• A S 



would be a very valuable branch of trade under any other 

 government than that of the Turks. Shaw's Travels, 

 p. 14. 



AilZII-LA, a fea-port town of Africa, on thecoaftof the 

 Atlantic, in the empire of Morocco, built by the Romans 

 at the mouth of a river, fituate five leagues from Tangiers, 

 and now inhabited by Moors and Jews, who cairy on no 

 trade. It was formerly a Roman colony, afterwards fell 

 under the government of the Goths, and was next taken 

 by the Mahoa^etans. It was taken and burned by the En- 

 glirti ; after which it remained vvafte and uninhabited for 

 thirty rears, but was rebuilt by the calipiis of Cordova. In 

 the year 1470, it was taken by Alphonfo, king of Portugal, 

 called the African ; and abandoned by the Portuguefe about 

 the end of the fixteenth century. N. lat. 35^ 30'. W. long. 

 5° 30'. Chenier's Morocco, vol. i. p. 22. 



ARZIJS, \w An:unt Geography, a river of Thrace, which 

 ran into the Propontis at the latitude of about 42°. — Alfo, 

 a town of Thrace, called alfo Ar-x.um and Affus, fituate be- 

 tween Opi/.us and Sabzupara, eighteen miles from the for- 

 niei-, and twenty miles from the latter. 



AS, among Antiquaries, fometimes lignifies a particular 

 weight ; in which fenfe the Roman as is the fame with the 

 Koraan //7v>7, or pound. See Libra. 



The word is by fome derived from kj,-, which, in the 

 Doric dialect, is ufed for £i--, cm, q. d. an entire thing ; 

 though others will have this money named as, quafi <fj-, bc- 

 caufe made of brafs. — Budseus has written nine books Z)c ajfe, 

 £5" ejus parlihus i " Of the as, and its parts." 



The as had fevcral diviiions. See the table under As, an 

 integer. See alfo Weight. 



As was alfo the name of a Roman coin, which was made 

 of different materials and d-.fferent weights, in diiJereat ages 

 of the commonwealth. 



Under Numa Pompiliuti, according to Eufebius in his 

 " Chronicon," the Roman money was either of wood, lea- 

 ther, or (hells. In the time of Servius Tnllius, who reigned 

 in Rome about 578 years before Chrift, it was copper or brafs, 

 and was called as, libra, lihella, or pondo, becaufe adlually 

 ■weighing a pound, or twelve ounces. Mr. Pinkerton is of 

 opinion, that we may value the<7j libraUsof ancient Rome at 

 about eight-pence Englifh. This was called JEs gra-ce ; 

 and t\\e{e ajles were weighed, and not counted. The coinage 

 of Tullius feems to have been confined to the as, or piece 

 of brjfs, with the impreflion of Janus on the one fide, and 

 the prow of a lliip on the other, becaufe Janus arrived in 

 Italy by fea. Varro, however, informs us, that the firfl; 

 coins of Tullius had the figure of a bull, or of other cattle 

 upon them, like the Etrufcan coins, of which they were 

 imitations ; and hence it is faid they were called pscun'ie.. 

 Thofe ajjh with the figure of Janus and the prow of a fliip 

 upon them, may be fuppoied, according to Mr. Pinkerton, 

 firll to have appeared about 400 years before Chrift ; but, in 

 a (hoit time, various fubdivifions of the ajrt^'cre coined. The 

 fcmis, or half, is commonly (lamped with the head of Jupi- 

 ter laureated ; the //-(Vnj or third, with fourcyph'-rs, as being 

 originally of four ounces weight, has the head of Minerva ; 

 the quadrans or quarter, marked with three cyphers, has the 

 head of Hercules wrapt in a lion's (kin ; theyc.v/(7«jor (ixth, 

 with two cyphers, is marked with the head of Mercuiy with 

 a cap and wings ; and the uncia, having one cypher, is 

 marked witli the head of Rome. All thefe coins appear to 

 Jiave been call in moulds, by a confiderable number at a 

 time ; afterwards the fmaller divifions were ftnick, inftcad 

 of being caft ; but the larger continued to be ca(t until the 

 OS fell to two ounces. At this time, however, it was called 

 libra, and accounted a pound of copper ; though larger de- 



A S 



nominations of it were coined, fuch as the h'lfas or double 

 as, treffis and quadrvjfis of three and four ajfes, and even as 

 far as decujfis or ten ajf.s, marked X. The fmaller parts of 

 the as feldom occur, owing to their fraall value ; though 

 fome are ftill found, fuch as the fennis, triensj quadrans, lex- 

 tans, and uncia, coined in the times of Nero and Uomitian. 

