AUTOMALA
 

AV1EMUS, RUFUS.
 

(Hermes)  and  Chione, father of  Anticlea, and

thus maternal grandfather of Ulysses.  He lived

oh Mount Parnassus, and  was renowned for his

cunning and robberies.  Ulysses,  when  staying

with him  on  one occasion, was wounded by a

boar on Parnassus,  and it was by the  scar of

this wound that he was recognized by his aged

nurse when he returned from Troy.—2. A Thes-

saliar., son of Deimachus,  one of the Argonauts,

aud the founder of Sinope.—3. A mathematician

of Pitane in  Eolis,  lived about  B.C. 840, and

wrote two astronomical treatises, whieh  are the

most ancient existing tipecimens  of the Greek

mathematics.—1.  On the  Motion  of the Sphere

(irepl icivovp.evng afaipag).—2. On the risings and

settings of the fixed stars (Tvepl  kiuroXav koX

Svasav).  Edited by  Dasypodius in his Sphasri-

cce Boctrince Propositiones, Argent, 1572.

  Automala (rd Avro^a?,a), a  fortified place on

the Great Syrtis in Northern Africa.

  Automedon (AvroueSav).  1. Son of Diores,

the charioteer  and companion of  Achilles, and,

after the death  of the latter, the companion of

his  son Pyrrhus.   Hence Automedon  is the

name of any skillful charioteer.  (Cic, pro Rose.

Am, 35 ; Juv, i, 61.)—2.  Of Cyzicus, a Greek

poet, twelve of whose epigrams are in the Greek

Anthology, lived in the  reign  of  Nerva,  A.D.

96-98.

  Automoli (AvrbfioXoi), bjb a proper name, was

applied to the Egyptian soldiers, who were said

to have deserted from Psammetichus into Ethi¬

opia, where they founded the kingdom of  Meroe.

  Autonoe (Avrovon).  1. Daughter of Cadmus

lind  Harmonia, wife of Aristaeus, and  mother

of Actaeon.   With her  sister  Agave, she tore

Pentheus to pieces in their Bacchic fury: her

tomb was shown in the territory of Megara.—

[2.  A handmaid of Penelope, mentioned in the

Odyssey.]

  Autrigones, a people  in Hispania Tarraeo-

nensis, between the ocean (Bay of Biscay) and

the upper course  of the Iberus: their chief town

was Flaviobriga.

  AUTRONIUS P-ETUS.  Vid. PAETUS.

  Auxesia (Avtjno-'ia), the goddess who grants

growth and prosperity to the fields, honored at

Trcezen and Epidaurus, was another  name  for

Proserpina  (Persephone).   Damia,  who  was

honored along with  Auxesia at Epidaurus and

Trcezen, was only another name for Ceres (De¬

meter.)

  Auximum  (Auximas, -atis:  now Osimo), an

important town of Picenum in .Italy, and  a Ro¬

man colony.

  Auxume or Ax- (AvUovfin or 'A^aun, and other

forms:  Ab^ovplrai or 'A^a/urai, &a.:  now Ax-

um,  ruins southwest of Adowa), the capital of a

powerful kingdom in Ethiopia, to the southwest

of Meroe, in Habcsh or Abyssinia, which either

first arose or  first became known to the Greeks

and Romans in the early part of the second cen¬

tury of our  era.  It grew upon the decline of

the kingdon of Meroe, and extended beyond the

Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb into Arabia.   Being a

mountainous region, watered by  the  numerous

upper  streams of the Astaboras and Astapus,

ana intersected by the caravan  routes from the

interior of Africa to the Red Sea and the Gulf

 if Bab-el-Mandeb, the  country possessed  great

mteTial resources and a  flourishing commerce.
 

  ,Auzea, sr -ia, or Au.ma (now Sur-Gustan ot

Hamza, ruins), a city in the interior of Maure

tania Cassariensis;  a  Roman colony under  Mar¬

cus Aurelius Antoninus.

  AvalItes (AvaXirng:  now Zeilah), an empo

rium in  Southern  Ethiopia,  on a  bay of th«

Erythraean Sea,  called AvalItes  Sinus  ('A. nbX-

nog), probably the  Gulf of Bab-el Mandeb, or its

innermost part, south of the Straits.  A people

Avalltse, are also mentioned in these parts

  Avaricum.   Vid. Bituriges.

  Avella.  Vid. Abella.

  Avenio (now Avignon), a town of the Oavurut..

in Gallia  Narbonensis, on the left bank of tho

Rhone.

  Aventioum (now Avenches), the chief town of

the Helvetii, and subsequently a Roman colony-

with the name Pia Mavia Constans Emerita, of

which ruin3 are  still  to be seen  in the modem

town.

  Aventinensis, Genuoius.   1. L, consul B.C

365, and again 362, was killed in battle againsl

the Hernicans in the latter of these years, and

his  army routed.—2.  Cn, consul 363.

  Aventinus, son of Hercules and the  priestess

Rhea.

  Aventinus Mons.  Vid. Roma.

  Avernus Lacus (h "Aopvog Xiavn: now  Lugo

Avemo), a lake  close to the promontory which

runs out into the sea between Cumse  aud Pu

teoli.   This lake fills the orator of  an extinct

volcano: it is circular, about one and a half

miles in circumference, is very deep, and is sur¬

rounded  by high banks, which in antiquity were

covered by a  gloomy forest sacred to Hecate.

From its  waters mephitic vapors arose, whieh

are said to have killed the birds that attempted

to  fly  over it,  from which  circumstance  its

Greek name was supposed to be derived (from

a, priv, and bpvig).   The lake was celebrated

in mythology on  account of its connection  with

the lower world.  On its banks dwelt  the Cim¬

merians in constant  darkness, and near it was

the cave of the  Cumaean  Sibyl,  through whieh

Eneas descended to  the lower world.  Agrippa,

iu  the time' of  Augustus, cut down the forest

which  surrounded  the lake, and connected the

latter with the  Lueriue Lake;  he also caused

a tunnel to be made from the  lake to Cumae,  of

which a considerable part remains, and is known

under the title of Grotta di Sibylla.  The  Lu

crine Lake was fitted up by an eruption in  1530

so that Avernus  is  again a separate lake.

  Avianus, Flavius, the  author  of forty-two

Esopic fables in Latin elegiac verse, which arc

of very little merit both as respects  the matter

and the  style.   The  date  of  Avianus is uncer¬

tain;  he probably lived in the third or fourth

century  of the  Christian  era.—Editions: By

Cannegieter, Amstel, 1731; by Nodell, Amstel.,

1787 ;  and by Lachmann,  Berol, 1845.

  [Avidius Cassius.   Vid. Cassius.]

  Avienus, Rufus Festus, a Latin poet toward

the end  of the fourth century of the Christian

era. His poems are chiefly descriptive, and arc

some of  the  best  specimens of  the poetry  of

that age.   His works are, 1. Bescriptio Orbit

Terrw, also called Metaphrasis Periegeseos Bio-

nysii, in  1394 hexameter  lines, derived directly

from the TrepiTJysjuig of Dionysius, and containing

a succinct account of the most remarkable . lr-

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