slopes of the Rocky Mountains not far from Mount Hooker, in the province of
Alberta, flows N.E. and N., and falls into Lake Athabasca after a course of
about 600 miles.--_Lake Athabasca_, or Lake of the Hills, is about 190
miles S.S.E. of the Great Slave Lake, to which its waters are carried by
means of the Slave River. It is about 200 miles in length from east to
west, and 35 miles wide where widest, but narrows to a point at either
extremity.--The former district of _Athabasca_, in 1905 divided between the
two new provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, had British Columbia on the
west, Keewatin on the east, Alberta and Saskatchewan districts on the
south, the parallel of 60deg on the north, being crossed by the Athabasca
and the Peace Rivers. Lake Athabasca is partly in Alberta, partly in
Saskatchewan.
ATHALI'AH, daughter of Ahab, King of Israel, and wife of Joram, King of
Judah. After the death of her son Ahaziah, she opened her way to the throne
by the murder of forty-two princes of the royal blood. She reigned six
years; in the seventh the high-priest Jehoiada placed Joash, the young son
of Ahaziah, who had been secretly preserved, on the throne of his father,
and Athaliah was slain. Cf. 2 _Kings_, xi. The story of Athaliah supplied
Racine with the plot of one of his most famous tragedies.
ATHANA'SIAN CREED, a creed or exposition of Christian faith, supposed
formerly to have been drawn up by St. Athanasius, though this opinion is
now generally rejected, and the composition often ascribed to Hilary,
Bishop of Arles (about 430). It is an explicit avowal of the doctrines of
the Trinity (as opposed to Arianism, of which Athanasius was a great
opponent) and of the incarnation, and contains what are known as the
'damnatory clauses', in which it declares that damnation must be the lot of
those who do not believe the true and catholic faith. It is contained in
the _Book of Common Prayer_, to be read on certain
occasions.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. J. A. Hort, _Two Dissertations_; G. D. W.
Ommanney, _Critical Dissertation on the Athanasian Creed_; J. A. Robinson,
_The Athanasian Creed_; E. C. S. Gibson, _The Three Creeds_; R. O. P.
Taylor, _Athanasian Creed in the Twentieth Century_.
ATHANA'SIUS, ST., Archbishop of Alexandria, a renowned father of the
Church, born in that city about A.D. 296, died 373. While yet a young man
he attended the Council at Nice (325), where he gained the highest esteem
of the fathers by the talents which he displayed in the Arian controversy.
He had a great share in the decrees passed here, and thereby drew on
himself the hatred of the Arians. Shortly afterwards he was appointed
Archbishop of Alexandria. The complaints and accusations of his enemies at
length induced the Emperor Constantine to summon him in 334 before the
Councils of Tyre and Jerusalem, when he was suspended, and afterwards
banished to Treves. The death of Constantine put an end to this banishment,
and Constantius recalled the holy patriarch. His return to Alexandria
resembled a triumph. Deposed again in 340, he was reinstated in 342. Again
in 355 he was sentenced to be banished, when he retired into those parts of
the desert which were entirely uninhabited. He was followed by a faithful
servant, who, at the risk of his life, supplied him with the means of
subsistence. Here Athanasius composed many writings, full of eloquence, to
strengthen the faith of the believers, or expose the falsehood of his
enemies. When Julian the Apostate ascended the throne, toleration was
proclaimed to all religions, and Athanasius returned to his former position
at Alexandria. His next controversy was with the heathen subjects of
Julian, who excited the emperor against him, and he was obliged to flee in
order to save his life. The death of the emperor and the accession of
Jovian (363) again brought him back; but Valens becoming emperor, and the
Arians recovering the superiority, he was once more compelled to flee. He
concealed himself in the tomb of his father, where he remained four months,
until Valens allowed him to return. From this period he remained
undisturbed in his office till he died. Of the forty-six years of his
official life he spent twenty in banishment, and the greater part of the
remainder in defending the Nicene Creed. Athanasius was not so much a
speculative theologian as a great Christian pastor (cf. L. Duchesne,
_Histoire ancienne. de l'Eglise_, 1907). His writings, which are in Greek,
are on polemical, historical, and moral subjects. The polemical treat
chiefly of the doctrines of the Trinity, the incarnation of Christ, and the
divinity of the Holy Spirit. The historical ones are of the greatest
importance for the history of the Church. See _Athanasian Creed_.
