care of the government after the death of a king, till the election
of another. This office was exercised by the senators alone, and
none continued in power longer than five days, or, according to
Plutarch, only 12 hours. The first interrex mentioned in Roman
history, is after the death of Romulus, when the Romans quarrelled
with the Sabines concerning the choice of a king. There was
sometimes an interrex during the consular government; but this
happened only to hold assemblies in the absence of the magistrates,
or when the election of any of the acting officers was disputed.
_Livy_, bk. 1, ch. 17.――_Dionysius of Halicarnassus_, bk. 2, ch. 15.
=Inui castrum.= _See:_ Castrum Inui. It received its name from Inuus,
a divinity supposed to be the same as the Faunus of the Latins, and
worshipped in this city.
=Inȳcus=, a city of Sicily. _Herodotus_.
=Io=, daughter of Inachus, or, according to others, of Jasus or
Pirenes, was priestess of Juno at Argos. Jupiter became enamoured
of her; but Juno, jealous of his intrigues, discovered the object
of his affections, and surprised him in the company of Io, though
he had shrouded himself in all the obscurity of clouds and thick
mists. Jupiter changed his mistress into a beautiful heifer; and
the goddess, who well knew the fraud, obtained from her husband the
animal whose beauty she had condescended to commend. Juno commanded
the hundred-eyed Argus to watch the heifer; but Jupiter, anxious for
the situation of Io, sent Mercury to destroy Argus, and to restore
her to liberty. _See:_ Argus. Io, freed from the vigilance of Argus,
was now persecuted by Juno; who sent one of the furies, or rather
a malicious insect, to torment her. She wandered over the greatest
part of the earth, and crossed over the sea, till at last she
stopped on the banks of the Nile, still exposed to the unceasing
torments of Juno’s insect. Here she entreated Jupiter to restore her
to her ancient form; and when the god had changed her from a heifer
into a woman, she brought forth Epaphus. Afterwards she married
Telegonus king of Egypt, or Osiris, according to others, and she
treated her subjects with such mildness and humanity, that after
death she received divine honours, and was worshipped under the name
of Isis. According to Herodotus, Io was carried away by Phœnician
merchants, who wished to make reprisals for Europa, who had been
stolen from them by the Greeks. Some suppose that Io never came
to Egypt. She is sometimes called _Phoronis_, from her brother
Phoroneus. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 1, li. 748.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 1, ch. 25; bk. 3, ch. 18.――_Moschus._――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2,
ch. 1.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 789.――_Hyginus_, fable 145.
=Iobates= and =Jobates=, a king of Lycia, father of Stenobœa, the
wife of Prœtus king of Argos. He was succeeded on the throne by
Bellerophon, to whom he had given one of his daughters, called
Philonoe, in marriage. _See:_ Bellerophon. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2,
ch. 2.――_Hyginus_, fable 57.
=Iobes=, a son of Hercules by a daughter of Thespius. He died in his
youth. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 7.
=Jocasta=, a daughter of Menœceus, who married Laius king of Thebes,
by whom she had Œdipus. She afterwards married her son Œdipus,
without knowing who he was, and had by him Eteocles, Polynices,
&c. _See:_ Laius, Œdipus. When she discovered that she had married
her own son, and had been guilty of incest, she hanged herself in
despair. She is called _Epicasta_ by some mythologists. _Statius_,
_Thebiad_, bk. 8, li. 42.――_Seneca_ & _Sophocles_, _Œdipus_.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 5.――_Hyginus_, fable 66, &c.――_Homer_,
_Odyssey_, bk. 11.
=Iolaia=, a festival at Thebes, the same as that called Heracleia.
