Æthion, a man slain at the nuptials of Andromeda. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 146.
Æthiŏpia, an extensive country of Africa, at the south of Egypt, divided into east and west by the ancients, the former division lying near Meroe, and the latter near the Mauri. The country, properly now called Abyssinia, as well as the inhabitants, were little known to the ancients, though Homer has styled them the justest of men and the favourites of the gods. Diodorus, bk. 4, says, that the Æthiopians were the first inhabitants of the earth. They were the first who worshipped the gods, for which, as some suppose, their country has never been invaded by a foreign enemy. The inhabitants are of a dark complexion. The country is inundated for five months every year, and their days and nights are almost of an equal length. The ancients have given the name of Æthiopia to every country whose inhabitants are of a black colour. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 253; bk. 9, li. 651.—Juvenal, satire 2, li. 23.—Virgil, [Eclogues], poem 6, li. 68.—Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 29.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 33.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 1, li. 22; Iliad, bk. 1, li. 423.
Æthlius, son of Jupiter by Protogenia, was father of Endymion. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7.
Æthon, a horse of the sun. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, fable 1.——A horse of Pallas, represented as shedding tears at the death of his master, by Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 89.——A horse of Hector. Homer, Iliad, bk. 8, li. 185.
Æthra, daughter of Pittheus king of Trœzene, had Theseus by Ægeus. See: [Ægeus]. She was carried away by Castor and Pollux, when they recovered their sister Helen, whom Theseus had stolen, and intrusted to her care. See: [Helena]. She went to Troy with Helen. Homer, Iliad, bk. 3, li. 144.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 31; bk. 5, ch. 19.—Hyginus, fables 37 & 79.—Plutarch, Theseus.—Ovid, Heroides, poem 10, li. 131.——One of the Oceanides, wife to Atlas. She is more generally called Pleione.
Æthūsa, a daughter of Neptune by Amphitrite, or Alcyone, mother by Apollo of Eleuthere and two sons. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 20.——An island near Lilybæum. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 8.
Ætia, a poem of Callimachus, in which he speaks of sacrifices, and of the manner in which they were offered. Martial, bk. 10, ltr. 4.
Ætion, or Eetion, the father of Andromache, Hector’s wife. He was killed at Thebes, with his seven sons, by the Greeks.——A famous painter. He drew a painting of Alexander going to celebrate his nuptials with Roxane. This piece was much valued, and was exposed to public view at the Olympic games, where it gained so much applause that the president of the games gave the painter his daughter in marriage. Cicero, Brutus, ch. 18.
Ætna, a mountain of Sicily, now called Gibello, famous for its volcano, which, for about 3000 years, has thrown out fire at intervals. It is two miles in perpendicular height, and measures 180 miles round at the base, with an ascent of 30 miles. Its crater forms a circle about 3½ miles in circumference, and its top is covered with snow and smoke at the same time, whilst the sides of the mountain, from the great fertility of the soil, exhibit a rich scenery of cultivated fields and blooming vineyards. Pindar is the first who mentions an eruption of Ætna; and the silence of Homer on the subject is considered as a proof that the fires of the mountain were unknown in his age. From the time of Pythagoras, the supposed date of the first volcanic appearance, to the battle of Pharsalia, it is computed that Ætna had 100 eruptions. The poets supposed that Jupiter had confined the giants under this mountain, and it was represented as the forge of Vulcan, where his servants the Cyclops fabricated thunderbolts, &c. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 860.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 570.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 6; bk. 15, li. 340.—Silius Italicus, bk. 14, li. 59.
Ætōlia, a country bounded by Epirus, Acarnania, and Locris, supposed to be about the middle of Greece. It received its name from Ætolus. The inhabitants were covetous and illiberal, and were little known in Greece, till after the ruin of Athens and Sparta they assumed consequence in the country, and afterwards made themselves formidable as the allies of Rome, and as its enemies, till they were conquered by Fulvius. Livy, bk. 26, ch. 24, &c.—Florus, bk. 2, ch. 9.—Strabo, bks. 8 & 10.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 2.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 18.—Plutarch, Titus Flamininus.