[1] Rawlinson, _Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc._ ix. 114; Flandin and Coste,
_La Perse ancienne_, i. tab. 19; Dittenberger, _Orientis Graeci
inscr._ 431.
GOTHA, a town of Germany, alternately with Coburg the residence of the
dukes of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in a pleasant situation on the Leine canal,
6 m. N. of the slope of the Thuringian forest, 17 m. W. from Erfurt, on
the railway to Bebra-Cassel. Pop. (1905) 36,906. It consists of an old
inner town and encircling suburbs, and is dominated by the castle of
Friedenstein, lying on the Schlossberg at an elevation of 1100 ft. With
the exception of those in the older portion of the town, the streets are
handsome and spacious, and the beautiful gardens and promenades between
the suburbs and the castle add greatly to the town's attractiveness. To
the south of the castle there is an extensive and finely adorned park.
To the north-west of the town the Galberg--on which there is a public
pleasure garden--and to the south-west the Seeberg rise to a height of
over 1300 ft. and afford extensive views. The castle of Friedenstein,
begun by Ernest the Pious, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in 1643 and
completed in 1654, occupies the site of the old fortress of
Grimmenstein. It is a huge square building flanked with two wings,
having towers rising to the height of about 140 ft. It contains the
ducal cabinet of coins and the ducal library of nearly 200,000 volumes,
among which are several rare editions and about 6900 manuscripts. The
picture gallery, the cabinet of engravings, the natural history museum,
the Chinese museum, and the cabinet of art, which includes a collection
of Egyptian, Etruscan, Roman and German antiquities, are now included in
the new museum, completed in 1878, which stands on a terrace to the
south of the castle. The principal other public buildings are the church
of St Margaret with a beautiful portal and a lofty tower, founded in the
12th century, twice burnt down, and rebuilt in its present form in 1652;
the church of the Augustinian convent, with an altar-piece by the
painter Simon Jacobs; the theatre; the fire insurance bank and the life
insurance bank; the ducal palace, in the Italian villa style, with a
winter garden and picture gallery; the buildings of the ducal
legislature; the hospital; the old town-hall, dating from the 11th
century; the old residence of the painter Lucas Cranach, now used as a
girls' school; the ducal stable; and the Friedrichsthal palace, now used
as public offices. The educational establishments include a gymnasium
(founded in 1524, one of the most famous in Germany), two training
schools for teachers, conservatoires of music and several scientific
institutions. Gotha is remarkable for its insurance societies and for
the support it has given to cremation. The crematorium was long regarded
as a model for such establishments.
Gotha is one of the most active commercial towns of Thuringia, its
manufactures including sausages, for which it has a great reputation,
porcelain, tobacco, sugar, machinery, mechanical and surgical
instruments, musical instruments, shoes, lamps and toys. There are also
a number of nurseries and market gardens. The book trade is represented
by about a dozen firms, including that of the great geographical house
of Justus Perthes, founded in 1785.
Gotha (in old chronicles called _Gotegewe_ and later _Gotaha_) existed
as a village in the time of Charlemagne. In 930 its lord Gothard abbot
of Hersfeld surrounded it with walls. It was known as a town as early as
1200, about which time it came into the possession of the landgraves of
Thuringia. On the extinction of that line Gotha came into the possession
of the electors of Saxony, and it fell later to the Ernestine line of
dukes. After the battle of Muhlberg in 1547 the castle of Grimmenstein
was partly destroyed, but it was again restored in 1554. In 1567 the
town was taken from Duke John Frederick by the elector Augustus of
Saxony. After the death of John Frederick's sons, it came into the
possession of Duke Ernest the Pious, the founder of the line of the
dukes of Gotha; and on the extinction of this family it was united in
1825 along with the dukedom to Coburg.
See _Gotha und seine Umgebung_ (Gotha, 1851); Kuhne, _Beitrage zur
Geschichte der Entwicklung der socialen Zustande der Stadt und des
Herzogtums Gotha_ (Gotha, 1862); Humbert, _Les Villes de la Thuringe_
(Paris, 1869), and Beck, _Geschichte der Stadt Gotha_ (Gotha, 1870).
