it may be well to mention the History of Astronomy,' and the 'Lives of Galileo and Kepler,' in the Library of Useful Knowledge; and the 'History of Natural Philosophy,' in Lardner's' Cabinet Cyclopædia. ASTY'LAR, one of the numerous compound architectural terms from the Greek stylos (σrûλos), column; which, having the Greek privative a prefixed to it, signifies without columns. It is a term of recent introduction, but very convenient and expressive, inasmuch as it explains at once that the building described by it is without any order of columns or pilasters, however ornate it may be in all other respects. Thus, we speak of Astylar Italian in contradistinction from the columnar class of buildings in that style, or such as are decorated with the orders. Astylar composition is not only susceptible of a very high degree of embellishment, but of a species of grandeur not attainable (that is, on the same scale) in the Palladian style, or that where an order is raised upon a basement, or even more than a single order is employed for a façade, because in the former the cornice is proportioned to the entire elevation; sometimes of greatly increased proportions, and then distinguished by the name of cornicione. In this country we had no examples of such astylar class of design, until it was introduced by Mr. Barry, in the Travellers' and Reform Clubhouses. ASY'LUM, the Latin and English form of the Greek "Aσuλov, which is generally supposed to be made up of a privative and the root of the verb ovλáw,' to plunder,' and therefore to signify, properly a place free from robbery or violence. Some, however, have derived the Greek word from the Hebrew 'a grove;' the earliest asylums, it is said, having been usually groves sacred to certain divinities. It is a pretty, rather than perhaps a very convincing illustration of this etymology, which is afforded by Virgil's expression as to the asylum opened by Romulus,

"Hinc lucum ingentem, quem Romulus acer asylum

Retulit."-ÆN. VIII. v. 343.

The tradition was, that Romulus made an asylum of the Palatine Hill preparatory to the building of Rome. Plutarch tells us that he dedicated the place to the god Asylæus. (Plut. 'Romul.' 9.)

Probably all that is meant by these stories is, that in those ages whoever joined a new community received shelter and protection; and even if he had committed any crime, was neither punished by those whose associate he had become, nor surrendered to the vengeance of the laws or customs he had violated. Such an asylum was not an appointed place of refuge established by general consent; it was merely a congregation of outlaws bidding defiance to the institutions of the country in which they had settled, and proclaiming their willingness to receive all who chose to come to them.

But both in the Grecian states, and in Rome, the temples, or at least some of them, were endowed with the privilege of affording protection to all who fled to them, even although they had committed the worst crimes. The practice seems to have been, that they could not be dragged from these sanctuaries; but that, nevertheless, they might be forced to come out, not only by being prevented from receiving food while they remained, but even by such compulsory measures as the application of fire to the building. (See' Thucyd.' i. 126, 134; 'Herodot.' vi. 80.) Anything appears to have been permitted except the actual dragging forth of the criminal. Eventually, these places of refuge became great nuisances, being, especially among the Greek cities, established in such numbers as sometimes almost to put an end to the administration of justice. After Greece had become a part of the Roman empire, an attempt was made to repress this evil by an order of the senate, directed to all the pretended asylums, to produce legal proofs of the privilege which they claimed. (Tacit. 'Annal.' iii. 60, &c.) Many were put down in consequence of not being able to satisfy this demand. At last, all the asylums throughout the empire were abolished by an edict of the Emperor Tiberius. (Sueton. in Vitâ Tiberii.' cap. 37.) The term "Arvλos was given as an epithet to certain divinities; as, for example, to the Ephesian Diana. It is also found on medals as an epithet of certain cities; in which application it probably denoted that the city or district was under the protection of both of two otherwise belligerent powers, and enjoyed accordingly the privileges of neutral ground.

