AST 



which it forms in the banks. Very frequent in many coun- 

 tries of Europe. 



AsTACus is alfo the name of a genus in the Fabrician 

 fyftem, formed of thofe fpecics of the Linnacan Cancr'i, 

 that have four peduncuhite antennx, the two fore-ones of 

 which are lona and letaceous, and the pofterior ones cleft. 

 Among thefe the lobiler and cravv-fiih are inchided. 



AsTACUs, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia, in 

 Bithynia, (Ituate upon the Aftacene gulf, according to 

 Straho. The city was built by the Megarians and Athe- 

 nians, aiid dellroycd by Lyfimachus, and its inhabitants 

 tranfportcd to Nicomedia, by whom it was founded or re- 

 eilablifhed. Some have faid that Nicomtdia was built on tlie 

 ruins of Allacus. — Alfo, a town of Greece, in Acarnania. 



ASTiE, a pLople of Europe, in Thrace. Sceph. Byz. 



ASTAGENI, ;i people of Arabia Felix. Ptolemy. 



ASTx'^.GON, in Geography, a town of Africa, in Mo- 

 noemngi, on the confines of Zangucbar. 



ASTAMAR, AcTAMAR, or Abaunas, a large lake, 

 with a fortified town of the fame name, in Armenia. N. 

 lat. 36" 30'. E. long. 44° 14'. 



ASTAN, a river of Arabia, in Lahfa, which is probably 

 the ilream in Neged mentioned by D'Anville, and is re- 

 prefented by Niebuhr as only a wall or brook which runs 

 after rains. 



ASTANDA, called alfo Astalin, in Antiquity, a 

 royal courier or meflenger, the fame with Angarus. 



King Darius of Perila is faid by Plutarch, in his book on 

 the fortune of Alexander, to have formerly been an 

 altanda. 



AsTANDA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia, in 

 Aria. Ptolemy. 



ASTAPA, EsTEPA LA ViEjA, a town of Spain, in 

 Baetica, fouth-weft of Singili. It is diilinguifhed by the 

 records of its vigorous defence againft Marius and the Ro- 

 mans, in the year of Rome 546. When they were no 

 longer able to refill the befiegers, they kindled a fire into 

 which they threw all their effefts, and rnfiied with their wo- 

 men and children into the midlt of their enemies, by whom 

 they were vanquifhed and (lain ; but no trophy of vi£lory 

 remained for their conquerors. 



ASTAP^I, :v people of Africa, placed by Steph. Byz. 

 in Libya. , 



ASTAPUS, a river of Abyffinia, which with the As- 

 taboras formed the peninfula of Meroe. This river, known 

 now by the name of the " White River," is reprefented by 

 Diodorus Siculus as proceeding from large lakes to the 

 fouthvvard, and having- thrown itfelf into the Nile, makes 

 with it the right hand channel inclofing Meroe in Atbara. 

 See AsTAEORAS and Merge. 



A STAR A, in Geography, a town of Perfia, in Ghilan, 

 on the Cafpian fea. 



ASTARABAT, a town of Perfia, in Segeftan, 100 

 miles north of Zareng, and 220 W. N. W. of Can- 

 dahar. 



ASTARAC, a fmall territory of France, fituate in the 

 late proWnce of Gafcony, about eight leagues fquare, of 

 which the capital is Mirande. 



ASTAROTH, in Ancient Geography, a town of Pa- 

 leftine, in Batanxa, or Bafhan. Tliis was a ftrong city be- 

 Jongi.ig to the half tribe of Manaffth, on the other fide of 

 Jordan. It was granted to the Levites of the family of 

 Gerfhon, according to Jolhua. 



Astaroth-carnaim, another town of Paleftine, 

 fouth-wefl: of the former, and diilant from it nine miles, 

 between Adraa and Abila. It is fuppofed to have derived 

 its name from Aftarte, called Allaroth, the deity of the 



AST 



Phoenicians, and Carnaim, fignifying horns or a crefcent, 

 with which file was reprefented. 



