On the base was
an inscription recording the name of the artist.
an inscription recording the name of the artist.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
(Strab.
, 666, seq.
--Ar-
rian, Exp. Al. , 1, 26. -- Plut. , Vit. Alex) Captain
? ? Beaufort remarks, that " the shore at present exhibits
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? PHE
fHE
the Lake of Pheneus, and were principally formed by
the river Aroanius or Olbius, which descends from
the mountains to the north of Pheneus, and usually
finds a vent in some natural caverns or katabalhra at
the extremity of the plain; but when, by accident,
these happened to be blocked up, the waters filled the
whole valley, and, communicating with the Ladon and
Alpheus, overflowed the beds of those rivers as far as
Olympia. {Eratosth. , ap. Strab. , 389. ) Pausanias
reports, that vestiges of some great works undertaken
to drain the Phenean marshes, and ascribed by the na-
tives to Hercules, were to be seen nesr the city
9i 14). The vestiges of the town itself are visible,
according to Dodwell, near the village of Phonia, upon
an insulated rock. The lake is said to be very small,
and to vary according to the season of the year. (Dod-
uell, vol. 2, p. 436. --Cramers Anc. Gr. , vol. 3, p.
321. )
Pher. s. I. a city of Pelasgiotis, in Thessaly, one of
the most ancient and important places in the country.
It was the capital of Admems and Eumelus, as we
learn from Homer {II. , 2, 711, seq. ) and Apolloniua.
(Arg. , 1, 49. --Compare Horn. , Od. , 4, 798. ) Pheras
was famed at a later period as the native place of Ja-
son, who, having raised himself to the head of affairs
by his talents and ability, became master not only of
his own city, but of nearly the whole of Thessaly.
{Vid. Jason, II. ) After the death of Jason, Pherse
was ruled over by Polydorus and Polyrophon, his two
brothers. The latter of these was succeeded by Al-
exander, who continued for eleven years the scourge
of his native city and of the whole of Thessaly.
(Xen. , Hist. Gr. , 6, 5. ) His evil designs were for a
time checked by the brave Pelopidas, who entered
that province at the head of a Boeotian force, and oc-
cupied the citadel of. Larissa; but, on his falling into
the hands of the tyrant, the Boeotian army was placed
in a most perilous situation, and was only saved by the
presence of mind and ability of Epaminondas, then
? eiving as a volunteer. The Thebans subsequently
rescued Pelopidas, and, under his command, made war
upon Alexander of Pherse, whom they defeated, but at
t! ic expense of the lifeof their gallant leader, who fell
tn the action. {Plut. , Vit. Pelop. --Po'. yb. , 8, 1, 6,
seqq. ) Alexander was not long after assassinated by
his wife and her brothers, who continued to tyrannize
over this country until it was liberated by Philip of
Macedon. {Xen. , Hist. Gr. , 6, 4. -- Diod. Sie. , 16,
38. ) Many years after, Cassander, as we are informed
oy Diodorus, fortified, Pheroe, but Demetrius Polior-
cetes contrived, by secret negotiations, to obtain pos-
session of both the town and citadel. {Diod. Sic. ,20,
110. ) In the invasion of Thessaly by Antiochus, Phc-
rae was forced to surrender to the troops o/ that mon-
arch after some resistance. (Liv. , 36, 9. ) It after-
ward fell into the hands of the Roman consul Acilius.
{Id. , 36, 14. ) Strabo observes, thaj the constant ty-
ranny under which this city laboured had hastened its
decay. {Strab. , 436. ) Its territory was most fertile,
and the suburbs, as we collect from Polybius, were
surrounded by gardens and walled enclosures (18, 2).
Stephanus Byzantinus speaks of an old and new town
? >( Fhorte, distant about eight stadia from each other.
Pheras, according to Strabo, was ninety stadia from
Pagasas, its emporium. {Cramer's Ancient Greece,
rol. 1, p. 393. )--II. A town of iEtolia. {Steph. Byz. ,
i. v. Qtpai. )--HI. A town of Messenia, to the east of
? ? the river Pamisus. At this place Homer makes Tele-
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? PHI
PHIDIAS
fcoUbly, to have taught the doctrine of the transmi-
gration of the soul; for this was a tenet commonly re-
ceived among the Egyptians, and afterward taught by
Pythagoras. Whether it was that Pherecydes insti-
tuted no sect j or that his writings fell into disuse
through their obscurity; or that Pythagoras designed-
ly suppressed them, that he might appear the original
author of the doctrines which he had learned from his
master; or whatever else might be the cause, we are
. 'eft without farther information concerning his philos-
ophy. (Enfield's History of Philosophy, vol. I, p.
