OLIVIER, GUILLAUME ANTOINE. 



OMAK I. 



586 



on the ' Critias ' of Plato, which is in the ' Mdmoires de Desmolets ; ' 

 two ' Mdmoires sur lea Secours donnes aux Remains par lee Mar- 

 seillais pendant la Seconde Guerre Punique etdurant la Guerre centre 

 les Gaulois ; ' a ' Parallel of Tibullus and Ovidius,' and other minor 

 productions. Olivier died at Marseille, October 24, 1736. 



OLIVIE'R, GUILLAUME ANTOINE, was born at Arcs near 

 Frejus, January 15, 1756, and studied medicine at Moutpellier, where he 

 took big doctor's degree at the age of seventeen. He afterwards applied 

 himself especially to the study of natural history, and having settled at 

 Paris, published several memoirs which made him known to persons 

 in office. At the time of the Revolution, the Girondin minister 

 Roland, having conceived the idea of sending a mission to Persia for 

 commercial and political purposes, appointed Olivier, and Bruguieres, 

 another naturalist. They set off for Constantinople in April 1793, 

 but soon after the Girondins having been replaced by Robespierre 

 and the terrorists, Olivier and his companion were left without 

 resources to prosecute their journey. They however took courage, 

 and with the assistance of the French consuls in the Levant, they 

 visited Egypt, Syria, and other parts of the Ottoman empire, and 

 then proceeded by Mosul and Baghdad to Persia, and arrived at 

 Teheran in July 1796. The ruler of Persia was then the eunuch Aga 

 Mehcmet Khan, a ferocious tyrant. His minister however received 

 the French envoys with courtesy, but owing to the distracted state of 

 the country, nothing was effected towards the object of the mission. 

 Olivier and his companion visited Koom, Ispahan, and other places, 

 after which they retraced their steps to Baghdad in November 1796. 

 From Baghdad they returned to Syria, and thence by Cyprus and Asia 

 Minor to Constantinople. They then repaired to Athens, and from 

 thence to Patras and Corfu, where they embarked on board a French 

 frigate for Ancona, at which place they arrived in September 1798. 

 After his return to France Olivier prepared a narrative of his travels, 

 which was published in 3 vols. 4to, with an atlas, Paris, 1807. The 

 style is plain and unassuming; the observations are generally sensible 

 and correct, and the author has added a sketch of the history of 

 Persia from the usurpation of Nadir Shah to the end of the 18th 

 century, when Fetah Ali Khan took possession of the throne. There 

 is also considerable information concerning Mesopotamia, the Koords, 

 and Baghdad, as well as regarding the Greek islands. 



Olivier continued his studies of natural history, and published the 

 'Hi.toire Naturelle des CoMoptores,' 6 vols. 4to, Paris, 1789-1819; 

 and also ' Dictionnaire de 1'Histoire Naturelle des Insectes,' which had 

 been begun, and the first volume written, by Mauduyt, but which 

 Olivier, assisted by Labreille and Godard, carried out on a much 

 larger scale; it was published in 9 vols. 4 to. He died at Lyon, 

 October 1, 1814. 



OLYMPIODO'RUS. There were several Greek writers of this name. 



ULT-Mi'ioDOHL's of Thebes in Egypt continued the chronicle of 

 Eunapius to A.D. 425. Of the twenty-two books of his history, which 

 he entitled 'Materials for History,' only a fragment is preserved in the 

 Myiiobiblon of Photius (80). His history began with the seventh 

 consulship of the emperor Honoring and was brought down to the 

 accession of Valentinian. The work was dedicated to the younger 

 7'heodosius. The historian appears to have been employed on public 

 business, for he mentions being sent on a mission to Donatus, ling of 

 the. II i in j. In Lit description of the African oaees he speaks of wells 

 being made to the depth of 200, 800, and even 500 cubits, and of the 

 water rising up and flowing from the aperture. Some have supposed 

 that these must have been Artesian wells. Olympiodorus was a 

 heathen. 



