il to be put to death as soon as he should
have given satisfaction to Herod for the claims which
tbo latter had upon him.
have given satisfaction to Herod for the claims which
tbo latter had upon him.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
?
.
ni-
kov) is mentioned, which occupies the same place
where Nicephorium had previously stood. This con-
formity of position, and sudden change of name, lead
directly to the supposition that Nicephorium and Cal-
linicum wero one and the same place, and that the
earlier appellation (" Victory-bringing" vUn and $ipu)
had merely been exchanged for one of the same gen-
eral import (" Fair-conquering" KaUc and vi'kij).
Hence we may reject the statement sometimes made,
that the city received its later name from Seleucus
Callinicus as its founder (Ckron Alcxandr. , Olymp.
134, 1), as well as what Valcsius {ad Amm. Marcell. ,
23, 6) cites from Libanius (Ep. ad Aristanei. ), that
Nicephorium changed its name in honour of the soph-
ist Callinicus, who died there. --Marccllinus describes
Callinicum as a strong place, and carrying on a great
trade (" munimtntum robust am, et commercandi of imi-
tate gratissimum"). Justinian repaired and strength-
ened the fortifications. (Compare Thtodorct, Hist.
Relig. , c. 26. ) At a subsequent period, the name of
the city again underwent a change. The Emperor
Leo, who about 466 AD. had contributed to adorn
the place, ordered it to bo called Lcontopolis, and
ender this title Hierocles enumerates it among the
cities of Oaroene. (Synecdem. , ed. Wattling, p.
715. ) Stephanus of Byzantium asserts that Nicepho-
rium, at a later period, changed its name to Constan-
lina; but this is impossible, as the city of Constantina
belongs to quite a different part of the country. D'An-
viile fixes the site of Nicephorium near the modern
Racca, in which he is followed by aubsequentewriters.
(Mannerl, vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 286, scqq. )
NicephobIds, a river of Armenia Major, the same
wilh the Centritis. (Vid. Centritis. )
Nicephorus, I. an emperor of the East, was origi-
nally Logotheta, or intendant of the finances, during
the reign of the Empress Irene and her son Constan-
tino VI. , in the latter part of the eighth century. I rene,
having deprived her son of sight, usurped the throne,
and reigned alone for six years, when a conspiracy broke
out against her, headed by Nicephorus, who was pro-
claimed emperor, and crowned in the church of St.
Sophia, A. D. 802. He banished Irene to the island
of Lesbos, where she lived and died in a state of great
destitution. The troops in Asia revolted against Ni-
cephorus, who showed himself avaricious and cruel,
and they proclaimed the patrician Bardanes emperor;
but Nicephorus defeated and seized Bardanes, confined
him in a. monastery, and deprived him of sight. The
Empress Irene had consented to pay an annual tribute
? ? to the Saracens, in order to stop their incursions into
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NICEPHORUS.
NIC
the throne; but his own indifference on this point, and
llie pleasures taken by John, the son of Alexius, de-
feated their plans. It was on this occasion that Anna
Comnena passionately exclaimed, that nature had mis-
taken the two sexes, and bad endowed Bryennius with
the soul of a woman. He died in 1137. At the
order of the Empress Irene, Bryennius undertook, du-
ring the life of Alexius, a history of the house of Com-
nenus, which he entitled "TAij 'Iorooiac, "Materials
for History," and which he distributed into four books.
He commenced with Isaac Comnenus, the first prince
of this line, who reigned from 1057 to 1059 . 11),
without being able to transmit the sceptre to his fam-
ily, into whose hands it did not pass until 1031, when
Alexius I. ascended the throne. Nicephorus stops at
the period of his father-in-law's accession to the throne,
after having given his history while a private individ-
ual. He had at ni>> uisposal excellent materials; but
his impartiality as an historian is not very highly es-
teemed. In point of diction, his work holds a very
favourable rank among the productions of the Lower
Empire. It was continued by Anna Comnena. (Scholl,
Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 6, p. 388. )--VI. Blemmida, a
monk of the 13th century. He has left three works:
"a Geographical Abridgment" {Teuypafla owoirrtitq),
which is nothing but a prose metaphrase of the Periege-
ais of Dionysius the Geographer: a work entitled "A
Second History (or Description) of the Earth" ('T. ripa
laropia Trrpl rfjc yfjc), in which he gives an account
of the form and size of the earth, and of the different
lengths of the day: and a third, " On the Heavens and
Earth, the Sun, Moon, Stars, Time, and Days" (Uept
Oipavoi Kdl yijc, 'Wdov, StXiJvr/f, 'Aorepuv, Xpdvov,
cat 'Hfiepuv). In this last the author develops a sys-
tem, according to which the earth is a plane. The
first two were published by Spohn, at Leipzig, 1818, in
4lo, and by Manzi, from a MS. in the Barberini Library,
Rom. , 1819, 4to. Bernhardy has given the Metaphrase
in his edition of Dionysius, Lips. , 1828; the third is
unedited. It is mentioned by Bredow in his Epislola
Paristenscs. --VII. Surnamed Xanthopulus, lived
about the middle of the 14th century. He wrote an
Ecclesiastical History in 18 books, which, along with
many useful extracts from writers whose productions
are now lost, contains a great number of fables. This
history extends from the birth of our Saviour to A. D.
