OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 233 



"597 B. C. = nth year of Ting-wang " (Chinese chron. table), beginning of the Thirty-fifth 

 cycle. 



"596 B. C." (Clint., see Cic, Plut., and Diog. Laert.), Epimenides the priestly bard of Crete, 

 now in old age, visiting Athens. 



Ornithogalum Pyrenaicum of Europe and the adjoining portion of Asia. Called in Britain 

 French sparrow-grass (Prior), in Greece " agria skulla " (Fraas) ; and the " epimemthSiou skilles " 

 — distinguished by Theophrastus vii. 12. 1 as esculent, having narrower and smoother leaves than 

 the others, an account copied by Pliny xix. 30, is referred here by Fraas: O. Pyrenaicum was 

 observed by him, Sibthorp, and Chaubard, in the Peloponnesus and on the mountains of Crete. 

 Westward, is termed " o. angustifolium majus floribus ex albo virescentibus " bv Tournefort inst. 

 379 ! and is known to grow in Carniolia and middle Europe as far as Britain (Tacq. austr. pi. 101 

 Pers., and Sm. fl. brit. 363). 



Ornithogalum stachyoides, given as a distinct species — but also called in Greece " agrioskilla " 

 (Sibth.) ; the " asphothSlos " of Galen fac. alim. ii. p. 652 having a single root rivalling the squill 

 in shape and bitterness, but in times of scarcity rendered edible by being prepared like lupines, is 

 referred here by Dodoens pi. 209, and Sprengel : O. stachyoides was observed by Sibthorp frequent 

 from the Peloponnesus throughout the Greek islands to Constantinople. Westward, is described by 

 Renealme pi. 90 ; is termed " o. majus spicatum alterum " by Tournefort inst. 379 ; and is known to 

 grow as far as France (Lam. fl. fr., and Steud.). 



" 595 B. C." ( . . . . Clint.), commencement of war by the Amphictyons against Cirrha near mount 

 Parnassus. Called the " Sacred war," — and continuing (according to Callisthenes) " ten " years. 



In this year = " 16th year of Necho," death of an Apis or sacred bull — (Birch). 



The same year (= 589 + " 6 years " of Herodotus, and the Afr.-Maneth. table), 

 Nghao succeeded by Psammis or Psammouthis or Psammetihos II., sixth king of the 

 Twenty-sixth dynasty. The name of Psametik II. occurs on stones once part of a 

 propylon at Memphis, on a sarcophagus at the bottom of the remarkable insulated pit 

 at Gizeh discovered by Vyse, on stones employed in reparations at Thebes, on the 

 rocks at Philae, on foundation stones of Diocletian's column at Alexandria (Leps. eg. and sin. p. 

 42), on an obelisk (now in Rome), and on various articles (now in the museums of Europe). 



His name occurs also in an " arched tomb " at Sakara (Glid. analect.) ; in the series with " stone 

 vaulted roofs, whose single blocks have the correct concentric cut ; " examples of the stone arch, as 

 early as any in Rome, being " coeval with the Cloaca Maxima and Career Mamertinus " (Leps. eg. 

 and sin. 74). 



"594 B. C." (Sosicr. and Clint.), the laws of Solon, archon for this year, adopted at Athens. 

 Including the Egyptian law on surveying land, by which everyone was obliged to declare the amount 

 of his income; — a law that continued in force in the days of Herodotus ii. 177 (Leps. eg. and sin.). 



Defensive measures against the oppressions of the wealthier classes, were also provided in the 

 laws of Solon ; — and from this time, Athens began to acquire prominence in the affairs of Greece. 



Solon, Thales of Miletus, Pittacus of Mytilene, and Bias of Ionia, were universally reckoned 

 among the " Seven sages ; " and with less unanimity, Cleobulus of Lindus, Myson of Chenes, and 

 Chilon of Laconia : all of them contemporary persons who appear to have been chiefly statesmen. 



" The same year" (= 559 -)- " 35 years " of Herodot. i. 102, and Clint.), Cyaxares succeeded 

 by Astyages, fourth Median emperor. 



The hieroglyphic oval of king Psametik II. is in one instance accompanied with an inscription in 

 Assyrian or cuneiform writing. 



Inscriptions in demotic or enchorial writing occur also under the Twenty-sixth dynasty. Re- 

 garded by Birch, as "an outgrowth of the hieratic writing, which it superseded for the legal and 

 ordinary purposes of life ; " and as " an attempt to assimilate the Egyptian system of writing to the 

 alphabetic Phoenician." — In the form of the characters, some general resemblance may be remarked 

 between demotic and the " Arabic " writing of the present day. 



"593 B. C." (Burm. hist., and Mason 39), the brother of the "seventeenth" king of Tagoung 

 proceeding into the forest to hunt a wild boar that had committed ravages. — He ultimately chose 

 the life of an ascetic ; and his adopted daughter married the son of the king of Tagoung, and became 

 the mother of king Dwattaboung. 



The Mergui Archipelago along the coast of Burmah occupied by the Selungs or Salones, a Ma- 

 layan tribe living in boats, as early probably as this date.* 



* Zalacca edulis of the Moluccas. A palm called in Burmah " yen-gan-khyen " or " yen-gan-khyo " 

 (Mason) ; and its trunk " as light and of the consistency of cork " used perhaps already for making 

 the " unequalled " sea-boats of the Selungs : — Z. edulis was observed by Mason 459 to 544 " exotic " 



