thousand persons. The marble seats have disappeared, but the masses of masonry wa.es formed the semi-circular end still remain.

Just without the ancient city walls on the east was the Lyceum, en.bellished with buildings, groves, and fountains,-a place of assembling for military and gymnastic exercises, and a favorite resort for philosophical study and contemplation. Near the foot of Mount Anchesmus was the Cynosar' grs, a place adorned with several temples, a gymnasium, and groves sacred to Hercules. Beyond the wal's of the city on the north was the Academy, or Public Garden,— surrounded with a wall, and adorned with statues, temples, and sepulchres of illustrious men, and planted with olive and plane trees. Within this enclosure Plato possessed a small garden, in which he opened his school. Thence arose the Academic sect.

Athens had three great harbors, the Pira' us, Munych' ia, and Phal' erum. Anciently these ports formed a separate city larger than Athens itself, with which they were connected by means of two long walls. During the prolonged conflict of the revolutionary war in Greece, from 1820 to 1827, Athens was in ruins, but it is the now capital of the kingdom of Greece. The philosophical era in the history of Athens has been beautifully alluded to by Milton. "See there the olive grove of Academe,

ween

Lands,

nearly

The EGEAN SEA, now called the Archipelago, is that part of the Mediterranean lying Greece, the islands Crete and Rhodes, and Asia Minor. It embraces those groups o the Cyclades and the Spor' ades ;* also Eubœe'a, Lesbos, Chios, Tenedos, Lemnos, & all of which cluster with interesting classical associations. Mentioning only the most important in history, and beginning in the northern Archipelago, we have Thasos, now Theso ur Tasso, early colonized by the Phoenicians on account of its valuable silver mines:-Samothrace, where the mysteries of Cybe.e, the "Mother of the Gods," are said to have originated :- Lemnos, known in ancient mythology as the spot on which Vulcan fell, after being hurled down from heaven, and where he established his forge:-Tenedos, whither the Greeks retired, as Virgil relates, in order to surprise the Trojans :-Lesbos, celebrated for its olive oil and figs, and as being the abode of pleasure and licentiousness, while the inhabitants boasted a high degree of intellectual cultivation, and, especially, great musical attainments:-Chius, now Scio, called the garden of the Archipelago, and claimed to have been the birthplace of Homer:--Samos, early distinguished in the maritime annals of Greece for its naval ascendency, and for its splendid temple of Juno:-Icaria, whose name mythology derives from Ic' arus who fell into the sea near the island after the unfortunate termination of his flight from Crete:- Patmos, to which St. John was banished, and where he wrote his Apocalypse:-Cos, celebrated for its temple of Esculapius, and as being the birthplace of Hippocrates, the greatest physician of antiquity :--Nisyrus, said to have been separated from Cos by Neptune, that he might hurl it against the

The division between the Cyc' lades and Spor' ades, on the accompanying Map, should Include the islands Ascania, Thera, and Anaphe, among the latter.

giant Po ybæ' tes:-An' aphe, said to have been made to rise by thunder from the bottom of the sea, in order to receive the Argonauts during a storm, on their return from Colchis:Thera, now called Santorin, said to have been formed in the sea by a clod of earth thrown frot the ship Argo:-Astypala'a, called also Trapedza, or the "Table of the Gods," because its soil was fertile, and almost enamelled with flowers:-Amorgus, the birthplace of the Iambic poet Simon' ides:-Ios, claimed to have been the burial place of Homer:-Melos, now Milo, celebrated for its obstinate resistance to the Athenians, and its cruel treatment by them, (see p. B3):-Antiparos, celebrated for its grotto, of great depth and singular beauty:-Paros, famed for its beautiful and enduring marble:-Naxos, the largest of the Cyc' lades, celebrated for the worship of Bacchus, who is said to have been born there:-Seriphus, celebrated in mythology as the scene of the most remarkable adventures of Perseus, who changed Polydec' tes, king of this island, and his subjects, into stones, to avenge the wrongs offered to his mother Danæ :-Deles, (a small island between Rhenea and Mycanos,) celebrated as the natal island of Apollo and Diana :-Ceos, the birthplace of the Elegiac poet Simonides, grandson of the poet of Amorgus. The Simonides of Ceos was the author of the celebrated inscription on the tomb of the Spartans who fell at Thermopyla:-" Stranger, tell the Lacedæmonians that we are lying here in obedience to their laws." Egina, Salamis, Crete, Rhodes, &c., have been de scribed in other parts of this work. See Index, p. 846.

ASIA MINOR. Map No. IV.

ASIA MINOR, or Lesser Asia, a celebrated region of antiquity, embraced the great peninsula of Western Asia, about equal in area to that of Spain, and bounded north by the Black Sea, east by Armenia and the Euphrates, south by Syria and the Mediterranean, and west by the Euxine Sea or Archipelago. The divisions by which it is best known in history are the nine coast provinces, Cilicia, Pamphylia, and Lycia, on the Mediterranean; Caria, Lydia, and Mysia, on the Ægean; Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus, on the Euxine; and the four interior provinces, Galatia, Cappadocia, Phrygia, and Pisidia. All of these were, at times, independent kingdoms, and at others, dependent provinces.

