He was born B.C. 355, that night on which the famous temple of
Diana at Ephesus was burnt by Erostratus. This event, according to
the magicians, was an early prognostic of his future greatness, as
well as the taming of Bucephalus, a horse which none of the king’s
courtiers could manage; upon which Philip said, with tears in his
eyes, that his son must seek another kingdom, as that of Macedonia
would not be sufficiently large for the display of his greatness.
Olympias, during her pregnancy, declared that she was with child by
a dragon; and the day that Alexander was born, two eagles perched
for some time on the house of Philip, as if foretelling that
his son would become master of Europe and Asia. He was pupil to
Aristotle during five years, and he received his learned preceptor’s
instructions with becoming deference and pleasure, and ever respected
his abilities. When Philip went to war, Alexander, in his 15th
year, was left governor of Macedonia, where he quelled a dangerous
sedition, and soon after followed his father to the field, and saved
his life in a battle. He was highly offended when Philip divorced
Olympias to marry Cleopatra, and he even caused the death of Attalus,
the new queen’s brother. After this he retired from court to his
mother Olympias, but was recalled; and when Philip was assassinated,
he punished his murderers; and, by his prudence and moderation,
gained the affections of his subjects. He conquered Thrace and
Illyricum, and destroyed Thebes; and after he had been chosen chief
commander of all the forces of Greece, he declared war against the
Persians, who under Darius and Xerxes had laid waste and plundered
the noblest of the Grecian cities. With 32,000 foot and 5000 horse,
he invaded Asia, and after the defeat of Darius at the Granicus,
he conquered all the provinces of Asia Minor. He obtained two other
celebrated victories over Darius at Issus and Arbela, took Tyre
after an obstinate siege of seven months, and the slaughter of
2000 of the inhabitants in cold blood, and made himself master of
Egypt, Media, Syria, and Persia. From Egypt he visited the temple of
Jupiter Ammon, and bribed the priests, who saluted him as the son of
their god, and enjoined his army to pay him divine honours. He built
a town which he called Alexandria, on the western side of the Nile,
near the coast of the Mediterranean, an eligible situation which his
penetrating eye marked as best entitled to become the future capital
of his immense dominions, and to extend the commerce of his subjects
from the Mediterranean to the Ganges. His conquests were spread over
India, where he fought with Porus, a powerful king of the country;
and after he had invaded Scythia, and visited the Indian ocean,
he retired to Babylon loaded with the spoils of the east. His
entering the city was foretold by the magicians as fatal, and their
prediction was fulfilled. He died at Babylon the 21st of April, in
the 32nd year of his age, after a reign of 12 years and 8 months of
brilliant and continued success, 323 B.C. His death was so premature
that some have attributed it to the effects of poison, and excess
of drinking. Antipater has been accused of causing the fatal poison
to be given him at a feast; and perhaps the resentment of the
Macedonians, whose services he seemed to forget, by entrusting the
guard of his body to the Persians, was the cause of his death. He
was so universally regretted, that Babylon was filled with tears and
lamentations; and the Medes and Macedonians declared that no one was
able or worthy to succeed him. Many conspiracies were formed against
him by the officers of his army, but they were all seasonably
suppressed. His tender treatment of the wife and mother of king
Darius, who were taken prisoners, has been greatly praised; and the
latter, who had survived the death of her son, killed herself when
she heard that Alexander was dead. His great intrepidity more than
once endangered his life; he always fought as if sure of victory,
and the terror of his name was often more powerfully effectual than
his arms. He was always forward in every engagement, and bore the
labours of the field as well as the meanest of his soldiers. During
his conquests in Asia, he founded many cities, which he called
Alexandria, after his own name. When he had conquered Darius, he
ordered himself to be worshipped as a god; and Callisthenes, who
refused to do it, was shamefully put to death. He also murdered
at a banquet, his friend Clitus, who had once saved his life in a
battle, because he enlarged upon the virtues and exploits of Philip,
and preferred them to those of his son. His victories and success
increased his pride; he dressed himself in the Persian manner, and,
giving himself up to pleasure and dissipation, he set on fire the
town of Persepolis in a fit of madness and intoxication, encouraged
