Polyhym´nia. One of the Muses, daughter of Jupiter and Mnemosyne. She presided over singing and rhetoric.
Polyni´ces. A son of Œdipus, king of Thebes, and Jocasta. He inherited his father’s throne with his brother Eteocles, and it was agreed that they should reign a year alternately. Eteocles first ascended the throne, but refused to resign the crown. Polynices upon this fled to Argos, where he married Argia, the daughter of Adrastus, the king of the country, and levied an army with which he marched on Thebes. The battle was decided by a combat between the brothers, who killed each other.
Polyphe´mus. A celebrated Cyclops, son of Neptune and Thoosa, the daughter of Phorcys. He is represented as a monster with one eye in the middle of his forehead. Ulysses was his captive, but escaped by putting a firebrand in the monster’s eye.
Pomo´na. A nymph at Rome, who was supposed to preside over gardens and to be the goddess of fruit trees.
Pompe´ii or Pompei´um. A town of Campania. It was partly destroyed by an earthquake, A.D. 63, and sixteen years afterwards it was swallowed up by another earthquake. Herculaneum, in its vicinity, shared the same fate.
Pompe´ius, Cnei´us, surnamed Magnus from his exploits, was son of Pompeius Strabo and Lucilia. In the contentions which existed between Marius and Sylla, Pompey linked himself with the latter. Subsequently he united his interest with that of Cæsar and Crassus, thus forming the first triumvirate. A breach soon occurred, and at the great battle of Pharsalia, where the forces of Cæsar and Pompey met, the latter was totally defeated, and fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated in the fifty-eighth year of his age, B.C. 48. He left two sons, Cneius and Sextus, who at their father’s death were masters of a powerful army, with which they opposed Cæsar, but were defeated at the battle of Munda, where Cneius was slain. Sextus escaped, and was put to death by Antony about thirty-five years before the Christian era.
Por´cia. A daughter of Cato of Utica, who married Bibulus, and after his death Brutus. She was distinguished for her prudence and courage. After her husband’s death she killed herself by swallowing burning coals. She is said to have given herself a severe wound to show that she could bear pain.
Porphyr´ius. A Platonic philosopher of Tyre. He studied eloquence at Athens under Longinus, and afterwards retired to Rome. His most celebrated work was in reference to the Christian religion. Porphyry died A.D. 304, aged seventy-one years.
Porsen´na or Por´sena. A king of Etruria, who declared war against the Romans because they refused to restore Tarquin to the throne; He was prevented from entering the gates of Rome by the valor of P. Horatius Cocles, who at the head of a bridge kept back Porsenna’s army, whilst the bridge was being cut down by the Romans to prevent the entry of their enemies into the city. Eventually Porsenna abandoned the cause of Tarquin.
Praxit´eles. A famous sculptor of Greece, who lived about 324 years before the Christian era. The most famous of his works was a Cupid, which he gave to Phyrne. He executed a statue of Phyrne, and also one of Venus.