[1] Servius, in speaking of it as _oppidum_, must be referring to the
post-station.
ASTURIAS, an ancient province and principality of northern Spain,
bounded on the N. by the Bay of Biscay, E. by Old Castile, S. by Leon
and W. by Galicia. Pop. (1900) 627,069; area, 4205 sq. m. By the
division of Spain in 1833, the province took the name of Oviedo, though
not to the exclusion, in ordinary usage, of the older designation. A
full description of its modern condition is therefore given under the
heading OVIEDO; the present article being confined to an account of its
physical features, its history, and the resultant character of its
inhabitants. Asturias consists of a portion of the northern slope of the
Cantabrian Mountains, and is covered in all directions with offshoots
from the main chain, by which it is almost completely shut in on the
south. The higher summits, which often reach a height of 7000-8000 ft.,
are usually covered with snow until July or August, and the whole region
is one of the wildest and most picturesque parts of Spain. Until the
first railway was opened, in the middle of the 19th century, few of the
passes across the mountains were practicable for carriages, and most of
them are difficult even for horses. A narrow strip of level moorland,
covered with furze and rich in deposits of peat, coal and amber,
stretches inland, from the edge of the sheer cliffs which line the
coast, to the foot of the mountains. The province is watered by numerous
streams and rivers, which have hollowed out deep valleys; but owing to
the narrowness of the level tract, their courses are short, rapid and
subject to floods. The most important is the Nalon or Pravia, which
receives the waters of the Caudal, the Trubia and the Narcea, and has a
course of 62 m.; after it rank the Navia and the Sella. The estuaries of
these rivers are rarely navigable, and along the entire littoral, a
distance of 130 m., the only important harbours are at Gijon and Aviles.
A country so rugged, and so isolated by land and sea, naturally served
as the last refuge of the older races of Spain when hard pressed by
successive invaders. Before the Roman conquest, the Iberian tribe of
Astures had been able to maintain itself independent of the
Carthaginians, and to extend its territory as far south as the Douro. It
was famous for its wealth in horses and gold. About 25 B.C., the Romans
subjugated the district south of the Cantabrians, to which they gave the
name of Augustana. Their capital was Asturica Augusta, the modern
Astorga, in Leon. The warlike mountaineers of the northern districts,
known as Transmontana, never altogether abandoned their hostility to the
Romans, whose rule was ended by the Visigothic conquest, late in the 5th
century. In 713, two years after the defeat and death of Roderick, the
last Visigothic king, all Spain, except Galicia and Asturias, fell into
the hands of the Moors. One of the surviving Christian leaders, Pelayo
the Goth, took refuge with three hundred followers in the celebrated
cave of Covadonga, or Cobadonga, near Cangas de Onis, and from this
hiding-place undertook the Christian reconquest of Spain. The Asturians
chose him as their king in 718, and although Galicia was lost in 734,
the Moors proved unable to penetrate into the remoter fastnesses held by
the levies of Pelayo. After his death in 737, the Asturians continued to
offer the same heroic resistance, and ultimately enabled the people of
Galicia, Leon and Castile to recover their liberty. The title of prince
of Asturias, conferred on the heir-apparent to the crown of Spain, dates
from 1388, when it was first bestowed on a Castilian prince. The title
of count of Covadonga is assumed by the kings of Spain. In modern times
Asturias formed a captaincy-general, divided into Asturias d'Oviedo,
which corresponds with the limits of the ancient principality, and
Asturias de Santillana, which now constitutes the western half of
Santander.
Owing to their almost entire immunity from any alien domination except
that of the Romans and Goths, the Asturians may perhaps be regarded as
the purest representatives of the Iberian race; while their dialect
(_linguaje bable_) is sometimes held to be closely akin to the parent
speech from which modern Castilian is derived. It is free from Moorish
idioms, and, like Galician and Portuguese it often retains the original
Latin _f_ which Castilian changes into _h_. In physique, the Asturians
are like the Galicians, a people of hardy mountaineers and fishermen,
finely built, but rarely handsome, and with none of the grace of the
Castilian or Andalusian. Unlike the Galicians, however, they are
remarkable for their keen spirit of independence, which has been
fostered by centuries of isolation. Despite the harsh land-laws and
grinding taxation which prevent them, with all their industry and
thrift, from securing the freehold of the patch of ground cultivated by
each peasant family, the Asturians regard themselves as the aristocracy
of Spain. This pride in their land, race and history they preserve even
when, as often happens, they emigrate to other parts of the country or
to South America, and earn their living as servants, water-carriers, or,
in the case of the women, as nurses. They make admirable soldiers and
sailors, but lack the enterprise and commercial aptitude of the Basques
and Catalans; while they are differentiated from the inhabitants of
central and southern Spain by their superior industry, and perhaps their
lower standard of culture. It is, on the whole, true that by the
exclusion of the Moors they lost their opportunity of playing any
conspicuous part in the literary and artistic development of Spain. One
class of the Asturians deserving special mention is that of the nomad
cattle-drovers known as Baqueros or Vaqueros, who tend their herds on
the mountains of Leitariegos in summer, and along the coast in winter;
forming a separate caste, with distinctive customs, and rarely or never
intermarrying with their neighbours.
