ABSYRTIDES, islands at the head of the Adriatic, in | Huet (Demonst. Evang., p. 99) thinks that he was the the Sinus Flanaticus, Gulf of Quarnero; named, as same with the Abydenus first named, but the opinion tradition reported, from Absyrtus the brother of Me- is an erroneous one. dea, who, according to one account, was killed here. (Hygin. 23.-Strabo,315.-Mela, 2, 7.-Pliny,3, 26.) Apollonius Rhodius (4, 330) calls them Brygeïdes, and states (v. 470) that there was in one of the group a temple erected to the Brygian Diana. Probably the name given to these islands was a corruption of some real apellation, which, though unconnected with the fable, still, from similarity of sound, induced the poets to connect it with the name of Medea's brother. The principal island is Absorus, with a town of the same name. (Ptol. 63.) These four islands are, in modern geography, Cherso, Osero (the ancient Absorus), Ferosina, Chao. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, 1, 137.) ABSYRTOS, a river falling into the Adriatic Sea, near which Absyrtus was murdered. The more correct form of the name, however, would seem to have been Absyrtis, or, following the Greek, Apsyrtis (Αψυρτές). Consult Grotius and Corte, ad Luc. Pharsal. 3, 190. ABYDOS, I. a celebrated city of Upper Egypt, northwest of Diospolis Parva. Strabo (813) describes it as once next to Thebes in size, though reduced in his days to a small place. The same writer mentions the palace of Memnon in this city, built on the plan of the labyrinth, though less intricate. Osiris had here a splendid temple, in which neither vocal nor instrumental music was allowed at the commencement of sacrifices. Plutarch (de Is. et Os. 359, 471, Wytt.) makes this the true burial-place of Osiris, an honour to which so many cities of Egypt aspired; he also informs us that the more distinguished Egyptians frequently selected Abydos for a place of sepulture. (Zoëga,de Obel. 234.-Creuzer's Comment. Herod. 1, 97.) All this proves the high antiquity of this city, and accounts for the consideration in which it was held. Ammianus Marcellinus states (19, 12) that there was a very ancient oracle of the god Besa in this place, to which applications were wont to be made orally and ABSYRTUS (Avpros), a son of Æetes, and brother in writing. (Compare Euseb. H. E. 6, 41.) Abydos of Medea. According to the Orphic Argonautica (v. is now a heap of ruins, as its modern name, Madfuné, 1027), Absyrtus was despatched by his father with a implies. The ancient appellation has been made to large force in pursuit of Jason and Medea, when their signify, by the aid of the Coptic, "abode, or habitaflight was discovered. Medea, on the point of falling tion, common to many." (Creuzer, l. c., 1, 100.)—II. into the hands of the young prince, deceived him by An ancient city of Mysia, in Asia Minor, founded by a stratagem, and the Argonauts, having slain him, the Thracians, and still inhabited by them after the cast his body into the sea. The corpse, floating about Trojan war. Homer (Il. 2, 837) represents it as unfor some time, was at last thrown up on one of the der the sway of prince Asius, a name associated with islands, thence called Absyrtides. According to Apol- many of the earliest religious traditions of the ancient lonius Rhodius (4, 207), Absyrtus, having reached the world (vid. Asia). At a later period the Milesians Adriatic before the Argonauts, waited there to give sent a strong colony to this place to aid their comthem battle. Mutual fear, however, brought about a merce with the shores of the Propontis and Euxine. treaty, by which the Argonauts were to retain the (Strabo,591.--Thuc. 8, 62.) Abydos was directly on fleece, but Medea was to be placed in one of the the Hellespont, in nearly the narrowest part of the neighbouring islands, until some monarch should de- strait. This, together with its strong walls and safe cide whether she ought to accompany Jason, or return harbour, soon made it a place of importance. It is rewith her brother. Medea, accordingly, was placed on markable for its resistance against Philip the Younger, an island sacred to Diana, and the young prince, by of Macedon, who finally took it, partly by force, partly treacherous promises, was induced to meet his sister by stratagem. (Polyb. 