610. The arguments of five other books, which would
carry it down to A. D. 911, are by a different writer.
In preparing his work, Nicephorus availed himself of
the library attached to the church of St. Sophia, and
here he passed the greater part of his life. He has
left also Catalogues, in Iambic verse, of the Greek
emperors, the patriarchs of Constantinople, and the
fathers of the church, besides other minor works. To
this same writer is likewise ascribed a work contain-
ing an account of the church of the Virgin, situate at
certain mineral waters in Constantinople, and of the
miraculous cures wrought by these. --The Ecclesias-
tical History was edited by Ducaeus (Fronton du Due),
Pari*, 1630, 3 vols. fol. The metrical Catalogues
are to be found in the edition of the Epigrams of Thc-
odorus Prodromus, published at Bale, 1536,8vo. The
sccount of the mineral waters, Ac, appeared for the
first time at Vienna in 1802, 8vo, edited by Pampe-
rcus. --VIII. Surnamed Chumnus, was Prafeclus Can-
iclei ('0 M rov KaviKleiov) under Andronicus II. ,
surnamed Palsologus. The canickus (Kavin? . eioc)
? ? was a small vessel filled with the red liquid with which
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? K tV
NIC
? captions a/e several times mentioned by Galen (Op ,
td. Ku/in, vol. 12, p. 634; vol. 13, p. 96, 98, 110,
? 80, &c. ; vol. 14, p. 197), and once by Pliny (32,
t\). We learn from Caslius Aurelianus (Mori. Chron. ,
I. 2, c. 5) lhat he wrote also on catalepsy. He flour-
ished about 40 B. C. (lineycl. Vs. Knowl. , vol. 16,
p. 207. )
Nicetas, I. Eugcnianus, author of one of the poor-
ii i of tlie Greek romances that have come down to us.
II? appears to have lived not long after Theodore Pro-
dromus, whom, according to the title of his work as
given in a Paris manuscript, he selected for his model.
He wrote of the Loves of Drosilla and Chariclea.
BoissonaUe gave to the world an edition of this ro-
mance in 1819, Paris, 2 vols lUmo, respecting the
nema of which, consult Hoffmann, Lex. Bibllogr. , vol.
J, p. 137. --II. Acominatus, surnamed Choniatcs, from
lit having been born at Chonte, or Colossse, in Phry-
jia. He filled many posts of distinction at Constanti-
nople, under the Emperor Isaac II. (Angelus). About
A. D. 1189, he was appointed by the same monarch
governor of Philippopoiis, an otfice of which Alexius V.
deprived him. He died A. D. 1216, at Nica:a, in Bi-
tliyina, to which city he had fled after the taking of
Constantinople by the Latins. He "rote a History of
the Byzantine Emperors, in twenty-one books, com-
mencing A. D. 1118 and ending A. D. 1206. It forms,
in fact, ten different works of various sizes, all imbodied
under one general head. -- Nicetas possessed talent,
judgment, and an enlightened taste for the arts, and
would be read with pleasure if he did not occasionally
indulge too much in a satirical vein, and if his style were
not so declamatory and poetical. The sufferings of
Constantinople, which passed under his own eyes, appear
to have imbittered his spirit, and he is accused of be-
ing one of the writers who contributed most to kindle
a feeling of hatred between the Greeks and the nations
of *. hc West. --We have a life of Nicetas by his broth-
l: Michael Acominatus, metropolitan of Athens. It
la entitled Monodia, and has never yet been published
in the original Greek; a Latin translation of it is given
in the BMiotk Palrum Maxim Lugd. , vol. 22. --The
latest edition of Nicetas was that of Paris, 1647, fol.
A new edition, however, has lately appeared from
the scholars of Germany, as forming part of the Byzan-
tine collection, now in a course of publication at Bonn.
--III. An ecclesiastical writer, who flourished during
the latter half of the eleventh century. He was at first
bishop of Serra? in Macedonia (whence he is sometimes
surnamed Scrraricnsis), and afterward metropolitan of
Heraclea in Thrace. He is known by his commentary
on sisteen discourses of St. Gregory Nazianzen, and by
other works connected with theology and sacred criti-
cism. He was the author, likewise, of some gram-
matical productions, of which, however, only a small
remnant has come down to us, in the shape of a trea-
tise "on the Names of the Gods" (Eic tu bvd/iara tuv
Dtuv), an edition of which was ijivcn by Creuzer, in
1187, from the Leipzig press. --IV. David, a philoso-
pher, historian, and rhetorician, sometimes confound-
ed with the preceding, but who flourished two centu-
ries earlier. He was bishop of Dadybra in Paphlago-
nia, and wrote, among other things, an explanatory
work on the poems of St. Gregory Nazianzen, and a
paraphrase of the epigrams of St. Basil. An edition
of these works appeared at Venice in 1563, 4to.
