embraces the old countship of Foix, and a portion of Languedoc and Gascony. Area, 1893 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 205,684. Ariège is for the most part mountainous. Its southern border is occupied by the snow-clad peaks of the eastern Pyrenees, the highest of which within the department is the Pic de Montcalm (10,512 ft.). Communication with Spain is afforded by a large number of ports or cols, which are, however, for the most part difficult paths, and only practicable for a few months in the year. Farther to the north two lesser ranges running parallel to the main chain traverse the centre of the department from south-east to north-west. The more southerly, the Montagne de Tabe, contains, at its south-eastern end, several heights between 7200 and 9200 ft., while the Montagnes de Plantaurel to the north of Foix are of lesser altitude. These latter divide the fertile alluvial plains of the north from the mountains of the centre and south. The department is intersected by torrents belonging to the Garonne basin—the Salat, the Arize, which, near Mas d’Azil, flows through a subterranean gallery, the Ariège and the Hers. The climate is mild in the south, but naturally very severe among the mountains. Generally speaking, the arable land, which is chiefly occupied by small holdings, is confined to the lowlands. Wheat, maize and potatoes are the chief crops. Good vineyards and market gardens are found in the neighbourhood of Pamiers in the north. Flax and hemp are also cultivated. The mountains afford excellent pasture, and a considerable number of cattle, sheep and swine are reared. Poultry- and bee-farming flourish. Forests cover more than one-third of the department and harbour wild boars and even bears. Game, birds of prey and fish are plentiful. There is abundance of minerals, including lead, copper, manganese and especially iron. Grindstones, building-stone, talc, gypsum, marble and phosphates are also produced. Warm mineral springs of note are found at Ax, Aulus and Ussat. Pamiers and St Girons are the most important industrial towns. Iron founding and forging, which have their chief centre at Pamiers are principal industries. Flour-milling, paper-making and cloth-weaving may also be mentioned. Ariège is served by the Southern railway. It forms the diocese of Pamiers and belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Toulouse. It is within the circumscriptions of the académie (educational division) and of the court of appeal of Toulouse and of the XVII. army corps. Its capital is Foix; it comprises the arrondissements of Foix, St Girons and Pamiers, with 20 cantons and 338 communes. Foix, Pamiers, St Girons and St Lizier-de-Cousérans are the more noteworthy towns. Mention may also be made of Mirepoix, once the seat of a bishopric, and possessing a cathedral (15th and 16th centuries) with a remarkable Gothic spire.
ARIES (“The Ram”), in astronomy, the first sign of the zodiac (q.v.), denoted by the sign ♈︎, in imitation of a ram’s head. The name is probably to be associated with the fact that when the sun is in this part of the heavens (in spring) sheep bring forth their young; this finds a parallel in Aquarius, when there is much rain. It is also a constellation, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd century B.C.); Ptolemy catalogued eighteen stars, Tycho Brahe twenty-one, and Hevelius twenty-seven. According to a Greek myth, Nephele, mother of Phrixus and Helle, gave her son a ram with a golden fleece. To avoid the evil designs of Hera, their stepmother, Phrixus and Helle fled on the back of the ram, and reaching the sea, attempted to cross. Helle fell from the ram and was drowned (hence the Hellespont); Phrixus, having arrived in Colchis and been kindly received by the king, Aeetes, sacrificed the ram to Zeus, to whom he also dedicated the fleece, which was afterwards carried away by Jason. Zeus placed the ram in the heavens as the constellation.
ARIKARA, or Aricara (from ariki, horn), a tribe of North American Indians of Caddoan stock. They are now settled with the Hidatsas and the Mandans on the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota. They originally lived in the Platte Valley, Nebraska, with the Pawnees, to whom they are related. They number about 400.
