OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Aecula'num

​AECULA'NUM, or AECLA'NUM (Αίκούανον, Appian, Ptol.: Eth. Aecnlanus, Plin.; but the contracted form Aeclanus and Aeclanensis is the only one found in inscriptions: — the reading Aeculanum in Cic. ad Att. xvi. 2, is very uncertain: — later inscriptions and the Itineraries write the name Eclanum), a city of Samnium, in the territory of the Hirpini, is correctly placed by the Itinerary of Antoninus on the Via Appia, 15 Roman miles from Reneventum. (Plin. iii. 11. s. 16; Ptol. iii 1. § 71; Itin. Ant. p ​ 120; Tab. Peut.) No mention of it is found in history during the wars of the Romans with the Samnites, though it appears to have been one of the chief cities of the Hirpini: but during the Social War (B.C. 89) it was taken and plundered by Sulla, which led to the submission of almost all the neighbouring cities. (Appian, B. C. i. 51.) It appears to have been soon after restored: the erection of its new walls, gates, and towers being recorded by an inscription still extant, and which probably belongs to a date shortly after the Social War. At a later period we find that part of its territory was portioned out to new colonists, probably under Octavian, but it retained the condition of a municipium (as we learn from Pliny and several inscriptions) until long afterwards. It was probably in the reign of Trajan that it acquired the rank and title of a colony which we find assigned to it in later inscriptions. (Lib. Colon. pp. 210, 260; Orell. Inscr. no. 566, 3108, 5020; Zumpt, de Coloniis, p. 401.)
The site of Aeculanum was erroneously referred by Cluverius (Ital. p. 1203) to Frigento, Holstenius was the first to point out its true position at a place called le Grotte, about a mile from Mirabella, and close to the Taverna del Passo, on the modern high road from Naples into Puglia. Here the extensive remains of an ancient city have been found: a considerable part of the ancient walls, as well as ruins and foundations of Thermae, aqueducts, temples, an amphitheatre and other buildings have been discovered, though many of them have since perished; and the whole site abounds in coins, gems, bronzes, and other minor relics of antiquity. The inscriptions found here, as well as the situation on the Appian Way, and the distance from Benevento, clearly prove these remains to be those of Aeculanum, and attest its splendour and importance under the Roman empire. It continued to be a flourishing place until the 7th century, but was destroyed in A.D. 662, by the emperor Constans II. in his wars with the Lombards. A town arose out of its ruins, which obtained the name of Quintodecimum from its position at that distance from Beneventum, and which continued to exist to the 11th century when it had fallen into complete decay, and the few remaining inhabitants removed to the castle of Mirabella, erected by the Normans on a neighbouring hill. (Holsten. Not. in Cluver. p. 273; Lupuli, Iter Venusin. pp. 74–128; Guarini, Ricerche sull' antica Città di Eclano, 4to. Napoli, 1814; Romanelli, vol. ii. pp. 323–328.)[ E. H. B. ]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Aedepsus

​AEDEPSUS (Αἴδηψος: Eth. Αἰδήψιος: Lipso), a town on the NW. coast of Euboea, 160 stadia from Cynus on the opposite coast of the Opuntian Locri. It contained warm baths sacred to Hercules, which were used by the dictator Sulla. These warm baths are still found about a mile above Lipso, the site of Aedepsus. (Strab. pp. 60, 425; Athen. p. 73; Plut. Sull 26, Symp. iv. 4, where Γάληψος is a false reading; Steph. B. s. v.; Ptol. iii 15. § 23; Plin. iv. 21; Leake, Northern Greece, yol. ii. p. 176; Walpole, Travels, &c., p. 71.)
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Acontisma