16, 31.) In this quarter, too, by night in order to persuade her to return. In the was laid the scene of the fable of Hero and Leander. midst of their conference he was attacked and slain Over against Abydos was the European town Sestos; by Jason, who lay concealed near the spot, and had not directly opposite, however, as the latter was someconcerted this scheme in accordance with the wishes what to the north. The ruins of Abydos are still to be of Medea. The body was interred in the island. seen on a promontory of low land, called Nagara-BorBoth these accounts differ from the common one, nou, or Pesquies Point. (Hobhouse's Jour. 2, 217, Am. which makes Medea to have taken her brother with ed.) Wheeler has rectified in this particular the misher in her flight, and to have torn him in pieces to take of Sandys (Voyage, 1, 74), who supposed the modstop her father's pursuit, scattering the limbs of the ern castle of Natolia to be on the site of the ancient young prince on the probable route of her parent. Abydos. The castles Chanak-Kalessi, or SultanieThis last account makes the murder of Absyrtus to have Kalessi, on the Asiatic side, and Chelit-Bawri, or Ketaken place near Tomi, on the Euxine, and hence the lidir-Bahar, on the European shore, are called by the name given to that city, from the Greek roun, sectio; Turks Bogaz-Hessarleri, and by the Franks the old just as Absyrtus, or Apsyrtus, is said to have been so castles of Natolia and Roumelia. The town of Chacalled from dró and σúpw. (Hygin. 23.—Apollod. 1, nàk-Kalessi, properly called Dardanelles, has extend9, 24.--Cic. N. D. 3, 19.-Ovid, Trist. 3, 9, 11.-ed its name to the strait itself (Hobhouse, 215). Over Heyne, ad Apollod. 1. c.) According to the Orphic Poem, Absyrtus was killed on the banks of the Phasis, in Colchis. Ancient writers differ also as to the young prince's name; by some he is styled Absyrtus, by others Metapontius; by Diodorus Siculus (4, 45) Egialeus. Consult Wesseling, ad loc. ABUS, a river of Britain, now the Humber. Camden (Brit., p. 634) derives the ancient name from the old British word Aber, denoting the mouth of a river, or an estuary. The appellation will suit the Humber extremely well, as it is rendered a broad estuary by the waters of the Ouse. ABYDENUS, I. a pupil of Berosus, flourished 268 B.C. He wrote in Greek an historical account of the Chaldeans, Babylonians, and Assyrians, some fragments of which have been preserved for us by Eusebius, Cyrill, and Syncellus.-II. A surname of Palæphatus, from his having been a native of Abydos. the strait between Abydos and Sestos, Xerxes caused two bridges to be erected when marching against Greece, and it was here that, seated on an eminence, where a throne had been erected for him, he surveyed his fleet, which covered the Hellespont, while the neighbouring plains swarmed with his innumerable troops. (Herod. 7, 44.) The intelligent traveller above quoted remarks: "The Thracian side of the strait, immediately opposite to Nagara, is a strip of stony shore, projecting from behind two cliffs; and to this spot, it seems, the European extremities of Xerxes' bridges must have been applied, for the height of the neighbouring cliffs would have prevented the Persian monarch from adjusting them to any other position. There is certainly some ground to believe, that this was the exact point of shore called from that circumstance Apobathra (Strabo, 591), since there is, within any probable distance, no other flat land on the Thra cian side, except at the bottom of deep bays, the choice of which would have doubled the width of the passage. Sestos was not opposite to the Asiatic town, nor was the Hellespont in this place called the Straits of Sestos and Abydos, but the Straits of Abydos. Sestos was so much nearer the Propontis than the other town, that the ports of the two places were 30 stadia, or more than 3 1-2 miles from each other. The bridges were on the Propontic side of Abydos, but on the opposite quarter of Scstos; that is to say, they were on the coasts between the two cities, but nearer to the first than to the last." (Hobhouse, l. c.) The ancient accounts make the strait in this quarter seven stadia, or 875 paces, broad, but to modern travellers it appears to be nowhere less than a mile across. ABYLA. Vid. Abila. sense, Diogenes Laertius makes a threefold division of ACACESIUM, a town of Arcadia, situate on a hill called Acacesius, and lying near Lycosura, in the south-4, 5.) If we follow the distinction laid down by Diwestern angle of the country. Mercury Acacesius was worshipped here (Paus. 8, 36). Some make the epithet equivalent to undɛvòs kakov пapaiτios, nullius mali auctor, ranking Mercury among the dei averrunci (Spanh. ad Callim. H. in D. 143.