Chapter 397

2512“Procurator.”

2513See B. xxxvi. c.38. See also the Lydian stone, or touchstone, mentioned in B. xxxiii. c.43.

2514FromΒάσανος, a “touchstone.”

2515Philostratus gives a short account of this group, and copies of it are to be seen in the Vatican, and in the grounds of the Tuilleries.

2516See B. v. c. 10.

2517The Egyptians called it, not Memnon, but Amenophis, and it is supposed that it represented a monarch of the second dynasty. This is probably the statue still to be seen at Medinet Abou, on the Libyan side of the Nile, in a sitting posture, and at least 60 feet in height. The legs, arms, and other parts of the body are covered with inscriptions, which attest that, in the third century of the Christian era, the priests still practised upon the credulity of the devotees, by pretending that it emitted sounds. It may possibly have been erected for astronomical purposes, or for the mystic worship of the sun. The Greek name “Memnon” is supposed to have been derived from the EgyptianMei Amun, “beloved of Ammon.”

2518Ajasson remarks that under this name the ancients meant, first, yellow calcareous Alabaster, and secondly, Chalcedony, unclassified.

2519See end of the presentBook.

2520See B. vi. cc. 27, 28, 32.

2521“Variatum est.”

2522Ajasson thinks that these columns, in reality, were made, in both instances, of yellow jasper, or else yellow sardonyx, a compound of sard and chalcedony.

2523ErectedA.U.C.741.

2524See B. xxxiii. c.47.

2525The reading here is doubtful, and it is questionable whether he considers the two stones as identical.

2526Probably calcareous Alabaster, Ajasson thinks. See B. xxxvii. c.54.

2527See B. xiii. c. 3.

2528Plaster of Paris is made of gypsum or alabaster, heated and ground.

2529A feature both of jasper and of sardonyx.

2530By some persons it has been considered to be the same with the “lychnitis,” or white marble, mentioned in Chapter4of this Book. Ajasson is of opinion that it has not been identified.

2531Ajasson is in doubt whether this stone was really a marble or a gypsic alabaster. It received its name from the river Curalius or Coural, near which it was found; and it was also known as Sangaric marble. Ajasson thinks that the ancient milk-white marble, still found in Italy, and known to the dealers in antiquities asPalombino, may have been the “corallitic” stone. He also mentions the fine white marble known asGrechetto.

2532See B. v. c. 29. Sulphuret of manganese is now known as Alabandine; it is black, but becomes of a tarnished brown on exposure to the air. It is not improbable that this manganese was used for colouring glass, and that in Chapter 66 of this Book Pliny again refers to manganese when speaking of a kind of “magnet” or load-stone. See Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. pp. 237-8,Bohn’s Edition; who thinks, that in the present passage Pliny is speaking of a kind of marble. It is the fact, however, that Pyrolusite, or grey ore of manganese, is used, at a red heat, for discharging the brown and green tints of glass. See also B. xxxiv. c.42, and the Note.

2533Syenite is the name still given to feldspar, hornblende, and quartz, passing into each other by insensible gradations, and resembling granite.

2534“Varied with red spots,” similar to our red granite.

2535“Obelisci.” So called fromὀβελισκὸς, a “small spit,” in consequence of their tapering form.

2536Meaning, probably, that in the Egyptian language, the same word is used as signifying a “spit” and a “ray” of light; for it is generally agreed that the word “obeliscus” is of Greek origin.

2537He does not appear to have been identified; and the correct reading is doubtful.

2538Heliopolis, or On. See B. v. c. 11.

2539These figures or hieroglyphics did not denote thephonetic languageof Egypt, but only formed a symbolical writing.

2540Perhaps the same as “Sesostris.” The former reading is “Sothis.”

2541Ajasson identifies him with Rameses III., a king of the eighteenth dynasty, who reignedB.C.1561. This was also one of the names of Sesostris the Great.

2542The name of the bull divinity worshipped by the people of On, or Heliopolis; while by the people of Memphis it was known as Apis.

2543This, Hardouin says, was the same obelisk that was afterwards erected by Constantius, son of Constantine the Great, in the Circus Maximus at Rome; whence it was removed by Pope Sextus V., in the year 1588, to the Basilica of the Lateran.

2544This name is probably mutilated: there are about twenty different readings of it.

2545This name is also very doubtful. One reading is “Eraph,” and Hardouin attempts to identify him with the Pharaoh Hophra of Jeremiah, xliv. 30, the Ouafres of the Chronicle of Eusebius, and the Apries of Herodotus.

2546The Nectanabis, probably, of Plutarch, in his Life of Agesilaüs, and the Nectanebus of Nepos, in the Life of Chabrias.

2547Callixenus of Rhodes was a contemporary of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and was the author of a description of Alexandria, and of a catalogue of painters and sculptors.

2548Egyptian talents, probably. See. B. xxxiii. c.15.

2549Evidently a stupendous monument, or rather aggregate of buildings, erected by Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, in memory of his wife and sister, Arsinoë. See B. xxxiv. c. 42.

2550Caligula.

2551See B. xvi. c. 76, and B. xxxv. c.47.

