ascendancy. Nor did the commons obtain relief through any 2. The Rise of Athens.-A still greater danger grew out of the This revolution was accompanied by a conflict with Sparta and other powers. But a spirit of harmony and energy now breathed within the nation, and in the ensuing wars Athens worsted powerful enemies like Thebes and Chalcis (506). A bolder stroke followed in 500, when a force was sent to support the Ionians in revolt against Persia and took part in the sack of Sardis. After the failure of this expedition the Athenians apparently became absorbed in a prolonged struggle with Aegina (q.v.). In 493 the imminent prospect of a Persian invasion brought into power men like Themistocles and Miltiades (qq.v.), to whose firmness and insight the Athenians largely owed their triumph in the great campaign of 490 against Persia. After a second political reaction, the prospect of a second Persian war, and the naval superiority of Aegina led to the assumption of a bolder policy. In 483 Themistocles overcame the opposition of Aristides (q.v.), and passed his famous measure providing for a large increase of the Athenian fleet. In the great invasion of 480-479 the Athenians displayed an unflinching resolution which could not be shaken even by the evacuation and destruction of their native city. Though the traditional account of this war exaggerates the services of Athens as compared with the other champions of Greek independence, there can be no doubt that the ultimate victory was chiefly due to the numbers and efficiency of the Athenian fleet, and to the wise policy of her great statesman Themistocles (see SALAMIS, PLATAEA). reoccupation of their city the Athenians continued the war with whole the most glorious in Athenian history. In actual extent less notable than her brilliant attainments in every field of by the patronage of Pericles himself. Besides producing | and the disfranchisement of 12,000 citizens. The Macedonian numerous men of genius herself Athens attracted all the great intellects of Greece. The brilliant summary of the historian Thucydides in the famous Funeral Speech of Pericles (delivered in 430), in which the social life, the institutions and the culture of his country are set forth as a model, gives a substantially true picture of Athens in its greatest days. This brilliant epoch, however, was not without its darker side. The payment for public service which Pericles had introduced may have contributed to raise the general level of culture of the citizens, but it created a dangerous precedent and incurred the censure of notable Greek thinkers. Moreover, all this prosperity was obtained at the expense of the confederates, whom Athens exploited in a somewhat selfish and illiberal manner. In fact it was the cry of "tyrant city" which went furthest to rouse public opinion in Greece against Athens and to bring on the Peloponnesian War (q.v.) which ruined the Athenian empire (431-404). The issue of this conflict was determined less by any intrinsic superiority on the part of her enemies than by the blunders committed by a people unable to carry out a consistent foreign policy on its own initiative, and served since Pericles by none but selfish or short-sighted advisers. It speaks well for the patriotic devotion and discipline of her commons that Athens, weakened by plague and military disasters, should have withstood for so long the blows of her numerous enemies from without, and the damage inflicted by traitors within her walls (sce ANTIPHON, THERAMENES). 4. The Fourth Century.-After the complete defeat of Athens by land and sea, it was felt that her former services on behalf of Greece and her high culture should exempt her from total ruin. Though stripped of her empire, Athens obtained very tolerable terms from her enemies. The democratic constitution, which had been supplanted for a while by a government of oligarchs, but was restored in 403 after the latter's misrule had brought about their own downfall (see CRITIAS, THERAMENES, THRASYBULUS), henceforth stood unchallenged by the Greeks. Indeed the spread of democracy elsewhere increased the prestige of the Athenian administration, which had now reached a high pitch of efficiency. Athenian art and literature in the 4th century declined but slightly from their former standard; philosophy and oratory reached a standard which was never again equalled in antiquity and may still serve as a model. In the wars of the period Athens took a prominent part with a view to upholding the balance of power, joining the Corinthian League in 395. and assisting Thebes against Sparta after 378, Sparta against Thebes after 369. Her generals and admirals, Conon, Iphicrates, Chabrias, Timotheus, distinguished themselves by their military skill, and partially recovered their country's predominance in the Aegean, which found expression in the temporary renewal of the Delian League (q.v.). By the middle of the century Athens was again the leading power in Greece. When Philip of Macedon began to grow formidable she seemed called upon once more to champion the liberties of Greece. This ideal, when put forward by the consummate eloquence of Demosthenes and other orators, created great enthusiasm among the Athenians, who at times displayed all their old vigour in opposing Philip, notably in the decisive campaign of 338. But these outbursts of energy were too spasmodic, and popular opinion repeatedly veered back in favour of the peace-party. With her diminished resources Athens could not indeed hope to cope with the great Macedonian king; however much we may sympathize with the generous ambition of the patriots, we must admit that in the light of hard facts their conduct appears quixotic. 5. The Hellenistic Period.-Philip and Alexander, who sincerely admired Athenian culture and courted a zealous co-operation against Persia, treated the conquered city with marked favour. But the people would not resign themselves to playing a secondary part, and watched for every opportunity to revolt. The outbreak headed by Athens after Alexander's death (323) led to a stubborn conflict with Macedonia. After his victory the regent Antipater punished Athens by the loss of her remaining dependencies, the proscription of her chief patriots, garrison which was henceforth stationed in Attic territory prevented the city from taking a prominent part in the wars of the Diadochi. Cassander placed Athens under the virtual autocracy of Demetrius of Phalerum (317-307), and after the temporary liberation by Demetrius Poliorcetes (3c6-300), secured his interests through a dictator named Lachares, who lost the place again to Poliorcetes after a siege (295). After a vain attempt to expel the garrison in 287, the Athenians regained their liberty while Macedonia was thrown into confusion by the Celts, and in 279 rendered good service against the invaders of the latter nation with a fleet off Thermopylae. When Antigonus Gonatas threatened to restore Macedonian power in Greece, the Athenians, supported perhaps by the king of Egypt, formed a large defensive coalition; but in the ensuing "Chremonidean War" (266–263) a naval defeat off Andros led to their surrender and the imposition of a Macedonian garrison. The latter was finally withdrawn in 229 by the good offices of Aratus (q.v.). At this period Athens was altogether overshadowed in material strength by the great Hellenistic monarchies and even by the new republican leagues of Greece; but she could still on occasion display great energy and patriotism. The prestige of her past history had now perhaps attained its zenith. Her democracy was respected by the Macedonian kings; the rulers of Egypt, Syria, and especially of Pergamum, courted her favour by handsome donations of edifices and works of art, to which the citizens replied by unbecoming flattery, even to the extent of creating new tribes named after their benefactors. If Athens lost her supremacy in the fields of science and scholarship to Alexandria, she became more than ever the home of philosophy, while Menander and the other poets of the New Comedy made Athenian life and manners known throughout the civilized world. 6. Relations with the Roman Republic.-In 228 Athens entered into friendly intercourse with Rome, in whose interest she endured the desperate attacks of Philip V. of Macedonia (200-199). In return for help against King Perseus she acquired some new possessions, notably the great mart of Delos, which became an Athenian cleruchy (166). By her treacherous attack upon the frontier-town of Oropus (156) Athens indirectly brought about the conflict between Rome and the Achaean League which resulted in the eventual loss of Greck independence, but remained herself a free town with rights secured by treaty. In spite of the favours displayed by Rome, the more radical section of the people began to chafe at the loss of their international importance. This discontent was skilfully fanned by Mithradates the Great at the outset of his Roman campaigns. His emissary, the philosopher Aristion, induced the people to declare war against Rome and to place him in chief command. The town with its port stood a long siege against Sulla, but was stormed in 86. The conqueror allowed his soldiers to loot, but inflicted no permanent punishment upon the people. This war left Athens poverty-stricken and stripped of her commerce: her only importance now lay in the philosophical schools, which were frequented by many young Romans of note (Cicero, Atticus, Horace, &c.). Greek, became fashionable at Rome, and a visit to Athens a sort of pilgrimage for educated Romans (cf. Propertius iv. 21: Magnum iter ad doctas proficisci cogor Athenas "). In the great civil wars Athens sided with Pompey and held out against Caesar's lieutenants, but received a free pardon "in consideration of her great dead." Similarly the triumvirs after Philippi condoned her enthusiasm for the cause of Brutus. Antony repeatedly made Athens his headquarters and granted her several new possessions, including Eretria and Aegina-grants which Octavian subsequently revoked. 