362, seqq. ) There are extant some fragments of a
Theogony composed by him, which bear a strange
character, and have a much closer resemblance to the
Orphic poems than to those of Hesiod. They show
that, by this time, the characteristic of the theogonic
poetry had been changed, and that* Orphic ideas were
m vogue. (Mullcr, Hist. Gr. Lit. , p. 234. ) The
fragments of Pherecydes, together with those of his
namesake of Leros, were edited by Stnrz, Gera, 1789,
Pvo, and a new edition appeared in 1824, Lips. , 8vo,
with additional fragments, and more enlarged explana-
tions. The preface to this latter edition contains the
Sreatcr part of Matthias's dissertation, which Sturz un-
ertakes to refute. The dissertation just mentioned
was published by Matthias, in 1814, Altenb. , 8vo, and
was reprinted in Wolf's Analckten, vol. 1, p. 321,
ttqq. -- Pherecydes, and Cadmus of Miletus, are said
to have been the first of the Greeks that wrole in prose.
{Scholl, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 1, p. 212. -- Hoffmann,
Lex. Bibliogr. , vol. 3, p. 219. )--II. A native of Leros,
one of the Sporadcs, and a contemporary with Herod-
otua. He was the last of the Logographcrs, or com-
pilers in prose of historical traditions (\6yoi, and ypd-
fu) After him the regular historians begin. Phere-
cydes, among other works, made a collection of tradi-
tions relative to the early history of Athens. The
fragments of this writer have been edited, along with
those of Pherecydes of Scyros, by Sturz, Gem, 1789,
8vo, republished at Leipsic ir 1824. (Scholl, Hist.
Lit. Gr. , vol. 2, p. 140. )
Phekes, son of Crethcus, and of Tyro the daugh-
ter of Salmoncus. He founded Pherie in Thessaly,
where he reigned, and became the father of Admetus,
? nd of Lycurgus, king of Nemca. (Apollod. , 1,9, 11.
--Id. , 1, 9, 13. )
Phidias, a celebrated statuary, son of Charmidas,
And a native of Athens. Nothing authentic is related
concerning his earlier years, except that he was in-
truded in statuary by Hippias and Agcladas, and that,
when quite a youth, he practised painting, and made a
picture of Jupiter Olympius. (Plin. , 35, 8, 34. --Sic-
bel. , Indie. Winkclm. , p. 324. --Jacobs, Amalth. , vol.
2, p. 247. ) Respecting Hippias we have little inform-
ation. In what period Phidiao was a pupil of Agela-
das is likewise uncertain; but as Pausanias makes
Ageladas a contemporary of Onalas, who flourished
about the 78th Olympiad (Pausan. , 8, 42, 4), and as
in this period Ageladas was both distinguished by his
own productions as an artist, and was at the head of a
very celebrated school of statuary, we may properly
assume this as the time in which Phidias was under
his tuition. Between the date just mentioned and the
third year of the 85th Olympiad, there is an interval of
SO years. If with these conclusions we attempt to
ascertain the time of the birth of Phidias, it is by no
Beans an improbable conjecture that he was about
? ? 10 years of age when he received the instructions of
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? PHIDIAS
PHIDIAS.
lo be laisc. Heyne, though he errs in maintaining that
thin statue was dedicated before that of Minerva, yet
has very propeily observed that, had Phidias been
guilty ol embezzlement in relation to -it, the Elians
would never have allowed him to inscribe his name
on it, nor would they have intrusted its preservation
to his descendants. (Anliq. Aufs. , vol. 1, p. 201. )
M filler, too, examines the whole subject with great
impartiality, and comes to the conclusion, that the fame
which Phidias had acquired by his Minerva induced
the Elians to invite hiin to their country, in connexion
with his relations and pupils; and that this journey was
undertaken by him in the most honourable circum-
stances. (Muller, ie Phiiia Vita, p. 25, seqq. )--The
statue of the Olympian Jupiter graced the temple of that
god at Olympia in Elis, and was chryselephantine
(made of gold and ivory), like that of Minerva. Like
it, too, the size was colossal, being sixty feet high.
The god was represented as sitting on his throne: in
his right hand* he held a figure of Victory, also made
of gold and ivory, in his left a sceptre beautifully
adorned with all kinds of metals, and having on the
lop of it a golden eagle. His brows were encircled
with a crown, made to imitate leaves of olive; his
robe was of massive gold, curiously adorned, by a kind
of encaustic work probably, with various figures of an-
imals, and also with lilies. The sandals, too, were of
gold. The throne was inlaid with all kinds of precious
materials, ebony, ivory, and gems, and was adorned
with sculptures of exquisite beauty.
