Ariadne \,ar-e-'ad-ne\ In Greek mythology, the daughter of Pasiphae and King Minos of Crete. She fell in love with Theseus, who had promised to slay the Minotaur confined in Minos’s Labyrinth. She gave Theseus a ball of thread or glittering jewels that enabled him to mark his path and thus to escape the Labyrinth after killing the monster. Endings to the legend vary. In one, Theseus abandons Ariadne and she hangs herself; in others, he carries her to Naxos, where she either dies or marries the god Dionysus. See also Phaedra.
Arianism Christian heresy that declared that Christ is not truly divine but a created being. According to the Alexandrian presbyter Arius (4th century), God alone is immutable and self-existent, and the Son is not God but a creature with a beginning. The Council of Nicaea (ad 325) con¬ demned Arius and declared the Son to be “of one substance with the father.” Arianism had numerous defenders for the next 50 years but even¬ tually collapsed when the Christian emperors of Rome Gratian and The¬ odosius assumed power. The First Council of Constantinople (381) approved the Nicene Creed and proscribed Arianism. The heresy contin¬ ued among the Germanic tribes through the 7th century, and similar beliefs are held in the present day by the Jehovah's WiTNESSes and by some adherents of Unitarianism.
Arias Sanchez Var-e-as-'san-chas\, Oscar (b. Sept. 13, 1941, Heredia, Costa Rica) President of Costa Rica (1986-90). A moderate socialist born to wealth, Arias worked for the National Liberation Party from the 1960s. He became president at a time when much of Central America was torn by civil war. His 1987 Central American peace plan, signed by the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicara¬ gua, included provisions for cease-fires, free elections, and amnesty for political prisoners. He was awarded the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize.
Aries (Latin: “Ram”) In astronomy, the constellation lying between Pisces and Taurus; in astrology, the first sign of the zodiac, governing approximately the period March 21-April 19. It is represented by a ram, which is sometimes identified with the Egyptian god Amon. In Greek
The Argonauts, detail of a painting by Lorenzo Costa in the Civic Museum, Padua, Italy
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102 I Ariha > Arius
mythology Aries was identified with the ram that carried the prince Phrixus out of Thessaly to Colchis. Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus, who placed it in the heavens as a constellation. Its golden fleece was later recovered by Jason.
Ariha See Jericho
aril \'ar-il\ Special covering of certain seeds that commonly develops from the seed stalk. It is often a bright-coloured fleshy envelope, as in such woody plants as the yews and nutmeg and in members of the arrow- root family, oxalis, and the castor-oil plant. Animals are attracted to arils and eat the seeds, dispersing them in their wastes. The aril of nutmeg is the source of the spice known as mace.
Arion \3-'ri-3n\ Semilegendary Greek poet and musician. He lived at Methymna on the island of Lesbos and is identified as the inventor of the dithyramb. He was sailing homeward after a performing tour when the sailors decided to kill him and steal his wealth. After singing a dirge for himself, he jumped overboard, but a dolphin charmed by his music car¬ ried him to shore. He reached Corinth before the ship; when the sailors arrived, the ruler Periander forced them to confess and punished them. Arion’s lyre and the dolphin were placed in the heavens as the constel¬ lations Lyra and Delphinus.
Ariosto V.ar-e-'o-stoV Ludovico (b. Sept. 8, 1474, Reggio Emilia, duchy of Modena [Italy]—d. July 6,
1533, Ferrara) Italian poet. His epic poem Orlando Furioso (1516) is regarded as the finest literary expres¬ sion of the Italian Renaissance. It enjoyed immediate popularity throughout Europe and was highly influential. He also wrote five com¬ edies based on Latin classics but inspired by contemporary life; though minor in themselves, they are among the first of the imitations of Latin comedy in the vernacular that would long characterize European comedy. He also composed seven satires (1517-25) modeled after those of Horace .
Aristagoras \,ar-9-'stag-9-r9s\ (d.
497) Tyrant of Miletus. He assumed his regency from his father-in-law,
Histiaeus (d. 494 bc), who had lost the trust of the Persian emperor, Dar¬ ius I. Possibly incited by Histiaeus, and with support from Athens and Eretria, Aristagoras raised the Ionian revolt against Persia. Defeated, he left Miletus to found a colony in Thrace, where he was killed by Thracians.
Aristarchus \,ar-3-'star-k3s\ of Samos (b. c. 310 bc —d. c. 230 bc) Greek astronomer. His advanced ideas on the movement of the Earth (which he asserted revolved around the Sun) are known from Archimedes and Plutarch. His only surviving work is the short treatise “On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon”; though the values he obtained are inaccurate, he showed that the Sun and stars are at immense distances. A peak in the centre of a lunar crater named for him is the brightest forma¬ tion on the Moon.
Aristide \,ar-i-'sted\, Jean-Bertrand (b. July 15, 1953, Port Salut, Haiti) First president of Haiti (1991, 1994-96, 2001-04) to be elected in free democratic elections. A priest in the Roman Catholic Salesian order, he aligned himself with the poor and opposed the harsh regime of Jean- Claude Duvalier, son of Francois Duvalier, often putting himself at odds with the church hierarchy and the military. Expelled by the Salesians in 1988, he formally requested that he be relieved of his priestly duties in 1994. In 1990 progressive-centre forces united behind Aristide and swept him into power. He initiated dramatic reforms but was ousted in a mili¬ tary coup after only seven months in office. Though restored to office in 1994 with the help of U.S. occupying troops, he received little aid with which to address his country’s endemic ills. Constitutionally prohibited from seeking a consecutive term, he stepped down in 1996 but remained Haiti’s most potent political figure. In 2000 he was reelected president
amid charges of electoral fraud. A coup against Aristide failed in 2001, but unrest with his rule increased until a full-scale rebellion in 2004 forced him to flee the country.
Aristides \,ar-3-'stI-dez\ (2nd century ad) Athenian philosopher, one of the earliest Christian Apologists. His Apology for the Christian Faith dis¬ cussed the harmony in creation and the nature of the divine being and stated that barbarians, Greeks, and Jews were all inadequate in their con¬ ception of the deity and their religious practices. Long considered lost, the Apology was reconstructed in the late 19th century.
Aristides the Just (fl. 5th century bc) Athenian statesman and general. He was ostracized in 482 bc, probably for opposing Themistocles but was recalled in 480 and helped defeat the Persians at the battles of Salamis and Plataea. In 478 he helped Sparta’s eastern allies form the Delian League; allied with Athens and based on Athenian naval power and the trust Aris¬ tides inspired, the league effectively became the Athenian empire.
aristocracy \,ar-3-'sta-kr9-se\ Originally, leadership by a small privi¬ leged class or a minority thought to be best qualified to lead. Plato and Aristotle considered aristocrats to be those who are morally and intellec¬ tually superior, and therefore fit to govern in the interests of the people. The term has come to mean the upper layer of a stratified group. Most aristocracies have been hereditary, and many European societies stratified their aristocratic classes by formally titling their members, thereby mak¬ ing the term roughly synonymous with nobility. See also oligarchy.
Aristophanes \ l ar-o- , sta-f3- l nez\ (b. c. 450— d. c. 388 bc) Greek play¬ wright. An Athenian, he began his career as a comic dramatist in 427. He wrote approximately 40 plays, of which 11 survive, including The Clouds (423), The Wasps (422), The Birds (414), Lysistrata (411), and The Frogs (405). Most of the plays typify the Old Comedy (of which they are the only extant representatives), in which mime, chorus, and burlesque were important features. His satire, wit, and merciless topical commentary made him the greatest comic dramatist of ancient Greece.