Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

Α

CLASSICAL DICTIONARY,

&c. &c. &c.

ABA

ABA

ABE, I. a city of Phocis, near and to the right of them by the fore part of their heads The truth is, they Elatea, towards Opus. The inhabitants had a tradition wore the hair long behind as a badge of valour, and so that they were of Argive descent, and that their city the scholiast on Homer means by avopeias xúpiv. was founded by Abas, son of Lynceus and Hypermnes- The custom of wearing long hair characterized many, if tra, grandson of Danaus (Paus. 10, 35). It was most not all of the warlike nations of antiquity; it prevailed probably of Thracian, or, in other words, Pelasgic ori- among the Scythians, who were wont also to cut off the gin. Abe was early celebrated for its oracle of Apol- hair of their captives as indicative of slavery (Hesych. lo, of greater antiquity than that at Delphi (Steph. Bayeri Mem. Scyth. in comment. Acad. Petr. 1732, B.). In later days, the Romans also testified respect p. 388); and also among the Thracians, Spartang for the character of the place, by conceding important Gauls (Galli comati), and the early Romans (intonsı privileges to the Abæans, and allowing them to live Romani). As to the origin of this custom among tho under their own laws (Paus. l. c.). During the Persian Spartans, Herodotus (1,82) seems to be in error, in da invasion, the army of Xerxes set fire to the temple, and ting it from the battle of Thyrea, since Xenophon (Lac. nearly destroyed it; soon after it again gave oracles, Pol. 11, 3) expressly refers it to the time of Lycur though in this dilapidated state, and was consulted for gus (Plut. Vit. Lys. 1). The practice of scalping, that purpose by an agent of Mardonius (Herod. 8, 134). which, according to Herodotus (4, 64), existed among In the Sacred war, a body of Phocians having fled to it the ancient Scythians (Casaub. ad Athen. 524), and for refuge, the Thebans burned what remained of the is still used by the North American Indians, appears temple, destroying, at the same time, the suppliants to owe its origin to this peculiar regard for the hair of (Diod. S. 16, 58). Hadrian caused another temple to be the head. The greatest trophy for the victor to gain, built, but much inferior in size. This city possessed also or the vanquished to lose, would be a portion of what a forum and a theatre. Ruins are pointed out by Sir each had regarded as the truest badge of valour, and the W. Gell (Itin. 266) near the modern village of Exar-skin of the head would be taken with it to keep the cho.-II. The Scholiast on Soph. (Ed. T. 890) men- hair together. On the other hand, shaving the head tions Aba as a city in Lycia, where Apollo is said to was a peaceful and religious custom, directly opposed have had a temple. But this is pronounced to be an to that just mentioned. It was an indispensable rite error by the best commentators. (Berk. ad Steph. B.) among the priests of Egypt (Herod. 2, 36); and even ABACENUM, a city of the Siculi, in Sicily, situated the deities in the hieroglyphics have their heads withon a steep hill southwest of Messana. Its ruins are out hair. Hence, too, may be explained what is said supposed to be in the vicinity of Tripi. Being an ally of the Argippai, or Bald-headed Scythians (Herod. 4, of Carthage, Dionysius of Syracuse wrested from it 23). No one offered violence to them; they were acpart of the adjacent territory, and founded in its vicin-counted sacred, and had no warlike weapons. Were ity the colony of Tyndaris (Diod. S. 14, 78, 90). Ptolemy calls this city 'Abúkava, all other writers 'Abakaivov. According to Bochart, the Punic appellation was Abacin, from Abac, "extollere," in refer-regions of the West? ence to its lofty situation. (Cluver. Sic. Ant. 2, 386.) ABALUS. Vid. Basilia.

they not one of those sacerdotal colonies which, migrating at a remote period from India, spread themselves over Scythia, and a large portion of the farther

ABANTIDAS, a tyrant of Sicyon, in the third century B.C. He seized upon the sovereign power, after having slain Clinias, who was then in charge of the administration. Clinias was the father of the celebrated Aratus, and the latter, at this time only seven years of age, narrowly escaped sharing the fate of his parent. (Plut. Vit. Arat. 2.)

