised temples to the city of Rome. Livy, bk. 45, ch. 6.
Abia, formerly Ire, a maritime town of Messenia, one of the seven cities promised to Achilles by Agamemnon. It is called after Abia, daughter of Hercules and nurse of Hyllus. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 30.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 9, li. 292.
Abii, a nation between Scythia and Thrace. They lived upon milk, were fond of celibacy, and enemies to war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 13, li. 6.—According to Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 6, they surrendered to Alexander, after they had been independent since the reign of Cyrus.
Abĭla, or Abyla, a mountain of Africa, in that part which is nearest to the opposite mountain called Calpe, on the coast of Spain, only eighteen miles distant. These two mountains are called the columns of Hercules, and were said formerly to be united, till the hero separated them, and made a communication between the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas. Strabo, bk. 3.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 5; bk. 2, ch. 6.—Pliny, bk. 3.
Abisăres, an Indian prince, who offered to surrender to Alexander. Curtius, bk. 8, ch. 12.
Abisăris, a country beyond the Hydaspes in India. Arrian.
Abisontes, some inhabitants of the Alps. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 20.
Ablētes, a people near Troy. Strabo.
Abnoba, a mountain of Germany. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 1.
Abobrĭca, a town of Lusitania. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 20.——Another in Spain.
Abœcrĭtus, a Bœotian general, killed with a thousand men, in a battle at Chæronea, against the Ætolians. Plutarch, Aratus.
Abolāni, a people of Latium, near Alba. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 5.
Abōlus, a river of Sicily. Plutarch, Timoleon.
Aboniteichos, a town of Galatia. Arrian, Periplus of the Euxine Sea.
Aborāca, a town of Sarmatia.
Aborigĭnes, the original inhabitants of Italy; or, according to others, a nation conducted by Saturn into Latium, where they taught the use of letters to Evander the king of the country. Their posterity was called Latini, from Latinus, one of their kings. They assisted Æneas against Turnus. Rome was built in their country.—The word signifies without origin, or whose origin is not known, and is generally applied to the original inhabitants of any country. Livy, bk. 1, ch. 1, &c.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 1, ch. 10.—Justin, bk. 43, ch. 1.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Strabo, bk. 5.
Aborras, a river of Mesopotamia. Strabo, bk. 16.
Abradātes, a king of Susa, who, when his wife Panthea had been taken prisoner by Cyrus, and humanely treated, surrendered himself and his troops to the conqueror. He was killed in the first battle he undertook in the cause of Cyrus, and his wife stabbed herself on his corpse. Cyrus raised a monument on their tomb. Xenophon, Cyropædia, bks. 5, 6, &c.
Abrentius, was made governor of Tarentum by Annibal. He betrayed his trust to the enemy to gain the favours of a beautiful woman, whose brother was in the Roman army. Polyænus, bk. 8.
Abrocŏmas, son of Darius, was in the army of Xerxes, when he invaded Greece. He was killed at Thermopylæ. Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 224.—Plutarch, Cleomenes.
Abrodiætus, a name given to Parrhasius the painter, on account of the sumptuous manner of his living. See: [Parrhasius].
Abron, an Athenian, who wrote some treatises on the religious festivals and sacrifices of the Greeks. Only the titles of his works are preserved. Suidas.——A grammarian of Rhodes, who taught rhetoric at Rome.——Another who wrote a treatise on Theocritus.——A Spartan, son of Lycurgus the orator. Plutarch, Decem Oratorum.——A native of Argos, famous for his debauchery.
Abronius Silo, a Latin poet in the Augustan age. He wrote some fables. Seneca.
Abronycus, an Athenian, very serviceable to Themistocles in his embassy to Sparta. Thucydides, bk. 1, ch. 91.—Herodotus, bk. 8, ch. 21.
Abrŏta, the wife of Nisus, the youngest of the sons of Ægeus. As a monument to her chastity, Nisus, after her death, ordered the garments which she wore to become the models of fashion in Megara. Plutarch, Quæstiones Græcæ.
Abrotŏnum, the mother of Themistocles. Plutarch, Themistocles.——A town of Africa, near the Syrtes. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 4. ——A harlot of Thrace. Plutarch, Aratus.
Abrus, a city of the Sapæi. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 10.
Abrypŏlis, an ally of Rome, driven from his possessions by Perseus, the last king of Macedonia. Livy, bk. 42, chs. 13 & 41.
Abseus, a giant, son of Tartarus and Terra. Hyginus, preface to fables.
Absinthii, a people on the coasts of Pontus, where there is also a mountain of the same name. Herodotus, bk. 6, ch. 34.
Absŏrus, Absyrtis, Absyrtides, islands in the Adriatic, or near Istria, where Absyrtus was killed, whence their name. Strabo, bk. 7.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 190.
Absyrtos, a river falling into the Adriatic sea, near which Absyrtus was murdered. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 190.
Absyrtus, a son of Æetes king of Colchis, and Hypsea. His sister Medea, as she fled away with Jason, tore his body to pieces, and strewed his limbs in her father’s way, to stop his pursuit. Some say that she murdered him in Colchis, others, near Istria. It is said by others, that he was not murdered, but that he arrived safe in Illyricum. The place where he was killed has been called Tomos, and the river adjoining to it Absyrtos. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 190.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Hyginus, fable 23.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9.—Flaccus, bk. 8, li. 261.—Ovid, Tristia, bk. 3, poem 9.—Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 3, ch. 19.—Pliny, bk. 3, chs. 21 & 26.
Abulītes, governor of Susa, betrayed his trust to Alexander, and was rewarded with a province. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 2.—Diodorus, bk. 17.
Abydēnus, a disciple of Aristotle, too much indulged by his master. He wrote some historical treatises on Cyprus, Delos, Arabia, and Assyria. Philo Judæus.—Josephus, Against Apion.
Abȳdos, a town of Egypt, where was the famous temple of Osiris. Plutarch, on De Iside et Osiride.——A city of Asia, opposite Sestos in Europe, with which, from the narrowness of the Hellespont, it seemed, to those who approach it by sea, to form only one town. It was built by the Milesians, by permission of king Gyges. It is famous for the amours of Hero and Leander, and for the bridge of boats which Xerxes built there across the Hellespont. The inhabitants, being besieged by Philip the father of Perseus, devoted themselves to death with their families, rather than fall into the hands of the enemy. Livy, bk. 31, ch. 18.—Lucan, bk. 2, li. 674.—Justin, bk. 2, ch. 13.—Musæus, Hero & Leander.—Flaccus, bk. 1, li. 285.
Abȳla. See: [Abila].
Abȳlon, a city of Egypt.
Abyssinia, a large kingdom of Africa, in Upper Æthiopia, where the Nile takes its rise. The inhabitants are said to be of Arabian origin, and were little known to the ancients.
Acacallis, a nymph, mother of Philander and Phylacis by Apollo. These children were exposed to the wild beasts in Crete; but a goat gave them her milk, and preserved their life. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 16.——A daughter of Minos, mother of Cydon by Mercury, and of Amphithemis by Apollo. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 53.—Apollonius, bk. 4, li. 1493.
