Auras, a European river, flowing into the Ister from mount Hæmus. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 49.
Aurelia lex, was enacted A.U.C. 653, by the pretor Lucius Aurelius Cotta, to invest the Senatorian and Equestrian orders, and the Tribuni Ærarii, with judicial power.——Another, A.U.C. 678. It abrogated a clause of the Lex Cornelia and permitted the tribunes to hold other offices after the expiration of the tribuneship.
Aurelia, a town of Hispania Bætica.——The mother of Julius Cæsar. Suetonius, Cæsar, ch. 74.——A fishwoman. Juvenal, satire 4, li. 98.
Aureliānus, emperor of Rome after Flavius Claudius, was austere, and even cruel in the execution of the laws, and punished his soldiers with unusual severity. He rendered himself famous for his military character; and his expedition against Zenobia, the celebrated queen of Palmyra, gained him great honours. He beautified Rome, was charitable to the poor, and the author of many salutary laws. He was naturally brave, and in all the battles he fought, it is said, he killed no less than 800 men with his own hand. In his triumph, he exhibited to the Romans people of 15 different nations, all of which he had conquered. He was the first emperor who wore a diadem. After a glorious reign of six years, as he marched against the northern barbarians, he was assassinated near Byzantium, A.D. 275, January 29th, by his soldiers, whom Mnestheus had incited to rebellion against their emperor. This Mnestheus had been threatened with death, for some ill behaviour to the emperor, and therefore he meditated his death. The soldiers, however, soon repented of their ingratitude and cruelty to Aurelian, and threw Mnestheus to be devoured by wild beasts.——A physician of the fourth century.
Aurelius, emperor of Rome. See: [Antoninus Bassianus].——A painter in the age of Augustus. Pliny, bk. 35.——Victor, an historian in the age of Julian, two of whose compositions are extant—an account of illustrious men, and a biography of all the Cæsars to Julian. The best edition of Aurelius are the 4to of Artuzenius, Amsterdam, 1733, and the 8vo of Pitiscus, Utrecht, 1696.——Antoninus, an emperor. See: [Antoninus].
Aureolus, a general who assumed the purple in the age of Gallienus.
Aurinia, a prophetess held in great veneration by the Germans. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 8.
Aurōra, a goddess, daughter of Hyperion and Thia or Thea, or, according to others, of Titan and Terra. Some say that Pallas, son of Crius and brother to Perseus, was her father; hence her surname of Pallantias. She married Astræus, by whom she had the winds, the stars, &c. Her amours with Tithonus and Cephalus are also famous; by the former she had Memnon and Æmathion, and Phaeton by the latter. See: [Cephalus] and [Tithonus]. She had also an intrigue with Orion, whom she carried to the island of Delos, where he was killed by Diana’s arrows. Aurora is generally represented by the poets drawn in a rose-coloured chariot, and opening with her rosy fingers the gates of the east, pouring the dew upon the earth, and making the flowers grow. Her chariot is generally drawn by white horses, and she is covered with a veil. Nox and Somnus fly before her, and the constellations of heaven disappear at her approach. She always sets out before the sun, and is the forerunner of his rising. The Greeks call her Eos. Homer, Iliad, bk. 8; Odyssey, bk. 10; Hymn to Aphrodite.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bks. 3, 9, 15.—Apollodorus, bks. 1, 3.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 535.—Varro, de Lingua Latina, bk. 5, &c.—Hesiod, Theogony.—Hyginus, preface to fables.
Aurunce, an ancient town of Latium, built by Auson the son of Ulysses by Calypso. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 727, &c.
Auschīsæ, a people of Libya. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 171.