Oarses, the original name of Artaxerxes Memnon.
Oarus, a river of Sarmatia, falling into the Palus Mœotis. Herodotus, bk. 4.
Oăsis, a town about the middle of Libya, at the distance of seven days’ journey from Thebes in Egypt, where the Persian army, sent by Cambyses to plunder Jupiter Ammon’s temple, was lost in the sands. There were two other cities of that name very little known. Oasis became a place of banishment under the lower empire. Strabo, bk. 17.—Zosimus, bk. 5, ch. 97.—Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 26.
Oaxes, a river of Crete, which received its name from Oaxus the son of Apollo. Virgil, Eclogues, poem 1, li. 66.
Oaxus, a town of Crete where Etearchus reigned, who founded Cyrene.——A son of Apollo and the nymph Anchiale.
Obringa, now Ahr, a river of Germany, falling into the Rhine above Rimmagen.
Obultronius, a questor put to death by Galba’s orders, &c. Tacitus.
Ocalea, or Ocalia, a town of Bœotia. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.——A daughter of Mantineus, who married Abas son of Lynceus and Hypermnestra, by whom she had Acrisius and Prœtus. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 2.
Oceia, a woman who presided over the sacred rites of Vesta for 57 years with the greatest sanctity. She died in the reign of Tiberius, and the daughter of Domitius succeeded her. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 86.
Oceănĭdes and Oceanītĭdes, sea nymphs, daughters of Oceanus, from whom they received their name, and of the goddess Tethys. They were 3000 according to Apollodorus, who mentions the names of seven of them: Asia, Styx, Electra, Doris, Eurynome, Amphitrite, and Metis. Hesiod speaks of the eldest of them, and reckons 41: Pitho, Admete, Prynno, Ianthe, Rhodia, Hippo, Callirhoe, Urania, Clymene, Idyia, Pasithoe, Clythia, Zeuxo, Galuxaure, Plexaure, Perseis, Pluto, Thoe, Polydora, Melobosis, Dione, Cerceis, Xantha, Acasta, Ianira, Telestho, Europa, Menestho, Petrea, Eudora, Calypso, Tyche, Ocyroe, Crisia, Amphiro, with those mentioned by Apollodorus, except Amphitrite. Hyginus mentions 16, whose names are almost all different from those of Apollodorus and Hesiod, which difference proceeds from the mutilation of the original text. The Oceanides, like the rest of the inferior deities, were honoured with libations and sacrifices. Prayers were offered to them, and they were entreated to protect sailors from storms and dangerous tempests. The Argonauts, before they proceeded on their expedition, made an offering of flour, honey, and oil, on the sea-shore, to all the deities of the sea, and sacrificed bulls to them, and entreated their protection. When the sacrifice was made on the sea-shore the blood of the victim was received in a vessel, but when it was in the open sea, the blood was permitted to run down into the waters. When the sea was calm, the sailors generally offered a lamb or a young pig, but if it was agitated by the winds, and rough, a black bull was deemed the most acceptable victim. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 3.—Horace.—Apollonius, Argonautica.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 341.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 349.—Apollodorus, bk. 1.
Oceănus, a powerful deity of the sea, son of Cœlus and Terra. He married Tethys, by whom he had the most principal rivers, such as the Alpheus, Peneus, Strymon, &c., with a number of daughters who are called from him Oceanides. See: Oceanides. According to Homer, Oceanus was the ♦father of all the gods, and on that account he received frequent visits from the rest of the deities. He is generally represented as an old man with a long flowing beard, and sitting upon the waves of the sea. He often holds a pike in his hand, whilst ships under sail appear at a distance, or a sea monster stands near him. Oceanus presided over every part of the sea, and even the rivers were subjected to his power. The ancients were superstitious in their worship to Oceanus, and revered with great solemnity a deity to whose care they entrusted themselves when going on any voyage. Hesiod, Theogony.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 5, li. 81, &c.—Apollodorus, bk. 1.—Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 3, ch. 20.—Homer, Iliad.
♦ ‘fathers’ replaced with ‘father’
Ocellus, an ancient philosopher of Lucania. See: Lucanus.
Ocēlum, a town of Gaul. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 1, ch. 10.
Ocha, a mountain of Eubœa, and the name of Eubœa itself.——A sister of Ochus, buried alive by his orders.
Ochesius, a general of Ætolia in the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 5.
Ochus, a surname given to Artaxerxes III., king of Persia. See: Artaxerxes.——A man of Cyzicus, who was killed by the Argonauts. Flaccus, bk. 3.——A prince of Persia, who refused to visit his native country for fear of giving all the women each a piece of gold. Plutarch.——A river of India, or of Bactriana. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 16; bk. 31, ch. 7.——A king of Persia. He exchanged his name for that of Darius. See: Darius Nothus.
Ocnus, a son of the Tiber and of Manto, who assisted Æneas against Turnus. He built a town, which he called Mantua after his mother’s name. Some suppose that he is the same as Bianor. Virgil, Eclogues, poem 9; Æneid, bk. 10, li. 198.——A man remarkable for his industry. He had a wife as remarkable for her profusion; she always consumed and lavished away whatever the labours of her husband had earned. He is represented as twisting a cord, which an ass standing by eats up as soon as he makes it; whence the proverb of the cord of Ocnus often applied to labour which meets no return, and which is totally lost. Propertius, bk. 4, poem 3, li. 21.—Pliny, bk. 35, ch. 11.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 29.
Ocricŭlum, now Otricoli, a town of Umbria near Rome. Cicero, For Milo.—Livy, bk. 19, ch. 41.
Ocridion, a king of Rhodes, who was reckoned in the number of the gods after death. Plutarch, Græcæ Quæstiones, ch. 27.
Ocrīsia, a woman of Corniculum, who was one of the attendants of Tanaquil the wife of Tarquinius Priscus. As she was throwing into the flames, as offerings, some of the meats that were served on the table of Tarquin, she suddenly saw in the fire what Ovid calls obscœni forma virilis. She informed the queen of it, and when by her orders she had approached near it, she conceived a son who was called Servius Tullus, and who, being educated in the king’s family, afterwards succeeded to the vacant throne. Some suppose that Vulcan had assumed that form which was presented to the eyes of Ocrisia, and that the god was the father of the sixth king of Rome. Plutarch, de Fortuna Romanorum.—Pliny, bk. 36, ch. 27.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 6, li. 627.