Acacēsium, a town of Arcadia, built by Acacus son of Lycaon. Mercury, surnamed Acacesius, because brought up by Acacus as his foster-father, was worshipped there. Pausanias, bk. 8, chs. 3, 36, &c.
Acacius, a rhetorician in the age of the emperor Julian.
Acadēmia, a place near Athens surrounded with high trees, and adorned with spacious covered walks, belonging to Academus, from whom the name is derived. Some derive the word from ἑκας δημος, removed from the people. Here Plato opened his school of philosophy, and from this, every place sacred to learning has ever since been called Academia. To exclude from it profaneness and dissipation, it was even forbidden to laugh there. It was called Academia vetus, to distinguish it from the second Academy, founded by Arcesilaus, who made some few alterations in the Platonic philosophy, and from the third which was established by Carneades. Cicero, de Divinatione, bk. 1, ch. 3.—Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 3.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 3, ch. 35.
Acadēmus, an Athenian, who discovered to Castor and Pollux where Theseus had concealed their sister Helen, for which they amply rewarded him. Plutarch, Theseus.
Acalandrus, or Acalyndrus, a river falling into the bay of Tarentum. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 11.
Acalle, a daughter of Minos and Pasiphae. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 1.
Acamarchis, one of the Oceanides.
Acămas, son of Theseus and Phædra, went with Diomedes to demand Helen from the Trojans after her elopement from Menelaus. In his embassy he had a son called Munitus, by Laodice the daughter of Priam. He was concerned in the Trojan war, and afterwards built the town of Acamantium in Phrygia, and on his return to Greece called a tribe after his own name at Athens. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 26.—Quintus Smyrnæus, bk. 12.—Hyginus, fable 108.——A son of Antenor in the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 11, li. 60, &c.——A Thracian auxiliary of Priam in the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 11.
Acampsis, a river of Colchis. Arrian.
Acantha, a nymph loved by Apollo, and changed into the flower Acanthus.
Acanthus, a town near mount Athos, belonging to Macedonia, or, according to others, to Thrace. It was founded by a colony from Andros. Thucydides, bk. 4, ch. 84.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.——Another in Egypt near the Nile, called also Dulopolis. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 28.——An island mentioned by Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 32.
Acăra, a town of Pannonia.——Another in Italy.
Acaria, a fountain of Corinth, where Iolas cut off the head of Eurystheus. Strabo, bk. 8.
Acarnania, anciently Curetis, a country of Epirus, at the north of the Ionian sea, divided from Ætolia by the Achelous. The inhabitants reckoned only six months in the year; they were luxurious, and addicted to pleasure, so that porcus Acarnas became proverbial. Their horses were famous. It received its name from Acarnas. Pliny, bk. 2, ch. 90.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Strabo, bks. 7 & 9.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 24.—Lucian, Dialogi Meretricii.
Acarnas and Amphoterus, sons of Alcmæon and Callirhöe. Alcmæon being murdered by the brothers of Alphesibœa his former wife, Callirhöe obtained from Jupiter, that her children, who were still in the cradle, might, by a supernatural power, suddenly grow up to punish their father’s murderers. This was granted. See: [Alcmæon]. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 24.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 9, fable 10.
Acarnas and Acarnan, a stony mountain of Attica. Seneca, Hippolytus, li. 20.
Acasta, one of the Oceanides. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 356.
Acastus, son of Pelias king of Thessaly by Anaxibia, married Astydamia or Hippolyte, who fell in love with Peleus son of Æacus, when in banishment at her husband’s court. Peleus, rejecting the addresses of Hippolyte, was accused before Acastus of attempts upon her virtue, and soon after, at a chase, exposed to wild beasts. Vulcan, by order of Jupiter, delivered Peleus, who returned to Thessaly, and put to death Acastus and his wife. See: [Peleus] and [Astydamia]. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, li. 306; Heroides, poem 13, li. 25.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9, &c.——The second archon at Athens.
Acathantus, a bay in the Red sea.—Strabo, bk. 16.
Acca Laurentia, the wife of Faustulus shepherd of king Numitor’s flocks, who brought up Romulus and Remus, who had been exposed on the banks of the Tiber. From her wantonness, she was called Lupa, prostitute, whence the fable that Romulus was suckled by a she-wolf. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 1, ch. 18.—Livy, bk. 1, ch. 4.—Aulus Gellius, bk. 6, ch. 7.——The Romans yearly celebrated certain festivals [See: [Laurentalia]] in honour of another prostitute of the same name, which arose from this circumstance: the keeper of the temple of Hercules, one day playing at dice, made the god one of the number, on condition that if Hercules was defeated, he should make him a present, but if he conquered he should be entertained with an elegant feast, and share his bed with a beautiful female. Hercules was victorious, and accordingly Acca was conducted to the bed of Hercules, who in reality came to see her, and told her in the morning to go into the streets, and salute with a kiss the first man she met. This was Tarrutius, an old unmarried man, who, not displeased with Acca’s liberty, loved her, and made her the heiress of all his possessions. These, at her death, she gave to the Roman people, whence the honours paid to her memory. Plutarch, Quæstiones Romanæ, Romulus.——A companion of Camilla. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 820.
Accia, or Atia, daughter of Julia and Marcus Atius Balbus, was the mother of Augustus, and died about 40 years B.C. Dio Cassius.—Suetonius, Augustus, ch. 4.——Variola, an illustrious female, whose cause was eloquently pleaded by Pliny. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 33.
Accĭla, a town of Sicily. Livy, bk. 24, ch. 35.
Lucius Accius, a Roman tragic poet, whose roughness of style Quintilian has imputed to the unpolished age in which he lived. He translated some of the tragedies of Sophocles, but of his numerous pieces only some of the names are known; and among these his Nuptiæ, Mercator, Neoptolemus, Phœnice, Medea, Atreus, &c. The great marks of honour which he received at Rome may be collected from this circumstance: that a man was severely reprimanded by a magistrate for mentioning his name without reverence. Some few of his verses are preserved in Cicero and in other writers. He died about 180 years B.C. Horace, bk. 2, ltr. 1, li. 56.—Ovid, Amores, bk. 1, poem 15, li. 19.—Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 1.—Cicero, Letters to Atticus & Brutus or de Claris Oratoribus, bk. 3, ch. 16.——A famous orator of Pisaurum in Cicero’s age.——Labeo, a foolish poet mentioned Persius, bk. 1, li. 50.——Tullius, a prince of the Volsci, very inimical to the Romans. Coriolanus, when banished by his countrymen, fled to him, and led his armies against Rome. Livy, bk. 2, ch. 37.—Plutarch, Coriolanus.
Acco, a general of the Senones in Gaul. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 6, chs. 4 & 44.——An old woman who fell mad on seeing her deformity in a looking-glass. Hesychius.
Accua, a town in Italy. Livy, bk. 24, ch. 20.
Ace, a town in Phœnicia, called also Ptolemais, now Acre. Cornelius Nepos, Datames, ch. 5.——A place of Arcadia near Megalopolis, where Orestes was cured from the persecution of the furies, who had a temple there. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 34.
