Passing the promontory of Actium, he came to Epirus, and then continued his voyage to Italy and round Sicily to the promontory of Drepanum on the west, where his father, Anchises, died. A storm afterward drove him to the coast of Africa, and landing near Carthage. He was hospitably received and entertained by Queen Dido. His marriage with Dido was prevented by Jupiter, who sent Mercury with a command that Æneas must proceed to Italy. Accordingly, he sailed away, leaving the disappointed queen, who committed suicide. During his stay in Sicily, where he celebrated the anniversary of his father's death with games, the wives of his companions and seamen, weary of long voyages without certainty of finding a home, made an attempt to burn his fleet. After building the city of Acesta, he sailed for Italy. On landing there he visited the Sibyl at Cumæ. She conducted him into the infernal regions, where he saw Anchises, and received intimations of his future destiny. Then, sailing along the Tiber, and landing on the east side of the river, he found himself in the country of Latinus, king of the Aborigines. Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, had been destined to marry a stranger, but her mother had promised to give her in marriage to Turnus, king of the Rutuli. She married Æneas, and war ensued, which terminated in the death of Turnus. Æneas Silvius, the son of Æneas by Lavinia, as the ancestor of the kings of Alba Longa, and hence of Romulus and Remus, was regarded as the founder of the Roman Empire. See Rome.
ÆNE'AS SIL'VIUS. See Pius II.
ÆNE'ID (Lat. Æneis). Vergil's great epic, in which the ancestry of Rome is traced to Troy. See Vergil.
Æ'NESIDE’MUS (Gk. (
Greek characters), Ainesidfmox) (?80-60 B.C.). A Greek philosopher of Alexandria, a contemporary of Cicero. He was born at Cnossus, in Crete. He is well known as the probable author of the Ten Tropes, which Sextus Empiricus enumerates, saying that they had become traditional property of the skeptics (q.v.) of his day. Tropes (Gk. (Greek characters), tropoi) are methods of proving the validity of skepticism. These arguments are based (1) on differences in the constitution of sentient beings, which involve differences in perceptions and conceptions of the world; (2) on differences of human beings; (3) on differences of sense-organs; (4) on differences in circumstances under which perception occurs; (5) on differences of location and distance of objects perceived; (6) on the confusion of one object with another; (7) on differences in a sensation due to different combinations in which it appears; (8) on the relativity of knowledge in general; (9) on differences in perception due to familiarity or unfamiliarity with the object; (10) on differences observed between the civilizations, morals, laws, superstitions, and philosophical theories of different peoples. See Relativity, Law of.
Æ'NIA'NES. An Achæan tribe of northern Greece. In historic times they lived in the mountains west of Thermopylæ. They were members of the Delphian Amphictyony and of the Ætolian League.
Æ'NON (explained in the New Testament as "many springs"). A locality mentioned in John iii; 23 as a place where John the Baptist was baptizing. It is characterized as being "near Salim" and as having an abundant water supply. Two sites have been proposed as complying with this description. (1) A town called Ainun, in the valley that leads up toward Shechem, about seven miles from the ancient town of Salem, where there are extensive ruins and many springs. (2) On the basis of statements in Eusebius and Jerome, a place called Silvia (=Salem?), about eight Roman miles south of Scythopolis, the old Bethshean. The former identification seems preferable.
ÆOLIAN ACCU'MULA'TIONS ( from .•I,"o/«.s, the god of the winds). ])u-;t, fine particles of soil, and even sand giains of a diameter of two millimeters are transported by the wind and brought together in sheltered places, in nuicli the same manner as these particles are
transported and deposited by water. Such aolian accunuilations occir in both humid and arid regions, tlunigh tlicy attain a more pronounced degree of development in those regions of litle rainfall, where the scant vegetation permits the usually powerful winds to exert a considerable erosive action upon the nuich weath-
ered rocks and dry soil. In humid legions de-
posits of this nature mav be found along the
coasts of seas and ocean and also u])on upland
plains, where the superficial layers of the earth's
crust consist of loose sand that may be easily
blown awaj", to be accuunilated elsewhere as
sand-dunes. In arid regions, dust aiul sand are
being continually transported and deposited in
distant places, there to form a'olian deposits
which are often of considerable geological and
also of economic importance. Desert sands tra-
verse wide areas, burying vegetation that may be
in the way, even sometimes destroying forests.
On the other hand, the fine calcareous dust blown
over the prairies of the west settles in the grass
and adds to the fertile covering of soil. The
fertility of many regions of the Missouri Valley
is undoubtedly due to these wind-deposited soils,
which are known under the name of "loess;"
some of the loess is, however, of aqueous origin.
Æolian accumulations have been recognized also
in ancient rock formations of various geological
systems, notably the Cambrian, Devonian. .luras-
sie, etc. For description of the erosive and
transporting jiower of wind, and for the charac-
ters and distribution of the various kinds of
a>oIian deposits, see the articles on Deseut;
DrxE; Sano; Shore; Wind: and Geology, para-
graph on Wiitft }york-.
ÆOLIAN HARP. A musical instrument, consisting of a numl)cr (usually S or 10) of catgut strings of varying thickness tuned to produce the same fiindamcntal tone, and stretched over a narrow, oblong box. When placed in a current of air the .Eolian harp produces full chords, composed of the harmonics of the common fundamental. The sounds change from a breezy, fairy-like pianissimo to an imposing forte, which again dies away with the passing of the gust. For illustration, see Musical Instruments.
ÆOLIAN ISLES. Sec Lipari Islands.
ÆO'LIANS (Gk. Aio?t-ir. Aiolrin). The name borne by the Greeks of the island of Lesbos and the coast of Asia Minor north of Cyme. They traced their descent to a mythieal Æolus of Thessaly. Later writers extended the name so as to include all races not Dorian or Ionian.
