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Cyrenaïca, yet speaks of the 2 provinces in the closest connection (Numidiae et Africae ab Ampsaga longitudo DLXXX. M. P.), and seems even to include them both under the name of Africa (Africa a fluvio Ampsaga populos xxvi. habet). Ptolemy (iv. 3) gives Africa the same extent as Mela, from the Ampsaga to the bottom of the Great Syrtis; while he applies the name New Numidia (Novμidía véa) to a part of the country, evidently corresponding with the later Numidia of other writers (§ 29), the epithet New being used in contradistinction to the ancient Numidia, the W. and greater part of which had been added to Mauretania. In Ptolemy's list of the provinces (viii. 29), Africa and Numidia are mentioned together.

In the 3rd century, probably under Diocletian, the whole country, from the Ampsaga to Cyrenaïca, was divided into the four provinces of Numidia, Africa Propria or Zeugitana, Byzacium or Byzacena, and Tripolis or Tripolitana. (Sext. Ruf. Brev. 8.) Numidia no longer extended S. of Zeugitana and Byzacium, but that part of it was added to Byzacium; while its E. part, on and between the Syrtes, formed the province of Tripolitana. We are enabled to draw the boundary-lines with tolerable exactness by means of the records of the numerous ecclesiastical councils of Africa, in which the several bishoprics have the names of their provinces appended to them. (For the fullest information, see Morcelli, Africa Christiana, Brixiae, 1817, 3 vols. 4to.) Zeugitana, to which, in the revolution of time, the name of Africa had thus come to be again appropriated, remained a senatorial province under the Proconsul Africae, and was often called simply Provincia Proconsularis; the rest were imperial provinces, Byzacium and Numidia being governed by Consulares, and Tripolis by a Praeses. The Proconsul Africae (who was the only one in the W. empire, and hence was often called simply Proconsul) had under him two legati and a quaestor, besides legati for special branches of adininistration. His residence was at the restored city of Carthage. The other three provinces, as well as the two Mauretanias, were subject to the praetorian praefect of Italy, who governed them by his representative, the Vicarius Africae. (Böcking, Notitia Dignitatum, vol. ii. c. 17, 19, &c.) Referring for the remaining details to the articles on the separate provinces, we proceed to a brief account of the later ancient history of Africa.

At the time referred to, the name of Africa, besides its narrowest sense, as properly belonging to the proconsular province, and its widest meaning, as applied to the whole continent, was constantly used to include all the provinces of N. Africa, W. of the Great Syrtis, and the following events refer, for the most part, to that extent of country. At the settlement of the empire under Constantine, the African provinces were among the most prosperous in the Roman world. The valleys of Mauretania and Numidia, and the plains of Zeugitana and Byzacium, had always been proverbial for their fertility; and the great cities along the coast had a flourishing commerce. The internal tranquillity of Africa was seldom disturbed, the only formidable insurrection being that under the two Gordians, which was speedily repressed, A. D. 238. The emperors Septimius Severus and Macrinus were natives of N. Africa. Amidst the prosperous population of these peaceful provinces, Christianity had early taken firm root; the records of ecclesiastical history attest the

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great number of the African churches and bishoprics, and the frequency of their synods; and the fervid spirit of the Africans displayed itself alike in the steadfastness of their martyrs, the energy of their benevolence, the vehemence of their controversies, and the genius of their leading writers, as, for example, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine.

But here, as on the other frontiers of the empire, the diminished vitality of the extremities bore witness to the declining energy of the heart. That perfect subjection of the native tribes, which forms such a singular contrast with the modern history of Algeria, had already been disturbed; and we read of increased military forces, insurrections of native princes, and incursions of the Numidians, or, as they now came to be generally called, the Moors, even before the end of the 3rd century. There is not space to recount the wars and troubles in Africa during the struggles of Constantine and his competitors for the empire; nor those under his successors, including the revolt of Firmus, and the exploits of the count Theodosius, under the 1st and 2nd Valentinian (A. D. 373-376), the usurpation of Maximus, after the death of Valentinian II.; and the revolt of the count Gildon, after the death of Theodosius the Great, suppressed by Stilicho, A. D. 398. At the final partition of the empire, on the death of Theodosius (A. D. 395), the African provinces were assigned to the W. empire, under Honorius, whose dominions met those of his brother, Arcadius, at the Great Syrtis.

