Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

|

length to the continent in question. His knowledge
of the western coast is far from extensive or accurate.
In passing the straits, we find, according to him, a
mountain called by the Greeks Atlas, and by the bar-
barians Dyris: advancing thence towards the west,
we see Cape Cotes, and afterward the city of Tinga,
situate opposite to Gades in Spain. To the south of
Tinga is the Sinus Emporicus, where the Phoenicians
used to have establishments. After this the coast
bends in, and proceeds to meet the extremity of the
perpendicular line on the opposite side.
We may
pardon Strabo for too lightly rejecting the discoveries
of the Carthaginians along the western coast, since
nothing proves him to have read the periplus of Hanno.
An error, however, which cannot be excused, is that
of placing Mount Atlas directly on the straits, since he
might have learned from the account of Polybius, that
this mountain was situate far beyond, on the western
coast, and giving name to the adjacent ocean. With

sail quite so far as the Carthaginian navigator had done. -Let us now turn our attention, for a moment, to the interior of the country. We have already alluded in general terms to the knowledge possessed by Herodotus of Africa. To what we have stated on this subject may be added the following curious narrative, which we receive from the historian himself (2, 32). "I was also informed," says Herodotus, by some Cyreneans, that in a journey they took to the oracle of Ammon, they had conferred with Etearchus, king of the Ammonians; and that, among other things, discoursing with him concerning the sources of the Nile, as of a thing altogether unknown, Etearchus acquainted them, that certain Nasamones, a nation of Libya inhabiting the Syrtis, and a tract of land of no great extent eastward of the Syrtis, came into his country, and, being asked by him if they had learned anything touching the Libyan deserts, answered that some petulant young men, sons to divers persons of great power among them, had, after many extravagant actions, re-regard to the eastern shores of Africa, Strabo cites a solved to send five of their number to the coast of periplus of Artemidorus, from the Straits of Dire Libya, to see if they could make any farther discov- (Bab-el-Mandeb) to the Southern Horn, which, from eries than others had done. The young men chosen a comparison of distances as given by Ptolemy and by their companions to make this expedition, having Marinus of Tyre, answers to Cape Bandellans, to the furnished themselves with water and other necessary south of Cape Gardafui. (Gosselin, Recherches, vol. provisions, first passed through the inhabited country; 1, p. 177, seqq.) Here a desert coast for a long time and when they had likewise traversed that region which arrested the progress of maritime discovery on the abounds in wild beasts, they entered the deserts, ma- part of the Greeks.-The knowledge of the day then, king their way towards the west. After they had trav- respecting the eastern and western coast of Africa, elled many days through the sands, they at length saw appears to have extended no farther than 12 north some trees growing in a plain, and they approached, latitude, or perhaps 12° 30′. The two sides were and began to gather the fruit which was on them; and supposed to approximate, and between the Hesperi while they were gathering, several little men, less than Ethiopes to the west, and the Cinnamomifera regio, men of middle size, came up, and, having seized them, to the east, the distance was supposed to be comparacarried them away. The Nasamones did not at all tively small. (Strabo, 119.) This intervening space understand what they said, neither did they understand was exposed to excessive heats, according to the comthe speech of the Nasamones. However, they conduct- mon belief, and which forbade the traveller's penetraed them over vast morasses to a city built on a great river ting within its precincts; while, at a little distance running from the west to the east, and abounding in beyond, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were brought crocodiles; where the Nasamones found all the inhab- to unite. The hypothesis which we have here stated itants black, and of no larger size than their guides. made Africa terminate at about one half of its truc To this relation Etearchus added, as the Cyreneans length, and represented this continent as much smaller assured me, that the Nasamones returned safe to their than Europe. (Plin., 2, 108.-Id., 6, 33. — Pomp. own country, and that the men to whom they had thus Mela, 1, 4.) Still it was the one generally adoptcome were all enchanters." (Compare the remarks ed by the Alexandrean school. (Eratosthenes ap. under the article Nasamones.) Rennell (Geogr. of Strab., passim.-Crates ap. Gemin., Elem. Astron., Herod., p. 432) observes, that it is extremely probable c. 13. — Aratus, Phænom., v. 537. — Cleanthes ap. that the river seen by the Nasamones was that which, Gemin., l. c.— Cleomedes, Meteor., 1, 6, &c.) On according to the present state of our geography, is the other hand, the opinion of Hipparchus, which united known to pass by Tombuctoo, and thence eastward eastern Africa to India (Hipp. ap. Strab., 6), remained through the centre of Africa (in effect, the river com- for a long period contemned, until Marinus of Tyre monly known by the name of Niger). What is called and Ptolemy had adopted it. This adoption, however, the inhabited country in this narrative, he makes the did not prevent the previous hypothesis from keeping same with the modern Fezzan, in which also he finds its ground, in some measure, in the west of Europe the sandy and desert region traversed by the Nasa- (Macrob., Somn. Scip., 2, 9.-Isidor., Org., 14, 5), mones. It appears certain to him, as well as to Larcher, where it contributed to the discovery of the route by that the city in question was the modern Tombuctoo. the Cape of Good Hope. (Malte-Brun, 1, p. 67, Malte-Brun, however (1, p. 28, Brussels ed.), thinks it seqq., Brussels ed.)-Africa, according to Pliny (6, impossible that Tombuctoo can be the place alluded 33), is three thousand six hundred and forty-eight Roto, since it is separated from the country of the Nasa- man miles from east to west. This measure, estimamones by so many deserts, rivers, and mountains.-Inted in stadia of seven hundred to a degree, would seem the days of Strabo, the knowledge possessed by the to represent the length of the coast from the valley of ancients of Africa' was little, if at all, improved. The the Catabathmus to Cape Nun, which was also the Mediterranean coast and the banks of the Nile were limit of the voyage of Polybius, according to Gossellin. the only ports frequented by the Greeks. Their opin- (Recherches, 1, p. 117, seqq.) The length of the inion respecting the continent itself was that it formed habited part of Africa was supposed nowhere to exceed a trapezium, or else that the coast from the Columns two hundred and fifty Roman miles. In passing, of Hercules to Pelusium might be considered as the however, from the frontiers of Cyrenaica across the base of a right-angled triangle (Strabo, 17, p. 825, ed. deserts and the country of the Garamantes, Agrippa Casaub.), of which the Nile formed the perpendicular (Plin., l. c.) gave to this part of the world nine hunside, extending to Æthiopia and the ocean, while the dred and ten miles of extent. This measure, which hypothenuse was the coast comprehended between the we owe, without doubt, to the expedition against the extremity of this line and the straits. The apex of the Garamantes, conducts us beyond the Agades and Bortriangle reached beyond the limits of the habitable nou, but does not reach the Niger. Whatever may be world, and was consequently regarded as inaccessible: the discussions to which the very corrupt state of the hence Strabo declares his inability to assign any precise | Roman numerals in the pages of Pliny are calculated