7. The Roman Empire.-Under the new settlement Athens remained a free and sovereign city-a boon which she repaid by zealous Caesar-worship, for the favours bestowed upon her tended to pauperize her citizens and to foster their besetting sin of calculating flattery. Hadrian displayed his special fondness for the city by raising new buildings and relieving financial distress. He amended the constitution in some respects, 8. Byzantine Period.-The city now sank into the position of a provincial Byzantine town. Already it had been robbed of many of its works of art, among them the Athena Promachos and the Parthenos of Pheidias, for the adornment of Constantinople, and further spoliation took place when the church of St Sophia was built in A.D. 532. The Parthenon, the Erechtheum, the" Theseum" and other temples were converted into Christian churches and were thus preserved throughout the middle ages. The history of Athens for the next four centuries is almost a blank; the city is rarely mentioned by the Byzantine chronicles of this period. The emperor Constantine II. spent some months here in A.D. 662-663. In 869 the see of Athens became an archbishopric. In 995 Attica was ravaged by the Bulgarians under their tsar Samuel, but Athens escaped; after the defeat of Samuel at Belasitza (1014) the emperor Basil II., who blinded 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners, came to Athens and celebrated his triumph by a thanksgiving service in the Parthenon (1018). From the Runic description on the marble lion of the Peiraeus it has been inferred that Harold Hardraada and the Norsemen in the service of the Byzantine emperors captured the Peiraeus in 1040, but this conclusion is not accepted by Gregorovius (bk. i. pp. 170-172). Like the rest of Greece, Athens suffered greatly from the rapacity of its Byzantine administrators. The letters of Acominatus, archbishop of Athens, towards the close of the 12th century, bewail the desolate condition of the city in language resembling that of Jeremiah in regard to Jerusalem. | His lonica, with the title of Megaskyr (μéyas kúpios = great lord). His 10. Period of Turkish Rule: 1458-1833-After the Turkish conquest Athens disappeared from the eyes of Western civilization. The principal interest of the following centuries lies in the researches of successive travellers, who may be said to have rediscovered the city, and in the fate of its ancient monuments, several of which were still in fair preservation at the beginning of this period. The Parthenon was transformed into a mosque; the existing minaret at its south-western corner was built after 1466. The Propylaea served as the residence of the Turkish commandant and the Erechtheum as his harem. In 1466 the Venetians succeeded in occupying the city, but failed to take the Acropolis. About 1645 a powder magazine in the Propylaea was ignited by lightning and the upper portion of the structure was destroyed. Under Francesco Morosini the Venetians again attacked Athens in September 1687; shot fired during the bombardment of the Acropolis caused a powder magazine in the Parthenon to explode, and the building was rent asunder. After capturing the Acropolis the Venetians employed material from its ancient edifices in repairing its walls. They withdrew in the following year, when the Turks set fire to the city. The central sculptures of the western pediment of the Parthenon, which Morosini intended to take to Venice, were unskilfully detached by his workmen, and falling to the ground were broken to pieces. Several ancient monuments were sacrificed to provide material for a new wall with which the Turks surrounded the city in 1778. During the 18th century many works of art, which still remained in situ, fell a prey to foreign collectors. The removal to London in 1812 of most of the remaining sculptures of the Parthenon by Lord Elgin possibly rescued many of them from injury in the period of warfare which followed. In 1821 the Greek insurgents surprised the city, and in 1822 captured the Acropolis. Athens again fell into the hands of the Turks in 1826, who bombarded and took the Acropolis in the following year; the Erechtheum suffered greatly, and the monument of Thrasyllus was destroyed. The Turks remained in possession of the Acropolis till 1833, when Athens was chosen as the capital of the newly established kingdom of Greece; since that date the history of the city forms part of that of modern Greece. (See GREECE: History, modern.) GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY.