over the world, and gave her some water to quench her thirst. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, fable 7.
=Baucis=, an old woman of Phrygia, who, with her husband Philemon,
lived in a small cottage, in a penurious manner, when Jupiter
and Mercury travelled in disguise over Asia. The gods came to
the cottage, where they received the best things it afforded; and
Jupiter was so pleased with their hospitality, that he metamorphosed
their dwelling into a magnificent temple, of which Baucis and her
husband were made priests. After they had lived happy to an extreme
old age, they died both at the same hour, according to their request
to Jupiter, that one might not have the sorrow of following the
other to the grave. Their bodies were changed into trees before the
doors of the temple. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 8, li. 631, &c.
=Bavius= and =Mævius=, two stupid and malevolent poets in the age
of Augustus, who attacked the superior talents of the contemporary
writers. _Virgil_, _Eclogues_, poem 3.
=Bauli=, a small town of Latium near Baiæ. _Silius Italicus_, bk. 12,
li. 155.
=Bazaentes=, a friend of Bessus, &c.
=Bazaria=, a country of Asia. _Curtius_, bk. 8, ch. 1.
=Bebius=, a famous informer in Vespasian’s reign. _Juvenal_, satire 1,
li. 35. _See:_ Bæbius.
=Bebriăcum=, now _Caneto_, a village between Cremona and Verona, where
Vitellius overcame Otho. _Juvenal_, satire 2, li. 106.――_Tacitus_,
_Histories_, bk. 3, ch. 15.
=Bebry̆ce=, a daughter of Danaus, who is said to have spared her
husband. Most authors, however, attribute that character of humanity
to Hypermnestra. _See:_ Danaides.
=Bebry̆ces= and =Bebry̆cii=, a nation of Asia near Pontus, of Thracian
origin, and, according to Arrian, descended from Bebryce. They
were expert in the battle of the cestus. The Argonauts touched on
their coasts in their expedition to Colchis. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1.
――_Strabo_, bks. 7 & 12.
=Bebry̆cia=, an ancient name of Bithynia, from Bebryce the daughter of
Danaus. _Strabo_, bk. 13.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 5, li. 373.
=Belemīna=, a town of Laconia. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 21.
=Belēnus=, a divinity of the Gauls, the same as the Apollo of the
Greeks, and the Orus of the Ægyptians.
=Belephantes=, a Chaldean, who, from his knowledge of astronomy, told
Alexander that his entering Babylon would be attended with fatal
consequences to him. _Diodorus_, bk. 17.
=Belĕsis=, priest of Babylon, who told Arbaces governor of Media
that he should reign one day in the place of Sardanapalus. His
prophecy was verified, and he was rewarded by the new king with the
government of Babylon, B.C. 826. _Diodorus_, bk. 2.
=Belgæ=, a warlike people of ancient Gaul, separated from the Celtæ by
the rivers Matrona and Sequana. Their country, according to Strabo,
extended from the Rhine to the river modernly called the Loire.
_Cæsar_, _Gallic War_, bks. 1 & 2.
=Belgĭca=, one of the four provinces of Gaul near the Rhine.
=Belgium=, the capital of Gallia Belgica. The word is often used to
express the whole country. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_, bk. 5, ch. 24.
=Belgius=, a general of Gaul, who destroyed an army of Macedonians.
_Justin_, bk. 23, ch. 2.――_Polybius_, bk. 2.
=Belĭdes=, a surname given to the daughters of Belus. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 4, li. 463.
=Belīdes=, a name applied to Palamedes, as descended from Belus.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_ bk. 2, li. 82.
=Belisama=, the name of Minerva among the Gauls, signifying _queen of
heaven_. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_, bk. 6.
=Belisarius=, a celebrated general, who, in a degenerate and an
effeminate age, in the reign of Justinian emperor of Constantinople,
renewed all the glorious victories, battles, and triumphs which
had rendered the first Romans so distinguished in the time of their
republic. He died after a life of military glory, and the trial of
royal ingratitude, in the 565th year of the christian era. The story
of his begging charity, with _date obolum Belisario_, is said to be
a fabrication of modern times.
