their temples. The hymn sung by these priests was discovered in 1778, in opening the foundations of the sacristy of St. Peter's, inscribed on a stone. Consult Forcellini (Lex. Tot. Lat., s. t. Arvales), where the question is considered, whether the Arvales and the Ambarvales were distinct priesthoods or not. Reference is there made to the work of Marinio," Degli Attiche Monumenti de' Fratelli Arvali, scolpiti gia in tavole di marmo, ed ora raccolti, diciferatie commentati. Roma, 1795, 2 vols. 4to."

ARUERIS, a god of the Egyptians, son of Isis and Osiris. (Vid. Horus.)

ARVERNI, a powerful people of Gaul, whose territories lay between the sources of the Elaver or Allier, and Duranius or Dordogne, branches of the Liger and Garumna. The district is now Auvergne. Their capital was Augustunometum, now Clermont. They were a powerful nation, and were only conquered after great slaughter. Their name is supposed to be derived from Ar, or al, "high," and Verann (fearann), “country" or "region." (Thierry, Hist. des Gaulois, vol. 2, p. 29.)

ARIUSIUM PROMONTORIUM, a promontory of Chios. The adjacent country was famous for producing a wine (Vinum Ariusium) that was considered the best of all the Greek wines. (Virg., Eclog., 5, 71.Strab., 955.-Plut, non posse suav. viri, &c., c. 17. -Clem. Alex., Pæd., 2, 2.)

ARUNS TARQUINIUS, I. a brother of Lucius Tarquinius, or Tarquin the Proud. He was of a meek and gentle spirit, and was married to the younger Tullia. His wife, a haughty and ambitious woman, murdered him, according to the old legend, and married Tarquin the Proud, who had, in like manner, made away with his own spouse. (Liv., 1, 46.-Arnold's Rome, vol. 1, p. 41.)-II. A son of Tarquin the Proud. In the first conflict that took place after the expulsion of his father, he and Brutus slew each other. (Liv., 2, 6.-Arnold's Rome, vol. 1, p. 108.)

ARUNTIUS, I a Roman writer, who, with an affectation of the style of Sallust, composed in the age of Augustus a history of the first Punic war. (Voss., de Hist. Lat., 1, 18.)-II. A Roman poet, whose full name was Aruntius Stella. He is highly praised by Statius, who dedicated some of his productions to him, and also by Martial. Among the works that he composed was a poem on the victory of Domitian over the Sarmatæ. His writings have not come down to us. (Statius, Sylv., 1, 2, 17.—ld. ih., 1, 2, 258, &c.Martial, 5, 59, 2.-Id., 12, 3, 11, &c.)

As-gard of Scandinavian mythology. (Ritter's Vorhalle, p. 296, seqq.-Consult remarks under the article Asi.)

ASBYSTÆ, a small inland tribe of Africa, situate between the Gilligamme on the east, and the Auschise on the west (Herodot., 4, 170), and above Cyrenaica. They had no communication with the coast, which was occupied by the Cyreneans. According to Herodotus (l. c.), they were beyond all the Africans remarkable for the use of chariots drawn by four horses. (Rennell, Geogr. Herod., vol. 2, p. 265.)

ASCALAPHUS, I. a son of Mars and Astyoche, went to the Trojan war at the head of the Orchomenians, with his brother Ialmenus. He was killed by Deiphobus. (Hom., Il., 2, 513.)-II. A son of Acheron by Gorgyra or Orphne, stationed by Pluto to watch over Proserpina in the Elysian fields. It was he who testified to the fact of Proserpina's having eaten a pomegranate sced in the kingdom of Pluto. (Vid. Proserpina.) He was changed into an owl for his mischief-making. (Ovid, Met., 5, 549.) Another legend says that Ceres placed a large stone on him in Erebus, which Hercules rolled away. (Apollod, 1, 5, 3.-Id., 2, 5, 12) There are likewise other variations in the fable, as given by the ancient mythologists. According to Antoninus Liberalis (c. 24), who quotes from Nicander, the name of the individual was Ascalabus, son of the nymph Misme (Mioun). His mother having handed Ceres a drink when the latter was searching for her daughter, and the goddess having, through excessive thirst, drained the cup at a single draught, Ascalabus, in derision, ordered a caldron to be brought; whereupon the offended deity changed him into a lizard. (Compare Muncker, ad Anton. Lib., l. c., and Creuzer, Symbolik, vol. 4, p. 467, seqq.)

