[1] The date is determined by the poem on the death of Quintilius
Varus (who died 24 B.C.), and by the reference in _Ode_ i. 12 to the
young Marcellus (died in autumn 23 B.C.) as still alive. Cf.
Wickham's Introduction to the _Odes_.
HORAE (Lat. _hora_, hour), the Hours, in Greek mythology [Greek: Horai],
originally the personification of a series of natural phenomena. In the
_Iliad_ (v. 749) they are the custodians of the gates of Olympus, which
they open or shut by scattering or condensing the clouds; that is, they
are weather goddesses, who send down or withhold the fertilizing dews
and rain. In the _Odyssey_, where they are represented as bringing round
the seasons in regular order, they are an abstraction rather than a
concrete personification. The brief notice in Hesiod (_Theog._ 901),
where they are called the children of Zeus and Themis, who superintend
the operations of agriculture, indicates by the names assigned to them
(Eunomia, Dike, Eirene, i.e. Good Order, Justice, Peace) the extension
of their functions as goddesses of order from nature to the events of
human life, and at the same time invests them with moral attributes.
Like the Moerae (Fates), they regulate the destinies of man, watch over
the newly born, secure good laws and the administration of justice. The
selection of three as their number has been supposed to refer to the
most ancient division of the year into spring, summer and winter, but it
is probably only another instance of the Greek liking for that
particular number or its multiples in such connexions (three Moerae,
Charites, Gorgons, nine Muses). Order and regularity being indispensable
conditions of beauty, it was easy to conceive of the Horae as the
goddesses of youthful bloom and grace, inseparably associated with the
idea of springtime. As such they are companions of the Nymphs and
Graces, with whom they are often confounded, and of other superior
deities connected with the spring growth of vegetation (Demeter,
Dionysus). At Athens they were two (or three) in number: Thallo and
Carpo, the goddesses of the flowers of spring and of the fruits of
summer, to whom Auxo, the goddess of the growth of plants, may be added,
although some authorities make her only one of the Graces. In honour of
the Horae a yearly festival (Horaea) was celebrated, at which protection
was sought against the scorching heat and drought, and offerings were
made of boiled meat as less insipid and more nutritious than roast. In
later mythology, under Alexandrian influence, the Horae become the four
seasons, daughters of Helios and Selene, each represented with the
conventional attributes. Subsequently, when the day was divided into
twelve equal parts, each of them took the name of Hora. Ovid (_Metam._
ii. 26) describes them as placed at equal intervals on the throne of
Phoebus, with whom are also associated the four seasons. Nonnus (5th
century A.D.) in the _Dionysiaca_ also unites the twelve Horae as
representing the day and the four Horae as the seasons in the palace of
Helios.
See C. Lehrs, _Populare Aufsatze_ (1856); J. H. Krause, _Die Musen,
Grazien, Horen, und Nymphen_ (1871); and the articles in Daremberg and
Saglio's _Dictionnaire des antiquites_, J. A. Hild; and in Roscher's
_Lexikon der Mythologie_, W. Rapp.
HORAPOLLON, of Phaenebythis in the nome of Panopolis in Egypt, Greek
grammarian, flourished in the 4th century A.D. during the reign of
Theodosius I. According to Suidas, he wrote commentaries on Sophocles,
Alcaeus and Homer, and a work ([Greek: Temenika]) on places consecrated
to the gods. Photius (cod. 279), who calls him a dramatist as well as a
grammarian, ascribes to him a history of the foundation and antiquities
of Alexandria (unless this is by an Egyptian of the same name, who lived
In the reign of Zeno, 474-491). Under the name of Horapollon two books
on _Hieroglyphics_ are extant, which profess to be a translation from an
Egyptian original into Greek by a certain Philippus, of whom nothing is
known. The inferior Greek of the translation, and the character of the
additions in the second book point to its being of late date; some have
even assigned it to the 15th century. Though a very large proportion of
the statements seem absurd and cannot be accounted for by anything known
in the latest and most fanciful usage, yet there is ample evidence in
both the books, in individual cases, that the tradition of the values of
the hieroglyphic signs was not yet extinct in the days of their author.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Editions by C. Leemans (1835) and A. T. Cory (1840)
with English translation and notes; see also G. Rathgeber in Ersch and
Gruber's _Allgemeine Encyclopadie_; H. Schafer, _Zeitschrift fur
agyptische Sprache_ (1905), p. 72.