For the modern condition of the principality (including climate, fauna
and flora), see S. Canals, _Asturias: informancion sobre su presente
estado_ (Madrid, 1900); and G. Casal, _Memorias de historia natural y
medica, de Asturias_ (Oviedo, 1900). For the history and antiquities,
there is much that is valuable in _Asturias monumental, epigrafica y
diplomatica_, &c., by C.M. Vigil (Madrid, 1887)--folio, with maps and
illustrations. See also F. de Aramburu y Zuloaga, _Monografia de
Asturias_ (Oviedo, 1899).
ASTYAGES, the last king of the Median empire. In the inscriptions of
Nabonidus the name is written Ishtuvegu (cylinder from Abu Habba V R 64,
col. 1, 32; Annals, published by Pinches, _Tr. Soc. Bibl. Arch_. vii.
col. 2, 2). According to Herodotus, he was the son of Cyaxares and
reigned thirty-five years (584-550 B.C.); his wife was Aryenis, the
daughter of Alyattes of Lydia (Herod, i. 74). About his reign we know
little, as the narrative of Herodotus, which makes Cyrus the grandson of
Astyages by his daughter Mandane, is merely a legend; the figure of
Harpagus, who as general of the Median army betrays the king to Cyrus,
alone seems to contain an historical element, as Harpagus and his family
afterwards obtained a high position in the Persian empire. From the
inscriptions of Nabonidus we learn that Cyrus, king of Anshan (Susiana),
began war against him in 553 B.C.; in 550, when Astyages marched against
Cyrus, his troops rebelled, and he was taken prisoner. Then Cyrus
occupied and plundered Ecbatana. The captive king was treated fairly by
Cyrus (Herod, i. 130), and according to Ctesias (_Pers_. 5, cf. Justin
i. 6) made satrap of Hyrcania, where he was afterwards slain by Oebares
against the will of Cyrus, who gave him a splendid funeral. Alexander
Polyhistor and Abydenus in their excerpts from Berossus, which Eusebius
(_Chron_. i. pp. 29 and 37) and Syncellus (p. 396) have preserved, give
the name Astyages to the Median king who reigned in the time of the fall
of Nineveh (606 B.C.), and became father-in-law of Nebuchadrezzar. This
is evidently a mistake; the name ought to be Cyaxares (in the fragments
of the Jewish history of Alexander Polyhistor, in Euseb. _Praep. Ev_.
ix. 39, the name is converted into Astibaras, who, according to the
unhistorical list of Ctesias, was the father of Astyages), and there is
no reason to invent an earlier king Astyages I., as some modern authors
have done. The Armenian historians render the name Astyages by Ashdahak,
i.e. Azhi Dahaka (Zohak), the mythical king of the Iranian epics, who
has nothing whatever to do with the historical king of the Medes.
(Ed. M.)
ASTYLAR (from Gr. a-, privative, and [Greek: stylos], a column), an
architectural term given to a class of design in which neither columns
nor pilasters are used for decorative purposes; thus the Ricardi and
Strozzi palaces in Florence are astylar in their design, in
contradistinction to Palladio's palaces at Vicenza, which are columnar.
ASUNCION (NUESTRA SENORA DE LA ASUNCION), a city and port of Paraguay,
and capital of the republic, on the left bank of the Paraguay river in
25 deg. 16' 04" S., 57 deg. 42' 40" W., and 970 m. above Buenos Aires.
Pop. (est. in 1900) 52,000. The port is connected with Buenos Aires and
Montevideo by regular lines of river steamers, which are its only means
of trade communication with the outer world, and with the inland town of
Villa Rica (95 m.) by a railway worked by an English company. The city
faces upon a curve in the river bank forming what is called the Bay of
Asuncion, and is built on a low sandy plain, rising to pretty hillsides
overlooking the bay and the low, wooded country of the Chaco on the
opposite shore. The general elevation is only 253 ft. above sea-level.