ASCALON, a maritime town of Palestine, 320 furlongs from Jerusalem, between Azotus to the north, and Gaza to the south. Venus Urania was worshipped in this city. Her temple was pillaged, according to Herodotus, by the Scythians, B.C. 630. Here also was worshipped the goddess Derceto. Ascalon was taken from the Assyrians by the Persians, and afterward fell successively into the hands of Alexander the Great, Ptolemy, and Antiochus I.; but, during the wars between Antiochus Epiphanes and his brother Philopator, it became independent, and remained so until it fell under the Roman power. It was frequently taken by the Saracens, and suffered much during the crusades. Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, took it, after a siege of five or six months, in 1153 or 1154, at which time it was erected into an episcopal town; but, falling at length into the hands of the Turks, it was almost destroyed, and is now an insignificant place, which they occupy for the purpose of opposing the inroads of the Arabians. Its modern name is Scalona. ARYANDES, a Persian, appointed governor of Egypt Herod the Great was born in Ascalon, and hence reby Cambyses. He was put to death by Darius for is-ceived the appellation of Ascalonites. (Plin., 5, 13. suing a silver coinage in his own name. (Herodot.,—Amm. Marcell., 14, 26-Ptol., 5, 16-Strabo, 4, 166.) 522.-Joseph., Ant. Jud., 6, 1.)

ARUSPEX. Vid. Haruspex.

ARXATA, a town of Armenia Major, situate on the Araxes, east of Artaxata, towards the confines of Media. (Strab, 528.) It is probably the Naxuana of Ptolemy.

ASANDER, a governor of the Cimmerian Bosporus under Pharnaces. He revolted against him B.C. 47; and having defeated both him and his successor, obtained peaceable possession of the government, which was afterward confirmed to him by Augustus. He separated by a wall the Tauric Chersonese from the continent. (Appian, Bell. Mithrad., 120-Dio Cassius, 42, 46.) ASCIRURGIUM, I. a Roman fortified post on the German side of the Rhine. Ptolemy places it where the Canal of Drusus joined the Yssel.-II. A town of Germany, placed by the Tab. Peuting. on the western bank of the Rhine, south of the modern Santen. (Compare Mannert, Geogr., vol. 3, p. 454.) Ritter has some curious speculations upon the name of this place, and seeks to trace an analogy between it and that of the Aspurgiani, on the Palus Mæotis (Strabo, 495), as also between both of these and the famed

ASCANIUS, I. son of Eneas by Creusa. According to the old legend (for it is not right to dignify such narratives with the name of history) he was saved from the flames of Troy by his father, whom he accompanied to Italy, where his name was afterward changed to Iulus. He behaved with great valour in the war which his father carried on against the Latins, and succeeded Eneas in the kingdom of Latinus, and built Alba, to which he transferred the seat of his empire from Lavinium. The fabulous chronology of the Roman writers makes the descendants of Ascanius to have reigned in Alba for about 420 years, under fourteen kings, till the age of Numitor. Ascanius him self reigned, according to the same authorities, thirtyeight years, of which thirty were passed at Lavinium, and the remainder at Alba. He was succeeded by Sylvius Posthumus, son of Eneas by Lavinia. Iulus,

the son of Ascanius, disputed the crown with him; | tetics was not cultivated before the time of Prodicus but the Latins gave it in favour of Sylvius, as he was descended from the family of Latinus, and Iulus was invested with the office of high-priest, which remained a long while in his family. (Liv., 1, 3.-Serv., ad Virg, En., 1, 270.-Dionys. Hal., 1, 76.-Plut, Vat. Rom.)-II. A river of Bithynia, which discharged into the Propontis the waters of the Lake Ascanius. (Plin., 5, 32-Aristot., ap Schol. Apollon. R., 1, 1177.)-III. A lake in the western part of Bithynia, near the head waters of the Sinus Cianus. At its eastern extremity stood the city of Nicæa. Aristotle observes, that the waters of this lake were so impregnated with nitre, as to cleanse the clothes dipped into them. (Mirab. Auscult., c. 54.-Plin., 31, 10.) According to Colonel Leake, the Ascanian Lake is about ten miles long and four wide, surrounded on three sides by steep woody slopes, behind which rise the snowy summits of the range of Olympus. (Leake's Asia Minor, p. 7.—Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 1, p. 180.)