HORATII and CURIATII, in Roman legend, two sets of three brothers born
at one birth on the same day--the former Roman, the latter Alban--the
mothers being twin sisters. During the war between Rome and Alba Longa
it was agreed that the issue should depend on a combat between the two
families. Two of the Horatii were soon slain; the third brother feigned
flight, and when the Curiatii, who were all wounded, pursued him without
concert he slew them one by one. When he entered Rome in triumph, his
sister recognized a cloak which he was wearing as a trophy as one she
had herself made for her lover, one of the Curiatii. She thereupon
invoked a curse upon her brother, who slew her on the spot. Horatius was
condemned to be scourged to death, but on his appealing to the people
his life was spared (Livy i. 25, 26; Dion. Halic. iii. 13-22). Monuments
of the tragic story were shown by the Romans in the time of Livy (the
altar of Janus Curiatius near the _sororium tigillum_, the "sister's
beam," or yoke under which Horatius had to pass; and the altar of Juno
Sororia). The legend was probably invented to account for the origin of
the _provocatio_ (right of appeal to the people), while at the same time
it points to the close connexion and final struggle for supremacy
between the older city on the mountain and the younger city on the
plain. Their relationship and origin from three tribes are symbolically
represented by the twin sisters and the two sets of three brothers.
For a critical examination of the story, see Schwegler, _Romische
Geschichte_, bk. xii. 11. 14; Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, _Credibility of
Early Roman History_, ch. xi. 15; W. Ihne, _Hist. of Rome_, i.; E.
Pais, _Storia di Roma_, i. ch. 3 (1898), and _Ancient Legends of Roman
History_ (Eng. trans., 1906), where the story is connected with the
ceremonies performed in honour of Jupiter Tigillus and Juno Sororia;
C. Pascal, _Fatti e legende di Roma antica_ (Florence, 1903); O.
Gilbert, _Geschichte und Topographie der Stadt Rom im Altertum_
(1883-1885).
HORATIUS COCLES, a legendary hero of ancient Rome. With two companions
he defended the Sublician bridge against Lars Porsena and the whole army
of the Etruscans, while the Romans cut down the bridge behind. Then
Horatius threw himself into the Tiber and swam in safety to the shore. A
statue was erected in his honour in the temple of Vulcan, and he
received as much land as he could plough round in a single day.
According to another version, Horatius alone defended the bridge, and
was drowned in the Tiber.
There is an obvious resemblance between the legend of Horatius Codes and
that of the Horatii and Curiatii. In both cases three Romans come
forward as the champions of Rome at a critical moment of her fortunes,
and only one successfully holds his ground. In the one case, the
locality is the land frontier, in the other, the boundary stream of
Roman territory. E. Pais finds the origin of the story in the worship of
Vulcan, and identifies Cocles (the "one-eyed") with one of the Cyclopes,
who in mythology were connected with Hephaestus, and later with Vulcan.
He concludes that the supposed statue of Cocles was really that of
Vulcan, who, as one of the most ancient Roman divinities and, in fact,
the protecting deity of the state, would naturally be confounded with
the hero who saved it by holding the bridge against the invaders. He
suggests that the legend arose from some religious ceremony, possibly
the practice of throwing the stuffed figures called Argei into the Tiber
from the Pons Sublicius on the ides of May. The conspicuous part played
in Roman history by members of the Horatian family, who were connected
with the worship of Jupiter Vulcanus, will explain the attribution of
the name Horatius to Vulcan-Cocles.
See Livy ii. 10; Dion. Halic. v. 23-25; Polybius vi. 55; Plutarch,
_Poplicola_, 16. For a critical examination of the legend, see
Schwegler, _Romische Geschichte_, bk. xxi. 18; W. Ihne, _History of
Rome_, i.; E. Pais, _Storia di Roma_, i. ch. 4 (1898), and _Ancient
Legends of Roman History_ (Eng. trans., 1906).
HORDE, a manufacturing town of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Westphalia, is 2 m. S.E. from Dortmund on the railway to Soest. Pop.
(1905) 28,461. It has a Roman Catholic and an Evangelical church, a
synagogue and an old castle dating from about 1300. There are large
smelting-works, foundries, puddling-works, rolling-mills and
manufactures of iron and plated wares. In the neighbourhood there are
large iron and coal mines. A tramway connects the town with Dortmund.
HOREB, the ancient seat of Yahweh, the tribal god of the Kenites,
adopted by His covenant by Israel. This is the name preferred by the
Elohistic writer (E) whose work is interwoven into the Old Testament
narrative, and he is followed by the Deuteronomist school (D). The
Yahwistic writer (J), on the other hand, prefers to call the mountain
Sinai (q.v.), and so do the priestly writers (P). This latter form
became the more usual. There is no ground for distinguishing between
Horeb as the range and Sinai as the single mountain, or between Horeb
and Sinai as respectively the N. and S. parts of the range.
