Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

AS. ASCOLIASMUS. 141
The quadrans or tesrncius, the fourth part of Roma, 1839, 4to.; and in Lepsius's review of it
the as, or piece of three ounces, has three balls to appended to his treatise Ueber die Tlrrliener-Pelasdenote its value. An open hand, a strigil, a dol- (er.) [P. S.]
phin, grains of corn, a star, heads of Hercules, ASCAULES. [TIBIA.]
Ceres, &c, are common devices on this coin. Pliny ASCIA (oKtcsapov, Hom. Od. v. 235), an adze,
(I<. JV. xxxiii. 3. s. 13) says that both the triens Muratori (Ins. Vet. T/hes. i. 534-536) has puband quadrans bore the image of a ship. The lished numerous representations of the adze, as it
sextans, the sixth part of the as, or piece of two is exhibited on ancient monuments. We select the
ounces, bears two balls. In the annexed specimen, three following, two of which show the instrument
from the British Museum, there is a caduceus and itself, with a slight variety of form, while the third
strigil on one side, and a cockle-shell on the other. represents a ship-builder holding it in his right
Its weight is 779 grains. hand, and using it to shape the rib of a vessel.
The uncia, one ounce piece, or twelfth of the as, /
is marked by a single ball. There appear on this /
coin heads of Pallas, of lRoma, and of Diana, ships,
frogs, and ears of barley. (For other devices, see
Eckhel, Doctr. Nutz. Vet.)
After the reduction in the weight of the as,
coins were struck of the valiie of 2, 3, 4, and even
10 ases, which were called respectively dussis or
du olndius, ressis, qauadcessis, and decusscs. Other We also give another instrument in the above cut
multiples of the as were denoted by words of similar taken from a coin of the Valerian family, and
formiation, up to centussis, 100 ases; but most of alled aciscldus. It was chiefly used by masons,
them do not exist as coins. whence, in the ancient glossaries, Aciscularius is
It is a very remarkable fact that, while the translated. Xa'Lg/aos, a stone-cutte-.
duodecimal division of the:as prevailed among the As to the reason why Ascia is represented on
nations of Italy south of the Apennines, the deci- sepulchral monuments, see Forcellini, Lexicon,
mal division was in use to the north of that chain; s.. [J. y.]
so that, of the former nations no quincunx has been ASCLEPIEIA (&achArnieta), the name of festidiscovered, of the latter no semis. In Sicily the vals which were probably celebrated in all places
two systems were mixed. [PONDERa.] For further where temples of Asclepius (Aesculapius) existed.
details respecting the coinage of the other Italian The most celebrated, however, was that of Epistates, see Bockh, letrol. Utersucl. ~ 27;;Abeken, daurus, which took place every five years, and.liittel-ltulien, and Lepsius, Ueber die Verbreitung was solemnized with contests of rhapsodists and
des ltalischlen ilunxzsystenls ton LEtrurien aus. musicians, and with solemn processions and games.
In certain forms of expression, in which ues is (Schol. ad Pind. NeAn. iii. 145; Paus. ii. 26. ~. 7.)
used for money without specifying the denomina-'Ao'rcKIrieLa are also mentioned at Lamnpsacus
tion, we must understand the as. Thus deni eris, (Bockh, Corp. Inzsct. vol. ii. p. 1131), and at
mille aeris, decies aeris, mean respectively 10, 1000, Athens (Aeschin, c. Ctesiplh. p. 455), which were,
1,)000),000 uses. probably, like those of Epidaurus, solemnized with
The w.Yord as was used also for any whole which musical contests. They took place on the eighth
was to be divided into twelve equal parts; and day of the month of Elaphebolion. [L. S.]
those parts were called unciae. Thus the nomen- ASCOLIASMUS (droccac -,ao,'s, the leaping
clature of the duodecimal division of the as was ap- upon the leathern bag, cr-0o's) was one of the
lied not only to weight and money, but to measures many kinds of amusements in which the Athenians
of length, surface, and capacity, to inheritances, indulged during the Anthesteria and other festivals
interest, houses, farms, and nlany other things. in honour of Dionysus. The Athenians sacrificed
IIence, for example, the phrases haceres ex asse, the
heir to a whole estate; lu1ceres ex dodradte, the heir
to three-fourths, &c. (Cic. Pro Caecin, 6; Corn.
Nep. Attic. 5.) Pliny even uses the phrases semis- "
sema Af'icue (H. N. xviii. 6. s. 7), and dodriantes et / V \
semiuxecias horarum (H. N. ii. 14. s. 11).
The as was also called, in ancient times, assarius
(sC. aummlnes), and in Greek a'b &arrcdptov. According to Polybius (ii. 15) the assarius was equal to
half the obolus. On the coins of Chios we find
aoodpro,, &aaroapov ptiarv, da&rplma UC5e, a&roodpia
rpia. (In addition to the works referred to in this
article, and those of IHussey and Wurm, much
valuable information will be found in the work
endtitled, Aes Grace del Az1i2seo Kiri'ceriao, &cX.