Xanthe, one of the Oceanides. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 356.
Xanthi, a people of Thrace.——The inhabitants of Xanthus in Asia. See: Xanthus.
Xanthia Phoceus, a Roman whom Horace addresses in his bk. 2, ode 4, and of whom he speaks as enamoured of a servant-maid.
Xanthĭca, a festival observed by the Macedonians in the month called Xanthicus, the same as April. It was then usual to make a lustration of the army with great solemnity. A bitch was cut into two parts, and one half of the body placed on one side, and the other part on the other side, after which the soldiers marched between, and they imitated a real battle by a sham engagement.
Xanthippe, a daughter of Dorus. See: Xantippe.
Xanthippus, a son of Melas killed by Tydeus. See: Xantippus.
Xantho, one of Cyrene’s attendant nymphs. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 336.
Xanthus, or Xanthos, a river of Troas, in Asia Minor. It is the same as the Scamander, but, according to Homer, it was called Xanthus by the gods and Scamander by men. See: Scamander.——A river of Lycia, anciently called Sirbes. It was sacred to Apollo, and fell into the sea near Patara. Homer, Iliad, bk. 6, li. 172.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 4, li. 143.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 15.——One of the horses of Achilles, who spoke to his master when chid with severity, and told him he must soon be killed. Homer, Iliad, bk. 19.——One of the horses given to Juno by Neptune, and afterwards to the sons of Leda.——An historian of Sardes in the reign of Darius.——A Greek historian of Lydia, who wrote an account of his country, of which some fragments remain. Dionysius of Halicarnassus.——A king of Lesbos.——A king of Bœotia, who made war against the Athenians. He was killed by the artifice of Melanthus. See: Apaturia.——A Greek poet. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 4, ch. 26.—Suidas.——A philosopher of Samos, in whose house Æsop lived some time as servant.——A town of Lycia, on the river of the same name, at the distance of about 15 miles from the sea-shore. The inhabitants were celebrated for their love of liberty and national independence. Brutus laid siege to their city, and when at last they were unable longer to support themselves against the enemy, they set fire to their houses and destroyed themselves. The conqueror wished to spare them, but though he offered rewards to his soldiers if they brought any of the Xanthians alive into his presence, only 150 were saved, much against their will. Appian, bk. 4.—Plutarch, Brutus.
Xantĭcles, one of the leaders of the 10,000 Greeks, after the battle of Cunaxa.
Xantippe, a daughter of Dorus, who married Pleuron, by whom she had Agenor, &c. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7.——The wife of Socrates, remarkable for her ill humour and peevish disposition, which are become proverbial. Some suppose that the philosopher was acquainted with her moroseness and insolence before he married her, and that he took her for his wife to try his patience, and inure himself to the malevolent reflections of mankind. She continually tormented him with her impertinence; and one day, not satisfied with using the most bitter invectives, she emptied a vessel of dirty water on his head, upon which the philosopher coolly observed, “After thunder there generally falls rain.” Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 7, ch. 10; bk. 9, ch. 7; bk. 11, ch. 12.—Diogenes Laërtius, Socrates.
Xantippus, a Lacedæmonian general who assisted the Carthaginians in the first Punic war. He defeated the Romans, 256 B.C., and took the celebrated Regulus prisoner. Such signal services deserved to be rewarded, but the Carthaginians looked with envious jealousy upon Xantippus, and he retired to Corinth after he had saved them from destruction. Some authors support that the Carthaginians ordered him to be assassinated, and his body to be thrown into the sea as he was returning home; while others say that they had prepared a leaky ship to convey him to Corinth, which he artfully avoided. Livy, bk. 18 & bk. 28, ch. 43.—Appian, Punic Wars.——An Athenian general who defeated the Persian fleet at Mycale with Leotychides. A statue was erected to his honour at the citadel of Athens. He made some conquests in Thrace, and increased the power of Athens. He was father to the celebrated Pericles by Agariste the niece of Clisthenes, who expelled the Pisistratidæ from Athens. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 7; bk. 8, ch. 52.——A son of Pericles who disgraced his father by his disobedience, his ingratitude, and his extravagance. He died of the plague in the Peloponnesian war. Plutarch.
Xenagŏras, an historian. Dionysius of Halicarnassus.——A philosopher who measured the height of mount Olympus.
Xenarchus, a comic poet.——A peripatetic philosopher of Seleucia, who taught at Alexandria and at Rome, and was intimate with Augustus. Strabo, bk. 14.——A pretor of the Achæan league, who wished to favour the interest of Perseus king of Macedonia against the Romans.
Xenares, an intimate friend of Cleomenes king of Sparta.
Xenetus, a rich Locrian, whose daughter Doris married Dionysius of Sicily, &c. Aristotle, Politics, bk. 5, ch. 7.
Xeneus, a Chian writer who composed a history of his country.
Xeniădes, a Corinthian who went to buy Diogenes the Cynic when sold as a slave. He asked him what he could do; upon which the Cynic answered, “Command freemen.” This noble answer so pleased Xeniades, that he gave the Cynic his liberty, and entrusted him with the care and education of his children. Diogenes Laërtius.—Aulus Gellius, bk. 2, ch. 18.
Xenius, a surname given to Jupiter as the god of hospitality.
Xenoclea, a priestess of Apollo’s temple at Delphi, from whom Hercules extorted an oracle by force, when she refused to answer him because he was not purified of the blood and death of Iphitus. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 13.
Xenŏcles, a tragic writer, who obtained four times a poetical prize in a contention in which Euripides was competitor, either through the ignorance or by the bribery of his judges. The names of his tragedies which obtained the victory were Œdipus, Lycaon, Bacchæ, Athamas Satyricus, against the Alexander, Palamedes, Trojani, and Sisyphus Satyricus of Euripides. His grandson bore also the name of Xenocles, and excelled in tragical compositions. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 2, ch. 8.——A Spartan officer in the expedition which Agesilaus undertook against the Persians.——An architect of Eleusis.——A friend of Aratus.——One of the friends of Cicero.——A celebrated rhetorician of Adramyttium. Strabo, bk. 13.