Under Valentinian III., the successor of Honorius, the African provinces were lost to the W. empire. Boniface, count of Africa, who had successfully defended the frontiers against the Moors, was recalled from his government by the intrigues of Aëtius, and on his resistance an army was sent against him (A.D. 427). In his despair, Boniface sought aid from the Vandals, who were already established in Spain; and, in May, 429, Geiserich (or Genserich) the Vandal king, led an army of about 50,000 Vandals, Goths, and Alans, across the Straits of Gades into Mauretania. He was joined by many of the Moors, and apparently favoured by the Donatists, a sect of heretics, or rather schismatics, who had lately suffered severe persecution. But, upon urgent solicitations from the court of Ravenna, accompanied by the discovery of the intrigues of Aëtius, Boniface repented of his invitation, and tried, too late, to repair his error. He was defeated and shut up in Hippo Regius; the only other cities left to the Romans being Carthage and Cirta. The Vandals overran the whole country from the Straits to the Syrtes; and those fertile provinces were utterly laid waste amidst scenes of fearful cruelty to the inhabitants. The siege of Hippo lasted fourteen months. At length, encouraged by reinforcements from the eastern empire, Boniface hazarded another battle, in which he was totally defeated, A. D. 431. But the final loss of Africa was delayed by negotiation for some years, during which various partitions of the country were made between the Romans and the Vandals; but the exact terms of these truces are as obscure as their duration was uncertain. The end of one of them was signalized by the surprise and sack of Carthage, Oct. 9, 439; and before the death of Valentinian III. the Vandals were in undisputed possession of the African provinces. Leo, the emperor of the East, sent an unsuccessful expedition against them, under Heraclius, A. D. 468; and, in 476, Zeno made a treaty with Geiseric,

AGANIPPE FONS. [HELICON.]

A'GARI (“Ayapoi), a Scythian people of Sarmatia Europaea, on the N. shore of the Palus Maeotis (Sea of Azov), about a promontory Agarum and a river Agarus, probably not far E. of the Isthmus. They were skilful in medicine, and are said to have cured wounds with serpents' venom! Some of them always attended on Mithridates the Great, as physicians. (Appian. Mithr 88; Ptol. iii. 5. § 13.) A fungus called Agaricum (prob. German tinder), much used in ancient medicine, was said to grow in their country (Plin. xxv. 9. s. 57; Dioscor. iii. 1; Galen, de fac. simp. med. p. 150). Diodorus (xx. 24), mentions Agarus, a king of the Scythians, near the Cimmerian Bosporus, B. C. 240. (Böckh, Corpus Inscr. vol. ii. p. 82; Ukert, vol. iii. pt. 2, pp. 250, 433.) [P.S.]

which lasted till the time of Justinian, under whom the country was recovered for the Eastern Empire, and the Vandals almost exterminated, by Belisarius, A. D. 533-534. (For an account of the Vandal kings of Africa, see VANDALI: for the history of this period, the chief authority is Procopius, Bell. Vand.) Of the state and constitution of Africa under Justinian, we have most interesting memorials in two rescripts, addressed by the emperor, the one to Archelaus, the praetorian praefect of Africa, and the other to Belisarius himself. (Böcking, Notit. Dign. vol. ii. pp. 154, foll.) From the former we learn that the seven African provinces, of which the island of Sardinia now made one, were erected into a separate praefecture, under a Praefectus Praetorio Magnificus; and the two rescripts settle their civil and military constitution respectively. It should be observed that Mauretania Tingitana (from the river AGASSA or AGASSAE, a town in Pieria in Mulucha to the Ocean), which had formerly be- Macedonia, near the river Mitys. Livy, in relating longed to Spain, was now included in the African the campaign of B. C. 169 against Perseus, says province of Mauretania Caesariensis. [Comp. MAU-that the Roman consul made three days' march RETANIA.] The seven African provinces were (from E. to W.), (1) Tripolis or Tripolitana, (2) Byzacium or Byzacena, (3) Africa or Zeugis or Carthago, (4) Numidia, (5) Mauretania Sitifensis or Zaba, (6) Mauretania Caesariensis, and (7) Sardinia: the first three were governed by Consulares, the last four by Praesides.