HOREHOUND (O. Eng. _harhune_, Ger. _Andorn_, Fr. _marrube_). Common or
white horehound, _Marrubium vulgare_, of the natural order _Labiatae_,
is a perennial herb with a short stout rootstock, and thick stems, about
1 ft. in height, which, as well as their numerous branches, are coated
with a white or hoary felt--whence the popular name of the plant. The
leaves have long petioles, and are roundish or rhombic-ovate, with a
bluntly toothed margin, much wrinkled, white and woolly below and pale
green and downy above; the flowers are sessile, in dense whorls or
clusters, small and dull-white, with a 10-toothed calyx and the upper
lobe of the corolla long and bifid. The plant occurs in Europe, North
Africa and West Asia to North-West India, and has been naturalized in
parts of America. In Britain, where it is found generally on sandy or
dry chalky ground, it is far from common. White horehound contains a
volatile oil, resin, a crystallizable bitter principle termed
_marrubiin_ and other substances, and has a not unpleasant aromatic
odour, and a persistent bitter taste. Formerly it was official in
British pharmacopoeias; and the infusion, syrup or confection of
horehound has long been in popular repute for the treatment of a host of
dissimilar affections. Black horehound, _Ballota nigra_, is a hairy
perennial herb, belonging to the same order, of foetid odour, is 2 to 3
ft. in height, and has stalked, roundish-ovate, toothed leaves and
numerous flowers, in dense axillary clusters, with a green or purplish
calyx, and a pale red-purple corolla. It occurs in Europe, North Africa
and West Asia, and in Britain south of the Forth and Clyde, and has been
introduced into North America.
[Illustration: Horehound.]
HORGEN, a small town in the Swiss canton of Zurich, situated on the left
or west shore of the Lake of Zurich, and by rail 10(1/2) m. S.E. of the
town of Zurich. Pop. (1900) 6883, mostly German-speaking and
Protestants. It possesses many industrial establishments of various
kinds, and is a centre of the Zurich silk manufacture. It came in 1406
into the possession of Zurich, with which it communicates by means of
steamers on the lake, as well as by rail.
HORIZON (Gr. [Greek: horizon], dividing), the apparent circle around
which the sky and earth seem to meet. At sea this circle is well
defined, the line being called the sea horizon, which divides the
visible surface of the ocean from the sky. In astronomy the horizon is
that great circle of the sphere the plane of which is at right angles to
the direction of the plumb line. Sometimes a distinction is made between
the rational and the apparent horizon, the former being the horizon as
determined by a plane through the centre of the earth, parallel to that
through the station of an observer. But on the celestial sphere the
great circles of these two planes are coincident, so that this
distinction is not necessary (see ASTRONOMY: _Spherical_). The _Dip_ of
the horizon at sea is the angular depression of the apparent sea
horizon, or circle bounding the visible ocean, below the apparent
celestial horizon as above defined. It is due to the rotundity of the
earth, and the height of the observer's eye above the water. The dip of
the horizon and its distance in sea-miles when the height of the
observer's eye above the sea-level is h feet, are approximately given by
the formulae: Dip = 0'.97 [root]h; Distance = 1^m.17 [root]h. The
difference between the coefficients 0.97 and 1.17 arises from the
refraction of the ray, but for which they would be equal.
HORMAYR, JOSEPH, BARON VON (1782-1848), German statesman and historian,
was born at Innsbruck on the 20th of January 1782. After studying law in
his native town, and attaining the rank of captain in the Tirolese
Landwehr, the young man, who had the advantage of being the grandson of
Joseph von Hormayr (1705-1778), chancellor of Tirol, obtained a post in
the foreign office at Vienna (1801), from which he rose in 1803 to be
court secretary and, being a near friend of the Archduke John, director
of the secret archives of the state and court for thirteen months. In
1803 he married Therese Anderler von Hohenwald. During the insurrection
of 1809, by which the Tirolese sought to throw off the Bavarian
supremacy confirmed by the treaty of Pressburg, Hormayr was the mainstay
of the Austrian party, and assumed the administration of everything
(especially the composition of proclamations and pamphlets); but,
returning home without the prestige of success, he fell, in spite of the
help of the Archduke John, into disfavour both with the emperor Francis
I. and with Prince Metternich, and at length, when in 1813 he tried to
stir up a new insurrection in Tirol, he was arrested and imprisoned at
Munkatt. In 1816 some amends were made to him by his appointment as
imperial historiographer; but so little was he satisfied with the
general policy and conduct of the Austrian court that in 1828 he
accepted an invitation of King Louis I. to the Bavarian capital, where
he became ministerial councillor in the department of foreign affairs.
