himself to poetry, and composed a poem in thirty books. He was sent as
proconsul to Africa, and subsequently, when he had attained his
eightieth year, he was proclaimed emperor. He strangled himself at
Carthage A.D. 236, and was deeply lamented by the army and the people.
=Gordia´nus, M. Anto´nius Africa´nus=, son of Gordianus, was made prefect
of Rome, and afterwards consul, by Alexander Severus. He was elected
emperor in conjunction with his father. He was killed in a battle fought
with Maximinus in Mauritania.
=Gordia´nus M. Anto´nius Pius=, was grandson of the first Gordian. He was
proclaimed emperor in the sixteenth year of his age. He married the
daughter of Misetheus, who was distinguished by his virtues, and to whom
Gordian intrusted many of the chief offices of the state. Gordian
conquered Sapor, king of Persia, and took many cities from him. He was
assassinated A.D. 244.
=Gor´dius.= A Phrygian who, from the position of a peasant, was raised to
the throne consequent on a prediction of the oracle. The knot which tied
the yoke to the draught-tree of his chariot was made so cunningly that
the ends of the cord could not be seen, and a report arose that the
empire of Asia was promised by the oracle to him who should untie the
Gordian knot. Alexander cut the knot with his sword.
=Gor´gones= (the Gorgons). Three sisters, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto,
whose names were Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. They possessed the power
of turning into stone those on whom they looked. Perseus attacked them
and cut off Medusa's head, which he gave to Minerva, who placed it on
her ægis, which turned into stone those who fixed their eyes on it.
=Grac´chus, T. Sempronius=, was twice consul and once censor. He married
Cornelia, of the family of the Scipios, a woman of piety and learning.
Their children, Tiberius and Caius, rendered themselves famous for their
obstinate attachment to the interests of the populace, which at last
proved fatal to them. The Gracchi stand out conspicuously in Roman
annals. The history of Gaius Gracchus has been dramatized by James
Sheridan Knowles. It was one of his earliest efforts in dramatic
literature, and has long been obsolete as an acting play.
=Gymna´sium.= A place among the Greeks where all the public exercises were
performed, and where not only dancers and wrestlers exhibited, but where
poets and philosophers repeated their compositions.
=Ha´des=, see ADES.
=Halicarnas´sus.= A maritime city in Asia Minor, where a mausoleum, one of
the seven wonders of the world, was erected. It is celebrated as being
the birthplace of Herodotus, Dionysius, and Heraclitus.
=Hamadry´ades.= Nymphs who lived in the country and presided over trees.
=Hamil´car.= A famous Carthaginian, father of Hannibal. He was engaged in
Sicily during the first Punic war. He used to say of his three sons that
he kept three lions to devour the Roman power.
=Han´nibal.= A celebrated Carthaginian general, son of Hamilcar. While a
child he took a solemn oath never to be at peace with Rome. His passage
of the Alps with a great army was achieved by softening the rocks with
fire and vinegar, so that even his armed elephants descended the
mountains without difficulty. He defeated the Romans in the great battle
of Cannæ, but was subsequently conquered by Scipio at Zama. He died by
poison taken from a ring in which he kept it concealed. This occurred in
his seventieth year, about 182 years B.C.
=Harmo´dius.= A friend of Aristogiton who assisted in delivering his
country from the tyranny of the Pisistratidæ.
=Harpy´læ.= The Harpies, winged monsters who had the face of a woman, the
body of a vulture, and feet and fingers armed with claws. They were
three in number--Aello, Ocypete, and Celeno. They were daughters of
Neptune and Terra.
=Has´drubal.= A son of Hamilcar, and brother of Hannibal. He crossed the
Alps and entered Italy, where he was defeated by the consuls, M. Livius
Salinator and Claudius Nero. He was killed in the battle B.C. 207, and
his head was sent to Hannibal. One of the finest passages in Professor
Nichol's tragedy of Hannibal is the invocation over Hasdrubal's head at
the close of the play.
=He´be.= A daughter of Jupiter and Juno. She was made cup-bearer to the
gods, but was dismissed from the office by Jupiter, because she fell
down in a clumsy posture as she was pouring out nectar at a festival,
and Ganymedes succeeded her as cupbearer.
=Hec´ate.= A daughter of Persus and Asteria. She was called Luna in
heaven, Diana on earth, and Hecate or Proserpine in hell.
