XIPHONIa.
 

ZALE JOUS
 

peror Michael VII. Ducas, \v._o reigned from

A.D. 1071 to 1078.  The work is executed with

carelessness, and is only of value as preserving

the main facts of the original, the  greater part

of which is lost.  It is printed along with Dion

Cassius.

  Xiphonia (Stfavta :  now Capo di S. Croce), a

  omontory on the eastern coast of Sicily, above

Syracuse,  with a harbor (Bi<j>dvetog Xtpijv).

  Xo'is  or Choi's (Sbtg, Song, Xdig), an ancient

city of Lower Egypt, north of Leontopolis,  on

an island of the Nile, in the Nomos Sebennyti-

cus, the seat, at one time, of a dynasty of Egyp¬

tian kings.  It appears to have entirely perished

under the Roman empire, and its site is very

doubtful.  Some identify it with the Papremis

of Herodotus.

  Xuthus (SotBog), son of Hellen by the nymph

Orseis, and a brother of Dorus and iEolus.  He

was king of Peloponnesus, and the husband  of

Creusa, the daughter of Erechtheus, by whom he

became the father of Achaeus and Ion.   Others

state that  after the death of his father Hellen,

Xuthus  was  expelled from Thessaly  by  his

brothers, and went to Athens, where he mar¬

ried the daughter  of Erechtheus.  After  the

death of Erechtheus, Xuthus, being chosen ar¬

bitrator, adjudged the kingdom to his eldest

brother-in-law Cecrops, in consequence of which

he was  expelled by the other sons of Erech¬

theus, and settled in iEgialus in Peloponnesus.

  Xyline, a town of Pisidia, between Corbasa

and Termessus,  mentioned by Livy (xxxviii.,

15).

  Xyota or XynLe (Svvla : Svvievg: now Tau-

kli), a town of Thessaly, in the district of Phthi¬

otis, east ofthe lake ofthe same name (b Bvvidg

"upvn : now Nizero or Dereli).

  Xypete  (Sviriry: Bvireraidv, Bvireredv, Bvirc-

latavevg, Bvirerevg, Bvirirwg), said to have been

anciently called Troja, a demus of Attica  be¬

longing  to the tribe Cecropis, near Piraeus.



                    Z.

  Zabatus (ZdBarog).  Vid. Lycus, No. 5.

  [Zabdioene, a district in Mesopotamia,  in

whieh was a city named Zabda or  Bezabda.]

  Zabe  (ZdSrj), a name applied, under the later

emperors,  to the southern part of Numidia, as

far as the  border of the Great Desert.

   [Zabus, a river of Assyria, called by the Mac¬

edonians Caprus.  Vid. Caprus.]

   Zacynthus (ZdnvvBog:  ZaKvvBiog, Zacynthi-

us: now Zante), an island in  the Ionian Sea,

off the  coast of Elis,  about forty miles in cir¬

cumference.   It contained a large  and flourish¬

ing town  of the same name upon the eastern

coast, the citadel of which was called Psophis.

There are two considerable chains  of mount¬

ains in the island.   The ancient writers men¬

tion Mount Elatus, which is probably the same

fis the modern Scopo in the southeast of the isl¬

and, and which rises to the height of one thou¬

sand five  hundred and nine feet.  Zacynthus

was celebrated in antiquity for its pitch wells,

which were  visited  by Herodotus,  and which

still supply a large quantity of bitumen.  About

one hundred tons of bitumen are at the present

day annually extracted from these wells.  Za¬

cynthus was inhabited by a Greek population at
 

an early period.  It is said to have derived its

name from Zacytahus, a son of Dardanus, who

colonized the ishud from Psophis in Arcadia;

and, according to an ancient tradition, the Za-

cynthians  founded the town  of Saguntum  in

Spain. Vid. Saguntum.  The island is frequent¬

ly mentioned by Homer, who speaks of it as the

"woody Zacynthus."   It was afterward colo

nized by Aehaeans from Peloponnesus.  It form¬

ed part of the maritime empire of Athens, and

continued  faithful to the Athenians during the

Peloponnesian war. At a later time it was sub¬

ject to the Macedonian monarchs, and on the

conquest of Macedonia by the Romans passed

into the hands of the latter.   It is now one  of

the Ionian islands under the protection of Great

Britain.

  Zadracarta (ZabpaKapra), one ofthe capita]

cities and royal residences in Hyrcania,  lay at

the  northern foot  of the  chief pass  through

Mount Coronus.  (Compare Tap^h.)

  Zageeus (Zaypevg), a surname of the mystic

Dionysus  (Aibvvaog xBbviog),  whom Zeus (Ju¬

piter), in the form of a dragon, is said to have

begotten by Persephone (Proserpina), before

she was carried off by Pluto.   He  was torn to

pieces by  the  Titans; and Athena (Minerva)

carried his heart to Zeus (Jupiter).

  Zagros or -us (b Zdypog and to Zdyptov bpog,

now Mountains of Kurdistan and Louristan), the

general name for the range of mountains form¬

ing the southeastern continuation of the Tau¬

rus, and the eastern margin  of the Tigris and

Euphrates  valley, from  the southwestern side

of the Lake Arsissa (now  Van) in Armenia, to

the northeastern side of the  head  of the Per¬

sian Gulf,  and dividing Media from Assyria anc!

Susiana.   More specifically, the name Zagros

was applied to the central part of the chain, the

northern part being called the mountains  ofthe

Cordueni  or Gordyiei, and the  southern part

Parachoathras.

  Zaitha  or Zautha (ZavBd), a town of Meso¬

potamia, on the eastern bank  of the Euphrates,

twenty Roman miles south of Circesium, re¬

markable  as the place at  which a monument

was erected to the murdered Emperor Gordian

by his soldiers.

  Zaleucus (ZdXevKog), the celebrated lawgiver

of the Epizephyrian Locrians, is said  by some

to have been originally a slave, but  is described

by others  as a man of good family.  He could

not, however, have been a disciple  of Pythago¬

ras, as some writers  state, since he lived up¬

ward of one hundred years before Pythagoras

The date  of the legislation of Zaleucus is as¬

signed to B.C. 660.   His code is stated to have

been the first collection of written laws that the

Greeks possessed.  The general character  of

his laws was severe; but they were observed

for a long period by the Locrians, who obtained,

in consequence, a high reputation for  legal  or¬

der.  Among other enactments, we  are told that

the penalty of adultery was the loss of the eyes.

There is a celebrated story of the son of Zaleu-

3us having become liable to  this penalty, and

 Ihe  father  himself suffering the loss of one eye

that his son might not be utterly blinded.  It is

further related that  among his  laws was one

forbidding any citizen, under penalty of death, to

enter the  senate house in arms.  On one occa

                               94ft