The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 348

PEUTINGER, CONRAD, an Augsburg antiquary, left at his death a 13th-century copy of a 3rd-century map of the Roman military roads, now in the Imperial Library at Vienna, known as the "Tabula Peutingeriana"

(1465-1547).

PFaFERS, hot springs near a village of the same name in the Swiss canton of St. Gall; have been in use for 800 years.

PFAHLBAUTEN, lake dwellings of prehistoric date in Switzerland.

PFALZ, the German name for the Palatinate.

PFEIFFER, IDA, a celebrated traveller, born in Vienna; being separated from her husband, and having completed the education of her two sons and settled them in life, commenced her career of travel in 1842, in which year she visited Palestine, in 1845 visited Scandinavia, in 1846 essayed a voyage round the world by Cape Horn, in 1851 a second by the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1856 an expedition to Madagascar, returning at the end of each to Vienna and publis.h.i.+ng accounts of them (1797-1858).

PFFLEIDERER, OTTO, a philosophical theologian, born in Wurtemberg, professor at Jena, and afterwards at Berlin; has written on religion, the philosophy of it and sundry developments of it, in an able manner, as well as lectured on it in Edinburgh in connection with the Gifford trust, on which occasion he was bold enough to overstep the limits respected by previous lecturers between natural and revealed religion, to the inclusion of the latter within his range; _b_. 1830.

PFORZHEIM (29), manufacturing town in Baden, in the N. of the Black Forest; manufactures gold and silver ornaments, and has chemical and other factories.

PHaeDRUS, a Latin fabulist, of the age of Augustus, born in Macedonia, and settled in Rome; originally a slave, was manumitted by Augustus; his fables, 97 in number, were written in verse, and are mostly translations from aesop, the best of them such as keep closely to the original.

PHAeTHON (i. e. the s.h.i.+ning one, and so called from his father), the son of HELIOS (q. v.); persuaded his father to allow him for one day to drive the chariot of the sun across the heavens, but was too weak to check the horses, so that they rushed off their wonted track and nearly set the world on fire, whereupon Zeus transfixed him with a thunderbolt, metamorphosed his sisters who had yoked the horses for him into poplars and their tears into amber.

PHALANSTERY, a body of people living together on the Communistic principle of Fourier; also the building they occupy.

PHALANX, among the Greeks a body of heavy infantry armed with long spears and short swords, standing in line close behind one another, generally 8 men deep, the Macedonian being as much as 16; its movements were too heavy, and it was dashed in pieces before the legions of Rome to its extinction; it was superseded by the Roman legion.

PHALARIS, a tyrant of Agrigentum, in Sicily, in the 6th century, who is said, among other cruelties, to have roasted the victims of his tyranny in a brazen bull which bears his name; the "Letters of Phalaris,"

at one time ascribed to him, have been proved to be spurious.

PHALLUS, a symbol of the generative power of nature, being a representation of the male organ of generation, and a.s.sociated with rites and ceremonies of nature-wors.h.i.+p in the early stages of civilised life, and the wors.h.i.+p of which was supposed to have a magic influence in inducing fertility among the flocks and herds, as well as in the soil of the earth.

PHARAMOND, a Knight of the Round Table, and the reputed first king of the Franks.

PHARAOH, a name, now proper, now common, given in the Old Testament to the kings of Egypt, identified with that of the sun-G.o.d Phra, and applied to the king as his representative on earth; some 10 of the name occur in the Bible, and it is matter of difficulty often to distinguish one from another.

