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ASTROSCOPE, ['ir=CT and rrnamui, Gr.] an astronomical in-strument, composed of two cones, on whose surface the con-stellations, with their stars, are delineated, by means whereof thestars mar easily he known.
AS'l ROSC’OPIA, the art of examining the stars, by telescopes.
ASTRO-THEOLOGY, [from antrum, a star, and thtologut,divinity,] divinity founded on the observations'of the celestial
bodies.
ASTROTIIESIA, [from and to place,] is used
bv seme for a constellation.
"ASTRLAI, or AST RON, [Lai and Gr.] a constellation,or assemblage of stars.
ASTLRIAS, anciently the kingdom of Asturia , is now a prin-cipality of Spain. It is bounded by Biscay , E.; Gallicia, W.;Castile and Old Leon, S.; and bv the sea on the N. Its greatestlength is about 120 miles, and its breadth 54. The province istolerably fertile, and has mines of gold, lapis lazuli, and Vermil-lion. The hereditary Prince of Spain is stylixl Prince of the Astu-rias. The most remarkable places in this principality are Oviedo ,Gy on, Santillana, and St. Andero.
"ASTER I US. See Astmri us.
ASTYAGES, son of Cyaxares, the last king of the Merles,l ie dreamed, that from the womb of his daughter Mamlane, mar-ried to Cambyses, a mean person of Persia , there sprung up avine that spread itself over all Asia . She being with child,' he re-solved to kill the infant as soon ns born. Its name was Cyrus;but Harpagus .being sent to destroy it, preserved it; which Asty-ages hearing of long after, he caused Harpagus to eat ■ his ow nson. Harpagus, in revenge, called in Cyrus, who dethroned hisgrandfather, and thereby ended the monarchy of the Medes. Thusthe old tyrant lost his kingdom, by the very barbarous means hetook to preserve it.
ASTYAN AX, the only son of Hector and Andromache . Af-ter the taking of Troy, he was thrown from the top of a tower,by Ulysses’s orders.
AS'f'YNOMI, in Grecian antiquity, magistrates in Athens, cor-responding to the a'diles of the Romans; they were ten in num-ber. See -'Edile .
ASYLA, the plural cf Asylum. The asyla of altars andtemples were very ancient; and likewise those of tombs, statues,and other monuments of considerable personages.—Thus, thetemple of Diana at Ephesus was a refuge for debtors, the tombof Theseus for slaves. Among the Romans, a celebrated asylumwas opened by Romulus, between the mounts Palatine and Capi-toline, in order to people Rome , for all sorts of persons indiscrimi-nately, fugitive slaves, debtors, and criminals of every kind. It hada temple dedicated tothe god Asyla’us. The J ews had their asyla; themost remarkable of which were, the six cities of refuge, the temple,and the altar of burnt-offerings; which protected those who had in-curred the lash of the iaw, but not for any deliberate crime. Rut it wascustomary among the Heathens, to allow refuge and impunity,even to the vilest and most llagraut offenders; some out of super-stition, and others for the sake of peopling their cities. They hadan idea, that a criminal who fled to the temple or altar, submittedhis crime to the punishment of the gods; and, that it would beimpiety in man to take vengeance of their hands. It was by thismeans,"and with such inhabitants, that Thebes, Athens, and Rome ,were first stocked.
ASYIT'S or ASILUS, [Lab] the gad-fly.
ASYMPHONY, [from « privative, and harmonv,]
a disorder in Descant.
ASYMPTOTE, [from «, priv. ra, with, and ®»7», to fall;which never meet; incoincident.] Asymptotes are right lims,which approach nearer to some curve; hut which, though theyand their curve were infinitely continued, would nev.-r meet; antimay be conceived as tangents to tln-ir curves at an infinite dis-tance. See Coni;- Section's. Concerning asymptotes- and as-symptotical curves, it may be remarked, 1. That although suchcurves as have asymptotes eve of the number of those which donot include a pace; yet it is not true, on the other hand, thatwherever we have :• • itrv< ol Pad nature, we have an asymptotealso. 2. Ol these turves that u..ve a:, a.vmptoto, some have only-one, as the conchm-e, ci-ioid, ard logarithmic curve; and otherstwo, as the hyperbola. 3.. As a right line and a curve may beasymptotii .fl to one another, so also may curves and curves ; suchare two par Lobs, w Pe e axes are in the same right line, 4, NoVOL. i. no. ‘-2.
right line can ever be an asymptote to a curve that is every whereconcave to that right line. 5. Rut a right line may be an asymptoteto a mixed curve, that is, partly concave and partly convex,towards the same line. And 6. All curves that have one andthe same common asymptote are also asymptotical to 'one ano-ther. ■
ASYNDETON, [utwJst©', Gr.] in grammar, a figure whichomits the conjunction in a sentence, as vtni, ridt, vici, whereet is left out.
