OXIANI.
 

PACHYMERES, GEORGIU&.
 

  Oxiani ( Qgiavol, Ovtjiavoi), a people of Sog-

mana, on the north of the Oxus.

  Oxii Montes (to "U^eia, or Ovgeia, opij: now

probably  Ak-tagh), a range of mountains  be¬

tween the Rivers Oxus and Jaxartes;  the north¬

ern boundary of Sogdiana toward Scythia.

  Oxus or Oaxus ("Ofoc, "Qfoc : now Jihoun or

Amou), a great river of Central Asia, rose,  ac¬

cording to some of the ancient geographers, on

the northern side ofthe Paropamisus Mountains

(nowHindoo-Koosh), and, according to others, in

 he Emodi  Mountains, and flowed northwest,

forming the boundary between Sogdiana on  the

north, and Bactria and Margiana on the south,

and then, skirting the north of Hyrcania, it  fell

into the Caspian.   The Jihoun now flows into the

southwestern corner of the Sea  of Aral;  but

there are still  distinct traces of a channel  ex¬

tending in  a southwestern direction from  the

Sea of Aral to  the Caspian,  by which at least a

portion, and probably the whole, of the waters

of the Oxus found their way into the Caspian ;

and very probably the Sea of Aral itself was

connected with the Caspian by this channel.

The ancient geographers mention, as important

tributaries of the Oxus,  the Ochus,  the  Mar¬

gus, and the Bactrus,  which are now inter¬

cepted by the sands of the Desert.  The Oxus

is  a broad and rapid river, navigable through a

considerable portion of its course.  It formed,

m  ancient times,  a channel of commercial in¬

tercourse between  India and  Western  Asia,

goods  being brought down it to the Caspian,

and thence up the Cyrus and across Armenia

into Asia Minor.   It occupies also an important

place in history, having been in nearly all ages

the extreme boundary between the great mon¬

archies of Southwestern Asia  and the hordes

which wander over the central steppes.  Cyrus

and Alexander both crossed it; but the former

effected no permanent conquests on its north¬

ern side; and the conquests of the latter in

Sogdiana, though for a  time preserved under

the Bactrian kings, were always  regarded as

lying beyond the  limits of the civilized world,

and were lost at  the fall of the Bactrian king¬

dom.   Herodotus does not mention the Oxus

by name, but it is supposed to be the river

which he calls Araxes.

   [Oxyaetes  (OZvdprng), or Oxartes ('Oftip-

riig), a Bactrian, father of Roxana, the wife of

Alexander the Great.  He was one ofthe chiefs

who accompanied Bessus into Sogdiana.  After

the death of Bessus, he  deposited his wife  and

daughters for safety in a rock fortress in Sog¬

diana, which  was  deemed impregnable,  but

which soon fell into the hands of Alexander.

After  the espousal of Alexander to Roxana,

 Oxyartes made his submission, and was treated

 »ith distinction by the conqueror, and was ap¬

 pointed satrap of the province of Paropamisus,

 or India  south of the Caucasus, which he con¬

 tinued to hold after the death of Alexander, and

 probably to the period of his own death some

 fears subsequently.]

   Oxybii,  a Ligurian people on the coast cf

 Gallia Narbonensis, west of the Alps, and be¬

 tween the  Flumen Argenteum (now Argens)

 and Antipolis (now Antibes). They were neigh-

 »ors of the Salluvii and Deciates.

   Ocvdracs:  ('O^vSpaKai), a war ike people of

         538
 

India intra Gangem, in the Punjab, between th*

Rivers Hydaspes (now Jhelum) and Aeesines

(now Chenab), in whose capital Alexander was

wounded.  They called themselves descend

ants of Bacchus (Dionysus).

  Oxylds COfyXog), the leader ofthe Heraclidae

in their invasion of Peloponnesus, and subse

quently king of Elis.  Vid. p 354, b.

  [Oxyntas (O&vrag), son  of Jugurtha, waa

led captive, together with his father, before the

triumphal car of Marius, B C. 104 ; but his life

was spared, and he was placed in custody  at

Venusia, where he remained till B.C. 90, when

he was adorned with the insignia of royalty,  to

gather around him the Numidians in the service

of the Roman general L. Caesar.   The  device

proved successful,  but the subsequent fate of

Oxyntas is unknown ]

  Oxyrhynchus ('Oljvpvyxog : ruins at  Bchne-

sch), a city of Middle Egypt, on  the western

bank of the canal which runs parallel to the

Nile on its western side (now Bohr Yussuf).  It

was the  capital  of the Nomos  Oxyrhynchites,

and the chief seat  of the  worship of the fish

called oxyrynchus.

  [Ozene ('OQnvb, now Uzen or Ougein), in the

time of Ptolemy the capital ofthe kingdom La-

rica, in India intra Gangem,  and the residence

of a prince who bore  the  title Tiascanus.  It

carried on an exteasive traffic, exported onyxes,

mynh, and fine cotton stuff, and  supplied the

great commercial  city Barygaza with  all the

necessaries of life.]

  Ozogardana, a city of Mesopotamia,  on the

Euphrates, the people of which preserved a lofty

throne or chair of stone, which they called T'ra-

jan's judgment-seat.
 

  Paoaris.  Vid. Hypaoyeis.

  [Paoaeius Decimbs, procurator of Corsica in

A.D. 69, wished to send assistance to ViteLius,

but was murdered by the inhabitants ]

  Pacatiana.  Vid. Phrygia.

  Paccius or Paccius Antiochus, a physician

about the beginning of the Christian era, who

was a pupil of Philonides of Catana, and lived

probably at Rome.  He made a large fortune by

the sale of a certain medicine of his own inven¬

tion, the composition  of which he kept a pro¬

found secret.   At his death he left his prescrip¬

tion as a legacy to  the Emperor Tiberius, who,

in order to give  it as wide a circulation as pos¬

sible, ordered a copy of it to be placed in all the

public libraries.

   Paches (Hdxnc), an Athenian general :n the

Peloponnesian war, took Mytilene and reduced

Lesbos, B.C. 427.  On his return to Athens he

was brought to trial on some  charge, and, per¬

ceiving his condemnation to  be certain, drew

his sword and stabbed himself in the presence

of his judges.

   Pachymere i, Georgius, an  important Byzan¬

tine writer, was born about A.D. 1242 at Nicaea,

but  spent the greater part of his life at Con¬

stantinople.   He was  a priest, and opposed the

union of the Greek and Latin Oi.jrches.  Pa-

chymeres wrote several  works, the most im¬

portant of which is a Byzantine History, contain

ing an account ofthe emperors Michael Palaao-