CARLETON'S
CONDENSED
CLASSICAL DICTIONARY.
BEING
BRIEF BUT SUCCINCT INFORMATION
CONCERNING
THE PROMINENT NAMES
IN
CLASSICAL HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY,
TOGETHER WITH
THE MOST CONSPICUOUS
INCIDENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THEM.
_CAREFULLY PREPARED AND EDITED_
BY
GEORGE W. CARLETON,
AUTHOR OF
"OUR ARTIST IN CUBA, PERU, ALGIERS AND SPAIN."
"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we
can find information upon it."--_Boswell's Life of Johnson._
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1882, by
_G. W. Carleton & Co., Publishers_.
MADISON SQUARE.
MDCCCLXXXII.
CARLETON'S CONDENSED CLASSICAL DICTIONARY.
=Aby´dos.= A city of Asia opposite Sestos in Europe. It is famous for the
loves of Hero and Leander, and for the bridge of boats which Xerxes
built there across the Hellespont. Leander was in the habit of swimming
across the Hellespont to see Hero, till at length, on a stormy night, he
was drowned.
=Aby´dos.= A town of Egypt, where was the famous temple of Osiris.
=Acade´mi´a.= A place surrounded with trees, near Athens, belonging to
Academus, from whom the name is derived. Here Plato opened his school of
philosophy, and from this every place sacred to learning has ever since
been called Academia.
=Acha´tes.= A friend of Æneas, whose fidelity was so exemplary that _Fidus
Achates_ has become a proverb.
=Achelo´us.= The son of Oceanus and Terra, or Tethys, god of the river of
the same name in Epirus. As one of the numerous suitors of Dejanira, he
entered the lists against Hercules, and being inferior, changed himself
into a serpent, and afterwards into an ox. Hercules broke off one of his
horns and defeated him, after which, according to some, he was changed
into a river.
=Ac´heron.= One of the rivers of hell; often used to signify hell itself.
=Achil´les=, the son of Peleus and Thetis, was the bravest of all the
Greeks in the Trojan war. During his infancy, Thetis plunged him in the
Styx, thus making every part of his body invulnerable except the heel by
which she held him. To prevent him from going to the Trojan war, Thetis
sent him privately to the court of Lycomedes, where he was disguised in
a female dress. As Troy could not be taken without his aid, Ulysses went
to the court of Lycomedes in the habit of a merchant, and exposed jewels
and arms for sale. Achilles, choosing the arms, discovered his sex, and
went to the war. Vulcan made him a strong suit of armor, which was proof
against all weapons. He was deprived by Agamemnon of his favorite
Briseis, and for this affront he would not appear on the field till the
death of Patroclus impelled him to vengeance. He slew Hector, who had
killed Patroclus, and tying his corpse to his war-car, dragged it three
times round Troy. He is said to have been killed by Paris, who inflicted
a mortal wound in his vulnerable heel with an arrow.
=A´cis.= A shepherd of Sicily, son of Faunus and the nymph Simæthis.
Galatea passionately loved him, upon which his rival, Polyphemus,
crushed him to death with a piece of broken rock. The gods changed Acis
into a stream, which rises from Mount Etna.
=Actæ´on.= A famous huntsman, son of Aristæus and Autonoe, daughter of
Cadmus. He saw Diana and her attendants bathing, for which he was
changed into a stag and devoured by his own dogs.
=Ac´tium.= A town and promontory of Epirus, famous for the naval victory
which Augustus obtained over Antony and Cleopatra, B. C. 31.
=A´des or Hades.= The God of hell amongst the Greeks; the same as the
Pluto of the Latins. The word is often used for hell itself by the
ancient poets.
=Adher´bal.= Son of Micipsa, and grandson of Masinissa, was besieged at
Cirta, and put to death by Jugurtha, after vainly imploring the aid of
Rome, B. C. 112.
=Adme´tus.= Son of Pheres and Clymene, king of Pheræ in Thessaly. Apollo,
when banished from heaven, is said to have tended his flocks for nine
years.
=Ado´nis=, son of Cinyras and Myrrha, was the favorite of Venus. He was
fond of hunting, and was often cautioned not to hunt wild beasts. This
advice he slighted, and at last was mortally wounded by a wild boar.
Venus changed him into the flower anemone. Proserpine is said to have
restored him to life, on condition that he should spend six months of
the year with her, and the rest of the year with Venus. This implies the
alternate return of summer and winter.
=Adras´tus=, son of Talaus and Lysimache, was king of Argos. Polynices,
being banished from Thebes by his brother Eteocles, fled to Argos, where
he married Argia, daughter of Adrastus. The king assisted his
son-in-law, and marched against Thebes with an army. He was defeated
with great slaughter, and fled to Athens, where Theseus gave him
assistance, and was victorious. Adrastus died from grief, occasioned by
the death of his son Ægialeus.
=Adria´nus.= A famous emperor of Rome. He is represented as an active,
learned, warlike, and austere general. He came to Britain, where he
built a wall between the modern towns of Carlisle and Newcastle-on-Tyne,
to protect the Britons from the incursions of the Caledonians.
=Ædi´les.= Roman magistrates, who had the charge of all buildings, baths,
and aqueducts, and examined weights and measures. The office of an Ædile
was honorable, and the primary step to a more distinguished position in
the State.
