No. 1. A medal of Parthia, representing the head of one of its kings; and on the reverse, objects and implements of worship, with guards standing on each side of the altar. The head of a man in the flame of the altar, seems to denote that the Parthians worshipped deities allied to those of India, as we sometimes find the head of the Hindoo deity Brahma surrounded with flames. This tends to strengthen the idea of the progress of idolatry from the east.

No. 2. Similar in design to No. 1. The heads on these medals are said to be portraits of the kings of Parthia, in whose reign they were struck. In the globe worn by this head is a symbol, supposed to be that of a departed spirit, raised to divine honours. Among the deities of Egypt, we find very frequently a globe borne on the head, as by Isis, &c. The inscriptions on these medals are supposed to be the ancient Persian characters.

PARVAIM, a place from which Solomon received gold. (2 Chron. iii. 6.) It is thought to be the same as Ophir, or Havilah.

PASDAMMIM, (1 Chron. xi. 13.) the same as Ephesdammim, a city of Judah. 1 Sam. xvii. 1.

PATARA, a city of Lycia, in Asia Minor, once a sea-port with a good harbour. St. Paul arrived at this place from

Rhodes, and sailed hence to Phenicia. (Acts xxi. 1.) This city was beautified by many temples, one of which was dedicated to Apollo, and contained an oracle not much inferior in wealth and credit to that of Delphi. Patara, though once the capital of the province, is now an inconsiderable town.

PATHROS, a city and district of Upper Egypt, named from the Pathrusim, descendants of Misraim. (Gen. x. 14.) This place is mentioned in Isa. xi. 11. Jer. xliv. 1. 15. Ezek. xxix. 14. xxx. 14. and appears to have been considered distinct from the Egypt of Scripture, which was the lower part of the country now called by that name. Pathros is believed to have been what is now called Upper Egypt, the Thebais of the Greeks. Some have thought the Pathros of Isa. xi. 11. to mean Arabia Petrea.

PATMOS, an island of the Archipelago or Egean Sea, near Samos. It has a good harbour, and is 25 or 30 miles in circumference. To this island, as well as to others in different parts, did the Roman government confine offenders; a punishment which was laid by the emperor Domitian on St. John the divine, who here wrote his revelation to the churches of Asia. (Rev. i. 9.) The Greek monks of the island yet show the cell or grotto in a rock, in which it is said he wrote, and which they call Apocalypsis. In this island is a large convent, with a college for the education of Greek monks or caloyers, who are spread over all Greece. They are said to be ignorant and superstitious, though they have great influence over the people: scarcely a piratical vessel is without its caloyer or priest, to give absolution to its plundering and lawless crew for their murders and other crimes. The island of Patmos is exceedingly rocky, and but little cultivated: population about 3000.

PAU, a city of Edom, where king Hadar dwelt. Gen. xxxvi. 39.

PELUSIUM, a city of Egypt, called in Scripture Sin. (Ezek. xxx. 15, 16.) It was situated on the eastern channel of the Nile, thence called the Pelusiac branch, and was near its mouth. It was well fortified, and is styled by Ezekiel "the strength of Egypt." Being on the eastern frontier of the country, it generally suffered the first attack of the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian invaders. It was besieged by Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, and Cambyses; by the latter of whom it was taken by a curious stratagem. He is said to have placed in front of his troops, when marching to the assault, a

number of those animals which were esteemed sacred by the Egyptians, such as cats, dogs, sheep, &c. by which means the Egyptian soldiers of the town were prevented from throwing their spears, or discharging their arrows on the assailants, by the fear of wounding or killing some of the sacred animals; and the place was thus easily taken.

The name Pelusium, is derived from the Greek Pelos, mud, and its Scripture name Sin, has in Syriac the same meaning, as has also the modern name of the place, which is called by the Arabs Tineh. According to some writers, Damietta stands nearly in the spot once occupied by Pelusium; but this appears to be an error. Damietta is at least 50 miles distant, at the other end of lake Menzala.

PENIEL, or Penuel, a place east of Jordan, near the brook Jabbok. See Part I. p. 37.

PENTAPOLIS, the five cities, a name sometimes given to the district which contained the cities, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela or Zoar, which were destroyed by fire, volcanic eruptions, and the sinking of the earth, on account of their great wickedness. See Part I. p. 31. also Dead Sea.