Acerātus, a soothsayer, who remained alone at Delphi when the approach of Xerxes frightened away the inhabitants. Herodotus, bk. 8, ch. 37.
Acerbas, a priest of Hercules at Tyre, who married Dido. See: [Sichæus]. Justin, bk. 18, ch. 4.
Acerīna, a colony of the Brutii in Magna Græcia, taken by Alexander of Epirus. Livy, bk. 8, ch. 24.
Acerræ, an ancient town of Campania, near the river Clanius. It still subsists; and the frequent inundations from the river which terrified its ancient inhabitants, are now prevented by the large drains dug there. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 225.—Livy, bk. 8, ch. 17.
Acersecŏmes, a surname of Apollo, which signifies unshorn. Juvenal, satire 8, li. 128.
Aces, a river of Asia. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 117.
Acesia, part of the island of Lemnos, which received this name from Philoctetes, whose wound was cured there. Philostratus.
Acesīnes, a river of Sicily. Thucydides, bk. 4, ch. 25.
Acesīnus, or Acesīnes, a river of Persia falling into the Indus. Its banks produce reeds of such an uncommon size, that a piece of them, particularly between two knots, can serve as a boat to cross the water. Justin, bk. 12, ch. 9.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.
Acesius, a surname of Apollo, in Elis and Attica, as god of medicine. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 24.
Acesta, a town of Sicily, called after king Acestes, and known also by the name of Segesta. It was built by Æneas, who left there part of his crew, as he was going to Italy. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 746, &c.
Acestes, son of Crinisus and Egesta, was king of the country near Drepanum in Sicily. He assisted Priam in the Trojan war, and kindly entertained Æneas during his voyage, and helped him to bury his father on mount Eryx. In commemoration of this, Æneas built a city there called Acesta, from Acestes. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 746.
Acestium, a woman who saw all her relations invested with the sacred office of torch-bearer in the festivals of Ceres. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 37.
Acestodōrus, a Greek historian, who mentions the review which Xerxes made of his forces before the battle of Salamis. Plutarch, Themistocles.
Acestorĭdes, an Athenian archon.——A Corinthian, governor of Syracuse. Diodorus, bk. 19.
Acetes, one of Evander’s attendants. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 30.
Achabȳtos, a lofty mountain in Rhodes, where Jupiter had a temple.
Achæa, a surname of Pallas, whose temple in Daunia was defended by dogs which fawned upon the Greeks, but fiercely attacked all other persons. Aristotle, de Mirabilibus.——Ceres was called Achæa, from her lamentations (ἀχεα) at the loss of Proserpine. Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride.
Achæi, the descendants of Achæus, at first inhabited the country near Argos, but being driven by the Heraclidæ, 80 years after the Trojan war, they retired among the Ionians, whose 12 cities they seized and kept. The names of these cities are Pellene, Ægira, Æges, Bura, Tritæa, Ægion, Rhypæ, Olenos, Helice, Patræ, Dyme, and Pharæ. The inhabitants of these three last began a famous confederacy, 284 years B.C., which continued formidable upwards of 130 years, under the name of the Achæan league, and was most illustrious whilst supported by the splendid virtues and abilities of Aratus and Philopœmen. Their arms were directed against the Ætolians for three years, with the assistance of Philip of Macedon, and they grew powerful by the accession of neighbouring states, and freed their country from foreign slavery, till at last they were attacked by the Romans, and, after one year’s hostilities, the Achæan league was totally destroyed, B.C. 147. The Achæans extended the borders of their country by conquest and even planted colonies in Magna Græcia.——The name of Achæi is generally applied to all the Greeks, indiscriminately, by the poets. See: [Achaia]. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 145; bk. 8, ch. 36.—Statius, Thebaid, bk. 2, li. 164.—Polybius.—Livy, bks. 27, 32, &c.—Plutarch, Philopœmen.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 5.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 605.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 1, &c.——Also a people of Asia on the borders of the Euxine. Ovid, Ex Ponto, bk. 4, poem 10, li. 27.
Achæium, a place of Troas, opposite Tenedos. Strabo, bk. 8.
Achæmĕnes, a king of Persia, among the progenitors of Cyrus the Great; whose descendants were called Achæmenides, and formed a separate tribe in Persia, of which the kings were members. Cambyses, son of Cyrus, on his death-bed, charged his nobles, and particularly the Achæmenides, not to suffer the Medes to recover their former power, and abolish the empire of Persia. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 125; bk. 3, ch. 65; bk. 7, ch. 1.—Horace, bk. 2, ode 12, li. 21.——A Persian, made governor of Egypt by Xerxes, B.C. 484.
Achæmenia, part of Persia, called after Achæmenes. Hence Achæmenius. Horace, Epodes, poem 13, li. 12.
Achæmenĭdes, a native of Ithaca, son of Adramastus, and one of the companions of Ulysses, abandoned on the coast of Sicily, where Æneas, on his voyage to Italy, found him. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 624.—Ovid, Ibis, li. 417.
Achæorum littus, a harbour in Cyprus. Strabo.——In Troas,——in Æolia,——in Peloponnesus,——on the Euxine. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 34.
Achæorum statio, a place on the coast of the Thracian Chersonesus, where Polyxena was sacrificed to the shades of Achilles, and where Hecuba killed Polymnestor, who had murdered her son Polydorus.
Achæus, a king of Lydia, hung by his subjects for his extortion. Ovid, Ibis.——A son of Xuthus of Thessaly. He fled, after the accidental murder of a man, to Peloponnesus; where the inhabitants were called from him, Achæi. He afterwards returned to Thessaly. Strabo, bk. 8.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 1.——A tragic poet of Eretria, who wrote 43 tragedies, of which some of the titles are preserved, such as Adrastus, Linus, Cycnus, Eumenides, Philoctetes, Pirithous, Theseus, Œdipus, &c.; of these only one obtained the prize. He lived some time after Sophocles.——Another of Syracuse, author of 10 tragedies.——A river which falls into the Euxine. Arrian, Periplus of the Euxine Sea.——A relation of Antiochus the Great, appointed governor of all the king’s provinces beyond Taurus. He aspired to sovereign power, which he disputed for eight years with Antiochus, and was at last betrayed by a Cretan. His limbs were cut off, and his body, sewed in the skin of an ass, was exposed on a gibbet. Polybius, bk. 8.
Achaia, called also Hellas, a country of Peloponnesus at the north of Elis on the bay of Corinth, which is now part of Livadia. It was originally called Ægialus (shore) from its situation. The Ionians called it Ionia, when they settled there; and it received the name of Achaia, from the Achæi, who dispossessed the Ionians. See: [Achæi].——A small part of Phthiotis was also called Achaia, of which Alos was the capital.
Achaicum bellum. See: [Achæi].
Achăra, a town near Sardis. Strabo, bk. 14.
Acharenses, a people of Sicily near Syracuse. Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 3.
Acharnæ, a village of Attica. Thucydides, bk. 2, ch. 19.
Achātes, a friend of Æneas, whose fidelity was so exemplary that Fidus Achates became a proverb. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 316.——A river of Sicily.
Achĕlōĭdes, a patronymic given to the Sirens as daughters of Achelous. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 15.
