JE L I 



taken by them aftd burnt. Adrian rebuilt it, re-eftabli(hcd 

 the colony, ordered the marble (latuc of a hog, which the 

 Jews held in religious abhontncc, to be fet up over the gate 

 wliich opened towards Bethlehem, and publiflied an edift, 

 ftridly torbidding ar.y jew on pain of death to enter the 

 city, or even to look at it from a diilance. He alio lixed a 

 vigilant garrifon of a Roman cohort to enforce the execution 

 of his ordci-s. Chriilians, however, were permitted to' re- 

 main ; and they eltftcd a biHiop, who, being of the race of 

 the Gentiles formed a flourilhing church of Gentile con- 

 verts ; and tliefe abolilhed Jie JcwiHi obKrvances which had 

 preraikd among the Chriilians that had been profclytcd froni_ 

 the Jews ; and in coiifequtncc of this total renunciation of 

 tlie Jewilh law, they obtained a free admiffion into the 

 colony of Adrian. In this Hate ti-.c city remained till the 

 time ofConilantine, the fnft Chrillian emperor, who greatly 

 improved it and reftored the name of Jerufalem, tnough 

 that of iElia -continued to be occafionally ufed by 

 Greek, Latin, and Mahometan authors. The Jews, how- 

 ever, were not pennittcd to rcfide there. A.ttempting in 

 vain to get pofl'efllon of ihtir capital, Conilantir.e caukd their 

 cars to be cut off, their bodies to be marked as rebels, and 

 difpcrfed tlien'. over all the provinces of the empire, as fugi- 

 tives and (laves. The coins of Adrian, Antoninus Pius, and 

 J*Iarcus Aurelius, are infcribed with the characters Col. 

 AEL. CAP. i.e. Cohnia JUIia Capltoiina. Latin medals 

 were ilruck at ^Elia in honour of Adrian and oilier Roman 

 emperors. 



^LiA Rkchia. See Riccina. 



M.lA.\'ii,ClauiUus,'m Bh^raphy, was born at Prsenefte in 

 Italy, aboiitthc year So, and taught rhetoric at Rome, where 

 he lived in the time of tlic tniperors Nerva, Trajan, Adrian 

 and Antoninus, according to the account of Voflius extratted 

 from the Greek hiftorians, but according to Perizonius, 

 under the emperor Alexander Severus, who began his reign 

 A.D. 222. Philoftratus informs us, that he was a Roman 

 citizen, and that his life was extended beyond lixty years. 

 He was iurnamed M£Ar,?.ro-<ro> or M%Ki^^oyyoi,,ho!!ey-moulhed 

 and honey-fpeeched, on account of the peculiar fweetncfs of 

 his ftyle, both in his dilcourfes and writings. Martial re- 

 fers to this excellence, lib. xii. epigr. 24. 

 " O jucunda, Covine, folitudo, 

 Carruca magis, efl'edoque gratum 

 Facundi mihi-munus ^Eliani." 

 He was honoured with the appellation of Sophift, which 

 was a title appropriate in that age to men of wifdora and 

 learning ; and with the office of pontifex, as Suidas informs 

 us. He appears to have devoted himfelf with peculiar 

 afiiduity to hteraiy purfuits, and to the ftudy and praftice 

 of eloquence. As a writer he acquired a high degree of 

 reputation, and as a perfon of found principles and integrity 

 he has been much extolled, jtlian greatly admired and 

 diligently ftudied Plato, Ariftotle, Ifocrates and Plutarch, 

 and particularly the poets Homer, Anacreon, Archiloehus, 

 &e. and he exprefTes himfelf in terms of peculiar commen- 

 dation of Hipparchus, the fon of Pififtratus, as the liberal 

 patron of the poets. Such were his impartiality and can- 

 dour, tliat though he was himfelf a Roman, he declares his 

 preference of the Greek writers. His moll celebrated 

 works are his " Variae Pliftorias," of which we have an 

 excellent edition in Greek and Latin by Gronovius, in 

 two vols. 4to. ; to which are annexed the " Fragments" of 

 .^Ihan, coUefted by Kuhnius, out of Suidas, Stoba;us and 

 Euftathius: and his 17 books " De Natura Animalimn," 

 publiflied by the fame editor, two vols. 4to. with the ani- 

 madverfions of Gefner, Triller, and Gronovius. 