In 1832 he was appointed Bavarian minister-resident at Hanover, and from
1837 to 1846 he held the same position at Bremen. Together with Count
Johann Friedrich von der Decken (1769-1840) he founded the Historical
Society of Lower Saxony (Historischer Verein fur Niedersachsen). The
last two years of his life were spent at Munich as superintendent of the
national archives. He died on the 5th of October 1848.
Hormayr's literary activity was closely conditioned by the circumstances
of his political career and by the fact that Johannes von Muller (d.
1611) was his teacher: while his access to original documents gave value
to his treatment of the past, his record or criticism of contemporary
events received authority and interest from his personal experience. But
his history of the Tirolese rebellion is far from being impartial; for
he always liked to put himself into the first place, and the merits of
Andreas Hofer and of other leaders are not sufficiently acknowledged. In
his later writings he appears as a keen opponent of the policy of the
court of Vienna.
The following are among Hormayr's more important works: _Geschichte
des Grafen von Andechs_ (1796); _Lexikon fur Reisenden in Tirol_
(1796); _Kritisch-diplomatische Beitrage zur Geschichte Tirols im
Mittelalter_ (2 vols., Innsbruck, 1802-1803, new ed., 1805); _Gesch.
der gefurst. Grafschaft Tirol_ (2 vols., Tubingen, 1806-1808);
_Osterreichischer Plutarch_, 20 vols., collection of portraits and
biographies of the most celebrated administrators, commanders and
statesmen of Austria (Vienna, 1807); an edition of Beauchamp's
_Histoire de la guerre en Vendee_ (1809); _Geschichte Hofers_ (1817,
2nd ed., 2 vols., 1845) and other pamphlets; _Archiv fur Gesch.,
Stat., Lit. und Kunst_ (20 vols., 1809-1828); _Allgemeine Geschichte
der neuesten Zeit vom Tod Friedricks des Grossen bis zum zweiten
Pariser Frieden_ (3 vols., Vienna, 1814-1819, 2nd ed., 1891); _Wien,
seine Gesch. und Denkwurdigkeiten_ (5 vols., Vienna, 1823-1824);
together with _Fragmente uber Deutschland, in Sonderheit Bayerns
Welthandel; Lebensbilder aus dem Befreiungskriege_ (3 vols., Jena,
1841-1844, 2nd ed., 1845); _Die goldene Chronik von Hohenschwangau_
(Munich, 1842); _Anemonen aus dem Tagebuch eines alten Pilgersmanns_
(4 vols., Jena, 1845-1847). Together with Mednyanski (1784-1844) he
founded the _Taschenbuch fur die Vaterland. Gesch._ (Vienna,
1811-1848).
See T. H. Merdau, _Biographische Zuge aus dem Leben deutscher Manner_
(Leipzig, 1815); Graffer, _Osterreichische National-Encyclopadie_, ii.
(1835); _Taschenbuch fur vaterlandische Geschichte_ (1836 and 1847);
_Neuer Nekrolog der Deutschen_ (1848); _Blatter fur literarische
Unterhaltung_ (1849); Wurzbach, _Osterreichisches biographisches
Lexikon_, ix. (1863); K. Th. von Heigel in the _Allgemeine deutsche
Biographie_ (1881) and F. X. Wegele, _Geschichte der deutschen
Historiographie_ (Munich and Leipzig, 1885); F. v. Krones, _Aus
Osterreichs stillen und bewegten Jahren 1810-1815_; _Biographie und
Briefe an Erzhz. Johann_ (Innsbruck, 1892); Hirn, _Tiroler Aufstand_
(1909). (J. Hn.)
HORMISDAS, pope from 514 to 523 in succession to Symmachus, was a native
of Campania. He is known as having succeeded in obtaining the reunion of
the Eastern and Western Churches, which had been separated since the
excommunication of Acacius in 484. After two unsuccessful attempts under
the emperor Anastasius I., Hormisdas had no difficulty in coming to an
understanding in 518 with his successor Justin. Legates were despatched
to Constantinople; the memorial of the schismatic patriarchs was
condemned; and union was resumed with the Holy See.