Achelorium, a river of Thessaly. Polyænus, bk. 8.
Achelōus, the son of Oceanus or Sol by Terra or Tethys, god of the river of the same name in Epirus. As one of the numerous suitors of Dejanira daughter of Œneus he entered the lists against Hercules and being inferior, changed himself into a serpent, and afterwards into an ox. Hercules broke off one of his horns, and Achelous being defeated, retired in disgrace into his bed of waters. The broken horn was taken up by the nymphs, and filled with fruits and flowers, and after it had for some time adorned the hand of the conqueror, it was presented to the goddess of plenty. Some say that he was changed into a river after the victory of Hercules. This river is in Epirus, and rises in mount Pindus, and after dividing Acarnania from Ætolia, falls into the Ionian sea. The sand and mud which it carries down, have formed some islands at its mouth. This river is said by some to have sprung from the earth after the deluge. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 10.—Strabo, bk. 10.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, fable 5; bk. 9, fable 1; Amores, bk. 3, poem 6, li. 35.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, chs. 3 & 7; bk. 2, ch. 7.—Hyginus, preface to fables.——A river of Arcadia falling into the Alpheus.——Another flowing from mount Sipylus. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 38.
Acherdus, a tribe of Attica; hence Acherdusius, Demosthenes.
Acherĭmi, a people of Sicily. Cicero, bk. 3, Against Verres.
Achĕron, a river of Thesprotia, in Epirus, falling into the bay of Ambracia. Homer called it, from the dead appearance of its waters, one of the rivers of hell, and the fable has been adopted by all succeeding poets, who make the god of the stream to be the son of Ceres without a father, and say that he concealed himself in hell for fear of the Titans, and was changed into a bitter stream, over which the souls of the dead are at first conveyed. It receives, say they, the souls of the dead, because a deadly languor seizes them at the hour of dissolution. Some make him son of Titan, and suppose that he was plunged into hell by Jupiter, for supplying the Titans with water. The word Acheron is often taken for hell itself. Horace, bk. 1, ode 3, li. 36.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 292; Æneid, bk. 2, li. 295, &c.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 16.—Silius Italicus, bk. 2.—Sylvæ, poem 6, li. 80.—Livy, bk. 8, ch. 24.——A river of Elis in Peloponnesus.——Another on the Riphæan mountains. Orpheus.——Also a river in the country of the Brutii in Italy. Justin, bk. 12, ch. 2.
Acherontia, a town of Apulia on a mountain, thence called Nidus by Horace, bk. 3, ode 4, li. 14.
Acherūsia, a lake of Egypt near Memphis, over which, as Diodorus, bk. 1, mentions, the bodies of the dead were conveyed, and received sentence according to the actions of their life. The boat was called Baris, and the ferryman Charon. Hence arose the fable of Charon and the Styx, &c., afterwards imported into Greece by Orpheus, and adopted in the religion of the country.——There was a river of the same name in Epirus, and another in Italy in Calabria.
Acherūsias, a place or cave in Chersonesus Taurica, where Hercules, as is reported, dragged Cerberus out of hell. Xenophon, Anabasis, bk. 6.
Achetus, a river of Sicily. Silius Italicus, bk. 14.
Achillas, a general of Ptolemy, who murdered Pompey the Great. Plutarch, Pompey.—Lucan, bk. 8, li. 538.
Achillēa, a peninsula near the mouth of the Borysthenes. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 1.—Herodotus, bk. 4, chs. 55 & 76.——An island at the mouth of the Ister, where was the tomb of Achilles, over which it is said that birds never flew. Pliny, bk. 10, ch. 29.——A fountain of Miletus, whose waters rise salted from the earth, and afterwards sweeten in their course. Athenaeus, bk. 2, ch. 2.
Achilleienses, a people near Macedonia. Xenophon, Hellenica, bk. 3.
Achillēis, a poem of Statius, in which he describes the education and memorable actions of Achilles. This composition is imperfect. The poet’s premature death deprived the world of a valuable history of the life and exploits of this famous hero. See: [Statius].
Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis, was the bravest of all the [♦]Greeks in the Trojan war. During his infancy, Thetis plunged him in the Styx, and made every part of his body invulnerable, except the heel, by which she held him. His education was entrusted to the centaur Chiron, who taught him the art of war and made him master of music, and by feeding him with the marrow of wild beasts, rendered him vigorous and active. He was taught eloquence by Phœnix, whom he ever after loved and respected. Thetis, to prevent him from going to the Trojan war, where she knew he was to perish, privately sent him to the court of Lycomedes, where he was disguised in a female dress, and, by his familiarity with the king’s daughters, made Deidamia mother of Neoptolemus. As Troy could not be taken without the aid of Achilles, Ulysses went to the court of Lycomedes, in the habit of a merchant, and exposed jewels and arms to sale. Achilles, choosing the arms, discovered his sex, and went to the war. Vulcan, at the entreaties of Thetis, made him a strong suit of armour, which was proof against all weapons. He was deprived by Agamemnon of his favourite mistress, Briseis, who had fallen to his lot at the division of the booty of Lyrnessus, and for this affront, he refused to appear in the field till the death of his friend Patroclus recalled him to action, and to revenge. See: [Patroclus]. He slew Hector the bulwark of Troy, tied the corpse by the heels to his chariot, and dragged it three times round the walls of Troy. After thus appeasing the shades of his friend, he yielded to the tears and entreaties of Priam, and permitted the aged father to ransom and to carry away Hector’s body. In the 10th year of the war, Achilles was charmed with Polyxena; and as he solicited her hand in the temple of Minerva, it is said that Paris aimed an arrow at his vulnerable heel, of which wound he died. His body was buried at Sigæum, and divine honours were paid to him, and temples raised to his memory. It is said, that after the taking of Troy, the ghost of Achilles appeared to the Greeks, and demanded of them Polyxena, who accordingly was sacrificed on his tomb by his son Neoptolemus. Some say that this sacrifice was voluntary, and that Polyxena was so grieved at his death that she killed herself on his tomb. The Thessalians yearly sacrificed a black and a white bull on his tomb. It is reported that he married Helen after the siege of Troy; but others maintain, that this marriage happened after his death, in the island of Leuce, where many of the ancient heroes lived, as in a separate elysium. See: [Leuce]. When Achilles was young, his mother asked him, whether he preferred a long life, spent in obscurity and retirement, or a few years of military fame and glory? and that, to his honour, he made choice of the latter. Some ages after the Trojan war, Alexander going to the conquest of Persia, offered sacrifices on the tomb of Achilles, and admired the hero who had found a Homer to publish his fame to posterity. Xenophon, On Hunting.—Plutarch, Alexander; De facie in orbe Lunæ; De Musica; De amicorum multitudine; Quæstiones Græcæ.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 18, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 17.—Statius, Achilleid.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, fable 3, &c.; Tristia, bk. 3, poem 5, li. 37, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, lis. 472, 488; bk. 2, li. 275; bk. 6, li. 58, &c.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 13.—Hyginus, fables 96 & 110.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Pliny, bk. 35, ch. 15.—Maximus of Tyre, Oration 27.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 8; bk. 2, odes 4 & 16; bk. 4, ode 6; bk. 2, ltr. 2, li. 42.—Homer, Iliad & Odyssey.—Dictys Cretensis, bks. 1, 2, 3, &c.—Dares Phrygius.—Juvenal, satire 7, li. 210.—Apollonius, bk. 4, Argonautica, li. 869.——There were other persons of the same name. The most known were—a man who received Juno when she fled from Jupiter’s courtship——the preceptor of Chiron the centaur——a son of Jupiter and Lamia, declared by Pan to be fairer than Venus——a man who instituted ostracism at Athens——Tatius, a native of Alexandria, in the age of the emperor Claudius, but originally a pagan, converted to Christianity, and made a bishop. He wrote a mixed history of great men, a treatise on the sphere, tactics, a romance on the loves of Clitophon and Leucippe, &c. Some manuscripts of his works are preserved in the Vatican and Palatinate libraries. The best edition of his works is that in 12mo, Leiden, 1640.