=Ægeus.= King of Athens, son of Pandion. Being desirous of having
children, he went to consult the oracle, and on his return stopped at
the court of Pittheus, king of Troezene, who gave him his daughter
Æthra in marriage. He directed her, if she had a son, to send him to
Athens as soon as he could lift a stone under which he had concealed his
sword. Æthra became mother of Theseus, whom she sent to Athens with his
father's sword, Ægeus being at that time living with Medea, the divorced
wife of Jason. When Theseus came to Athens, Medea attempted to poison
him, but he escaped; and upon showing Ægeus the sword, discovered
himself to be his son. When Theseus returned from Crete, after the death
of the Minotaur, he omitted to hoist up white sails, as a signal of
success, and at sight of black sails, Ægeus, concluding that his son was
dead, threw himself into the sea, which, as some suppose, has since been
called the Ægean sea. Ægeus died B. C. 1235.
=Ægis.= The shield of Jupiter. He gave it to Pallas, who placed Medusa's
head on it, which turned into stones all those who gazed at it.
=Ægy´ptus=, son of Belus, and brother to Danaus, gave his fifty sons in
marriage to the fifty daughters of his brother. Danaus, who had
established himself at Argos, and was jealous of his brother, obliged
all his daughters to murder their husbands on the first night of their
nuptials. This was done, Hypermnestra alone sparing her husband Lynceus.
Ægyptus himself was killed by his niece Polyxena.
=Ælia´nus Clau´dius.= A Roman sophist of Præneste in the reign of Adrian.
He taught rhetoric at Rome. He wrote treatises on animals in seventeen
books, and on various other subjects in fourteen books. Ælian died at
the age of sixty, A. D. 140.
=Æne´as.= A Trojan prince, son of Anchises and Venus. He married Creusa,
the daughter of Priam, and they had a son named Ascanius. During the
Trojan war Æneas behaved with great valor in defense of Troy. When the
city was in flames he is said to have carried away his father Anchises
on his shoulders, leading his son Ascanius by the hand, his wife
following them. Subsequently he built a fleet of twenty ships, with
which he set sail in quest of a settlement. He was driven on the coasts
of Africa, and was kindly received by Dido, Queen of Carthage, who
became enamored with him; but he left Carthage by the order of the gods.
He has been praised for his piety and his submission to the will of the
gods; the term "Pius" is generally appended to his name.
=Æne´is.= The Æneid, a grand poem by Virgil, the great merit of which is
well known. The author has imitated the style of Homer, and is by some
thought to equal him.
=Æolus=, the ruler of storms and winds, was the son of Hippotas. He
reigned over Æolia. He was the inventor of sails, and a great
astronomer, from which the poets have called him the god of wind.
=Æs´chines.= An Athenian orator who lived about 342 B.C.; and
distinguished himself by his rivalship with Demosthenes.
=Æs´chylus=, a soldier and poet of Athens, son of Euphorion. He was in the
Athenian army at the battles of Marathon, Salamis, and Platæa; but his
most solid fame rests on his writings. He wrote ninety tragedies, forty
of which were rewarded with a public prize. He was killed by the fall of
a tortoise, dropped from the beak of an eagle on his head, B.C. 456.
=Æscula´pius=, son of Apollo and Coronis, or, as some say, of Apollo and
Larissa, daughter of Phlegias, was the god of medicine. He married
Epione, and they had two sons, famous for their skill in medicine,
Machaon and Podalirus; of their four daughters, Hygeia, goddess of
health, is the most celebrated.
=Æson=, son of Cretheus, was born at the same birth as Pelias. He
succeeded his father in the kingdom of Iolchos, but was soon exiled by
his brother. He married Alcimeda, by whom he had Jason, whose education
he intrusted to Chiron. When Jason reached manhood he demanded his
father's kingdom from his uncle, who gave him evasive answers, and
persuaded him to go in quest of the Golden Fleece. On his return Jason
found his father very infirm, and at his request Medea drew the blood
from Æson's veins and refilled them with the juice of certain herbs,
which restored the old man to the vigor of youth.
=Æso´pus.= A Phrygian philosopher who, originally a slave, procured his
liberty by his genius. He dedicated his fables to his patron Croesus.
The fables which we have now under his name doubtless are a collection
of fables and apologues of wits before and after the age of Æsop,
conjointly with his own.
=Agamem´non=, king of Mycenæ and Argos, was brother to Menelaus, and son
of Plisthenes, the son of Atreus. He married Clytemnestra, and Menelaus
Helen, both daughters of Tyndarus, king of Sparta. When Helen eloped
with Paris, Agamemnon was elected commander-in-chief of the Grecian
forces invading Troy.
=Agesila´us.= Of the family of the Proclidæ, son of Archidamus, king of
Sparta, whom he succeeded. He made war against Artaxerxes, king of
Persia, with success; but in the midst of his conquests he was called
home to oppose the Athenians and Boetians. He passed over in thirty
days that tract of country which had taken up a whole year of Xerxes'
expedition. He defeated his enemies at Coronea, but sickness interfered
with his conquests, and the Spartans were beaten in every engagement
till he again appeared at their head. He died 362 years B.C.
=Agrip´pa, M. Vipsanius.= A celebrated Roman who obtained a victory over
S. Pompey, and favored the cause of Augustus at the battles of Actium
and Philippi, where he behaved with great valor. In his expeditions in
Gaul and Germany he obtained several victories, but refused the honor of
a triumph, and turned his attention to the embellishment of Rome and the
raising of magnificent buildings, among them the Pantheon. Augustus
gave him his daughter Julia in marriage. He died universally lamented at
Rome, aged fifty-one, B.C. 12.
=Agrip´pa.= A son of Aristobulus, grandson of the great Herod. He was
popular with the Jews, and it is said that while they were flattering
him with the appellation of god he was struck with death, A.D. 43. His
son of the same name was with Titus at the siege of Jerusalem, and died
A.D. 94. It was before him that St. Paul pleaded. There were a number of
others of the same name, but of less celebrity.