of Selymbria, and Hippocrates confirms the assertion of the philosopher. (Sprengel, Apol. d'Hippocr., pt. 11, p. 271) Anatomy, again, could not flourish in Greece, through the force of popular prejudice, and these prejudices took their rise from the belief, that the soul, after being disengaged from its material envelope, was obliged to wander on the banks of the Styx until the body was consigned to the earth or devoured by the flames. (Hom., I., 23, 71-Sprengel, Hist. Med., vol. 1, p. 169, seqq.)-II. A Greek physician, a native of Prusa in Bithynia, who lived in the age of Cicero, and who was the first that brought the art of medicine into reputation at Rome. After having acquired a name in Asia, he came to the capital of Italy, B.C. 110, rejecting the offers of Mithradates, king of Pontus, who wished him to reside at his court. Asclepiades was one of those ardent spirits destined to bring about a revolution in whatever carcer they move, and nature had endowed him with an attractive kind of eloquence, which he often abused. At Rome ASCLEPIEA ('AoKλnmiɛia), a festival in honour of he commenced giving lessons in rhetoric, but all of Esculapius ('Aokλŋmiós), celebrated in several parts a sudden, persuading himself, after a very superficial of Greece, but nowhere with so much solemnity as at acquaintance with medicine, that he was thoroughly Epidaurus. One part of the celebration, as we learn master of the art, he began to practice it. Unhappily, from Plato, consisted of contests in poetry and music. he brought into this new pursuit all the rash eagerness (Plat., Ion. init.Jul. Poll., 1, 37.-Pausan., 2, of his independent spirit, and all the philosophical er26, 7.) Another form of the name is Asclepea ('Ao-rors of opinion which, as a rhetorician, he had successKanela), respecting which, consult the remarks of ively adopted. The Romans had given a favourable Siebelis (ad Pausan., l. c.). reception to Archagathus before Asclepiades came ASCLEPIADES, I. the reputed descendants of Escu- among them, but they soon began to dislike his praclapius ('Aokληiós), consisting of several families tice, from his having recourse frequently to painful spread over Greece, and professing to have among remedies. Asclepiades, in order to gain a reputation, them certain secrets of the healing art handed down to pursued a course directly opposite to this. He made them from their great progenitor. The Asclepiades of it a point to give only such remedies as were agreeEpidaurus were among the most famous of the name. able and easy to bear. He applied, moreover, to the The Asclepiades compelled all who were initiated medical art all the erroneous philosophic notions of his into the mysteries of their science, to swear by Apol- day; and, speaking in this way to the Romans of things lo, Esculapius, Hygiea, Panacea, and all the other that entered into the plan of their studies, and alluring gods and goddesses, that they would not profane them also by the charms of his eloquence, he was enthe secrets of the healing art, but would only unfold abled to gain their confidence the more easily, from them to the children of their masters, or to those who being himself deceived into the belief that he was near should have bound themselves by the same oath. the truth. Adopting the corpuscular philosophy of (Consult Hippocr., öpkoç illustratus. a Meibomio, 4to, Epicurus, he made it the basis of his doctrine. He L. B., 1643.) We may, in this point of view, regard misunderstood that of Hippocrates, the only true one. as a locus classicus a passage of Galen, wherein he He even criticised openly the method of this great states that medical knowledge was at first hereditary, physician, namely, the calm observation of nature, and and that parents imparted it to their offspring as a called it, in derision, "the study of death" (davátov kind of family prerogative or possession. This usage, uehérηv.—Galen, de venæ sect. ado. Erasistr., p. however, became in process of time more relaxed, and 3). From Pliny's account of him, Asclepiades would then medical secrets began to be imparted to stran- appear to have been nothing more than a successful gers who had gone through the forms of initiation charlatan, who flattered the whims of his patients, and (Téλεioi uvdρeç), and were in this way rendered less rejected all the tortures which, under the name of regu exclusive in their character. (Galen, Administr. lar remedies, had been previously in vogue. He admitAnatom., lib. 2, p. 128.) It is for this reason that ted only five means of cure; dieting, occasional abstiAristides, in a later age, remarks, that a knowledge of nence from wine, frictions, exercise on foot, and the medicine was for a long time regarded as the attribute being carried in litters. (Plin., 26, 3.) The appearof the family of the Asclepiades. (Oral. Sacr., vol. ance, too, for the first time in Italy, of the disorder 1, p. 80.) And hence, too, Lucian makes a physician termed elephantiasis, and the alarm which it occasionsay, "My sacred and mysterious oath compels me to ed, could not fail to add greatly to the reputation of a be silent." (Tragopod., p. 818.) The theurgic phy- medical man who was skilful in curing it. (Plut., sicians of the Alexandrean school re-established, at a Sympos. 8, qu. 9.) Finally, the relations subsisting subsequent period, this ancient custom, in order to im- between him and the most distinguished Romans of his part, by the obligation of religious silence, a greater time, especially Cicero, contributed greatly to his degree of consideration to their superstitious practices. celebrity. (De Orat., 1, 14.) A singular circum(Alex. Trall, lib. 10, p. 593, ed. Guinth. Andernac.) stance also gained him great credit among the lower The Asclepiades appear to have established, among orders. Happening to pass, on one occasion, near a their disciples and in their manner of instructing, funeral train, he perceived that the body which was a distinction which we find existing also in the schools being conveyed to the funeral pile exhibited signs of of the philosophers. They imparted the ordinary life. He immediately employed the most active measbranches of medical knowledge to those who were not ures for its resuscitation, and succeeded, to the great yet initiated, but their profound secrets (ai úñóppηTo astonishment of the by-standers, who regarded what he didaokahia) only to those who had been admitted | into their mysteries. The Asclepiades neglected entirely two essential parts of the healing art, diet and anatomy. Plato says that an acquaintance with die

