A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

ĂSĔBEIAS GRĂPHĒ (ἀσεβείας γραφή), one of the many forms prescribed by the Attic laws for the impeachment of impiety. Any citizen not incapacitated by disfranchisement (ἀτιμία) seems to have been a competent accuser; and citizens, resident aliens, and strangers, were equally liable to the accusation. Whether the causes were brought into the areiopagus, or the common heliastic court, seems to have been determined by the form of action adopted by the prosecutor, or the degree of competency to which the areiopagus rose or fell at the different periods of Athenian history.

ĂSĬARCHAE (ἀσιάρχαι) were, in the Roman province of Asia, the chief presidents of the religious rites, whose office it was to exhibit games and theatrical amusements every year, in honour of the gods and the Roman emperor, at their own expense, like the Roman aediles. They were ten in number, selected annually by the different towns of Asia, and approved of by the Roman proconsul; of these, one was the chief asiarch, and frequently, but not always, resided at Ephesus.

ASSĀRĬUS NUMMUS. [[As].]

ASSERTOR, or ADSERTOR, contains the same root as the verb adserere, which, when coupled with the word manu, signifies to lay hold of a thing, to draw it towards one. Hence the phrase adserere in libertatem, or liberali adserere manu, applies to him who lays his hand on a person reputed to be a slave, and asserts, or maintains his freedom. The person who thus maintained the freedom of a reputed slave was called adsertor. The person whose freedom was thus claimed was said to be adsertus. The expressions liberalis causa, and liberalis manus, which occur in connection with the verb adserere, will easily be understood from what has been said. Sometimes the word adserere alone was used as equivalent to adserere in libertatem. The expression asserere in servitutem, to claim a person as a slave, occurs in Livy.

ASSESSOR, or ADSESSOR, literally one who sits by the side of another. Since the consuls, praetors, governors of provinces, and the judices, were often imperfectly acquainted with the law and forms of procedure, it was necessary that they should have the aid of those who had made the law their study. The assessors sat on the tribunal with the magistrate. Their advice or aid was given during the proceedings as well as at other times, but they never pronounced a judicial sentence.

ASSĬDUI. [[Locupletes].]

ASTRĂGĂLUS (ἀστράγαλος), literally, that particular bone in the ankles of certain quadrupeds, which the Greeks, as well as the Romans, used for dice and other purposes. [[Talus].] In architecture it signifies a certain moulding (the astragal) which seems to have derived its name from its resemblance to a string or chain of tali, and it is in fact always used in positions where it seems intended to bind together the parts to which it is applied. It belongs properly to the more highly decorated forms of the Ionic order, in which it appears as a lower edging to the larger mouldings, especially the echinus (ovolo), particularly in the capital, as shown in the following woodcut.

Astragalus. (Capital of an Ionic Column. Dilettanti Society, Ionian Antiquities.)

ASTRĂTEIAS GRĂPHĒ (ἀστρατείας γραφή), the accusation instituted at Athens against persons who failed to appear among the troops after they had been enrolled for a campaign by the generals. The defendant, if convicted, incurred disfranchisement (ἀτιμία) both in his own person and that of his descendants.