587 



OTHMAN, IBN TAHIA ALCA1SI. 



OTHO, MARCUS SALVIUS. 



598 



content, the elders of the Arabian tribes, and the most illustrious 

 among the companions of the prophet met at Medina, and having 

 drawn up a memorial in which their charges, nineteen in number, 

 were fully specified, they despatched with it one of their number, 

 Anirruir Ibn Idair, threatening Othmdn with immediate deposition 

 unless he gave a satisfactory answer to every one of them. Othmdn 

 resented this as an outrage upon his authority, and caused Ammdr, 

 the bearer of the memorial, to be so severely beaten by his slaves that 

 he was left for dead on the ground. This act inflamed the passions of 

 the people, who now openly demanded Othmdn's abdication. Depu- 

 tations from all the provinces of the empire, having the same object 

 in view, reached Medina, and Othmdn was closely besieged in his 

 palace by a large body of insurgents. In vain did Othmdn promise to 

 restore to the treasury the sums he had abstracted, to redress all 

 grievances, and answer all complaints ; the fury of the people 

 increased instead of abating, and they would undoubtedly have com- 

 mitted violence upon his person had not All, who had considerable 

 influence among the insurgents, promised in the kalif 'a name that all 

 causes of complaint should be immediately removed. 



The tranquillity by these means restored was but of short duration. 

 Ayesha, the widow of the prophet, who hated Othmdu, and who had 

 seen with envy his accession to power, now openly favoured the pre- 

 tensions of T.dhah to the kalifate. By her authority among the 

 Arabian tribes, as well as by her intrigues, she succeeded in creating 

 great disaffection against Othm:in, and attaching the most influential 

 people in the empire to her interests. She bribed Othmiln's secretary, 

 Merwan Ibn Haketn, to transmit false orders in his master's name. 

 One of these, addressed to Abdullah, governor of Egypt, bid him put 

 to death Mohammed, son of the Kalif Abu Bekr, who was then 

 residing at Alexandria, and followed the party of Ayesha. No sooner 

 was the kalit's order made known than Othtudu's enemies eagerly 

 urged Mohammed to revenge the affront. He accordingly marched 

 against Medina, which he entered without opposition, and invested 

 OthmaVs palace. After making some resistance, Othmitn's soldiers 

 left him to his fate. Placing a Kordn in his bosom, the kalif calmly 

 awaited the arrival of the assassins, who, headed by Mohammed, 

 rushed into the room. The incensed youth seized Othmdn by the 

 beard, and plunged his sword into his breast ; others pierced his body 

 in different parts, and he ezpired under numerous wounds. For 

 three days his mutilated corpse lay unburied and exposed to the 

 insults of the populace, until it was at length thrown into a hole. 

 This happened, according to At-tabdri and Abu-1-fedd, on the 18tb day 

 of Dhi-1-hajjah A.B. 35 (18th of June A.D. 656) ; other historians assign 

 earlier dates to this deplorable event, although all agree in placing it 

 within that month. Othmdn reigned twelve years, and was eighty- 

 two, others say ninety, and even ninety-five years old when he died. 

 He had been mariied to two of the daughters of the prophet, Rakiyyah 

 and Om-al-Kolthum, owing to which he is generally designated by the 

 Arabian historians under the surname of Dhu-n-nureyn (he of the 

 two lights). Othmdn is described as a man of majestic figure and 

 venerable aspect ; he was pious and well versed in the Kordn, which 

 he is reported to have transcribed several times. He was the first 

 who caused an authentic copy of the Kordn to be made, from which 

 all others were to be transcribed. He entrusted the revision of it to 

 Zeyd Ibn Tbdbit, Abdullah Ibn Zobeyr, and other companions of the 

 prophet. Until the llth century of our era a copy of the Korda 

 called ' Mushafu-1-Othmdni ' (the volume of Othmdu) was preserved 

 in the great mosque at Cordova, being thought by some authors to 

 contain four leaves of the Kordn which Othmdn placed in his bosom, 

 and stained with hi* blood, and by others to be one of those copies 

 which the kalif was known to have written himself. 