PHARISEES (i. e. Separatists), a sect of the Jews who adopted or received this name because of the att.i.tude of isolation from the rest of the nation which they were compelled to a.s.sume at the time of their origin. This was some time between the years 165 and 105 B.C., on their discovery that the later Maccabaean chiefs were aiming at more than religious liberty, and in their own interests contemplating the erection of a worldly kingdom that would be the death of the theocratic, which it was the purpose of Providence they should establish; this was the separate ground which they at first a.s.sumed alone, but they in the end carried the great body of the nation along with them. They were scrupulously exact in their interpretation and observance of the Jewish law as the rule to regulate the life of the Jewish community in every department, and were the representatives of that legal tendency which gave character to the development of Judaism proper during the period which elapsed between the date of the Captivity and the advent of Christianity. The law they observed, however, was not the written law as it stood, but that law as expounded by the oral law of the Scribes, as the sole key to its interpretation, so that their att.i.tude to the Law of Moses was pretty much the same as that of the Roman Catholics and the High Churchmen in relation to the Scriptures generally, and they were thus at length the representatives of clericalism as well as legalism in the Jewish Church, and in doing so they took their ground upon a principle which is the distinctive article of orthodox Judaism in the matter to the present day. In the days of Christ they stood in marked opposition to the SADDUCEES (q. v.) both in their dogmatic views and their political principles. As against them, on the dogmatic side, they believed in a spiritual world and in an established moral order, and on the political their rule was to abstain from politics, except in so far as they might injuriously affect the life and interests of the nation; but at that time they had degenerated into mere formalists, whose religion was a conspicuous hypocrisy, and it was on this account and their pretensions to superior sanct.i.ty that they incurred the indignation and exposed themselves to the condemnation of Christ.

PHAROS, an island of ancient Egypt, near Alexandria, on which the first lighthouse was erected by Ptolemy Philadelphus in 48 B.C.

PHARSALIA, a district in the N. of Greece, the southern portion of the modern province of Larissa; was the scene of Caesar's victory over Pompey, 48 B.C.

PHELPS, ELIZABETH STUART, American auth.o.r.ess, born at Andover; wrote "Gates Ajar" and other popular stories, is a great advocate, by lecturing and otherwise, for social reform and the emanc.i.p.ation of women; _b_.

1844.

PHELPS, SAMUEL, an English actor, born in Devonport; made his _debut_ as Shylock in London at the Haymarket in 1837, achieved his greatest successes in Sadler's Wells by his representation of Shakespeare's plays and the works of eminent dramatists of the 18th century; was distinguished in comedy as well as tragedy, in which last he primarily appeared and established his fame (1804-1878).

PHERECYDES, an ancient Greek philosopher, born in Syros in 6th century B.C.; distinguished as having had Pythagoras among his pupils, and believed to have been the author of many of the doctrines promulgated by his disciple and named Pythagorean.

PHIDIAS, the greatest sculptor and statuary of ancient Greece, born at Athens; flourished in the time of Pericles, and was appointed by him to direct the works of art projected to the beautifying of the city, and expressly commissioned to execute certain of these works himself; the chief work that he superintended was the erection of the Parthenon, much of which he himself adorned; and of the statues he executed the most famous were one of Athena of ivory and gold for the Parthenon, and a colossal one of Zeus, his masterpiece, also of ivory and gold, for Olympia; accused of having appropriated some of the gold intended for the statue of Athena he was acquitted, but was afterwards charged with impiety for carving his own likeness and that of Pericles on the s.h.i.+eld of the G.o.ddess, and was thrown into prison, where he died, 432 B.C.

PHILADELPHIA (1,293), largest city in Pennsylvania, on the Delaware, 100 m. from the sea and 90 m. by rail SW. of New York; is the third city in the Union in population, manufactures, and commerce, regularly built with plain substantial dwelling-houses; recently more splendid public buildings have been erected, the town-hall, of white marble, is the second highest structure in the world; a masonic temple and Government offices of granite and the Mint are also fine buildings; there is a university and colleges of science, medicine, art, and music, many churches, a Roman Catholic cathedral, and many hospitals and charitable inst.i.tutions; the industries include locomotive building, saw-making, woollen and cotton goods, sugar and oil refining, and chemical works; it trades largely in coal. Founded by William Penn in 1682, it was the central point of the War of Independence; the first Congress met here, and the Declaration of Independence was signed (1776) in a building still standing; here too the Federal Union was signed (1778) and the const.i.tution drawn up (1787), and from 1790 to 1800 it was the capital of the United States.

PHILADOR, FRANcOIS ANDRe, a celebrated composer and chess-player, born at Dreux; wrote a number of operas; in regard to chess his great maxim was "p.a.w.ns are the soul of chess"; fled at the time of the Revolution to London, where he died (1726-1795).