=A´jax=, son of Telamon and Periboea, or Eriboea, was one of the
bravest of the Greeks in the Trojan war. After the death of Achilles,
Ajax and Ulysses both claimed the arms of the dead hero, which were
given to Ulysses. Some say that he was killed in battle by Paris, but
others record that he was murdered by Ulysses.
=Alari´cus.= A famous king of the Goths, who plundered Rome in the reign
of Honorius. He was greatly respected for his valor, and during his
reign he kept the Roman empire in continual alarm. He died after a reign
of twelve years, A.D. 410. He was buried in the bed of a river which had
been turned from its course for the reception of his corpse, in order
that it might be said that no one should tread on the earth where he
reposed.
=Al´bion=, son of Neptune and Amphitrite, came into Britain, where he
established a kingdom, and introduced astrology and the art of building
ships. Great Britain is called "Albion" after him.
=Alcæ´us.= A celebrated lyric poet of Mitylene, in Lesbos, about 600 years
before the Christian era. He fled from a battle, and the armor in which
he left the field was hung up in the temple of Minerva as a monument of
his disgrace. He was enamored of Sappho. Of his works only a few
fragments remain.
=Alces´te= or =Alces´tis=, daughter of Pelias, married Admetus. She, with
her sisters, put her father to death that he might be restored to youth
and vigor by Medea, who had promised to effect this by her enchantments.
She, however, refused to fulfill her promise, on which the sisters fled
to Admetus, who married Alceste.
=Alcibi´ades.= An Athenian general, famous for his enterprise, versatile
genius, and natural foibles. He was a disciple of Socrates, whose
lessons and example checked for a while his vicious propensities. In the
Peloponnesian war he encouraged the Athenians to undertake an expedition
against Syracuse. He died in his forty-sixth year, B.C. 404.
=Alcme´na.= Daughter of Electrion, king of Argos. Her father promised her
and his crown to Amphitryon if he would revenge the death of his sons,
who had been killed by the Teleboans. In the absence of Amphitryon,
Jupiter assumed his form and visited Alcmena, who, believing the god to
be her lover, received him with joy. Amphitryon, on his return,
ascertained from the prophet Tiresias the deception which had been
practiced. After the death of Amphitryon Alcmena married Rhadamanthus.
Hercules was the son of Jupiter and Alcmena.
=Alcy´one= or =Halcy´one=, daughter of Æolus, married Ceyx, who was drowned
as he was going to consult the oracle. The gods apprised Alcyone in a
dream of her husband's fate, and when she found his body washed ashore
she threw herself into the sea, and she and her husband were changed
into birds.
=Alec´to.= One of the Furies. She is represented with her head covered
with serpents, and breathing vengeance, war, and pestilence.
=Alexan´der=, surnamed the Great, was son of Philip and Olympias. He was
born B. C. 355, on the night on which the famous temple of Diana at
Ephesus was burnt. This event, according to the magicians, was a
prognostic of his future greatness, as well as the taming of Bucephalus,
a horse which none of the king's attendants could manage. Philip, it is
recorded, said, with tears in his eyes, that his son must seek another
kingdom, as that of Macedonia would not be large enough for him. He
built a town, which he called Alexandria, on the Nile. His conquests
were extended to India, where he fought with Porus, a powerful king of
the country, and after he had invaded Scythia, he retired to Babylon
laden with spoils. His entry into the city was predicted by the
magicians as to prove fatal to him. He died at Babylon in his
thirty-second year, after a reign of twelve years and eight months of
continual success, B. C. 323. There were a number of others of the same
name, but of less celebrity.
=Althæ´a=, daughter of Thestius and Eurythemis, married OEneus, king of
Calydon, by whom she had many children, amongst them being Meleager.
When he was born the Parcæ put a log of wood on the fire, saying, as
long as it was preserved the life of the child would be prolonged. The
mother took the wood from the flames and preserved it, but when Meleager
killed his two uncles, Althæa, to revenge them, threw the log in the
fire, and when it was burnt Meleager expired. Althæa then killed
herself.
=Amaryl´lis.= The name of a countrywoman in Virgil's Eclogues. Some
commentators have supposed that the poet spoke of Rome under this
fictitious name.
=Amaz´ones or Amazonides.= A nation of famous women who lived near the
river Thermodon in Cappadocia. All their lives were employed in wars and
manly exercises. They founded an extensive empire in Asia Minor along
the shores of the Euxine.
=Ambra´cia.= A city of Epirus, the residence of King Pyrrhus. Augustus,
after the battle of Actium, called it Nicopolis.
=Amphiara´us=, son of Oicleus and Hypermnestra, was at the chase of the
Calydonian boar, and accompanied the Argonauts in their expedition. He
was famous for his knowledge of futurity.
=Amphic´tyon=, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, reigned at Athens after
Cranaus. Some say the deluge happened in his age.
=Amphic´tyon=, the son of Helenus, who first established the celebrated
Council of the Amphictyons, composed of the wisest and most virtuous men
of some cities of Greece.
=Amphi´on=, son of Jupiter and Antiope. He cultivated poetry, and made
such progress in music that he is said to have been the inventor of it,
and to have built the walls of Thebes by the sound of his lyre.
=Amphitri´te.= A daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, who married Neptune. She
is sometimes called Salatia. She was mother of Triton, a sea deity.
=Amphit´ryon.= A Theban prince, son of Alcæus and Hipponome. His sister
Anaxo married Electryon, king of Mycenæ, whose sons were killed in
battle by the Teleboans. Electryon gave his daughter Alcmena to
Amphitryon for avenging the death of his sons.
=Anachar´sis=, a Scythian philosopher 592 years B. C., who, on account of
his wisdom, temperance, and knowledge, has been called one of the seven
wise men. He has rendered himself famous among the Ancients by his
writings, his poems on war, the laws of the Scythians, etc.
