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On this page: Anubis – Apagoge – Apaturia – Apelles – Aphrodite

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ANUBIS——APHRODITE.

named PhilSsophus, 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 Faus­tina, 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 was 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) Antoninus Llberalis, a Greek gram­marian of about 150 a.d., perhaps a freed-man of Antoninus Pius; he wrote a collec­tion, called Metamorphoses, 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.

Anubis. An Eg3rptian god, son of Osiris, 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 Serapis and Isis, espe­cially in the time of the emperors, as he was identified with Hermes.

Apagoge. 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 con-

ducted to the spot where the accused waa staying, the process was called Iphegfsis.

Apaturla. The general feast of the phra-tries (q.v.) held chiefly by Greeks of the Ionian race. At Athens it lasted three days in the month of Pyanepsion (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 (phrMors) assembled at the headquarters of each phr&tria, and after declaring on oath their legitimate birth, had their names inscribed on the roll of phratOres. 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.

Apelles. The greatest painter of anti­quity, probably born at C516phon or in the Island of Cfla, who lived in the latter half of the 4th century B.C. After studying at Ephgsus, and receiving theoretical instruc­tion in his art from Pamphllus at Slcyon, 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 ProtSgenes, 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 ArtSmis at Ephesus, in which the fingers appeared to stand out of the picture, and the thunderbolt to project from the panel; and the Aphrodite Anadydmine (= rising), painted for the temple of Asclepius at Cos, which Augustus brought to Rome and set up in the temple of Csesar, 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.]

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