RHE 



amount of about 300, were carried to Rome, where they 

 were fcourgcd and beheaded. This city fuffered much 

 from the earthquake that ravaged Calabria ; and even in 

 the time of the Romans it was abandoned by its inhabitants, 

 on account of the calamities which it had flittered ; but 

 Qefar rebuilt it, after having driven Pompey from Sicily. 

 Virgil (1. iii. v. 414, &c.) thus defcribes it : 



" Haec loca vi quondam, et vafta convulfa ruina 

 (Tantum JEvi longinqua valet mutare vetuftas) 

 Difliluiffe ferant, quam protenus utraque t^lUis 

 Una forct ; venit medio vi pontus, et undis 

 Hefperium Siculo latus abfeidit arvaque et urbes 

 Littore diduftas augufto interluit x(tu." 



RHEGMA, a place of Afia, in Cilicia, at the mouth 

 of the river Cydnus. Strabo. — Alfo, a town of Arabia 

 Felix, on the coait of the Perfian gulf, in the country of 

 the Anarites. Ptolemy. 



RHEGMA, formed of ftrywfu, I break, a word ufed by 

 the ancients to cxprefs any breaking or burtting of a loft 

 part without a wound, but mod frequently for abfeefles 

 breaking inwardly. 



RHEI I), in Geography, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Roer ; 2 miles E. of Gladbeck. 



RHEIMS. See Reims. 



RHEIN, a town of Pruffia, in the province of Natangen, 

 on a lake which communicates with Spirding lake. It 

 has a large fortified cattle, and an inferior court of juttice ; 

 68 miles S.E. of Konigiberg. N. lat. 53 48'. £. long. 

 2 1° 42'. 



RHEINAU, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Lower Rhine, fituated on the Rhine, and very much 

 reduced by the inundations of the river ; 5 miles S. of 

 Strafburg. — Alfo, a town of Switzerland, in the Thurgau, 

 fituated on an ifland formed by the Rhine, with a convent ; 

 5 miles S.S.W. of SchafThaufen. 



RHEINBACH, a river of Saxony, which joins the 

 Loderbach, near Bitterfeld. 



Riieinbach, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Rhine and Mofelle, and chief place of a canton, in the 

 diftridt of Bonn. The place contains 1 1 19, and the canton 

 16,478 inhabitants, in 37 communes. 



RHEINBECK, a town of the duchy of Holftein ; 10 

 miles E. of Hamburg. 



RHEINBERG, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Roer, and chief place of a canton, in the diltrift of 

 Creveldt ; 44 miles N.W. of Cologne. The place contains 

 1705, and the canton 7166 inhabitants, in 17 communes. 



RHEINE, or Reinev, a town of Germany, in the 

 bifhopric of Munfter, on t lie Embs, near which are fome 

 fait fprings ; 22 miles N. of Munfter. N. lat. 52 21'. 

 E. long. 7 25'. 



RHEINECK, or RheiNEGG, a town of Switzerland, 

 and capital ot the Rheintli.il, fituated on the Kliinr, near 

 its confluence with the Like of Con (lance, inhabited chiefly 

 by Protettants ; 26 miles S.E. of Conltance. 



RHEINFELDEN, a town of Germany, and lately one 

 of the four forelt towns ot Auftriari Swabia, on the S. fide 

 of the Rhine, on the oppofite bank of which is a covered 

 way, built like a horn-work, and communicating with the 

 town by means of a bridge ; 9 miles E. of Bale. N. lat. 

 47° 35'. E. long. 7 50'. 



RHEINFELS. See Rheni . 1 . 



RHEINHAUSEN, a town of Baden, in the circle of 

 the Upper Rhine, on the E. fide of the Rhine ; 3 miles 

 S.E. of Spire. 



RHEINMAGEN. See Ri mm . 

 Vol. XXX. 



RHE 



RHEINSDORF. See Ronsdorf. 