It was instituted in honour of Hercules and his friend Iolas, who
assisted him in conquering the hydra. It continued during several
days, on the first of which were offered solemn sacrifices. The
next day horse-races and athletic exercises were exhibited. The
following day was set apart for wrestling; the victors were crowned
with garlands of myrtle, generally used at funeral solemnities. They
were sometimes rewarded with tripods of brass. The place where the
exercises were exhibited was called Iolaion, where there were to be
seen the monument of Amphitryon, and the cenotaph of Iolas, who was
buried in Sardinia. These monuments were strewed with garlands and
flowers on the day of the festival.
=Iŏlas=, or =Iolāus=, a son of Iphiclus king of Thessaly, who assisted
Hercules in conquering the hydra, and burnt with a hot iron the
place where the heads had been cut off, to prevent the growth of
others. _See:_ Hydra. He was restored to his youth and vigour by
Hebe, at the request of his friend Hercules. Some time afterwards,
Iolas assisted the Heraclidæ against Eurystheus, and killed the
tyrant with his own hand. According to Plutarch, Iolas had a
monument in Bœotia and Phocis, where lovers used to go and bind
themselves by the most solemn oaths of fidelity, considering the
place as sacred to love and friendship. According to Diodorus and
Pausanias, Iolas died and was buried in Sardinia, where he had gone
to make a settlement at the head of the sons of Hercules by the 50
daughters of Thespius. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 9, li. 399.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 4.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 17.――――A
compiler of a Phœnician history.――――A friend of Æneas, killed by
Catillus in the Rutulian wars. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 11, li. 640.
――――A son of Antipater, cup-bearer to Alexander. _Plutarch._
=Iolchos=, a town of Magnesia, above Demetrias, where Jason was born.
It was founded by Cretheus son of Æolus and Enaretta. Mela mentions
it as at some distance from the sea, though all the other ancient
geographers place it on the sea-shore. _Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 2.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――_Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Mela_, bk. 2,
ch. 3.――_Lucan_, bk. 3, li. 192.
=Iŏle=, a daughter of Eurytus king of Œchalia. Her father promised her
in marriage to Hercules, but he refused to perform his engagements,
and Iole was carried away by force. _See:_ Eurytus. It was to
extinguish the love of Hercules for Iole that Dejanira sent him the
poisoned tunic, which caused his death. _See:_ Hercules and Dejanira.
After the death of Hercules, Iole married his son Hyllus by Dejanira.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Ovid_ _Metamorphoses_, bk. 9, li. 279.
=Ion=, a son of Xuthus and Creusa daughter of Erechtheus, who married
Helice, the daughter of Selinus king of Ægiale. He succeeded on
the throne of his father-in-law, and built a city, which he called
Helice, on account of his wife. His subjects from him received the
name of Ionians, and the country that of Ionia. _See:_ Iones and
Ionia. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 7.――_Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 1.
――_Strabo_, bk. 7.――_Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 94; bk. 8, ch. 44.――――A
tragic poet of Chios, whose tragedies, when represented at Athens,
met with universal applause. He is mentioned and greatly commended
by Aristophanes and Athenæus, &c. _Athenæus_, bk. 10, &c.――――A
native of Ephesus, introduced in Plato’s dialogues as reasoning with
Socrates.
=Iōne=, one of the Nereides.
=Iōnes=, a name originally given to the subjects of Ion, who dwelt
at Helice. In the age of Ion the Athenians made a war against the
people of Eleusis, and implored his aid against their enemies. Ion
conquered the Eleusinians and Eumolpus, who was at their head; and
the Athenians, sensible of his services, invited him to come and
settle among them; and the more strongly to show their affection,
they assumed the name of Ionians. Some suppose that, after this
victory, Ion passed into Asia Minor, at the head of a colony. When
the Achæans were driven from Peloponnesus by the Heraclidæ, 80 years
after the Trojan war, they came to settle among the Ionians, who
were then masters of Ægialus. They were soon dispossessed of their
territories by the Achæans, and went to Attica, where they met with
a cordial reception. Their migration from Greece to Asia Minor was
about 60 years after the return of the Heraclidæ, B.C. 1044, and 80
years after the departure of the Æolians; and they therefore finally
settled themselves, after a wandering life of about 30 years.
