They
are from Calmet's Dictionary (vol.
are from Calmet's Dictionary (vol.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
, 6, 32.
)
Putkoli, a city of Campania, now Poxzuoli, on the
coast, and not far from the Lucrine Lake. Its Greek
name was Dicaarchia; but, when the Romans sent a
colony thither, they gave it the name of Puteoli, proba-
bly from the number of its walls, or perhaps from the
stench which was emitted by the sulphureous and alu-
minous springs in the neighbourhood. (Strabo, 245.
-~PUn. , 31, 2. ) Respecting the origin of this place,
we learn from Slrabo that it was at first the harbour of
Cumae. Hence we may fairly regurd it as a colony of*
that city, without calling in the Samians to assist in its
foundation, as Stephanus Byzantinus reports, and Hie-
runymus. [Eutel. , Chron. , 2. ) The Romans appear
to have first directed their attention to this spot in the
second Punic war, when Fabius the consul was order-
ed to fortify and garrison the town, which had only
been frequented hitherto for commercial purposes.
(Lib. , 24, 7. ) In the following year it was attacked
by Hannibal without success (Lie. , 24, 13), and about
this time became a naval station of considerable im-
portance: armies were sent to Puteoli from thence
(Liu. , 26, 17), and the embassy sent from Carthage,
which was to sue for peace at the close of the second
Punic war, disembarked here, and proceeded to Rome
by laud {Lin. , 30, 22), as did St. Paul about 250 years
afterward. The apostle remained seven days at Puteoli
before he set forward on his journey by the Appian
Way. (Act>>, xxviii. , 13. ) In the time of Strabo, this
city appears to have been a place of very great com-
merce, and particularly connected with Alexandres;
the imports from that city, which was then the empori-
um of the East, being much greater than the exports
ol Italy. (Slrabo, 793. --Snet. , Aug. , 98,-- Senec,
Ep. , 77. ) The harbour of Puteoli was spacious and
o( peculiar construction, being formed of vast piles of
mortar and sand, which, owing to the strongly cement-
ing properties of the latter material, became very solid
and compact masses; and these, being sunk in the sea,
afforded secure anchorage for any number of vessels.
(Slrab. , 245 ) Pliny (35, 13) has remarked this qual-
ity of the sand in the neighbourhood of Puteoli, which
now goes by the name of Pozzolana, The same wri-
ter informs us (36, 12), that this harbour possessed
also the advantage of a conspicuous lighthouse. The
remains which are yet to be seen in the harbour of
Puteoli are commonly, but erroneously, considered to
he the ruins of Caligula's bridge; whereas that em-
peror is said expressly to have used boats, anchored in
a double line, for the construction of the bridge which
he threw ovor from Puteoli to Baias; these were cov-
ered with earth, after the manner of Xerxes's famous
bridge across the Hellespont. Upon the completion
of the work, Caligula is described as appearing there
in great pomp, on horseback or in a chariot, for two
days, followed by the pranorian band and a splendid
retinue. It is evident, therefore, that this structure
was designed for a temporary purpose, and it is farther
mentioned that it was begun from the piles of Puteoli.
(? Sue/. , Caiig. , 19--Josephiu, Antiq. Jud. , 19, 1. )--
Puteoli became a Roman colony A. TJ. C. 558, was re-
colonized by Augustus, and again, for the third time,
by Nero. (Taeit. , Ann. , 14, 27 ) This place ap-
pears to have espoused the cause of Vespasian with
? ? great zeal, from which circumstance, according to an
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? PYO
PYL
(lined Antffiiis. and that he was suddenly awakened by
an attack which had been made upon bia body In an
army of these Liliputians, who professed to be the
avengers of Antasus, since they were his brethren,
and earthbora like himself. A simultaneous onset
was made upon his head, hands, and feet. Arrowa
were discharged at him, his hair was ignited, spadea
were thrust into his eyes, and coverings or doors (dv-
pai) were spplied to his mouth and nostrils to prevent
respiration. The hero awoke in the midst of the war-
fare, and was so much pleased with the courage dis-
played by his tiny foes, that he gathered them all into
his lion akin and brought them to Eurystheus. (Phi-
lostr. , Icon. , S, 28, p. 817, ed. Morell. j--The Pygmies
of antiquity, like those of more modem times, may be
safely regarded as mere creatures of the imagination.
We have nad them even placed, by popular belief, in
our own country. A number of small graves, two or
three feet in length, were found in tho West, contain-
ing fragments of evidently adult bones. The idea of
a pigmy race was immediately conceived ; but it was
unknown to the discoverers, that tho Indians, after dis-
interring their dead, buried them in graves just large
enough to hold the bones made up into a small bun-
dle for the convenience of transportation. (M'Cul-
lock. Researches on America, p. 616. )--With respect
to the Pygmies of ancient fable, it may be remarked,
that Homer places them merely in southern lands, with-
out specifying their particular locality; nor does he
say a word respecting their diminutive size. (Heyne,
ad Horn. , II. , 3,3. ) Aristotle, as we have already aaid,
assigns them a residence near the sources of the Nile
(Hist. An. , 8, 15), in which he is followed by ^Elian
(H. A. , 2, 1 ; 3, 15) and others. Some agree with
Ctesias in making India their native country. Pliny,
in one passage, places them also in India (7, 2), but in
another in Thrace (4, 2). Others, again, making the
cranes to wing their way from the northern regions
over the Pon'. us Euxinus, regard Scylhia and Thrace
as the Pygmy land. --Many have supposed that the fa-
ble of the Pygmies and cranea has a reference to the
country of Egypt. As the cranes make their appear-
ance there about the month of November, the time in
which the waters are subsided, and devour the corn
? own on the lands, the whole fable of the Pygmies may
be explained by supposing them to have been none
other than the Egyptians, and the term pygmy (rrvy-
fiatoc) not to refer to any diminutiveness of size, but
to the cubits (itvy/iai, mj^eif) of the Nile's rise. Some
scholars suppose the gcrme of the fable to be found in
the remarks of Strabo, respecting the fwtpoewtav tuv
tv Ki6vn eniopevuv. (Strabo, 820. ) Barrow, in his
Travels to the Cape of Good Hope (vol. 1, p. 239),
endeavours to identify the Bosjesmans of the Cape
and the Pygmies of the ancients, but with no great
success. Hecren regards the whole Pygmy narrative
as fabulous, but assigns it an Indian origin, and makes
it to have spread from the East into the countries of the
West. (Ideen, vol. 1, p. 368. ) Malte-Brun inclines
in favour of the existence of a pygmy race, from the
accounts of modern travellers, who state that they
have seen in the remote East small and deformed beings
not unlike in appearance to the pygmies of former days,
and for the most part only four feet in size. Hence
bethinks it not unlikely that a diminutive race, resem-
bling, in some degree, the ancient pygmies, may still
be existing among the remoto and desert regions of
? ? Thibet! (Malte-Brun, Annates des Voyages, vol. 1,
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? PYLOS.