Xenocrătes, an ancient philosopher born at Chalcedonia, and educated in the school of Plato, whose friendship he gained, and whose approbation he merited. Though of a dull and sluggish disposition, he supplied the defects of nature by unwearied attention and industry, and was at last found capable of succeeding in the school of Plato after Speusippus, about 339 years before Christ. He was remarkable as a disciplinarian, and he required that his pupils should be acquainted with mathematics before they came under his care, and he even rejected some who had not the necessary qualification, saying that they had not yet found the key of philosophy. He recommended himself to his pupils not only by precepts, but more powerfully by example, and since the wonderful change he had made upon the conduct of one of his auditors [See: Polemon], his company was as much shunned by the dissolute and extravagant, as it was courted by the virtuous and benevolent. Philip of Macedon attempted to gain his confidence with money, but with no success. Alexander in this imitated his father, and sent some of his friends with 50 talents for the philosopher. They were introduced, and supped with Xenocrates. The repast was small, frugal, and elegant, without ostentation. On the morrow, the officers of Alexander wished to pay down the 50 talents, but the philosopher asked them whether they had not perceived from the entertainment of the preceding day that he was not in want of money. “Tell your master,” said he, “to keep his money; he has more people to maintain than I have.” Yet, not to offend the monarch, he accepted a small sum, about the 200th part of one talent. His character was not less conspicuous in every other particular, and he has been cited as an instance of virtue from the following circumstance: The courtesan Lais had pledged herself to forfeit an immense sum of money, if she did not triumph over the virtue of Xenocrates. She tried every art, assumed the most captivating looks, and used the most tempting attitudes to gain the philosopher, but in vain; and she declared at last that she had not lost her money, as she had pledged herself to conquer a human being, not a lifeless stone. Though so respected and admired, yet Xenocrates was poor, and he was dragged to prison, because he was unable to pay a small tribute to the state. He was delivered from confinement by one of his friends. His integrity was so well known, that when he appeared in the court as a witness, the judges dispensed with his oath. He died B.C. 314, in his 82nd year, after he had presided in the academy for above 25 years. It is said that he fell in the night with his head into a basin of water, and that he was suffocated. He had written above 60 treatises on different subjects, all now lost. He acknowledged no other deity but heaven, and the seven planets. Diogenes Laërtius.—Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 10, ltr. 1, &c. Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 5, ch. 32.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 2, ch. 10.—Lucian.——A physician in the age of Nero, not in great esteem. His Greek treatise, de alimento ex aquatilibus, is best edited by Franzius, Lipscomb, 8vo, 1774.——An excellent painter. Pliny, bk. 34, ch. 8.
Xenodamus, an illegitimate son of Menelaus by Gnossia. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 11.——An athlete of Anticyra. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 36.
Xēnodĭce, a daughter of Syleus, killed by Hercules. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 6.——A daughter of Minos and Pasiphae. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 1.
Xenodŏchus, a Messenian crowned at the Olympic games. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 5.——A native of Cardia, &c.
Xenophănes, a Greek philosopher of Colophon, disciple of Archelaus, B.C. 535. He wrote several poems and treatises, and founded a sect which was called the Eleatic, in Sicily. Wild in his opinions about astronomy, he supposed that the stars were extinguished every morning, and rekindled at night; that eclipses were occasioned by the temporary extinction of the sun; that the moon was inhabited, and 18 times bigger than the earth; and that there were several suns and moons for the convenience of the different climates of the earth. He further imagined that God and the world were the same, and he credited the eternity of the universe, but his incoherent opinion about the divinity raised the indignation of his countrymen, and he was banished. He died very poor, when about 100 years old. Cicero, Academica Priora, bk. 4, ch. 37; de Divinatione, bk. 1, ch. 3; De Natura Deorum, bk. 1, ch. 11.—Lactantius, Divinae institutiones, bk. 3, ch. 23.——A governor of Olbus, in the age of Marcus Antony. Strabo, bk. 14.——One of the ministers of Philip, who went to Annibal’s camp, and made a treaty of alliance between Macedonia and Carthage.
Xenophĭlus, a Pythagorean philosopher, who lived to his 170th year, and enjoyed all his faculties to the last. He wrote upon music, and thence he was called the musician. Lucian, Macrobii.—Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 50.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 13.——One of Alexander’s generals. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 2.——A robber of whom Aratus hired some troops.
Xenŏphon, an Athenian, son of Gryllus, celebrated as a general, an historian, and a philosopher. In the school of Socrates he received those instructions and precepts which afterwards so eminently distinguished him at the head of an army, in literary solitude, and as the prudent father of a family. He was invited by Proxenus, one of his intimate friends, to accompany Cyrus the younger in an expedition against his brother Artaxerxes king of Persia; but he refused to comply without previously consulting his venerable master, and inquiring into the propriety of such a measure. Socrates strongly opposed it, and observed that it might raise the resentment of his countrymen, as Sparta had made an alliance with the Persian monarch; but, however, before he proceeded further, he advised him to consult the oracle of Apollo. Xenophon paid due deference to the injunctions of Socrates, but as he was ambitious of glory, and eager to engage in a distant expedition, he hastened with precipitation to Sardis, where he was introduced to the young prince, and treated with great attention. In the army of Cyrus, Xenophon showed that he was a true disciple of Socrates, and that he had been educated in the warlike city of Athens. After the decisive battle in the plains of Cunaxa, and the fall of young Cyrus, the prudence and vigour of his mind were called into action. The 10,000 Greeks who had followed the standard of an ambitious prince were now at the distance of above 600 leagues from their native home, in a country surrounded on every side by a victorious enemy, without