Details of this transaction have come down to us in the _Collectio
Avellana_ (_Corpus script. eccl. Vindobon._, vol. xxv., Nos. 105-203;
cf. Andreas Thiel, _Epp. Rom. Pont._ i. 741 seq.).
HORMIZD, or HORMIZDAS, the name of five kings of the Sassanid dynasty
(see PERSIA: _Ancient History_). The name is another form of Ahuramazda
or Ormuzd (Ormazd), which under the Sassanids became a common personal
name and was borne not only by many generals and officials of their time
(it therefore occurs very often on Persian seals), but even by the pope
of Rome noticed above. It is strictly an abbreviation of Hormuzd-dad,
"given by Ormuzd," which form is preserved by Agathias iv. 24-25 as name
of King Hormizd I. and II. ([Greek: Hormisdates]).
1. HORMIZD I. (272-273) was the son of Shapur I., under whom he was
governor of Khorasan, and appears in his wars against Rome (Trebellius
Pollio, _Trig. Tyr._ 2, where Noldeke has corrected the name Odomastes
into Oromastes, i.e. Hormizd). In the Persian tradition of the history
of Ardashir I., preserved in a Pahlavi text (Noldeke, _Geschichte des
Artachsir I. Papakan_), he is made the son of a daughter of Mithrak, a
Persian dynast, whose family Ardashir had extirpated because the magians
had predicted that from his blood would come the restorer of the empire
of Iran. Only this daughter is preserved by a peasant; Shapur sees her
and makes her his wife, and her son Hormizd is afterwards recognized and
acknowledged by Ardashir. In this legend, which has been partially
preserved also in Tabari, the great conquests of Shapur are transferred
to Hormizd. In reality he reigned only one year and ten days.
2. HORMIZD II., son of Narseh, reigned for seven years five months,
302-309. Of his reign nothing is known. After his death his son
Adarnases was killed by the grandees after a very short reign, as he
showed a cruel disposition; another son, Hormizd, was kept a prisoner,
and the throne reserved for the child with which a concubine of Hormizd
II. was pregnant and which received the name Shapur II. Hormizd escaped
from prison by the help of his wife in 323, and found refuge at the
court of Constantine the Great (Zosim. ii. 27; John of Antioch, fr. 178;
Zonar. 13.5), In 363 Hormizd served in the army of Julian against
Persia; his son, with the same name, became consul in 366 (Ammian. Marc.
26. 8. 12).
3. HORMIZD III., son of Yazdegerd I., succeeded his father in 457. He
had continually to fight with his brothers and with the Ephthalites in
Bactria, and was killed by Peroz in 459.
4. HORMIZD IV., son of Chosroes I., reigned 578-590. He seems to have
been imperious and violent, but not without some kindness of heart. Some
very characteristic stories are told of him by Tabari (Noldeke,
_Geschichte d. Perser und Araber unter den Sasaniden_, 264 ff.). His
father's sympathies had been with the nobles and the priests. Hormizd
protected the common people and introduced a severe discipline in his
army and court. When the priests demanded a persecution of the
Christians, he declined on the ground that the throne and the government
could only be safe if it gained the goodwill of both concurring
religions. The consequence was that he raised a strong opposition in the
ruling classes, which led to many executions and confiscations. When he
came to the throne he killed his brothers, according to the oriental
fashion. From his father he had inherited a war against the Byzantine
empire and against the Turks in the east, and negotiations of peace had
just begun with the emperor Tiberius, but Hormizd haughtily declined to
cede anything of the conquests of his father. Therefore the accounts
given of him by the Byzantine authors, Theophylact, Simocatta (iii. 16
ff.), Menander Protector and John of Ephesus (vi. 22), who give a full
account of these negotiations, are far from favourable. In 588 his
general, Bahram Chobin, defeated the Turks, but in the next year was
beaten by the Romans; and when the king superseded him he rebelled with
his army. This was the signal for a general insurrection. The magnates
deposed and blinded Hormizd and proclaimed his son Chosroes II. king. In
the war which now followed between Bahram Chobin and Chosroes II.
Hormizd was killed by some partisans of his son (590).
5. HORMIZD V. was one of the many pretenders who rose after the murder
of Chosroes II. (628). He maintained himself about two years (631, 632)
in the district of Nisibis. (Ed. M.)