Octacillius, a slave who was manumitted, and who afterwards taught rhetoric at Rome. He had Pompey the Great in the number of his pupils. Suetonius, Rhetoricians.—Martial, bk. 10, ltr. 79.
Octāvia, a Roman lady, sister to the emperor Augustus, and celebrated for her beauty and virtues. She married Claudius Marcellus, and after his death, Marcus Antony. Her marriage with Antony was a political step to reconcile her brother and her husband. Antony proved for some time attentive to her, but he soon after despised her for Cleopatra, and when she attempted to withdraw him from this unlawful amour by going to meet him at Athens, she was secretly rebuked, and totally banished from his presence. This affront was highly resented by Augustus, and though Octavia endeavoured to pacify him by palliating her husband’s behaviour, he resolved to revenge her cause by arms. After the battle of Actium and the death of Antony, Octavia, forgetful of the injuries she had received, took into her house all the children of her husband and treated them with maternal tenderness. Marcellus her son by her first husband was married to a niece of Augustus, and publicly intended as a successor to his uncle. His sudden death plunged all his family into the greatest grief. Virgil, whom Augustus patronized, undertook upon himself to pay a melancholy tribute to the memory of a young man whom Rome regarded as her future father and patron. He was desired to repeat his composition in the presence of Augustus and of his sister. Octavia burst into tears as soon as the poet began; but when he mentioned, Tu Marcellus eris, she swooned away. This tender and pathetic encomium upon the merit and the virtues of young Marcellus was liberally rewarded by Octavia, and Virgil received 10,000 sesterces for every one of the verses. Octavia had two daughters by Antony, Antonia Major and Antonia Minor. The elder married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, by whom she had Cnæus Domitius the father of the emperor Nero, by Agrippina the daughter of Germanicus. Antonia Minor, who was as virtuous and as beautiful as her mother, married Drusus the son of Tiberius, by whom she had Germanicus and Claudius, who reigned before Nero. The death of Marcellus continually preyed upon the mind of Octavia, who died of melancholy about 10 years before the christian era. Her brother paid great regard to her memory, by pronouncing himself her funeral oration. The Roman people also showed their respect for her virtues by their wish to pay her divine honours. Suetonius, Augustus.—Plutarch, Antonius, &c.——A daughter of the emperor Claudius by Messalina. She was betrothed to Silanus, but by the intrigues of Agrippina, she was married to the emperor Nero in the 16th year of her age. She was soon after divorced on pretence of barrenness, and the emperor married Poppæa, who exercised her enmity upon Octavia by causing her to be banished into Campania. She was afterwards recalled at the instance of the people, and Poppæa, who was resolved on her ruin, caused her again to be banished to an island, where she was ordered to kill herself by opening her veins. Her head was cut off and carried to Poppæa. Suetonius in Claudius, ch. 27; Nero, chs. 7 & 35.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12.
Octāviānus, or Octāvius Cæsar, the nephew of Cæsar the dictator. After the battle of Actium and the final destruction of the Roman republic, the servile senate bestowed upon him the title and surname of Augustus, as more expressive of his greatness and dignity. See: Augustus.
Octāvius, a Roman officer who brought Perseus king of Macedonia a prisoner to the consul. He was sent by his countrymen to be guardian to Ptolemy Eupator the young king of Egypt, where he behaved with the greatest arrogance. He was assassinated by Lysias, who was before regent of Egypt. The murderer was sent to Rome.——A man who opposed Metellus in the reduction of Crete by means of Pompey. He was obliged to retire from the island.——A man who banished Cinna from Rome, and became remarkable for his probity and fondness of discipline. He was seized and put to death by order of his successful rivals Marius and Cinna.——A Roman who boasted of being in the number of Cæsar’s murderers. His assertions were false, yet he was punished as if he had been accessary to the conspiracy.——A lieutenant of Crassus in Parthia. He accompanied his general to the tent of the Parthian conqueror, and was killed by the enemy as he attempted to hinder them from carrying away Crassus.——A governor of Cilicia. He died in his province, and Lucullus made applications to succeed him, &c.——A tribune of the people at Rome, whom Tiberias Gracchus his colleague deposed.——A commander of the forces of Antony against Augustus.——An officer who killed himself, &c.——A tribune of the people, who debauched a woman of Pontus from her husband. She proved unfaithful to him, upon which he murdered her. He was condemned under Nero. Tacitus, Annals & Histories.—Plutarch, Lives.—Florus.—Livy, &c.——A poet in the Augustan age, intimate with Horace. He also distinguished himself as an historian. Horace, bk. 1, satire 10, li. 82.
Octodūrus, a village in the modern country of Switzerland, now called Martigny. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 3, ch. 1.
Octogesa, a town of Spain, a little above the mouth of the Iberus, now called Mequinensa. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 1, ch. 61.
Octolophum, a place of Greece. Livy, bk. 31.
Ocyălus, one of the Phæacians with Alcinous. Homer, Odyssey.
Ocypĕte, one of the Harpies, who infected whatever she touched. The name signifies swift flying. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 265.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9.——A daughter of Thaumas.——A daughter of Danaus.
Ocy̆roe, a daughter of Chiron by Chariclo, who had the gift of prophecy. She was changed into a mare. See: Melanippe. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 638, &c.——A woman, daughter of Chesias, carried away by Apollo, as she was going to a festival at Miletus.
Odenātus, a celebrated prince of Palmyra. He early inured himself to bear fatigues, and by hunting leopards and wild beasts, he accustomed himself to the labours of a military life. He was faithful to the Romans; and when Aurelian had been taken prisoner by Sapor king of Persia, Odenatus warmly interested himself in his cause, and solicited his release by writing a letter to the conqueror and sending him presents. The king of Persia was offended at the liberty of Odenatus; he tore the letter, and ordered the presents which were offered to be thrown into a river. To punish Odenatus, who had the impudence, as he observed, to pay homage to so great a monarch as himself, he ordered him to appear before him, on pain of being devoted to instant destruction, with all his family, if he dared to refuse. Odenatus disdained the summons of Sapor, and opposed force to force. He obtained some advantages over the troops of the Persian monarch, and took his wife prisoner with a great and rich booty. These services were seen with gratitude by the Romans; and Gallienus, the then reigning emperor, named Odenatus as his colleague on the throne, and gave the title of Augustus to his children and to his wife, the celebrated Zenobia. Odenatus, invested with new power, resolved to signalize himself more conspicuously by conquering the northern barbarians, but his exaltation was short, and he perished by the dagger of one of his relations, whom he had slightly offended in a domestic entertainment. He died at Emessa, about the 267th year of the christian era. Zenobia succeeded to all his titles and honours.
