ANTICHTHONES, in Geography, are those People who inhabit Countries opposite to each other. The Word is Compounded of ἀντί, contra, and γῆ, Terra. The Term Antichthones is now used in the same Sense with Antipodes; but the Ancients used it in a different one. They considered the Earth as divided by the Equator into two Hemispheres, the Northern and Southern; and all those who inhabited one of these Hemispheres were reputed Antichthones to those of the other. In this Sense the Word is used by Aeschylus and other ancient Authors. See ANTIPODES.
