A S Y 



5t£lcd, that if he lii'ed to manhood, he.woulc! behove valiant 

 than his father, and avenge his deatli. It was therefore 

 determined to difpatch him in his minority. Andromache 

 took pains for concealing him ; but, it is faid, that Ulyfles 

 difcovcred him, and precipitated him from the top of the 

 Trojan walls. The death of Ailyanax is the principal fub- 

 jcft of Euripides's tragedy of the Trojans. 



ASTYKOMl, in ylnl'iiiiily, were magiilrates at Athens 

 who had the iiifpeftion of the llreets, and alfo of players 

 on inftruments and li.uffoons- They were ten in number, 

 and coriefponded to the plebeian a;diles of Rome. Sec 



AcORANOMt'S. 



ASTYPALjEA, in ylncicnt Geography, an idand ef 

 Afin, in the Cretan fea, where, according to Cicero (De 

 Nat. Deor. 1. iii. c. iS.), divine hononrs were rendered to 

 Achilles. Steph. Byz. fays, that this idand, one of the 

 Cvplades, was called Pyrrha when the Cavians poflefred it, 

 and afterwards Pylia. Its name Ailypalxa, in its proper 

 fignificalion, means the " ancient city," and is faid to be 

 derivtd from that of the daughter of Phoenix and Piramede, 

 fifter of JLnropa, and beloved by Neptune, by w!iom he 

 had Ancxus, who reigned over the people named Lclegi. 

 Paufan. 1. vii. c. 4. It was alio called " Theontrape/.a," 

 i. e. the table of the gods, becaufe its foil is fertile, and al- 

 moft enamelled with flowers. It now bears the name of 

 Stampalia. — Alfo, a town of the idand of Cos. Strabo. 

 — Alfo, a promontory of Afia Minor, in Caria, in tlie 

 territory of JVIindus. Strabo. — Alfo, a town of the idand 

 of Samos. 



ASTYRA, or Astvre', a town of iEolis ; but it no 

 longer fubfifted in the time of Pliny. — Alfo, a village of Afia 

 Minor, in the Troade, near mount Ida, in the vicinity of 



which was a grove confeerated to Diana Altyrxne Alfo, 



a town of Phosnicia, in the neiglibourhood of the ifle 

 of Rhodes. Steph. Byz. 



ASTYRON, a, town of Illyria, built by the Argo- 

 nauts. 



ASUADA, a town of Pakftine. Not. Imp. 

 ASUCA Bay, in Geop-cphy, lies on the fouth part of 

 the gulf of Sofala, on the S. E. coaft of Africa, in the 

 Indian ocean. 



ASUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of the idand of 

 Crete (Pliny), the Afos of Steph. Byz. whence Jupiter 

 derived the appellation of Afius. 



AsuM, or Offion, in Geography, a town of Afiica, on the 

 fea-coaft of the kingdom of Adel. 



ASUMATZ, a town of Walachia, eight miles ead; of 

 Buchoreft. 



ASWAD, a town of Arabia, 28 miles fouth of 

 Saade. 



ASYLA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Spain, in the 

 country of the Turdetani. Ptolemy. 



ASYLUM, a faniluary or place of refuge, where a 

 criminal who dieltcrs himfclf is deemed inviolable, and not 

 to be touched by any officer of ju [lice. 



The word is compounded of the privative pr.r^icle a., and 

 crufM-j, I hurt ; becaufe no perfon could be taken out of an 

 afyhim witiiout facrilege. 