Nicia, a small river of Cisalpine Gaul, rising in the
? ? territory of the Ligures Apuam, and falling into the Po
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NICOLAUS
IS I C
. tc bail led an army inl) Arabia to enforce certain
claims which lie had upon Syllous, the prime-minister
oi the King of Arabia, and the real governor of the
country. (Joseph. , Ant. Jud , 16, 9. ) Nicolaus, hav-
ing obtained an audience of the emperor, accused Syl-
laeus, and defended Herod in a skilful speech, which is
given by Josephus (Ant. Jud. , 16, 10). Syllaeus was
aentrrn-i.
il to be put to death as soon as he should
have given satisfaction to Herod for the claims which
tbo latter had upon him. This is the account of Jose-
jwus, taken probably from the history of Nicolaus him-
self, who appears to have exaggerated the success of
his embassy; for Syllteus neither gave any satisfac-
tion to Herod, nor was the sentence of death executed
upon him. (Joseph. , Ant. Jud. , 17, 3, 2. ) We find
Nicolaus afterward acting as the accuser of Herod's
oon Antipater, when he was tried before Varus for
plotting against his father's life, B. C. 4 (Joseph. , Ant.
Jud. , 16, 5, 4, seqq. --Id. , Bell. Jud. , 1, 32, 4); and
again as the advocate of Arclielaus before Augustus,
in the dispute for the succession to Herod's kingdom.
(Joseph, Ant. Jud. , 17, 9, 6. -- Id. ih. , 11, 3. -- Id. ,
Bell. Jud, 2, 2, 6. )--As a writer, Nicolaus is known
in several departments of literature. He composed
tragedies, and, among others, one entitled "Zuoavvic.
(" Susanna"). Of these nothing remains. He also
wrote comedies, and Stobasus has preserved for us
what he considers to be a fragment of one of these, hut
what belongs, in fact, to a different writer. (Kief. Ni-
colaus I. ) He was the author, also, of a work on the
Remarkable Customs of various nations CZvvayuyi)
trayradV^W rjduu); of another on Distinguished Ac-
tions (Ylepl tuv hi role irpaKTiKoic Kahuv); and also
of several historical works. Among the last-mention-
ed class of productions was a Universal History ('la
ropia KadoXtuft), in 1,41 books (hence called by Athe-
paaus 7TOAv6t6"/. o;, 6, p. 249, <<. ), a compilation for
which he borrowed passages from various historians,
which he united together by oratorical flourishes. Aa
be has drawn his materials in part from sources which
so longer exist for us, the fragments of his history
which remain make us acquainted with several facts
of which we should otherwise have had no knowledge.
Ti. is history included the reign of Herod; and Josc-
c -. us gives the following character of the 123d and
124th books: "For, living in his kingdom and with
him (Herod), he composed his history in such a way
as to gratify and serve him, touching upon those things
only which made for his glory, and glossing over many
of his actions which were plainly unjust, and conceal-
ing them with all zeal. And wishing to make a spe-
cious excuse for the murder of Mariamne and her chil-
dren, so cruelly perpetrated hy the king, he tells false-
hoods respecting her incontinence, and the plots of
the young men. And throughout his whole histo-
tv he eulogizes extravagantly all the king's just ac-
tions, while he zealously apologizes for his crimes. "
(Ant. Jud. , 16, 7, 1. ) Nicolaus wrote also a life of
Augustus, of which a fragment, marked too strongly
with flattery, still remains. He was the author, too, of
some metaphysical productions on the writings of Aris-
totle. As regards his own Biography, which has like-
wise come down to us, we may be allowed to doubt
whethor he ever wrote it. --The latest and most com-
plete edition of the remains of Nicolaus Damascenes
is that of Orellius, Lips. , 1804, with a supplement pub-
lished >n 1811, and containing the result of the labours
? ? o:' 3te. Tii, Oclisner, and others, in collecting the scat-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NIC
NIG
? Taniferrid to it the inhabitants of the neighbouring
lit; of Astacus. (Memnon, ap. Phot. , c. 21, p. 722. )
This city was much frequented by the Romans, and
by Europeans generally, as it lay directly on the route
trom Constantinople to the more eastern provinces,
and contained, in its fine position, its handsome build-
ings, and its numerous warm baths and mineral waters,
very strong attractions for travellers. Under the Ro-
io>>,. s. Nicomedea became one of the chief cities of the
? mpir6 pausanias speaks of it as the principal city
in Bilhynia (6, 12, 5); but under Dioclesian, who
chiefly resided here, it increased greatly in extent and
populousness, and became inferior only to Home, Al-
exandreu, and Antioch. (Lilian. , Oral. , H, p. 203. --
Latum. , dc morte persec, c. 17. ) Nicomedea, how-
ever, suffered severely from earthquakes. Five of
these dreadful visitations fell to its lot, and it was al-
most destroyed by one in particular in the reign of
Julian; but it was again rebuilt with great splendour
and magnificence, and recovered nearly its former
freatnesa. (,4mm. Marccll, 17, 6. --Id. , 22, 13. --
laiala. 1. 13. )--The modern Is-Mid occupies the
site of the ancient city, and is still a place of consid-
erable importance and much trade. The modern name
is given by D'Anville and others as ls-Nikmid. (Man-
ner! , Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 3, p. 682. )
Nicopolis ("City of Victory," vUri and irofuc), I.
a city of Palestine, to the northwest of Jerusalem, the
same with Emmaus. It received the name of Nicop-
olis in the third century from the Emperor Heliogaba-
ius, who restored and beautified the place. (Citron.
Patch. Ann. , 223. ) Josephus often calls the city
Ammaus. (Bell. Jud. , 1, 9. --Ibid. , 2, 3. ) It must
not be confounded with the Emmaus of the New
Testament (Luc, 24, 13), which was only eight miles
from Jerusalem. (Mannert, Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 1, p.