=Hec´tor=, son of King Priam and Hecuba, was the most valiant of all the
Trojan chiefs who fought against the Greeks. He married Andromache, the
daughter of Eetion, Astyanax being their son. Hector was made chief of
the Trojan forces when Troy was besieged by the Greeks, and it is said
that thirty-one of the most valiant Greek chiefs were killed by him, but
when he met Achilles he fled. Achilles pursued him, and Hector was
killed, and his body dragged in triumph at the chariot wheels of the
conqueror.
=Hec´uba=, daughter of Dymas, a Phrygian prince, or, according to some, of
Cisseus, a Thracian king, was the second wife of Priam, king of Troy.
When her son Paris was born, she exposed him on Mount Ida, hoping he
would perish, as the soothsayers had predicted that he would be the ruin
of his country. In the Trojan war she saw most of her children perish.
After enduring many misfortunes, she threw herself into the sea, and was
drowned.
=Hel´ena.= One of the most beautiful women in the age in which she lived.
Her beauty was so universally admired, even in her infancy, that
Theseus, with his friend Pirithous, carried her away when she was ten
years of age and concealed her with his mother, but she was recovered by
Castor and Pollux, and restored to her native country. She married
Menelaus, son of Atreus, but when Paris visited Menelaus he persuaded
her to fly with him to Troy, B.C. 1198. On this, Menelaus sent
ambassadors to the court of Priam to demand her restitution, but in
vain, and the result was the Trojan war. When Troy was taken she
returned to Menelaus, and after his death she retired to Rhodes, where
she was strangled by order of Polyxo, who reigned there. Her beauty and
misfortunes have been a theme for the poets in all ages.
=Hel´icon.= A mountain of Boeotia on the borders of Phocis. It was
sacred to the Muses, who had a temple there. The fountain Hippocrene
flowed from this mountain.
=Heliogab´alus, M. Aure´lius Antoni´nus.= A Roman emperor who had been
priest to a divinity in Phoenicia. Under his sway Rome became the
scene of cruelty and vice. He raised his horse to the honors of
consulship, and indulged in a number of absurdities which rendered him
odious to his subjects. His head was cut off by his soldiers A.D. 222.
=Hel´le.= A daughter of Athamas and Nephele. She fled from her father's
house to avoid the oppression of her mother-in-law Ino. According to
some accounts she was carried through the air on a golden ram, when,
becoming giddy, she fell into the sea, which received from her the name
Hellespont.
=Hellespon´tus.= A narrow strait between Europe and Asia, which received
its name from Helle, who is said to have been drowned in it. It is
celebrated as being the scene of the love and death of Leander.
=Heracli´tus.= A celebrated Greek philosopher of Ephesus, who lived about
500 years before the Christian era. He received the appellation of the
Obscure Philosopher and the Mourner, from his custom of weeping at the
follies and frailties of human life.
=Hercula´neum.= A town of Campania swallowed up by an earthquake, produced
by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, A.D. 79.
=Her´cules.= A celebrated hero who, after death, was ranked among the
gods. According to the ancients there were many persons of the same
name, but the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, generally called the Theban,
is the most celebrated. The birth of Hercules was attended with many
miraculous events. Before he was eight months old Juno sent two snakes
to devour him, which he seized, and crushed them to death. He achieved a
series of enterprises known as the "Twelve Labors of Hercules." These
comprised the slaughter of the Nemæan lion, the destruction of the
Lernæan hydra, the catching of a stag having golden horns and remarkable
for his swiftness, the seizing alive a wild boar which committed great
ravages, the cleansing of the stables of Augias, the killing of the
carnivorous birds near Lake Stymphalis, the taking captive a prodigious
wild bull, the obtaining the mares of Diomedes which fed on human flesh,
the getting possession of the girdle of the queen of the Amazons, the
destruction of the monster Geryon, the obtaining the apples from the
garden of the Hesperides, and the bringing to the earth the three-headed
dog Cerberus. Besides these labors he aided the gods in their wars with
the giants, and performed numerous difficult feats. He was conducted by
Mercury to Omphale, queen of Lydia, whom he married, and whom he
permitted to dress in his armor while he was sitting to spin with her
female servants. He delivered Dejanira from the Centaur Nessus, whom he
killed. The Centaur, as he expired, gave Dejanira a mystic tunic, which,
in a jealous paroxysm, she gave to Hercules to put on, which he had no
sooner done than he was seized with a desperate distemper which was
incurable. He erected a burning pile on Mount Ætna, on which he cast
himself. Jupiter surrounded the burning pile with smoke, amidst which
Hercules, after his mortal parts were consumed, was carried to heaven in
a chariot drawn by four horses.
=Her´mes.= A name of Mercury among the Greeks.
=Hermin´ius.= A valiant Roman who defended the bridge with Cocles against
the army of Porsenna.