PEREA, a general name for the country east of Jordan; but which belonged particularly to that part of it lying south of Iturea, and which was once the possession of the tribes of Reuben and Gad.

PERGA, a city of Pamphylia in Asia Minor, visited by St. Paul and his company. (Acts xiii. 14.) This city was famous among the heathen for a temple of Diana, and the yearly festivals there held in honour of her, whence she is sometimes styled Diana Pergæa. Here John, surnamed Mark, quitted Paul and Barnabas, and returned to Jerusalem. This was one of the most considerable towns of the province, and Christian churches appear to have been maintained in it till the close of the eighth century.

PERGAMUS, a city of Mysia in the west of Asia Minor, and once the capital of the kingdom of Pergamus, which included the provinces of Mysia, Æolia, Ionia, Lydia, and Caria. This was once a noble city, and is celebrated as the native place of Galen, the famous physician. Here parchment was invented, and the city had a library of 200,000 volumes, which had been collected by its kings. This noble collection was afterwards transported to Egypt by Cleopatra, and added to the Alexandrian library. Previous to the use of parchment, writings were made upon papyrus, which was only manufactured

in Egypt, and Ptolemy forbade its exportation from that country, in order to prevent Eumenes, king of Pergamus, from making a library as valuable and choice as that of Alexandria. This gave rise to the invention of parchment at Pergamus, and it was thence called charta pergamena. The rival libraries of papyrus and parchment, united by Cleopatra, were fatally destroyed by the Saracens at Alexandria, A.D. 642.

Christianity was early established at Pergamus, but the church appears to have departed from the purity of the gospel in the time of St. John the divine, as a severe doom is threatened against it. (Rev. ii. 12.) The place is now called Bergamo, and presents many ruins which indicate its former magnificence. It yet contains a few families of Christians, who are much oppressed by the Turks; the present population is about 3000.

PERIZZITES, a people of Canaan. See Part I.

p. 33.

Ruins of Persepolis.

PERSEPOLIS, the ancient capital of the Persian empire, situated on the river Araxes, now called the Bendemeer; and represented by the Greek writers as one of the richest and most magnificent cities in the world. It was taken by Alexander the Great, who here found 120,000 talents in silver and gold, which fell to his own share, after his soldiers had pillaged the city and taken what they pleased in money and jewels to an immense amount. But the chief beauty of this city was the royal palace, built upon a hill surrounded by three

walls, the first 16 cubits high, the second 30, and the third 60; all of them of black polished marble, with battlements and towers. The palace was of exceeding beauty and magnificence, the roof shining with ivory, silver, gold, and amber; and the king's throne being wholly composed of gold and the richest pearls. This noble and splendid building, one of the greatest ornaments of the eastern world, was consumed with fire by Alexander in a drunken fit, at the instigation of Lais, a courtezan, by way of revenge for the cities which the Persians had formerly burnt in Greece. Though Alexander, when sober, repented of his rashness, and ordered that it should be rebuilt, yet it never rose to its former glory; the conqueror dying shortly after, and the building being neglected. It appears to have soon fallen into ruin, as Quintus Curtius, who lived in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, says that no trace of it could have been found, if not indicated by the river Araxes, on whose bank it stood. Modern travellers, however, have discovered at a place called Chel-minar, on the river Bendemeer or Araxes, the most magnificent ruins of a temple or palace that are now in existence on the face of the earth. They lie at the north end of that spacious plain where Persepolis once stood, and are generally conjectured to be the remains of that palace which was burnt by Alexander. Persepolis is mentioned in 2 Macc. ix. 1, 2., but probably there means Elymais, as Persepolis was in ruins before the time of Antiochus, being destroyed by Alexander; whence it is probable that the author has put Persepolis for the capital city of Persia, though its true name was then Elymais, which the Greek author might translate into Persepolis, which signifies the city of the Persians.

PERSIA, an ancient and celebrated empire in Asia; extending from the Indus on the east, to the Euphrates on the west; and from the Caspian Sea and Mount Caucasus north, to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean south; being about 1800 miles long, and 1100 broad. In the days of Ahasuerus, its extent was "from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven-and-twenty provinces." (Esther i. 1.) This, however, describes the Persian empire in its largest sense. sia proper was only a province of this empire, and was bounded on the north by Media; east by the deserts of Caramania; south by the Persian Gulf; and west by Chaldea, or Susiana. This was the ancient Elam, so called from Elam, the son of Shem, from whom its first inhabitants were descended; and

Per