(Ag-soyutti, llittory of the Kolifa, in manuscript, in the Brit. Mus., 

 No. 7424; Abu-1-fedd, An. Moil., vol. i. p. 240, et teq. ; Al-makiu apud 

 Erpenium, p. 31, et ieq. ; Abu-1-faraj, ffiit. Dynast., translated by 

 Pococke, p. 57, et leg.; Ockley, Ifiet. of the Saracens, vol. i. ; Price 

 (Major), Setroipect of Mohammedan Hiitory, vol. i.) 



OTHMAN, IBN YAHIA ALCA18I, was born of a noble family at 

 Malaga in Andalusia. He is mentioned as a man of great and varied 

 talents, and as having been eminent in philosophy, law, and medicine. 

 He ws made governor of Malaga, and died A.H. 735 (A.D. 1334). He 

 was the author of a work containing many grammatical questions 

 (' Quaesita Orammatica ') ; another, 'De Haereditate ;' and a third, 

 4 De Mensuris Hispanis." (Casiri, Btllioth. Arahico-Hiip. Ecur.,i.n. 

 p. 109.) 



OTHMA'N I., eurnamed Al-ghdzi (the Conqueror), the founder of 

 the dynasty now reigning at Constantinople, was born at Sukut in 

 Bitbynia, in 657 of the Hejira (A.D. 1259). The Turkish and Arabian 

 historians do not agree an to his ancestors and origin, but the most 

 generally received opinion is, that he was the son of Orthogrul, a 

 Turkman or Oguzian chieftain, \yho, having entered into the service of 

 the sultan of Iconium, established himself with his tribe at Surgut, on 

 the banks of the river Sangar. It is further related that his grand- 

 father Suleymdn left his native steppes in the Md-ward-1-nahr (beyond 

 the Oxus), passed into Khorasedn at the time of the invasion of 

 Genghis Khan (A.D. 1218-19) [GENGHIS KHAN], and settled at K* lath 

 in Armenia. After tbo death of Suleymdo, who was drowned in the 

 Euphrates, hii son Orthogrul succeeded him in the command of the 

 tribe. He marched farther into Asia Minor, and entered the service of 



Alao-d-din Caycobad, the ninth sultan of the Seljukian dynasty, whose 

 reign began in A.D. 1213. Having received lands to settle in with his 

 tribe, Orthogrul rendered important services to Alao-d-din and his 

 successors, aiding them in their wars against the Tartars and against 

 the Greeks. Orthogrul died in A.H. 680 (A.D. 1280), leaving his son 

 Othmdn to succeed him in the government of the colony. After 

 the death of Masud II., the last of the Seljukides, his dominions being 

 shared among hia generals, part of the province of Bithynia fell to the 

 lot of Othmdn, who thus found himself the master of a small' terri- 

 tory. The first campaigns of this conqueror were directed against the 

 Greeks. In July, A.D. 1299, having first forced the slightly defended 

 passes of Mount Olympus, he invaded the territory of Nicaea, and 

 subdued the whole country, except the capital itself, which fell four 

 years afterwards into his power (1304). In 1307 he invaded and 

 reduced the country of Marmara. The annals of the first years of his 

 reign exhibit the same repetition of successful inroads, until, seeing 

 his army increased by captives and volunteers, he meditated and 

 carried into execution greater undertakings. Instead of retreating as 

 before, after each incursion, to the hills, he maintained the most useful 

 and defensible posts, fortified the towns and castles, and strove to 

 maintain every foot of ground which lie gained from the enemy. In 

 the course of many years of warfare he conquered the remainder of 

 Bithynia and the neighbouring provinces ; and although he was 

 several times repulsed in his attempts upon Nicomedia and Prusa, he 

 kept those cities in awe by means of strong fortresses which he erected 

 in their neighbourhood. At length hia son and successor, Orkhdn, 

 gained possession of Prusa, but the welcome news did not arrive till 

 Othmdn was almost insensible, owing to old age and infirmities. 