On the base was
an inscription recording the name of the artist. (I'au-
tan. , 5, 11. -- Compare Quatrtmcrt it Quinr. y, J up
Olymp. , p. 310. -- Sitbclis ad Pausan. ,1. c. ) Lucian
informs us, that, in order to render this celebrated work
as perfect in detail as it was noble in conception and
outline, Phidias, when he exposed it for the first time
after its completion to public view, placed himself De-
bit d the door of the temple, and listened attentively
to every criticism made by the spectators: when the
en ,\ d had withdrawn and the temple gates were closed,
he revised and corrected his work, wherever the ob-
jections he . ud Just heard appeared to him to be well-
gioundcd ones. {Lucian, pro Imag. , 14. ) It is also
said, thai when the artist himself was asked, by his rela-
tion Pantenus, the Athenian painter, who, it seems, aid-
ed him in the work, whence he had derived the idea of
this his grandest effort, bo replied, from the well-known
passage in Homer, where Jove is represented as causing
Olympus to tremble on its base by the mere move-
ment of his sable brow. (//. , 1, 528. ) The lines in
question, with the eiception of their reference to the
"ambrosial curls," and the brow of the god, contain no
allusion whatever to external form, and yet they carry
with them the noble idea of the Supreme Being nod-
ding benignant assent with so much true majesty as to
cause even Olympus to tremble. (Strab. , 354. --Po-
lyb. , Exc. L. , xxx. , 15, 4, 3. --Muller, dt Phid. Yit. ,
p. 62. )--Of the whole work Quintilian remarks, that it
even added new feelings to the religion of Greece
? Jul! Or. , 12, 10, 9), and yet, when judged according
to the principles of genuine art, neither this nor the
Minerva in the Parthenon possessed any strong claims
to legitimate beauty. It does not excite surprise,
therefore, to learn that Phidiaa himself disapproved of
the mixed effect produced by such a combination of
different circumstances, nor will it appear presumptu-
ous in us to condemn these splendid representations.
? ? In these compositions, exposed, as they were, to the
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? PHI
PHiDON.
iar. , I, iff, 2. )--Phidias not only practised statuary,
the art in which he was pre-eminent, but also engra-
ving, as we learn from Martial (Epigr. , 3, 35), and
from Julian (Epist. , 8, p. 377, ed. Spank). The pu-
pils of this most distinguished artist were, Agoracritus,
Alcamenes, and Colotei. (Sillig, Diet. Art. , a. v. --
Junius, Cotol. Artific, p. 151, seqq. -- Midler, de
J'hul. Vit. , p. 37, <<yj. )--The sublime style perfected
by Phidias seems almost to have expired with himself;
aot that the art declined, bat a predilection for sub-
jects of beauty and the softer graces, in preference to
more heroic ar. J masculine character, with the excep-
tion of the grand relievos on the temple at Olympia,
may be traced even among his immediate disciples.
In the era and labours of Phidias, we discover the ut-
most excellence to which Grecian genius attained in
the arts; and in the marbles of the British Museum,
the former ornaments of the Parthenon, wc certainly
behold the conceptions, and, in some measure, the very
firactice of the great Athenian sculptor. Of the intel-
sctual character of these admirable performances,
grandeur is the prevailing principle; the grandeur of
simplicity and nature, devoid of all parade or ostenta-
tion of a<l; and their author, to use the language of
antiquity, united the three characteristics, of truth,
grandeur, and minute refinement; exhibiting majesty,
gravity, breadth, and magnificence of composition, with
a practice scrupulous in detail, and with truth of indi-
vidual representation, yet in the handling rapid, broad,
and firm. This harmonious assemblage of qualities, in
themselves dissimilar, in their result the same, gives
to the productions of this master an ease, a grace, a
vitality, resembling more the spontaneous overflow-
ings of inspiration than the . aborious offspring of
. hough* wl science. (Menus, History of the Fine
Art), p. 62, seqq. ) -- In the course of this article, we
have frequently referred to the Life of Phidias by Miil-
! er. We will end with a brief account of it, which
? nay also serve, in some degree, as a recapitulation of
vhat has here been advanced. Miiller published, in
1827, three dissertations relative to Phidias, read be-
fore tae Royal Society of Sciences at Gottingcn. The
first is a biographical sketch of Phidias, and establishes
beyond doubt that Phidias began to embellish Athens
with his works of sculpture in Olympiad 82 or 83,
when Pericles was ImoTurnc; that he finished, in the
third year of Olympiad 85, the statue of Minerva for the
Parthenon; that the Elians, when the name of Phid-
ias had become known over all Greece for the splen-
ilid works he had executed at Athens, induced him to
come to Elis, and that ho made there the statue of the
Olympian Jove between Olyxnpiads 85. 3, and 86. 3;
and, finally, that after his return to Athena, he was
thrown into prison by the enemiesof Pericles, on a charge
of impiety, and that he died in prison, in the first year
of Olympiad 87, in which year the last work of Peri-
cles, the Propylasa, had been finished. --The second
? hows the state of the fine arts before Phidias, and to
what height they were carried by his genius. --The
third gives a new explanation of the statues on the
western front of the Parthenon at Athens. The work
is in Latin, and has the following title: " C. Odofr.
Muelleri de Pkidia Vita et Operibus Commentationes
tres, <&c. " (Gbtling. , 1827, 4to. )
Phidon, I. a king of Argos, of the race of the Herac-
! ids>, who, breaking through the constitutional checks
ay which his power was restrained, made himself ab-
? ? solute in his native city. He soon became possessed
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? Pill
rums. ] 178, seqq. ) In the Brandenburg collection,
there is a coin, described by Beger, which bears on
me aide a diota, with the inscription <MAO, and on
the other a Boeotian shield. This haa been often
taken for a coin of Phidon the Argivc, but on no good
grounds whatever. The known device of . Luma is,
almost without an exception, a tortoise, while the
abield portrayed upon this coin is as exclusively a badge
of Bceotia, and is too highly executed for so remote a
period. It appears, also, that it was a common prac-
tice :? ? Bceotia to inscribe the name of some magistrate
<<pon their coins. (Beger, Thesaurus Brandenb. , p.
