Autochthŏnes, the original inhabitants of a country who are the first possessors of it, and who never have mingled with other nations. The Athenians called themselves Autochthones, and boasted that they were as old as the country which they inhabited. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 14.—Tacitus, Germania.—Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 3, ch. 83.
Autŏcles, an Athenian, sent by his countrymen with a fleet to the assistance of Alexander of Pheræ.
Autocrătes, an historian mentioned by Athenæus, bks. 9 & 11.
Autolŏlæ, a people of Mauritania descended from the Gætuli. They excelled all their neighbours in running. Lucan, bk. 4, li. 677.
Autŏly̆cus, a son of Mercury by Chione a daughter of Dædalion. He was one of the Argonauts. His craft as a thief has been greatly celebrated. He stole the flocks of his neighbours, and mingled them with his own, after he had changed their marks. He did the same to Sisyphus son of Æolus; but Sisyphus was as crafty as Autolycus, and he knew his own oxen by a mark which he had made under their feet. Autolycus was so pleased with the artifice of Sisyphus, that he immediately formed an intimacy with him, and even permitted him freely to enjoy the company of his daughter Anticlea, who became pregnant of Ulysses, and was soon after married to Laertes. See: [Sisyphus], [Laertes]. Hyginus, fable 200, &c.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, fable 8.—Apollodorus, bk. 1.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 14.——A son of Phryxus and Chalciope. Hyginus, fable 14.
Automăte, one of the Cyclades, called also Hera. Pliny, bks. 2, 6, 37.——A daughter of Danaus.
Automĕdon, a son of Dioreus, who went to the Trojan war with 10 ships. He was the charioteer of Achilles, after whose death he served Pyrrhus in the same capacity. Homer, Iliad, bks. 9, 16, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 2, li. 477.
Automedūsa, a daughter of Alcathous, killed by Tydeus. Apollodorus, bk. 2.
Automĕnes, one of the Heraclidæ, king of Corinth. At his death, B.C. 779, annual magistrates, called Prytanes, were chosen at Corinth, and their power continued 90 years, till Cypselus and his son Periander made themselves absolute.
Automŏli, a nation of Æthiopia. Herodotus, bk. 2.