ANTĬDŎSIS (ἀντίδοσις), in its literal and general meaning, “an
exchange,” was, in the language of the Attic courts, peculiarly
applied to proceedings under a law which is said to have originated
with Solon. By this, a citizen nominated to perform a leiturgia,
such as a trierarchy or choregia, or to rank among the property-tax
payers, in a class disproportioned to his means, was empowered to
call upon any qualified person not so charged to take the office in
his stead, or submit to a complete exchange of property, the charge
in question of course attaching to the first party, if the exchange
were finally effected. For the proceedings the courts were opened
at a stated time every year by the magistrates that had official
cognisance of the particular subject; such as the strategi in cases
of trierarchy and rating to the property-taxes, and the archon in
those of choregia.
ANTĬGRĂPHE (ἀντιγραφή) originally signified the writing put in by the
defendant, his “plea” in all causes whether public or private, in
answer to the indictment or bill of the prosecutor. It is, however,
also applied to the bill or indictment of the plaintiff or accuser.
ĀNTLĬA (ἄντλια), any machine for raising water, a pump. The most
important of these machines were:--(1) The tympanum; a tread-wheel,
worked by men treading on it.--(2) A wheel having wooden boxes
or buckets, so arranged as to form steps for those who trod the
wheel.--(3) The chain pump.--(4) The _cochlea_, or Archimedes’s
screw.--(5) The _ctesibica machina_, or forcing-pump.--Criminals
were condemned to the _antlia_ or tread-mill. The antlia with which
Martial (ix. 19) watered his garden, was probably the pole and bucket
universally employed in Italy, Greece, and Egypt. The pole is curved,
as shown in the annexed figure; because it is the stem of a fir or
some other tapering tree.
[Illustration: Antlia.]
ANTYX (ἄντυξ), the rim or border of any thing, especially of a shield
or chariot. The rim of the large round shield of the ancient Greeks
was thinner than the part which it enclosed; but on the other hand,
the antyx of a chariot must have been thicker than the body to which
it gave both form and strength. In front of the chariot the antyx was
often raised above the body, into the form of a curvature, which
served the purpose of a hook to hang the reins upon.
[Illustration: Antyx. (From an Etruscan tomb.)]
ĂPĂGŌGĒ (ἀπαγωγή), a summary process, allowed in certain cases by the
Athenian law. The term denotes not merely the act of apprehending
a culprit caught _in ipso facto_, but also the written information
delivered to the magistrate, urging his apprehension. The cases in
which the _apagoge_ was most generally allowed were those of theft,
murder, ill-usage of parents, &c.
ĂPĂTŪRĬA (ἀπατούρια) was a political festival, which the Athenians
had in common with all the Greeks of the Ionian name, with the
exception of those of Colophon and Ephesus. It was celebrated in the
month of Pyanepsion, and lasted for three days. The name ἀπατούρια
is not derived from ἀπατᾶν, to deceive, but is composed of ἀ =
ἅμα and πατύρια, which is perfectly consistent with what Xenophon
says of the festival, that when it is celebrated the fathers and
relations assemble together. According to this derivation, it is
the festival at which the phratriae met to discuss and settle their
own affairs. But, as every citizen was a member of a phratria, the
festival extended over the whole nation, who assembled _according to
phratriae_. The festival lasted three days. The third day was the
most important; for on that day, children born in that year, in the
families of the phratriae, or such as were not yet registered, were
taken by their fathers, or in their absence by their representatives
(κύριοι), before the assembled members of the phratria. For every
child a sheep or a goat was sacrificed. The father, or he who
supplied his place, was obliged to establish by oath that the child
was the offspring of free-born parents, and citizens of Athens.
After the victim was sacrificed, the phratores gave their votes,
which they took from the altar of Zeus Phratrius. When the majority
voted against the reception, the cause might be tried before one
of the courts of Athens; and if the claims of the child were found
unobjectionable, its name, as well as that of the father, was
entered into the register of the phratria, and those who had wished
to effect the exclusion of the child were liable to be punished.