​ACONTISMA, a station in Macedonia on the coast and on the Via Egnatia, 8 or 9 miles eastward of Neapolis, is placed by Leake near the end of the passes of the Sapaei, which were formed by the mountainous coast stretching eastward from Kavála. Tafel considers it to be identical with Christopolis and the modern Kavála. (Amm. Marc, xxvii. 4; It. Ant. and Hierocl.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 180; Tafel, De Viae Egnatiae Parte Orient. p. 13, seq.)
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Adane

​ADANE (A«<£w», Philostorg. H, E. iii. 4), called ATHANA by Plmy (vi. 28. s. 32), and ARABIA FELIX ('A^k cv8at/i«v), in the Periplus of Arrian (p^ 14), now Aden^ the chief seaport in the country of Homeiitae on the S. coast of Arabia. It became at a very early period the great mart for the trade between Egypt, Arabia, and India; and although destroyed by the Romans, probably by Aelius Gallus in his expedition against Arabia, iu the reign of Augustus, it speedily revived, and has ever since remained a place of note. It has revived conspicuously within the last few years, having feUen into the possession of the English, and become one of the stations for the steamers which navigate theRedSAu
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Aco'ntia

​ACO'NTIA or ACUTIA (Άκοντία, Strab. p. 152; Άκούτεια, Steph. B.), a town of the Vaccaei, in Hispania Tarraconensis, <» the river Durius (Douro), which had a ford here. Its site is unknown.[ P. S. ]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Acra Leuce

​ACRA LEUCE (Άκρα Λευκή), a great city of Hispania Tarraconensis, founded by Hamilcar Barcas (Diod. Sic. xxv. 2), and probably identical with the Castrum Album of Livy (xxiv. 41). Its position seems to have been on the coast of the Sinus Ilicitanus, N. of Ilici, near the modern Alicante (Ukert, vol. ii. pt. l, p. 403).[ P. S. ]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Acium

​A'CIUM, a small town on the £. coast of Sialy, lawtinned only in the Itinerary (Itin. Ant p 87), idnch places it on the high road from Catana to Tsoiancnhmi, at the distimoe of 9 H. P. from the faaer dty. It evidently derived its name from Hie little river Ads, and is probably identical with die nodem Ad Reakj a considerable town, aboat a ■ale from the sea, in the neighboarhood of which, IB the road to CatamOf are extensive remains of BooMD Thermae. (Biscari, Viaggio in Sicilia, fi 22; Ortolani, Dm. Gtogr. p. 9.)[ E. H. B. ]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Adiabe'ne

​ADIABE'NE CA5i<rfi|i^). [Assyria.]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Acis

​ACIS (A«»)i a river of Sidlj, on the eastern of the ishmd, and inunediatelj at the foot of It is oel^Fated on aocoont of the mytho- fidde connected with its origin, which was ascribed to the Mood of the yoathlul Ads, crashed ladder an enonnooa rock by his rival Polyphemus. (Orid. UbL xiiL 750, &c; SiL ItaL xiv. 221—226; Antk Lat. L 148; Serr. ad Virg. Eel ix. S9, who cmaeoQsly writes the name Adnios.) It is evi- daaly in allnsion to the same stocy that Theocritos ifcaks of the "sacred waters of Acis." ("AjciSos ufim »«y>, Id^ i. 69.) Fiom this fitble itself we BMy infer that it was a small stream gashing forth bma onder a reck; the extreme coldness of its waters noticed by Solinas (Solin. 5. § 17) also pcnte to the same amclaaan. The last cinmm- Maaoe might lead ns to identify it with the streun aor csScd Fimme Frtddo^ bat there is every ap- pearance that the town of Adam derived its name from the river, and this was certainly fartho' soaih. There can be no doabt that Claverios is right in idBBtifyix^ it with the little river still called Fwmt A Jmcx, kiKiwn abo by the name of the Aeque Gramdij which rises under a rock of lava, and has a very short course to the sea, passing by the modern town of Act BeaU (Adam). The Ads* «as certainly quite distinct from the Acesines or Auaes, with which it has been oonfonnded by semal writers. (Clover. SieU pi 115; Smyth's Sm%, pi 132; Ortolani, IHt, Gtogr. p. 9; Fenara, Jkmru. deff ftea, p. 32.)[ E. H. B. ]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Aciris