-W. M. Leake, Topography of Athens and the Demi (2nd ed., London, 1841); C. Wachsmuth, Die Stadt Athen im Alterthum (vol. i., Leipzig, 1874; vol. ii. part i., Leipzig. époques (Paris, 1877); F. C. Penrose, Principles of Athenian Archi1890); E. Burnouf, La Ville et l'acropole d'Athènes aux diverses tecture (London, 1888); J. E. Harrison. Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens (London, 1890); E. Curtius and A. Milchhofer, 9. Period of Latin Rule: 1204-1458.-After the Latin conStadtgeschichte von Athen (Berlin, 1891); H. Hitzig and H. Blümber, quest of Constantinople in 1204, Otho de la Roche was granted Frazer, Pausanias (translation and commentary; 6 vols., London, Pausanias (text and commentary; vol. i., Berlin, 1896); J. G. the lordship of Athens by Boniface of Montferrat, king of Thessa-1898. The commentary on Pausanias' description of Athens, lt ATHENS, a village and the county-seat of Athens county, Ohio, U.S.A., in the township of Athens, on the Hocking river, about 76 m. E.S.E. of Columbus. Pop. (1890) 2620; (1900) 3066; (1910) 5463; of the township (1910) 10,156. is served by the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern, the Toledo & Ohio Central (Ohio Central Lines), and the Hocking Valley railways. The village is built on rolling ground rising about 70 ft. above the river (which nearly encircles it), and commands views of some of the most beautiful scenery in the state. There are several ancient mounds in the vicinity. Athens is the seat of Ohio University (co-educational), a state institution established in 1804, and having in 1908 a college of liberal arts, a state normal college (1902), a commercial college, a college of music and a state preparatory school. In 1908 the UniverSity had 53 instructors and, 1386 students. South of the village, and occupying a fine situation, is a state hospital for the insane. In the vicinity there are many coal mines, and among the manufactures are bricks, furniture, veneered doors, and shirts. The municipality operates the water-works. When the Ohio Company, through Manasseh Cutler, obtained from congress their land in what is now Ohio, it was arranged that the income from two townships was to be set aside "for the support of a literary institution." In 1795 the townships (Athens and Alexander) were located and surveyed, and in 1800 Rufus Putnam and two other commissioners, appointed by the Territorial legislature, laid out a town, which was also called Athens. Settlers slowly came; the town became the county-seat in 1805, was incorporated as a village in 1811, and was re-incorporated in 1828. contained in vol. ii. with supplementary notes in vol. v., is an invaluable digest of recent researches); H. Omont, Athènes au XVII siècle (Paris, 1898, with plans and views of the town and acropolis and drawings of the sculptures of the Parthenon); J. H. Middleton and E. A. Gardner, Plans and Drawings of Athenian Buildings (London, 1900); E. A. Gardner, Ancient Athens (London, 1902); W. Judeich, Topographie von Athen (Munich, 1905: forming vol. iii. part ii. second half, in 3rd edition of I. von Muller's Handbuch der klass. Altertumswissenschaft). The history of excavations on the Acropolis is summarized in M. L. d'Ooge, Acropolis of Athens (1909); see also A. Botticher, Die Akropolis von Athen (Berlin, 1888): O. Jahn, Pausaniae descriptio arcis Athenarum (Bonn, 1900): A. Furtwängler, Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture (appendix; London. 1895); A. Milchhofer, Über die alten Burgheiligtumer in Athen (Kiel, 1899). For the Parthenon, A. Michaelis, Der Parthenon (texts and plates, Leipzig, 1871); L. Magne, Le Parthenon (Paris, 1895); J. Durm, Der Zustand der antiken athenischen Bauwerken (Berlin, 1895): F. C. Penrose in Journal of Royal Institute of British Architects for 1897: N. M. Balanos in Eohuepes tŷs Kußeprhoews (Athens. August 25. 1898). For the Dionysiac theatre, A. E. Haigh, The Alic Theatre (Oxford, 1889): W. Dorpfeld and E. Reisch, Das griechische Theater (Athens, 1896); Puchstein. Die griechische Buhne (Berlin, 1901). For the "Theseum," B. Sauer, Das sogenannte Theseion (Leipzig, 1899). For the Peiraeus, E. I. Angelopoulos, Περί Πειραιῶς καὶ τῶν λιμένων αὐτοῦ (Athens, 1898). For the Attic Demes, A. Milchhofer, Untersuchungen über die Demenordnung des Kleisthenes (in transactions of Berlin Academy, Berlin, 1892); Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie der class. Altertumswissenschaft (supplement, part i. article "Athenai "; Stuttgart, 1903). For the controversies respecting the Agora, the Enneacrunus and the topography of the town in general, see W Dorpfeld, passim in Athenische Mittheilungen; C. Wachsmuth, "Neue Beiträge zur Topographie von Athen," in Abhandlungen der sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften (Leipzig, 1897). A. Milchhofer, "Zur Topographie on Athen," in Berlin. philol. Wochenschrift (1900), Nos. 9, 11, 12. For the Byzantine and medieval