=Iōnia=, a country of Asia Minor, bounded on the north by Æolia, on
the west by the Ægean and Icarian seas, on the south by Caria, and
on the east by Lydia and part of Caria. It was founded by colonies
from Greece, and particularly Attica, by the Ionians, or subjects
of Ion. Ionia was divided into 12 small states, which formed a
celebrated confederacy, often mentioned by the ancients. These 12
states were Priene, Miletus, Colophon, Clazomenæ, Ephesus, Lebedos,
Teos, Phocæa, Erythræ, Smyrna, and the capitals of Samos and Chios.
The inhabitants of Ionia built a temple, which they called _Pan
Ionium_, from the concourse of people that flocked there from every
part of Ionia. After they had enjoyed for some time their freedom
and independence, they were made tributary to the power of Lydia
by Crœsus. The Athenians assisted them to shake off the slavery of
the Asiatic monarchs; but they soon forgot their duty and relation
to their mother country, and joined Xerxes when he invaded Greece.
They were delivered from the Persian yoke by Alexander, and restored
to their original independence. They were reduced by the Romans
under the dictator Sylla. Ionia has been always celebrated for
the salubrity of the climate, the fruitfulness of the ground, and
the genius of its inhabitants. _Herodotus_, bk. 1, chs. 6 & 28.
――_Strabo_, bk. 14.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 2, &c.――_Pausanias_, bk. 7,
ch. 1.――――An ancient name given to Hellas, or Achaia, because it was
for some time the residence of the Ionians.
=Iōnium mare=, a part of the Mediterranean sea, at the bottom of the
Adriatic, lying between Sicily and Greece. That part of the Ægean
sea which lies on the coast of Ionia, in Asia, is called the _sea
of Ionia_, and not the _Ionian sea_. According to some authors, the
Ionian sea receives its name from Io, who swam across there, after
she had been metamorphosed into a heifer. _Strabo_, bk. 7, &c.
――_Dionysius Periegetes._
=Iōpas=, a king of Africa, among the suitors of Dido. He was an
excellent musician, poet, and philosopher, and he exhibited his
superior abilities at the entertainment which Dido gave to Æneas.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 744.
=Iōpe= and =Joppa=, now _Jafa_, a famous town of Phœnicia, more
ancient than the deluge, according to some traditions. It was about
40 miles from the capital of Judæa, and was remarkable for a seaport
much frequented, though very dangerous on account of the great rocks
that lie before it. _Strabo_, bk. 16, &c.――_Propertius_, bk. 2,
poem 28, li. 51.――――A daughter of Iphicles, who married Theseus.
_Plutarch._
=Iŏphon=, a son of Sophocles, who accused his father of imprudence
in the management of his affairs, &c. _Lucian_, _de Macrobii_.――――A
poet of Gnossus, in Crete. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 34.
=Jordānes=, a river of Judæa, illustrious in sacred history. It rises
near mount Libanus, and after running through the lake Samachonitis,
and that of Tiberias, it falls, after a course of 150 miles, into
the Dead sea. _Strabo_, bk. 16.
=Jornandes=, an historian who wrote a book on the Goths. He died
A.D. 552.
=Ios=, now _Nio_, an island in the Myrtoan sea, at the south of Naxos,
celebrated, as some say, for the tomb of Homer, and the birth of his
mother. _Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12.