The firft afylum was eftablidied at Athens, by the 

 defcendants of Hercules, to flicker themfclves from the 

 fury of his enemies ; to fcrve as a refuge for children who 

 fled from the ill treatment of their parents, and, as fome 

 have faid, to be a fandUiary for fuppliants in general. This is 

 faid by Statins, Theb. xii. and Servius, in iEncid viii. to 

 liave been the firll afylum ; others fuppofe that it was full 

 built i-t 'I^hcbes by Cadmus, for the reception of all cri- 

 ^uiuals. Faufaa. 1. \u. i£ii. I. ii. v. uz. Eurip. Hecuba, 



A S Y 



V, T46. In imitation of the afylum of Cadmus, Romulus e'lla. 

 blidied one between the two groves on the Capitoline mount, 

 which was free of acccfs to all criminals. The oracle of 

 Belphos, according to Plutarch, famSioned this political 

 edablidiment of Romulus with its approbation. Wlien 

 Romulus ci.larged his new city, whieli by this policy was 

 fi.ockcd witii inhabitants, the afyluai was inelofed within 

 the walls, and thofe who had fli.d to it, being brought un- 

 der fome regulations, became citizens of Rome. Plut. in 

 Rom. 1. V. c. 19. Dion. Hal. 1. ii. 



The temples, altars, ftatues, and tombs of heroes, were, 

 anciently, the ordinary retreat of tl'.ofe who found them- 

 felves aggrieved by the rigour of the laws, or oppreded by 

 the violence of tyrants; but temples were held the moll 

 facred and inviolable refuge. It was fuppofed, that the 

 gods took upon them to puni.1i the criminal^ who thus 

 threw himfelf upon them; and that it would be a great 

 impiety in man to take vengeance out of the hands ot the 

 immortals. 



The Ifraelites had their cities of refuge, which were of 

 God's own appointment; where the guilty, who had not com- 

 mitted any deliberate crime, found fafcty and piotedtion. As 

 to the heathens, they allowed refuge and impunity even to the 

 vileft and moil flagrant oft'enders, fome out of fuperflition, 

 and others for the fake of peopling their cities ; and it was 

 by this means, and with iucli inhabitants, that Thebes, 

 Athens, and Rome, were firft ftocked. We even read of 

 alyhims at Lyons and Vienne, among the ancient Gauls ; 

 and there are fome cities in Geimany which Hill prefervc 

 the ancient right of afylum. 



Hence, on the medals of feveral ancient cities, particularly 

 in Syria, we meet with the infcription AITAOI, to wliich is 

 added, lEPAI. Tiiis quality of afylum v.as given them, 

 according to M. Spanheim, in regard to their temples, and 

 of the gods revered by thcii^ 



The fame qualities liave alfo been given to deities : thus 

 Diana of Ephefus is called anX^. Add, that the camp, 

 formed by Romulus and Remus, was called afyhim, and 

 afterwards became a city, in which was a temple ereftcd to 

 the god Afylsus, Rtc; Ao■^^alo;. It appears from Plaulns 

 (Moilell. v. I.), tliat daves had particular afylums : fuch was 

 the temple at Athens ; or the tomb of Thefeus ; becaufe 

 he never refufed to avenge the oppreded, and to fuccour 

 the wretched. The temple of Diana at Ephefus was an 

 afylum for debtors. In procefs of time, afylums were fo 

 multipHed, that it became nectdary to regulate and reform 

 them, in the reign of Tiberius, as we are informed by 

 Tacitus (Annal. 1. iii. c.6o.); and Suetonius (Tiberii. c. 37.) 

 fays, they were utterly abohdied. 



The emperors Honorius and Theodofius granting the 

 like immunities to churches, the bilhops and monks laid hold 

 of a certain tradl or territory, without which they fixed the 

 bounds of the lecuiar jurildiiftion : and fo well did they 

 manage their privileges, that convents, in a little time, be- 

 came next akin to fortreflcs, where the moft notorious 

 villains were in fafety, and braved the power of the magi- 

 ftrate. 



Thefe privileges, at length, were extended not only to 

 the churches and church-yards, but alfo to the bidiops' 

 houfcs, whence the criminal could not be removed without 

 a legal afliirance of life, and an entire reiniiTion of the crime. 

 TJie reafon of the extenfion was, that they might not be 

 obliged to live altog ther in the churelies, &c. where feveral 

 of the occafions ot hfe could not be decently performed. 



But, at length thefe afyla, or fanftuaries, were alfo 

 ftrippcd of moll ot their immunities, becaufe they ferved to 

 make guilt and libcrtinifm more bold and daring. Li En- 

 gland, 