=Anac´reon.= A famous lyric poet of Teos, in Ionia, favored by Polycrates
and Hipparchus, son of Philostratus. He was of intemperate habits and
fond of pleasure. Some of his odes are extant, and the elegance of his
poetry has been the admiration of every age and country. He lived to the
age of eighty-five, and after a life of voluptuousness was choked with a
grape stone. He flourished B. C. 532.
=Anadyom´ene.= A famous painting by Apelles of Venus rising from the sea.
=Anaxag´oras.= A Clazomenian philosopher, who disregarded wealth and
honors to indulge his fondness for meditation and philosophy. He applied
himself to astronomy, and obtained a knowledge of eclipses. He used to
say he preferred a grain of wisdom to heaps of gold. He was accused of
impiety and condemned to die, but he ridiculed the sentence, which he
said had already been pronounced on him by nature. He died at the age of
seventy-two, B. C. 428.
=Anaxar´ete.= A girl of Salamis, who so arrogantly rejected the addresses
of Iphis, a youth of ignoble birth, that he hanged himself at her door.
She saw the spectacle without emotion, and was changed into stone.
=Anchi´ses.= A son of Capys and Themis. He was so beautiful that Venus
came down from heaven on Mount Ida to enjoy his company. Æneas was the
son of Anchises and Venus, and was intrusted to the care of Chiron the
Centaur. When Troy was taken, Anchises had become so infirm that Æneas
had to carry him through the flames upon his shoulders, and thus saved
his life.
=Androm´ache.= Daughter of Eetion, king of Thebes. She married Hector, son
of Priam, and was the mother of Astyanax. Her parting with Hector, who
was going to battle, is described in the Iliad, and has been deemed one
of the most beautiful passages in that great work. Pope's translation of
the Iliad (book 6) describes with great pathos and beauty the parting of
Hector from his wife and child.
=Androm´eda.= A daughter of Cepheus, king of Æthiopia, and Cassiope. She
was promised in marriage to Phineus when Neptune drowned the kingdom and
sent a sea monster to ravage the country, because Cassiope had boasted
that she was fairer than Juno and the Nereides. The oracle of Jupiter
Ammon was consulted, but nothing could stop the resentment of Neptune
except the exposure of Andromeda to the sea monster. She was accordingly
tied to a rock, but at the moment that the monster was about to devour
her, Perseus, returning from the conquest of the Gorgons, saw her, and
was captivated with her beauty. He changed the monster into a rock by
showing Medusa's head, and released Andromeda and married her.
=Anthropoph´agi.= A people of Scythia who fed on human flesh. They lived
near the country of the Messagetæ. Shakspeare makes Othello, in his
speech to the Senate, allude to the Anthropophagi thus:--
"The cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders."
=Antig´one.= A daughter of OEdipus, king of Thebes. She buried by night
her brother Polynices, against the orders of Creon, who ordered her to
be buried alive. She, however, killed herself on hearing of the
sentence. The death of Antigone is the subject of one of the finest
tragedies of Sophocles. The play has been adapted for representation on
the English stage, Miss Helen Faucit performing the heroine with
exquisite pathos.
=Antig´onus.= One of Alexander's generals, who, on the division of the
provinces after the king's death, received Pamphylia, Lycia, and
Phrygia. Eventually his power became so great that Ptolemy, Seleucus,
Cassander, and Lysimachus combined to destroy him. He gained many
victories over them, but at last was killed in battle at the age of
eighty, B.C. 301. There were others of the same name, but much less
conspicuous.
=Antin´ous.= A youth of Bithynia of whom the emperor Adrian was so
extremely fond that, at his death, he erected a temple to him, and
wished it to be believed that he had been changed into a constellation.
=Anti´ochus=, surnamed _Soter_, was son of Seleucus and king of Syria. He
made a treaty of alliance with Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. He
wedded his step-mother Stratonice. He was succeeded by his son Antiochus
II., who put an end to the war which had begun with Ptolemy, and married
his daughter Berenice, but being already married to Laodice, she, in
revenge, poisoned him. Antiochus, the third of that name, surnamed the
Great, was king of Syria, and reigned thirty-six years. He was defeated
by Ptolemy Philopater at Raphia. He conquered the greater part of
Greece, and Hannibal incited him to enter on a crusade against Roma. He
was killed 187 years before the Christian era. Antiochus Epiphanes, the
fourth of the name, was king of Syria after his brother Seleucus. He
behaved with cruelty to the Jews. He reigned eleven years, and died
unregretted. There were many others of the same name of less note.
=Ant´iope=, daughter of Nycteus, king of Thebes, and Polyxo, was beloved
by Jupiter. Amphion and Tethus were her offspring.
=Antip´ater=, son of Iolaus, was a soldier under King Philip, and raised
to the rank of a general under Alexander the Great. When Alexander went
to invade Asia, he left Antipater supreme governor of Macedonia. He has
been suspected of giving poison to Alexander to advance himself in
power.
=Antoni´nus=, surnamed _Pius_, was adopted by the Emperor Adrian, whom he
succeeded. He was remarkable for all the virtues forming a perfect
statesman, philosopher, and king. He treated his subjects with
affability and humanity, and listened with patience to every complaint
brought before him. He died in his seventy-fifth year, after a reign of
twenty-three years, A.D. 160.
=Anto´nius Mar´cus.= Mark Antony, the triumvir, distinguished himself by
his ambitious views. When Julius Cæsar was killed in the senate house,
Antony delivered an oration over his body, the eloquence of which is
recorded in Shakspeare's tragedy of Julius Cæsar. Antony had married
Fulvia, whom he repudiated to marry Octavia, the sister of Augustus. He
fought by the side of Augustus at the battle of Philippi, against the
murderers of Julius Cæsar. Subsequently he became enamored with
Cleopatra, the renowned queen of Egypt, and repudiated Octavia to marry
her. He was utterly defeated at the battle of Actium, and stabbed
himself. He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, B.C. 30.