PU
emury '? >> the neighbouring town of Lepnsum.
[Strab , 355. ) The vestiges of Pylos are thought by
Sir W. Gell to correspond with a Palaio Castro, sit-
uated at Pischine or Piskini, about two miles from
the coast. Near this is a village called Sarcne, per-
haps a corruption of Arene. {Itin. of the Morca, p.
40. --Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 3, p. 117. )--III. A
city of Messenia, on the western coast, off which lay
the island of Sphacteria. It was situated at the foot
of Mount -? galeus, now Geranio or Agio Elia. (Stra-
6o, 459. ) Tins city was regarded by many as the
capital of Nestor's dominions, and, at a later period,
was celebrated for the brilliant successes obtained
there by the Athenians in the Peloponnesian war. It
is necessary, however, to distinguish between the an-
cient city of Pylos, and the fortress which the Athe-
nian troops under Demosthenes erected en the spot
termed Coryphasium by the Lacedxnioninns. (Thu-
cyi. , 4, 3 ) Strabo affirms, that when the town of Py-
los was destroyed, part of the inhabitants retired to
Coryphasium; but Pausanias makes no distinction be-
tween the old and new town, simply stating that Py-
los, founded by Pylus, son of Cleson, was situated on
the promontory of Coryphasium. To Pylus he has
also attributed the foundation of Pylos in F. lis, whith-
er that chief retired on his expulsion from Messenia
by Neleus and the Thessalian Pelasgi. He adds, that
a temple of Minerva Coryphasia was to be seen near
the town, as well as the house of Nestor, whose mon-
ument was likewise to be seen there. Strabo, on the
contrary, has been at considerable pains to prove that
the Pylos of Homer was not in Messenia, but in Tri-
phylia. From Homer's description, he observes, it is
evident that Nestor's dominions were traversed by the
Alpheus; and, from his account of Telemachus' voy-
age when returning to Ithaca, it is also clear that the
Pylos of the Odyssey could neither be the Messenian
nor Elean city; since the son of Ulysses is made to
pass Cruni, Chalets, Phea, and the coast of Elis, which
be could not have done if he had set out from the last-
mentioned place; if from the former, the navigation
would have been much longer than from the descrip-
tion we are led to suppose, since we must reckon 400
tadia from the Messenian to the Triphylian Pylos
jnly, besides which, we may presume, the poet would
in that case have named the Neda, the Acidon, and
the intervening rivers and places. Again, from Nes-
Ijr's account of his battle with the Epeans, he must
have been separated from that people by the Alpheus,
a statement which cannot be reconciled with the po-
sition of the Elean Pylos. If, on the other hand, we
suppose him to allude to the Messenian city, it will
appear very improbable that Nestor should make an
incursion into the country of the Epei, and return
from thence with a vast quantity of cattle, which he
had to convey such a distance. His pursuit of the
enemy as far as Buprasium and the Olenian rock, after
their defeat, is equally incompatible with the supposi-
tion that he marched from Messenia. In fact, it is
not easy to understand how there could have been
any communication between the Epeans and the sub-
jects of Nestor, if they had been so far removed from
each other. But as all the circumstances mentioned
by Homer agree satisfactorily with the situation of the
Triphylian city, we are necessarily induced to regard
it as the Pylos of Nestor. Such are the chief arpn-
mer. ts adduced by Strabo. --According to Thuc hues,
? ? the Messenian Pylos had two entrances, one on each
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? 1TRAMIDE8.
Ladv Arbulhnot, who was present at the time of the
discovery. These chambers vary as to height, and
the blocks of granite which form the ceiling of the one
below serve is the pavement of the one abov; it.
Accoiding to Colonel Vyse, these three chambers were
chiefly intended as voids in that portion of the pyra-
mid above what ia termed the " king's chamber" (the
jnly one that appears to have had any destination),
and thereby to lessen the superincumbent mass. (Con-
sult the costly and elaborate work of Colonel Vyse,
"Operations carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh i<<
1837," &c. , London, 1840, 2 vols. 4to. --vol. 1, p. 205,
235, 256. )--In the course of the work just alluded to
(vol. 2, p. 105), Colonel Vyse has some remarks on the
question whether the pyramids were connected in any
way with astronomical purposes. It seems that, in six
pyramids which have been opened, the principal pas-
sage preserves the same inclination of 26? to the ho-
rizon, being directed to the polar star. "As it had
been supposed," remarks the colonel, '? that the in-
clined passages were intended for astronomical pur-
poses, I mentioned the circumstance to Sir John Her-
schel, who, with the utmost kindness, entered into va-
rious calculations to ascertain the fact. I also in-
formed Sir John of the allusion in the ' Quarterly Re-
view' to Mr. Caviglia's remarks respecting the polar
star, and likewise of its having been seen by Captains
Irby and Mangles from the inclined passage in the
Great Pyramid, at the period of its culminating, on
the night of the 21st of March, 1817. It would ap-
pear from the remarks of Sir John, which here follow,
that the direction of the passage was determined by
the star which was polar at the time that the pyramid
was constructed, and that the exact aspect of the
building was regulated by it; but it could not have
been used for celestial observation. The coincidence
of the relative position of a Draconis is at all events
very remarkable. "
1 Sir John Herschel's Observations on the Entrance
Passages in the Pyramids of Gizeh.
*' Four thousand years ago, the present polar star, a
Ursa Minorii, could by no possibility have been seen
at any time in the twenty-four hours through the gal-
lery in the Great Pyramid, on account of the preces-
sion of the Equinoxes, which at that time would have
displaced every star in the heavens, from its then ap-
parent position on the sphere, by no less a quantity than
35? 45' of longitude, and would have changed all the
relations of the constellations ? to the diurnal sphere.
The supposed date of the pyramid, 2123 years B. C. ,
added to our present date, 1839, form 3962 years (say
4000), and the effect of the precession on the longi-
tudes of the stars in that interval having been to in-
crease them all by the above-named quantity, it will
follow that the pole of the heavens, at the erection of
the pyramid, must have stood very near to the star a
Draconis, that is, 2? 51' 15" from it to the westward,
as we should now call it; a Draconis was therefore,
at that time, the polar star; and an it is comparatively
insignificant, and only of the third magnitude, if so
much, it can scarcely be supposed that it could have
been seen in the daytime even in the climate of Uizeh,
or even from so dark a recess as the inclined entrance
of the Great Pyramid. A latitude, however, of 30? ,
Mul a polar distance of the star in question of 1? 51'
U>". would bring it, at its lower culmination, to an al-
lilude of 27? 91', and therefore it would have been di-
rectly in view of an observer stationed in tho descend-
? ? ing passage, the opening of which, as seen from a
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? PYRAMIDES.