[♦] ‘Geeeks’ replaced with ‘Greeks’
Achillēum, a town of Troas near the tomb of Achilles, built by the Mityleneans. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 30.
[♦]Achilleus, or Aquileus, a Roman general in Egypt, in the reign of Diocletian, who rebelled, and for five years maintained the imperial dignity at Alexandria. Diocletian at last marched against him; and because he had supported a long siege, the emperor ordered him to be devoured by lions.
[♦] Placed in alphabetical order
Achīvi, the name of the inhabitants of Argos and Lacedæmon before the return of the Heraclidæ, by whom they were expelled from their possessions 80 years after the Trojan war. Being without a home, they drove the Ionians from Ægialus, seized their 12 cities, and called the country Achaia. The Ionians were received by the Athenians. The appellation of Achivi is indiscriminately applied by the ancient poets to all the Greeks. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 1, &c. See: [Achaia].
Achladæus, a Corinthian general, killed by Aristomenes. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 19.
Acholōe, one of the Harpies. Hyginus, fable 14.
Acichōrius, a general with Brennus in the expedition which the Gauls undertook against Pæonia. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 10.
Acidālia, a surname of Venus, from a fountain of the same name in Bœotia, sacred to her. The Graces bathed in the fountain. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 720.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 468.
Acidāsa, a river of Peloponnesus, formerly called Jardanus. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 5.
Acilia, a plebeian family at Rome, which traced its pedigree up to the Trojans.——The mother of Lucan.
Acilia lex, was enacted, A.U.C. 556, by Acilius the tribune, for the plantation of five colonies in Italy. Livy, bk. 32, ch. 29.——Another called also Calpurnia, A.U.C. 684, which enacted, that no person convicted of ambitus, or using bribes at elections, should be admitted in the senate, or hold an office.——Another concerning such as were guilty of extortion in the provinces.
Marcus Acilius Balbus, was consul with Portius Cato, A.U.C. 640. It is said that during his consulship, milk and blood fell from heaven. Pliny, bk. 2, ch. 56.——Glabrio, a tribune of the people, who with a legion quelled the insurgent slaves in Etruria. Being consul with Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, A.U.C. 563, he conquered Antiochus at Thermopylæ, for which he obtained a triumph, and three days were appointed for public thanksgiving. He stood for the censorship against Cato, but desisted on account of the false measures used by his competitor. Justin, bk. 31, ch. 6.—Livy, bk. 30, ch. 40; bk. 31, ch. 50; bk. 33, ch. 10, &c.——The son of the preceding, erected a temple to Piety, which his father had vowed to this goddess when fighting against Antiochus. He raised a golden statue to his father, the first that appeared in Italy. The temple of piety was built on the spot where once a woman had fed with her milk her aged father, whom the senate had imprisoned, and excluded from all aliments. Valerius Maximus, bk. 2, ch. 5.——The enactor of a law against bribery.——A prætor in the time that Verres was accused by Cicero.——A man accused of extortion, and twice defended by Cicero. He was proconsul of Sicily, and lieutenant to Cæsar in the civil wars. Cæsar, Civil War, bk. 3, ch. 15.——A consul, whose son was killed by Domitian, because he fought with wild beasts. The true cause of this murder was, that young Glabrio was stronger than the emperor, and therefore envied. Juvenal, satire 4, li. 94.
Acilla, a town of Africa, near Adrumetum. Some read Acolla. Cæsar, African War, ch. 33.
Acis, a shepherd of Sicily, son of Faunus and the nymph Simæthis. Galatæa passionately loved him; upon which his rival Polyphemus, through jealousy, crushed him to death with a piece of a broken rock. The gods changed Acis into a stream, which rises from mount Ætna. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, fable 8.
Acmon, a native of Lyrnessus, who accompanied Æneas into Italy. His father’s name was Clytus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 128.
Acmonĭdes, one of the Cyclops. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 288.
Acœtes, the pilot of the ship whose crew found Bacchus asleep, and carried him away. As they ridiculed the god, they were changed into sea monsters, but Acœtes was preserved. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3, fable 8, &c. See: [Acetes].
Acontes, one of Lycaon’s 50 sons. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 8.
Aconteus, a famous hunter changed into a stone by the head of Medusa, at the nuptials of Perseus and Andromeda. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 201.——A person killed in the wars of Æneas and Turnus, in Italy. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 615.
Acontius, a youth of Cea, who, when he went to Delos to see the sacrifice of Diana, fell in love with Cydippe, a beautiful virgin, and being unable to obtain her, on account of the obscurity of his origin, wrote these verses on an apple, which he threw into her bosom:
Juro tibi sanctæ per mystica sacra Dianæ,
Me tibi venturam comitem, sponsamque futuram.
Cydippe read the verses, and being compelled by the oath she had inadvertently made, married Acontius. Ovid, Heroides, poem 20.——A mountain of Bœotia. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 7.
Acontobūlus, a place of Cappadocia, under Hyppolyte queen of the Amazons. Apollonius, Argonautica, bk. 2.
Acōris, a king of Egypt, who assisted Evagoras king of Cyprus against Persia. Diodorus, bk. 15.
Acra, a town in Italy,——Eubœa,——Cyprus,——Acarnania,——Sicily,——Africa,——Sarmatia, &c.——A promontory of Calabria, now Capo di Leuca.
Acradīna, the citadel of Syracuse, taken by Marcellus the Roman consul. Plutarch, Marcellus.—Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 4.
Acræ, a mountain in Peloponnesus. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 34.
Acræa, a daughter of the river Asterion.——A surname of Diana, from a temple built to her by Melampus, on a mountain near Argos.——A surname of Juno. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 17.
Acræphnia, a town in Bœotia; whence Apollo is called Acraæphnius. Herodotus, bk. 8, ch. 135.
Acragallĭdæ, a dishonest nation living anciently near Athens. Æschines, Against Ctesiphon.
Acrăgas. See: [Agragas].
Acrātus, a freedman of Nero, sent into Asia to plunder the temples of the gods. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 15, ch. 45; bk. 16, ch. 23.
Acrias, one of Hippodamia’s suitors. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 21.——He built Acriæ, a town of Laconia. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 21.