=Anto´nius, Ju´lius=, son of the famous triumvir Antony, by Fulvia, was
consul with Paulus Fabius Maximus. He was surnamed Africanus, and put to
death by order of Augustus, but some say he killed himself.
=Anto´nius M. Gni´pho.= A poet of Gaul who taught rhetoric at Rome. Cicero
and other illustrious men frequented his school. There were a number of
others of the same name, but of less repute.
=Apel´les.= A celebrated painter of Cos, or, as others say, of Ephesus,
son of Pithius. He lived in the age of Alexander the Great, who forbade
any one but Apelles to paint his portrait. He was so absorbed in his
profession that he never allowed a day to pass without employing himself
at his art: hence the proverb of _Nulla dies sine linea_. His most
perfect picture was Venus Anadyomene, which was not quite finished when
he died. He painted a picture in which a horse was a prominent feature,
and so correctly was it delineated that a horse passing by it neighed,
supposing it to be alive. He was ordered by Alexander to paint a
portrait of one of his favorites--Campaspe. Apelles became enamored with
her and married her. He only put his name to three of his pictures--a
sleeping Venus, Venus Anadyomene, and an Alexander. The proverb, _Ne
sutor ultra crepidam_, has been used in reference to him by some
writers.
=Aphrodi´te.= The Grecian name for Venus, from the Greek word [Greek:
aphros], _froth_, because Venus is said to have been born from the froth
of the ocean.
=Apic´ius.= A famous gourmand in Rome. There were three of this name, all
noted for their voracious appetites.
=A´pis.= One of the ancient kings of Peloponnesus, son of Phoroneus and
Laodice. Some say that Apollo was his father, and that he was king of
Argos, whilst others called him king of Sicyon, and fix the time of his
reign above 200 years earlier. Varro and others have supposed that Apis
went to Egypt with a colony of Greeks, and that he civilized the
inhabitants and polished their manners, for which they made him a god
after death, and paid divine honors to him under the name of Serapis.
=A´pis.= A god of the Egyptians, worshiped under the form of an ox. Some
say that Isis and Osiris are the deities worshiped under this name,
because they taught the Egyptians agriculture.
=Apol´lo.= Son of Jupiter and Latona; called also Phoebus. He was the
god of the fine arts and the reputed originator of music, poetry, and
eloquence. He had received from Jupiter the power of knowing futurity,
and his oracles were in repute everywhere. As soon as he was born he
destroyed with his arrows the serpent Python, which Juno had sent to
persecute Latona; hence he was called Pythius. He was not the inventor
of the lyre, as some have supposed, but it was given to him by Mercury,
who received in return the famous Caduceus. He received the surnames of
Phoebus, Delius, Cynthius, Pæan, Delphicus, etc. He is in sculpture
generally represented as a handsome young man with a bow in his hand,
from which an arrow has just been discharged.
=Appia´nus.= An historian of Alexandria, who flourished A.D. 123. His
Universal History, which consisted of twenty-four books, was a history
of all the nations conquered by the Romans.
=Ap´pius Clau´dius.= A decemvir who obtained his power by force and
oppression. He grossly insulted Virginia, whom her father killed to save
her from the power of the tyrant.
=Arca´dia.= A district of Peloponnesus, which has been much extolled by
the poets. It was famous for its mountains. The inhabitants were for the
most part shepherds, who lived upon acorns. They were skillful warriors
and able musicians. Pan lived chiefly among them.
=Archil´ochus.= A poet of Paros, who wrote elegies, satires, odes, and
epigrams. He lived B.C. 685.
=Archime´des.= A famous geometrician of Syracuse, who invented a machine
of glass that represented the motion of the heavenly bodies. When
Marcellus, the Roman consul, besieged Syracuse, Archimedes constructed
machines which suddenly raised into the air the ships of the enemy,
which then fell into the sea and were sunk. He also set fire to the
ships with burning-glasses. When the enemy were in possession of the
town, a soldier, not knowing who he was, killed him, B.C. 212.
=Arethu´sa=, a nymph of Elis, daughter of Oceanus, and one of Diana's
attendants. As she returned one day from hunting she bathed in the
Alpheus stream. The god of the river was enamored of her, and pursued
her over the mountains, till Arethusa, ready to sink from fatigue,
implored Diana to change her into a fountain, which the goddess did.
=Ar´go.= The name of the famous ship which carried Jason and his
companions to Polchis, when they went to recover the Golden Fleece.
=Argonau´tæ.= The Argonauts, those ancient heroes who went with Jason in
the Argo to Aolchis to recover the Golden Fleece, about seventy-nine
years before the capture of Troy. The number of the Argonauts is not
exactly known.
=Ar´gus.= A son of Arestor, whence he is sometimes called Arestorides. He
had a hundred eyes, of which only two were asleep at one time. Juno set
him to watch Io, whom Jupiter had changed into a heifer, but Mercury, by
order of Jupiter, slew him, by lulling all his eyes to sleep with the
notes of the lyre. Juno put the eyes of Argus in the tail of the
peacock, a bird sacred to her.
=Ariad´ne=, daughter of Minos, second king of Crete, and Pasiphæ, fell in
love with Theseus, who was shut up in the labyrinth to be devoured by
the Minotaur. She gave Theseus a clue of thread by which he extricated
himself from the windings of the labyrinth. After he had conquered the
Minotaur he married her, but after a time forsook her. On this,
according to some authorities, she hanged herself. According to other
writers, after being abandoned by Theseus, Bacchus loved her, and gave
her a crown of seven stars, which were made a constellation.
