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) An ancient city of Boeotia, famous in Greek history and liter a The adjective Echionius, derived from the name of Echion, one of the heroes who sprang from the dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus, means Theban. ture. 2. Thebes, Egyptian. (See also Arabia.) P. L. 5. 274. An ancient city of Upper Egypt, on the Nile. Diodorus speaks of it as “not only the most beautiful and stateliest city of Egypt, but of all others in the world.” it (1. 50.) He describes at length, mentioning among other things the knowledge of astronomy po e ed by the inhabitants. Hero dot us tells the story of the phoenix as follows: “There is also another sacred bird which I did not myself see except in painting, for in truth he comes to them very rarely, at intervals, as the people of Helio polis say, of five hundred years; and these say that he comes regularly when his father dies; and if he be like the painting, he is of this size and nature, that is to say, some of his feathers are of gold color and others red, and in outline and size he is as nearly as as po ible like an eagle. This bird they say (but I cannot believe the story) contrives as follows setting forth from Arabia he conveys his father, they say, to the temple of the Sun (Helios) plastered up in myrrh, and buries him in the temple of the Sun; and he conveys him thus he first forms an egg of myrrh as large as he is able to carry, and then he makes trial of carrying it, and when he has made trial sufficiently, then he hollows out the egg and places his father within it and plasters over with other myrrh that part of the egg where he hollowed it out to put his father in, and when his father is laid in it, it proves (they say) to be of the same weight as it was; and after he has plastered it up, he conveys the whole to Egypt to the temple of the Sun.” It is to be observed that Hero dot us here refers to the (2. 73.) city of Helio polis, in Lower Egypt, and not to Thebes. Various reasons for what seems Milton’s mistake may be suggested. In the Bible Helio polis is called ” On ” and Thebes “No.” Diodorus says that the Egyptians called Thebes Helio polis, and Hero dot us:: begins the chapter following that describing the phoenix with the words: “There are also about Thebes,” etc. Verity, however, in his edition of P. L., says that Milton probably “is following some version of the legend and there are many which has not been traced.” — Thebez (Thesbitis Terra). — Eleg. 4. 97; P. R. 2. 16, 313. Thebez was a city of the tribe of Ephraim. (Judges 9. 50.) Milton is apparently without authority for making this city, rather than This be acro the Jordan, the city of Elijah the: Tishbite (This bite), of whom it is said that he “was of the inhabitants of Gilead.” is given (1 Kings 17. 1.) The name of his city by Joseph us as Thesbe or Thesbon. (Antiq. 8. 13. 2.) Hist. Brit. (5) 5. 219. ch303.xhtml t 309