originally applied by the Romans to the country around the coast of Africa, they had the sun on their right Carthage, the first part of the continent with which hand." The report which Herodotus thought so strange they became acquainted, and the appellation is said to as to throw discredit on the whole narrative, namely, have been derived from a small Carthaginian district that in passing round Africa the navigators had the on the northern coast, called Frigi. (Ritter, Erdkun- sun to the right, affords to us, as has been well rede, 1, p. 955, 2d ed.) Hence, even when the name marked, the strongest presumption in favour of its truth, had become applied to the whole continent, there still since this never could have been imagined in an age remained, in Roman geography, the district of Africa when astronomy was yet in its infancy. The PhoeniProper, on the Mediterranean coast, corresponding to cians must of course have had the sun on their right after the modern kingdom of Tunis, with part of that of Trip- having passed the line. (Larcher, ad Herod., l. c.oli. The term Libya, on the other hand, though used vol. 3, p. 458.-Compare Rennell, Geography of Heby the Greeks to designate the entire country, became rodotus, p. 718.) Many writers, however, have lalimited with the Romans to a part merely; and thus boured to prove that the voyage, in all probability, we have with the latter, the region of Libya, extending never took place; that the time in which it is said to along the coast from the Greater Syrtis to Egypt, and have been performed was too short for such an enterstretching inland to the deserts-The knowledge prise at that early day; in a word, that the undertawhich Herodotus possessed of this continent was far king was altogether beyond any means which navfrom extensive. He considered Africa as terminating igation at that era could command. (Gossellin, Renorth of the equinoctial line; and, even in these nar- cherches, &c., vol. 1, p. 199, seqq.-Mannert, 1, p. row limits, Egypt alone, ranking it as a part of Africa in 21, seqq.-Malte-Brun, 1, p. 30.) But the learn fact, is clearly described. If we exclude Egypt, the ed arguments of Rennell impart to the tradition a acquaintance possessed by the historian relative to the strong aspect of probability. (Rennell, Geography other parts of the continent, and which is founded on of Herodotus, p. 672, seqq.—Compare Larcher, ad the information imparted by others, follows merely Hered., l. c., vol. 3, p. 458, seqq.-Murray, Account three lines of direction: one proceeds along the Nile, of discoveries in Africa, 1, p. 10, seqq.) The date and reaches probably the limit of modern discoveries of this first circumnavigation of Africa is supposed to in that quarter; another, leaving the temple and Oasis be about 600 B.C. In that rude stage of the art of of Ammon, loses itself in the great desert; while a navigation, however, the knowledge of a passage by third advances along the Mediterranean coast as far as the Southern Ocean was as unavailable for any merthe environs of Carthage. (Malte- Brun, 1, p. 26, cantile or practical purposes, as the discovery of a northBrussels ed.) The natives of Africa are divided by west passage in modern days. The precarious and Herodotus into two races, the Africans, or, to adopt tardy nature of the voyage, as well as the great expense the Greek phraseology, Libyans, and the Ethiopians; attending it, would necessarily preclude its being made one possessing the northern, the other the southern the channel of a regular commerce; nor was there any part (4, 197). By these appear to be meant the sufficient inducement for repeating the attempt, as the Moors, and the Negroes, or the darker-coloured nations articles of merchandise most in request were to be had of the interior. The common boundary of the Afri- much nearer home. Exaggerated representations, cans and Æthiopians in ancient times may be placed moreover, of the frightful coast, and of the stormy and at the southern border of the Great Desert. Hanno boundless ocean into which it projected, would natufound the Ethiopians in possession of the western rally concur in intimidating future adventurers. coast, about the parallel of 19°; and Fliny (5, 31).cordingly, we are informed by Herodotus (4, 43), that places them at five journeys beyond Cerne. At present the negroes are not found higher up than the Senegal river, or about 17°, and that only in the inland parts. (Rennell, Geography of Herodotus, p. 427, seqq.) Nothing, however, can be more indeterminate than the terms Ethiopia and Ethiopian; and it is certain that many distinct races were included under the latter denomination. (Vid. Æthiopia.) The whole of Africa, except where it is joined to Asia, was known by the ancients in general to be surrounded by the sea; but of its general figure and extension