=Ari´on.= A famous lyric poet and musician, son of Cyclos of Methymna in
Lesbos. He went into Italy with Periander, tyrant of Corinth, where he
gained much wealth by his profession. Afterwards he wished to revisit
the place of his nativity, and he embarked in a ship, the sailors of
which resolved to kill him for the riches he had with him. Arion
entreated them to listen to his music, and as soon as he had finished
playing he threw himself into the sea. A number of dolphins had been
attracted by the sweetness of his music, and it is said that one of them
carried him safely on its back to Tænarus, whence he went to the court
of Periander, who ordered all the sailors to be crucified.
=Aristæ´us.= Son of Apollo and Cyrene, famous for his fondness for
hunting. He married Autonoe, the daughter of Cadmus, Actæon being their
son. He was after death worshiped as a demigod.
=Aristar´chus.= A celebrated grammarian of Samos, disciple of
Aristophanes. He lived the greatest part of his life at Alexandria. He
wrote about 800 commentaries on different authors. He died in his
seventy-second year, B.C. 157.
=Aristi´des.= A celebrated Athenian, son of Lysimachus, in the age of
Themistocles, whose great temperance and virtue procured for him the
name of the "Just." He was rival to Themistocles, by whose influence he
was banished for ten years, B.C. 484. He was at the battle of Salamis,
and was appointed to be chief commander with Pausanias against
Mardonius, whom they defeated at Platæa.
=Aristip´pus=, the elder, a philosopher of Cyrene, a disciple of Socrates,
and founder of the Cyrenaic sect.
=Aristogi´ton= and =Harmo´dis=. Two celebrated friends of Athens, who, by
their joint efforts, delivered their country from the tyranny of the
Pisistratidæ, B.C. 510.
=Aristoph´anes.= A celebrated comic poet of Athens, son of Philip of
Rhodes. He wrote fifty-four comedies, of which eleven have come down to
us. He lived B.C. 434, and lashed the vices of the age with a masterly
hand.
=Aristot´eles.= A famous philosopher, son of Nicomachus, born at Stagira.
He went to Athens to hear Plato's lectures, where he soon signalized
himself by his genius. He has been called by Plato the philosopher of
truth, and Cicero complimented him for his eloquence, fecundity of
thought, and universal knowledge. He died in his sixty-third year, B.C.
322. As he expired he is said to have exclaimed: _Causa causarum
miserere mei_, which sentence has since become famous, and is by some
attributed to Cicero. The term Stagirite has been applied to Aristotle
from the name of his birthplace.
=Artaxerx´es= the First succeeded to the kingdom of Persia after Xerxes.
He made war against the Bactrians, and reconquered Egypt, which had
revolted. He was remarkable for his equity and moderation.
=Artaxerx´es= the Second. King of Persia, surnamed Mnemon. His brother
Cyrus endeavored to make himself king in his place, and marched against
his brother at the head of 100,000 Barbarians and 13,000 Greeks. He was
opposed by Artaxerxes with a large army, and a bloody battle was fought
at Cunaxa, in which Cyrus was killed and his forces routed.
=Ar´temis.= The Greek name of Diana. Her festivals, called Artemesia, were
celebrated in several parts of Greece, particularly at Delphi.
=Asca´nius=, son of Æneas and Creusa, was saved from the flames of Troy by
his father, whom he accompanied in his voyage to Italy. He was
afterwards called Iulus.
=Aspa´sia.= Daughter of Axiochus, born at Miletus. She came to Athens,
where she taught eloquence. Socrates was one of her scholars. She so
captivated Pericles by her accomplishments that he made her his wife.
The conduct of Pericles and Aspasia greatly corrupted the morals of the
Athenians, and caused much dissipation in the State.
=Aspa´sia.= A daughter of Hermotimus of Phocæa, famous for her personal
charms. She was priestess of the sun, and became mistress to Cyrus.
=Astar´te.= A powerful divinity of Syria, the same as the Venus of the
Greeks. She had a famous temple at Hierapolis in Syria, which was
attended by 300 priests.
=Astræ´a.= A daughter of Astræus, king of Arcadia, or, according to
others, daughter of Titan and Aurora. Some make her daughter of Jupiter
and Themis. She was called Justice, of which virtue she was the goddess.
=Asty´anax.= A son of Hector and Andromache. He was very young when the
Greeks besieged Troy, and when the city was taken his mother saved him
in her arms from the flames. According to Euripides he was killed by
Menelaus.
=Atalan´ta.= Daughter of Schoeneus, king of Scyros. According to some
she was the daughter of Jasus, or Jasius, and Clymene, but others say
that Menalion was her father. She determined to live in celibacy, but
her beauty gained her many admirers, and to free herself from their
importunities she proposed to run a race with them. As she was almost
invincible in running, her suitors, who entered the lists against her,
were defeated, till Hippomenes, the son of Macareus, proposed himself as
an admirer. Venus gave him three golden apples from the garden of the
Hesperides, and with these concealed about him he entered the lists to
race against Atalanta. As the race proceeded he dropped the apples,
which she stopped to pick up, thus enabling Hippomenes to arrive first
at the goal, and obtain her in marriage.
=A´te.= Daughter of Jupiter, and goddess of all evil. She raised such
discord amongst the gods that Jupiter banished her from heaven, and sent
her to dwell on earth, where she incited mankind to evil thoughts and
actions.
=Athana´sius.= A bishop of Alexandria, celebrated for his determined
opposition to Arius and his doctrines. He died A.D. 373, after filling
the archiepiscopal chair for forty-seven years. The famous creed which
is named after him is no longer supposed to have been written by him,
and its authorship remains in doubt.