ABANTIAS, and ABANTIADES, I. a patronymic given to the descendants of Abas, king of Argos, such as ABANTES, an ancient people of Greece, whose origin Acrisius, Danaë, Perseus, Atalanta, &c. (Ovid, Met. is not ascertained; probably they came from Thrace, 4, 607).—II. One of the ancient names of Eubœa: and having settled in Phocis, built the city Abæ. Vid. Abantes; Pliny (4, 12) and Priscian (Perieg. From this quarter a part of them seem to have remo-544) both use this term; Strabo (444) calls it Abantis. ved to Euboea, and hence its name Abantias, or Abantis (Strabo, 444). Others of them left Euboea, and settled for a time in Chios (Paus. 7, 4); a third band, returning with some of the Locri from the Trojan war, were driven to the coast of Epirus, settled in part of Thesprotia, inhabited the city Thronium, and gave the name Abantis to the adjacent territory (Paus. 5, 22). The Thracian origin of the Abantes is contested by Mannert (8, 246), though supported, in some degree, by Aristotle, as cited by Strabo. They had a custom of cutting off the hair of the head before, and suffering it to grow long behind (II. 2, 542). Plutarch Vit. Thes. 5) states, that they did this to prevent the enemy, whom they always boldly fronted, from seizing

ABANTIS. Vid. Abantias II.

ABARIS, I. a Scythian, or Hyperborean, mentioned by several ancient writers. Iamblichus states that Abaris was a disciple of Pythagoras, and performed many wonders with an arrow received from Apollo (Vit. Pythag., p. 28, ed. Kuster). Herodotus informs us (4, 36), that he was carried on this arrow over the

or Avapıç). Manetho places it to the east of the Bubastic mouth of the Nile, in the Saitic Nome (Joseph. c. Ap. 1, 14). Mannert identifies it with what was afterward called Pelusium; for the name Abaris disappeared, when the shepherd-race retired from Egypt, and the situation of Pelusium coincides sufficiently with the site of Abaris, as far as authorities have reached us. Manetho, as cited by Josephus, says, that Salatis, the first shepherd-king, finding the position of Abaris well adapted to his purpose, rebuilt the city, and strongly fortified it with walls, garrisoning it with a force of 240,000 men. To this city Salatis repaired in summer time, in order to collect his tribute, and to pay his troops, and to exercise his soldiers with the view of striking terror into foreign states. Manetho also informs us, that the name of the city had an ancient theological reference (kahovμévny ďáñó tIVOS apxaíaç veoλoyías Avapiv). Other writers make the term Abaris denote "a pass," or "crossing over," a name well adapted to a stronghold on the borders. Compare the Sanscrit upari (over, above), the Gothic ufar, the Old High German ubar, the Persian eber, the Latin super, the Greek væÉρ, &c.