towards the south they had no accurate knowledge. There is strong reason, however, to believe, that, at an era anterior to the carliest records of history, the circumnavigation of Af rica was accomplished by the Phoenicians in the service of Necho, king of Egypt. Herodotus, to whom we are indebted for the knowledge of this interesting fact, speaking of the peninsular figure of the continent of Africa, says (4, 42): "This discovery was first made by Necho, king of Egypt, as far as we are able to judge. When he had desisted from opening the canal that leads from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, he sent certain Phoenicians in ships, with orders to pass by the Columns of Hercules into the sea that lies to the north of Africa, and then to return to Egypt. These Phoenicians thereupon set sail from the Red Sea, and entered into the Southern Ocean. On the approach of autumn, they landed in Africa, and planted some grain in the quarter to which they had come when this was ripe and they had cut it down, they put to sea again. Having spent two years in this way, they in the third passed the Columns of Hercules, and returned to Egypt. Their relation may obtain credit from others, but to me it seems impossible to be believed; for they affirmed, that, as they sailed around Ac Sataspes, a Persian nebleinan, who was condemned by Xerxes to be impaled, had his sentence commuted for the task of sailing round the African continent. He made the attempt from the west, passing the Columns of Hercules, and sailing southward along the western coast for several months; till baffled probably by the adverse winds and currents, or finding himself carried out into an immense and apparently boundless sea, he in despair abandoned the enterprise as impracticable, and returned by the way of the Straits to Egypt; upon which the monarch ordered the original sentence to be executed upon him. These attempts to circumnavigate Africa were made under the direction of the most powerful monarchs of the age; the next was undertaken by a private adventurer. We are informed by Strabo (98), who cites Posidonius as his authority, that a certain Eudoxus, a native of Cyzicus, having been deputed by his fellow-citizens to convey their solemn offering to the Isthmian celebration at Corinth, went, after having executed this commission, to Egypt, and had several conferences with the reigning monarch, Euergetes II., and also with his ministers, respecting various topics, but particularly concerning the navigation of the Nile in the upper part of its course. This man was an enthusiast in topographical researches, and not wanting in erudition. It happened that, about this same time, the guard-vessels on the coast of the Arabian Gulf picked up an Indian, whom they found alone in a bark and half dead. He was brought to the king; but no one understanding his language, the monarch ordered him to be instructed in Greek; and when he could speak that tongue, the Indian stated that, having set sail from the coast of India, he had lost his way, and had seen all his companions perish through famine. He promised, if the king would send him back, to show the way to India to those whom the monarch should left on some desert island; and the latter, having discharge with this commission. Euergetes assented, and covered this, escaped into the Roman province, and Eudoxus was one of those directed to go on this er- thence passed over into Spain. Here he constructed rand. He sailed with a cargo of various articles calcu- two vessels, one intended to keep near the coast, the lated for presents, and brought back in exchange aro- other to sail in deep water; and, having taken on board matics and precious stones. He was disappointed, agricultural implements, various kinds of grain, and however, in the expectations of profit which he had en- skilful artificers, he set sail on a second voyage, resolvtertained, since the king appropriated all the return-ing, if the navigation became too long, to winter in the cargo to himself. After the death of Euergetes, Cleo-island which he had previously discovered. At this patra, his widow, assumed the reins of government, and point, unfortunately, the narrative of Posidonius, as sent Eudoxus on a second voyage to India with a rich- detailed by Strabo, stops short, leaving us totally in the er supply of merchandise than before. On his return, dark as to the result. Pomponius Mela (3, 9, 10) tells he was carried by the winds to the coast of Ethiopia, us, on the alleged authority of Cornelius Nepos, that where, landing at several points, he conciliated the na- Eudoxus actually made the circuit of Africa, adding tives by distributing among them corn, wine, and dried some particulars of the most fabulous description figs, things of which until then they had been ignorant. respecting the