Alcantara
a fortified town of Spain, capital of a district of the same name, province of Estremadura, the Nova Cæsarea of the Romans. The famous bridge of Trajan, built A. D. 105, exists to-day practically as the Romans left it. Order of Alcantara-At the expulsion of the Moors in 1213, which was aided by the Knights of San Julian del Pereyro, the defense of the town was intrusted to them, and they thenceforward assumed the title of Knights of Alcantara. In 1492, Ferdinand the Catholic united the office of grand master with the crown. The Order has been since abolished.
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Alcathous
Son of Pelops and Hippodamia , obtained as his wife Evaechme, the daughter of Megareus, by slaying the Cithaeronian lion. Alceste or Alcestis. Daughter of Pelias , married Admetus . She, with her sisters, put her father to death that he might be restored to youth and vigor by Medea , who had promised to effect this by her enchantments. She, however, refused to fulfill her promise, on which the sisters fled to Admetus, who married Alceste. 2026 Editor's Note: While this text identifies Alcathous as the slayer of the Cithaeronian lion , other traditions attribute this feat to Heracles. The lion, also known as the Thespian lion, was said to have harassed the lands of kings Amphitryon, Thespius, or Megareus. Beyond the son of Pelops, the name Alcathous refers to several other figures, including a Trojan soldier slain by Idomeneus and a companion of Aeneas. (Ed: BR 2026-06-22)
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Alcazar
the name of many castles and palaces in Spain. Ciudad-Rodrigo, Cordova, Segovia, Toledo, and Seville have alcazars. The one at Seville is an imposing relic of the Arab dominion. The Alcazar of Segovia suffered from a fire in 1862.
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Alcedo
the typical genus of the family alcedinidæ, or kingfishers. Two species occur in the United States, the alcedo ispida, and the alcedo alcyon.
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Alceste
or ALCESTIS, was the daughter of Peleus, and wife of Admetus, King of Thessaly. Her husband, according to an oracle, would die, unless some one made a vow to meet death in his stead. This was secretly done by Alceste, who became sick, and Admetus recovered. After her decease, Hercules visited Admetus, and promised to bring her from the infernal regions. He made Pluto restore Alceste to her husband. Euripides has made this the subject of a tragedy.
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Alcestis
al-ses tis, in Greek legend, the wife of Admetus, king of Thessaly. Admetus was mortally ill, but, at the request of Apollo, the Fates agreed to spare his life if some one would die in his stead. Admetus was overjoyed, as he had many friends. He found none willing to die, however, until Alcestis offered to make the sacrifice. She was at the point of death, when her life was saved by the intervention of Hercules. Alcestis furnishes the subject and title for one of the plays of Euripides, a melodrama, rather than a tragedy. Browning gives the full story of this play in Balaustion's Adventure, where he speaks of it as That strangest, saddest, sweetest song of his, Alcestis. Other quotations are: What kind of creature should the woman prove That has surpassed Alcestis? When King Admetus went his rounds, poor soul. A-begging somebody to be so brave As die for one afraid to die himself-- Thou, friend? Thou, love? Father or mother, then! None of you? What, Alcestis must Death catch? O best of wives, one woman in the world! See Euripides 2026 Editor's Note: Euripides ' play about Alcestis — the wife who volunteers to die in her husband's place and is dragged back from death by Hercules — is one of Western literature's founding stories of self-sacrifice and resurrection; T.S. Eliot reworked it into his 1949 drawing-room drama The Cocktail Party . (Ed: BR 2026-06-30)
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Alchindus
An Arabian doctor of the eleventh century, placed by some authorities among the number of magicians, but regarded by others as merely a superstitious writer. He used charmed words and combinations of figures in order to cure his patients. Demonologists maintained that the devil was responsible for his power, and based their statements on the fact that he had written a work entitled The Theory of the Magic Arts. He was probably, however, nothing more formidable than a natural philosopher at a time when all matter of science and philosophy were held in suspicion. Some of his theories were of a magical nature, it is true, as when he essayed to explain the phenomena of dreams by saying that they were the work of the elementals, who acted their strange fantasies before the mind of the sleeper as actors play in a theatre. But on the whole there is little to connect him with the practice of magic.
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Alcide
or ALCADE, a family of birds (natatores), including auks, penguins, puffins, and guillemots. They are oceanic, and have the bill compressed and pointed. Their wings are adapted for an aquatic life.
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Alcides
. See Hercules
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Alciphron
The most distinguished of the Greek epistolary writers, was, perhaps, a contemporary of Lucian, about A. D. 180. The letters (113 in number) are written by fictitious personages, and the language is distinguished by its purity and elegance. Alcithoe or Alcathoe. Daughter of Minyas, changed, together with her sisters, into bats, for refusing to join the other women of Boeotia in the worship of Dionysus ( Bacchus ). 2026 Editor's Note: We possess no direct information at all regarding his life or the age in which he lived. The page's suggestion that he was a contemporary of Lucian around A.D. 180 is therefore speculative. (Ed: BR 2026-06-24)
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Alcman
one of the earliest and greatest of Greek lyric poets, belonging to the 7th century B. C. He is supposed to have been a native of Lydia, and to have been taken as a slave to Sparta. Only small fragments of his odes remain. He used the broad, homely Doric dialect. His poems were love ditties, hymns, pæans, processional chants, etc.
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Alcmena
Daughter of Electrion, king of Argos. Her father promised her and his crown to Amphitryon if he would revenge the death of his sons, who had been killed by the Teleboans. In the absence of Amphitryon, Jupiter assumed his form and visited Alcmena, who, believing the god to be her lover, received him with joy. Amphitryon on his return ascertained from the prophet Tiresias the deception which had been practiced. After the death of Amphitryon, Alcmena married Rhadamanthus. Hercules was the son of Jupiter and Alcmena. Iphides was the son of Amphitryon and Alcmena. Alcyone or Halcyone. Daughter of Aeolus , married Ceyx, who was drowned as he was going to consult the oracle. The gods apprised Alcyone in a dream of her husband's fate, and when she found his body washed ashore she threw herself into the sea, and she and her husband were changed into birds.
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