Asuncion is laid out on a regular plan, the credit for which is largely
due to Dictator Francia; the principal streets are paved and lighted by
gas and electricity; and telephone and street-car services are
maintained. The climate is hot but healthful, the mean annual
temperature being about 72 deg. F. The city is the seat of a bishopric
dating from 1547, and contains a large number of religious edifices. It
has a national college and public library, but no great progress in
education has been made. The most prominent edifice in the city is the
palace begun by the younger Lopez, which is now occupied by a bank.
There are some business edifices and residences of considerable
architectural merit, but the greater part are small and inconspicuous, a
majority of the residences being thatched, mud-walled cabins.
Considerable progress was made during the last two decades of the 19th
century, however, notwithstanding misgovernment and the extreme poverty
of the people. Asuncion was founded by Ayolas in 1335, and is the oldest
permanent Spanish settlement on the La Plata. It was for a long time the
seat of Spanish rule in this region, and later the scene of a bitter
struggle between the church authorities and Jesuits. Soon after the
declaration of independence in 1811, the city fell under the despotic
rule of Dr Francia, and then under that of the elder and younger Lopez,
through which its development was greatly impeded. It was captured and
plundered by the Brazilians in 1869, and has been the theatre of several
revolutionary outbreaks since then, one of which (1905) resulted in a
blockade of several months' duration. (A. J. L.)
ASVINS, in Hindu mythology, twin deities of light. After Indra, Agni and
Soma, they are the most prominent divinities in the Rig-Veda, and have
more than fifty entire hymns addressed to them. Their exact attributes
are obscure. They appear to be the spirits of dawn, the earliest
bringers of light in the morning sky; they hasten on in the clouds
before Dawn and prepare the way for her. In some hymns they are called
sons of the sun; in others, children of the sky; in others, offspring of
the ocean. They are youngest of the gods, bright lords of lustre,
honey-hued. They are inseparable. The sole purpose of one hymn is to
compare them with different twin objects, such as eyes, hands, feet and
wings. They have a common wife, Surya. They are physicians, protectors
of the weak and old, especially of elderly unmarried women. They are the
friends of lovers, and bless marriages and make them fruitful.
See A.A. Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_ (Strassburg, 1897).
ASYLUM (from Gr. [Greek: a-], privative, and [Greek: sulae], right of
seizure), a place of refuge. In ancient Greece, an asylum was an
"inviolable" refuge for persons fleeing from pursuit and in search of
protection. In a general sense, all Greek temples and altars were
inviolable, that is, it was a religious crime to remove by force any
person or thing once under the protection of a deity. But it was only in
the case of a small number of temples that this protecting right of a
deity was recognized with common consent. Such were the sanctuaries of
Zeus Lycaeus in Arcadia, of Poseidon in the island of Calauria, and of
Apollo at Delos, they were, however, numerous in Asia Minor. They
guaranteed absolute security to the suppliant within their limits. The
right of sanctuary, originally possessed by all temples, appears to have
become limited to a few in consequence of abuses of it. Asylums in this
sense were peculiar to the Greeks. The asylum of Romulus (Livy i. 8),
which was probably the altar of Veiovis, cannot be considered as such.
Under Roman dominion, the rights of existing Greek sanctuaries were at
first confirmed, but their number was considerably reduced by Tiberius.
Under the Empire, the statues of the emperors and the eagles of the
legions were made refuges against acts of violence. Generally speaking,
the classes of persons who claimed the rights of asylum were slaves who
had been maltreated by their masters, soldiers defeated and pursued by
the enemy, and criminals who feared a trial or who had escaped before
sentence was passed. (See treatises _De Asylis Graecis_, by Forster,
1847; Jaenisch, 1868; Barth, 1888.)
With the establishment of Christianity, the custom of asylum or
sanctuary (q.v.) became attached to the church or churchyard. In modern
times the word asylum has come to mean an institution providing shelter
or refuge for any class of afflicted or destitute persons, such as the
blind, deaf and dumb, &c., but more particularly the insane. (See
INSANITY.)
ASYLUM, RIGHT OF (Fr. _droit d'asile_; Ger. _Asylrecht_), in
international law, the right which a state possesses, by virtue of the
principle that every independent state is sole master within its
boundaries, of allowing fugitives from another country to enter or
sojourn upon its territory. Extradition (q.v.) treaties are undertakings
between states curtailing the exercise of the right of asylum in respect
of refugees from justice, but the conditions therein laid down
invariably show that nations regard the maintenance of this right of
asylum as intimately connected with their right of independent action,
however weak as states they may be, on their own soil. The neutral right
to grant asylum to belligerent forces is now governed by articles 57, 58
and 59 of the regulations annexed to the Hague Convention of the 29th
of July 1899, relating to the Laws and Customs of War on Land. (See
WAR.) (T. Ba.)