ii:L u 



The ftyle of the latter is more elegant than tliat of the 

 former, wliich does not feem to have had the laft revifal of 

 the author. iF.lian alfo wrote an acculation or invective 

 againil Heliogabalus, or, as fome fay, Domitian, under the 

 iictitious name of Gyimh Tyriiiuitis. He alfo compofcd a 

 book' againft. " AtheiiLs, or on Providence," which is much 

 commended by Suidas, and another " On Divine Appear- 

 ances, or the Declarations of Providence." Some aicribe 

 to him the work intitled " Tadlica," addrcfled to Adrian ; 

 but Perizonius is of opinion, that the author of this work was 

 a native of Greece, of the fame name, and that he lived about 

 a century before jF.lian. Thofe who wifti to fee more of 

 the talents and writings of ^lian, the age in which he lived,, 

 and the various editions of his works, may conlult Perizo- 

 nius's preface to the firll volume of the Varia: Hiiloria-, by 

 Gronovius. 



7ELIANUS Mfcdiis, lived in tlie time of the emperor 

 Adrian. Galen mentions him with refpecl. He haci great 

 conlidence in the Theriaca, as a preventative and cure of 

 the plag-ue. 



iELII Pons, in Andent Geography, one of the fortrefics 

 in or near the wall built by Adrian, now Portland in Nor- 

 thumberland, between Newcallle and Morpeth. 



iELIUS Pons, now II ponte S. Angela, a ilone bridge at 

 Rome over the Tyber, leading to the Bui-go and Vatican 

 from the city, along the mole built by the emperor Adrian. 



yELius Mdunu, in Biography, wi&i a writer in the reign of 

 the emperor Caracalla, who was then very old, and had been 

 a flave to Phlegon, the freedman of the emperor Adrian. 

 This writer is cited by Spartian in his account of the death 

 of Severus. 



iELLO, in Mythology, one of the three Harpies. 



AELQUAPPE, in Jcldthyology, the common name 

 among the German nations of a fidi of the muftela kind, the 

 viviparous eelpout, called by Schonefeldt muftela vivipara, 

 and in fome places aelpute, aelmoder and aelmutter. 



AELST, Evert Van, in Biography, a painter, w^s 

 born at Delft in 1602, and died at the age of 56 in 1658. 

 In painting dead game, fruit, armour, helmets with plumes 

 of featliers, or vafes of gold and filver, he exhibited a flrik- 

 ing refemblance of nature, and gave an extraordinai-y lullre 

 to the gold, filver and fteel. Pilkington's Di£t. 



AELST, William Van, the nephew and difciple of the 

 former, was born at Delft in 1620, and died in 1679. He 

 excelled his mafter in the exercife of his art. His pencil was 

 fo light and his touch fo delicate, that the objefts he painted 

 feemed real. Before the year 1656, he exercifcd his profefiion 

 in France and Italy, and afterwards fettled at Amfterdam ; 

 where his works v/ere much admired, and fold for a large 

 price. The grand duke of Florence honoured him with 

 a gold chain and medal, in acknowledgment of his merit. 

 Pilkington. 



AELT, in Geography, an abbey of Benediftins upon 

 the river Iltz, below AVafTenburg, in Bavaria. 



^LUjEONES, in Ancient Geography, a people of Ger- 

 many mentioned by Ptolemy, and called Hiileviones by 

 Plinv, and Hellufii by Tacitus. 



jELUP.I, a people placed by Suidas near the Alps, 

 which feparated them from the Gauls. 



.^LEUROPOLIS, formed of aXcupo,-, a cat, and lTo^l; 

 city, a town of Egypt, mentioned by Leunclavius. 



'yELURUS, in Mythology, tlie god of the cats: he is 

 reprefented by the ancient Egyptians, fomt times as a cat, 

 fometimes as a man with a cat's head. Such was the vene- 

 ration with which cats were regarded by tlie Egyptians, 

 that if a perfon killed any of them, with or without defign, 



he 