periods, William Miller, Latins in the Levani (London, 1908); F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Athen im Mittelalter (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1889). Periodical Literature. Mittheilungen des kais. deutsch, arch. Instituts (Athens, from 1876); Bulletin de correspondance hellénique (Athens, from 1877); Papers of the American School (New York, 1882-1897); Annual of the British School (London, from 1894): Journal of Hellenic Studies (London, from 1880); American Journal of Archaeology (New York, from 1885): Jahrbuch des kais, deutsch. arch. Instituts (Berlin, from 1886). The best maps are those in Die Karten von Allika, published with explanatory text by the German Archaeological Institute (Berlin, 1881). See also Baedeker's Greece (London, 1895); Murray's Greece and the Ionian Islands (London, 1900); Guide Joanne, vol. i. Athènes et ses environs (Paris, 1896); Meyer's Turkei und Griechenländer (5th ed., 1901). (J. D. B.) ATHENS, a city and the county-seat of Clarke county, Georgia, U.S.A., in the N.E. part of the state, about 73 m. E. by N. of Atlanta. Pop. (1890) 8639; (1900) 10,245, of whom 5190 were negroes and only 114 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 14,913. It is served by the Georgia, the Central of Georgia, the Southern, the Seaboard Air Line and the Gainesville Midland railways. Athens is an important educational centre. founded in 1801 as the seat of the university of Georgia, which had been chartered in 1785. Franklin College, the academic department of the university, was opened in 1801, and afterwards the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (the School of Science, 1872), the State Normal School (co-educational, 1891), the School of Pharmacy (1903), the University Summer School (1903), the School of Forestry (1906), and the Georgia State College of Agriculture (1906), also branches of the university, were established at Athens, and what had been the Lumpkin Law School (incorporated in 1859) became the law department of the university in 1867. Branches of the university not in Athens are: the North Georgia Agricultural College (established in 1871; became a part of the university in 1872), at Dahlonega; the medical department, at Augusta (1873; founded as the Georgia Medical College in 1829); the Georgia School of Technology (1885), at Atlanta; the Georgia Normal and Industrial College for Girls (1889), at Milledgeville; and the Georgia Industrial College for Colored Youth (1890), near Savannah. At Athens also are several secondary schools, and the Lucy Cobb Institute (for girls), opened in 1858 and named in honour of a daughter of its founder, Gen. T. R. R. Cobb (1823-1862). The city has various manufactures, the most important being fertilizers, cotton goods, and cotton-seed oil and cake; the value of the total factory product in 1905 was $1,158,205, an increase of 70.9% in five years. Athens was chartered as a city in 1872. It was | ATHERSTONE, WILLIAM GUYBON (1813-1898), British geologist, one of the pioneers in South African geology, was born in 1813, in the district of Uitenhage, Cape Colony. Having qualified as M.D. he settled in early life as a medical practitioner at Grahamstown, subsequently becoming F.R.C.S. In 1839 his interest was aroused in geology, and from that date he "devoted the leisure of a long and successful medical practice " to the pursuit of geological science. In 1857 he published an account of the rocks and fossils of Uitenhage (the latter described more fully by R. Tate, Quart. Journal Geol. Soc., 1867). He also obtained many fossil reptilia from the Karroo beds, and presented specimens to the British Museum. These were described by Sir Richard Owen. Atherstone's identification in 1867 as a diamond of a crystal found at De Kalk near the junction of the Riet and Vaal rivers, led indirectly to the establishment of the great diamond industry of South Africa. He encouraged the workings at Jagersfontein, and he also called attention to the diamantiferous neck at Kimberley. He was one of the founders of the Geological Society of South Africa at Johannesburg in 1895; and for some years previously he was a member of the Cape parliament. He died at Grahamstown, on the 26th of June 1898. See the obituary by T. Rupert Jones, Natural Science, vol. xiv. (January 1899). ATHERSTONE, a market-town in the Nuneaton parliamentary division of Warwickshire, England, 102 m. N.W. from London by the London & North-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 5248. It lies in the upper valley of the Anker, under well-wooded hills to the west, and is on the Roman Watling Street, and the Coventry canal. The once monastic church of St Mary is rebuilt, excepting the central tower and part of the chancel. The chief industry is hat-making. On the high ground to the west lie ruins of the Cistercian abbey of Merevale, founded in 