The history of Africa under the E. empire consists of a series of intestine troubles arising from court intrigues, and of Moorish insurrections which became more and more difficult to repel. The splendid edifices and fortifications, of which Justinian was peculiarly lavish in this part of his dominions, were a poor substitute for the vital energy which was almost extinct. (Procop.de Aedif. Justin.) At length the deluge of Arabian invasion swept over the choicest parts of the Eastern Empire, and the conquest of Egypt was no sooner completed, than the Caliph Othman sent an army under Abdallah against Africa, A. D. 647. The praefect Gregory was defeated and slain in the great battle of Sufetula in the centre of Byzacena; but the Arab force was inadequate to complete the conquest. In 665 the enterprize was renewed by Akbah, who overran the whole country to the shores of the Atlantic; and founded the great Arab city of Al-Kairwan (i. e. the caravan), in the heart of Byzacium, about 20 miles S. W. of the ancient Hadrumetum. Its inland position protected it from the fleets of the Greeks, who were still masters of the coast. But the Moorish tribes made common cause with the Africans, and the forces of Akbah were cut to pieces. His successor, Zuheir, gained several battles, but was defeated by an army sent from Constantinople. The contest was prolonged by the internal dissensions of the successors of the prophet; but, in A. D. 692, a new force entered Africa under Hassan, the governor of Egypt, and Carthage was taken and destroyed in 698. Again were the Arabs driven out by a general insurrection of the Moors, or, as we now find them called, by the name ever since applied to the natives of N. Africa, the Berbers (from Bápsapoi); but the Greeks and Romans of Africa found their domination more intolerable than that of the Arabs, and welcomed the return of their conquerors under Musa, who subdued the country finally, and enlisted most of the Moors under the faith and standard of the prophet, A. D. 705-709. With the Arab conquest ends the ancient history of Africa. [P.S.]

beyond Dium, the first of which terminated at the river Mitys, the second at Agassa, and the third at the river Ascordus. The last appears to be the same as the Acerdos, which occurs in the Tabular Itinerary, though not marked as a river. Leake supposes that the Mitys was the river of Katerina, and that Acerdos was a tributary of the Haliacmon. (Liv. xliv. 7, xlv. 27; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 423, seq.)

AGATHUSA. [TELOS.]

AGATHYRNA or AGATHYRNUM ('Ayá@upra, Polyb. ap. Steph. Byz.'Aya@úpvov, Ptol.: Agathyrna, Sil. Ital. xiv. 259; Liv.; Agathyrnum, Plin.), a city on the N. coast of Sicily between Tyndaris and Calacte. It was supposed to have derived its name from Agathyrnus, a son of Aeolus, who is said to have settled in this part of Sicily (Diod. v. 8). But though it may be inferred from hence that it was an ancient city, and probably of Sicelian origin, we find no mention of it in history until after Sicily became a Roman province. During the Second Punic War it became the head-quarters of a band of robbers and freebooters, who extended their ravages over the neighbouring country, but were reduced by the consul Laevinus in B. c. 210, who transported 4000 of them to Rhegium. (Liv. xxvi. 40, xxvii. 12.) It very probably was deprived on this occasion of the municipal rights conceded to most of the Sicilian towns, which may account for our finding no notice of it in Cicero, though it is mentioned by Strabo among the few cities still subsisting on the N. coast of Sicily, as well as afterwards by Pliny, Ptolemy and the Itineraries. (Strab. vi. p. 266; Plin. iii. 8; Ptol. iii. 4. § 2; Itin. Ant. p. 92; Tab. Peut.) Its situation has been much disputed, on account of the great discrepancy between the authorities just cited. Strabo places it 30 Roman miles from Tyndaris, and the same distance from Alaesa. The Itinerary gives 28 M. P. from Tyndaris and 20 from Calacte: while the Tabula (of which the numbers seem to be more trustworthy for this part of Sicily than those of the Itinerary) gives 29 from Tyndaris, and only 12 from Calacte. If this last measurement be supposed correct it would exactly coincide with the distance from Caronia (Calacte) to a place near the seacoast called Acque Dolci below S. Filadelfo (called on recent maps S. Fratello) and about 2 miles W. of Sta Agata, where Fazello describes ruins of considerable magnitude as extant in his day: but which he, in common with Cluverius, regarded as the re