money, without provisions, and without a leader. Xenophon was selected from among the officers to superintend the retreat of his countrymen, and though he was often opposed by malevolence and envy, yet his persuasive eloquence and his activity convinced the Greeks that no general could extricate them from every difficulty better than the disciple of Socrates. He rose superior to danger, and though under continual alarms from the sudden attacks of the Persians, he was enabled to cross rapid rivers, penetrate through vast deserts, gain the tops of mountains, till he could rest secure for a while and refresh his tired companions. This celebrated retreat was at last happily effected; the Greeks returned home after a march of 1155 parasangs, or leagues, which was performed in 215 days, after an absence of 15 months. The whole, perhaps, might now be forgotten, or at least obscurely known, if the great philosopher who planned it had not employed his pen in describing the dangers which he escaped, and the difficulties which he surmounted. He was no sooner returned from Cunaxa, than he sought new honours in following the fortune of Agesilaus in Asia. He enjoyed his confidence, he fought under his standard, and conquered with him in the Asiatic provinces, as well as at the battle of Coronæa. His fame, however, did not escape the aspersions of jealousy; he was publicly banished from Athens for accompanying Cyrus against his brother, and being now without a home, he retired to Scillus, a small town of the Lacedæmonians, in the neighbourhood of Olympia. In this solitary retreat he dedicated his time to literary pursuits, and as he had acquired riches in his Asiatic expeditions, he began to adorn and variegate by the hand of art, for his pleasure and enjoyment, the country which surrounded Scillus. He built a magnificent temple to Diana, in imitation of that of Ephesus, and spent part of his time in rural employments, or in hunting in the woods and mountains. His peaceful occupations, however, were soon disturbed. A war arose between the Lacedæmonians and Elis, and the sanctity of Diana’s temple, and the venerable age of the philosopher, who lived in the delightful retreats of Scillus, were disregarded, and Xenophon, driven by the Elians from his favourite spot, where he had composed and written for the information of posterity, and the honour of his country, retired to the city of Corinth. In this place he died in the 90th year of his age, 359 years before the christian era. The works of Xenophon are numerous. He wrote an account of the expedition of Cyrus, called the Anabasis, and as he had no inconsiderable share in the enterprise, his description must be authentic, as he was himself an eye-witness. Many, however, have accused him of partiality. He appeared often too fond of extolling the virtues of his favourite Cyrus, and while he describes with contempt the imprudent operations of the Persians, he does not neglect to show that he was a native of Greece. His Cyropædia, divided into eight books, has given rise to much criticism, and while some warmly maintain that it is a faithful account of the life and the actions of Cyrus the Great, and declare that it is supported by the authority of Scripture, others as vehemently deny its authenticity. According to the opinions of Plato and of Cicero, the Cyropædia of Xenophon was a moral romance, and these venerable philosophers support that the historian did not so much write what Cyrus had been, as what every true, good, and virtuous monarch ought to be. His Hellenica were written as a continuation of the history of Thucydides; and in his Memorabilia of Socrates, and in his Apology, he has shown himself, as Valerius Maximus observes, a perfect master of the philosophy of that great man, and he has explained his doctrines and moral precepts with all the success of persuasive eloquence and conscious integrity. These are the most famous of his compositions, besides which there are other small tracts, his eulogium given on Agesilaus, his œconomics, on the duties of domestic life, the dialogue entitled Hiero, in which he happily describes and compares the misery which attended the tyrant, with the felicity of a virtuous prince; a treatise on hunting, the symposium of the philosophers, on the government of Athens and Sparta, a treatise on the revenues of Attica, &c. The simplicity and the elegance of Xenophon’s diction have procured him the name of the Athenian muse, and the bee of Greece, and they have induced Quintilian to say that the graces dictated his language, and that the goddess of persuasion dwelt upon his lips. His sentiments, as to the divinity and religion, were the same as those of the venerable Socrates; he supported the immortality of the soul, and exhorted his friends to cultivate those virtues which ensure the happiness of mankind, with all the zeal and fervour of a christian. He has been quoted as an instance of tenderness and of resignation on Providence. As he was offering a sacrifice, he was informed that Gryllus his eldest son had been killed at the battle of Mantinea. Upon this he tore the garland from his head, but when he was told that his son had died like a Greek, and had given a mortal wound to Epaminondas, the enemy’s general, he replaced the flowers on his head, and continued the sacrifice, exclaiming that the pleasure he derived from the valour of his son was greater than the grief which his unfortunate death occasioned. The best editions of Xenophon are those of Leunclavius, folio, Frankfurt, 1596, of Ernesti, 4 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1763, and the Glasgow edition, 12mo; of the Cyropædia, 1767, the expedition of Cyrus, 1764, the Memorabilia, 1761, and the history of Greece, 1762, and likewise the edition of Zeunius, published at Leipsic, in 8vo, in 6 vols., between the years 1778 and 1791. Cicero, Orator, ch. 19.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 5, ch. 10.—Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 2.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 3, ch. 13; bk. 4, ch. 5.—Diogenes Laërtius, Xenophon.—Seneca.——A writer in the beginning of the fourth century, known by his Greek romance in five books, De Amoribus Anthiæ et Abrocomæ, published in 8vo and 4to by Cocceius, London, 1726.——A physician of the emperor Claudius, born in the island of Cos, and said to be descended from the Asclepiades. He enjoyed the emperor’s favours, and through him the people of Cos were exempt from all taxes. He had the meanness to poison his benefactor at the instigation of Agrippina. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12, chs. 61 & 67.——An officer under Adrian, &c.
Xera, a town of Spain, now Xerex, where the Moors gained a battle over Roderic king of the Goths, and became masters of the country.
Xerolibya, a part of Africa between Egypt and Cyrene.
Xerxena, a part of Armenia. Strabo, bk. 11.
