TYPHON TYRANT. 



709 



tliat the Earth, grieved at the defeat of the Titans, 

 had fomented discord between Juno and Jupiter. 

 The former complained to Saturn, who gave her two 

 eggs, with directions to place them upon the earth, 

 declaring that the creature which should issue from 

 them would be powerful enough to hurl Jupiter from 

 his throne. Juno accordingly deposited the eggs 

 upon mount Arime, in Cilicia, but on being recon- 

 ciled to her husband, disclosed to him what she had 

 done. Jupiter prepared, therefore, to encounter 

 the monster with his thunderbolts. According to 

 Pindar, Typhon then dwelt in a dark cave filled 

 with poisonous exhalations (Typhoneum') ; he was 

 larger and stronger than any thing which the Earth 

 had borne. His head reached the stars ; his arms 

 extended from east to West: instead of fingers, 100 

 sn;ikes proceeded from his hands; and around his 

 middle were twined dreadful serpents, which raised 

 themselves above his head, and uttered terrible 

 hissings. His eyes darted fire. Hesiod says, that 

 from a hundred serpent heads flamed fiery eyes, 

 and black tongues darted from their mouths ; some- 

 times he roars like a lion, howls like a dog, or 

 hisses so terribly that the mountains quake. This 

 description answers to that of a tempest, which 

 Hesiod himself declares Typhon to be. He is also 

 described with wings, and is said to have stormed 

 Olympus with masses of heated rocks, and flames of 

 fire, and to have made a way to the dwelling of the 

 gods, with dreadful hissings. The gods fled to 

 Egypt, and, when pursued thither, changed them- 

 selves into beasts. According to Apollodorus, Ju- 

 piter hurled his thunderbolts against him, and threat- 

 ened him, when he approached nearer, with his 

 adamantine sickle. The monster then fled to mount 

 Casius, or Caucasus, where, after a fierce conflict, he 

 bound the god with his serpents, and threw him 

 into a cave. He then took from Jupiter his sickle, 

 cut the tendons of his hands and feet, and carried 

 him to Cilicia, where he confined him in the Cory- 

 cian cave. The tendons having been left to the 

 care of the dragon Delphine, were stolen by Mer- 

 cury and .Sgipan, who cured Jupiter. The latter 

 now pursued Typhon to Nysa, a mountain near the 

 Serbonian lake, where the Parcse had artfully de- 

 tained him by offering him refreshments. But Ty- 

 phon again escaped, and fled to Thrace. Here, on 

 mount Hoemus, ensued a furious fight. Typhon 

 hurled whole mountains upon his enemy, but finally 

 fled to Sicily, where Jupiter buried him under 

 mount JEtna. Hesiod says that he was thrown into 

 Tartarus ; and Pindar relates that the Phlegraean 

 fields in Italy were placed upon him, while his head 

 reaches to ./Etna. By day he spits out vapours, 

 and by night flames and stones. By Echidna he 

 had Orthrus, Cerberus, the Chimaera, and the Ler- 

 neaii hydra. The Nemean lion, the Hesperian dra- 

 gon, the Caucasian vulture, and the Sphynx, with 

 all noxious winds, were also his children. The whole 

 fable of Typhon is nothing but a symbolical repre- 

 sentation of subterranean winds, earthquakes, vol- 

 canoes and their destructive effects. 



Typhon ; an Egyptian deity, son of Saturn and 

 Rhea, and brother of Osiris, Areris, Isis, and Neph- 

 thys. His mother's husband, according to Plu- 

 tarch, was the Sun, who, having surprised her with 

 Saturn, condemned her not to bear either in a year 

 or in a month. Mercury, another of her lovers, 

 relieved her in this emergency. By playing at dice 

 with the Moon, he won the seventy-second part of 

 rach day, and of this composed five days, which he 

 gave to Rhea, and which served the Egyptians as 



intercalary days to complete their year. Rhea gave 

 birth to the third class of Egyptian gods, and Ty- 

 phon was born on the third of the days thus ob- 

 tained. Typhon aspired to the sovereignty of 

 Egypt, possessed by his brother Osiris. His designs 

 were for a longtime frustrated by Isis, wife of Osi- 

 ris ; but the latter, while on his return from a tour 

 round the world, was killed by his brother, who cut 

 his body in pieces, and threw it into the Nile. Dur- 

 ing the reign of Typhon, all kings laid aside their 

 crowns, in token that they had submitted to his su- 

 premacy. When Horns, the youngest son of Isis. 

 had grown up, he overcame Typhon, after a severe 

 conflict, and sent him bound to his mother. Ists, 

 however, set him free, and the war was renewed. 

 Typhon was defeated a second time, and continued 

 his flight seven days upon an ass. He now begot 

 Hierosolymus and Judaeus, who, according to Taci- 

 tus, led the Jews out of Egypt. He is said to have 

 escaped from Horns by changing himself into a cro- 

 codile. According to another account, Mercury or 

 Hermes conquered him, and made cords of his ten- 

 dons. Herodotus says that he hid himself in lake 

 Serbonis (see the preceding article), which was 

 thence called from him by the Egyptians. His sister 

 Nephthys was his wife. With the Egyptians, he 

 was an evil deity, the author of all evil in the 

 world. His name is said to signify the destructive 

 south wind which dried up the earth : according to 

 others it signifies the month of drought. All noxi- 

 ous and unclean creatures were sacred to him, as, 

 for instance, the ass, the hippopotamus, and the 

 crocodile ; and, on certain festal days, he was made 

 a subject of derision and ridicule. In times of ex- 

 cessive heat, of disease, &c., it was customary to 

 shut up some animals sacred to him in a dark place, 

 and threaten them ; if the evil was not averted 

 they were then slain. Red-haired men were treated 

 in a similar manner ; they were esteemed sacred to 

 Typhon, because he himself had red hair. He is 

 commonly represented under the form of an ass, a 

 crocodile, or a hippopotamus. He is also considered 

 the symbol of the sea, which swallows up the Nile. 

 TYPHON, OR TYPHO (ecnephim vibrans, vor 

 tex") ; the same as hurricane. See Hurricane and 

 Wliirlwind. 



TYPHUS. See Fever. 

 TYPOGRAPHY. See Printing. 

 TYR, in northern mythology ; the son of Odin, 

 brother of Balder ; not to be confounded with Thor. 

 He was the god of war and victory. The Danes 

 and Icelanders still call Tuesday after him, TiVs- 

 day, or Tyrs-day. 



TYRANT (from the Greek j. f , which sig- 

 nified an absolute ruler). The word did not have 

 originally the bad signification which we now 

 attach to it; but as it is a rule which admits 

 of very few exceptions, that the possessor of un- 

 controlled power, whether individual, corpora- 

 tion or multitude, will abuse it, tyrant came at 

 length to signify an abuser of power, particularly 

 of the chief power in the state. But all ranks 

 and relations afford instances of the misuse of 

 power, when unrestrained by other power, or by 

 interest or affection. Towards the end of the 

 Peloponnesian war, the Lacedaemonians established 

 the government of the thirty tyrants, so called, in 

 Athens, which, however, lasted only eight months. 

 (See Attica.} In Roman history, the thirty ty- 

 rants were those generals who, under the worth- 

 less government of Gallienus (from 259 to 27P 

 A. D.), declared themselves independent masters of 



