OSYMANDYAS OTHO II. 



369 



OSYMANDYAS ; one of the Pharaohs of ancient 

 Egypt, who flourished about 1500 years B. C. He 

 erected the gigantic works of Thebes, built the 

 Memnonium in the city of the hundred gates, and, 

 according to Diodorus, inscribed on his colossus, " I 

 am Osymandyas, king of kings : if any man will 

 know my greatness and my resting-place, let him 

 destroy one of my works." Heeren (Historical 

 Works, xiv. 241 seq., and 317 seq.) conjectures 

 that Osymandyas was a name of the great Rameses, 

 or Sesostris, as all the works of art in the Memnon- 

 ium relate to traditions of the exploits of this great 

 sovereign. (See Memnon.) According to some 

 writers, Osymandyas belonged to the fifteenth dy- 

 nasty, and lived about 2300 years B. C. According 

 to the explanation by the Cav. St Quentin, member 

 of the Turin academy, of the hieroglyphics on the 

 pedestal of a colossus made of hard red sand-stone, 

 which is in the museum of Egyptian antiquities at 

 Turin (taken by Drovetti, in 1818, from the ruins 

 of the ancient temple of Carnac), that statue, the 

 largest, and perhaps, also, one of the most beautiful 

 which have been brought uninjured from the banks 

 of the Nile to the continent of Europe, is the statue 

 of king Osymandyas. 



OTAHEITE. See Society Islands. 



OTFRID, oROTFRIED ; the author of one of the 

 earliest specimens of composition in the German 

 language. He was a native of Suabia, and lived in 

 the middle of the ninth century. After having be- 

 come a monk of the abbey of Weissenburg, in Alsace, 

 he studied under Rabanus Maurus, abbot of Fulda. 

 He then returned to his monastery, where he opened 

 a school of literature, and wrote a variety of works 

 in prose and verse. The most important of these is 

 a rhymed version, or paraphrase, of the gospels, in 

 old High German, still extant, in which there are 

 some passages of lyrical poetry. Scherz published it, 

 with a Latin translation, in his edition of Schiller's 

 Thesaurus Antiquitatum Tevtonicarum. 



OTHMAN. See Caliph. 



OTHO, MARCOS SALVIUS, successor of the em- 

 peror Galba, was descended from a consular family, 

 and passed his youth in luxury and debauch, being 

 the confidant of Nero. This emperor appointed him 

 proconsul in Lusitania, that he might remove an ob- 

 stacle to the gratification of his passion for Poppsea 

 Sabina, the wife of Otho, to whose beauty her hus- 

 band himself had first called his attention. Otho 

 held his place with honour for ten years. He was 

 the first to declare for Galba, when he rebelled against 

 Nero, and accompanied him to Rome, where he was 

 made consul immediately after Galba ascended the 

 throne, A. D. 67. As Galba did not adopt him for 

 his successor, and as he was greatly distressed, hav- 

 ing squandered away all his fortune, he determined 

 to effect the fall of the emperor. He succeeded, 

 with the assistance of the pretorian bands and the 

 other troops. Galba was murdered, and Otho pro- 

 claimed emperor. But the legions ia Germany pro- 

 claimed Vitellius. In vain did Otho offer immense 

 sums to gain them to his side. Vitellius refused the 

 offer to reign as joint emperor, and led his army over 

 the Alps. Otho, for whom most of the provinces had 

 declared, sent against these veteran troops an army 

 of newly-levied soldiers, but commanded by able 

 generals, who defeated, in three battles, the divided 

 army of Vitellius. Elated by his success, and be- 

 coming imprudent, Otho determined on a decisive 

 battle against the now united troops of his adversary, 

 :uid was beaten. Upon receiving information of his 

 misfortune, he resolved, by a voluntary death, to end 

 the civil war, and pierced himself with his dagger, 

 after reigning three months and three days. Not- 

 withstanding his luxurious habits, he had given proofs 



of a daring and resolute spirit, so as to be deemed 

 worthy of a better fate. 



OTHO I., emperor of Germany, son of Henry I., 

 was born in 912. His haughtiness and selfish spirit 

 excited the enmity of his brothers, and even his 

 mother was so much disgusted at them, as to employ 

 all her influence against him in favour of her second 

 son, Henry. Otho's firmness, however, prevailed, and 

 he was crowned king of Germany, at Aix-la-Chapelle, 

 in 936. Wenceslaus, on whom he had conferred the 

 duchy of Bohemia, having been murdered by his 

 brother, the latter, on Otho's refusal to acknowledge 

 his claim to the succession, determined to make 

 Bohemia independent of Germany, and was not re- 

 duced until 950, after a fourteen years' war. Otho 

 also brought to a successful issue the struggles with 

 the dukes of Bavaria and Franconia, and invested his 

 son Ludolf (949) with the duchy of Suabia, and his 

 brother Henry with that of Bavaria. Conrad, count 

 of Worms, married Otho's daughter, and received 

 Lorraine. Otho likewise gained reputation in his 

 dealings with foreign states. The Danes, who had 

 invaded Germany, were driven back beyond the Ei- 

 der, the Danish king was obliged to embrace Chris- 

 tianity, and acknowledge himself a vassal of the 

 empire. Louis (Outremer) called in his aid against 

 the great vassals under the powerful Hugh the Great. 

 Otho reduced the rebels to terms, and confirmed the 

 authority of the king. The Italians next required 

 his assistance to deliver them from the oppressions 

 of Berengarius II. Otho defeated the usurper, mar- 

 ried the widow of the last king, and was crowned 

 king of Lombardy, at Pavia, in 951. This marriage 

 not only engaged him in ambitious attempts for the 

 possession of Italy, but attracted many foreigners to 

 his court, and involved him in family dissensions. 

 His son Ludolf, and his son-in-law Conrad, duke of 

 Lorraine, revolted, but were worsted, and deprived 

 of their duchies, in 954, which were placed under 

 Bruno, archbishop of Cologne, brother of Otho. 

 Hardly were these transactions completed, when the 

 Hungarians broke into Germany, but were defeated 

 by Otho on the Lechfeld, near Augsburg (August 10, 

 955), with such slaughter, that they never ventured 

 to renew their invasions. Otho next turned his 

 arms against Berengarius, who had revolted. He 

 was crowned king of Italy by the archbishop of 

 Milan (961), and, soon after (962), emperor, by the 

 pope John XII. The pope took the oath of allegi- 

 ance to him, and the clergy promised that, for the 

 future, the choice of pope should always be made in 

 the presence of an imperial commissioner. John soon 

 repented of having given himself a master, and flew 

 to arms while the emperor was yet in Pavia. The 

 latter hastened to Rome, deposed that pontiff, and 

 placed Leo VIII. in the papal chair. No sooner was 

 Otho returned to Germany, than the Romans restored 

 John, and reversed the measures of the emperor, who 

 again appeared in Rome, and punished his enemies. 

 The Byzantine court refused to acknowledge Otho's 

 claim to the imperial dignity ; but he defeated the 

 Greek forces in Lower Italy, and the Eastern em- 

 peror, John Zimisces, gave the Greek princess Theo- 

 phania to his son in marriage. Otho died in 973, 

 leaving the reputation of great courage and the 

 strictest integrity. The clergy in Germany were 

 indebted to him for their elevation, which he en- 

 couraged to counterbalance the power of the tem- 

 poral vassals. 



OTHO II., youngest son of Otho I. and the fair 

 Adelaide, was born in 955. His elder brothers had 

 all died before their father, who caused him to be 

 crowned king of Rome the first instance of the 

 kind in German history. He inherited from his 

 father a hasty and unsteady temper, which, while it 

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