Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/484

Rh 472 POLYZELUS. thenes, grandson of Aiii^eas, and father of Amplii- machus, was the commander of the Epeians in the war against Troy. (Horn. //. ii. 623 ; Pans. v. 3. § 4.) There are three other mythical personages of this name, one a king of Eleusis (Horn. Hymn, in Cer. 154), the second a king of Elis (Apollod. ii. 4. § 6), and the third a son of Jason and Medeia. (Pans. ii. 3. § 7.) [L. S.] POLY'XENUS (noXu^ei/os). 1. A Sjracusan of noble birth, whose sister was married to the illustrious Hermocrates. When Dionysius, after his elevation to the despotism of his native country B. c. 406, became desirous to strengthen himself by connection with noble families, he gave his sister in marriage to Polyxenus at the same time that he himself married the daughter of Hermocrates (Diod. xiii. 9Q). From this time we find Polyxenus closely attached to the fortunes of the tyrant. During the rebellion of the Syracusans in B. c. 404, wiiich threatened to overthrow the power of Diony- sius, his brother-in-law was one of those who as- sisted him with their counsels ; and again, in B. c. 395, when the Carthaginians were preparing to form the siege of Syracuse, Polyxenus was despatched to implore assistance from the Italian Greeks, as well as from the Corinthians and Lacedaemonians. This object he fully accomplished, and returned to Sicily with a fleet of thirty ships furnished by the allies, and commanded by the Lacedaemonian Pha- racidas ; a reinforcement which contributed essen- tially to the liberation of Syracuse. (Id. xiv. 8, 62, 63.) 2. A native of Tauromenium in Sicily, who was sent as ambassador by his fellow-citizens to Nico- demus, the tyrant of Centoripe. (Timaeus, ap. Jf^«. xi. p. 471, f.) [E. H.B.] POLYXO {UoKvldi). 1. A nymph married to Danaus. (Apollod. ii. 1. § 5.) 2. The wife of Nvcteus and mother of Antiope. (Apollod. iii. 10. § i.) 3. One of the Hyades. (Hygin. Foh. 182.) 4. The nurse of qiieen" Hypsipyle in Lemnos, was celebrated as a prophetess. (ApoUon. Rhod. i. 668 ; Val. Flacc. ii. 316 ; Hygin. Fab. 15.) 5. An Argive woman, who was married to Tlepolemus. CPaus. iii. 19. § 10.) [L. S.] POLYZE'LUS (TloXvCv^os), a Syracusan, son of Deinomenes and brother of Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse. His name was inscribed together with those of his three brothers on the tripods dedicated by Gelon to commemorate his victory at Hiraera, b. c. 480, whence we may conclude that Polyzelus himself bore a part in the success of that memorable day. (Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. i. 155.) At his death,'in b. c. 478, Gelon left the sovereign power to his brother Hieron, but bequeathed the hand of his widow Demarete, the daughter of Theron, together with the command of the army, to Polyzelus, who by this means ob- tained a degree of power and influence, which quickly excited the jealousy of Hieron. The latter in consequence deputed his brother to assist the Crotoniats, who had applied to him for support against the Sybarites, in hopes that he might perish in the war. Polyzelus, according to one account, refused to comply, and was, in conse- quence, driven into exile ; but other authors state that he undertook the enterprise, and brought the war to a successful termination, but by this means only inflamed the jealousy of Hieron still more, and was ultimately compelled to quit Syracuse in POMONA. consequence. He took refuge at the court of his father-in-law Theron, who readily espoused his cause, and even took up arms for the purpose of restoring Polyzelus to his country ; but the war between Theron and Hieron was brought to a close by the intervention of the poet Simonides, and a reconciliation effected between the two brothers, in pursuance of which Polyzelus returned to Syra- cuse, and was restored to all his former honours. He appears after this to have continued on friendly terms with Hieron during the remainder of his life ; the date of his death is not mentioned, but it is evident that he must have died before Hieron, as the latter was succeeded by his youngest brother Thrasybulus. (Diod. xi. 48 ; Schol. ad Pind. 01. II. init. and ib. 29 ; Ael. V. H. ix. 1.) The above circumstances are narrated with considerable va- riations by Diodorus and the scholiast, who has himself given more than one account, but the pre- ceding version, which rests mainly on the authority of Timaeus, appears the most consistent and pro- bable. [E. H. B.] POLYZE'LUS (IIoAjJC^Xoi). 1. OfMessene, an historian, who, according to one account, was the father of the poet Ibycus. (Suid. s.v. "ISvkos). If so, he must have lived about B. c. 570. 2. Of Rhodes, an historian, of uncertain date, whose 'Po8ta/ca is quoted by Athenaeus (viii. p. 361, c). He seems also to have written other works. Plutarch quotes him as an authority in his life of Solon (c. 15) ; and there is at least one other reference to him. (Schol. ad Hesiod. Op. 10 ; the passage in Ath. i. p. 31, e. refers to Polyzelus the comic poet). Hyginus {Astron. ii. 14) gives, on the authority of Polyzelus, and evidently from his 'PoSiawa, an account of Phorbas killing the Rhodian dragon. (Vossius, de Hist. Grace, p. 490, ed. Westermann.) 3. An Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy, as some lines upon Theramenes, from his Atj/xo- TuySa'pews, clearly show (Phot, and Suid. s.v. rpmv KaKmv) ; although the greater number of the titles of his plays refer to the nativities of the gods, a class of subjects which belongs to the Middle Comedy. He must therefore be assigned to the last period of the Old Comedy and the beginning of the Middle ; as is further proved by an allusion, in the play already quoted, to Hyperbolus, who died in B. c. 411. (Schol. ad Lucian. Tim. 20.) This play, the Arj/xoTui'Sopews, is conjectured by Klihn, with much ingenuity, to have been a sort of parody on the recal of Tyndarus to life, applying the fable to the resuscitation of the Athenian people. The period, at which such a subject is likely to have been chosen, would be the year b. c. 402, after the overthrow of the Thirty Tyrants. The titles of his plays, as mentioned by Suidas, are, NiTrrpo, Arf/jLOTni^hapews, Aiovvaov yovai., Mou- auu yoval^ 'A(ppo5iTr}s yopal, to which Eudocia adds "Apecos yovai. (Meineke, Frag. Com. Grace. vol. i. pp. 260, 261, vol. ii. pp. 867—872 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 488.) [P. S.] POMO'NA, the Roman divinity of the fruit of trees, hence called Pomorum Patrona. Her name is evidently connected with Pomum. She is re- presented by the poets as having been beloved by several of the rustic divinities, such as Silvanus, Picus, Vertumnus, and others (Ov. Met. xiv. 623, &c. ; Propert. iv. 2. 21, &c. ; Serv. ad Aen. vii. 190). Her worship must originally have been of considerable importance, as we learn from Varro