=Belistīda=, a woman who obtained a prize at Olympia. _Pausanias_,
bk. 5, ch. 8.
=Belitæ=, a nation of Asia. _Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 12.
=Bellerŏphon=, a son of Glaucus king of Ephyre by Eurymede, was at
first called Hipponous. The murder of his brother, whom some call
Alcimenus or Beller, procured him the name of Bellerophon, or
_murderer of Beller_. After this murder, Bellerophon fled to the
court of Prœtus king of Argos. As he was of a handsome appearance,
the king’s wife, called Antæa or Stenobœa, fell in love with him;
and as he slighted her passion, she accused him before her husband
of attempts upon her virtue. Prœtus, unwilling to violate the
laws of hospitality by punishing Bellerophon, sent him away to
his father-in-law Jobates king of Lycia, and gave him a letter,
in which he begged the king to punish with death a man who had so
dishonourably treated his daughter. From that circumstance, all
letters which are of an unfavourable tendency to the bearer have
been called _letters of Bellerophon_. Jobates, to satisfy his
son-in-law, sent Bellerophon to conquer a horrible monster called
Chimæra, in which dangerous expedition he hoped, and was even
assured, he must perish. _See:_ Chimæra. But the providence of
Minerva supported him, and, with the aid of the winged horse
Pegasus, he conquered the monster, and returned victorious. After
this Jobates sent him against the Solymi, in hopes of seeing him
destroyed; but he obtained another victory, and conquered afterwards
the Amazons, by the king’s order. At his return from this third
expedition, he was attacked by a party sent against him by Jobates;
but he destroyed all his assassins, and convinced the king that
innocence is always protected by the gods. Upon this, Jobates no
longer sought to destroy his life; but he gave him his daughter
in marriage, and made him his successor on the throne of Lycia,
as he was without male issue. Some authors have supported that he
attempted to fly to heaven upon the horse Pegasus, but that Jupiter
sent an insect which stung the horse, and threw down the rider who
wandered upon the earth in the greatest melancholy and dejection
till the day of his death, one generation before the Trojan war.
Bellerophon had two sons, Isander, who was killed in his war against
the Solymi, and Hippolochus, who succeeded to the throne after his
death, besides one daughter called Hippodamia, who had Sarpedon by
Jupiter. The wife of Bellerophon is called Philonoe by Apollodorus,
and Achemone by Homer. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 6, li. 156, &c.
――_Juvenal_, satire 10.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 3; bk. 3, ch. 1.
――_Hyginus_, fables 157 & 243; _Poeticon Astronomicon_, bk. 2,
ch. 18.――_Hesiod_, _Theogony_, li. 325.――_Horace_, bk. 4, ode 11,
li. 26.――_Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 31.
=Bellĕrus= and =Beller=, a brother of Hipponous. _See:_ Bellerophon.
=Belliēnus=, a Roman whose house was set on flames at Cæsar’s funeral.
_Cicero_, _Philippics_, bk. 2, ch. 36.
=Bellōna=, the goddess of war, daughter to Phorcys and Ceto, was
called by the Greeks _Enyo_, and often confounded with Minerva.
She was anciently called _Duelliona_, and was the sister of Mars,
or, according to others, his daughter or his wife. She prepared
the chariot of Mars when he was going to war; and she appeared
in battles armed with a whip to animate the combatants, with
dishevelled hair, and a torch in her hand. The Romans paid great
adoration to her; but she was held in the greatest veneration by
the Cappadocians, and chiefly at Comana, where she had about 3000
priests. Her temple at Rome was near the Porta Carmentalis. In it
the senators gave audience to foreign ambassadors, and to generals
returned from war. At the gate was a small column called the _column
of war_, against which they threw a spear whenever war was declared
against an enemy. The priests of this goddess consecrated themselves
by great incisions in their body, and particularly in the thigh, of
which they received the blood in their hands to offer as a sacrifice
to the goddess. In their wild enthusiasm they often predicted
bloodshed and wars, the defeat of enemies, or the besieging of
towns. _Juvenal_, satire 4, li. 124.――_Varro_, _de Lingua Latina_,
bk. 5.――_Hesiod_, _Theogony_, li. 270.――_Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 30.
