Medobithyni, a people of Thrace.
Medobriga, a town of Lusitania, now destroyed. Hirtius, ch. 48.
Medon, son of Codrus, the seventeenth and last king of Athens, was the first Archon that was appointed with regal authority, B.C. 1070. In the election Medon was preferred to his brother Neleus, by the oracle of Delphi, and he rendered himself popular by the justice and moderation of his administration. His successors were called from him Medontidæ, and the office of archon remained for above 200 years in the family of Codrus under 12 perpetual archons. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 2.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 2.——A man killed in the Trojan war. Æneas saw him in the infernal regions. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 483.——A statuary of Lacedæmon, who made a famous statue of Minerva, seen in the temple of Juno at Olympia. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 17.——One of the Centaurs, &c. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 303.——One of the Tyrrhene sailors changed into dolphins by Bacchus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3, li. 671.——A river of Peloponnesus.——An illegitimate son of Ajax Oileus. Homer.——One of Penelope’s suitors. Ovid, Heroides, poem 1.——A man of Cyzicus, killed by the Argonauts.——A king of Argos, who died about 990 years B.C.——A son of Pylades by Electra. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 16.
Medontias, a woman of Abydos, with whom Alcibiades cohabited as with a wife. She had a daughter, &c. Lysias.
Meduacus, two rivers (Major, now Brenta, and Minor, now Bachilione), falling, near Venice, into the Adriatic sea. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 16.—Livy, bk. 10, ch. 2.
Meduana, a river of Gaul, flowing into the Ligeris, now the Mayne. Lucan, bk. 1, li. 438.
Medullīna, a Roman virgin ravished by her father, &c. Plutarch, Parallela minora.——An infamous courtesan in Juvenal’s age, satire 6, li. 321.
Medus, now Kur, a river of Media, falling into the Araxes. Some take Medus adjectively, as applying to any of the great rivers of Media. Strabo, bk. 15.—Horace, bk. 2, ode 9, li. 21.——A son of Ægeus and Medea, who gave his name to a country of Asia. Medus, when arrived to years of maturity, went to seek his mother, whom the arrival of Theseus in Athens had driven away. See: [Medea]. He came to Colchis, where he was seized by his uncle Perses, who usurped the throne of Æetes, his mother’s father, because the oracle had declared that Perses should be murdered by one of the grandsons of Æetes. Medus assumed another name, and called himself Hippotes son of Creon. Meanwhile Medea arrived in Colchis, disguised in the habit of a priestess of Diana, and when she heard that one of Creon’s children was imprisoned, she resolved to hasten the destruction of a person whose family she detested. To effect this with more certainty, she told the usurper that Hippotes was really a son of Medea, sent by his mother to murder him. She begged Perses to give her Hippotes, that she might sacrifice him to her resentment. Perses consented. Medea discovered that it was her own son, and she instantly armed him with the dagger which she had prepared against his life, and ordered him to stab the usurper. He obeyed, and Medea discovered who he was, and made her son Medus sit on his grandfather’s throne. Hesiod, Theogony.—Pausanias, bk. 2.—Apollodorus, bk. 1.—Justin, bk. 42.—Seneca, Medea.—Diodorus.
Medūsa, one of the three Gorgons, daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. She was the only one of the Gorgons who was subject to mortality. She is celebrated for her personal charms and the beauty of her locks. Neptune became enamoured of her, and obtained her favours in the temple of Minerva. This violation of the sanctity of the temple provoked Minerva, and she changed the beautiful locks of Medusa, which had inspired Neptune’s love, into serpents. According to Apollodorus and others, Medusa and her sisters came into the world with snakes on their heads, instead of hair, with yellow wings and brazen hands. Their bodies were also covered with impenetrable scales, and their very looks had the power of killing or turning to stones. Perseus rendered his name immortal by his conquest of Medusa. He cut off her head, and the blood that dropped from the wound produced the innumerable serpents that infest Africa. The conqueror placed Medusa’s head on the ægis of Minerva, which he had used in his expedition. The head still retained the same petrifying power as before, as it was fatally known in the court of Cepheus. See: [Andromeda]. Some suppose that the Gorgons were a nation of women, whom Perseus conquered. See: [Gorgones]. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Hesiod, Theogony.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 618.—Lucan, bk. 9, li. 624.—Apollonius, bk. 4.—Hyginus fable 151.——A daughter of Priam.——A daughter of Sthenelus. Apollodorus.
Megabizi, certain priests in Diana’s temple at Ephesus. They were all eunuchs. Quintilian, bk. 5, ch. 12.