had done as a restoring from death to life, rather than as an act of ordinary healing. Asclepiades used to boast that he had never been sick; and if we credit Pliny, he did not even die of any malady, but from an

committed suicide by hanging.-There is evidently some analogy, in both form and meaning, between the Latin term oscilla and the Greek dokhia, and the common derivations given in either case cannot be correct. (Consult the etymology given by Servius, ad Virg., L. c.)

accident that befell him. We have some fragments | garded as a kind of funeral offering to those who had of his writings remaining, an edition of which was given by Gumpert, with a preface by Grüner, Vimar., 1794, 8vo. Asclepiades was the founder of a school, which enjoyed great celebrity among the ancients. Stephanus of Byzantium gives the names of several of his pupils (s. v. Avppúxior). A scholar of his, not mentioned by the latter, namely, Themisto, was the chief of the sect of the Methodists, as they were termed. (Biogr. Univ., vol. 2, p. 564.-Sprengel, Hist. Med., 2, p. 3, seqq.)

ASCONIUS Pedianus, a grammarian, born at Patavium, a little before the commencement of our era (Madvig, de Pediani Comment. Disp. Crit., p. 16), and who is known to modern times by his commentary ASCLEPIODORUS, I. an Athenian painter, contempora- on the orations of Cicero. The statement of Philarry with Apelles, who praised the former for the symme-gyrius, that Asconius had heard Virgil in his youth, try of his productions, and yielded him the palm in delin- deserves no credit whatever (ad Virg., Eclog., 3, eating the relative distances of objects. Mnaso, a tyrant 106), since it is contradicted in effect by the remark of of antiquity, employed him to paint the twelve deities St. Jerome, who informs us, that Asconius, in the 73d (Dii majores), and paid him 300 minas (over $5277) year of his age, and in the 7th of Vespasian's reign, for each. (Pliny, 35, 10.)-II. A statuary, one of suffered the loss of his sight, but still lived for twelve those, according to Pliny (34, 8), who excelled in rep-years after this. (Hieron., in Chronic. Euseb., ad resenting the philosophers. (Sillig, Dict. Art., s. v.) Olymp. ccxiii., 3.) Just as little credit is due to the ASCLEPIODOTUS, a native of Alexandrea, the disci- supposition of there having been two individuals named ple of Jacobus in medicine and of Proclus in eclectic Asconius, an earlier one, who was the friend of Livy philosophy, in both of which he acquired a distinguish- and Virgil, and wrote a commentary on Cicero's oraed reputation. Damascius gave a long account of him tions, and a later one, who was an historical writer. in the Life of Isidorus, of which Suidas and Photius All antiquity knows but one Asconius Pedianus. have preserved fragments. In medicine he surpassed (Jos., Scal. Animadv. ad Euseb. Chron., p. 183, ed. his instructer, and is said to have re-established the 1.-p. 200, ed. 2.)-Few particulars have reached us use of white hellebore, with which he made some very relative to Asconius. He composed a work in desuccessful cures. He was well acquainted also with fence of Virgil, now lost (Donat, in Vit. Virg., 16, the virtues of plants, and with the history of animals; 64), and another on the life of Sallust, which also has and made great progress also in the musical art. not reached us. He wrote likewise a commentary on Some wonderful stories are likewise related of him, the Orations of Cicero, for the use of his own son (ad which would seem to place him in the class of Thau- Orat. pro Milon., 6), some portions of which have maturgists. He wrote a commentary on the Timæus reached our day. The importance of these makes of Plato, which is now lost. (Photius, Cod., 242, vol. us feel the more sensibly the loss of the other parts. 2, p. 343, seqq.) (Madvig, p. 72, seqq.) We have fragments of the commentary on nine orations of Cicero: the Divinatio, three of those against Verres, the oration for Cornelius, the oration in tog. candid., that against Piso, and those for Scaurus and for Milo. The character of this commentary is in general historical, and Asconius appears in it as a man well acquainted with the history and earlier constitution of Rome. Frequently he is our only authority for certain facts, since the sources from which he has drawn, in such cases, no longer exist. His Latinity is tolerably pure and correct, and comparatively free from the barbarisms of a declining tongue; always excepting the commentaries on the Verrine orations, which are thought by the learned to have been the work of a later writer, who lived shortly after Servius and Donatus, and who probably derived his materials from some commentary of Asconius, now lost. It is to this same later writer, and not to Asconius, that Niebuhr assigns the scholia found by Mai, in 1814, in the Ambrosian palimpsest. (Nieb., ad Front. Op., ed. Berolin., p. xxxiv.-Bähr, Gesch. Röm. Lit., vol. 1, p. 539, seqq.)