ATACAMA, a province of northern Chile, bounded N. and S. respectively by
the provinces of Antofagasta and Coquimbo, and extending from the
Pacific coast E. to the Argentine boundary line. It has an area of
30,729 sq. m., lying in great part within the Atacama desert region (see
below), and a population (1902) of 71,446. The silver and copper mines
of the province are numerous, some of them ranking among the most
productive known, but the majority are worked with limited capital and
on a small scale. The silver ore was first discovered in 1832 by a
shepherd at a place which bears his name, Juan Godoi. The nitrate and
borax deposits are extensive and productive, and common salt is a
natural product of large areas in the elevated desert regions of the
Andes. The exports include copper and silver and their ores, nitrate of
soda, borax, guano and other minerals in small quantities. The capital,
Copiapo (est. pop. 8991 in 1902), is situated on a small river of the
same name 37 m. from the coast and 51 m. south-east by rail from
Caldera, the principal port of this great mining district. Before 1842,
when guano began to attract notice as an exportable product, Atacama was
considered as Bolivian territory, and Coquimbo the extreme northern
province of Chile. In that year Chile decided to explore the desert
coast, and in 1843 that part of the desert extending north to the 26th
parallel was organized into the province of Atacama.
ATACAMA, DESERT OF, an arid, barren and saline region of western South
America, covering the greater part of the Chilean provinces of Atacama
and Antofagasta, the Argentine territory of Los Andes, and the
south-western corner of the Bolivian department of Potosi. The higher
elevations are known as the Puna de Atacama, which is practically a
continuation southward of the great _puna_ region of Peru and Bolivia.
It is a broken, mountainous region, volcanic in places, saline in
others, and ranges from 7000 to 13,500 ft. in general elevation. Its
culminating ridges are marked by an irregular line of peaks and extinct
volcanoes extending north by east from about 28 deg. S. into southern
Bolivia. On the eastern side, occasional rainfalls occur and streams
from the snow-clads peaks produce some slight displays of fertility, but
the general aspect of the plateaus, which are dry and cold in winter and
in summer are swept by rainstorms and covered by occasional tufts of
coarse grass, is barren and forbidding. They are also broken by great
saline lagoons and dry salt basins. This region forms the Argentine
territory of Los Andes and is habitable in places. On the western slope
the land descends gradually to the Pacific, being broken into great
basins, or terraces, by mountainous ridges in its higher elevations,
widening out into gently-sloping sandy plains below, famous for their
nitrate deposits, and terminating on the coast with sharply-sloping
bluffs, having an elevation of 800 to 1500 ft., and looking from the sea
like a range of flat-topped hills. This desolate region, which is
rainless and absolutely barren, and was considered worthless for three
and a half centuries, is now a treasure-house of mineral wealth,
abounding in copper, silver, lead, nickel, cobalt, iron, nitrates and
borax. It is occupied by many mining settlements, and includes some of
the most productive copper and silver mines of the world.
See L. Darapsky, "Zur Geographic der Puna de Atacama," _Zeits. Ges.
Erdk. zu Berlin_, 1899; G.E. Church, "South America: an Outline of its
Physical Geography," _Geographical Journal_, 1901; John Ball, _Notes
of a Naturalist in South America_ (London, 1887); F. O'Driscoll, "A
Journey to the North of the Argentine Republic," _Geographical
Journal_, 1904. (A. J. L.)
ATACAMITE, a mineral found originally in the desert of Atacama, and
named by D. de Gallizen in 1801. It is a cupric oxychloride, having the
formula CuCl2.3Cu(OH)2, and crystallizing in the orthorhombic system.
