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LEFT ARTAXERXES 276 ARTERY larly betrayed Mark Antony when en- gaged against the Medes; but afterward falling into Antony's power, Artavasdes was taken with his wife and children to Alexandria, where they were dragged at the victor's chariot-wheels in golden chains. After the battle of Actium, Cleo- patra caused his head to be struck off and sent to the King of Media. Reigned in the 1st century B. C. ARTAXERXES (-zerks'ez) I., sur- named Longimanus, was the third son of Xerxes, King of Persia, and, having murdered his brother Darius, ascended the throne 465 B. C. He died in 424 B. C. and was succeeded by his only son, Xerxes. This prince is generally sup- posed to have been the Ahasuerus of Scripture. ARTAXERXES II., surnanied Mnemon, was the eldest son of Darius Nothus, and began his reign 405 B. c His brother Cyrus formed a conspiracy against him, for which he was sentenced to death; but at the intercession of his mother, Parysatis, the sentence was com- muted to banishment to Asia Minor. Cy- rus repaid this act of clemency by mus- tering a large army of Asiatics, and some Greek troops under Clearchus, with whom he marched to Babylon; but, being encountered by Artaxerxes, he was de- feated and slain. Artaxerxes died at the age of 94, after reigning 46 years. ARTAXERXES III., succeeded Ar- taxerxes II., his father, 359 B. c. To pave his way to the succession, he mur- dered two of his brothers, and afterward put to death all the remaining branches of the family. He suppressed several in- surrections, and in Egypt slew the sacred bull Apis, and gave the flesh to his sol- diers. For this, his eunuch, Bagoas, an Egyptian, caused him to be poisoned in 339 B. c. ARTEMIS (ar'te-mis), an ancient Greek divinity, identified with the Ro- man Diana. She was the daughter of Zeus (Jupiter) and Leto or Latona, and was the twin sister of Apollo, born in the island of Delos. She is variously represented as a huntress, with bow and arrows; as a goddess of the nymphs in a chariot drawn by four stags; and as the moon goddess, with the crescent of the moon above her forehead. She was a maiden divinity, never conquered by love, except when Endymion made her feel its power. She demanded the strictest chastity from her worshippers, and she is represented as having changed Actaeon into a stag, and caused him to be torn in pieces by his own dogs, because he had secretly watched her as she was bathing. The Artemisia was a festival celebrated in her honor at Delphi. ARTEMISIA (ar-te-me'ze-a), worm- wood; named after Artemis, the Greek goddess, corresponding to the Roman Diana. A genus of plants belonging to the order astemcex, or composites. It contains four British species, the A. campestris, or field southernwood; the A. vulgaris, or common mugwort; the A. absinthium, or common wormwood; and the A. maritima, or sea-wormwood. The common wormwood grows luxu- riantly among the sage brush of the Rocky Mountain regions. ARTEMISIA I., daughter of Lyg- damis, and Queen of Caria, who assisted Xerxes in person against the Greeks, and behaved with such valor that the Athe- nians offered a reward for her capture, and the Spartans erected a statue to her. Lived in the 5th century B. C. ARTEMISIA II., Queen of Caria, who erected so magnificent a monument to the memory of her husband Mausolus, that every splendid structure of this kind has been since styled a mausoleum. Lived in the 4th century B. c. ARTEMISIUM, a promontory in Eubcea, an island of the ^Egean, near which several naval battles between the Greeks and Persians were fought. ARTEMUS WARD. See BROWNE, Charles Farrar. ARTERIOSCLEROSIS, a diseased con- dition of the arteries, arising in the internal coat as an inflammatory proc- ess, and resulting finally in the hard- ening of the muscular elastic coat. This produces an increase in the quantity of the connective tissue of the walls which results in a contraction of the blood vessels supplying the arteries. As a result these become weakened and easily ruptured. The disease is in- duced by a sedentary life and by over- eating and drinking. In recent years it has become steadily more prevalent. ARTERY (from aer=air, and tereo= to watch over; teros=:a watch, a guard. So called because the ancients, finding that, in the dead bodies which they ex- amined, the arteries were empty of blood, formed the idea that they were designed for the circulation of air through the system. The arteries are long, cylin- drical tubes, with three coats, an exter- nal tunic commonly called the cellular coat, a middle or fibrous tunic or coat, and an epithelial tunic. The coating of the arteries is very elastic. The