Xerxes I., succeeded his father Darius on the throne of Persia, and though but the second son of the monarch, he was preferred to his elder brother Artabazanes. The causes alleged for this preference were, that Artabazanes was son of Darius when a private man, and that Xerxes was born, after his father had been raised on the Persian throne, of Atossa the daughter of Cyrus. Xerxes continued the warlike preparations of his father, and added the revolted kingdom of Egypt to his extensive possessions. He afterwards invaded Europe, and entered Greece with an army which, together with the numerous retinue of servants, eunuchs, and women that attended it, amounted to no less than 5,283,220 souls. This multitude, which the fidelity of the historians has not exaggerated, was stopped at Thermopylæ, by the valour of 300 Spartans, under king Leonidas. Xerxes, astonished that such a handful of men should dare to oppose his progress, ordered some of his soldiers to bring them alive into his presence; but for three successive days the most valiant of the Persian troops were repeatedly defeated in attempting to execute the monarch’s injunctions, and the courage of the Spartans might perhaps have triumphed longer, if a Trachinian had not led a detachment to the top of the mountain, and suddenly fallen upon the devoted Leonidas. The king himself nearly perished on this occasion, and it has been reported that, in the night, the desperate Spartans sought, for a while, the royal tent, which they found deserted, and wandered through the Persian army, slaughtering thousands before them. The battle of Thermopylæ was the beginning of the disgrace of Xerxes. The more he advanced, it was to experience new disappointments; his fleet was defeated at Artemisium and Salamis, and though he burnt the deserted city of Athens, and trusted to the artful insinuations of Themistocles, yet he found his millions unable to conquer a nation that was superior to him in the knowledge of war and maritime affairs. Mortified with the ill success of his expedition, and apprehensive of imminent danger in an enemy’s country, Xerxes hastened to Persia, and in 30 days he marched over all that territory which before he had passed with much pomp and parade in the space of six months. Mardonius, the best of his generals, was left behind with an army of 300,000 men, and the rest that had survived the ravages of war, of famine, and pestilence, followed their timid monarch into Thrace, where his steps were marked by the numerous birds of prey that hovered round him, and fed upon the dead carcases of the Persians. When he reached the Hellespont, Xerxes found the bridge of boats which he had erected there totally destroyed by the storms, and he crossed the straits in a small fishing vessel. Restored to his kingdom and safety, he forgot his dangers, his losses, and his defeats, and gave himself up to riot and debauchery. His indolence and luxurious voluptuousness offended his subjects, and Artabanus, the captain of his guards, conspired against him, and murdered him in his bed, in the 21st year of his reign, about 464 years before the christian era. The personal accomplishments of Xerxes have been commended by ancient authors, and Herodotus observes that there was not one man among the millions of his army that was equal to the monarch in comeliness or stature, or that was as worthy to preside over a great and extensive empire. The picture is finished, and the character of Xerxes completely known, when we hear Justin exclaim that the vast armament which invaded Greece was without a head. Xerxes has been cited as an instance of humanity. When he reviewed his millions from a stately throne in the plains of Asia, he suddenly shed a torrent of tears on the recollection that the multitude of men he saw before his eyes in 100 years should be no more. His pride and insolence have been deservedly censured; he ordered chains to be thrown into the sea, and the waves to be whipped, because the first bridge he had laid across the Hellespont had been destroyed by a storm. He cut a channel through mount Athos, and saw his fleet sail in a place which before was dry ground. The very rivers were dried up by his army as he advanced towards Greece, and the cities which he entered reduced to want and poverty. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 183; bk. 7, ch. 2, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 11.—Strabo, bk. 9.—Ælian, bk. 3, Varia Historia, ch. 25.—Justin, bk. 2, ch. 10, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 4; bk. 8, ch. 46.—Lucan, bk. 2, li. 672.—Plutarch, Themistocles, &c. Valerius Maximus.—Isocrates, Panathenaicus.—Seneca, de Constantia Sapientis, ch. 4.
Xerxes II., succeeded his father Artaxerxes Longimanus on the throne of Persia, 425 B.C., and was assassinated in the first year of his reign by his brother Sogdianus.
Xerxes, a painter of Heraclea, who made a beautiful representation of Venus.
Xeuxes, an officer of Antiochus the Great king of Syria.
Xiline, a town of Colchis.
Xiphonia, a promontory of Sicily at the north of Syracuse, now Cruce. Strabo, bk. 6.——Also a town near it, now Augusta.
Xois, an island formed by the mouths of the Nile. Strabo, bk. 17.
Xuthia, the ancient name of the plains of Leontium in Sicily. Diodorus, bk. 5.
Xuthus, a son of Hellen, grandson of Deucalion. He was banished from Thessaly by his brothers, and came to Athens, where he married Creusa the daughter of king Erechtheus, by whom he had Achæus and Ion. He retired after the death of his father-in-law into Achaia, where he died. According to some, he had no children, but adopted Ion, the son whom Creusa, before her marriage, had borne to Apollo. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 1.—Euripides, Ion, bk. 1, scene 1.
Xychus, a Macedonian who told Philip of his cruelty when he had put his son Demetrius to death, at the instigation of Perseus.
Xylenopŏlis, a town at the mouth of the Indus, built by Alexander, supposed to be Laheri. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 23.
Xyline, a town of Pamphylia. Livy, bk. 38, ch. 15.
Xylopŏlis, a town of Macedonia. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 10.
Xynias, a lake of Thessaly, or, according to some, of Bœotia. Livy, bk. 32, ch. 13; bk. 33, ch. 3.
Xynoichia, an anniversary day observed at Athens in honour of Minerva, and in commemoration of the time in which the people of Attica left their country seats, and, by advice of Theseus, all united in one body.
Zabatus, a river of Media, falling into the Tigris, near which the 10,000 Greeks stopped in their return. Xenophon.
Zabdicēne, a province of Persia.
Zabirna, a town of Libya, where Bacchus destroyed a large beast that infested the country. Diodorus, bk. 3.
Zabus, a river of Assyria, falling into the Tigris.
Zacynthus, a native of Bœotia, who accompanied Hercules when he went into Spain to destroy Geryon. At the end of the expedition he was entrusted with the care of Geryon’s flocks by the hero, and ordered to conduct them to Thebes. As he went on his journey, he was bit by a serpent, and some time after died. His companions carried his body away, and buried it in an island of the Ionian sea, which from that time was called Zacynthus. The island of Zacynthus, now called Zante, is situate at the south of Cephalenia, and at the west of the Peloponnesus. It is about 60 miles in circumference. Livy, bk. 26, ch. 24.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.—Strabo, bks. 2 & 8.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 1, li. 246; bk. 9, li. 24.—Ovid, Ars Amatoria, bk. 2, li. 432.—Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 23.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 270.——A son of Dardanus. Pausanias, bk. 8.
Zadris, a town of Colchis.
Zagræus, a son of Jupiter and Proserpine, the same as the first Bacchus, of whom Cicero speaks. Some say that Jupiter obtained Proserpine’s favours in the form of a serpent in one of the caves of Sicily, where her mother had concealed her from his pursuits, and that from this union Zagræus was born.
Zagrus, a mountain on the confines of Media and Babylonia. Strabo, bk. 11.
Zalates, an effeminate youth brought to Rome from Armenia as a hostage, &c. Juvenal, satire 20, li. 164.
Zaleucus, a lawgiver of the Locrians in Italy, and one of the disciples of Pythagoras, 550 B.C. He was very humane, and at the same time very austere, and he attempted to enforce his laws more by inspiring shame than dread. He had wisely decreed that a person guilty of adultery should lose both his eyes. His philosophy was called to a trial when he was informed that his son was an adulterer. He ordered the law to be executed; the people interfered, but Zaleucus resisted, and rather than violate his own institutions, he commanded one of his own eyes, and one of those of his son, to be put out. This made such an impression upon the people, that while Zaleucus presided over the Locrians, no person was again found guilty of adultery. Valerius Maximus, bk. 1, ch. 2; bk. 6, ch. 5.—Cicero, de Legibus, bk. 2, ch. 6; Letters to Atticus, bk. 6, ltr. 1.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 2, ch. 37; bk. 3, ch. 17; bk. 13, ch. 24.—Strabo, bk. 6.
