Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/660

Rh 6A RIIAZES. obtiiined from the conquerors his brother's pardon. ( Appian, B. C. iv. 87, 104,] 36.) [ W. B. 1).] RHATHINES {'PadhTj^), a Persian, was one of the commanders sent by Pharnabazus to aid the Bithynians in opposing the passage of the Cyrean Greeks under Xenophon through Bithynia, B. c. 400. The satrap's forces were completely defeated (Xen. A7iab. vi. 5. §§ 7, &c). We hear again of Rhathines, in B. c. 39 G, as one of the commanders for Pharnabazus of a body of cavalry, which worsted that of Agesilaus, in a skirmish near Dascylium. (Xen. Hell. iii. 4. § 13 ; Plut. Ages. 9.) [E. E.] RHAZES ('Pa^^s), the author of a Greek me- dical treatise Uepl Aoi/Ui/cTjs, which was published at the end of Alexander Trallianus, 1548, fol. Lutet. Paris, ex offic. Rob. Stephani. His real name is ^jJ iSj ^ J^/kss^ ^ y Abu Beer Moliammed Ibn Zacariyd Ar-Razi, who was born (as his name implies) at Rai, a town in the north of 'Irak 'AjemI, near Chorasdn, probably about the middle of the ninth century after Christ ; and died either A. H. 311 (a.d. 923, 924), or perhaps, more probably A. h. 320 (a. d. 932). The treatise in -question is in fact no other than his well known work, if.A*assU lJ'J'-^^^*" ^ Fi Jadari wal-Hashab^ " On the Small Pox and Measles," which was translated from the original Arabic into Syriac, and from that language into Greek. Neither the date nor the author of either of these versions is known ; but the Greek trans- lation (as we learn from the preface) was made at tlie command of one of the emperors of Constanti- nople, perhaps, as Fabricius {Bibl. Gr. vol. xiL p. 692, ed. vet.) conjectures, Constantino Ducas, who reigned from 1059 to 1067. In one of the Greek MSS. at Paris, however (§ 2228, Catal. vol. ii. p. 465), it is attributed to Joannes Actuarius [Ac- TUARius] ; and, if this be correct, the emperor alluded to will more probably be Andronicus II. Paleologus, A. D. 1281 — 1328. It was from this Greek translation (which appears to have been ex- ecuted either very carelessly, or from an imperfect MS.), and from Latin versions made from it, that the work was hrst known in Europe, the Earliest Latin translation made directly from the original Arabic being that which was published by Dr. Mead, in 1747, 8vo. Lond., at the end of his work "De Variolis et Morbillis." The Arabic text was published for the first time by John Channing, in 1766, 8vo. Lond., together with a new Latin version by himself, which has been reprinted se- parately, and which continues to be the best up to the present time. Altogether the work has been published, in various languages, about five and thirty times, in about three hundred and fifty years, — a greater number of editions than has fallen to the lot of almost any other ancient medical treatise. The only English translation made directly from the original Arabic is that by Dr. Greenhill, 1847, 8vo,, London, printed for the Sydenham Society ; from which work the preceding account is taken. It may be added that the particular interest which the work has excited, arises from the fact of its being the earliest extant medical treatise in which the Small Pox is certainly mentioned ; and ac- cordingly the Greek translator has used the word oi/it/cr) to express this disease, there being in RHEA. the old Greek language no word that bears this signification. f W. A. G.] RHEA i'Pela, 'Pea, 'Pelt], or 'Perj). The name as well as the nature of this divinity is one of the most difficult points in ancient mythology. Some consider 'Pea to be merely another form of epa., the earth, while others connect it with ^e'w, I flow (Plat. Craiyl. p. 401, &c.) ; but thus much seems undeniable, that Rhea, like Demeter, was a god- dess of the earth. According to the Hesiodic Theogony (133 ; comp. Apollod. i. 1. § 3), Rhea was a daughter of Uranus and Ge, and accordingly a sister of Oceanus, Coeus, Hyperion, Crius, lape- tus, Theia, Themis, and Mnemosyne. She became by Cronos the mother of Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Aides, Poseidon, and Zeus. According to some accounts Cronos and Rhea were preceded in their sovereignty over the world by Ophion and Eury- nome ; but Ophion was overpowered by Cronos, and Rhea cast Eurynome into Tartarus. Cronos is said to have devoured all his children by Rhea, but when she was on the point of giving birth to Zeus, she, by the advice of her parents, went to Lyctus in Crete. When Zeus was born she gave to Cronos a stone wrapped up like an infant, and the god swallowed it as he had swallowed his other children. (Hes. Theog. 446, &c. ; Apollod. i. 1. § 5, &c. ; Diod. v. 70.) Homer {It. xv. 187) makes only a passing allusion to Rhea, and the passage of Hesiod, which accordingly must be regarded as the most ancient Greek legend about Rhea, seems to suggest that the mystic priests of Crete had al- ready formed connections with the more northern ' parts of Greece. In this manner, it would seem, the mother of Zeus became known to the Thracians, with whom she became a divinity of far greater importance than she had been before in the south (Orph. Hymn. 13, 25, 26), for she was connected with the Thracian goddess Bendis or Cotys (He- cate), and identified with Demeter. (Strab. x. p. 470.) The Thracians, in the mean time, conceived the chief divinity of the Samothracian and Lemnian mysteries as Rhea-Hecate, while some of them who had settled in Asia Minor, became there acquainted with still stranger beings, and one especially who was worshipped with wild and enthusiastic so- lemnities, was found to resemble Rhea. In like manner the Greeks who afterwards settled in Asia identified the Asiatic goddess with Rhea, with whose worship they had long been familiar (Strab. x. p. 471 ; Hom. Hymn. 13, 31). In Phrygia, where Rhea became identified with Cybele, she is said to have purified Dionysus, and to have taught him the mysteries (Apollod. iii. 5. § 1), and thus a Diony- siac element became amalgamated with the worship of Rhea. Demeter, moreover, the daughter of Rhea, is sometimes mentioned with all the attri- butes belonging to Rhea. (Eurip. Hele?i. 1304.) The confusion then became so great that the wor- ship of the Cretan Rhea was confounded with that of the Phrygian mother of the gods, and that the orgies of Dionysus became interwoven with those of Cybele. Strangers from Asia, who must be looked upon as jugglers, introduced a variety of novel rites, which were fondly received, especially by the populace (Strab. /. c. ; Athen. xii. p. 553 ; Demosth. de Coron. p. 313). Both the name and the connection of Rhea with Demeter suggest that she was in early times revered as goddess of the earth.