PHALANX 



thumb, while the second and third 

 toes are enclosed in a common 

 skin ; the foot being much like 

 that of certain of the kangaroos. 

 All the phalangers have thick, 

 woolly coats, and with the excep- 

 tion of one species have long 

 tails, often more or less prehensile. 

 They move about the trees by 

 night and feed mainly on fruit and 

 leaves ; but some of the species 

 are practically omnivorous. The 

 koala (q.v.) belongs to this family, 

 though it has little outward re- 

 semblance to its relatives ; and 

 among the phalangers we find the 

 only marsupial that has the power 

 of gliding flight. See Flying 

 Phalanger, 



Phalanx (Gr.). Tactical forma- 

 tion of infantry introduced by 

 Philip of Macedon and perfected 

 by Alexander the Great. The 

 Macedonian spearmen, armed 

 with very long spears, were ar- 

 ranged many ranks deep, so that 

 a large number of spears pro- 

 jected beyond the first line. With 

 this formation the charge was 

 made, and the impact found irre- 

 sistible. Alexander's great vic- 

 tories over the Persians at Issus, 

 333 B.C., and Arbela, 331 B.C., 

 were largely due to the employ- 

 ment of the phalanx. At the be- 

 ginning of the second century B.C. 

 the Romans came into conflict 

 with the Macedonians, and the 

 loose formation of the legionaries, 

 armed with short swords, was pit- 

 ted against the hitherto invincible 

 phalanx. The Romans check- 

 mated the phalanx by giving it no 

 opportunity to charge, by luring 

 it on to broken ground, and by 

 breaking it up with missiles. The 

 efficacy of these tactics was 

 proved by the signal victories of 

 the Romans at Cynoscephalae in 

 197 B.C., and later at Pydna in 

 168. After Pydna the phalanx is 

 not heard of again. 



Phalaris (d. c. 554 B.C. ). Tyrant 

 of Agrigentum, in Sicily. Notorious 

 for his cruelty, he is said to have 

 roasted his victims in a brazen bull, 

 invented by Perillus of Athens, 

 who is said to have suffered death 

 in it himself. He held power for 

 about 16 years, at the end of which 

 he was overthrown in a revolt, and 

 is reported to have been roasted 

 in his own brazen bull . The Letters 

 attributed to him were proved by 

 Bentley (q.v.) to be forgeries. 



Phalarope (Gr. phalari*, coot ; 

 pous, foot). Small, migratory 

 shore bird related to the snipe. 

 Two species occur in Great Britain, 

 the red-necked phalarope (Phala- 

 ropus lobatus) and the grey phala- 

 rope (P. fulicarius). The former 

 has plumage of grey and white, 

 with a chestnut neck, and breeds in 



6O99 



the Hebrides and the Shetlands, 

 nesting on the ground among the 

 heather. The grey phalarope is an 

 irregular winter migrant to the 

 S. coasts of England. 



Phalerum. Former port of 

 Athens, now a seaside resort. It 

 stands on a bay about 3 m. from 

 the town. Up to the time of the 

 Persian wars it was the chief port. 

 Pron. Fa-leerum. See Athens. 



Phallism OR PHALLIC RITES 

 (Gr. phallos, the virile member). 

 Usages and rites concerned with 

 the reproductive forces of nature, 

 as symbolised by the organs of sex. 

 Phallic worship, in the sense of 

 veneration of the symbols or of tJie 

 deities and powers symbolised, is 

 rarely found. But phallism as a 

 form of ritual magic, widespread 

 in antiquity, still pervades primi- 

 tive culture throughout the world. 



In the magico-religious phase 

 of man's emotional life the belief 

 that the fertility of crops and 

 herds could be assured by means 

 of sympathetic magic induced 

 practices, generally at seasonal 

 festivals, which are loosely em- 

 braced under the designation of 

 phallism. They apparently arose 

 among settled neolithic peoples, 

 especially in the regions which gave 

 birth to the Hamitic and Semitic 

 stocks. They survived in dynastic 

 Egypt in connexion with the cult 

 of Min and Osiris, and in W. 