mains of Aluntium. The latter city may, however, be placed with much more probability at S. Marco [ALUNTIUM]: and the ruins near S. Fratello would thus be those of Agathyrna, there being no other city of any magnitude that we know of in this part of Sicily. Two objections, however, remain: 1. that the distance from this site to Tyndaris is greater than that given by any of the authorities, being certainly not less than 36 miles: 2. that both Pliny and Ptolemy, from the order of their enumeration, appear to place Agathyrna between Aluntium and Tyndaris, and therefore if the former city be correctly fixed at S. Marco, Agathyrna must be looked for to the E. of that town. Fazello accordingly placed it near Capo Orlando, but admits that there were scarcely any vestiges visible there. The question is one hardly susceptible of a satisfactory conclusion, as it is impossible on any view to reconcile the data of all our authorities, but the arguments in favour of the Acque Dolci seem on the whole to predominate. Unfortu nately the ruins there have not been examined by any recent traveller, and have very probably disappeared. Captain Smyth, however, speaks of the remains of a fine Roman bridge as visible in the Fiumara di Rosa Marina between this place and S. Marco. (Fazell. ix. 4, p. 384, 5. p. 391; Cluver. Sicil. p. 295; Smyth's Sicily, p. 97.) [E. H. B.] AGATHYRSI ('Ayátupσoi, 'Ayalupoioi), a people of Sarmatia Europaea, very frequently mentioned by the ancient writers, but in different positions. Their name was known to the Greeks very early, if the Peisander, from whom Suidas (s. v.) and Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v.) quote an absurd mythical etymology of the name (ἀπὸ τῶν θύρσαν TOû Alóvuσov) be the poet Peisander of Rhodes, B. C. 645; but he is much more probably the younger Peisander of Larauda, A.D. 222. Another myth is repeated by Herodotus, who heard it from the Greeks on the Euxine; that Hercules, on his return from his adventure against Geryon, passed through the region of Hylaea, and there met the Echidna, who bore him three sons, Agathyrsus, Gelonus, and Scythes; of whom the last alone was able to bend a bow and to wear a belt, which Hercules had left behind, in the same manner as Hercules himself had used them; and, accordingly, in obedience to their father's command, the Echidna drove the two elder out of the land, and gave it to Scythes (Herod. iv. 7-10: comp. Tzetz. Chil. viii. 222,759). Herodotus himself, also, regards the Agathyrsi as not a Scythian people, but as closely related to the Scythians. He places them about the upper course of the river Maris (Marosch), that is, in the SE. part of Dacia, or the modern Transylvania (iv. 4: the Maris, however, does not fall directly, as he states, into the Ister, Danube, but into that great tributary of the Danube, the Theiss). They were the first of the peoples bordering on Scythia, to one going inland from the Ister; and next to them the Neuri (iv. 100). Being thus separated by the E. Carpathian mountains from Scythia, they were able to refuse the Scythians, flying before Dareius, an entrance into their country (Herod. iv. 125). How far N. they extended cannot be determined from Herodotus, for he assigns an erroneous course to the Ister, N. of which he considers the land to be quite desert. [SCYTHIA.] The later writers, for the most part, place the Agathyrsi further to the N., as is the case with nearly all the Scythian tribes; some place them on the Palus Maeotis and some inland; and they are generally spoken

