A classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography, mythology and geography / based on the larger dictionaries by Sir William Smith ; revised throughout and in part rewritten by G.E. Marindin.

Date:: 1899

Credit: A classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography, mythology and geography / based on the larger dictionaries by Sir William Smith ; revised throughout and in part rewritten by G.E. Marindin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$ACHKMENIDES exwessed by the horu of plenty (Strab. p. -158). When Theseus returned from the Calydonmn chase, he was hospitably received by Achelous, who related to him in what manner he had changed certain nymphs into the islands callecl Echinades (Ov. Met. viii. 577-eil). The Achelous was re'^arded as the ruler and representative of all fresh water in Hellas. Hence he is called by Homer (17. xx. 194) Kpuwv AxeAwioy, and was worshipped as a mighty god througli- out Greece. He was regarded as the represen- tative of all flowing water, so that the name is often used by the poets as equivalent to water (Ephor. ap. Macrob. v. 18 ; Aesch. Pers. 8G9 ; Eurip.-B«cc7i.625; Aristoph.iys. 381). Theroot ix- probably means water, and appears in aqua. The river god is represented on the coins oi Acaruania and Oeniadae as a bull with the head of a man. [See coins under Ac.uinanla. and Oexlvd.u:.]—Hence Acheloiddes, contr. ■Lcheloides, i.e. the Sirenes, the daughters of Achelous (Ov. Met. v. 552, xiv. 87); Acheloia CalHrhoe, because Callirhoe was the daughter of Achelous (Ov. Met. is. 413) : pocula Ache- loia, i.e. water in general (Verg. Gcorg. i. 9) : Acheloius heros, that is, Tydeus, son of Oeiieus, king of Calydon, ^c/tetoiw« = Aetolian (Stat. Theh. ii. 142).—2. A river of Thessaly, in the district of Malis, flowing near Lamia (Strab. pp. 434, 450).—3. A mountain torrent in Arca- dia, flowing into the Alpheus, from the north of ilomit Lycaeus (Paus. viii. 38, 9).—4. Also called Peebus, a river in Achaia, flowing near Dyme (Strab. pp. 342, 450). Achememdes. [Achaemenides.] Acherdus ('Ax^pSoGs, ovvtos: 'Ax^pSovtnos), from ax^pSos, a wild pear-tree, a demus of At- tica of uncertain site, belonging to the tribe Hippothoontis. Aristophanes (Eccl. 302), in joke, uses the form 'AxpaSovatos instead of 'Ax^pSova-ios (Aeschin. in Tim. § 110). Acherini, the inhabitants of a small town in Sicily, mentioned only by Cicero [Verr. iii. 43). Acheron ('Axepwi', also Acheruns, untis. Plant. Capt. v. 4, 2; Aoheros, Liv. viii. 24), the name of several rivers, all of which were, at least at one time, believed to be coimected with the lower world. It has the same root ax- as Achelous = a(7ua, but was derived by the an- cients from ctxoS) ''X'? i)fO}v.—1. A river in Thesprotia in Epirus, which flows through the lake Acherusia, and, after receiving the river Cocytus, flows into the Ionian sea, now Gurla, or river of SuH (Thuc. i. 46 ; Strab. p. 324). On its banks was an oracle called v^Kvo/j-avT^^ov (Hdt. v. 92), which was consulted by evok- ing the spirits of the dead.—2. A river in Elis which flows into the Alpheus (Strab. p. 344). —3. A river in Southern Italy in Bruttii, on which Alexander of Epirus perished (Liv. viii. 24; Strab. p. 256; Justin, xii. 2).—4. The river of the lower world, usually identified with the Acheron in Thesprotia. [No. 1.] In the Iliad the Styx is the only river of the lower world, but in the Odyssey (x. 513) the Acheron appears as the river of the lower world, into which the Pyriphlegethon (nvpi(p\ey46ijiiv, Fire- &/aa!