by the courtesan Thais. Yet, among all his extravagances, he was
fond of candour and of truth; and when one of his officers read
to him, as he sailed on the Hydaspes, a history which he had
composed of his wars with Porus, and in which he had too liberally
panegyrized him, Alexander snatched the book from his hand, and
threw it into the river, saying, “What need is there of such
flattery? Are not the exploits of Alexander sufficiently meritorious
in themselves, without the colourings of falsehood?” He in like
manner rejected a statuary, who offered to cut mount Athos like him,
and represent him as holding a town in one hand, and pouring a river
from the other. He forbade any statuary to make his statue except
Lysippus, and any painter to draw his picture except Apelles. On his
death-bed he gave his ring to Perdiccas, and it was supposed that
by this singular present he wished to make him his successor. Some
time before his death, his officers asked him whom he appointed to
succeed him on the throne; and he answered, “The worthiest among you;
but I am afraid,” added he, “my best friends will perform my funeral
obsequies with bloody hands.” Alexander, with all his pride, was
humane and liberal, easy and familiar with his friends, a great
patron of learning, as may be collected from his assisting Aristotle
with a purse of money to effect the completion of his natural
history. He was brave often to rashness; he frequently lamented
that his father conquered everything, and left him nothing to do;
and exclaimed, in all the pride of regal dignity, “Give me kings
for competitors, and I will enter the lists at Olympia.” All his
family and infant children were put to death by Cassander. The first
deliberation that was made after his decease, among his generals,
was to appoint his brother Philip Aridæus successor, until Roxane,
who was then pregnant by him, brought into the world a legitimate
heir. Perdiccas wished to be supreme regent as Aridæus wanted
capacity; and, more strongly to establish himself, he married
Cleopatra, Alexander’s sister, and made alliance with Eumenes. As
he endeavoured to deprive Ptolemy of Egypt, he was defeated in a
battle by Seleucus and Antigonus, on the banks of the river Nile,
and assassinated by his own cavalry. Perdiccas was the first of
Alexander’s generals who took up arms against his fellow-soldiers,
and he was the first who fell a sacrifice to his rashness and
cruelty. To defend himself against him, Ptolemy made a treaty of
alliance with some generals, among whom was Antipater, who had
strengthened himself by giving his daughter Phila, an ambitious and
aspiring woman, in marriage to Craterus, another of the generals of
Alexander. After many dissensions and bloody wars among themselves,
the generals of Alexander laid the foundation of several great
empires in the three quarters of the globe. Ptolemy seized Egypt,
where he firmly established himself, and where his successors were
called Ptolemies, in honour of the founder of their empire, which
subsisted till the time of Augustus. Seleucus and his posterity
reigned in Babylon and Syria. Antigonus at first established himself
in Asia Minor, and Antipater in Macedonia. The descendants of
Antipater were conquered by the successors of Antigonus, who reigned
in Macedonia till it was reduced by the Romans in the time of king
Perseus. Lysimachus made himself master of Thrace; and Leonatus,
who had taken possession of Phrygia, meditated for a while to drive
Antipater from Macedonia. Eumenes established himself in Cappadocia,
but was soon overpowered by the combinations of his rival Antigonus,
and starved to death. During his lifetime, Eumenes appeared so
formidable to the successors of Alexander, that none of them dared
to assume the title of king. _Curtius_, _Arrian_, & _Plutarch_
have written an account of Alexander’s life. _Diodorus_, bks. 17
& 18.――_Pausanias_, bks. 1, 7, 8, & 9.――_Justin_, bks. 11 & 12.――
_Valerius Maximus._――_Strabo_, bk. 1, &c.――――A son of Alexander
the Great, by Roxane, put to death, with his mother, by Cassander.
_Justin_, bk. 15, ch. 2.――――A man who, after the expulsion of
Telestes, reigned in Corinth. Twenty-five years after, Telestes
dispossessed him, and put him to death.――――A son of Cassander king
of Macedonia, who reigned two years conjointly with his brother
Antipater, and was prevented by Lysimachus from revenging his mother
Thessalonica, whom his brother had murdered. Demetrius, the son of
Antigonus, put him to death. _Justin_, bk. 16, ch. 1.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 9, ch. 7.――――A king of Epirus, brother to Olympias, and
successor to Arybas. He banished Timolaus to Peloponnesus, and made
war in Italy against the Romans, and observed that he fought with
men, while his nephew, Alexander the Great, was fighting with an
army of women (meaning the Persians). He was surnamed Molossus.