nations whom he saw. But no deHe received in exchange water and guides. He noted pendance can be placed on this doubtful authority; down also some words of their language; and found, whereas the narrative of Posidonius bears every mark moreover, in this quarter, the extremity of a ship's prow, of authenticity. (Compare Murray, 1, p. 13, seqq., carved in the shape of a horse's head. This fragment, and Malte- Brun, 1, p. 68, where the voyage of Eudoxus he was told, had belonged to a shipwrecked vessel that is defended against the remarks of Gossellin in his Recame from the west. Having reached Egypt, he found cherches, &c., 1, p. 217, seqq.) These are the only the son of Cleopatra on the throne, and he was again instances on record in which the circumnavigation of despoiled of the fruits of his voyage, being charged Africa was either performed or attempted by the anwith having converted many things to his own use. cients. Other voyages were, however, undertaken As regards the fragment of the shipwrecked vessel with a view to the exploration of certain parts of its Drought home with him, he exposed it in the market- unknown coasts. The most memorable is that perplace for the examination of pilots and masters of ves- formed along the western coast by Hanno, about 570 sels, who informed him that it must have belonged to years before the Christian era. The Carthaginians a ship from Gades (Cadiz). The grounds of their be- fitted out this expedition with a view partly to colonilief were as follows: the traders of Gades, according zation and partly to discovery. The armament conto them, nad large vessels; but the less wealthy, small-sisted of sixty ships, of fifty oars each, on board of which er ones, which they called horses, from the ornament were embarked persons of both sexes to the number of on their prows, and which they used in fishing along 30,000. After two days' sail from the Columns of the coasts of Mauritania as far as the river Lixus. Hercules, they founded, in the midst of an extensive Some shipmasters even recognised the fragment as hav- plain, the city of Thymiaterium. In two days more ing belonged to a certain vessel of this class, which, they came to a wooded promontory, and, after sailing with many others, had attempted to advance beyond round a bay, founded successively four other cities the Lixus, and had never after been heard of. From They then passed the mouth of a great river, called the these statements Eudoxus conceived the possibility of Lixus, flowing from lofty mountains inhabited by incircumnavigating Africa. He returned home, disposed hospitable Ethiopians, who lived in caves. Thence of all his effects, and put to sea again with the money they proceeded for three days along a desert coast to a thus obtained, intending to attempt the enterprise in small island, to which they gave the name of Cerne, question. Having visited Dicearchia, Massilia, and and where they founded another colony; and afterward other commercial cities, he everywhere announced his sailed southward along the coast, till their farther progproject, and collected funds and adventurers. He was ress was arrested by the failure of provisions. (Hann. at length enabled to equip one large and two small ves- Peripl., in Geogr. Gr. Min., ed. Gail, 1, p. 113, sels, well-stored with provisions and merchandise, man- seqq.) With regard to the extent of coast actually exned chiefly by volunteers, and carrying, moreover, a plored by this expedition, the brief and indistinct narpompous train of artisans, physicians, and young slaves rative affords ample room for learned speculation and skilled in music. Having set sail, he was carried on his controversy. According to Rennell (Geogr. of Herod., way at first by favourable breezes from the west. The p. 719, seqq.), the island of Cerne is the modern Arcrews, however, became fatigued, and he was compell-guin, the Lixus is the Senegal, and the voyage extended, though reluctantly, to keep nearer the shore, and ed a little beyond Sierra Leone. M. Gossellin, on the soon experienced the disaster which he had dreaded, other hand (Recherches, &c., 1, p. 61, seqq.), contends his ship grounding on a sandbank. As the vessel did that the whole course was along the coast of Mauritanot immediately go to pieces, he was enabled to save nia; that the Lixus was the modern Lucos, Cerne was the cargo and great part of her timbers. With the Fedala, and the voyage extended little beyond Cape latter he constructed another vessel of the size of one Nun. Malte-Brun (1, p. 33, Brussels ed.) carries of fifty oars. Resuming his route, he came to a part Hanno as far as the bays called the Gulf dos Medaios, inhabited by nations who spoke the same language, as and the Gulf of Gonzalo de Cintra, on the shore of the he thought, with those on the eastern coast whom he desert: and