279. -- Cardwell, Lectures on Ancient Carnage, p.
111. )--II. A native of Cumas. (Vid. Phidon I. )
Philadelphia (^iXaiii^tui), I. a city of Lydia,
southeast of Sardis. It stood on a root of Mount
Tmolus, by the river Cogamus, and derived its name
from its founder, Attalua Philadelphus, brother of Eu-
menes. The frequent earthquakes which it experi-
enced were owing to its vicinity to the region called
Catacecaumene. Even the city walla were not se-
cure, but were shaken almost daily, and disparted.
The inhabitants lived in perpetual apprehension, and
were almost constantly employed in repairs. They
were few in number, the people chiefly residing in the
country, and cultivating the soil, which waa very fer
tile. (Slrabo, 628. ) Tacitus mentions it among the
cities restored by Tiberius, after a more than ordinary-
calamity of the kind to which we have just alluded.
{Ann. , 2, 47. ) In the midst of these alarms, however,
Christianity flourished in Philadelphia, and the place
is mentioned in the Book of Revelations as one of the
seven churches of Asia (3, 7). At a later day, the
zeal of the Philadelphians showed forth conspicuously
in tho gallant defence they made against the Turks
on more than one occasion. (G. Pachym. , p. 290. )
At length they were conquered bv Bajazet in 1390.
Si. Due. , p. 70. --Chalcond. , p. 33. ) The place is
now called Allah-sehr, and preserves some remains of
Christianity, and also a few monuments of heathen an-
tiquity. Chandler states, "that it is now a mean but
considerable town, of large extent, spreading up the
slopes of three or four hills. Of tho walls which en-
compassed it, many remnants are standing, but with
large gaps. " (Travels, p. 310, seq. ) Mr. Arundell,
who visited this place in 1826, was informed by the
Greek bishop that there were " twenty-five churches
in it, but that divine service was chiefly confined to
five only, in which it was regularly performed every
week, but in the larger number only once a year. "
(Visit to the Seven Churches of Asia, p. 170. ) Mr.
Fellows, who visited the spot in 1838, remarks, " Of
the ancient city of Philadelphia but litlle remains;
its walls arc still standing, enclosing several hills,
apon the sides of which stood the town, but they
arc fallen into ruins. They are built of uiihewn stone,
massed and cemented together with fragments of old
edifices: some immense remains of buildings, huge
square stone pillars, supporting brick arches, are also
standing, and are called the ruins of the Christian
Church. All the remains which have been pointed
out to me as ruins of Christian churches appear to
have been vast temples, perhaps erected by imperial
command, and dedicated to nominal Christianity, but
? bowing, in the niches and brackets for statues and
architectural ornaments, traces of heathen aupereli-
tion. " (Tour in Asia Minor, p. 288. ) The meaning
of the modern name, Allah-sehr, is "the city of God,"
? ? an appellation which forms a strange kind of coinci-
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? PHI
(aided as the limits 01 weir territory in this direction.
(So//. , BeU. Jug. , 19 -- Id. to. , 79. ) These altars
? tood in the innermost bend of the Syrtis Major, and
not, as Sallust erroneously states, to the west of both
the Syrtei. Thi story of the Philtoni, moreover, aa
given by the Roman hiatorian, seems to wear a doubt-
ful appearance, from the circumstance of Gyrene's
beirg so much nearer the point in question than Car-
thage. If tire distance between these two cities be
divided into eight equal parts, the I'hiUeni will be found
to have travelled six, and the deputies from Gyrene
Only two, of these parts. The truth, therefore, was
probabiy this: the territory in dispute lay between
Hespens on the Cyrenean aide, and Leptis Magna on
the Carthaginian; and the deputies started from these
two places, not from Carthage and Cyrene. (Man-
ncrt. Geogr. , vol. 10, pt. 2, p. 116. )
Philahhon, an ancient bard, belonging to the wor-
ship of Apollo at Delphi, and whose name was cele-
brated at that place. To him was attributed the for-
mation of Delphian choruses of virgins, which sang
the birth of Latona and of her children. (Mullcr,
Hist. Gr. Lit. , p. 24. ) He is said to have taken
part in the Argonautic expedition, and parsed for a
son of Apollo, (l'lut. , de Mia. , p. 629, ed Wyttcnb. )
Philemon, I. a comic poet, the rival of Mcnander.
According to some authorities, he was a native of
Syracuse (Suidas, s. r ), while others make him to
have been born at Soli, in Cilicia. (Strabo, 671. ) He
seems to hare been a writer of considerable powers.
