Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/247

 chariot or serving as her messengers, are the sparrow, the dove, the swan, the swallow, and a bird called iynx. (Sappho, in Ven. 10; Athen. ix. 395; Horat. Carm. iv. 1. 10; Aelian, Hist. An. x. 34; Pind. Pyth. l.c.) As Aphrodite Urania the tortoise, the symbol of domestic modesty and chastity, and as Aphrodite Pandemos the ram was sacred to her. [; .] When she was represented as the victorious goddess, she had the attributes of Ares, a helmet, a shield, a sword: or a lance, and an image of Victory in one hand. The planet Venus and the spring-month of April were likewise sacred to her. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 20; Ov. Fast. iv. 90.) All the surnames and epithets given to Aphrodite are derived from places of her worship, from events connected with the legends about her, or have reference to her character and her influence upon man, or are descriptive of her extraordinary beauty and charms. All her surnames are explained in separate articles.

The principal places of her worship in Greece were the islands of Cyprus and Cythera. At Cnidus in Caria she had three temples, one of which contained her renowned statue by Praxiteles. Mount Ida in Troas was an ancient place of her worship, and among the other places we may mention particularly the island of Cos, the towns of Abydos, Athens, Thespiae, Megara, Sparta, Sicyon, Corinth, and Eryx in Sicily. The sacrifices offered to her consisted mostly of incense and garlands of flowers (Virg. Aen. i. 416; Tacit. Hist. ii. 3), but in some places animals, such as pigs, goats, young cows, hares, and others, were sacrificed to her. In some places, as at Corinth, great numbers of females belonged to her, who prostituted themselves in her service, and bore the name of 🇬🇷. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. 🇬🇷.) Respecting the festivals of Aphrodite see ''Dict. of Ant. s.v.'' 🇬🇷

The worship of Aphrodite was undoubtedly of eastern origin, and probably introduced from Syria to the islands of Cyprus, Cythera, and others, from whence it spread all over Greece. It is said to have been brought into Syria from Assyria. (Paus. i. 14. § 6.) Aphrodite appears to have been originally identical with Astarte, called by the Hebrews Ashtoreth, and her connexion with Adonis clearly points to Syria. But with the exception of Corinth, where the worship of Aphrodite had eminently an Asiatic character, the whole worship of this goddess and all the ideas concerning her nature and character are so entirely Greek, that its introduction into Greece must be assigned to the very earliest periods. The elements were derived from the East, but the peculiar development of it belongs to Greece. Respecting the Roman goddess Venus and her identification with the Greek Aphrodite, see.

Aphrodite, the ideal of female grace and beauty, frequently engaged the talents and genius of the ancient artists. The most celebrated representations of her were those of Cos and Cnidus. Those which are still extant are divided by archaeologists into several classes, accordingly as the goddess is represented in a standing position and naked, as the Medicean Venus, or bathing, or half naked, or dressed in a tunic, or as the victorious goddess in arms, as she was represented in the temples of Cythera, Sparta, and Corinth. (Paus. iii. 23. § 1, ii. 5. § 1, iii. 15. § 10; comp. Hirt, Mythol. Bilderbuch, iv.133, &c.; Manso, Versuche, pp. 1—308.)

 APISA'ON (🇬🇷). Two mythical personages of this name occur in the Iliad, xi. 578, and xvii. 348.

 APOLLAS. [.]

 APOLLINA'RIS and APOLLINA'RIUS are different forms of the same Greek name, 🇬🇷. For the sake of convenience we use in every case the form Apollinaris, which is always employed by Latin writers.

 1., bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia (A. D. 170 and onwards), wrote an "Apology for the Christian faith" (🇬🇷) to the emperor M. Antoninus. He also wrote against the Jews and the Gentiles, and against the heresies of the Montanists and the Encratites, and some other works, all of which are lost. (Euseb. H. E. iv. 27, v. 19 ; Hieron. de Vir. Illust. 26, Epist. 84 ; Nicephorus, iv. 11 ; Photius, Cod. 14; Theodoret. de Hueret. Fab. iii. 2 ; Chronicon Paschale.)

 2., father and son, the former presbyter, the latter bishop, of Laodicea. The father was born at Alexandria. He taught grammar first at Berytus and afterwards at Laodicea (about A. D. 335), where he married, and became a presbyter of the church. Apollinaris and his son enjoyed the friendship of the sophists Libanius and Epiphanius. They were both excommunicated by Theodotus, bishop of Laodicea, for attending the lectures of Epiphanius, but they were restored upon their profession of penitence. Being firm catholics, they were banished by Georgius, the Arian successor of Theodotus.

When Julian (A. D. 362) issued an edict forbidding Christians to teach the classics, Apollinaris and his son undertook to supply the loss by transferring the Scriptures into a body of poetry, rhetoric, and philosophy. They put the historical books of the Old Testament into poetry, which consisted partly of Homeric hexameters, and partly of lyrics, tragedies, and comedies, in imitation of Pindar, Euripides, and Menander. According to one account, the Old Testament history, up to the reign of Saul, formed a kind of heroic poem, divided into twenty-four books, which were named after the letters of the Greek alphabet, in imitation of Homer. The New Testament was put into the form of dialogues, after the manner of Plato. Only two works remain which appear to have formed a part of these sacred classics, namely, a tragedy entitled " Christ Suffering," which is found among the works of Gregory Nazianzen, and a poetic version of the Psahns, entitled " Metaphrasis Psalmorum," which was published at Paris, 1552, 1580, and 1613; by Sylburg at Heidelberg, 1596 ; and in the various collections of the Fathers. There is some difficulty in determining what shares the father and son had in these works. The Old Testament poems are generally ascribed to the father, who is spoken highly of as a poet, and the New Testament dialogues to the son, who was more distinguished as a philosopher and rhetorician. In accordance with this view, Vossius (de Hist. Graec. ii. 18, and de Poet. Graec. 9) and Cave (sub ann. 362), attribute both the extant works to the son.

Apollinaris the younger, who was bishop of Laodicea in 362 A. D., wrote several controversial works, the most celebrated of which was one in thirty books against Porphyry. He became noted also as the founder of a sect. He was a warm