-Heyne, ad Il. 16, 185). ACACIUS, I. a disciple of Eusebius, bishop of Casarea, whom he succeeded in 338 or 340. He was surnamed Movópaλμoç (Luscus), and wrote a Life of Eusebius, not extant; 17 volumes of Commentaries on Ecclesiastes; and 6 volumes of Miscellanies. Acacius was the leader of the sect called Acacians, who denied the Son to be of the same substance as the Father. (Socr. Hist. 2, 4.-Epiph. Hær. 72.-Fabr. Bibl. Gr. 5, 19.-Cave's Lit. Hist. 1, 206.)-II. A patriarch of Constantinople in 471, who established the superiority of his see over the eastern bishops. He was a favourite with the Emperor Zeno, who protected him against the pope. Two letters of his are extant, to Petrus Trullo, and Pope Simplicius. (Theodor. 5, 23.-Cave, 1, 417.)-III. A bishop of Beroa, assisted at the Council of Constantinople in 381. (Theodor. 5, 32.)—IV. A bishop of Mytilene, in Armenia Minor, present at the Council of Ephesus in 431, and has left in the Councils (vol. 3) a Homily against Nestorius (Nicephor. 16, 17.-Cave 1, 417).-V. A bishop of Amida, distinguished for piety and charity in having sold church-plate, &c., to redeem 7000 Persian prisoners on the Tigris, in Mesopotamia. His death is commemorated in the Latin church on April 9th. (Socr. 7, 21.—Fabr. Bibl. Gr. 5, 19.-Crabbe, Hist. Dict. s. v.) ACADEMUS, an ancient hero, whom some identify with Cadmus. According to others (Plut. Thes. 32), he was an Athenian, who disclosed to Castor and Pollux the place where Theseus had secreted their sister Helen, after having carried her off from Sparta ; and is said to have been highly honoured, on this account, by the Lacedæmonians. From him the garden of the Academia, presented to the people of Athens, is thought to have been named (vid. Academia). ACALANDRUS, or ACALYNDRUS, a river of Magna Græcia, falling into the Bay of Tarentum. Pliny (3, 2) places it to the north of Heraclea, but incorrectly, since, according to Strabo (283), it flowed in the vicinity of Thurii. The modern name, according to D'Anville, is the Salandrella; but, according to Mannert (9, 2, 231), the Roccanello. ACAMANTIS, I. a name given to the island of Cyprus, from the promontory Acamas. (Steph. B.)—II. An Athenian tribe. ACADEMIA, a public garden or grove in the suburbs of Athens, about 6 stadia from the city, named from Academus or Hecademus, who left it to the citizens for gymnastics (Paus. 1, 29). It was surrounded with a wall by Hipparchus (Suid.); adorned with statues, temples, and sepulchres of illustrious men; planted with olive and plane trees; and watered by the Cephissus. The olive-trees, according to Athenian fables, were reared ACAMAS, I. a promontory of Cyprus, to the northfrom layers taken from the sacred olive in the Erech-west of Paphos. It is surmounted by two sugarloaf theum (Schol. Ed. Col. 730.-Paus. 1, 30), and af- summits, and the remarkable appearance which it thus forded the oil given as a prize to victors at the Pana- presents to navigators as they approach the island on thenæan festival (Schol. l. c.-Suid. v. Mopiai) The this side, caused them, according to Pliny (5, 31), to Academy suffered severely during the siege of Athens give the name of Acamantis to the whole island.-II. by Sylla; many trees being cut down to supply tim- A son of Theseus and Phædra. He was deputed to ber for machines of war (Appian, B. M. 30). Few accompany Diomede, when the latter was sent to Troy retreats could be more favourable to philosophy and to demand Helen. During his stay at Troy he became the Muses. Within this enclosure Plato possessed, as the father of Munitus by Laodicea, one of the daughpart of his humble patrimony, a small garden, in which ters of Priam. He afterward went to the Trojan war, he opened a school for the reception of those inclined and was one of the warriors enclosed in the wooden to attend his instructions (Diog. L. Vit. Plat.). Hence horse. On his return to Athens, he gave name to the arose the Academic sect, and hence the term Academy tribe Acamantis. (Paus. 10, 26.—Quint. Sm. 12.has descended, though shorn of many early honours, Hygin. 