After a brave
resistance, the Isaurians destroyed themselves and their
city by fire.
resistance, the Isaurians destroyed themselves and their
city by fire.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
JovianuB served in the army of Julian, in bis
unlucky expedition against the Persians; and when
that emperor was killed, A. D. 363, the soldiers pro-
claimed him his successor. His first task was to save
the army, which was surrounded by the Persians, and
in great distress for provisions. After repelling re-
peated attacks of the enemy, ho wiilingly listened to
proposals for peace, which were, that the Romans
should give up the conquests of former emperors west-
ward oi the Tigris, and as far as the city of Nisibis,
which was still in their hands, but was included in the
territory to be given up to Persia, and that, moreover,
they should render no assistance to the king of Arme-
nia, then at war with the Persians. These conditions,
however offensive to Roman pride, Jovian was obliged
to submit to, as his soldiers were in the utmost desti-
tution. It is a remarkable instance of the Roman no-
tions of political honesty, that Eutropius reproaches
Jovian, not so much with having given up the territory
of the empire, as with having observed so humiliating
a treaty after he had come out of his dangerous posi-
? ? tion, instead cf renewing the war, as the Romans had
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? IPH
IRE
tared Movements of the lighter infantry. Ir. ths way
Iphicrates and his targeteers (peltastae), as . hey were
called, gained so many successes, that the Pelopon-
uesian infantry dared not encounter them, except the
Lacedaemonians, who said, in scofT, that their allies
feared the targeteers as children fear hobgoblins
They were themselves, however, taught the value of
this new force, B. C. 392, when Iphicrates waylaid anu
;ut off nearly the whole of a Lacedaemonian battalion.
The loss in men was of no great amount; but that
heavy-armed Lacedaemonians should be defeated by
light-armed mercenaries was a marvel to Greece, and
a severe blow to the national reputation and vanity of
Sparta. Accordingly, this action raised the credit of
Iphicrates extremely high. He commanded afterward
in the Hellespont, B. C. 389; in Egypt, at the request
of the Persians, B. C. 371; relieved Corcyra in 373,
and served with reputation on other less important oc-
casions. We have a life of this commander by Cor-
nelius Nepos. (Xen. , Hist. Gr. , 4, 5, 13. --Id. ib. , 4,
8, 34, scqq. --Id. i4? 6, 2, 13--Diod. Sic, 15, 41--
Id. , 15, 44 --Id. , 16, 85. --Corn. Nep. , Vit. Iphicr. )
Iphioenia, a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytcin-
nettra. The Grecian fleet against Troy had assem-
bled at Aulis; but Agaaiemnon, having killed a deer
in the chase, boasted that he was superior in skill to
Diana, and the offended goddess sent adverse winds to
detain the fleet. According to another account, the
stag itself had been a favourite one of Diana's. Cal-
chas thereupon announced, that the wrath of the god-
dess could only be appeased by the sacrifice of Iphige-
nia, the daughter of the offender, and the father,
though most reluctant, was compelled to obey. The
maiden was accordingly obtained from her mother Cly-
Irimnestra, under the pretence of being wanted for a
union with Achilles; and, having reached the Grecian
camp, was on the point of being sacrificed, when Di-
ana, moved with pity, snatched her away, leaving a
hind in her place. The goddess carried her to Tauris,
where she became a priostess in her temple. It was
the custom at Tauris to sacrifice all strangers to Di-
ana; and many had been thus immolated under the
ministration of Iphigenia, when Orestes and his friend
Pyladcs chanced to come thither, in obedience to the
oracle at Delphi, which had enjoined upon the son of
Agamemnon to convey to Argoa the etatue of the
Tauric Diana. When Orestes and Pylades were
brought as victims to the altar, Ipbigenia, perceiving
them to be Greeks, offered to spare the life of one of
them, provided he would convey a letter for her to
Greece. This occasioned a contest between them,
which should sacrifice himself for the other, and it was
ended in Pylades1 yielding to Orestes, and agreeing to
be the bearer of the letter: a discovery was the con-
sequence; and Iphigenia accordingly contrived to carry
off the statue of Diana, and to accompany her brother
and Pylades into Greece. --The story of Iphigenia has
been made by Euripides the subject of two plays, in
which, of course, several variations from the common
legend are introduced. --The name and story of Iphi-
genia are unnoticed by Homer. Iphigenia is probably
a mere epithet of Diana. She is the same with the
Diana-Orthia of Sparta, at whose altars the boys were
scourged. It was probably this rite that caused Iphi-
genia to be identified with the " Virgin," to whom hu-
man victims were offered by the Tauri. {Herod. , 4,
103. ) The story of Iphigenia would seem to have
? ? been then invented to account for the similarity. Mut-
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? 1RI
:s. t
Do j ar 103. Dupin says that he was born a little
oefore the year 140, and died a martyr in 203. On the
martyrdom of Photinua, his predecessor in the sec of
Lyons, Irencus, who had been a distinguished mem-
ber of the church in that quarter, was appointed his
successor in the diocese, A. D 174, and presided in
'hi*, capacity at two councils held at Lyons, in one of
wfcxh the Gnostic heresy was condemned, and in
another tho Quartodecimani. He also went to Rome,
and disputed there publicly with Valentinus, Florinus,
? nd Blastus, against whose opinions he afterward
wrote with much zeal and ability. Ho wrote on dif-
ferent subjects; but, as what remains is in Latin,
some supposed he composed in that language, and
not in Greek. Fragments of his works in Greek are,
however, preserved, which prove that his style was
simple, though clear and often animated. His opinions
concerning the soul are curious. He suffered martyr-
dom about A. D. 202. From the silence of Tertul-
lian, Eusebius, and others, concerning the manner of
his death, Cave, Basnage, and Dodwell have inferred
that he did not die by martyrdom, but in the ordinary
course of nature. With these Lardner coincides.