233. )--II. A city of Cilicia, placed by Ptolemy in the
northeastern corner of Cilicia, where the range of
Taurus joins that of Amanus. D'Anville puts it too
low down on his map. --HI. A city of Armenia Minor,
'. '? i the river Lycua, near the borders of Pontus. It
>>as built by Pompey in commemoration of a victory
gained here over Mithradates. (Appian, Bell. Mith-
rad, 101, 105. -- Strabo, 555. --Pliny, 6, 9. ) The
modern Devrigni is supposed to occupy its site, the
Tephrice of the Byzantine historians probably. (Man-
nert, Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 318. )--IV. A city in
Mcesia Inferior, on the river Iatrus, one of the tribu-
taries of the Danube. It was founded by Trajan in
commemoration of a victory over the Dacians, and was
generally called, for distinction' sake, Nicopolis ad
Islrum or ad Danubiv. m. The modern name ia given
as Nicopoli. (Atnm. Marccll. , 24, 4. --Vii. , 31, 6. )--
V. A city of Mossia Inferior, southeast of the prece-
ding, at the foot of Mount Haemus, and near the
sources cf tho Istrus. It was called, for distinction'
sake, Nicopolis ad Hamum, and is now Nikub. --VI.
A city of Egypt, to the northeast, and in the immedi-
ate vicinity, of Alexandria. Strabo gives the inter-
vening space as 30 stadia. (Sirab. , 794. ) It was
founded by Augustus in commemoration of a victory
gained here over Antony, and is now Kars or Kiasse-
ra. (Dio Coat. , 61, 18--Joseph. , Bell. Jud. , 4, 14. )
--VII. A city of Tbrace, on the river Nessus, not far
from its mouth, foundtj by Trajan. It is now Nicop-
oi'i. The later name was Christopolis. (Plot. --
Hierocl. , p. 635. -- Wesseling, ad Hierocl. , I. c. )--
? ? VIII. A city of Epirus, on the upper coast of the Am-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NIGEF
NIGER.
sing in a southern direction the inhabited region, and
next to it the country of the wild beasts, they crossed
the great sandy desert in a western direction for many
days, until thry arrived at a country inhabited by men
of low stature, who conducted them through extensive
marshes to a city built on a great river, which con-
tained crocodiles, and flowed towards the rising sun.
This information Herodotus derived from the Greeks
of Cyrene, who had it from Etearchus, king of the
rlmmonii, who said that the river in question was a
'rm:''li of the Egyptian Nile, an opinion in which the
historian acquiesced. (Vid. Nasamoncs, and Africa. )
--Strabo seems to have known little of the interior of
Africa and its rivers: he cites the opposite testimo-
nies of Poiidonius and Artemidorus, thu former of
whom said that the rivers of Libya were few anil
small, while the latter stated that they were large and
numerous. --Pliny (5, 1) gives an account of the ex-
pedition into Mauritania of the Roman commander
Suetonius Paulinus, who (A. D. 41) led a Roman army
across the Alias, and, after passing a desert of black
sand and burned rocks, arrived at a river called Ger, in
some MSS. Niger, near which lived the Oanarii, next
to whom were the Perorsi, an Ethiopian tribe; and
farthc inland were the Pharusii, as I'lmysstates above
in the same chapter. ThoCanarii inhabited the country
now called Sus, in the southern part of the empire of
Marocco. near Cape Nun, and opposite to the Fortu-
nate or Cinary Islands; and the Perorsi dwell to the
south of ihem along the seacnast. The Ger or Niger
of Suetonius Paulinus, which he met after crossing the
Atlas, must have been one of the streams which flow
from the southern side of the great Atlas, through the
country of Tafileli, and which lose themselves in the
southern desert. One of these streams is still called
Ghir, and runs through Scgclmessa; and this, in all
probability, is the Ger or Niger of the Roman com-
mander. Ger or Gir seems, in fact, to be an old gen-
eric African appellation for "river. " As for the des-
ert which Suetonius crossed before he arrived at the
Ger, it could evidently not be the great desert, which
spread far to the south of the Canarii, but one of the
desert tracts which lay immediately south of the Atlas.
Caillie describes the inhabited parts of Draha, Tafitell,
and Segelmcssa as consisting of valleys and small
plains, enclosed by steril and rocky tracts of desert
country. --But, besides the Ger or Niger of Suetonius,
Pliny in several places (5, 8. sea. ; 8, 21) speaks of
another apparently distinct river, the Nigris of . -Ethi-
opia, which he compares with the Nile, " swelling at
the same seasons, having similar animals living in its
waters, and, like the Nile, producing the calamus and
papyrus. " In his extremely confused account, which
he derived from the authority of Juba II. , king of Mau-
ritania, he mixes up the Nigris and the Nile together
with other rivers, as if all the waters of Central Africa
formed but one water-course, which seems to have been
a very prevalent notion of old. He says (5, 9) that the
Nile had its origin in a mountain of Lower Mauritania,
not far from the ocean; that it flowed through sandy
deserts, in which it was concealed for several days;
that it reappeared in a great lake in Mauritania Caesa-
riensis, was again hidden for twenty days in deserts,
and then rose agair. in the sources of the Nigris, which
river, separating Africa (meaning Northern Africa) from
^Ethiopia, flowed through the middle of .
kov) is mentioned, which occupies the same place
where Nicephorium had previously stood. This con-
formity of position, and sudden change of name, lead
directly to the supposition that Nicephorium and Cal-
linicum wero one and the same place, and that the
earlier appellation (" Victory-bringing" vUn and $ipu)
had merely been exchanged for one of the same gen-
eral import (" Fair-conquering" KaUc and vi'kij).