he is induced to assume this distance, in had visited in his second voyage from India, and of some degree, from the fact of Himilco, another Carwhose tongue he had noted down some words. Hence thaginian, having advanced in the same direction as he inferred that these were a part of the great Ethio- far to the north as the coasts of Britain, a voyage much pian race. The smallness of his vessels, however, in- longer and more perilous than that said to have been duced him at length to return, and he remarked on his performed by Hanno along the African coast. (Piin., way back a deserted island, well supplied with wood 7, 67-Fest. Avien. Ora Marit., v. 80, seqq.) A and water. Having reached Mauritania, he sold his translation of the Periplus, however, will be found unvessels and repaired to the court of Bocchus, and ad- der the article Hanno, from which the student may vised that king to send out a fleet of discovery along draw his own conclusions.-At a much later period the coast of Africa. The monarch's friends, however, this part of the coast excited the curiosity of the Roinspired him with the fear that his kingdom might, in man conquerors. Polybius, the celebrated historian, this way, become gradually exposed to the visits and was sent out by Scipio on an exploratory voyage in incursions of strangers. He made fair promises, there- the same direction; but, from the meager account prefore, to Eudoxus, but secretly intended to have him served by Pliny, M. Gossellin infers that he did not sail quite so far as the Carthaginian navigator had done. | length to the continent in question. His knowledge -Let us now turn our attention, for a moment, to the of the western coast is far from extensive or accurate. 'interior of the country. We have already alluded in In passing the straits, we find, according to him, a general terms to the knowledge possessed by Herodo-mountain called by the Greeks Atlas, and by the bartus of Africa. To what we have stated on this sub- barians Dyris advancing thence towards the west, ject may be added the following curious narrative, we see Cape Cotes, and afterward the city of Tinga, which we receive from the historian himself (2, 32). situate opposite to Gades in Spain. To the south of "I was also informed," says Herodotus, "by some Tinga is the Sinus Emporicus, where the Phoenicians Cyreneans, that in a journey they took to the oracle of used to have establishments. After this the coast Ammon, they had conferred with Etearchus, king of bends in, and proceeds to meet the extremity of the the Ammonians; and that, among other things, dis- perpendicular line on the opposite side. We may coursing with him concerning the sources of the Nile, pardon Strabo for too lightly rejecting the discoveries as of a thing altogether unknown, Etearchus acquaint- of the Carthaginians along the western coast, since ed them, that certain Nasamones, a nation of Libya in- nothing proves him to have read the periplus of Hanno. habiting the Syrtis, and a tract of land of no great ex- An error, however, which cannot be excused, is that tent eastward of the Syrtis, came into his country, and, of placing Mount Atlas directly on the straits, since he being asked by him if they had learned anything touch- might have learned from the account of Polybius, that ing the Libyan deserts, answered that some petulant this mountain was situate far beyond, on the western young men, sons to divers persons of great power coast, and giving name to the adjacent ocean. With 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 by their companions to make this expedition, having furnished themselves with water and other necessary provisions, first passed through the inhabited country; and when they had likewise traversed that region which abounds in wild beasts, they entered the deserts, making their way towards the west. After they had travelled many days through the sands, they at length saw some trees growing in a plain, and they approached, and began to gather the fruit which was on them; and while they were gathering, several little men, less than men of middle size, came up, and, having seized them, carried them away. The Nasamones did not at all understand what they said, neither did they understand the speech of the Nasamones. However, they conducted them over vast morasses to a city built on a great river running from the west to the east, and abounding in crocodiles; where the Nasamones found all the inhabitants black, and of no larger size than their guides. To this relation Etearchus added, as the Cyreneans assured me, that the Nasamones returned safe to their own country, and that the men to whom they had thus come were all enchanters." (Compare the remarks under the article Nasamones.) Rennell (Geogr. of Herod, p. 432) observes, that it is extremely probable that the river seen by the Nasamones was that which, according to the present state of our geography, is known to pass by Tombuctoo, and thence eastward through the centre of Africa (in effect, the river commonly known by the name of Niger). What is called the inhabited country in this narrative, he makes the same with the modern Fezzan, in which also he finds the sandy and desert region traversed by the Nasamones. It appears certain to him, as well as to Larcher, that the city in question was the modern Tombuctoo. Malte- Brun, however (1, p. 28, Brussels ed.), thinks it impossible that Tombuctoo can be the place alluded to, since it is separated from the country of the Nasamones by so many deserts, rivers, and mountains.