=Hermi´one.= A daughter of Mars and Venus who married Cadmus. She was
changed into a serpent, and placed in the Elysian Fields.
=Hermi´one.= A daughter of Menelaus and Helen. She was privately promised
in marriage to Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, but her father, ignorant
of the engagement, gave her hand to Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, whose
services he had experienced in the Trojan war.
=Hermip´pus.= A freedman, disciple of Philo, in the reign of Adrian, by
whom he was greatly esteemed. He wrote five books on dreams.
=Hermoc´rates.= A general of Syracuse, who was sent against the Athenians.
His lenity towards the Athenian prisoners was regarded with suspicion.
He was banished from Sicily, and was murdered on his attempt to return
to his country.
=Hermodo´rus.= A philosopher of Ephesus who is said to have assisted, as
interpreter, the Roman decemvirs, in the composition of the ten tables
of laws which had been collected in Greece.
=He´ro.= A beautiful girl of Sestos, greatly beloved by Leander, a youth
of Abydos. The lovers were greatly attached to each other, and often in
the night Leander swam across the Hellespont to Hero in Sestos, till on
one tempestuous night he was drowned, and Hero in despair threw herself
into the sea and perished.
=Hero´des=, surnamed the Great, followed the fortunes of Brutus and
Cassius, and afterwards those of Antony. He was made king of Judæa by
the aid of Antony, and after the battle of Actium he was continued in
power by submission to and flattery of Augustus. He rendered himself
odious by his cruelty, and as he knew his death would be a cause for
rejoicing, he ordered a number of the most illustrious of his subjects
to be confined and murdered directly he expired, that there might appear
to be grief and shedding of tears for his own death. Herod died in the
seventieth year of his age, after a reign of 40 years.
=Herod´otus.= A celebrated historian of Halicarnassus. He ranks amongst
historians as Homer does amongst the poets and Demosthenes amongst the
orators. His great work is a history of the wars of the Persians against
the Greeks, from the age of Cyrus to the battle of Mycale in the reign
of Xerxes; besides which it gives an account of many celebrated nations.
A life of Homer is attributed to his pen, though by some the authorship
is doubted.
=Hesi´odus.= A celebrated poet, born at Ascra in Boeotia. He lived in
the age of Homer, and obtained a poetical prize in competition with him,
according to Varro and Plutarch. Quintilian, Philostratus, and others,
maintain that Hesiod lived before the age of Homer. Hesiod, without
possessing the sublimity of Homer, is admired for the elegance of his
diction.
=Hesi´one.= A daughter of Laodemon, king of Troy. It was her fate to be
exposed to a sea-monster, to whom the Trojans presented yearly a young
girl to appease the resentment of Apollo and Neptune, whom Laodemon had
offended. Hercules undertook to rescue her, and attacking the monster
just as he was about to devour her, killed him with his club.
=Hesper´ides.= Three Nymphs, daughters of Hesperus. Apollodorus mentions
four, Ægle, Erythia, Vesta and Arethusa. They were appointed to guard
the golden apples which Juno gave to Jupiter on the day of their
marriage. The place where the Hesperides lived was a celebrated garden,
abounding with delicious fruit, and was guarded by a dragon which never
slept. It was one of the labors of Hercules to procure some of the
golden apples, which he succeeded in doing after slaying the dragon.
=Hieron´ymus.= A tyrant of Sicily, who succeeded to the throne when he
was fifteen years old. He rendered himself odious by his cruelty and
oppression.
=Hieron´ymus.= A Christian writer, commonly called St. Jerome. He was
distinguished for his zeal against heretics. He wrote commentaries on
the prophets, St. Matthew's Gospel, &c. He died A.D. 420, in his
eightieth year.
=Hippar´chus.= A son of Pisistratus, who succeeded his father, as tyrant
of Athens, with his brother Hippias. He patronized some of the learned
men of his age, and distinguished himself for his love of literature.
=Hippoc´rates.= A celebrated physician of Cos. He delivered Athens from a
dreadful pestilence in the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, for which
he was rewarded with a golden crown. He died in his ninety-ninth year,
B.C. 361.
=Hippocre´ne.= A fountain of Boeotia, near Mount Helicon, sacred to the
Muses. It rose from the ground when struck by the feet of the horse
Pegasus.
=Hippodami´a.= A daughter of OEnomaus, king of Pisa, who married Pelops,
son of Tantalus. Her father would marry her only to some one who should
conquer him in a chariot race. Her beauty was great, and many were
competitors for her hand, though the conditions involved death in case
of defeat in the race. After thirteen suitors had been defeated, Pelops
entered the lists, and by bribing the charioteer of OEnomaus, obtained
the victory and married Hippodamia.