His wit, ingenuity, skill in depicting character, and
expression of sentiment, are praiaed by Apuleius
(Florid , 3, n.
rian, Exp. Al. , 1, 26. -- Plut. , Vit. Alex) Captain
? ? Beaufort remarks, that " the shore at present exhibits
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? PHE
fHE
the Lake of Pheneus, and were principally formed by
the river Aroanius or Olbius, which descends from
the mountains to the north of Pheneus, and usually
finds a vent in some natural caverns or katabalhra at
the extremity of the plain; but when, by accident,
these happened to be blocked up, the waters filled the
whole valley, and, communicating with the Ladon and
Alpheus, overflowed the beds of those rivers as far as
Olympia. {Eratosth. , ap. Strab. , 389. ) Pausanias
reports, that vestiges of some great works undertaken
to drain the Phenean marshes, and ascribed by the na-
tives to Hercules, were to be seen nesr the city
9i 14). The vestiges of the town itself are visible,
according to Dodwell, near the village of Phonia, upon
an insulated rock. The lake is said to be very small,
and to vary according to the season of the year. (Dod-
uell, vol. 2, p. 436. --Cramers Anc. Gr. , vol. 3, p.
321. )
Pher. s. I. a city of Pelasgiotis, in Thessaly, one of
the most ancient and important places in the country.
It was the capital of Admems and Eumelus, as we
learn from Homer {II. , 2, 711, seq. ) and Apolloniua.
(Arg. , 1, 49. --Compare Horn. , Od. , 4, 798. ) Pheras
was famed at a later period as the native place of Ja-
son, who, having raised himself to the head of affairs
by his talents and ability, became master not only of
his own city, but of nearly the whole of Thessaly.
{Vid. Jason, II. ) After the death of Jason, Pherse
was ruled over by Polydorus and Polyrophon, his two
brothers. The latter of these was succeeded by Al-
exander, who continued for eleven years the scourge
of his native city and of the whole of Thessaly.
(Xen. , Hist. Gr. , 6, 5. ) His evil designs were for a
time checked by the brave Pelopidas, who entered
that province at the head of a Boeotian force, and oc-
cupied the citadel of. Larissa; but, on his falling into
the hands of the tyrant, the Boeotian army was placed
in a most perilous situation, and was only saved by the
presence of mind and ability of Epaminondas, then
? eiving as a volunteer. The Thebans subsequently
rescued Pelopidas, and, under his command, made war
upon Alexander of Pherse, whom they defeated, but at
t! ic expense of the lifeof their gallant leader, who fell
tn the action. {Plut. , Vit. Pelop. --Po'. yb. , 8, 1, 6,
seqq. ) Alexander was not long after assassinated by
his wife and her brothers, who continued to tyrannize
over this country until it was liberated by Philip of
Macedon. {Xen. , Hist. Gr. , 6, 4. -- Diod. Sie. , 16,
38. ) Many years after, Cassander, as we are informed
oy Diodorus, fortified, Pheroe, but Demetrius Polior-
cetes contrived, by secret negotiations, to obtain pos-
session of both the town and citadel. {Diod. Sic. ,20,
110. ) In the invasion of Thessaly by Antiochus, Phc-
rae was forced to surrender to the troops o/ that mon-
arch after some resistance. (Liv. , 36, 9. ) It after-
ward fell into the hands of the Roman consul Acilius.
{Id. , 36, 14. ) Strabo observes, thaj the constant ty-
ranny under which this city laboured had hastened its
decay. {Strab. , 436. ) Its territory was most fertile,
and the suburbs, as we collect from Polybius, were
surrounded by gardens and walled enclosures (18, 2).
Stephanus Byzantinus speaks of an old and new town
? >( Fhorte, distant about eight stadia from each other.
Pheras, according to Strabo, was ninety stadia from
Pagasas, its emporium. {Cramer's Ancient Greece,
rol. 1, p. 393. )--II. A town of iEtolia. {Steph. Byz. ,
i. v. Qtpai. )--HI. A town of Messenia, to the east of
? ? the river Pamisus. At this place Homer makes Tele-
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? PHI
PHIDIAS
fcoUbly, to have taught the doctrine of the transmi-
gration of the soul; for this was a tenet commonly re-
ceived among the Egyptians, and afterward taught by
Pythagoras. Whether it was that Pherecydes insti-
tuted no sect j or that his writings fell into disuse
through their obscurity; or that Pythagoras designed-
ly suppressed them, that he might appear the original
author of the doctrines which he had learned from his
master; or whatever else might be the cause, we are
. 'eft without farther information concerning his philos-
ophy. (Enfield's History of Philosophy, vol. I, p.
