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

6 ACINACES. ACROTERIUM.
close union 6xisting among the confederate towns ACI'SCULUS. [AscIA.]
was, according to Polybius (ii. 37), strengthened ACLIS. [HAsTA.]
by their adopting common weights, measures, and ACNA or ACNUA (also spelt agna and agnuca)
coins. was, according to Varro, the Italian name, and
But the perpetual discord of the members of the according to Columella, the common Baetican name
league, the hostility of Sparta, the intrigues of the of the actus quadratus. [AcTus.] An old writer,
Romans, and the folly and rashness of the later quoted by Salmasius, says " agnua habet pedes
strategi, brought about not only the destruction and XiIII. cccc," i. e. 14,400 square feet. The name is
dissolution of the confederacy, but of the freedom almost certainly connected with the Greek scaiua,
of all Greece, which with the fall of Corinth, in though the measure is different. (Varro, R. R.
s. c. 146, became a Roman province under the i. 10. ~ 2; Colum. R. R. v. 2. ~ 5; Schneider,
name of Achaia. (Comp. Schorn, Gesc&l. Griechen- Comnment. ad ll. cc.; Salmasius, ad Solin. p.
lands von der Entstehung des Aetol. u. Achliiisch. 481.) [P. S.]
Bulndes, especially pp. 49, &c. 60, &c.; A. Matthiae, ACO'NTION (M&ssJwrlov). [HASTA.]
Vermiscite Schriften, p. 239, &c.; Drumann, Ideen ACRATISMA (aipcrsTtcr a). [COENA.]
zur Gesch. des Verfalls der Griech. Staaten, p. 447; ACROA'MA (a&KpcaCa), any thing heard, and
Tittmann, GWiecls. Staatsverfass. p. 673, &c.; K. F. especially any thing heard with pleasure, signified
Hermann, GCriech. Staatsalterth. ~ 185.) [L. S.] a play or musical piece; hence a concert of players
ACHANE ('AXdcri), a Persian and Boeotian on different musical instruments, and also an intermeasure, equivalent to 45 Attic medimni. (Aris- lude, called enabolia by Cicero (pro Sext. 54), which
tot. ap. Scliol. ad Aristoph. Aceharn. 108, 109; Suid. was performed during the exhibition of the public
s. v.) According to Hesychius a Boeotian a&Xdirs games. The word is also applied to the actors and
was equal to one Attic medimnus. [P. S.] musicians who were employed to amuse guests
A'CIES. [EXERCITUS.] during an entertainment (Cic. Verr. iv. 22; pro
ACI'NACES (a&seKu'cirs), a Persian sword, Arch. 9; Suet. Octav. 74; Macrob. Sat. ii. 4); and
whence Horace (Carm. i. 27. 5) speaks of the it is sometimes used to designate the ancagnostae.
AJiedus acinaces. It was a short and straight wea- [ANAGNOSTAE.]
poen, and thus differed from the Roman sica, which ACROLITHI (aKpdslOoi), statues, of which the
was curved. (Pollux, i. 138; Joseph. Ant. Jud. extremities (face, feet, and hands, or toes and
xx. 7. ~ 10. [SICA.] It was worn on the right fingers) only were of marble, and the remaining
side of the body (insignis acinace dextro, Val. Flacc. part of the body of wood either gilt, or, what seems
A;,gon. vi. 701), whereas the Greeks and Romans to have been more usual, covered with drapery. The
usually had their swords suspended on the left side. word occurs only in the Greek Anthology (Brunck,
The form of the acinaces, with the method of Anal. vol. iii. p. 155, No. 20; Anthi. Ptal. xii.
using it, is illustrated by the following Persepolitan 40), and in Vitruvius (ii. 8. ~ 11); but statues of
figures. In all the bas-reliefs found at Persepolis, the kind are frequently mentioned by Pausanias
the acinaces is invariably straight, and is com- (ii. 4. ~ 1, vi. 25. ~ 4, vii. 21. ~~ 4 or 10, vii. 23.
monly suspended over the right thigh, never over ~ 5, viii. 25. ~ 4 or 6, viii. 31. ~ 1 or 2, and ~ 3
the left, but sometimes in front of the body. The or 6, ix. 4. ~ 1.) It is a mistake to suppose that
form of the acinaces is also seen in the statues of all the statues of this kind belonged to an earlier
the god Mithras, one of which is figured in the cut period. They continued to be made at least down
on the title-page of this work. to the time of Praxiteles. (Comp. Jacobs, Consment. in A4zths. G~raec., vol. iii. Pt. 1. p. 298; and
Winckelmann, Geschichte der Kunst, B. i. c. 2.
~ 13.) [P. S.]
ACRO'POLIS (a&cpdsroXts). In almost all
Greek cities, which were usually built upon a hill,
j. I I 2 rock, or some natural elevation, there was a kind of
tower, a castle, or a citadel, built upon the highest
part of the rock or hill, to which the name of
acropolis was given. Thus we read of an acropolis
at Athens, Corinth, Argos, Messene, and many
other places. The Capitolium at Rome answered
the same purpose as the Acropolis in the Greek
cities; and of the same kind were the tower of
Agathocles at Utica (App. Pzun. 14), and that of
Antonia at Jerusalem. (Joseph. B. J. v. ~ 8,
Act. Apostol. xxi. 34.) At Athens, the Acropolis
served as the treasury, and as the names of all
public debtors were registered there, the expression
of " registered upon the Acropolis" (e'yyeypna/-e'- vos i,'AKepo7r6tXE) always means a public debtor
A golden acinaces was frequently worn by the (eiv aKpo7rAe t 7yeypajAtEJ'oL, Dem. c. T/seocr. p.
Persian nobility, and it was often given to indi- 1337. 24; Bdckh. Publ. Econ. of At/sens, p. 388,
viduals by the kings of Persia as a mark of honour. 2nd edit.).
(Herod. viii. 120; Xen. Azab. i. 2. ~ 27, 8. ~ 29.) ACROSTO'LIUM (acspoar'drT ov). [NAVIS.]
The acinaces was also used by the Caspii. ACROTE'RIUM (t&epoTrprov) signifies an ex(Herod. vii. 67.) It was an object of religious tremity of any thing. It is generally used in the
worship among the Scythians and many of the plural.
northern nations of Europe. (Herod. iv. 62; Comp. 1. In Architecture it seems to have been used
Mela, ii. 1; Amm. Marc. xxxi. 2.) [J. Y.] originally in the samue sense as the Latinfastyqisum,