ASCOLIA, a festival in honour of Bacchus, celebrated by the Athenian husbandmen, who generally sacrificed goat to the god, because that animal is a great enemy to the vine. They made a bottle or bag with the skin of the victim, which they filled with wine, smearing at the same time the outer surface with oil. On this they endeavoured to leap with one foot, and he that first fixed himself was declared victor, and received the bottle as a reward. This was called doκwhiúleiv, Taрà TоÙ ¿ñì Tòν doкòv üλλɛσ0αι, from leaping upon the bottle, whence the name of the festival is derived. It was also introduced into Italy under the name of Vinalia, on which occasion the rustics put on hideous masks of bark, and invoked Bacchus in joyful strains. They also hung up, at the same time, little images on a lofty pine. These images they called Oscilla. (Schol. ad Aristoph., Plut., 1129.—Virg., Georg., 2, 387, seqq.) Spence gives engravings from several gems, on which figures are represented, called oscilla or alopat. They are found also in the paintings at Herculaneum, and in Mercurialis (Art. Gymn., 3, 8, p. 217). Spence attributes the origin of this rite to the popular belief, that when Bacchus turned his face towards the fields, their fertility was assured. Hence they exposed these small figures to the winds, that they might be free to turn in any direction. Some writers think that the oscilla were the same with phallic symbols (compare Serv., ad Virg., I. c.), but this opinion now finds few, if any, supporters. (Turneb., Adv., 3, 20.-Rolle, Recherches sur le culte de Bacchus, vol. 1, p. 312) The Athenians had their festi val of oscilla, which they termed alúpat, and which was said to have been instituted in memory of Erigone; and hence Varro (ap. Serv. ad Æn., 12, 603) gives another singular explanation to the custom of suspending oscilla. According to him, a rope was suspended at either extremity from a beam or tree, and in this way a swing was formed, to which a little image or oscillum was suspended. The movement of this swing to and fro, with the image attached, was re

ASCRA, a town of Baotia, situate on a rocky summit belonging to Helicon. It could boast of considerable antiquity, having been founded, as the poet Hegesinous, quoted by Pausanias (9, 29), asserts, by Ephialtes and Otus, sons of Aloeus. What rendered the place, however, most remarkable, was its having been the residence of Hesiod. The poet was not a native of Cyme, but his father came from Cyme to Ascra, his native city, as he himself informs us (Op. et D., v. 635, seqq.). He does not give us a very favourable idea of the climate of the place. From his birthplace Ascra, Hesiod is commonly called the Ascrean bard. Pausanias reports, that in his day only one tower remained to mark the site of Ascra (9, 29). Dr. Clark imagined that the village of Zagora represents Ascra; but Sir W. Gell is inclined to identify it with an ancient tower he observed on a lofty, bare, conical rock; which agrees with the topography of Strabo, who places it to the right of Helicon, and

about forty stadja from Thespia. Greece, vol. 2, p. 207, seqq.)