362, seqq. ) There are extant some fragments of a
Theogony composed by him, which bear a strange
character, and have a much closer resemblance to the
Orphic poems than to those of Hesiod. They show
that, by this time, the characteristic of the theogonic
poetry had been changed, and that* Orphic ideas were
m vogue. (Mullcr, Hist. Gr. Lit. , p. 234. ) The
fragments of Pherecydes, together with those of his
namesake of Leros, were edited by Stnrz, Gera, 1789,
Pvo, and a new edition appeared in 1824, Lips. , 8vo,
with additional fragments, and more enlarged explana-
tions. The preface to this latter edition contains the
Sreatcr part of Matthias's dissertation, which Sturz un-
ertakes to refute. The dissertation just mentioned
was published by Matthias, in 1814, Altenb. , 8vo, and
was reprinted in Wolf's Analckten, vol. 1, p. 321,
ttqq. -- Pherecydes, and Cadmus of Miletus, are said
to have been the first of the Greeks that wrole in prose.
{Scholl, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 1, p. 212. -- Hoffmann,
Lex. Bibliogr. , vol. 3, p. 219. )--II. A native of Leros,
one of the Sporadcs, and a contemporary with Herod-
otua. He was the last of the Logographcrs, or com-
pilers in prose of historical traditions (\6yoi, and ypd-
fu) After him the regular historians begin. Phere-
cydes, among other works, made a collection of tradi-
tions relative to the early history of Athens. The
fragments of this writer have been edited, along with
those of Pherecydes of Scyros, by Sturz, Gem, 1789,
8vo, republished at Leipsic ir 1824. (Scholl, Hist.
Lit. Gr. , vol. 2, p. 140. )
Phekes, son of Crethcus, and of Tyro the daugh-
ter of Salmoncus. He founded Pherie in Thessaly,
where he reigned, and became the father of Admetus,
? nd of Lycurgus, king of Nemca. (Apollod. , 1,9, 11.
--Id. , 1, 9, 13. )
Phidias, a celebrated statuary, son of Charmidas,
And a native of Athens. Nothing authentic is related
concerning his earlier years, except that he was in-
truded in statuary by Hippias and Agcladas, and that,
when quite a youth, he practised painting, and made a
picture of Jupiter Olympius. (Plin. , 35, 8, 34. --Sic-
bel. , Indie. Winkclm. , p. 324. --Jacobs, Amalth. , vol.
2, p. 247. ) Respecting Hippias we have little inform-
ation. In what period Phidiao was a pupil of Agela-
das is likewise uncertain; but as Pausanias makes
Ageladas a contemporary of Onalas, who flourished
about the 78th Olympiad (Pausan. , 8, 42, 4), and as
in this period Ageladas was both distinguished by his
own productions as an artist, and was at the head of a
very celebrated school of statuary, we may properly
assume this as the time in which Phidias was under
his tuition. Between the date just mentioned and the
third year of the 85th Olympiad, there is an interval of
SO years. If with these conclusions we attempt to
ascertain the time of the birth of Phidias, it is by no
Beans an improbable conjecture that he was about
? ? 10 years of age when he received the instructions of
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? PHIDIAS
PHIDIAS.
lo be laisc. Heyne, though he errs in maintaining that
thin statue was dedicated before that of Minerva, yet
has very propeily observed that, had Phidias been
guilty ol embezzlement in relation to -it, the Elians
would never have allowed him to inscribe his name
on it, nor would they have intrusted its preservation
to his descendants. (Anliq. Aufs. , vol. 1, p. 201. )
M filler, too, examines the whole subject with great
impartiality, and comes to the conclusion, that the fame
which Phidias had acquired by his Minerva induced
the Elians to invite hiin to their country, in connexion
with his relations and pupils; and that this journey was
undertaken by him in the most honourable circum-
stances. (Muller, ie Phiiia Vita, p. 25, seqq. )--The
statue of the Olympian Jupiter graced the temple of that
god at Olympia in Elis, and was chryselephantine
(made of gold and ivory), like that of Minerva. Like
it, too, the size was colossal, being sixty feet high.
The god was represented as sitting on his throne: in
his right hand* he held a figure of Victory, also made
of gold and ivory, in his left a sceptre beautifully
adorned with all kinds of metals, and having on the
lop of it a golden eagle. His brows were encircled
with a crown, made to imitate leaves of olive; his
robe was of massive gold, curiously adorned, by a kind
of encaustic work probably, with various figures of an-
imals, and also with lilies. The sandals, too, were of
gold. The throne was inlaid with all kinds of precious
materials, ebony, ivory, and gems, and was adorned
with sculptures of exquisite beauty.
