A C II 



fs-mily, he was prefentcd by the elector with a chain and 

 nieJal of gold, as a peculiar token of his eileeni. Ijy the 

 emperor Rodolph he was invited to Prague, where lie 

 executed a |)i(fi:iire of Venu.^ and Adonis, fo much to the 

 emperor's fatisfattion, tliat he was partieularly diiUngnilhed 

 by him an long as he lived. His chaiader was that of one 

 of the bell mailers of his time. Pilkinglon's Dift. 



ACHA, or AcA, in Gco^^rnphy, a diftrid of Africa, on 

 the conhnes of I.ybia ; formcily rich and populous, but now 

 reduced : the chief produce is dates. 



ACHABYTUS, in yjnmnt Geography, a high moun- 

 tain in Rhodes, on the top of which flood a temple of 

 Jupiter. 



ACHAC, in Orn'i'.hology, the name given by the people 

 of the Philippine illands to a bird common there. It is of 

 the ^\Li of a common hen ; its belly, breaft, and neck arc 

 of a pale brown, and its back of a dully reddifii colour ; its 

 wings ari extremely beautiful, being principally of a grcenilh 

 blue colour ; the tail is wliite, ihoit, and contiiuially in mo- 

 tion ; the eyes are black, and the beak is thick and llrong, 

 and is of a black colour, and of an obtufe figure ; the legs 

 ait rcddifh, and the claws black : when it makes any noife, 

 it feems to utter the word pht, pin, very often repeated. 

 It lives principally about the c'- >tivated parts of the illands, 

 and feeds on rice and other vegetables, being properly of 

 the partridge kind. 



ACHiEA, in Andent Geography, a well fortified town 

 of the illand of Rhodes, in the dillrift of Jalyfus, faid to be 

 the firil and mod ancient of all, and to have been built by 

 the Heliadf.s, or children of the Sun. Diod. Sicul. 1. t. 

 c. 57. torn. I. p. 376. Ed. WefTeling. 



AcH^A was alfo a hamlet of Allatic Sarmatia, on the 

 Eiixine. The inhabitants were a colony of Orchomenians, 

 and called Achic'i. 



AcH.'EANS, Achxi, in Ancient H'ljlory, the inhabitants of 

 AcHAiA Propria, fo called from Achaeus, the fon of 

 Xuthus, who having been baniihed from ThefTaly, fettled in 

 Athens, mamed Creufa, the daughter of Ereclheus, and 

 had by her two fons, r/z. Achnsus and Ion. Achxus, 

 puuing himfelf at the head of a fmall number of Athenian 

 and jEgialean forces, made an expedition into ThefTaly, and 

 recovered his grandfather's kingdom ; but having com- 

 mitted the crime of manflaughter, he was foon obhged to 

 fly to Laconia, where he ditd, and where hi.i pollerity re- 

 mained, under the denomination of Achxans, till they were 

 expelled by tlie Dores and licraclidsE. On this occalion 

 tliey determined to lay claim to Achaia, and to expel the 

 lonians. They founded their title on their defcent from 

 the eldeil fon of Xnthus, and enforced it by collecting a 

 number of troops, and arranging themfelves under tlitir 

 brave king Tifamenes, the fon of Orefles. The lonians 

 were overpon'ered, and driven into Attica ; and the Achae- 

 an? took pofTeirion of the kingdom, winch confilled chiefly 

 of twelve cities. Thefc cities were divided between the four 

 fons of Tilamenes ; who, vmiling with their coulin, the fon 

 of Penthillus, and grandfon ot Orefles, a.'id jointlj re:gnini^ 

 over this new Achaian ilatc for fome time, agreed to form 

 an alliance with Preagcnes, and liis fon Palrus, the fove- 

 reigns of thofe Ach^rans, who had been banifhed out of 

 I/aca;demon, and gave them the fovereignrj- and territories 

 of a city, which from the la!l of thefe was called Palnr. 

 The Ach^Eans fortified themfelves fo well in their new fet- 

 tlement, after having expelled the lonians, tli.* diey were 

 able to defend themfelves againfl tiie Heraclldfe, snd to 

 preferve their laws and hbcrty, even after all the refl of 

 Peloponnefus had been fubdued by them, and under a feries 

 of k'ngs from Tifamenes to Ogygus ; after which they 

 formed themfelves into a kind of republic, or dijmocracy. 