=Josēphus Flavius=, a celebrated Jew, born in Jerusalem, who
signalized his military abilities in supporting a siege of 47 days
against Vespasian and Titus, in a small town of Judæa. When the city
surrendered, there were not found less than 40,000 Jews slain, and
the number of captives amounted to 1200. Josephus saved his life
by flying into a cave, where 40 of his countrymen had also taken
refuge. He dissuaded them from committing suicide, and when they had
all drawn lots to kill one another, Josephus fortunately remained
the last, and surrendered himself to Vespasian. He gained the
conqueror’s esteem, by foretelling that he would become one day
the master of the Roman empire. Josephus was present at the siege
of Jerusalem by Titus, and received all the sacred books which it
contained from the conqueror’s hands. He came to Rome with Titus,
where he was honoured with the name and privileges of a Roman
citizen. Here he made himself esteemed by the emperors Vespasian
and Titus, and dedicated his time to study. He wrote the history of
the wars of the Jews, first in Syriac, and afterwards translated it
into Greek. This composition so pleased Titus, that he authenticated
it by placing his signature upon it, and preserving it in one of
the public libraries. He finished another work, which he divided
into 20 books, containing the history of the Jewish antiquities, in
some places subversive of the authority and miracles mentioned in
the scriptures. He also wrote two books to defend the Jews against
Apion their greatest enemy; besides an account of his own life, &c.
Josephus has been admired for his lively and animated style, the
bold propriety of his expressions, the exactness of his descriptions,
and the persuasive eloquence of his orations. He has been called the
Livy of the Greeks. Though in some cases inimical to the christians,
yet he has commended our Saviour so warmly, that St. Jerome calls
him a christian writer. Josephus died A.D. 93, in the 56th year of
his age. The best editions of his works are Hudson’s, 2 vols., folio,
Oxford, 1720, and Havercamp’s, 2 vols., folio, Amsterdam, 1726.
_Suetonius_, _Vespasian_, &c.
=Joviānus Flavius Claudius=, a native of Pannonia, elected emperor of
Rome by the soldiers after the death of Julian. He at first refused
to be invested with the imperial purple, because his subjects
followed the religious principles of the late emperor; but they
removed his groundless apprehensions, and when they assured him
that they were warm for christianity, he accepted the crown. He
made a disadvantageous treaty with the Persians, against whom Julian
was marching with a victorious army. Jovian died seven months and
20 days after his ascension, and was found in his bed suffocated
by the vapour of charcoal, which had been lighted in the room,
A.D. 364. Some attribute his death to intemperance, and say that he
was the son of a baker. He burned a celebrated library at Antioch.
_Marcellinus._
=Iphianassa=, a daughter of Prœtus king of Argos, who, with her
sisters Iphinoe and Lysippe, ridiculed Juno, &c. _See:_ Prœtides.
――――The wife of Endymion.
=Iphĭclus=, or =Iphicles=, a son of Amphitryon and Alcmena, born at
the same birth with Hercules. As these two children were together
in the cradle, Juno, jealous of Hercules, sent two large serpents
to destroy him. At the sight of the serpents, Iphicles alarmed the
house; but Hercules, though not a year old, boldly seized them,
one in each hand, and squeezed them to death. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2,
ch. 4.――_Theocritus._――――A king of Phylace, in Phthiotis, son of
Phylacus and Clymene. He had bulls famous for their bigness, and
the monster which kept them. Melampus, at the request of his brother
[_See:_ Melampus], attempted to steal them away, but he was caught
in the act, and imprisoned. Iphicles soon received some advantages
from the prophetical knowledge of his prisoner, and not only
restored him to liberty, but also presented him with the oxen.
Iphicles, who was childless, learned from the soothsayer how
to become a father. He had married Automedusa, and afterwards
a daughter of Creon king of Thebes. He was father to Podarce
and Protesilaus. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 11; _Iliad_, bk. 13.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――_Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 36.――――A
son of Thestius king of Pleuron. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 1.
=Iphicrătes=, a celebrated general of Athens, who, though son of
a shoemaker, rose from the lowest station to the highest offices
in the state. He made war against the Thracians, obtained some
victories over the Spartans, and assisted the Persian king against
Egypt. He changed the dress and arms of his soldiers, and rendered
them more alert and expeditious in using their weapons. He married
a daughter of Cotys king of Thrace, by whom he had a son called
Mnesteus, and died 380 B.C. When he was once reproached for the
meanness of his origin, he observed that he would be the first of
his family, but that his detractor would be the last of his own.