Its hardness is about 3 and its specific gravity 3.7, while its colour
presents various shades of green, usually dark. Atacamite is a
comparatively rare mineral, formed in some cases by the action of
sea-water on various copper-ores, and occurring also as a volcanic
product on Vesuvian lavas. Some of the finest crystals have been yielded
by the copper-mines of South Australia, especially at Wallaroo. It
occurs also, with malachite, at Bembe, near Ambriz, in West Africa. From
one of its localities in Chile, Los Remolinos, it was termed Remolinite
by Brooke and Miller. Atacamite, in a pulverulent state, was formerly
used as a pounce under the name of "Peruvian green sand," and was known
in Chile as arsenillo. (F. W. R.*)
ATAHUALLPA (_atahu_, Lat. _virtus_, and _allpa_, sweet), "the last of
the Incas" (or Yncas) of Peru, was the son of the ruler Huayna Capac, by
Pacha, the daughter of the conquered sovereign of Quito. His brother
Huascar succeeded Huayna Capac in 1527; for, as Atahuallpa was not
descended on both sides from the line of Incas, Peruvian law considered
him illegitimate. He obtained, however, the kingdom of Quito. A jealous
feeling soon sprang up between him and Huascar, who insisted that Quito
should be held as a dependent province of his empire. A civil war broke
out between the brothers, and, about the time when the Spanish conqueror
Pizarro was beginning to move inland from the town of San Miguel,
Huascar had been defeated and thrown into prison, and Atahuallpa had
become Inca. Pizarro set out in September 1532, and made for Caxamarca,
where the Inca was. Messengers passed frequently between them, and the
Spaniards on their march were hospitably received by the inhabitants. On
the 15th of November, Pizarro entered Caxamarca, and sent his brother
and Ferdinando de Soto to request an interview with the Inca. On the
evening of the next day, Atahuallpa entered the great square of
Caxamarca, accompanied by some five or six thousand men, who were either
unarmed or armed only with short clubs and slings concealed under their
dresses. Pizarro's artillery and soldiers were planted in readiness in
the streets opening off the square. The interview was carried on by the
priest Vicente de Valverde, who addressed the Inca through an
interpreter. He stated briefly and dogmatically the principal points of
the Christian faith and the Roman Catholic policy, and concluded by
calling upon Atahuallpa to become a Christian, obey the commands of the
pope, give up the administration of his kingdom, and pay tribute to
Charles V., to whom had been granted the conquest of these lands. To
this extraordinary harangue, which from its own nature and the faults of
the interpreter must have been completely unintelligible, the Inca at
first returned a very temperate answer. He pointed out what seemed to
him certain difficulties in the Christian religion, and declined to
accept as monarch of his dominions this Charles, of whom he knew
nothing. He then took a bible from the priest's hands, and, after
looking at it, threw it violently from him, and began a more impassioned
speech, in which he exposed the designs of the Spaniards, and upbraided
them with the cruelties they had perpetrated. The priest retired, and
Pizarro at once gave the signal for attack. The Spaniards rushed out
suddenly, and the Peruvians, astonished and defenceless, were cut down
in hundreds. Pizarro himself seized the Inca, and in endeavouring to
preserve him alive, received, accidentally, on his hand the only wound
inflicted that day on a Spaniard. Atahuallpa, thus treacherously
captured, offered an enormous sum of money as a ransom, and fulfilled
his engagement; but Pizarro still detained him, until the Spaniards
should have arrived in sufficient numbers to secure the country. While
in captivity, Atahuallpa gave secret orders for the assassination of his
brother Huascar, and also endeavoured to raise an army to expel the
invaders. His plans were betrayed, and Pizarro at once brought him to
trial. He was condemned to death, and, as being an idolater, to death by
fire. Atahuallpa, however, professed himself a Christian, received
baptism, and his sentence was then altered into death by strangulation
(August 29, 1533). His body was afterwards burned, and the ashes
conveyed to Quito. (See also PERU: _History_.)
ATALANTA, in Greek legend, the name of two Greek heroines, (1) The
Arcadian Atalanta was the daughter of Iasius or Iasion and Clymene. At
her birth, she had been exposed on a hill, her father having expected a
son. At first she was suckled by a she-bear, and then saved by huntsmen,
among whom she grew up to be skilled with the bow, swift, and fond of
the chase, like the virgin goddess Artemis. At the Calydonian boar-hunt
her arrows were the first to hit the monster, for which its head and
hide were given her by Meleager. At the funeral games of Pelias, she
wrestled with Peleus, and won. For a long time she remained true to
Artemis and rejected all suitors, but Meilanion at last gained her love
by his persistent devotion. She was the mother of Parthenopaeus, one of
the Seven against Thebes (Apollodorus iii. 9; Hyginus, _Fab._ 99). (2)
The Boeotian Atalanta was the daughter of Schoeneus. She was famed for
her running, and would only consent to marry a suitor who could outstrip
her in a race, the consequence of failure being death. Hippomenes,
before starting, had obtained from Aphrodite three golden apples, which
he dropped at intervals, and Atalanta, stopping to pick them up, fell
behind. Both were happy at the result; but forgetting to thank the
goddess for the apples, they were led by her to a religious crime, and
were transformed into lions by the goddess Cybele (Ovid, _Metam._ x.