 Asia in connexion with that of 

 Cybele, Atargatis, and Baal. The 

 Greek cult of Dionysus and the 

 ithyphallic (Gr. ithys, straight) 

 statues of Hermes at Athens were 

 aboriginal and non-Hellenic. Simi- 

 larly, Indian phallism is Dravidian 

 rather than Aryan. See Lingayat. 



Phalsbourg OR PFALZBURO. 

 Town of France, in Lorraine, in the 

 dept. of Moselle. It is 8 m. N.W. of 

 Saverne. Formerly a fortress, it 

 held out against the Germans for 

 four months in 1870. Pop. 4,000. 



Phaltan. Native state and town 

 of India, in the Satara agency, 

 Bombay province. The state is 

 bounded on theN. by theNira river, 

 and lies E. of the rly. from Poona 

 to Belgaum. Timber and native 

 food grains are the chief products ; 

 coarse textiles are manufactured. 

 Its area is 397 sq. m. The town is 

 in the middle of the state, 52 m. 

 S.E. of Poona. Pop., state, 56,000 ; 

 town, 5,000. 



Pharaoh. Kingly title in 

 ancient Egypt. The English spell- 

 ing is derived from the grecised 

 and hebraised forms of the Egyp- 

 tian Per-'o, great house. In the 

 pyramid age this term denoted the 

 royal estates, and during the Middle 

 Kingdom tended to be used sym- 

 bolically. With the new empire it 

 became a personal title, and in 



PHARISEES 



Shishak's time accompanied the 

 personal name. The O.T. references 

 to later monarchs, as Pharaoh- 

 Necho and Pharaoh -Hophra, were 

 therefore strictly accordant with 

 contemporary usage. Thereafter 

 Pharaoh came to denote col- 

 loquially the reigning king, just 

 as the Sublime Porte designates 

 the sultanate of Turkey. 



The identification of the pharaohs 

 of the O.T. anterior to Shishak 

 the first mentioned by name is 

 still undetermined. The pharaoh 

 to whom Joseph was vizier was 

 apparently a Hyksos king, re- 

 garded by late classical tradition as 

 one of the Apepis. The pharaohs 

 of the Hebrew oppression and 

 exodus from Egypt have long been 

 identified with Rameses II and 

 Merenptah, but the evidence of the 

 Amarna tablets and the Israel 

 stela inclines many scholars to 

 displace these identifications in 

 favour, of Thothmes III and 

 Amenhotep II. The daughter of 

 Pharaoh whom Solomon wedded 

 was apparently a daughter of 

 Pasebkhanut II, last of the XXIst 

 dynasty. See Aaron ; Egypt. 



Pharaoh's Serpent. Chemical 

 toy. It consists of mercury thio- 

 cyanate (sulphocyanide) made into 

 small cones or pills, by means of 

 mucilage of tragacanth. When the 

 pharaoh's serpent is lighted, it 

 forms a long, bulky mass, resem- 

 bling a serpent. This is due to the 

 decomposition of the mercury 

 sulphocyanide by the heat into 

 mercury vapour and a substance 

 known as mellone. The vapour 

 given off is poisonous. 



Pharisees (Heb. parush, separ- \ 

 ated ). Religious party among the ' 

 Jews. They sprang from the Chasi- 

 dim (q.v.), during the Maccabean 

 wars, and were originally the 

 patriots of the nation, who insisted 

 on the permanent separateness of 

 the Jews from the Gentiles, and 

 upon the eternal and unchanging 

 authority of the law of Moses. 

 Often called Chaberim (scholars), 

 they were collectors of the teach- 

 ings and traditions of the Rabbis, 

 in contrast with the Sadducees, 

 who maintained that the individual 

 conscience is superior to the teach- 

 ings of anyone, and that the simple 

 letter of the law is all that is needed 

 for the guidance of the individual. 

 In the time of Christ, as the 

 champions of Jewish nationalism 

 they were politically opposed to 

 the Sadducees and Herodians; 

 but all were agreed in their opposi- 

 tion to the teaching of Christ. The 

 Pharisees became rigid formalists. 

 In the final struggle of the Jews 

 for national existence, the Zealots 

 represented the militant section of 

 the Pharisees. See Jews. 