HORMUZ (_Hurmuz_, _Ormuz_, _Ormus_), a famous city on the shores of the
Persian Gulf, which occupied more than one position in the course of
history, and has now long practically ceased to exist. The earliest
mention of the name occurs in the voyage of Nearchus (325 B.C.). When
that admiral beached his fleet at the mouth of the river Anamis on the
shore of Harmozia, a coast district of Carmania, he found the country to
be kindly, rich in every product except the olive. The Anamis appears to
be the river now known as the Minab, discharging into the Persian Gulf
near the entrance of the latter. The name Hormuz is derived by some from
that of the Persian god Hormuzd (Ormazd), but it is more likely that the
original etymology was connected with _khurma_, "a date"; for the
meaning of Moghistan the modern name of the territory Harmozia is "the
region of date-palms." The foundation of the city of Hormuz in this
territory is ascribed by one Persian writer to the Sassanian Ardashir
Babegan (c. 230 A.D.). But it must have existed at an earlier date, for
Ptolemy takes note of [Greek: Harmonza polis] (vi. 8).
Hormuz is mentioned by Idrisi, who wrote c. 1150, under the title of
Hormuz-al-sahiliah, "Hormuz of the shore" (to distinguish it from inland
cities of the same name then existing), as a large and well-built city,
the chief mart of Kirman. Siraf and Kish (Kais), farther up the gulf,
had preceded it as ports of trade with India, but in the 13th century
Hormuz had become the chief seat of this traffic. It was at this time
the seat also of a petty dynasty of kings, of which there is a history
by one of their number (Turan Shah); an abstract of it is given by the
Jesuit Teixeira. According to this history the founder of the dynasty
was Shah Mohammed Dirhem-Kub ("the Drachma-coiner"), an Arab chief who
crossed the gulf and established himself here. The date is not given,
but it must have been before 1100 A.D., as Ruknuddin Mahmud, who
succeeded in 1246, was the twelfth of the line. These princes appear to
have been at times in dependence necessarily on the atabegs of Fars and
on the princes of Kirman. About the year 1300 Hormuz was so severely and
repeatedly harassed by raids of Tatar horsemen that the king and his
people abandoned their city on the mainland and transferred themselves
to the island of Jerun (Organa of Nearchus), about 12 m. westward and 4
m. from the nearest shore.
The site of the continental or ancient Hormuz was first traced in modern
times by Colonel (Sir Lewis) Pelly when resident at Bushire. It stands
in the present district of Minab, several miles from the sea, and on a
creek which communicates with the Minab river, but is partially silted
up and not now accessible for vessels. There remain traces of a long
wharf and extensive ruins. The new city occupied a triangular plain
forming the northern part of the island, the southern wall, as its
remains still show, being about 2 m. in extent from east to west. A
suburb with a wharf or pier, called Turan Bagh (garden of Turan) after
one of the kings, a name now corrupted to Trumpak, stood about 3 m. from
the town to the south-east.
Odoric gives the earliest notice we have of the new city (c. 1320). He
calls it Ormes, a city strongly fortified and abounding in costly wares,
situated on an island 5 m. distant from the main, having no trees and no
fresh water, unhealthy and (as all evidence confirms) incredibly hot.
Some years later it was visited more than once by Ibn Batuta, who seems
to speak of the old city as likewise still standing. The new Hormuz,
called also Jerun (i.e. still retaining the original name of the
island), was a great and fine city rising out of the sea, and serving as
a mart for all the products of India, which were distributed hence over
all Persia. The hills on the island were of rock-salt, from which vases
and pedestals for lamps were carved. Near the gate of the chief mosque
stood an enormous skull, apparently that of a sperm-whale. The king at
this time was Kutbuddin Tahamtan, and the traveller gives a curious
description of him, seated on the throne, in patched and dirty raiment,
holding a rosary of enormous pearls, procured from the Bahrein
fisheries, which at one time or another belonged, with other islands in
the gulf and on the Oman shores from Ras-el-had (C. Rosalgat of the
Portuguese) on the ocean round to Julfar on the gulf, to the princes of
Hormuz. Abdurazzak, the envoy of Shah Rukh on his way to the Hindu court
of Vijayanagar, was in Hormuz in 1442, and speaks of it as a mart which
had no equal, frequented by the merchants of all the countries of Asia,
among which he enumerates China, Java, Bengal, Tenasserim, Shahr-i-nao
(i.e. Siam) and the Maldives. Nikitin, the Russian (c. 1470), gives a
similar account; he calls it "a vast emporium of all the world."