[ocr errors]

rieur de l'Afrique, Acad. des Inscr., vol. 26, p. 64.;
Others declare for the Bahr-el-Misselad. (1
(Rennell,
Geogr. of Herod., p. 418.) Neither, however, of
these rivers suits the description of Claudian (Laud.
Stilich., 1, v. 253), reproducing the image of the Nile by
the abundance of its waters: “ simili mentitus gurgite
Nilum." In the midst of so many contradictions, and
in a region still almost unknown, the boldness of igno-
rance may hazard any assertion, and pretend to decide
any point, while the modesty of true science resigns
itself to doubt.

AFRICANUS, I. Sextus Julius, a native of Palestine, belonging to a family that had come orginally from Africa. He lived under the Emperor Heliogabalus, and fixed his residence at Emmaus. This city having been ruined, he was deputed to wait on the emperor and obtain an order for rebuilding it, in which mission he succeeded, and the new city took the name of Nicopolis. (Chron. Paschale, ann. 223.) About A.D. 231, Julius Africanus visited Alexandrea to hear the public discourses of Heraclas. He had been brought up in paganism, but he subsequently embraced the Christian faith, attained the priesthood, and died at an advanced age. He was acquainted with the Hebrew tongue, applied himself to various branches of scientific study, but devoted himself particularly to the perusal and investigation of the sacred writings, on which he published a commentary. The work, however, that most contributed to his reputation, was a Chronography in five books (Пlevrúbibλiov xpovodo fixes at 5499 B.C., and continued down to A.D. 221. This calculation forms the basis of a particular era, of which use is made in the Eastern Church, and which is styled the Historical Era, or that of the Historians of Alexandrea. Fragments of this work are preserved by Eusebius, Syncellus, Joannes Malala, Theophanes, Cedrenus, and in the Chronicon Paschale. Photius says of this production, that, though concise, it omits nothing important. (Biblioth., vol. 1, p. 7, ed. Bekker.) Eusebius has most profited by it, and, in his Chronography, often copies him. He has preserved for us also a letter of Africanus, addressed to Aristides, the object of which is to reconcile the discrepance between St. Matthew and St. Luke on the question of our Saviour's genealogy. We have also another letter of his, addressed to Origen, in which he contests the authenticity of the story of Susanna. Africanus likewise composed a large work in nine, or, according to others, in