The best edition of his works is that of Grabe, Oxon. ,
fol. , 1702. Dodwell published a scries of six essays
on the writings of this father of the church, which he
Uustrates by many historical references and remarks.
lasses, a beautiful country in Libya, not far from
Cyrene. When Battus, in obedience to the oracle,
was seeking a place for a settlement, the Libyans, who
were his guides, managed so as to lead him through it
by night. Milton calls the name Irassa, for which he
has the authority of Pindar. (Find , Pyth. , 9, 185. --
Jierod. ,4, 158, seqq. )
Ibis, I. the goddess of the rainbow. Homer gives
not the slightest hint of who her parents were; He-
siod, however, makes her the daughter of Thaumas
(Wonder), by the ocean-nymph Electra (Brightness),
no unapt parentage for the brilliant and wonder-exci-
ting bow of the skies. (Theog. , 265. ) The office of
Iris in the Iliad is to act as the messenger of the king
and queen of Olympus; a duty which Mercury per-
forms in the Odyssey, in which poem there is not any
mention made of Iris. There is little mention, also,
cf the goddess in the subsequent Greek poets; but,
whenever she is spoken of, she appears quite distinct
from the celestial phenomenon of the same name. In
Callimachus (H. in Del. , 216, set] ) and the Latin
rts, Iris is appropriated to the service of Juno; and
these last she is invariably (and we may even say
clumsily) confounded with the rainbow. According
to the lyric poet Alcaeus, who is followed by Nonnus,
Ins was by Zephyrus the mother of Love. (Alcaus,
ap. Plut. , Amalor. , 20. --Nonnvi, 31,110, seq. ) Ho-
mer styles Iris "gold-winged 'II. , 8, 398. --lb. , 9,
185), the only line in the poet which makes against
Voss's theory, that none of Hornet's gods were winged.
(Mylhohg. Brufe, vol. 1, Br. 12, teqq. ) The name
Iris flp'f) >? usually derived from elpu, ipu, "to say,"
an etymology which suits the office of the goddess,
and which accords with the view taken of the rainbow
in the Book of Genesis. Hermann, however, renders
Ins by the Latin term Sertia, from elpu, "to unite"
the rainbow being formed of seven united or blended
colours: "'Ipic, Sertia, quod ex sept cm eoloribut con-
terta est. " (Opusc. , vol. 2, p. 179. --Keightley's
Mythology, p. 200. )--II. A river of Pontus, rising on
? ? the confines of Armenia Minor, and Sowing into the
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? ISA
Hi
frr/O which his pupil Demosthenes carried to perfec-
tion. (Dion. Hal. . Ac Isao judicium. --Of , cd Rciske,
vol. 5, p. 613, seqq. )--So far as the exlaot specimens
of Isseus enable uf. to form an opinion, this judgment
appears to be just. The perspicuity and artless sim-
plicity of the atyle of Lysias arc admirable; but, on
reading Isaeus. we feel that we have to do with a subtle
. disputant and a close reasoner, whose arguments are
strong and pointed, but have too much the appearance
>>f stciiied effect, and for that reason often fail to con-
vince. --The author of the life of Isxus, attributed to
Plutarch, mentions sixty-four orations of his, fifty of
which were allowed to be genuine. At present there
ire only eleven extant, all of which are of the forensic
tlass, and all treat of matters relating to wills, and the
succession to the property of testators or persons in-
testate, or to disputes originating in such matters.
These orations are valuable for the insight they give
us into the laws of Athens as to the disposition of
property by will and in cases of intestacy, and also as
to many of the forms of procedure. --The best edition
of the text of Istetis is by Bekker, forming part of the
OraXorcs Auici (1822-1823, 8vo, Berol. --Orat. Alt. ,
vol. 3. ) The most useful edition, however, is that of
Schomann, Gryphisw. , 1831, 8vo. Sir W. Jones has
given a valuable translation of Is-cus. It appeared in
1779. His version, however, extends only to ten of
the orations, the eleventh having been discovered since.
(Schbtl, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 2, p. 215. )- II. A native of
Assyria, likewise an orator, who came to Rome AD.
17. He is greatly commended by Pliny the younger,
who observes that he always spoke extempore, and
that his language was marked by elegance, . inlaboured
ease, and great correctness. (Plin. , Ep. , 2,3. )
Isapib, a river of Umbria. Its ordinary name was
the Sapis. (Strab. , 216. --Plol. , p. 64. ) Its modern
appellation is the Savio. It rose not far from Sarsina,
? nd fell into the Adriatic to the northwest of the Ru-
bicon. (Luean, 2, 406. )
Isar and Isara, I. now the Isire, a river of Gaul,
where Fabius routed the Allobroges. It rose in the
Graiau Alps, and fell into the Rhodanus near Valentia,
the modern Valence. --II. Another, called the Oisc,
which falls into the Seine below Paris. The Celtic
name of Briva Isarre, a place on this river, has been
translated into Pont-Oisc.