A'THEISM (Gr. _a_, priv., and _Theos_, God), the disbelief of the existence
of a God or supreme intelligent being; the doctrine opposed to _theism_ or
_deism_. The term has been often loosely used as equivalent with
_infidelity_ generally, with deism, with pantheism, and with the denial of
immortality. The most famous exponents of atheism were La Mettrie, Holbach,
Feuerbach, and Carl Vogt; whilst Comte and Haeckel have put forward systems
of thought essentially atheistic.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Flint, _Anti-theistic
Theories_; J. S. Blackie, _Natural History of Atheism_; F. A. Lange,
_History of Materialism_.
ATH'ELING, a title of honour among the Anglo-Saxons, meaning one who is of
noble blood. The title was gradually confined to the princes of the blood
royal, and in the ninth and tenth centuries was used exclusively for the
sons or brothers of the reigning king.
ATHELING, Edgar. See _Edgar Atheling_.
ATH'ELNEY, formerly an island in the midst of fens and marshes, now drained
and cultivated in Somersetshire, England, about 7 miles southeast of
Bridgwater. Alfred the Great took refuge in it during a Danish invasion,
and afterwards founded an abbey there.
ATH'ELSTAN, King of England, born 895, died 941, succeeded his father,
Edward the Elder, in 925. He was victorious in his wars with the Danes of
Northumberland, and the Scots, by whom they were assisted. After a signal
overthrow of his enemies at Brunanburgh he governed in peace and with great
ability.
ATH[=E]'NA, or ATH[=E]N[=E], a Greek goddess, identified by the Romans with
Minerva, the representative of the intellectual powers; the daughter of
Zeus (Jupiter) and M[=e]tis (that is, wisdom or cleverness). According to
the legend, before her birth Zeus swallowed her mother, and Athena
afterwards sprang from the head of Zeus with a mighty war shout and in
complete armour. In her character of a wise and prudent warrior she was
contrasted with the fierce Ares (Mars). In the wars of the giants she slew
Pallas and Enceladus. In the wars of the mortals she aided and protected
heroes. She is also represented as the patroness of the arts of peace. The
sculptor, the architect, and the painter, as well as the philosopher, the
orator, and the poet, considered her their tutelar deity. She is also
represented among the healing gods. In all these representations she is the
symbol of the thinking faculty, the goddess of wisdom, science, and art;
the latter, however, only in so far as invention and thought are
comprehended. In the images of the goddess a manly gravity and an air of
reflection are united with female beauty in her features. As a warrior she
is represented completely armed, her head covered with a gold helmet. As
the goddess of peaceful art she appears in the dress of a Grecian matron.
To her insignia belong the Aegis, the Gorgon's head, the round Argive
buckler; and the owl, the cock, the serpent, an olive branch, and a lance
were sacred to her. All Attica, but particularly Athens, was sacred to her,
and she had numerous temples there. Her most brilliant festival at Athens
was the Panathenaea.
ATHENAE'UM, the temple of Athena or Minerva, at Athens, frequented by
poets, learned men, and orators. The same name was given at Rome to the
school which Hadrian established on the Capitoline Mount for the promotion
of literary and scientific studies. In modern times the same name is given
to literary clubs and establishments connected with the sciences. It is
also the title of several literary periodicals.
ATHENAE'US, a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, who lived at the end of the
second and beginning of the third century after Christ, author of an
encyclopaedic work, in the form of conversation, called _The Professors at
the Dinner-table_ (_Deipnosophistae_), which is a rich but ill-arranged
treasure of historical, antiquarian, philosophical, grammatical, &c.,
knowledge.
ATHENAG'ORAS, a Platonic philosopher of Athens, a convert to Christianity,
who wrote a Greek _Apology for the Christians_, addressed to the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius, in 177, one of the earliest that appeared.
