Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/664

Rh 652 RHODOPIS. But it is surely not unlikely that a writer of consi- deration like Miltiades, who had been engaged in the Montanist controversy, would be mentioned both by the anonymous writer and by Rhodon, in writing on the same side of the dispute. At any rate, if Jerome identified the anonymous writer with Rhodon, it does not appear that such identifi- cation was more than a conjecture, which weighs little against the silence of the earlier, and probably better informed Eusebius. The fragments of the work against Marcion are given in the second volume of Galland's BiblioUieca Patrum, p. 144, and in Routh's Reliquiae Sacrae, vol. i. p. 349, &c. ; those from the work against the Montanists in the third volume of Galland, p. 273, under the name of Asterius Urbanus, to whom the editor ascribes them ; and in the second volume of Routh, p. 73, &c., anonymously. Rhodon, in his work against the Marcionites, had promised to prepare a work in elucidation of the obscure pas- sages of Scripture, the design of which had been formed by his instructor Tatian : but we have no evidence that Rhodon ever carried his purpose into effect. {Euseh.H.E. v. 16, 17 ; Hieron. de Viris Jllustr. cc. 37, 39, 40 ; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 188, 189, s. V. Asteritts Urbanus and Rhodon., vol. i. p. 85, ed. Oxon. 1740—1743; Fabric. Bibi Graec. vol. vii. pp. 161, 168 ; Tilleraont, iV/emozVes, vol. iii. p. 64 ; Ceillier, Auteurs Sacres, vol. ii. p. 133 ; Lardner, Credib. part ii. book i. c. 28. § 14 ; Galland, Biblioth. Palrum^ vol. ii. proleg. c. 5, vol. iii. proleg. c. 2.) [J. C. M.J RHO'DOPE ('PoSoVr?), the nymph of aThracian well, was the wife of Haemus and mother of He- brus, and is mentioned among the playmates of Persephone. (Horn. Hymn, in Cer. 423 ; Lucian, de Saltat. 5.) [L. S.] RHO'DOPHON ('PoSo^wj/), a Rhodian, was one of those who, when hostilities broke out between Perseus and the Romans, in B.C. 171, strove successfully to retain their countrymen in their alliance with Rome, and continued through- out the war to adhere firmly to the Roman cause. In B. c. 167, when the anger of the senate against the Rhodians had been with difficulty appeased by Astymedes and his fellow-ambassadors [comp. Philophron and Polyaratus], Rhodophon and Theaetetus were appointed to convey to Rome the present of a golden crown. (Polyb. xxvii. 6, xxviii. 2, xxx. 5 ; comp. Liv. xlv. 20, &c.) fE. E.] RHODOTIS ('PoStSTTtj), a celebrated Greek courtezan, was of Thracian origin. She was a fellow-slave with the poet Aesop, both of them be- longing to the Samian ladmon. She afterwards became the property of Xanthes, another Samian, who carried her to Naucratis in Egypt, in the reign of Amasis, and at this great sea-port, the Alex- andria of ancient times, she carried on the trade of an hetaera for the benefit of her master. While thus employed, Charaxus, the brother of the poetess Sappho, who had come to Naucratis in pursuit of gain as a merchant, fell desperately in love with the fair courtezan, and ransomed her from slavery for a large sum of money. She was in consequence attacked by Sappho in a poem, who accused her of robbing her brother of his property. She con- tinued to live at Naucratis after her liberation from slavery, and with the tenth part of her gains she dedicated at Delphi ten iron spits, which were seen by Herodotus. She is called Rhodopis by RHOECUS. Herodotus, but it appears clear that Sappho in her poem spoke of her under the name of Doricha. It is therefore very probable that Doricha was her real name, and that she received that of Rhodopis, which signifies the " rosy-cheeked," on account of her beauty. (Herod, ii. 134, 135 ; Athen. xiii. p. 596, b ; Suid. s. v. 'PoSwmSos dvdd-nfxa ; Strab. xvii. p, 808 ; comp. Ov. Her. xv. 63.) There was a tale current in Greece that Rhodo- pis built the third pyramid. Herodotus takes great pains (/. c.) to show the absurdity of the storj^, but it still kept its ground, and is related by later writers as an unquestionable fact. (Plin. M.N. xxxvi. 12. § 17 ; comp. Strab. I.e.) The origin of this tale, which is unquestionably false, has been explained with great probability by Zoega and Bunsen. In consequence of the name Rhodopis, the " rosy-cheeked," she was confounded with Nitocris, the beautiful Egyptian queen, and the heroine of many an Egyptian legend, who is said by Julius Africanus and Eusebius to have built the third pyramid. [Comp. Nitocris, No. 2.] Another tale about Rhodopis related by Strabo {I. c.) and Aelian ( V. H. xiii. 33), makes her a queen of Egypt, and thus renders the supposition of her being the same as Nitocris still more pro- bable. It is said that as Rhodopis was one day bathing at Naucratis, an eagle took up one of her sandals, flew away with it, and dropt it in the lap of the Egyptian king, as he was administering justice at Memphis. Struck by the strange oc- currence and the beauty of the sandal, he did not rest till he had found out the fair owner of the beautiful sandal, and as soon as he had discovered her made her his queen. Aelian calls the king Psammitichus ; but this deserves no attention, since Strabo relates the tale of the Rhodopis, who was loved by Charaxus, and Aelian probably in- serted the name of Psammitichus, simply because no name was given in Strabo or the writer from whom he copied. (Comp. Bunsen, Aegyftens Stelle in der WeltgescMchte, vol. iii. pp. 236 — 238.) RHODOS ('PoSos), was, according to Diodorus (v. 55), a daughter of Poseidon and Halia, and sometimes called Rhode. The island of Rhodes was believed to have derived its name from her. According to others, she was a daughter of Helios and Amphitrite, or of Poseidon and Aphrodite, or lastly of Oceanus (Pind. Olymp. vii. 24 ; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 923). She was a sea-nymph, of whom the following legend is related. When the gods distributed among themselves the various countries of the earth, the island of Rhodes was yet covered by the waves of the sea. Helios was absent at the time ; and as no one drew a lot for him, he was not to have any share in the dis- tribution of the earth. But at that moment the island of Rhodes rose out of the sea, and with the consent of Zeus he took possession of it, and by the nymph of the isle he then became the father of seven sons. (Pind. 01. vii. 100, &c. ; Ov. Met. iv. 204.) ^ ^ [L.S.] RHOECUS ('PotKos), a centaur who, conjointly^ with Hylaeus, pursued Atalanta in Arcadia, but^ was killed by her with an arrow (ApoUod. iii. 9J § 2 ; Callim. Hymn, in Dian. 221 ; Aelian, V.I£ xiii. 1 ). This centaur is perhaps the same as th« one who is called Rhoetus by Latin poets. (Rhoi Tus.) [L. S.] RHOECUS ('PoiKos), the son of Phileas Philaeus, of Samos, an architect and statuary.