[1] This has generally been supposed to be the place referred to by
Horace (_Sat_. i. 5. 87), as one which the metre would not allow him
to mention by name; but H.-Nissen (_Halische Landeskunde_, Berlin,
1902, ii. 845) proposes Ausculum instead.
ARIAS MONTANO, BENITO (1527-1598), Spanish Orientalist and editor of the
Antwerp Polyglot, was born at Fregenal de la Sierra, in Estremadura, in
1527. After studying at the universities of Seville and Alcala, he took
orders about the year 1559 and in 1562 he was appointed consulting
theologian to the council of Trent. He retired to Pena de Aracena in
1564, wrote his commentary on the minor prophets (1571), and was sent to
Antwerp by Philip II. to edit the polyglot Bible projected by
Christopher Plantin. The work appeared in 8 volumes folio, between 1568
and 1573. Leon de Castro, a professor at Salamanca, thereon brought
charges of heresy against Arias Montano, who was finally acquitted after
a visit to Rome in 1575-1576. He was appointed royal chaplain, but
withdrew to Pena de Aracena from 1579 to 1583; he resigned the
chaplaincy in 1584, and went into complete seclusion at Santiago de la
Espada in Seville, where he died in 1598.
He is the subject of an _Elogio historico_ by Tomas Gonzalez Carvajal
in the _Memorias de la Real Academia de la Historia_ (Madrid, 1832),
vol. vii.
ARICA (SAN MARCOS DE ARICA), a town and port of the Chilean-governed
province of Tacna, situated in 18 deg. 28' 08" S. lat. and 70 deg. 20'
46" W. long. It is the port for Tacna, the capital of the province, 38
m. distant, with which it is connected by rail, and is the outlet for a
large and productive mining district. Arica at one time had a population
of 30,000 and enjoyed much prosperity, but through civil war,
earthquakes and conquest, its population had dwindled to 2853 in 1895
and 2824 in 1902. The great earthquake of 1868, followed by a tidal
wave, nearly destroyed the town and shipping. Arica was captured, looted
and burned by the Chileans in 1880, and in accordance with the terms of
the treaty of Ancon (1883) should have been returned to Peru in 1894,
but this was not done. Late in 1906 the town again suffered severely
from an earthquake.
ARICIA (mod. _Ariccia_), an ancient city of Latium, on the Via Appia, 16
m. S.E. of Rome. The old town, or at any rate its acropolis, now
occupied by the modern town, lay high (1350 ft. above sea-level) above
the circular Valle Aricciana, which is probably an extinct volcanic
crater; some remains of its fortifications, consisting of a mound of
earth supported on each side by a wall of rectangular blocks of peperino
stone, have been discovered (D. Marchetti, in _Notizie degli scavi_,
1892, 52). The lower town was situated on the north edge of the valley,
close to the Via Appia, which descended into the valley from the modern
Albano, and re-ascended partly upon very fine substructions of _opus
quadratum_, some 200 yds. in length, to the modern Genzano. Remains of
the walls of the lower town, of the _cella_ of a temple built of blocks
of peperino, and also of later buildings in brickwork and _opus
reticulatum_, connected with the post-station (Aricia being the first
important station out of Rome, cf. Horace, _Sat._ i. 5. 1, _Egressum
magna me excepit Aricia Roma hospitio modico_) on the highroad, may
still be seen (cf. T. Ashby in _Melanges de l'ecole francaise de Rome_,
1903, 399). Aricia was one of the oldest cities of Latium, and appears
as a serious opponent of Rome at the end of the period of the kings and
beginning of the republic. In 338 B.C. it was conquered by C. Maenius
and became a _civitas sine suffragio_, but was soon given full rights.
Even in the imperial period its chief magistrate was styled _dictator_,
and its council _senatus_, and it preserved its own calendar of
festivals. Its vegetables and wine were famous, and the district is
still fertile. (T. As.)
ARICINI, the ancient inhabitants of Aricia (q.v.), the form of the name
ranking them with the Sidicini, Marrucini (q.v.), &c., as one of the
communities belonging probably to the earlier or Volscian stratum of
population on the west side of Italy, who were absorbed by the Sabine or
Latin immigrants. Special interest attaches to this trace of their
earlier origin, because of the famous cult of Diana Nemorensis, whose
temple in the forest close by Aricia, beside the _lacus Nemorensis_, was
served by "the priest who slew the slayer, and shall himself be slain";
that is to say, the priest, who was called _rex Nemorensis_, held office
only so long as he could defend himself from any stronger rival. This
cult, which is unique in Italy, is picturesquely described in the
opening chapter of J.G. Frazer's _Golden Bough_ (2nd ed., 1900) where
full references will be found. Of these references the most important
are, perhaps, Strabo v. 3. 12; Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 263-272; and
Suetonius, _Calig_. 35, whose wording indicates that the old-world
custom was dying out in the 1st century A.D. It is a reasonable
conjecture that this extraordinary relic of barbarism was characteristic
of the earlier stratum of the population who presumably called
themselves _Arici_.