whole earth without tasting food. But there are strong them, will make Abaris, travelling on his arrow, to be doubts as to the accuracy of the text given by Wes- him that moves rapidly along, Runa, the scribe, prophet, seling and Valckenaer. The old editions read úg Tò deliverer; and, at the same time, the personification of bioτòv Tεριépeрe ovdèv σiteóμevos, which agrees with writing, as the source of all knowledge, and of safety to the account given in the Fragment of Lycurgus cited man. Thus the legend of Abaris may mark the propby Eudocia (Villois. Anecd. 1, 20), where he is said agation of writing from the summits of Caucasus, for to have traversed all Greece, holding an arrow as the spreading civilization as well to the Greeks, as the nasymbol of Apollo. The time of his arrival in Greece tions of the North. For other speculations, compare is variously given (Bentl. Phal. 95). Some fix it in the Müller (Dorier, 1, 364) and Schwenk (Etymol.-Myth. 3d Olympiad (Harpocr.-Suid.), others in the 21st, Andeut. 358), who see in Abaris the god himself, Apolothers much lower. One authority is weighty: Pin-lo 'Adapɛúç or 'Apałoç, “luminous," under the Macedodar, as cited by Harpocration, states that Abaris came nian form "Abapts, become his own priest (Creuzer,2, 1, to Greece while Croesus was king of Lydia. An ex-269).-II. A city of Egypt, called also Avaris ("Abapis, traordinary occasion caused his visit. The whole earth was ravaged by a pestilence; the oracle of Apollo, being consulted, gave answer that the scourge would only cease when the Athenians should offer up vows for all nations. Another account makes him to have left his native country during a famine (Villois. Anecd. 1. c.). He made himself known throughout Greece as a performer of wonders; delivered oracular responses (Clem. Alex. Str. 399); healed maladies by charms or exorcisms (Plato, Charm. 1, 312, Bekk.); drove away storms, pestilence, and evils. His oracles are said to have been left in writing (Apollon. Hist. Comment. c. 4. Compare Schol. Aristoph. p. 331, as emended by Scaliger). The money obtained for these various services, Abaris is said to have consecrated, on his return, to Apollo (Iambl. V. P. 19), whence Bayle concludes, that the collecting of a pious contribution formed the motive of his journey to Greece (Dict. Hist. et Crit. 1, 4). He formed also a Palladium out of the bones of Pelops, and sold it to the Trojans (Jul. Firmicus,16). Modern opinions vary: Brucker (Hist. Phil. 1, 355.-Enfield, 1, 115) regards him as one who, like Empedocles, Epimenides, Pythagoras, and others, went about imposing on the vulgar by false pretensions to supernatural powers; and Lobeck (Aglaoph. vol. i., p. 313, seq.) is of the same opinion. Creuzer (Symb. 2, 1, 267) considers Abaris as belonging to the curious chain of connexion between the religions of the North, and those of Southern Europe, so distinctly indicated by the customary offerings sent to Delos from the country of the Hyperboreans. The same writer then cites a remarkable passage from the Hial- ABAS, I. or ABUS, a mountain of Armenia Major; marsaga: "From Greece came Abor and Samolis, according to D'Anville, the modern Abi-dag, according with many excellent men; they met with a very cor- to Mannert (5, 196), Ararat; giving rise to the southdial reception; their servant and successor was Herse ern branch of the Euphrates. (Vid. Arsanias.)-II. A of Glisisvalr." The allusion here is evidently to river of Albania, rising in the chain of Caucasus, and Abaris and Zamolxis; and if this passage be authen- falling into the Caspian Sea. Ptolemy calls it Albanus. tic, Abaris would have been a Druid of the North, and On its banks Pompey defeated the rebellious Albanians the country of the Hyperboreans the Hebrides. The (Plut. Vit. Pomp. 35)-III. The 12th king of Ardoctrines of the Druids, as well as those of Zamolxis, gos, son of Belus, some say of Lynceus and Hypermresemble the tenets of the Pythagorean school, and nestra; father of Protus and Acrisius; said to have in this way we may explain that part of the story of built Aba; reigned 23 years, B.C. 1384. (Paus. 2, Abaris which connects him with Pythagoras (Origen. 16; 10, 35.-Apollod. 2, 2.)-IV. A Latin chief who Philos. 882, 906, ed. de la Rue.-Chardon de la Ro-assisted Æneas against Turnus, and was killed by chette, Melang. de Crit. .vol. i., p. 58). Unfortunately, the Saga of Hialmar is by the ablest critics of the North considered a forgery (Müller's Sagabibl. 2, 663). Still, other grounds have been assumed for making Abaris a Druidical priest; and the opinion is maintained by several writers (Toland's Misc. Works, 1, 181.— Higgins' Celtic Druids, 123.-Southern Rev. 7, 21.) One argument is derived from Himerius (Phot. Bibl. vol. ii., p. 374, ed. Bekker), that he travelled in Celtic costume; in a plaid and pantaloons. Creuzer, after some remarks on this history, indulges in an ingenious speculation, by which Abaris becomes a personification of writing, and the doctrines communicated by it, as well as the advantages resulting from these doc- | trines, and from science or wisdom in general. As the Runic characters of the North are here referred to, a part of his argument rests on the etymology of "Runic," rinnen, runen, "to run," "to move rapidly along." This, together with the arrow-like form of most of

ABARNIS, or US, I. a name given to that part of Mysia in which Lampsacus was situate. Venus, according to the fable, here disowned (áñηpvýcaro) her offspring Priapus, whom she had just brought forth, being shocked at his deformity. Hence the appellation. The first form Aparnis, was subsequently altered to Abarnis (Steph. B.).—II. A city in the above-mentioned district, lying south of Lampsacus (Steph. B.).

