Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1232

Rh 121S NYPSIUS. which he lived is unknown, but he was the author of a work entitled 'Nofujj.a 'Aaias, that is, the Laws or Cxistoms of Asia, of which the third book is mentioned by Clemens of Alexandria (Strom, i. p. 139 ; comp. Prolrept. 19), who quotes from it a passage concerning some Egyptian customs. In the second of the passages here cited Clemens calls the work NoVt/ua ^ap€apiKd, but there can be no doubt that it was the same production as the No/Ut^a 'Ao-ias, Sometimes it is referred to under the brief title of ^6fioi. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. ii. 1 1 0, 1031, iii. 202, iv. 1470.) The Scholiast on So- phocles {Oed. Col. 337) quotes the thirteenth book of this work ; but the whole is lost, and only a very few fragments have been transmitted to us. 2. Of Syracuse, likewise an historian, seems to have lived about the time of Philip and Alexander the Great of Macedonia. He was the author of a work entitled 'Atrfos U^piirKovs (Athen. vi. p. 265, vii. p. 321, xiii. p. 609), and of a second entitled riepi riav kv 'S.iK^Kla bavfjLa^o^xhoov (Athen. i. p. 19, xiii. p. 588), which is sometimes simply referred to by the title liepl 'ZiK^Xias. (Athen. viii. p. 331, x. p. 452 ; Schol. ad Theocrit. i. 69, v. 15, ad Ham. Od. IX. 301, where, instead of Me/ii|/rj5wpoy, we should read Uvfj.c(f65wpos ; comp. Aelian, H. A. xi. 20.) Aelian (H. A. xvi. 34) quotes a state- ment from Nymphodorus relating to the use the Sardinians made of goat-skins, and from which it might be inferred that he also wrote on Sardinia, but this may have been a mere digression introduced into his work on Sicily. (Plin. Elench. libb. iii. v. vii. xxxiii. xxxiv. xxxv. ; Tertull. De An. 57 ; Steph. Byz. s. v. 'A0wpas ; Harpocrat., Hesych. s.v. aiyiZas; comp. Ebert, Dissert. Sicul. pp. 155 — 222.) [L. S.] NYMPHODO'RUS (NvM^^o'Swpos), a Greek physician, who must have lived in or before the third century B. c, as he is mentioned by Hera- cleides of Tarentum (ap. Galen, Comment. inHippocr. " De Artie.'''* iv. 40, vol. xviii. pt. i. p. 736). He was celebrated for the invention of a machine for the reduction of dislocations, called yXaxraoKo/xou, which was afterwards somewhat modified by Aris- tion, and of which a description is given by Ori- basius (de Machinam. c. 24, p. 179, &c.). He is mentioned by Celsus along with several other eminent surgeons (viii. 20, p. 185), and is perhaps the person quoted by Pliny, in the passages re- ferred to in the preceding article. Fabricius (Bibl. Gr.xin. p. 351, 352, ed. vet.) and Haller (Bibl. Chirurg. and Bibl. Med. Pract.) sup- pose him to be the same person as Nymphodotus (Nuji4<^o5oTos), whose medical formulae are quoted by Andromachus (ap. Galen, de Compos. Medicam. sec. Gen. vi. 14, vol. xiii. p. 926), Aetius (iii. 1. §§ 45, 49, pp. 500, 504, 505, 506), and Paulus Aegineta (vii. 12, p. 665), and who must have lived in or before the first century after Christ ; but this is quite uncertain. [W. A. G.j NYMPHO'DOTUS. [Nymphodorus.] NY'PSIUS (Nu>os), a native of Neapolis, and a brave and skilful officer, who was sent by the younger Dionysius to the relief of the citadel at Syracuse, which was besieged by the Syracusans under Dion. He arrived just in time to prevent the garrison from surrendering the citadel, and, by a sudden sally in the night, defeated