Isaura (<e or orum), the capital of Isauria, near the
confines of Phrygia. Strabo and Stephanus of Byzan-
tium use the term as a plural one (ra 'laavpa); Am-
mianus Marcellinus, however, makes it of the first de-
clension (14, 8). It was a strong and rich place, and
its inhabitants appear to have acquired their wealth, in
a great degree, by plundering the neighbouring regions.
The city was attacked by the Macedonians under Pcr-
diccas, the inhabitants having put to death the govern-
or set over the province by Alexander.
After a brave
resistance, the Isaurians destroyed themselves and their
city by fire. The conquerors arc said to have obtain-
ed much gold and silver from the ruins of the place.
(Diod. Sic. , 18,22. ) During the contentions between
Alexander's successors, the neighbouring mountain-
eers rebuilt the capital, and commenced plundering
anew until they were reduced by Servilius, hence sty-
led Isauricus, and the city was again destroyed. A
new Isaura was afterward built by Amyntas, king of
Galatia, in the vicinity of the old citv, and the stones
of this last were employed in its construction. (Serai. ,
? ? 591. ) This new Isaura appears to have existed until
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? ISIDORUS.
ISI
? bo. . cgetlier, wilh Anthemius, v>> is employed by
Justinian, emperor of iho oast, to erect the church of
St. Sophia at Constantinople. Anlhemius merely laid
the foundation of the edifice, and was then arrested by
the band of death, AD. 534. Isidorus was charged
with the completion of this structure. This church is
> m. :are building, with a hemispherical cupola in the
centre, and its summit 400 feet from the pavement
below. This edifice, which was considered the most
magnificent monument of the age, was scarcely fin-
ished before the cupola was thrown down by an earth-
quake. But Justinian had it immediately rebuilt.
On the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, the
church of St. Sophia was appropriated to the worship
? f the Mohammedan conquerors. --V. A New Plato-
nist, a native of Gaza, who succeeded Hegias in the
chair of Athens, in the fifth century, or, rather, at the
beginning of the sixth. He was a zealous follower of
Proclus, but deficient in talent and erudition, and,
consequently, soon made way for Zcnodotus as his
successor. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 7, p. 116. )
--VI. A native of Pelusium, a saint in the Roman
Catholic calendar, and one of the most celebrated of
the disciples of Chrysostom. He lived in the fifth
century, professed the monastic life from his youth,
? nd composed some thousand epistles, of which two
thousand and twelve remain, in five books, and are
deemed valuable, especially for the information which
they contain in relation to points of discipline and for
practical rules. The best edition is that of Schottus,
Paris, 1638, fol. In 1738, Heumann attacked the au-
thenticity of a part of these epistles, in a tract entitled
"Episloltt Isidori Pclusiota maximum partem con-
feetat" dec. --VII. Another saint in the Roman Cath-
olic calendar, and a distinguished Spanish prelate to-
wards the beginning of the seventh century, when he
succeeded his brother Leander in the see of Seville.
Hence he is commonly called Isidorus Hispalensis,
"Isidore of Seville. " He was, however, a native of
Carthago Nova (Carthagena), of which his father
Severianus was governor. He presided in a council
held in that city, A. D. 619; and at the fourth national
council, A. D. 633, in which numerous regulations
were by his influence adopted, in order to reform ec-
clesiastical discipline in Spain. He was well acquaint-
ed with Greek and Hebrew, and was considered by
the council of Toledo as the most learned man of bis
age. The style of his works, however, is not very
clear, and his judgment appears to have been very de-
fective. He died A. D. 636. --Isidorus was the au-
thor of many works, chiefly, however, compilations.
His principal production is entitled " Twenty Books
of Origins and Etymologies" (Originum sire Ety-
nologiarum Libri XX. ). Death prevented him from
finishing this, and it was completed by his friend
Braulio, bishop of Saragossa. It contains far more
than the title would seem to promise; and is, in fact,
a species of encyclopaedia, or a summary of all the
sciences cultivated at that period. The first book is
divided into forty-three chapters, of which the first
thirty-eight explain terms connected with grammar.
The remaining five have reference to matters connected
wilh history. The second book is devoted principally
to rhetorical subjects; it contains also an introduction
to philosophy, and a system of Dialectics after Porphy-
ry, Aristotle, and Victorious. The third book treats
of arithmetic, music, and astronomy. The fourth
? ? book is devoted to medicine. The fifth book con-
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? TSI8.
ISIS
attruut ;s, as we see from the Greek and Rpman wri-
ters. Sometimes she is represented like (Diana of
Ephcsus, the universal mother, with a nunber of
breasts. The mysterious rites of Isis werej probably
in their origin symbolical: on one of her statues was
this inscription, "I am all that has been or ". hat shall
be; no mortal has hitherto taken off my veil. "--But
the Isiac rites, transplanted to Italy, became a cloak
for licentiousness, and they were repeatedly forbidden
? t Rome. Tiberius caused the images of Isis to be
thrown into tbe Tiber; but the worship subsequently
revived, and Juvenal speaks of it in an indignant strain.