108.) even to our own times. . The appellation Academia is frequently used in philosophical writings, especially in Cicero, as indicative of the Academic sect. In this ACAMPSIS, a river of Colchis, running into the Euxine; the Greeks called it Acampsis from its impetuous course, which forbade approach to the shore, a, non, náppis, inflectio. This name more particularly applied to its mouth; the true appellation in the interior was Boas. (Arrian, Per. M. Eux. 119, Blanc.) ACANTHUS, I. a city near Mt. Athos, founded by a colony of Andrians, on a small neck of land connecting the promontory of Athos with the continent. Strabo (Epit. l. 7, 330) places it on the Singiticus Sinus, as does Ptolemy (p. 82), but Herodotus distinctly fixes it on the Strymonicus Sinus (6, 44; 7, 22), as well as Scymnus (v. 646) and Mela (2, 3), and their opinions must prevail against the two authors above mentioned. Mannert (7, 451) supposes the city to have been placed on the Singiticus Sinus, the harbour on the Sinus Strymonicus. On the other hand, Gail (Geogr. d'Hérod. 2, 280.-Atlas, Ind. 2.-Anal. des Cartes, p. 21) makes two places of this name to have existed, one on the Strymonicus, the other on the Singiticus Sinus. Probably Erissos is the site of ancient Acanthus. Ptolemy speaks of a harbour named Panormus, probably its haven (p. 82.—Cramer's Anc. Greece, 1, 262-Walpole's Collect. 1, 225.) The Persian fleet despatched under Mardonius, suffered severely in doubling the promontory of Athos; and Xerxes, to guard against a similar accident, caused a canal to be dug through the neck of land on which Acanthus was situated; through this his fleet was conducted. (Herod. 7, 22.) From the language of Juvenal (10, 173), and the general sarcasm of Pliny (5, 1, "portentosa Gracia mendacia"), many regard this account of the canal as a fable, invented by the Greeks to magnify the expedition of Xerxes, and thus increase their own reBut vestiges of the canal were visible in the time of Ælian (H. A. 13, 20); modern travellers also discover traces of it (Choiseul-Gouffier, Voy. Pittoresque 2, 2, 148.-Walpole, l. c.).-II. A city of Egypt, the southernmost in the Memphitic Nome. Ptolemy gives it a plural form, probably from the thorny thickets in its vicinity, ukaveat: Strabo (809) adopts the singular form, as does also Diodorus Siculus (1, 97). Ptolemy places this city 15 minutes distant from Memphis; D'Anville and Mannert agree in identifying it with Dashur. nown. or Taphians. According to some, it was derived from Acarnas, son of Alcmæon (Strabo, 462.—Apollod. 3, 7, 7.-Thuc. 2, 102.-Paus. 8, 24). But the remark just made relative to the silence of Homer about the Acarnanes seems to oppose this. More likely the appellation was grounded on a custom, common to the united race, of wearing the hair of the head cut very short, akapis, a intens., and reípw, in imitation of the Curetes, who cut their hair close in front, and allowed it to grow long behind (vid. Abantes). The Ætolians and Acarnanians were in almost constant hostility against each other, a circumstance adverse to the idea of a common origin. It is curious, however, that the Etolians appear to have had no other object in view, in warring on their neighbours, than to compel them to form with them one common league; which they would scarcely have done towards persons of a different race. (Mannert, 8, 46.) This constant and mutual warfare so weakened the two countries eventually, that they both fell an easy prey to the Macedonians, and afterward to the Romans. The latter people, however, amused the Acarnanians in the outset with a show of independence, declaring the country to be free, but soon annexed it to the province of Epirus. The dominion of the Romans was far from beneficial to Acarnania; the country soon became a mere wilderness; and as a remarkable proof, no Roman road was ever made through Acarnania or Ætolia, but the public route lay along the coast, from Nicopolis on the Ambracian Gulf to the mouth of the Achelous. (Mannert, 8, 60.) The present state of Acarnania (now Carnia) is described by Hobhouse (Journ. 174, Am. ed.) as a wilderness of forests and unpeopled plains. The people of Acarnania were in general of less refined habits than the rest of the Greeks; and from Lucian's words (Dial. Meretr. 