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    "chunk_id": "1911:avernus:5ab110d67d1d",
    "title": "AVERNUS",
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    "verified_text": "avernus, a lake of campania, italy, about 1 1/2 m. n. of baiae. it is an old volcanic crater, nearly 2 m. in circumference, now, as in roman times, filled with water. its depth is 213 ft., and its height above sea-level 3 1/2 ft.; it has no natural outlet. in ancient times it was surrounded by dense forests, and was the centre of many legends. it was represented as the entrance by which both odysseus and aeneas descended to the infernal regions, and as the abode of the cimmerii. its greek name, [greek: aornos], was explained to mean that no bird could fly across it. hannibal made a pilgrimage to it in 214 b.c. agrippa in 37 b.c. converted it into a naval harbour, the _portus iulius_; joining it to the lacus lucrinus by a canal, and connecting the latter with the sea, he reduced the distance to cumae by boring a tunnel over 1/2 m. in length, now called grotta della pace, through the hill on the north-west side of lake avernus. after sextus pompeius had been subdued, the chief naval harbour was transferred to misenum. nero's works for his proposed canal from baiae to the tiber (a.d. 64) seem to have begun near lake avernus; indeed, according to one theory, the grotta della pace would be a portion of this canal. on the east side of the lake are remains of baths, including a great octagonal hall known as the temple of apollo, built of brickwork, and belonging to the 1st century. the so-called grotto of the cumaean sibyl, on the south side, is a rock-cut passage, ventilated by vertical apertures, possibly a part of the works connected with the naval harbour. to the south-east of the lake is the monte nuovo, a volcanic hill upheaved in 1538, with a deep extinct crater in the centre. to the south is the lacus lucrinus. see j. beloch, _campanien_ (2nd ed., breslau, 1890), pp. 168 seq. (t. as.) averroes [ab[=u]l-wal[=i]d mu[h.]ammad ibn-a[h.]mad ibn-mu[h.]ammad ibn-rushd] (1126-1198), arabian philosopher, was born at cordova. his early life was occupied in mastering the curriculum of theology, jurisprudence, mathematics, medicine and philosophy, under the approved teachers of the time. the years of his prime fell during the last period of mahommedan rule in spain under the almohades (_q.v._). it was ibn-tufail (abubacer), the philosophic vizier of yusef, who introduced averroes to that prince, and avenzoar (ibn-zuhr), the greatest of moslem physicians, was his friend. averroes, who was versed in the malekite system of law, was made cadi of seville (1169), and in similar appointments the next twenty-five years of his life were passed. we find him at different periods in seville, cordova and morocco, probably as physician to yusef al-mansur, who took pleasure in engaging him in discussions on the theories of philosophy and their bearings on the faith of islam. but science and free thought then, as now, in islam, depended almost solely on the tastes of the wealthy and the favour of the monarch. the ignorant fanaticism of the multitude viewed speculative studies with deep dislike and distrust, and deemed any one a zendik (infidel) who did not rest content with the natural science of the koran. these smouldering hatreds burst into open flame about the year 1195. averroes was accused of heretical opinions and pursuits, stripped of his honours, and banished to a place near cordova, where his actions were closely watched. at the same time efforts were made to stamp out all liberal culture in andalusia, so far as it went beyond the little medicine, arithmetic and astronomy required for practical life. but the storm soon passed. averroes was recalled to morocco when the transient passion of the people had been satisfied, and for a brief period survived his restoration to honour. he died in the year before his patron, al-mansur, with whom (in 1199) the political power of the moslems came to an end, as did the culture of liberal science with averroes. the philosopher left several sons, some of whom became jurists like his own grandfather. one of them has left an essay, expounding his father's theory of the intellect. the personal character of averroes is known to us only in a general way, and as we can gather it from his writings. his clear, exhaustive and dignified style of treatment evidences the rectitude and nobility of the man. in the histories of his own nation he has little place; the renown which spread in his lifetime to the east ceased with his death, and he left no school. yet, from a note in a manuscript, we know that he had intelligent readers in spain more than a century afterwards. his historic fame came from the christian schoolmen, whom he almost initiated into the system of aristotle, and who, but vaguely discerning the expositors who preceded, admired in his commentaries the accumulated results of two centuries of labours. the literary works of averroes include treatises on jurisprudence, grammar, astronomy, medicine and philosophy. in 1859 a work of averroes was for the first time published in arabic by the bavarian academy, and a german translation appeared in 1873 by the editor, j. mueller. it is a treatise entitled _philosophy and theology_, and, with the exception of a german version of the essay on the conjunction of the intellect with man, is the first translation which enables the non-semitic scholar to form any adequate idea of averroes. the latin translations of most of his works are barbarous and obscure. a great part of his writings, particularly on jurisprudence and astronomy, as well as essays on special logical subjects, prolegomena to philosophy, criticisms on avicenna and alfarabius (f[=a]r[=a]b[=i]), remain in manuscript in the escorial and other libraries. the latin editions of his medical works include the _colliget_ (_i.e._ _kulliyyat_, or summary), a _resume_ of medical science, and a commentary on avicenna's poem on medicine; but averroes, in medical renown, always stood far below avicenna. the latin editions of his philosophical works comprise the _commentaries on aristotle_, the _destructio destructionis_ (against ghaz[=a]li), the _de substantia orbis_ and a double treatise _de animae beatitudine_. the commentaries of averroes fall under three heads:--the larger commentaries, in which a paragraph is quoted at large, and its clauses expounded one by one; the medium commentaries, which cite only the first words of a section; and the paraphrases or analyses, treatises on the subjects of the aristotelian books. the larger commentary was an innovation of averroes; for avicenna, copied by albertus magnus, gave under the rubrics furnished by aristotle works in which, though the materials were borrowed, the grouping was his own. the great commentaries exist only for the _posterior analytics_, _physics_, _de caelo_, _de anima_ and _metaphysics_. on the _history of animals_ no commentary at all exists, and plato's _republic_ is substituted for the then inaccessible _politics_. the latin editions of these works between 1480 and 1580 number about 100. the first [v.03 p.0059] appeared at padua (1472); about fifty were published at venice, the best-known being that by the juntas (1552-1553) in ten volumes folio. see e. renan, _averroes et l'averroisme_ (2nd ed., paris, 1861); s. munk, _melanges_, 418-458; g. stoeckl, _phil. d. mittelalters_, ii. 67-124; _averroes (vater und sohn), drei abhandl. ueber d. conjunction d. separaten intellects mit d. menschen_, trans. into german from the arabic version of sam. ben-tibbon, by dr j. hercz (berlin, 1869); t. j. de boer, _history of philosophy in islam_ (london, 1903), ch. vi.; a. f. m. mehren in _museon_, vii. 613-627; viii. 1-20; carl brockelmann, _geschichte der arabischen litteratur_ (weimar, 1898), vol. i. pp. 461 f. see also arabian philosophy. (w. w.; g. w. t.)",
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