 Some coins occur which exceed the as lihralis in weight ; 

 and tiiefe are fuppofed to be prior to the time of ScrviuB 

 Tullius. The Romans reckoned by ojls before they coined 

 filver, in the 485th year of the city, or 2'i9 before Chrill, 

 and afterwards they kept their accounts in fcderces. 



Pliny fays, that when the iirft Punic war had exhaufled 

 the treafury, they reduced the as to two ounces. They thus 

 gained fifteen parts, and were enabled to pay their debt;. 

 Mr. Pinkerton is of opinion, that Pliny, in adertiug that 

 the as continued of a pound weight till the end of tlie firlt 

 Punic war, is miftaken. Coins, that refute this affertion, 

 are ftill found ; and he thinks it probable that the as de- 

 creaftd gradually and flwwly in Aveight, as from a pound to 

 eleven ounces, then to ten, r.ine, &c. ; but neither t!ie as 

 nor its parts were ever correctly fized. ^ In the fccond Punic 

 war, when the Romans were much preffed by Hannibal, 

 about the year of Rome 538, or 216 before Chrift ; Fabius 

 Maximus being diitator ; the affi-s were further reduced ti> 

 an ounce each ; and the filver denarius was made to pafs 

 for fixteen aJfes, the quinarius for eight, and the federce for 

 four : and the republic gained upon the copper money one 

 half. This took place about thirty-fix years after the former 

 reduction. Tlie as libralis, with the face of Janus upon it, is 

 the form moft commonly occurrirtg before it was reduced to 

 two ounces. Mr. Pinkerton fuppofes, that this continued 

 for at leaft a century and a half after the coinage of Tul- 

 lius, till about 300 before Chrift, in the year of Rome 454, 

 between which and the 502d y-ear of Rome, a gradual di- 

 minution of the as to tv.'o ounces muft have taken place. 

 The following table exhibits, according to Mr. Pinkerton, 

 the dates of the Roman coinage. The libralis coined by 

 Tullius with the figures of oxen, &c. about 1 67 years after 

 the building of Rome, according to fir Ifaac Newton, or 

 about the year before Chrift 460, or 587 according to Blair; 



As lilrrJis, with Janus and the prow of a fhip 409 



As oi 10 ounces . . ^ 300 



8 .... 290 



6 .... 280 



4 .... 270 



3 .... 260 



2, according to Pliny . . 250 



I, according to the fame . 214 



Laftly, by the Papirian law, the as was reduced to half 

 an ounce : and it is generally thought that it reftcd here all 

 the time of the commonwealth, and even till VefpaCan'* 

 reign. This laft was called the Papirian us, becaufe the law 

 juil mentioned was paffed in the year of Rome 563, or, ac- 

 cording to the Varronian computation, 191 before Chrift, 

 by C. Papirius Carbo, then tribune of the people. Thus, 

 there were four different a£cs in the time of the common- 

 wealth. The figure ftampcd on the as was at firft a (hcep, 

 ox, or fow ; and from the time of the kings, a Janus with 

 two faces on one fide, and the rojlntm or prov.- of a fhip on 

 the rcverfe. 



The triens and quadrans of copper had the figure of a 

 fmall veffel called ratis on the revcrfe. Thus Pliny : Kota grit 

 (i.e. affij),fuit ex altera pane jfamis geminus, ex altera ro/lrum 

 iiavis: in tritnte vero l^ quadrante rates. Hift. Nat. lib.xxxiii. 

 cap. 3. Hence thefe pieces were fometimes called ratiti. 



After the Romans began to have an intercourfe ' with 



Greece, various elegant figures appear upon the parts of the 



F z lu. 



