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and CIot-Bey ii. 38, under cultivation in Egypt for its o i l ; by Sibthorp, Chaubard, and Fraas, in
waste places and sometimes cultivated, from Cyprus to the Peloponnesus ; by Matthioli 771, in
I taly; by Lobel, and J. Bauhin, under cultivation in Southern Europe (A. Dec.) ; by Ray, and Gussone,
naturalized on Sicily ; by Desfontaines ii. 355, and Reuter, in Barbary. Eastward from Japan,
was observed by myself naturalized on the Feejeean Islands, and strings of its seeds used as candles ;
naturalized also from Polynesian introduction on New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands. Farther
East, is called by the Caribs “ lamourou ” (Descourt. i. and ii. pl. 127), their knowledge of the plant
therefore not derived from Europeans ; was observed by E. James seemingly wild at the junction
of the Canadian and Arkansas rivers : but from European introduction is cultivated in our Atlantic
States and along the Ohio.
“ 656 B. C .” (Clint i. p. 194 and 274), Deioces succeeded by Phraortes, second Median emperor:
regarded by Clinton as the “ Arphaxad” of the Book of Judith i. i to 15.
“ 655, Aug. 19th,” in the “ Ninth month in the 22d year of Hoei-wang” (Khoung-tseu, the Li-tai-
ki-sse, and Pauth. 107), eclipse o f the sun.
“ The same y e a r ” ( . . . . Clint.), the Bacchiadm expelled from Corinth; Cypselus establishing
himself there as king.
About this time (Percev. i. 54), Himyar, son of Abdshams and great grandson of Yarob, ruling
Yemen. His brother Cahlan was the progenitor of various Bedouin tribes.
“ 654 B. C.” (Hieronym., and Clint.), on the Northern shore of the Black Sea, the city of Olbia
or Borysthenes founded by Greek colonists.
“ 651 B. C. = 1st year of Siang-wang, o f the T ch eou ” or Fifth dynasty — (Chinese chron. table).
“ 648, Feb. 1 s t ” ( . . . . Blair), the Thoth of this Nabonassar year. “ Having shifted twenty-five
days in one hundred years.”
“ 647 B. C.” ( = 625 + “ 22 years ” of the Astronom. can., and Clint.), Saosduchinus succeeded
by Chinaladanus, as king at Babylon. (The accession of the “ brother of Sammughes ” as Assyrian
king, is placed by Alex. Polyhistor two years later, = 6 0 4 + “ zo + 21,” with “ 21 y e a r s ” only
assigned to his reign ; the two accounts possibly referring to one and the same person).
“ 646 B. C.” ( . . . . Clint.), Argaeus succeeded by Philippus, sixth king of Macedonia.
Not earlier than this date (Graha Munjari tables, Puranas, and Bentley as. res. viii. p. 244),
Bhurisena reigning in Hindustan.
“ 644 B. C .” (Ma-tuan-lin, E. Biot, and Humb. cosm. iv.), the earliest recorded fall of an aerolite
in China.
641 B. C. ( = 694 y. 183/11 d- — “ 55 years ” twelve lunations of 2 K. xxi. i, and 2 Chron.
xxxiii. i) , Manasseh succeeded at Jerusalem by his son Amon, eighteenth Jewish king.
“ 640 B. C .” (Herodot. iv. 152, and Letronne), Colaeus o f Samos on his way to Egypt visiting
Platea. Sailing thence, he was driven by continual adverse winds into the Western portion of the
Mediterranean, and even “ as if led by the divinity ” through the straits into the Atlantic : the Greeks
not for the first time seeing the main ocean (see above, Carians).
639 B. C. ( = 641 y. 51/l-f d. — “ 2 years ” of twelve lunations of 2 K. xxi. 19, and 2 Chron.
xxxiii. zt), at Jerusalem, Amon slain by his servants; and succeeded by his son Josiah, nineteenth
Jewish king.
