Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/809

 AETAXATA AETEMISIA 773 but liberated by the exertions of his brothers- in-law, Mentor and Memnon. Unsuccessful in another attempt at rebellion, he was compelled to take refuge with Philip of Macedon. But Mentor, who had joined the side of the king and had been of great assistance in the war against Egypt, secured his pardon about 349. He now returned to Persia, and afterward, in the reign of Darius Oodomannus, occupied sev- eral positions of trust. His daughters married Alexander, Ptolemy, and Eumenes. He re- signed his satrapy in 328. ARTAXATA (Arm. Ardashad), an ancient city on the Araxes, capital of Armenia, 68 m. S. S. E. of Erivan. It was built under the direction of Hannibal while a refugee at the court of Artaxias, after whom it was named. In A. D. 58 it was destroyed with fire by the Eoman general Corbulo, but rebuilt by Tiridates, who called it Neronia. In 370 it was taken by the Persians, who partially destroyed it and carried into captivity most of its inhabitants. In 450 a famous council was held here, at which the patriarch Joseph presided. ARTAXERXES, or Artoxerxes (in the Hebrew Scriptures Arta'hsha^hta or Arta'hshasta), the name of three kings of ancient Persia, signify- ing, according to Herodotus, " great warrior." I. Surnamed Longimanus, was the third son of Xerxes L, and was brought to the Persian throne by the assassination of his father and elder brother Darius (see ABTABANTJS) in 465 B. C., and died in 425. Troubles in Bactria, excited by his elder brother Hystaspes, first engaged his attention. Meanwhile Egypt, aided by the Athenians, revolted under Inarus against the Persian yoke. Artaxerxes at length com- pelled the Athenians to evacuate Egypt, but they continued to struggle on their own account under Cimon, until on the death of the latter (449), Artaxerxes was forced to make a disad- vantageous peace. He was succeeded by his son Xerxes II. II. Surnamed Mnemon on ac- count of his good memory, succeeded his father Darius II. in 405 or 404 B. C., died about 359. He is chiefly known in history from his contest with his younger brother Cyrus (see CYKUS THE YOUNGER), after whose bloody end in the battle of Cunaxa (401) he was left in quiet pos- session of the Persian throne. The Lacedse- monians had meanwhile given evidence of a design to take advantage of the Persian com- plications to attack the empire in the moment of its weakness ; and now that the critical time was over, Artaxerxes avenged himself by a successful war against them, which hasten- ed the decline of the Spartan power. Sparta having consented to the humiliating peace of Antalcidas (387), Artaxerxes prosecuted a war against Evagoras of Cyprus, and subsequent- ly against the Cadusii on the shores of the Cas- pian sea, rendering them tributary; he then turned his forces against revolted Egypt, but failed through the unskilful management of his general, Pharnabazus, and 12 years later re- newed the attempt with the same result. He Eut to death his eldest son, having detected im in a conspiracy, and was succeeded by his third son Ochus. III. Ochus, on his accession, assumed the name of Artaxerxes. The princi- pal events of his reign (about 359-338), which was stained by cruelty, were the quelling of a revolt raised by Artabazus, the resubjugation of Egypt, and the pacification of Phoenicia and Cyprus. He was poisoned by his favored eu- nuch Bagoas. Besides these, Ardeshir, the founder of the Sassanide dynasty, is called by ancient historians Artaxerxes. ARTEMIDORtS OF EPHESUS, a Greek geog- rapher, flourished at the end- of the 2d and the beginning of the 1st century B. C. He is said to have travelled in Spain and Gaul, and to have made voyages in the Euxine, the Medi- terranean, the Eed sea, and the Indian ocean, with the object of correcting the errors which former geographers had fallen into in describ- ing them. The result of his travels and obser- vations consisted originally of 11 books. All of these have perished, save the fragments (collected by Hudson) which Strabo, Marcian, and other ancient writers have preserved. ARTEMIS. See DIANA. ARTEMISIA. I. A queen of Halicarnassus, in Caria, who, as a vassal of the Persian crown, joined the expedition of that monarch against Greece with a squadron of five ships, and shone by her valor and prudence in the battle of Salamis (480 B. C.). According to a doubtful tradition, she became enamored of a youth of Abydos named Dardanus, who did not reciprocate her affection, whereupon she had his eyes put out. Afterward regretting her cruelty, she consulted an oracle as to how she should make atonement, and in obedience to the mandate of the divinity cast herself into the sea from the Leucadian rock. II. The sister, wife, and successor of Mausolus, king of Caria, celebrated for the excessive grief which she manifested at his loss (352 B. C.). She employed the most eloquent rhetori- cians of Greece to pronounce panegyrics in his honor, and raised a monument to his mem- ory at Halicarnassus, which was considered one of the seven wonders of the world, and from which the now general term mausoleum is derived. She survived him about two years. ARTEMISIA, a genus of plants of the order composite, noted for bitter, tonic, or aro- matic properties. A. absinthium, or worm- wood, is a perennial plant with woody stems in clusters two or three feet high, with long- petioled, irregularly pinnatifid, silvery leaves, and small, clustered, inconspieuous flowers. Its common name is derived from its virtues as an anthelmintic. A. dbrotanum, or southern- wood, is cultivated in gardens for its aromatic foliage, and much^used in Europe in beer mak- ing. A. dracunculus, or tarragon, a native of Siberia, is used in pickles for flavoring. A. CMnensis or m<xca produces a woolly sub- stance on the stems and leaves which is used by the Chinese and Japanese as a moxa by