Dictionary of Classical Mythology,
Religion, Literature, Art & Antiquities.
ABACUS——ACCENSI.
Abǎcus (Gr. ăbax, ăbăkĭŏn). (1) A square plate, especially the stone slab that covers the capital of a column (see Architecture, Orders of Orders of, figs. 1 and 5). (2) A dice-board. (3) A mathematician’s table strewn with fine sand, on which figures were drawn with a stilus. (4) A counting-board, on which sums were worked for private and public accounts. The reckoning was done with counters lying on the board (calcŭli) or with beads sliding in vertical grooves. (On the sideboard called Abacus, see Tables.)
Abolla. A thick woollen cloak, worn by Roman soldiers and philosophers.
Absyrtus. Son of king Æētes, and brother of Medēa, who, in her flight with Jason the Argonaut, cut Absyrtus into pieces, and threw them one by one into the sea, so that her father, stopping to pick them up, might be delayed in his pursuit.
Academy (Gr. Akădēmīa). A grove on the Cephissus near Athens, sacred to the hero Acădēmus, and containing a gymnasium. Here Plato, whose country-house was near, delivered his lectures; hence the school of philosophy founded by him received the name of "The Academy."
Acămās (Gr. Akămas). Son of Thēseus and Phædra, was brought up with his brother Demŏphoön by Elephēnor, king of Eubœa, and sent with Diomēdes as ambassador to Troy, to persuade Priam to send Helen back in peace. After the fall of Troy, in which he took a prominent part as one of the heroes concealed in the wooden horse, he with his brother recovered his father’s sovereignty over Attica, and then led a colony from Athens to Cyprus, where he died. (Comp. Demophoön, 2.)
Acarnān and Amphŏtĕrus (Gr. Akarnan, Amphoterŏs). Sons of Alcmæon and Callirrhŏë. Their mother, hearing of her husband’s murder by Phēgeus and his sons, prays Zeus, who loves her, to let her boys grow up into men at once, so that they can avenge their father. This done, they slay the sons of Phēgeus at Tĕgĕa and himself at Psōphis, offer up at Delphi the Jewels of Harmŏnĭa, which they have thus acquired, and then found a kingdom called the elder of them Acarnānia. (See Alphesiboœa)
Acastus (Gr. Akastŏs). Son of Pĕlĭas, King of Iōlcŏs, who joined the Argonatuic expedition, though against his father's will, as a friend of Jason. At his father's death he celebrated funeral games which were the theme of ancient poets and artists, and in which Pēleus was represented as participating. He took part in the Calydonian boar-hunt. But his wife Astŷdǎmeia fell in love with Pēleus (q.v.), and this brought ruin on the wedded pair. His daughter was Lāŏdămeiă, renowned for her tender love to Prōtĕsĭlāǔs (q.v.).
Acca Lārentia. According to the commong legend, wife of the herdsman Faustŭlus, and nurse to Rōmŭlus and Rĕmus; according to another, a favourite of Hercules, and wife to a rich Etruscan, Tarutius, whose possessions she bequeathed to Romulus or (according to another account) the Roman people. She is said to have had twelve sons, with whom she sacrificed once a year for the fertilizing of the Roman fields (arva), and who were thence named Arval Brothers (fratres arvāles). One of them having died, Romulus took his place, and founded the priesthood so called. (See Arval Brothers.) She at last disappeared on the spot where, afterwards, at the feast of Quirīnus and the pontiffs sacrificed to her while invoking Jupiter. All this, together with her name, meaning "mother of the Lares," shows that she was originally a goddess of the earth, to whose care men entrusted their seed-corn and their dead. (See Lares.) In particular she personified the city lands and their crops. Probably she is the Dea Dīa worshipped by the Arval Brothers.
Accensi. In the older constitution of the Roman army, the accensi were men taken from the lowest assessed class to fill gaps in the ranks of the heavy-armed soldiers. They followed the legion unarmed, simply in their clothes (velātī, or accensi velati). In action they stood in the
