A complete dictionary of the Greek and Roman antiquities explaining the obscure places in classic authors and ancient historians relating to the religion, mythology, history, geography and chronology of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their ... rites and customs, laws, polity, arts and engines of war : also an account of their navigations, arts and sciences and the inventors of them : with the lives and opinions of their philosophers / compiled originally in French ... by Monsieur Danet ; made English, with the addition of very useful mapps.

AER,

the Air, which by the Antients was taken for a Diety. Anaximenes the Milesian, and Diogenes Apolloniates affirm'd the Air to be their God; but Cicero and St. Austin confute them by very strong Arguments. This Holy Doctor informs us, that these two Philosophers did no otherwise attribute Divinity to the Air, but as they believ'd it was fill'd with an Infinite In∣telligence, and an infinite number of particular Spirits who made their abode in it; and so their Opinion is co-incident with that Idea of the Platonists, who thought that God was the Soul of the World, and that all the Parts of the World were full of Spirits and living Substances. The Assyrians and Africans gave the Air the Name of Juno, or Venus Urania and Virgo, as we learn from Julius Firmicus, de Err. Prof. Rel. The E∣gyptians gave the Air the Name and Worship of Minerva, as Eusebius testifies, Aera verò aiunt ab iis Minervam vocari. But Diodorus Sieulus has better unveil'd the Mystery of this Doctrine, speaking of the Egyptians, he says, Aeri porrò A∣thenae, seu Minervae nomen quadam voics interpre∣tatione tribuisse, Jovisque filiam hanc & virginem putari; eo quòd Aer naturâ corruptioni non obnoxius sit, & summum mundi locum obtineat. Unde etiam fabula è Jovis vertice illam enatam. Vocari autem tritogeniam, quòd ter in anno naturam mutet, vere, aestate, hieme; & glaucam dici, non quòd glaucos, id est, caesios habet oculos, insulsum enim hoc esset; sed quòd Aer glauco sit colore: To the Air was given the Name of Athena or Minerva, who was thought to be the Daughter of Jupiter, and a Virgin, be∣cause the Air by its nature is not liable to corruption, and it possesses the highest place of the World: from whence arose the Fable, that Minerva came out of Jupiter's Brain; and she is said to be begotten thrice, because the Air changes three times in a year, viz. at Spring, Summer and Winter; her Eyes were said to be blue, because the Air appears to be of that colour.

The Greeks and Romans did most readily call the Air by the Names of Jupiter and Juno; and thus they distinguish'd two Vertues in the Air, the one Active and Masculine, the other Pas∣sive and Feminine, as we learn from Seneca in his Natural Questions; Aera marem judicant, qud ventus est: feminam, quâ nebulosus & iners. Yet it must be confess'd, that Juno was most com∣monly taken for the Air; and so the Greek Name of Juno 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, is said to be nothing else but a

transposition of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. After this manner Cicero explains the Fable of Juno; Aer, ut Stoici dispu∣tant, interjectus inter mare & caelum, Junonis no∣mine consecratur, quae est soror & conjux Jovis, quod ei similitudo est aetheris, & cum eo summa con∣junctio. From whence we may see the reason of the Affinity and Marriage between Jupiter and Juno, i. e. between the Heaven and the Air, and also plainly understand that other Fa∣ble of Homer, That Jupiter hang'd Juno in a Chain, having Two-Anvils which were fa∣sten'd to his Feet, which signifies nothing but the dependance that the Air has upon the Hea∣ven, and which the Sea and Land have upon the Air.