Lausus (En. 10, 170, &c.).-V. A soothsayer, to whom the Spartans erected a statue for his services to Lysander, before the battle of Ægospotamos. He is called by some writers Hagias ('Ayiaç). Consult Wesseling, ad Herod. 9, 33, and Paus. 10, 9.

ABASITIS, a district of Phrygia Epictetus, in the vicinity of Mysia; in it was the city of Ancyra, and here, according to Strabo (576), the Macestus or Megistus arose.

ABATOS. Vid. Philæ.

ABDALONIMUS, one of the descendants of the kings of Sidon, so poor that, to maintain himself, he worked in a garden. When Alexander took Sidon, he made him king, and enlarged his possessions for his disinterestedness. (Justin, 11, 10.--Curt. 4, 1.) Diodorus Siculus (17, 46) calls him Ballonymus, a corruption of the true name as given by Curtius and Justin. Wesseling (ad Diod. S. l. c.) considers the word equiv alent, in the Phoenician tongue, to Abd-al-anim, “Scr

the Aciris; called Abellinum Marsicum. It is thought by Cluver (Ital. Antiq. 2, 1280) and D'Anville (Geogr. Anc. 57) to accord with Marsico Vetere (Cramer's

ous Dei prædatoris," and thinks that the latter part of
the compound, anim, may be traced in the name of the
god Anammelech (2 Kings, 17, 31). Gesenius (Gesch.
der Hebr. Sprache und Schrift, 228) makes Abdalon-Anc. Italy, 2, 379).
imus, as an appellation, the same with Abd-alonim,
"Servant of the gods."

gether with the adjacent cities of Thuria and Pheræ, separated from Messenia, and became part of the Achæan confederacy; afterward they again attached themselves to the Messenian government. At a later period, Augustus, to punish the Messenians for having favoured the party of Antony, annexed these three cities to Laconia. But this arrangement continued only for a short time, since Ptolemy and Pausanias include them again among the cities of Messenia. A small village, Zamata, stands on or near the site of Abia. (Polyb. Exc. de Legat. 53.)

ABGARUS, I. a name common to many kings of Edessa, in Mesopotamia; otherwise written Abagarus, AgABDERA, I. a city of Thrace, at the mouth of the barus, Augarus, &c. The first monarch of this name Nestus: Ephorus (Steph. B.) wrote in sing. "A6dnpov, (Euseb. H. E. 1, 13) wrote a letter to our Saviour, but the plural is more usual, rà 'A68npa. The Clazo- and received a reply from him (vid. Edessa). The menian Timesius commenced founding this place, but, genuineness of these letters has been much disputed in consequence of the Thracian inroads, was unable to among the learned. (Cave's Lit. Hist. 1, 2.—Lardcomplete it; soon after, it was recolonized by a large ner's Cred. 7, 22.)-II. The name, according to some body of Teians from Ionia, who abandoned their city, authorities, of the Arabian prince or chieftain who when besieged by Harpagus, general of Cyrus (Herod. perfidiously drew Crassus into a snare, which proved 1, 168). Many Teians subsequently returned home; his ruin; called 'Akbapos by Appian (B. P. 34), yet Abdera remained no inconsiderable city. There 'Apiáμvns (Plut. Crass. 21), Ávyapoç (Dio Cass. 40, are several other accounts of the origin of this place, but 20). the one which we have given is most entitled to credit. ABIA, the southernmost city of Messenia, on the The city of Abdera was the birthplace of many distin-eastern shore of the Messenian Gulf. Pausanias (4, guished men, as Anaxarchus, Democritus, Hecatus, 30) identifies it with Ire, 'Ipn, one of the places offerand Protagoras; the third, however, must not be con-ed by Agamemnon to Achilles (I. 9, 292). Abia, tofounded with the native of Miletus. (Creuzer, Hist. Antiq. Gr. Fragm. 9, 28.) But, notwithstanding the celebrity of some of their fellow-citizens, the people of Abdera, as a body, were reputed to be stupid. In the Chiliads of Erasmus, and the Adagia Veterum, many sayings record this failing; Cicero styles Rome, from the stupidity of the senators, an Abdera (Ep. ad Att. 4, 16); Juvenal calls Abdera itself, "the native land of blockheads" (vervecum patriam, 10, 50; compare Martial, 10, 25; “Abderitanæ pectora plebis"). Much of this is exaggeration. Abdera was the limit of the Odrysian empire to the west (Thuc. 2, 29). It after- ABII, a Scythian nation, supposed by the earlier ward fell under the power of Philip; and, at a later Greeks to inhabit the banks of the Tanais. Homer is period, was delivered up by one of its citizens to Eume-thought to allude to them, Пl. 13, 6, where for ȧyavāv nes, king of Pergamus (Diod. S. Fragm. 30, 9, 413, some read 'Abiov Tε. By others they are supposed to Bip.). Under the Romans it became a free city (Abde-be identical with the Macrobii. The name 'Abio is ra libera), and continued so even as late as the time of Pliny (4, 11). It was famous for mullets, and other fish (Dorio, ap. Athen. 3, 37.-Archestr. ap. eund. 7, 124). In the middle ages Abdera degenerated into a very small town, named Polystylus, according to the Byzantine historian, Curopalate (Wasse, ad Thuc. 2, 97). Its ruins exist near Cape Baloustra. (French Strabo, 3, 180, § 3.)-II. A town of Hispania Bætica, east of Malaca, in the territory of the Bastuli Poni, lying on the coast; Strabo calls the place Audnpa (157). Ptolemy 'Abdapa, Steph. B. "Abdnpa, a coin of Tiberius Abdera (Vaillant, col. 1, p. 63.-Rasche's Lex. Rei Num. 1, 23). It was founded by a Phonician colony, and is thought to correspond to the modern Adra. (Ukert's Geogr. 2, 351.)

