Nysa

, or Ny a , a town of Æthiopia, at the south of Egypt, or, according to others, of Arabia. This city, with another of the same name in India, was sacred to the god Bacchus, who was educated there by the nymphs of the place, and who received the name of Dionysius, which seems to be compounded of Διος and ♦ Νυσα , the name of his father, and that of the place of his education. The god made this place the seat of his empire, and the capital of the conquered nations of the east. Diodorus, in his third and fourth books, has given a prolix account of the birth of the god at Nysa, and of his education and heroic actions. Mela , bk. 3 , ch. 7 .— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 4 , li. 13 , . — Silius Italic us , bk. 7 , li. 198 .— Curtius , bk. 8 , ch. 10 .— Virgil , Æneid , bk. 6 , li. 805 .――According to some geographers there were no le than 10 places of the name of Nysa. One of these was on the coast of Eubœa, famous for its vines, which grew in such an uncommon manner, that if a twig was planted in the ground in the morning, it was said immediately to produce grapes, which were full ripe in the evening.――A city of Thrace.――Another seated on the top of mount Parna us, and sacred to Bacchus. Juvenal , satire 7, li. 63 . ♦ ‘ Νμσα ’ replaced with ‘ Νυσα ’