Orsippus, a man of Megara, who was prevented from obtaining a prize at the Olympic games, because his clothes were entangled as he ran. This circumstance was the cause that, for the future, all the combatants were obliged to appear naked. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 44.
Marcus Ortalus, a grandson of Hortensius, who was induced to marry by a present from Augustus, who wished that ancient family not to be extinguished. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 37.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Suetonius, Tiberius.
Orthagŏras, a man who wrote a treatise on India, &c. Ælian, de Natura Animalium.——A musician in the age of Epaminondas.——A tyrant of Sicyon, who mingled severity with justice in his government. The sovereign authority remained upwards of 100 years in his family.
Orthæa, a daughter of Hyacinthus. Apollodorus.
Orthe, a town of Magnesia. Pliny.
Orthia, a surname of Diana at Sparta. In her sacrifices it was usual for boys to be whipped. See: [Diamastigosis]. Plutarch, Theseus, &c.
Orthosia, a town of Caria. Livy, bk. 45, ch. 25.——Of Phœnicia. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 20.
Orthrus, or Orthos, a dog which belonged to Geryon, from which and the Chimæra sprung the Sphinx and the Nemæan lion. He had two heads, and was sprung from the union of Echidna and Typhon. He was destroyed by Hercules. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 310.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 5.
Ortōna. See: [Artona].
Ortygia, a grove near Ephesus. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 3, ch. 16.——A small island of Sicily, within the bay of Syracuse, which formed once one of the four quarters of that great city. It was in this island that the celebrated fountain Arethusa arose. Ortygia is now the only part remaining of the once famed Syracuse, about two miles in circumference, and inhabited by 18,000 souls. It has suffered, like the towns on the eastern coast, by the eruptions of Ætna. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 694.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 15, li. 403.——An ancient name of the island of Delos. Some suppose that it received this name from Latona, who fled thither when changed into a quail (ὀρτυξ) by Jupiter, to avoid the pursuit of Juno. Diana was called Ortygia, as being born there; as also Apollo. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 651; Fasti, bk. 5, li. 692.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 124.