Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/32

14 meant to punish Cydippe for her perjury. The maiden then explained the whole affair to her mother, and the father was at last induced to give his daughter to Acontius. This story is related by Ovid (Ov. Ep. 20, 21; comp. Trist. 3.10. 73) and Aristaenetus (Epist. 10.10), and is also alluded to in several fragments of ancient poets, especially of Callimachus, who wrote a poem with the title Cydippe. The same story with some modifications is related by Antoninus Liberalis (Metam. 1) of an Athenian Hermocrates and Ctesylla. (Comp. CTESYLLA and Buttmann, Mytholog. ii. p. 115.)

A'CORIS (Ἀκορις), king of Egypt, entered into alliance with Evagoras, king of Cyprus, against their common enemy Artaxerxes, king of Persia, about B. C. 385, and assisted Evagoras with ships and money. On the conclusion of the war with Evagoras, B. C. 376, the Persians directed their forces against Egypt. Acoris collected a large army to oppose them, and engaged many Greek mercenaries, of whom he appointed Chabrias general. Chabrias, however, was recalled by the Athenians on the complaint of Pharnabazus, who was appointed by Artaxerxes to conduct the war. When the Persian army entered Egypt, which was not till B. C. 373, Acoris was already dead. (Diod. 15.2-4, 8, 9, 29, 41, 42; Theopom. apud Phot. cod. 176.) Syncellus (p. 76a. p. 257a.) assigns thirteen years to his reign.

ACRAEA (Ἀκραία). 1. A daughter of the river-god Asterion near Mycenae, who together with her sisters Euboea and Prosymna acted as nurses to Hera. A hill Acraea opposite the temple of Hera near Mycenae derived its name from her. (Paus. 2.17.2.)

2. Acraea and Acraeus are also attributes given to various goddesses and gods whose temples were situated upon hills, such as Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Pallas, Artemis, and others. (Paus. 1.1.3, 2.24.1; Apollod. 1.9.28; Vitr. 1.7; Spanheim, ad Callim. Hymn in Jov. 82.)

ACRAEPΗEUS（Ἀκραιφεύς), a son of Apollo, to whom the foundation of the Boeotian town of Acraephia was ascribed. Apollo, who was worshipped in that place, derived from it the surname of Acraephius or Acraephiaeus. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἀκραιφία; Paus. 9.23.3, 40. 2.)

ACRAGAS (Ἀκράγας), a son of Zeus and the Oceanid Asterope, to whom the foundation of the town of Acragas (Agrigentum) in Sicily was ascribed. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἀκράγαντες.)

ACRAGAS, an engraver, or chaser in silver, spoken of by Pliny. (33.12.55.) It is not known either when or where he was born. Pliny says that Acragas, Boethus and Mys were considered but little inferior to Mentor, an artist of great note in the same profession; and that works of all three were in existence in his day, preserved in different temples in the island of Rhodes. Those of Acragas, who was especially famed for his representations of hunting scenes on cups, were in the temple of Bacchus at Rhodes, and consisted of cups with figures of Bacchae and Centaurs graved on them. If the language of Pliny justifies us in inferring that the three artists whom he classes together lived at the same time, that would fix the age of Acragas in the latter part of the fifth century B. C., as Mys was a contemporary of Phidias.

ACRATO'PHORUS (Ἀκρατοφόρος), a surname of Dionysus, by which he was designated as the giver of unmixed wine, and worshipped at Phigaleia in Arcadia. (Paus. 8.39.4.)

ACRATO'POTES (Ἀκρατοπότης), the drinker of unmixed wine, was a hero worshipped in Munychia in Attica. (Polemo, ap. Athen. ii. p. 39.) According to Pausanias (1.2.4), who calls him simply Acratus, he was one of the divine companions of Dionysus, who was worshipped in Attica. Pausanias saw his image at Athens in the house of Polytion, where it was fixed in the wall.

A'CRATUS, a freedman of Nero, who was sent by Nero A. D. 64, into Asia and Achaia to plunder the temples and take away the statues of the gods. (Tac. Ann. 15.45, 16.23; comp. Dion Chrys. Rhod. p. 644, ed. Reiske.)

ACRION, a Locrian, was a Pythagorean philosopher. (Cic. de Fin. 5.29.) He is mentioned by Valerius Maximus (8.7, ext. 3, from this passage of Cicero) under the name of Arion, which is a false reading, instead of Acrion.

ACRISIONEIS, a patronymic of Danae, daughter of Acrisius. (Verg. A. 7.410.) Homer (Hom. Il. 14.319) uses the form Ἀκρισιώνη.

ACRISIONIADES, a patronymic of Perseus, grandson of Acrisius. (Ov. Met 5.70.)

ACRI'SIUS (Ἀκρίσιος), a son of Abas, king of Argos and of Ocaleia. He was grandson of Lynceus and great-grandson of Danaus. His twin-brother was Proetus, with whom he is said to have quarrelled even in the womb of his mother. When Abas died and Acrisius had grown up, he expelled Proetus from his inheritance; but, supported by his father-in-law Iobates, the Lycian, Proetus returned, and Acrisius was compelled to share his kingdom with his brother by giving up to him Tiryns, while he retained Argos for himself. An oracle had declared that Danae, the daughter of Acrisius, would give birth to a son, who would kill his grandfither. For this reason he kept Danae shut up in a subterraneous apartment, or in a brazen tower. But here she became mother of Perseus, notwithstanding the precautions of her father, according to some accounts by her uncle Proetus, and according to others by Zeus, who visited her in the form of a shower of gold. Acrisins ordered mother and child to be exposed on the wide sea in a chest; but the chest floated towards the island of Seriphus, where both were rescued by Dictys, the brother of king Polydectes. (Apollod. 2.2.1, 4.1; Paus. 2.16.2, 25.6, 3.13.6; Hyg. Fab. 63.) As to the manner in which the oracle was subsequently fulfilled in the case of Acrisius, see PERSEUS. According to the Scholiast on Euripides (Eur. Orest. 1087), Acrisius was the founder of the Delphic amphictyony. Strabo (ix. p.420) believes that this amphictyony existed before the time of Acrisius, and that he was only the first who regulated the affairs of the amphictyons, fixed the towns which were to take part in the council, gave to each its vote, and settled the jurisdiction of the amphictyons. (Comp. Libanius, Orat. vol. 3.472, ed. Reiske.)

ACRON, a king of the Caeninenses, whom Romulus himself slew in battle. He dedicated the arms of Acron to Jupiter Feretrius as Spolia Opima. (See Dict. of Ant. p. 893.) Livy mentions the circumstance without giving the name of the king. (Plut. Rom. 16; Serv. ad Virg. Aen. 6.860; Liv. 1.10.)

ACRON（Ἄκρων), an eminent physician of Agrigentum, the son of Xenon. His exact date