Rhodogȳne, a daughter of Phraates king of Parthia, who married Demetrius, when he was in banishment at her father’s court. Polyænus, bk. 8.
Rhŏdŏpe, or Rhodōpis, a celebrated courtesan of Greece, who was fellow-servant with Æsop, at the court of a king of Samos. She was carried to Egypt by Xanthus, and her liberty was at last bought by Charaxes of Mitylene, the brother of Sappho, who was enamoured of her, and who married her. She sold her favours at Naucratis, where she collected so much money, that, to render her name immortal, she consecrated a number of spits in the temple of Apollo at Delphi; or, according to others, erected one of the pyramids of Egypt. Ælian says that, as Rhodope was one day bathing herself, an eagle carried away one of her sandals, and dropped it near Psammetichus king of Egypt, at Memphis. The monarch was struck with the beauty of the sandal, strict inquiry was made to find the owner, and Rhodope, when discovered, married Psammetichus. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 134, &c.—Ovid, Heroides, poem 15.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 13, ch. 33. Perizonius supposes there were two persons of that name.
Rhŏdŏpe, a high mountain of Thrace, extending as far as the Euxine sea, all across the country, nearly in an eastern direction. Rhodope, according to the poets, was the wife of Hæmus king of Thrace, who was changed into this mountain, because she preferred herself to Juno in beauty. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, li. 87, &c.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 8; Georgics, bk. 3, li. 351.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Silius Italicus, bk. 2, li. 73.—Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus.
Rhodopēius, is used in the same signification as Thracian, because Rhodope was a mountain of that country. Ovid, Ars Amatoria, bk. 3, li. 321; Heroides, poem 2.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 461.
Rhodunia, the top of mount Œta. Livy, bk. 36, ch. 16.
Rhodus, a celebrated island in the Carpathian sea, 120 miles in circumference, at the south of Caria, from which it is distant about 20 miles. Its principal cities were Rhodes, founded about 408 years before the christian era, Lindus, Camisus, Jalysus. Rhodes was famous for the siege which it supported against Demetrius, and for a celebrated statue of Apollo. See: [Colossus]. The Rhodians were originally governed by kings, and were independent, but this government was at last exchanged for a democracy and an aristocracy. They were naturally given up to commerce, and, during many ages, they were the most powerful nation by sea. Their authority was respected, and their laws were so universally approved, that every country made use of them to decide disputes concerning maritime affairs, and they were at last adopted by other commercial nations, and introduced into the Roman codes, from whence they have been extracted to form the basis of the maritime regulations of modern Europe. When Alexander made himself master of Asia, the Rhodians lost their independence, but they soon after asserted their natural privileges under his cruel successors, and continued to hold that influence among nations to which their maritime power and consequence entitled them. They assisted Pompey against Cæsar, and were defeated by Cassius, and became dependent upon the Romans. The island of Rhodes has been known by the several names of Ophiusa, Stadia, Telchinus, Corymbia, Trinacria, Æthrea, Asteria, Poessa, Atabyria, Oloessa, Marcia, and Pelagia. It received the name of Rhodes, either on account of Rhode, a beautiful nymph who dwelt there, and who was one of the favourites of Apollo, or because roses (ῥοδον) grew in great abundance all over the island. Strabo, bk. 14.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Diodorus, bk. 5.—Pliny, bk. 2, chs. 62 & 87; bk. 5, ch. 31.—Florus, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Pindar, Olympian, poem 7.—Lucan, bk. 8, li. 248.—Cicero, On Pompey’s Command; Brutus, ltr. 13.—Livy, bk. 27, ch. 30; bk. 31, ch. 2.
Rhœbus, a horse of Mezentius, whom his master addressed with the determination to conquer or to die, when he saw his son Lausus brought lifeless from the battle. This beautiful address is copied from Homer, where likewise Achilles addresses his horses. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 861.
Rhœcus, one of the Centaurs who attempted to offer violence to Atalanta. He was killed at the nuptials of Pirithous by Bacchus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 301.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2.——One of the giants killed by Bacchus, under the form of a lion, in the war which these sons of the earth waged against Jupiter and the gods. Horace, bk. 2, ode 19, li. 23.
Rhœo, a nymph beloved by Apollo. Diodorus, bk. 5.
Rhœtēum, or Rhœtus, a promontory of Troas, on the Hellespont, near which the body of Ajax was buried. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, li. 197; bk. 4, Fasti, li. 279.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 505; bk. 12, li. 456.