Absyrtus (ab-sir´tus).—A son of Æetes, king of Colchis, sister of Medea. (See “[Medea].”)
Acamas (ak´a-mās).—(i) Son of Theseus and Phædra; went with Diomedes to Troy to recover Helen.
Acantha (ak-an´tha).—A nymph beloved by Apollo and changed into the acanthus.
Acca Laurentia (ak´ka law-ren´shi-a).—The nurse of Romulus and Remus, after they had been taken from the she-wolf. (See “[Romulus].”)
Achates (a-kā´tēz).—A friend of Æneas—“fidus Achates” famous for his fidelity.
Acheloiades (a-ke-lō´i-a-dẽz).—The Sirens, so called because they were the daughters of Achelous.
Achelous (ak-el´ō-us).—The river-god was the son of Oceanus and Tethys, and the eldest of three thousand brothers. He and Hercules both loved Deianira, and fought for the possession of her. Hercules conquered him, when he took the form of a bull, but was defeated again and deprived by Hercules of one of his horns. Achelous, who was looked upon as the representative of all fresh water, was considered a great divinity throughout Greece.
Acheron (ak´er-ōn).—Generally signifies the whole of the lower world. Properly, it is the river of the lower world, around which the shades of the departed hover, and into which the Cocytus and Pyriphlegethon flow. There are other rivers also named Acheron.
Achilles (a-kill´ẽz).—The great hero of the Iliad. He was the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidones, and the Nereid Thetis. His mother, wishing to make him immortal, plunged him, when an infant, into the river Styx, and succeeded with the exception of the ankles, by which she held him. He was educated by Phoenix and Chiron, the centaur—the former teaching him [822] eloquence and the arts of war, the latter the healing art. When he was but nine years old, Calchas declared that Troy could not be taken without his aid. His mother, knowing that this war would be fatal to him, disguised him as a girl and sent him to dwell with the daughters of Lycomedes, at whose court he was called Pyrrha (pir´ra), i.e., red or tawny, on account of his auburn hair. Seeing, however, that Troy could not be taken without his aid, the crafty Ulysses, disguised as a merchant, sought him out, offering for sale jewels and articles of feminine attire, among which he had placed some arms. The ruse succeeded, as Achilles, by eagerly seizing the arms, at once betrayed his sex, and accompanied Ulysses to the Greek army before Troy. While at Lycomedes’ court he became by Deidamia the father of Pyrrhus, or Neoptolemus. Before Troy he performed great feats of valor. After killing numbers of Trojans, he at length met Hector, whom he chased thrice round the walls of the city, and, having slain him, tied his body to his chariot and dragged it to the ships of the Greeks. He had an invulnerable suit of armor made, at his mother’s request, by Vulcan. Finally, he was slain by Paris, son of Priam, who shot him in the heel, his only vulnerable part. He is the principal hero of the Iliad, and is represented as the handsomest and bravest of all the Greeks. After his death Achilles became one of the judges in the lower world, and dwelt in the islands of the blessed, where he was united to Medea, or Iphigenia.
Acis (ā´sis).—A Sicilian shepherd, beloved by the nymph Galatea. He was crushed, through jealousy, under a huge rock by Polyphemus, the Cyclop, and his blood gushing forth from under was changed by the nymph into the river Acis, at the foot of Mount Etna.