a military cantonment. The most famous episode in its history is the capture and defence of Arcot by Clive. In the middle of the 18th century, during the war between the rival claimants to the throne of the Carnatic, Mahommed Ali and Chanda Sahib, the English supported the claims of the former and the French those of the latter. In order to divert the attention of Chanda Sahib and his French auxiliaries from the siege of Trichinopoly, Clive suggested an attack upon Arcot and offered to command the expedition. His offer was accepted; but the only force which could be spared to him was 200 Europeans and 300 native troops to attack a fort garrisoned by 1100 men. The place, however, was abandoned without a struggle and Clive took possession of the fortress. The expedition produced the desired effect; Chanda Sahib was obliged to detach a large force of 10,000 men to recapture the city, and the pressure on the English garrison at Trichinopoly was removed. Arcot was afterwards captured by the French; but in 1760 was retaken by Colonel Coote after the battle of Wandiwash. It was also taken by Hyder Ali when that invader ravaged the Carnatic in 1780, and held by him for some time. The town of Arcot, together with the whole of the territory of the Carnatic, passed into the hands of the British in 1801, upon the formal resignation of the government by the nawab, Azim-ud-daula, who received a liberal pension.
The district of North Arcot is bounded on the N. by the districts of Cuddapah and Nellore; on the E. by the district of Chingleput; on the S. by the districts of South Arcot and Salem; and on the W. by the Mysore territory. The area of North Arcot is 7386 sq. m., and the population in 1901 was 2,207,712, showing an increase of 4% in the decade. The aspect of the country, in the eastern and southern parts, is flat and uninteresting; but the western parts, where it runs along the foot of the Eastern Ghats, as well as all the country northwards from Trivellam to Tripali and the Karkambadi Pass, are mountainous, with an agreeable diversity of scenery. The elevated platform in the west of the district is comparatively cool, being 2000 ft. above the level of the sea, with a mean maximum of the thermometer in the hottest weather of 88°. The hills are composed principally of granite and syenite, and have little vegetation. Patches of stunted jungle here and there diversify their rugged and barren aspect; but they abound in minerals, especially copper and iron ores. The narrow valleys between the hills are very fertile, having a rich soil and an abundant water-supply even in the driest seasons. The principal river in the district is the Palar, which rises in Mysore, and flows through North Arcot from west to east past the towns of Vellore and Arcot, into the neighbouring district of Chingleput, eventually falling into the sea at Sadras. Although a considerable stream in the rainy season, and often impassable, the bed is dry or nearly so during the rest of the year. Other smaller rivers of the district are the Paini, which passes near Chittore and falls into the Palar, the Sonamukhi and the Chayaur. These streams are all dry during the hot season, but in the rains they flow freely and replenish the numerous tanks and irrigation channels. The administrative headquarters are at Chittore, but the largest towns are Vellore (the military station), Tirupati (a great religious centre), and Wallajapet and Kalahasti (the two chief places of trade).
The district of South Arcot is bounded on the N. by the districts of North Arcot and Chingleput; on the E. by the French territory of Pondicherry and the Bay of Bengal; on the S. by the British districts of Tanjore and Trichinopoly; and on the W. by the British district of Salem. It contains an area of 5217 sq. m.; and its population in 1901 was 2,349,894, showing an increase of 9% in the decade. The aspect of the district resembles that of other parts of the Coromandel coast. It is low and sandy near the sea, and for the most part level till near the western border, where ranges of hills form the boundary between this and the neighbouring district of Salem. These ranges are in some parts about 5000 ft. high, with solitary hills scattered about the district. In the western tracts, dense patches of jungle furnish covert to tigers, leopards, bears and monkeys. The principal river is the Coleroon which forms the southern boundary of the district, separating it from Trichinopoly. This river is abundantly supplied with water during the greater part of the year, and two irrigating channels distribute its waters through the district. The other rivers are the Vellar, Pennar, and Gadalum, all of which are used for irrigation purposes. Numerous small irrigation channels lead off from them, by means of which a considerable area of waste land has been brought under cultivation. Under the East India Company, a commercial resident was stationed at Cuddalore, and the Company’s weavers were encouraged by many privileges. The manufacture and export of native cloth have now been almost entirely superseded by the introduction of European piece goods. The chief seaport of the district of South Arcot is Cuddalore, close to the site of Fort St David. The principal crops in both districts are rice, millet, other food grains, oil-seeds and indigo.
