Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/293

ATI more inclined to trust the statement contained in the inscription which is prefixed to the "Apology" in the manuscripts. It is to the following effect:—"The embassy of Athenagoras the Athenian, a Christian philosopher, for the Christians: to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, victors in Armenia and Sarmatia, and what is greatest of all, philosophers." According to this, Athenagoras flourished about. 170. Baronius and Tillemont have hinted that Athenagoras may be the same as the martyr Athenogenes, but the idea is based only on the most distant points of similarity.

In his "Apology," Athenagoras repels the charges brought against the Christians of atheism, of eating human flesh, and of the wildest licentiousness in their meetings. He writes with vigour and considerable logical power. This treatise is interesting on account of the reference which Athenagoras makes to the Trinity, and the inspiration of the prophets. The tractate on the Resurrection rebuts the objections that had been brought against the doctrine. It indeed professes a double aim—to prove the truth of the doctrine to those who denied it, and to correct the misapprehensions of some who believed it. Athenagoras wrote other works, but not a vestige of them remains. A treatise on "True and Perfect Love," ascribed to Athenagoras, was published in 1569 in a French translation, but the work is universally regarded as a forgery, being most probably the fabrication of the person who pretended to translate it.—J. D.  ATHENAGORAS, a Greek physician, who has left a work on the pulse and the urine, but of whom nothing else is known.  ATHENAGORAS lived in the first century ., and wrote on agriculture.  ATHENAIS, daughter of the mechanician Leontius; by force of her education, her genius, and her charms, she rose to the throne of Constantinople. She lived during the seventh century.  ATHENAS,, was born in 1752 at Paris, where his father carried on the business of a drysalter. He studied the natural sciences under the first philosophers of the day; and, turning his knowledge to practical purposes, he made many important improvements in agriculture, and discovered a valuable tin mine at Periac. He filled the post of secretary to the chamber of commerce at Nantes till his death in 1829. Athenas was also eminent as an archæologist.—J. W. S.  ATHENION, a Greek painter in encaustics, a pupil of Glaucion and Michophanes, lived about 348.  ATHENION, a native of Cilicia, who, being brought as a slave to Sicily, became one of the leaders of the insurrection of Salvius, 104 . He laid siege to the fortress of Lilybæum, which he was unable to take. After some disputes with his colleague, Salvius, they were defeated by the Roman army under Lucullus; but the revolt was not finally extinguished until 99 ., when Athenion was defeated and slain by Manlius Aquilius.—J. W. S.  ATHENION, a Greek physician of the second century. <section end="293H" /> <section begin="293I" />ATHENION, a Greek comic writer, whose works have perished. <section end="293I" /> <section begin="293J" />ATHENIS and his brother BUPALOS, early Greek sculptors, sons and pupils of Anthemus, and lived about 548. <section end="293J" /> <section begin="293K" />ATHENOCLES, a commentator upon Homer. <section end="293K" /> <section begin="293L" />ATHENODOROS, the son of Agesander, a Greek sculptor of the Rhodian school, who, with his father and Polydorus, executed the celebrated group of the Laocoon, the best specimen now extant of the third stage of sculpture in Greece, during which the highest display of execution was successfully coupled with the utmost pathos of conception. The Rhodian school, perhaps the first of that period, was especially foremost in the treatment of subjects of dazzling effect. Athenodoros is supposed to have lived about 220 .—R. M. <section end="293L" /> <section begin="293M" />ATHENODORUS , a stoical philosopher of the early part of the first century. He was honoured by having had among his hearers Octavius, afterwards Augustus, and by having been appointed to instruct the young Claudius. Of his works we have only a few titles. <section end="293M" /> <section begin="293N" />ATHENODORUS, a Greek rhetorician, cited by Quintilian II. 17, as having taken a part in the question. Whether rhetoric is properly an art? <section end="293N" /> <section begin="293O" />ATHENODORUS, a Greek physician—second half of first century. He wrote a book upon epidemics , which is cited by his contemporary, Plutarch, as containing a fact important to nosologists, that the disease elephantiasis made its first appearance in Greece in the prior century. <section end="293O" /> <section begin="293P" />ATHENODOROS, a pupil of Polyclitus, a brass-caster, who lived about 428. <section end="293P" /> <section begin="293Q" />ATHENODORUS,, a