GOTHAM, WISE MEN OF, the early name given to the people of the village
of Gotham, Nottingham, in allusion to their reputed simplicity. But if
tradition is to be believed the Gothamites were not so very simple. The
story is that King John intended to live in the neighbourhood, but that
the villagers, foreseeing ruin as the cost of supporting the court,
feigned imbecility when the royal messengers arrived. Wherever the
latter went they saw the rustics engaged in some absurd task. John, on
this report, determined to have his hunting lodge elsewhere, and the
"wise men" boasted, "we ween there are more fools pass through Gotham
than remain in it." The "foles of Gotham" are mentioned as early as the
15th century in the _Towneley Mysteries_; and a collection of their
"jests" was published in the 16th century under the title _Merrie Tales
of the Mad Men of Gotham, gathered together by A.B., of Phisicke
Doctour_. The "A.B." was supposed to represent Andrew Borde or Boorde
(1490?-1549), famous among other things for his wit, but he probably had
nothing to do with the compilation. As typical of the Gothamite folly is
usually quoted the story of the villagers joining hands round a
thornbush to shut in a cuckoo so that it would sing all the year. The
localizing of fools is common to most countries, and there are many
other reputed "imbecile" centres in England besides Gotham. Thus there
are the people of Coggeshall, Essex, the "carles of Austwick,"
Yorkshire, "the gowks of Gordon," Berwickshire, and for many centuries
the charge of folly has been made against "silly" Suffolk and Norfolk
(_Descriptio Norfolciensium_ about 12th century, printed in Wright's
_Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems_). In Germany there are the
_Schildburgers_, in Holland the people of Kampen. Among the ancient
Greeks Boeotia was the home of fools; among the Thracians, Abdera; among
the ancient Jews, Nazareth.
See W. A. Clouston, _Book of Noodles_ (London, 1888); R. H.
Cunningham, _Amusing Prose Chap-books_ (1889).
GOTHENBURG (Swed. _Goteborg_), a city and seaport of Sweden, on the
river Gota, 5 m. above its mouth in the Cattegat, 285 m. S.W. of
Stockholm by rail, and 360 by the Gota canal-route. Pop. (1900) 130,619.
It is the chief town of the district (_lan_) of Goteborg och Bohus, and
the seat of a bishop. It lies on the east or left bank of the river,
which is here lined with quays on both sides, those on the west
belonging to the large island of Hisingen, contained between arms of the
Gota. On this island are situated the considerable suburbs of Lindholmen
and Lundby.
The city itself stretches east and south from the river, with extensive
and pleasant residential suburbs, over a wooded plain enclosed by low
hills. The inner city, including the business quarter, is contained
almost entirely between the river and the Rosenlunds canal, continued in
the Vallgraf, the moat of the old fortifications; and is crossed by the
Storahamn, Ostrahamn and Vestrahamn canals. The Storahamn is flanked by
the handsome tree-planted quays, Norra and Sodra Hamngatan. The first of
these, starting from the Stora Bommenshamn, where the sea-going
passenger-steamers lie, leads past the museum to the Gustaf-Adolfs-Torg.
The museum, in the old East India Company's house, has fine collections
in natural history, entomology, botany, anatomy, archaeology and
ethnography, a picture and sculpture gallery, and exhibits of coins and
industrial art. Gustaf-Adolfs-Torg is the business centre, and contains
the town-hail (1670) and exchange (1849). Here are statues by B. E.
Fogelberg of Gustavus Adolphus and of Odin, and of Oscar I. by J. P.
Molin. Among several churches in this quarter of the city is the
cathedral (_Gustavii Domkyrka_), a cruciform church founded in 1633 and
rebuilt after fires in 1742 and 1815. Here are also the customs-house
and residence of the governor of the _lan_. On the north side, closely
adjacent, are the Lilla Bommenshamn, where the Gota canal steamers lie,
and the two principal railway stations, Statens and Bergslafs Bangard.