Zama, or Zagma, a town of Numidia, 300 miles from Carthage, celebrated for the victory which Scipio obtained there over the great Annibal, B.C. 202. Metellus besieged it, and was obliged to retire with great loss. After Juba’s death it was destroyed by the Romans. Hirtius, African War, ch. 91.—Cornelius Nepos, Hannibal.—Livy, bk. 30, ch. 29.—Sallust, Jugurthine War.—Florus, bk. 3, ch. 1.—Silius Italicus, bk. 3, li. 261.—Strabo, bk. 17.——A town of Cappadocia,——of Mesopotamia.
Zameis, a debauched king of Assyria, son of Semiramis and Ninus, as some report. He reigned 38 years.
Zamolxis, or Zalmoxis, a slave and disciple of Pythagoras. He accompanied his master in Egypt, and afterwards retired into the country of the Getæ, which had given him birth. He began to civilize his countrymen, and the more easily to gain reputation, he concealed himself for three years in a subterraneous cave, and afterwards made them believe that he was just raised from the dead. Some place him before the age of Pythagoras. After death he received divine honours. Diodorus.—Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 19, &c.
Zancle, a town of Sicily, on the straits which separate that island from Italy. It received its name from its appearing like a scythe, which was called ξανκλον in the language of the country, or, as others say, because the scythe with which Saturn mutilated his father fell there, or because, as Diodorus reports, a person named Zanclus had either built it or exercised its sovereignty. Zancle fell into the hands of the Samians 497 years before the christian era, and three years after it was recovered by Anaxilaus the Messenian tyrant of Rhegium, who gave it the name of his native country, and called it Messana. It was founded, as most chronologers support, about 1058 years before the christian era, by the pirates of Cumæ in Italy, and peopled by Samians, Ionians, and Chalcidians. Strabo, bk. 6.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Silius Italicus, bk. 1, li. 662.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 499; Metamorphoses, bk. 14, li. 6; bk. 15, li. 290.—Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 23.
Zarax, a town of Peloponnesus.
Zarbiēnus, a petty monarch of Asia, who was gained to the interest of the Romans by one of the officers of Lucullus. Tigranes put him to death for his desertion, and his funeral was celebrated with great magnificence by the Roman general. Plutarch, Lucullus.
Zariaspes, a Persian who attempted to revolt from Alexander, &c. Curtius, bk. 9, ch. 10.——A river, now Dehash, on which Bactria, the capital of Bactriana, was built. It is called Bactrus by Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 4.—Pliny, bk. 6, chs. 15 & 16.
Zathes, a river of Armenia.
Zaueces, a people of Libya. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 193.
Zebīna Alexander, an impostor who usurped the throne of Syria, at the instigation of Ptolemy Physcon.
Zela, or Zelia, a town of Pontus near the river Lycus, where Cæsar defeated Pharnaces son of Mithridates. In expressing this victory, the general used the words, Veni, vidi, vinci. Suetonius, Cæsar, ch. 37.—Hirtius, Alexandrine War, ch. 72.——A town of Troas at the foot of Ida.——Another in Lycia.
Zelasium, a promontory of Thessaly. Livy, bk. 31, ch. 46.
Zeles, a town of Spain.
Zelus, a daughter of Pallas.
Zeno, a philosopher of Elia or Velia in Italy, the disciple, or, according to some, the adopted son of Parmenides, and the supposed inventor of dialectic. His opinions about the universe, the unity, incomprehensibility, and immutability of all things, were the same with those of Xenophanes and the rest of the Eleatic philosophers. It is said that he attempted to deliver his country from the tyranny of Nearchus. His plot was discovered, and he was exposed to the most excruciating torments to reveal the name of his accomplices, but this he bore with unparalleled fortitude, and not to be at last conquered by tortures, he cut off his tongue with his teeth, and spit it into the face of the tyrant. Some say that he was pounded alive in a mortar, and that in the midst of his torments he called to Nearchus, as if to reveal something of importance; the tyrant approached him, and Zeno, as if willing to whisper to him, caught his ear with his teeth, and bit it off. Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 2, ch. 22; De Natura Deorum, bk. 3, ch. 33.—Diodorus Siculus, Fragment.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 3, ch. 3.—Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 9.——The founder of the sect of the stoics, born at Citium in the island of Cyprus. The first part of his life was spent in commercial pursuits, but he was soon called to more elevated employments. As he was returning from Phœnicia, a storm drove his ship on the coast of Attica, and he was shipwrecked near the Piræus. This moment of calamity he regarded as the beginning of his fame. He entered the house of a bookseller, and, to dissipate his melancholy reflections, he began to read. The book was written by Xenophon; and the merchant was so pleased and captivated by the eloquence and beauties of the philosopher, that from that time he renounced the pursuits of a busy life, and applied himself to the study of philosophy. Ten years were spent in frequenting the school of Crates, and the same number under Stilpo, Xenocrates, and Polemon. Perfect in every branch of knowledge, and improved from experience as well as observation, Zeno opened a school at Athens, and soon saw himself attended by the great, the learned, and the powerful. His followers were called Stoics, because they received the instructions of the philosopher in the portico called στοα. He was so respected during his lifetime, that the Athenians publicly decreed him a brazen statue and a crown of gold, and engraved their decree, to give it more publicity, on two columns in the academy, and in the Lyceum. His life was an example of soberness and moderation; his manners were austere, and to his temperance and regularity he was indebted for the continual flow of health which he always enjoyed. After he had taught publicly for 48 years, he died in the 98th year of his age, B.C. 264, a stranger to diseases, and never incommoded by a real indisposition. He was buried in that part of the city called Ceramicus, where the Athenians raised him a monument. The founder of the stoic philosophy shone before his followers as a pure example of imitation. Virtue he perceived to be the ultimate aim of his researches. He wished to live in the world as if nothing was properly his own; he loved others, and his affections were extended even to his enemies. He felt a pleasure in being kind, benevolent, and attentive, and he found that these sentiments of pleasure were reciprocal. He saw a connection and dependence in the system of the universe, and perceived that from thence arose the harmony of civil society, the tenderness of parents, and filial gratitude. In the attainment of virtue the goods of the mind were to be preferred to those of the body, and when that point was once gained, nothing could equal our happiness and perfection, and the stoic could view with indifference health or sickness, riches or poverty, pain and pleasure, which could neither move nor influence the serenity of his mind. Zeno recommended resignation; he knew that the laws of the universe cannot be changed by man, and therefore he wished that his disciples should not in prayer deprecate impending calamities, but rather beseech Providence to grant them fortitude to bear the severest trials with pleasure and due resignation