(Cramer's Ancient | from the east or rather southeast, and mention is made of a country called Asa-land, and its metropolis AsASCULUM, I. Picenum, a city of Picenum, so named gard, in the vicinity, or to the east, of the Tanaïs, to distinguish it from the Asculum of Apulia. It was from which Odin and the Asa are said to have come situate in the interior, on the river Truentus, and some into Europe. (Saga Olafs Trygg. Ed. Skalh., 2, distance to the southwest of Firmum. Strabo de- 49.-Havn., 2, 183.-Append. Ed Jun., ed. Rask., scribes it as a place of great strength, surrounded by p. 354.-Magnusen, p. 287, 293) We see here, at walls and inaccessible heights. It was the first city once, the striking analogy between Asen-land and to declare against the Romans when the Social war Asia, and may easily suppose that by the former is broke out, and its example was followed by the whole meant merely a part of the latter, and that the name of Picenum. Asculum sustained, in the course of Asia itself means nothing more than the "land of the that war, a long and memorable siege against Pompey, Asi," or "the Holy Land." ("ASA, ASIA, solum who finally, however, compelled the place to surren- divinum, sacra terra."-Hickes, Thes. Ling. Sepder, and caused several of the chiefs of the rebels to be tentr., 1, p. 193.) As Odin and Buddha are the same beheaded. (Liv., Epit., 76.-Vell. Paterc., 2, 21.— deity (vid. Odinus), the worship of the Asi is to be Florus, 3, 18.-Appian, Bell. Civ., 1, 38.-Plut., Vit. referred to the remote East as its native home, and Pomp.) We learn from Pliny (3, 13) that Asculum Asgard near the Tanaïs must be regarded as merely was a Roman colony, and regarded as the chief city one of many sacerdotal stations where this worship of the province. It is now Ascoli.-II. Apulum, a was observed, and whence colonies were sent forth. city of Apulia, to which the epithet Apulum was Traces of the root from which these names are derived attached to distinguish it from Asculum in Picenum. may be found in several geographical appellations conIt was situate in the interior of Daunia, near the connected with the country around the Tanais. Thus we fines of Samnium, and is supposed to be represented have Caucasus (Cauc-asos, i. e., the mountain of the by the modern town of Ascoli, which is about six miles Asi), the river Phasis (Ph-asis, i. e., the holy stream), to the southwest of Ordona. It was under the walls the name Amazonius, sometimes applied to the Taof this place that Pyrrhus encountered a second time naïs (Am-azonius, i. e., Am-azon), and we find it rethe Roman army, after having gained a signal victory tained even in the modern term Az-oph. (Ritter, in Lucania. The action was attended with no advan- Vorhalle, p. 465.)—Many other curious analogies pretage to either side. (Florus, 1, 18. Plut., Vit. sent themselves. Pausanias (3, 2, 45) makes mention Pyrrh.-Frontin., Strateg., 1, 3.) Frontinus, who of an ancient city in Laconia, named Las (L-as), classes it among the colonies of Apulia, terms it Aus- which had succeeded a still earlier city of the same clum. This is probably the correct orthography, as name, that had stood on Mount Asia (As-ia), and amid may be seen from coins, the inscription on which is the ruins of this latter place were the remains of a AYCAION, and AYCKA. (Cramer's Ancient Italy, temple of Minerva Asia (As-ia, i. e, Asyniu). Pauvol. 2, p. 288.) sanias adds that Minerva Asia had also a temple among the Colchians. We may compare with this the Doric form of the name of the goddess, as appear. ing in Aristophanes, 'Aoavà (Asana, i. e., Asa-na of Asynia). There was also in Crete a very ancient sanctuary of Jupiter Asius. (Steph. Byz., p. 181, ed. Berk.) The Greek adjective datos (hos-ios), “sacred," may be traced to the same source, as well as the earlier form of the Latin term ara, "an altar," namely, asa (as-a.-Aul. Gell., 4, 3.) We may even carry our speculations into the Hebrew tongue, and connect with our subject the term Az, "mighty" or strong, ," and the appellation Azazel (Asa-el), given to an idol or false deity. (Consult Gesen., Lex. Hebr., s. v.)-If an etymology be sought for the name Asi, we may find it in the Sanscrit verb as, "to be,” the participle of which, namely, sant, is analogous to the Greek v, and reminds us of Zúv, one of the old Greek names for Jupiter or the Supreme Being. The Asi, then, are the "Beings,” Kar' ¿žoxýv.

ASDRUBAL. Vid. Hasdrubal.

