ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS, a connection in the mind between two ideas, such that the consciousness of one tends to recall the other, a fact employed to explain certain recondite psychological phenomena.

ASSOUAN`, the ancient Syene, the southernmost city of Egypt, on the right bank of the Nile, near the last cataract.

ASSOUCY, D’, a French burlesque poet ridiculed by Boileau (1604-1679).

ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF THE, festival in honour of the translation of the Virgin Mary to heaven, celebrated on the 15th of August, the alleged day of the event.

ASSUR, mythical name of the founder of Assyria.

ASSYR`IA, an ancient kingdom, the origin and early history of which is uncertain, between the Niphates Mountains of Armenia on the N. and Babylonia on the S., 280 m. long and 150 broad, with a fertile soil and a population at a high stage of civilisation; became a province of Media, which lay to the E., in 606 B.C., and afterwards a satrapy of the Persian empire, and has been under the Turks since 1638, in whose hands it is now a desert.

ASSYRIOLOGY, the study of the monuments of Assyria, chiefly in a Biblical interest.

ASTAR`TE, or ASHTORETH, or IST`AR, the female divinity of the Phoenicians, as Baal was the male, these two being representative respectively of the conceptive and generative powers of nature, and symbolised, the latter, like Apollo, by the sun, and the former, like Artemis or Diana, by the moon; sometimes identified with Urania and sometimes with Venus; the rites connected with her worship were of a lascivious nature.

ASTER, of Amphipolis, an archer who offered his services to Philip of Macedon, boasting of his skill in bringing down birds on the wing, and to whom Philip had replied he would accept them when he made war on the birds.  Aster, to be revenged, sped an arrow from the wall of a town Philip was besieging, inscribed, “To the right eye of Philip,” which took effect; whereupon Philip sped back another with the words, “When Philip takes the town, Aster will hang for it,” and he was true to his word.

AS`TEROIDS, or Planetoids, small planets in orbits between those of Mars and Jupiter, surmised in 1596, all discovered in the present century, the first on Jan. 1, 1801, and named Ceres; gradually found to number more than 200.

AS`TI (33), an ancient city in Piedmont, on the Tanaro, 26 m.  SE. from Turin, with a Gothic cathedral; is noted for its wine; birthplace of Alfieri.

ASTLEY, PHILIP, a famous equestrian and circus manager, along with Franconi established the Cirque Olympique in Paris (1742-1814).

ASTOLFO, a knight-errant in mediaeval legend who generous-heartedly is always to do greater feats than he can perform; in “Orlando Furioso” he brings back Orlando’s lost wits in a phial from the moon, and possesses a horn that with a blast can discomfit armies.

ASTON, LUISE, German authoress, championed the rights of women, and went about in male attire; b. 1820.