=Hippol´yte.= A queen of the Amazons, given in marriage to Theseus by
Hercules. Hippolytus was their son.
=Hippol´ytus.= Son of Theseus and Hippolyte. His step-mother Phædra fell
in love with him. He fled to the sea-shore, where, his horses taking
fright and rushing among the rocks, his chariot was broken in pieces,
and he was killed. According to some accounts he was restored to life by
Diana.
=Hippo´nax.= A Greek poet born at Ephesus, 540 years before the Christian
era. He cultivated satirical poetry, which was marked by its beauty and
vigor.
=Home´rus.= A celebrated Greek poet, the most ancient of all the profane
writers. The age in which he lived is not known, though some suppose it
to be about 168 years after the Trojan war. Uncertainty prevails, also,
as to the place of his nativity, seven cities claiming to be thus
honored. These are Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodos, Argos, and
Athenæ. In his two famous poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, he has displayed
the most consummate knowledge of human nature, and rendered himself
immortal by the sublimity and elegance of his poetry. In the Iliad be
gives a narrative of the siege of Troy, and the Odyssey deals with the
wanderings of Ulysses after the fall of the city.
=Hono´rius.= An emperor of the Western Empire of Rome, who succeeded his
father, Theodosius the Great. He conquered his enemies by the ability of
his generals, and suffered his people to be governed by ministers who
took advantage of his indolence and indifference. He died A.D. 423.
=Hora´tii.= Three brave Romans, born at the same time, who fought against
the three Curiatii about 667 years before Christ. At the beginning of
the fight two of the Horatii were killed, and the surviving one
pretended to fly, thus separating his antagonists as they pursued him,
and then, attacking them singly, he slew them all.
=Hora´tius Q. Flac´cus.= A celebrated poet born at Venusia. His rising
talents obtained the attention of Virgil and Varius, who recommended him
to the care of Mæcenas and Augustus, the celebrated patrons of
literature. Under this fostering patronage Horace gave himself up to
indolence and pleasure. He was warm in his friendships, and if he at any
time gave offense he was ready to make any concession to effect a
reconciliation. In his satires and epistles he displays much wit and
satirical humor. He died in his fifty-seventh year, B.C. 8.
=Hora´tius.= See =Cocles=.
=Horten´sius, Q.= A celebrated orator who began to distinguish himself in
the Roman Forum when he was nineteen years old. Cicero speaks
eulogistically of his oratorical powers, and of his retentive memory.
Quintilian alludes to his orations in terms of high commendation.
=Hyacin´thus.= A son of Amyclas and Diomede, greatly beloved by Apollo and
Zephyrus. He was accidentally killed by Apollo, who changed his blood
into a flower which bore his name.
=Hy´bla.= A mountain in Sicily, famous for the odoriferous herbs which
grew on it. It was famous for its honey.
=Hy´dra.= A celebrated monster which infested the neighborhood of Lake
Lerna in Peloponnesus. It was one of the labors of Hercules to destroy
the monster, which he effected with the aid of Iolas.
=Hyge´ia.= The goddess of health, daughter of Æsculapius. She was held in
great veneration among the ancients.
=Hymenæ´us= or =Hy´men=, the god of marriage among the Greeks, was the son
of Bacchus and Venus, or, according to some, of Apollo and one of the
Muses.
=Hymet´tus.= A mountain of Attica, about two miles from Athens, famous for
its bees and honey.
=Hyperi´on.= A son of Coelus and Terra, who married Thea. Aurora was
their daughter. Hyperion is often used by the poets to signify the sun.
Also in "Troilus and Cressida" and other of Shakspeare's plays, the same
license is used.
=Hypermnes´tra.= One of the Danaides, who were the fifty daughters of
Danaus. She was ordered by her father to murder her husband Lynceus on
the night of their marriage, which she refused to do. Danaus wished to
punish her for her disobedience, but afterwards forgave her, and left
his kingdom at his death to Lynceus.
=Hypsip´yle.= A queen of Lemnos, daughter of Thoas. During her reign,
Venus, whose altars had been slighted, punished the Lemnian women by
causing their husbands' affections to be estranged from them. This
enraged the women, and they put to death their male relations, except in
the case of Hypsipyle, who spared her father Thoas.
=Ic´arus.= A son of Daedalus, who, with his father, took a winged flight
from Crete to escape the anger of Minos. His flight was too high, and
thus the sun melted the wax which cemented his wings, and he fell into
the sea and was drowned.