2552Or Circus Maximus; in the Eleventh Region of the City. According to Kircher, it was this obelisk that Pope Sextus V. had disinterred, and placed before the church of the Madonna del Popolo.

2553There are sixteen various readings to this name.

2554Diogenes Laertius says that he arrived in Egypt in the reign of King Amasis.

2555Boscovich and Brotero would read here “eighty-twofeet and three quarters,” which is more in accordance with its height, as measured by Kircher.

2556After being long buried in ruins, it was disinterred, but not re-erected, by Pope Benedict XIV. When thus brought to light, it was found to be broken asunder. On it there was an inscription stating that the Emperor Augustus had “presented it to the Sun”—“Soli donum dedit.”

2557Twelve o’clock in the day.

2558After the summer solstice.

2559The one that is mentioned above as having been removed from Alexandria by Caligula.

2560This obelisk was transferred by Pope Sextus V. from the Circus Vaticanus to the place of the Cathedral of St. Peter.

2561So called because it was laid out on some gardens which had belonged to one Vaticanus.

2562Caligula.

2563There are nine or ten readings of this name. Bunsen suggests “Menophtheus,” the Egyptian king Meneph-Pthah.

2564In Egypt, probably.

2565Ajasson thinks that they were intended as places of sepulture for the kings, but for the concealment, also, of their treasures.

2566See B. v. c. 9.

2567In Chapter19of this Book.

2568See B. v. c. 9. Herodotus says that these pyramids were built by King Mœris, in the middle of the lake, towering fifty paces above the surface of the water. Diodorus Siculus says that they were built by him in honour of himself and his wife.

2569Or left-hand side to those coming down the stream. He alludes to the three great Pyramids of Ghizeh, not far from Cairo. There are numerous other pyramids to be seen in Egypt.

2570In B. v. c. 9.

2571It still exists, though the face is mutilated. It was disinterred from the sand by Belzoni, but is now again nearly covered. According to Cavaglia, the signature of the Historian Arrian was found inscribed on one of the fore-paws, when it was disinterred.

2572This reading is, perhaps, preferable to the LXI. s, (61½) of the Bamberg MS. The head and neck, when uncovered, were found to be 27 feet in height.

2573Built by King Cheops, according to Herodotus, B. ii.

2574All these writers are mentioned in the list of authors at the end of the presentBook.

2575For the use of the workmen. There is, probably, no foundation for a statement so exact as this; as it would be very singular that such a fact should continue to be known, and the names of the builders be buried in oblivion.

2576According to modern measurement, the sides of its base measure at the foundation 763 feet 4 inches, and it occupies a space of more than 13 acres. Its perpendicular height is 480 feet.

2577Other readings are 883, and 783.

2578Differing very considerably from the modern measurement. These variations may possibly arise, however, from a large portion of the base being covered with sand.

2579It was entirely coated with marble from the Thebaid; which, however, was removed by the Arabs in the middle ages. In the vicinity there is a fourth pyramid, but of such small dimensions that some of the Egyptian obelisks exceed it in height.

2580“Nitrum.” See B. xxxi. c. 46.

2581From this reason being given, it would almost appear that these “bridges” in reality were aqueducts, for conveying the water, in order to melt the mounds of salt and nitre.

2582A very improbable story, as Ajasson remarks; as if the method of ascertaining the heights of edifices was unknown to the sages of Egypt, and the constructors of the Pyramids!

2583Herodotus, B. ii. cc. 134, 5, takes great pains to prove the absurdity of this story; and there is little doubt that the beautiful courtesan has been confounded with the equally beautiful Egyptian Queen, Nitocris, who is said by Julius Africanus and Eusebius to have built the third pyramid. As to the courtesan having been a fellow-slave of the fabulist, Æsop, it is extremely doubtful.

2584The greater harbour, there being two at Alexandria.

2585Ptolemy Lagus.

2586Supposed by Thiersch to have been the same person as the statuary mentioned in B. xxxiv. c.19.

2587A risk that is now obviated, if, indeed, there is such a risk, by the use of revolving lights and coloured lights.

2588See B. v. c. 9.

2589The site of this labyrinth has not been traced, but Sir G. Wilkinson is inclined to think that it was at Howarah el Soghaïr in the Faiöum.

2590Similar, probably, to the one at Hampton Court.

2591Most modern writers, and some of the ancients, have altogether denied the existence of the Cretan Labyrinth; but, judging from the testimony of Tournefort and Cockerell, it is most probable that it really did exist, and that it was a vast natural grotto or cavern, enlarged and made additionally intricate by human ingenuity. There are many caverns of this nature in Crete, and one near Gortyna, at Hagios-Deka, is replete with galleries and intricate windings similar to those ascribed to the Labyrinth of Dædalus.

2592See Chapter13of this Book. He is surprised that the people of Egypt, a country which abounded in exquisite marbles, should have used that of another country in preference to their own.

2593As to the meaning of this word, see B. v. c. 9.

2594See Chapter5of this Book.

2595“Ulnæ.” See Introduction to Vol. III.

2596Theἄρουραwas a Greek square measure, containing 2500 square feet.