_Justin_, bk. 17, ch. 3.――_Diodorus_, bk. 16.――_Livy_, bk. 8, chs.
17 & 27.――_Strabo_, bk. 16.――――A son of Pyrrhus, was king of Epirus.
He conquered Macedonia, from which he was expelled by Demetrius. He
recovered it by the assistance of the Acarnanians. _Justin_, bk. 26,
ch. 3.――_Plutarch_, _Pyrrhus_.――――A king of Syria, driven from his
kingdom by Nicanor son of Demetrius Soter, and his father-in-law
Ptolemy Philometer. _Justin_, bk. 35, chs. 1 & 2.――_Josephus_,
bk. 13, _Antiquities of the Jews_.――_Strabo_, bk. 17.――――A king of
Syria, first called Bala, was a merchant, and succeeded Demetrius.
He conquered Nicanor by means of Ptolemy Physcon, and was afterwards
killed by Antiochus Gryphus son of Nicanor. _Josephus_, _Antiquities
of the Jews_, bk. 13, ch. 18.――――Ptolemy was one of the Ptolemean
kings in Egypt. His mother Cleopatra raised him to the throne, in
preference to his brother Ptolemy Lathurus, and reigned conjointly
with him. Cleopatra, however, expelled him, and soon after recalled
him; and Alexander, to prevent being expelled a second time, put her
to death, and for this unnatural action was himself murdered by one
of his subjects. _Josephus_, bk. 13, _Antiquities of the Jews_, ch.
20, &c.――_Justin_, bk. 39, chs. 3 & 4.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 9.
――――Ptolemy II., king of Egypt, was son of the preceding. He was
educated in the island of Cos, and, falling into the hands of
Mithridates, escaped to Sylla, who restored him to his kingdom.
He was murdered by his subjects a few days after his restoration.
_Appian_, bk. 1, _Civil Wars_.――――Ptolemy III., was king of Egypt
after his brother Alexander the last mentioned. After a peaceful
reign, he was banished by his subjects, and died at Tyre, B.C. 65,
leaving his kingdom to the Roman people. _See:_ Ægyptus and Ptolemæus.
_Cicero_, _De Lege Agraria contra Rullum_.――――A youth, ordered by
Alexander the Great to climb the rock Aornus, with 30 other youths.
He was killed in the attempt. _Curtius_, bk. 8, ch. 11.――――An
historian mentioned by _Plutarch_, _Marius_.――――An Epicurean
philosopher. _Plutarch._――――A governor of Æolia, who assembled a
multitude on pretence of showing them an uncommon spectacle, and
confined them till they had each bought their liberty with a sum of
money. _Polyænus_, bk. 6, ch. 10.――――A name given to Paris son of
Priam. _See:_ Paris.――――Jannæus, a king of Judea, son of Hyrcanus
and brother of Aristobulus, who reigned as a tyrant, and died
through excess of drinking, B.C. 79, after massacring 800 of his
subjects for the entertainment of his concubines.――――A Paphlagonian,
who gained divine honours by his magical tricks and impositions,
and likewise procured the friendship of Marcus Aurelius. He died
70 years old.――――A native of Caria, in the third century, who wrote
a commentary on the writings of Aristotle, part of which is still
extant.――――Trallianus, a physician and philosopher of the fourth
century, some of whose works in Greek are still extant.――――A poet
of Ætolia, in the age of Ptolemy Philadelphus.――――A peripatetic
philosopher, said to have been preceptor to Nero.――――An historian,
called also Polyhistor, who wrote five books on the Roman republic,
in which he said that the Jews had received their laws, not from
God, but from a woman whom he called Moso. He also wrote treatises
on the Pythagorean philosophy, B.C. 88.――――A poet of Ephesus, who
wrote a poem on astronomy and geography.――――A writer of Myndus,
quoted by _Athenæus_ and _Ælian_.――――A sophist of Seleucia, in
the age of Antoninus.――――A physician in the age of Justinian.――――A
Thessalian, who, as he was going to engage in a naval battle, gave
to his soldiers a great number of missile weapons, and ordered
them to dart them continually upon the enemy to render their
numbers useless. _Polyænus_, bk. 6, ch. 27.――――A son of Lysimachus.