-In the days of Strabo, the knowledge possessed by the ancients of Africa was little, if at all, improved. The Mediterranean coast and the banks of the Nile were the only parts frequented by the Greeks. Their opinion respecting the continent itself was that it formed a trapezium, or else that the coast from the Columns of Hercules to Pelusium might be considered as the base of a right-angled triangle (Strabo, 17, p. 825, ed. Casaub), of which the Nile formed the perpendicular side, extending to Ethiopia and the ocean, while the bypothenuse was the coast comprehended between the extremity of this line and the straits. The apex of the triangle reached beyond the limits of the habitable world, and was consequently regarded as inaccessible: hence Strabo declares his inability to assign any precise a comparison of distances as given by Ptolemy and Marinus of Tyre, answers to Cape Bandellans, to the south of Cape Gardafui. (Gossellin, Recherches, vol. 1, p. 177, seqq.) Here a desert coast for a long time arrested the progress of maritime discovery on the part of the Greeks.-The knowledge of the day then, respecting the eastern and western coasts of Africa, appears to have extended no farther than 12° north latitude, or perhaps 12° 30'. The two sides were supposed to approximate, and between the Hesperi Ethiopes to the west, and the Cinnamomifera regio, to the east, the distance was supposed to be comparatively small. (Strabo, 119.) This intervening space was exposed to excessive heats, according to the common belief, and which forbade the traveller's penetrating within its precincts; while, at a little distance beyond, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were thought to unite. The hypothesis which we have here stated made Africa terminate at about one half of its true length, and represented this continent as much smaller than Europe. (Plin., 2, 108.—Id., 6, 33.—Pomp. Mela, 1, 4.) Still it was the one generally adopt ed by the Alexandrean school. (Eratosthenes, ap. Strab., passim.-Crates, ap. Gemin., Elem. Astron., c. 13.-Aratus, Phænom., v. 537.-Cleanthes, ap. Gemin., 1. c.-Cleomedes, Meteor., 1, 6, &c.) On the other hand, the opinion of Hipparchus, which united eastern Africa to India (Hipp., ap Strab., 6), remained for a long period contemned, until Marinus of Tyre and Ptolemy had adopted it. This adoption, however, did not prevent the previous hypothesis from keeping its ground, in some measure, in the west of Europe (Macrob., Somn: Scip., 2, 9.-Isidor., Orig., 14, 5), where it contributed to the discovery of the route by the Cape of Good Hope. (Malte-Brun, 1, p. 67, seqq., Brussels ed.)-Africa, according to Pliny (6, 33), is three thousand six hundred and forty-eight Ro man miles from east to west. This measure, estimated in stadia of seven hundred to a degree, would seem to represent the length of the coast from the valley of the Catabathmus to Cape Nun, which was also the limit of the voyage of Polybius, according to Gossellir. (Recherches, 1, p. 117, seqq.) The length of the inhabited part of Africa was supposed nowhere to exceed two hundred and fifty Roman miles. In passing, however, from the frontiers of Cyrenaica across the deserts and the country of the Garamantes, Agrippa (Plin., 1. c.) gave to this part of the world nine hundred and ten miles of extent. This measure, which we owe, without doubt, to the expedition against the Garamantes, conducts us beyond the Agades and Bornou, but does not reach the Niger. Whatever may be the discussions to which the very corrupt state of the Roman numerals in the pages of Pliny are calculated rieur de l'Afrique, Acad. des Inser., vol. 26, p. 64.) Others declare for the Bahr-el-Misselad. (Kennell, 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 ignorance may hazard any assertion, and pretend to decide any point, while the modesty of true science resigns itself to doubt. 