![]() away once more.
In less than five months he was back in Alexandria, where he spent his last years. His main works were
attacks on Arianism, the most famous being Discourses Against the Arians, Two Books Against the
Pagans and On the Incarnation. Athanasius was a close friend of St. Antony.
¤ ATHAULF (d. 415 A.D.) King of the VISIGOTHS from 410 to 415. At the end of 410, ALARIC,
sacker of Rome and ruler of the Goths, died in southern Italy. His brother Athaulf came to the throne.
The most qualified to lead his people, in 412 Athaulf took them over the Alps into Gaul. With GALLA
PLACIDIA, the sister of Emperor Honorius, and the deposed Emperor Attalus under his control, he
bargained with both Honorius and the usurper in Gaul, Jovinus, eventually siding with Honorius. No
longer content to ravage the Empire, Athaulf in 414 married Galla Placidia and made moves to reconcile
himself with Rome. Honorius refused to treat with him, and war broke out in the West. The MAGISTER
MILITUM Constantius blockaded the coast of Gaul and much of the southern portion of the country was
laid waste. Attalus, who had been temporarily elevated to the throne as a usurper, was captured by
Constantius. Whatever plans Athaulf had were cut short by his assassination by followers of a murdered
chieftain.
¤ ATHENA See MINERVA.
¤ ATHENADORUS (fl. late 1st century A.D.) Stoic and tutor of AUGUSTUS. Also known as
Athenodorus, he came from Tarsus and was a correspondent and friend of Cicero. Athenadorus tutored
Augustus and was sent by him to Tarsus, to remove the writer Boethius, the city's leader, who had been
appointed by Marc Antony. Athenadorus was considered a good and honorable man by his
contemporaries, and Dio related that once he ordered for his use a litter used by the women who were
brought into the presence of Augustus. Athenadorus jumped out of the vehicle, sword in hand,
demanding to know if Augustus was not concerned that someone could kill him by entering his presence in
that fashion. Augustus was grateful for the demonstration.
¤ ATHENAEUM
Institute of learning created by Hadrian in 133 A.D. The Athenaeum specialized in
science and literary fields. In 193 A.D., the building
was used by the Senate for its deliberations on the
fate of Emperor Didius Julianus.
¤ ATHENS For centuries the city of Athens was the cultural and intellectual center of the Western
World. Under the Roman Empire, the city was reduced to a unit of the province of ACHAEA, but
remained the seat of intellectualism. In 86 B.C., the general Sulla captured Athens after it had rebelled
against Roman rule and punished its citizens harshly for trying to break away from Rome.
The 1st century B.C. CIVIL WARS of Rome also proved costly to Athens, as the combatants - Pompey,
Caesar, Antony, Brutus and the Liberators, Octavian - demanded contributions from the inhabitants.
Because Antony found great favor with the Athenians, after the battle of ACTIUM (31 B.C.), Augustus
in revenge terminated the city's right to grant citizenship and to mint its own coinage. When the province
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