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

648 RHAZES. RHEA.
obtained from the conquerors his brother's pardon. the old Greek language no word that bears this
(Appian, B. C. iv. 87, 104, 136.) [W. B. D.] signification. [W. A. G.]
RHATHINES ('PaOivns), a Persian, was one RHEA ('Pela,'Pea,'PeNf, or'Peq). The name
of the commanders sent by Pharnabazus to aid the as well as the nature of this divinity is one of the
Bithynians in opposing the passage of the Cyrean most difficult points in ancient mythology. Some
Greeks under Xenophon through Bithynia, B. C. consider'Pea to be merely another form of pac, the
400. The satrap's forces were completely defeated earth, while others connect it with p'cE, I flow
(Xen. Anab. vi. 5. ~~ 7, &c). We hear again of (Plat. Cratyl. p. 401, &c.); but thus much seems
Rhathines, in B. c. 396, as one of the commanders undeniable, that Rhea, like Demeter, was a godfor Pharnabazus of a body of cavalry, which dess of the earth. According to the Hesiodic
worsted that of Agesilaus, in a skirmish near Theogony (133; comp. Apollod. i. 1. ~ 3), Rhea
Dascylium. (Xen. Hell. iii. 4. ~ 13; Plut. Ages. was a daughter of Uranus and Ge, and accordingly
9.) [E. E.] a sister of Oceanus, Coeus, Hyperion, Crius, lapeRHAZES ('Pa~ns), the author of a Greek me- tus, Theia, Themis, and Mnemosyne. She became
dical treatise rkepl AoiumLnCs, which was published by Cronos the mother of Hestia, Demeter, Herma,
at the end of Alexander Trallianus, 154i8, fol. Aides, Poseidon, and Zeus. According to some
Lutet. Paris. ex offic. Rob. Stephani. His real accounts Cronos and Rhea were preceded in their
name is tt I A sovereignty over the world by Ophion and Euryname is.J2 9 e..) j n.nome; but Ophion was overpowered by Cronos,
Aid Beer ~lohar.nled In. Zacarlyd Ar-Razi,.ho and Rhea cast Eurynome into Tartarus. Cronos is
was born (as his name implies) at Rai, a town in said to have devoured all his children by Rlea.
the north of'Irak'Ajellli, near Chorsin, probably but when she was on the point of giving birth to
about the middle of the ninth century after Christ; Zeus, she, by the advice of her parents, vent to
and died either A. H. 311 (A.D. 923, 924), or Lyctus in Crete. When Zeus was born she gave
erhaps, more probably A.H. 320 A. H. 3 D. 932). to Cronos a stone wrapped up like an infant, and
The treatise in question is in fact no other than hiswallowed it as he had swallowed his other
children. (Hes. Theog. 446, &c.; Apollod. i. 1. ~
well known work,.,, j 5, &c.; Diod. v. 70.) Homer (1I. xv. 187) makes' - J?.. only a passing allusion to Rhea, and the passage of
Fe' Jadarl wal-lIashah, "On the Small Pox and Hesiod, which accordingly must be regarded as the
Measles," which was translated from the original most ancient Greek legend about Rhea, seems to
Arabic into Syriac, and from that language into suggest that the mystic priests of Crete had alGreek. Neither the date nor the author of either ready formed connections with the more northern
of these versions is known; but the Greek trans- parts of Greece. In this manner, it would seem,
lation (as we learn from the preface) was made at the mother of Zeus became known to the Thracians,
the command of one of the emperors of Constanti- with whom she became a divinity of far greater
nople, perhaps, as Fabricius (Bibl. Gr. vol. xii. p. importance than she had been before in the south
692, ed. vet.) conjectures, Constantine Ducas, who (Orph. Hymn. 13, 25, 26), for she was connected
reigned from 1059 to 1067. In one of the Greek with the Thracian goddess Bendis or Cotys (HeMSS. at Paris, however (~ 2228, Catal. vol. ii. p. cate), and identified with Demeter. (Strab. x. p.
465), it is attributed to Joannes Actuarius [Ac- 470.)
TUARIUS]; and, if this be correct, the emperor - The Thracians, in the mean time, conceived the
aalluded to will more probably be Andronicus II. chief divinity of the Samothracian and Lemnian
Paleologus. A. D. 1281-1328. It was from this mysteries as Rhea-Hecate, while some of them who
Greek translation (which appears to have been ex- had settled in Asia Minor, became there acquainted
ecuted either very carelessly, or from an imperfect with still stranger beings, and one especially who
MS.), and from Latin versions made from it, that was worshipped with wild and enthusiastic sothe work was first known in Europe, the earliest lemnities, was found to resemble Rhea. In like
Latin translation made directly from the original manner the Greeks who afterwards settled in Asia
Arabic being that which was published by Dr. identified the Asiatic goddess with Rhea, with whose
Mead, in 1747, 8vo. Lound., at the end of his work worship they had long been familiar (Strab. x. p.
"De Variolis et Morbillis." The Arabic text 471; Hom. Hymnn. 13, 31). In Phrygia, where
was published for the first time by John Channing, Rhea became identified with Cybele, she is said to
in 1766, 8vo. Lound., together with a new Latin have purified Dionysus, and to have taught him the
version by himself, which has been reprinted se- mysteries (Apollod. iii. 5. ~ 1), and thus a Dionyparately, and which continues to be the best up to siac element became amalgamated with the worship
the present time. Altogether the work has been of Rhea. Demeter, moreover, the daughter of
published, in various languages, about five and Rhea, is sometimes mentioned with all the attrithirty times, in about three hundred and fifty years, butes belonging to Rhea. (Eurip. Helen. 1304.)
-a greater number of editions then has fallen to the The confusion then became so great that the worlot of almost any other ancient medical treatise. The ship of the Cretan Rhea was confounded with that
only English translation made directly from the of the Phrygian mother of the gods, and that the
original Arabic is that by Dr. Greenhill, 1847, 8vo., orgies of Dionysus became interwoven with those
London, printed for the Sydenharn Society; from of Cybele. Strangers from Asia, who must be
which work the preceding account is taken. It looked upon as jugglers, introduced a variety of
may be added that the particular interest which novel rites, which were fondly received, especially
the work has excited, arises from the fact of its by the populace (Strab. 1. c.; Athen. xii. p. 553
being the earliest extant medical treatise in which Demosth. de Cloron. p. 313). Both the name and
the Small Pox is certainly mentioned; and ac- the connection of Rhea with Demeter suggest
cordlngly the Greek translator has used the word that she was in early times revered as goddess of
AoIumK)i to express this disease, there being in the earth.