of in close connection with the Sarmatians and the Geloni, and are regarded as a Scythian tribe (Ephor. ap. Scymn. Fr. v. 123, or 823, ed. Meineke; Mela ii. 1; Plin. iv. 26; Ptol. iii. 5; Dion. Perieg. 310; Avien. Descr. Orb. 447; Steph. B. s. v.; Suid. s. v. &c.). In their country was found gold and also precious stones, among which was the diamond, àðáμas πaμpaivwv (Herod. iv. 104; Amm. Marc. xxii. 8; Dion. Perieg. 317). According to Herodotus, they were a luxurious race (asporάToi, Ritter explains this as referring to fine clothing), and wore much gold: they had a community of wives, in order that all the people might regard each other as brethren; and in their other customs they resembled the Thracians (iv. 104). They lived under kingly government; and Herodotus mentions their king Spargapeithes as the murderer of the Scythian king, Ariapeithes (iv. 78). Frequent allusions are made by later writers to their custom of painting (or rather tattooing) their bodies, in a way to indicate their rank, and staining their hair a dark blue (Virg. Aen. iv. 146; Serv. ad loc.; Plin. iv. 26; Solin. 20; Avien. l. c.; Ammian. l. c.; Mela ii. 1: Agathyrsi ora artusque pingunt: ut quique majoribus praestant, ita magis, vel minus: ceterum iisdem omnes notis, et sic ut ablui nequeant). Aristotle mentions their practice of solemnly reciting their laws lest they should forget them, as observed in his time (Prob. xix. 28). Finally, they are mentioned by Virgil (l. c.) among the worshippers of the Delian Apollo, where their name is, doubtless, used as a specific poetical synonym for the Hyperboreans in general:

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mixtique altaria circum Cretesque Dryopesque fremunt pictique Agathyrsi."

Niebuhr (Kleine Schriften, vol. i. p. 377) regards the Agathyrsi of Herodotus, or at least the people who occupied the position assigned to them by Herǝdotus, as the same people as the Getae or Dacians (Ukert, vol. iii. pt. 2, pp. 418-421; Georgii, vol. ii. pp. 302, 303; Ritter, Vorhalle, pp. 287, foll.) [P.S.] AGBATANA. [ECBATANA.]

AGENDICUM, or AGETINCUM in the Peutinger Table, one of the chief towns of the Senones in the time of Caesar (B. G. vi. 44, vii. 10, 57). The orthography of the word varies in the MSS. of Caesar, where there is Agendicum, Agedincum, and Agedicum. If it is the town which was afterwards called Senones (Amm. Marc. xvi. 3, Senonas oppidum), we may conclude that it is represented by the modern town of Sens, on the river Yonne. Some critics have supposed that Provins represents Agendicum. Under the Roman empire, in the later division of Gallia, Agendicum was the chief town of Lugdunensis Quarta, and it was the centre of several Roman roads. In the walls of the city there are some stones with Roman inscriptions and sculptures. The name Agredicum in the Antonine Itinerary may be a corruption of Agendicum. [G. L.]

AGINNUM or AGENNUM (Agen), was the chief town of the Nitiobriges, a tribe situated between the Garumna and the Ligeris in Caesar's time (B. G. vii. 7, 75). Aginnum was on the road from Burdigala to Argentomagus (It. Antonin.). It is the origin of the modern town of Agen, on the river Garonne, in the department of Lot and Garonne, and contains some Roman remains. Aginnum is mentioned by Ausonius (Ep. xxiv. 79); and it was the birthplace of Sulpicius Severus. [G. L.]

AGISŸMBA ('Ayiovμsa), the general name

under which Ptolemy includes the whole interior of towards the free part of Germany was protected partly
Africa S. of the Equator; which he regards as be- by a wall (from Ratisbon to Lorch), and partly by a
longing to Aethiopia (i. 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, iv. 8, vii. mound (from Lorch to the Rhine, in the neighbour-
5).
[P. S.] hood of Cologne) and Roman garrisons. The pro-
A'GORA ('Ayopá), a town situated about the tection of those districts against the ever renewed
middle of the narrow neck of the Thracian Cherso- attacks of the Germans required a considerable mili-
nesus, and not far from Cardia. Xerxes, when in-tary force, and this gave rise to a number of towns
vading Greece, passed through it. (Herod. vii. 58; and military roads, of which many traces still exist.
Scylax, p. 28; Steph. B. s. v.)
But still the Romans were unable to maintain them-

[L. S.] AGRA (Aypa 'Apa¤ías, Ptol. vi. 7. § 5; Steph. B. s. vv. 'Id@pinna, "Eypa), a small district of Arabia Felix, situated at the foot of Mount Hippus, on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, in lat. 29) N. (Akra). Iathrippa or Lathrippa seems to have been its principal town. [W. B. D.]