to the will of Heaven. An arbitrary command over the passions was one of the rules of stoicism; to assist our friends in the hour of calamity was our duty, but to give way to childish sensations was unbecoming our nature. Pity, therefore, and anger, were to be banished from the heart, propriety and decorum were to be the guides in everything, and the external actions of men were the best indications of their inward feelings, their secret inclinations, and their character. It was the duty of the stoic to study himself; in the evening he was enjoined to review with critical accuracy the events of the day, and to regulate his future conduct with more care, and always to find an impartial witness within his own breast. Such were the leading characters of the stoic philosophy, whose followers were so illustrious, so perfect, and so numerous, and whose effects were productive of such exemplary virtues in the annals of the human mind. Zeno in his maxims used to say, that with virtue man could live happy under the most pressing calamities. He said that nature had given us two ears, and only one mouth, to tell us that we ought to listen more than speak. He compared those whose actions were dissonant with their professions, to the coin of Alexandria, which appeared beautiful to the eye, though made of the basest metals. He acknowledged only one God, the soul of the universe, which he conceived to be the body, and therefore he believed that those two together united, the soul and the body, formed one perfect animal, which was the god of the stoics. Amongst the most illustrious followers of his doctrine, and as the most respectable writers, may be mentioned Epictetus, Seneca, the emperor Antoninus, &c. Cicero, Academica, bk. 1, ch. 12; De Natura Deorum, bk. 1, ch. 14; bk. 2, chs. 8 & 24; bk. 3, ch. 24; For Marcellus; Orator, ch. 32, &c.; de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum.—Seneca.—Epictetus.—Arrian.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 9, ch. 26.—Diogenes Laërtius.——An Epicurean philosopher of Sidon, who numbered among his pupils Cicero, Pomponius Atticus, Cotta, Pompey, &c. Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 1, chs. 21 & 34.——A rhetorician, father to Polemon, who was made king of Pontus.——The son of Polemon, who was king of Armenia, was also called Zeno. Strabo, bk. 12.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 56.——A native of Lepreos, son of Calliteles, crowned at the Olympic games, and honoured with a statue in the grove of Jupiter, and at Olympia. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 15.——A general of Antiochus.——A philosopher of Tarsus, B.C. 207.——The name of Zeno was common to some of the Roman emperors on the throne of Constantinople, in the fifth and sixth centuries.
Zenobia, a queen of Iberia, wife to Rhadamistus. She accompanied her husband when he was banished from his kingdom by the Armenians; but as she was unable to follow him on account of her pregnancy, she entreated him to murder her. Rhadamistus long hesitated, but fearful of her falling into the hands of his enemy, he obeyed, and threw her body into the Araxes. Her clothes kept her up on the surface of the water, where she was found by some shepherds, and as the wound was not mortal, her life was preserved, and she was carried to Tiridates, who acknowledged her as queen. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12, ch. 51.——Septimia, a celebrated princess of Palmyra, who married Odenatus, whom Gallienus acknowledged as his partner on the Roman throne. After the death of her husband, which, according to some authors, she is said to have hastened, Zenobia reigned in the east as regent of her infant children, who were honoured with the title of Cæsars. She assumed the name of Augusta, and she appeared in imperial robes, and ordered herself to be styled the queen of the east. The troubles which at that time agitated the western parts of the empire, prevented the emperor from checking the insolence and ambition of this princess, who boasted to be sprung from the Ptolemies of Egypt. Aurelian was no sooner invested with the imperial purple than he marched into the east, determined to punish the pride of Zenobia. He well knew her valour, and he was not ignorant that in her wars against the Persians she had distinguished herself no less than Odenatus. She was the mistress of the east; Egypt acknowledged her power, and all the provinces of Asia Minor were subject to her command. When Aurelian approached the plains of Syria, the Palmyrean queen appeared at the head of 700,000 men. She bore the labours of the field like the meanest of her soldiers, and walked on foot fearless of danger. Two battles were fought; the courage of the queen gained the superiority, but an imprudent evolution of the Palmyrean cavalry ruined her cause; and while they pursued with spirit the flying enemy, the Roman infantry suddenly fell upon the main body of Zenobia’s army, and the defeat was inevitable. The queen fled to Palmyra, determined to support a siege. Aurelian followed her, and after he had almost exhausted his stores, he proposed terms of accommodation, which were rejected with disdain by the warlike princess. Her hopes of victory, however, soon vanished, and though she harassed the Romans night and day by continual sallies from her walls, and the working of her military engines, she despaired of success when she heard that the armies which were marching to her relief from Armenia, Persia, and the east, had partly been defeated and partly bribed from her allegiance. She fled from Palmyra in the night, but Aurelian, who was apprised of her escape, pursued her, and she was caught as she was crossing the river Euphrates. She was brought into the presence of Aurelian, and though the soldiers were clamorous for her death, she was reserved to adorn the triumph of the conqueror. She was treated with great humanity, and Aurelian gave her large possessions near Tibur, where she was permitted to live the rest of her days in peace, with all the grandeur and majesty which became a queen of the east, and a warlike princess. Her children were patronized by the emperor, and married to persons of the first distinction at Rome. Zenobia has been admired not only for her military abilities, but also for her literary talents. She was acquainted with every branch of useful learning, and spoke with fluency the language of the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Latins. She composed an abridgment of the history of the oriental nations, and of Egypt, which was greatly commended by the ancients. She received no less honour from the patronage she afforded to the celebrated Longinus, who was one of her favourites, and who taught her the Greek tongue. She has also been praised for her great chastity, and her constancy, though she betrayed too often her propensities to cruelty and intoxication when in the midst of her officers. She fell into the hands of Aurelian about the 273rd year of the christian era. Aurelius Victor.—Zosimus, &c.——A town of Syria on the Euphrates.
Zenobii insulæ, small islands at the mouth of the Arabian gulf.
Zenodōrus, a sculptor in the age of Nero. He made a statue of Mercury, as also a colossus for the emperor, which was 110 or 120 feet high, and which was consecrated to the sun. The head of this colossus was some time after broken by Vespasian, who placed there the head of an Apollo surrounded with seven beams, each of which was seven feet and a half long. From this famous colossus the modern coliseum, whose ruins are now so much admired at Rome, took its name. Pliny, bk. 54, ch. 7.