Hence we may reject the statement sometimes made,
that the city received its later name from Seleucus
Callinicus as its founder (Ckron Alcxandr. , Olymp.
134, 1), as well as what Valcsius {ad Amm. Marcell. ,
23, 6) cites from Libanius (Ep. ad Aristanei. ), that
Nicephorium changed its name in honour of the soph-
ist Callinicus, who died there. --Marccllinus describes
Callinicum as a strong place, and carrying on a great
trade (" munimtntum robust am, et commercandi of imi-
tate gratissimum"). Justinian repaired and strength-
ened the fortifications. (Compare Thtodorct, Hist.
Relig. , c. 26. ) At a subsequent period, the name of
the city again underwent a change. The Emperor
Leo, who about 466 AD. had contributed to adorn
the place, ordered it to bo called Lcontopolis, and
ender this title Hierocles enumerates it among the
cities of Oaroene. (Synecdem. , ed. Wattling, p.
715. ) Stephanus of Byzantium asserts that Nicepho-
rium, at a later period, changed its name to Constan-
lina; but this is impossible, as the city of Constantina
belongs to quite a different part of the country. D'An-
viile fixes the site of Nicephorium near the modern
Racca, in which he is followed by aubsequentewriters.
(Mannerl, vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 286, scqq. )
NicephobIds, a river of Armenia Major, the same
wilh the Centritis. (Vid. Centritis. )
Nicephorus, I. an emperor of the East, was origi-
nally Logotheta, or intendant of the finances, during
the reign of the Empress Irene and her son Constan-
tino VI. , in the latter part of the eighth century. I rene,
having deprived her son of sight, usurped the throne,
and reigned alone for six years, when a conspiracy broke
out against her, headed by Nicephorus, who was pro-
claimed emperor, and crowned in the church of St.
Sophia, A. D. 802. He banished Irene to the island
of Lesbos, where she lived and died in a state of great
destitution. The troops in Asia revolted against Ni-
cephorus, who showed himself avaricious and cruel,
and they proclaimed the patrician Bardanes emperor;
but Nicephorus defeated and seized Bardanes, confined
him in a. monastery, and deprived him of sight. The
Empress Irene had consented to pay an annual tribute
? ? to the Saracens, in order to stop their incursions into
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NICEPHORUS.
NIC
the throne; but his own indifference on this point, and
llie pleasures taken by John, the son of Alexius, de-
feated their plans. It was on this occasion that Anna
Comnena passionately exclaimed, that nature had mis-
taken the two sexes, and bad endowed Bryennius with
the soul of a woman. He died in 1137. At the
order of the Empress Irene, Bryennius undertook, du-
ring the life of Alexius, a history of the house of Com-
nenus, which he entitled "TAij 'Iorooiac, "Materials
for History," and which he distributed into four books.
He commenced with Isaac Comnenus, the first prince
of this line, who reigned from 1057 to 1059 . 11),
without being able to transmit the sceptre to his fam-
ily, into whose hands it did not pass until 1031, when
Alexius I. ascended the throne. Nicephorus stops at
the period of his father-in-law's accession to the throne,
after having given his history while a private individ-
ual. He had at ni>> uisposal excellent materials; but
his impartiality as an historian is not very highly es-
teemed. In point of diction, his work holds a very
favourable rank among the productions of the Lower
Empire. It was continued by Anna Comnena. (Scholl,
Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 6, p. 388. )--VI. Blemmida, a
monk of the 13th century. He has left three works:
"a Geographical Abridgment" {Teuypafla owoirrtitq),
which is nothing but a prose metaphrase of the Periege-
ais of Dionysius the Geographer: a work entitled "A
Second History (or Description) of the Earth" ('T. ripa
laropia Trrpl rfjc yfjc), in which he gives an account
of the form and size of the earth, and of the different
lengths of the day: and a third, " On the Heavens and
Earth, the Sun, Moon, Stars, Time, and Days" (Uept
Oipavoi Kdl yijc, 'Wdov, StXiJvr/f, 'Aorepuv, Xpdvov,
cat 'Hfiepuv). In this last the author develops a sys-
tem, according to which the earth is a plane. The
first two were published by Spohn, at Leipzig, 1818, in
4lo, and by Manzi, from a MS. in the Barberini Library,
Rom. , 1819, 4to. Bernhardy has given the Metaphrase
in his edition of Dionysius, Lips. , 1828; the third is
unedited. It is mentioned by Bredow in his Epislola
Paristenscs. --VII. Surnamed Xanthopulus, lived
about the middle of the 14th century. He wrote an
Ecclesiastical History in 18 books, which, along with
many useful extracts from writers whose productions
are now lost, contains a great number of fables. This
history extends from the birth of our Saviour to A. D.
610. The arguments of five other books, which would
carry it down to A. D. 911, are by a different writer.