ATUBULUS, in physiology, a provincial wind in Apulia , ofa dry pinching quality, and very noxious in its effects.
ATABYR1US, an epithet of Jupiter.
ATACAMA, a chain of cold mountains in South America ,which separatePeru fromQuito; also, adesert and a harbour of Peru .
AT A LAN T A, in fabulous history, the daughter of Schameus,king of Scyros. To get rid of her numerous suitors, she declaredthat she would marry none but the man who was willing to riskhis life for her, by striving to outrun her, and to forfeit it if hefailed. 'Phis several attempted, and suffered accordingly. ButIlippomenes, being furnished by-Venus with three golden apples,dropt them at proper distances (luring the race, and while shestooped to gather them,- gained both the race and the princess.The successful lover, however, proving ungrateful to the goddess,thev were both afterwards turned into lions.
Atalanta, the daughter of Jasius and mother of Partheno-pauis, by Meleager .
ATALAUA, ‘a town of Portuguese Estremadura, five miles S.of Tomer.
ATARGATIS Fanum, the temple of the goddess Atargatis , inBambvce, which was extremely rich.
ATAXY, [from a negative, and, order,] the wpnt of
order. AVith physicians, it signifies irregularity of the crises andparoxvsms of fevers.
ATAYADA, a river of Spain, which falls into the Duero .
ATCUE, in commerce, the smallest silver coin current in Tur-key, worth one-third of a penny, sterling.
ATCIIIEVEMENT, in heraldry, denotes the arms of a per-son or'familv, together with all the exterior ornaments of the shield';as helmet, -mantle, crest, scrolls, and motto, together with suchquarterings as may have been acquired by alliances, all marshalledin order.
ATE, [from «t*m, to hurl,] the goddess of mischief, in themythology. She was daughter of Jupiter, and cast down fromheaven at the birth of Hercules. For Juno having deceived Ju-piter in causing Euristhene to be bom before Hercules, Jupiterexpressed his resentment on Ate, as tlie author of that mischief;and threw- her headlong from heaven to earth , swearing she shouldnever return thither again. (Homer II. xix. 125.) Her being thedaughter of Jupiter, means, according to mythologi- ts, that noevil happens to us but by the permission of Providence ; and herbanishment to earth denotes the terrible effects of divine justiceamong men.
AT EGA R, [from the Saxon aeton, to throw, and gar-, a wea-pon,] a weapon among the Saxons , which seems to have been ahand-dart.
ATELEIA, an exemption from taxes, or other burdens.ATiXiin >.Eirao'/n(areLy is particularly used, in some ancient laws, foran exemption from offices, granted the Egyptian clergy by Con-stantins.
ATEMPO Oiusto, in music, signifies to siug or pUy in an.equal, true, and just tune.
'ATERGAT1S, in mythology, a goddess of the Svjbps r.n fParthians , supposed to be the mother of Semiramis and calledDerceto by the Greeks.
ATESTE, a town in A'enice, now called Este. Lon. 12. 0.E. Lat. 45. 25. N. '
ATH, or AITH, a strong town in the Netherlands , on theDernier, 12 miles N. AVI of Mons.
Atm, Atha, or Athe, among our Anglo-Saxon ance-tors,signifies ail oath, especially that taken by wav of pursinlicn. Inthis sen.-e we meet with breaking of atb, privilege of atli, athaand ordela.
ATIIAMADULET, or ATBEMADAULET, the. prime-minister of the Persian empire.
ATHAMANTA, Spignel : A genus of the digvnia order, anilpentandria class-of plants-; and in the natural order, Umbeilatir.
^ ^ ' General