2597See Chapter11of this Book.

2598As to the meaning of this word, see Chapter 4 of this Book, page 317, and Note2429.

2599“Circummon” is a more common reading.

2600Or acacia. See B. xxiv. c. 65.

2601Welcker remarks that it is uncertain whether this Labyrinth was erected as a temple of the Cabiri, or whether it had any connection with the art of mining.

2602Smilis lived, probably, 200 years before Rhœcus and Theodorus, and was a native of Ægina, not Lemnos. Sillig, however, is inclined to think that there weretwoartists of this name; the elder a contemporary of Dædalus, and the maker of several wooden statues.

2603See B. xxxv. c.43.

2604See B. iii. c. 8.

2605A round, broad-brimmed hat, such as we see represented in the statues of Mercury.

2606Where two brazen vessels were erected on a column, adjoining to which was the statue of a boy with a whip; which, when agitated by the wind, struck the vessels, and omens were drawn from the tinkling noise produced, significant of future events, it was supposed.

2607A building like this, as Niebuhr says, is absolutely impossible, and belongs to the “Arabian Nights.” The description in some particulars resembles that of a Chinese pagoda.

2608Probably of Babylon, which were built on terraces raised on arches.

2609His meaning is, that it was built upon arches.

2610Asia Minor.

2611The Hotel de Ville at Brussels is said to have been built upon a stratum of hides.

2612See Chapter4of the present Book. Sillig, in his “Dictionary of Ancient Artists,” suggests a reading which would make the passage to mean that Scopas was jointly architect with Chersiphron. The latter, however, wasnotthe architect of thesecondtemple at Ephesus, but flourished nearly four hundred years before.

2613Strabo says that, in conjunction with his son Metagenes, he began thefirstTemple at Ephesus. Thiersch is of opinion that he lived about the first Olympiad, He is mentioned also in B. vii. c. 38.

2614“Epistylia.” See B. xxxv. c. 49.

2615Which must have been above the bags and at the summit of the inclined plane.

2616See B. v. c. 40.

2617“Lapis Fugitivus.”

2618A public place where the Prytanes or chief magistrates assembled, and where the public banquets were celebrated.

2619Or “Narrow” gate, apparently. Dion Cassius, B. 74, tells a similar story nearly, of seven towers at Byzantium, near theThracian Gate; and “Thracia” is given by the Bamberg MS. It is most probable that the two accounts were derived from the same source.

2620Ἑπτάφωνον, “seven times vocal.” Plutarch also mentions this portico.

2621Βουλευτήριον, the “senate house” or “council-chamber.”

2622It was the most ancient of the bridges at Rome, and was so called from its being built upon “sublices,” or wooden beams. It was originally built by Ancus Martius, and was afterwards rebuilt by the Pontifices or pontiffs. We learn from Ovid, Fasti, B. v. l. 621, that it was still a wooden bridge in the reign of Augustus. In the reign of Otho it was carried away by an inundation. In later times it was also known as the Pons Æmilius, from the name of the person probably under whose superintendence it was rebuilt.

2623See B. xxxiv. c.11.

2624L. Æmilius Paulus, who was consul with C. Marcellus,A.U.C.703. His Basilica, a building which served as a court of law and as an exchange, was erected in the Eighth Region of the City, at the cost of 1500 talents; which were sent to him by Cæsar, Plutarch says, as a bribe to gain him over from the aristocratical party. It was surrounded with an open peristyle of columns of Phrygian marble.

2625“Diribitorium.” See B. xvi. c. 76.

2626Scribonius Libo, who was Ædile during the consulship of Cicero.

2627“Mound,” or “Terrace.” See B. iii. c. 9, where it is ascribed to Tarquinius Superbus; but Strabo seems to attribute its foundation to Servius Tullius.

2628Thebes, in Egypt. See Chapter20of this Book.

2629A.U.C.721. He alludes probably to the cleansing of the sewers beneath the city, which took place, Dion Cassius informs us, in the ædileship of Agrippa.

2630As Hardouin remarks, the story of the Milesian Virgins, as related by Aulus Gellius and Plutarch, is very similar.

2631A.U.C.676.

2632Caligula. The Palace of Caligula was situate on the Palatine Hill: that of Nero extended from the Palatine Hill to the Esquiline, nearly the whole of which was covered by it. It was left unfinished by Nero, but the Emperor Otho completed it. Martial, Spectac. Ep. 2, speaks in terms of indignation of there being now “but one house in all the City;” but, unfortunately, he gives utterance to it with a view of flattering Domitian.

2633Whence its name, “Aurea,” the “golden” Palace.

2634“Sellaria.”

2635By this mode of expression, he probably means that they were “birds of a feather”—one as bad as the other.

2636His mother, Metella Cæcilia, became the wife of Sylla.

2637He forgets the Pyramids and the Labyrinth of Egypt, which he has so recently described.

2638See B. xvii. c. 1, and Chapter3of the present Book. L. Crassus is the person alluded to.

2639“Four” is the number mentioned in B. xvii. c. 1.

2640In Chapter2of this Book.

Back to Index Next