Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/676

Rh 658 CEDRENUS. who entertained the same desire, planted an olive- tree on the hill of the acropolis, which continued to be shewn at Athens down to the latest times ; and as she had taken Cecrops as her witness while she planted it, he decided in her favour when the possession of Attica was disputed between her and Poseidon, who had no witness to attest that he had created the well. Cecrops is represented in the Attic legends as the author of the first elements of civilized life, such as marriage, the political division of Attica into twelve communities, and also as the introducer of a new mode of worship, inasmuch as he abolished the bloody sacrifices which had until then been offered to Zeus, and substituted cakes (v€avoi) in their stead. (Paus. viii, 2. $ 1 ; Strab. ix. p. 397; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 1156.) The name of Cecrops occurs also in other parts of Greece, especially where there existed a town of the name of Athenae, such as in Boeotia, where he is said to have founded the ancient towns of Athe- nae and Eleusis on the river Triton, and where he had a heroum at Haliartus. Tradition there called him a son of Pandion. (Paus, ix. 33, § 1 ; Strab. ix. p. 407.) In Euboea, which had likewise a town Athenae, Cecrops was called a son of Erech- theus and Praxithea, and a grandson of Pandion. (Apollod. iii. 15. §§ I, 5 ; Paus. i. 5. § 3.) From these traditions it appears, that Cecrops must be regarded as a hero of the Pelasgian race ; and Mlil- ler justly remarks, that the different mythical per- sonages of this name connected with the towns in Boeotia and Euboea are only multiplications of the one original hero, whose name and story were transplanted from Attica to other places. The later Greek writers describe Cecrops as having im- migrated into Greece with a band of colonists from Sais in Egypt. (Diod. i. 29 ; Schol. ad Arist. Plut 773,) But this account is not only rejected by some of the ancients themselves, but by the ablest critics of modem times. (Mliller, OrcJiom. p. 123; Thirlwall, Greece, i. p. 66, &c.) [L. S] CEDRE'NUS, GEO'RGIUS (Ffcipyios 6 Ke- SpTji/Js), a Greek monk, of whose life nothing is known, lived in the eleventh centurj', and is the author, or rather compiler, of an historical work (2ufo«|/jj lOTopluv) which begins with the creation of the world and goes down to the year 1057. This extensive work is written in the form of annals, and must be perused with great caution, as its author was not only very deficient in histo- rical knowledge, but shews a great want of judg- ment and a degree of credulity which may suit a writer of legends, but which becomes absurd and ridiculous in historians. The latter part of the Synopsis, which treats of events of which Cedrenus was a contemporar}', is not quite so bad, but it still shews that the author was utterly unable to form a judgment respecting the times in which he lived. However, as the work is extensive and contains an abundance of facts, it may frequently be used in conjunction with other authors ; but a careful writer will seldom make him his sole authority, except where he has copied good sources. A great number of passages, nay long epi- sodes, of the Synopsis are also found in the Annals of Joannes Scylitzes Curopalates, the conterapo- mry of Cedrenus, and the question has often been discussed, whether Curopalates copied Cedrenus or Cedrenus Curopalates. The work of Curopalates goes down to the year 1081, but the latter writer was a man of much more intellect and judgment CELEDONES. than Cedrenus, and there is no doubt that Ce- drenus was the plagiarist, although, of course, he can have used only the first part of the annals of Curopalates. The style of Cedrenus is very barbarous. Oudin {Comment, de Script. Eccles. vol. ii. p. 1130) thinks, but without sufficient evi- dence, that Cedrenus lived in the twelfth centur} The general Latin title of the Si/voif^js is, " Com- pendium Historiarum ab Orbe Condita ad Isaacura Comnenum (1057)." The first edition, published by Xylander, Basel, 1506, fol, with a Latin translation and a preface, is very deficient, as Xylander perused an incomplete MS. A good edition was published by Goar and Fabrot, to- gether with the Annals of Curopalates, Paris, 1647, 2 vols, fol., with a new translation, a glossary of barbarisms, and a preface of Fabrot. This edition is complete, or very nearly so, the editors having collated good MSS., and paid particular attention to the numerous passages taken from Curopalates ; it belongs to the Paris collection of the Byzantine historians, and is reprinted in the Venice collection. The last edition is by Imma- nuel Bekker, Bonn, 1838-39, 2 vols, in 8vo. ; it is the revised French edition, and contains like- wise the Annals of Curopalates. (The Prefaces of Xylander and Fabrot to their editions of Cedrenus; Fabric. BiU. Graec. vii. p. 464, &c. ; Leo Allatius, De Georgiis.) [W. P.] CEIO'NIUS, a common name under the em- perors. 1. Ckionius Albinus, the name of a distin- guished Roman, probably a relation of the emperor Albinus, put to death by Severus (Spart. Sever. 1 3), and also the name of the praefectus urbi under Valerian. (Vopisc. Aurelian. 9.) 2. Ceionius Bassus, a friend of the emperor Aurelian, to whom the latter wrote a letter, pre- served by Vopiscus {Aurelian. 31), respecting the destruction of Palmyra. His full name was Ceio- nius Virius Bassus, and he was consul in a. d, 27 1. {Fast.) 3. Ceionius Commodus. [Commodus.] 4. Ceionius Julianus, a fHend of the historian Vopiscus. (Vopisc. Firm. 2.) 5. Ceionius Postumius, the father of the em- peror Albinus (Capitol. Clod. Albin. 4), whose full name was Dec. Clodius Ceionius Septimius Albi- nus [p. 93, b.]. 6. Ceionius Postumianus, a relation of the emperor Albinus. (Capitol. Clod. Albin. 6.) 7. Ceionius Verus. [Verus.] CELAENO (KeAai^w), a Pleiad, daughter of Atlas and Pleione, and by Poseidon the mother of Lycus and Eurypylus, or, according to others, of Lycns and Chimaereus by Prometheus. (Apollod. iii. 10. U ; Ov. Her. xix. 135 ; Schol. adApoUwi. Rliod. iv. 1561; Tzetz. ad Lycfyph. 132.) There are several other mythological beings of this name : namely, a Harpy (Virg. Aen. iii. 211), a daughter of Ergeus (Hygin. Fah. 157), a daughter of Hyamus (Paus. x. 6. § 2), a Danaid (Strab. xii. p. 579; Apollod. ii. 1. § 5), and an Amazon. (Diod. iv. 16.) [L.S.] CELE'DONES (KTjij5oVes), the soothing god- desses, were frequently represented by the ancients in works of art, and were believed to be endowed, like the Sirens, with a magic power of song. For this reason, they are compared to the lynges. Hephaestus was said to have made their golden images on the ceiling of the temple at Delphi. k