Odessus, a seaport town at the west of the Euxine sea in Lower Mœsia, below the mouths of the Danube. Ovid, bk. 1, Tristia, poem 9, li. 57.
Odeum, a musical theatre at Athens. Vitruvius, bk. 5, ch. 9.
Odīnus, a celebrated hero of antiquity, who flourished about 70 years before the christian era, in the northern parts of ancient Germany, or the modern kingdom of Denmark. He was at once a priest, a soldier, a poet, a monarch, and a conqueror. He imposed upon the credulity of his superstitious countrymen, and made them believe that he could raise the dead to life, and that he was acquainted with futurity. When he had extended his power, and increased his fame by conquest and by persuasion, he resolved to die in a different manner from other men. He assembled his friends, and with a sharp point of a lance he made on his body nine different wounds in the form of a circle, and as he expired he declared he was going into Scythia, where he should become one of the immortal gods. He further added that he would prepare bliss and felicity for such of his countrymen as lived a virtuous life, who fought with intrepidity, and who died like heroes in the field of battle. These injunctions had the desired effect; his countrymen superstitiously believed him, and always recommended themselves to his protection whenever they engaged in a battle, and they entreated him to receive the souls of such as had fallen in war.
Odītes, a son of Ixion, killed by Mopsus at the nuptials of Pirithous. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 457.——A prince killed at the nuptials of Andromeda. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 97.
Odoācer, a king of the Heruli, who destroyed the western empire of Rome, and called himself king of Italy, A.D. 476.
Odomanti, a people of Thrace on the eastern banks of the Strymon. Livy, bk. 45, ch. 4.
Odŏnes, a people of Thrace.
Odry̆sæ, an ancient people of Thrace, between Abdera and the river Ister. The epithet of Odrysius is often applied to a Thracian. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, li. 490; bk. 13, li. 554.—Statius, Achilleis, bk. 1, li. 184.—Livy, bk. 39, ch. 53.
Odyssēa, one of Homer’s epic poems, in which he describes in 24 books the adventures of Ulysses on his return from the Trojan war, with other material circumstances. The whole of the action comprehends no more than 55 days. It is not so esteemed as the Iliad of that poet. See: Homerus.
Odyssēum, a promontory of Sicily, at the west of Pachynus.
Œa, a city of Africa, now Tripoli. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 4.—Silius Italicus, bk. 3, li. 257.——Also a place in Ægina. Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 83.
Œagrus, or Œager, the father of Orpheus by Calliope. He was king of Thrace, and from him mount Hæmus, and also the Hebrus, one of the rivers of the country, have received the appellation of Œagrius, though Servius, in his commentaries, disputes the explanation of Diodorus, by asserting that the Œagrus is a river of Thrace, whose waters supply the streams of the Hebrus. Ovid, Ibis, li. 414.—Apollonius, bk. 1, Argonautica.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 524.—Silius Italicus, bk. 5, li. 463.—Diodorus.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 3.
Œanthe and Œanthia, a town of Phocis, where Venus had a temple. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 38.
Œax, a son of Nauplius and Clymene. He was brother to Palamedes, whom he accompanied to the Trojan war, and whose death he highly resented on his return to Greece, by raising disturbances in the family of some of the Grecian princes. Dictys Cretensis.—Apollodorus, bk. 2.—Hyginus, fable 117.
Œbălia, the ancient name of Laconia, which it received from king Œbalus, and thence Œbalides puer is applied to Hyacinthus as a native of the country, and Œbalius sanguis is used to denominate his blood. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 1.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 10.——The same name is given to Tarentum because built by a Lacedæmonian colony, whose ancestors were governed by Œbalus. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 125.—Silius Italicus, bk. 12, li. 451.
Œbălus, a son of Argalus or Cynortas, who was king of Laconia. He married Gorgophone the daughter of Perseus, by whom he had Hippocoon, Tyndarus, &c. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 1.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 10.——A son of Telon and the nymph Sebethis, who reigned in the neighbourhood of Neapolis in Italy. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 734.
Œbăres, a satrap of Cyrus, against the Medes. Polyænus, bk. 7.——A groom of Darius son of Hystaspes. He was the cause that his master obtained the kingdom of Persia, by his artifice in making his horse neigh first. See: Darius I. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 85.—Justin, bk. 1, ch. 10.
Œchălia, a country of Peloponnesus in Laconia, with a small town of the same name. This town was destroyed by Hercules, while Eurytus was king over it, from which circumstance it was often called Eurytopolis.——A small town of Eubœa, where, according to some, Eurytus reigned, and not in Peloponnesus. Strabo, bks. 8, 9, & 10.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 291.—Ovid, Heroides, poem 9; Metamorphoses, bk. 9, li. 136.—Sophocles, Trachiniæ, li. 74 & Scholia.
Œclīdes, a patronymic of Amphiaraus son of Œcleus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, fable 7.
Œcleus. See: Oicleus.
Œcumenius, wrote in the middle of the 10th century a paraphrase of some of the books of the New Testament in Greek, edited in two vols., folio, Paris, 1631.
Œdipŏdia, a fountain of Thebes in Bœotia.