AGRAE. [ATTICA.]

Römern, Freiburg, 1825, 8vo.) The towns in the
Decumates Agri were Ambiatinus vicus, ALISUM,
Divitia, Gesonia, Victoria, Biberna, Aquae Mattiacae,
Munimentum Trajani, Artaunum, Triburium, Bra-
godurum or Bragodunum, Budoris, Carithni, and
others. Comp. RHAETIA.
[L. S.]

AGRIA'NES ('Aypiávns: Ergina), a small river
in Thrace, and one of the tributaries of the Hebrus.
(Herod. iv. 89.) It flows from Mount Hieron in a
NW. direction, till it joins the Hebrus. Some have
supposed it to be the same as the Erigon, which,
however, is impossible, the latter being a tributary
of the Axius.
[L. S.]

selves, and the part which was lost first seems to have been the country about the river Maine and Mount Taunus. The southern portion was probably lost soon after the death of the emperor Probus (A.D 283), when the Alemanni took possession of it. The latest of the Roman inscriptions found in that country belongs to the reign of Gallienus (A. D. 260 AGRAEI (Aypało, Thuc. iii. 106; Strab. p.-268). (Comp. Leichtlen, Schwaben unter den 449: 'Aypaeis, Pol. xvii. 5; Steph. Byz. s. v.), a people in the NW. of Aetolia, bounded on the W. by Acarnania, from which it was separated by Mount Thyamus (Spartovuni); on the NW. by the territory of Argos Amphilochicum; and on the N. by Dolopia. Their territory was called Agrais, or Agraea (Αγραίς, ίδος, Thuc. iii. 111; ̓Αγραία, Strab. p. 338), and the river Achelous flowed through the centre of it. The Agraei were a nonHellenic people, and at the commencement of the Peloponnesian war were governed by a native king, called Salynthius, who is mentioned as an ally of the Ambraciots, when the latter were defeated by the Acarnanians and Demosthenes in B. C. 426. Two years afterwards (424) Demosthenes marched against Salynthius and the Agraei, and compelled them to join the Athenian alliance. Subsequently they became subject to the Aetolians, and are called an Aetolian people by Strabo. (Thuc. ii. 102, iii. 106, 114, iv. 77; Strab. p. 449; Pol. xvii. 5; Liv. xxxii. 34.) This people is mentioned by Cicero (in Pison. 37), under the name of Agrinae, which is perhaps a corrupt form. Strabo (p. 338) mentions a village called Ephyra in their country; and Agrinium would also appear from its name to have been one of their towns. [EPHYRA; AGRINIUM.] The Aperanti were perhaps a tribe of the Agraei. [APERANTIA.] The Agraei were a different people from the Agrianes, who lived on the borders of Macedonia. [AGRIANES.]

AGRAEI (Aypaîoi, Ptol. v. 19. § 2; Eratosth. ap. Strab. p. 767), a tribe of Arabs situated near the main road which led from the head of the Red Sea to the Euphrates. They bordered on the Nabathaean Arabs, if they were not indeed a portion of that race. According to Hieronymus (Quaest. in Gen. 25), the Agraei inhabited the district which the Hebrews designated as Midian. Pliny (v. 11. s. 12) places the Agraei much further westward in the vicinity of the Laenitae and the eastern shore of the Red Sea. [W.B.D.]

AGRIA'NES ('Aypiâves), a Paeonian people,
dwelling near the sources of the Strymon. They
formed excellent light-armed troops, and are fre-
quently mentioned in the campaigns of Alexander
the Great. (Strab. p. 331; Herod. v. 16; Thuc. ii.
96; Arrian, Anab. i. 1. § 11, i. 5. § 1, et alib.)

