T A U 



104 



T A U 



an ammonium! suit in solution, and reddens a mlutnm of 

 prrvhlondc of iron : one part requires 1(1$ part* ol" water at 

 54" for solution ; it is much more soluble in boiling 

 water, and the excess crystallizes on coolinir : it i but 

 little soluble even in boUing alcohol of sp. gr. it-x^'i, 

 and is nearly insoluble in absolute alcohol, rum-ni- 

 trated sulphuric acid dissolves and forms a light brown 

 solution with taurine ; nitric acid readily dissolves it, and 

 when the acid is evaporated, it is left unaltered. 



TAURIS. [TABRIZ.] 



TAUROME'NIUM, now TAORMPNA, a town in 

 the northern part of the east coast of Sicily. The aiitieut 

 name, Tauromenium (Tavpofitviov i, like that of the river 

 Tauromeniug (the modern Alcantara:, at the mouth of 

 which the town was situated, was derived from Mount 

 Taurus, on which the town was built. Diodorus Siculus 

 (fives two apparently contradictory accounts of its foun- 

 dation, though both agree in the main point, that Tauro- 

 menium was founded by the inhabitants of the antient 

 town of Naxos, which lay a few miles south of Taurome- 

 nium. In one passage (xiv. 59) he states that dur- 

 ing the war of Dionysius the Tyrant with Himilco, tin- 

 latter induced the Siculi, who had previously receded 

 from Dionysius the town of Naxos and its territory, to 

 occupy Mount Taurus, and to fortify themselves there ; 

 and after the termination of the war in favour of the Car- 

 thaginians, the Siculi, about 3U2 H.C., formed a permanent 

 settlement on Mount Taurus, which they called Tauro- 

 menium. The other account (Diodor. Sic., xvi. 7) places 

 the building of the town somewhat later, inasmuch as it 

 - that it was founded by Andromachus, the father of 

 Timaeus the historian, in conjunction with the inhabitants 

 of the destroyed town of Naxos ; but in this account An- 

 dromachus himself is called a Tauromenian, which implies 

 tin- previous existence of Tauromenium. Consequently 

 Diodorus can only have meant to say that Andromachus 

 assigned to the homeless Naxians habitations in the already 

 existing town of Tauromenium. and that he agreed with 

 them in the name of Tauromenium being preserved. 

 (Wesseling ad Diodor. Sic., vol. vi., p. 552, ed. Bipont.) 

 ' vi.. p. 27, ed. Tauchnitz) calls Tauromenium a 

 colony of the Zanclteans of Hybla. Soon after its founda- 

 tion the new town appears id have become very wealthy 

 and powerful. Agatnocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, put 

 to death a great number of the inhabitants who had op- 

 1 his usurpation. (Diodor. Sic., xix. 102.) In the 

 time of Pyrrhus the town was governed by a tyrant, Tyn- 

 darion, who supported the king on his landing in Sicily. 

 After the subjugation of Sicily by the Romans, Taurome- 

 nium became a civitas foedcrata ;' and being thus under 

 the immediate protection of Rome, it enjoyed a long 

 pi-ace, during which its prosperity increased. (Cicero. 

 // / "c/ ;-.//. ii., 66'.) In the time of Verres the town con- 

 tained many statues of this propraetor, all of which, after 

 his departure, were destroyed, except the pedestal of one 

 which stood in the market-place, wnich was left standing 

 to mark the disgrace of the Roman governor. In the war 

 of Ciesar with Pompey, Tauromenium was in the possession 

 of the Pompeian party; but when Ctesar made himself 

 master of it, he expelled the inhabitants, and established 

 a Roman colony there. (Appian, De Bella f'iri/i, v. 103, 

 105, 109 ; Pliny, Hilt. Mil., lii. 14 ; Velleius Paterc., ii., 

 79.1 



Taormina at present contains about 6OOO inhabitants : 

 i'- situation on a steep rock on the tea-coast is magnificent. 

 It contains considerable ruins of antient buildings, espe- 

 cially a theatre of gigantic dimensions, the seats of which 

 are cut in the rock, which projects into the sea. This 

 theatre and the aqueduct, or, as it is generally called, a 

 naumachia, of which there are remains, were not con- 

 structed till the. time of the empire. On the hills which 

 rise above Taormina there are nuns of several castles, and 

 among them one is very remarkable, which is called Mola, 

 and was built in the ninth century of our H-ra by the 

 Saracens, who took the town by storm after a long and 

 brave resistance by the inhabitants. 



