Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/396

 382 PHAEO PHARYKK traditional observances and national manners and customs gave them great influence among the people, while the Asmonean princes and their adherents generally sided with the Helle- nizing Sadducees. Josephus says : "TheSad- ducees are able to persuade none but the rich, and have not the populace obsequious to them ; but the Pharisees have the multitude on their side." In the New Testament the Pharisee opponents of the Christian teachings appear in a very unfavorable light, being represent- ed as proud, hypocritical, and intolerant. See Biedermann, Pharisaer und Sadducder (1854) ; Geiger, Ursclirift, &c. (1857), and Sadducder und Pharisaer (1863) ; Delitzsch, Jesus und Hillel (1866) ; and Wellhausen, Die Pharisaer und die Sadducder (1874). PHARO. See FARO. PHAROS, the ancient name of a small island off the coast of Egypt, seven stadia from the ancient Alexandria, connected with the main- land by a mole, and famous for its lighthouse, which was numbered among the seven won- ders of the world, and gave the name of Pha- ros to all structures of a similar kind. (See LIGHTHOUSE, vol. x., p. 458.) The island be- came at length a suburb of Alexandria by means of a street running along the mole, and retained some importance even to the time of Julius Caesar, but subsequently sank into its original condition of a fishing station. PHARSALFS (now Phersala), a city of Thes- saly, in Thessaliotis, near the left bank of the Enipeus, and at the foot of Mt. Narthacius. In 455 B. 0. it was unsuccessfully besieged by the Athenian general Myronides. It was for a time in the possession of Antiochus the Great, but was taken by the Roman consul Glabrio in 191. In the time of Pliny Pharsalus was a free state. The ancient city was nearly 4 m. in cir- cuit, and situated on an eminence which was 600 or 700 ft. high, and on three sides was de- fended by precipices. Leake calls it one of the most important military positions in Greece. Pharsalus is chiefly celebrated for the battle fought in its territory (called Pharsalia) on Aug. 9, 48 B. C., between Caesar and Pompey. The army of the former, consisting of 22,000 foot and 1,000 horse, was posted on the plain between Pharsalus and the Enipeus; that of the latter, consisting of 45,000 foot and 7,000 horse, was drawn up opposite. Pompey ex- pected with his body of cavalry to turn Caesar's right wing, and thus gain the victory; but his cavalry were unexpectedly assailed by six cohorts of infantry, which Caesar, suspecting the design of the enemy, had stationed on the right as a reserve force. Pompey's cavalry were put to flight, and, the six cohorts turning his left wing, his troops gave way in every direction. After the rout became general Pom- pey fled. His camp was stormed about the middle of the day, and the victory was com- pleted by the surrender of four legions, which Caesar took prisoners about nightfall. This battle decided the fate of the Roman world. PHARYNX, that part of the alimentary canal situated behind and below the mouth and above the oesophagus, with which it is continuous. It is a musculo-membranous sac, conical or pyriform, with its base upward, and extends from the base of the skull to the cricoid car- tilage in front and the fifth cervical vertebra behind, being about 4J in. long in the adult hu- man subject. Its transverse is greater than its antero-posterior diameter. It is connected be- hind by loose areolar tissues with the cervical portion of the vertebral column, and some of the muscles of the neck situated there. Seven openings communicate with it : the two pos- terior nares (nasal passages), the two Eusta- chian tubes, the mouth, the larynx, and the O3sophagus. The Eustachian tubes open on each side of the upper part of the pharynx and communicate with the cavity of the mid- dle ear. (See EAR.) The pharynx is placed be- hind the larynx, as the oesopha- gus is behind the trachea or wind- pipe ; and the glottis or opening into the larynx, which in swal- lowing is closed by the valvular epiglottis, is in the front side of the pharynx, and looks backward into its cavity. It is divided from the cavity of the mouth by the ve- lum palati, or soft palate. (See PALATE.) The pharynx has three coats: a mucous or lining coat, next to it a mid- dle or fibrous coat, and beneath this the muscu- lar coat. The mucous coat is continuous with that of the mouth and adjacent passages. The fibrous coat, called the pharyngeal aponeuro- sis, is thick above, where the muscular fibres are wanting, and is firmly connected with the occipital and temporal bones of the skull. As it descends it gradually diminishes in thickness until it disappears. The muscular coat is com- posed of five pairs of muscles, viz., three con- strictors and two elevators. The constrictors, called superior, middle, and inferior, have their fibres directed transversely downward around the pharynx, being mostly united in a continu- ous raplie or suture behind, but attached to different and separated points in front, most of the fibres of the superior constrictor being in- serted into the palate and sphenoid bones, the lower jaw bone, the root of the tongue, and some other muscles and ligaments. The mid- dle constrictor is principally inserted into the Pharyngeal Muscles.