After the decline and fall of Paganism, the privilege of serving as asylums for malefactors was obtained by the Christian temples. The credit of conferring this honour upon churches in general is attributed to Pope Boniface V., in the beginning of the 7th century; but more than two hundred years before, certain sacred buildings of the new religion are said to have been declared asylums by the Emperor Honorius. The asylums thus established eventually grew throughout all Christendom to be a still more intolerable abuse than those of the ancient world had been. In most countries, not only churches and convents, with their precincts, but even the houses of the bishops, came to be at length endowed with the privilege of sanctuary. In all these places the most atrocious malefactors might be found bidding defiance to the civil power. At the same time, there can be no doubt, that while in this way criminals were frequently rescued from justice, protection was also sometimes afforded to the innocent, who would not otherwise have been enabled to escape the oppression or private enmity which pursued them under the perverted forms of law. The institu

tion was one of the many which then existed, having the effect of throwing the regulating power of society into the hands of the clergy, who certainly were, upon the whole, the class in whose hands such a discretion was by far least likely to be abused. When communities, however, assumed a more settled state, and the law became strong with the progress of civilisation, the rights which had at one time armed the church as a useful champion against tyranny, became not only unnecessary but mischievous. The church maintained a long and hard struggle in defence of its old supremacy; and in the face of the stand thus made, and in opposition to ancient habits, and the popular superstition by which they were guarded, it was only very cautiously that attempts could be made to mitigate the evil. For a long time the legal extent of the privilege of sanctuary appears to have been matter of violent dispute between the church and the civil power. In this country, it was not till the year 1487, in the reign of Henry VII, that by a bull of Pope Innocent VIII. it was declared, that if thieves, robbers, and murderers, having taken refuge in sanctuaries, should sally out and commit fresh offences, and then return to their place of shelter, they might be taken out by the king's officers. It was only by an Act of Parliament passed in 1534, after the Reformation, that persons accused of treason were debarred of the privilege of sanctuary. After the complete establishment of the Reformation, however, in the reign of Elizabeth, neither the churches nor sanctuaries of any other description were allowed to become places of refuge for either murderers or other criminals. But various buildings and precincts in and near London, continued for a long time after this to afford shelter to debtors. At length, in 1697, all such sanctuaries, or pretended sanctuaries, were finally suppressed by the Act 8 & 9 Will. III. chap. 26.

In Scotland, the precincts of the palace of Holyrood in Edinburgh still remain a sanctuary for debtors. The boundaries of this privileged place are somewhat extensive, comprehending the whole of what is called" the King's Park," in which is the remarkable hill called 'Arthur's Seat." The debtors find lodgings in a short street, the privileged part of which is divided from the remainder by a kennel running across it. Holyrood retains its privilege of sanctuary as being a royal palace; but it is singular as being now the only palace in this country any part of the precincts of which is the property, or at least in the occupation, of private individuals, and therefore open to the public generally.

In England, a legal asylum, or privileged place, is called a sanctuary; and this use of the word sanctuary appears to be peculiar to the English language. Both in this country and in America, the name of asylum is commonly given to benevolent institutions intended to afford shelter neither to criminals nor to debtors, but to some particular description of the merely unfortunate or destitute.

The Jewish Cities of Refuge, established by Moses and Joshua, may be quoted as the most remarkable instance on record of a system of asylum founded and protected by the state itself for the shelter of persons who had violated the law. These cities, as we are informed in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Joshua, were six in number, three on each side of the Jordan. They only, however, protected the person who had killed another unawares. This institution may be regarded as an ingenious device for protecting, on the one hand, the guiltless author of the homicide from the popular resentment, which his unfortunate act would have been likely to draw upon him: and cherishing, on the other, in the public mind, that natural horror at the shedding of human blood, which, in such a state of society, it would have been so dangerous to suffer to be weakened. We see the same principle in the deodand formerly awarded by our law in the case of the accidental destruction of life by any inanimate object.

