Anticyra (an-tis'i-ra), the name of two towns of Greece, the one in Thessaly, the other in Phocis, famous for hellebore, which in ancient times was regarded as a specific against insanity and melancholy. Hence various jocular allusions in ancient writers (Naviga Anticyram, sail to Anticyra).
An´tidote, a medicine to counteract the effects of poison.
Antietam (an-tē'tam), a small stream in the United States which falls into the Potomac about 50 miles N.W. of Washington; scene of an indecisive battle between the Federal and Confederate armies, 17th Sept., 1862.
Anti-Federalists, the political party in the United States which after the formation of the Federal constitution in 1787 opposed its ratification. Whilst the Federalists were striving to turn the federation into a united nation, and stood for a strong Government and centralizing tendencies, their opponents, the Anti-Federalists, either more democratic, or pretending that a strong Government meant a 'disguised' monarchic power, endeavoured to preserve a loose disintegrated federation. The Anti-Federalist party was gradually transformed into the Democratic-Republican party, led by Jefferson.
Antifriction Metal, a name given to various alloys of tin, zinc, copper, antimony, lead, &c., which oppose little resistance to motion, with great resistance to the effects of friction, so far as concerns the wearing away of the surfaces of contact. Babbitt's metal (50 parts tin, 5 antimony, 1 copper) is one of them.
Antigone (an-tig´o-nē), in Greek mythology, the daughter of Œdipus and Jocasta, celebrated for her devotion to her brother Polynices, for burying whom against the decree of King Creon she suffered death. She is the heroine of Sophocles' Œdipus at Colonus and his Antigone; also of Racine's tragedy Les Frères Ennemis.
Antig´onish, a town in the E. of Nova Scotia, in county of the same name; the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, with a cathedral, a college, and a good harbour. Pop. 1787.
Antig´onus, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, born about 382 B.C. In the division of the empire, after the death of Alexander, Antigonus obtained Greater Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphylia as his dominion. But he soon managed to extend his power, being assisted by his warlike son, Demetrius Poliorcētēs. Ptolemy,
Seleucus, and Lysimachus, who had also been generals of Alexander, alarmed by his ambition, united themselves against him; and a long series of contests ensued in Syria, Phœnicia, Asia Minor, and Greece, ending in 301 B.C. with the battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, in which Antigonus was defeated and slain, his dominions being divided among the conquerors.
Antigonus Gon´atas, son of Demetrius Poliorcētēs, and grandson of the above, succeeded his father in the kingdom of Macedon and all his other European dominions, but did not obtain actual possession of them for some years. He died, after a reign of forty-four years, 239 B.C.