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24 the younger Pliny, vied with them in their liberality.

 Alōădæ or Alōīdæ. Sons of Poseidōn by Iphĭmĕdeia, the wife of Alōeus, son of Cănăcē (see Æolos, 1) and Poseidon; their names were Ephialtēs and Otus. They grew every year an ell in breadth and a fathom in length, so that in nine years' time they were thirty-six feet broad and fifty-four feet high. Their strength was such that they chained up the god Arēs and kept him in a brazen cask for thirteen months, till their stepmother Eribœa betrayed his whereabouts to Hermēs, who came by stealth and dragged his disabled brother out of durance. They threatened to storm heaven itself by piling Ossa on Olympus and Pēliŏn on Ossa, and would have done it, says Homer, had not Apollo slain them with his arrows ere their beards were grown. The later legend represents Ephialtes as in love with Hēra, and Otus with Artĕmis. Another myth represents Artemis as slaying them by craft in the island of Naxos. She runs between them in the form of a hind; they hurl their spears, and wound each other fatally. In the later legend they expiate their sins in the lower world by being bound with snakes to a pillar, back to back, while they are incessantly tormented by the screeching of an owl. On the other hand, they were worshipped as heroes in Naxos, and in the Bœotian Ascra were regarded as founders of the city and of the worship of the Muses on Mount Hĕlĭcōn.

 Alŏpē. Daughter of Cercy̌ōn of Eleusis, and, by Poseidōn, mother of Hippothŏön (q.v.); after whose birth her father was going to kill her, but the god changed her into a fountain.

 Alphēus. See.

 Alphĕsĭbœa (or Arsĭnŏë). Daughter of Phēgeus and first wife of Alcmæōn, whom, though unfaithful, she continued to love, and was angry with her brothers for killing him. Her brothers shut her up in a box, and brought her to Agapēnōr, king of Tĕgĕa, pretending that she had killed her husband. Here she came by her end, having compassed her brothers’ death by the hand of Alcmæon's sons.

 Altar. Originally a simple elevation above the ground, made of earth, fieldstones, or turf; and such altars continued to be used in the country parts of Italy. But altars for constant use, especially in temple service, were, as a rule, of stone, though in exceptional cases they might be made of other materials. Thus, several in Greece were built out of the ashes of burnt-offerings, as that of Zeus at Olympia. One at Delos was made of goats' horns. Their shape was very various, the four-cornered being the commonest, and the round less usual. A temple usually had two altars: the one used for bloodless offerings standing before the deity's image in the cella, and the other for burnt-offerings, opposite the door in front of the temple. The latter was generally a high altar, standing on a platform which is cut into steps. Being an integral part of the whole set of buildings, its shape and size were regulated by their proportions. Some few of these high altars were of enormous dimensions; the one at Olympia had a platform measuring more than 125 feet round, while the altar itself, which was ascended by steps, was nearly 25 feet high. In Italy as well as Greece, beside the altars attached to temples, there was a vast number in streets and squares, in the courts of houses (see cut), in open fields, in sacred groves, and other precincts consecrated to the gods. Some altars, like some temples, were dedicated to more than one deity; we even hear of altars dedicated to all the gods. On altars to heroes, see.

 Althæa. Daughter of Thestius, wife of Œneus, king of Căly̌dōn, mother of Tydeus, Meleāger (q.v.), and Deïaneira.

 Altis. The sacred grove near Olympia (q.v.), in which the Olympic Games were celebrated. (See .)

<section end="Altis" /> <section begin="Amalthea" />Amalthēa (Gr. Amaltheia). A figure in Greek mythology. The name was sometimes applied to a goat, which suckled the newborn Zeus in Crete, while bees brought him honey, and which was therefore set among the stars by her nursling; sometimes to a nymph who was supposed to possess a miraculous horn, a symbol of plenty, and whose descent was variously given. According to one version she is the daughter of the Cretan king Melisseus, and brings up the infant god on the milk of a goat, while her sister Melissa (a bee) offers him honey. The horn of the goat is given to her by Zeus, with the promise that she shall always find in it whatever she wishes. From her the cornucopia passed into the possession of<section end="Amalthea" />