ATHENA ATHENS to the king of France, the emperor of Ger- many, and a Norse king. He was succeeded by his brother Edmund. Atlielstan added much to the code left by Alfred. One of his decrees was, that any merchant who made three voyages on his own account beyond the British channel, or narrow seas, should be en- titled to the privileges of a thane. He favored learning, built .monasteries, collected books, and encouraged the translation of the Scrip- tures into the vernacular. Two of his books are believed to be extant among the Cottonian manuscripts in the British museum. ATHENA. See MINERVA. ATHEMEUS, a Greek writer of the early part of the 3d century of the Christian era, born at Naucratis in Egypt. He is chiefly known as the author of the Deipnosophista (" Banquet of the Learned "), a voluminous work of ima- ginary table talk on almost every conceivable subject, especially gastronomy, between certain learned men while enjoying themselves at sup- per in the house of an imaginary Roman named Laurentius, with Galen the physician and Ulpian the jurist among the guests. It con- sisted of 15 books, but only the 1st and 2d, and parts of the 3d, llth, and 15th, are now extant in an epitome, of which we know nei- ther the date nor the compiler. Notwithstand- ing its many literary and artistic defects, the great mass of information which it contains, and the light which it throws on the manners of the ancients, will ever cause the Deipnoso- pJiixtw to be prized by the scholar and the an- tiquary. The best edition of this work is that of Dindorf (3 vols. 8vo, Leipsic, 1827). ATHKNAGOKAS, a Greek philosopher of the 2d century, who became a convert to Chris- tianity, and flourished probably in the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus. It is said that he was a native of Athens, and first master of the catechetical school at Alex- andria. Intending to write against the Chris- tians, he applied himself to the study of the Scriptures, became convinced of their truth, and addressed an apology to one of the em- perors in behalf of the Christians. He also wrote a treatise in defence of the doctrine of the resurrection. These works of Athenagoras are still extant. Their style is Attic and ele- gant. The best edition is that of the Benedic- tines (Paris, 1742). ATHENS (Gr. 'ABijvai), anciently the principal city of Attica, and now the capital of the king- dom of Greece, situated in lat. 37 56' N., Ion. 23 44' E., about 4 m. from the E. coast of the Saronic gulf, and 4^ m. from the port town of Piraeus. It was built round a central rocky height, called the Acropolis, an elevation about 300 ft. above the average level of the town, and 600 ft. above the Mediterranean. Grouped near it are several smaller elevations, with val- leys between. N. W. of the Acropolis is a moderate height on which stands the temple of Theseus. At a short distance from the N. W. angle is the Areopagus; and over against the Areopagus is the hill of the Pnyx, with the hill of the Nymphs a little north, and the Museum, or hill of the Muses, at a short dis- tance to the south. N. E. of the city rises the conical hill of Lycabettus. The plain itself in which the city stands is bounded N. by Mt. Parnes, which separates it from Boeotia ; N. E. by Mt. Pentelicus; S. E. by Mt. Hymettus, which descends to the sea; 8. W. and W. by the Saronic gulf; and N. W. by Mt. JSgaleos. A sketch of the history of Athens is neces- sary to the understanding of any description either of the ancient or modern city. No doubt a stronghold on the rock, afterward called the Acropolis, was the germ from which it grew. When or by whom this was founded is unknown. According to the legends, Cecrops, sometimes represented as an Egyptian settler, sometimes as an autochthonous Pelasgian hero, first took possession of the rock, which from him was called Cecropia. He was succeeded by a line of 16 kings, bearing the names of Cranaus, Amphictyon, Erechtheus I. or Erichthonius, Pandion I., Erechtheus II., Cecrops II., Pan- dion II., -iEgeus, Theseus, Menestheus, Demo- phon, Oxyntes, Aphidas, Thymcetes, Melan- thus, and Codrus. In the reign of the second or third king the city is said to have received its name from the geddess Athena (Minerva). Erechtheus is said to have built a temple to Athena on the Acropolis, where he placed the statue of the goddess, made of olive wood. The temple was called, from this legend, the Erech- theum. Theseus is said to have united the 12 communities, or cities, into which Attica was hitherto divided, into one political body. Me- nestheus led the 50 dark ships of the Athenians in the Trojan war, and is pronounced by Homer the first of warriors, except Nestor. The 17th and last king of Athens was Codrus, who sacri- ficed himself for his country in a war with the Peloponnesian invaders, who, according to an oracle, were to be victorious if they did not slay the king of the Athenians. After him no one, so the legend says, was permitted to bear the title of king: His son Medon succeeded him under the name of archon, or ruler, hold- ing the office, however, upon the hereditary principle, and for life. A line of life archons continued to rule through 12 reigns, Alcmseon being the last. During the government of his predecessor, ^Eschylus, commenced the era of the Olympic games, celebrated at intervals of four years, at Olympia in Elis. This date the earliest fixed point in Greek chronology has been satisfactorily established at 776 B. C. After Alemason, a series of seven decenninl archons carried on the government till 683, when the office was made annual, its various functions were distributed among nine col- leagues, and the right of election was extended to the entire class of the eupatrida or nobles. One of these, the head of the college, bore the title of "the archon," and was designated as the eponyrrms a magistrate in whose name the transactions of the year were dated and