560; Hyginus, _Fab._ 185). The characteristics of these two heroines
(frequently confounded) point to their being secondary forms of the
Arcadian Artemis.
ATARGATIS, a Syrian deity, known to the Greeks by a shortened form of
the name, Derketo (Strabo xvi. c. 785; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ v. 23. 81),
and as Dea Syria, or in one word Deasura (Lucian, _de Dea Syria_). She
is generally described as the "fish-goddess." The name is a compound of
two divine names; the first part is a form of the Himyaritic _'Athlar_,
the equivalent of the Old Testament _Ashtoreth_, the Phoenician
_Astarte_ (q.v.), with the feminine ending omitted (Assyr. _Ishtar_);
the second is a Palmyrene name _'Athe_ (_i.e. tempus opportunum_), which
occurs as part of many compounds. As a consequence of the first half of
the name, Atargatis has frequently, though wrongly, been identified with
Astarte. The two deities were, no doubt, of common origin, but their
cults are historically distinct. In 2 Macc. xii. 26 we find reference to
an Atargateion or Atergateion (temple of Atargatis) at Carnion in Gilead
(cf. 1 Macc. v. 43), but the home of the goddess was unquestionably not
Palestine, but Syria proper, especially at Hierapolis (q.v.), where she
had a great temple. From Syria her worship extended to Greece, Italy and
the furthest west. Lucian and Apuleius give descriptions of the
beggar-priests who went round the great cities with an image of the
goddess on an ass and collected money. The wide extension of the cult is
attributable largely to Syrian merchants; thus we find traces of it in
the great seaport towns; at Delos especially numerous inscriptions have
been found bearing witness to its importance. Again we find the cult in
Sicily, introduced, no doubt, by slaves and mercenary troops, who
carried it even to the farthest northern limits of the Roman empire. In
many cases, however, Atargatis and Astarte are fused to such an extent
as to be indistinguishable. This fusion is exemplified by the Carnion
temple, which is probably identical with the famous temple of Astarte at
Ashtaroth-Karnaim.
Atargatis appears generally as the wife of Hadad (Baal). They are the
protecting deities of the community. Atargatis, in the capacity of
[Greek: polionchos], wears a mural crown, is the ancestor of the royal
house, the founder of social and religious life, the goddess of
generation and fertility (hence the prevalence of phallic emblems), and
the inventor of useful appliances. Not unnaturally she is identified
with the Greek Aphrodite. By the conjunction of these many functions,
she becomes ultimately a great Nature-Goddess, analogous to Cybele and
Rhea (see GREAT MOTHER OF THE GODS); in one aspect she typifies the
function of water in producing life; in another, the universal
mother-earth (Macrobius, _Saturn_, i. 23); in a third (influenced, no
doubt, by Chaldaean astrology), the power of destiny. The legends are
numerous and of an astrological character, intended to account for the
Syrian dove-worship and abstinence from fish (see the story in Athenaeus
viii. 37, where Atargatis is derived from [Greek: ates Gatidos] "without
Gatis,"--a queen who is said to have forbidden the eating of fish). Thus
Diodorus Siculus, using Ctesias, tells how she fell in love with a youth
who was worshipping at the shrine of Aphrodite, and by him became the
mother of Semiramis, the Assyrian queen, and how in shame she flung
herself into a pool at Ascalon or Hierapolis and was changed into a fish
(W. Robertson Smith in _Eng. Hist. Rev._ ii., 1887). In another story
she was hatched from an egg found by some fish in the Euphrates and by
them thrust on the bank where it was hatched by a dove; out of gratitude
she persuaded Jupiter to transfer the fish to the Zodiac (cf. Ovid,
_Fast._ ii. 459-474, _Metam._ v. 331).
See articles _s.v._ in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyk._ (1897), by W.
Baudissin; and Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyc._; Fr. Baethgen, _Beitrage
zur Semit. Religiongesch._ (1888); R. Pietschmann, _Gesch. der
Phonizier_ (1889).
ATAULPHUS (the Latinized form of the Gothic Ataulf, "Father-wolf," from
_atta_, father, and _vulfs_, wolf; mod. Germ. Adolf, Latinized as
Adolphus, the form used by Gibbon for the subject of this article), king
of the Goths (d. 415). On the death of Alaric (q.v.) his followers
acclaimed his brother-in-law Ataulphus as king. In 412 he quitted Italy
and led his army across the Alps into Gaul. Here he fought against some
of the usurpers who threatened the throne of Honorius; he made some sort
of compact with that emperor and, in 414, he married his sister
Placidia, who had been since the siege of Rome a captive in the camp of
the Goths. The ex-emperor Attalus danced at the marriage festival, which
was celebrated with great pomp at Narbonne. In 415 Ataulphus crossed the
Pyrenees into Spain and died at Barcelona, being assassinated by a
groom. The most important fact in his history is his confession,
recorded by Orosius, that he saw the inability of his countrymen to rear
a civilized or abiding kingdom, and that consequently his aim should be
to build on Roman foundations and blend the two nations into one.
