2i4 A I C 
thofe who had fet fire to tlie city in their rear, while Jo- 
fhua and thofe who were with him, turning about, fell up¬ 
on them, and cut them in pieces. The king was taken 
alive, and afterwards put to death. 
AJ ALON, a town of the tribe of Dan, one of the Le- 
vitical. Another in the tribe of Benjamin, in whole val¬ 
ley Jofluia commanded the moon to Hand ftili, being then 
in her decreal'e, and confeqttently to be feen at the fame 
time with the fun. 
AJAN, a coaft and country of Africa, has the river 
Quilmanci on the fouth ; the mountains from which that 
river fprings, on the welt; Abyffinia or Ethiopia, and the 
Straight of Babelmandel, on the north; and the Ealtern 
or Indian Ocean, on the ealt. The coaft abounds w ith all 
necelfaries of life, and has plenty of very good horfes. 
The kings of Ajan are often at war with the emperor ot 
the Abyllinians; and all the prifoners they take they tell 
to the merchants of Cambaya, thofe of Aden, and other 
Arabs, who come to trade in their harbours, and give 
them in exchange, coloured cloths, glafs-beads, railins, 
and dates; for which they alfo take back, belides Haves, 
gold and ivory. The whole fea-coaft, from Zanguebar to 
the Straight of Babelmandel, is called the coaft of Ajan ; 
and a conliderable part of it is ftyled the Dcfert-coaft. 
AJ AX, the fon of Oileus, was one of the principal ge¬ 
nerals that went to the liege of Troy. He ravilhed Caf- 
fandra, the daughter of Priam, even in the temple of Mi¬ 
nerva, where Ihe thought to have found fanctuary. It is 
Xaid, he made a ferpent of fifteen feet long fo familiar with 
him, that it ate at his table, and followed him like a dog. 
The Locrians had a lingular veneration for his memory. 
Ajax, the fon of Telamon, was, next to Achilles, the 
moll valiant general among the Greeks at the liege of 
Troy. Pie commanded the troops of Salamis, and per¬ 
formed many great actions, of which we have an account- 
in the Iliad, in Diciys Cretenfis, and in the twenty-third 
hook of Ovid’s Metamorphol'es. He was fo enraged that 
the arms of Achilles w'ere adjudged to UlylTes, that lie 
immfcdiately became mad. The Greeks paid great ho¬ 
nours to him after his death, and erefted a magnificent 
monument to his memory upon the promontory of Rhe- 
tium. 
Ajax, f. in antiquity, a furious kind of dance, in life 
among the Grecians; intended to reprelent the madnefs 
of that hero after his defeat by UlylTes, to whom the 
Greeks had given the preference in his' conteft for Achil¬ 
les’s arms. Lucian, in his Treatife of Dancing, fpeaks of 
dancing the ajax. There was alfo an annual feaft called 
ajantia, etiafleta, confecrated to that prince, and obferved 
with great folemnity in the ifland of Salamis, as well as in 
Attica; where, in memory of the valour of Ajax, a bier 
was expofed, fet out with a complete fet of armour. 
AJAZZO, a fea-port town of the illand of Corfica, in 
the Mediterranean, with a bifiiop’s fee. Lat. 41.40. Ion. 
36. 35- 
Aja/.zo, a fea-port town of Natolia, in the province 
of Car-amania, anciently Silelia, feated on the coaft of the 
Mediterranean, thirty miles north of Antioch, and fifty 
weft of Aleppo, where the city of Ilfus anciently flood, 
and near which Alexander fought his fecond battle with 
Darius. Lat. 37. o. Ion. 33. 10. 
AICHSTAT, a town,of Germany, in Franconia, and 
capital of a bifiiopric of the fame name. It is remarka¬ 
ble for a curious and highly-valuable piece of workman- 
fhip, called the Sun of the Holy Sacrament, which is in 
the church. It is of maily gold, of great weight, and is 
enriched with 350 diamonds, 1400 pearls, 250 rubies, and 
other precious ftones. This place is moderately large, 
and feated in a valley on the river Altmul, ten miles north 
of Newburgh, and thirty-feven fouth of Nuremberg. 
