Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/928

ARISTÆUS. of Peneius, a river-god of Thessaly. She is said to have given birth to Aristoeus on the coast of Libya, in Africa, whence the region is alleged to have derived its name of Cyrenaica. Hermes placed the child in the care of the Horse and Gaia (earth). Another version placed his birth in Thessaly and made him a pupil of Chiron the centaur. He appears at Thebes in Boeotia as son-in-law of Cadmus and father of Actteon (q.v.). Still another stoiy brings him from Arcadia to the island of Ceos, where he was honored as hav- ing freed the island from the heat of the dog-star by erecting an altar to Zeus Icmoeus, the rain- maker, who rewarded this piety by sending the Etesian winds. Aristseus also appears in Cor- cyra, Euba?a, Sicily, and even Thrace, where he is one of a band of Dionysus. These stories are obviously not fragments of a connected nar- rative, but rather a number of local traditions connected with a divinity known as "the Good," whose very transparent name prevented his at- taining the rank of a great god, though many of his activities are those attributed to Zeus and Apollo. He is connected with the life and inter- ests of hunters and herdsmen, taught bee-keep- ing, the care of the olive tree, and the spinning of wood, and introduced to Cyrene its valuable plant, Silphiuni (asafoetida).

AE'ISTAG'ORAS (Gk. 'Api(rTa;6pas) ( ?-487 .). A tyrant of Miletus and brother-in-law of Histiitus. During the stay of Histifeus at the Persian court, Aristagoras was made governor of Miletus, and in B.C. 501 made an unsuccessful attack on Naxos, which he had promised to subdue for the Persians. Fearful of the consequences of his failure, he induced the Ionian cities to revolt from. Persia, and after vainly applying to Sparta for aid, obtained troops and twenty ships from the Athenians. The allies captured and burned Sardis (B.C. 499), but were finally driven to the coast by the Persians, and Aristagoras, in despair, fled to Thrace, where he was slain by the Edonians.