Œdĭpus, a son of Laius king of Thebes and Jocasta. As being descended from Venus by his father’s side, Œdipus was born to be exposed to all the dangers and the calamities which Juno could inflict upon the posterity of the goddess of beauty. Laius the father of Œdipus was informed by the oracle, as soon as he married Jocasta, that he must perish by the hands of his son. Such dreadful intelligence awakened his fears, and to prevent the fulfilling of the oracle, he resolved never to approach Jocasta; but his solemn resolutions were violated in a fit of intoxication. The queen became pregnant, and Laius, still intent to stop this evil, ordered his wife to destroy her child as soon as it came into the world. The mother had not the courage to obey, yet she gave the child as soon as born to one of her domestics, with orders to expose him on the mountains. The servant was moved with pity, but to obey the commands of Jocasta, he bored the feet of the child, and suspended him with a twig by the heels to a tree on mount Cithæron, where he was soon found by one of the shepherds of Polybus king of Corinth. The shepherd carried him home; and Peribœa the wife of Polybus, who had no children, educated him as her own child, with maternal tenderness. The accomplishments of the infant, who was named Œdipus, on account of the swelling of his feet (οἰδεω tumeo, ποδες pedes), soon became the admiration of the age. His companions envied his strength and his address; and one of them, to mortify his rising ambition, told him he was an illegitimate child. This raised his doubts; he asked Peribœa, who, out of tenderness, told him that his suspicions were ill-founded. Not satisfied with this, he went to consult the oracle of Delphi, and was there told not to return home, for if he did, he must necessarily be the murderer of his father, and the husband of his mother. This answer of the oracle terrified him; he knew no home but the house of Polybus, therefore he resolved not to return to Corinth, where such calamities apparently attended him. He travelled towards Phocis, and in his journey, met in a narrow road Laius on a chariot with his arm-bearer. Laius haughtily ordered Œdipus to make way for him. Œdipus refused, and a contest ensued, in which Laius and his arm-bearer were both killed. As Œdipus was ignorant of the quality and of the rank of the men whom he had just killed, he continued his journey, and was attracted to Thebes by the fame of the Sphynx. This terrible monster, which Juno had sent to lay waste the country [See: ♦Sphinx], resorted in the neighbourhood of Thebes, and devoured all those who attempted to explain, without success, the enigmas which he proposed. The calamity was now become an object of public concern, and as the successful explanation of an enigma would end in the death of the Sphynx, Creon, who at the death of Laius had ascended the throne of Thebes, promised his crown and Jocasta to him who succeeded in the attempt. The enigma proposed was this: What animal in the morning walks upon four feet, at noon upon two, and in the evening upon three? This was left for Œdipus to explain; he came to the monster and said, that man, in the morning of life, walks upon his hands and his feet; when he has attained the years of manhood, he walks upon his two legs; and in the evening, he supports his old age with the assistance of a staff. The monster, mortified at the true explanation, dashed his head against a rock and perished. Œdipus ascended the throne of Thebes, and married Jocasta, by whom he had two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, and two daughters, Ismene and Antigone. Some years after, the Theban territories were visited with a plague; and the oracle declared that it should cease only when the murderer of king Laius was banished from Bœotia. As the death of Laius had never been examined, and the circumstances that attended it never known, this answer of the oracle was of the greatest concern to the Thebans; but Œdipus, the friend of his people, resolved to overcome every difficulty by the most exact inquiries. His researches were successful, and he was soon proved to be the murderer of his father. The melancholy discovery was rendered the more alarming when Œdipus considered, that he had not only murdered his father, but that he had committed incest with his mother. In the excess of his grief he put out his eyes, as unworthy to see the light, and banished himself from Thebes, or, as some say, was banished by his own sons. He retired towards Attica, led by his daughter Antigone, and came near Colonus, where there was a grove sacred to the Furies. He remembered that he was doomed by the oracle to die in such a place, and to become the source of prosperity to the country in which his bones were buried. A messenger upon this was sent to Theseus king of the country, to inform him of the resolution of Œdipus. When Theseus arrived, Œdipus acquainted him, with a prophetic voice, that the gods had called him to die in the place where he stood; and to show the truth of this he walked, himself, without the assistance of a guide, to the spot where he must expire. Immediately the earth opened, and Œdipus disappeared. Some suppose that Œdipus had not children by Jocasta, and that the mother murdered herself as soon as she knew the incest which had been committed. His tomb was near the Areopagus, in the age of Pausanias. Some of the ancient poets represent him in hell, as suffering the punishment which crimes like his seemed to deserve. According to some, the four children which he had were by Euriganea the daughter of Periphas, whom he married after the death of Jocasta. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Hyginus, fable 66, &c.—Euripides, Phœnician Women, &c.—Sophocles, Œdipus Tyrannus & Colonus, Antigone, &c.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 1.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 11, ch. 270.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 5, &c.—Statius, Thebaid, bk. 8, li. 642.—Seneca, Œdipus.—Pindar, Olympian, ch. 2.—Diodorus, bk. 5.—Athenæus, bks. 6 & 10.
♦ ‘Sphynx’ replaced with ‘Sphinx’ to match listing
Œme, a daughter of Danaus by Crino. Apollodorus.
Œnanthes, a favourite of young Ptolemy king of Egypt.
Œne, a small town of Argolis. The people were called Œneadæ.
Œnea, a river of Assyria. Ammianus.
Œneus, a king of Calydon in Ætolia, son of Parthaon, or Portheus, and Euryte. He married Althæa the daughter of Thestius, by whom he had Clymenus, Meleager, Gorge, and Dejanira. After Althæa’s death, he married Peribœa the daughter of Hipponous, by whom he had Tydeus. In a general sacrifice, which Œneus made to all the gods upon reaping the rich produce of his fields, he forgot Diana, and the goddess, to revenge this unpardonable neglect, incited his neighbours to take up arms against him, and, besides, she sent a wild boar to lay waste the country of Calydonia. The animal was at last killed by Meleager and the neighbouring princes of Greece, in a celebrated chase, known by the name of the chase of the Calydonian boar. Some time after, Meleager died, and Œneus was driven from his kingdom by the sons of his brother Agrius. Diomedes, however, his grandson, soon restored him to his throne; but the continual misfortunes to which he was exposed rendered him melancholy. He exiled himself from Calydon, and left his crown to his son-in-law Andremon. He died as he was going to Argolis. His body was buried by the care of Diomedes, in a town of Argolis, which from him received the name of Œnoe. It is reported that Œneus received a visit from Bacchus, and that he suffered the god to enjoy the favours of Althæa, and to become the father of Dejanira, for which Bacchus permitted that the wine of which he was the patron should be called among the Greeks by the name of Œneus (οἰνος). Hyginus, fable 129.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 8.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 9, li. 539.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 25.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, li. 510.
Œniadæ, a town of Acarnania. Livy, bk. 26, ch. 24; bk. 38, ch. 11.
Œnĭdes, a patronymic of Meleager son of Œneus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, fable 10.
