OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 227 



"635 B. C." (Herodot. iv. 157, and Clint.), in Lydia, the city of Sardis captured by the Cimmer- 

 ians ; who had again entered Asia Minor. 



The same year (= 616 -|- " 24 years " of ten lunations, Sm. b. d.), Tullus Hostilius succeeded by 

 Ancus Marcius, fourth king of Rome. 



Mentha arvensis of Europe and middle Asia. Called in Britain mint, in France "menthe" 

 (Nugent), in Germany " minze" (Grieb), in Egyptian " atshinsthoi " or " ashinnsthoi " or "asinstoi" 

 (transl. n. test.) ; in which we recognize the " menta-" of the early Romans, who deduced the name 

 from "mintha," — commended for its taste and odour by Pliny xix. 47 to xx. 53 "grato menta mensas 

 odore percurrit in rusticis dapibus " agreeably scenting rustic banquets ; mentioned also by Cicero, 

 and Ovid met. x . . . ; its use in cookery, by Apicius ; its cultivation according to Columella, and Pliny, 

 renewed from the " mentastrum " or " silvestre " kind, growing in fallow ground and in the time 

 of Pompeius found to remove " elephantiasin " white scurf on the face : M. arvensis is described by 

 Lobel adv. p. 217 ; is termed " m. arvensis verticillata hirsuta " by Tournefort inst. 189 ; was observed 

 by Forskal on Malta; is known to grow in fallow ground as far as Denmark (fl. Dan. pi. 512, Thuil., 

 AH., Lam. fl. fr., and Pers.), and is besides cultivated. Eastward, the " ethuosmon " enumerated by 

 Matthew xxiii. 3, and Luke xi. 42 as cultivated in Palestine, by Dioscorides as medicinal and a con- 

 diment, mentioned also in Geopon. xii. 24, may be compared : M. arvensis was observed by Sestini 

 in the environs of Constantinople (Sibth.) ; by Delile, in the gardens of Egypt ; and is known to 

 grow about Caucasus (Royle). Farther East, is known to grow along the Himalayan mountains as 

 far as Cashmere (Royle in Kitt. bibl. cycl.) ; was observed by Graham "in gardens" in the environs 

 of Bombay ; by Roxburgh, in other parts of Tropical Hindustan. By European colonists, was car- 

 ried to Northeast America, where it continues under cultivation, and according to A. Gray has been 

 found springing up spontaneously " Penn. and Ohio, rare, odor like that of decayed cheese." Is one 

 of three species enumerated by Lindley as having "been in repute as stomachics and emmenagogues." 

 (See M. aquatica, and M. crispa). 



"634 B. C." (Herodot., and Clint), Phraortes slain by the Assyrians; and succeeded by his 

 son Cyaxares, third Median emperor. Whose siege of Nineveh was arrested before the close of the 

 year by Scythians from beyond the Black Sea overrunning Asia Minor. — The Scythians remained 

 " twenty-eight " years, and extended their incursions as far as Palestine. 



One hundred and tenth generation. Sept. 1st, 634, mostly beyond youth: the Egyptian" priest 

 Sonchis preceptor of Solon : the Jewish prophets, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk : the Greek poets, 

 Aristoxenus of Selinus, Lesches of Mytilene, Xanthus, Pisander of Camira, and Mimnermus. 



" 633 B. C." ( . . . . Clint.), at the mouth of the Danube, the city of Istrus founded by Milesian 

 Greeks. 



"631 B. C." (Euseb., and Clint.), in Lybia, the city of Cyrene founded by Greek colonists under 

 Battus. 



Continuing South, the Scythians were dissuaded by Psametik from entering Egypt ; but on their 

 way back, some of their number plundered the temple of the Uranian Venus in Ascalon, of the deity 

 called " Alilat" by the Arabians. This was the oldest temple of Venus known to Herodotus i. 105 

 to iii. 8, having preceded and given rise to that on Cythera built by the Phoenicians, and the one on 

 Cyprus. The origin of the Enarean Scythians was attributed to the above-mentioned desecration. 



Tilia argentea of Eastern Europe. A linden tree called in Greece "phlamouria" (Fraas) or 

 "lipa'' or "philouria" (Sibth. app.) ; in which we recognize the " philuren " used in divination by 

 the Enarean Scythians, an art according to their account taught them by Venus — (Herodot. iv. 67), 

 furnishing the splints or stays worn by the poet Cinesias, accused by the orator Lysias (Ruel i. 138) : 

 the "philura" is mentioned also by Xenarchus, Aristophanes av. 1378, and Athenaeus xii. 76 to xv. 

 24 ; by Theophrastus iv. 4. I and caus. it. 19. 2 as not flourishing in the gardens of Babylon, the 

 under surface of its leaves whitish, and a " thelSia " kind distinguished : T. argentea was observed 

 by Sibthorp, and Fraas, on mountains from the Peloponnesus to Constantinople ; by Griesebach 

 p. 136, in Macedonia ; by Waldstein and Kitaibel, in Hungary ; and " lipa," one of the above names 

 current in Greece, is (according to Moritzi and A. Decandolle) Slavonian. Farther South, the 

 importation into Egypt of timber of "nafhaur " or " tilia " is enumerated by Forskal p. Ivi. (See T. 

 Europaja) . 



"630 B. C," and "in the reigns of Psammetichus and CyaxareS " (Strab. xvii. 1. 18, and Clint.), 

 in Egypt, the city of Naucratis founded by Milesian Greeks. 



"629 B. C." (= 678 — "49 years" of Herodot. i. 16, and Clint.), Ardys succeeded by Sadyattes, 

 as king of Lydia. 



" 626, Feb. 3d." In " spring, on the day Kouei-hai, in the second month in the 26th year of 

 Siang-wang" (Khoung-tseu, the Li-tai-ki-sse, and Pauth. 107), eclipse of the sun. 



About this year (Percev. i. 55), Malik, son of Himyar, obtaining possession of Oman, main- 

 tained the independence of the province against his brother Wathil. 