In September 1507 the king of Hormuz, after for some time hearing of the
terrible foe who was carrying fire and sword along the shores of Arabia,
saw the squadron of Alphonso d'Albuquerque appear before his city, an
appearance speedily followed by extravagant demands, by refusal of these
from the ministers of the young king, and by deeds of matchless daring
and cruelty on the part of the Portuguese, which speedily broke down
resistance. The king acknowledged himself tributary to Portugal, and
gave leave to the Portuguese to build a castle, which was at once
commenced on the northern part of the island, commanding the city and
the anchorage on both sides. But the mutinous conduct and desertion of
several of Albuquerque's captains compelled him suddenly to abandon the
enterprise; and it was not till 1514, after the great leader had
captured Goa and Malacca, and had for five years been viceroy, that he
returned to Hormuz (or Ormuz, as the Portuguese called it), and without
encountering resistance to a name now so terrible, laid his grasp again
on the island and completed his castle. For more than a century Hormuz
remained practically in the dominions of Portugal, though the hereditary
prince, paying from his revenues a tribute to Portugal (in lieu of which
eventually the latter took the whole of the customs collections),
continued to be the instrument of government. The position of things
during the Portuguese rule may be understood from the description of
Cesare de' Federici, a Venetian merchant who was at Hormuz about 1565.
After speaking of the great trade in spices, drugs, silk and silk
stuffs, and pearls of Bahrein, and in horses for export to India, he
says the king was a Moor (i.e. Mahommedan), chosen by and subordinate to
the Portuguese. "At the election of the king I was there and saw the
ceremonies that they use.... The old king being dead, the captain of the
Portugals chooseth another of the blood-royal, and makes this election
in the castle with great ceremony. And when he is elected the captain
sweareth him to be true ... to the K. of Portugal as his lord and
governor, and then he giveth him the sceptre regal. After this ... with
great pomp ... he is brought into the royal palace in the city. The king
keeps a good train and hath sufficient revenues, ... because the captain
of the castle doth maintain and defend his right ... he is honoured as a
king, yet he cannot ride abroad with his train, without the consent of
the captain first had" (in Hakluyt).[1]
The rise of the English trade and factories in the Indian seas in the
beginning of the 17th century led to constant jealousies and broils with
the Portuguese, and the successful efforts of the English company to
open traffic with Persia especially embittered their rivals, to whom the
possession of Hormuz had long given a monopoly of that trade. The
officers of Shah Abbas, who looked with a covetous and resentful eye on
the Portuguese occupation of such a position, were strongly desirous of
the aid of English ships in attacking Hormuz. During 1620 and 1621 the
ships of Portugal and of the English company had more than once come to
action in the Indian seas, and in November of the latter year the
council at Surat had resolved on what was practically maritime war with
the Portuguese flag. There was hardly a step between this and the
decision come to in the following month to join with "the duke of
Shiraz" (Imam Kuli Khan, the governor of Fars) in the desired expedition
against Hormuz. There was some pretext of being forced into the alliance
by a Persian threat to lay embargo on the English goods at Jashk; but
this seems to have been only brought forward by the English agents when,
at a later date, their proceedings were called in question. The English
crews were at first unwilling to take part in what they justly said was
"no merchandizing business, nor were they engaged for the like," but
they were persuaded, and five English vessels aided, first, in the
attack of Kishm, where (at the east end of the large island so called)
the Portuguese had lately built a fort,[2] and afterwards in that of
Hormuz itself. The latter siege was opened on the 18th of February 1622,
and continued to the 1st of May, when the Portuguese, after a gallant
defence of ten weeks, surrendered. It is to be recollected that Portugal
was at this time subject to the crown of Spain, with which England was
at peace; indeed, it was but a year later that the prince of Wales went
on his wooing adventure to the Spanish court. The irritation there was
naturally great, though it is surprising how little came of it. The
company were supposed (apparently without foundation) to have profited
largely by the Hormuz booty; and both the duke of Buckingham and the
king claimed to be "sweetened," as the record phrases it, from this
supposed treasure. The former certainly received a large bribe
(L10,000). The conclusion of the transaction with the king was formerly
considered doubtful; but entries in the calendar of East India papers
seem to show that James received an equal sum.[3]
Hormuz never recovered from this blow. The Persians transferred their
establishments to Gombroon on the mainland, about 12 m. to the
north-west, which the king had lately set up as a royal port under the
name of Bander Abbasi. The English stipulations for aid had embraced an
equal division of the customs duties. This division was apparently
recognized by the Persians as applying to the new Bander, and, though
the trade with Persia was constantly decaying and precarious, the
company held to their factory at Gombroon for the sake of this claim to
revenue, which of course was most irregularly paid. In 1683-1684 the
amount of debt due to the company in Persia, including their proportion
of customs duties, was reckoned at a million sterling. As late as
1690-1691 their right seems to have been admitted, and a payment of 3495
sequins was received by them on this account. The factory at Gombroon
lingered on till 1759, when it was seized by two French ships of war
under Comte d'Estaing. It was re-established, but at the time of
Niebuhr's visit to the gulf a few years later no European remained.