――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 8, li. 703.――_Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 2,
li. 718; bk. 7, li. 73.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 5, li. 221.
=Bellōnarii=, the priests of Bellona.
=Bellovăci=, a people of Gaul conquered by Julius Cæsar. They inhabited
the modern Beauvais in the isle of France. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_,
bk. 2, ch. 4.
=Bellovēsus=, a king of the Celtæ, who, in the reign of Tarquin
Priscus, was sent at the head of a colony to Italy by his uncle
Ambigatus. _Livy_, bk. 5, ch. 34.
=Belon=, a general of Alexander’s. _Curtius_, bk. 6, ch. 11.――――A city
and river of Hispania Bætica. _Strabo_, bk. 3.
=Belus=, one of the most ancient kings of Babylon, about 1800 years
before the age of Semiramis, was made a god after death, and
worshipped with much ceremony by the Assyrians and Babylonians.
He was supposed to be the son of the Osiris of the Egyptians. The
temple of Belus was the most ancient and most magnificent in the
world. It was originally the tower of Babel, which was converted
into a temple. It had lofty towers, and it was enriched by all
the succeeding monarchs till the age of Xerxes, who, after his
unfortunate expedition against Greece, plundered and demolished it.
Among the riches it contained, were many statues of massive gold,
one of which was 40 feet high. In the highest of the towers was a
magnificent bed, where the priests daily conducted a woman, who,
as they said, was honoured with the company of the god. _Josephus_,
_Antiquities of the Jews_, bk. 10.――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 181,
&c.――_Strabo_, bk. 16.――_Arrian_, bk. 7.――_Diodorus_, bk. 1, &c.
――――A king of Egypt, son of Epaphus and Libya, and father of Agenor.
――――Another, son of Phœnix the son of Agenor, who reigned in
Phœnicia.――――A river of Syria, where the making of glass was first
invented. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 19.
=Benācus=, a lake of Italy, now _Lago di Garda_, from which the
Mincius flows into the Po. _Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 2, li. 160;
_Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 205.
=Bendidium=, a temple of Diana Bendis. _Livy_, bk. 38, ch. 41.
=Bendis=, a name of Diana among the Thracians and their northern
neighbours. _Strabo_, bk. 9. Her festivals, called _Bendidia_, were
introduced from Thrace into Athens.
=Beneventum=, a town of the Hirpini, built by Diomedes, 28 miles from
Capua. Its original name was _Maleventum_, changed into the more
auspicious word of _Beneventum_, when the Romans had a colony there.
It abounds in remains of ancient sculpture above any other town in
Italy. _Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 11.
=Benthesicyme=, a daughter of Neptune the nurse of Eumolpus.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 15.
=Bepolitānus=, a youth whose life was saved by the delay of the
executioner, who wished not to stain the youth’s fine clothes with
blood. _Plutarch_, _Mulierum virtutes_.
=Berbicæ=, a nation who destroyed their relations when arrived at a
certain age. _Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 4, ch. 1.
=Beræa=, a town of Syria, 90 miles from the sea, and 100 from the
Euphrates, now called Aleppo.
=Berecynthia=, a surname of Cybele, from mount Berecynthus in Phrygia,
where she was particularly worshipped. She has been celebrated in a
poem by Catullus. _Diodorus_, bk. 5.――_Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 4,
li. 782.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 9, li. 82.
=Berenīce= and =Beronice=, a woman famous for her beauty, mother of
Ptolemy Philadelphus by Lagus. _Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 14,
ch. 43.――_Theocritus._――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 7.――――A daughter
of Philadelphus, who married Antiochus king of Syria, after he had
divorced Laodice his former wife. After the death of Philadelphus,
Laodice was recalled, and mindful of the treatment which she had
received, she poisoned her husband, placed her son on the vacant
throne, and murdered Berenice and her child at Antioch, where she
had fled, B.C. 248.――――A daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, who usurped
her father’s throne for some time, strangled her husband Seleucus,
and married Archelaus, a priest of Bellona. Her father regained his
power, and put her to death B.C. 55.――――The wife of Mithridates,
who, when conquered by Lucullus, ordered all his wives to destroy
themselves, for fear the conqueror should offer violence to them.