to give rise, one thing is sufficiently evident, that the Romans knew only a third part of Africa. Pliny, moreover, gives us an account of two Roman expeditions into the interior of Africa. The first is that of Suetonius Paulinus. (Plin., 5, 1.) This officer, having set out from the river Lixus with some Roman troops, arrived in ten days at Mount Atlas, passed over some miles of the chain, and met, in a desert of black sand, with a river called Ger. This appears to have been the Gyr of Segelmessa. The second expedition was that of Cornelius Balbus. We have subdued," says Pliny (5, 5), "the nation of the Phazanii, together with their cities Alcle and Cillaba: and likewise Cydamus. From these a chain of mountains, called the Black by reason of their colour, extends in a direction from east to west. Then come deserts, and afterward Matelga, a town of the Garamantes, the celebrated fountain of Debris, whose waters are hot from midday to midnight, and cold from midnight to midday; and also Garama, the capital of the nation. All these countries have been subjugated by the Roman arms, and over them did Cornelius Balbus triumph." Pliny then enumerates a large crowd of cities and tribes, whose names were said to have adorned the triumph. Malte-Brun, after a fair discussion of this subject, is of opinion that Balbus must have penetrated as far as Bornou and Dongala, which appear to coincide with the Boin and Daunagi of Pliny. The black mountains were probably those of Tibesti. (Malte-Brun, 1, p. 85, Brussels ed.)—Marinus of Tyre, who came before Ptolemy, pretended to have read the itinerary of a Ro-ytkov), commencing with the Creation, which he man expedition under Septimius Flaccus and Julius Maternus. (Ptol., 1, 8, seqq.) These officers set out from Leptis Magna for Garama, the capital of the Garamantes, which they found to be 5400 stadia from the former city. Septimius, after this, marched directly south for the space of three months, and came to a country called Agyzimba, inhabited by negroes. Marinus, after some reasoning, fixes the position of the country at 24° south of the equator. A strict application of the laws of historical criticism will consign to the regions of fable this Roman expedition, unknown even to the Romans themselves. How can we possibly admit, that a general executed a march more astonishing than even that of Alexander, and that no contemporary writer has preserved the least mention of it! At what epoch, or under what reign, are we to place this event? How, moreover, could an army, in three months, traverse a space equal to eleven hundred French leagues? (Malte-Brun, 1, p. 128, Brussels ed.)-The form of Africa was totally changed by Ptolemy. We have seen that Strabo and Pliny regarded this part of the world as an island, terminating within the equinoctial line. The Atlantic Ocean was thought to join the Indian Sea under the torrid zone, the heats of which were regarded as the most powerful barrier to the circumnavigation of Africa. Ptolemy, who did not admit the communication of the Atlantic with the Erythrean or Indian Sea, thought, on the contrary, that the western coast of Africa, after having formed a gulf of moderate depth, which he calls Hespericus (EOTEрikóç), extended indefinitely between south and west, while he believed that the eastern coast, after Cape Prasum, proceeded to join the coast of Asia below Catigara. (Ptol., 7, 3.) This opinion, which made the Atlantic and Indian Oceans only large basins, separated the one from the other, had been supported by Hipparchus. The interior of Africa presents, in the pages of Ptolemy, a mass of confused notions. And yet he is the first ancient writer that announces with certainty the existence of the Niger, obscurely indicated by Pliny. The most difficult point to explain in the Central Africa of Ptolemy, is to know what river he means by the Gyr. (Ptol., 4. 6.) Some re in favour of the river of Bornou, or the Bahr-alGazel. (D'Anville, Mem. sur les fleuves de l'inte

fourteen, or even twenty-four books, entitled KƐOTOL, "Cestuses." This name was given it by the author, because, like the Cestus of Venus, his collection contained a mingled variety of pleasing things selected from numerous works. In it were discussed questions of natural history, medicine, agriculture, chemistry, &c In the part that principally remains to us, and which appears to have been extracted from the main work in the eighth century, the art of war forms the topic of consideration. It is printed in the Mathematci veteres, Paris, 1693, fol., and also in the seventh volume of the works of Meursius, Florence, 1746. It has also been translated by Guischardt in his Mémoires Militaires des Grecs et des Romains, 1758, 4to. From some scattered fragments of other portions of the same work, it would appear to have been, in general, of no very valuable character. For example, in order to prevent wine from turning, we are directed to write or the bottom of the vessel the words of the psalmist, "Taste and see how sweet is the Lord!" Again, in order to drink a good deal of wine with impunity, we must repeat, on taking the first glass, the 170th verse of the 8th book of the Iliad, "Jove thundered thrice from the summits of Olympus." He gives us also other precepts for things less useful than curious in their natures, and which may serve to amuse an agriculturist; as, for example, how to force fruits to as