Acridophăgi, an Æthiopian nation, who fed upon locusts, and lived not beyond their 40th year. At the approach of old age swarms of winged lice attacked them, and gnawed their belly and breast, till the patient, by rubbing himself, drew blood, which increased their number, and ended in his death. Diodorus, bk. 3.—Pliny, bk. 11, ch. 29.—Strabo, bk. 16.
Acrīon, a Pythagorean philosopher of Locris. Cicero, De Finibus, bk. 5, ch. 29.
Acrisioneus, a patronymic applied to the Argives, from Acrisius, one of their ancient kings, or from Acrisione, a town of Argolis, called after a daughter of Acrisius of the same name. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 410.
Acrisioniădes, a patronymic of Perseus, from his grandfather Acrisius. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 70.
Acrisius, son of Abas king of Argos, by Ocalea daughter of Mantineus. He was born at the same birth as Prœtus, with whom it is said that he quarrelled even in his mother’s womb. After many dissensions, Prœtus was driven from Argos. Acrisius had Danae by Eurydice daughter of Lacedæmon; and being told by an oracle, that his daughter’s son would put him to death, he confined Danae in a brazen tower, to prevent her becoming a mother. She, however, became pregnant, by Jupiter changed into a golden shower; and though Acrisius ordered her, and her infant called Perseus, to be exposed on the sea, yet they were saved; and Perseus soon after became so famous for his actions, that Acrisius, anxious to see so renowned a grandson, went to Larissa. Here Perseus, wishing to show his skill in throwing a quoit, killed an old man who proved to be his grandfather, whom he knew not, and thus the oracle was unhappily fulfilled. Acrisius reigned about 31 years. Hyginus, fable 63.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, fable 16.—Horace, bk. 3, ode 16.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 2, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 16, &c.—See: [Danae], [Perseus], [Polydectes].
Acrītas, a promontory of Messenia, in Peloponnesus. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 5.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.
Acroāthon, or Acrothoos, a town on the top of mount Athos, whose inhabitants lived to an uncommon old age. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 10.
Acroceraunium, a promontory of Epirus, with mountains called Acroceraunia, which project between the Ionian and Adriatic seas. The word comes from ἀκρος, high, and κεραυνος, thunder; because, on account of their great height, they were often struck with thunder. Lucretius, bk. 6, li. 420.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 1.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 506.—Strabo, bk. 6.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 3, li. 20.
Acrocorinthus, a lofty mountain on the isthmus of Corinth, taken by Aratus, B.C. 243. There is a temple of Venus on the top, and Corinth is built at the bottom. Strabo, bk. 8.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Plutarch, Aratus.—Statius, Thebiad, bk. 7, li. 106.
Acron, a king of Cenina, killed by Romulus in single combat, after the rape of the Sabines. His spoils were dedicated to Jupiter Feretrius. Plutarch, Romulus.——A physician of Agrigentum, B.C. 430, educated at Athens with Empedocles. He wrote physical treatises in the Doric dialect, and cured the Athenians of a plague by lighting a fire near the houses of the infected. Pliny, bk. 29, ch. 1.—Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride.——One of the friends of Æneas, killed by Mezentius. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 719.
Acropātos, one of Alexander’s officers, who obtained part of Media after the king’s death. Justin, bk. 13, ch. 4.
Acropŏlis, the citadel of Athens, built on a rock, and accessible only on one side. Minerva had a temple at the bottom. Pausanias, Atticus.
Acrotătus, son of Cleomenes king of Sparta, died before his father, leaving a son called Areus. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 13; bk. 3, ch. 6.——A son of Areus, who was greatly loved by Chelidonis wife of Cleonymus. This amour displeased her husband, who called Pyrrhus the Epirot to avenge his wrongs. When Sparta was besieged by Pyrrhus, Acrotatus was seen bravely fighting in the middle of the enemy, and commended by the multitude, who congratulated Chelidonis on being mistress to such a warlike lover. Plutarch, Pyrrhus.
Acrothoos. See: [Acroathon].
Acta, or Acte, a country of Attica. This word signifies shore, and is applied to Attica, as being near the sea. It is derived by some writers from Actæus, a king, from whom the Athenians have been called Actæi. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 312.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 2, li. 23.
Acta, a place near mount Athos, on the Ægean sea. Thucydides, bk. 4, ch. 109.
Actæa, one of the Nereides. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 250.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 18, li. 41.——A surname of Ceres.——A daughter of Danaus. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 1.
Actæon, a famous huntsman, son of Aristæus and Autonoe daughter of Cadmus, whence he is called Autonoeius heros. He saw Diana and her attendant, bathing near Gargaphia, for which he was changed into a stag, and devoured by his own dogs. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 2.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3, fable 3.——A beautiful youth, son of Melissus of Corinth, whom Archias, one of the Heraclidæ, endeavoured to debauch and carry away. He was killed in the struggle which in consequence of this happened between his father and ravisher. Melissus complained of the insult, and drowned himself; and soon after, the country being visited by a pestilence, Archias was expelled. Plutarch, Amatoriæ narrationes.
Actæus, a powerful person who made himself master of a part of Greece, which he called Attica. His daughter Agraulos married Cecrops, whom the Athenians called their first king, though Actæus reigned before him. Pausanias, bk. 1, chs. 2 & 14.——The word is of the same signification as Atticus, an inhabitant of Attica.
Acte, a mistress of Nero, descended from Attalus. Suetonius, Nero, ch. 28.——One of the Horæ. Hyginus, fable 183.
Actia, the mother of Augustus. As she slept in the temple of Apollo, she dreamt that a dragon had lain with her. Nine months after she brought forth, having previously dreamt that her bowels were scattered all over the world. Suetonius, Augustus, ch. 94.——Games sacred to Apollo, in commemoration of the victory of Augustus over Marcus Antony at Actium. They were celebrated every third, sometimes fifth, year, with great pomp, and the Lacedæmonians had the care of them. Plutarch, Antonius.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 280; bk. 8, li. 675.——A sister of Julius Cæsar. Plutarch, Cicero.
Actis, son of Sol, went from Greece into Egypt, where he taught astrology, and founded Heliopolis. Diodorus, bk. 5.
Actisănes, a king of Æthiopia who conquered Egypt, and expelled king Amasis. He was famous for his equity, and his severe punishment of robbers, whose noses he cut off, and whom he banished to a desert place, where they were in want of all aliment, and lived only upon crows. Diodorus, bk. 1.
Actium, now Azio, a town and promontory of Epirus, famous for the naval victory which Augustus obtained over Antony and Cleopatra, the 2nd of September, B.C. 31, in honour of which the conqueror built there the town of Nicopolis, and instituted games. See: [Actia]. Plutarch, Antonius.—Suetonius, Augustus.——A promontory of Corcyra. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 7, ltr. 2.
Actius, a surname of Apollo, from Actium, where he had a temple. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 704.——A poet. See: [Accius].——A prince of the Volsci. See: [Accius].
Actius Navius, an augur, who cut a loadstone in two with a razor, before Tarquin and the Roman people, to convince them of his skill as an augur. Florus, bk. 1, ch. 5.—Livy, bk. 1, ch. 36.——Labeo. See: [Labeo].
