Hiempsal, a king of Numidia, &c. See: [Hyempsal]. Plutarch.
Hiera, a woman who married Telephus king of Mysia, and who was said to surpass Helen in beauty.——The mother of Pandarus and Bitias by Alcanor. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 673.——One of the Lipari islands, called also Theresia, now Vulcano. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 11.
Hierapŏlis, a town of Syria, near the Euphrates.——Another of Phrygia, famous for hot baths, now Bambukkalasi.——Another of Crete.
Hiĕrax, a youth who awoke Argus, to inform him that Mercury was stealing Io. Mercury killed him, and changed him into a bird of prey. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 2.——Antiochus, king of Syria and brother to Seleucus, received the surname of Hierax. Justin, bk. 37, ch. 3.——An Egyptian philosopher in the third century.
Hierĭchus (untis), the name of Jericho in the Holy Land, called the city of palm trees, from its abounding in dates. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 14.—Tacitus, Histories, bk. 5, ch. 6.
Hiĕro I., a king of Syracuse, after his brother Gelon, who rendered himself odious in the beginning of his reign by his cruelty and avarice. He made war against Theron the tyrant of Agrigentum, and took Himera. He obtained three different crowns at the Olympic games, two in horse-races, and one at a chariot-race. Pindar has celebrated him as being victorious at Olympia. In the latter part of his reign the conversation of Simonides, Epicharmus, Pindar, &c., softened in some measure the roughness of his morals and the severity of his government, and rendered him the patron of learning, genius, and merit. He died, after a reign of 18 years, B.C. 467, leaving the crown to his brother Thrasybulus, who disgraced himself by his vices and tyranny. Diodorus, bk. 11.——The second of that name, king of Syracuse, was descended from Gelon. He was unanimously elected king by all the states of the island of Sicily, and appointed to carry on the war against the Carthaginians. He joined his enemies in besieging Messana, which had surrendered to the Romans, but he was beaten by Appius Claudius the Roman consul, and obliged to retire to Syracuse, where he was soon blocked up. Seeing all hopes of victory lost, he made peace with the Romans, and proved so faithful to his engagements during the 59 years of his reign, that the Romans never had a more firm or more attached ally. He died in the 94th year of his age, about 225 years B.C. He was universally regretted, and all the Sicilians showed by their lamentations that they had lost a common father and a friend. He liberally patronized the learned, and employed the talents of Archimedes for the good of his country. He wrote a book on agriculture, now lost. He was succeeded by Hieronymus. Ælian, Varia Historia, bks. 4, 8.—Justin, bk. 23, ch. 4.—Florus, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Livy, bk. 16.——An Athenian, intimate with Nicias the general. Plutarch, Nicias.——A Parthian, &c. Tacitus.
Hierocæsarea, a town of Lydia. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 47; bk. 3, ch. 62.
Hierocepia, an island near Paphos in Cyprus.
Hierŏcles, a persecutor of the christians under Diocletian, who pretended to find inconsistencies in Scripture, and preferred the miracles of Thyaneus to those of Christ. His writings were refuted by Lactantius and Eusebius.——A Platonic philosopher, who taught at Alexandria, and wrote a book on providence and fate, fragments of which are preserved by Photius; a commentary on the golden verses of Pythagoras; and facetious moral verses. He flourished A.D. 485. The best edition is that of Asheton and Warren, 8vo, London, 1742.——A general in the interest of Demetrius. Polyænus, bk. 5.——A governor of Bithynia and Alexandria, under Diocletian.——An officer. See: [Heliogabalus].
Hierodūlum, a town of Libya.