In this year = “ 26th year of Psammetichus,” death of the Apis or sacred bull that was born in
the “ 26th year of T ah arka” — (Birch).
“ The same y e a r ” (Herodot. iv. 156, and Clint.), first settlement of Greeks on the Lybian or
North African shore. At Platea, under the direction of Battus.
Thapsia silphium of the Lybian Desert. The “ silphion ” plant discovered in the following
year (638 = “ 7 years before the building of Cyrene,” Theophr. . . , and Plin. xix. 15) in the district
around the Greek settlement; — figured on coins of Cyrene, and celebrated among the Greeks for the
medicinal and culinary properties of its concrete juice : imported “ silphion of Cyrene ” is mentioned
by Herodotus iv. 169, Aristophanes, Antiphanes, in the Hippocratic treatise 1 Morb. 4, and by
Nicander, and Strabo xvii. 3 ; was already rare in the days of Scribonius Largus xvi. 67; was known
to Dioscorides iii. 84, the plant now so rare that a stem sent from Cyrene to the emperor Nero was
the only one procured within the remembrance of Pliny xix. 15 : T. silphium was re-discovered in
1818 in its original locality by P. Della Celia, in journeying by land from Tripoli to Egypt. ■
In the same district (Aristot. animal, viii.), there were originally no “ phdnountSs vatrahoi ”
frog s having voice, Rana temporaria ?; — implying therefore, that these animals were after some
years imported by the Greek settlers. The frogs now frequent all over the island of Madeira, I was
assured had been imported by residents.
637 B. C. After “ two years ” stay, Battus and his companions, leaving behind only one man,
returned to Greece. But before the close of “ this year ” (Herodot. iv. 157, and Clint.), second settlement
by the Greeks on the Lybian shore. At Aziris, also under the direction of Battus.
Ni
“ 635 B. C.” (Herodot. iv. 157, and Clint.), in Lydia, the city of Sardis captured by the Cimmerians
; who had again entered Asia Minor.
The same year ( = 6i6 + “ 24 years ” of ten lunations, Sm. b. d.), Tullus Hostilius succeeded by
Ancus Marcius, fourth king of Rome.
Mentha arvensis of Europe and middle Asia. Called in Britain mint, in France “ menthe”
(Nugent), in Germany “ minze ” (Grieb), in Egyptian “ atshinsthoi ” or “ ashinnsthoi ” or “ asinstói”
(transl. n. test.) ; in which we recognize the “ menta” of the early Romans, who deduced the name
from “ mintha,” — commended for its taste and odour by Pliny xix. 47 to xx. 53 “ grato menta mensas
odore percurrit in rusticis dapibus ” agreeably scenting rustic banquets ; mentioned also by Cicero,
and Ovid met. x . . . ; its use in cookery, by Apicius ; its cultivation according to Columella, and Pliny,
renewed from the “ mentastrum ” or “ silvestre ” kind, growing in fallow ground and in the time
of Pompeius found to remove “ elephantiasin ” white scurf on the face : M. arvensis is described by
Lobel adv. p. 217 ; is termed “ m. arvensis verticillata hirsuta ” by Tournefort inst. 189 ; was observed
by Forskal on Malta; is known to grow in fallow ground as far as Denmark (fi. Dan. ph 512, Tlmil.,
A l l , Lam. fl. fr., and Pers.), and is besides cultivated. Eastward, the “ ëthuôsmôn ” enumerated by
Matthew xxiii. 3, and Luke xi. 42 as cultivated in Palestine, by Dioscorides as medicinal and a condiment,
mentioned also in Geopon. xii. 24, may be compared ; M. arvensis was observed by Sestmi
in the environs of Constantinople (Sibth.) ; by Delile, in the gardens of Egypt ; and is known to
grow about Caucasus (Royle). Farther East, is known to grow along the Himalayan mountains as
far as Cashmere (Royle in Kitt. bibl. cycl.) ; was observed by Graham “ in gardens” in the environs
of Bombay ; by Roxburgh, in other parts of Tropical Hindustan. B y European colonists, was carried
to Northeast America, where it continues under cultivation, and according to A. Gray has been
found springing up spontaneously “ Penn, and Ohio, rare, odor like that of decayed cheese.” Is one
of three species enumerated by Lindley as having “ been in repute as stomachics and emmenagogues.”
