Ignatius, an officer of Crassus in his Parthian expedition.——A bishop of Antioch, torn to pieces in the amphitheatre at Rome, by lions, during a persecution, A.D. 107. His writings were letters to the Ephesians, Romans, &c., and he supported the divinity of Christ, and the propriety of the episcopal order, as superior to priests and deacons. The best edition of his work is that of Oxford, in 8vo, 1708.
Iguvium, a town of Umbria, on the Via Flaminia, now Gubio. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 7, ltr. 13.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 460.
Ilaīra, or Hilaira, a daughter of Leucippus, carried away with her sister Phœbe, by the sons of Leda, as she was going to be married, &c.
Ilba, more properly Ilva, an island of the Tyrrhene sea, two miles from the continent. See: [Ilua]. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 173.
Ilecaones and Ilecaonenses, a people of Spain. Livy, bk. 22, ch. 21.
Ilerda, now Lerida, a town of Spain, the capital of the Ilergetes, on an eminence on the right bank of the river Sicoris in Catalonia. Livy, bk. 21, ch. 23; bk. 22, ch. 21.—Lucan, bk. 4, li. 13.
Ilergetes. See: [Ilerda].
Ilia, or Rhea, a daughter of Numitor king of Alba, consecrated by her uncle Amulius to the service of Vesta, which required perpetual chastity, that she might not become a mother to dispossess him of his crown. He was, however, disappointed; violence was offered to Ilia, and she brought forth Romulus and Remus, who drove the usurper from his throne, and restored the crown to their grandfather Numitor, its lawful possessor. Ilia was buried alive by Amulius for violating the laws of Vesta; and because her tomb was near the Tiber, some supposed that she married the god of that river. Horace, bk. 1, ode 2.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 277.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 2, li. 598.——A wife of Sylla.
Iliăci ludi, games instituted by Augustus, in commemoration of the victory which he had obtained over Antony and Cleopatra. They are supposed to be the same as the Trojani ludi and the Actia; and Virgil says they were celebrated by Æneas, and not because they were instituted at the time when he wrote his poem, but because he wished to compliment Augustus by making the founder of Lavinium solemnize games on the very spot which was, many centuries after, to be immortalized by the trophies of his patron. During these games were exhibited horse-races, and gymnastic exercises. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 280.
Iliăcus, an epithet applied to such as belong to Troy. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 101.