Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/733

ARGONNE ARGUELLES 697 passed safely between as the islands rebounded. The islands from this time ceased their danger- ous movements. Reaching Colchis at last, the heroes sought the king, ^Eetes, who promised the fleece to Jason on condition that he should yoke to the plough two fire-breathing bulls, and sow the dragon's teeth left by Cadmus in Thebes. Aided by the daughter of ^Eetes, Medea, a powerful enchantress, who had fallen deeply in love with him, Jason accomplished these tasks ; but finding ^Eetes plotting treach- ery, the hero, again assisted by Medea's en- chantments, seized the fleece, carried it on board his ship, and set sail, accompanied by Medea and her brother Absyrtus. Pursued by j32etes, Medea killed Absyrtus, and, throwing his body piece by piece into the sea, delayed the king, who stopped to gather the remains of his son, while the Argonauts escaped. But the mast of the Argo, which was made of Do- donian oak having the gift of prophecy, told the heroes that for the crime against Absyrtus they were condemned to undergo innumerable difficulties on their homeward voyage. Having been absolved by the enchantress Circe, they escaped Scylla and Charybdis with the help of Thetis, eluded with the aid of Orpheus the enticements of the sirens, and after four months of continued danger reached lolcus. The Argo was consecrated by Jason on the isthmus of Corinth to Neptune. ARGONNE, a mountainous and wooded re- gion of N. E. France, forming a part of French Lorraine and Champagne, extending along the rivers Me use and Aisne nearly 47 m. from Sedan (Ardennes) to beyond Ste. Me'ne'hould (Marne). It is bounded N. by the Ardennes and S. by the Meuse mountains, and contains many forests and ranges with several almost inaccessible passes. W. Argonne, or the Ar- gonne forest proper, a wooded elevation 800 to 900 ft. high, extends over 30 m., with a breadth varying from 1 to 8 m., from the sources of the Aisne, along that river and the Meuse northward as far as Chene-Popu- leux, separating the fertile plains from the barren steppes between Vitry and Suzanne, familiarly called Champagne Pouilleuse. The forest -of E. Argonne, 600 to 900 ft. high, in- cluding in the N. the forest of Apremont, 1,225 ft. high, runs parallel with W. Argonne along the E. bank of the Meuse. The forest of Argonne contains several defiles renowned in history, among them the battlefield of Valmy, and has therefore been called the French Ther- mopylro. Several important military move- ments and actions took place within its limits during the Franco-German war of 1870, pre- ceding the battle of Sedan. ARGOON, or Argon, one of the two chief branches of the Amoor river. Under the name of Kerulun or Kerlon, it rises about 30 m. S. E. of the sources of the Onon, S. of the Kentei mountains in Mongolia, and runs N. N. E. through the N. part of the desert of Gobi, about 500 m., to Lake Kulon or Dalai Noor (holy lake). Thence, taking the name of Ar- goon, it flows generally N., with large bends, about 400 m., between the Russian and Chinese territories, to its junction with the Shilka, forming the Amoor. Its chief affluents are the Khailar, Khalkha, and Gasimoor, the latter running almost parallel with the Shilka. ARGOS, or Argolis (anciently also Argia and Argolice), the N. E. part of the Peloponnesus, between the bays of ./Egina and Nauplia, the Saronic and Argolic gulfs of the ancients. The eastern continuation of the northern mountain range of the peninsula surrounds a part of the inhabited shores, which bear marks of volcanic convulsions, and the plain of Argos, which is fertile, but rendered unhealthy by marshes. The chief mountain group is the Malevo, called by the ancients Artemision, on the Arcadian boundary, which rises above 5,000 feet. The largest plain is situated near the. town of Argos, behind the bay of Nauplia, watered by the river Planitza, the classical Inachus. Only a few other spots are fit for agriculture, on ac- count of the want of water, as all the streams except the Plunitza and the Kephalari (anc. Erasinus) dry up. But the many bays render Argolis favorable for navigation. In the ear- lier times of antiquity Argolis was strictly the plain surrounded on the west by the Arcadian mountains, and on the north by those of Phlius, Cleonse, and Corinth. In the Roman epoch Ar- golis represented the eastern part of the Pelo- ponnesus, bounded, on the land side, N. by the territories of Sicyon and Corinth, "W. by Arca- dia, and S. by Laconia. Argolis belongs to the earliest cultivated regions in ancient Greece. From the remotest times it was divided into the kingdoms of Argos, Mycense, Tiryns, Troe- zene, Hermione, and Epidaurus, which all af- terward formed republics. About 750 B. C. the city of Argos, under Phidon, was the lead- ing state of the Peloponnesus. Its power sank in its wars with Sparta, waged for the posses- sion of the district of Cynuria, on their con- fines. Cynuria was lost about 550, and a de- feat near Tiryns in 524 completed the decay of Argos. In the Peloponnesian war it sided with Athens. It early joined the Achaean league, and, on its fall, was included in the Roman province of Achaia. In the present kingdom of Greece, Argolis is the main por- tion of a nomarchy called Argolis and Corinth, and embracing besides these territories a part of ancient Achaia and the islands of Spezzia and Hydra; area, about 1,900 sq. m. ; pop. 128,000. Nauplia is the capital. The town of Argos is situated near the head of the gulf of Nauplia, 20 m. S. S. "W. of Corinth ; pop. about 8,000. It suffered much in its capture by the Venetians in 1686, and its recapture by the Turks in 1706. Remains of its cyclopean walls, as well as of a grand amphitheatre hewn in the rock, are still to be seen. ARGOT. See SLANG. ARGUELLES, Angnstin, a Spanish statesman, born at Riba de Sella, in Asturias, in 1775, died