burial-place of Charlemagne), for
treaties of peace in 1668 and 1748, and for a European congress in 1818.
AIX-LES-BAINS`, a small town near Chambery, in the dep. of Savoy,
and much frequented by invalids for its waters and baths.
AJAC`CIO (18), the capital of Corsica, the birthplace of the
Bonaparte family, of Cardinal Fesch, and Bacciochi.
AJALON, VALLEY OF, in Palestine, scene of a battle between Joshua
and five Canaanitish kings, during which the sun and moon stood still at
the prayer of Joshua, to enable him to finish his victory.
A`JAN COAST, a district on the E. coast of Africa, from Cape
Guardafui to the mouth of the Juba, under the protectorate of Germany.
A`JAX the name of two Greek heroes in the Trojan war, and the
synonym of a fiery and impetuous warrior: AJAX, the son of Telamon
of Sparta, one of the bravest of the Greeks, who, on the death of
Achilles, contended with Ulysses for his arms, but was defeated, in
consequence of which he lost his reason and put an end to his life; and
AJAX, the son of Oileus, swift of foot, like Achilles, who suffered
shipwreck on his homeward voyage, as a judgment for an outrage he
perpetrated on the person of Cassandra in the temple of Athena in Troy.
AJMERE` (68), a city in a small territory in the heart of Rajputana,
under the rule of the Viceroy; well built, and contains some famous
edifices.
AJODHYA, an ancient city of Oudh, 77 m. E. of Lucknow, once, on
religious grounds, one of the largest and most magnificent cities of
India, now in ruins; the modern town is an insignificant place, but has
an annual fair, attended by often 600,000 pilgrims.
AK`ABA, a gulf forming the NE. inlet of the Red Sea.
AKAKIA, DOCTOR, a satire of a very biting nature by Voltaire,
directed against pretentious pedants of science in the person of
Maupertuis, the President of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin,
which so excited the anger of Frederick the Great, the patron of the
Academy, that he ordered it to be burnt by the common hangman, after
30,000 copies of it had been sold in Paris!
AKAKIA, MARTIN, physician of Francis I., born at Chalons-sur-Marne,
his real name being Sans-Malice; _d_. 1551.
AK`BAR, the great Mogul emperor of India, who, after a minority of a
few years, assumed the reins of government at the age of eighteen, and in
ten or twelve years, such was his power of conquest, had the whole of
India north of the Vindhya Mts. subject to
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