One of the most curious instances of the privilege of sanctuary, is that long enjoyed in Scotland by the descendants of the celebrated Macduff, Thane of Fife, the dethroner of the usurper Macbeth. It is said to have been granted at the request of the thane by Malcolm III. (Canmore), on his recovery of the crown of his ancestors soon after the middle of the 11th century. By this grant it was declared that any person, being related to the chief of the clan Macduff within the ninth degree, who should have committed homicide without premeditation, should have his punishment remitted for a fine, on flying to Macduff's Cross, which stood near Lindores, in Fifeshire. Although this, however, is the account of the old Scottish historians, it is probable that the privilege only conferred upon the offender a right of being exempted from all other courts of jurisdiction, except that of the Earl of Fife. Sir Walter Scott (Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border,') has printed a Latin document of A.D. 1291, in which the privilege to this latter extent is pleaded. The original deed still exists. Of Macduff's Cross, only the pedestal now remains, the cross itself having been destroyed at the Reformation. It bore a metrical inscription, in a strange half Latin jargon, the varying copies of which, still preserved, have given much occupation to the antiquaries.

(Sibbald's History of Fife, second ed., 8vo, Cupar-Fife, 1802; Cunninghame's Essay upon Macduff's Cross; Camden's Britannia, by Gough).

A'SYMPTOTE (àσúμжтwтоя), a compound Greek word signifying which does not fall with: if taken literally with respect to two lines, it would mean that they do not meet one another. But it is used only in speaking of two lines (one of which at least must be curved) which continually approach each other, but never meet; so that the dis

tance between them diminishes without limit, or they may be brought to any degree of nearness, without ever actually meeting.

This appears a paradox to beginners in geometry, who are generally unable to imagine it possible that two lines should continue to approach one another for ever, without absolute contact. But this arises from their confounding the thing called a straight line in practice (which is not a straight line, but a thin stroke of black lead or ink, as the case may be) with the straight line of geometry, which has neither breadth nor thickness, but only length. And they also imagine that if two lines might be asymptotic, the fact might be made visible, which is impossible, unless the eye could be made to distin

A

B

D

E

guish any distance, however small. But if the unassisted eye cannot detect a white space between two black lines, unless that space be a thousandth of an inch in breadth, which is about the truth, it is evident that two geometrical surfaces with asymptotic boundaries, such as ABC, DE C, would appear to coincide from the point where the distance between them is about the thousandth part of an inch. The idea of a geometrical asymptote is therefore an effort of pure reason, and the possibility of it must be made manifest to the mind, not to the senses. ALMBCD is a vessel of water, of which the sides and

remain the same.

bottom are extended indefinitely towards G and R; the end AL is fixed, but the end BM is moveable parallel to its first position, so as always to form a water-tight obstacle; by which means the length of the vessel may be increased to any extent, while its breadth and height Let the water be a perfect fluid, without any adhesion to the sides of the vessel (which is mathematically possible, though not physically), and let the bottom of the vessel be geometrically horizontal. Then, as the end MB changes its position and moves towards GR, it is manifest that the vessel will grow larger, and the level of the water will fall. Suppose the side LK to be of glass. Thus, when the vessel ends at EP, the water may stand at sv; when the end is at FQ, the water may stand at Tw, and so on. But the level of the water never can fall absolutely to the bottom CK; for so long as the preceding mathematical suppositions hold good, and there is some water in the vessel, it must stand at some determinate height above the bottom. As the end в M moves to the right, let the curve м v w, &c., mark out the positions of the level upon the edge of the moving end, as is done in the diagram. Then for the reason above given, this curve never can meet the line cK, though obviously in a state of continual approach towards it. Hence the curve MV W and the line o K are asymptotes.