--The Isiac Table in the Turin Museum, which is
supposed to represent the mysteries of Isis, has been
judged by Champollion to be the work of an uninitiated
artist, little acquainted with the true worship of the
goddess, and probably of the age of Hadrian. (Con-
sult Plutarch's treatise on Isis and Osiris, ed. Wyt-
tenb. , vol. 2, p. 441. --Herod. , 2, 41, seqq. --Pausan. ,
2, 13, 7. --Id. , 10, 32, 13 )--The legend of Isis and
Osiris may be found in full detail in Creuzer (Sym-
bolik, vol. 1, p. 258, seqq). On comparing the differ-
ent explanations given by Plutarch and other ancient
writers, it will appear that Osiris is the type of the ac-
tive, generating, and beneficent force of nature and the
elements; Isis, on the contrary, is the passive force,
the power of conceiving and bringing forth into life in
the sublunary world. Osiris was particularly adored
in the sun, whose rays vivify and impart new warmth
to the earth, and who, on his annual return in the
spring, appears to create anew all organic bodies. He
was adored also in the Nile, the cause of Egyptian fer-
tility. Isis was the earth, or sublunary nature in gen-
eral; or, in a more confined sense, the soil of Egypt
inundated by the Nile, the principle of all fecundity,
the goddess of generation and production. United to
oii3 another, Osiris and Isis typify the universal Being,
tho soul of nature, the Panthcus of the Orphic verses.
(Symbolik, par Guigniaut, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 806. )--In
tec irdance with this general view of the subject are
the remarks of Knight: "Isis was the same with the
goddess of generation, except that by the later Egyp-
tians the personification was still core generalized, so
as to comprehend universal nature; whence Apuleius
invokes her by the names of Eieusinian Ceres, Celestial
Venus, and Proserpina; and she answers him by a
general explanation of these titles. 'I am,'says she,
* Nature, the parent of things, the sovereign of the ele-
ments, the primary progeny of time, the most exalted
of the deities, the first of the heavenly gods and god-
desses, the queen of the shades, the uniform counte-
nance; who dispose with my rod the numerous lights
of heaven, the salubrious breezes of the sea, and the
mournful silence of the dead; whose single deity the
whole world venerates in many forms, with various
rites and many names. The Egyptians, skilled in an-
cient lore, worship me with proper ceremonies, and
call me by my true name, Queen Isis. '" (Apul. , Met. ,
11, p. 257. ) This universal character of the goddess
appears, however, to have been subsequent to the
Macedonian conquest, when a new modification of the
ancient systems of religion and philosophy took place
at Alexandrea, and spread itself gradually over the
world. The statues of this Isis are of a composition
and form quite different from those of the ancient
Egyptian goddess; and all that we have seen are of
Greek or Roman sculpture. The original Egyptian
? ? figure of Isis is merely the animal symbol of the cow
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? ISO
ISOORA IES.
surest, the festival of the Pamylia; all these fell in
i great (period embracing the one half of the year, from
the autumnal equinox to that of the spring, at the
cjmrneiice. nont of which latter season was celebrated
the feast of the purification of Isia. A little before
this the Egyptians solemnized, at the new moon of
Phamenoth (March), the entrance of Osiris into the
Moon, which planet he was believed to fecundate,
that it might, in its turn, fecundate the earth. (Flat. ,
It. ) Finally, on the 30th of Epiphi (24th of July),
the festival of the birth of Horns took place (of Horus
the representative of Osiris, the conqueror of Typhon),
in the second great period, extending from the month
Pharmuthi (37th of March) to Tholh (29lh of August),
when the year recommenced. (Creuztr, Symbolik,
note 3, Guigniaut, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 801. )
Isvaius (Ismars, plur. ), a mountain of Thrace near
the mouth of the Hebrus, covered with vineyards.
This part of Thrace was famous for its wines. Ulys-
ses, in the Odyssey, is made to speak in commenda-
tion of some wine given him by Maron, the priest of
Apollo. Ismarus was situated in the territory of the
Cicones, whose capital was also called by the same
name. Homer (Od. , 1, 40) makes Ulysses to have
taken and plundered this city; but the natives coming
down from the interior in great force, he was driven
off with severe loss both ol men and ships. Ismarus
is only known to later wfiTlfVai. . a mountain celebrated
for its wine, which indeed Hu- ' t;r himself alludes to
in another passage. (Od. , 1, i '. -- Virg. , Georg. , 2,
37. ) ".
Isxbke, I. a daughter of CE'j at and Jocasta, who,
when her sister Antigone had-V >en condemned to be
buried alive by Creon for givii. ^ j, burial to her brother
Polynices, against the tyrant's f> . Vtive orders, declared
herself as guilty as her sister, << 'insisted upon being
punished along with her. (" ;, Antig. --Apollod. ,
3, S. )--II. A daughter of the r~. ? . <? Asopus, who mar-
ried the hundred-eyed Argusv*"' vy- horn she had Iasus
(Apollod. , 2, 1. ) >''? rr
Isme. hias, I. a celebrated i isician of Thebes.
When he waa taken prisoner by , . tie Scythians, Athe-
<<>>, the king of the country, obse- ''. d, that he liked the
neighing of his horse better th ? ! / j the music of Is-
? enias. (Plut. in Apophth. )- b e f V Theban gener-
al, sent to Persia on an emban | TM' his countrymen.
As none were admitted into then - g's presence with-
out prostrating themselves at h , feet, Ismenias had
recourse to artifice to avoid per, " rriiing an act which
would render him degraded in th , ? Wyes of his country-
men, and yet, at thesame time, '' "'offend against the
customs of Pcrs'n. When i **s introduced he
dropped his rinj;. anitlie motk ? ne made to recover
it from the ground beiuj mi<<t>> . it for the required
homage, Ismenias had a so. . . \ audience of the
monarch. (JElian, V. H. , 1, 21 ? ?