1149; they include the gatehouse chapel, part of the refectory and other remains exhibiting beautiful details of the 14th century. Coal is worked at Baxterley, 3 m. west of Atherstone. Atherstone (Aderestone, Edridestone, Edrichestone), though not mentioned in any pre-Conquest record, is of unquestionably ancient origin. A Saxon barrow was opened near the town in 1824. It is traversed by Watling Street, and portions of the ancient Roman road have been discovered in modern times. Atherstone is mentioned in Domesday among the possessions of Countess Godiva, the widow of Leofric. In the reign of Henry III. it passed to the monks of Bec in Normandy, who in 1246 obtained the grant of an annual fair at the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin, and the next year of a market every Tuesday. This market became so much frequented that in 1319 a toll was levied upon all goods coming into the town, | of the Autolycus is well known. The training for the contests in order to defray the cost of the repair to the roads necessitated by the constant traffic, and in 1332 a similar toll was levied on all goods passing over the bridge called Feldenbrigge near Atherstone. The September fair and Tuesday markets are still continued. In the reign of Edward III. a house of Austin Friars was founded at Atherstone by Ralph Lord Basset of Drayton, which, however, never rose to much importance, and at its dissolution in 1536 was valued at 30 shillings and 3 pence only. was very rigorous. The matter of diet was of great importance; this was prescribed by the aleiptes, whose duty it also was to anoint the athlete's body. At one time the principal food consisted of fresh cheese, dried figs and wheaten bread. Afterwards meat was introduced, generally beef or pork; but the bread and meat were taken separately, the former at breakfast, the latter at dinner. Except in wine, the quantity was unlimited, and the capacity of some of the heavy-weights must have been, if such stories as those about Milo are true, enormous. addition to the ordinary gymnastic exercises of the palaestra, the athletes were instructed in carrying heavy loads, lifting weights, bending iron rods, striking at a suspended leather sack filled with sand or flour, taming bulls, &c. Boxers had to practise delving the ground, to strengthen their upper limbs. The competitions open to athletes were running, leaping, throwing the In ATHERTON, or CHOWBENT, an urban district in the Leigh parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, 13 m. W.N.W. of Manchester on the London & North-Western and Lancashire & Yorkshire railways. Pop. (1901) 16,211. The cotton factories are the principal source of industry; there are also ironworks and collieries. The manor was held by the local family of Atherton from John's reign to 1738, when it passed by marriage to Robert Gwillym, who assumed that name. In 1797 his eldest daughter and co-heiress married Thomas Powys, after-discus, wrestling, boxing and the pancratium, or combination wards the second Lord Lilford. Up to 1891 the lord of the manor held a court-leet and court-baron annually in November, but in that year Lord Lilford sold to the local board the market tolls, stallages and pickages, and since this sale the courts have lapsed. The earliest manufactures were iron and cotton. weaving, formerly an extensive industry, has now almost entirely decayed. The first chapel or church was built in 1645. James Wood, who became Nonconformist minister in the chapel at Atherton in 1691, earned fame and the familiar title of "General" by raising a force from his congregation, uncouthly armed, to fight against the troops of the Pretender (1715). of boxing and wrestling. Victory in this last was the highest achievement of an athlete, and was reserved only for men of extraordinary strength. The competitors were naked, having their bodies salved with oil. Boxers wore the caestus, a strap of Silk-leather round the wrists and forearms, with a piece of metal in the fist, which was sometimes employed with great barbarity. An athlete could begin his career as a boy in the contests set apart for boys. He could appear again as a youth against his equals, and though always unsuccessful, could go on competing till the age of thirty-five, when he was debarred, it being assumed that after this period of life he could not improve. The most celebrated of the Greek athletes whose names have been handed down are Milo of Crotona, Hipposthenes, Polydamas, Promachus and Glaucus. Cyrene, famous in the time of Pindar for its athletes, appears to have still maintained its reputation to at least the time of Alexander the Great; for in the British Museum are to be seen six prize vases carried off from the games at Athens by natives of that district. These vases, found in the tombs, probably, of the winners, are made of clay, and painted on one side with a representation of