_Cornelius Nepos_, _Iphicrates_.――――A sculptor of Athens.――――An
Athenian sent to Darius III. king of Persia, &c. _Curtius_, bk. 3,
ch. 13.
=Iphĭdămus=, a son of Antenor and Theano, killed by Agamemnon. _Homer_,
_Iliad_, bk. 11.
=Iphĭdĕmīa=, a Thessalian woman, ravished by the Naxians, &c.
=Iphĭgēnĭa=, a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. When the
Greeks, going to the Trojan war, were detained by contrary winds at
Aulis, they were informed by one of the soothsayers, that to appease
the gods, they must sacrifice Iphigenia, Agamemnon’s daughter, to
Diana. _See:_ Agamemnon. The father, who had provoked the goddess
by killing her favourite stag, heard this with the greatest horror
and indignation, and rather than to shed the blood of his daughter,
he commanded one of his heralds, as chief of the Grecian forces,
to order all the assembly to depart each to his respective home.
Ulysses and the other generals interfered, and Agamemnon consented
to immolate his daughter for the common cause of Greece. As
Iphigenia was tenderly loved by her mother, the Greeks sent for
her on pretence of giving her in marriage to Achilles. Clytemnestra
gladly permitted her departure, and Iphigenia came to Aulis: here
she saw the bloody preparations for the sacrifice; she implored the
forgiveness and protection of her father, but tears and entreaties
were unavailing. Calchas took the knife in his hand, and as he was
going to strike the fatal blow, Iphigenia suddenly disappeared,
and a goat of uncommon size and beauty was found in her place for
the sacrifice. This supernatural change animated the Greeks, the
wind suddenly became favourable, and the combined fleet set sail
from Aulis. Iphigenia’s innocence had raised the compassion of
the goddess on whose altar she was going to be sacrificed, and she
carried her to Taurica, where she entrusted her with the care of her
temple. In this sacred office Iphigenia was obliged, by the command
of Diana, to sacrifice all the strangers who came into that country.
Many had already been offered as victims on the bloody altar, when
Orestes and Pylades came to Taurica. Their mutual and unparalleled
friendship [_See:_ Pylades and Orestes] disclosed to Iphigenia
that one of the strangers whom she was going to sacrifice was her
brother; and, upon this, she conspired with the two friends to
fly from the barbarous country, and carry away the statue of the
goddess. They successfully effected their enterprise, and murdered
Thoas, who enforced the human sacrifices. According to some authors,
the Iphigenia who was sacrificed at Aulis was not a daughter of
Agamemnon, but a daughter of Helen by ♦Theseus. Homer does not speak
of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, though very minute in the description
of the Grecian forces, adventures, &c. The statue of Diana, which
Iphigenia brought away, was afterwards placed in the grove of
Aricia in Italy. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 22; bk. 3, ch. 16.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 31.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 2, ch. 116.
――_Aeschylus._――_Euripides._
♦ ‘Thesus’ replaced with ‘Theseus’
=Iphĭmĕdīa=, a daughter of Tropias, who married the giant Alœus. She
fled from her husband, and had two sons, Otus and Ephialtes, by
Neptune, her father’s father. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 11, li. 124.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 22.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 7.
=Iphimedon=, a son of Eurystheus, killed in a war against the Athenians
and Heraclidæ. _Apollodorus._
=Iphĭmĕdūsa=, one of the daughters of Danaus, who married Euchenor.
_See:_ Danaides.
=Iphinoe=, one of the principal women of Lemnos, who conspired to
destroy all the males of the island after their return from a
Thracian expedition. _Flaccus_, bk. 2, li. 163.――――One of the
daughters of Prœtus. She died of a disease while under the care of
Melampus. _See:_ Prœtides.