sume the shape of any animal, or even the form of the | the murder of Atreus (vid. Atreus, Ægisthus), and the human visage; how to produce pomegranates without seeds, figs of two colours, &c. (Schöll, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 4, p. 205, and 5, 269. — Biographie Universelle, vol. 1, p. 274.)-II. The surname of the Scipios, from their victories in Africa over the Carthaginians. (Vid. Scipio.)-III., IV., V. (Vid. Supplement.) AGACLYTUS. Vid. Supplement. AGALLIS. Vid. Supplement. AGAMĒDĒ. Vid. Supplement.

AGAMĒDES and TROPHONIUS, two architects and brothers, who built the temple of Apollo at Delphi, when erected for the fourth time. (Böckh, ad Pind., Fragm., vol. 3, p. 570.) According to Plutarch, they were informed by the god, when asking him for a recompense, that they would receive one on the seventh day from that time, and were ordered to spend the intervening period in festive indulgence. They did so, and on the seventh night were found dead in their beds. (Plut., Consol. ad Ap.-Op., ed. Reiske, vol. 6, p. 413, seq.) Cicero relates the same story, but makes the two brothers ask Apollo for that which was best for man ("quod esset optimum homini," where Plutarch merely has airɛiv piovov), and also gives the prescribed time as three days. (Cic., Tusc. Quæst., 1, 47.) A very different version, however, is found in Pausanias. This writer informs us, that Agamedes and Trophonius were the sons of Erginus, monarch of Orchomenus, or rather that Trophonius was the son of Apol. lo, and Agamedes of the king. When they had attained to manhood, they became very skilful in building temples for the gods, and palaces for kings. Among other labours, they constructed a temple for Apollo at Delphi, and a treasury for Hyrieus. (Vid. Hyricus.) In the wall of this building they placed a stone in such a manner that they could take it out whenever they pleased; and, in consequence of this, they carried away from time to time portions of the deposited treasure. Agamedes was at last caught in a trap placed so as to secure the robber, whereupon his brother cut off his head in order to prevent discovery. After this, Trophonius was swallowed up in an opening of the earth, in the grove of Lebedea. The whole story appears to wear a figurative character. Erginus is the protector of labour (¿pyivos, Ĕpyov); Trophonius is the “nourisher" (7pέow, Tрopor); and Agamedes is the "very prudent one" (йyav and μdoç). Trophonius, even after he has descended to the lower world, makes his voice to be heard from those profound depths. He rules over the powers of the abyss, becomes Jupiter-Trophonius, and gives counsel to those who have the courage to descend into the cave at Lebedea. He is Hades, the wise and good deity, as Plato calls him (Phædon, § 68). He is therefore, also, the supreme intelligence that rules in the lower world, which serves as a guide to the souls of the departed, and accompanies them in their migrations. In the name Hyrieus, moreover, we see "a keeper of bees," a " bee-master" (Ypiɛvç, from upov, uplov, "a beehive"), and the bee was connected with the mysteries of Ceres, and also the transmigration of souls. There is, moreover, a strong analogy between the story as here told, and that related of the Egyptian monarch Rhampsinitus. Both fables appear to be allegorical illustrations, connected with agriculture. (Creuzer, Symbolik, vol. 2, p. 381.-Guigniaut, vol. 2, p. 330) AGAMEMNON, king of Mycenae and commander of the Grecian forces against Troy. He was brother to Menelaus, and was, according to most authorities, the son of Plisthenes. As, however, Plisthenes died young, and his widow Aërope was taken in marriage by Atreus, the sons of Plisthenes, Agamemnon and Menelaus namely, were brought up by their grandfather, now become their stepfather, and were called Atridæ, as if they had been his own sons. (Apollod., 3, 2, 2.-Heyne, ad loc.—Schol. ad Il., 2, 249.) On

