Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/262

ATTICA. were a valuable propert_y of the Athenian State, and can still be worked at a profit, the most valuable part of the yield now being, liowever, lead. Attica is much broken up by mountain ridges, and there are only two large plains, the Athenian, surrounded by Mounts Hymettus (3370 feet), Pentelicon (3640 feet), Parnes (4634 feet), and Ægaleos; and the Thriasian, around Eleusis, in the southwestern portion. The principal rivers, the Cephissus and Ilissus, both in the Athenian plain, are mere winter tor- rents, dry in summer, when no rain falls for four months. In the modern administration, Attica forms one of the nomes of Greece.

The ancient Athenians claimed that their ancestors were autochthones, 'sprung from the soil,' and it is certain that Attica does not show the same evidences of invasion that are found in other Greek States. It is also certain that the Athenians were a branch of the Ionic division of Greek-speaking peoples; but there is no general agreement among scholars as to the time or manner of their occupation of the country. It seems clear that originally Attica was inhabited by a number of independent clans, bound together in a loose confederacy, which was changed either by a gradual process, or more probably by an Athenian king, into a real unity under the lead of Athens. This union was attributed in Athenian legend to Theseus (q.v.), and was so thoroughly accomplished that the history of Attica is only that of Athens, while the only name for the inhabitants is Athenians. Eleusis alone seems to have preserved an independent position until a comparatively late date. The villages, or demes, which were scattered through the country, were reorganized by Clisthenes (B.C. 509), who divided them among his ten tribes so that each tribe contained demes from the plains, the mountains, and the coast, thus destroying the last traces of local parties, and completing the centralization of the Athenian State. The remaining history of Attica is that of Athens. Consult: Curtius and Kaupert, Karten von Attika (Berlin, 1881-97); and W. M. Leake, The Topography of Athens and the Demi of Attica (London, 1841). See.

ATTIC MUSE, A name given to Xenophon (q.v.), because of his style and because of the appreciation of and enthusiasm for the noble and beautiful which marked his character.

ATTIC NIGHTS. See.

ATTIC PHILOS'OPHER, See.

ATTIC SALT (Lat. Sal Atticum). A poignant, delicate wit, peculiar to the Athenians. In like phrase, the ruder Roman wit is called Italian vinegar (Italum acetum).

AT'TICUS, (B.C. 109-32). One of the most noble and generous men in ancient Rome. He was born in B.C. 109, or a few years before the birth of Cicero. His excellent education, during which he enjoyed the companionship of Torquatus, the younger Marius, and Cicero, developed, at an early age, a love of knowledge, which was increased during his stay in Athens, where he remained many years, glad to be separated from the political distractions of his native land. After B.C. 65, when he returned to Rome, he still devoted himself chiefly to study and the pleasures of friendship, and refused to take any part in political affairs. Yet he was by no means without influence on public matters, as he lived on terms of familiar intercourse with several leading statesmen, and freely gave his counsel, which was generally sound and wholesome, while it was always benevolent. He was a man of great wealth, having been left a large inheritance by his father and his uncle, which he greatly increased by judicious mercantile speculations. His mode of life was frugal. When he was informed that a disorder under which he was laboring was mortal, he voluntarily starved himself, and died in B.C. 32. Among his personal friends Cicero held the first place. The Annales, written by Atticus, were highly commended by his contemporaries. They were especially valuable on account of containing genealogical histories of the old Roman families. Atticus was one of those men (not uncommon either in ancient or modern times) in whom fine culture and a fortunate social position had highly developed the faculty of good taste. He had no creative genius, but was possessed of such delicate discernment that he could detect the flaw which would have been invisible to Cicero. Every author was anxious to secure his favorable opinion. None of his writings has been preserved. His biography is found in Cornelius Nepos; and many facts concerning him in Cicero's Epistles to Atticus.

ATTICUS HERO'DES, Tiberius Claudius. (1) A rich Athenian who lived at the end of the First and beginning of the Second Century A.D. His father was found guilty of treason and his property confiscated; but Atticus found a rich treasure in a house, and the Emperor permitted him to keep it. He rose to high honor under Trajan and Hadrian, and was twice consul. (2) Son of the preceding, born about A.D. 101, at Marathon. Carefully trained by the best teach- ers, he became a noted rhetorician, and at Rome numbered among his pupils M. Aurelius and L. Verus. In A.D. 143 he was consul, but soon after- ward returned to Athens. He added to the wealth inherited from his father by a marriage with Annia Regilla. He spent his money liberally in adorning the city of Athens, where he built a sta- dium of Pentelic marble, and the Odeum (a music hall), whose ruins still stand to the south- west of the Acropolis, in memory of Regilla. He also built an aqueduct and exedra at Olympia, a stadium at Delphi, a theatre at Corinth, and at Thermopylæ arrangements for sulphur baths. He contemplated a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, but gave it up because Nero had tried and failed. He restored several of the partially ruined cities of Greece, where inscriptions testi- fied the public gratitude to him. For some rea- sons the Athenians became his enemies, and he left the city for his villa near Marathon, where he died, A.D. 177. Nothing of his writing is known to exist.

ATTILA, fit'ti-la (Ger. Etzel; Hung. Ethele, conjectured to have been originally a title of honor). A king of the Huns, the son of Munzuk, a Hun of the royal blood. In A.D. 434 he succeeded his uncle, Roas, as chief of countless hordes scattered over the north of Asia and Europe. His brother, Bleda, or Blödel, who shared with him the supreme authority over all the Huns, was put to death by Attila in A.D. 444 or 445. The Huns regarded' Attila with supersti-