the I'ny:
Athenians, Mould be marked by the words "to seme unknown god" (ayv. Sitij). It is simpler, however, to suppose that in spots where some supposed preternatu- ral event had occurred, which persons sought ly a me- morial to attribute to some distinct deity as author, thej' erected such an altar, that profane steps might not approach too near (compare the phrases Si deo, Si due, used in such cases, Gcll. i, 28, 3; Macrob. Saturn, iii, 9, ed. Bip. ; see Dougt&'i Anal, ii, 87) the unrecognised deity (comp. Ncandcr, Planting, i, 202 sq.). 'I hat the expression was intended to designate specially the God of the Jews (comp. the ironical expression "Judaea de- voted to the worship of an uncertain god," in Lucian, ii, 592), as Anton insists (Progr. in Act. xvii, 22 sq., Gorlic. 1822), is very unlikely. (The treatise of Wolle, De ignoto Jvdaor. ct A then, deo, Lips. 1727, is without worth ; and Mosheim, Cogit. inN. T. loc. i, 77 sq., treats the subject in an unantiquarian manner.) See Altar. (2.) The "market" (ctyope't) at Athens, mentioned (Acts xvii, 17) as the place where Paul spoke to the assembled populace, has (with most modern interpret- ers since Kuinol) been understood as meaning, not the proper definite market-place called "the Forum in the Ceramicus" (oyopu iv KipapiiKio), but a so-called new market-place lying much farther north, to which Meur- sius (Ceramic, gemin. c. 10) was the first to call atten- tion, and which Miiller (Hall. Encyclop. vi, 132) located on his plan frcm the notice in Pausanias (i, 17) and Strabo (x, 447); according to the latter of which, this spot appears to have borne the designation of the Ere- tria (Epfrpin). Pausanias, however, refers to no other market-place than the well-known one lying between the Acropolis, the Pnyx, and the place of holding the Areopagus (Forchhammer, ut sup. p. 53 f q.) ; End Stra- bo's words ("from the Eretria at Athens, which is now the market-place"), vhich have been regarded as indicating that the Forum was situated there in his time, are susceptible of another end more probable in- terpretation (Leake, Attica, p. 21). Later inquirers have therefore acquiesced in the c pinion that the pas- sage in the Acts refers to nothing more than the usual market-place, in the neighborhood of which (see Forch- hammer's Plan, opposite the Acropolis on the west), moreover, lay the "miscellaneous porch" (orod 7roi- Ki\ti), of which avail may be made (as has usually been found necessary) fur the explanation of Acts xvii. 18 (Cookesly, Map of A flu ns, Loud. 1852). See Mark ex
ATIILAI
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ATHRONGES
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III
Map of ancient Athens.
Treatises on Paul's proceedings in Athens have been written by Olearius (Lips. 170G, and since), Strimesius (Lund. 1706), Majus (Giess. 1727, and in Ikenii Thess. Diss, ii, 6G9 sq.) ; on his address in the Areopagus, by Anspach (Lugd. B. 1829), Anton (Gorl. 1822), Bentzel (Upsal, 1669), Eskuche (Rint. 1735), Heumann (Gott. 1721); on his disputations with the philosophers, by Boemer (Jen. 1751); also the essays of Joch, Be Spi- ritti A ttico (Viteb. 1726) ; Schurtzmann, Be avaaraau den Athenunsibus credita (Lips. 1708); Zorn, Be Athc- n:ensium sarcasmo (Kilon. 1710); Alexander, it. Paul at Athens (Edinb. 1865). See Paul.
Ath'lai (Ileb. Aihlay', ^P", oppressive; Sept. 'Ocr«Xi' v. r. GaXi, QaXtifi), one of the "sons of Bebai," who divorced his foreign wife married on the return from Babylon (Ezra x, '28). B.C. 459.
Athom. See Ass.
Athos, a mountain at the extremity of the prom- ontory of Chalcis, in the province of Salonica, in Eu- ropean Turkey. It was an early resort of monks and anchorets, and is called Monte Santo, or "Holy Moun- tain," in the lingua franca, and in Greek uyioi- opoc\ There arc now upon the sides of the mountain between twenty and thirty monasteries, and a vast multitude of hermitages, which contain more than six thousand monks called Caloyers (q. v.), mostly Russian, of the order of St. Basil. Here they live in a state of com- plete abstraction from the world ; and so strict are their regulation thai they do nottolerate any female being, not even of the class of domestic animals, among them. They still own considerable possessions in Bulgaria, Servia, the ! »anubian Principalities, and Russia. They elect annually a common council of administration, call- ed Prototaton. They arc now chiefly occupied in carv- ing little images of the saints, which they send down to the market-town of Kareis, where a Meekly market is held, and where purchases are made for various parts,
especially Russia ; but formerly they were occupied with the nobler work of transcription. The libraries of the monasteries are particularly rich in MSS. and ether lit- erary treasures. Many of these works have of late years been purchased by travellers, and thus found their way into various libraries of Europe. The monas- teries and churches on this mountain Ere the only ones in the Ottoman empire that have bells. Under the reign of Catharine II of Russia, the. learned Eugen Bulgaris took up his abode on Mount Athos as director of an academy founded by Patriarch Cyril of Constantino- ple. For some time the academy was very nourishing, but at length the patriarch had to yield to the demands of the ignorant portion of the monks and to al olish it. From that time ignorance has generally prevailed among the monks, and only recently (1859) they have set up a printing-press and commenced the pul lication of a religious newspaper. No complete list of the MSS. extant at Mount Athos has yet been made. See Curzon, Monasteries of the Levant (N. Y. 1851, 12mo) ; Leake, Trav. in N. Greece, vol. iii ; Jour, of Geog. Soc. ofLond, 1837, vii, 61 ; Fallmeraycr, Frogmente aus dem Orient, ii, 1 sq. (Stuttg. 1845); Didron aine, Ann. Ar- chedog. i, 29 sq., 173 sq. ; iv, 70 sq. ; v, 148 sq. ; vii, 41 sq. ; Midler, in Miclosich's Slav. Bib. vol. i (Vienna, 1837); Pischon, Bie Mdnchsrepublik des Athos, in Eau- mcr's Hist. Tasckenbuch (Leipz. 1860) ; Gass, Zur Ge- schichte der Aikos-Kloster (Giossen, 18C3).