I.at. 49. o. N. Ion. 11. 10. E. The bifiiopric is forty-five 
ipiles in length and feventeen in breadth; and the bidiop 
i chancellor of the church of Mayence or Mentz. 
AICUROUS,/ a fpecies of parrot. See Psittacus. 
A I D 
To AID, v. a. [aider, Fr. from adjutare, Lat.] To help; 
to fupport; to fuccour: 
By the loud trumpet, which our courage aids, 
We learn that fbund as well as fenfe perfuades. 
Rofcommon. 
Aid,/. Kelp; fupport. The perfon that gives help or 
fupport; a helper; auxiliary.—Thou haft faid, It is not 
good that man fliould be alone; let us make unto him an 
aicl,- like unto himfelf. Tobit, viii. 6. 
AIDAB, a town on the confines of Abaffia, in Africa, 
opposite to Giodda; from hence great numbers of Africans 
take dripping to vilit Mecca. 
A 1 DAN, king of Scotland. His father Goran was 
murdered by confpirators, in the year 535, at which time 
this prince was very young. Eugenius, nephew to the 
laft king, fucceeded to the throne. The queen dowager 
took the firft opportunity of quitting the kingdom, and re¬ 
tiring, with her two fons, Reginans and Aidan, into Ire¬ 
land ; the latter being then about feven years of age... 
They were very kindly received by Tauthalius the reign¬ 
ing king; and the queen, and her eldeft fon, died there. 
Aidan continued there forty-eight years, great part of 
which time Eugenius reigned; and after him his brother 
Congallus, \\ ho, being conlcious of the wrong done to the 
right heir of the crown, ordered Aidan to be brought 
home, which was undertaken and performed by the cele¬ 
brated St. Columb. But, on their arrival in Scotland, 
they were informed the king was dead, and that his bro¬ 
ther Kennatillus was by the Scots put in poftetTion of the 
throne. After the burial of the deceafed prince, Columb 
went to court with Aidan; and, to the furprife of all peo¬ 
ple, was received by the new king with much kindnefs 
and refpebt, he telling Aidan, he fliould aflift him in go¬ 
verning the kingdom, which would become his very fliort- 
ly, to whom of right it pertained. The king, being old 
and infirm, died foon after, and was fucceeded by Aidan, 
according to Boetius, in the year 578. Aidan went into 
Galloway, immediately after his coronation, and fuppref- 
fed certain robbers who had infefted that country, and 
committed great outrages in it; and he inftituted annual 
allizes there, at Lochabcr, and Caithnefs. But fome of 
the young nobility, quarrelling at a hunting match, fud- 
denly interrupted thefie works of peace. This affray, end¬ 
ing in bloodfhed, caufed feveral of them to retire into the 
dominions of the Britifh king. Aidan, in virtue of a trea¬ 
ty with this prince, often demanded them, and was con- 
ftantly refuted. Incetifed at this treatment, lie entered 
his country, took a great number prifoners, and carried 
off a quantity of cattle. Brudeus, refenting this, made an 
attack upon Galloway, and did much mifehief. At length 
a general engagement enfued : the Pidts were routed with 
great daughter; the Scots loft a number of men, and 
amongft them Arthur the king’s fon. St. Columb, hear¬ 
ing of this war, came to the king, and charged him with 
fiievving too much willingnefs to died blood ; this made fo 
flrong an impreflion on the mind of the prince, that he 
would not fuffer this excellent man to depart till he un¬ 
dertook to negociate a peace, which he executed with 
great fuccefs. But, fome frefh difturbances arifing, a 
pitched battle enfued ; and the Saxons and Pifts, after an 
obftinate engagement, were totally routed. He reigned 
quietly after this for about eleven years, when Ethelfrid 
prevailed on the Pifts to renew the war. Aidan, though 
very old, marched to the place where he expected the Bri- 
tifli army to have joined him ; but his allies failing, gave 
his enemies fuch an advantage over him, that they cut to 
pieces the chief of his forces; the king himfelf had a 
narrow efcape. The fall of Theobald, the king’s bro¬ 
ther, proves this to have been a hard-fought battle: the 
confeq.uences of which, and the news of the death of St. 
Columb, haftened the end of the good old king, and brought 
him to the grave in the year 606, at the age ol feventy- 
eight. He reigned thirty-two years. 
Aid an, 
