incomplete, dealing only with Aeolic and Doric, and in some respects superseded by modern research, will always remain a standard treatise on the subject. He also published Bucolicorum Graecorum Reliquiae (1855–1859); studies on the dialects of Homer and the Greek lyrists; on Aeschylus; and some excellent school-books. A volume of his minor works (ed. Häberlin) was published in 1891, which also contains a complete list of his writings.
AHRIMAN (Gr. Ἀρειμάνιοs in Aristotle, or Ἀρειμάνηs in Agathias; in the Avesta, Añgrô Mainyush)—“the Destructive Spirit”), the name of the principle of evil in the dualistic doctrine of Zoroaster. The name does not occur in the Old Persian inscriptions. In the Avesta he is called the twin-brother of the Holy Spirits, and contrasted either with the Holy Spirit of Ormazd or with Ormazd himself. He is the all-destroying Satan, the source of all evil in the world and, like Ormazd, exists since the beginning of the world. Eventually, in the great world catastrophe, he will be defeated by Ormazd and disappear. The later sect of the Zervanites held that both were visible manifestations of the primeval principle Zruvan akarana (Infinite Time). (See Zoroaster.)
AHRWEILER, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, on the river Ahr and the Remagen-Adenau line of railway. Pop. 5000. It is a town of medieval aspect and is surrounded by ancient walls, with battlements and four gates in good repair. There is a Gothic church (dating from 1245). A convent school of the Ursuline nuns is a prominent feature on a hill to the south. The trade is almost exclusively confined to the manufacture and export of the wines of the district.
AHT, a confederacy of twenty-two tribes of North American Indians of the Wakashan stock. They are settled on the west coast of Vancouver, British Columbia. The chief tribes included are the Nitinaht, Tlaasaht or Makah, Tlaokiwaht or Clahoquaht, Ahansaht and Ehatishaht. The confederacy numbers some 3500.
AHTENA (“ice people”), the name of an Athapascan tribe of North American Indians, in the basin of Copper River, Alaska.
See Handbook of American Indians, ed. F. W. Hodge (Washington, 1907).
AHVAZ, a town of Persia, in the province of Arabistan, on the left bank of the river Karun, 48 m. S. of Shushter, in 31° 18′ N., 49° E. It has been identified with the Aginis of Nearchus, 500 stadia from Susa, and occupies the site of what was once an extensive and important city. Of this ancient city vast remains are left, extending several miles along the bank of the river. Among the most remarkable are the ruins of a bridge and a citadel, or palace, besides vestiges of canals and watermills, which tell of former commercial activity. There are also the ruins of a band, or stone dam of great strength, which was thrown across the river for the purposes of irrigation. The band was 1150 yds. in length and had a diameter of 24 ft. at its base. Remains of massive structure are still visible, and many single blocks in it measure from 8 to 10 ft. in thickness. Ahvaz reached the height of its prosperity in the 12th and 13th centuries and is now a collection of wretched hovels, with a small rectangular fort in a state of ruin, and an Arab population of about 400. Since the opening of the Karun to foreign commerce in October 1888, another settlement called Benderi Nássiri, in compliment to the Shah Nássir ed din (d. 1896), has been established on a slight elevation overlooking the river at the point below the rapids where steamers come to anchor, about one mile below Ahvaz. It has post and telegraph offices; and agencies of some mercantile firms, a British vice-consul (since 1904) and a Russian consular agent (since 1902) are established there. The new caravan road to Isfahan, opened for traffic in 1900, promised, if successful, to give Ahvaz greater commercial importance.
