Aegis worn by Athena.
From Torso at Dresden. From Ancient Statues.
AEGIS (αἰγίς) signifies, literally, a goat-skin. According to ancient mythology, the aegis worn by Zeus was the hide of the goat Amaltheia, which had suckled him in his infancy. Homer always represents it as part of the armour of Zeus, whom on this account he distinguishes by the epithet aegis-bearing (αἰγίοχος). He, however, asserts, that it was borrowed on different occasions both by Apollo and Athena. The aegis was connected with the shield of Zeus, either serving as a covering over it, or as a belt by which it was suspended from the right shoulder. Homer accordingly uses the word to denote not only the goat-skin, which it properly signified, but also the shield to which it belonged. The aegis was adorned in a style corresponding to the might and majesty of the father of the gods. In the middle of it was fixed the appalling Gorgon’s head, and its border was surrounded with golden tassels (θύσανοι), each of which was worth a hecatomb. The aegis is usually seen on the statues of Athena, in which it is a sort of scarf falling obliquely over the right shoulder, so as to pass round the body under the left arm. The serpents of the Gorgon’s head are transferred to the border of the skin. (See the left-hand figure in the cut.) The later poets and artists represent the aegis as a breast-plate covered with metal in the form of scales. (See the right-hand figure.)
AENĔĀTŌRES, were those who blew upon wind instruments in the Roman army; namely, the buccinatores, cornicines, and tubicines. They were also employed in the public games.
AENIGMA (αἴνιγμα), a riddle. It was an ancient custom among the Greeks to amuse themselves by proposing riddles at their symposia, or drinking parties. Those who were successful in solving them, received a prize, which usually consisted of wreaths, cakes, &c., while those who were unsuccessful were condemned to drink in one breath a certain quantity of wine, sometimes mixed with salt water. Those riddles which have come down to us are mostly in hexameter verse. The Romans seem to have been too serious to find any great amusement in riddles.
AENUM, or ĂHĒNUM (sc. vas), a brazen vessel, used for boiling. The word is also frequently used in the sense of a dyer’s copper; and, as purple was the most celebrated dye of antiquity, we find the expressions Sidonium aënum, Tyrium aënum, &c.
AEŌRA, or ĔŌRA (αἰώρα, ἐώρα), a festival at Athens, accompanied with sacrifices and banquets, whence it is sometimes called εὔδειπνος. It was probably instituted in honour of Icarius and his daughter Erigone.
AERA. [[Chronologia].]
AERĀRĬI, a class of Roman citizens, who were not included in the thirty tribes instituted by Servius Tullius. Although citizens, they did not possess the suffragium, or right of voting in the comitia. They were cives sine suffragio. They also paid the tribute in a different manner from the other citizens. The Aerarians were chiefly artisans and freedmen. The Caerites, or inhabitants of the Etruscan town of Caere, who obtained the franchise in early times, but without the suffragium, were probably the first body of aerarians. Any Roman citizen guilty of a crime punishable by the censors, might be degraded to the rank of an aerarian; so that his civic rights were suspended, at least for the time that he was an aerarian. All citizens so degraded were classed among the Caerites; whence we find the expressions aerarium facere and in tabulas Caeritum referre used as synonymous. Persons who were made infames likewise became aerarians, for they lost the jus honorum and the suffragium. The aerarians had to pay a tributum pro capite which was considerably higher than that paid by the other citizens. They were not allowed to serve in the legions.
AERĀRĬI TRĬBŪNI. [[Aes Equestre].]