A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

282 GORDIUS. GORGASUS.
prejudice the soldiers against their sovereign. He crifices to Zeus Ba'LhAeJs at Telmissus. She herself
contrived that the supplies destined for the use of accompanied him into the town, and gave him the
the camp should be intercepted or sent in a wrong necessary instructions respecting the sacrifices.
direction, and then aggravated the discontent Gordius, in return, took her for his wife, and bewhich arose among the troops by attributing these came by her the father of Midas. When Midas
disasters to the carelessness and incapacity of the had grown up to manhood, internal disturbances
emperor. At length he so roused their passions broke out in Phrygia, and an oracle informed the
by artful misrepresentations, that the legions rising inhabitants that a car would bring them a king,
tumultuously, attacked Gordianus as the cause of who should at the'< same time put an end to the
their sufferings; and having gained possession of disturbances. When the people were deliberating
his person, first deposed, and then put him to on these points, Gordius, with his wife and son,
death. The narrative of the circumstances attending suddenly appeared riding in his car in the assembly
this event, as recorded by Capitolinus, is evidently of the people, who at once recognised the person
largely mingled with fable, but no doubt exists as described by the oracle. According to Arrian
to the manner in which Gordian perished, nor of (Anab. ii. 3), the Phrygians made Midas their
the treachery by which the deed was accomplished. king, while, according to Justin (xi. 7), who also
Of a lively but tractable disposition, endowed gives the oracle somewhat differently, and to others,
with high abilities, of amiable temper and winning Gordius himself was made king, and succeeded by
address, Gordian had gained the hearts of all, and Midas. The new king dedicated his car and the
was the idol alike of the senate, the. people, and yoke to which the oxen had been fastened, to Zeus
the armies, until betrayed by the perfidy of his Il6caloeas, in the acropolis of Gordium, and an oracle
general. So well aware was Philip of the popu- declared that, whosoever should untie the knot of
larity of his victim, that, instead of commanding the yoke, should reign over all Asia. It is a wellhis statues to be thrown down, and his name to be known story, that Alexander, on his arrival at
erased from public monuments, as was the common Gordium, cut the knot with his sword, and applied
practice under such circumstances, he requested the the oracle to himself. (Comp. Curt. iii. 1. ~ 15;
senate to grant him divine honours, announcing in Plut. Alex. 18; Strab. xii. p. 568; Aelian, V. H.
his despatch that the young prince had died a iv. 17.) [L. S.]
natural death, and that he himself had been GO RDIUS, a Cappadocian by birth, the instruchosen unanimously to fill the vacant throne. ment of Mithridates Eupator VI. in his attempts
Gordian was buried near Castrum Circesium to annex Cappadocia to Pontus. Gordius was emor Cercusium, in Mesopotamia, and an epitaph, ployed by him, in B. c. 96, to murder Ariarathes VI.
enumerating his exploits, was engraved upon the king of Cappadocia [ARIARATHES, No. 6]. He
tomb inll Greek, Latin, Persian, Hebrew, and was afterwards tutor of a son of Mithridates, whom,
Egyptian characters. The inscription itself is said after the murder of Ariarathes VII. he made king
to have been destroyed by Licinius, but the se- of Cappadocia. Gordius was sent as the envoy of
pulchre, which formed a conspicuous object as Mithridates to Rome, and afterwards employed by
viewed from the surrounding country, was still to him to engage Tigranes, king of Armenia, to attack
be seen in the days of Julian (A. D. 363), as we Cappadocia, and expel Ariobarzanes I., whom the
are told by Ammianus Marcellinus, who calls the Romans made king of that country in B. c. 93.
spot Zaitha, or the olive-tree. Sulla restored Ariobarzanes in the following year,
(Capitolin. Maximin. duo, Gordiani tres; He- and drove Gordius out of Cappadocia. Gordius
rodian, lib. vii. viii.; Victor, de Caes. xxvi. xxvii., was opposed to Muraena on the banks of the Halys,
Epit. xxvi. xxvii.; Eutrop. ix. 2; Amm. Marc. B. c. 83-2. (Justin, xxxviii. 1 —3; App. Mitl.
xxiii. 5. ~ 7-; Zosim. i. 14-16, 19, iii. 14; Eckhel, 66; Plut. Sull. 5.) [W. B. D.]
vol. vii. p. 293.) [W. R.] GO'RDIUS, a charioteer, the companion of
Elagabalus in his first race, and from that day forward the chosen friend of the emperor, by whom
he was appointed praefectus vigilum. (Lamprid.
Elagab. 6. 12; Dion Cass. lxxix. 15.) [W. R.]
- C ] i@ = E 9GORDYS (rdpavs), a son of Triptolemus, who
assisted in searching after Io, and then settled in
<? gf\ ilPhrygia, where the district of Gordyaea received;~s b~ ~ its name from him. (Steph. Byz. s. v. ropaliov;
Strab. pp. 747, 750.) [L. S.]
COIN OF GORDIANUIS III. GO'RGASUS (rdpyao'os), a son of Machaon
GO'RDIUS (rdpaLos), an ancient king of Phry- and Anticleia, who, together with his brother Nigia, and father of Midas, is celebrated in history, comachus, had a sanctuary at Pherae, founded by
through the story of the Gordian knot. According Glaucus, the son of Aepytus. (Paus. iv. 3. ~ 6,
to tradition, he was originally a poor peasant, but 30. ~ 2. [L. S.]
was destined to occupy a kingly throne, as GO'RGASUS (roPp-aoos), one of the sons of
was indicated by a prodigy which happened to Machaon, the son of Aesculapius, by Anticleia, the
him. One day, while he was ploughing, an eagle daughter of Diocles, king of Pherae, in Messenia;
came down and settled on his yoke of oxen, and who, after the death of his grandfather, succeeded
remained there till the evening. Gordius was sur- to the kingdom. He also followed the example of
prised at the phenomenon, and went to Telmissus his father, by practising the art of healing, for which
to consult the soothsayers of that place, who were he received divine honours after his death. (Panus.
very celebrated for their art. Close by the gates iv. 30. ~ 2.) [W. A. G.]
of the town he met a Telmissian girl, who herself GO'RGASUS, painter and modeller. [DAMOpossessed prophetic powers. He told her what he PHILUS]. (See also Walz, Kulstblatt, 1841, note
bad come for, and she advised him to offer up sa- 43, p. 347.) [P. S.]