=Iphinous=, one of the centaurs. _Ovid._
=Iphis=, son of Alector, succeeded his father on the throne of Argos.
He advised Polynices, who wished to engage Amphiaraus in the Theban
war, to bribe his wife Eriphyle, by giving her the golden collar
of Harmonia. This succeeded, and Eriphyle betrayed her husband.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 3.――_Flaccus_, bks. 1, 3, & 7.――――A beautiful
youth of Salamis, of ignoble birth. He became enamoured of Anaxarete,
and the coldness and contempt he met with rendered him so desperate
that he hung himself. Anaxarete saw him carried to his grave
without emotion, and was instantly changed into a stone. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 14, li. 703.――――A daughter of Thespius.
_Apollodorus._――――A mistress of Patroclus, given him by Achilles.
_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 9.――――A daughter of Ligdus and Telethusa, of
Crete. When Telethusa was pregnant, Ligdus ordered her to destroy
her child, if it proved a daughter, because his poverty could
not afford to maintain a useless charge. The severe orders of her
husband alarmed Telethusa, and she would have obeyed, had not Isis
commanded her in a dream to spare the life of her child. Telethusa
brought forth a daughter, which was given to a nurse, and passed
for a boy under the name of Iphis. Ligdus continued ignorant of the
deceit, and when Iphis was come to the years of puberty, her father
resolved to give her in marriage to Ianthe, the beautiful daughter
of Telestes. A day to celebrate the nuptials was appointed, but
Telethusa and her daughter were equally anxious to put off the
marriage; and, when all was unavailing, they implored the assistance
of Isis, by whose advice the life of Iphis had been preserved. The
goddess was moved; she changed the sex of Iphis, and, on the morrow,
the nuptials were consummated with the greatest rejoicings. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 9, li. 666, &c.
=Iphition=, an ally of the Trojans, son of Otryntheus and Nais, killed
by Achilles. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 20, li. 382.
=Iphĭtus=, a son of Eurytus king of Œchalia. When his father had
promised his daughter Iole to him who could overcome him or his sons
in drawing the bow, Hercules accepted the challenge, and came off
victorious. Eurytus refused his daughter to the conqueror, observing
that Hercules had killed one of his wives in a fury, and that Iole
might perhaps share the same fate. Some time after, Autolycus stole
away the oxen of Eurytus, and Hercules was suspected of the theft.
Iphitus was sent in quest of the oxen, and in his search he met with
Hercules, whose good favours he had gained by advising Eurytus to
give Iole to the conqueror. Hercules assisted Iphitus in seeking
the lost animals; but when he recollected the ingratitude of Eurytus,
he killed Iphitus by throwing him down from the walls of Tirynthus.
_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 21.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 6.――――A
Trojan, who survived the ruin of his country, and fled with Æneas
to Italy. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 2, li. 340, &c.――――A king of Elis,
son of Praxonides, in the age of Lycurgus. He re-established the
olympic games 338 years after their institution by Hercules, or
about 884 years before the christian era. This epoch is famous in
chronological history, as everything previous to it seems involved
in fabulous obscurity. _Paterculus_, bk. 1, ch. 8.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 5, ch. 4.
=Iphthime=, a sister of Penelope, who married Eumelus. She appeared,
by the power of Minerva, to her sister in a dream, to comfort her
in the absence of her son Telemachus. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 4,
li. 795.
=Ipsea=, the mother of Medea. _Ovid_, _Heroides_, poem 17, li. 232.
=Ipsus=, a place of Phrygia, celebrated for a battle which was fought
there, about 301 years before the christian era, between Antigonus
and his son, and Seleucus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cassander. The
former led into the field an army of above 70,000 foot and 10,000
horse, with 75 elephants. The latter’s forces consisted of above
64,000 infantry, besides 10,500 horse, 400 elephants, and 120
armed chariots. Antigonus and his son were defeated. _Plutarch_,
_Demetrius_.