As another illustration, let there be two parallel lines A B, C D, the perpendicular distance of which is AC; and from A, with different

radii, describe arcs of circles p1, qq, Rr, ss, &c. From A B on all these circles measure arcs equal in length to the straight line AC; that is, let P 1, Q2, R 3,.... w 7, &c., be all equal to A c. Now it is plain that the arcs qq, Rr, &c., are all greater than a C, and will continue so, however great the radius may be; for a c is the shortest distance which can be drawn from one parallel to the other. But as the radius is extended, the arcs Tt, vv, &c., become more upright, as a person unused to geometrical phraseology would say, that is, more and more nearly coincident with a perpendicular drawn from AB; they also become more and more nearly equal to A c. Hence the points 5, 6, 7, &c., come nearer and nearer to CD, with which they would actually coincide, if it were possible that one of the arcs could become equal to A C. Hence the curve, 1, 2, 3, &c., is an asymptote to CD.

The mathematical theory of asymptotes will be found in all works on the theory of curves, and in most on the differential calculus. The following are the most general notions which it will be within our limits to give, and will be understood by a moderately well-informed mathematician. If the equation of a curve be y=(x), and if the function (x) can be separated into two others, say 4 (x) and x (x), of

or generally, any curve whose equation is y=b+x(x)

where x (x) diminishes without limit, when x is increased without limit, is an asymptote to the preceding. Observe that a curve may first cut another, then recede from it, and afterwards become an asymptote to it.

The following is a mere sketch of the most general method of finding asymptotes to algebraical curves. The first part of the method detects the number and direction of the rectilinear asymptotes, those only excepted which are parallel to either axis of co-ordinates, which will easily admit of a separate determination.

Clear the equation of all radicals. Suppose it then of the second degree, though the same reasoning applies to all degrees. Its form will then be (putting all the highest terms on one side) a y2+b xy + cx2=dy + ex+f.

The following theorem can then be demonstrated. If the equation

be possible, then it is the collective equation of two lines passing through the origin of co-ordinates, which two lines are parallel to two asymptotes of the curve and the curve can have no others. It is a well-known theorem that any algebraical equation between x and y, which is homogeneous with respect to these letters, is not the equation of a curve, but of a collection of straight lines passing through the origin. Thus the asymptotes of the curve of the third degree will be determined by the solution of an equation of the form ax3+b x2y + c xy2+ dy3=0

which may belong either to one or three straight lines. If y=kx+l be the equation of an asymptote, the value of k may be any one of the values of determined from the equation (A). To find 1, remember that any homogeneous algebraical expression of the mth degree, containing x and y, may be expressed by the form

ATHELING, or ETHELING. The indications, in the Saxon period of our history, of anything like the hereditary nobility of the times after the conquest are exceedingly few: certainly, the system which gives to particular families particular names of distinction and particular social privileges, which are to descend in the families as long as the families endure, we owe entirely to the Normans. The Saxons had among them earls, but that word was used to designate, not as in these times only a rank of nobility, to which certain privileges are attached, but a substantial office bringing with it important duties; the superintendent indeed, under the king, of one of the counties or shires, the sheriff, gerefa, in Latin vice-comes, being his inferior, his delegate or deputy. These earls, who were nominated by the sovereign, held their offices as it seems for life, and were usually selected from the most opulent families. Even the sovereignty among the successors of Egbert seems not to have descended uniformly according to our modern principles of hereditary succession.