Above the Rosenlunds canal rises a low, rocky eminence, Lilla
Otterhalleberg. The inner city is girdled on the south and east by the
Kungspark, which contains Molin's famous group of statuary, the
Belt-bucklers (_Baltespannare_), and by the beautiful gardens of the
Horticultural Society (_Tradgardsforeningen_). These grounds are
traversed by the broad Nya Alle, a favourite promenade, and beyond them
lies the best residential quarter, the first houses facing Vasa Street,
Vasa Park and Kungsport Avenue. At the north end of the last are the
university and the New theatre. At the west end of Vasa Street is the
city library, the most important in the country except the royal library
at Stockholm and the university libraries at Upsala and Lund. The
suburbs are extensive. To the south-west are Majorna and Masthugget,
with numerous factories. Beyond these lie the fine Slottskog Park,
planted with oaks, and picturesquely broken by rocky hills commanding
views of the busy river and the city. The suburb of Annedal is the
workmen's quarter; others are Landala, Garda and Stampen. All are
connected with the city by electric tramways. Six railways leave the
city from four stations. The principal lines, from the Statens and
Bergslafs stations, run N. to Trollhattan, and into Norway
(Christiania); N.E. between Lakes Vener and Vetter to Stockholm, Falun
and the north; E. to Boras and beyond, and S. by the coast to
Helsingborg, &c. From the Vestgota station a narrow-gauge line runs N.E.
to Skara and the southern shores of Vener, and from Saro station near
Slottskog Park a line serves Saro, a seaside watering-place on an island
20 m. S. of Gothenburg.
The city has numerous important educational establishments. The
university (_Hogskola_) was a private foundation (1891), but is governed
by a board, the members of which are nominated by the state, the town
council, Royal Society of Science and Literature, directors of the
museum, and the staffs of the various local colleges. There are several
boys' schools, a college for girls, a scientific college, a commercial
college (1826), a school of navigation, and Chalmers' Polytechnical
College, founded by William Chalmers (1748-1811), a native of Gothenburg
of English parentage. He bequeathed half his fortune to this
institution, and the remainder to the Sahlgrenska hospital. A people's
library was founded by members of the family of Dickson, several of whom
have taken a prominent part in philanthropical works in the city. The
connexion of the family with Gothenburg dates from 1802, when Robert
Dickson, a native of Montrose in Scotland, founded the business in which
he was joined in 1807 by his brother James.
In respect of industry and commerce as a whole Gothenburg ranks as
second to Stockholm in the kingdom; but it is actually the principal
centre of export trade and port of register; and as a manufacturing town
it is slightly inferior to Malmo. Its principal industrial
establishments are mechanical works (both in the city and at Lundby),
saw-mills, dealing with the timber which is brought down the Gota,
flour-mills, margarine factories, breweries and distilleries, tobacco
works, cotton mills, dyeing and bleaching works (at Levanten in the
vicinity), furniture factories, paper and leather works, and
shipbuilding yards. The vessels registered at the port in 1901 were 247
of 120,488 tons. There are about 3 m. of quays approachable by vessels
drawing 20 ft., and slips for the accommodation of large vessels.
Gothenburg is the principal port of embarkation of Swedish emigrants for
America.
The city is governed by a council including two mayors, and returns nine
members to the second chamber of the Riksdag (parliament).