On the base was
an inscription recording the name of the artist. (I'au-
tan. , 5, 11. -- Compare Quatrtmcrt it Quinr. y, J up
Olymp. , p. 310. -- Sitbclis ad Pausan. ,1. c. ) Lucian
informs us, that, in order to render this celebrated work
as perfect in detail as it was noble in conception and
outline, Phidias, when he exposed it for the first time
after its completion to public view, placed himself De-
bit d the door of the temple, and listened attentively
to every criticism made by the spectators: when the
en ,\ d had withdrawn and the temple gates were closed,
he revised and corrected his work, wherever the ob-
jections he . ud Just heard appeared to him to be well-
gioundcd ones. {Lucian, pro Imag. , 14. ) It is also
said, thai when the artist himself was asked, by his rela-
tion Pantenus, the Athenian painter, who, it seems, aid-
ed him in the work, whence he had derived the idea of
this his grandest effort, bo replied, from the well-known
passage in Homer, where Jove is represented as causing
Olympus to tremble on its base by the mere move-
ment of his sable brow. (//. , 1, 528. ) The lines in
question, with the eiception of their reference to the
"ambrosial curls," and the brow of the god, contain no
allusion whatever to external form, and yet they carry
with them the noble idea of the Supreme Being nod-
ding benignant assent with so much true majesty as to
cause even Olympus to tremble. (Strab. , 354. --Po-
lyb. , Exc. L. , xxx. , 15, 4, 3. --Muller, dt Phid. Yit. ,
p. 62. )--Of the whole work Quintilian remarks, that it
even added new feelings to the religion of Greece
? Jul! Or. , 12, 10, 9), and yet, when judged according
to the principles of genuine art, neither this nor the
Minerva in the Parthenon possessed any strong claims
to legitimate beauty. It does not excite surprise,
therefore, to learn that Phidiaa himself disapproved of
the mixed effect produced by such a combination of
different circumstances, nor will it appear presumptu-
ous in us to condemn these splendid representations.
? ? In these compositions, exposed, as they were, to the
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? PHI
PHiDON.
iar. , I, iff, 2. )--Phidias not only practised statuary,
the art in which he was pre-eminent, but also engra-
ving, as we learn from Martial (Epigr. , 3, 35), and
from Julian (Epist. , 8, p. 377, ed. Spank). The pu-
pils of this most distinguished artist were, Agoracritus,
Alcamenes, and Colotei. (Sillig, Diet. Art. , a. v. --
Junius, Cotol. Artific, p. 151, seqq. -- Midler, de
J'hul. Vit. , p. 37, <<yj. )--The sublime style perfected
by Phidias seems almost to have expired with himself;
aot that the art declined, bat a predilection for sub-
jects of beauty and the softer graces, in preference to
more heroic ar. J masculine character, with the excep-
tion of the grand relievos on the temple at Olympia,
may be traced even among his immediate disciples.
In the era and labours of Phidias, we discover the ut-
most excellence to which Grecian genius attained in
the arts; and in the marbles of the British Museum,
the former ornaments of the Parthenon, wc certainly
behold the conceptions, and, in some measure, the very
firactice of the great Athenian sculptor. Of the intel-
sctual character of these admirable performances,
grandeur is the prevailing principle; the grandeur of
simplicity and nature, devoid of all parade or ostenta-
tion of a<l; and their author, to use the language of
antiquity, united the three characteristics, of truth,
grandeur, and minute refinement; exhibiting majesty,
gravity, breadth, and magnificence of composition, with
a practice scrupulous in detail, and with truth of indi-
vidual representation, yet in the handling rapid, broad,
and firm. This harmonious assemblage of qualities, in
themselves dissimilar, in their result the same, gives
to the productions of this master an ease, a grace, a
vitality, resembling more the spontaneous overflow-
ings of inspiration than the . aborious offspring of
. hough* wl science. (Menus, History of the Fine
Art), p. 62, seqq. ) -- In the course of this article, we
have frequently referred to the Life of Phidias by Miil-
! er. We will end with a brief account of it, which
? nay also serve, in some degree, as a recapitulation of
vhat has here been advanced. Miiller published, in
1827, three dissertations relative to Phidias, read be-
fore tae Royal Society of Sciences at Gottingcn. The
first is a biographical sketch of Phidias, and establishes
beyond doubt that Phidias began to embellish Athens
with his works of sculpture in Olympiad 82 or 83,
when Pericles was ImoTurnc; that he finished, in the
third year of Olympiad 85, the statue of Minerva for the
Parthenon; that the Elians, when the name of Phid-
ias had become known over all Greece for the splen-
ilid works he had executed at Athens, induced him to
come to Elis, and that ho made there the statue of the
Olympian Jove between Olyxnpiads 85. 3, and 86. 3;
and, finally, that after his return to Athena, he was
thrown into prison by the enemiesof Pericles, on a charge
of impiety, and that he died in prison, in the first year
of Olympiad 87, in which year the last work of Peri-
cles, the Propylasa, had been finished. --The second
? hows the state of the fine arts before Phidias, and to
what height they were carried by his genius. --The
third gives a new explanation of the statues on the
western front of the Parthenon at Athens. The work
is in Latin, and has the following title: " C. Odofr.
Muelleri de Pkidia Vita et Operibus Commentationes
tres, <&c. " (Gbtling. , 1827, 4to. )
Phidon, I. a king of Argos, of the race of the Herac-
! ids>, who, breaking through the constitutional checks
ay which his power was restrained, made himself ab-
? ? solute in his native city. He soon became possessed
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? Pill
rums. ] 178, seqq. ) In the Brandenburg collection,
there is a coin, described by Beger, which bears on
me aide a diota, with the inscription <MAO, and on
the other a Boeotian shield. This haa been often
taken for a coin of Phidon the Argivc, but on no good
grounds whatever. The known device of . Luma is,
almost without an exception, a tortoise, while the
abield portrayed upon this coin is as exclusively a badge
of Bceotia, and is too highly executed for so remote a
period. It appears, also, that it was a common prac-
tice :? ? Bceotia to inscribe the name of some magistrate
<<pon their coins. (Beger, Thesaurus Brandenb. , p.