ARCTIC (Gr. Ἄρκτος, the Bear, the northern constellation of Ursa Major), the epithet applied to the region round the North Pole, covering the area (both ocean and lands) where the characteristic polar conditions of climate, &c., obtain. The Arctic Circle is drawn at 66° 30′ N. (see Polar Regions).
ARCTINUS, of Miletus, one of the earliest poets of Greece and contributors to the epic cycle. He flourished probably about 744 B.C. (Ol. 7). His poems are lost, but an idea of them can be gained from the Chrestomathy written by Proclus the Neo-Platonist of the 5th century or by a grammarian of the same name in the time of the Antonines. The Aethiopis (Αἰθιοπίς), in five books, was so called from the Aethiopian Memnon, who became the ally of the Trojans after the death of Hector. As the opening shows, it took up the narrative from the close of the Iliad. It begins with the famous deeds and death of the Amazon Penthesileia, and concludes with the death and burial of Achilles and the dispute between Ajax and Odysseus for his arms. The title thus only applied to part of the poem. The Sack of Troy (Ίλίου Πέρσις) gives the stories of the wooden horse, Sinon, and Laocoon, the capture of the city, and the departure of the Greeks under the wrath of Athene at the outrage of Ajax on Cassandra. The Little Iliad (Ίγιἀς μικρά) of Lesches formed the transition between the Aethiopis and the Sack of Troy.
Kinkel, Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta (1877); Welcker, Der epische Cyclus; Müller, History of the Literature of Ancient Greece; Lang, Homer and the Epic (1893); Monro, Journal of Hellenic Studies (1883); T. W. Allen in Classical Quarterly, April 1908, pp. 82 foll.
ARCTURUS, the brightest star in the northern hemisphere, situated in the constellation Boötes (q.v.) in an almost direct line with the tail (ζ and η) of the constellation Ursa Major (Great Bear); hence its derivation from the Gr. ἄρκτος, bear, and οὖρος, guard. Arcturus has been supposed to be referred to in various passages of the Hebrew Bible; the Vulgate reads Arcturus for stars mentioned in Job ix. 9, xxxvii. 9, xxxviii. 31, as well as Amos v. 8. Other versions, as also modern authorities, have preferred, e.g., Orion, the Pleiades, the Scorpion, the Great Bear (of. Amos in the “International Critical Comment” series, and G. Schiaparelli, Astronomy in the O.T., Eng. trans., Oxford, 1905, ch. iv.). According to one of the Greek legends about Arcas, son of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, he was killed by his father and his flesh was served up in a banquet to Zeus, who was indignant at the crime and restored him to life. Subsequently Arcas, when hunting, chanced to pursue his mother Callisto, who had been transformed into a bear, as far as the temple of Lycaean Zeus; to prevent the crime of matricide Zeus transported them both to the heavens (Ovid, Metam. ii. 410), where Callisto became the constellation Ursa Major, and Areas the star Arcturus (see Lycaon and Callisto).
ARCUEIL, a town of northern France, in the department of Seine, on the Bièvre, 212 m. N.E. of Sceaux on the railway from Paris to Limours. Pop. (1906) 8660. The town has an interesting church dating from the 13th to the 15th century. It takes its name from a Roman aqueduct, the Arcus Juliani (Arculi), some traces of which still remain. In 1613–1624 a bridge-aqueduct over 1300 ft. long was constructed to convey water from the spring of Rungis some 4 m. south of Arcueil, across the Bièvre to the Luxembourg palace in Paris. In 1868–1872