Actor, a companion of Hercules in his expedition against the Amazons.——The father of Menœtius by Ægina, whence Patroclus is called Actorides. Ovid, Tristia, bk. 1, poem 8.——A man called also Aruncus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 12, li. 93.——One of the friends of Æneas. Æneid, bk. 9, li. 500.——A son of Neptune by Agameda. Hyginus, fable 14.——A son of Deion and Diomede. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9.——The father of Eurytus, and brother of Augeas. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 7.——A son of Acastus, one of the Argonauts. Hyginus, fable 14.——The father of Astyoche. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 37.——A king of Lemnos. Hyginus, fable 102.
Actorĭdes, a patronymic given to Patroclus grandson of Actor. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, fable 1.——Also to Erithus son of Actor. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 3.——Two brothers so fond of each other, that in driving a chariot, one generally held the reins, and the other the whip; whence they are represented with two heads, four feet, and one body. Hercules conquered them. Pindar.
Actŏris, a maid of Ulysses. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 23.
Marcus Actorius Naso, a Roman historian. Suetonius, Julius, ch. 9.
Caius Aculeo, a Roman lawyer celebrated as much for the extent of his understanding, as for his knowledge of law. He was uncle to Cicero. Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 1, ch. 43.
Acūphis, an ambassador from India to Alexander. Plutarch, Alexander.
Acusilāus and Damagētus, two brothers of Rhodes, conquerors at the Olympic games. The Greeks strewed flowers upon Diagoras their father, and called him happy in having such worthy sons. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 7.
Acusilāus, an historian of Argos, often quoted by Josephus. He wrote on genealogies, in a style simple and destitute of all ornament. Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 2, ch. 29.—Suidas.——An Athenian who taught rhetoric at Rome under Galba.
M. Acutĭcus, an ancient comic writer whose plays were known under the names of Leones, Gemini, Anus, Bœotia, &c.
Ada, a sister of queen Artemisia, who married Hidricus. After her husband’s death, she succeeded to the throne of Caria; but being expelled by her younger brother, she retired to Alindæ, which she delivered to Alexander after adopting him as her son. Curtius, bk. 2, ch. 8.—Strabo, bk. 14.
Adad, a deity among the Assyrians, supposed to be the sun.
Adæus, a native of Mitylene, who wrote a Greek treatise on statuaries. Athenæus, bk. 13.
Adamantæa, Jupiter’s nurse in Crete, who suspended him in his cradle to a tree, that he might be found neither in the earth, the sea, nor in heaven. To drown the infant’s cries, she had drums beat and cymbals sounded around the tree. Hyginus, fable 139.
Adămas, a Trojan prince, killed by Merion. Homer, Iliad, bk. 13, li. 560.——A youth who raised a rebellion on being emasculated by Cotys king of Thrace. Aristotle, Politics, bk. 5, ch. 10.
Adamastus, a native of Ithaca, father of Achæmenides. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 614.
Adaspii, a people at the foot of mount Caucasus. Justin, bk. 12, ch. 5.
Addephagia, a goddess of the Sicilians. Ælian, bk. 1, Varia Historia, ch. 27.
Addua, now Adda, a river of Cisalpine Gaul, falling into the Po near Cremona. Pliny, bk. 2, ch. 103.
Adelphius, a friend of Marcus Antoninus, whom he accompanied in his expedition into Parthia, of which he wrote the history. Strabo, bk. 11.
Adēmon, raised a sedition in Mauritania to avenge his master Ptolemy, whom Caligula had put to death. Suetonius, Caligula, ch. 35.
Ades, or Hades, the god of hell among the Greeks, the same as the Pluto of the Latins. The word is derived from α and ειδειν [non videre], because hell is deprived of light. It is often used for hell itself by the ancient poets.
Adgandestrius, a prince of Gaul who sent to Rome for poison to destroy Arminius, and was answered by the senate, that the Romans fought their enemies openly, and never used perfidious measures. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 88.
Adherbal, son of Micipsa, and grandson of Masinissa, was besieged at Cirta, and put to death by Jugurtha, after vainly imploring the aid of Rome, B.C. 112. Sallust, Jugurthine War.
Adherbas, the husband of Dido. See: [Sichæus].
Adiante, a daughter of Danaus. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 11.
Adiatōrix, a governor of Galatia, who, to gain Antony’s favour, slaughtered, in one night, all the inhabitants of the Roman colony of Heraclea, in Pontus. He was taken at Actium, led in triumph by Augustus, and strangled in prison. Strabo, bk. 12.
Adimantus, a commander of the Athenian fleet, taken by the Spartans. All the men of the fleet were put to death, except Adimantus, because he had opposed the designs of his countrymen, who intended to mutilate all the Spartans. Xenophon, Hellenica. Pausanias says, bk. 4, ch. 17; bk. 10, ch. 9, that the Spartans had bribed him.——A brother of Plato. Laërtius, bk. 3.——A Corinthian general who reproached Themistocles with his exile.——A king struck with thunder for saying that Jupiter deserved no sacrifices. Ovid, Ibis, li. 337.
Admēta, a daughter of Eurystheus, was priestess of Juno’s temple at Argos. She expressed a wish to possess the girdle of the queen of the Amazons, and Hercules obtained it for her. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 23.——One of the Oceanides. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 349.
Admētus, son of Pheres and Clymene, king of Pheræ in Thessaly, married Theone daughter of Thestor, and, after her death, Alceste daughter of Pelias. Apollo when banished from heaven, is said to have tended his flocks for nine years, and to have obtained from the Parcæ, that Admetus should never die, if another person laid down his life for him; a proof of unbounded affection, which his wife Alceste cheerfully exhibited by devoting herself voluntarily to death. Admetus was one of the Argonauts, and was at the hunt of the Calydonian boar. Pelias promised his daughter in marriage only to him who could bring him a chariot drawn by a lion and a wild boar; and Admetus effected this by the aid of Apollo, and obtained Alceste’s hand. Some say that Hercules brought him back Alceste from hell. Seneca, Medeâ.—Hyginus, fables 50, 51, & 243.—Ovid, Amores, bk. 3.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, chs. 8 & 9, &c.—Tibullus, bk. 2, poem 3.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 17.——A king of the Molossi, to whom Themistocles fled for protection. Cornelius Nepos, Themistocles, ch. 8.——An officer of Alexander, killed at the siege of Tyre. Diodorus, bk. 17.
Adōnia, festivals in honour of Adonis, first celebrated at Byblos in Phœnicia. They lasted two days, the first of which was spent in howlings and lamentations, the second in joyful clamours, as if Adonis was returned to life. In some towns of Greece and Egypt they lasted eight days; the one half of which was spent in lamentations, and the other in rejoicings. Only women were admitted, and such as did not appear were compelled to prostitute themselves for one day; and the money obtained by this shameful custom was devoted to the service of Adonis. The time of the celebration was supposed to be very unlucky. The fleet of Nicias sailed from Athens to Sicily on that day, whence many unfortunate omens were drawn. Plutarch, Nicias.—Ammianus, bk. 22, ch. 9.
