Avâl Islands. Same as Bahrein Islands.
Avallon (a˙-va˙-lōn), a town of Central France, department Yonne. Pop. 5900.
Av´alon, a sort of fairyland or elysium mentioned in connection with the legends of King Arthur, being his abode after disappearing from the haunts of men: called also Avilion. The name is also identified with Glastonbury; and has been given to a peninsula of Newfoundland.
Avan´turine, or Aven´turine, a variety of quartz containing glittering spangles of mica through it; also a sort of artificial gem of similar appearance.
Av´ars, a nation, probably of Turanian origin, who at an early period may have migrated from the region east of the Tobol in Siberia to that about the Don, the Caspian Sea, and the Volga. A part advanced to the Danube in A.D. 555, and settled in Dacia. They served in Justinian's army, aided the Lombards in destroying the kingdom of the Gepidæ, and in the sixth century
conquered under their Khan Bajan the region of Pannonia. They then won Dalmatia, pressed into Thuringia and Italy against the Franks and Lombards, and subdued the Slavs dwelling on the Danube, as well as the Bulgarians on the Black Sea. But they were ultimately limited to Pannonia, where they were overcome by Charlemagne, and nearly extirpated by the Slavs of Moravia. After 827 they disappear from history. Traces of their fortified settlements are found, and known as Avarian rings. See Lesghians.
Avatar´, more properly Avatara, in Hindu mythology, an incarnation of the Deity. Of the innumerable avatars the chief are the ten incarnations of Vishnu, who appeared successively as a fish, a tortoise, a boar, a man-lion, a dwarf, &c.
Avatch´a, a volcano and bay in Kamchatka. The volcano, which is 9000 feet high, was last active in 1855. The town of Petropavlovsk lies in the bay.
Avebury (āv´be-ri), a village of England, in Wiltshire, occupying the site of a so-called Druidical temple, which originally consisted of a large outer circle of 100 stones, from 15 to 17 feet in height, and about 40 feet in circumference, surrounded by a broad ditch and lofty rampart, and enclosing two smaller circles. Few traces now remain of the structure. On the neighbouring downs are numerous barrows or tumuli, one of which, called Silbury Hill, rises to the height of 130 feet, with a circumference of 2027 feet at the base, covering fully 5 acres.
Avebury, John Lubbock, first Baron. See Lubbock.