8, 227., Bip.), xoɩpíσkos 'Akapvávios, their morals were generally supposed to be depraved. Independently, however, of the injustice of thus stigmatizing a people on slight grounds, considerable doubt attaches to the correctness of the received reading, and the explanation commonly assigned to it. Guyetus conjectures 'Αχαρνεύς, and Erasmus, explaining the adage, favours this correction. (Compare Bayle, Dict. Hist. 1, 40.) The Acarnanians, according to Censorinus (D. N. 19), made the year consist of but six months, in which respect they resembled the Carians; Plutarch (Num. 19) states the same fact. (Compare Fabricii Menol. p. 7.) ACARNAS and AMPHOTĚRUs, sons of Alemæon and Callirhoë. Alemæon having been slain by the brothers of Alphesiboa, his former wife, Callirhoë obtained from Jupiter, by her prayers, that her two sons, then in the cradle, might grow up to manhood, and avenge their father. On reaching man's estate, they slew Pronous and Agenor, brothers of Alphesiboa, and, soon after, Phegeus her father. Acarnas, according to some, gave name to Acarnania; but vid. Acarnania. (Paus. 8, 24.) ACARNANIA, a country of Greece Proper, along the western coast, having Ætolia on the east. The natural boundary on the Etolian side was the Achelous, but it was not definitely regarded as the dividing limit until the period of the Roman dominion. (Strab. 450.) Acarnania was for the most part a productive country, with good harbours (Scylar 13). The inhabitants, however, were but little inclined to commercial intercourse with their neighbours; they were almost constantly engaged in war against the Etolians, and consequently remained far behind the rest of the Greeks in culture. Hence, too, we find scarcely any city of importance within their territories; for Anactorium and Leucas were founded by Corinthian colonies, and formed no part of the nation, though they engrossed nearly all its traffic. Not only Leucadia, indeed, but ACASTUS, Son of Pelias, king of Iolcos in Thessaly. also Cephalenia, Ithaca, and other adjacent islands, Peleus, while in exile at his court, was falsely accused were commonly regarded as a geographical portion of by Astydamia, or, as Horace calls her, Hippolyte, the Acarnania, though, politically considered, they did not wife of Acastus, of improper conduct. The monarch, belong to it, being inhabited by a different race. (Man-believing the charge, led Peleus out, under the prenert, 8, 33.) The Acarnanians and Etolians were descended from the same parent-stock of the Leleges or Curetes, though almost constantly at variance. The most important event for the Acarnanians was the arrival among them of Alcmeon, son of Amphiaraus, who came with a band of Argive settlers a short time previous to the Trojan war, and united the inhabitants of the land and his own followers into one nation. His new territories were called Acarnania, and the people Acarnanians. The origin of the name Acarnania, however, is uncertain. It was apparently not used in the age of Homer, who is silent about it, though he mentions by name the Etolians, Curetes, the inhabitants of the Echinades, and the Teleboans tence of a hunt, to a lonely part of Mount Pelion, and there, having deprived him of every means of defence, left him exposed to the wild beasts. Chiron came to his aid, having received for this purpose a sword from Vulcan, which he gave to Peleus as a means of defence. According to another account, his deliverer was Mercury. Peleus returned to Iolcos, and slew the monarch and his wife. There is some doubt, however, whether Acastus suffered with his queen on this occasion. He is thought by some to have been merely driven into exile. (Ov. Met. 8, 306.-Heroid, 13, 25.-Apollod. 1, 9, &c.—Schol. ad Apoll. Rh. 1, 224.) ACCA LAURENTIA, I. more properly LARENTIA made, with the aid of the British, under Sir Sidney Smith, against the French, under Bonaparte, who was obliged to raise the siege after twelve assaults. The strength of the place arose in part from its situation. The port of Acre is bad, but Dr. Clarke (Travels, 6, 89) represents it as better than any other along the coast. All the rice, the staple food of the people, enters the country by Acre; the master of which city, therefore, is able to cause a famine over all Syria. This led the French to direct their efforts towards the possession of the place. Hence, too, as Dr. Clarke observes, we find Acre to have been the last position in the Holy Land from which the Christians were expelled. ACĒLUM, a town of Cisalpine Gaul, among the Euganei, north of Patavium, and east of the Medoacus Major, or Brenta. It is now Asola. (Plin. 3, 19.