FV'RAMIDES.
in the usages of different places and ages. Belzoni,
however, says that he found some hieroglyphics on one
of the blocks forming a mausoleum to the west of the
first pyramid. The first pyramid seems never to have
been coated, as there is not the slightest mark of any
covering. The second pyramid showed that the coal-
ing had been executed from the summit downward, as
rt appeared that it had not, in this instance, been finish-
ed to the bottom.
3. Who were the labourers employed on the Pyra-
mids?
A very curious inquiry now remains as to tho la-
bourers employed in erecting these stupendous struc-
tures, and the following remarks on this subject, though
they may not be acceded to in their full extent, will
yet, it is conceived, not prove unacceptable.
They
are from Calmet's Dictionary (vol. 3, p. "J! 7. seq. ).
On the supposition that they were native Egyptians,
Voltaire has founded an argument in proof of the sla-
very of that people; but that they were really natives
is a point which admits of considerable doubt. The
uniform practice of the ancient Oriental nations seems
to have been, to employ captive foreigners in erecting
laborious and painful works, and Diodorus (1, 2) ex-
pressly asserts this of the Egyptian Scsostris. Is it
improbable to suppose that one at least, if not all, of
the structures in question, were the work of the Israel-
ites? Bondage is expressly attributed to them in the
sacred writings; and that the Israelites did not make
brick only, but performed other labours, may bo in-
ferred from Ezodus, 9, 8, 10. Moses took '"ashes of
the furnace," no doubt that which was tendered him
by his people. So Psalm 81, 6, "I removed his
shoulder from the burden, and his hands were deliv-
ered from the mortar-basket," not pots, as in our
translation; and with this rendering agree the Septu-
agini, Vulgate, Symmachus, and others. Added to
this, we have the positive testimony of Josephus that
the Israelites were employed on the Pyramids. The
? pace of time allotted for the erection of these im-
mense masses coincides with what is usually assigned
to the slaycry uf the Israelites. Israel is understood
to have been in Egypt 215 years, of which Joseph
ruled seventy years; nor was it till long after his
death that a " new king arose who knew not Joseph. "
If wo allow about forty years for the extent of the
generation which succeeded Joseph, added to his
seventy, there remain about 105 years to the Exo-
dus. According to Herodotus (2, 124, seqq. ), Egypt,
until the reign of Rhampsinitus, was remarkable for
its abundance and excellent laws. Cheops, who suc-
ceeded this prince, degenerated into extreme "profli-
gacy of conduct. He barred the avenues of every
temple, and forbade the Egyptians from offering sac-
rifices. He next proceeded to make them labour ser-
vilely for himself by building the first pyramid. Che-
cpa reigned fifty years. His brother Chephrcnes suc-
ceeded, and adopted a similar course: he reigned fifty-
six years. Thus, for the space of 106 years, were the
Egyptians exposed to every species of oppression and
calamity; not having, during all this period, permis-
sion even to worship in their temples. The Egyp-
tians had so strong an aversion to the memory of
these two monarchs, that they would never mention
their names, but always attributed their pyramids to
one Philitis, a shepherd who kept his cattle in those
parts. We have here very plain traces of a govern-
? ? ment by a foreign family; and of a worship contrary
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? VlfR
ia
(jlluwng. He makes tc, in the word Ilvpa/iiV, a mere
Greek termination. Ill is then the ? gyptian article,
for which the Greeks wrote Hit, in their wish to de-
jure the term from nip, "fire. " The syllable pnit he
refer* to the root ram, which, according to him, had
in the Egyptian tongue the meaning of separating, or
setting anything apart from common use. {Ivpafiic,
therefore, will denote a sacred place or edifice, set
? part for some religious purpose. (De Saey, Obser-
tatwns aur Porigine du nom donni. par les Grecs et
In Arabes aux Pyramides d'ACgyprc. --Te Water, ad
Jablonsk. , Voc. Mgypl. , p. 224. )
Pyramus, I. a youth of Babylon. (Vid. Thisbe. )
--II. A river of Cilicia Campestris, rising in Mount
Taurus, and falling into the Sinus Issicus. It is now
the Geihoon. This river forces its way, by a deep
and narrow channel, through the barrier of Taurus;
and such was the quantity of soil which it carried down,
that an oracle affirmed that one day it would reach
the sacred isle of Cyprus. (Srrai. ,536. ) This, how-
ever, has not taken place; but a remarkable change
has occurred with respect to the course of this river,
which now finds its way into the sea, twenty-three
miles more to the eist, in the Gulf of Scanderoon.
{Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 2, p. 351. )
PuiKN. m, a well-known range of mountains, separ-
ating Gallia from Hispania. The name was com-
monly supposed to be derived from the Greek term
Tip, "fire," and various explanations were attempted
to be given of this etymology. According to some,
these mountains had once been devastated by fire, an
opinion which Posidonius deemed not improbable.
Diod. Sic, 5,35-- Strab. , 146-- Lucrel. ,5. 12, 42. )
The true derivation, however, is evidently the Celtic
Pyren or Pyrn, "a high mountain," and from this
same may in like manner be deduced the name of
Mount Brenner in the Tyrol; that of Pyern, in upper
Austria, that of Fernor, in the Tyrol, and many others.
[Addling, MilhraAates, vol. 2, p. 67. )--The range of
'he Pyrenees is about 294 miles in length. These
mountains are steep, difficult of access, and only pass-
able at five places: 1st, From Languedoc to Catalo-
niit; 2d, from Comminge into Aragon; 3d, at Ta-
rawa; 4th, at Maya and Pampcluna, in Navarre; and
5m, at Sebastians, in Biscay, which is the easiest of
ail. (Polyb , 3, 34, seqq. --Mela, 2, b. --Plin. , 3, 3 )
Pykootei. es, a celebrated engraver on gems in the
age of Alexander the Great. He had the exclusive
privilege of engraving the conqueror, as Lysippus was
tne only sculptor who was permitted to make statues
of him. Two gems carved by this artist ale said to be
extant (Bracci, Mcmorie, tab. 98, 99); bu*. Winckel-
mann has, by many powerful arguments, pioved them
to be spurious. (Op. , 6, 1, p. 107, seqq. ) i
Pyrkiia, I. a daughter of Epiinctheus and Pandora,
and wife of Deucalion. (KM. Deucalion. )--II. A
promontory of Thessaly, on tho western coast of the
Sinus Pagasaeus, and a short distanco below Detnetri-
as. It is now Cape Ankistri. --III. A rock, with an-
other in its vicinity named Deucalion, near the prom-
ontory mentioned in the preceding paragraph. (Stra-
in, 435. )
Pyrrho. a celebrated Greek philosopher, a native
of Elca. In his youth he practised the art of paint-
ing; but, either through disinclination, or because his
mind aspired to higher pursuits, he passed over from
the school of painting to that of philosophy. He stud-
? ? ied and admired the writings of Democritus, and had,
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? PYRKHIJS.
