HELIACAL RISING. 733 HELICON. rising and setting, to allow it to be seen. But when the sun, progressing in its apparent orbit, separates from the star, and the latter begins to rise first, it in time rises so much earlier than the sun as just to be visible before daylight. The heliacal risings of various bright stars, sueli as Sirius, were used by the ancients to mark definite dates in the year. See Canici la. HELIADE-RADULESCU, f.l'iad rji'doolfe'- koii, .Joan (lSO'2-7'2). A Uunuiiiian author, born at Targovistca. and edueatcd under Lazare at Saint Sava until this school was closed by the Government, in 1821. Then he went to Bucha- rest, as professor and publisher; founded the Viirierul Roman (18.31-48) and the Ciirienil <le Amhe Sexe (1840-44), the earliest Rumanian literary periodicals, and busied himself with almost endless translations — of the Bible, of Dante, Aristotle, Tasso. Jlolifere, Ossian, Byron, and Lamartine. He took so actii'e a part in the Revolution of 1848 that he became a mem- ber of the Provisional Government, and in con- sequence was banislied when the Russians and Turks overthrew the Government. He returned to Bucharest with Omer Pasha in 1854. In his later years he lost much of his national influence, and became insane shortly before his death. He wrote: Paralclismiil inire dialectele roman si Halian (1841); Souvenirs el impressions (Vun proscrit (1850) : Le protectorat du Czar (1850) ; and a Mimoire sitr I'histoire de la rffjencration roumaine (1851); an heroic drama, Mircea (1844), and many other plays; a national epic. Mihaida (1846) ; and Cursu de poesie generals, (1808 sqq.). HELI'ADES, or HELI'AD.ffi (Lat., from Gk. 'HXidSes). The daughters of Helios and the iceanid Clymene. They made ready the sun- chariot for their brother Phaethon without the conunand of Helios, and at his death were changed into poplars, while their tears became amber. .Some accounts name three Heliades — • yEgle, Phaethusa, and Lampetie; others mention seven. HE'LI.a;'A (Lat., from Gk. ^Xmfo, heliaia). A higher court at Athens composed of 5000 citi- zens over thirty years of age chosen by lot an- nually. It was divided into ten sections, each of which constituted a court by itself. Its sessions were public. HELIAND, nfi'le-and (OS. Helinnd, Sa- vior). A Saxon poem of the ninth century. The portion still preserved relates the life of Christ as told by the four. Evangelists, whose various narratives the author seeks to harmonize. It is thought to have been composed by a Saxon writer of unknown name at the request of the Emperor Louis the Pious. Like all early Germanic poems, the Heliand is written in alliterative verse, in the use of which the author shows marked skill. Until the pulilication by Zangenmeister and Braune in 1804 of fragments of a Saxon para- phrase of Genesis, the Hrliand was the only im- portant monument of Saxon known to the present age. Apart from its great value to the student of language, the Fleliand is of interest because of its spirited and sympathetic treatment of the Gospel narrative. The aufhor shows himself to be no mere slavish transcriber, but a true poet. In accordance with the taste and knowledge of the age, scenes and incidents are strongly lo- calized, the spirit of the whole work being Ger- manic rather than Christian. To modern read- ers the intense reality of the characterization often seems irreverent, suggesting the later treat- ment of biblical narratives in the religious drama; but the puri)o.se of the poet is evidently earnest and extremely reverent. It is doubtful whether an historically correct treatment of the N(!W Testament would have appealed to the primitive audience for whom the poem was com- posed. The most recent and the fullest edition of the Heliand is that of Piper, the first volume of which, containing the text, appeared in 1807. The latest German translation is by E. Behringer (AschanVnliurg, 1SSI8). HELIAN'THTJS. See AnTicnoKE, Jebusa- lE.M ; Si .NFLOWER. HELIAS, HELIS, or HELYAS, he'le as. See Swan, Knight of the. HELICE, hel'I-se (Lat., from Gk. 'EXIktj, Uel- ikC) . (1) In Greek mythology, the daughter of Lycaon, beloved by Zeus and transformed by Hera into a bear. Zeus thereupon placed her in the heavens as the constellation of the Great Bear. (2) The daughter of Selinus and wife of Ion. She gave her name to the tovn of Helice, in Acha'a. HELICID.S;, he-lis'I-de (Neo-Lat. nom. pi., from Lat. helix, Gk. Aif, spiral). A large cos- mopolitan family of terrestrial pulmonate gas- tropod mollusks, the land-snails. They have a part of the mantle-cavity formed into .an air- bre.athing organ, or lung, and the shell coiled. See Snail. HELICOCERAS, hgl'i-kos'er-os (Neo-Lat., from Gk. fXif, helix, spiral + Kipai, l;eras, horn). A curious fossil ammonoid shell found in Cre- taceous rocks of Europe, Asia, and America, char- acterized by the looseness of the turreted shell, the last coil of which is of irregular curvature. It is one of the peculiar aberrant forms evolved in the last stages of a race that began in Jurassic time with closely wound discoid shells of the nor- mal ammonoid form. See Ammonoidea; Cepha- lopoda. HELICON (Lat., from Gk. "Elmiiv, Helil^on) . A mountain, or rather a mountain range, in the southwest of Breotia, in Greece, forming a con- tinuation of the range of Parnassus. The loftiest summit (now called Palsovouno) is 5738 feet high. At the foot of Helicon stood the village of Asera, now Pyrgaki, the native place of Hesiod (q.v. ), and the seat of an early school of didactic epic. The mountain was the seat of a very ancient worship of the Muses, and with this is probably to be connected the poetic school at Ascra. The grove of the Muses was at the north- em foot of Helicon, in'a valley near the Monastery of Saint Nicholas; higher up the mountain (20 stadia according to Pausanias) was the fountain of Hippocrene (q.v.), probably the modern Kryo- pegadi or cold spring. Near Ascra was the celebrated fountain of Aganippe. HELICON (Gk. iXiKiiv, helilcon, musical in- stniiiK'tit uith nine strings, from fXif, helix, spiral, from iMcrcetv, helissrin, to turn; connect- ed with Lat. rolrrre. to turn, Kng. trallnu'). (1) .
ancient stringed instrument for illustrating
the theory of musical intervals. (2) The low- est of all brass instruments. It is constructed in various pitches (F. Eb. C. Bb) and has much the qualify and range of the bass tubas. The