=At´las.= One of the Titans, son of Iapetus and Clymene. He married
Pleione, daughter of Oceanus (or of Hesperis, according to some
writers). He had seven daughters, who were called the Atlantides.
=A´treus.= A son of Pelops and Hippodamia, was king of Mycenæ. His brother
Chrysippus was illegitimate, and Hippodamia wished to get rid of him,
and urged Atreus and another of her sons, Thyestes, to murder him,
which, on their refusal, she did herself. Atreus retired to the court of
Eurystheus, king of Argos, and succeeded to his throne.
=At´ticus, T. Pomponius.= A celebrated Roman knight, to whom Cicero wrote
a number of letters, containing the general history of the age. He
retired to Athens, where he endeared himself to the citizens, who
erected statues to him in commemoration of his virtues. He died at the
age of seventy-seven, B.C. 32.
=At´tila.= A celebrated king of the Huns, who invaded the Roman empire in
the reign of Valentinian, with an army of half a million of men. He
laid waste the provinces, and marched on Rome, but retreated on being
paid a large sum of money. He called himself the "Scourge of God," and
died A.D. 453, of an effusion of blood, on the night of his marriage.
=Angus´tus, Octavia´nus Cæ´sar=, emperor of Rome, was son of Octavius, a
senator, and Accia, sister to Julius Cæsar. He was associated in the
triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus, and defeated the armies of Brutus
and Cassius at Philippi. Octavia, the sister of Augustus, married Antony
after the death of his wife Fulvia. Octavia, however, was slighted for
the charms of Cleopatra, which incensed Augustus, who took up arms to
avenge the wrongs of his sister, and at the great battle of Actium (B.C.
31), the forces of Antony and Cleopatra suffered a disastrous defeat.
=Aurelia´nus=, emperor of Rome, was austere and cruel in the execution of
the laws, and in his treatment of his soldiers. He was famous for his
military character, and his expedition against Zenobia, queen of
Palmyra, gained him great honors. It is said that in his various battles
he killed 800 men with his own hand. He was assassinated near Byzantium,
A.D. 275.
=Aure´lius, M. Antoni´nus=, surnamed "the philosopher," possessed all the
virtues which should adorn the character of a prince. He raised to the
imperial dignity his brother L. Verus, whose dissipation and
voluptuousness were as conspicuous as the moderation of the philosopher.
During their reign the Quadi, Parthians, and Marcomanni were defeated.
Verus died of apoplexy, and Antoninus survived him eight years, dying in
his sixty-first year, after a reign of nineteen years and ten days.
=Auro´ra.= A goddess, daughter of Hyperion and Thia or Thea. She is
generally represented by the poets as sitting in a chariot and opening
with her fingers the gates of the east, pouring dew on the earth, and
making the flowers grow. The Greeks call her Eos.
=Bac´chus= was son of Jupiter and Semele, the daughter of Cadmus. He was
the god of wine, and is generally represented crowned with vine leaves.
He is said to have married Ariadne after she had been forsaken by
Theseus.
=Belisa´rius.= A celebrated general who, in the reign of Justinian,
emperor of Constantinople, renewed the victories which had rendered the
first Romans so distinguished. He died, after a life of glory, suffering
from royal ingratitude, 565 years before the Christian era.
=Beller´ophon=, son of Glaucus, king of Ephyre, and Eurymede; was at first
called Hipponous. He was sent by Iobates, king of Lycia, to conquer the
monster Chimæra. Minerva assisted him in the expedition, and by the aid
of the winged horse Pegasus he conquered the monster and returned
victorious. After sending him on other dangerous adventures, Iobates
gave him his daughter in marriage, and made him successor to his throne.
=Bello´na=, goddess of war, was daughter of Phorcys and Ceto; called by
the Greeks Enyo, and is often confounded with Minerva. She prepared the
chariot of Mars when he was going to war, and appeared in battles armed
with a whip to animate the combatants, and holding a torch.
=Be´lus=, one of the most ancient kings of Babylon, about 1800 years
before the age of Semiramis, was made a god after death, and was
worshiped by the Assyrians and Babylonians. He was supposed to be the
son of the Osiris of the Egyptians. The temple of Belus was the most
ancient and magnificent in the world, and was said to have been
originally the tower of Babel.
=Bereni´ce.= A daughter of Philadelphus, who married Antiochus, king of
Syria, after he had divorced his former wife Laodice.
=Bereni´ce.= The mother of Agrippa, whose name occurs in the history of
the Jews as daughter-in-law of Herod the Great. A number of others of
minor celebrity were known by the same name.
=Bi´on.= A philosopher of Scythia who rendered himself famous for his
knowledge of poetry, music, and philosophy. Another of the same name was
a Greek poet of Smyrna who wrote pastorals. He was a friend of Moschus,
who says that he died by poison about 300 years B.C.
=Boadice´a.= A famous British queen who rebelled against the Romans and
was defeated, on which she poisoned herself. Her cruel treatment by the
Romans is the subject of an ode by Cowper.
=Bo´reas.= The name of the north wind blowing from the Hyperborean
mountains. According to the poets, he was son of Astræus and Aurora. He
was passionately fond of Hyacinthus.
=Bren´nus.= A general of the Galli Senones, who entered Italy, defeated
the Romans, and marched into the city. The Romans fled into the Capitol,
and left the city in possession of the enemy. The Gauls climbed the
Tarpeian rock in the night, and would have taken the Capitol had not the
Romans been awakened by the cackling of some geese, on which they
roused themselves and repelled the enemy.
=Bri´a´reus.= A famous giant, son of Coelus and Terra. He had a hundred
hands and fifty heads, and was called by men by the name of Ægeon.