She accordingly drank poison, but this not operating soon enough,
she was strangled by a eunuch.――――The mother of Agrippa, who
shines in the history of the Jews as daughter-in-law of Herod the
Great.――――A daughter of Agrippa, who married her uncle Herod, and
afterwards Polemon king of Cilicia. She was accused by Juvenal of
committing incest with her brother Agrippa. It is said that she was
passionately loved by Titus, who would have made her empress but for
fear of the people.――――A wife of king Attalus.――――Another, daughter
of Philadelphus and Arsinoe, who married her own brother Evergetes,
whom she loved with much tenderness. When he went on a dangerous
expedition, she vowed all the hair of her head to the goddess
Venus, if he returned. Some time after his victorious return, the
locks which were in the temple of Venus disappeared; and Conon, an
astronomer, to make his court to the queen, publicly reported that
Jupiter had carried them away, and had made them a constellation.
She was put to death by her son, B.C. 221. _Catullus_, poem 67.
――_Hyginus_, _Poeticon Astronomicon_, bk. 2, ch. 24.――_Justin_,
bk. 26, ch. 3.――――This name is common to many of the queens and
princesses in the Ptolemean family in Egypt.――――A city of Libya.
_Strabo._――_Mela_, bk. 3, ch. 8.――――Two towns of Arabia. _Strabo_,
bk. 16.――――One in Egypt on the Red sea, where the ships from India
generally landed their cargoes. _Pliny_, bk. 6, ch. 23.――――Another
near the Syrtes, &c. _Pliny_, bk. 17.
=Berenīcis=, a part of Africa near the town of Berenice. _Lucan_,
bk. 9, li. 523.
=Bergion= and =Albion=, two giants, sons of Neptune, who opposed
Hercules as he attempted to cross the Rhone, and were killed with
stones from heaven. _Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 5.
=Bergistăni=, a people of Spain, at the east of the Iberus. _Livy_,
bk. 34, ch. 16.
=Beris= and =Baris=, a river of Cappadocia.――――A mountain of Armenia.
=Bermius=, a mountain of Macedonia. _Herodotus_, bk. 8, ch. 138.
=Beroe=, an old woman of Epidaurus, nurse to Semele. Juno assumed
her shape when she persuaded Semele not to grant her favours to
Jupiter, if he did not appear in the majesty of a god. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, li. 278.――――The wife of Doryclus, whose form
was assumed by Iris at the instigation of Juno, when she advised the
Trojan women to burn the fleet of Æneas in Sicily. _Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 5, li. 620.――――One of the Oceanides, attendant upon Cyrene.
_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 4, li. 341.
=Berœa=, a town of Thessaly. _Cicero_, _Piso_, ch. 36.
=Beronīce.= _See:_ Berenice.
=Berōsus=, a native of Babylon, priest to Belus. He passed into Greece,
and remained a long time at Athens. He composed a history of Chaldæa,
and signalized himself by his astronomical predictions, and was
rewarded for his learning with a statue in the gymnasium at Athens.
The age in which he lived is not precisely known, though some fix
it in the reign of Alexander, or 268 years B.C. Some fragments of
his Chaldæan history are preserved by Josephus, _Against Appion_ &
_Antiquities of the Jews_, bk. 105. The book that is now extant
under his name, and speaks of kings that never existed, is a
supposititious fabrication.
=Berrhœa=, a town of Macedonia. _Thucydides_, bk. 1, ch. 61.
=Bery̆tus=, now _Berut_, an ancient town of Phœnicia, on the coast of
the Mediterranean, famous in the age of Justinian for the study of
law. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 20.
=Besa=, a fountain in Thessaly. _Strabo_, bk. 8.
=Besidlæ=, a town of the Brutii. _Livy_, bk. 30, ch. 19.
=Besippo=, a town of Hispania Bætica, where Mela was born. _Mela_,
bk. 2, ch. 6.
=Bessi=, a people of Thrace, on the left side of the Strymon, who
lived upon rapine. _Ovid_, _Tristia_, bk. 4, poem 1, li. 67.
