Atchevement. In heraldry, is a term nearly equivalent to arms, or armorial bearings, and is often used in its abbreviated form of hatchment when speaking of the arms of a deceased person as displayed at his funeral or elsewhere.
Ategar. The old English hand-dart, named from the Saxon aeton, “to fling,” and gar, “a weapon.”
Ategna. An important city of ancient Italy. It was taken from the Republicans by Julius Cæsar, in 45 B.C.
Atella (now San Arpino). A place in Italy, where the French under the Duke of Montpensier, general of Charles VIII., had to capitulate and surrender to Ferdinand II. of Naples, in 1496. The prisoners were transported to the island of Procida, where the majority of them, including the Duke of Montpensier, perished by contracting an infectious disease.
Ath. A fortified town in Belgium; it was ceded to France in 1668; fortified by Vauban; restored to the Spaniards in 1678; captured by the French under Marshal Catinat in 1697, but was restored in the same year by the peace of Ryswick. The allies under Field-Marshal d’Auvergne took it October 1, 1706. It remained in the possession of the Dutch till 1716, when it was given up to the emperor of Austria, with the remainder of the Spanish Netherlands. Louis XV. of France captured it in 1745. France lost it by the treaties of 1814-15.
Athanati. A corps of picked soldiers belonging to the ancient Persian army, 10,000 strong, which were called the “Immortals,” for the reason that, as soon as one of the corps died, another was put in his place.
Athenry. A town in Galway, Ireland; near here the Irish were totally defeated, and a gallant young chief, Feidlim O’Connor, slain in 1316.
Athens. A celebrated city, the capital of the modern kingdom of Greece, situated in the plain of Attica, about 4 miles northeast of the Gulf of Ægina. It was for several ages the centre of European civilization. The city is said to have been founded by Cecrops, and afterwards enlarged by Theseus, who made it the capital of the new state which he formed by uniting into one political body the 12 independent states into which Attica had previously been divided. A new era in the history of the city commences with its capture by Xerxes, who reduced it almost to a heap of ashes, 480 B.C. This event was followed by the rapid development of the maritime power of the city and the establishment of her empire over the islands of the Ægean Sea. Her increasing wealth afforded her ample means for the embellishment of the city, and during the half century which elapsed between the battle of Salamis and the commencement of the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians erected those masterpieces of architecture which have been the wonder of succeeding ages. The city was captured by the Lacedæmonians in 404 B.C., and was conquered by Sulla, the Roman general, 86 B.C., after which it dwindled into insignificance as a maritime city. Its prosperity continued, however, under the Roman sway, and it continued to be famous as the centre of philosophy, literature, and art, many famous buildings having been erected there by foreign rulers after the decline of its power. During the Middle Ages it sunk into insignificance. It has successively belonged to the Goths, Byzantines, Bergundians, Franks, Catalans, Florentines, Venetians, and Turks. In 1687 the buildings of the Acropolis suffered severe injury in the siege of Athens by the Venetians under Morosini. In 1834 Athens was declared the capital of the kingdom of Greece.
Athlone. A town in Roscommon, Ireland, which was burnt during the civil war in 1641. After the battle of the Boyne, Col. R. Grace held Athlone for James II. against a besieging army, but fell when it was taken by assault by Ginkel, June 30, 1691. See [Aughrim].
Atilt. In the manner of a tilter; in the position or with the action of a man making a thrust. “To run a tilt at men.”