PHILae, an island of syenite stone in the Nile, near a.s.souan, in Nubia, 1200 ft. long and 50 ft. broad; is almost covered with ancient buildings of great beauty, among which is a temple of Isis, with a great gateway dating from 361 B.C., which was converted into a church in 577.

PHILATORY, a transparent reliquary to contain and exhibit the bones and relics of saints.

PHILEMON, EPISTLE TO, a short letter by Paul to a member of the Church at Colossae on behalf of a slave, Onesimus, who had deserted his service, gone off with some of his property, and taken refuge in Rome, but had been converted to Christ, and whom he begs not to manumit, but simply to receive back as a brother for his sake.

PHILEMON AND BAUCIS, in the Greek mythology a pair of poor people who, in fond attachment to each other, lived in a small cottage in Phrygia by themselves and gave hospitality to G.o.ds in disguise when every other door was shut against them, and to whom, in the judgment that descended upon their inhospitable neighbours, the G.o.ds were propitious, and did honour by appointing them to priesthood, when they would rather have been servants, in a temple metamorphosed out of their cottage. Here they continued to minister to old age, and had but one prayer for themselves, that they might in the end die together; when as they sat at the door of the temple one day, bent with years, they were changed, he into an oak and she into a linden. This is Ovid's version of the story, to which he adds as the moral of it, "Those who piously honour the G.o.ds are themselves held in honour."

PHILIP, an Indian chief whose father had been a staunch friend of the Pilgrim settlers, was himself friendly to the colonists, till in 1671 their encroachments provoked him to retaliation; after six years'

fighting, in which many colonists perished and great ma.s.sacres of Indians took place, he was defeated and slain, 1676.

PHILIP OF MACEDON, the father of Alexander the Great, usurped the kingdom from the infant king Amyntas, his nephew and ward, in 360 B.C.; having secured his throne, he entered on a series of aggressive wars, making expeditions into Thrace and Thessaly; the siege of Olynthus brought him into conflict with Athens, the two cities being allies, and occasioned some of the most brilliant orations of Demosthenes; the successive appeals for his aid against their enemies by the Thebans and the Argives led him into Greece and into the Peloponnesus; in 339 B.C. a council of Greek cities appointed him commander-in-chief of their leagued forces in a projected war against the Locrians, but the Athenians and Thebans opposed his coming; the defeat of their armies at Chaeronea, 338 B.C., placed all Greece at his feet; his next project was an expedition against Persia, but while preparations were on foot he was a.s.sa.s.sinated at aegae; a man of unbridled l.u.s.t, he was an astute and unscrupulous politician, but of incomparable eloquence, energy, and military skill (382-336 B.C.).

PHILIP II., Philip-Augustus, king of France, shared the throne with his father, Louis VII., from 1179, and succeeded him as sole ruler in 1180; marrying Isabella of Hainault, he united the Capet and Carlovingian houses; his grand aim was to secure to himself some of the English possessions in France; his alliance with Richard of England in the third crusade ended in a quarrel; returning to France he broke his oath to Richard by bargaining with John for portions of the coveted territory; an exhausting war lasted till 1119; on Richard's death Philip supported Arthur against John in his claim to Anjou, Maine, and Touraine; after Arthur's murder, the capture of Chateau Gaillard in 1204 gave him possession of these three provinces with Normandy and part of Poitou; the victory of Bouvines 1214 secured his throne, and the rest of his reign was spent in internal reforms and the beautifying of Paris (1165-1223).

PHILIP IV., the Fair, king of France, succeeded his father Philip III. in 1285; by his marriage with Joanna of Navarre added Navarre, Champagne, and Brie to his realm; but the st.u.r.dy valour of the Flemish burghers at Courtrai on the "Day of Spurs" prevented the annexation of Flanders; his fame rests on his struggle and victory over the papal power; a tax on the clergy was condemned by Boniface VIII. in 1296; supported by his n.o.bles and burghers Philip burnt the papal bull, imprisoned the legate, and his amba.s.sador in Rome imprisoned the Pope himself; Boniface died soon after, and in 1305 Philip made Clement V.