Page:Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (Seyffert, 1901).pdf/50

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38
ANUBIS——APHRODITE.

named Philŏsŏphus, born at Rome a.d. 121. His real name was M. Annius Verus; at the desire of the emperor Hadrian he was adopted by his successor T. Aurelius Antoninus Pius, married his daughter Faustīna, and became emperor in a.d. 161. During his benevolent reign the empire had to face dire distresses, famine, pestilence, and constant wars with the Parthians in the east, and the Marcomanni and other Germans in the north, during which he proved himself a prudent and active sovereign. In the midst of a new war with the already vanquished Marcomanni he died in a.d. 180, probably at Sirmium in Pannonia. In his youth he wras a pupil of the orator Fronto, and loved him warmly to the last, even after giving up rhetoric and devoting himself to the Stoic philosophy. The gentleness and amiability of his nature comes out both in his letters to Fronto (q.v.) and in his Self-contemplations, which are the moral reflections of a Stoic in clumsy, over-concise, and often obscure Greek.

(2) Antōnīnus Līberālis, a Greek grammarian of about 150 a.d., perhaps a freedman of Antoninus Pius; he wrote a collection, called Metamorphōsēs, of forty-one myths dealing with transformations, most of which is based on ancient authorities now lost, and is therefore valuable as a source of mythological knowledge.


Anūbis. An Egyptian god, son of Osīris, conductor and watcher of the dead, whose deeds he and Horus (q.v.) were supposed to weigh in the balance in presence of their father Osiris. He was represented with the head of a jackal or dog-ape. The worship of Anubis was introduced among the Greeks and Romans (who represented him in the form of a dog), together with that of Serāpis and Isis, especially in the time of the emperors, as he was identified with Hermēs.


Apăgōgē. A technical term of Athenian law, meaning the production of a criminal taken in the act before the proper magistrate, who then took him into custody, or made him find bail. The name was also given to the document in which the accuser stated the charge. But if the officer was conducted to the spot where the accused was staying, the process was called ĕphēgēsis.


Apătūrĭă. The general feast of the Phratries (q.v.) held chiefly by Greeks of the Ionian race. At Athens it lasted three days in the month of Pyanepsiōn (Oct.–Nov.), and was celebrated with sacrificial banquets. On the third day the fathers brought their children born since the last celebration before the members (phrātors) assembled at the headquarters of each phrātria, and after declaring on oath their legitimate birth, had their names inscribed on the roll of phrātŏrĕs. For every child enrolled a sheep or goat was sacrificed, which went to furnish the common feast. On the same day the fathers made their children who were at school give proofs of their progress, especially by reciting passages from poets, and those who distinguished themselves were rewarded with prizes.


Apellēs. The greatest painter of antiquity, probably born at Cŏlŏphōn or in the Island of Cōs, who lived in the latter half of the 4th century b.c. After studying at Ephĕsus, and receiving theoretical instruction in his art from Pamphĭlus at Sicy̌ōn, he worked in different parts of the Greek world, but especially in Macedonia, at the court of Philip and that of Alexander, who would let no other artist paint him. While doing ready justice to the merits of contemporaries, especially Protŏgĕnēs, he could not but recognise that no one surpassed himself in grace and balanced harmony. These qualities, together with his wonderful skill in drawing and his perfect and refined mastery of colouring (however simple his means), made his works the most perfect productions of Greek painting. Among the foremost were the Alexander with lightning in his hand, painted for the temple of Artĕmis at Ephesus, in which the fingers appeared to stand out of the picture, and the thunderbolt to project from the panel; and the Aphrodītē Anadyŏmĕnē (= rising), painted for the temple of Asclepius at Cos, which Augustus brought to Rome and set up in the temple of Cæsar, and which, when the lower part was damaged, no painter would attempt to restore. We owe to Lucian a description of an allegorical picture of Slander by this painter. [Pliny, H. N., 35. 79–97.]


Aphrŏdītē (Lat. Vĕnus). The Greek goddess of love. Her attributes combine, with Hellenic conceptions, a great many features of Eastern, especially Phœnician, origin, which the Greeks must have grafted on to