PRIENE. 388 PBIEST. spur of !Mount ^lycale. The Acropolis and earliest settlement were on a plateau inaccessible except by rock-cut steps, while the later city covered a series of lower terraces. Priene was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League, and claimed as its founder .Epytus, son of Icleus, though tradition told of a second body of settlers from Boeotia, wlio gave the place in early times the name Cadme. At that time the city was close to the shore and possessed a small but good harbor, which has now been com- pletely destroyed bj' the alluvial deposits of the Jlieander, which have filled the greater part of the ancient gulf. Even in Strabo's time the city was over four miles from the coast, and the distance is now much greater. The city was from an early period involved in a quarrel ith Samos about the ownership of lands on Mount Mvcale, and inscrijitions show that the disjjute "was not settled until Roman times. It was con- tjuered in the second halt of the seventh century B. c. by the Lydian King Ardys, and later, for its support of a Lj'dian revolt, it was severely treat- ed by the Persians. Its pros])erity was renewed by the wise councils of Bias ( q.v. ) . but it again suffered for its participation in the Ionic revolt. Later it came under the rule of the Athenians, and was about B.C. 442 placed by them under the protection of ililetus. During the fifth and fourtli centuries it seems to have been of small im- portance, and its real development took place after Alexander's conquest of Asia. L'nder his patronage was erected the beautiful temple of Athena Polias, the work of the architect Pythias, who seems also to have laid out the new city on the lower terraces. This temple was excavated by Pullan and Newton for the Society of Di- lettanti in 1808, and found to be a masterpiece of Ionic architecture, rivaling in its proportions and finish the Erechtheum at Athens, though with interesting variations in details. The grad- ual silting up of the bay must have made the place unhealthy, and under the Bvzantine em- perors the city was deserted. Fortunately, no later settlers were attracted to the site, and thus the ancient houses and buildings fell into ruin, or were destroyed by earthquake and buried in debris. From IS'J.5 to 1900 excavations were under- taken by the Berlin iluseum. and as a result the ancient city has been recovered, and for the Greek town life of the Hellenistic age Priene must take a place similar to that occupied by Pompeii (q.v.) for the life of Italy under the early Empire. The city was planned with great care. East and west, parallel to the mountain- side, ran a series of straight streets, connected at regular intervals by narrow lanes, which ascend the hill. The rectangles thus formed were normally 35 X 47 meters, and contained four liouses, whose entrances were on the side streets. so that on the thoroughfares were only blank ■walls, unbroken save perhaps by windows in the "upper stories. The theatre, council house, mar- ket-place, temple of .Esculapius. and other pub- lic buildings were also laid bare, and a wealth of inscriptions and smaller objects recovered. No complete publication of the results has yet flt'OS) appeared, but preliminary reports may be found in the Archiiolofiisrher Anzeirjer pub- lished in the Jahrhuch dcs (nehiiolofihrhen Tnsti- tvt.i (Berlin. 1900). A popular account by A. L. Frothingham was published in the Century Ma- gazine, vol. Ixii. (New York, 1901). For the temple of Athena Polias, see Pullan and Newton, Antiquities of Ionia, published by the So- ciety of Dilettanti (London. 1881). For the ancient history, see Lenschau, "De Rebus Pri- enensibus," in Leipziger Htudicn, vol. xii., 1890. PEIESSNITZ, pres'nits, Vincenz (1799- 1851). The founder of hydrotherapy. He was born at Grafenljerg, in Austrian Silesia, and at first devoted himself to farming. It appears that a neighlior, who had been in the way of healing trifiing wounds on himself and others by means of cold water, treated Priessnitz in this way for a serious injur.v from the kick of a horse; and having had liis attention directed to the virtues of cold water, Priessnitz. indis- putabl}' possessed of sharpness of intellect and some aptitude for the practice of the healing art, began to cui'e ailments with cold water, and soon attained considerable reputation. As the number of applicants for advice went on increasing, he graduall.v came. b,y experiment, to form a sj'stem of treatment for the various cases presented. Opposition to him on the ground of unlicensed practising gave wa,v before special authority from the Austrian Government, and in 1822 the Griifenberg water-cure was established. In. 1829 there were 49 patients, and in 1837 the, number had risen to 586. In 1833 Priessnitz abandoned farming in order to devote himself to the care of the estab- lishments which he had to provide for the recep- tion and treatment of his patients. See Hydro- THERApy. Consult : Philo von Walde, Vincenz Priessnitz als Bcgriinder des Wasser- und Natur- heilverfahrens (Berlin, 1897). PRIEST (AS. 2»'>'ost, OF. prestre, Fr. pretre, priest, from Lat. pn-shtiter, elder, presbj'ter). The title, in its most general signification, of a minister of public worship, but specially applied to the minister of sacrifice or other mediatorial offices. In the early history of mankind there is no priest. Such a state of afl'airs may be seen to-day in Central Australia, where, although there are nian.v religious observances, there are no priests of any kind. A secondary stage is that of the Shamanistic Altaic tribes, whose religion is a spirit-worship and whose priests are called Shamans. The Shaman may believe in the existence of a supreme god, but he and his co-religionists pay attention onl.v to the evil spirits whom alone the.v reckon with. The Shaman priest is a conjurer, an exorciser, and goes clad with amulets and charms of various sorts. He is called in to aid the afflicted as well as to rout devils, and so approaches the position of a medicine-man. The latter, however, as represented by the redskins, is a ju'iest in a community that I'ecognizcs higher divinities than evil spirits and pays worship to gods with- out the help of the medicineman. One step higher, and a patriarchal form of .society in- variably evolves the family priest, the head of the familv, who represents them before the gods by performing sacrifice. From this to the clan chief priest and royal priest is but a series of steps in the same direction. Thus the Akkadian matriarchal state of .society produced priests who were jiist such Shamans as to-day represent priesthood among the Finns and Samoyeds. while the patriarchal Aryans had as far back as we can trace them the father-priest.
