Rhamnes, a king and augur, who assisted Turnus against Æneas. He was killed in the night by Nisus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 325.
Rhamnus, a town of Attica, famous for a temple of Amphiaraus, and a statue of the goddess Nemesis, who was from thence called Rhamnusia. This statue was made by Phidias, out of a block of Parian marble, which the Persians intended as a pillar to be erected to commemorate their expected victory over Greece. Pausanias, bk. 1.—Pliny, bk. 36.
Rhamnusia, a name of Nemesis. See: [Rhamnus].
Rhampsinītus, an opulent king of Egypt, who succeeded Proteus. He built a large tower with stones at Memphis, where his riches were deposited, and of which he was robbed by the artifice of the architect, who had left a stone in the wall easily movable, so as to admit a plunderer. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 121, &c.
Rhamses, or Ramises, a powerful king of Egypt, who, with an army of 700,000 men, conquered Æthiopia, Libya, Persia, and other eastern nations. In his reign, according to Pliny, Troy was taken. Some authors consider him to be the same as Sesostris. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 60.—Pliny, bk. 36, ch. 8.
Rhanis, one of Diana’s attendant nymphs. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3.
Rharos, or Rharium, a plain of Attica, where corn was first sown by Triptolemus. It received its name from the sower’s father, who was called Rharos. Pausanias, bk. 1, chs. 14 & 38.
Rhascupŏris, a king of Thrace, who invaded the possessions of Cotys, and was put to death by order of Tiberius, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 64.
Rhea, a daughter of Cœlus and Terra, who married Saturn, by whom she had Vesta, Ceres, Juno, Pluto, Neptune, &c. Her husband, however, devoured them all as soon as born, as he had succeeded to the throne with the solemn promise that he would raise no male children, or, according to others, because he had been informed by an oracle that one of his sons would dethrone him. To stop the cruelty of her husband, Rhea consulted her parents, and was advised to impose upon him, or perhaps to fly into Crete. Accordingly, when she brought forth, the child was immediately concealed, and Saturn devoured up a stone which his wife had given him as her own child. The fears of Saturn were soon proved to be well founded. A year after, the child, whose name was Jupiter, became so strong and powerful, that he drove his father from his throne. Rhea has been confounded by the mythologists with some of the other goddesses, and many have supposed that she was the same divinity that received adoration under the various names of Bona Dea, Cybele, Dindymena, Magna mater, Ceres, Vesta, Titæa, and Terra, Tellus, and Ops. See: [Cybele], [Ceres], [Vesta], &c. Rhea, after the expulsion of her husband from his throne, followed him to Italy, where he established a kingdom. Her benevolence in this part of Europe was so great, that the golden age of Saturn is often called the age of Rhea. Hesiod, Theogony.—Orpheus, Hymns.—Homer, Hymns.—Æschylus, Prometheus Bound.—Euripides, Bacchæ & Electra.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 197.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 1, &c.——Sylvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus. She is also called Ilia. See: [Ilia].——A nymph of Italy, who is said to have borne a son called Aventinus to Hercules. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 659.
Rhebas, or Rhebus, a river of Bithynia, flowing from mount Olympus into the Euxine sea. Flaccus, bk. 7, li. 698.