Zenodotia, a town of Mesopotamia, near Nicephorium. Plutarch, Crassus.
Zenodōtus, a native of Trœzene, who wrote a history of Umbria. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 2.——A grammarian of Alexandria, in the age of Ptolemy Soter, by whom he was appointed to take care of the celebrated library of Alexandria. He died B.C. 245.
Zenothemis, a Greek writer. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 17, ch. 30.
Zephyrium, a promontory of Magna Græcia towards the Ionian sea, whence, according to some, the Locrians are called Epizephyrii.——A town of Cilicia. Livy, bk. 33, ch. 20.——A cape of Crete, now San Zuane.——Of Pontus, &c.
Zephy̆rum, a promontory in the island of Cyprus, where Venus had a temple built by Ptolemy Philadelphus, whence she was called Zephyria. It was in this temple that Arsione made an offering of her hair to the goddess of beauty.
Zephy̆rus, one of the winds, son of Astreus and Aurora, the same as the Favonius of the Latins. He married a nymph called Chloris, or Flora, by whom he had a son called Carpos. Zephyr was said to produce flowers and fruits by the sweetness of his breath. He had a temple at Athens, where he was represented as a young man of delicate form, with two wings on his shoulders, and with his head covered with all sorts of flowers. He was ♦supposed to be the same as the west wind. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 377.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 135; bk. 2, li. 417; bk. 4, li. 223, &c.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 64; bk. 15, li. 700.—Propertius, bk. 1, poem 16, li. 34, &c.
♦ ‘suppossd’ replaced with ‘supposed’
Zerynthus, a town of Samothrace, with a cave sacred to Hecate. The epithet of Zerynthius is applied to Apollo, and also to Venus. Ovid, Tristia, bk. 1, poem 9, li. 19.—Livy, bk. 38, ch. 41.
Zethes, Zetes, or Zetus, a son of Boreas king of Thrace and Orithyia, who accompanied, with his brother Cailas, the Argonauts to Colchis. In Bithynia, the two brothers, who are represented with wings, delivered Phineus from the continual persecution of the Harpies, and drove these monsters as far as the islands called Strophades, where at last they were stopped by Iris, who promised them that Phineus should no longer be tormented by them. They were both killed, as some say, by Hercules during the Argonautic expedition, and were changed into those winds which generally blow eight or ten days before the dog-star appears, and are called Prodromi by the Greeks. Their sister Cleopatra married Phineus king of Bithynia. Orpheus, Argonautica.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9; bk. 3, ch. 15.—Hyginus, fable 14.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, li. 716.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 18.—Valerius Flaccus.
Zetta, a town of Africa, near Thapsus, now Zerbi. Strabo, bk. 17.—Hirtius, African War, ch. 68.
Zetus, or Zethus, a son of Jupiter and Antiope, brother to Amphion. The two brothers were born on mount Cithæron, where Antiope had fled to avoid the resentment of her father Nycteus. When they had attained the years of manhood, they collected a number of their friends to avenge the injuries which their mother had suffered from Lycus, the successor of Nycteus on the throne of Thebes, and from his wife Dirce. Lycus was put to death, and his wife tied to the tail of a wild bull, that dragged her over rocks and precipices till she died. The crown of Thebes was seized by the two brothers, not only as the reward of this victory, but as their inheritance, and Zethus surrounded the capital of his dominions with a strong wall, while his brother amused himself with playing on his lyre. Music and verses were disagreeable to Zethus, and, according to some, he prevailed upon his brother no longer to pursue so unproductive a study. Hyginus, fable 7.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 6, &c.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, chs. 5 & 10.—Horace, bk. 1, ltr. 18, li. 41.
Zeugis, a portion of Africa, in which Carthage was. The other division was called Byzacium. Isidorus, bk. 14, ch. 5.—Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 4.
Zeugma, a town of Mesopotamia, on the western bank of the Euphrates, where was a well-known passage across the river. It was the eastern boundary of the Roman empire, and in Pliny’s age a chain of iron was said to extend across it. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 24.—Strabo, bk. 16.—Curtius, bk. 3, ch. 7.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12, ch. 12.——A town of Dacia.
Zeus, a name of Jupiter among the Greeks, expressive of his being the father of mankind, and by whom all things live. Diodorus, bk. 5.
Zeuxidămus, a king of Sparta, of the family of the Proclidæ. He was father of Archidamus and grandson of Theopompus, and was succeeded by his son Archidamus. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 7.
Zeuxidas, a pretor of the Achæan league, deposed because he had promised to his countrymen an alliance with the Romans.
Zeuxippe, a daughter of Eridanus, mother of Butes, one of the Argonauts, &c. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 15.——A daughter of Laomedon. She married Sicyon, who after his father-in-law’s death became king of that city of Peloponnesus, which from him has been called Sicyon. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 6.
Zeuxis, a celebrated painter, born at Heraclea, which some suppose to be the Heraclea of Sicily. He flourished about 468 years before the christian era, and was the disciple of Apollodorus, and contemporary with Parrhasius. In the art of painting he surpassed not only all his contemporaries, but also his master, and became so sensible, and at the same time so proud, of the value of his pieces, that he refused to sell them, observing that no sum of money, however great, was sufficient to buy them. His most celebrated paintings were his Jupiter sitting on a throne, surrounded by the gods; his Hercules strangling the serpents in the presence of his affrighted parents; his modest Penelope; and his Helen, which was afterwards placed in the temple of Juno Lacinia, in Italy. This last piece he had painted at the request of the people of Crotona, and that he might not be without a model, they sent him the most beautiful of their virgins. Zeuxis examined their naked beauties, and retained five, from whose elegance and graces united, he conceived in his mind the form of the most perfect woman in the universe, which his pencil at last executed with wonderful success. His contest with Parrhasius is well known [See: Parrhasius]; but though he represented nature in such perfection, and copied all her beauties with such exactness, he often found himself deceived. He painted grapes, and formed an idea of the goodness of his piece from the birds which came to eat the fruit on the canvas. But he soon acknowledged that the whole was an ill-executed piece, as the figure of the man who carried the grapes was not done with sufficient expression to terrify the birds. According to some, Zeuxis died from laughing at a comical picture which he had made of an old woman. Cicero, de Inventione, bk. 2, ch. 1.—Plutarch, Parallela minora, &c.—Quintilian.
Zeuxo, one of the Oceanides. Hesiod.