The most renowned of the early kingdoms of Asia Minor was that of Lydia, situate between the waters of the Hermus and the Mæander, and bounded on the east by Phrygia. Under the last of its kings, the famous Croesus, renowned for his wealth and munificence, the Lydian kingdom was extended so as to embrace the Grecian colonies on the Euxine coast, and nearly all Asia Minor as far as the Halys. On the overthrow of Croesus by Cyrus the Persian, B. C. 566, the Lydian kingdom was formed into three satrapies belonging to the Medo-Persian empire, under which it remained upward of two centuries. The Macedonian succeeded the Persian dominion, B. C. 331, from which time, during nearly two centuries, Asia Minor was subject to many vicissitudes consequent on the changing fortunes of Alexander's successors. During the century immediately preceding the Christian era, the western provinces of the peninsula fell successively into the hands of the Romans, under whom they formed what was called the proconsulship of Asia, (see Map No. IX.,) the same which the Greek writers of the Roman era call Asia Proper, and in which sense we find the word Asia used in the New Testament, (Acts, 2:9,) although in some passages Phrygia is spoken of as distinct from Asia. (Acts, 16: 6, and Revelations.) The decline of the Roman power exposed the peninsula to fresh invasions from the East; and at the period of the first crusade the Mohaminedans had spread over almost the whole peninsula. Asia Minor now constitutes a pacha ick of Asiatic Turkey, under the name of Natolia, or Anatolia-a corruption of a Greek word, (avaróλŋ,) meaning the East, corresponding to the French word Levant.

The Greek colonists of Asia Minor, who spread themselves along the coast from the Euxine to Syria, were at least equal, in commercial activity, refinement, and the cultivation of the arts, to their European brethren. Among the Grecian poets, philosophers, and historians of Asia Minor, we may mention, in poetry, Homer, Hesiod, Sappho, and Alcæus; in philosophy, Thales, Pythag' oras, and Anaxag' oras; and in history, Herod' otus, Ctésias, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Anatolia is now occupied by a mixed population of Turks and Greeks, Armeplans and Jews; besides wandering tribes of Kurds and Turcomans in the interior, engaged partly in pastoral, and partly in marauding occupations.

PERSIAN EMPIRE. Map No. V.

ANCIENT PERSIA comprehended, in its utmost extent, all the countries between the riser Indus and the Mediterranean, and from the Euxine and Caspian Seas to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean; but in its more limited acceptation it denoted a particular province, born led on the north by Media and Parthia, on the east by Carmania, on the south by the Persian G and on the west by Susiana. (See Map.) This was the original seat of the conquere : #f Asia.

Great obscurity rests on the early history of the nations embraced within the limits i že Persian empire; but about the middle of the sixth century B. C., Cyrus, supposed by soins to have been grandson of Astyages, the last Median monarch, being elected leader of the Persian hordes, became, by their assistance, a powerful conqueror, at a time when the Median and Babylonian kingdoms were on the decline, and on their ruins founded the Persian empire, which properly dates from the capture of Babylon, B. C. 536. Cambyses, generally supposed to be the Ahasuerus of Scripture, succeeded Cyrus; then followed the brief reign of the usurper Smerdis, after whom Darius Hystaspes was elevated to the throne, 521 B. C. Darius was both a legislator and conqueror, and his long and successful reign exerted a powerful influence over the destinies of Western Asia. Under his rule the Persian empire attained its greatest extent. (See Map.) His vast realm he divided into twenty satrapies or provinces, and appointed the tribute which each was to pay; but his government was little more than an or ganized system of taxation. The attempts of Darius to reduce Greece to his sway were defeated at Marathon; (B. C. 490;) and the mighty armament of Xerxes, his son and successor, was destroyed in the battles of Sal' amis, Platæ'a, and Myc' ale. The Medo-Persian empire itself was finally overthrown by Alexander the Great, in the battle of Arbela, B. C. 331. The Macedo-Grecian kingdom of Alexander succeeded to the vast Persian domains, with the additional provinces of Greece, Thrace, and Macedon-thus exceeding the Persian kingdo in extent. About the middle of the third century B. C., the Parthians, under Arsaces, one of their nobles, arose against the successors of Alexander, and established the Parthian empire,” which, under its sixth monarch, Mithridates I., attained its highest grandeur - extending from the Euphrates to the Indus. (See Parthia, p. 179.) The Parthian empire lasted nearly four hundred and eighty years-from B. C. 250 to A D. 226, at which latter period the Persians proper, taking advantage of the weakened state of the empire under the Se eucidæ, rebelled, and founded a new dynasty, that of the Sassanide. (See Note. Persian History, p. 249.) The Persian empire under the Sassanidæ continued until the year 636, when it was overthrown by the Moslems in the great battle of the Cadesiah. (See p. 249.) Persia then continued a province of the caliphs for more than two centuries, when the sceptre was wrested from them by the chief of a bandit tribe. After this period Persia was wasted, for many centuries, by foreign oppression and internal disorder, see pp. 287-311-351,) when, toward the end of the sixteenth century, order was restored, and Persia again rose to distinction under the government of Shab Abbas, sururmed the Great. (p. 351.)

The present kingdom of Persia is reduced to the limits of the ancient provinces of Persa, Media, Carmania, Parthia, the country of the Matieni, and the southern coasts of the Caspian Sea. The Turkish territories extend some distance east of the Tigris; Russia is in possession the con try between the Euxine or Black and Caspian Seas, embracing a part of Armenia; nd on the east the now independent but constantly changing kingdoms of Cabool and Belohistan mbrace the ancient Bactria, India, and Gedrosia, together with parts of Margiana and Aria, now eastern Khorassan,) and the country of the ancient Sarangæi. The present Persia hɛ3 an area of for hundred and fifty thousand square miles, with a population of eight or ton millions. The most striking physical features of Persia are its chains of rocky mountains; its long arid valleys without rivers; and its vast salt or sandy deserts. The population is a mixture of the ancient Persian stock with Arabs and Turks. The language spoken is the Parsec,simple in structure, and, like the French and English, having few inflections. The religion o the country is Mohammedanism (of the Sheah sect, or adherents of Ali,) which seems, how over, to be ngidly on the decline.