​ACIRIS ('Ajcipis), a river of Lucania, mentioned both by Pliny and Strabo, as flowing near to Heraclea on the N. side, as the Siris did on the S. It is still called the Acri or Agri, and has a coarse of above 50 miles, rising in the Apennines near JTarMOS Xwovo, and flowing into the Golf of Ta^ mtam, a littfe to the N. (^ PolioorOj the site of the aodeDt Heradea. (Plin. iS. 11. s. 15; Strab. PL 264.) The Acn>u» of the Itinerary is snpposed It Chxveriiis to be a corraptim of this name, bnt it wodd spfetr to be that of a town, rather than a dnr. (Itin. Ant. p. 104.)[ E. H. B. ]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashley, John James

​ASHLEY, JOHN JAMES (1772–1815), second son of John Ashley [see Ashley, John, 1734?–1805], a pupil of Schroeter, was for several years organist at Covent Garden Theatre. He was one of the most successful singing masters of his day, some of his most celebrated pupils being Mrs. ​Vaughan, Mrs. Salmon, and Charles Smith. He composed some pianoforte music and a few sets of songs. He became a member of the Royal Society of Musicians 5 Aug. 1792, and died on 5 Jan. 1815.
[Gent. Mag. for 1815; Records of Roy. Soc. of Musicians.]
W. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashpitel, Arthur

​ASHPITEL, ARTHUR (1807–1869), architect, the son of William Hurst Ashpitel, was born in Hackney. In boyhood he had an accident which made him a cripple for life. He was trained by his father to the architect's profession, and in 1842 he began work on his own account. He built the church of St. John's at Blackheath, and that of St. Barnabas at Homerton, as well as many other buildings. In 1850 he entered into partnership with Mr. Whichcord, ​and was then for some years engaged in large practice. His health failed, and in 1804 he left England with David Roberts, R.A., for a travelling companion, and lived for some time at Rome. As a result of his studies in that city he exhibited a drawing at the Royal Academy, a 'Restoration of Ancient Rome,' and another called 'Rome as it is.' Latterly Mr. Ashpitel retired from active practice and occupied himself as a dilettante in literary work. He contributed papers on various cathedrals to the Archaeological Association, and some articles to the 'Encyclopædia Britannica.' He was a good scholar and linguist, and these qualifications made him (a tory of the old school) able to write some tolerably effective political pamphlets and squibs in verse, some translations and vers de société from his pen appeared in the 'Owl' and attracted some attention. Mr. Ashpitel died on 18 Jan. 1869, having left a valuable collection of vases and books to the Society of Antiquaries, and his two drawings of Rome to the nation. These latter form part of the collection at South Kensington.
E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashmore, John

​ASHMORE, JOHN (fl. 1621), was the first who attempted a translation into English of selected odes of Horace. In 1621 he published 'Certain selected Odes of Horace Englished, and their Arguments annexed.' To the translations are added a number of epigrams and anagrams. The translations show considerable facility of versification, and are by no means devoid of grace; but the translator's choice is for longer measures, and there is a want of light lyric speed. Samuel Pullein, in a copy of Latin elegiacs prefixed to the translations, is enthusiastic about his friend's achievement:—
Flaccus adest, eadem mens est et earminis idem  Sensus: forma eadem est ingeniique decus.
Many of the epigrams and anagrams are addressed to distinguished personages, such as Charles, Prince of Wales, George Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham, and Sir Francis Bacon. In others the writer puns vilely on the names of private friends. One epigram is addressed 'Ad insignem Poetam, D. Ben. Johnson.' From many references throughout the book to the Fairfaxes and others, it appears that the author was a native of Ripon in Yorkshire.
A. H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashpitel, William Hurst

