Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/106

88 ed him everywhere like a dog. After the taking of Troy, it is said, he rushed into the temple of Athena, where Cassandra had taken refuge, and was embracing the statue of the goddess as a suppliant. Ajax dragged her away with violence and led her to the other captives. (Verg. A. 2.403 ; Eur. Tro. 70, &c.; Dict. Cret. 5.12; Hyg. Fab. 116.) According to some statements he even violated Cassandra in the temple of the goddess (Tryphiod. 635; Q. Smyrn. 13.422 ; Lycophr. 360, with the Schol.); Odysseus at least accused him of this crime, and Ajax was to be stoned to death, but saved himself by establishing his innocence by an oath. (Paus. 10.26.1, 31.1.) The whole charge, is on the other hand, said to have been an invention of Agamemnon, who wanted to have Cassandra for himself. But whether true or not, Athena had sufficient reason for being indignant, as Ajax had dragged a suppliant from her temple. When on his voyage homeward he came to the Capharean rocks on the coast of Euboea, his ship was wrecked in a storm, he himself was killed by Athena with a flash of lightning, and his body was washed upon the rocks, which henceforth were called the rocks of Ajax. (Hyg. Fab. 116; comp. Verg. A. 1.40, &c., 11.260.) For a different account of his death see Philostr. Her. 8.3, and Schol. ad Lycophr. l.c. After his death his spirit dwelled in the island of Leuce. (Paus. 3.19.11.) The Opuntian Locrians worshipped Ajax as their national hero, and so great was their faith in him, that when they drew up their army in battle array, they always left one place open for him, believing that, although invisible to them, he was fighting for and among them. (Paus. l.c.; Conon. Narrat. 18.) The story of Ajax was frequently made use of by ancient poets and artists, and the hero who appears on some Locrian coins with the helmet, shield, and sword, is probably Ajax the son of Oileus. (Mionnet, No. 570, &c.) 2em

 A'IDES, Ἀΐδης. [HADES.]

 AIDO'NEUS (Ἀϊδωνεύς). 1. A lengthened form of Ἀΐδης. (Hom. Il. 5.190, 20.61.) [HADES.]

2. A mythical king of the Molossians, in Epeirus, who is represented as the husband of Persephone, and father of Core. After Theseus, with the assistance of Peirithous, had carried off Helen, and concealed her at Aphidnae [ACADEMUS], he went with Peirithous to Epeirus to procure for him as a reward Core, the daughter of Aidoneus. This king thinking the two strangers were well-meaning suitors, offered the hand of his daughter to Peirithous, on condition that he should fight and conquer his dog, which bore the name of Cerberus. But when Aidoneus discovered that they had come with the intention of carrying off his daughter, he had Peirithous killed by Cerberus, and kept Theseus in captivity, who was afterwards released at the request of Heracles. (Plut. Thes. 31, 35.) Eusebius (Chron. p. 27) calls the wife of Aidoneus, a daughter of queen Demeter, with whom he had eloped. It is clear that the story about Aidoneus is nothing but the sacred legend of the rape of Persephone, dressed up in the form of a history, and is undoubtedly the work of a late interpreter, or rather destroyer of genuine ancient myths.

AIUS LOCUTIUS or LOQUENS, a Roman divinity. In the year B. C. 389, a short time before the invasion of the Gauls, a voice was heard at Rome in the Via nova, during the silence of night, announcing that the Gauls were approaching. (Liv. 5.32.) No attention was at the time paid to the warning, but after the Gauls had withdrawn from the city, the Romans remembered the prophetic voice, and atoned for their neglect by erecting on the spot in the Via nova, where the voice had been heard, a templum, that is, an altar with a sacred enclosure around it, to Aius Locutius, or the " Announcing Speaker." (Liv. 5.50; Varro, apud Gell. 16.17; Cic. de Divinai. 1.45, 2.32.)

ALABANDUS (Ἀλάβανδος), a Carian hero, son of Euippus and Calirrhoe, whom the inhabitants of Alabanda worshipped as the founder of their town. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἀλάβανδα; Cic. de Nat. Deor. 3.15, 19.)

ALAGO'NIA (Ἀλαγονία), a daughter of Zeus and Europa, from whom Alagonia, a town in Laconia, derived its name. (Paus. 3.21.6, 26.8; Nat. Corn. 8.23.)

ALALCOMENE'IS (Ἀλαλκομενηΐς), a surname of Athena, derived from the hero Alalcomenes, or from the Boeotian village of Alalcomenae, where she was believed to have been born. Others derive the name from the verb ἀλάλκειν, so that it would signify the " powerful defender." (Hom. Il. 4.8; Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἀλαλκομένιον ; Müller, Orchom. p. 213.)

ALALCO'MENES (Ἀλαλκομένης), a Boeotian autochthon, who was believed to have given the name to the Boeotian Alalcomenae, to have brought up Athena, who was born there, and to have been the first who introduced her worship. (Paus. 9.33.4.) According to Plutarch (De Dacdal. Fragm. 5), he advised Zeus to have a figure of oak-wood dressed in bridal attire, and carried about amidst hymeneal songs, in order to change the anger of Hera into jealousy. The name of the wife of Alalcomenes was Athenais, and that of his son, Glaucopus, both of which refer to the goddess Athena. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἀλαλκομένιον; Paus. 9.3.3; comp. Dict. of. Ant. s. V. Δαίδαλα; Müller, Orchom. p. 213.)

ALALCOME'NIA (Ἀλαλκομενία), one of the daughters of Ogyges, who as well as her two sisters, Thelxionoea and Aulis, were regarded as supernatural beings, who watched over oaths and saw that they were not taken rashly or thoughtlessly. Their name was Πραξιδίκαι, and they had a temple in common at the foot of the Telphusian mount in Boeotia. The representations of these divinities consisted of mere heads, and no parts of animals were sacrificed to them, except heads. (Paus. 9.33.2, 4; Panyasis, apud Steph. Byz. s. v. Τρεμίλη; Suid. s. v. Πραξιδίκη; Müller, Orchom. p. 128, &c.)

ALARI'CUS, in German Al-ric, i. c. " All rich," king of the Visigoths, remarkable as being the first of the barbarian chiefs who entered and sacked the city of Rome, and the first enemy who had appeared before its walls since the time of Hannibal. He was of the family of Baltha, or Bold, the second noblest family of the Visigoths. (Jornandes, de Reb. Get. 29.) His first appearance in history is in A. D. 394, when he was invested by Theodosius with the command of the Gothic auxiliaries in his war with Eugenius. (Zosimus, 5.5.) In 396, partly from anger at being refused