ABDERUS, a Locrian, armour-bearer of Hercules; | torn to pieces by the mares of Diomedes, which the hero, warring against the Bistones, had intrusted to his care. According to Philostratus (Icon. 2, 35), Hercules built the city of Abdera in memory of him. (But vid. Abdera I.)

thought by Heyne (ad. Il. l. c.) to allude to their living on lands common to the whole nation, or to their having a community of goods, or perhaps to their poverty, and their living in wagons. Curtius (7, 6) states, that these Abii sent ambassadors to Alexander with professions of obedience. But the Macedonians encountered no Abii; they only believed that they had found them. The name they probably had learned from Homer, and knew that they were a people to the north, forming part of the great Scythian race. Supposing themselves, therefore, on the banks of the Tanaïs, they gave the name Abi to the people, who had sent ambassadors, merely because they had heard that the Abii dwelt on that river.

ABILA, OF ABYLA, I. a mountain of Africa, opposite Calpe (Gibraltar), supposed to coincide with Cape Serra. It is an elevated point of land, forming a peninsula, of which a place named Ceuta closes the isthmus. Of the two forms given to the name of this mountain by ancient writers, that of Abyla is the more common. The name is written by Dionysius (Perieg. 336), ABELLA, a town of Campania, northeast of Nola, 'A2u6n. According to Avienus (Ora Marit. 345), founded by a colony from Chalcis, in Euboea, according Abila is a Carthaginian or Punic appellative for "any to Justin (20, 1). Its ruins still exist in Avella Vecchia. lofty mountain." This name appears to have passed Small as was Abella, it possessed a republican govern-over into Europe, and to have been applied, with slight ment, retaining it until subdued by the Romans; the inhabitants Abellani, are frequently mentioned by ancient writers; the only fact worthy of record is, that their territory produced a species of nut, nux Abellana or Avellana, apparently the same with what the Greek writers call κάρυον Ποντικόν, Ηρακλειωτικόν οι λεπTóv (Dioscor. 1, 179.-Athen. 2, 42). The tree itself is the kapúa Пovтiкn, and corresponds to the corylus of Virgil, and the corylus Avellana of Linnæus, class 21. (Fée, Flore de Virgile, 223.)