Astaroth, in Mythology,- an idol of the PhiliHines, 

 which the Jews dtftroycd at the command of Samuel. It 

 was alfo the name of a deity of the Sidonians, which was 

 wordiipped by Solomon in his idolatrous days. See 



ASTARTE. 



ASTARTA, in Ancient Geography, an ifland of Ethio- 

 pia. Steph. Byz. 



ASTA RTE, a deity of the AiTyrians, under which 

 appellation they worfliipped tlie moon, and from them 

 that fpecies of idolatry extended to the Phoenicians, Car- 

 ihaginians, and other ancient nations. Adonis, who was 

 an Affyrian by defcent, is faid to have married AUartc ; and 

 after their death they were elevattd to the rank of gods : 

 and as it was the opinion of ancient times, that the fonh of 

 dillinguilhcd perfonages after their death inhabited the ftars, 

 it has been imagined that thofe of Adonis and Allarte 

 made choice of the iuii and moon for their refptclive refi- 

 dence ; and hence their worfhip and that of thele luminaries 

 was the fame. Allarte was called in Hebrew Ailaroth or 

 Alhtaroth ; whicli appellation fomc have erroneoufly af. 

 cribed to her having been reprefented in the form of a fheep. 

 Others have conjeftured, from the etymology of the word 

 AJhtaroth, which fignifies " flocks of ihecp or goats," that 

 in ancient times, when men were chiefly addifted to a pai- 

 toral life, and peciiliaily delighted in tliis occupation, the 

 moll approved fimiles of excellence and beauty were deduced 

 from hence ; and this has been fuppofed to have been the 

 reafon of the name Alhtaroth or Aftarte. Allarte was 

 ufually reprefented, like Ifis, with cow's horns on her head, 

 and for the fame reafon, namely, for exhibiting the moon's 

 increafe and decreafe ; as fhe was confecrated into that pla- 

 net, and adored under the denomination of the " queen of 

 heaven." Her principal worfliip was eftabliflicd at Hiera- 

 polis in Syria, where ihe had a magnificent temple, and 

 more than 300 priefts employed at her altars. 



Cicero, and alfo Suidas, luppole that the Aftarte of the 

 Phoenicians was one ot the four Vennfes, whom the Roman 

 orator enumerates. Begcr and Bochart add, that file was 

 Venus armed, or the goddefs of war ; and Paufanias, on 

 whofe authority they relv, fays, that the Cythereans, who 

 adored her under this form and appellation, had received 

 this worfhip from the Phoenicians. Allarte, according to 

 Lucian, was the moon ; and Juno among the Carthaginians, 

 according to St. Auguftin, who, as Bochart imagines, had 

 derived their opinion from Horace, 1. ii. od. i. and Virgil 

 jEn. l.i. 15. This goddefs was reprefented by her votaries 

 in different nations, under a variety of forms and attributes. 

 The Sidonians reprefented her under the figure of a hen 

 who covered her chickens with her wings. The Aftarte, 

 mentioned by Cicero, was exhibited in Phoenicia with a 

 quiver and arrows. In her temple on mount Libanus, 

 where (he was mourning her loft Adonis, her head was 

 veiled, and refted on her left hand, and floods of tears 

 ftreamed down her cheeks. Among the Affyrians, ftie was 

 fometimcs termed a goddefs, and fometimes a god, on ac- 

 count of the ambiguity of gender in the oriental languages, 

 and bccaufe the Hebrews knew no dillinftion of fex in the 

 gods. The mythological writers, in general, have thought 

 that Aftarte is, under different names, the Venus or My- 

 litta of the Aft"yrians, the Mithra of the Perfians, the Ifis 

 of thi; Egyptians, the lo and Venus Urania of the Greeks, 

 the great goddefs of the Syrians, the Derceto of Afcalon, 

 and probably Diana, &c. When the black conical ilone, 

 which was thought to have fallen from heaven at Emefa, 

 and. under the form of the fun was worfhippcd in that place, 



and 