_Polyænus_, bk. 6, ch. 12.――――A governor of Lycia, who brought a
reinforcement of troops to Alexander the Great. _Curtius_, bk. 7,
ch. 10.――――A son of Polyperchon, killed in Asia by the Dymæans.
_Diodorus_, bks. 18 & 19.――――A poet of Pleuron son of Satyrus and
Stratoclea, who said that Theseus had a daughter called Iphigenia
by Helen. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 22.――――A Spartan, killed with 200
of his soldiers by the Argives, when he endeavoured to prevent their
passing through the country of Tegea. _Diodorus_, bk. 15.――――A cruel
tyrant of Pheræ, in Thessaly, who made war against the Macedonians,
and took Pelopidas prisoner. He was murdered, B.C. 357, by his
wife called Thebe, whose room he carefully guarded by a Thracian
sentinel, and searched every night, fearful of some dagger that
might be concealed to take away his life. _Cicero_, _de Inventione_,
bk. 2, ch. 49; _de Officiis_, bk. 2, ch. 9.――_Valerius Maximus_,
bk. 9, ch. 13.――_Plutarch_ & _Cornelius Nepos_, _Pelopidas_.――
_Pausanias_, bk. 6, ch. 5.――_Diodorus_, bks. 15 & 16.――_Ovid_,
_Ibis_, li. 321.――――Severus, a Roman emperor. _See:_ Severus.
=Alexandra=, the name of some queens of Judæa mentioned by _Josephus_.
――――A nurse of Nero. _Suetonius_, _Nero_, ch. 50.――――A name
of Cassandra, because she assisted mankind by her prophecies.
_Lycophron._
=Alexandri Aræ=, the boundaries, according to some, of Alexander’s
victories, near the Tanais. _Pliny_, bk. 6, ch. 16.
=Alexandrīa=, the name of several cities which were founded by
Alexander, during his conquests in Asia; the most famous are:――A
grand and extensive city, built B.C. 332, by Alexander, on the
western side of the Delta. The illustrious founder intended it not
only for the capital of Egypt, but of his immense conquests, and
the commercial advantages which its situation commanded continued to
improve from the time of Alexander till the invasion of the Saracens
in the seventh century. The commodities of India were brought
there, and thence dispersed to the different countries around the
Mediterranean. Alexandria is famous, among other curiosities, for
the large library which the pride or learning of the Ptolemies had
collected there, at a vast expense, from all parts of the earth.
This valuable repository was burnt by the orders of the caliph
Omar, A.D. 642; and it is said that, during six months, the
numerous volumes supplied fuel for the 4000 baths, which contributed
to the health and convenience of the populous capital of Egypt.
Alexandria has likewise been distinguished for its schools, not
only of theology and philosophy, but of physic, where once to
have studied was a sufficient recommendation to distant countries.
The astronomical school, founded by Philadelphus, maintained its
superior reputation for 10 centuries, till the time of the Saracens.
The modern town of Scanderoon has been erected upon the ruins of
Alexandria, and, as if it were an insult to its former greatness, it
scarce contains 6000 inhabitants. _Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 8.――_Strabo_,
bk. 17.――_Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 10.――――Another in Albania, at the foot
of mount Caucasus.――――Another in Arachosia, in India.――――The capital
of Aria, between Hecatompylon and Bactra.――――Another of Carmania.
――――Another in Cilicia, on the confines of Syria.――――Another the
capital of Margiana.――――Another of Troas, &c. _Curtius_, bk. 7.――
_Pliny_, bk. 6, chs. 16, 23, & 25.
=Alexandrĭdes=, a Lacedæmonian, who married his sister’s daughter,
by whom he had Dorycus, Leonidas, and Cleombrotus.――――A native of
Delphi, of which he wrote a history.
=Alexandrīna aqua=, baths in Rome, built by the emperor Alexander
Severus.
=Alexandropŏlis=, a city of Parthia, built by Alexander the Great.
_Pliny_, bk. 6, ch. 25.
