Anthe´mion, an ornament or ornamental series used in Greek and Roman decoration, which is derived from floral forms, more especially the honeysuckle. It was much used for the ornamentation of friezes and interiors, for the decoration of fictile vases, the borders of dresses, &c.
An´themis, a genus of composite plants, comprising the camomile or chamomile.
Anthe´mius, a Greek mathematician and architect of Lydia; designed the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople, and is credited with the invention of the dome; died A.D. 534.
An´ther, the male organ of the flower; that part of the stamen which is filled with pollen.
Antheste´ria, an annual Greek festival held in honour of all the gods, but especially in honour of Dionysus. It celebrated the beginning of spring, and the season when the wine of the previous vintage was considered fit for use.
Anthocy´anin, the blue colour of flowers, a pigment obtained from those petals of flowers which are blue, by digesting them in spirits of wine.
Anthol´ogy (Gr. anthos, a flower, and legein, to gather), the name given to several collections of short poems which have come down from antiquity. The first to compile a Greek anthology was Meleager, a Syrian, about 60 B.C. He entitled his collection, which contained selections from forty-six poets besides many pieces of his own, the Garland; a continuation of this work by Philip of Thessalonica in the age of Tiberius was the first entitled Anthology. Later collections are that of Constantine Cephalas, in the tenth century, who made much use of the earlier ones, and that of Maximus Planudes, in the fourteenth century, a monk of Constantinople, whose anthology is a tasteless series of extracts from the Anthology of Cephalas, with some additions. The treasures contained in both, increased with fragments of the older poets, idylls of the bucolic poets, the hymns of Callimachus, epigrams from monuments and other works, have been published in modern times as the Greek Anthology. There is no ancient Latin anthology, the oldest being that of Scaliger (1573).
An´thon, Charles, LL.D., an American editor of classical school-books, and of works intended to facilitate the study of Greek and Latin literature; born 1797, died 1867. He was long a professor in Columbia College, New York.