Œnoe, a nymph who married Sicinus, the son of Thoas king of Lemnos. From her the island of Sicinus had been called Œnoe.——Two villages of Attica were also called Œnoe. Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 74.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 7.——A city of Argolis, where Œneus fled when driven from Calydon. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 25.——A town of Elis in the Peloponnesus. Strabo.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 8.—Pausanias, bk. 1, &c.
Œnŏmaus, a son of Mars, by Sterope the daughter of Atlas. He was king of Pisa in Elis, and father of Hippodamia, by Evarete daughter of Acrisius, or Eurythoa the daughter of Danaus. He was informed by the oracle that he should perish by the hands of his son-in-law, therefore as he could skilfully drive a chariot he determined to marry his daughter only to him who could outrun him, on condition that all who entered the list should agree to lay down their life, if conquered. Many had already perished, when Pelops son of Tantalus proposed himself. He previously bribed Myrtilus the charioteer of Œnomaus, by promising him the enjoyment of the favours of Hippodamia, if he proved victorious. Myrtilus gave his master an old chariot, whose axletree broke on the course, which was from Pisa to the Corinthian isthmus, and Œnomaus was killed. Pelops married Hippodamia, and became king of Pisa. As he expired, Œnomaus entreated Pelops to revenge the perfidy of Myrtilus, which was executed. Those that had been defeated when Pelops entered the lists, were Marmax, Alcathous, Euryalus, Eurymachus, Capetus, Lasius, Acrias, Chalcodon, Lycurgus, Tricolonus, Prias, Aristomachus, Æolius, Eurythrus, and Chronius. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 17; bk. 6, ch. 11, &c.—Apollonius Rhodius, bk. 1.—Propertius, bk. 1, poem 2, li. 20.—Ovid, Ibis, li. 367; Ars Amatoria, bk. 2, li. 8; Heroides, poem 8, li. 70.
Œnon, a part of Locris on the bay of Corinth.
Œnōna, an ancient name of the island Ægina. It is also called Œnopia. Herodotus, bk. 8, ch. 46.——Two villages of Attica are also called Œnona, or rather Œnoe.——A town of Troas, the birthplace of the nymph Œnone. Strabo, bk. 13.
Œnōne, a nymph of mount Ida, daughter of the river Cebrenus in Phrygia. As she had received the gift of prophecy, she foretold to Paris, whom she married before he was discovered to be the son of Priam, that his voyage into Greece would be attended with the most serious consequences, and the total ruin of his country, and that he should have recourse to her medicinal knowledge at the hour of death. All these predictions were fulfilled; and Paris, when he had received the fatal wound, ordered his body to be carried to Œnone, in hopes of being cured by her assistance. He expired as he came into her presence; and Œnone was so struck at the sight of his dead body, that she bathed it with her tears, and stabbed herself to the heart. She was mother of Corythus by Paris, and this son perished by the hand of his father when he attempted, at the instigation of Œnone, to persuade him to withdraw his affection from Helen. Dictys Cretensis.—Ovid, de Remedia Amoris li. 457; Heroides, poem 5.—Lucan, bk. 9.
Œnŏpia, one of the ancient names of the island Ægina. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 7, li. 473.
Œnopĭdes, a mathematician of Chios. Diodorus, bk. 1.
Œnopion, a son of Ariadne by Theseus, or, according to others, by Bacchus. He married Helice, by whom he had a daughter called Hero, or Merope, of whom the giant Orion became enamoured. The father, unwilling to give his daughter to such a lover, and afraid of provoking him by an open refusal, evaded his applications, and at last put out his eyes when he was intoxicated. Some suppose that this violence was offered to Orion after he had dishonoured Merope. Œnopion received the island of Chios from Rhadamanthus, who had conquered most of the islands of the Ægean sea, and his tomb was still seen there in the age of Pausanias. Some suppose, and with more probability, that he reigned not at Chios, but at Ægina, which from him was called Œnopia. Plutarch, Theseus.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 4.—Diodorus.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 4.—Apollonius Rhodius, bk. 3.
Œnōtri, the inhabitants of Œnotria.
Œnōtria, a part of Italy, which was afterwards called Lucania. It received this name from Œnotrus the son of Lycaon, who settled there with a colony of Arcadians. The Œnotrians afterwards spread themselves into Umbria and as far as Latium, and the country of the Sabines, according to some writers. The name of Œnotria is sometimes applied to Italy. That part of Italy where Œnotrus settled, was before inhabited by the Ausones. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 8, ch. 11.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 3.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 536; bk. 7, li. 85.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 220.
Œnotrĭdes, two small islands on the coast of Lucania, where some of the Romans were banished by the emperors. They were called Ischia and Pontia.
Œnōtrus, a son of Lycaon of Arcadia. He passed into Magna Græcia with a colony, and gave the name of Œnotria to that part of the country where he settled. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 1, ch. 11.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 3.
Œnūsæ, small islands near Chios. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 31.—Thucydides, bk. 8.——Others on the coast of the Peloponnesus, near Messenia. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 17.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.
Œonus, a son of Licymnius, killed at Sparta, where he accompanied Hercules; and as the hero had promised Licymnius to bring back his son, he burnt his body and presented the ashes to the afflicted father. From this circumstance arose a custom of burning the dead among the Greeks. Scholia, Homer, Iliad.——A small river of Laconia. Livy, bk. 34, ch. 28.
Œnoe, an island of Bœotia formed by the Asopus. Herodotus, bk. 9, ch. 50.
Œta, now Banina, a celebrated mountain between Thessaly and Macedonia, upon which Hercules burnt himself. Its height has given occasion to the poets to feign that the sun, moon, and stars arose behind it. Mount Œta, properly speaking, is a long chain of mountains which runs from the straits of Thermopylæ and the gulf of Malia, in a western direction, to mount Pindus, and from thence to the bay of Ambracia. The straits or passes of mount Œta are called the straits of Thermopylæ, from the hot baths and mineral waters which are in the neighbourhood. These passes are not more than 25 feet in breadth. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Catullus, poem 66, li. 54.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 20, &c.—Ovid, Heroides, poem 9; Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 216; bk. 9, li. 204, &c.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 8.—Pliny, bk. 25, ch. 5.—Seneca, Medea.—Lucan, bk. 3, &c.——A small town at the foot of mount Œta near Thermopylæ.