Isni. vus, I. a son of Apollo 'Melia, one of the
Nereides, who gave his name Itf'^ta "river of Bceotia,
near Thebes. --II. A river of Ba:e"a, in the immediate
vicinity of Thebes, at the foot of aV. lt.
unlucky expedition against the Persians; and when
that emperor was killed, A. D. 363, the soldiers pro-
claimed him his successor. His first task was to save
the army, which was surrounded by the Persians, and
in great distress for provisions. After repelling re-
peated attacks of the enemy, ho wiilingly listened to
proposals for peace, which were, that the Romans
should give up the conquests of former emperors west-
ward oi the Tigris, and as far as the city of Nisibis,
which was still in their hands, but was included in the
territory to be given up to Persia, and that, moreover,
they should render no assistance to the king of Arme-
nia, then at war with the Persians. These conditions,
however offensive to Roman pride, Jovian was obliged
to submit to, as his soldiers were in the utmost desti-
tution. It is a remarkable instance of the Roman no-
tions of political honesty, that Eutropius reproaches
Jovian, not so much with having given up the territory
of the empire, as with having observed so humiliating
a treaty after he had come out of his dangerous posi-
? ? tion, instead cf renewing the war, as the Romans had
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? IPH
IRE
tared Movements of the lighter infantry. Ir. ths way
Iphicrates and his targeteers (peltastae), as . hey were
called, gained so many successes, that the Pelopon-
uesian infantry dared not encounter them, except the
Lacedaemonians, who said, in scofT, that their allies
feared the targeteers as children fear hobgoblins
They were themselves, however, taught the value of
this new force, B. C. 392, when Iphicrates waylaid anu
;ut off nearly the whole of a Lacedaemonian battalion.
The loss in men was of no great amount; but that
heavy-armed Lacedaemonians should be defeated by
light-armed mercenaries was a marvel to Greece, and
a severe blow to the national reputation and vanity of
Sparta. Accordingly, this action raised the credit of
Iphicrates extremely high. He commanded afterward
in the Hellespont, B. C. 389; in Egypt, at the request
of the Persians, B. C. 371; relieved Corcyra in 373,
and served with reputation on other less important oc-
casions. We have a life of this commander by Cor-
nelius Nepos. (Xen. , Hist. Gr. , 4, 5, 13. --Id. ib. , 4,
8, 34, scqq. --Id. i4? 6, 2, 13--Diod. Sic, 15, 41--
Id. , 15, 44 --Id. , 16, 85. --Corn. Nep. , Vit. Iphicr. )
Iphioenia, a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytcin-
nettra. The Grecian fleet against Troy had assem-
bled at Aulis; but Agaaiemnon, having killed a deer
in the chase, boasted that he was superior in skill to
Diana, and the offended goddess sent adverse winds to
detain the fleet. According to another account, the
stag itself had been a favourite one of Diana's. Cal-
chas thereupon announced, that the wrath of the god-
dess could only be appeased by the sacrifice of Iphige-
nia, the daughter of the offender, and the father,
though most reluctant, was compelled to obey. The
maiden was accordingly obtained from her mother Cly-
Irimnestra, under the pretence of being wanted for a
union with Achilles; and, having reached the Grecian
camp, was on the point of being sacrificed, when Di-
ana, moved with pity, snatched her away, leaving a
hind in her place. The goddess carried her to Tauris,
where she became a priostess in her temple. It was
the custom at Tauris to sacrifice all strangers to Di-
ana; and many had been thus immolated under the
ministration of Iphigenia, when Orestes and his friend
Pyladcs chanced to come thither, in obedience to the
oracle at Delphi, which had enjoined upon the son of
Agamemnon to convey to Argoa the etatue of the
Tauric Diana. When Orestes and Pylades were
brought as victims to the altar, Ipbigenia, perceiving
them to be Greeks, offered to spare the life of one of
them, provided he would convey a letter for her to
Greece. This occasioned a contest between them,
which should sacrifice himself for the other, and it was
ended in Pylades1 yielding to Orestes, and agreeing to
be the bearer of the letter: a discovery was the con-
sequence; and Iphigenia accordingly contrived to carry
off the statue of Diana, and to accompany her brother
and Pylades into Greece. --The story of Iphigenia has
been made by Euripides the subject of two plays, in
which, of course, several variations from the common
legend are introduced. --The name and story of Iphi-
genia are unnoticed by Homer. Iphigenia is probably
a mere epithet of Diana. She is the same with the
Diana-Orthia of Sparta, at whose altars the boys were
scourged. It was probably this rite that caused Iphi-
genia to be identified with the " Virgin," to whom hu-
man victims were offered by the Tauri. {Herod. , 4,
103. ) The story of Iphigenia would seem to have
? ? been then invented to account for the similarity. Mut-
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? 1RI
:s. t
Do j ar 103. Dupin says that he was born a little
oefore the year 140, and died a martyr in 203. On the
martyrdom of Photinua, his predecessor in the sec of
Lyons, Irencus, who had been a distinguished mem-
ber of the church in that quarter, was appointed his
successor in the diocese, A. D 174, and presided in
'hi*, capacity at two councils held at Lyons, in one of
wfcxh the Gnostic heresy was condemned, and in
another tho Quartodecimani. He also went to Rome,
and disputed there publicly with Valentinus, Florinus,
? nd Blastus, against whose opinions he afterward
wrote with much zeal and ability. Ho wrote on dif-
ferent subjects; but, as what remains is in Latin,
some supposed he composed in that language, and
not in Greek. Fragments of his works in Greek are,
however, preserved, which prove that his style was
simple, though clear and often animated. His opinions
concerning the soul are curious. He suffered martyr-
dom about A. D. 202. From the silence of Tertul-
lian, Eusebius, and others, concerning the manner of
his death, Cave, Basnage, and Dodwell have inferred
that he did not die by martyrdom, but in the ordinary
course of nature. With these Lardner coincides.
