PHARNABAZUS, Persian soldier and statesman, the son of Pharnaces, belonged to a family which from 478 governed the satrapy of Phrygia on the Hellespont, from its headquarters at Dascyhum, and, according to a discovery by Th. Nöldeke, was descended from Otanes, one of the associates of Darius in the murder of Smerdis. Pharnabazus first appears as satrap of this province in 413, when, having received orders from Darius II. to send in the outstanding tribute of the Greek cities on the coast, he, like Tissaphernes of Caria, entered into negotiations with Sparta and began war with Athens. The conduct of the war was much hindered by the rivalry between the two satraps, of whom Pharnabazus was by far the more energetic and upright. After the war he came into conflict with Lysander (q.v.: see also Peloponnesian War), who tried to keep the Greek cities under his own dominion, and became one of the causes of his overthrow, by a letter which he sent to the ephors at Sparta (Plut. Lys. 19; Nepos, Lys. 4; Polyaen. vii. 19). He received Alcibiades at his court and promised him means to go up to the king to reveal the intrigues of Cyrus, but when the Spartans insisted on his death he yielded to their demand for his assassination (Plut. Alcib. 37 sqq.; Diod. xiv. 11). When in 399 the war with Sparta broke out he again tried to conduct it strenuously with the help of Conon and Evagoras of Salamis he organized the Persian fleet, and while he was hard pressed on land by Agesilaus he prepared the decisive sea-battle, which was fought in August 394 at Cnidus under his and Conon's command, and completely destroyed the Spartan fleet. He sent support to the allies in Greece, by which the walls of the Peiraeus were rebuilt. But in the war on land he struggled in vain against the lethargy and disorganization of the Persian Empire; and when at last, in 387, in consequence of the embassy of Antalcidas to Susa, the king decided to conclude peace with Sparta and to enter again into close alliance with her, Pharnabazus, the principal opponent of Sparta, was recalled from his command in high honours, to marry Apame, a daughter of the king (Plut. Artax. 27). In 385 he was one of the generals sent against Egypt, and in 377 he was ordered to prepare a new expedition against the valley of the Nile. The gathering of the army took years, and when in 373 all was ready, his attempt to force the passage of the Nile failed. A conflict with Iphicrates, the leader of the Greek mercenaries, increased the difficulties, at last Pharnabazus led the army back to Asia. From these campaigns date the silver coins with the name of Pharnabazus in Aramaic writing. When he died is not known.
In the time of Alexander we meet with a Persian general Pharnabazus, son of Artabazus (Arrian ii. 1 seq.), who probably was the grandson of the older Pharnabazus.
The name Pharnabazus is also borne by a king of Iberia (Georgia) on the Caucasus, where the dynasty seems to have been of Persian origin, defeated by a general of Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) in 36 B.C. (Dio Cass. xlix. 24) In the Georgian dynasty the name occurs as late as the 19th century. (Ed. M.)
PHARYNGITIS. The pharynx, or upper portion of the gullet (seen to a large extent on looking at the back part of the mouth) is frequently the seat of a chronic inflammatory condition, usually associated with derangements of the digestive organs, or with syphilis or gout; sometimes it is due to much speaking or to excessive tobacco-smoking—especially of cigarettes. On inspection, the inflamed mucous membrane is seen unduly red and glazed, and dotted over with enlarged follicles. The condition produces considerable irritation and “dryness,” with cough and discomfort, which may eventually become chronic. Treatment consists in removing all sources of irritation, in rectifying gastric disturbance, and in the application of the electric cautery, of astringent lotions or of mild caustic solutions. The pain may be relieved by spraying with certain anodyne solutions. In the case of adenoid growths (see Adenoids) there is often an associated granular appearance of the pharynx, due to enlargement of the minute glands of the mucous membrane. The inflamed pharynx of the orator (“clergyman's sore-throat”) may be put right by lessons in elocution or by complete rest for a time. The gouty throat may call for a change of diet, or for a stay at one of the water-places where early rising, moderate food, regular exercise and the drinking of laxative waters join in restoring health. (E. O.*)
PHARYNX (Gr. φάρυγξ, throat), in anatomy, the cavity into which both the nose and mouth lead, which is prolonged into the oesophagus or gullet below, and from which the larynx or air tube comes off below and in front, it therefore serves as a passage both for food and air. It may be likened to an empty sack turned upside down and narrowing toward its mouth. The back and sides of the sack are formed by the three constrictor muscles of the pharynx, each of which overlaps the outer surface of the one above it, and these are lined internally by thick mucous membrane. The upturned bottom of the sack is attached firmly to the base of the skull and the internal pterygoid plates, so that this part cannot collapse, but below the anterior and posterior walls are in contact, and a transverse section of the pharynx is a mere slit.