— Ptol. 63.) (Heins. ad Ovid. Fast. 3, 55), the wife of Faustulus, | rendered celebrated for the successful stand which it shepherd of king Numitor's flocks. She became foster-mother of Romulus and Remus, who had been found by her husband while exposed on the banks of the Tiber and suckled by a she-wolf. Some explain the tradition by making Lupa ("she-wolf") to have been a name given by the shepherds to Larentia, from her immodest character (Plut. Rom. 4); a most improbable solution. We have here, in truth, an old poetic legend, in which the name Larentia (Lar), and the animals said to have supplied the princes with sustenance (vid. Romulus), point to an Etrurian origin for the fable. When the milk of the wolf failed, the woodpecker, a bird sacred to Mars, brought other food; other birds, too, consecrated to auguries by the Etrurians, hovered over the babes to drive away the insects. (Niebuhr's Rom. Hist. 1, 185.)-II. The Romans yearly celebrated certain festivals, called Larentalia, a foolish account of the origin of which is given by Plutarch (Quast. Rom. 272). There is some resem- ACERBAS, a priest of Hercules at Tyre, who marblance between Plutarch's story and that told by He- ried Dido, the sister of Pygmalion the reigning monrodotus (2, 122) of Rhampsinitus, king of Egypt, and arch, and his own niece. Pygmalion murdered him the goddess Ceres; and it may, therefore, like the lat-in order to get possession of his riches, and endeav ter, have for its basis some agricultural or astronomical oured to conceal the crime from Dido; but the shade legend. (Consult Baehr, ad Herod. l. c.) of her husband appeared to her, and disclosing to her the spot where he had concealed his riches during life, exhorted her to take these and flee from the country. Dido instantly obeyed, and leaving Phoenicia, founded Carthage on the coast of Africa. (Vid. Dido.) Virgil calls the husband of Dido Sichæus; but Servius, in his commentary, informs us, that this appellation of Sichæus is softened down from Sicharbes. Justin (18, 4) calls him Acerbas, which appears to be an intermediate form. Gesenius (Phan. Mon., p. 414) makes Sicharbas come from Isicharbas ("vir gladii') or Masicharbas ("opus gladii," i. e., qui gladio omnia sua debet). If we reject the explanation of Servius, the name Sichæus may come from Zachi, "purus, justus." ACCIA, or, more correctly, Atia, the sister of Julius Cæsar, and mother of Augustus. Cicero (Phil. 3, 6) gives her a high character. She was the daughter of M. Atius Balbus. (Cic. 1. c.-Suet. Aug. 4.) Accius, L., a Roman tragic poet, more correctly written Attius. (Vid. Attius, and compare Seyfert, Lat. Sprachl. p. 95.-Grotefend, Lat. Gram., 176, 2d ed.-Baehr, Gesch. Rom. Lit. vol. i., p. 80, in notis.)-II. More correctly Attius Tullus, leader of the Volsci in the time of Coriolanus. (Vid. Attius.) Acco, a general of the Gauls, at the head of the confederacy formed against the Romans by the Senones, Carnutes, and Treviri. Cæsar (B. G. 6, 4, 44), by the rapidity of his march, prevented the execution of Acco's plans; and ordered a general assembly of the Gauls to inquire into the conduct of these nations. Sentence of death was pronounced on Acco, and he was instantly executed. ACERRAE, I. a town of Cisalpine Gaul, west of Cremona and north of Placentia; supposed to have occupied the site of Pizzighetone; called by Polybius (2, 31) 'Axéppaι, and regarded as one of the strongholds of the Insubres. It must not be confounded with another Celtic city, Acara ("Akapa, Strabo, 216), or Acerræ (Plin. 3, 14), south of the Po, not far from Forum Lepidi and Mutina (Mannert, 9, 170): Tzschucke incorrectly reads 'Axépaι for 'Akapa, making the two places identical. (Tzsch. ad Strab. 1. c.)-II. A city of Campania, to the east of Atella, called by the Greeks 'Axéppaɩ, and made a Municipium by the Romans at a very early period (Livy, 8, 14). It remained faithful when Capua yielded to Hannibal, and was hence destroyed by that commander. It was subsequently rebuilt, and in the time of Augustus received a Roman colony, but at no period had many inhabitants, from the frequent and destructive inundations of the Clanius. (Frontinus, de Col. 102.