=Alexānor=, a son of Machaon, who built in Sicyon a temple to his
grandfather Æsculapius, and received divine honours after death.
_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 11.
=Alexarchus=, a Greek historian.
=Alexas=, of Laodicea, was recommended to Marcus Antony by Timagenes.
He was the cause that Antony repudiated Octavia to marry Cleopatra.
Augustus punished him severely after the defeat of Antony.
_Plutarch_, _Antonius_.
=Alexia=, or =Alesia=. _See:_ Alesia.
=Alexicăcus=, a surname given to Apollo by the Athenians, because he
delivered them from the plague during the Peloponnesian war.
=Alexīnus=, a disciple of Eubulides the Milesian, famous for the
acuteness of his genius and judgment, and for his fondness for
contention and argumentation. He died of a wound which he had
received from a sharp-pointed reed, as he swam across the river
Alpheus. _Diogenes Laërtius_, _Euclides_.
=Alexion=, a physician intimate with Cicero. _Cicero_, _Letters to
Atticus_, bk. 13, ltr. 25.
=Alexippus=, a physician of Alexander. _Plutarch_, _Alexander_.
=Alexiraes=, son of Hercules by Hebe. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 7.
――――A place of Bœotia, where Alexiraes was born, bears also this
name. _Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 25.
=Alexirhoe=, a daughter of the river Granicus. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_,
bk. 11, li. 763.
=Alexis=, a man of Samos, who endeavoured to ascertain, by his
writings, the borders of his country.――――A comic poet, 336 B.C., of
Thurium, who wrote 245 comedies, of which some few fragments remain.
――――A servant of Asinius Pollio.――――An ungrateful youth of whom a
shepherd is deeply enamoured, in Virgil’s _Eclogues_, poem 2.――――A
statuary, disciple to Polycletes, 87th Olympiad _Pliny_, bk. 34,
ch. 8.――――A schoolfellow of Atticus. _Cicero_, _Letters to Atticus_,
bk. 7, ltr. 2.
=Alexon=, a native of Myndos, who wrote fables. _Diogenes Laërtius._
=Alfaterna=, a town of Campania, beyond mount Vesuvius.
=Publius Alfēnus Varus=, a native of Cremona, who, by the force of
his genius and his application, raised himself from his original
profession of a cobbler to offices of trust at Rome, and at last
became consul. _Horace_, bk. 1, satire 3, li. 130.
=Algĭdum=, a town of Latium near Tusculum, about 12 miles from Rome.
There is a mountain of the same name in the neighbourhood. _Horace_,
bk. 1, ode 21.
=Aliacmon= and =Haliacmon=, a river of Macedonia, separating it from
Thessaly. It flows into the Ægean sea. _Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 10.
=Aliartus= (or um) and =Haliartus=, a town of Bœotia, near the river
Permessus, taken by Marcus Lucretius. _Livy_, bk. 42, ch. 63.
――――Another in Peloponnesus, on the coast of Messenia. _Statius_,
_Thebiad_, bk. 7, li. 274.
=Alĭcis=, a town of Laconia.――――A tribe of Athens.
=Aliēnus Cæcīna=, a questor in Bœotia, appointed, for his services,
commander of a legion in Germany, by Galba. The emperor disgraced
him for his bad conduct, for which he raised commotions in the
empire. _Tacitus_, _Histories_, bk. 1, ch. 52.
=Alīfæ=, =Alifa=, or =Alipha=, a town of Italy, near the Vulturnus,
famous for the making of cups. _Horace_, bk. 2, satire 8, li. 39.
――_Livy_, bk. 8, ch. 25.
=Alilæi=, a people of Arabia Felix.
=Alimentus Cincius=, an historian in the second Punic war, who wrote
in Greek an account of Annibal, besides a treatise on military
affairs. _Livy_, bks. 21 & 30.
=Alindæ=, a town of Caria. _Arrian._
=Aliphēria=, a town of Arcadia, situate on a hill. _Polybius_, bk. 4,
ch. 77.
=Alirrothius=, a son of Neptune. Hearing that his father had been
defeated by Minerva, in his dispute about giving a name to Athens,
he went to the citadel, and endeavoured to cut down the olive, which
had sprung from the ground and given the victory to Minerva; but in
the attempt he missed his aim, and cut his own legs so severely that
he instantly expired.