=Bru´tus L. Junius.= Son of M. Junius and Tarquinia. When Lucretia killed
herself, B.C. 509, in consequence of the brutality of Tarquin, Brutus
snatched the dagger from the wound and swore upon the reeking blade
immortal hatred to the royal family, and made the people swear they
would submit no longer to the kingly authority. His sons conspired to
restore the Tarquins, and were tried and condemned before their father,
who himself attended their execution. Mr. John Howard Payne, the
American dramatist, has written a tragedy, of which Brutus is the hero.
=Bru´tus, Mar´cus Ju´nius=, father of Cæsar's murderer, followed the party
of Marius, and was conquered by Pompey, by whose orders he was put to
death.
=Bru´tus, Mar´cus Ju´nius=, the destroyer of Cæsar, conspired with many of
the most illustrious citizens of Rome, against Cæsar, and stabbed him in
Pompey's Basilica. The tumult following the murder was great, but the
conspirators fled to the Capitol, and by proclaiming freedom and liberty
to the populace, for the time established tranquillity. Antony, however,
soon obtained the popular ear, and the murderers were obliged to leave
Rome. Brutus retired into Greece, where he gained many friends. He was
soon pursued by Antony, who was accompanied by the young Octavius. The
famous battle of Philippi followed, in which Brutus and his friend
Cassius, who commanded the left wing of the army, were totally defeated.
Brutus fell on his own sword, B.C. 42, and was honored with a
magnificent funeral by Antony. Plutarch relates that Cæsar's ghost
appeared to Brutus in his tent before the battle of Philippi, warning
him of his approaching fall.
=Buceph´alus.= A horse of Alexander's, so frequently named by writers that
the term has become proverbial. Alexander was the only person that could
mount him, and he always knelt down for his master to bestride him.
=Ca´cus.= A famous robber, son of Vulcan and Medusa, represented as a
three-headed monster vomiting flames. He resided in Italy, and the
avenues of his cave were covered with human bones. When Hercules
returned from the conquest of Geryon, Cacus stole some of his cows,
which Hercules discovering, he strangled Cacus.
=Cad´mus=, son of Agenor, king of Phoenicia, and Telephassa, or Agriope,
was ordered by his father to go in quest of his sister Europa, whom
Jupiter had carried away. His search proving fruitless, he consulted the
oracle of Apollo, and was told to build a city where he saw a heifer
stop in the grass, and call the country around Boeotia. He found the
heifer, as indicated by the oracle. Requiring water, he sent his
companions to fetch some from a neighboring grove. The water was guarded
by a dragon, who devoured those who were sent for it, and Cadmus, tired
of waiting, went himself to the place. He attacked the dragon and killed
it, sowing its teeth in the ground, on which a number of armed men rose
out of the earth. Cadmus threw a stone amongst them, and they at once
began fighting, and all were killed except five, who assisted him in
building the city. Cadmus introduced the use of letters in Greece--the
alphabet, as introduced by him, consisting of sixteen letters.
=Cadu´ceus.= A rod entwined at one end with two serpents. It was the
attribute of Mercury, and was given to him by Apollo in exchange for the
lyre.
=Cæ´sar.= A surname given to the Julian family in Rome. This name, after
it had been dignified in the person of Julius Cæsar and his successors,
was given to the apparent heir of the empire in the age of the Roman
emperors. The first twelve emperors were distinguished by the name of
Cæsar. They reigned in this order--Julius Cæsar, Augustus, Tiberius,
Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and
Domitian. Suetonius has written an exhaustive history of the Cæsars. C.
Julius Cæsar, the first emperor of Rome, was son of L. Cæsar and
Aurelia, the daughter of Cotta. He was descended, according to some
accounts, from Julus, the son of Æneas. His eloquence procured him
friends at Rome, and the generous manner in which he lived equally
served to promote his interest. He was appointed for five years over the
Gauls. Here he enlarged the boundaries of the Roman empire by conquest,
and invaded Britain, which till then was unknown to the Romans. The
corrupt state of the Roman senate, and the ambition of Cæsar and Pompey,
caused a civil war. Neither of these celebrated Romans would endure a
superior, and the smallest matters were grounds enough for unsheathing
the sword. By the influence of Pompey a decree was passed to strip Cæsar
of his power. Antony, as tribune, opposed this, and went to Cæsar's camp
with the news. On this Cæsar crossed the Rubicon, which was the boundary
of his province. The passage of the Rubicon was a declaration of war,
and Cæsar entered Italy with his army. Upon this Pompey left Rome and
retired to Dyrrachium, and Cæsar shortly afterwards entered Rome. He
then went to Spain, where he conquered the partisans of Pompey, and on
his return to Rome was declared dictator, and soon afterwards consul.
The two hostile generals met in the plains of Pharsalia, and a great
battle ensued B.C. 48. Pompey was defeated and fled to Egypt, where he
was slain. At length Cæsar's glory came to an end. Enemies had sprung up
around him, and a conspiracy, consisting of many influential Romans, was
formed against him. Conspicuous among the conspirators was Brutus, his
most intimate friend, who, with others, assassinated him in the senate
house in the ides of March, B.C. 44, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.
He wrote his Commentaries on the Gallic wars when the battles were
fought. This work is admired for its elegance and purity of style. It
was after his conquest over Pharnaces, king of Pontus, that he made use
of the words, which have since become proverbial, _Veni, vidi, vici_,
illustrative of the activity of his operations. Shakspeare's tragedy of
Julius Cæsar, in the third act of which he is assassinated, uttering as
his last words, "_Et tu, Brute!_ Then fall Cæsar"--is devoted to the
conspiracy and its results, ending with defeat and death of Brutus and
Cassius at Philippi.