A C H 



As their country- was poor, witliout commerce, and almofl 

 without indulhy, iti nihabitants enjoyed the l.berty and 

 equality afforded them by a wife IcgiPature. Strangers tj 

 the deiirc of conquell, and having liule conntdion with 

 cornipt nations, they never employed fi-aud and falfehood 

 even againfl their enemies ; and as all their cities had th^- 

 fame laws, and the fame offices i.\i magiflracy, they fonr.ed 

 only one body, and one ftate : and the harmony that pre- 

 vailed among them pervaded ever\- clafs of citizens. Th: 

 excellence of their coniHtution, and the probity of their 

 magillrate'; were fo univerfally allowed, that the Greek 

 cities of Italy addrefled themfelves to this people to become 

 their arbitrators, and fome of them even fonntd a iimilar con- 

 fedei-acy. The Laceda;moniar.s and Tlnbans, wlio refpcc- 

 lively claimed the vidoiy at Leuftra, referred their difpnie, 

 in which their honour was fo materially interelled, and 

 which demanded the mofl impartial decifion, to the deter- 

 mination of the Achx-ans. Having long retained their li- 

 berty, they ceafed not to atTemble, when the ncceflity of 

 public deliberation required it, even when the reft of Greece 

 was threatened with wars and peflilcnce. Polybius obfci-vcs, 

 that the Achreans fo far gained the eftcem and confidence 

 of all the Pelopoanefians, that their name became common 

 to that whole country. The anns wliich thefe people 

 chiefly ufed were flings, in the ufe of which they were 

 tramed from their infancy, and acquired fuch dexterity, 

 that they flruck any objeft at which they aimed with fur- 

 prifing exaftnefs. The Achsan government continued in 

 its democratic form from the expulfion of Ogygus or Gyge.-, 

 the lall king of Achaia, to tlic time of Alexander the 

 Great ; after whofe death this little republic v.as involved 

 in all the calamities that are infeparable from difcord, and 

 was conftrained to fubmit to the Macedonian yoke. The 

 Achxans then changed mailers as often as Macedon changed 

 fovereigns, and were frequently enOaved by tyrants of tlieir 

 own. Unable to bear this flavifli fubjedion, in the 125th 

 olympiad, ante Chr. 280, when Pyrriius invaded Italy, they 

 revived their ancient union. The firfl affertors of hberty 

 were the inhabitants of Patrx and Dyma, and they v.eic 

 foon joined by thofe of iEgium, Dura, and others. The 

 good order that reigned in this little republic, where liberty 

 and equality, with a iincere zeal for jullice and tlie public 

 welfare, were the fundamental principles of their govern- 

 ment, induced feveral neighbouring cities to join them. 

 The Achxan league thua revived, and extending its influ- 

 ence, was firfl acceded to by the Sicyonians, under the di- 

 redion of Aratus ; they were followed by other flatcs not 

 only of Peloponnefus, but by all Greece, except the Lace- 

 dx-monians, who firll entered into a war againfl tlie .■\cl!ian«. 

 By the Achrean league, all the cities fubject to it, v.ere go- 

 verned by the great council, or general afTembly of the na- 

 tion. To this afTembly each of them had a right to fend a 

 certain number of deputies, who were eleded in their rc- 

 fpedive cities by a plurality of voices. As the fuprcme and 

 legifl^itive power was lodged in thij afTembly, it was con- 

 flantly convened, except on extraordlnaiy oecaiions, twice 

 a-year; on which occafions they enacled laws, difpofed of 

 vacant employments, declared war, made peace, and con- 

 cluded alliances ; and the acts of the afTembly w.tc bindin" 

 on all the confederated cities. The chief mag fli ate of the 

 league, called by the Greeks flrategos, and by the Latins 

 pnctor, was chofen by the majority of votes. At firll they 

 had two oflicei-s of this kind ; but they w>r>- foon rcdtieej 

 to one, who prclided in the diet, and commanf'eJ the 

 army. The prxtor, and other magitlrates, conrinucd in 

 the fame office two years fucccfhvely. The former was rc- 

 fponfible to the general afTembly. The drmiurgi were 

 next in power to the prator, and arc therefore denominated 



T2 by 