accession of his uncle Thyestes to the vacant throne, Agamemnon fled to Sparta, accompanied by his brother Menelaus, after having previously found an asylum, first with Polyphides, king of Sicyon, and then with Oeneus, king of Calydon. Tyndarus was reigning at Sparta, and had married his daughter Clytemnestra to a son of Thyestes; but, being dissatisfied with the al liance, he stipulated with Agamemnon to aid him in recovering the kingdom of Atreus, provided he would carry off Clytemnestra and make her his queen. This stipulation was agreed to; and the plan having succeeded, Agamemnon married the daughter of Tyndarus, and became the father of Orestes, Iphigenia (or Iphianassa), Laodice (or Electra), and Chrysothemis. Agamemnon was one of the most powerful princes of his time, and on this account was chosen commander-in-chief of the Greeks in their expedition against Troy. The Grecian fleet being detained by contrary winds at Aulis, owing to the wrath of Diana, whom Agamemnon had offended by killing one of her favourite deer, Calchas, the soothsayer, was consulted, and he declared that, to appease the goddess, Iphigenia, the monarch's eldest daughter, must be sacrificed. She was accordingly led to the altar, and was about to be offered as a victim, when (contrary to the statement of Virgil that she was actually immolated) she is generally said to have suddenly disappeared, and a stag to have been substituted by the goddess herself. (Vid. Iphigenia.)-The dispute of Agamemnon with Achilles, before the walls of Troy, respecting the captive Chryseis; the consequent loss to the Greeks of the services of Achilles; his return to the war, in order to avenge the death of Patroclus; and his victory over Hector, form the principal subject of the Iliad. In the division of the captives after the taking of Troy, Cassandra, one of the daughters of Priam, fell to the lot of Agamemnon. She was endued with the gift of prophecy, and warned Agamemnon not to return to Mycena; but from the disregard with which her predictions were generally treated (vid. Cassandra), ho was deaf to her admonitory voice, and was consequently, upon his arrival in the city, assassinated, with her and their two children, by his queen Clytemnestra and her paramour Ægisthus. (Vid. Clytemnestra, Egisthus.) The manner of Agamemnon's death is va riously given. According to the Homeric account, the monarch, on his return from Troy, was carried by a storm to that part of the coast of Argolis where Ægisthus, the son of Thyestes, resided. During his absence, Ægisthus had carried on an adulterous intercourse with Clytemnestra, and he had set a watchman, with a promise of a large reward, to give him the earliest tidings of the return of the king. As soon as he learned that he was on the coast, he went out to welcome him, and invited him to his mansion. At the banquet in the evening, however, he placed, with the participation of Clytemnestra, twenty men in concealment, who fell on and slaughtered him, together with Cassandra and all his companions. They died not, however, unavenged, for Ægisthus alone was left alive. (Od., 4, 512, seqq. Od., 11, 405, seqq.) The posthomeric account, followed by the Tragic writers, makes Agamemnon to have fallen by the hands of his wife, after he had just come forth from the bath, and while he was endeavouring to put on a garment, the sleeves of which had been sewed together, as well as the opening for the head, and by which, of course, all his movements were obstructed, and, as it were, fettered. (Schol. ad Eurip., Hec., 1277.--Compare Eurip., Orest., 25. Esch., Agam., 1353. Id., Eumen., 631.) His death was avenged by his son Orestes. (Vid. Orestes.) Before concluding this article, it may not be amiss to remark, that Homer knows nothing of Plisthenes as the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus; he calls them simply the offspring of Atreus. Accord

[ocr errors]

ing to this point of the case, Atreus, who, as eldest | the modern Artingari. (Bischoff und Möller, Wörterb son, had succeeded Pelops, left on his deathbed Aga- der Geogr., s. v.)

AGASIAS, OF HEGESIAS, I. a sculptor of Ephesus, to whose chisel we owe the celebrated work of art called the Borghese Gladiator. This is indicated by an inscription on the pedestal of the statue. This statuc was found, together with the Apollo Belvidere, on the site of ancient Antium, the birthplace of Nero, and where that emperor had collected a large number of chefs-d'œuvre, which had been carried off from Greece by his freedman Acratus. It is maintained by more recent antiquarians that the statue in question does rot represent a gladiator; it appears to have belonged to a group, and the attention and action of the figure are directed towards some object more elevated than itself, such, for example, as a horseman whose attack it is sustaining. With regard to the form of the name, it may be remarked, that the Æolic and vulgar form was Agcsias; the Doric, Agasias; and the Ionic, Hegesias. This Ionic form was adopted by the Attic writers.-II. Another Ephesian sculptor, who exer cised his art in the island of Delos, while it was under the Roman sway. (Sillig, Dict. Art., s. v.)