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 AFRICANUS, I. Sextus Julius, a native of Palestine, with their cities Alcle and Cillaba: and likewise Cyd- belonging to a family that had come originally from amus. From these a chain of mountains, called the Africa. He lived under the Emperor Heliogabalus, Black by reason of their colour, extends in a direction and fixed his residence at Emmaus. This city havfrom east to west. Then come deserts, and afterward ing been ruined, he was deputed to wait on the emMatelgæ, a town of the Garamantes, the celebrated peror and obtain an order for rebuilding it, in which fountain of Debris, whose waters are hot from midday mission he succeeded, and the new city took the name to midnight, and cold from midnight to midday; and of Nicopolis. (Chron. Paschale, ann. 223.) About also Garama, the capital of the nation. All these A.D. 231, Julius Africanus visited Alexandrea to hear countries have been subjugated by the Roman arms, the public discourses of Heraclas. He had been and over them did Cornelius Balbus triumph." Pliny brought up in paganism, but he subsequently embraced then enumerates a large crowd of cities and tribes, the Christian faith, attained the priesthood, and died whose names were said to have adorned the triumph. at an advanced age. He was acquainted with the Malte-Brun, after a fair discussion of this subject, is Hebrew tongue, applied himself to various branches of opinion that Balbus must have penetrated as far as of scientific study, but devoted himself particularly to Bornou and Dongala, which appear to coincide with the perusal and investigation of the sacred writings, on the Boin and Daunagi of Pliny. The black mountains which he published a commentary. The work, howwere probably those of Tibesti. (Malte-Brun, 1, p. ever, that most contributed to his reputation, was a 85, Brussels ed.)—Marinus of Tyre, who came before Chronography in five books (IIɛvrúbibλiov XpovoñoPtolemy, pretended to have read the itinerary of a Ro-yikov), commencing with the Creation, which he man expedition under Septimius Flaccus and Julius fixes at 5499 B.C., and continued down to A.D. 221. Maternus. (Ptol., 1, 8, seqq.) These officers set This calculation forms the basis of a particular era, of out from Leptis Magna for Garama, the capital of the which use is made in the Eastern Church, and which Garamantes, which they found to be 5400 stadia from is styled the Historical Era, or that of the Historians the former city. Septimius, after this, marched di- of Alexandrea. Fragments of this work are preserved rectly south for the space of three months, and came by Eusebius, Syncellus, Joannes Malala, Theophanes, to a country called Agyzimba, inhabited by negroes. Cedrenus, and in the Chronicon Paschale. Photius Marinus, after some reasoning, fixes the position of says of this production, that, though concise, it omits this country at 24° south of the equator. A strict nothing important. (Biblioth., vol. 1, p. 7, ed. Bekker.) application of the laws of historical criticism will con- Eusebius has most profited by it, and, in his Chronogsign to the regions of fable this Roman expedition, un-raphy, often copies him. He has preserved for us known even to the Romans themselves. How can we also a letter of Africanus, addressed to Aristides, the possibly admit, that a general executed a march more object of which is to reconcile the discrepance between astonishing than even that of Alexander, and that no St. Matthew and St. Luke on the question of our Sacontemporary writer has preserved the least mention viour's genealogy. We have also another letter of of it! At what epoch, or under what reign, are we his, addressed to Origen, in which he contests the auto place this event? How, moreover, could an army, thenticity of the story of Susanna. Africanus likewise in three months, traverse a space equal to eleven hun- composed a large work in nine, or, according to others, dred French leagues? (Malte-Brun, 1, p. 128, Brus- in fourteen, or even twenty-four books, entitled KEσTOL, sels ed.) The form of Africa was totally changed by "Cestuses." This name was given it by the author, Ptolemy. We have seen that Strabo and Pliny re- because, like the Cestus of Venus, his collection congarded this part of the world as an island, terminating tained a mingled variety of pleasing things selected within the equinoctial line. The Atlantic Ocean was from numerous works. In it were discussed questions thought to join the Indian Sea under the torrid zone, of natural history, medicine, agriculture, chemistry, the heats of which were regarded as the most powerful &c. In the part that principally remains to us, and barrier to the circumnavigation of Africa. Ptolemy, which appears to have been extracted from the main who did not admit the communication of the Atlantic work in the eighth century, the art of war forms the with the Erythrean or Indian Sea, thought, on the topic of consideration. It is printed in the Mathematcontrary, that the western coast of Africa, after having ici veteres, Paris, 