(See M. aquatica, and M. crispa).
“ 634 B. C.” (Herodot., and C lint), Phraortes slain by the Assyrians; and succeeded by his
son Cyaxares, third Median emperor. Whose siege o f Nineveh was arrested before the close of the
year by Scythians from beyond the Black Sea overrunning Asia Minor. — The Scythians remained
“ twenty-eight ” years, and extended their incursions as far as Palestine.
One hundred and tenth generation. S ep t 1st, 634, mostly beyond youth : the Egyptian priest
Sonchis preceptor of Solon : the Jewish prophets, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk : the Greek poets,
Aristoxenus of Selinus, Lesches of Mytilene, Xanthus, Pisander of Garnira, and Mimnermus.
“ 633 B. C.” ( . . . . Clint.), at the mouth of the Danube, the city of Istrus founded by Milesian
Greeks.
“ 631 B. C.” (Euseb., and C lin t), in Lybia, tire city of Cyrene founded by Greek colonists under
Battus.
Continuing South, the Scythians were dissuaded by Psametik from entering Egypt ; but on their
way back, some of their number plundered the temple of the Uranian Venus in Ascalon, of the deity
called “ A lila t” by the Arabians. This was the oldest temple of Venus known to Herodotus i. 105
to iii. 8, having preceded and given rise to that on Cythera built by the Phoenicians, and the one on
Cyprus. The origin of the Enarean Scythians was attributed to the above-mentioned desecration.
Tilia argentea of Eastern Europe. A linden tree called in Greece “ phlamouria” (Fraas) or
-)‘ lip a ” or “ philôuria ” (Sibth. app.); in which we recognize the “ philuren ” used in divination by
'th e Enarean Scythians, an art according to their account taught them by V en u s— (Plerodot. iv. 67),
furnishing the splints or stays worn by the poet Cinesias, accused by the orator Lysias (Ruel i. 138) ;
the “ philura” is mentioned also by Xenarchus, Aristophanes av. 1378, and Athenaeus xii. 76 to xv.
24 ; by Theophrastus iv. 4. i and caus. i t . 19. 2 as not flourishing in the gardens of Babylon, the
under surface of its leaves whitish, and a “ thêlëia ” kind distinguished : T . argentea was observed
by Sibthorp, and Fraas, on mountains from the Peloponnesus to Constantinople ; by Griesebach
p. 136, in Macedonia; by Waldstein and Kitaibel, in Hungary ; and “ lipa,” one of the above names
current in Greece, is (according to Moritzi and A. Decandolle) Slavonian. Farther South, the
importation into Egypt of timber of “ nafhaur ” or “ tilia ” is enumerated by Forskal p. Ivi. (See T .
Europæa).
“ 630 B. C.,” and “ in the reigns of Psammetichus and C yax a re s” (Strab. xvii. i. 18, and Clint.),
in Egypt, the city of Naucratis founded by Milesian Greeks.
“ 629 B. C.” ( = 678 — “ 49 y e a r s ” of Herodot. i. 16, and Clint.), Ardys succeeded by Sadyattes,
as king of Lydia.
“ 626, Feb. 3d.” In “ spring, on the day Kouei-hai, in the second month in the 26th year of
Siang-wang” (Khoung-tseu, the Li-tai-ki-sse, and Pauth. 107), eclipse o f the sun.
About"this year (Percev. i. 55), Malik, son of Himyar, obtaining possession of Oman, maintained
the independence of the province against his brother Wathil.