[Hyperboreans], a people blooming in youth and health, fabled by the Greeks to dwell in the extreme northern parts of the world under favour of Apollo.
[Hypermnestra], the only one of the [Danaides] (q. v.) who spared the life of her husband in spite of her father's orders.
[Hypnotism], the process of inducing sleep by wearying out the optic nerve of the eyes, by making the patient fix them upon a certain spot for a time, generally situated where it is a little wearisome for the eyes to find it. The fatigue thus induced spreads from the ocular muscles to the system, causing deep sleep.
[Hyrcania], an ancient province of Persia, on the E. and SE. of the Caspian Sea, celebrated for the savage animals that inhabited its forests, as well as the savagery of its inhabitants.
[Hyrcanus, John], the son of Simon Maccabeus, king of Judea, as well as High-Priest of the Jews from 135 to 105 B.C.; achieved the independence of his country from the Syrian yoke, extended the borders of it, and compelled the Edomites to accept the Jewish faith at the point of the sword; in the strife then rampant between the [Sadducees] (q. v.) and the [Pharisees] (q. v.) he sided with the former.
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[Iachimo], an arch-villain in Shakespeare's "Cymbeline," who attempts to violate the chastity of Imogen.
[Iachus], the son of Zeus and Demeter, and the solemn name of Bacchus in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
[Iago], a cool, selfish, malignant, subtle, evil-scheming knave in "Othello," his "ancient" or ensign, who poisoned his mind against Desdemona.