Zilia, or Zelis, a town in Mauritania, at the mouth of a river of the same name. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 1.
Zimara, a town of Armenia Minor, 12 miles from the sources of the Euphrates. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 24.
Zingis, a promontory of Æthiopia, near the entrance of the Red sea, now cape Orfui.
Ziobĕris, a river of Hyrcania, whose rapid course is described by Curtius, bk. 6, ch. 4.
Zipætes, a king of Bithynia, who died in his 70th year, B.C. 279.
Zitha, a town of Mesopotamia.
Ziza, a town of Arabia.
Zōĭlus, a sophist and grammarian of Amphipolis, B.C. 259. He rendered himself known by his severe criticisms on the works of Isocrates and Plato, and the poems of Homer, for which he received the name of Homeromastic, or the chastiser of Homer. He presented his criticisms to Ptolemy Philadelphus, but they were rejected with indignation, though the author declared that he starved for want of bread. Some say that Zoilus was cruelly stoned to death, or exposed on a cross by order of Ptolemy, while others support that he was burnt alive at Smyrna. The name of Zoilus is generally applied to austere critics. The works of this unfortunate grammarian are lost. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 11, ch. 10.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus.—Ovid, Remedia Amoris, li. 266.——An officer in the army of Alexander.
Zoippus, a son-in-law of Hiero of Sicily.
Zona, a town of Africa. Dio Cassius, bk. 48.——Of Thrace, on the Ægean sea, where the woods are said to have followed the strains of Orpheus. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Herodotus.
Zonăras, one of the Byzantine historians, whose Greek Annals were edited, 2 vols., folio, Paris, 1686.
Zopy̆rio, one of Alexander’s officers left in Greece when the conqueror was in Asia, &c. Curtius, bk. 10, ch. 1.
Zopy̆rion, a governor of Pontus, who made war against Scythia, &c. Justin, bk. 2, ch. 3.
Zopy̆rus, a Persian, son of Megabyzus, who, to show his attachment to Darius the son of Hystaspes, while he besieged Babylon, cut off his ears and nose, and fled to the enemy, telling them that he had received such a treatment from his royal master because he had advised him to raise the siege, as the city was impregnable. This was credited by the Babylonians, and Zopyrus was appointed commander of all their forces. When he had totally gained their confidence, he betrayed the city into the hands of Darius, for which he was liberally rewarded. The regard of Darius for Zopyrus could never be more strongly expressed than in what he used often to say, that he had rather have Zopyrus not mutilated than 20 Babylons. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 154, &c.—Plutarch, Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata, ch. 3.—Justin, bk. 1, ch. 10.——An orator of Clazomenæ. Quintilian, bk. 3, ch. 6.——A physician in the age of Mithridates. He gave the monarch a description of an antidote which would prevail against all sorts of poisons. The experiment was tried upon criminals, and succeeded.——A physician in the age of Plutarch.——An officer of Argos, who cut off the head of Pyrrhus. Plutarch.——A man appointed master of Alcibiades, by Pericles. Plutarch.——A physiognomist. Cicero, de Fato, ch. 5.——A rhetorician of Colophon. Diogenes Laërtius.
Zoroanda, a part of Taurus between Mesopotamia and Armenia, near which the Tigris flows. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 27.
Zoroaster, a king of Bactria, supposed to have lived in the age of Ninus king of Assyria, some time before the Trojan war. According to Justin, he first invented magic, or the doctrines of the Magi, and rendered himself known by his deep and acute researches in philosophy, the origin of the world, and the study of astronomy. He was respected by his subjects and contemporaries for his abilities as a monarch, a lawgiver, and a philosopher, and though many of his doctrines are puerile and ridiculous, yet his followers are still found in numbers in the wilds of Persia, and the extensive provinces of India. Like Pythagoras, Zoroaster admitted no visible object of devotion except fire, which he considered as the most proper emblem of a supreme being; which doctrines seem to have been preserved by Numa, in the worship and ceremonies which he instituted in honour of Vesta. According to some of the moderns, the doctrines, the laws, and regulations of this celebrated Bactrian are still extant, and they have been lately introduced in Europe in a French translation by Marcus Anquetil. The age of Zoroaster is so little known that many speak of two, three, four, and even six lawgivers of that name. Some authors, who support that two persons only of this name flourished, describe the first as an astronomer living in Babylon, 2459 years B.C., whilst the era of the other, who is supposed to have been a native of Persia, and the restorer of the religion of the Magi, is fixed 589, and by some 519 years B.C. Justin, bk. 1, ch. 1.—Augustine, City of God, bk. 21, ch. 14.—Orosius, bk. 1.—Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 10; bk. 30, ch. 1.
Zosĭmus, an officer in the reign of Theodosius the younger, about the year 410 of the christian era. He wrote the history of the Roman emperors in Greek, from the age of Augustus to the beginning of the fifth century, of which only the five first books, and the beginning of the sixth, are extant. In the first of those he is very succinct in his account from the time of Augustus to the reign of Diocletian, but in the succeeding he becomes more diffuse and interesting. His composition is written with elegance, but not much fidelity, and the author showed his malevolence against the christians in his history of Constantine, and some of his successors. The best editions of Zosimus are that of Celarius, 8vo. Jenæ, 1728, and that of Reiemier, 8vo, Lipscomb, 1784.
Zosine, the wife of king Tigranes, led in triumph by Pompey. Plutarch.
Zoster, a town, harbour, and promontory of Attica. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 5, ltr. 12.
Zosteria, a surname of Minerva. She had two statues under that name in the city of Thebes, in Bœotia. The word signified girt, or armed for battle, words synonymous among the ancients. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 17.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 2, li. 478; bk. 11, li. 15.
Zotale, a place near Antiochia in Margiana, where the Margus was divided into small streams. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 16.
Zothraustes, a lawgiver among the Arimaspi. Diodorus.
Zuchis, a lake to the east of the Syrtis Minor, with a town of the same name, famous for a purple dye, and salt-fish. Strabo, bk. 17.
Zygantes, a people of Africa.
Zygia, a surname of Juno, because she presided over marriage (a ζευγνυμι jungo). She is the same as the Pronuba of the Latins. Pindar.—Pollux, bk. 3, ch. 3.
Zygii, a savage nation at the north of Colchis. Strabo, bk. 11.
Zygopŏlis, a town of Cappadocia, on the borders of Colchis. Strabo, bk. 12.
Zygrītæ, a nation of Libya.