The principal deity worshipped by the antient Tauro- 

 menians was Apollo, which confirms the statement that 

 the town was a settlement of the Naxians, among whom 

 Apollo was the national divinity. An Apollo, with a 

 wreath of laurel ronnd his head, occurs on many coins 

 found at Tauromenium. with the inscription APXATBTA, 



or APXArBTAS; and the reverse shows a tripod, which 

 probably indicates that Naxos was founded under tin- 

 sanction of the Delphic god. Other coins show the brad 

 of Dionysius or of Athena. There is one emu. one side of 

 which represents a head of Jupiter, and the other an 

 eaglu with the thunderbolts. The name of the town 

 U expreed on the coins by Taupo, Tavpo/t, Tutwipiri, 

 or Tavpo/avirav. (Eckhel. l><irtnnn \IIIH., i., part i., 

 p. 247, Stc. ; Mionnet, i., p. 324, &c. ; Sujijilem., i., i 

 Sec.) 



TAURUS, MOUNT (o Taf.pof), in the opinion of the 

 later Greek geographers, was a great chain of mountains 

 which extended nearly due east and west from the shon > 

 ot the /Kgean to those ol' the supposed Kastern <>' 

 and divided Asia into two parts, Asia within the Taurus 

 (JvrAf roD Tavpov), and Asia without the Taurus inr 

 Tat'pou). Their notions respecting this chain were by no 

 means accurate, and indeed only a small part of it ever 

 really bore the name. 



The chain of Taurus, properly so called, commem 

 the south-western point of Asia Minor, and proceeding 

 eastward parallel and near to the Mediterranean, it en- 

 doses between itself and the coast the narrow strip of 

 land which formed Pamphylia and Cilicia. At the river 

 Pyramus the chain divides into two, that of Amanus. 

 which proceeds to the east, dividing Syria from Asia 

 Minor [AMANUS], and the continuation of Taurus, which 

 runs north-east, along the south-east side of Cappadocia, 

 across the Euphrates into the northern part of Armenia. 

 where it joins Mount Masius. This chain now bears tin- 

 name of Enamas, Ramadan, and Gourin. 



In Cappadocia the Taunis throws oif a great branch 

 which was called the Anti-Taurus (A 'Avriraefwc '. and 

 which passes through the middle of Cappadocia, north- 

 east to the sources of the Halys. and thence cast to tin- 

 Euphrates. Its modern name' is Alidagh. At Si-baste 

 tSiwas) this chain joins that of the Paryadres (Chisheshi ., 

 which extends north-east as far as the mountains of Ararat . 

 In modern jreoirraphy the whole chain from the south- 

 west of Asia Minor to Ararat bears the name of Taurus. 

 The name itself is probably merely a form of a root winch 

 occurs in several Oriental languages, meaning mountain. 



Hennell's Geography of Jii-rmlnnix. i. X, Jcc. : Sclur- 

 liu's Alt'- (li'umrtijihie.) [ANATOLIA.] 



TAURUS (the Bull), the second constellation of the 

 ZODIAC. Its position in the heavens, surrounded by Aric*. 

 Kridaims. Orion, and Perseus, is easily obtained by the 

 manner in which its bright star ALDKHAHAN is connected 

 with the belt of Orion. In all speculations upon the origin 

 of the zodiac, Taurus must be an important object of con- 

 sideration, since, at the earliest date which prudent spe- 

 culation can consider it advisable to begin from, Aldebaran 

 must have been at no great distance from tin- vernal 

 equinox. Referring this point however to the article on 

 the zodiac, we shall merely notice that the Gree 

 usual, attribute but a paltry mythological origin to this 

 striking constellation ; the fables of Europa and lo being 

 the only ones alluded to in statements of its mythological 

 meaning. 



The figure is only a part of a bull, the head, shoulders, 

 and fore legs. Aldebaran and the Hyades form the fore- 

 head and eye, and the Pleiades are in the shoulder. But 

 Aral us must have drawn the figure differently, for he puts 

 the Pleiades in the knees. 



The Hyades form a group, of which five (some of the 

 antients said seven) are distinctly visible to the naked -M . 

 a, 8, Y, i, and t of the constellation : there are many more in 

 the cluster. These stars are arranged in the forni of a V, 

 a and c being the extremes, and y at the angular point. 

 The star a is Aldebaran. The name seems to be derived 

 from i.-. to rain. The Latins called them .>,///,/ , little 

 pigs, no doubt meaning Aldebaran for the sow, and the 

 others for her offspring), a name which Cicero and otheis 

 state to have arisen from supposing the Greek word to have 

 been from i't (pigs), and not from rnv. We think however 

 it may be possible that they were right in their idea of the 

 Greek word : the large star and the cluster of sn:all 

 might very easily suggest the notion of a sow and her 

 litter. 



The Pleiades are so close a group of stars that it is very 

 difficult to say how many are seen by the naked c)c. 

 ' They are called seven,' says Higinus, ' but no one can seu 