Founded by Gustavus Adolphus in 1619, Gothenburg was from the first
designed to be fortified, a town of the same name founded on Hisingen in
1603 having been destroyed by the Danes during the Calmar war. From
1621, when it was first chartered, it steadily increased, though it
suffered greatly in the Danish wars of the last half of the 17th and the
beginning of the 18th centuries, and from several extensive
conflagrations (the last in 1813), which have destroyed important
records of its history. The great development of its herring fishery in
the latter part of the 18th century gave a new impulse to the city's
trade, which was kept up by the influence of the "Continental System,"
under which Gothenburg became a depot for the colonial merchandise of
England. After the fall of Napoleon it began to decline, but after its
closer connexion with the interior of the country by the Gota canal
(opened 1832) and Western railway it rapidly advanced both in population
and trade. Since the demolition of its fortifications in 1807, it has
been defended only by some small forts. Gothenburg was the birthplace of
the poet Bengt Lidner (1757-1793) and two of Sweden's greatest
sculptors, Bengt Erland Fogelberg (1786-1854) and Johann Peter Molin
(1814-1873). After the French Revolution Gothenburg was for a time the
residence of the Bourbon family. The name of this city is associated
with the municipal licensing system known as the Gothenburg System (see
LIQUOR LAWS).
See W. Berg, _Samlingar till Goteborgs historia_ (Gothenburg, 1893);
Lagerberg, _Goteborg i aldre och nyare tid_ (Gothenburg, 1902);
Froding, _Det forna Goteborg_ (Stockholm, 1903).
GOTHIC, the term generally applied to medieval architecture, and more
especially to that in which the pointed arch appears. The style was at
one time supposed to have originated with the warlike people known as
the Goths, some of whom (the East Goths, or Ostrogoths) settled in the
eastern portion of Europe, and others (the West Goths, or Visigoths) in
the Asturias of Spain; but as no buildings or remains of any description
have ever been found, in which there are any traces of an independent
construction in either brick or stone, the title is misleading; since,
however, it is now so generally accepted it would be difficult to change
it. The term when first employed was one of reproach, as Evelyn (1702)
when speaking of the faultless building (i.e. classic) says, "they were
demolished by the Goths or Vandals, who introduced their own licentious
style now called modern or Gothic." The employment of the pointed arch
in Syria, Egypt and Sicily from the 8th century onwards by the
Mahommedans for their mosques and gateways, some four centuries before
it made its appearance in Europe, also makes it advisable to adhere to
the old term Gothic in preference to Pointed Architecture. (See
ARCHITECTURE)
GOTHITE, or GOETHITE, a mineral composed of an iron hydrate, Fe2O3.H2O,
crystallizing in the orthorhombic system and isomorphous with diaspore
and manganite (q.v.). It was first noticed in 1789, and in 1806 was
named after the poet Goethe. Crystals are prismatic, acicular or scaly
in habit; they have a perfect cleavage parallel to the brachypinacoid (M
in the figure). Reniform and stalactitic masses with a radiated fibrous
structure also occur. The colour varies from yellowish or reddish to
blackish-brown, and by transmitted light it is often blood-red; the
streak is brownish-yellow; hardness, 5; specific gravity, 4.3. The best
crystals are the brilliant, blackish-brown prisms with terminal
pyramidal planes (fig.) from the Restormel iron mines at Lostwithiel,
and the Botallack mine at St Just in Cornwall. A variety occurring as
thin red scales at Siegen in Westphalia is known as Rubinglimmer or
pyrrhosiderite (from Gr. [Greek: pyrros], flame-coloured, and [Greek:
sideros], iron): a scaly-fibrous variety from the same locality is
called lepidocrocite (from [Greek: lepis], scale, and [Greek: krokis],
fibre). Sammetblende or przibramite is a variety, from Przibram in
Bohemia, consisting of delicate acicular or capillary crystals arranged
in radiating groups with a velvety surface and yellow colour.
[Illustration]
Gothite occurs with other iron oxides, especially limonite and hematite,
and when found in sufficient quantity is mined with these as an ore of
iron. It often occurs also as an enclosure in other minerals. Acicular
crystals, resembling rutile in appearance, sometimes penetrate crystals
of pale-coloured amethyst, for instance, at Wolf's Island in Lake Onega
in Russia: this form of the mineral has long been known as onegite, and
the crystals enclosing it are cut for ornamental purposes under the name
of "Cupid's darts" (_fleches d'amour_). The metallic glitter of
avanturine or sun-stone (q.v.) is due to the enclosed scales of gothite
and certain other minerals. (L. J. S.)