Œty̆lus, or Œty̆lum, a town of Laconia, which received its name from Œtylus, one of the heroes of Argos. Serapis had a temple there. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 25.
Ofellus, a man whom, though unpolished, Horace represents as a character exemplary for wisdom, economy, and moderation. Horace, bk. 2, satire 2, li. 2.
Ofi, a nation of Germany. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 28.
Ogdolăpis, a navigable river flowing from the Alps. Strabo, bk. 6.
Ogdōrus, a king of Egypt.
Oglosa, an island in the Tyrrhene sea, east of Corsica, famous for wine, and now called Monte Christo. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 6.
Ogmius, a name of Hercules among the Gauls. Lucian, Hercules.
Ogoa, a deity of Mylassa in Caria, under whose temple, as was supposed, the sea passed. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 10.
Ogulnia lex, by Quintus and Cnæus Ogulnius, tribunes of the people, A.U.C. 453. It increased the number of pontifices and augurs from four to nine. The addition was made to both orders from plebeian families.——A Roman lady as poor as she was lascivious. Juvenal, satire 6, li. 351.
Ogy̆ges, a celebrated monarch, the most ancient of those that reigned in Greece. He was son of Terra, or, as some suppose, of Neptune, and married Thebe the daughter of Jupiter. He reigned in Bœotia, which from him is sometimes called Ogygia, and his power was also extended over Attica. It is supposed that he was of Egyptian or Phœnician extraction; but his origin, as well as the age in which he lived, and the duration of his reign, are so obscure and unknown, that the epithet of Ogygian is often applied to everything of dark antiquity. In the reign of Ogyges there was a deluge, which so inundated the territories of Attica, that they remained waste for near 200 years. This, though it is very uncertain, is supposed to have happened about 1764 years before the christian era, and previous to the deluge of Deucalion. According to some writers, it was owing to the overflowing of one of the rivers of the country. The reign of Ogyges was also marked by an uncommon appearance in the heavens, and, as it is reported, the planet Venus changed her colour, diameter, figure, and her course. Varro, de Re Rustica, bk. 3, ch. 1.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 5.—Augustine, City of God, bk. 18, &c.
Ogy̆gia, a name of one of the gates of Thebes in Bœotia. Lucan, bk. 1, li. 675.——One of the daughters of Niobe and Amphion, changed into stones. Apollodorus.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 8.——An ancient name of Bœotia, from Ogyges, who reigned there.——The island of Calypso, opposite the promontory of Lacinium in Magna Græcia, where Ulysses was shipwrecked. The situation, and even the existence of Calypso’s island, is disputed by some writers. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 10.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 1, lis. 52 & 85; bk. 5, li. 254.
Ocy̆ris, an island in the Indian ocean.
Oicleus, a son of Antiphates and Zeuxippe, who married Hypermnestra daughter of Thestius, by whom he had Iphianira, Polybœa, and Amphiaraus. He was killed by Laomedon when defending the ships which Hercules had brought to Asia, when he made war against Troy. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 15.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 8; bk. 3, ch. 6.—Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 17.
Oīleus, a king of the Locrians. His father’s name was Odoedocus, and his mother’s Agrianome. He married Eriope, by whom he had Ajax, called Oileus from his father, to discriminate him from Ajax the son of Telamon. He had also another son called Medon, by a courtesan called Rhene. Oileus was one of the Argonauts. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 45.—Apollonius, bk. 1.—Hyginus, fables 14 & 18.—Homer, Iliad, bks. 13 & 15.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 10.
Olane, one of the mouths of the Po.——A mountain of Armenia.
Olanus, a town of Lesbos.
Olastræ, a people of India. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 249.—Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 20.
Olba, or Olbus, a town of Cilicia.
Olbia, a town of Sarmatia at the confluence of the Hypanis and the Borysthenes, about 15 miles from the sea, according to Pliny. It was afterwards called Borysthenes and Miletopolis, because peopled by a Milesian colony, and is now supposed to be Oczakow. Strabo, bk. 7.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.——A town of Bithynia. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 19.——A town of Gallia Narbonensis. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 5.——The capital of Sardinia. Claudian.
Olbius, a river of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 14.
Olbus, one of Æetes’ auxiliaries. Valerius Flaccus, bk. 6, li. 639.
Olchinium, or Olcinium, now Dulcigno, a town of Dalmatia, on the Adriatic. Livy, bk. 45, ch. 26.
Olbades, a people of Spain. Livy, bk. 21, ch. 5.
Oleăros, or Oliaros, one of the Cyclades, about 16 miles in circumference, separated from Paros by a strait of seven miles. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 126.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 7, li. 469.—Strabo, bk. 10.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.
Oleatrum, a town of Spain near Saguntum. Strabo.
Olen, a Greek poet of Lycia, who flourished some time before the age of Orpheus, and composed many hymns, some of which were regularly sung at Delphi, on solemn occasions. Some suppose that he was the first who established the oracle of Apollo at Delphi where he first delivered oracles. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 35.
Olenius, a Lemnian killed by his wife. Valerius Flaccus, bk. 2, li. 164.
Olĕnus, a son of Vulcan, who married Lethæa, a beautiful woman, who preferred herself to the goddesses. She and her husband were changed into stones by the deities. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 10, li. 68.——A famous soothsayer of Etruria. Pliny, bk. 28, ch. 2.
Olĕnus, or Olenum, a town of Peloponnesus between Patræ and Cyllene. The goat Amalthæa, which was made a constellation by Jupiter, is called Olenia, from its residence there. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 22.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 8.——Another in Ætolia.
Oleorus, one of the Cyclades, now Antiparo.
Olgasys, a mountain of Galatia.
Oligyrtis, a town of Peloponnesus.
Olinthus, a town of Macedonia. See: Olynthus.
Olisipo, now Lisbon, a town of ancient Spain on the Tagus, surnamed Felicitas Julia (Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 22), and called by some Ulysippo, and said to be founded by Ulysses. Mela, bk. 3, ch. 1.—Solinus, bk. 23.
Olitingi, a town of Lusitania. Mela, bk. 3, ch. 1.
Olīzon, a town of Magnesia in Thessaly. Homer.
Titus Ollius, the father of Poppæa, destroyed on account of his intimacy with Sejanus, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 13, ch. 45.——A river rising in the Alps, and falling into the Po, now called the Oglio. Pliny, bk. 2, ch. 103.