=Tiberius Alledius Severus=, a Roman knight, who married his brother’s
daughter to please Agrippina.――――A noted glutton in Domitian’s reign.
_Juvenal_, satire 5, li. 118.
=Allia=, a river of Italy, falling into the Tiber. The Romans were
defeated on its banks by Brennus and the Gauls, who were going to
plunder Rome, 17th July, B.C. 390. _Plutarch_, _Camillus_.――_Livy_,
bk. 5, ch. 37.――_Florus_, bk. 1, ch. 13.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7,
li. 717.――_Ovid_, _Ars Amatoria_, bk. 1, li. 413.
=Alliēnos=, a pretor of Sicily, under Cæsar. _Hirtius_, _African War_,
ch. 2.
=Allŏbrŏges=, a warlike nation of Gaul near the Rhone, in that part
of the country now called Savoy, Dauphiné, and Vivarais. The Romans
destroyed their city because they had assisted Annibal. Their
ambassadors were allured by great promises to join in Catiline’s
conspiracy against his country; but they scorned the offers, and
discovered the plot. _Dio Cassius._――_Strabo_, bk. 4.――_Tacitus_,
_Histories_, bk. 1, ch. 66.――_Sallust_, _Jugurthine War_.
=Allobry̆ges=, a people of Gaul, supposed to be the same as the
Allobroges. _Polybius_, bk. 30, ch. 56.
=Allotrĭges=, a nation on the southern parts of Spain. _Strabo_, bk. 2.
=Allutius=, or =Albutius=, a prince of the Celtiberi, to whom Scipio
restored the beautiful princess whom he had taken in battle.
=Almo=, a small river near Rome falling into the Tiber. _Ovid_,
_Fasti_, bk. 4, li. 387.――_Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 600.
=Almon=, the eldest of the sons of Tyrrhus. He was the first Rutulian
killed by the Trojans; and from the skirmish which happened before
and after his death, arose the enmities which ended in the fall of
Turnus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 532.
=Alŏa=, festivals at Athens in honour of Bacchus and Ceres, by whose
beneficence the husbandmen received the recompense of their labours.
The oblations were the fruits of the earth. Ceres has been called
from this, Aloas and Alois.
=Aloēus=, a giant, son of Titan and Terra. He married Iphimedia, by
whom Neptune had the twins Othus and Ephialtus. Aloeus educated
them as his own, and from that circumstance they have been called
_Aloides_. They made war against the gods, and were killed by Apollo
and Diana. They grew up nine inches every month, and were only nine
years old when they undertook their war. They built the town of
Ascra, at the foot of mount Helicon. _Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 29.
――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 582.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 5;
_Odyssey_, bk. 11.
=Aloīdes= and =Aloidæ=, the sons of Aloeus. _See:_ Aloeus.
=Alŏpe=, daughter of Cercyon king of Eleusis, had a child by Neptune,
whom she exposed in the woods, covered with a piece of her gown.
The child was preserved, and carried to Alope’s father, who, upon
knowing the gown, ordered his daughter to be put to death. Neptune,
who could not save his mistress, changed her into a fountain. The
child, called Hippothoon, was preserved by some shepherds and placed
by Theseus upon his grandfather’s throne. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, chs. 5
& 39.――_Hyginus_, fable 187.――――One of the Harpies. _Hyginus_,
fable 14.――――A town of Thessaly. _Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 7.――_Homer_,
_Iliad_, bk. 2, li. 682.
=Alopĕce=, an island in the Palus Mæotis. _Strabo._――――Another in the
Cimmerian Bosphorus. _Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12.――――Another in the Ægean
sea opposite Smyrna. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 31.――――A small village
of Attica, where was the tomb of Anchimolius, whom the Spartans
had sent to deliver Athens from the tyranny of the Pisistratidæ.
Socrates and Aristides were born there. _Aeschines_, _Against
Timarchus_.――_Herodotus_, bk. 5, ch. 64.
=Alopius=, a son of Hercules and Antiope. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 35.
=Alos=, a town of Achaia. _Strabo_, bk. 9.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 7.
