Parthenius. A Greek elegiac poet, about 30 B.C.
Parthians. The successors in Asia of the Persian monarchy. The war between their king Vologesus III and Rome, 162-165 A.D., was conducted on the Roman side by the Emperor Lucius Verus. He brought it to a successful conclusion, more by the merits of his lieutenants, Cassius and Statius Priscus, than his own.
Parthonīce. 'Conquest of the Parthians,' quoted as an affected poetical-sounding title.
Patroclus. Friend and follower of Achilles, who, when he sulked himself, lent him his armour, in which Patroclus won great renown; but Apollo struck him senseless, Euphorbus ran him through, and Hector gave him the last fatal blow.
Pegasus. See Bellerophon.
Pelasgicum. A space under the Acropolis at Athens, unoccupied till the Spartan invasions in the Peloponnesian war brought the country Attics into the town.
Peleus. Father of Achilles.
Pĕlias. King of Iolcus, usurper of his nephew Jason's rights. When Medea restored Jason's father Aeson to youth by cutting him to pieces and boiling him, she persuaded the daughters of Pelias to try the same system with their father, which resulted in his death.
Pelopids. The descendants of Pelops, many of them, as Atreus and Thyestes, Agamemnon and Menelaus, Orestes, Electra and Iphigenia, famous in tragic story.