AGRIGENTUM (Akpάyas*: Eth. and Adj.
'Akpayavтivos, Agrigentinus: Girgenti), one of
the most powerful and celebrated of the Greek cities
in Sicily, was situated on the SW. coast of the
island, about midway between Selinus and Gela.
It stood on a hill between two and three miles from
the sea, the foot of which was washed on the E.
and S. by a river named the ACRAGAS, from whence
the city itself derived its appellation, on the W.
and SW. by another stream named the HYPSAS,
which unites its waters with those of the Acragas
just below the city, and about a mile from its mouth.
The former is now called the Fiume di S. Biagio,
the latter the Drago, while their united stream is
commonly known as the Fiume di Girgenti (Polyb.
ix. 27; Siefert, Akragas u. sein Gebiet, p. 20-22).

We learn from Thucydides that Agrigentum was
founded by a colony from Gela, 108 years after the
establishment of the parent city, or B. C. 582. The
leaders of the colony were Aristonous and Pystilus,
and it received the Dorian institutions of the mother
country, including the sacred rites and observances
which had been derived by Gela itself from Rhodes.
On this account it is sometimes called a Rhodian
colony. (Thuc. vi. 4; Scymn. Ch. 292; Strab. vi.
p. 272, where Kramer justly reads reλwv for 'lever;
Polyb. ix. 27. Concerning the date of its founda-
tion see Schol. ad Pind. Ol. ii. 66; and Clinton, F. H.
vol. ii. p. 265.) We have very little information
concerning its early history, but it appears to have
very rapidly risen to great prosperity and power:

AGRAULE or AGRYLE. [ATTICA.] AGRI DECUMATES or DECUMA'NI (from decuma, tithe), tithe lands, a name given by the Romans to the country E. of the Rhine and N. of the Danube, which they took possession of on the withdrawal of the Germans to the E., and which they gave to the immigrating Gauls and subject Germans, and subsequently to their own veterans, on the payment of a tenth of the produce. Towards the end of the first or the beginning of the second century after Christ, the country became part of the adjoining *The form ACRAGAS or AGRAGAS in Latin is Roman province of Rhaetia, and was thus incorporated found only in the Roman poets. (Virg. Aen. iii with the empire. (Tacit. Germ. 29.) Its boundary | 703; Sil. Ital. xiv. 210.)

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though it preserved its liberty for but a very short period before it fell under the yoke of Phalaris (about 570 B. C.). The history of that despot is involved in so much uncertainty that it is difficult to know what part of it can be depended on as really historical. [Dict. of Biogr. art. PHALARIS, vol. iii.] But it seems certain that he raised Agrigentum to be one of the most powerful cities in Sicily, and extended his dominion by force of arms over a considerable part of the island. But the cruel and tyrannical character of his internal government at length provoked a general insurrection, in which Phalaris himself perished, and the Agrigentines recovered their liberty. (Diod. Exc. Vat. p. 25; Cic. de Off. ii. 7; Heraclides, Polit. 37.) From this period till the accession of Theron, an interval of about 60 years, we have no information concerning Agrigentum, except a casual notice that it was successively governed by Alcamenes and Alcandrus (but whether as despots or chief magistrates does not appear), and that it rose to great wealth and prosperity under their rule. (Heraclid. 7. c.) The precise date when Theron attained to the sovereignty of his native city, as well as the steps by which he rose to power, are unknown to us: but he appears to have become despot of Agrigentum as early as B. C. 488. (Diod. xi. 53.) By his alliance with Gelon of Syracuse, and still more by the expulsion of Terillus from Himera, and the annexation of that city to his dominions, Theron extended as well as confirmed his power, and the great Carthaginian invasion in B. C. 480, which for a time threatened destruction to all the Greek cities in Sicily, ultimately became a source of increased prosperity to Agrigentum. For after the great victory of Gelon and Theron at Himera, a vast number of Carthaginian prisoners fell into the hands of the Agrigentines, and were employed by them partly in the cultivation of their extensive and fertile territory, partly in the construction of public works in the city itself, the magnificence of which was long afterwards a subject of admiration. (Diod. xi. 25.) Nor does the government of Theron appear to have been oppressive, and he continued in the undisturbed possession of the sovereign power till his death, B. C. 472. His son Thrasydacus on the contrary quickly alienated his subjects by his violent and arbitrary conduct, and was expelled from Agrigentum within a year after his father's death. (Id. xi. 53. For further details concerning the history of Agrigentum during this period, see the articles TIERON and THRASYDAEUS in the Dict. of Biogr. vol. iii.)

