Aphrodīte, the Grecian name of Venus, from ἀφρος, froth, because Venus is said to have been born from the froth of the ocean. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 195.—Pliny, bk. 36, ch. 5.
Aphȳtæ, or Aphytis, a city of Thrace, near Pallena, where Jupiter Ammon was worshipped. Lysander besieged the town; but the god of the place appeared to him in a dream, and advised him to raise the siege, which he immediately did. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 18.
Apia, an ancient name of Peloponnesus, which it received from king Apis. It was afterwards called Ægialea, Pelasgia, Argia, and at last Peloponnesus, or the island of Pelops. Homer, Iliad, bk. 1, li. 270. Also the name of the earth, worshipped among the Lydians as a powerful deity. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 59.
Apiānus, or Apion, was born at Oasis in Egypt, whence he went to Alexandria, of which he was deemed a citizen. He succeeded Theus in the profession of rhetoric in the reign of Tiberius, and wrote a book against the Jews, which Josephus refuted. He was at the head of an embassy which the people of Alexandria sent to Caligula, to complain of the Jews. Seneca, ltr. 88.—Pliny, preface, Natural History.
Apicāta, married Sejanus, by whom she had three children. She was repudiated. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 4, ch. 3.
Apicius, a famous glutton in Rome. There were three of the same name, all famous for their voracious appetite. The first lived in the time of the republic, the second in the reign of Augustus and Tiberius, and the third under Trajan. The second was the most famous, as he wrote a book on the pleasures and incitements of eating. He hanged himself after he had consumed the greatest part of his estate. The best edition of Apicius Cælius de Arte Coquinariâ, is that of Amsterdam, 12mo, 1709. Juvenal, satire 11, li. 3.—Martial, bk. 2, ltr. 69.
Apidănus, one of the chief rivers of Thessaly, at the south of the Peneus, into which it falls a little above Larissa. Lucan, bk. 6, li. 372.
Apĭna and Apinæ, a city of Apulia, destroyed with Trica, in its neighbourhood, by Diomedes; whence came the proverb of Apina et Trica, to express trifling things. Martial, bk. 14, ltr. 1.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 11.
Apiŏla and Apiolæ, a town of Italy, taken by Tarquin the Proud. The Roman Capitol was begun with the spoils taken from that city. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 5.
Apion, a surname of Ptolemy, one of the descendants of Ptolemy Lagus.——A grammarian. See: [Apianus].