Advent
a term applied by the Christian Church to certain weeks before Christmas. Anciently, the season of Advent consisted of six weeks, and this is still the duration of it in the Greek Church. In the Catholic Church, however, and in the Protestant Churches that Advent, it only lasts four weeks, beginning with the Sunday nearest St. Andrew's Day (Nov. 30), either before or after. It is appointed to be observed as a season of devotion, being intended to commemorate the coming of Christ in the flesh, and to direct the thoughts to His second coming. This season was observed with great austerity by the primitive Christians.
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Adventures of Francois
fran' swa' . See Mitchell ; S. Weir
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Aediles
Ajax Defying the Lightning. Roman magistrates, who had the charge of all buildings, baths, and aqueducts, and examined weights and measures. The office of an Aedile was honorable, and the See page 18. Ajax Defying the Lightning. primary step to a more distinguished position in the State. 2026 Editor's Note: While the aedile was a junior position to the praetorship, it became a vital tool for distributing largesse and funding games to win popular acclaim. These magistrates managed city infrastructure and grain supplies, but their public functions were eventually absorbed by the emperor or his appointees as the Republic transitioned into the Empire. (Ed: BR 2026-06-07)
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Aedon
Daughter of Pandareus of Ephesus, wife of Zethus, king of Thebes , and mother of Itylus. Envious of Niobe , the wife of her brother Amphion , who had six sons and six daughters, she resolved to kill the eldest of Niobe's sons, but by mistake slew her own son Itylus. Zeus ( Jupiter ) relieved her grief by changing her into a nightingale, whose melancholy tunes are represented as Aëdon's lamentations for her child. Aedui or Hedui. One of the most powerful people in Gaul, lived between the Liger (Loire) and the Arar (Saone). They were the first Gallic people who made an alliance with the Romans, by whom they were called "brothers and relations."
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Aegates
The Goat Islands, were three islands off the west coast of Sicily, between Drepanum and Lilybaeum, near which the Romans gained a naval victory over the Carthaginians, and thus brought the first Punic war to an end, B. C. 241. The islands were Aegusa or Capraria, Phorbantia, and Hiera. Aegeria or Egeria . One of the Camenae in Roman mythology, from whom Numa received his instructions respecting the forms of worship which he introduced. The grove in which the king had his interviews with the goddess, and in which a well gushed forth from a dark recess, was dedicated by him to the Camenae. 2026 Editor's Note: The Battle of the Aegates on 10 March 241 BC was commanded by Gaius Lutatius Catulus overall, with Quintus Valerius Falto directing the engagement. The Roman victory turned on the Carthaginian fleet being laden with supplies and lacking its full marine complement, while Roman forces were better-trained. This decisive engagement ended the 23-year First Punic War. The Treaty of Lutatius that followed forced Carthage to surrender Sicily to Rome and pay substantial reparations, establishing Rome as the leading military power in the western Mediterranean. (Ed: BR 2026-06-08)
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Aegeus
King of Athens , son of Pandion. Being desirous of having children, he went to consult the oracle, and on his return stopped at the court of Pittheus, king of Troezene, who gave him his daughter Aethra in marriage. He directed her, if she had a son, to send him to Athens as soon as he could lift a stone under which he had concealed his sword. Aethra became mother of Theseus , whom she sent to Athens with his father's sword. When Theseus came to Athens, Medea , the wife of Aegeus, attempted to poison him, but he escaped; and upon showing Aegeus the sword, discovered himself to be his son. When Theseus returned from Crete , after the killing of the Minotaur, he omitted to hoist up white sails, as he had agreed with Aegeus, in case he was successful, and at sight of black sails Aegeus, concluding that his son was dead, threw himself into the sea, which, as some suppose, has since been called the
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Aegina
e-ji'na, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Asopus, the river god. Zeus carried Aegina away to a rocky island in the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea. Here their son Aeacus was born. As the island had no other inhabitants, Zeus transformed the ants of the place into men, calling them Myrmidons. Aeacus grew to manhood and ruled these people. He was renowned throughout Greece for justice and piety, and at death became one of the three judges of Hades. The island was named Aegina in honor of the nymph. See Myrmidons
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Aegir
a'jir, in old Norse mythology, the god of the ocean. By race, Aegir was a giant. He has been called the god of the stormy sea, but he seems usually to personify the more propitious characteristics of the waters. Other names for him are Gymir and Hler. Aegir entertained the gods at harvest time and brewed their ale.
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Aegisthus
. See Clytemnestra
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Aegyptus
Son of Belus , and brother to Danaus, gave his fifty sons in marriage to the fifty daughters of his brother. Danaus, who had established himself at Argos, and was jealous of his brother, obliged all his daughters to murder their husbands on the first night of their nuptials. This was done, Hypermnestra alone sparing her husband, Lynceus . The poet Horace, in one of his odes, refers to Hypermnestra, whom he calls Splendide mendax. Aegyptus (Egypt). A country in the northeast corner of Africa, bounded on the north by the Mediterranean, on the east by Palestine, Arabia Petraea, and the Red Sea, on the south by Aethiopia, the division between the two countries being at the First or Little Cataract of the Nile, close to Syene, and on the west by the Great Libyan Desert. 2026 Editor's Note: In Greek mythology, Aegyptus was a legendary king and descendant of the princess Io. Historically, the name also refers to the Roman province of Aegyptus, which was established in 30 BC and became the wealthiest province outside of Italy. The province's southern border was eventually fixed at the First Cataract of the Nile at Syene, as noted in the text. (Ed: BR 2026-06-09)
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