Ollovĭco, a prince of Gaul, called the friend of the republic by the Roman senate. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 7, ch. 31.
Olmiæ, a promontory near Megara.
Olmius, a river of Bœotia, near Helicon, sacred to the Muses. Statius, Thebaid, bk. 7, li. 284.
Oloosson, now Alessone, a town of Magnesia. Homer.
Olophyxus, a town of Macedonia on mount Athos. Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 22.
Olpæ, a fortified place of Epirus, now Forte Castri.
Olus (untis), a town at the west of Crete.
Olympeum, a place of Delos.——Another in Syracuse.
Olympia (orum), celebrated games which received their name either from Olympia, where they were observed, or from Jupiter Olympius, to whom they were dedicated. They were, according to some, instituted by Jupiter after his victory over the Titans, and first observed by the Idæi Dactyli, B.C. 1453. Some attribute the institution to Pelops, after he had obtained a victory over Œnomaus and married Hippodamia; but the more probable, and indeed the more received opinion is, that they were first established by Hercules in honour of Jupiter Olympius, after a victory obtained over Augias, B.C. 1222. Strabo objects to this opinion, by observing that if they had been established in the age of Homer, the poet would have undoubtedly spoken of them, as he is in every particular careful to mention the amusements and diversions of the ancient Greeks. But they were neglected after their first institution by Hercules, and no notice was taken of them, according to many writers, till Iphitus, in the age of the lawgiver of Sparta, renewed them, and instituted the celebration with greater solemnity. This reinstitution, which happened B.C. 884, forms a celebrated epoch in Grecian history, and is the beginning of the Olympiad. See: Olympias. They, however, were neglected for some time after the age of Iphitus, till Corœbus, who obtained a victory, B.C. 776, reinstituted them to be regularly and constantly celebrated. The care and superintendence of the games were entrusted to the people of Elis, till they were excluded by the Pisæans, B.C. 364, after the destruction of Pisa. These obtained great privileges from this appointment; they were in danger neither of violence nor war, but they were permitted to enjoy their possessions without molestation, as the games were celebrated within their territories. Only one person superintended till the 50th Olympiad, when two were appointed. In the 103rd Olympiad, the number was increased to 12, according to the number of the tribes of Elis. But in the following Olympiad, they were reduced to eight, and afterwards increased to 10, which number continued till the reign of Adrian. The presidents were obliged solemnly to swear that they would act impartially, and not take any bribes, or discover why they rejected some of the combatants. They generally sat naked, and held before them the crown which was prepared for the conqueror. There were also certain officers to keep good order and regularity, called ἀλυται, much the same as the Roman lictors, of whom the chief was called ἀλυταρχης. No women were permitted to appear at the celebration of the Olympian games, and whoever dared to trespass this law was immediately thrown down from a rock. This, however, was sometimes neglected, for we find not only women present at the celebration, but also some among the combatants, and some rewarded with the crown. The preparations for these festivals were great. No person was permitted to enter the lists if he had not regularly exercised himself 10 months before the celebration at the public gymnasium of Elis. No unfair dealings were allowed, and whoever attempted to bribe his adversary was subjected to a severe fine. No criminals, nor such as were connected with impious and guilty persons, were suffered to present themselves as combatants; and even the father and relations were obliged to swear that they would have recourse to no artifice which might decide the victory in favour of their friends. The wrestlers were appointed by lot. Some little balls, superscribed with a letter, were thrown into a silver urn, and such as drew the same letter were obliged to contend one with the other. He who had an odd letter remained the last, and he often had the advantage, as he was to encounter the last who had obtained the superiority over his adversary. He was called ἐφεδρος. In these games were exhibited running, leaping, wrestling, boxing, and the throwing of the quoit, which was called altogether πενταθλον, or quinquertium. Besides these, there were horse and chariot races, and also contentions in poetry, eloquence, and the fine arts. The only reward that the conqueror obtained, was a crown of olive; which, as some suppose, was in memory of the labours of Hercules, which was accomplished for the universal good of mankind, and for which the hero claimed no other reward than the consciousness of having been the friend of humanity. So small and trifling a reward stimulated courage and virtue, and was more the source of great honours than the most unbounded treasures. The statues of the conquerors, called Olympionicæ, were erected at Olympia, in the sacred wood of Jupiter. Their return home was that of a warlike conqueror; they were drawn in a chariot by four horses, and everywhere received with the greatest acclamations. Their entrance into their native city was not through the gates, but, to make it more grand and more solemn, a breach was made in the walls. Painters and poets were employed in celebrating their names; and indeed the victories severally obtained at Olympia are the subjects of the most beautiful odes of Pindar. The combatants were naked; a scarf was originally tied round the waist, but when it had entangled one of the adversaries, and been the cause that he lost the victory, it was laid aside, and no regard was paid to decency. The Olympic games were observed every fifth year, or, to speak with greater exactness, after a revolution of four years, and in the first month of the fifth year, and they continued for five successive days. As they were the most ancient and the most solemn of all the festivals of the Greeks, it will not appear wonderful that they drew so many people together, not only inhabitants of Greece, but of the neighbouring islands and countries. Pindar, Olympian, chs. 1 & 2.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 67, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 1, &c.—Plutarch, Theseus, Lycurgus, &c.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 10, li. 1.—Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 1, ch. 46.—Lucian, Anacharsis.—Tzetzes, Lycophron.—♦Aristotle.—Statius, Thebaid, bk. 6.—Cornelius Nepos, Preface.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 3, li. 49.——A town of Elis in Peloponnesus, where Jupiter had a temple with a celebrated statue 50 cubits high, reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world. The Olympic games were celebrated in the neighbourhood. Strabo, bk. 8.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 8.
