Augeas (aw´je-as), or Augias (aw-jī´as).—A king of Elis, whose stable, containing three thousand head of cattle, uncleansed for thirty years, was cleaned out in one day by [Hercules] (q.v.).
Aulis (aw´lis).—A harbor in Bœotia, where the Greek fleet assembled before sailing for Troy.
Aurora (aw-ror´a).—The goddess of the dawn, called Eos (ē´ōz) by the Greeks; daughter of Hyperion and Thia, wife of Tithonus. She is represented as rising, at the close of every night, from the river Oceanus, in her rose-colored chariot drawn by swift horses, and opening with her rosy fingers the gates of the East. She bore Memnon to Tithonus.
Auster (aws´ter); the Greek Notus, the southwest wind. In the winter it brought fogs and rain; but in the summer it was a harmful dry and parching wind.
Autolycus (aw-tol´ik-us).—A very dexterous robber, who could transform himself into various shapes. He was the son of Mercury (the god of cunning and theft) and Chione (kī´on-ē), and the father of Anticlea, the mother of Ulysses, who was celebrated for his cunning.
Avatar.—The incarnation or descent of the deity Vishnu, of which nine are believed to be past, and the tenth is yet to come, when Vishnu will descend from heaven on a white-winged horse, and introduce on earth a golden age of virtue and peace.
Avernus lacus (a-ver´nus lā´kus).—Lake Avernus. A lake near Cumæ, enclosed by steep and wooded hills, whose deadly exhalations were said to kill the birds flying over it. Near it was the cave of the Sibyl, through which Æneas (see Æneid, Book VI.) descended to the lower world. Sometimes Avernus is used to mean the lower world itself. In the latter sense it is used in the well-known quotation, Facilis descensus Averno, “The descent to hell is easy.”
Azazel.—Ewald considers Azazel to have been a demon belonging to the pre-Mosaic religion. Another opinion identifies him with Satan, or the devil. Milton makes him Satan’s standard bearer.
Azrael.—Meaning in Hebrew “help of God.” In the Jewish and the Mohammedan mythology, the name of an angel who watches over the dying, and separates the soul from the body.
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