memnon and Menelaus, still under age, to the guard- AGARISTA, I. a daughter of Hippocrates, who marianship of his brother Thyestes, who resigned the king-ried Xanthippus. She dreamed that she had brought dom to his nephews when they had reached maturity. forth a lion, and a few days after was delivered of PeriThe variations introduced into this story, therefore, cles.-II. (Vid. Supplement.) would seem to be the work of later poets, especially of the Tragic writers, from whom the graminarians and scholiasts borrowed. (Heyne, ad Il., 2, v. 106.Suppl. et Emend. vol. 4, p. 685.) With respect to the extent of Agamemnon's sway, we are informed by Homer (Il., 2, 108) that he ruled over many islands and over all Argos (πολλῇσι νήσοισι καὶ ̓Αργεί Tavri). By Argos appears to be here meant, not the city of that name, for that was under the sway of Diomede, but a large portion of the Peloponnesus, including particularly the cities of Mycena and Tiryns. (Heyne, Excurs., 1, ad Il., 2.) The islands to which the poet alludes can hardly be those of the Sinus Argolicus, which are few in number and small. Homer himself says, that Agamemnon possessed the most powerful fleet, and from this it would appear that he held many islands under his sway, though we are unacquainted with their names. (Heyne, l. c.—Thucyd., 1, 6.)—Thus much for Agamemnon, on the supposition that such an individual once actually existed. If we follow, however, the theory advocated by Hermann and others, and make not only the Trojan war itself to have been originally a mere allegory, but the names of the leading personages to be also allegorical, and indicative of their respective stations or characters, Agamemnon becomes the " "permanent," or general leader of the host" (йyw and pivo), the termination wv strengthening the idea implied by the two component words from which the appellation is derived, and denoting collection or aggregation. The name Agamemnon is also connected with the early religion of Greece, for we find mention made of a Żɛvç 'Ayaμéμνων. (Meurs., Miscell. Lacon., 1, 4.-Eustath. ad Il., 2, p. 168. Consult Hermann und Creuzer, Briefe über Hom. und Hes., p. 20, and Creuzer, Symbolik, vol. 2, p. 450.)

[ocr errors]

AGAMEMNONIUS, an epithet applied to Orestes, a son of Agamemnon. (Virg., En., 4, v. 471.)

AGANIPPE, a celebrated fountain of Boeotia, on Mount Helicon. The grove of the Muses stood on the summit of the mountain, and a little below was Aganippe. The source Hippocrene was some distance above. These two springs supplied the small rivers Olmius and Permessus, which, after uniting their waters, flowed into the Copaic lake near Haliartus. (Strabo, 407 and 411.) Pausanias (9, 31) calls the former Lemnus. Aganippe was sacred to the Muses, who from it were called Aganippides. Ovid (Fast., 5, 7) has the expression "fontes Aganippidos Hippocrenes,” whence some are led to imagine that he makes Aganippe and Hippocrene the same. This, however, is incorrect: the epithet Aganippis, as used by the poet, being equivalent here merely to " Musis sacra." -II. A nymph of the fountain.

AGAPENOR, the son of Ancæus, and grandson of Lycurgus, who led the Arcadian forces in the expedition against Troy, and, after the fall of that city, was carried by a storm, on his return home, to the island of Cyprus, where he founded the city of Paphos. AGAPETUS. Vid. Supplement.

AGASSE, a city of Thessaly, supposed by Marinert (7, 470) to be the same with the Agea of Ptolemy, which he places to the south of Beroa. (Ptol., p. 84.) It was given up to plunder by Paulus Æmilius for having revolted to Perseus after its surrender. (Liv., 45, 27.) There are ruins near the modern Cojani, which, in all probability, mark the site of the ancient place.

AGASUS, a harbour of Apulia, near the Promontorium Garganum. (Plin., 3, 11.) It is supposed to answer to the modern Porto Greco. (Cluver, Ital. Ant., vol. 2, p. 1212.)