FYRrXHUS.
tower is attributed and it was he that immolated
Polyxcna to his father's shade. In the division of the
captives after the termination of the war, Andromache,
the widow of Hector, and Hclenus, tb<< brother of the
latter, were assigned to Pyrrhus. After some time
had elapsed, he gave up Andromache to Hclenus, and
sought and obtained the hand of Hermione, daughter
of Menelaus and Helen; but he was slain for this by
Orestes, son of Agamemnon. (Eurip. , Androm. , 1244,
Itqq. -- Virg-> JEn. , 3, 319, tcqq. -- Heyne, Knurs ,
IS, ad JEn. , 3 )--II. A king of Epirus, descended
from Achilles on the mother's side. Ho was saved
when an infant, by the fidelity of his servants, from
the pursuits of the enemies of his father, who had been
banished from his kingdom, and he was carried to the
court of Glautias, king of Illy ricum, who educated him
with great tenderness. Cassander, king of Macedo-
nia, wished to despatch him; but Glautias not only
refused to deliver him up into the hands of his enemy,
but he even went with an army, and placed him on the
throne of Epirus, though only twelve years of age.
About five years after, the absence of Pyrrhus to at-
tend the nuptials of one of the daughters of Glautias
raised new commotions. The monarch was expelled
from his throne by Ncoptolemus, who had usurped it
after the death of . -Eacides; and being still without
resources, he applied to his brother-in-law Demetrius
for assistance. He accompanied Demetrius at the
battle of Ipsus, and fought there with all the prudence
and intrepidity of an experienced general. He after-
ward passed into Egypt, where, by his marriage with
Antigone, the daughter of Berenice, he soon obtained
a sufficient force to attempt the recovery of his throne.
He was successful in the undertaking; but, to remove
all causes of quarrel, he took the usurper to share with
him the royalty, and some time after he put him to
death, under pretence that he had attempted to poison
him. In the subsequent years of his reign Pyrrhus
engaged in the quarrels which disturbed the peace of
the Macedonian monarchy. He marched against De-
metrius, and gave the Macedonian soldiers fresh proofs
if his valour and activity. By dissimulation he ingra-
tiated himself in the minds of his enemy's subjects,
and when Demetrius laboured under a momentary ill-
ness, Pyrrhus made an attempt upon the crown of Ma-
cedonia, which, if not then successful, soon after ren-
dered him master of the kingdom. This he shared
with I. ysiinachus for seven months, till the jealousy of
the Macedonians and the ambition of his colleague
obliged him to retire. ? Pyrrhus was meditating new
conquests, when the Tarentines invited him to Italy
to assist them against the encroaching power of Rome.
He gladly accepted the invitation, but his passsgc
serosa the Adriatic proved nearly fatal, and he reached
the shores of Italy after the loss of the greatest part of
his troops in a storm. At his entrance into Taren-
tum, B. C. 280, he began to reform the manners of the
inhabitants, and, by introducing the strictest discipline
among their troops, to accustom them to bear fatigue
and to despise dangers. In the first battle which he
fought with the Romans he obtained the victory; but
for this he was more particularly indebted to his ele-
phants, whose bulk and uncommon appearance aston-
ished the Romans, and terrified their cavalry. The
number of the slain was equal on both sides, and the
conqueror said that another such victory would ruin
him. He also sent Cineas, his chief minister, to
? ? Rome, and, though victorious, he sued for peace.
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? PYT
PYTHAGORAS.
? id 10 deserve the sarcastic remark a Antigonus, \vh i
compared him to a gambler, "who makes many good
throws, but never seems to know when he has the best
of the game. " (Plut. , Vit. Pyrrh. --Encyclop. Metro-
pal. , div. 2, vil. 1, p. 667. )
Pythagoras, a celebrated philosopher of Samos.
Great unccrtaic. y exists as to the year when he was
born. Some, as, for example, La Nauze and Freret,
make it to have been the first year oi the 43d Olym-
piad. Bentley is in favour of the fourth year of the
nme Olympiad, Mciner contends for the second of
the 49ih, Dodwcll for the fourth of the 52d. There is
t difference of sixty-three years between the extremes
of these dates. Some authors assert that all which
can be stated with any degree of certainty is, that sev-
enty-live or eighty-five years of the life of Pythagoras
(for even the duration of his life is a subject of con-
troversy) fall within the one hundred and forty-two
years that elapred between A. C. 608 and A. C. 466.
Visconli gives the preference to Eusebius, who, in
fixing the death of Pythagoras in the 496th year B. C. ,
expresses his doubts respecting the advanced age to
which the philosopher is said to have attained. By his
mother's side he is said to have been connected with
one of the oldest families in the island. But his fa-
ther, Mnesarchus', was generally believed to have been
* foreigner, and not of purely Greek origin, though it
wa9 disputed whether he was a Phoenician, or belonged
to the Tyrrhenian Pelasgians of Leinnos or Imbros, and
to a branch, therefore, of the Pelasgian race. If we
dismiss the tales of Iamblichus concerning the early
wisdom, gravity, and temperance of Pythagoras, which
are said to have been such as to have filled all men
with admiration, to have commanded respect and rev-
erence from gray hairs, and even to have led many to
assert that he was the son of God (Iamb. , Vit. Pyth. ,
n. 6), we meet with no other credible particulars of
his childhood and early education, but that he was first
instructed in his own country by Creophilus, and
afterward by Pherccydes in the island of Scyros.
iThirlirall'i Greece, vol. 2, p. 140, in notis. ) When
he had paid the honours to his preceptor, for whom he
appear sjo have entertained a high respect, he returned
to Samos, and again studied under the direction of
his first master. Much is said by Iamblichus and
other later biographers of Pythagoras's early journey
into Ionia, and his visits to Thaies and Anaximander;
but we find no ancient account of his journey, nor any
traces of its effects on his doctrine, which diners es-
sentially from that of the Ionic school. On his way
to K<<ypt, Iamblichus asserts that he visited Phoenicia,
and conversed with the descendants of Mochua and
other priests of that country; and was initiated into
their peculiar mysteries. And it may seem not en-
tirely improbable that he might wish to be farther ac-
quainted with the Phoenician philosophy, of which he
had doubtless heard a general report from his father,
whe was probably of Phoenician origin. But it is cer-
tainly a fiction of tho Alexandrean school that Pythag-
oras received his doctrines of numbers from the Phoe-
nicians, for their knowledge of numbers extended no
farther than to the practical science of arithmetic. In
Egypt, Pythagoras was introduced, by the recommend-
ation of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, to Amasis, king
of Egypt, a great patron of learned men, particularly
those of Greece, that he might the more easily obtain
access to the colleges of the priests. The king him-
? ? self could scarcely, with all his authority, prevail upon
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Putkoli, a city of Campania, now Poxzuoli, on the
coast, and not far from the Lucrine Lake. Its Greek
name was Dicaarchia; but, when the Romans sent a
colony thither, they gave it the name of Puteoli, proba-
bly from the number of its walls, or perhaps from the
stench which was emitted by the sulphureous and alu-
minous springs in the neighbourhood. (Strabo, 245.