—Virg. G. 2, 225, et Schol.) The Modern Acerra stands nearly on the site (Mannert, 9, 780). ACE, a seaport town of Phoenicia, a considerable distance south of Tyre. On the gold and silver coins of Alexander the Great, struck in this place with | Phoenician characters, it is called Aco. The Hebrew Scriptures (Judges, 1, 31) term it Accho, signifying "straitened" or "confined." Strabo calls it 'Ak (758). It was afterward styled Ptolemais, in honour of Ptolemy, son of Lagus, who long held part of southern Syria under his sway. The Romans, in a later age, appear to have transformed the Greek accusative Ptolemaida into a Latin nominative, and to have designated the city by this name; at least it is so written in the Itin. Antonin. and Hierosol. The Greeks, having changed the original name before this into 'Aký, connected with it the fabulous legend of Hercules having been bitten here by a serpent, and of his having cured (kéoμai) the wound by a certain leaf. (Steph. B. v. IIroλeuais.) The compiler of the Etym. ACERSECOMES, a surname of Apollo, signifying "unMagn. limits the name of 'Ak to the citadel, but as-shorn," i. e., ever young (Juv. 8, 128). Another form signs a similar reason for its origin. (Compare the is ȧKELDEKÓμng. Both are compounded of a priv., learned remarks of Reland, on the name of this city, Keipw, fut., Æol. Képow, to cut, and kóμn, the hair of in his Palest., p. 535, seq.) Accho was one of the the head. The term is applied, however, as well to cities of Palestine, which the Israelites were unable Bacchus as to Apollo. (Compare the Lat. intonsus, to take (Judges, 1, 31). The city is now called Acre, and Ruperti, ad Juv. l. c.) more properly Acca, and lies at the northern angle of the bay, to which it gives its name, which extends, in a semicircle of three leagues, as far as the point of Carmel. During the Crusades it sustained several sieges. After the expulsion of the Knights of St. John, it fell rapidly to decay, and was almost deserted till Sheikh Daher, and, after him, Djezzar Pasha, by repairing the town and harbour, made it one of the first places on the coast. In modern times it has been ACES, a river of Asia, on the confines, according to Herodotus (3, 117), of the Chorasmians, Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sarangeans, and Thamaneans. The territories of all these nations were irrigated by it, through means of water-courses; but when the Persians conquered this part of Asia, they blocked up the outlets of the stream, and made the reopening of them a source of tribute. The whole story is a very improbable one. Rennell thinks that there is some allusion in it to the Oxus or Ochus, both of which rivers have undergone considerable changes in their courses, partly by the management of dams, partly by their own deposites. (Geogr. of Herod., vol. i., p. 258.) For other opinions on the subject, consult Baehr, ad Herod. l. c. ACESINES, a large and rapid river of India, falling into the Indus. It is commonly supposed to be the Ravei, but Rennell makes it, more correctly, the Jenaub. (Vincent's Comm. and Nav. of the Anc. 1,-III. A river, which falls into the Euxine on the 95.—Arrian, 5, 22.—Theophr. 4, 12.—Pliny,37, 12.) ACESIUS, I. a bishop of the Novatians, in the reign of the Emperor Constantine, A.D. 325. (Socr. 1, 7. -Sozom. 1, 2.)-II. A surname of Apollo, as god of medicine, from ȧkéoμai, sano. ACESTA. Vid. Egesta. ACESTES. Vid. Egestes. ACESTOR, an ancient statuary, mentioned by Pausanias (6, 7, 2). He was a native of Cnossus, or at least exercised his art there for some time, and was the father of that Amphion who was the pupil of Ptolichus of Corcyra. Piolichus lived about Olymp. 80, 82, and Acestor must have been his contemporary. (Sillig, Dict. of Anc. Artists, s. v., William's transl.) only once. Athenæus, however (6, p. 270), accuses ACHEA, 'Axata, a surname of Pallas. Her temple among the Daunians, in Apulia, contained the arms of ACHAIA, I. a district of Thessaly, so named from the Diomede and his followers. It was defended by dogs, Achæi (vid. Græcia). It embraced more than Phthiotis, which fawned on the Greeks, but fiercely attacked all since Herodotus (7, 196) makes it comprehend the other persons (Aristot. de Mirab.).-II. Ceres was country along the Apidanus. Assuming this as its also called Achæa, from her grief (xos) at the loss of western limit, we may consider it to have reached as Proserpina (Plut. in Is. et Os.). Other explanations are far as the Sinus Pelasgicus and Sinus Maliacus on the given by the scholiast (ad Aristoph. Acharn. 