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 germ of all those arts which produce imitations of natural objects for purposes of entertainment or delight, as painting, sculpture, and their subordinates; and of all those which fashion useful objects in one way rather than another because the one way gives pleasure and the other does not, as architecture and the subordinate decorative arts of furniture, pottery and the rest. Arts that work in a kindred way with different materials are those of dancing and music. Dancing works with the physical movements of human beings. Music works with sound. Between that imitative and plastic group, and the group of these which only produce motion or sound and pass away, there is the intermediate group of eloquence and the drama, which deal with the expression of human feeling in spoken words and acted gestures. There is also the comprehensive art of poetry, which works with the material of written words, and can ideally represent the whole material of human life and experience. Of all these arts the end is not use but pleasure, or pleasure before use, or at least pleasure and use conjointly. In modern language, there has grown up a usage which has put them into a class by themselves under the name of the Fine Arts, as distinguished from the Useful or Mechanical Arts. (See and .) Nay more, to them alone is often appropriated the use of the generic word Art, as if they and they only were the arts . And further yet, custom has reduced the number which the class-word is meant to include. When Art and the works of Art are now currently spoken of in this sense, not even music or poetry is frequently denoted, but only architecture, sculpture and painting by themselves, or with their subordinate and decorative branches. In correspondence with this usage, another usage has removed from the class of arts, and put into a contrasted class of manufactures, a large number of industries and their products, to which the generic term Art, according to our definition, properly applies. The definition covers the mechanical arts, which can be efficiently exercised by mere trained habit, rote or calculation, just as well as the fine arts, which have to be exercised by a higher order of powers. But the word Art, becoming appropriated to the fine arts, has been treated as if it necessarily carried along with it, and as if works to be called works of art must necessarily possess, the attributes of free individual skill and invention, expressing themselves in ever new combinations of pleasurable contrivance, and seeking perfection not as a means towards some ulterior practical end but as an ideal end in itself. ARTA (Narda, i.e. , or Zarta, i.e.  ), a town of Greece, in the province of Arta, 59 m. N.N.W. of Mesolonghi. Pop. about 7000. It is built on the site of the ancient (q.v.), its present designation being derived from a corruption of the name of the river Arachthus (Arta) on which it stands. This enters the Gulf of Arta some distance south of the town. The river forms the frontier between Greece and Turkey, and is crossed by a picturesque bridge, which is neutral ground. There are a few remains of old cyclopean walls. The town contains also a Byzantine castle, built on the lofty site of the ancient citadel; a palace belonging to the Greek metropolitan; a number of mosques, synagogues and churches, the most remarkable being the church of the Virgin of Consolation, founded in 819. The streets of the town were widened and improved in 1869. Manufacture of woollens, cottons, Russia leather and embroidery is carried on, and there is trade in cattle, wine, tobacco, hemp, hides and grain. Much of the neighbouring plain is very fertile, and the town is surrounded with gardens and orchards, in which orange, lemon and citron come to great perfection. In 1083 Arta was taken by Bohemund of Tarentum; in 1449 by the Turks; in 1688 by the Venetians. In 1797 it was held by the French, but in the following year, 1798, Ali Pasha of Iannina captured it. During the Greek War of Independence it suffered severely, and was the scene of several conflicts, in which the ultimate success was with the Turks. An insurrection in 1854 was at once repressed. It was ceded to Greece in 1881. In the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 the Greeks gained some temporary successes at Arta during April and May. ARTA, GULF OF (anc. Sinus Ambracius), an inlet of the Ionian Sea, 25 m. long and 10 broad, most of the northern shores of which belong to Turkey, the southern and eastern to Greece. Its only important affluent, besides the Arta, is the Luro (anc. Charadra), also from the north. The gulf abounds with mullets, soles and eels. Around its shores are numerous ruins of ancient cities: Actium at the entrance, where the famous battle was fought in 31 ; Nicopolis, Argos, Limnaea and Olpae; and several flourishing towns, such as Preveza, Arta (anc. Ambracia), Karavasara or Karbasaras, and Vonitza.

The river Arta (anc. Arachthus or Aratthus, in Livy xxxviii. 3, Aretho) is the chief river of Epirus, and is said to have been navigable in ancient times as far as Ambracia. Below this town it flows through a marshy plain, consisting mainly of its own alluvium; its upper course is through the territory of the Molossians; its total length is about 80 m. ARTABANUS, the name of a number of Persian princes, soldiers and administrators. The most important are the following:—

1. Brother of Darius I., and, according to Herodotus, the trusted adviser of his nephew Xerxes. Herodotus makes him a principal figure in epic dialogues: he warns Darius not to attack the Scythians (iv. 83; cf. also iv. 143), and predicts to Xerxes his defeat by the Greeks (vii. 10 ff., 46 ff.); Xerxes sent him home to govern the empire during the campaign (vii. 52, 53).

2. Vizier of Xerxes (Ctesias, Pers. 20), whom he murdered in 465 According to Aristotle, Pol. v. 1311 b, he had previously killed Xerxes’ son Darius, and was afraid that the father would avenge him; according to Ctesias, Pers. 29, Justin iii. 1, Diod. xi. 69, he killed Xerxes first and then pretended that Darius had murdered him, and instigated his brother Artaxerxes to avenge the parricide. At all events, during the first months of the reign of Artaxerxes I., he was the ruling power in the state (therefore the chronographers wrongly reckon him as king, with a reign of seven months), until Artaxerxes, having learned the truth about the murder of his father and his brother, overwhelmed and killed Artabanus and his sons in open fight.

3. A satrap of Bactria, who revolted against Artaxerxes I., but was defeated in two battles (Ctes. Pers. 31).

The name was borne also by four Parthian kings. The Parthian king Arsaces, who was attacked by Antiochus III. in 209, has been called Artabanus by some modern authors without any reason.

4. ., successor of his nephew Phraates II. about 127, perished in a battle against the Tochari, a Mongolian tribe, which had invaded the east of Iran (Justin xli. 2). He is perhaps identical with the Artabanus mentioned in Trogus, Prol. xlii.

5. . c. 10–40, son of an Arsacid princess (Tac. Ann. vi. 48), lived in the East among the Dahan nomads. He was raised to the throne by those Parthian grandees who would not acknowledge Vonones I., whom Augustus had sent from Rome (where he lived as hostage) as successor of his father Phraates IV. The war between the two pretenders was long and doubtful; on a coin Vonones mentions a victory over Artabanus. At last Artabanus defeated his rival completely and occupied Ctesiphon; Vonones fled to Armenia, where he was acknowledged as king, under the protection of the Romans. But when Artabanus invaded Armenia, Vonones fled to Syria, and the emperor Tiberius thought it prudent to support him no longer. Germanicus, whom he sent to the East, concluded a treaty with Artabanus, in which he was recognized as king and friend of the Romans. Armenia was given ( 18) to Zeno, the son of the king of Pontus (Tac. Ann. ii. 3 f., 58; Joseph. Ant. 18. 24).

Artabanus II., like all Parthian princes, was much troubled by the opposition of the grandees. He is said to have been very cruel in consequence of his education among the Dahan barbarians (Tac. Ann. vi. 41). To strengthen his power he killed all the Arsacid princes whom he could reach (Tac. Ann. vi. 31). Rebellions of the subject nations may have occurred also. We learn that he intervened in the Greek city Seleucia in favour of the oligarchs (Tac. Ann. vi. 48), and that two Jewish brigands