-~PUn. , 31, 2. ) Respecting the origin of this place,
we learn from Slrabo that it was at first the harbour of
Cumae. Hence we may fairly regurd it as a colony of*
that city, without calling in the Samians to assist in its
foundation, as Stephanus Byzantinus reports, and Hie-
runymus. [Eutel. , Chron. , 2. ) The Romans appear
to have first directed their attention to this spot in the
second Punic war, when Fabius the consul was order-
ed to fortify and garrison the town, which had only
been frequented hitherto for commercial purposes.
(Lib. , 24, 7. ) In the following year it was attacked
by Hannibal without success (Lie. , 24, 13), and about
this time became a naval station of considerable im-
portance: armies were sent to Puteoli from thence
(Liu. , 26, 17), and the embassy sent from Carthage,
which was to sue for peace at the close of the second
Punic war, disembarked here, and proceeded to Rome
by laud {Lin. , 30, 22), as did St. Paul about 250 years
afterward. The apostle remained seven days at Puteoli
before he set forward on his journey by the Appian
Way. (Act>>, xxviii. , 13. ) In the time of Strabo, this
city appears to have been a place of very great com-
merce, and particularly connected with Alexandres;
the imports from that city, which was then the empori-
um of the East, being much greater than the exports
ol Italy. (Slrabo, 793. --Snet. , Aug. , 98,-- Senec,
Ep. , 77. ) The harbour of Puteoli was spacious and
o( peculiar construction, being formed of vast piles of
mortar and sand, which, owing to the strongly cement-
ing properties of the latter material, became very solid
and compact masses; and these, being sunk in the sea,
afforded secure anchorage for any number of vessels.
(Slrab. , 245 ) Pliny (35, 13) has remarked this qual-
ity of the sand in the neighbourhood of Puteoli, which
now goes by the name of Pozzolana, The same wri-
ter informs us (36, 12), that this harbour possessed
also the advantage of a conspicuous lighthouse. The
remains which are yet to be seen in the harbour of
Puteoli are commonly, but erroneously, considered to
he the ruins of Caligula's bridge; whereas that em-
peror is said expressly to have used boats, anchored in
a double line, for the construction of the bridge which
he threw ovor from Puteoli to Baias; these were cov-
ered with earth, after the manner of Xerxes's famous
bridge across the Hellespont. Upon the completion
of the work, Caligula is described as appearing there
in great pomp, on horseback or in a chariot, for two
days, followed by the pranorian band and a splendid
retinue. It is evident, therefore, that this structure
was designed for a temporary purpose, and it is farther
mentioned that it was begun from the piles of Puteoli.
(? Sue/. , Caiig. , 19--Josephiu, Antiq. Jud. , 19, 1. )--
Puteoli became a Roman colony A. TJ. C. 558, was re-
colonized by Augustus, and again, for the third time,
by Nero. (Taeit. , Ann. , 14, 27 ) This place ap-
pears to have espoused the cause of Vespasian with
? ? great zeal, from which circumstance, according to an
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? PYO
PYL
(lined Antffiiis. and that he was suddenly awakened by
an attack which had been made upon bia body In an
army of these Liliputians, who professed to be the
avengers of Antasus, since they were his brethren,
and earthbora like himself. A simultaneous onset
was made upon his head, hands, and feet. Arrowa
were discharged at him, his hair was ignited, spadea
were thrust into his eyes, and coverings or doors (dv-
pai) were spplied to his mouth and nostrils to prevent
respiration. The hero awoke in the midst of the war-
fare, and was so much pleased with the courage dis-
played by his tiny foes, that he gathered them all into
his lion akin and brought them to Eurystheus. (Phi-
lostr. , Icon. , S, 28, p. 817, ed. Morell. j--The Pygmies
of antiquity, like those of more modem times, may be
safely regarded as mere creatures of the imagination.
We have nad them even placed, by popular belief, in
our own country. A number of small graves, two or
three feet in length, were found in tho West, contain-
ing fragments of evidently adult bones. The idea of
a pigmy race was immediately conceived ; but it was
unknown to the discoverers, that tho Indians, after dis-
interring their dead, buried them in graves just large
enough to hold the bones made up into a small bun-
dle for the convenience of transportation. (M'Cul-
lock. Researches on America, p. 616. )--With respect
to the Pygmies of ancient fable, it may be remarked,
that Homer places them merely in southern lands, with-
out specifying their particular locality; nor does he
say a word respecting their diminutive size. (Heyne,
ad Horn. , II. , 3,3. ) Aristotle, as we have already aaid,
assigns them a residence near the sources of the Nile
(Hist. An. , 8, 15), in which he is followed by ^Elian
(H. A. , 2, 1 ; 3, 15) and others. Some agree with
Ctesias in making India their native country. Pliny,
in one passage, places them also in India (7, 2), but in
another in Thrace (4, 2). Others, again, making the
cranes to wing their way from the northern regions
over the Pon'. us Euxinus, regard Scylhia and Thrace
as the Pygmy land. --Many have supposed that the fa-
ble of the Pygmies and cranea has a reference to the
country of Egypt. As the cranes make their appear-
ance there about the month of November, the time in
which the waters are subsided, and devour the corn
? own on the lands, the whole fable of the Pygmies may
be explained by supposing them to have been none
other than the Egyptians, and the term pygmy (rrvy-
fiatoc) not to refer to any diminutiveness of size, but
to the cubits (itvy/iai, mj^eif) of the Nile's rise. Some
scholars suppose the gcrme of the fable to be found in
the remarks of Strabo, respecting the fwtpoewtav tuv
tv Ki6vn eniopevuv. (Strabo, 820. ) Barrow, in his
Travels to the Cape of Good Hope (vol. 1, p. 239),
endeavours to identify the Bosjesmans of the Cape
and the Pygmies of the ancients, but with no great
success. Hecren regards the whole Pygmy narrative
as fabulous, but assigns it an Indian origin, and makes
it to have spread from the East into the countries of the
West. (Ideen, vol. 1, p. 368. ) Malte-Brun inclines
in favour of the existence of a pygmy race, from the
accounts of modern travellers, who state that they
have seen in the remote East small and deformed beings
not unlike in appearance to the pygmies of former days,
and for the most part only four feet in size. Hence
bethinks it not unlikely that a diminutive race, resem-
bling, in some degree, the ancient pygmies, may still
be existing among the remoto and desert regions of
? ? Thibet! (Malte-Brun, Annates des Voyages, vol. 1,
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? PYLOS.