674). Con-east. (Mannert, 7, 599.) Larcher (Hist. d'Herod. sult also. Kuster and Brunck, ad loc., and Suidas, s. v. 8, 7, Table Geogr.) regards Melitaa as the limit on ACHI, one of the main branches of the great Æo- the west, which lies considerably east of the Apidalic race. (Vid. Achaia and Græcia, especially the latter nus. That Phthiotis formed only part of Achaia, aparticle.) pears evident from the words of Scymnus (v. 604). ACH MENES, the founder of the Persian monarchy, ERELT 'Axaioì mapahioi ÞowTikoi (Gail, ad loc.) according to some writers, who identify him with the Homer (П. 3, 258) uses the term 'Axaitda, sc. xúpav, Giem Schid, or Djemschid, of the Oriental historians in opposition to Argos, "Apyos, and seems to indicate (vid. Persia). The genealogy of the royal line is giv- by the former, according to one scholiast, the Peloen by Herodotus (7, 11) from Achæmenes to Xerxes. ponnesus; according to another, the whole country ocThe earlier descent, as given by the Grecian writers, cupied by the Hellenes (Tv racav 'Eλλývwv yiv, and according to which, Perses, son of Perseus and Schol. I. 3, 75).-II. A harbour on the northeastern Andromeda, was the first of the line, and the individual coast of the Euxine, mentioned by Arrian, in his Perifrom whom the Persians derived their national appella-plus of the Euxine (131, Blanc.), and called by him tion, is purely fabulous. Eschylus (Pers. 762) makes Old Achaia (rhy rahaιav 'Axaíav). The Greeks, acthe Persians to have been first governed by a Mede, cording to Strabo (416), had a tradition, that the inhabwho was succeeded by his son; then came Cyrus, itants of this place were of Grecian origin, and natives succeeded by one of his sons; next Merdis, Maraphis, of the Boeotian Orchomenus. They were returning, Artaphernes, and Darius; the last not being, howev- it seems, from the Trojan war, when, missing their er, a lineal descendant. For a discussion on this sub-way, they wandered to this quarter. Appian (B. M. ject, consult Stanley, ad loc.: Larcher, ad Herod. 7, 11, and Schütz, Excurs. 2, ad Esch. Pers. l. c. 67, 102, Schw.) makes them to have been Achæans, but in other respects coincides with Strabo. Müller ACHEMENIDES, I. a branch of the Persian tribe of (Gesch. Hellen. Stämme, &c., 1, 282) supposes the Pasargada, named from Achæmenes, the founder of Greeks to have purposely altered the true name of the the line. From this family, the kings of Persia were people in question, so as to make it resemble Achai descended (Herod. 1, 126). Cambyses, on his death- ('Axatoi), that they might crect on this superstructure bed, entreated the Achæmenides not to suffer the king- a mere edifice of fable.-III. A country of the Pelodom to pass into the hands of the Medes (3, 65).-II. ponnesus, lying along the Sinus Corinthiacus, north of A Persian of the royal line, whom Ctesias (32) makes Elis and Arcadia. A number of mountain-streams, the brother, but Herodotus (7, 7) and Diodorus Sicu-descending from the ridges of Arcadia, watered this relus (11, 74) call the uncle of Artaxerxes I. The lat-gion, but they were small in size, and many mere winterter styles him Achæmenes. (Baehr, ad Ctes. l. c.- torrents. The coast was for the most part level, and Wessel. ad Herod. 1. c.) was hence exposed to frequent inundations. It had few harbours; not one of any size, or secure for ships. On this account we find, that of the cities along the coast of Achaia, none became famous for maritime enterprise. In other respects, Achaia may be ranked, as to extent, fruitfulness, and population, among the middling countries of Greece. Its principal productions ACHEUS, I. a son of Xuthus. (Vid. Græcia, rela- were like those of the rest of the Peloponnesus, nametive to the early movements of the Grecian tribes.)-ly, oil, wine, and corn. (Mannert, 8, 384.-Heeren's II. A tragic poet, born at Eretria, B.C. 484, the very Ideen, &c., 3, 27.) The most ancient name of this year Eschylus won his first prize. We find him con- region was Egialea or Egialos, Aiyιañós, tending with Sophocles and Euripides, B.C. 447. shore," derived from its peculiar situation. With such competitors, however, he was, of course, braced originally the territory of Sicyon, since here not very successful. He gained the dramatic victory stood the early capital of the Ægialii or Ægialenses, ACHÆORUM STATIO, I. a place on the coast of the Thracian Chersonesus, where Polyxena was sacrificed to the shade of Achilles, and where Hecuba killed Polymnestor, who had murdered her son Polydorus.II. The name of Achæorum Portus was given to the harbour of Corone, in Messenia. seaIt em |