ATAVISM (from Lat. _atavus_, a great-great-great-grandfather or
ancestor), the term given in biology to the reproduction in a living
person or animal of the characteristics of an ancestor more remote than
its parents (see HEREDITY). Loosely used, it connotes a reversion to an
earlier type. Individuals reproduce unexpectedly the traits of earlier
ancestors, and ethnologists and criminologists frequently explain by
"atavism" the occurrence of degenerate species of man; but the whole
subject is complicated by other possible explanations of such phenomena,
included in the scientific study of normal "variation."
ATBARA (_Bahr-el-Aswad_, or Black River), the most northern affluent of
the river Nile, N.E. Africa. It rises in Abyssinia to the N.W. of Lake
Tsana, unites its waters with a number of other rivers which also rise
in the Abyssinian highlands, and flows north-west 800 m. till its
junction at Ed Damer with the Nile (q.v.). The battle of the Atbara,
fought near Nakheila, a place on the north bank of the river about 30 m.
above Ed Damer, on the 8th of April 1898, between the khalifa's forces
under Mahmud and Sir Herbert (afterwards Lord) Kitchener's
Anglo-Egyptian army, resulted in the complete defeat of the Mahdists and
the capture of their leader, and paved the way for the decisive battle
of Omdurman on the 2nd of September following (see EGYPT: _Military
Operations_).
ATCHISON, a city and the county-seat of Atchison county, Kansas, U.S.A.,
on the west bank of the Missouri river, which is navigable at this point
but is utilized comparatively little for commerce. Pop. (1890) 13,963;
(1900) 15,722, of whom 2508 were of negro descent and 1308 were
foreign-born; (1910) 16,429. Atchison is served by the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific, and the Missouri Pacific railways. The city is the seat of
Midland College (Lutheran, 1887), St Benedict's College (Roman Catholic,
1858) for boys, Mt. Scholastics Academy (Roman Catholic) for girls, and
Western Theological Seminary (Evangelical-Lutheran, 1893); a state
soldiers' orphans' home is also located here. Atchison's situation and
transportation facilities make it an important supply-centre, its trade
in grains and live-stock being particularly large; it has large railway
machine shops, and its principal manufactures are flour, furniture,
lumber, hardware and drugs. The value of the city's factory products
increased from $2,093,469 in 1900 to $4,052,274 in 1905, or 93.6%.
Atchison was founded in 1854 by pro-slavery partisans, and was named in
honour of their leader, David Rice Atchison, a United States senator.
The city was quickly surpassed by Leavenworth in commercial importance,
and during the Kansas struggle was never of great political importance.
Its first city charter was granted in 1858. The Atchison _Globe_
(established 1878) is one of the best-known of western papers.
ATE, in Greek mythology, the personification of criminal folly, the
daughter of Zeus and Eris (Strife). She misled even Zeus to take a hasty
oath, whereby Heracles became subject to Eurystheus. Zeus thereupon cast
her by the hair out of Olympus, whither she did not return, but remained
on earth, working evil and mischief (_Iliad_, xix. 91). She is followed
by the Litae (Prayers), the old and crippled daughters of Zeus, who are
able to repair the evil done by her (_Iliad_, ix. 502). In later times
Ate is regarded as the avenger of sin (Sophocles, _Antigone_, 614, 625).
See J. Girard, _Le Sentiment religieux en Grece_ (1869); J.F. Scherer,
_De Graecorum Ates Notione atque Indole_ (1858); E. Berch, _Bedeutung
der Ate bei Aeschylos_ (1876); C. Lehrs, _Populare Aufsatze aus dem
Alterthum_ (1875); L. Schmidt, _Die Ethik der alten Griechen_ (1882).
ATELLA, an ancient Oscan town of Campania, 9 m. N. of Naples and 9 m. S.
of Capua, on the road between the two. It was a member of the Campanian
confederation, and shared the fortunes of Capua, but remained faithful
to Hannibal for a longer time; the great part of the inhabitants, when
they could no longer resist the Romans, were transferred by him to
Thurii, and the town was reoccupied in 211 by the Romans, who settled
the exiled inhabitants of Nuceria there. The fate of Atella at the end
of the war, when the latter were able to return to their own city, is
unknown. Cicero was in friendly relations with it, and exerted influence
that it might retain its property in Gaul, so that it is obvious that it
had then recovered municipal rights. The town is mainly famous as the
cradle of early Roman comedy, the _Fabulae Atellanae_ (see below). Some
remains of the town still exist, including a tower of the city wall in
brick.