OLrMPiODOBUS of Alexandria, who is said to have lived in the latter 

 part of the 6th century A.D., was a Peripatetic, and wrote a commen- 

 tary on the ' Meteorologica ' of Aristotle, which was printed by Aldus, 

 Venice, 1061, fol. He is sometimes called the Younger, to distinguish 

 him from the Peripatetic philosopher of the same name who was the 

 matter of Proclus, but who is not known to us by any extant work. 



OLYMMODOKUS, a Platonic philosopher, and al.-o a native of Alexan- 

 dria, lived probably in the latter part of the 6th century A.D. There 

 are extant by him commentaries on the ' First Alcibiades,' ' The 

 Phasdon,' ' The Gorgias,' and ' Philebus ' of Plato. The first-men- 

 tioned of these commentaries contains a life of Plato. His commen- 

 tary on the ' Gorgias ' was published by Routh, in his edition of the 

 'Gorgias' and ' Euthydemus,' Oxford, 1784; that on the 'Phsedon,' 

 by Andrea* Mustoxydes and Demetrius Schinaa, in the iru\\oyji 

 Inroffmattartuv irfMrur, Ven., 1817: that on the ' Philcbus,' by 

 Stallbaum," in bis edition of the ' Philebua ; ' and that on the ' First 

 Alcibiades,' by Creutzer, in the 2nd and 3rd volumes of the ' Initia 

 Philoeopb. ac Tbeolog. ex Platonicis Fontibus,' Frank f., 1826. 



OMAR I. (Abu llafseah Ibu-al-Khattdb), successor of Abu Bekr, 

 and second kalif of the Mussulman*, was the third cousin of Abdullah, 

 the father of the prophet. The sworn enemy at lir.it of Mohammed, 

 whose life he attempted, and whose doctrines he opposed, he was con- 

 verted to Islam in a manner apparently miraculous, and became one 

 of Mohammed's most zealous aud ardent followers ; he accompanied 

 him in all his military expeditions, and contributed by his experience 

 and abilities to the success of his cause. [MOHAMMED.] 



After the death of Abu Bekr (A.D. 634), whose 'hajeb,' or chamber- 

 kin, he was, Omar was sworn khalif according to the express wish of 

 his predecessor. The first act of his administration was to remove 



j from the command of the Syrian armies the celebrated Khdled Ibn 



I Walid, surnamed ' The sword of God,' who by his rapacity and cruelty 



' towards the vanquished had made himself obnoxious. Ouaar replaced 



him by Abu Obeydah Ibn-al-Jerrdh, 'mother brave general who had 



I distinguished himself in the wars against the Greeks ; but Khaled had 



virtue enough to accept the second post in the army, and he continued 



, to serve under the new general. These two commanders prosecuted 



the conquest of Syria, and took Damascus, its capital, in the month of 



Kejeb, A.H. 14 (August-September, A.D. 635). 



After the capture of Damascus, the Moslems proceeded to the 

 reduction of E mesa, Hamah, and Kenuesrin. The emperor Heracliu s 

 sent a considerable force to stop the progress of the Arabs, but the 

 Greeks were completely defeated at the blody battle of Yarmuk (636). 

 The following year (637) Omar sent Amru Ibn-al-Ass and Sarjil to 

 besiege Jerusalem. The city was stoutly defended by the garrison, 

 but after a siege of several months the patriarch Sophronius, who 

 commanded in it, agreed to surrender to the Moslems, but refused to 

 treat with any other except the kalif himself. A messenger having 

 been despatched to Omar, who was then residing at Medina, he 

 hastened to Jerusalem followed by a scanty suite. Omar's journey 

 from Arabia to Palestine has thus been described by the historian 

 Talmri. " He rode a sorrel-coloured camel, and was dressed in an old 

 tattered habit of hair-cloth ; he carried with him, in two bags, his 

 provisions, consisting of dry fruits, barley, rice, and boiled corn, 

 besides a skin for the water. Whenever he halted to make a repast, 

 he permitted those who accompanied him to partake of it, eating from 

 the same wooden dish ; if he took any rest, the earth was his couch. 