On the anthropological aspect of the cult, see also A.B. Cook,
_Class. Rev_. xvi., 1902, p. 365, where the whole evidence is very
fully collected; and Frazer's _Studies in the Early History of
Kingship_ (1907), where he accepts Cook's criticism of his own earlier
theory. (R. S. C.)
ARIEGE, an inland department of southern France, bounded S. by Spain, W.
and N. by the department of Haute-Garonne, N.E. and E. by Aude, and S.E.
by Pyrenees-Orientales. It embraces the old countship of Foix, and a
portion of Languedoc and Gascony. Area, 1893 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 205,684.
Ariege is for the most part mountainous. Its southern border is occupied
by the snow-clad peaks of the eastern Pyrenees, the highest of which
within the department is the Pic de Montcalm (10,512 ft.). Communication
with Spain is afforded by a large number of _ports_ or _cols_, which
are, however, for the most part difficult paths, and only practicable
for a few months in the year. Farther to the north two lesser ranges
running parallel to the main chain traverse the centre of the department
from south-east to north-west. The more southerly, the Montagne de Tabe,
contains, at its south-eastern end, several heights between 7200 and
9200 ft., while the Montagues de Plantaurel to the north of Foix are of
lesser altitude. These latter divide the fertile alluvial plains of the
north from the mountains of the centre and south. The department is
intersected by torrents belonging to the Garonne basin--the Salat, the
Arize, which, near Mas d'Azil, flows through a subterranean gallery, the
Ariege and the Hers. The climate is mild in the south, but naturally
very severe among the mountains. Generally speaking, the arable land,
which is chiefly occupied by small holdings, is confined to the
lowlands. Wheat, maize and potatoes are the chief crops. Good vineyards
and market gardens are found in the neighbourhood of Pamiers in the
north. Flax and hemp are also cultivated. The mountains afford excellent
pasture, and a considerable number of cattle, sheep and swine are
reared. Poultry- and bee-farming flourish. Forests cover more than
one-third of the department and harbour wild boars and even bears. Game,
birds of prey and fish are plentiful. There is abundance of minerals,
including lead, copper, manganese and especially iron. Grindstones,
building-stone, talc, gypsum, marble and phosphates are also produced.
Warm mineral springs of note are found at Ax, Aulus and Ussat. Pamiers
and St Girons are the most important industrial towns. Iron founding and
forging, which have their chief centre at Pamiers are principal
industries. Flour-milling, paper-making and cloth-weaving may also be
mentioned. Ariege is served by the Southern railway. It forms the
diocese of Pamiers and belongs to the ecclesiastical province of
Toulouse. It is within the circumscriptions of the academie (educational
division) and of the court of appeal of Toulouse and of the XVII. army
corps. Its capital is Foix; it comprises the arrondissements of Foix, St
Girons and Pamiers, with 20 cantons and 338 communes. Foix, Pamiers, St
Girons and St Lizier-de-Couserans are the more noteworthy towns. Mention
may also be made of Mirepoix, once the seat of a bishopric, and
possessing a cathedral (15th and 16th centuries) with a remarkable
Gothic spire.
ARIES ("The Ram"), in astronomy, the first sign of the zodiac (q.v.),
denoted by the sign [symbol], in imitation of a ram's head. The name is
probably to be associated with the fact that when the sun is in this
part of the heavens (in spring) sheep bring forth their young; this
finds a parallel in _Aquarius_, when there is much rain. It is also a
constellation, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd
century B.C.); Ptolemy catalogued eighteen stars, Tycho Brahe
twenty-one, and Hevelius twenty-seven. According to a Greek myth,
Nephele, mother of Phrixus and Helle, gave her son a ram with a golden
fleece. To avoid the evil designs of Hera, their stepmother, Phrixus and
Helle fled on the back of the ram, and reaching the sea, attempted to
cross. Helle fell from the ram and was drowned (hence the _Hellespont_);
Phrixus, having arrived in Colchis and been kindly received by the king,
Aeetes, sacrificed the ram to Zeus, to whom he also dedicated the
fleece, which was afterwards carried away by Jason. Zeus placed the ram
in the heavens as the constellation.
ARIKARA, or ARICARA (from _ariki_, horn), a tribe of North American
Indians of Caddoan stock. They are now settled with the Hidatsas and the
Mandans on the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota. They originally
lived in the Platte Valley, Nebraska, with the Pawnees, to whom they are
related. They number about 400.