and invited him to a banquet to eat of his son, whom Atreus had slain. Thyestes fled in horror. Subsequently Atreus married the daughter of Thyestes, Pelopia, who had by her own father a son, Aegisthus, who was adopted by Atreus. Thyestes was found by Agamemnon and Menelaus, the sons of Atreus, and imprisoned at Mycenae. Aegisthus being sent to murder Thyestes, mutual recognition took place, and Atreus was slain by the father and son, who seized the throne, and drove Agamemnon and Menelaus out of the country (Thucydides i. 9; Hyginus, Fabulae; Apollodorus). Homer does not speak of the horrors of the story, which are first found in the tragedians; he merely states (Iliad, ii. 105) that Atreus at his death left the kingdom to Thyestes.
See T. Voigt in Dissert. philol. Halenses. vi. (1886).
ATRI, a town of the Abruzzi, Italy, in the province of Teramo, 6 m. W. of the station of that name on the railway from Ancona to Foggia, and 18 m. due E.S.E. of Teramo, on the site of the ancient Hadria (q.v.). Pop. (1901) 13,448. Its Gothic cathedral (1285–1305) is remarkably fine; and the interior, though spoilt by restoration in 1657, contains some important frescoes of the end of the 15th century by Andrea di Lecce and his pupils. The crypt was originally a cistern of the Roman period. The palace of the Acquaviva family, who were dukes of Atri from 1398 to 1775, is a massive building situated in the principal square.
ATRIUM (either from ater, black, referring to the blackening of the walls from the smoke of the hearth, or from the Greek αἴθριον, open to the sky, or from an Etruscan town, Atria, where the style of building is supposed to have originated), the principal entrance hall or court of a Roman dwelling, giving access and light to the rooms round it. The centre of the roof over the atrium was open to the sky and called the compluvium; the rain-water from the roof collected in the gutters was discharged into a marble tank underneath, which was known as the impluvium. In the early periods of Roman civilization the atrium was the common public apartment, and was used for the reception of visitors and clients, and for ordinary domestic purposes, as cooking and dining. In it were placed the ancestral pictures, the marriage-couch, the hearth and generally a small altar. At a somewhat later period, and among the wealthy, separate apartments were built for kitchens and dining-rooms, and the atrium was kept as a general reception-room for clients and visitors. There were many varieties of the atrium, depending on the way in which the roof was carried. These are described by Vitruvius under the title of cavaedium.
Other buildings, both consecrated and unconsecrated, were called by the term (corresponding to the English “hall”), such as the Atrium Vestae, where the vestal virgins lived, and the Atrium Libertatis, the residence of the censor, where Asinius Pollio established the first public library at Rome.
The word atrium in Rome had a second signification, being given to an open court with porticos round, sometimes placed in front of a temple. A similar arrangement was adopted by the early Christians with relation to the Basilica, in front of which there was an open court surrounded by colonnades or arcades. The church of San Clemente at Rome, that of Sant’ Ambrogio at Milan and the cathedral of Parenzo in Istria still retain their atria.
ATROPHY (Gr. ἀ- priv., τροφἠ, nourishment), a term in medicine used to describe a state of wasting due to some interference with the function of healthy nutrition (see Pathology). In the living organism there are always at work changes involving the waste of its component tissues, which render necessary, in order to maintain and preserve life, the supply and proper assimilation of nutritive material. It is also essential for the maintenance of health that a due relation exist between these processes of waste and repair, so that the one may not be in excess of the other. When the appropriation of nutriment exceeds the waste, hypertrophy (q.v.) or increase in bulk of the tissues takes place. When, on the other hand, the supply of nutritive matter is suspended or diminished, or when the power of assimilation is impaired, atrophy or wasting is the result. Thus the whole body becomes atrophied in many diseases; and in old age every part of the frame, with the single exception of the heart, undergoes atrophic change. Atrophy may, however, affect single organs or parts of the body, irrespective of the general state of nutrition, and this may be brought about in a variety of ways. One of the most frequently observed of such instances is atrophy from disuse, or cessation of function. Thus, when a limb is deprived of the natural power of motion, either by paralysis or by painful joint disease, the condition of exercise essential to its nutrition being no longer fulfilled, atrophy of all its textures sooner or later takes place. The brain in imbeciles is frequently observed to be shrivelled, and in many cases of blindness there is atrophy of the optic nerve and optic tract. This form of atrophy is likewise well exemplified in the case of those organs and structures of the body which subserve important ends during foetal life, but which, ceasing to be necessary after birth, undergo a sort of natural atrophy, such as the thymus gland, and certain vessels specially concerned in the foetal circulation. The uterus after parturition undergoes a certain amount of atrophy, and the ovaries, after the child-bearing period, become shrunken. Atrophy of a part may also be caused by interruption to its normal blood-supply, as in the case of the ligature or obstruction of an artery. Again, long-standing disease, by affecting the nutrition of an organ and by inducing the deposit of morbid products, may result in atrophy, as frequently happens in affections of the liver and kidneys. Parts that are subjected to continuous pressure are liable to become atrophied, as is sometimes seen in internal organs which have been pressed upon by tumours or other morbid growths, and is well illustrated in the Chinese practice of foot-binding. Atrophy may manifest itself simply by loss of substance; but, on the other hand, it is often found to co-exist with degenerative changes in the textures affected and the formation of adventitious growth, so that the part may not be reduced in bulk although atrophied as regards its proper structure. Thus, in the case of the heart, when affected with fatty degeneration, there is atrophy of the proper muscular texture, but as this is largely replaced by fatty matter, the organ may undergo no diminution in volume, but may, on the contrary, be increased in size. Atrophy is usually a gradual and slow process, but sometimes it proceeds rapidly. In the disease known by the name of acute yellow atrophy of the liver, that organ undergoes such rapidly destructive change as results in its shrinking to half, or one-third, of its normal size in the course of a few days. The term progressive muscular atrophy (synonyms, wasting or creeping palsy) is applied to an affection of the muscular system, which is characterized by the atrophy and subsequent paralysis of certain muscles, or groups of muscles, and is associated with morbid changes in the anterior roots of the nerves of the spinal cord. This disease begins insidiously, and is often first observed to affect the muscles of one hand, generally the right. The attention of the sufferer is first attracted by the power of the hand becoming weakened, and then there is found to be a wasting of certain of its muscles, particularly those of the ball of the thumb. Gradually other muscles in the arms and legs become affected in a similar manner, their atrophy being attended with a corresponding diminution in power. Although sometimes arrested, this disease tends to progress, until in course of time the greater part of the muscular system is implicated and a fatal result ensues.
ATROPOS, in Greek mythology, the eldest of the three Fates (see Fate). Her name, the “Unalterable” (ἀ- privative, and τρέπειν, to turn), indicates her function, that of rendering the decisions of her sisters irreversible or immutable. Atropos is most frequently represented with scales, a sun-dial or a cutting instrument, the “abhorred shears,” with which she slits the thin-spun thread of life that has been placed on the spindle by Clotho and drawn off by Lachesis.
ATTA, TITUS QUINCTIUS, or Quinticius (d. 77 B.C.), Roman comedy writer, was, like Titinius and Afranius, distinguished as a writer of fabulae togatae, national comedies. He had the reputation of being a vivid delineator of character, especially female. He also seems to have published a collection of epigrams. The scanty fragments contain many archaisms, but are lively in