――_Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 111.
=Bessus=, a governor of Bactriana, who, after the battle of Arbela,
seized Darius his sovereign and put him to death. After this murder,
he assumed the title of king, and was some time after brought before
Alexander, who gave him to Oxatres the brother of Darius. The prince
ordered his hands and ears to be cut off, and his body to be exposed
on a cross, and shot at by the soldiers. _Justin_, bk. 12, ch. 5.
――_Curtius_, bks. 6 & 7.――――A parricide who discovered the murder
he had committed, upon observing a nest of swallows, which, as he
observed, reproached him with his crime. _Plutarch._
=Lucius Bestia=, a seditious Roman, who conspired with Catiline against
his country. _Cicero_, bk. 2, _Philippics_.
=Betis=, a river in Spain, _See:_ Bætis.――――A governor of Gaza, who
bravely defended himself against Alexander, for which he was treated
with cruelty by the conqueror.
=Beturia=, a country in Spain.
=Bia=, a daughter of Pallas by Styx. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 2.
=Biānor=, a son of Tiberius and Manto the daughter of Tiresias, who
received the surname of Ocnus, and reigned over Etruria. He built
a town which he called Mantua, after his mother’s name. His tomb
was seen in the age of Virgil on the road between Mantua and Andes.
_Virgil_, _Eclogues_, poem 9, li. 60.――――A Trojan chief killed by
Agamemnon. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 11, li. 92.――――A centaur killed by
Theseus. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 342.
=Bias=, son of Amythaon and Idomene, was king of Argos, and brother
to the famous soothsayer Melampus. He fell in love with Perone,
daughter of Neleus king of Pylos; but the father refused to give
his daughter in marriage before he received the oxen of Iphiclus.
Melampus, at his brother’s request, went to seize the oxen, and
was caught in the act. He, however, in one year after received his
liberty from Iphiclus who presented him with his oxen as a reward
for his great services. Bias received the oxen from his brother,
and obliged Neleus to give him his daughter in marriage. _Homer_,
_Odyssey_, bk. 11.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2, chs. 6 & 18; bk. 4, ch. 34.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――――A Grecian prince, who went to
the Trojan war. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 4, lis. 13 & 20.――――A river
of Peloponnesus. _Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 34.――――One of the seven
wise men of Greece, son of Teutamidas, born at Priene, which he
long saved from ruin. He flourished B.C. 566, and died in the
arms of his grandson, who begged a favour of him for one of his
friends. _Diogenes Laërtius_, bk. 1.――_Plutarch_, _Convivium Septem
Sapientium_.――_Valerius Maximus_, bk. 7, ch. 2.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10,
ch. 24.
=Bibācŭlus Marcus Furius=, a Latin poet in the age of Cicero. He
composed annals in iambic verses, and wrote epigrams full of wit
and humour, and other poems now lost. _Horace_, bk. 2, satire 5,
li. 41.――_Quintilian_, bk. 10.――――A pretor, &c. _Valerius Maximus_,
bk. 1, ch. 1.
=Biblia= and =Billia=, a Roman lady famous for her chastity. She
married Duillius.
=Biblis=, a woman who became enamoured of her brother Caunus, and was
changed into a fountain near Miletus. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 9,
li. 662.
=Biblina=, a country of Thrace.
=Biblus=, a city of Phœnicia. _Curtius_, bk. 4.
=Bibracte=, a large town of the Ædui in Gaul, where Cæsar often
wintered. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_, bk. 7, ch. 55, &c.
=Bibŭlus=, a son of Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus by Portia, Cato’s
daughter. He was Cæsar’s colleague in the consulship, but of no
consequence in the state, according to this distich mentioned by
_Suetonius_, _Julius Cæsar_, ch. 20:
_Non Bibulo quicquam nuper, sed Cæsare factum est;
Nam Bibulo fieri consule nil memini._
――――One of the friends of Horace bore that name. Bk. 1, satire 10,
li. 86.
=Bices=, a marsh near the Palus Mœotis. _Flaccus_, bk. 6, li. 68.
=Bicon=, a Greek who assassinated Athenodorus, because he made himself
master of a colony which Alexander had left at Bactra. _Curtius_,
bk. 9, ch. 7.
