A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

ALEXIUS.
ALEXIS or ALE'XIUS IV. A'NGELUS
( 1AAet) or 'AXAtos "Ayyseos), was the son of the
emperor Isaac II. Angelus. It is mentioned under
ALEXIS III. that, after the deposition of this emperor, he and his father were placed on the throne
by the Crusaders. Alexis IV. was crowned together with Isaac II. on the 29th of July, 1203,
and, to secure himself on the throne, engaged the
Crusaders to continue at Constantinople. He had
promised them to put an end to the schism of the
Greek Church, but did not do anything for that
purpose, nor did he fulfil his other engagements
towards the Crusaders. At the same time, he did
not understand how to maintain his dignity among
the turbulent and haughty barons of Italy, France,
and Flanders, who were assembled in his capital.
Serious differences consequently arose between him
and his deliverers. Alexis Ducas, surnamed Murzuphlus, an ambitious and enterprising man, took
advantage of these troubles, and suddenly seized
the crown. By his order Alexis IV. was put to
death on the 28th of January, 1204; Isaac II.
died of grief. (Nicetas, Isaacius Angelus, iii. c. 8,
&c.; Isaacius et Alexis fiL.; Villehardouin, Ibid. c.
51, 56, 60, &c., 102-107.) [W. P.]
I ALEXIS or ALE'XIUS V. DUCAS ('AAgis
or 'AA\ioY Aoiica), surnamed "MURZUPHLUS," on
account of the close junction of his shaggy eyebrows, was crowned emperor of Constantinople on
the 8th of February, 1204, after having been present at the murder of Alexis IV., who was put to
death by his order. His earlier life is almost unknown. Nicetas, however, states, that he had
always been rapacious and voluptuous; on the
other hand, he was a man of great courage and
energy. Immediately after he had usurped the
throne, the Crusaders, who were still assembled
under the walls of Constantinople, laid siege to this
city. Alexis V. disdained to conclude peace with
them on dishonourable conditions, and prepared
for resistance, in which he was vigorously assisted
by Theodore Lascaris. However, courage suddenly
abandoned him, and he fled to the deposed emperor Alexis III., whose daughter Eudoxia AngelaComnena he had just married. Constantinople
was taken by storm by the Crusaders (12th of
April, 1204), who, after having committed those
horrors, of which Nicetas, an eye-witness, gives
such an emphatical description, chose Baldwin,
count of Flanders, emperor of Constantinople, but
leaving him only the fourth part of the empire.
After being deprived of sight by his father-in-law,
Alexis V. fled to the Morea, but was arrested and
carried to Constantinople, where the Crusaders put
him to death by casting him from the top of the
Theodosian column. (1204.) (Nicetas, MlurzupMhts;
Isaacius Angelus et Alex. fil. c. 4, 5; Gesta Francorum, c. 94; Villehardouin, Ibid. c. 51, 56, 60,
&c. 98, 106, 113-115, 127, &c.) [W. P.]
ALE'XIUS ARISTE'NUS ('AAetos 'Apiao-rvos), Oeconomus of the Great Church at Constantinople, flourished A. D. 1166, in which year he
Swas present at the Council of Constantinople. He
edited a Synopsis Canonum with scholia, which is
given by Bishop Beveridge in his Pandectae Canonum, Oxon. 1672, fol. vol. ii. post pag. 188, and
vol. i. p. 1, &c. Other works by him are quoted.
See Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. xi. p. 280. [A. J. C.]
ALE'XIUS ('AAhios), Patriarch of CONSTANTINOPLE, a member of the monastery of Studius
(founded A. D. 460), succeeded Eustathius as Pa

ALIMENTUS. 131
triarch A. D. 1025. In A. D. 1034 he crowned
Michael IV. the favourite of Zof', who, to make
way for him, procured the death of her husband,
the Emperor Romanus. He thwarted the attempts
of John (the emperor's brother) to gain the patriarchal see (A. D. 1036), and died A. D. 1043. Decrees of his are extant, ap. Jus Gr. Rom. vol. i.
lib. iv. p. 250, Leunclav. Francof. 1596. See
Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. xi. p. 558. [A. J. C.]
ALE'XIUS('AAEL'os), Metropolitan of NICAEA,
composed a Canon or Hy!mn on St. Demetrius the
Martyr. It is uncertain when he lived. The
canon is in manuscript. See Lambecius, Biblioth.
Vindobon. vol. v. p. 599, ed. Kollar. [A. J. C.]
ALEXON ('AA.eiwv), an Achaean who served in
the Carthaginian garrison at Lilybaeum while it
was besieged by the Romans in B. c. 250. During
this siege some of the Gallic mercenaries engaged
in the service of the Carthaginians formed the plan
of betraying the fortress into the hands of the Romans. But Alexon, who had on a former occasion
saved the town of Agrigentum from a similar
attempt of treacherous mercenaries, now acted in
the same faithful spirit, and gave information of the
plot to the Carthaginian commander Himilco. He
also assisted him in inducing the mercenaries to
remain faithful and resist the temptations offered by
their comrades. (Polyb. i. 43, ii. 7.) [L. S.]
ALEXON MYNDIUS. [ALEXANDER MYNDIUS.]
-ALFE'NUS VARUS. [VARus.]
A'LFIUS FLAVUS. [FLAVUS.]
ALGOS ('Axyoy), is used by Hesiod (Thteog.
227) in the plural, as the personification of sorrows
and griefs, which are there represented as the
daughters of Eris. [L. S.]
ALIACMON. [PALAESTINUS.]
L. ALIE'NITS, plebeian aedile B. c. 454, accused Veturius, the consul of the former year, on
account of selling the booty which had been gained
in war, and placing the amount in the aerarium.
(Liv. iii. 31.)
ALIE'NUS CAECINA. [CAECINA.]
ALIMENTUS, L. CI'NCIUS, a celebrated
Roman annalist, antiquary, and jurist, who was
praetor in Sicily, B. c. 209, with the command
of two legions. He wrote an account of his imprisonment in the second Punic war, and a history
of Gorgias Leontinus; but these works probably
formed part of his Annales. (Liv. xxi. 38.) He is
frequently cited by Festus, and the fragments which
have been thus preserved were collected by Wasse,
and may be found appended to Corte's Sallust.
Niebuhr (i. p. 272) praises Alimentus as a
really critical investigator of antiquity, who threw
light on the history of his country by researches
among its ancient monuments. That he possessed
eminent personal qualities, such as strike a great
man, is clear, inasmuch as Hannibal, who used to
treat his Roman prisoners very roughly, made a.
distinction in his behalf, and gave him an account
of his passage through Gaul and over the Alps.
which Alimentus afterwards incorporated in his
history. It is only in his fragments that we find
a distinct statement of the earlier relation between
Rome and Latium, which in all the annals has
been misrepresented by national pride. The point,
however, upon which Niebuhr lays most stress, is
the remarkable difference between Alimentus and
all other chronologers in dating the building of the
city about the fourth year of the 12th Olympiad.
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