A F R A G A 273 AFRICANUS, JULIUS, called also SEXTUS by Suidas, a Christian historian of the 3d century, born, according to some, in Africa, and, according to others, in Palestine, of African parents. Little is known of his personal his tory, except that he lived at Emmaus, and that he went on an embassy to the emperor Heliogabalus to ask the restoration of that town, which had fallen into ruins. His mission succeeded, and Emmaus was henceforward known as Nicopolis. It is by no means certain that he was a bishop or even a priest, though the latter is probable. He wrote a history of the world (n.evTa(3i/3iov XpovoAoyiKov) from the creation to the year 221 A.D., a period, according to his computation, of 5723 years. He calculated the period between the creation and the birth of Christ as 5499 years, and antedated the latter event by three years. This method of reckoning became known as the Alexandrian era, and was adopted by almost all the eastern churches. The history is no longer extant, but copious extracts from it are to be found in the Chronicon of Eusebius, besides fragments in Syncellus, Cedrenus, and the Paschale Chroni con. Eusebius has also given some extracts from his letter to Aristides, reconciling the apparent discrepancy between St Matthew and St Luke in the genealogy of Christ by a reference to the Jewish law, which compelled a man to marry the widow of his deceased brother, if the latter died without issue. His letter to Origen, impugning the authority of the apocryphal book of Susanna, and Origen s answer, are both extant, the former having been printed at Basle, 1674. The ascription to Africanus of a work entitled Keoroi, treating of agriculture, natural history, military science, <fcc., has been disputed on account of the inconsistency between it and the author s other writings. Neander suggests that it was probably written by Afri canus before he had devoted himself to religious subjects. AFZELIUS, ADAM, an eminent Swedish naturalist, bora at Larf, West Gothland, in 1750. Having studied at Upsala under Linnaeus, he became teacher of oriental literature in that university in 1777, and demonstrator of botany in 1785. For two years (1792-94) he resided on the west coast of Africa as botanist to the Sierra Leone Company. After acting for some time as secretary to the Swedish embassy in London, he returned home, became again a teacher in the university of Upsala, and was ap pointed professor of materia medica in 1812. He edited the autobiography of Linnaeus (Upsala, 1823), a German translation of which appeared at Berlin in 1826. His literary work included also a large number of botanical papers contributed to the Linnaean Society of London and the Royal Academy of Stockholm, as well as treatises on certain plants of Guinea and Sweden. He died at Upsala in 1836, having bequeathed his botanical collection to the university. Several species of plants, known as Afzelia, are named after this distinguished botanist. AFZELIUS, ARWID AUGUST, the Swedish historian, poet, and comparative mythologist, was born at Fjellaker in 1785. For a while he was a schoolmaster in Stock holm, but afterwards entered the church, and became parish priest of Enkoping, where he worked for just half-a- century, till his death in 1871. His poetical career began in 1811 and closed in 1848, when he wrote his Farewell to the Swedish Harp. One great work of his life was to col lect and publish, in conjunction with the eminent Geijer, three volumes of Swedish Folk-songs ; but he will be best remembered by his History of the Swedish People, which has won him a European reputation. He did not live to bring this history lower down than 1709. (E. w. G.) AGA, or AGHA, a word, said to be of Tatar origin, signifying a dignitary or lord. Among the Turks it is ap plied to the chief of the janissaries, to the commanders of the artillery, cavalry, and infantry, and to the eunuchs in charge of the seraglio. It is also employed generally as a term of respect in addressing wealthy men of leisure, land owners, &c. The word is found with a somewhat similar usage in Tartary, Persia, and Algiers. AGADES, the capital of the kingdom of Air, or Asben, in Central Africa, situated in 17 2 N. lat, 8 5 E. long. The town is built on the edge of a plateau, 2500 feet above the level of the sea, and is supposed to have been founded by the Berbers to serve as a secure magazine for their ex tensive trade with the Songhay empire. The language of the people is a dialect of Songhay. In former times Agades was a place of great traffic, and had a population of about 50,000. Its importance may be estimated by the fact that the king of Agades paid a tribute of 150,000 ducats to the king of Songhay. Since the beginning of the 16th century the prosperity of the place has gradually declined. Extensive quarters of the town, which has a circuit of 3| miles, are deserted and ruinous. The occu pied houses number only 600 or 700, and the population does not exceed 7000. The houses, which are built of clay, are low and flat-roofed ; and the only building of im portance is the chief mosque, which is surmounted by a tower 95 feet high. There is little traffic in the markets; no money is used, and the usual medium of exchange is millet. The chief trade is in grain. Agades derives its main importance from its situation on the direct route from the countries to the north-east to Sokoto and other important towns in the Hansa states. The great salt caravans pass through it, as well as pilgrims on their way to Mecca. From its healthy climate and advantageous posi tion, the place might prove to be a good station for a Euro pean agent. (See Earth s Travels in Central Africa, vol. i.) AGAMEMNON. The stern obligations of a king and the majesty of his office, as compared with his humane desires and occasional frailty, give the keynote to the character of Agamemnon. But the kingly office, like the sceptre which was the symbol of it, had come to him from Pelops (Iliad, ii. 100) through the stained hands of Atreus and Thyestes, and had brought with it a certain fatality, by which his misfortunes, and especially the catas trophe at the close of his life, were explained. As his title of Atrides implies, Agamemnon was a son of Atreus, his mother being Aerope. In a later account he is a son of Pleisthenes. But, apart from this difference, it is agreed that he succeeded to the sovereignty of Atreus over Argolis, Corinth, Achaia, and many islands, his seat being at Mycenae, not, as ^schylus for political reasons asserts, at Argos. The succession had been usurped by Thyestes and yEgisthus. During the usurpation Agamemnon and his brother Mene- laus visited Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, and obtained in marriage his two daughters the former Clytaemnestra, the latter Helena: with his help Agamemnon was re instated in his rights. Menelaus succeeded Tyndareus. The children born by Clytaemnestra were Chrysothemis, Iphigenia, Electra, and one son, Orestes. Elsewhere are mentioned also Iphianassa and Laodice ; but the latter was the original name of Electra, it appears, and it has been suggested that Iphianassa stood in the same relation to Iphigenia. Agamemnon was then the most powerful prince in Greece; and to him of right, as well as naturally, his brother Menelaus turned for aid to compel the Trojans to give up his wife Helena, whom Paris had carried off. The various princes of Greece having been brought to unite in an expedition for this purpose, Agamemnon was chosen leader, he himself furnishing 100 ships and lending also 60 more to the Arcadians. It was not perhaps his fault that the Greeks landed by mistake on the coast of Mysia, from which, after plundering it, they took ship and were scattered in a storm; but it was owing to him (and this is the beginning of his ill-fate) that after again assembling in
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