ASTYAGES

astyages, the last king of the median empire. in the inscriptions of nabonidus the name is written ishtuvegu (cylinder from abu habba v r 64, col. 1, 32; annals, published by pinches, _tr. soc. bibl. arch_. vii. col. 2, 2). according to herodotus, he was the son of cyaxares and reigned thirty-five years (584-550 b.c.); his wife was aryenis, the daughter of alyattes of lydia (herod, i. 74). about his reign we know little, as the narrative of herodotus, which makes cyrus the grandson of astyages by his daughter mandane, is merely a legend; the figure of harpagus, who as general of the median army betrays the king to cyrus, alone seems to contain an historical element, as harpagus and his family afterwards obtained a high position in the persian empire. from the inscriptions of nabonidus we learn that cyrus, king of anshan (susiana), began war against him in 553 b.c.; in 550, when astyages marched against cyrus, his troops rebelled, and he was taken prisoner. then cyrus occupied and plundered ecbatana. the captive king was treated fairly by cyrus (herod, i. 130), and according to ctesias (_pers_. 5, cf. justin i. 6) made satrap of hyrcania, where he was afterwards slain by oebares against the will of cyrus, who gave him a splendid funeral. alexander polyhistor and abydenus in their excerpts from berossus, which eusebius (_chron_. i. pp. 29 and 37) and syncellus (p. 396) have preserved, give the name astyages to the median king who reigned in the time of the fall of nineveh (606 b.c.), and became father-in-law of nebuchadrezzar. this is evidently a mistake; the name ought to be cyaxares (in the fragments of the jewish history of alexander polyhistor, in euseb. _praep. ev_. ix. 39, the name is converted into astibaras, who, according to the unhistorical list of ctesias, was the father of astyages), and there is no reason to invent an earlier king astyages i., as some modern authors have done. the armenian historians render the name astyages by ashdahak, i.e. azhi dahaka (zohak), the mythical king of the iranian epics, who has nothing whatever to do with the historical king of the medes. (ed. m.) astylar (from gr. a-, privative, and [greek: stylos], a column), an architectural term given to a class of design in which neither columns nor pilasters are used for decorative purposes; thus the ricardi and strozzi palaces in florence are astylar in their design, in contradistinction to palladio's palaces at vicenza, which are columnar. asuncion (nuestra senora de la asuncion), a city and port of paraguay, and capital of the republic, on the left bank of the paraguay river in 25 deg. 16' 04" s., 57 deg. 42' 40" w., and 970 m. above buenos aires. pop. (est. in 1900) 52,000. the port is connected with buenos aires and montevideo by regular lines of river steamers, which are its only means of trade communication with the outer world, and with the inland town of villa rica (95 m.) by a railway worked by an english company. the city faces upon a curve in the river bank forming what is called the bay of asuncion, and is built on a low sandy plain, rising to pretty hillsides overlooking the bay and the low, wooded country of the chaco on the opposite shore. the general elevation is only 253 ft. above sea-level. asuncion is laid out on a regular plan, the credit for which is largely due to dictator francia; the principal streets are paved and lighted by gas and electricity; and telephone and street-car services are maintained. the climate is hot but healthful, the mean annual temperature being about 72 deg. f. the city is the seat of a bishopric dating from 1547, and contains a large number of religious edifices. it has a national college and public library, but no great progress in education has been made. the most prominent edifice in the city is the palace begun by the younger lopez, which is now occupied by a bank. there are some business edifices and residences of considerable architectural merit, but the greater part are small and inconspicuous, a majority of the residences being thatched, mud-walled cabins. considerable progress was made during the last two decades of the 19th century, however, notwithstanding misgovernment and the extreme poverty of the people. asuncion was founded by ayolas in 1335, and is the oldest permanent spanish settlement on the la plata. it was for a long time the seat of spanish rule in this region, and later the scene of a bitter struggle between the church authorities and jesuits. soon after the declaration of independence in 1811, the city fell under the despotic rule of dr francia, and then under that of the elder and younger lopez, through which its development was greatly impeded. it was captured and plundered by the brazilians in 1869, and has been the theatre of several revolutionary outbreaks since then, one of which (1905) resulted in a blockade of several months' duration. (a. j. l.)