Yet there were persons in the Saxon times who are spoken of as Apel-bopen, Athel, or Ethel-boren, persons nobly born. The term is used in Luke (xix. 12), in the Anglo-Saxon version of the New Testament, where, in the modern translation, we have the words 'a certain nobleman.' Ethel, Athel, or Ethel, is frequently used by Saxon writers in senses correspondent to those annexed to the Latin word nobilis, the English word noble, and the German adel or edel. In the earlier Saxon times there is little doubt the word denoted the free possessor of lands (a member of the Mark or manorial division), in opposition to the noble by service under the king, who were to that extent no longer freemen; even the Comes," says Mr. Kemble, in his excellent work, The Saxons in England,' 1849, "may indeed have become the possessor of land, even of very large tracts, by gift from his prince, but he could not be the possessor of a free hide, and consequently bound to service in the general fyrd, or to suit in the folcmot. He might have wealth, and rank, and honour, be powerful and splendid, dignified and influential, but he could not be free; and if the free man so far forgot the inherent dignity of his station as to carry himself (for his ethel I think he could not carry) into the service of a prince . . . can it be doubted that the remunerative service of the chief would outweigh the barren possession of the farmer? .... Even if the markmen razed him from their roll, and committed his ethel to a worthier holder, what should he care whom the liberality of his conquering leader could endow with fifty times its worth." As the king's retainers, however, gradually acquired a supremacy over the landholding freemen, it is probable that the title of nobility which Atheling implied was transferred by degrees from the one to the other. Polydore Vergil, an Italian, who in the middle of the 16th century wrote a History of England in elegant Latin, falls into the error of mistaking Atheling for a surname, for which he is rebuked by Selden, the author of the admirable work on the various titles of honour which have been in use in the countries of modern Europe. He shows that Edgar Atheling is the same as Edgar the Atheling, or the noble, and that while some of our earlier chroniclers, as Henry of Huntingdon and Matthew Paris, so designate him, others, as Hoveden and Florence, call him Edgarus Clyto. Clyto is the Greek term answering to eminent, illustrious. It is rather a remarkable fact concerning the Saxon kings of England and their families, that they affected titles and denominations of Greek origin, as Clyto, Basileus (king), and Adelphe (sister); the last appears on the seal of the royal abbess of Wilton.

There is no sufficient information to show when the word Atheling first began to be used in the Saxon dynasty, but it has been supposed that it was used from the earliest times by those who could boast of being of the blood of Woden, who was regarded as the common ancestor of all the races of Saxon sovereigns. Some have represented the term as confined to the eldest son of a reigning monarch, or at least to one who was the heir-presumptive to the throne. Sir Francis Palgrave (Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth -Anglo-Saxon Period') considers that the heir of the throne received the title of Atheling, but adds, that the heir might be nominated by the reigning king. The Atheling of the Saxons has been by some regarded as equivalent to the term Dauphin in the line of the French monarchy, and Prince of Wales in our own. But this restriction of it seems not to be sanctioned by the passages in Saxon and other early writers in whom it occurs. Cyneheard, an Atheling of Wessex, who had pretensions to the crown, slew king Cynewulf in 786 (Kemble's 'Saxons in England,' 1849).

Nothing is known of any peculiar privileges belonging to the Athelings, as sons of the kings, or members of the royal family. But those who in modern times have had occasion to speak of the term and the circumstances under which it was used, such as Lingard and Turner in their histories of the Saxon period, speak of lands being usually given to the Atheling while still in his minority, probably bestowed to give the ethel dignity. And hence it is that this word Atheling has descended to our times in the local nomenclature of England.

As we have numerous Kingstons, so have we Adlingtons; and both King and Atheling, with slight variations, have descended in union with other local terminations. We have Kingsbury, Kingsley, and Kingswood; Conington, Coniston, Conysthorpe, and Cony-Weston; as we have also Bere-Regis, as it is now called, but by the Saxons, Conybere. So also have we Adling-flete, Edlingham; and no doubt such names of places as Addingham, Addington, 2nd Edington, are of the