Adōnis, son of Cinyras by his daughter Myrrha [See: [Myrrha]], was the favourite of Venus. He was fond of hunting, and was often cautioned by his mistress not to hunt wild beasts, for fear of being killed in the attempt. This advice he slighted, and at last received a mortal bite from a wild boar which he had wounded, and Venus, after shedding many tears at his death, changed him into a flower called anemone. Proserpine is said to have restored him to life, on condition that he should spend six months with her, and the rest of the year with Venus. This implies the alternate return of summer and winter. Adonis is often taken for Osiris, because the festivals of both were generally begun with mournful lamentations, and finished with a revival of joy as if they were returning to life again. Adonis had temples raised to his memory, and is said by some to have been beloved by Apollo and Bacchus. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 14.—Propertius, bk. 2, poem 13, li. 53.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 10, li. 18.—Bion, Adonis.—Hyginus, fables 58, 164, 248, &c.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 10, fable 10.—Musæus, Hero & Leander.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 20; bk. 9, ch. 41.——A river of Phœnicia, which falls into the Mediterranean, below Byblus.
Adramyttium, an Athenian colony on the sea coast of Mysia, near the Caycus. Strabo, bk. 13.—Thucydides, bk. 5, ch. 1.
Adrāna, a river in Germany. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 1, ch. 56.
Adrānum, a town of Sicily, near Ætna, with a river of the same name. The chief deity of the place was called Adranus, and his temple was guarded by 1000 dogs. Plutarch, Timoleon.
Adrasta, one of the Oceanides who nursed Jupiter. Hyginus, fable 182.
Adrastia, a fountain of Sicyon. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 15.——A mountain. Plutarch, Lucullus.——A country near Troy called after Adrastus, who built there a temple to Nemesis. Here Apollo had an oracle. Strabo, bk. 13.——A daughter of Jupiter and Necessity. She is called by some Nemesis, and is the punisher of injustice. The Egyptians placed her above the moon, whence she looked down upon the actions of men. Strabo, bk. 13.——A daughter of Melisseus, to whom some attribute the nursing of Jupiter. She is the same as Adrasta. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 1.
Adrastii Campi, a plain near the Granicus, where Alexander first defeated Darius. Justin, bk. 11, ch. 6.
Adrastus, son of Talaus and Lysimache, was king of Argos. Polynices, being banished from Thebes by his brother Eteocles, fled to Argos, where he married Argia daughter of Adrastus. The king assisted his son-in-law, and marched against Thebes with an army headed by seven of his most famous generals. All perished in the war except Adrastus, who, with a few men saved from slaughter, fled to Athens, and implored the aid of Theseus against the Thebans, who opposed the burying of the Argives slain in battle. Theseus went to his assistance, and was victorious. Adrastus, after a long reign, died through grief, occasioned by the death of his son Ægialeus. A temple was raised to his memory at Sicyon, where a solemn festival was annually celebrated. Homer, Iliad, bk. 5.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 480.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9; bk. 3, ch. 7.—Statius, Thebiad, bks. 4 & 5.—Hyginus, fables 68, 69, & 70.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 39; bk. 8, ch. 25; bk. 10; ch. 90.—Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 67, &c.——A peripatetic philosopher, disciple to Aristotle. It is supposed that a copy of his treatise on harmonics is preserved in the Vatican.——A Phrygian prince, who having inadvertently killed his brother, fled to Crœsus, where he was humanely received, and entrusted with the care of his son Atys. In hunting a wild boar, Adrastus slew the young prince, and in his despair, killed himself on his grave. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 35, &c.——A Lydian, who assisted the Greeks against the Persians. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 5.——A soothsayer in the Trojan war, son of Merops. Homer, Iliad, bks. 2 & 6.—The father of Eurydice, who married Ilus the Trojan. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 12.——A king of Sicyon, who reigned four years, B.C. 1215.——A son of Hercules. Hyginus, fable 242.
Adria, Adriānum, or Adriatĭcum mare, a sea lying between Illyricum and Italy, now called the gulf of Venice, first made known to the Greeks by the discoveries of the Phocæans. Herodotus, bk. 1.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 33; bk. 3, odes 3 & 9.—Catullus, poems 4, 6.
Adrianopŏlis, a town of Thrace on the Hebrus.——Another in Ætolia,——in Pisidia,——and Bithynia.
Adriānus, or Hadrianus, the 15th emperor of Rome. He is represented as an active, learned, warlike, and austere general. He came to Britain, where he built a wall between the modern towns of Carlisle and Newcastle, 80 miles long, to protect the Britons from the incursions of the Caledonians. He killed in battle 500,000 Jews who had rebelled, and built a city on the ruins of Jerusalem, which he called Ælia. His memory was so retentive, that he remembered every incident of his life, and knew all the soldiers of his army by name. He was the first emperor who wore a long beard, and this he did to hide the warts on his face. His successors followed his example, not through necessity but for ornament. Adrian went always bare-headed, and in long marches generally travelled on foot. In the beginning of his reign, he followed the virtues of his adopted father and predecessor Trajan; he remitted all arrears due to his treasury for 16 years, and publicly burnt the account-books, that his word might not be suspected. His peace with the Parthians proceeded from a wish of punishing the other enemies of Rome, more than from the effects of fear. The travels of Adrian were not for the display of imperial pride, but to see whether justice was distributed impartially: and public favour was courted by a condescending behaviour, and the meaner familiarity of bathing with the common people. It is said that he wished to enrol Christ among the gods of Rome; but his apparent lenity towards the Christians was disproved, by the erection of a statue to Jupiter on the spot where Jesus rose from the dead, and one to Venus on mount Calvary. The weight of diseases became intolerable. Adrian attempted to destroy himself; and when prevented, he exclaimed, that the lives of others were in his hands, but not his own. He wrote an account of his life, and published it under the name of one of his domestics. He died of a dysentery at Baiæ, July 10, A.D. 138, in the 72nd year of his age, after a reign of 21 years. Dio Cassius.——An officer of Lucullus. Plutarch, Lucullus.——A rhetorician of Tyre in the age of Marcus Antoninus, who wrote seven books of metamorphoses, besides other treatises now lost.
Adrimētum, a town of Africa, on the Mediterranean, built by the Phœnicians. Sallust, Jugurthine War.
Aduataca, a town of Belgic Gaul, now Tongres, on the Maese.
Adŭla, a mountain among the Rhætian Alps, near which the Rhine takes its rise, now St. Gothard.
Adulis, a town of Upper Egypt.
Adyrmachīdæ, a maritime people of Africa, near Egypt. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 168.
Æa, a huntress changed into an island of the same name by the gods, to rescue her from the pursuit of her lover, the river Phasis. It had a town called Æa, which was the capital of Colchis. Flaccus, bk. 5, li. 420.——A town of Thessaly,——of Africa.——A fountain of Macedonia near Amydon.
Æacēa, games at Ægina, in honour of Æacus.
Æacĭdas, a king of Epirus, son of Neoptolemus and brother to Olympias. He was expelled by his subjects for his continual wars with Macedonia. He left a son, Pyrrhus, only two years old, whom Chaucus king of Illyricum educated. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 11.