AI [Sept. Ἁγγαḯ, Ἀγγαΐ and Γαΐ; Vulg. Hai], a small royal city of the Canaanites, E. of Bethel. The meaning of the name may be “the stone heap”; but it is not necessarily a Hebrew word. Abraham pitched his tent between Ai and Bethel (Gen. xii. 8, xiii. 3); but it is chiefly noted for its capture and destruction by Joshua (vii. 2-5, viii. 1-29), who made it a heap for ever, even a desolation.” It is mentioned by Isaiah (x. 28), and also after the captivity (Ezra ii. 28; Neh. vii. 32), but then probably was not more than a village. In the later Hebrew writings the name sometimes has a feminine form, Aiath (Is. x. 28), Aija (Neh. xi. 31). The definite article is usually prefixed to the name in Hebrew. The site was known, and some scanty ruins still existed, in the time of Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast, s.v. Ἀγγαί). Dr E. Robinson was unable to discover any certain traces of either name or ruins. He remarks, however (Bib. Researches, ed. 1856, i. p. 443), that it must have been close to Bethel on account of Biblical narrative (Josh. viii. 17). A little to the south of a village called Deir Diwân, and one hour’s journey south-east from Bethel, is the site of an ancient place called Khirbet Haiyân, indicated by reservoirs hewn in the rock, excavated tombs and foundations of hewn stone. This may possibly be the site of Ai; it agrees with all the intimations as to its position. It has also been identified with a mound now called et-Tell (“the heap”), but though the name of a neighbouring village, Turmus Aya, is suggestive, it is in the wrong direction from Bethel. In this view recent authorities, such as G. A. Smith, generally coincide.
See Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, 1869, p: 123; 1874, p. 62; 1878, pp. 10, 132, 194; 1881, p. 254. (R. A. S. M.)
AIBONITO, an inland town of the electoral district of Guayama, Porto Rico, on the highway between San Juan and Ponce, 25 m. E.N.E. of the latter. It is the capital of a municipal district of the same name. Pop. (1899) of the town, 2085; of the district, 8596. The town is about 2200 ft. above sea level, and owing to its cool climate and freedom from malaria it has been chosen as an acclimatizing station and sanatorium for foreigners. It is surrounded by coffee plantations, and tobacco of excellent quality is raised in the vicinity. The town was considerably damaged by the great hurricane of the 8th of August 1899.
AICARD, JEAN FRANÇOIS VICTOR (1848–), French poet and dramatist, was born at Toulon on the 4th of February 1848. His father, Jean Aicard, was a journalist of some distinction, and the son early began his career in 1867 with Les Jeunes Croyances, followed in 1870 by a one-act play produced at the Marseilles theatre; His poems include: Les Rébellions et les apaisements (1871); Poèmes de Provence (1874), and La Chanson de l’enfant (1876), both of which were crowned by the Academy; Miette et Noré (1880), a Provençal idyll; Le Livre d’heures de l’amour (1887); Jésus (1896), &c. Of his plays the most successful was Le Père Lebonnard (1890), which was originally produced at the Théâtre Libre. Among his other works are the novels, Le Roi de Camargue (1890), L’Âme d’un enfant (1898) and Tatas (1901), Benjamine (1906) and La Vénus de Milo (1874), an account of the discovery of the statue from unpublished documents.
AICHINGER, GREGOR (c. 1565–1628), one of the greatest German composers of the Golden Age. He was organist to the Fugger family of Augsburg in 1584. In 1599 he went for a two years’ visit to Rome. This was for musical and not for ecclesiastical reasons, though he had taken orders before his appointment under Fugger. Proske, in the preface to vol. ii. of his Musica Divina, calls him a priest of Regensburg, and is inclined to give him the palm for the devout and ingenuous mastery of his style. Certainly this impression is fully borne out by the beautiful and somewhat quaint works included in that great anthology.
AICKIN, FRANCIS (d. 1805), Irish actor, first appeared in London in 1765 as Dick Amlet in Vanbrugh’s The Confederacy at Drury Lane. He acted there, and at Covent Garden, until 1792. His repertory consisted of over eighty characters, and among his best parts were the Ghost in Hamlet and Jaques in As You Like It. His success in impassioned declamatory rôles obtained for him the nickname of “Tyrant.”
His younger brother James Aickin (d. 1803) was playing leading parts in both comedy and tragedy at the Edinburgh theatre, when he gave offence to his public by his protest against the discharge of a fellow-actor. He therefore went to London, and