same etymology. In one instance we have an Edlington at a very short distance from the walls of a castle called Coningsborough-the one the seat of a Saxon Rex or Regulus-the other, no doubt, one of the portions of land which were settled on one of the Athelings. ATHENE, or PALLAS ATHENE, or ATHENA, the Goddess of Wisdom, of Arts, and of Sciences, among the Greeks; known to the Romans as Minerva. The Greeks seem to have included under this name several divinities of a perfectly distinct origin-a goddess of Libya, the daughter of Neptune and of the nymph Tritonis (Herodot. iv. 180), or of Terra, brought forth on the banks of the river Triton in Libya (Diodor. iii. 69); but the one best known to us is the divinity worshipped by the Athenians, and as it would appear, brought from Egypt, at least if we may judge from some of the symbols with which her statue was adorned: she had a sphinx on her helmet and at her feet. Plato (Timæus,' Opera, vol. iii. p. 21) tells us that she was called Neith by the Egyptians; and Eratosthenes, in his ' Catalogue of the Kings of Thebes' (Euseb. 'Chron.' p. 21), says, that 'Nitocris' may be translated into Greek by Athene Nikephoros.' According to Homer she was the daughter of Zeus; but there is no allusion in either the Iliad or Odyssey to the fable of her having sprung forth completely armed from the brain of that god: it appears, however, in the 'Hymn to Athene,' usually ascribed to Homer. A scholiast on Apollonius ('Argon.' iv. 1310) remarks, that this fable first made its appearance in Stesichorus (who died B.c. 553), and the Hymn' therefore must be of a comparatively recent date. In the legend of Hesiod (Theogon.' 885-889), Jupiter is made to devour his wife Metis, and in process of time Athene is the result of this strange union. She seems to have participated in many of the attributes of her father: she had the power of hurling the thunderbolts of Jupiter, of prolonging the life of man, and of conferring the gift of prophecy. She was a virgin exalted above all feminine weakness. She might be regarded as the opposite in most respects of Aphrodite. In the battle with the giants, she overwhelmed Enceladus with Sicily; she assisted at the building of the ship Argo, and a wooden figure of Athene graced the prow of the vessel; she assisted Hercules; gave the art of prophecy to Tiresias, and immortality to Tydeus, though she afterwards deprived him of it. She was one of the three goddesses who submitted their beauty to the decision of Paris, and she disputed with Neptune the honour of giving name to the new city of Cecrops. The contest was decided in her favour by the production of an olive tree, and the city was hence called Athenæ. (Apollodor. Biblioth.' iii. 14.) According to Diodorus (i. 12), the Egyptians gave this name to the goddess of the air, and she was thought to be the daughter of Zeus, because the air is not naturally subject to corruption; and was made to spring from his brain, because air occupies the highest parts of the world. She was called Glaucopis (blue-eyed), because the air is of a bluish colour. The serpent, the owl, and the cock, were sacred to her; and, among plants, the olive. She was worshipped in all parts of Greece, but the most celebrated temple was the Parthenon at Athens, in which there was a chryselephantine statue of colossal size by Phidias.

The statues of the goddess, called Palladia, exhibited her in very ancient times with upraised shield and poised spear, ready to engage

Archaic Head of Athene from the British Museum.

in battle; sometimes, as symbols of her peaceful character, she had in her left hand the spindle and distaff. A stiffly folded peplum was thrown over her chiton (tunic), and she was armed with an immense agis, which sometimes served as a shield, and sometimes was so con

trived as to cover both the breast and back. The outline of the body exhibits none of the fulness of woman in the hips and breasts, while the form of the bones, arms, and back, resembles that of man. Her countenance, at least in the earlier periods of Greek art, was always marked by a serious, almost earnest expression. As far as possible the Greek artist endeavoured to impart sublimity of character to the statues of Athene. But the age of Phidias changed considerably the ancient characteristic marks of the different gods, and from that time Athene was distinguished by her unclouded forehead, her long and well-formed nose, by the somewhat firm compression of the mouth and cheeks, the strongly marked and almost angular chin, the half-closed eyes, and by the hair streaming carelessly over her neck. There are many representations of the goddess in sculpture, on coins, &c., still extant, no public collection of any importance probably being without some. The British Museum contains many fragments of statues of Athene, and numerous representations on Greek vases, coins, and gems. We give an engraving of a very early colossal head of the goddess, now in the first Græco-Roman Saloon, where are also two other busts of Athene: the sockets of the eyes of that here engraved were filled with some different material, locks of hair of some metal were probably also fixed under the helmet, and there were pendants in the ears. A fragment, supposed to belong to the statue of Athene, which was in one of the pediments of the Parthenon, is in the Elgin collection of the British Museum. Numerous examples of all the kinds of statues of Athene are pointed out by Müller in his 'Archäologie der Kunst,' where the subject will be found fully treated.