the Syra- cusans with great slaughter ; but the next day, Dion having returned to the city, Nypsius was defeated in his turn, and once more shut up NYX. within the citadel. (Diod. xvi. 18 — 20 ; Plut. Dion. 4- AG.) [E. H. B.] NYSA (Nvca), a daughter of Aristaeus, who was believed to have brought up the infant god Dionysus, and from whom one of the many town* of the name of Nysa was believed to have derived its name. (Diod. iii. 69.) [L. S.] NYSA or NYSSA (Nwo-a or Nvo-o-a). I. Queen of Bithynia, wife of Nicomedes II., and mother of Nicomedes III. (Memnon, c. 30.) She is generally considered to have been originally a dancer, because Nicomedes III. is tenned, by his rival Mithridates, *' AaZto/nasj^fzfs" (Justin, xxxviii. 5) ; but it is more probable that the latter by such an expression meant to stigmatise Nico- medes as illegitimate, though he was in reality the son of Nysa. 2. Wife of Nicomedes III. Mithridates pre- tended that she was the mother of the impostor, whom he set up as a claimant to the throne of Bithvnia, b. c. 74. (Mithr. Ep. ad Arsac. ap. Sail." Hist. iv. p. 239, ed. Gerlach.) 3. A daughter of Nicomedes III., whose cause was defended by J. Caesar, in gratitude for her father's friendship. (Suet. Caes. 49.) 4. A sister of Mithridates the Great, who was taken prisoner by Lucullus at Cabeira, which saved her from sharing the fate of the other sisters and wives of the king, who were put to death shortly after at Pharnacia. (Plut. Lucull. 18.) 5. A daughter of Mithridates the Great, who had been betrothed to the king of Cyprus, but accompanied her father in his flight to the king- dom of Bosporus, where she ulthiiately shared his fate, and put an end to her life by poison, b. c. 63. ( Appian, MitJir. 1 1 1.) [E. H. B.] N YSAEUS, N Y'SIUS, NYSEUS, or N YSF- GENA (Nivo-Tftos), a surname of Dionysus, derived from Nysa, a mountain or city, either in Thrace, Arabia, or India, where he was said to have been brought up by nymphs. According to some, it was derived from Nisus, who is said to have been his father, or at least to have educated him. (Hom. II. vi. 133, Hymn. xxv. 5 ; Apollon. Rhod. ii. 905, iv. 431 ; Diod. i. 15, iii. 68 ; Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 23 ; Virg. Aen. vi. 806 ; Ov. Met. iV. 13.) [L. S.] NYSAEUS (Nuo-oTos), son of the elder Diony- sius, tyrant of Syracuse, by his wife Aristomache, the daughter of Hipparinus. (Diod. xvi. 6.) We know nothing of the steps by which he rose to the supreme power at Syracuse ; but it seems probable that he succeeded his brother Hipparinus in the sovereigntj', which he held until b, c. 346, when he was expelled by his half-brother, the younger Dionysius. (Plut. Timol. 1.) He was chiefly remarkable for his love of drinking and his im- moderate addiction to gross sensual indulgences. (Theopomp. ap. Athen. x. pp. 435, 436 ; Aelian, F./T. ii. 41.) [E. H. B.] NYSEIDES or NYSIADES (^^criai), the nymphs of Nysa, who are said to have reared Dionysus, and whose names are Cissei's, Nysa, Erato, Eriphia, Bromia, and Polyhvmno. (Hygin. Fab. 182, Poet. Astr. ii. 21 ; Apollod. iii. 4. § 3 ; Ov. Met. iii. 314, Fast. iii. 769 ; Orph. Hymn. 50. 14 ; Schol. ad Hom. II. xviii. 486.) [L. S.] NYX (Nu|), Nox or Night personified. Homer (II. xiv. 259, &c.) calls her the subduer of gods and men, and relates that Zeus himself stood in awe of her. In the ancient cosmogonie.'j Night 'w