Aeschylus Ves-ko-.bsX (b. 525/524—d. 456/455 bc, Gela, Sicily) Greek tragic dramatist. He fought with the Athenian army at Marathon (490) and in 484 achieved the first of his many victories at the major dramatic competition in Athens. He wrote over 80 plays, but only 7 are extant; the earliest of these, Persians, was performed in 472 bc. Other plays that sur¬ vive are the Oresteia trilogy ( Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides ), Seven Against Thebes, The Suppliants, and Prometheus Bound. Considered the father of Greek tragic drama, he added a second actor to the performance, an innovation that enabled the later develop¬ ment of dialogue and created true dramatic action. He was the first of the three great Greek tragedians, preceding Sophocles and Euripides.
Aesculapius See Asclepius
Aesir \'a-zir\ In Germanic religion, one of the two main groups of dei¬ ties, the other being the Vanir. Odin, his wife Frigg, Tyr (the god of war), and Thor were the four Aesir common to the Germanic nations. Balder and Loki were considered Aesir by other peoples. The Aesir were a war¬ like race and were originally dominant over the Vanir, but after numer¬ ous defeats in battle they were forced to grant the Vanir equal status. The poet-god Kvasir was born out of the peace ritual in which the two races mingled their saliva in the same vessel.
Aesop \'e-,sap\ Supposed author of a collection of Greek fables, almost certainly a legendary figure. Though Herodotus, in the 5th century bc, said that he was an actual personage,
“Aesop” was probably no more than a name invented to provide an author for fables centring on beasts. Aeso¬ pian fables emphasize the social interactions of human beings, and the morals they draw tend to embody advice on how to deal with the com¬ petitive realities of life. The Western fable tradition effectively begins with these tales. Modern editions list some 200 Aesopian fables.
Aestheticism \es- , thet-9-,siz-9m\
Late 19th-century European arts movement that centred on the doc¬ trine that art exists for the sake of its beauty alone. It began in reaction to prevailing utilitarian social philoso¬ phies and to the perceived ugliness and philistinism of the industrial age. Its philosophical foundations were laid by Immanuel Kant, who proposed that aesthetic standards could be separated from morality, utility, or plea¬ sure. James McNeill Whistler, Oscar Wilde, and Stephane Mallarme raised the movement’s ideal of the cultivation of refined sensibility to perhaps its highest point. Aestheticism had affinities with French Symbolism and was a precursor of Art Nouveau.
aesthetics \es-'thet-iks\ Philosophical study of the qualities that make something an object of aesthetic interest and of the nature of aesthetic value and judgment. It encompasses the philosophy of art, which is chiefly concerned with the nature and value of art and the principles by which it should be interpreted and evaluated. Three broad approaches to the sub-
Aesop, with a fox, from the central medallion of a kylix, c. 470 bc; in the Gregorian Etruscan Museum, the Vati¬ can
AUNARI/ART RESOURCE
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22 I Aethelberht I ► Afghanistan
ject have been taken, each distinguished by the types of questions it treats as foremost: (1) the study of aesthetic concepts, often specifically through the examination of uses of aesthetic language; (2) the study of the states of mind—responses, attitudes, emotions—held to be involved in aesthetic experience; and (3) the study of objects deemed aesthetically interesting, with a view to determining what about them makes them so. Seminal works in the field include the Symposium of Plato ; the Rhetoric of Aris¬ totle; Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725), by Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746); “Of the Standard of Taste” (in Four Dissertations [1757]), by David Hume; On the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), by Edmund Burke; Critique of Judgment (1790), by Immanuel Kant; The Sense of Beauty (1896), by George Santayana; The Psychology of Imagination (1948), by Jean-Paul Sartre; and two works by Ludwig Witt¬ genstein, Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology, and Reli¬ gious Belief (1966) and Culture and Value (1977).
Aethelberht I See Ethelbert I
Aethelred Unraed See Ethelred II
Aetolia \e-'to-le-3\ District north of the Gulf of Corinth, ancient Greece. Aetolia figures prominently in early legend. By 367 bc it had been orga¬ nized by various tribes into a federal state comprising the Aetolian League. Coming under Roman rule, it was incorporated into the province of Achaea (see Achaean League) in 27 bc by Augustus. Governed later by Albania and Venice, it came under Turkish rule in ad 1450. It was the scene of fierce fighting in the War of Greek Independence (1821-29). Mod¬ em Aetolia is linked with Acarnania as a department of Greece.
Aetolian \e-'to-le-3n\ League Federal state of ancient Aetolia in cen¬ tral Greece, probably based on a looser tribal community. A leading power by c. 340 bc, the Aetolian League resisted invasions by Macedonia in 322 and 314-311, expanded into Delphi, and allied with Boeotia c. 300. It fended off the Gauls in 279 and formed an alliance with Macedonia (c. 270-240). The league’s power in central Greece was confirmed with the defeat of the Boeotians (245). From the late 3rd century Aetolia began to lose power and territory to Macedonia, culminating in the sacking of the league’s federal capital, Thermum, by Philip V in 220. The league then allied with Rome against Macedonia and defeated Philip at Cynosceph- alae (197). Rome later forced it into a permanent alliance (189) that cost it territory, power, and independence.
Afars and Issas, French Territory of the See Djibouti
Affair of the Diamond Necklace (1785) Scandal at the court of Louis XVI that discredited the French monarchy on the eve of the French Revolution. An adventuress, the countess de la Motte, schemed to acquire a valuable diamond necklace by duping cardinal de Rohan into believing that Queen Marie-Antoinette wanted to obtain it surreptitiously and that he could gain her favour by facilitating its purchase. When the plot came to light, Louis XVI had the cardinal arrested. Though acquitted, the arbi¬ trary treatment of the cardinal deepened impressions of the autocratic nature of the king’s government.
affective disorder Mental disorder characterized by dramatic changes or extremes of mood. Affective disorders may include manic or depres¬ sive episodes less severe than those of bipolar disorder, such as anxiety and depression. Symptoms include elevated, expansive, or irritable moods, with hyperactivity, pressured (rapid and forced) speech, and inflated self-esteem; or dejected moods, characterized by lack of interest in life, sleep disturbances, agitation, and feelings of worthlessness or guilt.
affenpinscher Va-fon-.pin-choA Sturdy breed of toy dog, known since the 17th century. Standing 10 in. (26 cm) high or less and weighing 7-8 lbs (3-3.5 kg), it is a TERRiER-like dog with small, erect ears, round black eyes, and a short, docked tail. Its wiry, preferably black coat is short on parts of the body but longer on the legs and face, where it produces the monkeylike expression for which the breed is named (from German Affe, “ape”).
affidavit \,a-f3-'da-v9t\ Written statement made voluntarily, confirmed by the oath or affirmation of the party making it, and signed before an officer empowered to administer such oaths. It usually names the place of execution and certifies that the person making it states certain facts and appeared before the officer on a certain date and “subscribed and swore” to the statement.
affirmative action In the U.S., the effort to improve the employment and educational opportunities of women and members of minority groups through preferential treatment in job hiring, college admissions, the