From the front wall, on a level with the floor of the nose and roof of the mouth, a slanting shelf of muscular and glandular tissue covered with mucous membrane, projects downward and backward into the cavity, and divides it into an upper part or naso-pharynx and a lower or oral pharynx (see fig.). This shelf is the soft palate, and from the middle of its free border hangs a worm-like projection, of variable length but averaging about half an inch, the uvula. The whole of the front wall of the naso-pharynx is wanting, and here the cavity opens into the nose through the posterior nasal apertures (see Olfactory System). On each side of the naso-pharynx, and therefore above the soft palate, is the large triangular opening of the Eustachian tube through which air passes to the tympanum (see Ear). Behind this opening, and reaching up to the roof of the naso-pharynx, is a mass of lymphoid tissue, most marked in children, known as the pharyngeal tonsil. This tissue, when it hypertrophies, causes the disease known as “adenoids.”
From the mid-line of the roof of the pharynx a small pouch, the bursa pharyngea, best seen in childhood, projects upward, while on each side, above and behind the opening of the Eustachian tube, is a depression known as the lateral recess of the pharynx.
The oral pharynx communicates with the naso-pharynx by the pharyngeal isthmus behind the free edge of the soft palate. Above and in front it is continuous with the cavity of the mouth, and the demarcation between the two is a ridge of mucous membrane on each side running from the soft palate to the side of the tongue, and caused by the projection of the palato-glossus muscle. This is known as the anterior pillar of the fauces or anterior palatine arch. About half an inch behind this ridge is another, made by the palato pharyngeus muscle, which gradually fades away in the side of the pharynx below. This is the posterior pillar of the fauces or posterior palatine arch, and between it and the anterior is the fossa (tonsilar sinus) in which the tonsil lies.
The Tonsil is an oval mass of lymphoid tissue covered by mucous membrane which dips in to form mucous crypts; externally its position nearly corresponds to that of the angle of the jaw. It is very vascular, deriving its blood from five neighbouring arteries. Below the level of the tonsil the anterior wall of the pharynx is formed by the posterior or pharyngeal surface of the tongue (q.v.), while below that is the epiglottis and upper opening of the larynx which is bounded laterally by the aryteno-epiglottic folds (see Respiratory System). On the lateral side of each of these folds is a pear-shaped fossa known as the sinus pyriformis. Below this the pharynx narrows rapidly until the level of the lower border of the cricoid cartilage in front and of the sixth cervical vertebra behind is reached, here it passes into the oesophagus, having reached a total length of about five inches.
The mucous membrane of the naso-pharynx, like that of the rest of the respiratory tract, is lined by ciliated columnar epithelium, but in the oral pharynx the epithelium is of the stratified squamous variety. Numerous racemose glands are present (see Epithelial Tissues), as well as patches of lymphoid tissue especially in childhood. Outside the mucous membrane and separating it from the constrictor muscles is the pharyngeal aponeurosis, which blends above with the periosteum of the base of the skull.
Embryology.—The pharynx is partly formed from the ectodermal stomatodaeal invagination (see Embryology and Mouth) and partly from the fore gut, which is the cephalic part of the entodermal mesodaeum. Up to the fifteenth day (see Mouth), the bucco-pharyngeal membrane separates these structures, and, though no vestiges of it remain, it is clear that the upper and front part of the naso-pharynx is stomatodaeal while the rest is mesodaeal. The five visceral arches with their intervening clefts or pouches surround the pharynx, and the Eustachian tube is a remnant of the first of these. The second pouch is represented in the adult by the tonsilar sinus, and until lately the lateral recess of the pharynx was looked upon as part of the same, but it has now been shown to be an independent diverticulum. The sinus pyriformis probably represents that part of the fourth groove from which the lateral lobes of the thyroid body are derived.