PU
emury '? >> the neighbouring town of Lepnsum.
[Strab , 355. ) The vestiges of Pylos are thought by
Sir W. Gell to correspond with a Palaio Castro, sit-
uated at Pischine or Piskini, about two miles from
the coast. Near this is a village called Sarcne, per-
haps a corruption of Arene. {Itin. of the Morca, p.
40. --Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 3, p. 117. )--III. A
city of Messenia, on the western coast, off which lay
the island of Sphacteria. It was situated at the foot
of Mount -? galeus, now Geranio or Agio Elia. (Stra-
6o, 459. ) Tins city was regarded by many as the
capital of Nestor's dominions, and, at a later period,
was celebrated for the brilliant successes obtained
there by the Athenians in the Peloponnesian war. It
is necessary, however, to distinguish between the an-
cient city of Pylos, and the fortress which the Athe-
nian troops under Demosthenes erected en the spot
termed Coryphasium by the Lacedxnioninns. (Thu-
cyi. , 4, 3 ) Strabo affirms, that when the town of Py-
los was destroyed, part of the inhabitants retired to
Coryphasium; but Pausanias makes no distinction be-
tween the old and new town, simply stating that Py-
los, founded by Pylus, son of Cleson, was situated on
the promontory of Coryphasium. To Pylus he has
also attributed the foundation of Pylos in F. lis, whith-
er that chief retired on his expulsion from Messenia
by Neleus and the Thessalian Pelasgi. He adds, that
a temple of Minerva Coryphasia was to be seen near
the town, as well as the house of Nestor, whose mon-
ument was likewise to be seen there. Strabo, on the
contrary, has been at considerable pains to prove that
the Pylos of Homer was not in Messenia, but in Tri-
phylia. From Homer's description, he observes, it is
evident that Nestor's dominions were traversed by the
Alpheus; and, from his account of Telemachus' voy-
age when returning to Ithaca, it is also clear that the
Pylos of the Odyssey could neither be the Messenian
nor Elean city; since the son of Ulysses is made to
pass Cruni, Chalets, Phea, and the coast of Elis, which
be could not have done if he had set out from the last-
mentioned place; if from the former, the navigation
would have been much longer than from the descrip-
tion we are led to suppose, since we must reckon 400
tadia from the Messenian to the Triphylian Pylos
jnly, besides which, we may presume, the poet would
in that case have named the Neda, the Acidon, and
the intervening rivers and places. Again, from Nes-
Ijr's account of his battle with the Epeans, he must
have been separated from that people by the Alpheus,
a statement which cannot be reconciled with the po-
sition of the Elean Pylos. If, on the other hand, we
suppose him to allude to the Messenian city, it will
appear very improbable that Nestor should make an
incursion into the country of the Epei, and return
from thence with a vast quantity of cattle, which he
had to convey such a distance. His pursuit of the
enemy as far as Buprasium and the Olenian rock, after
their defeat, is equally incompatible with the supposi-
tion that he marched from Messenia. In fact, it is
not easy to understand how there could have been
any communication between the Epeans and the sub-
jects of Nestor, if they had been so far removed from
each other. But as all the circumstances mentioned
by Homer agree satisfactorily with the situation of the
Triphylian city, we are necessarily induced to regard
it as the Pylos of Nestor. Such are the chief arpn-
mer. ts adduced by Strabo. --According to Thuc hues,
? ? the Messenian Pylos had two entrances, one on each
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? 1TRAMIDE8.
Ladv Arbulhnot, who was present at the time of the
discovery. These chambers vary as to height, and
the blocks of granite which form the ceiling of the one
below serve is the pavement of the one abov; it.
Accoiding to Colonel Vyse, these three chambers were
chiefly intended as voids in that portion of the pyra-
mid above what ia termed the " king's chamber" (the
jnly one that appears to have had any destination),
and thereby to lessen the superincumbent mass. (Con-
sult the costly and elaborate work of Colonel Vyse,
"Operations carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh i<<
1837," &c. , London, 1840, 2 vols. 4to. --vol. 1, p. 205,
235, 256. )--In the course of the work just alluded to
(vol. 2, p. 105), Colonel Vyse has some remarks on the
question whether the pyramids were connected in any
way with astronomical purposes. It seems that, in six
pyramids which have been opened, the principal pas-
sage preserves the same inclination of 26? to the ho-
rizon, being directed to the polar star. "As it had
been supposed," remarks the colonel, '? that the in-
clined passages were intended for astronomical pur-
poses, I mentioned the circumstance to Sir John Her-
schel, who, with the utmost kindness, entered into va-
rious calculations to ascertain the fact. I also in-
formed Sir John of the allusion in the ' Quarterly Re-
view' to Mr. Caviglia's remarks respecting the polar
star, and likewise of its having been seen by Captains
Irby and Mangles from the inclined passage in the
Great Pyramid, at the period of its culminating, on
the night of the 21st of March, 1817. It would ap-
pear from the remarks of Sir John, which here follow,
that the direction of the passage was determined by
the star which was polar at the time that the pyramid
was constructed, and that the exact aspect of the
building was regulated by it; but it could not have
been used for celestial observation. The coincidence
of the relative position of a Draconis is at all events
very remarkable. "
1 Sir John Herschel's Observations on the Entrance
Passages in the Pyramids of Gizeh.
*' Four thousand years ago, the present polar star, a
Ursa Minorii, could by no possibility have been seen
at any time in the twenty-four hours through the gal-
lery in the Great Pyramid, on account of the preces-
sion of the Equinoxes, which at that time would have
displaced every star in the heavens, from its then ap-
parent position on the sphere, by no less a quantity than
35? 45' of longitude, and would have changed all the
relations of the constellations ? to the diurnal sphere.
The supposed date of the pyramid, 2123 years B. C. ,
added to our present date, 1839, form 3962 years (say
4000), and the effect of the precession on the longi-
tudes of the stars in that interval having been to in-
crease them all by the above-named quantity, it will
follow that the pole of the heavens, at the erection of
the pyramid, must have stood very near to the star a
Draconis, that is, 2? 51' 15" from it to the westward,
as we should now call it; a Draconis was therefore,
at that time, the polar star; and an it is comparatively
insignificant, and only of the third magnitude, if so
much, it can scarcely be supposed that it could have
been seen in the daytime even in the climate of Uizeh,
or even from so dark a recess as the inclined entrance
of the Great Pyramid. A latitude, however, of 30? ,
Mul a polar distance of the star in question of 1? 51'
U>". would bring it, at its lower culmination, to an al-
lilude of 27? 91', and therefore it would have been di-
rectly in view of an observer stationed in tho descend-
? ? ing passage, the opening of which, as seen from a
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? PYRAMIDES.
