X.
XEBEC, (Chébec,Fr.) A sort of armed vessel, with lateen sails, which is used in the Mediterranean.
XENOPHON. A Greek general who has rendered his name immortal by a well-conducted retreat; and is equally celebrated for good military maxims, which are still extant in his Cyropœdia.
XERIFF. A prince, or chief ruler in Barbary is so called.
XERXES. A king of Persia, son of Darius, and grandson of Cyrus. This monarch has been rendered notorious in history, by the extravagance of his preparations to invade Greece, and his ultimate failure; which latter may be attributed to the undisciplined state of his army, and to the presumption of his general Mardonius. He entered the Hellespont with so numerous a fleet, that it covered its surface between the two lands. The number he embarked exceeded 1,000,000 men, who were entirely defeated by 40,000 well-disciplined troops from Greece.
XYSTARCHA. In antiquity, the master and director of the Xystus.
In the Greek Gymnasium, the Xystarcha was the second officer, and the Gymnasiarcha the first; the former was his lieutenant, and presided over the two Xysti, as well as over every species of exercise that was practised therein.
XYSTER. An instrument used by surgeons to scrape and shave bones with.
XYSTUS. Among the ancients, a long portico, open or covered at the top, where the athletæ practised wrestling and running: the gladiators who exercised therein, were called Xystici.
Among the Romans, the xystus was only an alley, or double row of trees, meeting like an arbor, and forming a shade to walk under; so that, in this sense, it might be considered as an open walking place, where the Romans entertained one another.