ANCHISES (Άγχίσης), in Greek Legend, son of Capys and grandson of Assaracus, his mother being Themis, a daughter of Ilus, the founder or Ilium or Troy, to the ruling family of which, at the time of the Trojan war, he was also, on the paternal side, related, since Assaracus had been a brother of Ilus (Iliad, xx. 231-239). From the Assyrian character of the name Assaracus, from the intercourse between the Phœnicians und the early inhabitants of the Troad, and from the connection of Venus, the protecting goddess of the Phœnicians, with Anchises, it has been inferred that the family of the latter had originally come from somewhere near the centre of Assyrian influence. Venus met Anchises on Mount Ida, and, enamoured of his beauty, bore him Æneas (Iliad, ii. 820, v. 217). He was not to mention the mother of the child on pain of being killed by a thunderbolt from Jupiter. He did mention it, however, and, by one account, was slain as foretold; but according to others, was only wounded and blinded. In the more recent legend, adopted by Virgil, he was conveyed out of Troy on the shoulders of his son Æneas, whose wanderings he followed, it is differently stated, as far only as Sicily, where he was buried on Mount Eryx, or as far as Italy. On the other hand, there was a grave on Mount Ida at Troy pointed out as his. At Segesta in Sicily he had a sanctuary. He was said by some to have had prophetic power. The scenes of his life represented in works of art are his being carried on the shoulders of Æneas, which frequently occurs on engraved gems of the Roman period; and his visits from Venus, which in rendered in a beautiful bronze relief, engraved in Millingen's Unedited Monuments, pl. 12.
ANCHOR, in Navigation, from the Greek ἄγκυρα, which Vossius thinks is from ὄγκη, a crook or hook, an instrument of iron or other heavy material used for holding ships in any situation in which they may be required to lie, and preventing them from drifting by the winds or tides, by the currents of rivers, or any other cause. This is done by the anchor, after it is let down from the ship by means of the cable, fixing itself into the ground, and there holding the vessel fast. The anchor is thus obviously an implement of the first importance in navigation, and one on which too much attention cannot be bestowed in its manufacture and proper construction, seeing that on it depends the safety of the vessel in storms. The invention of so necessary an instrument is to be referred, as may be supposed, to the remotest antiquity. The most ancient anchors consisted merely of large stones, baskets full of stones, sacks filled with sand, or logs of wood loaded with lead. Of this kind were the anchors of the ancient Greeks, which, according to Apollonius Rhodius and Stephen of Byzantium, were formed of stone; and Athenæus states that they were sometimes made of wood. These sorts of anchors retained the vessel merely by their inertia, and by the friction along the bottom. Iron was afterwards introduced for the construction of anchors, and also the grand improvement of forming them with teeth or flukes to fasten themselves into the bottom; whence the words ὀδόντες and dentes are frequently taken for anchors in the Greek and Latin poets. The invention of the teeth is ascribed by Pliny to the Tuscans; but Pausanias gives the merit to Midas, king of Phrygia. Originally there was only one fluke or tooth, whence anchors were called ἑτερόστομοι; but shortly afterwards the second was added, according to Pliny, by Eupalamus, or, according to Strabo, by Anacharsis, the Scythian philosopher. The anchors with two teeth were called ἀμφίβολοι or ἀμφίστομοι, and from ancient monuments appear to have been much the same with those used in our days, except that the stock is wanting in them all. Every ship had several anchors, the largest of which, corresponding to our sheet-anchor, was never used but in extreme danger, and was hence peculiarly termed ἱερά or sacra; whence the proverb sacram anchoram solvere, as flying to the last refuge.
Up to the commencement of the present century what was termed the "old plan long-shanked" anchor seems to have been generally used. It was made of wrought iron, but the appliances of the anchor smith were so crude that little dependence could be placed upon it. About this time public attention was drawn to the importance of the anchor by a clerk of Plymouth yard named Pering, who published a book, and argued, from the number of broken anchors which came to the yard for repair, that there "must be something wrong in the workmanship—undue proportion or the manner of combining the parts." Mr Pering altered the sectional form, made the arms curved instead of straight, used iron of better quality, and introduced improvements in the process of manufacture. Since 1820 about 130 patents have been taken out for anchors; and the attention thus given to the subject, with the introduction of steam hammers and furnaces, the substitution of the fan blast for the old bellows, and the better knowledge obtained of the forgeman's art, have rendered the anchor of the present day so far superior to that of fifty years ago, that we rarely hear at one being broken, the ground in which it is embedded generally giving way before the anchor.
Fig. 1.—Common Anchor. Fig. 2.—Admiralty's. Fig. 3.—Rodger's.