In preparing his work, Nicephorus availed himself of
the library attached to the church of St. Sophia, and
here he passed the greater part of his life. He has
left also Catalogues, in Iambic verse, of the Greek
emperors, the patriarchs of Constantinople, and the
fathers of the church, besides other minor works. To
this same writer is likewise ascribed a work contain-
ing an account of the church of the Virgin, situate at
certain mineral waters in Constantinople, and of the
miraculous cures wrought by these. --The Ecclesias-
tical History was edited by Ducaeus (Fronton du Due),
Pari*, 1630, 3 vols. fol. The metrical Catalogues
are to be found in the edition of the Epigrams of Thc-
odorus Prodromus, published at Bale, 1536,8vo. The
sccount of the mineral waters, Ac, appeared for the
first time at Vienna in 1802, 8vo, edited by Pampe-
rcus. --VIII. Surnamed Chumnus, was Prafeclus Can-
iclei ('0 M rov KaviKleiov) under Andronicus II. ,
surnamed Palsologus. The canickus (Kavin? . eioc)
? ? was a small vessel filled with the red liquid with which
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? K tV
NIC
? captions a/e several times mentioned by Galen (Op ,
td. Ku/in, vol. 12, p. 634; vol. 13, p. 96, 98, 110,
? 80, &c. ; vol. 14, p. 197), and once by Pliny (32,
t\). We learn from Caslius Aurelianus (Mori. Chron. ,
I. 2, c. 5) lhat he wrote also on catalepsy. He flour-
ished about 40 B. C. (lineycl. Vs. Knowl. , vol. 16,
p. 207. )
Nicetas, I. Eugcnianus, author of one of the poor-
ii i of tlie Greek romances that have come down to us.
II? appears to have lived not long after Theodore Pro-
dromus, whom, according to the title of his work as
given in a Paris manuscript, he selected for his model.
He wrote of the Loves of Drosilla and Chariclea.
BoissonaUe gave to the world an edition of this ro-
mance in 1819, Paris, 2 vols lUmo, respecting the
nema of which, consult Hoffmann, Lex. Bibllogr. , vol.
J, p. 137. --II. Acominatus, surnamed Choniatcs, from
lit having been born at Chonte, or Colossse, in Phry-
jia. He filled many posts of distinction at Constanti-
nople, under the Emperor Isaac II. (Angelus). About
A. D. 1189, he was appointed by the same monarch
governor of Philippopoiis, an otfice of which Alexius V.
deprived him. He died A. D. 1216, at Nica:a, in Bi-
tliyina, to which city he had fled after the taking of
Constantinople by the Latins. He "rote a History of
the Byzantine Emperors, in twenty-one books, com-
mencing A. D. 1118 and ending A. D. 1206. It forms,
in fact, ten different works of various sizes, all imbodied
under one general head. -- Nicetas possessed talent,
judgment, and an enlightened taste for the arts, and
would be read with pleasure if he did not occasionally
indulge too much in a satirical vein, and if his style were
not so declamatory and poetical. The sufferings of
Constantinople, which passed under his own eyes, appear
to have imbittered his spirit, and he is accused of be-
ing one of the writers who contributed most to kindle
a feeling of hatred between the Greeks and the nations
of *. hc West. --We have a life of Nicetas by his broth-
l: Michael Acominatus, metropolitan of Athens. It
la entitled Monodia, and has never yet been published
in the original Greek; a Latin translation of it is given
in the BMiotk Palrum Maxim Lugd. , vol. 22. --The
latest edition of Nicetas was that of Paris, 1647, fol.
A new edition, however, has lately appeared from
the scholars of Germany, as forming part of the Byzan-
tine collection, now in a course of publication at Bonn.
--III. An ecclesiastical writer, who flourished during
the latter half of the eleventh century. He was at first
bishop of Serra? in Macedonia (whence he is sometimes
surnamed Scrraricnsis), and afterward metropolitan of
Heraclea in Thrace. He is known by his commentary
on sisteen discourses of St. Gregory Nazianzen, and by
other works connected with theology and sacred criti-
cism. He was the author, likewise, of some gram-
matical productions, of which, however, only a small
remnant has come down to us, in the shape of a trea-
tise "on the Names of the Gods" (Eic tu bvd/iara tuv
Dtuv), an edition of which was ijivcn by Creuzer, in
1187, from the Leipzig press. --IV. David, a philoso-
pher, historian, and rhetorician, sometimes confound-
ed with the preceding, but who flourished two centu-
ries earlier. He was bishop of Dadybra in Paphlago-
nia, and wrote, among other things, an explanatory
work on the poems of St. Gregory Nazianzen, and a
paraphrase of the epigrams of St. Basil. An edition
of these works appeared at Venice in 1563, 4to.