FV'RAMIDES.
in the usages of different places and ages. Belzoni,
however, says that he found some hieroglyphics on one
of the blocks forming a mausoleum to the west of the
first pyramid. The first pyramid seems never to have
been coated, as there is not the slightest mark of any
covering. The second pyramid showed that the coal-
ing had been executed from the summit downward, as
rt appeared that it had not, in this instance, been finish-
ed to the bottom.
3. Who were the labourers employed on the Pyra-
mids?
A very curious inquiry now remains as to tho la-
bourers employed in erecting these stupendous struc-
tures, and the following remarks on this subject, though
they may not be acceded to in their full extent, will
yet, it is conceived, not prove unacceptable.
They
are from Calmet's Dictionary (vol. 3, p. "J! 7. seq. ).
On the supposition that they were native Egyptians,
Voltaire has founded an argument in proof of the sla-
very of that people; but that they were really natives
is a point which admits of considerable doubt. The
uniform practice of the ancient Oriental nations seems
to have been, to employ captive foreigners in erecting
laborious and painful works, and Diodorus (1, 2) ex-
pressly asserts this of the Egyptian Scsostris. Is it
improbable to suppose that one at least, if not all, of
the structures in question, were the work of the Israel-
ites? Bondage is expressly attributed to them in the
sacred writings; and that the Israelites did not make
brick only, but performed other labours, may bo in-
ferred from Ezodus, 9, 8, 10. Moses took '"ashes of
the furnace," no doubt that which was tendered him
by his people. So Psalm 81, 6, "I removed his
shoulder from the burden, and his hands were deliv-
ered from the mortar-basket," not pots, as in our
translation; and with this rendering agree the Septu-
agini, Vulgate, Symmachus, and others. Added to
this, we have the positive testimony of Josephus that
the Israelites were employed on the Pyramids. The
? pace of time allotted for the erection of these im-
mense masses coincides with what is usually assigned
to the slaycry uf the Israelites. Israel is understood
to have been in Egypt 215 years, of which Joseph
ruled seventy years; nor was it till long after his
death that a " new king arose who knew not Joseph. "
If wo allow about forty years for the extent of the
generation which succeeded Joseph, added to his
seventy, there remain about 105 years to the Exo-
dus. According to Herodotus (2, 124, seqq. ), Egypt,
until the reign of Rhampsinitus, was remarkable for
its abundance and excellent laws. Cheops, who suc-
ceeded this prince, degenerated into extreme "profli-
gacy of conduct. He barred the avenues of every
temple, and forbade the Egyptians from offering sac-
rifices. He next proceeded to make them labour ser-
vilely for himself by building the first pyramid. Che-
cpa reigned fifty years. His brother Chephrcnes suc-
ceeded, and adopted a similar course: he reigned fifty-
six years. Thus, for the space of 106 years, were the
Egyptians exposed to every species of oppression and
calamity; not having, during all this period, permis-
sion even to worship in their temples. The Egyp-
tians had so strong an aversion to the memory of
these two monarchs, that they would never mention
their names, but always attributed their pyramids to
one Philitis, a shepherd who kept his cattle in those
parts. We have here very plain traces of a govern-
? ? ment by a foreign family; and of a worship contrary
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? VlfR
ia
(jlluwng. He makes tc, in the word Ilvpa/iiV, a mere
Greek termination. Ill is then the ? gyptian article,
for which the Greeks wrote Hit, in their wish to de-
jure the term from nip, "fire. " The syllable pnit he
refer* to the root ram, which, according to him, had
in the Egyptian tongue the meaning of separating, or
setting anything apart from common use. {Ivpafiic,
therefore, will denote a sacred place or edifice, set
? part for some religious purpose. (De Saey, Obser-
tatwns aur Porigine du nom donni. par les Grecs et
In Arabes aux Pyramides d'ACgyprc. --Te Water, ad
Jablonsk. , Voc. Mgypl. , p. 224. )
Pyramus, I. a youth of Babylon. (Vid. Thisbe. )
--II. A river of Cilicia Campestris, rising in Mount
Taurus, and falling into the Sinus Issicus. It is now
the Geihoon. This river forces its way, by a deep
and narrow channel, through the barrier of Taurus;
and such was the quantity of soil which it carried down,
that an oracle affirmed that one day it would reach
the sacred isle of Cyprus. (Srrai. ,536. ) This, how-
ever, has not taken place; but a remarkable change
has occurred with respect to the course of this river,
which now finds its way into the sea, twenty-three
miles more to the eist, in the Gulf of Scanderoon.
{Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 2, p. 351. )
PuiKN. m, a well-known range of mountains, separ-
ating Gallia from Hispania. The name was com-
monly supposed to be derived from the Greek term
Tip, "fire," and various explanations were attempted
to be given of this etymology. According to some,
these mountains had once been devastated by fire, an
opinion which Posidonius deemed not improbable.
Diod. Sic, 5,35-- Strab. , 146-- Lucrel. ,5. 12, 42. )
The true derivation, however, is evidently the Celtic
Pyren or Pyrn, "a high mountain," and from this
same may in like manner be deduced the name of
Mount Brenner in the Tyrol; that of Pyern, in upper
Austria, that of Fernor, in the Tyrol, and many others.
[Addling, MilhraAates, vol. 2, p. 67. )--The range of
'he Pyrenees is about 294 miles in length. These
mountains are steep, difficult of access, and only pass-
able at five places: 1st, From Languedoc to Catalo-
niit; 2d, from Comminge into Aragon; 3d, at Ta-
rawa; 4th, at Maya and Pampcluna, in Navarre; and
5m, at Sebastians, in Biscay, which is the easiest of
ail. (Polyb , 3, 34, seqq. --Mela, 2, b. --Plin. , 3, 3 )
Pykootei. es, a celebrated engraver on gems in the
age of Alexander the Great. He had the exclusive
privilege of engraving the conqueror, as Lysippus was
tne only sculptor who was permitted to make statues
of him. Two gems carved by this artist ale said to be
extant (Bracci, Mcmorie, tab. 98, 99); bu*. Winckel-
mann has, by many powerful arguments, pioved them
to be spurious. (Op. , 6, 1, p. 107, seqq. ) i
Pyrkiia, I. a daughter of Epiinctheus and Pandora,
and wife of Deucalion. (KM. Deucalion. )--II. A
promontory of Thessaly, on tho western coast of the
Sinus Pagasaeus, and a short distanco below Detnetri-
as. It is now Cape Ankistri. --III. A rock, with an-
other in its vicinity named Deucalion, near the prom-
ontory mentioned in the preceding paragraph. (Stra-
in, 435. )
Pyrrho. a celebrated Greek philosopher, a native
of Elca. In his youth he practised the art of paint-
ing; but, either through disinclination, or because his
mind aspired to higher pursuits, he passed over from
the school of painting to that of philosophy. He stud-
? ? ied and admired the writings of Democritus, and had,
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? PYRKHIJS.