​ASHPITEL, WILLIAM HURST (1776–1852), architect, was a pupil of Daniel Asher Alexander. He assisted his master in the designs for the London Docks, and in the execution of the works connected with that undertaking. Afterwards a pupil of John Rennie, he was largely concerned in the Kennet and Avon canal, and in the work of tunnelling under the town of Bath. Later he was in partnership with James Savage, and then last in practice on his own account. Amongst other buildings he designed Sir Charles Talbot's house at Deepdene. He left his profession rather early in life, and died 20 April 1852.
E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashton, Henry

​ASHTON, HENRY (1801–1872), architect, born in London, was a pupil of Sir Robert Smirke. Afterwards, and till death, he was employed by Sir Jeffrey Wyattville. He erected the stables at Windsor and the kennels at Frogmore. About 1831 he was employed by the King of Holland to build the summer palace at the Hague. He was the architect of the improvements in Victoria Street, and designed the thoroughfare which connects Belgravia with the Houses of Parliament. Some of the best examples of his work are found in Victoria Street. He exhibited many designs at the Academy. 'His work possessed many good characteristics—good in construction, simple yet tasteful in its design and proportions.' In competition 'for some of the most important works of his day' he was not successful. He died on 18 March 1872.
E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashley, John (1734?-1805)

Richard Ashley (1774–1836) is also covered in this article.
​ASHLEY, JOHN (1734?–1805), was the father of a remarkable family of musicians who flourished towards the end of the eighteenth century. He became a member of the Royal Society of Musicians 7 April 1765. At the Handel commemoration in 1784 he was assistant conductor to Joah Bates. On the same occasion the double bassoon was played by a 'Mr. Ashley of the Guards,' who is sometimes supposed to have been the same individual, but was more probably another member of the family, possibly his brother Jane, who was born in 1740 and died at Westminster on 5 April 1809. John Ashley in 1795 undertook the management of the oratorio concerts at Covent Garden. He died in Abingdon Street, Westminster, on 2 March 1805, where also his wife died on 22 Dec. 1809, aged 75. Richard Ashley (1775–1836), one of John Ashley's sons, was a performer on the violin, but he does not seem to have made any mark as a musician. He became a member of the Royal Society of Musicians 17 April 1796, and died in October 1836.
[Gent. Mag. for 1805; Burney's Commemoration of Handel, 1786; Gardiner's Music and Friends, 1838; Records of Roy. Soc. of Musicians.]
W. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashton, Charles

​ASHTON, CHARLES (1665–1752), a distinguished scholar and divine, was born on 25 May 1665, at Bradway, in the parish of Norton, Derbyshire. He was admitted to Queens' College, Cambridge, on 18 May 1682, took the degree of B.A., and on 30 April 1687 was elected to a fellowship. After serving for a time as chaplain to Bishop Patrick, he was presented on 10 March 1698-9 to the living of Rattenden, in Essex, which he exchanged in the following June for a chaplainship at Chelsea Hospital. On 3 July 1701 he was collated to a prebendal stall in Ely Cathedral, and was elected on the next day to the mastership of Jesus College, Cambridge, both offices being vacant by the death of Dr. Saywell. In the same year he took the degree of D.D., and in 1702 was elected vice-chancellor of the university. His life was spent in scholarly seclusion, and he seldom left Cambridge, except when his attendance was required at Ely. He died in March 1752, at the age of 87, and was buried in the college chapel. Ashton's published works are not numerous. He contributed to Wasse's 'Bibliotheca Literaria,' 1724, an article, 'Tully and Hirtius reconciled as to the time of Caesar's going to the African war;' also an emendation of a passage of Justin Martyr. Reading's editions of Origen 'De Oratione' (1728) and 'Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ Scriptores' (1746) are said to have been in great part the work of Ashton. 'His edition of Hierocles's excellent commentary on the golden verses of Pythagoras is without his name, or, it should rather be said, with another person's, R. W. (Warren). . . . Mr. Wakefield also has particularly noticed a Tertullian as being replete with notes by Dr. Ashton. I have also myself perused a dictionary marked in the same manner' (Dyer, Hist. of Univ. of Camb., 1814, ii. 80). In 1768 appeared an edition of Justin Martyr's 'Apologiæ' prepared by Frederick Keller, fellow of Jesus College, from papers that Dr. Ashton left at his death. All Ashton's manuscripts had been bequeathed to Keller. Bowyer writes: 'The Bishop of Ely has advised him (Keller) to ask leave of the Bishop of London to inscribe Tertullian's Apology, which the doctor left to his lordship. . . . Ashton destroyed all his sermons; for the Bishop of London inquired after some he had heard preached, which were not found.' Among the Cole MSS. in the British Museum there are transcripts of some of Ashton's letters to Dean Moss (vol. xxx.); of his additions to Sherman's 'History of Jesus College' (vol. xlii.); and of his large 'Collections relating to the University.' In Chishull's 'Antiquitates Asiaticæ' (1728) Ashton showed much acuteness in restoring satisfactorily a comipt inscription to Jupiter Urios.
A. H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashton, Edward