ATH'ENS (Gr. _Ath[=e]nai_, Lat. _Ath[=e]nae_), anciently the capital of
Attica and centre of Greek culture, now the capital of the kingdom of
Greece. It is situated in the central plain of Attica, about 4 miles from
the Saronic Gulf or Gulf of Aegina, an arm of the Aegean Sea running in
between the mainland and the Peloponnesus. It is said to have been founded
about 1550 B.C. by Cecrops, the mythical Pelasgian hero, and to have borne
the name Cecropia until under Erechtheus it received the name of Athens in
honour of Ath[=e]n[=e]. The Acropolis, an irregular oval crag 150 feet
high, with a level summit 1000 feet long by 500 in breadth, was the
original nucleus of the city, which, according to tradition, was extended
by Theseus when Athens became the head of the confederate Attic States. The
three chief eminences near the Acropolis--the Areopagus to the north-west,
the Pnyx to the south-west, and the Museum to the south of the Pnyx--were
thus included within the city boundary as the sites of its chief public
buildings, the city itself, however, afterwards taking a northerly
direction. On the east ran the Ilissus and on the west the Cephissus, while
to the south-west lay three harbours--Phalerum, the oldest and nearest; the
Piraeus, the most important; and Munychia, the Piraean Acropolis. At the
height of its prosperity the city was connected with its harbours by three
massive walls (the 'long walls'). The architectural development of Athens
may be dated from the rule of the Pisistratids (560-510 B.C.), who are
credited with the foundation of the huge temple of the Olympian Zeus,
completed by Hadrian seven centuries later, the erection of the Pythium or
temple of the Pythian Apollo, and of the Lyceum or temple of Apollo
Lyceus--all near the Ilissus; and to whom were due the enclosure of the
Academy, a gymnasium and gardens to the north of the city, and the building
of the Agora with its Portico or Stoa, Bouleuterium or Senate-house,
Tholus, and Prytaneum. With the foundation of Athenian democracy under
Clisthenes, the Pnyx or place of public assembly, with its semicircular
area and cyclopean wall, first became of importance, and a commencement was
made of the Dionysiac theatre (theatre of Dionysus or Bacchus) on the south
side of the Acropolis. After the destruction wrought by the Persians in 480
B.C., Themistocles reconstructed the city upon practical lines and with a
larger area, enclosing the city in new walls 7-1/2 miles in circumference,
erecting the north wall of the Acropolis, and developing the maritime
resources of the Piraeus; while Cimon added to the southern fortifications
of the Acropolis, placed on it the temple of Wingless Victory, planted the
Agora with trees, laid out the Academy, and built the Theseum on an
eminence north of the Areopagus; his brother-in-law, Peisianax, erected the
famous Stoa Poecil[=e], a hall with walls covered with paintings (whence
the _Stoics_ got their name). Under Pericles the highest point of artistic
development was reached. An Odeum was erected on the east of the Dionysiac
theatre for the recitations of rhapsodists and musicians; and with the aid
of the architects Ict[=i]nus, Callicrates, and Mnesicles, and of the
sculptor Phidias, the Acropolis was perfected. Covering the whole of the
western end rose the Propylaea, the splendid structure through which the
Acropolis was entered, constructed of Pentelic marble and consisting of a
central gateway portico with two wings in the form of Doric temples. Just
outside the Propylaea was the small temple of Wingless Victory. A short
distance within the entrance stood the bronze statue of Athena Promachus, a
colossal work of Phidias, 66 feet high, showing the goddess in complete
armour and leaning on a lance. Beyond it to the left was the Erechtheum,
the shrine of Athena Polias, guardian of the city, containing a very
ancient and sacred statue of Athena in olive-wood; while to the right, on
the highest part of the Acropolis, was the marble Parthenon or temple of
Athena, the crowning glory of the whole. This renowned structure, still
glorious in its ruins, was built under the auspices of Pericles, Phidias
being the sculptor and artistic adviser, and Ict[=i]nus and Callicrates the
architects. It is in the Doric style, and among its numerous sculptures
were fifty life-size statues, while in the interior was a chryselephantine
(gold and ivory) figure of the goddess, 39 feet high. (See _Parthenon_.)
Minor statues and shrines occupied the rest of the area of the Acropolis,
which was for the time wholly appropriated to the worship of the guardian
deities of the city. The Acropolis museum, a building of recent date,
contains an interesting and valuable collection of works of art found here.
