Polyperchon, or Polysperchon, one of the officers of Alexander. Antipater, at his death, appointed him governor of the kingdom of Macedonia, in preference to his own son Cassander. Polyperchon, though old, and a man of experience, showed great ignorance in the administration of the government. He became cruel, not only to the Greeks, or such as opposed his ambitious views, but even to the helpless and innocent children and friends of Alexander, to whom he was indebted for his rise and military reputation. He was killed in a battle 309 B.C. Curtius.—Diodorus, bk. 17, &c.—Justin, bk. 13.
Polyphēmus, a celebrated Cyclops, king of all the Cyclops in Sicily, and son of Neptune and Thoosa the daughter of Phorcys. He is represented as a monster of strength, of tall stature, and one eye in the middle of the forehead. He fed upon human flesh, and kept his flocks on the coasts of Sicily, when Ulysses, at his return from the Trojan war, was driven there. The Grecian prince, with 12 of his companions, visited the coast, and were seized by the Cyclops, who confined them in his cave, and daily devoured two of them. Ulysses would have shared the fate of his companions, had he not intoxicated the Cyclops, and put out his eye with a firebrand while he was asleep. Polyphemus was awaked by the sudden pain; he stopped the entrance of his cave, but Ulysses made his escape by creeping between the legs of the rams of the Cyclops, as they were led out to feed on the mountains. Polyphemus became enamoured of Galatæa, but his addresses were disregarded, and the nymph shunned his presence. The Cyclops was more earnest, and when he saw Galatæa surrender herself to the pleasures of Acis, he crushed his rival with a piece of a broken rock. Theocritus, poem 1.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 772.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 19.—Euripides, Cyclops.—Hyginus, fable 125.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 619, &c.——One of the Argonauts, son of Elatus and Hippea. Hyginus, fable 14.
Polyphonta, one of Diana’s nymphs, daughter of Hipponus and Thraosa.
Polyphontes, one of the Heraclidæ, who killed Cresphontes king of Messenia, and usurped his crown. Hyginus, fable 137.——One of the Theban generals, under Eteocles. Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes.
Polypœtes, a son of Pirithous and Hippodamia, at the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 26.——A son of Apollo by Pythia.——One of the Trojans whom Æneas saw when he visited the infernal regions. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 484.
Polysperchon. See: [Polyperchon].
Polystrātus, a Macedonian soldier, who found Darius after he had been stabbed by Bessus, and gave him water to drink, and carried the last injunctions of the dying monarch to Alexander. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 13.——An epicurean philosopher who flourished B.C. 238.
Polytecnus, an artist of Colophon, who married Ædon the daughter of Pandarus.
Polytion, a friend of Alcibiades, with whom he profaned the mysteries of Ceres. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 2.
Polytimētus, a river of Sogdiana. Curtius, bk. 6, ch. 4.