​ASHTON, EDWARD (d. 1658), was a colonel in the army. He was deeply implicated in the plot against the lord protector ​set on foot by Ormond and other agents of Charles II in 1658, and for complicity in which Sir H. Slingsby and Dr. Hewet suffered. Ashton's part was to set fire to the city, throw open all the prisons, and seize all moneys and plate at the goldsmiths', but it was to be 'death for any to touch any man's private goods.' He was tried with six of his fellow-conspirators before the commissioners of the high court of justice, was found guilty, and on 7 July 1658 was hanged, drawn, and quartered in 'Tower Street, London, over against Mark Lane end.' Four of his fellow conspirators suffered similar penalties in different parts of the city.
G. V. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashley, Robert

1904 Errata appended.
​ASHLEY, ROBERT (1565–1641), a miscellaneous writer of the reign of Elizabeth and James I, is called by Wood, in his 'Athenæ Oxonienses,' 'an esquire's son and Wiltshire-man born,' and from notes on his life, written by himself, to be found in the Sloane MSS. in the British Museum (Addit. MS. No. 2105), it seems that he was born at Damerham, on the confines of the counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Dorset, seven miles from Salisbury: that his father was Anthony Ashley, or Astley, of a knightly family in Dorset, and his mother Dorothy Lyte, of Lytes Carey, in Somerset. He further tells us that when a boy he delighted in reading 'Bevis of Hampton,' 'Guy of Warwick,' 'Valentine and Orson,' 'Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table,' and aftenvards the 'Decameron of Boccace' and the 'Heptameron of the Queen of Navarre.' He was at school under Hadrian Saravia, at Southampton. Wood says he became a fellow commoner of Hart Hall in 1580, and does not speak of his being a member of any other college in Oxford; but from his autobiography it appears that he was of Alban Hall and also of Magdalen College. He left the university without a degree, and was called to the bar by the Middle Temple. His mind was too mercurial for law, and he gave himself to the study of Dutch, French, Spanish, and Italian. 'Finding the practice of law,' says Wood, 'to have ebbs and tides, he applied himself to the learning of the languages of our neighbours, to the end that he might be partaker of the wisdom of those nations, having been many years of this opinion, that as no one soil or territory yieldeth all fruits alike, so no one climate or region affordeth all kind of knowledge in full measure.' In the preface to his 'Almansor' he speaks of having been in the library of the Escurial, where, he says, he saw a glorious golden library of Arabian books. He lived for many years in the Middle Temple, where he died, without issue, Oct. 1641. He was buried in the Temple Church, and gave many books to the Temple Library.
His principal works are 'Urania,' in Latin verse, London, 1589, 4to, translated from the French of Du Bartas; 'The Interchangeable Course,' 1594, fol., translated from the French of Louis le Roy; 'Almansor, the learned and victorious King that conquered Spain, his Life and Death,' London, 1627, 4to, translated from the Spanish; 'Relation of the Kingdom of Cochin-China, containing many admirable rarities and singularities of that country,' London, 1633, 4to, translated from the Italian of Christ. Barri; 'David Persecuted,' translated from the Italian of Malvezzi, London, 1637.
[Biog. Brit.; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Brit. Mus. Catal.; Wood, Ath. Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii.19; Bibl. Univ. des Voyages, v. 109.]
J. M.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.9 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Asama