 During his march he administered justice to all applicants ; in several 

 instances he corrected the laxity of morals, and reformed several 

 abuses, especially among the new converts ; abolishing also many 

 luxurious indulgences which had spread among the Moslems, such as 

 the drinking of wine, the using of silken garments, &c. . . . Arrived 

 at the camp, he caused several Moslems to be. seized and dragged 

 through the mud for having, in disobedience to his orders, arrayed 

 themselves in the silken tunics of the. conquered Greeks. ' After a 

 short conference with Sophrouius, the terms of a capitulation were 

 agreed upon, and the keys of the holy city were delivered up to Omar. 

 The articles of the capitulation of Jerusalem have already been trans- 

 lated (' Mines de 1'Orient,' vol. ii.), but as they were the model upon 

 which the Moslems dictated many others to the subdued cities of 

 Africa and Spain, we shall transcribe them here. " The inhabitants 

 shall retain their lives and property ; they shall preserve the use of 

 their churches, but they shall build no new ones ; they shall neither 

 place crosses upon those which they already have, nor hinder the 

 Moslems from entering them night or day ; they shall not ring their 

 bells, but they shall be allowed to toll them ; if a Moslem travels 

 through the city, tun inhabitants shall give him hospitality for tbrcu 

 days. They shall not be enforced to teach their children the Kordn, 

 but they shall not try to convert any Moslem to their religion ; they 

 shall in every instance show respect for the Moslems, and give them 

 the precedence; they shall wear turbans aud shoes, aud use names 

 different from theirs. They shall be allowed to ride ou horseback, but 

 without either saddle or arms ; they shall never go out without their 

 girdles [the distinctive mark of all Christians then living under the 

 Mohammedan sway]; they shall not sell wine to the Moslems, and 

 shall remain faithful to the kalif, and pay regularly the taxes imposed 

 upon them." Omar made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem 

 towards the middle of tbe year 16 of the Hejira (A.D. 637). After 

 conversing for awhile with Sophronius, and addressing to him several 

 questions on the antiquities of the place, visiting the Church of the 

 Resurrection, and saying his prayers under its portico, he desired to be 

 conveyed to Bethlehem, where he also performed his devotions. 

 Returning again to the city, he caused a magnificent mosque to be 

 erected on the site of Solomon's temple, the same which still remains 

 an object of great veneration to the Mussulmans. The taking of 

 Jerusalem was followed by the reduction of all the principal cities of 

 Palestine, while Khdled and Abu Obeydah made themselves masters 

 of Laodicea, Autiochia, Aleppo, and Balbek. 



Being master of Syria, Omar prepared to invade Persia, a kingdom 

 then ruled by a king named Yezdejerd, against which he had at the 

 beginning of his reign unsuccessfully contended (634). Saad-Ibn-Abi 

 Wakkdss, who was now intrusted with the command of the army, 

 penetrated fur into Persia ; defeated at Kddesiyyah a powerful army 

 commanded by Rustam, who fell in the battle ; took possession of 

 Babr-Shir, in the western quarter of the city of Madiiyiu, the ancient 

 Ctesiphon; founded the city of Kufah, near the Euphrates (638); 

 crossed the Tigris ; and at last took Maddyin, the capital of Yezdojerd' 

 kingdom. , 



In the meanwhile Amru Ibn al-As-, who commanded the armies of 

 Egypt, completed the conquest of that country by the reduction of 

 Alexandria (640). It was then that the famous library, founded by 

 Ptolemy Philadelphus, is said to have been destroyed by the con- 

 querors. Upon an application from Amru to the kalif to know his 

 pleasure concerning its contents, an answer was returned, commanding 

 its destruction ; for, said Omar, " if the books of the Uroeks agree 

 with the book of God (Kordu), they are superfluous, and need not bo 

 preserved ; and if they disagree, they are pernicious, and ought to be 

 destroyed." In consequence of this decision, we are told, and (not- 



