Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/401

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PHENOL PHIDIAS 387 very popular. She also published the " Kitty Brown " series (4 vols. 18mo, Philadelphia, 1850), and " The Angel over the Right Shoul- der " (Andover, 1851). After her death ap- peared "The Telltale" (1852), "Little Mary" (Boston, 1853), and "The Last Leaf from Sunny Side, with a Memorial of the Author by Rev. Austin Phelps " (1853). III. Elizabeth Stuart, an American authoress, daughter of the preceding, born in Andover, Mass., Aug. 31, 1844. She has published "Ellen's Idol" (18mo, Boston, 1864); "Up Hill "(1865); the "Tiny "series (4 vols. 18mo, 1866-'9); "Mercy Glidden's Work "(1866); the "Gypsy" series (4 vols., 1866-'9); "I Don't Know How "(1867); "The Gates Ajar " (1868), a book on death and be- reavement, which reached a 20th edition with- in a year ; " Men, Women, and Ghosts " (1869) ; " Hedged In " (1870), intended to exhibit the ideal of Christian treatment of fallen women ; "The Silent Partner" (1870); and "Poetic Studies " (1875). PHENOL, or Phenic Acid. See CARBOLIC ACID. PHERJC, a city of ancient Thessaly, near the S. E. limits of Pelasgiotis, about 10 m. W. of its port Pagasae on the Pagasasan gulf (the modern gulf of Volo). Its site is that of the modern Velestino, where its ancient walls may still be traced. It is spoken of as gov- erned by an aristocracy at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war (in which it aided Athens), and it was even then one of the most powerful of the Thessalian towns. In the latter part of the war, however, Lycophron became tyrant of the place, and under his son Jason PhersB was the leading power of Thes- saly. Jason became tagus or chief general of the whole country about 374 B. C., and ruled for four years, when he was assassinated, and succeeded by his brother Polydorus, who in turn was poisoned by another brother, either Alexander or Polyphron. Alexander, the most famous of the tyrants of Pherae, appears to have succeeded one or the other of his murdered brothers in 369. His tyranny ex- cited the opposition of the Thessalian states, and they applied to Alexander, king of Mace- don (son of Amyntas II.), for aid against him. The Macedonian penetrated to Larissa, where lie left a garrison and retired. Left thus ex- posed, the Thessalians next applied success- fully to Thebes, which sent Pelopidas to nego- tiate. Alexander at first showed a disposition to yield, but, finding Pelopidas hostile to him personally, kept beyond his reach, and on his repeating his visit of negotiation in the next year (368) entrapped and imprisoned him, af- terward defeating the Theban army sent to his rescue. A second Theban incursion under Epaminondas compelled him, however, to give up the prisoner. The next few years were marked by renewed acts of cruelty in Thessaly, and about 364 the Thebans again came to the aid of the oppressed states, defeating Alexan- der at Cynoscephalse, where Pelopidas fell, and again a little later, compelling him to resign all pretensions except those to Pherse. In 362 he attacked several Athenian dependencies, and landed troops in Attica, but was promptly defeated, though he succeeded in withdrawing his troops, and in plundering Piraeus. Alex- ander was murdered about 359 by the conni- vance of his wife Thebe, and was succeeded by the latter's brothers till 352, when Philip of Macedon became the controlling power in Thessaly. PhersD fell into the hands of Antio- chus the Great of Syria in 191, and soon after was captured by the Romans under Glabrio. The city appears to have been unusually pros- perous and beautiful, the celebrated fountain of Hyperia supplying it with much wat$r, and the neighborhood being very fertile. PHERECIDES. I. A Greek philosopher of Syros, said to have been the teacher of Pytha- goras, flourished about 540 B. C. He main- tained that there were three principia, Zeus or ./Ether, Chthon or Earth, and Cronos or Time, and four elements, fire, air, earth, and water; and that all things sprang from these. His distinguishing doctrine was that of metem- psychosis, or according to others that of the immortality of the soul. The fragments of Pherecydes were printed by August Wolf- in the first part of his LiterariscJie Analelcten (Berlin, 1817). II. A Greek logographer, about 480 B. C., called Pherecydes of Leros, his birth- place, or of Athens, where he passed most of his life. Fragments of his work on the gene- alogy of the gods and heroes have been collected. PHIDIAS, a Greek sculptor, born in Athens, probably between 490 and 488 B. C., died there about 432. The dates of the most im- portant events in his career can only be ap- proximately ascertained. He is supposed to have belonged to a family of artists, and is said to have originally occupied himself with painting. He was instructed in sculpture by two native artists, Hegesias and Ageladas, and probably between the ages of 25 and 30 began to exercise his calling in Athens. His subjects were for the most part sacred, and among the works attributed to him are nine statues of Athena (Minerva), the tutelary goddess of his native city. One of these, at Pellene in Achaia, was perhaps his earliest public work. About the same time he executed the group of 13 bronze statues dedicated by the Athenians at Delphi out of the tithe of their share of the spoils taken from the Persians at Marathon, and the colossal bronze statue of Athena Pro- machos in the Athenian acropolis, 50 or 60 ft. high, which is also said to have been made from the spoils of Marathon. Pericles made him general director of all the great works of art in progress in Athens, including the pro- pylsea of the acropolis and the Parthenon. For the latter he executed the colossal chrysele- phantine or gold and ivory statue of Athena, which stood in the prodomus or front chamber of the temple. It was formed of plates of ivory laid upon a core of wood or stone for the flesh parts, while the drapery, the ssgis, the