Ninyas, a son of Ninus and Semiramis, king of Assyria, who succeeded his mother, who had voluntarily abdicated the crown. Some suppose that Semiramis was put to death by her own son, because she had encouraged him to commit incest. The reign of Ninyas is remarkable for its luxury and extravagance. The prince left the care of the government to his favourites and ministers, and gave himself up to pleasure, riot, and debauchery, and never appeared in public. His successors imitated the example of his voluptuousness, and therefore their names or history are little known till the age of Sardanapalus. Justin, bk. 1, ch. 2.—Diodorus, bk. 1, &c.
Niŏbe, a daughter of Tantalus king of Lydia by Euryanassa or Dione. She married Amphion the son of Jasus, by whom she had 10 sons and 10 daughters according to Hesiod, or two sons and three daughters according to Herodotus. Homer and Propertius say that she had six daughters and as many sons, and Ovid, Apollodorus, &c., according to the more received opinion, support that she had seven sons and seven daughters. The names of the sons were Sipylus, Minytus, Tantalus, Agenor, Phædimus, Damasichthon, and Ismenus; and those of the daughters, Cleodoxa, Ethodæa or Thera, Astyoche, Phthia, Pelopia or Chloris, Asticratea, and Ogygia. The number of her children increased the pride of Niobe, and she not only had the imprudence to prefer herself to Latona, who had only two children, but she even insulted her, and ridiculed the worship which was paid to her, observing that she had a better claim to altars and sacrifices than the mother of Apollo and Diana. This insolence provoked Latona, who entreated her children to punish the arrogant Niobe. Her prayers were heard, and immediately all the sons of Niobe expired by the darts of Apollo, and all the daughters except Chloris, who had married Neleus king of Polos, were equally destroyed by Diana; and Niobe, struck at the suddenness of her misfortunes, was changed into a stone. The carcases of Niobe’s children, according to Homer, were left unburied in the plains for nine successive days, because Jupiter changed into stones all such as attempted to inter them. On the tenth day they were honoured with a funeral by the gods. Homer, Iliad, bk. 24.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 12, ch. 36.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, fable 5.—Hyginus, fable 9.—Horace, bk. 4, ode 6.—Propertius, bk. 2, poem 6.——A daughter of Phoroneus king of Peloponnesus by Laodice. She was beloved by Jupiter, by whom she had a son called Argus, who gave his name to Argia or Argolis, a country of Peloponnesus. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 22.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 1; bk. 3, ch. 8.
Niphæus, a man killed by horses, &c. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 570.
Niphātes, a mountain of Asia, which divides Armenia from Assyria, and from which the Tigris takes its rise. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 3, li. 30.—Strabo, bk. 11.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 15.——A river of Armenia, falling into the Tigris. Horace, bk. 2, ode 9, li. 20.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 245.
Niphe, one of Diana’s companions. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3, li. 245.
Nireus, a king of Naxos, son of Charops and Aglaia, celebrated for his beauty. He was one of the Grecian chiefs during the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.—Horace, bk. 2, ode 20.
Nisa, a town of Greece. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.——A country-woman. Virgil, Eclogues, poem 8.——A place. See: [Nysa].——A celebrated plain of Media near the Caspian sea, famous for its horses. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 106.
Nisæa, a naval station on the coasts of Megaris. Strabo, bk. 8.——A town of Parthia, called also Nisa.
Nisæe, a sea-nymph. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 826.
Niseia. See: [Nisus].