​ASAMA (Άσάμα), a river of Mauretania Tingitana, falling into the Atlantic, in 32° N. lat. (Ptol. iv. 1. § 3), 30' S. of Port Rhusibis, and 20' N. of the river Diour. All along this coast, the positions may be safely determined by Ptolemy's latitudes (his longitudes are greatly out); consequently Asama is Wadi-Tensift, the river which, in its upper course, flows past Marocco: Portus Rhusibis is Saffee, and the river Diour is Wad-al-Gored, which falls into the ocean by Mogador. (Comp. Rennell, Geog. of Herod, vol. ii. p. 16.) Pliny, who calls it Asana, places it, on the authority of native report, 150 M.P. from Sala (Sallee: it is nearly 200 in a direct line), and adds the description, "marino haustu sed portu spectabile" (v. 1. s. 1). It is thought by some to be the same as the river Anatis, which Pliny mentions a little before, on the authority of Polybius, as 205 M. P. from Lixus; but the distances do not agree. Some also identify it with the Anidus (Άνιδος) or, according to the emendation of Salmasius, ​Adonis of Scylax (p. 52, or p. 123, ed. Gronov.); but that river is mach further N., between Lixus and the Straits. [ P. S. ]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Asbystae

​ASBYSTAE (A<re^(rroi, Herod, iv. 170, 171 ; Lycophr. Alex. 895; 'A<rivrat, Ptol. iv. 4. § 10), a Libyan tribe, in the inland parts of Cyrenaica, S. of Gyrene, and W. of the Giligaimnae; distinguished above the other Libyan tribes for their skill in the use of four-horsed chariots. (Herod. L c.) Diony- sius Periegetes (211) names them next to the Na- samones, inland (/iccr^ircipoi). Pliny also places them next to the Nasamones, but apparently to the W. of them (v. 5). Ptolemy's position for them, E. of the monntuns overhanging the Gardens of the Hesperides, agrees well enough with that of Hero- dotus. Stephanns Byzantinus mentions a city of Libya, nameid Asbysta ('A(r§Arra, Eth. *A<r€^<rrris)f and quotes the following line from Gallimachus: —
   oTt; tc Tptrvpos i^* daa-iy *AjT€v<rTao : -—
where the mention of the Triton is not at all inconsistent with the position of the Asbystae, as determined by the other writers ; for the Triton is frequently placed near the Gardens of the Hesperides, on the W. coast of Cyrenaica. [Triton.] [ P. S. ]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Ascatancae

​ASCATANCAE ('AffKardyKai), a people of Scythia intra Imaum, adjacent to the mountain called AscATANCAS : extending E. of the Tapnri, as far as M. Imaiis : somewhere about the S£. part of Independent Tartarg. (PtoLvLl4.§3.) [ P. S. ]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Asaei

​ASAEI (Άσαίοι), a people of Sarmatia Asiatica, near the Suardeni and the upper course of the Tanais. (Ptol. V. 9. § 16). They are also mentioned by Pliny, according to the common text, as having been, before his time, among the most celebrated peoples of Scythia; but Sillig gives a different reading, namely Chroasai. (Plin. vi. 17. s. 19.) [ P. S. ]