See Handbook of American Indians, ed. F. W. Hodge (Washington 1907)
ARIMASPI, an ancient people in the extreme N.E. of Scythia (q.v.), probably the eastern Altai. All accounts of them go back to a poem by Aristeas of Proconnesus, from whom Herodotus (iii. 116, iv. 27) drew his information. They were supposed to be one-eyed (hence their Scythian name), and to steal gold from the griffins that guarded it. In art they are usually represented as richly dressed Asiatics, picturesquely grouped with their griffin foes; the subject is often described by poets from Aeschylus to Milton. They are so nearly mythical that it is impossible to insist on the usual identification with the ancestors of the Huns. Their gold was probably real, as gold still comes from the Altai.
ARIMINUM (mod. Rimini), a city of Aemilia, on the N.E. coast of Italy, 69 m. S.E. of Bononia. It was founded by the Umbrians, but in 268 B.C. became a Roman colony with Latin rights. It was reached from Rome by the Via Flaminia, constructed in 220 B.C., and from that time onwards was the bulwark of the Roman power in Cisalpine Gaul, to which province it even gave its name. Its harbour was of some importance, but is now silted up, the sea having receded. The remains of its moles were destroyed in 1807–1809. Ariminum became a place of considerable traffic owing to the construction of the Via Aemilia (187 B.C.) and the Via Popilia (132 B.C.), and is frequently mentioned by ancient authors. In 90 B.C. it acquired Roman citizenship, but in 82 B.C. having been held by the partisans of Marius, it was plundered by those of Sulla (who probably made the Rubicon the frontier of Italy instead of the Aesis), and a military colony settled there. Caesar occupied it in 49 B.C. after his crossing of the Rubicon. It was one of the eighteen richest cities of Italy which the triumviri selected as a reward for their troops. In 27 B.C. Augustus planted new colonists there, and divided the city into seven vici after the model of Rome, from which the names of the vici were borrowed. He also restored the Via Flaminia (Mon. Ancyr. c. 20) from Rome to Ariminum. At the entrance to the latter the senate erected, in his honour, a triumphal arch which is still extant—a fine simple monument with a single opening. At the other end of the decumanus maximus or main street (3000 Roman ft. in length) is a fine bridge over the Ariminus (mod. Marecchia) begun by Augustus and completed by Tiberius in A.D. 20. It has five wide arches, the central one having a span of 35 ft., and is well preserved. Both it and the arch are built of Istrian stone. The present Piazza Giulio Cesare marks the site of the ancient forum. The remains of the amphitheatre are scanty; many of its stones have gone to build the city wall, which must, therefore, at the earliest belong to the end of the classical period. In A.D. 1 Augustus’s grandson Gaius Caesar had all the streets of Ariminum paved. In A.D. 69 the town was attacked by the partisans of Vespasian, and was frequently besieged in the Gothic wars. It was one of the five seaports which remained Byzantine until the time of Pippin. (See Rimini.)
See A. Tonini, Storia della Città di Rimini (Rimini, 1848–1862). (T. As.)
ARIOBARZANES, the name of three ancient kings or satraps of Pontus, and of three kings of Cappadocia and a Persian satrap.
Of the Pontic rulers two are most famous, (1) The son of Mithradates I., who revolted against Artaxerxes in 362 B.C. and may be regarded as the founder of the kingdom of Pontus (q.v.). According to Demosthenes he and his three sons received from the Athenians the honour of citizenship. (2) The son of Mithradates III., who reigned c. 266–240 B.C., and was one of those who enlisted the help of the invading Gauls (see Galatia).
Of the Cappadocian rulers the best-known one (“Philo-Romaeus” on the coins) reigned nominally from 93 to 63 B.C., but was three times expelled by Mithradates the Great and as often reinstated by Roman generals. Soon after the third occasion he formally abdicated in favour of his son Ariobarzanes “Philopator,” of whom we gather only that he was murdered some time before 51. His son Ariobarzanes, called “Eusebes” and “Philo-Romaeus,” earned the gratitude of Cicero during his proconsulate in Cilicia, and fought for Pompey in the civil