Nicia, a small river of Cisalpine Gaul, rising in the
? ? territory of the Ligures Apuam, and falling into the Po
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NICOLAUS
IS I C
. tc bail led an army inl) Arabia to enforce certain
claims which lie had upon Syllous, the prime-minister
oi the King of Arabia, and the real governor of the
country. (Joseph. , Ant. Jud , 16, 9. ) Nicolaus, hav-
ing obtained an audience of the emperor, accused Syl-
laeus, and defended Herod in a skilful speech, which is
given by Josephus (Ant. Jud. , 16, 10). Syllaeus was
aentrrn-i.
il to be put to death as soon as he should
have given satisfaction to Herod for the claims which
tbo latter had upon him. This is the account of Jose-
jwus, taken probably from the history of Nicolaus him-
self, who appears to have exaggerated the success of
his embassy; for Syllteus neither gave any satisfac-
tion to Herod, nor was the sentence of death executed
upon him. (Joseph. , Ant. Jud. , 17, 3, 2. ) We find
Nicolaus afterward acting as the accuser of Herod's
oon Antipater, when he was tried before Varus for
plotting against his father's life, B. C. 4 (Joseph. , Ant.
Jud. , 16, 5, 4, seqq. --Id. , Bell. Jud. , 1, 32, 4); and
again as the advocate of Arclielaus before Augustus,
in the dispute for the succession to Herod's kingdom.
(Joseph, Ant. Jud. , 17, 9, 6. -- Id. ih. , 11, 3. -- Id. ,
Bell. Jud, 2, 2, 6. )--As a writer, Nicolaus is known
in several departments of literature. He composed
tragedies, and, among others, one entitled "Zuoavvic.
(" Susanna"). Of these nothing remains. He also
wrote comedies, and Stobasus has preserved for us
what he considers to be a fragment of one of these, hut
what belongs, in fact, to a different writer. (Kief. Ni-
colaus I. ) He was the author, also, of a work on the
Remarkable Customs of various nations CZvvayuyi)
trayradV^W rjduu); of another on Distinguished Ac-
tions (Ylepl tuv hi role irpaKTiKoic Kahuv); and also
of several historical works. Among the last-mention-
ed class of productions was a Universal History ('la
ropia KadoXtuft), in 1,41 books (hence called by Athe-
paaus 7TOAv6t6"/. o;, 6, p. 249, <<. ), a compilation for
which he borrowed passages from various historians,
which he united together by oratorical flourishes. Aa
be has drawn his materials in part from sources which
so longer exist for us, the fragments of his history
which remain make us acquainted with several facts
of which we should otherwise have had no knowledge.
Ti. is history included the reign of Herod; and Josc-
c -. us gives the following character of the 123d and
124th books: "For, living in his kingdom and with
him (Herod), he composed his history in such a way
as to gratify and serve him, touching upon those things
only which made for his glory, and glossing over many
of his actions which were plainly unjust, and conceal-
ing them with all zeal. And wishing to make a spe-
cious excuse for the murder of Mariamne and her chil-
dren, so cruelly perpetrated hy the king, he tells false-
hoods respecting her incontinence, and the plots of
the young men. And throughout his whole histo-
tv he eulogizes extravagantly all the king's just ac-
tions, while he zealously apologizes for his crimes. "
(Ant. Jud. , 16, 7, 1. ) Nicolaus wrote also a life of
Augustus, of which a fragment, marked too strongly
with flattery, still remains. He was the author, too, of
some metaphysical productions on the writings of Aris-
totle. As regards his own Biography, which has like-
wise come down to us, we may be allowed to doubt
whethor he ever wrote it. --The latest and most com-
plete edition of the remains of Nicolaus Damascenes
is that of Orellius, Lips. , 1804, with a supplement pub-
lished >n 1811, and containing the result of the labours
? ? o:' 3te. Tii, Oclisner, and others, in collecting the scat-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NIC
NIG
? Taniferrid to it the inhabitants of the neighbouring
lit; of Astacus. (Memnon, ap. Phot. , c. 21, p. 722. )
This city was much frequented by the Romans, and
by Europeans generally, as it lay directly on the route
trom Constantinople to the more eastern provinces,
and contained, in its fine position, its handsome build-
ings, and its numerous warm baths and mineral waters,
very strong attractions for travellers. Under the Ro-
io>>,. s. Nicomedea became one of the chief cities of the
? mpir6 pausanias speaks of it as the principal city
in Bilhynia (6, 12, 5); but under Dioclesian, who
chiefly resided here, it increased greatly in extent and
populousness, and became inferior only to Home, Al-
exandreu, and Antioch. (Lilian. , Oral. , H, p. 203. --
Latum. , dc morte persec, c. 17. ) Nicomedea, how-
ever, suffered severely from earthquakes. Five of
these dreadful visitations fell to its lot, and it was al-
most destroyed by one in particular in the reign of
Julian; but it was again rebuilt with great splendour
and magnificence, and recovered nearly its former
freatnesa. (,4mm. Marccll, 17, 6. --Id. , 22, 13. --
laiala. 1. 13. )--The modern Is-Mid occupies the
site of the ancient city, and is still a place of consid-
erable importance and much trade. The modern name
is given by D'Anville and others as ls-Nikmid. (Man-
ner! , Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 3, p. 682. )
Nicopolis ("City of Victory," vUri and irofuc), I.
a city of Palestine, to the northwest of Jerusalem, the
same with Emmaus. It received the name of Nicop-
olis in the third century from the Emperor Heliogaba-
ius, who restored and beautified the place. (Citron.
Patch. Ann. , 223. ) Josephus often calls the city
Ammaus. (Bell. Jud. , 1, 9. --Ibid. , 2, 3. ) It must
not be confounded with the Emmaus of the New
Testament (Luc, 24, 13), which was only eight miles
from Jerusalem. (Mannert, Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 1, p.