 Othmdn died in A.D. 1326, in the sixty-seventh (sixty-ninth year 

 Mohammedan reckoning) of his age and the twenty-seventh of his 

 reign, reckoning from his first invasion of Bithynia, He held his 

 court at Cara-Hissar and coined money in his name, but he never took 

 the title of sultan. Such was the commencement of the Turkish 

 empire, which, from his name, has received the appellation of Othomau 

 or Ottoman Porte. The memory of Othmdn is held in such venera- 

 tion by the Turks, that, on the accession of a new sultan to the throne 

 of Constantinople, no greater compliment can be paid to him than to 

 wish him as happy a reign, as long a life, and all the kindness of Oth- 

 mdn. He was famed for his moderation, his justice, his military 

 talents, and his prudence : he left to his son Orkhdn a book of maxims 

 and rules for the government of an empire, which are much esteemed. 

 (Von Hammer's Journey from Constantinople to Brusa, and to the 

 Olympus, Pesth, 1818, and Qeschicltte des Osmanischen Beichs, Pesth, 

 1827; D'Ohsson, Tableau, de V 'Empire Othoman ; Abu-1-fedd, An. Moil., 

 vol. v. ; Desguignes, Hiatoire des Huns.) 



OTHO, MARCUS SA'L VIUS, was born on the 28th of April, A.D. 31 

 or 32. He was descended of an honourable family, which originally came 

 from Ferentinum (Ferentino), and which traced its origin to the kings 

 of Etruria. His grandfather, who belonged to the equestrian order, 

 was made a senator through the influence of Livia Augusta, but did 

 not rise higher in office than the proctorship. His father, Lucius Otho, 

 was advanced to offices of great honour and trust by the emperor 

 Tiberius, whom he is said to have resembled so closely in person as to 

 have been frequently taken for a near relation. 



Marcus Otho was an intimate friend of Nero during the early yeara 

 of his reign, and his Associate in his excesses and debaucheries; but 

 Nero's love for Poppaea, whom Otho had seduced from her husband, 

 and to whom he was greatly attached, produced a coolness between 

 them, and ultimately occasioned the honourable banishment of Otho 

 to the province of Lusitania, of which he was appointed governor. 

 In this province, which he governed, according to Suetonius (' Otho,' 

 c. 3), with great justice, he remained for ten years ; and afterwards 

 took an active part in opposition to Nero and in placing Galba upon the 

 throne, A.D. 68. Otho appears to have expected, as the reward of his 

 services, that he should have been declared his successor ; but when 

 Galba proceeded to adopt Piso Licinianus as his successor, Otho 

 formed a conspiracy among the guards, who proclaimed him emperor, 

 and put Galba to death after a reign of only seven mouths. [GALBA.] 



Otho commenced hia reign by ingratiating himself with the soldiery, 

 whom Galba had unwisely neglected to conciliate. He yielded to the 

 wishes of the people in putting to death Tigellinus, who had been the 

 chief minister of Nero's pleasures, and he acquired considerable popu- 

 larity by his wise and judicious administration. He was however 

 scarcely seated upon the throne before he was called upon to oppose 

 Vitellius, who had been proclaimed emperor by the legions in Germany 

 a few days before the death of Galba. Vitellius, who was of an indo- 

 lent disposition, sent forward Cajcina, one of his generals, to secure 

 the passes of the Alps, while he himself remained in his camp upon 

 the Rhine. Otho quickly collected a large army and marched against 

 Ctecina, while he cent his fleet to reduce to obedience Liguria and 

 Gallia Narboneueis (compare ' Tac., Agr.,' c. 7). At first Otho was 

 completely successful. Liguria and Gallia Narboriensis submitted to 

 bis authority ; while Csccina was repulsed with considerable loss in 

 an attack upon Placeutia. But shortly after, Otho's army wa? com- 

 pletely defeated by the troops of Vitellius in a hard-fought battle near 

 Bebriacum, a village on the Po, south-west of Mantua. Otho, who 

 does not appear however to have been deficient in bravery, had been 

 persuaded for the security of his person to retire before the battle to 