FYRrXHUS.
tower is attributed and it was he that immolated
Polyxcna to his father's shade. In the division of the
captives after the termination of the war, Andromache,
the widow of Hector, and Hclenus, tb<< brother of the
latter, were assigned to Pyrrhus. After some time
had elapsed, he gave up Andromache to Hclenus, and
sought and obtained the hand of Hermione, daughter
of Menelaus and Helen; but he was slain for this by
Orestes, son of Agamemnon. (Eurip. , Androm. , 1244,
Itqq. -- Virg-> JEn. , 3, 319, tcqq. -- Heyne, Knurs ,
IS, ad JEn. , 3 )--II. A king of Epirus, descended
from Achilles on the mother's side. Ho was saved
when an infant, by the fidelity of his servants, from
the pursuits of the enemies of his father, who had been
banished from his kingdom, and he was carried to the
court of Glautias, king of Illy ricum, who educated him
with great tenderness. Cassander, king of Macedo-
nia, wished to despatch him; but Glautias not only
refused to deliver him up into the hands of his enemy,
but he even went with an army, and placed him on the
throne of Epirus, though only twelve years of age.
About five years after, the absence of Pyrrhus to at-
tend the nuptials of one of the daughters of Glautias
raised new commotions. The monarch was expelled
from his throne by Ncoptolemus, who had usurped it
after the death of . -Eacides; and being still without
resources, he applied to his brother-in-law Demetrius
for assistance. He accompanied Demetrius at the
battle of Ipsus, and fought there with all the prudence
and intrepidity of an experienced general. He after-
ward passed into Egypt, where, by his marriage with
Antigone, the daughter of Berenice, he soon obtained
a sufficient force to attempt the recovery of his throne.
He was successful in the undertaking; but, to remove
all causes of quarrel, he took the usurper to share with
him the royalty, and some time after he put him to
death, under pretence that he had attempted to poison
him. In the subsequent years of his reign Pyrrhus
engaged in the quarrels which disturbed the peace of
the Macedonian monarchy. He marched against De-
metrius, and gave the Macedonian soldiers fresh proofs
if his valour and activity. By dissimulation he ingra-
tiated himself in the minds of his enemy's subjects,
and when Demetrius laboured under a momentary ill-
ness, Pyrrhus made an attempt upon the crown of Ma-
cedonia, which, if not then successful, soon after ren-
dered him master of the kingdom. This he shared
with I. ysiinachus for seven months, till the jealousy of
the Macedonians and the ambition of his colleague
obliged him to retire. ? Pyrrhus was meditating new
conquests, when the Tarentines invited him to Italy
to assist them against the encroaching power of Rome.
He gladly accepted the invitation, but his passsgc
serosa the Adriatic proved nearly fatal, and he reached
the shores of Italy after the loss of the greatest part of
his troops in a storm. At his entrance into Taren-
tum, B. C. 280, he began to reform the manners of the
inhabitants, and, by introducing the strictest discipline
among their troops, to accustom them to bear fatigue
and to despise dangers. In the first battle which he
fought with the Romans he obtained the victory; but
for this he was more particularly indebted to his ele-
phants, whose bulk and uncommon appearance aston-
ished the Romans, and terrified their cavalry. The
number of the slain was equal on both sides, and the
conqueror said that another such victory would ruin
him. He also sent Cineas, his chief minister, to
? ? Rome, and, though victorious, he sued for peace.
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? PYT
PYTHAGORAS.
? id 10 deserve the sarcastic remark a Antigonus, \vh i
compared him to a gambler, "who makes many good
throws, but never seems to know when he has the best
of the game. " (Plut. , Vit. Pyrrh. --Encyclop. Metro-
pal. , div. 2, vil. 1, p. 667. )
Pythagoras, a celebrated philosopher of Samos.
Great unccrtaic. y exists as to the year when he was
born. Some, as, for example, La Nauze and Freret,
make it to have been the first year oi the 43d Olym-
piad. Bentley is in favour of the fourth year of the
nme Olympiad, Mciner contends for the second of
the 49ih, Dodwcll for the fourth of the 52d. There is
t difference of sixty-three years between the extremes
of these dates. Some authors assert that all which
can be stated with any degree of certainty is, that sev-
enty-live or eighty-five years of the life of Pythagoras
(for even the duration of his life is a subject of con-
troversy) fall within the one hundred and forty-two
years that elapred between A. C. 608 and A. C. 466.
Visconli gives the preference to Eusebius, who, in
fixing the death of Pythagoras in the 496th year B. C. ,
expresses his doubts respecting the advanced age to
which the philosopher is said to have attained. By his
mother's side he is said to have been connected with
one of the oldest families in the island. But his fa-
ther, Mnesarchus', was generally believed to have been
* foreigner, and not of purely Greek origin, though it
wa9 disputed whether he was a Phoenician, or belonged
to the Tyrrhenian Pelasgians of Leinnos or Imbros, and
to a branch, therefore, of the Pelasgian race. If we
dismiss the tales of Iamblichus concerning the early
wisdom, gravity, and temperance of Pythagoras, which
are said to have been such as to have filled all men
with admiration, to have commanded respect and rev-
erence from gray hairs, and even to have led many to
assert that he was the son of God (Iamb. , Vit. Pyth. ,
n. 6), we meet with no other credible particulars of
his childhood and early education, but that he was first
instructed in his own country by Creophilus, and
afterward by Pherccydes in the island of Scyros.
iThirlirall'i Greece, vol. 2, p. 140, in notis. ) When
he had paid the honours to his preceptor, for whom he
appear sjo have entertained a high respect, he returned
to Samos, and again studied under the direction of
his first master. Much is said by Iamblichus and
other later biographers of Pythagoras's early journey
into Ionia, and his visits to Thaies and Anaximander;
but we find no ancient account of his journey, nor any
traces of its effects on his doctrine, which diners es-
sentially from that of the Ionic school. On his way
to K<<ypt, Iamblichus asserts that he visited Phoenicia,
and conversed with the descendants of Mochua and
other priests of that country; and was initiated into
their peculiar mysteries. And it may seem not en-
tirely improbable that he might wish to be farther ac-
quainted with the Phoenician philosophy, of which he
had doubtless heard a general report from his father,
whe was probably of Phoenician origin. But it is cer-
tainly a fiction of tho Alexandrean school that Pythag-
oras received his doctrines of numbers from the Phoe-
nicians, for their knowledge of numbers extended no
farther than to the practical science of arithmetic. In
Egypt, Pythagoras was introduced, by the recommend-
ation of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, to Amasis, king
of Egypt, a great patron of learned men, particularly
those of Greece, that he might the more easily obtain
access to the colleges of the priests. The king him-
? ? self could scarcely, with all his authority, prevail upon
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