Minerva, or Menerva, was the ancient Italian divinity, known to the Greeks as Pallas Athene. Her attributes corresponded in most respects to those of the Grecian goddess. She was the patroness of arts and industry, such as spinning, weaving, &c., and was the goddess of all the mental powers. Her statue was usually placed in schools; and the pupils were accustomed every year to present their masters with a present called Minerval. (Varro, 'De Re Rust.,' iii. 2; compare Tertull., De Idol.,' c. 10.) Minerva also presided over olive grounds (Varro, 'De Re Rust.,' i. 1); and goats were not sacrificed to her, according to Varro, because that animal was considered to do peculiar injury to the olive ('De Re Rust.,' i. 2).

There was an annual festival of Minerva celebrated in Rome in the month of March, which was called Quinquatrus, because it lasted five days. (Varro, 'De Ling. Lat.,' v. 3; Ovid, 'Fast.,' iii. 809; Gell., ii. 21.) On the first day sacrifices were offered to the goddess, and on the other four there were gladiatorial combats, &c. There was also another festival of Minerva celebrated in June, which was called Quinquatrus Minores. (Ovid, 'Fast.,' vi. 651.) There were several temples in Rome sacred to Minerva. Ovid mentions one on the Cælian Hill, in which she was worshipped under the name of Minerva Capta, but the origin of the name is unknown. (Fast.,' iii. 835-839.) It also appears from several inscriptions, in which she is called Minerva Medica, that this goddess was thought to preside over the healing art. The etymology of the name of Minerva is doubtful. The first part probably contains the same root min, men, or man, that we have in the Latin me-min-i, men-s, &c., the Greek uév-os, μ-μ-σкw, &c., and the Sanskrit man-as. Cicero (De Nat. Deor.,' iii. 24) gives a very curious etymology, "Minerva, quia minuit aut quia minatur;" but some of the ancient grammarians appear to have been nearer the truth in considering it a shortened form of Meminerva, since she was the goddess of memory. Festus connects it with the verb monere. Müller (Etr.,' ii. p. 48) supposes that the word is of Etrurian or Sabine origin.

ATHLETÆ (¿0λŋтaí), were men who contended for the prizes (a0λa) given to the victors at the public games of the Greeks and Romans. These games were divided into the light (Koupa), which included running, leaping, and throwing the disc; and the heavy or severe (Bapea), which consisted of boxing and wrestling, either separately or in combination. In the early periods of Greek history there was little distinction between the agonista, or those who practised gymnastic exercises for the sake of improving their health, or for pleasure, and the athlete, since the public games were open to all. But in course of time the value of the prizes induced men to prepare themselves for the contests by a severe course of training, and it was found that those who did not in fact devote themselves entirely to the practice stood little chance of becoming victors. In the later periods of Greek history the athletæ became, therefore, a distinct class, and private individuals ceased to contend.

The public games formed an important feature in Greek civic polity. Prizes of great value were awarded to the victors, and the victorious athlete were treated with great honour. A victor at the Olympian, Isthmian, Nemean, and Pythian games, the four great festivals of the Greeks, was honoured by the state to which he belonged with a public triumph. A breach was made in the city walls, through which he entered in a chariot drawn by four white horses, and he was conducted to the temple of the guardian deity, where hymns of victory were chanted. At the public spectacles a seat of honour was assigned to him; he was relieved from the payment of taxes; occasionally his statue was erected in a public place, and in battle he occupied a privileged station.