In the interval between the close of the Peloponnesian War and the battle
of Chaeronea few additions were made to the city. But the long walls and
Piraeus, destroyed by Lysander, were restored by Conon, and under the
orator Lycurgus the Dionysiac temple was completed, the Panathenaic stadium
commenced, and the choragic monuments of Lysicrates and Thrasyllus erected.
Later on Ptolemy Philadelphus gave Athens the Ptolemaeum near the Theseum,
Attalus I the stoa north-east of the Agora, Eumenes II that near the great
theatre, and Antiochus Epiphanes carried on the Olympieum. Under the Romans
it continued a flourishing city, Hadrian in the second century adorning it
with many new buildings, and constructing an aqueduct, finished by his son
Antoninus Pius. At this time also a wealthy citizen, Herodes Atticus, did
much to beautify the city, and in particular constructed an Odeum, the
ruins of which are still conspicuous. Indeed Athens was at no time more
splendid than under the Antonines, when Pausanias visited and described it.
But after a time Christian zeal, the attacks of barbarians, and robberies
of collectors made sad inroads among the monuments. About A.D. 420 paganism
was totally annihilated at Athens, and when Justinian closed even the
schools of the philosophers, the reverence for buildings associated with
the names of the ancient deities and heroes was lost. The Parthenon was
turned into a church of the Virgin Mary, and St. George stepped into the
place of Theseus. Finally, in 1456, the place fell into the hands of the
Turks. The Parthenon became a mosque, and in 1687 was greatly damaged by an
explosion at the siege of Athens by the Venetians. Enough, however, remains
of it and of the neighbouring structures to attest the splendour of the
Acropolis; while of the other buildings of the city, the Theseum, or temple
of Theseus, and the Horologium, or temple of the Winds, are admirably
preserved, as are also structures belonging to the Pnyx, Panathenaic
stadium (restored and again used for games), &c. The Theseum, indeed, is
said to be the best preserved building of all ancient Greece, and is hardly
less imposing than the Parthenon. Of more than a hundred columns that
belonged to the Olympieum or temple of the Olympian Zeus, completed by
Hadrian, only fifteen are still standing. Soon after the commencement of
the war of liberation in 1821 the Turks surrendered Athens, but captured it
again in 1826-7. The Great Powers now intervened to bring about the
independence of Greece. The Turks evacuated Athens in 1833, and the troops
of King Otho then entered the city. In 1835 it became the royal residence,
and it soon began to make rapid progress, though its natural position is by
no means advantageous. The modern city mostly lies north, north-east, and
north-west of the Acropolis, and consists mainly of straight and well-built
streets. Among the principal buildings are the royal palace, a stately
building with a facade of Pentelic marble (completed 1843), the university,
the academy of science, national museum of archaeology, public library,
exhibition building, polytechnic institute, theatre, and observatory. There
are two universities, the National University, opened in 1836, and the
Capodistrian University with 3250 students. There are valuable museums, in
particular the National Museum and that in the Polytechnic School, which
contains the Schliemann collection, &c. These are constantly being added to
by excavations. There are four foreign archaeological schools or
institutes, the French, German, American, and British. The Zappeion or
exhibition building is a handsome structure, erected at the expense of the
brothers Zappas to exhibit Greek industries. Tramways have been made in the
principal streets, and the city is connected by tramway and railway (6
miles) with its port, the Piraeus. Athens has also railway connection with
the north and west of the kingdom as well as with the Peloponnesus. The
Piraeus is the chief Greek centre of trade and industry. Water is brought
from Mount Pentelicus on the north-east, the aqueduct begun by Hadrian
being utilized in supplying the city. Pop. 167,479, and including the
Piraeus 241,058.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. A. Gardner, _Ancient Athens_; J. E.
Harrison, _Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens_; W. Warde Fowler,
_The City-State_, chapter vi; W. M. Leake, _Topography of Athens and the
Demi_; C. H. Weller, _Athens and its Monuments_.
ATHENS, the name of many places in the United States, the chief being in
Georgia, and containing the Georgia University and the State college of
agriculture. It carries on the cotton manufacture, has manufactures of
agricultural implements, &c., and is a centre of trade. It was founded in
1801. Pop. 14,913.
ATH'ERINE (_Ather[=i]na_), the name of a genus of small fishes abundant in
the Mediterranean and caught in British waters, especially on the coasts of
the south of England, some of them being highly esteemed as food. They are
also known as _Sand-smelts_. There are two British species.
