Antitaurus, one of the branches of mount Taurus, which runs in a north-east direction through Cappadocia towards Armenia and the Euphrates.
Antitheus, an Athenian archon. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 17.
Antium, a maritime town of Italy, built by Ascanius, or, according to others, by a son of Ulysses and Circe, upon a promontory 32 miles east from Ostium. It was the capital of the Volsci, who made war against the Romans for above 200 years. Camillus took it, and carried all the beaks of their ships to Rome, and placed them in the Forum on a tribunal, which from thence was called Rostrum. This town was dedicated to the goddess of Fortune, whose statues, when consulted, gave oracles by a nodding of the head, or other different signs. Nero was born there. Cicero, de Divinatione, bk. 1.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 35.—Livy, bk. 8, ch. 14.
Antomĕnes, the last king of Corinth. After his death, magistrates with regal authority were chosen annually.
Antōnia lex, was enacted by Marcus Antony the consul, A.U.C. 710. It abrogated the lex Atia, and renewed the lex Cornelia, by taking away from the people the privilege of choosing priests, and restoring it to the college of priests, to which it originally belonged. Dio Cassius, bk. 44.——Another by the same, A.U.C. 703. It ordained that a new decury of judges should be added to the two former, and that they should be chosen from the centurions. Cicero, Philippics, speeches 1 & 5.——Another by the same. It allowed an appeal to the people, to those who were condemned de majestate, or of perfidious measures against the state.——Another by the same, during his triumvirate. It made it a capital offence to propose ever after the election of a dictator, and for any person to accept of the office. Appian, Civil Wars, bk. 3.
Antōnia, a daughter of Marcus Antony by Octavia. She married Domitius Ænobarbus, and was mother of Nero and of two daughters.——A sister of Germanicus.——A daughter of Claudius and Ælia Petina. She was of the family of the Tuberos, and was repudiated for her levity. Suetonius, Claudius, ch. 1.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 11.——The wife of Drusus, the son of Livia and brother to Tiberius. She became mother of three children, Germanicus, Caligula’s father, Claudius the emperor, and the debauched Livia. Her husband died very early, and she never would marry again, but spent her time in the education of her children. Some people suppose that her grandson Caligula ordered her to be poisoned, A.D. 38. Valerius Maximus, bk. 4, ch. 3.——A castle of Jerusalem, which received this name in honour of Marcus Antony.
Antōnii, a patrician and plebeian family, which were said to derive their origin from Antones, a son of Hercules, as Plutarch, Antonius informs us.
Antonīna, the wife of Belisarius, &c.
Antonīnus Titus, surnamed Pius, was adopted by the emperor Adrian, to whom he succeeded. This prince is remarkable for all the virtues that can form a perfect statesman, philosopher, and king. He rebuilt whatever cities had been destroyed by wars in former reigns. In cases of famines or inundation, he relieved the distressed, and supplied their wants with his own money. He suffered the governors of the provinces to remain long in the administration, that no opportunity of extortion might be given to new comers. In his conduct towards his subjects, he behaved with affability and humanity, and listened with patience to every complaint brought before him. When told of conquering heroes, he said with Scipio, “I prefer the life and preservation of a citizen to the death of 100 enemies.” He did not persecute the christians like his predecessors, but his life was a scene of universal benevolence. His last moments were easy, though preceded by a lingering illness. When consul of Asia, he lodged at Smyrna in the house of a sophist, who in civility obliged the governor to change his house at night. The sophist, when Antoninus became emperor, visited Rome, and was jocosely desired to use the palace as his own house, without any apprehension of being turned out at night. He extended the boundaries of the Roman province in Britain, by raising a rampart between the friths of Clyde and Forth; but he waged no war during his reign, and only repulsed the enemies of the empire who appeared in the field. He died in the 75th year of his age, after a reign of 23 years, A.D. 161. He was succeeded by his adopted son Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, surnamed the philosopher, a prince as virtuous as his father. He raised to the imperial dignity his brother Lucius Verus, whose voluptuousness and dissipation were as conspicuous as the moderation of the philosopher. During their reign, the Quadi, Parthians, and Marcomanni were defeated. Antoninus wrote a book in Greek, entitled τα καθ’ ἑαυτον, concerning himself, the best editions of which are the 4to, Oxford, 1704. After the war with the Quadi had been finished, Verus died of an apoplexy, and Antoninus survived him eight years, and died in his 61st year, after a reign of 29 years and 10 days. Dio Cassius.——Bassianus Caracalla, son of the emperor Septimus Severus, was celebrated for his cruelties. He killed his brother Geta in his mother’s arms, and attempted to destroy the writings of Aristotle, observing that Aristotle was one of those who sent poison to Alexander. He married his mother, and publicly lived with her, which gave occasion to the people of Alexandria to say, that he was an Œdipus, and his wife a Jocasta. This joke was fatal to them; and the emperor, to punish their ill language, slaughtered many thousands in Alexandria. After assuming the name and dress of Achilles, and styling himself the conqueror of provinces which he had never seen, he was assassinated at Edessa by Macrinus, April 8, in the 43rd year of his age, A.D. 217. His body was sent to his wife Julia, who stabbed herself at the sight.——There is extant a Greek itinerary, and another book called Iter Britannicum, which some have attributed to the emperor Antoninus, though it was more probably written by a person of that name whose age is unknown.
Antoniopŏlis, a city of Mesopotamia. Marcellinus, bk. 8.