Mythecus, a sophist of Syracuse. He studied cookery, and when he thought himself sufficiently skilled in dressing meat, he went to Sparta, where he gained much practice, especially among the younger citizens. He was soon after expelled the city by the magistrates, who observed that the aid of Mythecus was unnecessary, as hunger was the best seasoning.
My̆tilēne. See: [Mitylene].
Myus (Myuntis), a town of Ionia on the confines of Caria, founded by a Grecian colony. It is one of the 12 capital cities of Ionia, situate at the distance of about 30 stadia from the mouth of the Mæander. Artaxerxes king of Persia gave it to Themistocles to maintain him in meat. Magnesia was to support him in bread, and Lampsacus in wine. Cornelius Nepos, Themistocles.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 142.—Diodorus, bk. 11.
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Nabazanes, an officer of Darius III., at the battle of Issus. He conspired with Bessus to murder his royal master, either to obtain the favour of Alexander or to seize the kingdom. He was pardoned by Alexander. Curtius, bk. 3, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 17.
Năbăthæa, a country of Arabia, of which the capital was called Petra. The word is often applied to any of the eastern countries of the world by the poets, and seems to be derived from Nabath the son of Ishmael. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 61; bk. 5, li. 163.—Strabo, bk. 16.—Lucan, bk. 4, li. 63.—Juvenal, satire 11, li. 126.—Seneca, Hercules Œtaeus, li. 160, &c.
Nābis, a celebrated tyrant of Lacedæmon, who in all acts of cruelty and oppression surpassed a Phalaris or a Dionysius. His house was filled with flatterers and with spies, who were continually employed in watching the words and the actions of his subjects. When he had exercised every art in plundering the citizens of Sparta, he made a statue, which in resemblance was like his wife, and was clothed in the most magnificent apparel, and whenever any one refused to deliver up his riches, the tyrant led him to the statue, which immediately, by means of secret springs, seized him in its arms, and tormented him in the most excruciating manner with bearded points and prickles, hid under the clothes. To render his tyranny more popular, Nabis made an alliance with Flaminius the Roman general, and pursued with the most inveterate enmity the war which he had undertaken against the Achæans. He besieged Gythium and defeated Philopœmen in a naval battle. His triumph was short; the general of the Achæans soon repaired his losses, and Nabis was defeated in an engagement, and treacherously murdered, as he attempted to save his life by flight, B.C. 192, after a usurpation of 14 years. Polybius, bk. 13.—Justin, bks. 30 & 31.—Plutarch, Philopœmen.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 8.—Florus, bk. 2, ch. 7.——A priest of Jupiter Ammon, killed in the second Punic war, as he fought against the Romans. Silius Italicus, bk. 15, li. 672.
Nabonassar, a king of Babylon, after the division of the Assyrian monarchy. From him the Nabonassarean epoch received its name, agreeing with the year of the world 3237, or 746 B.C.
Nacri campi, a place of Gallia Togata near Mutina. Livy, bk. 41, ch. 18.