The training of the athlete became in course of time a matter of great care, and was conducted with exceeding strictness. Their exer

cises were conducted by a public officer (the gymnasiarch), in a gymnasium appropriated to the purpose, and known as the palestra; and their diet, to which great importance was attached, was directed by alipto. Their exercise was prolonged, severe, and continued from day to day; their food, though strictly regulated, was enormous in quantity; and they slept for a long time. In the earlier times the athleta wore a girdle round the loins (' Iliad,' b. xiii.; Thucyd. i. 6); but later they contended naked. Before the contest they were anointed with oil by the aliptæ; in wrestling they were covered with sand, to allow the combatants to hold each other firmly. Boxing and wrestling were the games which required most strength, and were most admired for the display of manly beauty in the various positions induced during the contest. Wrestling and boxing in combination were known as the pancratium (аукράтιov), the combatants being called pancratista. The lighter games were known as the pentathlon (névτaðλov, quinquertium among the Romans), and consisted of the five games of running, leaping, throwing the disc, throwing the spear, and wrestling. These were generally played on the same occasion, but sometimes only three of the games were played: the prize of the pentathlon seems to have been adjudged to the victor in the larger number of the games. Athlete were very favourite subjects with Greek artists; indeed, there can be little doubt that it was owing to the facilities afforded by the performances of the athlete for studying the well-developed human form in every variety of position, and exerting itself in energetic action, that the wonderful mastery of the ancient Greek sculptors is largely due. As Müller observes, the statues of athlete, and the representations of them on rilievi, vases, and gems, enable us to form a tolerably clear idea of the ancient corporeal exercises. From these statues and representations we see that the athlete were, as a class, remarkable for their well-shaped, robust forms, immense muscular development, powerful limbs, and small heads with crisp curling hair. They are represented in action, in repose, anointing themselves, and indeed in almost every variety of way in which they could be shown in accordance with the conventions of the several branches of art.

Among the Romans, public games were regarded with no less favour than among the Greeks. Athleta are, however, said to have been first introduced into Rome by M. Fulvius, at the termination of the Ætolian war, B.C. 186. The passion for athletic performances rapidly increased under the emperors, and in the time of Nero large numbers of Greek athleta were living in Rome. As in Greece, the athletæ enjoyed many privileges, though in Rome they were hirelings. They formed an entirely separate body; were allowed to deliberate on matters connected with their calling; were presided over by one of their own number; lived together, and possessed a common hall. The Roman athletæ must not be confounded with the gladiators, who fought with swords, and whose performances were altogether of a less refined character. There were no gladiators in Greece. [GLADIATORS.]

(Krause, Gymnastik und Agonistik der Hellenen; Müller, Dorians, iii. § 3, and Archäologie der Kunst, § 423; Philipp, De Pentathlo sive Quinquertio Commentatio, Berlin, 1827.)

ATLANTES (ATλavTes), so called by the Greeks, probably, from the well-known fable of Atlas supporting the heavens. This is a term applied to figures or half figures of men used in the place of columns or pilasters, to sustain an entablature; they are called also Telamones, a word of doubtful derivation. Female figures used for the same purpose are called Caryatides. [CARYATIDES.] Though the Egyptians did

Fig. 1. From the Temple of Jupiter at Agrigentum.

not use human figures in the place of columns, they used Caryatidic figures attached to the pillars in front of some of their temples, as at Medinet Abou, where the figures are each 24 feet high. Similar figurepillars occur at Hadjah-Selseleh, and elsewhere. At Denderah, cylin drical columns are surmounted with square capitals, on each side of which is an Isis' head (Fig. 2).

There can be little doubt that the Greeks derived the idea of Atlantes and Caryatides from Egypt, but they always used them sparingly. In the temple of Jupiter Olympius, at Agrigentum, restored by Mr. Cockerell, and described in the fourth volume of Stuart's 'Athens,' Atlantes are represented standing upon a plinth placed on the entablature above the pilasters of the cella of the temple, and supporting with