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

ATHANADAS.
tor's puns. Cicero writes to L. Papirius Paetus (ad
Fam. ix. 18), Tu istic te Ateriano jure delectato:
ego me hie Hirtiano. " While you are amusing
yourself with the law (jus) of Aterius, let me enjoy my pea-fowl here with the capital sauce (jus)
of my friend Hirtius." [J. T. G.]
A'THAMAS ('A06das), a son of Aeolus and
Enarete, the daughter of Deimachus. He was
thus a brother of Cretheus, Sisyphus, Salmoneus,
&c. (Apollod. i. 7. ~ 3.) At the command of
Hera, Athamas married Nephele, by whom he became the father of Phrixus and Helle. But he
was secretly in love with the mortal Ino, the
daughter of Cadmus, by whom he begot Learchus and Melicertes, and Nephele, on discovering
that Ino had a greater hold on his affections than
herself, disappeared in her anger. Misfortunes and
ruin now came upon the house of Athamas, for
Nephele, who had returned to the gods, demanded
that Athamas should be sacrificed as an atonement
to her. Ino, who hated the children of Nephele
and endeavoured to destroy them, caused a famine by her artifices, and when Athamas sent
messengers to Delphi to consult the oracle about
the means of averting famine, Ino bribed them,
and the oracle they brought back declared,
that Phrixus must be sacrificed. When the people demanded compliance with the oracle, Nephele
rescued Phrixus and Helle upon the ram with the
golden fleece, and carried them to Colchis. Athamas and Ino drew upon themselves the anger of
Hera also, the cause of which is not the same in
all accounts. (Apollod. iii. 4. ~ 3; Hygin. Fab. 2.)
Athamas was seized by madness (comp. Cic. Tusc.
iii. 5, in Pison. 20), and in this state he killed his
own son, Learchus, and Ino threw herself with
Melicertes into the sea. Athamas, as the murderer
of his son, was obliged to flee from Boeotia. He
consulted the oracle where he should settle. The
answer was, that he should settle where he should
be treated hospitably by wild beasts. After long
wanderings, he at last came to a place where
wolves were devouring sheep. On perceiving him,
they ran away, leaving their prey behind. Athamas recognized the place alluded to in the oracle,
settled there, and called the country Athamania,
after his own name. He then married Themisto,
who bore him several sons. (Apollod. i. 9. ~ 1, &c.;
Hygin. Fab. 1-5.)
The accounts about Athamas, especially in their
details, differ much in the different writers, and it
seems that the Thessalian and Orchomenian traditions are here interwoven with one another. According to Pausanias (ix. 34. ~ 4), Athamas wished
to sacrifice Phrixus at the foot of the Boeotian
mountain Laphystius, on the altar dedicated to Zeus
Laphystius, a circumstance which suggests some
connexion of the mythus with the worship of
Zeus Laphystius. (Miiller, Orciomn. p. 161, &c.)
There are two other mythical personages of this
name, the one a grandson of the former, who led a
colony of Minyans to Teos (Paus. vii. 3. ~ 3;
Steph. Byz. s. v. T ws), and the other a son of
Oenopion, the Cretan, who had emigrated to
Chios. (Paus. vii. 4. ~ 6.) [L. S.]
A'THAMAS ('AOcaai), a Pythagorean philosopher, cited by Clemens of Alexandria. (Strom.
vi. p. 624, d. Paris, 1629.)
ATHA'NADAS ('A6avdSas), a Greek writer,
the author of a work on Ambracia ('AppocAcK ).
(Antonin. Liber. c. 4.) [C. P. M.]

ATHANASIUS. 393
ATHANAR'CUS, the son of Rhotestus, was
king, or according to Ammianus Marcellinus
(xxvii. 5), " judex" of the West Goths during
their stay in Dacia. His name became first known
in A. D. 367, when the Goths were attacked by the
emperor Valens, who first encamped near Daphne,
a fort on the Danube, from whence, after having
laid a bridge of boats over this river, he entered
Dacia. The Goths retired and the emperor retreated likewise after having performed but little.
He intended a new campaign, but the swollen
waters of the Danube inundated the surrounding
country, and Valens took up his winter quarters
at Marcianopolis in Moesia. In 369, however, he
crossed the Danube a second time, at Noviodunum
in Moesia Inferior, and defeated Athanaric who
wished for peace, and who was invited by Valens
to come to his camp. Athanaric excused himself,
pretending that he had made a vow never to set
his foot on the Roman territory, but he promised
to the Roman ambassadors, Victor and Arinthaeus,
that he would meet with the emperor in a boat on
the Danube. Valens having agreed to this, peace
was concluded on that river, on conditions not very
heavy for the Goths, for they lost nothing; but
their commerce with Moesia and Thrace was restricted to two towns on the Danube. Thence
probably the title " Gothicus," which Eutropius
gives to Valens in the dedication of his history.
In 373, Athanaric, who belonged to the orthodox party, was involved in a feud with Fritigern,
another "judge" of the West-Goths or Thervingi,
who was an Arian, and oppressed the Catholic
party. In 374, the Gothic empire was invaded
by the Huns. Athanaric defended the passages of
the Dnieper, but the Huns crossed this river in
spite of his vigilance and defeated the Goths,
whereupon Athanaric retired between the Pruth
and the Danube, to a strong position which he fortified by lines. His situation, however, was so
dangerous, that the Goths sent ambassadors, among
whom probably was Ulphilas, to the emperor Valens,
for the purpose of obtaining dwelling places within
the Roman empire. Valens received the ambassadors at Antioch, and promised to receive the WestGoths as " foederati." Thus the West-Goths
(Thervingi) settled in Moesia, but Athanaric,
faithful to his vow, refused to accompany them
and retired to a stronghold in the mountains of
Dacia. There he defended himself against the
Huns, as well as some Gothic chiefs, who
tried to dislodge him, till in 380 he was compelled
to fly. Necessity urged him to forget his oath,
he entered the Roman territory and retired to
Constantinople, where the emperor Theodosius
treated him with great kindness and all the respect due to his rank. He died in 381. (Amm.
Marc. xxvii. 5, xxx. 3; Themistius, Orat. in
Valent.; Zosimus, iv. 34, 35; Sozomen. vi. 37;
Idatius, in Fastis, Syagrio et Eucherio Coss.; Eunapius, Fragm. pp. 18, 19, ed. Paris.) [W. P.]
A'THANAS ('AOdvas), a Greek historical
writer, the author of a work on Sicily, quoted by
Plutarch (Timol. 23, 37) and Diodorus. (xv. 94.)
He is probably the same with Athanis, a writer
mentioned by Athenaeus (iii. p. 98), who also
wrote a work on Sicily. (G6ller, de Situ, 6c.
Syracusarum, p. 16.) [C. P. M.]
ATHANA'SIUS ('AOavcros), ST., archbishop
of Alexandria, was born in that city, a few years
before the close of the third century. The date of