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

PETOSIRIS. PETREIUS, 213
cognomen that occurs. The following coin of the consulted. And to the list given by him may
Petillia gens must have been struck by a Petillius be added a translation into Latin by Bede, of
Capitolinus, as the reverse is nearly the same as the astrological letter of Petosiris to Nechepsos,
the obverse of the coin figured in Vol. I. p. 605, entitled, De Divinatione Mortis et Vitae. (Bed.
and seems to have reference to the temple of Jupiter Opera, vol. ii. pp. 233, 234, ed. Col. Agripp. 1612.)
Capitolinus. His name, as connected with astrology, was in
high repute early in Greece, and in Rome, in her
degenerate days. This we learn from the praises
A stL 2@\ / %|? N bestowed on him by Manethon (v. 10), who, indeed, ill the prologue to the first and fifth books of
)t t iW; l his Apolelesznatica, professes only to expand in
Greek verse the prose rules of Petosiris; from Julius
-Firmicus (Mathes. iv. in praefat. &c.), who calls
Petosiris and Nechepsos, divini il/i viri atque omnni
OF PETILLIA GEN. admiratione digni; and, from the references of
COIN OF PETILLIS GENS. Pliny. (II. 1N. i. 23, vii. 49.) But the best proof
PETI'LLIUS. 1, 2. Q. PETILLIs, two tri- is the fact, that, like our own Lilly, Petosiris
bunes of the plebs, B. C. 185, are said to have been became the common name for an astrologer, as we
instigated by Cato the Censor, to accuse Scipio find in Aristophanes, quoted by Athenaells (iii.
Africanus the elder, of having been bribed by p. 114, c.), in the 46th epigram of Lucillius (Jacobs,
Antiochus to allow that monarch to come off too Anthol. Graec. vol. iii. p. 3,8). whence we learn the
leniently; but according to other authorities it was quantity, and in Juvenal, vi. 580. Marshami has a
M. Naevius and not the Petillii who brought the full dissertation on Nechepsos and Petosiris,in the
charge. On the death of Africanus in this year, work above quoted (pp. 474-481). [W. M. G.]
the Petillii brought forward a bill for making an PETRAEA (IIerpafa), is the name of one of the
inquiry respecting the persons who had received Oceanides, and also occurs as a surname of Scylla,
money from Antiochus without paying it into the who dwelt in or on a rock. (lies. Tleoy. 357
treasury. (Liv. xxxviii. 50, 54, 566; comp. Gell. Hom. Od. xii. 231.) [L. S.]
iv. 18; Aur. Vict. de Vir. Ill. 49.) [NAEVIUS, PETRAEUS (ne'rpa7os). 1. One of the cenNo. 4.] taurs who figures at the wedding of Peirithous.
3. L. PETILLIuC, a scriba, in whose land at (Hes. Scut. Hlerc. 185; Ov. iiet'. xii. 330.)
the foot of the Janiculus, the books of Numa were 2. A surname of Poseidon among the Thessasaid to have been found in B. C. 181. The books lians, because he was believed to have separated
were subsequently taken to the city-praetor Petil- the rocks, between which the river Peneius flows
lius Spurinus. (Liv. xl. 29.) [NTJMA, p. 1213, a.] into the sea. (Pind. Fyth. iv. 246, with the
4. L. PETILLIUS, was sent as ambassador in Schol.) [LT. S.]
B. C. 168 with M. Perperna to the Illyrian king PETRAEUS (Ie-rpaios), a friend of Philip V.,
Gentius, and was with his colleague thrown into king of Macedonia, who was sent by that monarch
prison by that king, but was liberated shortly to Sparta in B. c. 220, to receive the submission of
afterwards on the conquest of Gentius by the the Lacedaemonians, and confirm them in their
praetor Anicius. (Liv. xliv. 27, 32; Appian, lMac. allegiance to Macedonia. Wre subsequently firnd
xvi. 1.) him commanding a military force illn Thessaly,
5. M. PETILIUS, a Roman eques, who carried where he successfully opposed the invasion of that
on business at Syracuse, while Verres was go- country by the Aetolian general Dorimrachus, a1. c.
vernor of Sicily. (Cic. Verr. ii. 29.) 218. (Polyb. iv. 24, v. 17.) [E. H. B.]
6. Q. PETsLIUs, a judex at the trial of Milo. PETREIUS. 1. CN. PETREIUS, of Atina,
(Cic. pro Mil. 16.) was a centurion primi pili in the army of Q. CaPETI'LLIUS CEREA'LIS. [CEREALIS.] tulus, B. C. 102, in the Cimbrian war, and received
PETI'LLIUS RUFUS. [RuFus.] a crown on account of his preserving a legion.
PETINES (rIesrvis), one of the generals who (Plin. H. N. xxii. 6.)
commanded the Persian army at the passage of the 2. M. PETRETUS, is first mentioned in B. C. 62,
Granicus, a. c. 334. He was killed in the battle. when he served as legatus to the proconsul C.
(Arr. Anab. i. 12. 16.) [E. H. B.] Antonius, in his campaign against Catiline. Botlh
PETOSPIRIS (fIeTroilpls), an Egyptian priest Cicero and Sallust speak of Petreius as a man of
and astrologer, who is generally named along with great military experience, and one who possessed
Necllepsos, an Egyptian king. The two are considerable influence with the troops. Hie had
said to be the founders of astrology, and of the art previously served in the army more than thirty
of casting nativities. Suidas (s. v.) states that years, either as tribune, praefectus, legatus, or
Petosiris wrote on the right mode of worshipping praetor; but we know nothing of his former
the gods, astrological maxims sec rowv Lep(cf,80LXov history, nor ill what year he was praetor. In1
(which are often referred to in connection with consequence of the illness of Antoniuss, according
astrology), and a work on the Egyptian mysteries. to one statement, or his dislike to fight against his
But we may infer from a statement made by Vet- former friend, as others relate, the supreme comtius Valens, of which the substance is given by mand of the army devolved upon Petreius on the day
Marsham (Canon Ch/ronicus, p. 479, ed. Lips. 1 676), of the battle, in which Catiline perished. (Sall. Cat.
that Suidas assigns to Petosiris, what others attri- 59, 60; Dion Cass. xxxvii. 39, 40; Cic. pro Sest.
bute partly to hinm, and partly to Nechepsos. For 5.) The name of Petreius next occurs in B. C. 59,
his "Opyal ov'AaurpoVOMKucV, or, tyjpos ocrM'atVMK1, in which year he offered to go to prison with Cato,
containing astrological principles for predicting the when Caesar, the consul, threatened the latter with
event of diseases, and for his other -writings, this punishment. (Dion Cass. xxxviii. 3.) In B.c. 55
Fabricius (Bil. Graec. vol. iv. p. 160) may be J Petreius was sent into Spain along with L. Afranitts.,~