Acta, a place near mount Athos, on the Ægean sea. Thucydides, bk. 4, ch. 109.
Actæa, one of the Nereides. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 250.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 18, li. 41.——A surname of Ceres.——A daughter of Danaus. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 1.
Actæon, a famous huntsman, son of Aristæus and Autonoe daughter of Cadmus, whence he is called Autonoeius heros. He saw Diana and her attendant, bathing near Gargaphia, for which he was changed into a stag, and devoured by his own dogs. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 2.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3, fable 3.——A beautiful youth, son of Melissus of Corinth, whom Archias, one of the Heraclidæ, endeavoured to debauch and carry away. He was killed in the struggle which in consequence of this happened between his father and ravisher. Melissus complained of the insult, and drowned himself; and soon after, the country being visited by a pestilence, Archias was expelled. Plutarch, Amatoriæ narrationes.
Actæus, a powerful person who made himself master of a part of Greece, which he called Attica. His daughter Agraulos married Cecrops, whom the Athenians called their first king, though Actæus reigned before him. Pausanias, bk. 1, chs. 2 & 14.——The word is of the same signification as Atticus, an inhabitant of Attica.
Acte, a mistress of Nero, descended from Attalus. Suetonius, Nero, ch. 28.——One of the Horæ. Hyginus, fable 183.
Actia, the mother of Augustus. As she slept in the temple of Apollo, she dreamt that a dragon had lain with her. Nine months after she brought forth, having previously dreamt that her bowels were scattered all over the world. Suetonius, Augustus, ch. 94.——Games sacred to Apollo, in commemoration of the victory of Augustus over Marcus Antony at Actium. They were celebrated every third, sometimes fifth, year, with great pomp, and the Lacedæmonians had the care of them. Plutarch, Antonius.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 280; bk. 8, li. 675.——A sister of Julius Cæsar. Plutarch, Cicero.
Actis, son of Sol, went from Greece into Egypt, where he taught astrology, and founded Heliopolis. Diodorus, bk. 5.
Actisănes, a king of Æthiopia who conquered Egypt, and expelled king Amasis. He was famous for his equity, and his severe punishment of robbers, whose noses he cut off, and whom he banished to a desert place, where they were in want of all aliment, and lived only upon crows. Diodorus, bk. 1.
Actium, now Azio, a town and promontory of Epirus, famous for the naval victory which Augustus obtained over Antony and Cleopatra, the 2nd of September, B.C. 31, in honour of which the conqueror built there the town of Nicopolis, and instituted games. See: [Actia]. Plutarch, Antonius.—Suetonius, Augustus.——A promontory of Corcyra. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 7, ltr. 2.
Actius, a surname of Apollo, from Actium, where he had a temple. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 704.——A poet. See: [Accius].——A prince of the Volsci. See: [Accius].