=Idom´eneus= succeeded his father Deucalion on the throne of Crete, and
accompanied the Greeks to the Trojan war, during which he rendered
himself famous for his valor. On his voyage home, being caught in a
great tempest, he vowed to Neptune that if he escaped he would make an
offering to the god of the first living creature he saw on his arrival
at the Cretan shore. He escaped the storm, and the first to meet him on
his landing was his son. He performed his vow, and became so odious to
his subjects that he had to leave his dominions.
=Igna´tius.= A bishop of Antioch, torn to pieces by lions in the
amphitheater at Rome A.D. 107. His works consisted of letters to the
Ephesians, Romans, etc. He zealously supported the doctrine of the
divinity of Christ.
=I´lus=, fourth king of Troy, was son of Tros by Callirrhoe. He married
Eurydice, the daughter of Adrastus. He embellished the city of Ilium,
called also Troy from his father Tros.
=I´no.= A daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, who nursed Bacchus. She married
Athamas, king of Thebes, after he had divorced Nephele.
=I´o=, a daughter of Inachus, was a priestess of Juno at Argos. Juno
changed her into a beautiful heifer, and eventually restored her to her
own form. She was greatly persecuted by Juno. She married Telegonus,
king of Egypt, or Osiris, according to others, and treated her subjects
with such kindness that after death she received divine honors, and was
worshiped under the name of Isis.
=I´olas= or =Iola´us=. A son of Iphiclus, king of Thessaly, who assisted
Hercules in conquering the Hydra; he burnt with a hot iron the place
where the monster's heads had been cut off to prevent their re-growth.
=Iph´iclus.= A son of Amphitryon and Alcmena, twin brother of Hercules. As
the children were cradled together, Juno, jealous of Hercules, sent two
large serpents to destroy him. At the sight of the snakes Iphiclus
showed great alarm, but Hercules seized them, one in each hand, and
squeezed them to death.
=Iphic´rates.= A celebrated general of Athens, who, though son of a
shoemaker, rose to the highest offices in the state. He made war against
the Thracians, and assisted the Persian king against Egypt.
=Iphigeni´a.= A daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. When the Greeks,
going to the Trojan war, were detained at Aulis by contrary winds, they
were informed by a soothsayer that to appease the gods they must
sacrifice Iphigenia to Diana. As the fatal knife was about to be plunged
into her, Iphigenia suddenly disappeared, and a goat of great beauty was
found in the place where she had stood ready for the sacrifice.
=Iph´itus.= A son of Eurytus, king of OEchalia. When his father had
promised his daughter Iole to any one who could excel him or his sons in
drawing the bow, Hercules accepted the challenge and was victorious.
Eurytus, however, refused to fulfill the compact by giving his daughter
to the conqueror. Afterwards some oxen were stolen from Eurytus, and
Iphitus was sent in quest of them. In his search he met Hercules, who
aided him in seeking the lost animals, but on recollecting the
faithlessness of Eurytus he killed Iphitus.
=Irenæ´us.= A native of Greece, disciple of Polycarp, and bishop of Lyons.
He wrote on different subjects, and suffered martyrdom A.D. 202.
=I´ris.= One of the Oceanides, messenger of the gods, and more
particularly of Juno. Her office was to cut the thread which seemed to
detain the soul of those who were expiring. She is the same as the
rainbow.
=I´sis.= A celebrated deity of the Egyptians, daughter of Saturn and
Rhea, according to Diodorus of Sicily. Some suppose her to be the same
as Io, who was changed into a cow, and restored to her human form in
Egypt, where she taught agriculture, and governed the people with
mildness and equity, for which she received divine honors after her
death.
=Isoc´rates.= A celebrated orator, son of a musical instrument maker at
Athens. He opened a school of eloquence at Athens, where he was
distinguished for the number, character, and fame of his pupils. He was
intimate with Philip of Macedon, but the aspiring ambition of Philip
displeased Isocrates, and the defeat of the Athenians at Chæronea had
such an effect on him that he did not long survive it. He died, after
being four days without taking any aliment, in his ninety-ninth year,
about 338 years B.C. He was honored after death by the erection of a
brazen statue to his memory by Timotheus, one of his pupils, and
Aphareus, his adopted son. Milton, in one of his sonnets, speaks of him
as "that old man eloquent" when alluding to his death as being caused by
the news of the battle of Chæronea.
=I´tys.= A son of Tereus, king of Thrace, and Procne, daughter of Pandion,
king of Athens. He was killed by his mother when he was six years old,
and served up to his father to be eaten by him. He was changed into a
pheasant, his mother into a swallow, and his father into an owl.