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

'254 ARAROS.
purple. His daughter was greatly skilled in the
art of weaving, and, proud of her talent, she even
ventured to challenge Athena to compete with her.
Arachne produced a piece of cloth in which the
amours of the gods were woven, and as Athena
could find no fault with it, she tore the work to
pieces, and Arachne in despair hung herself. The
goddess loosened the rope and saved her life, but
the rope was changed into a cobweb and Arachne
herself into a spider (dpdayz), the animal most
odious to Athena. (Ov. Met. vi. 1-145; Virg.
Georg. iv. 246.) This fable seems to suggest the
idea that man learnt the art of weaving from the
spider, and that it was invented in Lydia. [L. S.]
ARAETHY'REA ('ApaiOvpEa), a daughter of
Aras, an autochthon who was believed to have
built Arantea, the most ancient town in Phliasia.
She had a brother called Aoris, and is said to have
been fond of the chase and warlike pursuits. When
she died, her brother called the country of Phliasia
after her Araethyrea. (Hom. II. ii. 571; Strab. viii.
p. 382.) She was the mother of Phlias. The
monuments of Araethyrea and her brother, consisting of round pillars, were still extant in the time of
Pausanias; and before the mysteries of Demeter
were commenced at Phlius, the people always invoked Aras and his two children with their faces
turned towards their monuments. (Paus. ii. 12.
~~ 4-6.) [L. S.]
A'RACUS (ApaKcos), Ephor, B. c. 409, (Hell.
ii. 3. ~ 10,) was appointed admiral of the Lacedaemonian fleet in B. c. 405, with Lysander for
vice-admiral (7rnoTroXeus), who was to have the
real power, but who had not the title of admiral
(vavdpXos), because the laws of Sparta did not
allow the same person to hold this office twice.
(Plut. Lyc. 7; Xen. Hell. ii. 1. ~ 7; Diod. xiii.
100; Paus. x. 9. ~ 4.) In 398 he was sent into
Asia as one of the commissioners to inspect the
state of things there, and to prolong the command
of Dercyllidas (iii. 2. ~ 6); and in 369 he was
one of the ambassadors sent to Athens. (vi. 5.
~ 33, where 'Apatcos should be read instead of
"Apacros.)
ARACY'NTHIAS ('ApaovvOids), a surname of
Aphrodite, derived from mount Aracynthus, the
position of which is a matter of uncertainty, and
on which she had a temple. (Rhianus, ap. Steph/.
Byz. s. v. 'ApdicvvOos.) EL. S.]
ARA'RSIUS, PATRI'CIUS (ra'rpLitos 'Apdparos), a Christian writer, was the author of a
discourse in Greek entitled Oceanus, a passage out
of which, relating to Meletius and Arius, is quoted
in the Synodicon Vetus (32, ap. Fabric. Bibl. Graec.
xii. p. 369). The title of this fragment is flarpiiciov 'Apapniov Tov ocpdapor, ic rTOV Adyou avrouv
TroO briXE~yopLvou 'acseavoD. Nothing more is
known of the writer. [P. S.]
ARA'ROS ('Apapds), an Athenian comic poet
of the middle comedy, was the son of Aristophanes,
who first introduced him to public notice as the
principal actor in the second Plutus (B. c. 388), the
last play which he exhibited in his own name: he
wrote two more comedies, the KscKaXos and the
AloholiKcv, which were brought out in the name
of Araros (Arg. ad Plut. iv. Bekker), probably
very soon after the above date. Araros first exhibited in his own name B. c. 375. (Suidas, s. v.)
Suidas mentions the following as his comedies:
Kavev's, KaenrvAiwv, Havds yovai, 'TpeYazor, "Alavrs, TnapOevirov. All that we know of his dramatic

ARATUS.

character is contained in the following passage of
Alexis (Athen. iii p. 123, e.), who, however, was
his rival:
Kal yap 0ovoruyat
vaerds oe yeOcraei rpaiyia 8' i TIa JAOl FoL ya
<ppEatos mv'ov msvXpo'repov 'Apaporos. [P. S.]
ARAS. [ARAETHYREA.]
ARASPES ('Apdo-arns), a Mede, and a friend
of tlie elder Cyrus from his youth, contends with
Cyrus that love has no power over him, but shortly
afterwards refutes himself by falling in love with
Pantheia, whom Cyrus had committed to his
charge. [ABRADATAS.] He is afterwards sent
to Croesus as a deserter, to inspect the condition of
the enemy, and subsequently commands the right
wing of Cyrus' army in the battle with Croesus.
(Xen. Cyr. v. 1. ~ 1, 8, &c., vi. 1. ~ 36, &c., 3.
~ 14, 21.)
ARA'TUS ("Aparos), of Sicyon, lived from
B. c. 271 to 213. The life of this remarkable
man, as afterwards of Philopoemen and Lycortas,
was devoted to an attempt to unite the several
Grecian states together, and by this union to assert
the national independence against the dangers with
which it was threatened by Macedonia and Rome.
Aratus was the son of Cleinias, and was born
at Sicyon, B. c. 271. On the murder of his father
by Abantidas [ABANTIDAS], Aratus was saved
from the general extirpation of the family by Soso,
his uncle's widow, who conveyed him to Argos,
where he was brought up. When he had reached
the age of twenty, he gained possession of his
native city by the help of some Argians, and the
cooperation of the remainder of his party in Sicyon
itself, without loss of life, and deprived the usurper
Nicocles of his power, B. c. 251. (Comp. Polyb.
ii. 43.)
Through the influence of Aratus, Sicyon now
joined the Achaean league, and Aratus himsell
sailed to Egypt to obtain Ptolemy's alliance, in
which he succeeded. In B. c. 245 he was elected
general (<-rpaTryds) of the league, and a seconc
time in 243. In the latter of these years he tool<
the citadel of Corinth from the Macedonian garrison, and induced the Corinthian people to joir
the league. It was chiefly through his instru
mentality that Megara, Troezen, Epidaurus, Argos
Cleonae, and Megalopolis, were soon afterward:
added to it. It was about this time that the
Aetolians, who had made a plundering expeditioi
into Peloponnesus, were stopped by Aratus a
Pellene (Polyb. iv. 8), being surprised at the sac]
of that town, and 700 of their number put to th
sword. But at this very time, at which the powe
of the league seemed most secure, the seeds of it
ruin were laid. The very prospect, which noa
for the first time opened, of the hitherto scattere
powers of Greece being united in the leagu<
awakened the jealousy ofAetolia, and of Cleomene
who was too ready to have a pretext for wa
[CLEIOMENES.] Aratus, to save the league from th
danger, contrived to win the alliance of Antigom
Doson, on the condition, as it afterwards appeare
of the surrender of Corinth. Ptolemy, as might 1
expected, joined Cleomenes; and in a successia
of actions at Lycaeum, Megalopolis, and Hecator
baeum, near Dyme, the Achaeans were well ni1
destroyed. By these Aratus lost the confidence
the people, who passed a public censure on his co
duct, and Sparta was placed at the head of a cc
federacy, fully able to dictate to the whole of Gree,