Ast, or As (in the old Scandinavian Esir or Esir, the plural form of As), a general appellation given, in the mythology of northern Europe, to the deities that came in with Odin from the East. Including this latter divinity they were twelve in number, according to some, thirteen (Magnusen, Boreal. Mythol. Lex, p. 720), and there was the same number of female deities or Asyni.-While some are inclined to see in the Asi merely an Asiatic colony, wandering in from the vicinity of the Don, others, with much more propriety, find in the name a curious chain of connexion between the early religions of the Eastern and European worlds. The term As, in fact, appears to have been an old appellation for deity, and meets us in numerous quarters, under various though not very dissimilar forms. Thus, in the Coptic, Os is said to signify "Lord" or "Deity;" in the old Persian, good deities or spirits were called Ized, while by Berosus the gods are termed Isi. (Kanne, System der Ind. Myth., p. 228.) Again, in Sanscrit we have Isha, "a lord" or "master," the feminine of which, Ishana, reminds us at once of Asynia, a female deity, or Asa. Among the ancient Gauls, the supreme Being was denominated Esus or Hesus, a name that connects the Druidical worship with the East; while among many nations of Finnish origin, in Asiatic Russia, we have such terms for deity as Eis, Ess, Essi, and Oss. (Magnusen, p. 719, note. Heyd, Etymol. Versuch., Tubingen, 1824.) It is curious to connect with this the account given by the Roman writers, that in the Etrurian language Æsar signified "God." (Sueton., Aug., 97. Dio Cass., 56, 29.—Hesych., s. v. Aloot.-Müller, Etrusk., vol. 2, p. 81.) We may compare with this the old augural doctrine among the Etrurian priesthood, that the gods had their home or dwelling in the north, by which we see Scandinavia and Etruria brought singularly into contact. (Serv., ad n., 2, 693.--Dion. Hal., 2, 5.-Plut.. Quæst. Rom., 78.- -Müller, Etrusk., vol. 2, p. 126.)-Again, the traditions in the north of Europe are uniform, that the Asi came in

ASIA, I. one of the three parts of the ancient world, separated from Europe by the Egean, the Euxine, the Palus Mæotis, the Tanaïs or Don, and the Dwina; from Africa by the Red Sea and Isthmus of Suez. Asia is in its extent the largest continent, and in its situation the most favoured by nature. Its square contents amount to 14,000,000 miles. In comparison with other countries it has advantages, and especially over Africa. These advantages consist in the character of its broken shore, the fruitful islands which lie around it, its numerous gulfs that enter far into the land, its large rivers, and its few deserts in the interior. There are two principal chains of mountains extending from west to east. In the north, the Altai, which in antiquity was still without a name; in the south, the range of Taurus. Branches of both are the Caucasus, between the Black and Caspian Seas; the Imaus, along the golden desert (the desert of Cobi); the Paropamisus, on the northern side of India; the Uralian chain, in antiquity still without a name, unless these are the Rhiphæan mountains of the ancients. Of the chief rivers, four flow from