«(/) and Cocytus (Kwkvtos, Wailiruj), a tri- butary of the Styx, flow. Across the river the shades had to be carried to reach the lower world (Eurip. Ale. 440 ; Verg. Aen. vi. 295). Acheron is frequently used in a general sense to signify the whole of the lower world (Soph. Ant. 805 ; Verg. Acn. vii. 312; Hor. Ocl. i. 3, 30; Nep. Dion. 10). The Etruscans too were acquainted with the worshi]) of Acheron (Achei-uns). Their Acheruntici libri treated ACHILLES 7 of the deification of the souls, and of the sacri- fices (Acheruntia sacra) by which this was to be effected.—Hence Adj. 'hx^povtrios, Ache- rusius; 'Ax^p6vreios, Acheronteus, Acheronti- cus, Acherunticus. . Acherontia [Acerenza], a town m Apulia on Mount Vultur, whence Horace [Od. in. 4, 14) speaks of celsae nidam Acherontiae. Acherusia ('Axfpow'^'a A'A) Ax(pova-is), the name of several lakes believed to be con- nected with the lower world. 1. In Thesprotia. r^cHERON.]-2. (Lago di Fusaro) m Campa- nia, so called in consequence of its proximity to Avernus. [A^tsexus.] (Strab. pp. 243, 24o ; Plin iii. § 6.)—3, Near Hermione m Argolis (Paus. ii.' 35, 10). — 4. Near Heraclea in Bithynia (Xen. An. vi. 2, 6).—6. Li Egypt near Memphis (Diod. i. 96). Achilla or AchoUa (AxoAAa : AxoAAaios : Achillitanus : El Aliah, Bu.), a town on the coast of Africa, in the Cai-thaginian territory, above the N. point of the Syrtis Blinor (Strab. p. 831 ; Liv. xxxiii. 48 ; B. Afric. 33-48). AcMlIas ('Ax'AAay), commander of the Egyptian troops, when Pompey fled to Egypt B. C. 48. He and L. Septunius kiUed Pompey. He resisted Caesar, and was put to death by Arsinoe, the sister of Ptolemy, B.C. 47 (Caes. B. C. iii. 104 seq., B. Al. 4; Luc. viii. 538). Achilles ('Ax'AAeus, 'AxiAeus, fus, Bp. r\os : Lat. is, &c., also gen. Aohilloi, Hor. Od. i. 15, 4 ; Achilli, Verg. Aen. iii. 87 ; acc. Achil- lea, Luc. X. 523; a6L Achilli, Ov. Po«i. iii. 3, 43: adj. 'Ax'AAeios, Ion. 'AxiAAi^ios, Achil- leus), the great hero of the J\\&a.—Homeric story. Achilles was the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidones in Phthiotis, in Thessaly, and of the Nereid Thetis {II. xx. 206 Sic). From his father's name he is often called Pel'ides, Peleiades, and Pellon (Xhij\dhi)s, ITrj- Arji'aSrjs, IlT/Aefaji', II. xviii. 316; i. 1; i. 197; Verg. Aen. ii. 263), and from his grandfather Aeacides {AiaKiSr)s, II. ii. 860 ; Verg. Aen. i. 99). He was educated, along with Patroclus, his life-long friend (II. xxiii. 84), by Phoenix, who taught him eloquence and the arts of war {II. ix. 485, xi. 832), and by Chiron, the centaur, who taught him the healing art (xi. 232). His mother Thetis foretold him that his fate was either to gain glory and die early or to live a long but inglorious life (ix. 410). The hero chose the former, and therefore when Ulysses and Nestor came to Phthia to per- suade him to take part in the Trojan war he followed them willingly, though he knew he was not to retm-n (xi. 765). Accompanied by Phoenix and Patroclus, he led his hosts of Myrmidones, Hellenes, and Acbaeans, in fifty ships, against Troy (ii. 681). Here the swift-footed Achilles was the great bulwark of the Greeks, and the worthy favourite of Athene and Hera. Wlien, in the tenth year of the war, Agamemnon was obliged to give up Cliryseis to her father, he threatened to take away Briseis from Achilles, who surrendered her on the persuasion of Athene, but at the same time refused to take any further part in the war, and shut himself up in his tent. Zeus, on the entreaty of Thetis, promised that victory should be on the side of the Trojans until the Achaeans should have honoured her son. The Greeks were defeated, and were at last pressed so hard that an embassy was sent to Achilles, offering him rich presents and the restoration of Briseis; but in vain. At last, however, ho was per- suaded by Patroclus to allow the latter to make use of his men, his horses, and his ar-$