ABELLINUM, I. now Abellino, a city of the Hirpini, in Samnium; the inhabitants of which were called, for distinction'sake, Abellinates Protropi (Plin. 3, 2.Ptol. 67)-II. A city of Lucania, near the source of

alteration of form, to the opposite mountain, the rock of Gibraltar. Eustathius (ad Dionys. P. 64) informs us that in his time the latter mountain was named Calpe by the Barbarians, but Aliba by the Greeks; and that the true Abila, on the African side, was called Abenna by the natives, by the Greeks Κυνηγητική. At what time the present Gibraltar began to be called Calpe, is difficult to determine; probably long antecedent to the age of Eustathius. Calpe itself is only Aliba shortened, and pronounced with a strong Oriental aspirate. In the word Aliba we likewise detect the root of Alp, or, rather, the term itself, which may be traced directly to the Celtic radical Alb. The situation of Abila gave it, with the opposite Calpe, a

nas,

conspicuous place in the Greek mythology (vid. Her- marked, blending with a remnant of the Siculi, sprang culis Columnæ, and Mediterraneum Mare).-II. A city the nation of the Latins; and between Saturn and of Palestine, 12 miles east of Gadara (Euseb. v. "A6eλ the time assigned for the Trojan settlement, only three 'Auréλwv). Ptolemy is supposed to refer to it under kings of the Aborigines are enumerated, Picus, Fauthe name Abida, an error probably of copyists (Man-nus, and Latinus. (Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. 1, 62, Cambr.) nert, 6, 1, 323).—III. A city of Coelesyria, now Belli-As to the name of this early race, the old and genuin a mountainous country, about 18 miles north-ine one seems to have been Casci or Cassei (Saufeius west of Damascus. Ptolemy gives it the common in Serv. ad En. 1, 10); and the appellation of Aboname 'Abiha. Josephus calls it 'Abeλa, and also rigines was only given them by the later Roman wri'Abeλuaxéa, the latter coming from the Hebrew name ters. (Heyne, Excurs. 4, ad En. 7.) Cluver, and Abel Beth Maacha, or Abel Malacha (Reland, Palest. others, have maintained the identity of the Aborigines 520). It was the capital of Abilene, a province over and Pelasgi, a position first assumed by Dionysius of which Lysanias was tetrarch (Luke,3, 1). Halicarnassus. Mannert (9, 436) thinks, that the ABILENE, a district of Colesyria, the capital of Pelasgi were a distinct race, who, on their arrival in which was Abila. (Vid. preceding article, No. III.) Italy, united with the people in question, and that ABNOBA, according to Ptolemy (2, 11), a chain of both became gradually blended into one race, the mountains in Germany, which commenced on the Etrurian. Some are in favour of writing Aberrigines, banks of the Manus, now Mayne, and, running be- and refer to the authority of Festus, who so styles them tween what are now Hesse and Westphalia, terminated as having been wanderers (ab, erro), when they took in the present Duchy of Paderborn. Out of the north-possession of that part of the country where they subeastern part of this range, springs, according to the sequently dwelt. In this Festus is supported by the same authority, the Amisus, now Ems. Subsequent author of the Origin of the Romans, but the opinion writers, however, seem to have limited the name Abno- is an incorrect one. ba to that portion of the Black Forest where the Danube commences its course, and in this sense the term is used by Tacitus. A stone altar, with ABNOBA inscribed, was discovered in the Black Forest in 1778; and in 1784, a pedestal of white marble was found in the Duchy of Baden, bearing the words DIANAE ABNOBAE. These remains of antiquity, besides tending to designate more precisely the situation of the ancient Mons Abnoba, settle also the orthography of the name, which some commentators incorrectly write Arnoba. (Compare La Germanie de Tacite, par Panckouke, p. 4, and the Atlas, Planche deuxième.)

ABORRAS. Vid. Chaboras.

ABRADATAS, a king of Susa, who submitted, with his army, to Cyrus, when he learned that his wife Panthea, who had been made prisoner by the latter, was treated by him with great kindness and humanity. He was subsequently slain in fighting for Cyrus. His wife, unable to survive his loss, slew herself upon his corpse. Cyrus erected a monument to their memory. (Xen. Cyrop. 5, 6, &c.)

