OTAGO 



OTRANTO 



659 



and a tomb, and which, under the name of Osy- 

 mamleion, was renowned for its size and splendour 

 in later times. The Osymandeion is generally 

 believed to be represented by the extant ruins of 

 the Ramesseum at Medinet Habu (see THEBES), 

 though great difficulty has been' felt in reconciling 

 the descriptions of its magnificence in ancient 

 writers with the dimensions of the existing relic. 

 Nor can the name of Osymandyas be recognised 

 amongst the Egyptian kings. 



Of ago, the most southern provincial district of 

 New Zealand, in the South Island. It was one of 

 the original six provinces in the colony, but since 

 1876 these have been abolished and the county 

 system lias been adopted. The name is said t<> 

 be derived from the Maori Otakou, 'red earth.' 

 It was colonised in 1848 bv the Otago Association 

 connected with the Free Church of Scotland. It is 

 bounded on the N. by Canterbury and Westland, 

 and on the E. and W. by the sea. It has a coast- 

 line of 400 miles, is 160 miles long by 195 broad, 

 the estimated area comprising 15,038,300 acres, of 

 which 9 millions, chiefly in the centre and in the 

 east, are fit for agriculture. Pop. (1880) 138,219; 

 (1891 ) 153,097. Gold was discovered here in 1861, 

 and now the goldlields comprise an area of - 2J 

 millions of acres, from which gold to the value 

 of 20,000,000 had been exported up till 1896. 

 Dunedin (q.v.) is the capital. See NEW ZEALAND. 



Otahcite. See TAHITI. 



Otaltfia (Gr. ot-, 'the ear,' and algos, 'pain') 

 is neuralgia of the ear. See EAR. 



Otary (Otaria), a genus of the Seal family 

 (Phocida-). See SEA-LION. 



OtchakofT, a seaport of Russia, stands on the 

 north shore of the estuary of the Dnieper, 38 miles 

 ENE. of Odessa. It occupies the site of the ancient 

 Alector, and has beside it the ruins of the once im- 

 portant Greek colony of Olbia. In 1492 the khan 

 of the Crimea built here a strong fortress, which 

 was taken by the Russians under Muniiich in 1737, 

 recovered in 1738, and again captured after a long 

 siege by Potemkin in 1788, and definitively annexed 

 by Russia. After it had been bombarded by the 

 Allied fleet in 1855 the Russians demolished the 

 fortifications. In 1887 a ship-canal was opened 

 here, which makes the estuary of the Hug and 

 Dnieper much more easily accessible to large ships. 

 Pop. 6977. 



Othllian. or Osnian I., snrnamed Al-ghazi 

 ( ' the conqueror ' ), the founder of the Ottoman 

 (Turkish) power, was born in Rithynia in 1259, 

 and, on the overthrow of the sultanate of Iconium 

 in 1299 by the Mongols, seized upon a portion of 

 Bithynia. Then he forced the passes of Olympus, 

 took possession of the territory of Niraea, except 

 the town of that name, and gradually subdued a 

 great part of Asia Minor, and so became the founder 

 of the present Turkish empire. From his name are 

 derived the terinsOttoman and Osmanli as synonyms 

 for the Turks. See TURKEY. 



Othinan, third calif. See CALIF. 



Otho, MARCUS SALVIUS, Roman emperor for 

 the first three months of 69 A.D., was descended 

 from an ancient Etruscan family, ami was horn in 

 32 A. D. He was a favourite companion of Nero, 

 who sent him as governor to Lusitania for his re- 

 fusal to divorce his l>eautiful wife, Popprea Sabina. 

 Here he remained ten years, and ruled with wisdom 

 and moderation. He joined Galba in his revolt 

 against Nero (68), but, disappointed in his hope of 

 being proclaimed Galba's successor, marched at the 

 head of a small liand of soldiers to the forum, where 

 he was proclaimed emperor, and Galba was slain. 

 Otho wan recognised as emperor over all the Roman 

 possessions, with the exception of Germany, where 



a large army was stationed under Vitellius, which 

 at once began to march on Italy under the com- 

 mand of the lieutenants Valens and Ca^cina. Otho 

 showed vigour in his preparations, but his forces 

 were completely defeated after an obstinately fought 

 battle near Bedriacum. Next day, though things 

 were still far from desperate, Otho set his house in 

 order, and then stabbed himself, 16th April 69. 



Otho I., or OTTO THE GREAT, son of the 

 Emperor Henry I. of Germany, was born in 912, 

 and was, on the death of his father in 936, formally 

 crowned king of the Germans. His reign was one 

 succession of eventful and generally triumphant 

 wars, in the course of which he brought many tur- 

 bulent tribes under subjection, acquired and main- 

 tained almost supreme power in Italy, where he 

 imposed laws with equal success on the kings of 

 Lombardy and the popes at Rome, consolidated 

 the disjointed power of the German emperors, and 

 established Christianity at many different points 

 in the Scandinavian and Slavonic lands, which lay 

 beyond the circuit of his own jurisdiction. He died 

 in 973. 



Otis, JAMES, American statesman, was born at 

 West Barnstable, Massachusetts, 5th February 

 1725, graduated at Harvard in 1743, practised law, 

 and l>ecame a leader of the Boston bar. He was 

 advocate general in 1760, when the revenue officers 

 demanded his assistance in obtaining from the 

 superior court general search-warrants allowing 

 them to enter any man's house in quest of smuggled 

 goods. Otis, however, refused, resigned his posi- 

 tion, and Appeared for the people ; and his speech, 

 which took five hours in delivery, produced a great 

 impression John Adams afterwards declared that 

 ' the child Independence was then and there born.' 

 When the writs were granted, by the direction of 

 the home authorities, in 1761, Otis was elected to 

 the Massachusetts assembly ; and he afterwards 

 was prominent in firm resistance to the revenue 

 acts. In 1769 he was savagely beaten by some 

 revenue officers and others, and as a result of a 

 sword-cut on the head he lost his reason. On 23d 

 May 1783 he was killed by lightning. The publica- 

 tion on which his fame chiefly rests is The Eights 

 of the Colonies Asserted and Proved (1764), a 

 powerful and fearless defence of their right to 

 control their own public expenditure. See the Life 

 by W. Tudor (Boston, 1823). 



Otifis. inflammation of the tympanic cavity of 

 the ear. See EAR. 



Otley, a market-town in the West Riding of 

 Yorkshire, on the right bank of the Wharfe, and 

 at the north base of Otley Chevin (925 feet), 10 

 miles NW. of Leeds. Its church, restored in 1868- 

 69, is mainly Perpendicular, but has fragments of 

 Saxon and Norman work ; and there are also a 

 court-house (1875), a mechanics' institute (1869), 

 and a grammar-school (1602). Machine-making is 

 the principal industry, with worsted and leather 

 manufactures. Pop. ( 1851 ) 4422 ; ( 1891 ) 7838. 



Of or> on. See DOG. 



Otoliths. See EAR, Vol. IV. p. 157 ; FISHES, 

 p. 652. 



Of orrlm'a, a purulent or muco-purulent dis- 

 charge from the external ear. See EAR. 



Otranto (the ancient Hydruntum), a town in 

 the extreme south-east of Italy, 29 miles by rail 

 SE. of Lecce, and on the Strait of Otranto, 45 

 miles from the coast of Albania on the opposite 

 side. During the later period of the Roman 

 empire, and all through the middle ages, it was 

 the chief port of Italy on the Adriatic, whence 

 passengers took ship for Greece having in- this 

 respect supplanted the famous Brundusium of 

 earlier times ; but its port is now in decay. In 