See J. Beloch, _Campanien_ (2nd ed., Breslau, 1890), p. 379.
ATELLANAE FABULAE ("Atellan fables"), the name of a sort of popular
comedy amongst the ancient Romans. The name is derived from Atella, an
Oscan town in Campania; for this reason, and from their being also
called _Osci Ludi_, it has been supposed that they were of Oscan origin
and introduced at Rome after Campania had been deprived of its
independence. It seems highly improbable that they were performed in the
Oscan language. Mommsen, however, rejects their Oscan origin altogether;
he regards them as purely Latin, the scene merely being laid at Atella
to avoid causing offence by placing it at Rome or one of the Latin
cities. These plays, or rather sketches, contained humorous descriptions
of country as contrasted with town life, and found their subjects
amongst the lower classes of the people. The subjects alone were decided
upon before the performance began; the dialogue was improvised as it
proceeded. The Atellanae contained certain stock characters, like the
Italian harlequinades: Maccus (the fool), Bucco (fat-chaps), Pappus
(daddy), Dossennus (sharper); monsters and bogeys like Manducus, Pytho,
Lamia also made their appearance. The performers were the sons of Roman
citizens, who did not lose their rights as citizens, and were allowed to
serve in the army: professional actors were excluded. The simple prose
dialogues were probably varied by songs in the rude Saturnian metre: the
language was that of the common people, accompanied by lively
gesticulation and movements. They were characterized by coarseness and
obscenity. In the time of Sulla a literary form was given to the
Atellanae by Pomponius of Bononia and Novius, who made them regular
written comedies. Living persons seem to have been attacked, and even
the doings of the gods and heroes of mythology burlesqued. From this
time the Atellanae were used as after-pieces and performed by
professional actors. In 46 B.C. they were ousted by the mimes, but
regained popularity during the reign of Tiberius (chiefly owing to a
certain Mummius), until they were definitely superseded by and merged in
the mimes. They held their ground in the small towns and villages of
Italy during the last days of the empire; they probably lingered on into
the middle ages, and were the origin of the Italian _Commedie dell'
arte._
The scanty fragments of Pomponius and Novius are collected in
Ribbeck's _Comicorum Romanorum Reliquiae_; see also Munk, _De Fabulis
Atellanis_ (1840); and art. LATIN LITERATURE.
ATESTE (mod. _Este, q.v._), an ancient town of Venetia, at the southern
foot of the Euganean hills, 43 ft. above sea-level; 22 m. S.W. of
Patavium (Padua). The site was occupied in very early times, as the
discoveries since 1882 show. Large cemeteries have been excavated, which
show three different periods from the 8th century B.C. down to the Roman
domination. In the first period (Italic) cremation burials closely
approximating to the Villanova type are found; in the second[1]
(Venetian) the tombs are constructed of blocks of stone, and _situlae_
(bronze buckets), sometimes decorated with elaborate designs, are
frequently used to contain the cinerary urns; in the third (Gallic),
which begins during the 4th century B.C., though cremation continues,
the tombs are much poorer, the ossuaries being of badly baked rough
clay, and show traces of Gallic influence, and characteristics of the
La-Tene civilization. The many important objects found in these
excavations are preserved in the local museum. See G. Ghirardini in
_Notizie degli Scavi; Monumenti dei Lincei_, ii. (1893) 161 seq., vii.
(1897) 5 seq., x. (1901) 5 seq.; _Atti del Congresso Internazionale di
Scienze Storiche_ (Rome, 1904), v. 279 seq. Inscriptions show that the
national language asserted its existence even after Ateste came into the
hands of the Romans. When this occurred is not known; boundary stones of
135 B.C. exist, which divide the territory of Ateste from that of
Patavium and of Vicetia, showing that the former extended from the
middle of the Euganean hills to the Atesis (mod. _Adige_, from which
Ateste no doubt took its name, and on which it once stood). After the
battle of Actium, Augustus settled veterans from various of his legions
in this territory, Ateste being thenceforth spoken of as a colony. It
appears to have furnished many recruits, especially for the _cohortes
urbanae_. It appears but little in history, though its importance is
vouched for by numerous inscriptions, the majority of which belong to
the early Empire. (T. As.)