ABRINCATUI, a nation of Gaul, situate, according to the common opinion, on the western coast, north of the Liger, or Loire, and whose capital, Ingena, is supposed to coincide with Avranches (D'An. Geogr. Anc.Cellar. Geogr. Ant. 1, 161, Schw.). If we follow Ptol

ABONITICHOS, a small town and harbour of Paphlagonia, southeast of the promontory Carambis. It was the birthplace of an impostor, who assumed the char-emy, this people rather seem to have occupied what acter of Esculapius. Lucian (Pseud. 58) states, that he petitioned the Roman emperor to change the name of his native city to Ionopolis, and that the request of the impostor was actually granted. The modern name Incboli is only a corruption of Ionopolis. (Marcian, Peripl., p. 72.-Steph. B.)

ABORIGINES, a name given by the Roman writers to the primitive race, who, blending with the Siculi, founded subsequently the nation of the Latins. The name is equivalent to the Greek avтóxloveç, as indicating an indigenous race. According to the most credible traditions, they dwelt originally around Mount Velino, and the Lake Fucinus, now Celano, extending as far as Carseoli, and towards Reate. This was Cato's account (Dionys. H. 2, 49); and if Varro, who enumerated the towns they had possessed in those parts (Id. 1, 14), was not imposed on, not only were the sites of these towns distinctly preserved, as well as their names, but also other information, such as writings alone can transmit through centuries. Their capital, Lista, was lost by surprise; and exertions of many years to recover it, by expeditions from Reate, proved fruitless. Withdrawing from that district, they came down the Anio; and even at Tibur, Antemnæ, Ficulea, Tellena, and farther on at Crustumerium and Arícia, they found Siculi, whom they subdued or expelled. The Aborigines are depicted by Sallust and Virgil as savages living in hordes, without manners, law, or agriculture, on the produce of the chase, and on wild fruits. This, however, does not agree with the traces of their towns in the Apennines; but the whole account was, perhaps, little else than an ancient speculation on the progress of mankind from rudeness to civilization. The Aborigines are said to have revered Janus and Saturn. The latter taught them husbandry, and induced them to choose settled habitations, as the founders of a better way of life. From this ancient race, as has already been re

would now correspond to a part of Eastern Normandy, in the district of Ouche, and stretching from the vicinity of the Rille to the banks of the Seine (Mannert, 2, 167).

ABRO, I. an Athenian, who wrote on the festivals and sacrifices of the Greeks. His work is lost. (Steph. B. s. v. Bárn.)—II. A grammarian of Rhodes, who taught rhetoric at Rome in the reign of Augustus. He was a pupil of Tryphon. (Suid. s. v.)—III. A grammarian, who wrote a treatise on Theocritus, now lost.-IV. An Athenian, son of the orator Lycurgus. (Plut. Vit. X. Orat.)-V. An Argive of most luxurious and dissolute life, who gave rise to the proverb, "A6owvoç ẞíos (Abronis vita). (Erasm. Chil. p. 487.)

ABROCOMAS, a son of Darius, by Phrataguna daughter of Otanes. He accompanied Xerxes in his Grecian expedition, and was slain fighting bravely at Thermopylæ. (Herod. 7, 224.)

ABRODIETUS. Vid. Parrhasius.

ABRONIUS, Silo, a Latin poet, of the Augustan age, and the pupil of Porcius Latro. He wrote some fables, now lost. (Senec. Suasor. 2, 23.) According to Vossius (de Poet. Lat. 2), there were two of this name, a father and son.

ABROSTOLA, a town of Galatia, on the frontiers of Phrygia, and, according to the Itinerary, twenty-four miles from Pessinus. It is recognised by Ptolemy (p. 120), who assigns it to Phrygia Magna.

ABROTA, the wife of Nisus, king of Megaris. As a memorial of her private virtues, Nisus, after her death, ordered the garments which she wore to become models of female attire in his kingdom. Hence, according to Plutarch, the name of the Megarian robe ȧoúbpoua. (Quæst. Græc. p. 294.)

ABROTŎNUM, a town of Africa, near the Syrtis Mi nor, and identical with Sabrata. (Vid. Sabrata.) ABSINTHII. Vid. Apsynthii.

« PoprzedniaDalej »