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LEFT ATHENS 327 ATHLONE even the schools of the philosophers, the reverence for buildings associated with the names of the ancient deities and heroes was lost. The Parthenon was turned into a church of the Virgin Mary, and St. George stepped into the place of Theseus. Finally in 1456, the place fell into the hands of the Turks. The Parthenon became a mosque, and in 1687 was greatly damaged by an explosion at the siege of Athens by the Venetians. Modern Athens. — Soon after the begin- ning of the War of Liberation, in 1821, the Turks surrendered Athens, but captured it again in 1826-1827. It was then abandoned until 1830. In 1835 it became the royal residence, and made rapid progress. The modern city mostly lies northward and eastward from the Acropolis, and consists mainly of straight and well-built streets. Among the princi- pal buildings are the royal palace, a stately building with a fagade of Fentelic marble (completed in 1843), the univer- sity, the academy, public library, theater, and observatory. There are four foreign archagological schools or institutes, the French, German, American, and British. During the European War of 1914-1918, Athens was a center of intrigue for the combattant nations, each endeavoring to coerce the government in their favor. These conditions led to occasional violent outbreaks, especially when the Allies sought to disarm the Greeks guarding the city. Pop. about 200,000. See Greece. ATHENS, city and county-seat of Clarke co., Ga. ; on the Oconee river, and the Central of Georgia, the Georgia, the Southern and the Seaboard Air Line rail- roads; 67 miles E. of Atlanta, the State capital. It is in a cotton-growing region; has a large trade in that staple; and contains cotton and woolen, cottonseed oil, bobbin, and hosiery mills, iron works, furniture factories, and other industrial plants. It is the seat of the University of Georgia, the State College of Agri- culture and Mechanic Arts, Lucy Cobb Institute, and a State Normal School. There are electric light and street rail- way plants, banks, several hotels, and daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals. Pop. (1910) 14,913; (1920) 16,748. ATHENS', a city of Ohio, the county- seat of Athens co., on the Hocking river, and the Baltimore and Ohio Southwest- ern, the Toledo and Ohio Central, and the Hocking Valley railroads. It has important manufactures orf lumber prod- ucts and is the center of an important coal-mining region. There is situated the Ohio State University (q. v.), a State hospital for the inr-^ne, a library. and other public buildings. Pop. (1910) 5,463; (1920) 6,418. ATHERINE, a pretty little fish, from five to six inches long, called also the sandsmelt. It is the A. presbyter of Cuvier. It is found along the southern coasts of Europe, occupying a region dis- tinct from that in which the smelt (osmerus eperlanus) occurs. It is used as food. There is an American species, the nienidixt notata, commonly called silversides. Of the form atherina, a genus of fishes of the order acanthopterygii and the family viugilidx (mullets). Several species are known in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. The young, which con- gregate together, are the aphyes of the ancients. Now, in the S. of Europe, they are called nonnat. ATHERTON, GEBTRTJDE FRANK- LIN, an American author, born in San Francisco, Cal. ; a great-grandniece of Benjamin Franklin; was educated in Cal- ifornia and Kentucky, and married the late George H. B. Atherton. She began her literary work while living in San Francisco in 1878, and has made a specialty of describing Spanish life in California as it was previous to 1846. Her publications include "The Dooms- woman" (1892) ; "Before the Gringo Came" (1894); "American Wives and English Husbands" (1898); "The Cali- fornians" (1898); "A Daughter of the Vine" (1899) ; "Senator North" (1900) ; "Aristocrats" (1901); "Rulers of Kings" (1904); "Rezanov" (1906); "Ancestors" (1907); "The Tower of Ivory" (1910); Perch of the Devil" (1914) ; "Mrs. Bal- fame" (1916) ; etc. ATHLETES, combatants who took part in the public games of Greece. The pro- fession was an honorable one; tests of birth, position, and character were im- posed, and crowns, statues, special priv- ileges, and pensions were among the re- wards of success. In April, 1896, the ancient Olympic games were revived at Athens (the 776th Olympiad) under the personal patronage of the King of Greece, who presented crowns of victory to 44 contestants, of whom 11 were from the United States, the largest number of victors from any country. The wide- spread interest in the games led to the formation of an international committee to arrange for future contests, the first one taking place in Paris during the Ex- position of 1900. Oljanpic games were resumed at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, 1901. See Olympic Games. ATHLONE. a town in Ireland, on both sides of the Shannon, chiefly in West-