47® A T H 
earth ; for the Turks, who are now its maffers, are con- 
tinually employed in pulling down its majeftic ruins,_ to 
convert into materials for building and repairing their for¬ 
tifications. Fortunately, however, an hiftorical Survey of 
the Antiquities of Athens hath recently been completed 
by the joint labours of Meffrs. Stuart and Revett, with 
elegant engravings of the prefent (fate of all thefe build¬ 
ings, in three volumes folio ; and the accuracy with which 
MelTrs. Stuart and Revett have delineated and meafured 
thofe remains ; the fidelity with which they are given to 
the public ; the candid manner in which they have cited 
their authorities ; and the ability evinced throughout the 
whole performance ; are fuch as mud ever render their 
work of the greatefi importance in tlie annals of literature : 
the amateur and the artifi are equally gratified ; and pof- 
terity will be furnifhed with views of thofe monuments of 
Hegance, when the originals themfelves fliall no longer 
dxift. For a further account of the civil and political hif- 
tory of Athens, fee Attica. 
A'THEOUS, adj. [«§£©-,] Athciftic ; godlefs. 
Thy father, who is holy, wife, and pure. 
Suffers the hypocrite, or atheous pried. 
To tread his facred courts. Paradife Regained. 
A'THER,/! [a 0 n£, an ear of porn.] Sharp, prickly 
like an ear of corn. 
ATHE'RlNA,yi [from aOup, an ear of corn, becaufe 
this kind of fith is furrounded with prickles like an ear 
of corn, j In ichthyology, a genus of fillies of the order 
of abdominales. The characters of this genus are thefe : 
the upper jaw is plain : the rays of the branchioftege 
membrane are fix ; and the lide-belt or line fhines like lil- 
ver. The fpecies are two, viz.' 
1. The hepfetus, with about twelve rays in the fin next 
the anus. It is found in the Mediterranean. It isalfovery 
common in the fea near Southampton, where it is called a 
Jmelt. The higheft feafon is from March to the latter end 
of May, or beginning of June ; in which months it fpawns. 
It never deferts the place; and is conflantly taken except in 
hardfroft. It is alio found on other coafts of our ifland. The 
length is about five inches, and the tail is much forked. 
The filh is femipellucid, covered with feales ; the colour 
Ti 1 very, tinged with yellow ; beneath the fide-line is a row 
ef l'niall black fpots. 
2. The medina, with twenty-four rays in the fin next 
the anus. This is a very fmall pellucid fill), with many 
black points interfperfed ; it has many teeth in the lips, 
but none in the tongue or jaws. It is found in the frelh 
waters of Carolina, and fpawns in April. 
ATHERO'MA,yi[a3-££(a/2C5, from a-ihp, paporpulfe.] 
A fpecies of wen, which neither caufes pain, difcolours 
the lkin, nor yields eafily to the touch.—If the matter form¬ 
ing them refembles milk curds, the tumour is called athe¬ 
roma ; if it be like honey, meliceris ; and if compofed of 
fat, or a fuety fnbftance, fteatoma. Sharp. 
ATHERO'MATOUS, adj. Having the qualities of an 
atheroma, or curdy wen.—Feeling the matter fluctuating, 
I thought it atheromatous. Wifeman. 
A'TFI ERSTONE, a town in Warwicklhire, fuppofed 
by antiquarians to be a corruption from Arden town. It 
lies within the north weftern boundary of the county, and 
is the northern extremity of the extenlive and ancient fo¬ 
re It of Arden. It is an hamlet in the parifli of Mancetter, 
the Manduepidum of the Romans; and confifts chiefly of 
one Itreet three quarters of a mile in length, and a neat 
fqirjre market-place, in the midft of which has lately been 
uredted a hand Tome market-houfe, over which is an ele¬ 
gant affembly-room. The town is built on the old Roman 
road, called Watling-flreet. Here was formerly a mo- 
naftery of mendicant friers, built upon twelve acres of 
ground. It has a market on Tuefdays ; is a conliderable 
thoroughfare between London through Chefter to Holy- 
head, and carries on an extenfive trade ; containing about 
.2500 inhabitants, the greater part of whom are employed 
A T H 
in the manufacture of hats, ribbands, fliaTloons, and tanu 
mies. It has annually four fairs, viz. April 7, July rS, 
September 19, and December 4. It is diflant from Co¬ 
ventry thirteen miles and an half, eighteen from Burton, and 
100 from London. The navigable canal, which unites the 
Ifis, the Trent, and the Merfey, comes up to this town, 
and boats from Liverpool, Briftol, Manchefter, Birming¬ 
ham, Burton, See. to Coventry, Oxford, dec. are pafling 
and repairing daily. It is a conftablewick, governed by a 
confiable and two third-boroughs. There is an exceeding 
good grammar-fehool, with a good endowment. Ather- 
Itone is remarkable for being the place where the earl of 
Richmond and the nobles of his party held a council the 
night betore the battle of Bofworth field, where he gained 
a complete victory over Richard III. who loll his life in 
the combat. 
