scimitar (ἅρπη),—it is a curved sword,—and were the first to use shields on horseback. Similarly also the Illyrians invented the shield (πέλτη). Besides, they say that the Tuscans invented the art of moulding clay; and that Itanus (he was a Samnite) first fashioned the oblong shield (θυρεός). Cadmus the Phœnician invented stonecutting, and discovered the gold mines on the Pangæan mountain. Further, another nation, the Cappadocians, first invented the instrument called the nabla,[1] and the Assyrians in the same way the dichord. The Carthaginians were the first that constructed a trireme; and it was built by Bosporus, an aboriginal.[2] Medea, the daughter of Æetas, a Colchian, first invented the dyeing of hair. Besides, the Noropes (they are a Pæonian race, and are now called the Norici) worked copper, and were the first that purified iron. Amycus the king of the Bebryci was the first inventor of boxing-gloves.[3] In music, Olympus the Mysian practised the Lydian harmony; and the people called Troglodytes invented the sambuca,[4] a musical instrument. It is said that the crooked pipe was invented by Satyrus the Phrygian; likewise also diatonic harmony by Hyagnis, a Phrygian too; and notes by Olympus, a Phrygian; as also the Phrygian harmony, and the half-Phrygian and the half-Lydian, by Marsyas, who belonged to the same region as those mentioned above. And the Doric was invented by Thamyris the Thracian. We have heard that the Persians were the first who fashioned the chariot, and bed, and footstool; and the Sidonians the first to construct a trireme. The Sicilians, close to Italy, were the first inventors of the phorminx, which is not much inferior to the lyre. And they invented castanets. In the time of Semiramis queen of the Assyrians,[5]
- ↑ νάβλα and ναύλα; Lat. nablium; doubtless the Hebrew נֵבֶל (psaltery, A.V.), described by Josephus as a lyre or harp of twelve strings (in Ps. xxxiv. it is said ten), and played with the fingers. Jerome says it was triangular in shape.
- ↑ ἀυτόχθων, Eusebius. The text has αὐτοσχέδιον, off-hand.
- ↑ Literally, fist-straps, the cæstus of the boxers.
- ↑ σαμβύκη, a triangular lyre with four strings.
- ↑ "King of the Egyptians" in the mss. of Clement. The correction is made from Eusebius, who extracts the passage.
