Archer, see Chiron.
Areop′agi′tæ, the judges who sat at the Areopagus.
Areop′agus, the hill at Athens where Mars was tried for murder before twelve of the gods.
A′res. The same as Mars, the god of war.
Arethu′sa was one of the nymphs of Diana. She fled from Alpheus, a river god, and was enabled to escape by being turned by Diana into a rivulet which ran underground. She was as virtuous as she was beautiful.
Ar′gonauts. This name was given to the fifty heroes who sailed to Colchis in the ship Argo under the command of Jason, to fetch the Golden Fleece.
Ar′gus was a god who had a hundred eyes which slept and watched by turns. He was charged by Juno to watch Io, but, being slain by Mercury, was changed by Juno into a peacock.
Ariad′ne, daughter of Minos, King of Crete. After enabling Theseus to get out of the Labyrinth by means of a clew of thread, she fled with him to Naxos, where he ungratefully deserted her; but Bacchus wooed her and married her, and the crown of seven stars which he gave her was turned into a constellation.
Ari′on was a famous lyric poet of Methymna, in the Island of Lesbos, where he gained great riches by his art. There is a pretty fable which has made the name of Arion famous. Once when travelling from Lesbos his companions robbed him, and proposed to throw him into the sea. He entreated the seamen to let him play upon his harp before they threw him overboard, and he played so sweetly that the dolphins flocked round the vessel. He then threw himself into the sea, and one of the dolphins took him up and carried him to Taenarus, near Corinth. For this act the dolphin was raised to heaven as a constellation.
Aristæ′us, son of Apollo and Cyrene, was the god of trees; he also taught mankind the use of honey, and how to get oil from olives. He was a celebrated hunter. His most famous son was Actæon.