The best edition of his works is that of Grabe, Oxon. ,
fol. , 1702. Dodwell published a scries of six essays
on the writings of this father of the church, which he
Uustrates by many historical references and remarks.
lasses, a beautiful country in Libya, not far from
Cyrene. When Battus, in obedience to the oracle,
was seeking a place for a settlement, the Libyans, who
were his guides, managed so as to lead him through it
by night. Milton calls the name Irassa, for which he
has the authority of Pindar. (Find , Pyth. , 9, 185. --
Jierod. ,4, 158, seqq. )
Ibis, I. the goddess of the rainbow. Homer gives
not the slightest hint of who her parents were; He-
siod, however, makes her the daughter of Thaumas
(Wonder), by the ocean-nymph Electra (Brightness),
no unapt parentage for the brilliant and wonder-exci-
ting bow of the skies. (Theog. , 265. ) The office of
Iris in the Iliad is to act as the messenger of the king
and queen of Olympus; a duty which Mercury per-
forms in the Odyssey, in which poem there is not any
mention made of Iris. There is little mention, also,
cf the goddess in the subsequent Greek poets; but,
whenever she is spoken of, she appears quite distinct
from the celestial phenomenon of the same name. In
Callimachus (H. in Del. , 216, set] ) and the Latin
rts, Iris is appropriated to the service of Juno; and
these last she is invariably (and we may even say
clumsily) confounded with the rainbow. According
to the lyric poet Alcaeus, who is followed by Nonnus,
Ins was by Zephyrus the mother of Love. (Alcaus,
ap. Plut. , Amalor. , 20. --Nonnvi, 31,110, seq. ) Ho-
mer styles Iris "gold-winged 'II. , 8, 398. --lb. , 9,
185), the only line in the poet which makes against
Voss's theory, that none of Hornet's gods were winged.
(Mylhohg. Brufe, vol. 1, Br. 12, teqq. ) The name
Iris flp'f) >? usually derived from elpu, ipu, "to say,"
an etymology which suits the office of the goddess,
and which accords with the view taken of the rainbow
in the Book of Genesis. Hermann, however, renders
Ins by the Latin term Sertia, from elpu, "to unite"
the rainbow being formed of seven united or blended
colours: "'Ipic, Sertia, quod ex sept cm eoloribut con-
terta est. " (Opusc. , vol. 2, p. 179. --Keightley's
Mythology, p. 200. )--II. A river of Pontus, rising on
? ? the confines of Armenia Minor, and Sowing into the
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? ISA
Hi
frr/O which his pupil Demosthenes carried to perfec-
tion. (Dion. Hal. . Ac Isao judicium. --Of , cd Rciske,
vol. 5, p. 613, seqq. )--So far as the exlaot specimens
of Isseus enable uf. to form an opinion, this judgment
appears to be just. The perspicuity and artless sim-
plicity of the atyle of Lysias arc admirable; but, on
reading Isaeus. we feel that we have to do with a subtle
. disputant and a close reasoner, whose arguments are
strong and pointed, but have too much the appearance
>>f stciiied effect, and for that reason often fail to con-
vince. --The author of the life of Isxus, attributed to
Plutarch, mentions sixty-four orations of his, fifty of
which were allowed to be genuine. At present there
ire only eleven extant, all of which are of the forensic
tlass, and all treat of matters relating to wills, and the
succession to the property of testators or persons in-
testate, or to disputes originating in such matters.
These orations are valuable for the insight they give
us into the laws of Athens as to the disposition of
property by will and in cases of intestacy, and also as
to many of the forms of procedure. --The best edition
of the text of Istetis is by Bekker, forming part of the
OraXorcs Auici (1822-1823, 8vo, Berol. --Orat. Alt. ,
vol. 3. ) The most useful edition, however, is that of
Schomann, Gryphisw. , 1831, 8vo. Sir W. Jones has
given a valuable translation of Is-cus. It appeared in
1779. His version, however, extends only to ten of
the orations, the eleventh having been discovered since.
(Schbtl, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 2, p. 215. )- II. A native of
Assyria, likewise an orator, who came to Rome AD.
17. He is greatly commended by Pliny the younger,
who observes that he always spoke extempore, and
that his language was marked by elegance, . inlaboured
ease, and great correctness. (Plin. , Ep. , 2,3. )
Isapib, a river of Umbria. Its ordinary name was
the Sapis. (Strab. , 216. --Plol. , p. 64. ) Its modern
appellation is the Savio. It rose not far from Sarsina,
? nd fell into the Adriatic to the northwest of the Ru-
bicon. (Luean, 2, 406. )
Isar and Isara, I. now the Isire, a river of Gaul,
where Fabius routed the Allobroges. It rose in the
Graiau Alps, and fell into the Rhodanus near Valentia,
the modern Valence. --II. Another, called the Oisc,
which falls into the Seine below Paris. The Celtic
name of Briva Isarre, a place on this river, has been
translated into Pont-Oisc.
Isaura (<e or orum), the capital of Isauria, near the
confines of Phrygia. Strabo and Stephanus of Byzan-
tium use the term as a plural one (ra 'laavpa); Am-
mianus Marcellinus, however, makes it of the first de-
clension (14, 8). It was a strong and rich place, and
its inhabitants appear to have acquired their wealth, in
a great degree, by plundering the neighbouring regions.