the contest in which they were won, and on the other side with a figure of Pallas Athena, with an inscription telling where they were gained, and in some cases adding the name of the eponymous magistrate of Athens, from which the exact year can be determined. ATHETOSIS (Gr. ǎleros, “without place "), the medical term applied to certain slow, purposeless, deliberate movements of the hands and feet. The fingers are separately flexed and extended, abducted and adducted in an entirely irregular way. The hands as a whole are also moved, and the arms, toes and feet may be affected. The condition is usually due to some lesion of the brain which has caused hemiplegia, and is especially common in childhood. It is occasionally congenital (so called), and is then due to some injury of the brain during birth. It is more usually associated with hemiplegia, in which condition there is first of all complete voluntary immobility of the parts affected: but later, as there is a return of a certain amount of power over the limbs affected, the slow rhythmic movements of athetosis are first noticed. This never develops, however, where there is no recovery of voluntary power. Its distribution is thus nearly always hemiplegic, and it is often associated with more or less mental impairment. The movements may or may not continue during sleep. They cannot be arrested for more than a moment by will power, and are aggravated by voluntary movements. The prognosis is unsatisfactory, as the condition usually continues unchanged for years, though improvement occasionally occurs in slight cases, or even complete recovery. ATHIAS, JOSEPH (d. 1700), Jewish rabbi and printer, was born in Spain and settled in Amsterdam. His editions of the Hebrew Bible (1661, 1667) are noted for beauty of execution and the general correctness of the text. He also printed a Judaeo-German edition of the Bible in 1679, a year after the appearance of the edition by Uri Phoebus. ATHLETE (Gr. á0λnrýs; Lat. athleta), in Greek and Roman antiquities, one who contended for a prize (åλov) in the games; now a general term for any one excelling in physical strength. Originally denoting one who took part in musical, equestrian, gymnastic, or any other competitions, the name became restricted to the competitors in gymnastic contests, and, later, to the class of professional athletes. Whereas in earlier times competitors, who were often persons of good birth and position, entered the lists for glory, without any idea of material gain, the professional class, which arose as early as the 5th century B.C., was chiefly recruited from the lower orders, with whom the better classes were unwilling to associate, and took up athletics entirely as a means of livelihood. Ancient philosophers, moralists and physicians were almost unanimous in condemning the profession of athletics as injurious not only to the mind but also to the body. The attack made upon it by Euripides in the fragment Amongst the Romans athletic contests had no doubt taken place from the earliest times, but according to Livy (xxxix. 22) professional Greek athletes were first introduced at Rome by M. Fulvius Nobilior in 186 B.C. After the institution of the Actian games by Augustus, their popularity increased, until they finally supplanted the gladiators. In the time of the empire, gilds or unions of athletes were formed, each with a temple, treasury and exercise-ground of its own. The profession, although it ranked above that of a gladiator or an actor, was looked upon as derogatory to the dignity of a Roman, and it is a rare thing to find a Roman name amongst the athletes on inscriptions. The system was entirely, and the athletes themselves nearly always, Greek. (See also GAMES, CLASSICAL.) Krause, Gymnastik und Agonistik der Hellenen (1841); Friedländer, Sittengeschichte Roms, ii.; Reisch, in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyc. ATHLETIC SPORTS. Various sports were cultivated many hundred years before the Christian era by the Egyptians and several Asiatic races, from whom the early Greeks undoubtedly adopted the elements of their athletic exercises (see ATHLETE), which reached their highest development in the Olympic games, and other periodical meetings of the kind (see GAMES, CLASSICAL). The original Celtic inhabitants of Great Britain were an athletic race, and the earliest monuments of Teutonic literature abound in records of athletic prowess. After the Norman conquest of England the nobles devoted themselves to the chase and to the joust, while the people had their games of ball, running at the quintain, fencing with club and buckler, wrestling and other pastimes on green and river. The chroniclers of the succeeding centuries are for the most part silent concerning the sports of the folk, except such as were regarded as a training for war, as archery, while they love to record the prowess of the kings and |