RHEINTHAL, a bailiwic of Switzerland, between th- 

 canton of Appenzel and the Rhine, belonging to the nine 

 cantons, about 30 miles long, and from three to eight 

 broad. The country is fertile, and produces excellent 

 wine. The number of inhabitants is about 1 3,000, who 

 are partly Proteltants and partly Roman Catholics. 



RHEINWALD, a valley in the country of the Grifons, 

 about 20 miles long, which takes its name from a branch 

 of the Rhine that pafl'es through it. 



RHEMANj or Reman, in Ancient Geography, a fortified 

 place of Afia, in Mefopotamia, which belonged to the 

 Romans, according to Ammianus Marcellinus. 



RHEMBA, in Hindoo Mythology, is a charader cor- 

 refponding in many parts to the popular Venus of the 

 Greeks. Like her (lie fprang from the foam of the ocean, 

 when churned by the gods and demons for the purpofe of 

 obtaining the amrita, or beverage of immortality, as no- 

 ticed under the articles Kurmavatara and Lakshmi. 

 She is fometimes faid to be an incarnation of Lakftuni, 

 confort of Vifhnu. More correctly, however, (he is 

 Rationed in the court of Indra, as the'ehief of his bands of 

 celeitial chorilters, named Apfara, Devancrana, Gandharva, 

 &c. The Apfaras, or Upfaras, are the Nereids of the 

 Hindoo Pantheon : having fprung from water, they are 

 called water nymphs, and afiift Indra, the Jupiter Pluvius 

 of India, in his regency over aqueous phenomena. (See 

 UpSARA.) In the churning procefs above adverted to, 

 thefe fair damfels were produced in extravagant numbers, 

 according to the Ramayana, toss. 600 millions ! " of re- 

 fplendent and celeitial form ; adorned with glorious orna- 

 ments, and endowed with beauty, youth, fwectnefs, and 

 every grace." Thefe interetting offspring of poetical 

 imagination are proverbially elegant and graceful. The 

 three wives of the mortal father of Ramachandra are faid, in 

 the work jutt quoted, to be queens, who, " in elegance of 

 form, rivalled the Apfaras." As the chief of thefe damfels 

 of Paradife, the fubject of this article is fometimes (tiled 

 Rhemba-devi, or the goddefs Rhemba. 



In Hindoo writings, efpecially in amatory poetics, allu- 

 fions frequently occur to the Upfaras, who correfpond alfo 

 with the fairies of the Perlians. Many are mentioned by 

 name, Rhemba the ofteneit, Urvafi, Tilotamma, Menaka, 

 &c. (See thofe articles.) Under the name of the lait 

 we have given an inftance of the ufe made by Indra of 

 thefe obfequious fullillcrs of his will ; for, as well as 

 in the line of finging, dancing, &c. coiidcfcenfions to 

 the Indra-dikas, or the demi-gods, the Apfaras are the 

 (afcinating difturbers of holy men, when engaged in fuch 

 fervent aufteritiea as threaten the fafety of Indra in his 

 firmamental throne. In explanation of which, it re- 

 quires to be noticed that Indra was originally a mere mortal ; 

 but learning that the throne of heaven was the reward of 

 the man who fhould, with the prefcribed ceremonies, per- 

 form one hundred afwamedhas, or facrilices of a horfe, he 

 did io, and obtained his dominion, and the name of Shat- 

 kratu, or he who performs a hundred facrilices. (See 

 INDRA.) His throne he retain:-, until another mortal lliall 

 tqual or exceed him in this potent (tile of propitiation. 

 He is therefore, always on the watch ; and being all . 

 never tails to difcover aullcre faints while performing their 

 rigid duties; when he either Heals or defilea the horfe in- 

 tended and fanftified for the next facrifice, or detai 1 . 



Rhemba -or Menaka, or fome oi her ol his damfels of" tafci- 



nating fymmetry of form," who always fucceed m exciting 



emotions incompatible with the require, 1 purity of fuch .11 



afpire to oufl Indra from his ethereal throne. See Mi -. \k \. 



I I The 