The city was attacked by the Macedonians under Pcr-
diccas, the inhabitants having put to death the govern-
or set over the province by Alexander.
After a brave
resistance, the Isaurians destroyed themselves and their
city by fire. The conquerors arc said to have obtain-
ed much gold and silver from the ruins of the place.
(Diod. Sic. , 18,22. ) During the contentions between
Alexander's successors, the neighbouring mountain-
eers rebuilt the capital, and commenced plundering
anew until they were reduced by Servilius, hence sty-
led Isauricus, and the city was again destroyed. A
new Isaura was afterward built by Amyntas, king of
Galatia, in the vicinity of the old citv, and the stones
of this last were employed in its construction. (Serai. ,
? ? 591. ) This new Isaura appears to have existed until
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? ISIDORUS.
ISI
? bo. . cgetlier, wilh Anthemius, v>> is employed by
Justinian, emperor of iho oast, to erect the church of
St. Sophia at Constantinople. Anlhemius merely laid
the foundation of the edifice, and was then arrested by
the band of death, AD. 534. Isidorus was charged
with the completion of this structure. This church is
> m. :are building, with a hemispherical cupola in the
centre, and its summit 400 feet from the pavement
below. This edifice, which was considered the most
magnificent monument of the age, was scarcely fin-
ished before the cupola was thrown down by an earth-
quake. But Justinian had it immediately rebuilt.
On the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, the
church of St. Sophia was appropriated to the worship
? f the Mohammedan conquerors. --V. A New Plato-
nist, a native of Gaza, who succeeded Hegias in the
chair of Athens, in the fifth century, or, rather, at the
beginning of the sixth. He was a zealous follower of
Proclus, but deficient in talent and erudition, and,
consequently, soon made way for Zcnodotus as his
successor. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 7, p. 116. )
--VI. A native of Pelusium, a saint in the Roman
Catholic calendar, and one of the most celebrated of
the disciples of Chrysostom. He lived in the fifth
century, professed the monastic life from his youth,
? nd composed some thousand epistles, of which two
thousand and twelve remain, in five books, and are
deemed valuable, especially for the information which
they contain in relation to points of discipline and for
practical rules. The best edition is that of Schottus,
Paris, 1638, fol. In 1738, Heumann attacked the au-
thenticity of a part of these epistles, in a tract entitled
"Episloltt Isidori Pclusiota maximum partem con-
feetat" dec. --VII. Another saint in the Roman Cath-
olic calendar, and a distinguished Spanish prelate to-
wards the beginning of the seventh century, when he
succeeded his brother Leander in the see of Seville.
Hence he is commonly called Isidorus Hispalensis,
"Isidore of Seville. " He was, however, a native of
Carthago Nova (Carthagena), of which his father
Severianus was governor. He presided in a council
held in that city, A. D. 619; and at the fourth national
council, A. D. 633, in which numerous regulations
were by his influence adopted, in order to reform ec-
clesiastical discipline in Spain. He was well acquaint-
ed with Greek and Hebrew, and was considered by
the council of Toledo as the most learned man of bis
age. The style of his works, however, is not very
clear, and his judgment appears to have been very de-
fective. He died A. D. 636. --Isidorus was the au-
thor of many works, chiefly, however, compilations.
His principal production is entitled " Twenty Books
of Origins and Etymologies" (Originum sire Ety-
nologiarum Libri XX. ). Death prevented him from
finishing this, and it was completed by his friend
Braulio, bishop of Saragossa. It contains far more
than the title would seem to promise; and is, in fact,
a species of encyclopaedia, or a summary of all the
sciences cultivated at that period. The first book is
divided into forty-three chapters, of which the first
thirty-eight explain terms connected with grammar.
The remaining five have reference to matters connected
wilh history. The second book is devoted principally
to rhetorical subjects; it contains also an introduction
to philosophy, and a system of Dialectics after Porphy-
ry, Aristotle, and Victorious. The third book treats
of arithmetic, music, and astronomy. The fourth
? ? book is devoted to medicine. The fifth book con-
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? TSI8.
ISIS
attruut ;s, as we see from the Greek and Rpman wri-
ters. Sometimes she is represented like (Diana of
Ephcsus, the universal mother, with a nunber of
breasts. The mysterious rites of Isis werej probably
in their origin symbolical: on one of her statues was
this inscription, "I am all that has been or ". hat shall
be; no mortal has hitherto taken off my veil. "--But
the Isiac rites, transplanted to Italy, became a cloak
for licentiousness, and they were repeatedly forbidden
? t Rome. Tiberius caused the images of Isis to be
thrown into tbe Tiber; but the worship subsequently
revived, and Juvenal speaks of it in an indignant strain.