=Alotia=, festivals in Arcadia, in commemoration of a victory gained
over Lacedæmon by the Arcadians.
=Alpēnus=, the capital of Locris, at the north of Thermopylæ.
_Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 176, &c.
=Alpes=, mountains that separate Italy from Spain, Gaul, Rhætia, and
Germany; considered as the highest ground in Europe. From them arise
several rivers, which, after watering the neighbouring countries,
discharge themselves into the German, Mediterranean, and Euxine
seas. The Alps are covered with perpetual snows, and distinguished,
according to their situation, by the different names of _Cottiæ_,
_Carnicæ_, _Graiæ_, _Noricæ_, _Juliæ_, _Maritimæ_, _Pannoniæ_,
_Penninæ_, _Pœnæ_, _Rhætiæ_, _Tridentinæ_, _Venetæ_. A traveller
is generally five days in reaching the top in some parts. They were
supposed for a long time to be impassable. Hannibal marched his army
over them, and made his way through rocks, by softening and breaking
them with vinegar. They were inhabited by fierce uncivilized nations,
who were unsubdued till the age of Augustus, who, to eternize the
victory which he had obtained over them, erected a pillar in their
territory. _Strabo_, bks. 4 & 5.――_Livy_, bk. 21, ch. 35.――_Juvenal_,
satire 10, li. 151.――_Horace_, bk. 2, satire 5, li. 41.――_Lucan_,
bk. 1, li. 183.――_Tacitus_, _Histories_, bk. 3, ch. 53.
=Alpheia=, a surname of Diana in Elis. It was given her when the river
Alpheus endeavoured to ravish her without success.――――A surname
of the nymph Arethusa, because loved by the Alpheus. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, li. 487.
=Alphēnor=, one of Niobe’s sons. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 6,
fable 6.
=Alphēnus.= _See:_ Alfenus.
=Alphesibœa=, daughter of the river Phlegeus, married Alcmæon son of
Amphiaraus, who had fled to her father’s court after the murder of
his mother. _See:_ Alcmæon. She received, as a bridal present, the
famous necklace which Polynices had given to Eriphyle, to induce
her to betray her husband Amphiaraus. Alcmæon being persecuted by
the means of his mother, left his wife by order of the oracle, and
retired near the Achelous, whose daughter Callirrhoe had two sons by
him, and begged of him, as a present, the necklace which was then in
the hands of Alphesibœa. He endeavoured to obtain it, and was killed
by Temenus and Axion, Alphesibœa’s brothers, who thus revenged
their sister who had been so innocently abandoned. _Hyginus_,
fable 244.――_Propertius_, bk. 8, poem 15, li. 15.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 8, ch. 24.
=Alphesibœus=, a shepherd, often mentioned in Virgil’s eclogues.
=Alphēus=, now _Alpheo_, a famous river of Peloponnesus, which rises
in Arcadia, and after passing through Elis falls into the sea. The
god of this river fell in love with the nymph Arethusa, and pursued
her till she was changed into a fountain by Diana. The fountain
Arethusa is in Ortygia, a small island near Syracuse; and the
ancients affirm that the river Alpheus passes under the sea from
Peloponnesus, and without mingling itself with the salt waters,
rises again in Ortygia, and joins the stream of Arethusa. If
anything is thrown into the Alpheus in Elis, according to their
traditions, it will reappear, after some time, swimming on the
waters of Arethusa, near Sicily. Hercules made use of the Alpheus
to clean the stables of Augeas. _Strabo_, bk. 6.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 3, li. 694.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, fable 10.――_Lucan_,
bk. 3, li. 176. ――_Statius_, _Thebiad_, bks. 1 & 4.――_Mela_, bk. 2,
ch. 7.――_Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 7; bk. 6, ch. 21.――_Marcellinus_,
bk. 25.――_Pliny_, bk. 2, ch. 103.
=Alphius=, or =Alfeus=, a celebrated usurer ridiculed in _Horace_,
_Epodes_, poem 2.
=Alphius Avitus=, a writer in the age of Severus, who gave an account
of illustrious men, and a history of the Carthaginian war.
=Alpīnus=, belonging to the Alps. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 4, li. 442.