233. )--II. A city of Cilicia, placed by Ptolemy in the
northeastern corner of Cilicia, where the range of
Taurus joins that of Amanus. D'Anville puts it too
low down on his map. --HI. A city of Armenia Minor,
'. '? i the river Lycua, near the borders of Pontus. It
>>as built by Pompey in commemoration of a victory
gained here over Mithradates. (Appian, Bell. Mith-
rad, 101, 105. -- Strabo, 555. --Pliny, 6, 9. ) The
modern Devrigni is supposed to occupy its site, the
Tephrice of the Byzantine historians probably. (Man-
nert, Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 318. )--IV. A city in
Mcesia Inferior, on the river Iatrus, one of the tribu-
taries of the Danube. It was founded by Trajan in
commemoration of a victory over the Dacians, and was
generally called, for distinction' sake, Nicopolis ad
Islrum or ad Danubiv. m. The modern name ia given
as Nicopoli. (Atnm. Marccll. , 24, 4. --Vii. , 31, 6. )--
V. A city of Mossia Inferior, southeast of the prece-
ding, at the foot of Mount Haemus, and near the
sources cf tho Istrus. It was called, for distinction'
sake, Nicopolis ad Hamum, and is now Nikub. --VI.
A city of Egypt, to the northeast, and in the immedi-
ate vicinity, of Alexandria. Strabo gives the inter-
vening space as 30 stadia. (Sirab. , 794. ) It was
founded by Augustus in commemoration of a victory
gained here over Antony, and is now Kars or Kiasse-
ra. (Dio Coat. , 61, 18--Joseph. , Bell. Jud. , 4, 14. )
--VII. A city of Tbrace, on the river Nessus, not far
from its mouth, foundtj by Trajan. It is now Nicop-
oi'i. The later name was Christopolis. (Plot. --
Hierocl. , p. 635. -- Wesseling, ad Hierocl. , I. c. )--
? ? VIII. A city of Epirus, on the upper coast of the Am-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NIGEF
NIGER.
sing in a southern direction the inhabited region, and
next to it the country of the wild beasts, they crossed
the great sandy desert in a western direction for many
days, until thry arrived at a country inhabited by men
of low stature, who conducted them through extensive
marshes to a city built on a great river, which con-
tained crocodiles, and flowed towards the rising sun.
This information Herodotus derived from the Greeks
of Cyrene, who had it from Etearchus, king of the
rlmmonii, who said that the river in question was a
'rm:''li of the Egyptian Nile, an opinion in which the
historian acquiesced. (Vid. Nasamoncs, and Africa. )
--Strabo seems to have known little of the interior of
Africa and its rivers: he cites the opposite testimo-
nies of Poiidonius and Artemidorus, thu former of
whom said that the rivers of Libya were few anil
small, while the latter stated that they were large and
numerous. --Pliny (5, 1) gives an account of the ex-
pedition into Mauritania of the Roman commander
Suetonius Paulinus, who (A. D. 41) led a Roman army
across the Alias, and, after passing a desert of black
sand and burned rocks, arrived at a river called Ger, in
some MSS. Niger, near which lived the Oanarii, next
to whom were the Perorsi, an Ethiopian tribe; and
farthc inland were the Pharusii, as I'lmysstates above
in the same chapter. ThoCanarii inhabited the country
now called Sus, in the southern part of the empire of
Marocco. near Cape Nun, and opposite to the Fortu-
nate or Cinary Islands; and the Perorsi dwell to the
south of ihem along the seacnast. The Ger or Niger
of Suetonius Paulinus, which he met after crossing the
Atlas, must have been one of the streams which flow
from the southern side of the great Atlas, through the
country of Tafileli, and which lose themselves in the
southern desert. One of these streams is still called
Ghir, and runs through Scgclmessa; and this, in all
probability, is the Ger or Niger of the Roman com-
mander. Ger or Gir seems, in fact, to be an old gen-
eric African appellation for "river. " As for the des-
ert which Suetonius crossed before he arrived at the
Ger, it could evidently not be the great desert, which
spread far to the south of the Canarii, but one of the
desert tracts which lay immediately south of the Atlas.
Caillie describes the inhabited parts of Draha, Tafitell,
and Segelmcssa as consisting of valleys and small
plains, enclosed by steril and rocky tracts of desert
country. --But, besides the Ger or Niger of Suetonius,
Pliny in several places (5, 8. sea. ; 8, 21) speaks of
another apparently distinct river, the Nigris of . -Ethi-
opia, which he compares with the Nile, " swelling at
the same seasons, having similar animals living in its
waters, and, like the Nile, producing the calamus and
papyrus. " In his extremely confused account, which
he derived from the authority of Juba II. , king of Mau-
ritania, he mixes up the Nigris and the Nile together
with other rivers, as if all the waters of Central Africa
formed but one water-course, which seems to have been
a very prevalent notion of old. He says (5, 9) that the
Nile had its origin in a mountain of Lower Mauritania,
not far from the ocean; that it flowed through sandy
deserts, in which it was concealed for several days;
that it reappeared in a great lake in Mauritania Caesa-
riensis, was again hidden for twenty days in deserts,
and then rose agair. in the sources of the Nigris, which
river, separating Africa (meaning Northern Africa) from
^Ethiopia, flowed through the middle of .