north to south; the Euphrates and Tigris into the Bochart, in modern days, has traced the appellation to Persian Gulf, the Indus and Ganges into the Indian Asi, a Phoenician word according to him, signifying Sea: two flow from east to west, the Oxus, now Gi-" a middle part," or something intermediate, and hence hon, and the laxartes, now Sirr.-Asia may therefore he makes Asia mean the continent placed between be divided into Northern Asia, the country north of Europe and Africa. (Geogr. Sacr., 4, 33, p. 298.) the Altai range: Middle Asia, the country between The true derivation, however, would seem to be that the ranges of Altai and Taurus: and Southern Asia, given in the preceding article. (Vid. Asi.)—Homer the country south of Taurus.-Northern Asia lies be- applies the name of Asia to a small district of Mactween 76° and 50° of latitude (Asiatic Russia and nia or Lydia, situated near the Cayster. (Il., 2, 461) Siberia). This in antiquity was very little known, yet Euripides, also, evidently restricts the appellation to not entirely unknown. Dark but true traditions re- a portion of Lydia, in a passage of the Baccha (v. specting it may be found in the father of history, He- 64.-Compare Dionys. Perieg., 386, and Eustath., rodotus-Middle Asia, the country between 50° and ad loc.). It would appear, indeed, that the Ionian 40° north latitude, comprehending Scythia and Sar- Greeks, on their first arrival on the banks of the Mamatia Asiatica (the Great Tartary and Mongolia), is ander and Cayster, found the name of Asia attached almost one immeasurable unproductive prairie, with- to this part of the continent, and communicated it out agriculture and forests, and, therefore, a mere pas- to their European countrymen, who in process of ture-land. The inhabitants leading pastoral lives (No- time applied it to all the countries situated to the east mades), are without cities and fixed places of abode; of Greece. It would be wrong, however, to suppose, and therefore, instead of political union, have merely that the name in question originally belonged merely the constitution of tribes.-Southern Asia, comprising to that part of the continent with which the Ionian the lands from 40° north latitude to near the equator, colonists first became acquainted. It would seem, is entirely different in its character from the countries on the contrary, to have been given at an early peof Middle Asia: it is, both in soil and climate, pos- riod to various spots connected with the worship of sessed of advantages for agriculture, and, in compari- the Asi, all pointing, however, to some region of the reson with the other countries of the earth, it is rich in mote East where the name most probably originated.— the costliest and most various products.-The early Herodotus employs the division of Upper and Lower commerce of the world, especially of the east, was Asia. The latter of these answers in fact to what we originally through Asia. The natural places of de- now call Asia Minor, while the former denotes the pôt in the interior were on the banks of the large vast tract of country situated to the east of the Eurivers; on the Oxus, in Bactria; on the Euphrates, phrates. It is not exactly known when the peninsula at Babylon. The natural places of depôt on the coast came to be designated by the name of Asia Minor; were the western coast of Asia Minor and Phoenicia, but it does not appear in any author prior to Orosius, where arose the series of Grecian and Phoenician cit- who employs it (1, 2), as well as Constantine Porphyies.-Asia from the first, as at present, contained in rogenetes (de Themat., 1, 8). The term Anadoli, its interior empires of immense extent, by which they used by the Turks to denote this portion of the Ottoare distinguished from those of cultivated Europe, as man empire, is a corruption of Anatolia, and this last well as by their constitution. They often underwent is derived from the Greek ȧvaron (the rising of the revolutions, but their form remained the same. For sun, i. e., the east), and answers to the Frank word this causes must have existed, lying deep and of wide Levant.-Few countries present such a diversity of influence, and which, notwithstanding these frequent soil and climate as the peninsula of Asia Minor. Iorevolutions, still continued to operate, and always gave nia, Lydia, Caria, and, indeed, generally speaking, the to the new empires of Asia the organization of the whole of Western Asia, were remarkable for their geold ones. The great revolutions of Asia (with the nial temperature and extreme fertility; while the exception of that of Alexander) were occasioned by mountainous districts of Lycia, Pisidia, Cilicia, and the numerous and powerful nomadic nations which oc- Cappadocia were very thinly inhabited, from the cupied a great part of that continent. Compelled by coldness of the climate and the unproductiveness of accident or necessity, they left their places of abode, the soil. Many parts of Phrygia and Galatia were and founded new empires, while they passed through also nearly deserted from the barrenness of the and subjected the fruitful and cultivated countries of ground, which was strongly impregnated with salt, Southern Asia, until, unnerved by luxury and effemi- and exhibited, besides, many traces of volcanic agennacy, consequent on the change in their habits of life, cy. The whole country, in fact, appears to have been they in their turn were in like manner subjected. subject at an early period to violent earthquakes, From this common origin may be explained in part which destroyed or damaged many flourishing cities. the great extent, in part the rapid rise and the usually (Strab., 578.) Nevertheless, Asia Minor, taken colshort continuance, of these empires. The develop- lectively, was one of the most productive and opulent ment of their internal form of government must, for countries of which antiquity has left us any account; the same reason, have had great resemblance; and and we have the authority of Cicero for stating, that the constant reappearance of despotism in them is to the Roman treasury derived its largest and surest revbe explained partly from the rights of conquerors, and enues from this quarter. (Or. pro Leg. Man., 2, 6) partly from their great extent, which rendered a gov- Some idea of its various productions will be given ernment of satraps necessary. To this we must add, in the remarks under each particular province. (Vid. that the custom of polygamy, prevailing among all the Mysia, Bithynia, Phrygia, &c.) Asia Minor was furgreat nations of inner Asia, ruined the mutual rela- nished also with numerous excellent harbours along tions and obligations of domestic life, and thus ren- its coast. Nor was any country more favoured by nadered a good constitution impossible. For a domes-ture, or more calculated to become the centre of a tic tyrant is formed instead of a father of a family, mighty and perhaps universal empire. But the moral and despotism at once gains its foundation in private character of its population has never kept pace with life. (Heeren's History of the States of Antiquity, the resources of the country; and this will probably p. 14, seqq., Bancroft's transl.)-As early as the always be the case as long as the softness of the clitime of Herodotus, we find the name of Asia em- mate and the fertility of the soil continue to exercise ployed to designate this vast continent. The Greeks, an enervating influence over the character of the peoas we learn from that historian, pretended that it was ple. (Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 1, p. 1, seqq.)— derived from Asia, the wife of Iapetus. The Lyd- II. Provincia, or Asia Proconsularis, the Roman ians, on the other hand, deduced the name from province of Asia, comprising Mysia, Lydia, Caria, Asius, one of their earliest kings. (Herod., 4, 45.) and Phrygia, with the exception of Lycaonia. This is