AGATHARCHIDES, I. or Agatharchus, a native of Cnidus, in the time of Ptolemy VI. (Philometor) and his successor. Photius states (Biblioth., vol. 1, p. 171, ed. Bekker), that he had read or was acquainted with the following geographical productions of this writer. 1. A work on Asia (Tù каTù Tǹv 'Acíav), in ten books: 2. A work on Europe (Tù κarà tìv_Expóñm), in forty books: and, 3. A work on the Erythræan Sea (Ilepi Tic 'Epv0püç vahúσons). The patriarch adds, that there existed the following other works of the same writer. 1. An abridged description of the Erythræan Sea ('ETITOμÙ τŵν пεрì тijç 'Еpvipûç vazáσons), in one book: 2. An account of the Troglodytes (Ilepì Tpwyλodvrov), in five books: 3. An abridgment of the poem of Antimachus, entitled Lyde (Eniroμn tùs 'Avτiuúxov Aúðnç): 4. An abridgment of a work on extraordinary winds (Επιτομὴ τῶν περὶ συναγωγῆς davμaoiwv dvéμov): 5. An abridged history ('Ek2.0yai loropiov): and, 6. A treatise on the art of living happily with one's friends. Photius passes a high eulogium on this writer, and makes him to have imitated the manner of Thucydides. The patriarch has also preserved for us some extracts from the first and fifth books of the work of Agatharchides on the Erythræan Sea, in which some curious particulars are found respecting the Sabæans and other nations dwelling along the coasts. Here also we have an account of

AGAR, a town of Africa Propria, in the district of the mode of hunting elephants, of the method emByzacium, and probably not far from Zella. AGAPIUS. Vid. Supplement.

ployed by the Egyptians in extracting gold from marble, where nature had concealed it; while the whole

AGARA, a city of India intra Gangem, on the south-is intermingled with details appertaining to natural hiscrn bank of the Iomanes (Dschumna), and northwest of Palibothra. It is now Agra. (Bischoff und Möller, Wörterb. der Geogr., s. v.)

AGARI ('Αγάρου πόλις, οι Αργείρου πόλις, Ριοί. Argari Urbs, Tab. Peut.), a city of India intra Gangem, on the Sinus Argaricus. It is thought to correspond to

tory. The valuable information furnished by Agatharchides respecting the people of Ethiopia, has already been alluded to under that article. The fragments of Agatharchides were published, along with those of Ctesias and Memnon, by H. Stephens, Paris, 1557, 8vo. They are given, however, in a more complete form by

Hudson, in his edition of the minor Greek geographers. (Schöll, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 3, p. 391.)-II. A native of Samos, whose IIɛpotká is cited by Plutarch in his Parallels. He is otherwise entirely unknown, and hence some have supposed him to be identical with Agatharchides of Cnidus, and the IIɛpoikú to be merely a section of the work on Asia by this writer. (Schöll, Hist. Litt. Gr., l. c.)

AGATHARCHUS, I. an Athenian artist, mentioned by Vitruvius (lib. 7, præf.), and said by him to have invented scene-painting. He was contemporary with Eschylus, and prepared the scenery and decorations for his theatre. Sillig (Dict. Art., s. v.) maintains, that the words of Vitruvius, in the passage just referred to, namely, "scenam fecit," merely mean, that Agatharchus constructed a stage for Aschylus, since, according to Aristotle (Poët., 4), Sophocles first brought in the decorations of scenery (σкпνоуpapíα). But the language of Vitruvius, taken in connection with what follows, evidently refers to perspective and scenepainting, and Bentley also understands them in this sense. (Diss. Phal., p. 286.) Nor do the words of Aristotle present any serious obstacle to this opinion, since Sophocles may have completed what Agatharchus began. II. A painter, a native of Samos, and contemporary with Zeuxis. We have no certain statement respecting the degree of talent which he possessed. Sillig (Dict. Art., s. v.) thinks it was small, and cites in support of his opinion the language of Andocides (Orat., c. Alcib., § 17). Plutarch, however, informs us, that Alcibiades confined Agatharchus in his mansion until he had decorated it with paintings, and then sent him home with a handsome present. (Vit. Alcib., 16.) Andocides charges Alcibiades with detaining Agatharchus three whole months, and compelling him during that period to adorn his mansion with the pencil. And he states that the painter escaped to his house only in the fourth month of his duress. Sillig thinks that this was done in order to cast ridicule upon the artist, an inference far from probable, though it would seem to derive some support from the remark of the scholiast on Demosthenes (c. Mid., p. 360), as to the nature of the provocation which Agatharchus had given to Alcibiades. Bentley makes only one artist of the name of Agatharchus, but is silent as to the difficulty which would then arise in relation to this artist's being contemporaneous with both Eschylus and Zeuxis. Agatharchus prided himself upon his rapidity of execution, and received the famous retort from Zeuxis, that if the former executed his works in a short time, he, Zeuxis, painted" for a long time," i. e., for posterity.

