ANTWERP: A. D. 1584-1585. Siege and reduction by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma. The downfall of prosperity. See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1584-1585. ANTWERP: A. D. 1648. Sacrificed to Amsterdam in the Treaty of Münster. Closing of the Scheldt. See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1646-1648. ANTWERP: A. D. 1706. Surrendered to Marlborough and the Allies. See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1706-1707. ANTWERP: A. D. 1746-1748. Taken by the French and restored to Austria. See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1746-1747; and AIX-LA-CHAPELLE: THE CONGRESS. ANTWERP: A. D. 1832. Siege of the Citadel by the French. Expulsion of the Dutch garrison. See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1830-1832. ----------ANTWERP: End---------- APACHES, The. See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: APACHE GROUP, and ATHAPASCAN FAMILY. APALACHES, The. See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: APALACHES. APAMEA. Apamea, a city founded by Seleucus Nicator on the Euphrates, the site of which is occupied by the modern town of Bir, had become, in Strabo's time (near the beginning of the Christian Era) one of the principal centers of Asiatic trade, second only to Ephesus. Thapsacus, the former customary crossing-place of the Euphrates, had ceased to be so, and the passage was made at Apamea. A place on the opposite bank of the river was called Zeugma, or "the bridge." Bir "is still the usual place at which travellers proceeding from Antioch or Aleppo towards Bagdad cross the Euphrates." _E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, chapter 22, section 1 (volume 2, pages 298 and 317)_. APANAGE. See APPANAGE. APATURIA, The. An annual family festival of the Athenians, celebrated for three days in the early part of the month of October (Pyanepsion). "This was the characteristic festival of the Ionic race; handed down from a period anterior to the constitution of Kleisthenes, and to the ten new tribes each containing so many demes, and bringing together the citizens in their primitive unions of family, gens, phratry, etc., the aggregate of which had originally constituted the four Ionic tribes, now superannuated. At the Apaturia, the family ceremonies were gone through; marriages were enrolled, acts of adoption were promulgated and certified, the names of youthful citizens first entered on the gentile and phratric roll; sacrifices were jointly celebrated by these family assemblages to Zeus Phratrius, Athênê, and other deities, accompanied with much festivity and enjoyment." _G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 64 (volume 7)._ APELLA, The. See SPARTA: THE CONSTITUTION. &c. APELOUSAS, The. See TEXAS: THE ABORIGINAL, INHABITANTS. APHEK, Battle of. A great victory won by Ahab, king of Israel over Benhadad, king of Damascus. _H. Ewald, History of Israel, book 4, section 1._ APODECTÆ, The.