1693, fol., and also in the seventh formed a gulf of moderate depth, which he calls Hes- volume of the works of Meursius, Florence, 1746. It pericus ('Eonεpikóç), extended indefinitely between has also been translated by Guischardt in his Mémoires south and west, while he believed that the eastern Militaires des Grecs et des Romains, 1758, 4to. From coast, after Cape Prasum, proceeded to join the coast some scattered fragments of other portions of the same of Asia below Catigara. (Ptol., 7, 3.) This opinion, work, it would appear to have been, in general, of no which made the Atlantic and Indian Oceans only large very valuable character. For example, in order to basins, separated the one from the other, had been prevent wine from turning, we are directed to write on supported by Hipparchus. The interior of Africa pre- the bottom of the vessel the words of the psalmist, sents, in the pages of Ptolemy, a mass of confused no- "Taste and see how sweet is the Lord!" Again, in tions. 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 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 are in favour of the river of Bornou, or the Bahr-alGazel. (D'Anville, Mem. sur les fleuves de l'inte sume the shape of any animal, or even the form of the the murder of Atreus, (vid. Atreus, Ægisthus) and the 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 alliance, 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 prewas 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 variously 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 AGAMEDES 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 aireiv modóv), 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 Apollo, 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. Hyrieus.) 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 discov-dictions were generally treated (vid. Cassandra), he ery. 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, čpyov); Trophonius is the "nourisher" (Tpέow, Tрooóc); and Agamedes is the "very prudent one" (uyav and undos). 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, be- gisthus, the son of Thyestes, resided. During his comes Jupiter-Trophonius, and gives counsel to those absence, Ægisthus had carried on an adulterous inwho have the courage to descend into the cave at Le- tercourse with Clytemnestra, and he had set a watchbedea. He is Hades, the wise and good deity, as man, with a promise of a large reward, to give him the Plato calls him (Phædon, § 68). He is therefore, also, carliest tidings of the return of the king. As soon as the supreme intelligence that rules in the lower world, he learned that he was on the coast, he went out to which serves as a guide to the souls of the departed, welcome him, and invited him to his mansion. At the and accompanies them in their migrations. In the banquet in the evening, however, he placed, with the name Hyrieus, moreover, we see "a keeper of bees," participation of Clytemnestra, twenty men in conceala "bee-master" ('Ypievs, from pov, üptov, "a bee- ment, who fell on and slaughtered him, together with hive"), and the bee was connected with the mysteries Cassandra and all his companions. They died not, of Ceres, and also the transmigration of souls. There however, unavenged, for Egisthus alone was left alive. is, moreover, a strong analogy between the story as (Od., 4, 512, seqq.—Od., 11, 405, seqq.) The posthere told, and that related of the Egyptian monarch homeric account, followed by the Tragic writers, Rhampsinitus. Both fables appear to be allegorical makes Agamemnon to have fallen by the hands of his illustrations, connected with agriculture. (Creuzer, wife, after he had just come forth from the bath, and Symbolik, vol. 2, p. 381-Guigniaut, vol. 2, p. 330.) while he was endeavouring to put on a garment, the AGAMEMNON, king of Mycenae and commander of sleeves of which had been sewed together, as well as the Grecian forces against Troy. He was brother to the opening for the head, and by which, of course, all Menelaus, and was, according to most authorities, the his movements were obstructed, and, as it were, fetterson of Plisthenes. As, however, Plisthenes died ed. (Schol. ad Eurip., Hec., 1277.-Compare Eurip., young, and his widow Aërope was taken in marriage Orest., 25.-Esch, Agam., 1353-Id., Eumen., by Atreus, the sons of Plisthenes, Agamemnon and 631.) His death was avenged by his son Orestes. Menelaus namely, were brought up by their grand-(Vid. Orestes.) Before concluding this article, it may father, now become their stepfather, and were called not be amiss to remark, that Homer knows nothing of Atridæ, as if they had been his own sons. (Apollod., Plisthenes as the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus: 3, 2, 2-Heyne, ad loc.-Schol., ad Il., 2, 249.) On he calls them simply the offspring of Atreus. Accord |