stoic philosopher of Tarsus, who lived in the first century ., and was keeper of the library of Pergamus. <section end="293Q" /> <section begin="293R" />ATHENODORUS, a Greek rhetorician of the latter half of the second century. He taught rhetoric at Athens, and gave promise of great talent, but died young. He is mentioned by Philostratus in his lives of the sophists. <section end="293R" /> <section begin="293S" />ATHENODORUS, a performer on the cithern, who was employed in the concerts given at Susa on the marriage of Alexander with Statira in 324. <section end="293S" /> <section begin="293T" />ATHENOGENES, a Christian martyr, who was thrown from a rock. St. Basil states, that in going to meet his fate he composed and sent to a friend a hymn on the Trinity, in which he proclaimed the divinity of the Holy Spirit. <section end="293T" /> <section begin="293U" />* ATHERSTONE,, was born. 1788, in the town of Nottingham. He and P. J. Bailey, the author of "Festus," are thus town-fellows, as well as intimate friends. His parents were large-hearted people of the primitive Moravian faith. They gave birth to twenty-eight children, of whom Edwin was one of the youngest. He was educated at Fulneck, near Leeds, principally by German masters, of whom his chief recollections are, that they smoked incessantly. One of his masters was the brother of James Montgomery. Besides contributions to the "Westminster" and "Edinburgh" Reviews, his published works, which commanded the most discriminating notice at the time of their appearance, are as follow:—"The Last Days of Herculaneum," 1821. "The Fall of Nineveh," the first six books of which appeared in 1828, and obtained from Lord Jeffrey the warmest praise. The work was completed in thirty books in 1847. Atherstone and Martin were devoted friends, and they wrote and painted "The Fall of Nineveh" simultaneously, and the painter adopted various hints from the works of the poet. In 1830, Atherstone's "Sea-Kings of England" was published. In addition to these he gave a series of lectures on poetry, in the chief cities of the United Kingdom, which were everywhere warmly received. He has latterly written, though nearly seventy years of age, a prose epic, entitled "The Handwriting on the Wall," and a work on the Philosophy of Elocution is also nearly completed. Several as yet unpublished plays and romances have been prepared by the same unwearied hand. Atherstone was personally acquainted with Scott, Coleridge, Hazlitt, Lamb, Kemble, and other celebrated men of the age.—J. O. <section end="293U" /> <section begin="293V" />ATHIAS,, a Spanish Jew, who lived at Amsterdam in the beginning of the seventeenth century, He wrote, in Spanish, "A Treasury of Precepts," and in Hebrew, "The Force of Faith." The former has been printed twice; the latter remains in MS. <section end="293V" /> <section begin="293W" />ATHIAS,, a Jewish writer, who composed a commentary on the Psalms, printed at Venice in 1549. <section end="293W" /> <section begin="293X" />ATHARS, R., son of Tobias Athars, a famous rabbi and printer at Amsterdam. He printed two editions of the Hebrew Bible, one in 1661 and another in 1667, both under the inspection of the learned Lensden. For the last edition the states-general honoured him with a gold chain and medal. Though it was more correct than any that had preceded it, still there were many inaccuracies in it both in vowel-points and accents. Athars also printed Bibles in Spanish, Jewish-German, and English. He was wont to boast of the immense number of English copies sold by him. He died, according to Le Long, of the plague in 1700.—J. E. <section end="293X" /> <section begin="293Y" />ATHLONE,. See. <section end="293Y" /> <section begin="293YA" />ATHRAH,, a Spaniard of Granada, born in the year 481 of the Hegira, wrote a commentary upon the Koran. Another person of the same surname, born at Mecca, wrote a small treatise on nature; but, falling into infidelity, was said to be struck dumb. Died in the year of the Hegira 541. <section end="293YA" /> <section begin="293YB" />ATHRYILATUS, a Greek physician, who figures as one of the interlocutors in Plutarch's Symposiacon. <section end="293YB" /> <section begin="293YC" />ATIA, daughter of Marcus Atius Balbus, and Julia, the youngest sister of Julius Cæsar, died 43. By her first husband, C. Octavius, she was the mother of Octavius Augustus. She has been extolled by Tacitus as the equal of the mother of the Gracchi, and of Aurelia, the mother of Julius Cæsar. She was bold and crafty enough to react the legend of Olympias—pretending that Apollo visited her in the form of a dragon, and t hat Octavius was therefore the son of a god.—A. L. <section end="293YC" /> <section begin="293YDnop" />ATIENZA,, a Spanish painter—second half of seventeenth century—founder of the Academy of Seville. <section end="293YDnop" />