Niebuhr mentions that in his time (c. 1765) Mulla 'Ali Shah, formerly
admiral of Nadir Shah, was established on the island of Hormuz and part
of Kishm as an independent chief.
See also Barros, _Asia_; _Commentaries of Albuquerque_, trans. by
Birch (Hak. Society); _Relaciones de Pedro Teixeira_ (Antwerp, 1610);
Narratives in Hakluyt's _Collection_ (reprint in 1809, vol. ii.) and
in Purchas's _Pilgrims_, vol. ii.; Pietro della Valle, _Persia_, lett.
xii.-xvii.; _Calendar of E. I. Papers_, by Sainsbury, vol. iii.;
Ritter, _Erdkunde_, xii.; _Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc._, Kempthorne in vol.
v., White-locke in vol. viii., Pelly in vol. xxxiv.; Fraser,
_Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan_ (1825); Constable and Stifle,
_Persian Gulf Pilot_ (1864); Bruce, _Annals of the E. I. Company_, &c.
(1810). (H. Y.)
The island has a circumference of 16 m. and its longest axis measures
4(1/2) m. The village is in 27 deg. 6' N., 56 deg. 29' E. The Portuguese
fort still stands, but is sadly out of repair and much of its western
wall has been undermined and washed away by the action of the sea. It is
a bastioned fort with orillons and loopholed casemates under the
ramparts and was separated from the town by a deep moat, now silted up,
cut E.-W. across the isthmus and crossed by a bridge. It has three
cisterns for collecting rainwater; two are 17-18 ft. deep, have a
capacity of about 60,000 gallons and are covered by arched roofs
supported on six stone pillars. The third cistern is smaller and has no
roof. Five rusty old iron guns are lying prone on the roof; six others
on the strand before the village are used for fastening boats, another
serves as a socket for a flagstaff before the representative of the
government. The island is under the jurisdiction of the governor of the
Persian Gulf ports who resides at Bushire. Of the old city hardly
anything stands except a minaret, 70 ft. high, with a winding staircase
inside and much worn away at the base, part of a former mosque used by
the Portuguese as a lighthouse, but the traces of buildings, massive
foundations constructed of stone quarried in the hills on the island, of
many cisterns (some say 300), &c., are numerous and extensive. The
modern settlement, situated south of the fort on the eastern shore, has
a population of about 1000 during the cool season, but less in the hot
season, when many people go over to Minab on the mainland to the east.
Most of the people live in huts constructed of the branches and leaves
of the date palm. They own about sixty small sailing vessels trading to
Muscat and other ports and also do some pearl-fishing. At Turan Bagh on
the east coast 4(1/2) m. S.E. of the fort are some considerable ruins,
irrigation canals, an extensive burial ground and some huts occupied by
a few families who cultivate a small garden on a terrace supported by
old retaining walls. On a hill near the shore 1(1/2) m. S.E. of the fort
is the ruin of a small chapel called "Santa Lucia" on an old map in
Astley's _Collection of Voyages_, and on the summit of a salt hill
1(1/2) m. south of the fort are the remains of another chapel called
"N.S. de la Pena" on the same map, and a "Monastery" in a sketch of
Hormuz made by David Davies, a mate on board the East India Company's
ship "Discovery" in 1627. With the exception of the northern part, where
the old city stood, and the little patch at Turan Bagh, the island is
covered with reddish brown hills with sharp serrated ridges composed of
gypsum, rock-salt and clay. These hills, which do not exceed 300 ft. in
height, are broken through in four places by conical, whitish peaks of
volcanic rocks (greenstone, trachyte); the highest of these peaks with
an altitude of 690 ft. is situated almost in the centre of the island.
The island has extensive beds of red ochre in which nodules of very pure
hematite are often found. The ochre, here called _gilek_, has been an
important article of export for centuries[4] and great quantities of it
are exported at the present time to England (in 1906-1907, 10,000 tons;
local price 27s. the ton). The climate of Hormuz, although hot, is,
according to medical experts, the best in the Persian Gulf. Rain falls
in January, February and March, and the annual rainfall is said to be
about the same as that of Bushire, 12 to 13 in.
Capt. A. W. Stiffe in _Geogr. Mag._ (April 1874); William Foster in
_Geogr. Journal_ (Aug. 1894); writer's notes taken on island.
(A. H.-S.)