ATHE'SIS, a river of the Cifalpine Gaul, which, rif- 
ing in the Rhetian Alps, in Mount Brenna, in the county 
of Tirol, runs fouthwards and walhes Tridentum and Ve¬ 
rona, which laft it divides ; and after palling this, bends 
its courfe eafhvards, in a parallel direction with the Po, 
and falls into the Adriatic between Folfa Claudia and Phi- 
liltina : it feparated the Euganei, an ancient people, from 
the Veneti. The people dwelling on it are called Athefmi. 
Pliny. Its modern name is the Adige. 
A'THIE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Somme, and chief place of a canton in the diftridt of Pe- 
ronne.: two leagues fouth-fouth-eaft of Peronne. 
ATH i'RST, adv. [from a and third. ] Thirfty ; in want 
of drink. 
With fcanty meafure then fupply their food ; 
And, when athirjl, reftrain ’em from the flood. Dryden. 
A'TIIIS, a town of France, in the department of the 
Orne, and chief place of a canton, in thediftridf of Dom- 
front : thirteen miles fonth-weft of Falaife. 
ATHLE'T^E, f. In antiquity, perfons of ftrength and 
agility, difciplined to perform in the public games. The 
word is Greek, formed from a^Ao;, certamen , 
“combat;” whence alfo srSAov, the prize or reward ad¬ 
judged the victor. Under Athletae were comprehended 
wreftlers, boxers, runners, leapers, throwers of the diik, 
and thofe pradtifed in other exercifes exhibited in the 
Olympic, Pythian, and other folemn, fports ; for the con¬ 
querors in which there were eftabliftied prizes. 
ATHLE'TIC, adj. [from athleta, Lat. Axtjjs, Gr* 
a wvefiler.] Belonging to wreftling. Strong of body ; vi¬ 
gorous; lully; robuft—Seldom (hall one fee in rich fa¬ 
milies that athletic foundnefs and vigour of conftiunion* 
which is feen in cottages, where nature is cook, and ne- 
celfity caterer. South. 
An athletic habit denotes a ftrong hale conftitution of 
body. Anciently it fignified a full flelhy corpulent (late, 
fuch as the athletse endeavoured to arrive at. The athle¬ 
tic habit is efteemed the higheft pitch of health : yet it is 
dangerous, and the next door to difeafe; fince, when the 
body is no longer capable of being improved, the next al¬ 
teration mud be for the worfe. The chief objedl of the 
athletic diet, v’as to obtain a firm, bulky, weighty, body ; 
by force of which, more than art and agility, they fre¬ 
quently overpowered their antagonift : hence they fed al¬ 
together on dry, folid, and vifeous, meats. In the earlier* 
days, their chief food was dry figs and cheefe, which was 
called anda fagmatio , s Tgatyriy and aaxno’is hcA'iiguv ij 
v. Oribafius, or, as others fay, Pythagoras, firft 
brought this into difufe, and fubftituted flefh in lieu. They 
had a peculiar bread called y.Qhnmx. They exercifed, ate, 
and drank, without ceafing : they were not allowed to leave 
off eating when fatiated ; but were obliged to cram on till 
they could hold no more ; by which means they at length 
acquired a degree of voracity which to 11s feems incredi¬ 
ble, and a ftrength proportional. Witnefs what Paufanias 
relates of the four celebrated athletae, Polydamus the 
Theffalian, Milo the Crotonian, Theagenes the Thafian, 