AGATHEMERUS, I. a Greek geographer. The period when he flourished is not known; it is certain, however, that he came after Ptolemy; and very probably he lived during the third century of our era. The only work by which he is known is an abridgment of geography, entitled 'Yñotúпwois tùs yewypapíaç, ¿v ÈπITou, in two books. This little production appears to have reached us in a very imperfect state. It is a series of lessons dictated to a disciple named Philo, to serve him as an outline for a course of mathematical and physical geography. In the first chapter he gives a sketch of history and geography, and names the most useful writers in these departments. He gives us here some particulars worthy of notice that we might search in vain for in Strabo. In the chapters that follow, Agathemerus treats of the divisions of the earth, of winds, seas, islands, &c. After the sixteenth chapter comes an extract from Ptolemy. The second book is only a confused repetition of the first, and is the work, probably, of some ignorant disciple. The first edition of Agathemerus is that of Tennulius, in Greek and Latin, Amst., 1671, 8vo. It is to be found also in the collection of ancient geographical writers, by Gronovius, Lugd. Bat., 1679 and 1700, 4to, and in Hud

son's collection. (Schöll, Hist. Litt. Gr., vol. 5, p 324.)-II. A physician. (Vid. Supplement.)

[ocr errors]

AGATHIAS, a poet and historian, born at Myrina, in Eolis, on the coast of Asia Minor, probably about 536 A.D. He studied at Alexandrea, and went in the year 554 to Constantinople. He possessed some talent for poetry, and wrote a variety of amorous effusions, which he collected in nine books, under the title of "Daphniaca.' A collection of epigrams, in seven books, was also made by him, of which a great number are still extant, and to be found in the Anthology. His principal production, however, is an historical work, which he probably wrote after the death of the Emperor Justinian. It contains, in five books, an account of his own times, from the wars of Narses to the death of Chosroes, king of Persia. His work is of great importance for the history of Persia. According to his own account, he would appear to have been conversant with the Persian language, since he states that he compiled his narrative from Persian authorities (ÈK TWν πаρù opiow ¿yyɛypaμμévwv, p. 125). He writes, perhaps, with more regard for the truth than poets are wont to do; but his style is pompous and full of affectation, and his narrative continually interspersed with commonplace reflections. The mediocrity of a bastard time is clinging fast to him, and the highest stretch of his ambition seems to have been to imitate the ancient writers. By faith he was undoubtedly a Christian, and probably prided himself upon his orthodoxy; for when he mentions that the Franks were Christians, he adds, kai τÿ óрłoτúτη xрúμevol dóźn. His reminiscences of the Homeric poems supplied him with a large stock of epic words, which swim on the smooth surface of his narrative like heavy logs upon stagnant water. The work of Agathias may be regarded, in point of learning and diction, as a fair specimen of the age in which he lived; few men at Alexandrea or Constantinople may have surpassed him as a writer. (Foreign Review, No. 2, p. 575.) The best edition is that published in 1828, as Part III. in the collection of Byzantine historians, at present publishing at Bonn.

AGATHĪNUS. Vid. Supplement.

AGATHO, an Athenian tragic writer, the contemporary and friend of Euripides. At his house Plato lays the scene of his Symposium, given in honour of a tragic victory won by the poet. Agatho was no mean dramatist. He is called 'Ayúlwv ó khɛivóc by Aristophanes. (Thesmoph., 29.) The same writer pays a handsome tribute to his memory as a poet and a man, in the Rane (v. 84), where Bacchus calls him dyalòs TоINTÈS KAÌ Tоdεivòs Toiç pihois. In the Thesmophoriazusa, however, which was exhibited six years before the Rana, Agatho, then alive, is introduced as the friend of Euripides, and ridiculed for his effeminacy. His poetry seems to have corresponded with his personal appearance; profuse in trope, inflexion, and metaphor; glittering with sparkling ideas, and flowing softly on with harmonious words and nice construction, but deficient in manly thought and vigour. Agatho may, in some degree, be charged with having begun the decline of true tragedy. It was he who first commenced the practice of inserting choruses between the acts of the drama, which had no reference whatever to the circumstances of the piece; thus infringing the law by which the chorus was made one of the actors. (Aristot., Poët., 18, 22.) He is blamed also by Aristotle (Poët., 18, 17) for want of judgment, in selecting too extensive subjects. He occasionally wrote pieces with fictitious names (a transition towards the new comedy), one of which was called the Flower, and was probably, therefore, neither seriously affecting nor terrible, but in the style of the Idyl. (Schlegel, Dram. Litt., vol. 1, p. 189.) One of Agatho's tragic victories is recorded, Ol. 91, 2, B.C. 416. He too, like Euripides, left Athens for the court of Archelaus. AGATHOCLEA. Vid. Supplement.

« PoprzedniaDalej »