Rha, a large river, now the Volga, of Russia. A medicinal root which grew on its bank was called Rha barbarum, Rhubarb.
Rhacia, a promontory in the Mediterranean sea, projecting from the Pyrenean mountains.
Rhacius, a Cretan prince, the first of that nation who entered Ionia with a colony. He seized Claros, of which he became the sovereign. He married Manto the daughter of Tiresias, who had been seized on his coasts. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 3.
Rhacōtis, an ancient name of Alexandria the capital of Egypt. Strabo.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 21.
Rhadamanthus, a son of Jupiter and Europa. He was born in Crete, which he abandoned about the 30th year of his age. He passed into some of the Cyclades, where he reigned with so much justice and impartiality, that the ancients have said he became one of the judges of hell, and that he was employed in the infernal regions in obliging the dead to confess their crimes, and in punishing them for their offences. Rhadamanthus reigned not only over some of the Cyclades, but over many of the Greek cities of Asia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 53.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 9, li. 435.—Diodorus, bk. 5.—Plato.—Homer. Iliad, bk. 4, li. 564.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 566.
Rhadamistus, a son of Pharnasmanes king of Iberia. He married Zenobia, the daughter of his uncle Mithridates king of Armenia, and some time after put him to death. He was put to death by his father for his cruelties, about the year 52 of the christian era. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 13, ch. 37.
Rhadius, a son of Neleus.
Rhæteum, a city of Phrygia.
Rhæti, or Ræti, an ancient and warlike nation of Etruria. They were driven from their native country by the Gauls, and went to settle on the other side of the Alps. See: [Rhætia]. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 10.—Justin, bk. 20, ch. 5.
Rhætia, a country at the north of Italy, between the Alps and the Danube, which now forms the territories of the Grisons, of the Tyrol, and part of Italy. It was divided into two parts, Rhætia prima and Rhætia secunda. The first extended from the sources of the Rhine to those of the Licus or Lek, a small river which falls into the Danube. The other, called also Vindelicia, extended from the Licus to another small river called Œnus, or Inn, towards the east. The principal towns of Rhætia were called Curia, Tridentum, Belunum, Feltria. The Rhætians rendered themselves formidable by the frequent invasions which they made upon the Roman empire, and were at last conquered by Drusus the brother of Tiberius, and others under the Roman emperors. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 96.—Strabo, bk. 4.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 20; bk. 14, ch. 2, &c.—Horace, bk. 4, ode 4 & 14.