=Alpīnus (Cornelius)=, a contemptible poet, whom Horace ridicules for
the awkward manner in which he introduces the death of Memnon in
a tragedy, and the pitiful style with which he describes the Rhine,
in an epic poem which he attempted on the wars in Germany. _Horace_,
bk. 1, satire 10, li. 36.――――Julius, one of the chiefs of the
Helvetii. _Tacitus_, _Histories_, bk. 1, ch. 68.
=Alpis=, a small river falling into the Danube.
=Alsium=, a maritime town at the west of the Tiber, now _Statua_.
_Silius Italicus_, bk. 8.
=Alsus=, a river of Achaia in Peloponnesus, flowing from mount Sipylus.
_Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 27.――――A shepherd during the Rutulian wars.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 12, li. 304.
=Althæa=, daughter of Thestius and Eurythemis, married Œneus king of
Calydon, by whom she had many children, among whom was Meleager.
When Althæa brought forth Meleager, the Parcæ placed a log of wood
in the fire, and said, that as long as it was preserved, so long
would the life of the child just born be prolonged. The mother
saved the wood from the flames, and kept it very carefully; but
when Meleager killed his two uncles, Althæa’s brothers, Althæa,
to revenge their death, threw the log into the fire, and as soon
as it was burnt, Meleager expired. She was afterwards so sorry
for the death she had caused, that she killed herself, unable to
survive her son. _See:_ Meleager. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 8,
fable 4.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 9.――_Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 45;
bk. 10, ch. 31.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 8.
=Althæmĕnes=, a son of Creteus king of Crete. Hearing that either
he or his brothers were to be their father’s murderers, he fled to
Rhodes, where he made a settlement, to avoid becoming a parricide.
After the death of all his other sons, Creteus went after his son
Althæmenes; when he landed in Rhodes, the inhabitants attacked him,
supposing him to be an enemy, and he was killed by the hand of his
own son. When Althæmenes knew that he had killed his father, he
entreated the gods to remove him, and the earth immediately opened,
and swallowed him up. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 2.
=Altīnum=, a flourishing city of Italy, near Aquileia, famous for its
wool. _Martial_, bk. 14, ltr. 25.――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 18.
=Altis=, a sacred grove round Jupiter’s temple at Olympia, where the
statues of the Olympic conquerors were placed. _Pausanias_, bk. 5,
ch. 20, &c.
=Altus=, a city of Peloponnesus. _Xenophon_, _Hellenica_.
=Aluntium=, a town of Sicily. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 8.――_Cicero_,
_Against Verres_, bk. 4.
=Alus=, =Aluus=, and =Halus=, a village of Arcadia, called also the
temple of Æsculapius. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 25.
=Alyattes I.=, a king of Lydia, descended from the Heraclidæ. He
reigned 57 years.
=Alyattes II.=, king of Lydia, of the family of the Mermnadæ, was
father to Crœsus. He drove the Cimmerians from Asia, and made war
against the Medes. He died when engaged in a war against Miletus,
after a reign of 35 years. A monument was raised on his grave with
the money which the women of Lydia had obtained by prostitution.
An eclipse of the sun terminated a battle between him and Cyaxares.
_Herodotus_, bk. 1, chs. 16, 17, &c.――_Strabo_, bk. 13.
=Aly̆ba=, a country near Mysia. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2.
=Alycæa=, a town of Arcadia. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 27.
=Alycæus=, son of Sciron, was killed by Theseus. A place in Megara
received its name from him. _Plutarch_, _Theseus_.
=Aly̆mon=, the husband of Circe.
=Alyssus=, a fountain of Arcadia, whose waters could cure the bite of
a mad dog. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 19.
=Alyxothoe=, or =Alexirhoe=, daughter of Dymus, was mother of Æsacus
by Priam. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 11, li. 763.
=Alyzia=, a town of Acarnania on the western mouth of the Achelous,
opposite to the Echinades. _Cicero_, _Letters to his Friends_,
bk. 16, ltr. 2.
=Amadŏcus=, a king of Thrace, defeated by his antagonist Seuthes.
_Aristotle_, bk. 5, _Politics_, ch. 10.
=Amage=, a queen of Sarmatia, remarkable for her justice and fortitude.
_Polyænus_, bk. 8, ch. 56.