ATHERO'MA, in pathology, a term applied to a change that may take place in
the inner coat of an artery, consisting in a kind of fatty degeneration,
leading to an aneurism or bursting. Also an encysted tumour containing
matter of a curdy appearance.
ATH'ERSTONE, a town in Warwickshire, England, 8 miles S.E. of Tamworth, and
equidistant (100 miles) from London, Liverpool, and Lincoln. It has
manufactures of hats, and is the reputed birthplace of the poet Drayton.
Pop. (1921), 20,849 (rural district).
ATH'ERTON, town of England, Lancashire, 13 miles north-west of Manchester;
cotton-factories, collieries, and ironworks give chief employment to the
inhabitants. Pop. (1921), 19,863.
ATHLETES (ath'l[=e]ts; Gr. _athl[=e]tai_, from _athlos_, a contest,
_athlon_, a prize), originally, in ancient Greece, combatants who took part
and contended for a prize (_athlon_) in the public games. The profession
was an honourable one; tests of birth, position, and character were
imposed, and crowns, statues, special privileges, and pensions were among
the rewards of success. (See _Games_.) The word is used in a similar sense
at the present day, but is more especially applied to persons who can
exhibit feats of strength. Games and athletic competitions, if they do not
hold such an honourable position to-day as they did in antiquity, are still
practised with great enthusiasm and excite the keenest interest in their
patrons.
ATHLETIC SPORTS, a general name for certain physical exercises demanding a
special natural ability, and embodying a variety of events which
conventionally include not only running and jumping but such feats of
strength as putting the weight and throwing the hammer. The selection of
these events at any athletic meeting is a somewhat arbitrary one, and the
inclusion of those which require strength and skill rather than speed and
agility rests more on a traditional than a logical basis. A particular
feature which distinguishes these exercises as athletic sports is the
presence of the idea of competition; thus running and walking, as isolated
exercises, can be called 'sports' only when men compete against one
another, although the factor of competition may be only indirectly present,
as when an athlete endeavours to beat a record.
In this country athletic sports have long been a national characteristic,
and records, more or less authentic, have been handed down for the last
hundred years or more. Until comparatively recently, such sports have been
the prerogative of the British Isles; but during the last thirty years the
United States have adopted them with enormous enthusiasm and success, and
more recently still the vogue has extended throughout the Continent, and
good results have been obtained by representatives from France, Germany,
Italy, Austria, Sweden, and Finland, as well as from all the Colonies. In
this country no school, no matter how small or how humble its pretensions,
fails to hold its athletic meeting annually. The same applies to all
colleges of the leading universities, Oxford and Cambridge, the best
representatives of which compete against one another, whilst the smaller
universities hold similar competitions. In addition, a large number of
clubs are in existence throughout the country for the promotion and
encouragement of sports, the whole system of athletics being under the
Amateur Athletic Association (founded in 1880), whose rules and regulations
for the correct maintenance of athletics in the best interests of
amateurism are regarded as a standard throughout the world. Under its
auspices an annual meeting--the Amateur Championships--is held. This
meeting is open to the whole world, and many of the championships have been
held at one time or another by distinguished visitors from America, the
Colonies, and the Continent. At the time of writing, the association is
considering the project of holding two distinct annual meetings, one of
which shall, as hitherto, be unrestricted, the other confined to residents
in the British Isles. This, which is the most important meeting of the
year, has taken place uninterruptedly since its origin in 1866 with the
exception of the military interval, 1915-8, and has been successfully
resumed in 1919. For the past fourteen or fifteen years the meeting has
been held in London on the first Saturday in July, and this practice will
probably be a permanent one, although hitherto the venue was, in rotation,
London, the Midlands, and the North. The university and inter-university
meetings are held before Easter, the former at the respective university
towns, the latter at Queen's Club, London. Among other important
representative contests may be mentioned the Public Schools' Championships
(usually in April), the United Hospitals' Championships, the Irish, the
Scottish, the Welsh, the Midland and the Northern Counties' Championships.
During the war, athletics were practically restricted to the services, and
the Army Athletic Championships, held in Aug., 1919, was a successful
reunion of soldier athletes from the various theatres of war, and included,
for the first time in history, coloured troops.