279. -- Cardwell, Lectures on Ancient Carnage, p.
111. )--II. A native of Cumas. (Vid. Phidon I. )
Philadelphia (^iXaiii^tui), I. a city of Lydia,
southeast of Sardis. It stood on a root of Mount
Tmolus, by the river Cogamus, and derived its name
from its founder, Attalua Philadelphus, brother of Eu-
menes. The frequent earthquakes which it experi-
enced were owing to its vicinity to the region called
Catacecaumene. Even the city walla were not se-
cure, but were shaken almost daily, and disparted.
The inhabitants lived in perpetual apprehension, and
were almost constantly employed in repairs. They
were few in number, the people chiefly residing in the
country, and cultivating the soil, which waa very fer
tile. (Slrabo, 628. ) Tacitus mentions it among the
cities restored by Tiberius, after a more than ordinary-
calamity of the kind to which we have just alluded.
{Ann. , 2, 47. ) In the midst of these alarms, however,
Christianity flourished in Philadelphia, and the place
is mentioned in the Book of Revelations as one of the
seven churches of Asia (3, 7). At a later day, the
zeal of the Philadelphians showed forth conspicuously
in tho gallant defence they made against the Turks
on more than one occasion. (G. Pachym. , p. 290. )
At length they were conquered bv Bajazet in 1390.
Si. Due. , p. 70. --Chalcond. , p. 33. ) The place is
now called Allah-sehr, and preserves some remains of
Christianity, and also a few monuments of heathen an-
tiquity. Chandler states, "that it is now a mean but
considerable town, of large extent, spreading up the
slopes of three or four hills. Of tho walls which en-
compassed it, many remnants are standing, but with
large gaps. " (Travels, p. 310, seq. ) Mr. Arundell,
who visited this place in 1826, was informed by the
Greek bishop that there were " twenty-five churches
in it, but that divine service was chiefly confined to
five only, in which it was regularly performed every
week, but in the larger number only once a year. "
(Visit to the Seven Churches of Asia, p. 170. ) Mr.
Fellows, who visited the spot in 1838, remarks, " Of
the ancient city of Philadelphia but litlle remains;
its walls arc still standing, enclosing several hills,
apon the sides of which stood the town, but they
arc fallen into ruins. They are built of uiihewn stone,
massed and cemented together with fragments of old
edifices: some immense remains of buildings, huge
square stone pillars, supporting brick arches, are also
standing, and are called the ruins of the Christian
Church. All the remains which have been pointed
out to me as ruins of Christian churches appear to
have been vast temples, perhaps erected by imperial
command, and dedicated to nominal Christianity, but
? bowing, in the niches and brackets for statues and
architectural ornaments, traces of heathen aupereli-
tion. " (Tour in Asia Minor, p. 288. ) The meaning
of the modern name, Allah-sehr, is "the city of God,"
? ? an appellation which forms a strange kind of coinci-
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? PHI
(aided as the limits 01 weir territory in this direction.
(So//. , BeU. Jug. , 19 -- Id. to. , 79. ) These altars
? tood in the innermost bend of the Syrtis Major, and
not, as Sallust erroneously states, to the west of both
the Syrtei. Thi story of the Philtoni, moreover, aa
given by the Roman hiatorian, seems to wear a doubt-
ful appearance, from the circumstance of Gyrene's
beirg so much nearer the point in question than Car-
thage. If tire distance between these two cities be
divided into eight equal parts, the I'hiUeni will be found
to have travelled six, and the deputies from Gyrene
Only two, of these parts. The truth, therefore, was
probabiy this: the territory in dispute lay between
Hespens on the Cyrenean aide, and Leptis Magna on
the Carthaginian; and the deputies started from these
two places, not from Carthage and Cyrene. (Man-
ncrt. Geogr. , vol. 10, pt. 2, p. 116. )
Philahhon, an ancient bard, belonging to the wor-
ship of Apollo at Delphi, and whose name was cele-
brated at that place. To him was attributed the for-
mation of Delphian choruses of virgins, which sang
the birth of Latona and of her children. (Mullcr,
Hist. Gr. Lit. , p. 24. ) He is said to have taken
part in the Argonautic expedition, and parsed for a
son of Apollo, (l'lut. , de Mia. , p. 629, ed Wyttcnb. )
Philemon, I. a comic poet, the rival of Mcnander.
According to some authorities, he was a native of
Syracuse (Suidas, s. r ), while others make him to
have been born at Soli, in Cilicia. (Strabo, 671. ) He
seems to hare been a writer of considerable powers.
His wit, ingenuity, skill in depicting character, and
expression of sentiment, are praiaed by Apuleius
(Florid , 3, n.