--The Isiac Table in the Turin Museum, which is
supposed to represent the mysteries of Isis, has been
judged by Champollion to be the work of an uninitiated
artist, little acquainted with the true worship of the
goddess, and probably of the age of Hadrian. (Con-
sult Plutarch's treatise on Isis and Osiris, ed. Wyt-
tenb. , vol. 2, p. 441. --Herod. , 2, 41, seqq. --Pausan. ,
2, 13, 7. --Id. , 10, 32, 13 )--The legend of Isis and
Osiris may be found in full detail in Creuzer (Sym-
bolik, vol. 1, p. 258, seqq). On comparing the differ-
ent explanations given by Plutarch and other ancient
writers, it will appear that Osiris is the type of the ac-
tive, generating, and beneficent force of nature and the
elements; Isis, on the contrary, is the passive force,
the power of conceiving and bringing forth into life in
the sublunary world. Osiris was particularly adored
in the sun, whose rays vivify and impart new warmth
to the earth, and who, on his annual return in the
spring, appears to create anew all organic bodies. He
was adored also in the Nile, the cause of Egyptian fer-
tility. Isis was the earth, or sublunary nature in gen-
eral; or, in a more confined sense, the soil of Egypt
inundated by the Nile, the principle of all fecundity,
the goddess of generation and production. United to
oii3 another, Osiris and Isis typify the universal Being,
tho soul of nature, the Panthcus of the Orphic verses.
(Symbolik, par Guigniaut, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 806. )--In
tec irdance with this general view of the subject are
the remarks of Knight: "Isis was the same with the
goddess of generation, except that by the later Egyp-
tians the personification was still core generalized, so
as to comprehend universal nature; whence Apuleius
invokes her by the names of Eieusinian Ceres, Celestial
Venus, and Proserpina; and she answers him by a
general explanation of these titles. 'I am,'says she,
* Nature, the parent of things, the sovereign of the ele-
ments, the primary progeny of time, the most exalted
of the deities, the first of the heavenly gods and god-
desses, the queen of the shades, the uniform counte-
nance; who dispose with my rod the numerous lights
of heaven, the salubrious breezes of the sea, and the
mournful silence of the dead; whose single deity the
whole world venerates in many forms, with various
rites and many names. The Egyptians, skilled in an-
cient lore, worship me with proper ceremonies, and
call me by my true name, Queen Isis. '" (Apul. , Met. ,
11, p. 257. ) This universal character of the goddess
appears, however, to have been subsequent to the
Macedonian conquest, when a new modification of the
ancient systems of religion and philosophy took place
at Alexandrea, and spread itself gradually over the
world. The statues of this Isis are of a composition
and form quite different from those of the ancient
Egyptian goddess; and all that we have seen are of
Greek or Roman sculpture. The original Egyptian
? ? figure of Isis is merely the animal symbol of the cow
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? ISO
ISOORA IES.
surest, the festival of the Pamylia; all these fell in
i great (period embracing the one half of the year, from
the autumnal equinox to that of the spring, at the
cjmrneiice. nont of which latter season was celebrated
the feast of the purification of Isia. A little before
this the Egyptians solemnized, at the new moon of
Phamenoth (March), the entrance of Osiris into the
Moon, which planet he was believed to fecundate,
that it might, in its turn, fecundate the earth. (Flat. ,
It. ) Finally, on the 30th of Epiphi (24th of July),
the festival of the birth of Horns took place (of Horus
the representative of Osiris, the conqueror of Typhon),
in the second great period, extending from the month
Pharmuthi (37th of March) to Tholh (29lh of August),
when the year recommenced. (Creuztr, Symbolik,
note 3, Guigniaut, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 801. )
Isvaius (Ismars, plur. ), a mountain of Thrace near
the mouth of the Hebrus, covered with vineyards.
This part of Thrace was famous for its wines. Ulys-
ses, in the Odyssey, is made to speak in commenda-
tion of some wine given him by Maron, the priest of
Apollo. Ismarus was situated in the territory of the
Cicones, whose capital was also called by the same
name. Homer (Od. , 1, 40) makes Ulysses to have
taken and plundered this city; but the natives coming
down from the interior in great force, he was driven
off with severe loss both ol men and ships. Ismarus
is only known to later wfiTlfVai. . a mountain celebrated
for its wine, which indeed Hu- ' t;r himself alludes to
in another passage. (Od. , 1, i '. -- Virg. , Georg. , 2,
37. ) ".
Isxbke, I. a daughter of CE'j at and Jocasta, who,
when her sister Antigone had-V >en condemned to be
buried alive by Creon for givii. ^ j, burial to her brother
Polynices, against the tyrant's f> . Vtive orders, declared
herself as guilty as her sister, << 'insisted upon being
punished along with her. (" ;, Antig. --Apollod. ,
3, S. )--II. A daughter of the r~. ? . <? Asopus, who mar-
ried the hundred-eyed Argusv*"' vy- horn she had Iasus
(Apollod. , 2, 1. ) >''? rr
Isme. hias, I. a celebrated i isician of Thebes.
When he waa taken prisoner by , . tie Scythians, Athe-
<<>>, the king of the country, obse- ''. d, that he liked the
neighing of his horse better th ? ! / j the music of Is-
? enias. (Plut. in Apophth. )- b e f V Theban gener-
al, sent to Persia on an emban | TM' his countrymen.
As none were admitted into then - g's presence with-
out prostrating themselves at h , feet, Ismenias had
recourse to artifice to avoid per, " rriiing an act which
would render him degraded in th , ? Wyes of his country-
men, and yet, at thesame time, '' "'offend against the
customs of Pcrs'n. When i **s introduced he
dropped his rinj;. anitlie motk ? ne made to recover
it from the ground beiuj mi<<t>> . it for the required
homage, Ismenias had a so. . . \ audience of the
monarch. (JElian, V. H. , 1, 21 ? ?
Isni. vus, I. a son of Apollo 'Melia, one of the
Nereides, who gave his name Itf'^ta "river of Bceotia,
near Thebes. --II. A river of Ba:e"a, in the immediate
vicinity of Thebes, at the foot of aV. lt.