The Agrigentines now established a democratic form of government, which they retained without interruption for the space of above 60 years, until the Carthaginian invasion in B. C. 406—a period which may be regarded as the most prosperous and flourishing in the history of Agrigentum, as well as of many others of the Sicilian cities. The great public, works which were commenced or completed during this interval were the wonder of succeeding ages; the city itself was adorned with buildings both public and private, inferior to none in Greece, and the wealth and magnificence of its inhabitants became almost proverbial. Their own citizen Empedocles is said to have remarked that they built their houses as they were to live for ever, but gave themselves up to luxury as if they were to die on the morrow. (Diog. Laert. viii. 2. § 63.)

mates the whole population (including probably slaves as well as strangers) at not less than 200,000 (Diod. xiii. 84 and 90), a statement by no means improbable, while that of Diogenes Laertius (l. c.), who makes the population of the city alone amount to 800,000, is certainly a gross exaggeration.

This period was however by no means one of unbroken peace. Agrigentum could not avoid participating-though in a less degree than many other cities-in the troubles consequent on the expulsion of the Gelonian dynasty from Syracuse, and the revolutions that followed in different parts of Sicily. Shortly afterwards we find it engaged in hostilities" with the Sicel chief Ducetius, and the conduct of the Syracusans towards that chieftain led to a war between them and the Agrigentines, which ended in a great defeat of the latter at the river Himera, B. C. 446. (Diod. xi. 76, 91, xii. 8.) We find also obscure notices of internal dissensions, which were allayed by the wisdom and moderation of Empedocles. (Diog. Laert. viii. 2. § 64-67.) On occasion of the great Athenian expedition to Sicily in B. c. 415, Agrigentum maintained a strict neutrality, and not only declined sending auxiliaries to either party but refused to allow a passage through their territory to those of other cities. And even when the tide of fortune had turned decidedly against the Athenians, all the efforts of the Syracusan partisans within the walls of Agrigentum failed in inducing their fellowcitizens to declare for the victorious party. (Thuc. vii. 32, 33, 46, 50, 58.)

A more formidable danger was at hand. The Carthaginians, whose intervention was invoked by the Segestans, were contented in their first expedition (B. C. 409) with the capture of Selinus and Himera: but when the second was sent in B. C. 406 it was Agrigentum that was destined to bear the first brunt of the attack. The luxurious habits of the Agrigentines had probably rendered them little fit for warfare, but they were supported by a body of mercenaries under the command of a Lacedaemonian named Dexippus, who occupied the citadel, and the natural strength of the city in great measure defied the efforts of the assailants. But notwithstanding these advantages and the efficient aid rendered them by a Syracusan army under Daphnaeus, they were reduced to such distress by famine that after a siege of eight months they found it impossible to hold out longer, and to avoid surrendering to the enemy, abandoned their city, and migrated to Gela. The sick and helpless inhabitants were massacred, and the city itself with all its wealth and magnificence plundered by the Carthaginians, who occupied it as their quarters during the winter, but completed its destruction when they quitted it in the spring, B. c. 405. (Diod. xiii. 80—91, 108; Xen. Hell. i. 5. § 21.)

Agrigentum never recovered from this fatal blow, though by the terms of the peace concluded with Dionysius by the Carthaginians, the fugitive inhabitants were permitted to return, and to occupy the ruined city, subject however to the Carthaginian rule, and on condition of not restoring the fortifications, a permission of which many appear to have availed themselves. (Diod. xiii. 114.) A few years later they were even able to shake off the yoke of Carthage and attach themselves to the cause of Dionysius, and the peace of B. c. 383, which fixed the river Halycus as the boundary of the Carthaginian dominions, must have left them in the enjoyThe number of citizens of Agrigentum at this ment of their liberty; but though we find them re time is stated by Diodorus at 20,000: but he esti-peatedly mentioned during the wars of Dionysius

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