ATHEISM 4 



sions. The Northern group occupied the region 

 of Alberta. ml lived by hunting and 



fishing '<c group occupied permanent 



villages along th ifc in Oregon and 



California; the Southern division lived in iso- 

 groups in New Mexico and Arizona. 

 Such important tribes as be and the 



Navajo are members of this family, which 

 exhibited throughout a greater similarity in 

 language than in tribal manners and customs. 

 With the exception of the two tribes named 

 above, they have not been warlike tribes. In 

 general, the Athapascans always showed a 

 strong tendency to adopt the civilization of 

 any other tribes with whom they came into 

 contact, and missionaries have found this imi- 

 tative faculty of great help in dealing with 

 them. There are at the present time about 

 50,000 Athapascans living in the United States, 

 Canada and Alaska. See INDIANS, AMERICAN. 

 ATHEISM, a'theis'm, the belief of those 

 who declare that there is no God. The 

 atheist and agnostic are sometimes confused, 

 but they are not the same, for the latter 

 merely claims that one cannot prove that God 

 exists, or that he does not exist (see AGNOSTIC). 

 Belief in a Supreme Being is so natural to man- 

 kind that even those who deny that God exists 

 very often set up some sort of an ideal of their 

 own to take the place of the God they refuse 

 to admit. The term atheist has been applied 

 very loosely from earliest times, for in matters 

 of religion the tendency in all ages has been to 

 call a man an atheist who departs from a 

 generally-accepted creed. The ancient Greeks 

 imprisoned Socrates for "not believing in the 

 gods the city believes in," and the Romans 



I ATHENS 



of Nero's time sent the Christians to their 

 death to the cry of "Away with the atheists!" 



ATHELSTAN, ath' d slim (895-940), the 

 first ruler to bear the title of king of England, 

 was the grandson of Alfred the Great. He 

 succeeded his father, Edward the Elder, in 

 925, put down a revolt of the Welsh, Scotch 

 and English, and after his victory at Brunan- 

 burh, which has been celebrated in Saxon song, 

 ruled with wisdom and justice. 



ATHENAEUM, athcne' um, any one of the 

 ancient Greek temples dedicated to the god- 

 dess Athene, but especially that temple in 

 Athens where poets and other literary men 

 met to read their productions. At Rome, a 

 celebrated school on the Capitoline Hill having 

 this name was founded by the Emperor 

 Hadrian about 135. In the building, which had 

 the form of a theater, literary productions were 

 read, lectures delivered, and recitations con- 

 ducted. As teachers who were paid salaries 

 were attached to the Athenaeum, it was in a 

 measure a university, and as such was in 

 existence until the fifth century. Schools of a 

 similar character and bearing the name athen- 

 aeum were founded in various cities of the 

 Roman provinces. 



At the present time schools ranking next to 

 the universities in Holland and Belgium are 

 known by this name, and it is also applied to 

 scientific clubs and literary societies, to the 

 buildings in which these clubs meet, and some- 

 times to literary magazines. Among the latter 

 is an important periodical founded in London 

 in 1828. 



ATHENE, athe'ne, also spelled ATHKNA. 

 See MINEKVA. 



THE 5TORY OF ATHENS 



THENS, ath' cm, one of the most 

 famous cities the world has ever known. To- 

 day it is the capital of the kingdom of Greece, 

 but its great fame dates from the time when 

 - the capital of ancient Attica. It lies 

 on a plain between the mountains and the sea, 

 about five miles from the harbor of Piraeus, its 



ancient seaport, and its elevation of 350 feet 

 above sea level secures to it a temperate, 

 sunny climate. Nowhere are the skies bluer 

 and more beautiful than over Athens. 



Its Story. The Athenians boasted that their 

 ancestors had not migrated from some other 

 section of the world that they had sprung 