♦ ‘Aristotel’ replaced with ‘Aristotle’
Olympias, a certain space of time which elapsed between the celebration of the Olympic games. The Olympic games were celebrated after the expiration of four complete years, whence some have said that they were observed every fifth year. This period of time was called Olympiad, and became a celebrated era among the Greeks, who computed their time by it. The custom of reckoning time by the celebration of the Olympic games was not introduced at the first institution of these festivals, but, to speak accurately, only the year in which Corœbus obtained the prize. This Olympiad, which has always been reckoned the first, fell, according to the accurate and learned computations of some of the moderns, exactly 776 years before the christian era, in the year of the Julian period 3938, and 23 years before the building of Rome. The games were exhibited at the time of the full moon, next after the summer solstice; therefore the Olympiads were of unequal length, because the time of the full moon differs 11 days every year, and for that reason they sometimes began the next day after the solstice, and at other times four weeks after. The computations by Olympiads ceased, as some suppose, after the 364th, in the year 440 of the christian era. It was universally adopted, not only by the Greeks, but by many of the neighbouring countries, though still the Pythian games served as an epoch to the people of Delphi and to the Bœotians, the Nemæan games to the Argives and Arcadians, and the Isthmian to the Corinthians and the inhabitants of the Peloponnesian isthmus. To the Olympiads history is much indebted. They have served to fix the time of many momentous events, and indeed before this method of computing time was observed, every page of history is mostly fabulous, and filled with obscurity and contradiction, and no true chronological account can be properly established and maintained with certainty. The mode of computation, which was used after the suppression of the Olympiads and of the consular fasti of Rome, was more useful as it was more universal; but while the era of the creation of the world prevailed in the east, the western nations in the sixth century began to adopt with more propriety the christian epoch, which was propagated in the eighth century, and at last, in the tenth, became legal and popular.——A celebrated woman, who was daughter of a king of Epirus, and who married Philip king of Macedonia, by whom she had Alexander the Great. Her haughtiness, and more probably her infidelity, obliged Philip to repudiate her, and to marry Cleopatra the niece of king Attalus. Olympias was sensible of this injury, and Alexander showed his disapprobation of his father’s measures by retiring from the court to his mother. The murder of Philip, which soon followed this disgrace, and which some have attributed to the intrigues of Olympias, was productive of the greatest extravagancies. The queen paid the highest honour to her husband’s murderer. She gathered his mangled limbs, placed a crown of gold on his head, and laid his ashes near those of Philip. The administration of Alexander, who had succeeded his father, was, in some instances, offensive to Olympias; but when the ambition of her son was concerned, she did not scruple to declare publicly that Alexander was not the son of Philip, but that he was the offspring of an enormous serpent which had supernaturally introduced itself into her bed. When Alexander was dead, Olympias seized the government of Macedonia, and to establish her usurpation, she cruelly put to death Aridæus, with his wife Eurydice, as also Nicanor the brother of Cassander, with 100 leading men of Macedonia, who were inimical to her interest. Such barbarities did not long remain unpunished; Cassander besieged her in Pydna, where she had retired with the remains of her family, and she was obliged to surrender after an obstinate siege. The conqueror ordered her to be accused, and to be put to death. A body of 200 soldiers were directed to put the bloody commands into execution, but the splendour and majesty of the queen disarmed their courage, and she was at last massacred by those whom she had cruelly deprived of their children, about 316 years before the christian era. Justin, bk. 7, ch. 6; bk. 9, ch. 1.—Plutarch, Alexander.—Curtius.—Pausanias.——A fountain of Arcadia which flowed for one year and the next was dry. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 29.
Olympiodōrus, a musician who taught Epaminondas music. Cornelius Nepos.——A native of Thebes in Egypt, who flourished under Theodosius II., and wrote 22 books of history, in Greek, beginning with the seventh consulship of Honorius, and the second of Theodosius, to the period when Valentinian was made emperor. He wrote also an account of an embassy to some of the barbarian nations of the north, &c. His style is censured by some as low, and unworthy of an historian. The commentaries of Olympiodorus on the Meteora of Aristotle, were edited with Aldus Manutius, 1550, in folio.——An Athenian officer, present at the battle of Platæa, where he behaved with great valour. Plutarch.
Olympius, a surname of Jupiter at Olympia, where the god had a celebrated temple and statue, which passed for one of the seven wonders of the world. It was the work of Phidias. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 2.——A native of Carthage, called also Nemesianus. See: Nemesianus.——A favourite at the court of Honorius, who was the cause of Stilicho’s death.
Olympus, a physician of Cleopatra queen of Egypt, who wrote some historical treatises. Plutarch, Antonius.——A poet and musician of Mysia, son of Mæon and disciple to Marsyas. He lived before the Trojan war, and distinguished himself by his amatory elegies, his hymns, and particularly the beautiful airs which he composed, and which were still preserved in the age of Aristophanes. Plato, Minos.—Aristotle, Politics, bk. 8.——Another musician of Phrygia, who lived in the age of Midas. He is frequently confounded with the preceding. Pollux, bk. 4, ch. 10.——A son of Hercules and Eubœa. Apollodorus.——A mountain of Macedonia and Thessaly, now Lacha. The ancients supposed that it touched the heavens with its top; and, from that circumstance, they have placed the residence of the gods there, and have made it the court of Jupiter. It is about one mile and a half in perpendicular height, and is covered with pleasant woods, caves, and grottoes. On the top of the mountain, according to the notions of the poets, there was neither wind nor rain, nor clouds, but an eternal spring. Homer, Iliad, bk. 1, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, bks. 2, 6, &c.—Ovid, Metamorphoses.—Lucan, bk. 5.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Strabo, bk. 8.——A mountain of Mysia, called the Mysian Olympus, a name which it still preserves.——Another in Elis.——Another in Arcadia.——Another in the island of Cyprus, now Santa Croce. Some suppose the Olympus of Mysia and of Cilicia to be the same.——A town on the coast of Lycia.
Olympusa, a daughter of Thespius. Apollodorus.
Olynthus, a celebrated town and republic of Macedonia, on the isthmus of the peninsula of Pallene. It became famous for its flourishing situation, and for its frequent disputes with the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, and with king Philip, who destroyed it, and sold the inhabitants for slaves. Cicero, Against Verres.—Plutarch, de Cohibenda Ira, &c.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 127.—Curtius, bk. 8, ch. 9.
Olyras, a river near Thermopylæ, which, as the mythologists report, attempted to extinguish the funeral pile on which Hercules was consumed. Strabo, bk. 9.
Olyzon, a town of Thessaly.
Omarius, a Lacedæmonian sent to Darius, &c. Curtius, bk. 3, ch. 13.
Ombi and Tentyra, two neighbouring cities of Egypt, whose inhabitants were always in discord one with another. Juvenal, satire 15, li. 35.
♦ ‘Umbri’ replaced with ‘Umbria’ to match listing