=Bicornĭger=, a surname of Bacchus.
=Bicornis=, the name of Alexander among the Arabians.
=Biformīs= (_two forms_), a surname of Bacchus and of Janus. Bacchus
received it because he changed himself into an old woman to fly
from the persecution of Juno; or perhaps because he was represented
sometimes as a young, and sometimes as an old, man.
=Bifrons=, a surname of Janus, because he was represented with _two
faces_ among the Romans, as acquainted with the past and future.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 180.
=Bilbĭlis=, a town of Celtiberia, where Martial was born. _Martial_,
bk. 1, ltr. 50.――――A river of Spain. _Justin_, bk. 44, ch. 3.
=Bimāter=, a surname of Bacchus, which signifies that he had _two
mothers_, because, when he was taken from his mother’s womb, he was
placed in the thigh of his father Jupiter. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_,
bk. 4, li. 12.
=Bingium=, a town of Germany. _Tacitus_, _Histories_, bk. 4, ch. 70.
=Bion=, a philosopher and sophist of Borysthenes in Scythia, who
rendered himself famous for his knowledge of poetry, music, and
philosophy. He made everybody the object of his satire, and rendered
his compositions distinguished for clearness of expression, for
facetiousness, wit, and pleasantry. He died 241 B.C. _Diogenes
Laërtius_, _Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers_.――――A Greek
poet of Smyrna, who wrote pastorals in an elegant style. Moschus,
his friend and disciple, mentions in an elegiac poem that he died by
poison, about 300 years B.C. His Idyllia are written with elegance
and simplicity, purity and ease, and they abound with correct images,
such as the view of the country may inspire. There are many good
editions of this poet’s works, generally printed with those of
Moschus, the best of which is that of Heskin, 8vo, Oxford, 1748.
――――A soldier in Alexander’s army, &c. _Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 13.
――――A native of Propontis, in the age of Pherecydes.――――A native of
Abdera, disciple to Democritus. He first found out that there were
certain parts of the earth where there were six months of perpetual
light and darkness alternately.――――A man of Soli, who composed a
history of Æthiopia.――――Another of Syracuse, who wrote nine books
on rhetoric, which he called by the names of the muses, and hence
_Bionei sermones_ mentioned by _Horace_, bk. 2, ltr. 2, li. 60.
――_Diogenes Laërtius_, bk. 4.
=Birrhus.= _See:_ Cœlius.
=Bisaltæ=, a people of Scythia, or, according to some, of Thrace or
Macedonia. Their country is called Bisaltia. _Livy_, bk. 45, ch. 29.
――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 10.
=Bisaltes=, a man of Abydos, &c. _Herodotus_, bk. 6, ch. 26.
♦=Bisaltis=, a patronymic of Theophane, by whom Neptune, under the
form of a ram, had the golden ram. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 6,
li.117.――_Hyginus_, fable 18.
♦ ‘Bisaltes’ replaced with ‘Bisaltis’
=Bisanthe=, a town on the Hellespont. _Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 137.
=Biston=, son of Mars and Callirhoe, built _Bistonia_ in Thrace,
whence the Thracians are often called _Bistones_. _Herodotus_, bk. 7,
ch. 110.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 14.――_Lucan_, bk. 7, li. 569.
=Bistŏnis=, a lake of Thrace near Abdera. _Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 109.
=Bithus.= _See:_ Bacchius.
=Bithyæ=, a certain race of women of Scythia, whose eyes, as _Pliny_
reports, bk. 7, ch. 2, killed those who gazed upon them for some
time.
=Bithȳnia=, a country of Asia Minor, formerly called Bebrycia. It
was bounded by the Euxine on the north, on the south by Phrygia and
Mysia, on the west by the Propontis, and the east by Paphlagonia.
The country was first invaded by the Thracians, under Bithynus the
son of Jupiter, who gave it the name of Bithynia. It was once a
powerful kingdom. _Strabo_, bk. 12.――_Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 75.
――_Mela_, bks. 1 & 2. According to _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 9, the
inhabitants were descended from Mantinea in Peloponnesus.