RHE 



R H E 



The name Apfara is fometimes written Upfara, under 

 which latter word fomething farther concerning thefe 

 damfels will be found. 



RHENA, in Geography, a town of Germany, in the 

 duchy of Mecklenburg ; 22 miles W.S.W. of Wifmar. 

 N. lat. 53 50'. E. long. 1 1° 10'. 



RHENANUS, Beatus, in Biography, a learned Ger- 

 man, was born at Rheinac in 1485, and died at Strafburgh 

 in 1547. He was corrector of the prefs for Frobenius, 

 and by that means formed an intimacy with Erafmus. 

 He wrote " A Hiftory of Germany," 4to. ; " Illyrici 

 Provinciarum utrique Imperiorum Romano, tarn Conftan- 

 tinopolitano Servientis, Defcriptio," 8vo. He was alfo the 

 editor of Velleius Paterculus, and other works. 



RHENEA, in Ancient Geography, aniflandof the jEgean 

 fea, in the neighbourhood of that of Delos. Strabo lays 

 that it was deferted, but that it was the place of burial for 

 the inhabitants of Delos ; which being deemed facred, it 

 was forbidden to bury the dead in it. The two iiles of 

 Delos and Rhenea are called '• Dili or Ifdiles." 



Rhenea retains its name, and is denominated alfo Great 

 Delos ; it is feparated from the famous ifland of Delos by 

 a ftrait of about 500 toifes. In the middle of this narrow 

 channel are two fhoals, called the Great and the Little 

 Ramateari : the ancient Greeks had confecrated the larger 

 to Hecate or Diana, and called it the ifland of Hecate, or 

 Pfammite. Ships, even men of war, find good anchorage 

 near this ifland. N. lat. 37- ic'. E. long. 25- 15'. See 

 Delos. 



RHENEN, in Geography, a town of Holland, in the 

 department of Utrecht, feated on the river Leek ; 20 miles 

 N.N.E. of Boisle-Duc. N. lat. 51= 59'. E. long, y 30'. 



RHENFERD, James, in Biography, a celebrated orien- 

 tal fcholar, was born at Mulheim, in Weftphalia, in the 

 year 1654. He went through a courfe of academical 

 lhidies at the college of Meurs, a city in the duchy of 

 Cleves, and afterwards travelled for improvement into fo- 

 reign countries. In 1678, when he was 24 years of age, 

 lie accepted an invitation to become rector of the Latin 

 college in the city of Franeker ; but upon the condition 

 that, while he held that poll, he (hould be at liberty to 

 deliver ledtures on the Oriental languages. 1 [e religned 

 his re&orfhip and removed to Amfterdam, where fome of 

 the mod wealthy families in that city employed him in the 

 capacity of tutor, and he enjoyed, at the fame time, a fa- 

 vourable opportunity for converting with learned Jews, 

 and improving his knowledge of rabbinical learning. In 

 the year 1683, a vacancy having taken place in the pro- 

 fefforfhip of the Oriental languages and facred philofophy 

 at the univerfity of Frar.eker, bv the removal of the famous 

 Vitringa to the theological chair, M. Rhenferd received an 

 invitation to fill it ; which he accepted. M. Rhenferd 

 held this poft nearly thirty 3 irs, during which he had the 

 honour of being thrice chofen reftor of the univerfity. He 

 died in 1 7 1 2, when he was in the 59th year of his age. His 

 learning was general and exteniive ; but he chiefly excelled 

 in an acquaintance with the Hebrew, including the Rab- 

 binical, the Chaldee, and Syriac. He was author of feveral 

 learned works, among which the following may be men- 

 tioned ; " De Antiquitate Charadteris hodiemi Judaici," 

 1696, 4to. ; in which lie endeavoured to eitablilh the claim of 

 the prefent Hebrew characters to the higheit antiquity, and 

 to prove that the Samaritan characters were borrowed from 

 the Hebrews ; " Comparatio Expiationis anniverfariae Pon- 

 tificis maximi in Vet. Teft. cum unica atque xterna Expia- 

 tionis Chrifti Domini ;" " Inveftigatio Prxfedtorum et 

 Miniitrorum Synagogue," 17CO, 4to. ; « Diflertationum 



Theologico-philologicamm de Stylo Novi Teftamenti Syn- 

 tagma, quo continentur Olearii, Cocceii, &.c. de hoc generc 

 Libelli," &c. 1701, 4to. ; " Arabarcha, feu, Ethnarcha 

 Judxorum," 1702, 4to. ; " De Statuis et Aris, falfis verif- 

 que Dei et Hominum Internunciis," in illuftration of 

 Exod. xx. 23, 24, 1705, 410. ; " Obfervationum feleftarum 

 ad Loca Plebrxa Nov. Teft. partes five Difput. Tre. ,'" 

 1705, 4to. &c. In 1706 he commenced the publication of 

 a work, entitled " Rudimenta Grammatics Harm< ■■ 

 Linguarum Orientalium, Hebraese, Chaldaicx, Syriacx, et 

 Arabics?, " which he did not live to finifh. 



RHENONES, among the ancient Germans, a kind of 

 garment covering the fhoulders and brealt down to the 

 middle. It was either entirely made of (kins, or covered 

 over with them ; the long hair of which being outward, 

 proved a good defence againft ram. 



RHENUSj in Geography. See Rhine. 



RHEO-STATICS, is ufed by fome for the ftatics, or 

 the fcience of the equilibrium of fluids. 



RHERIGONEUS Sims, in Ancient Geography. See 

 ReRIGONI.AN Bay. 



RHESAPHA, a town of Svria, in the Palmyrene, near 

 Cholle. Ptol. 



RHESCIPA, or Reschipiia, a town of Afia, in Mefo 

 potamia, upon the banks of the Euphrates, between Be- 

 thaunaand Agamana. Ptol. 



RHES1NA, a town of Afia, near Mefopotamia, on the 

 river Aboras. Steph. Byz. 



RHETICUS, Geokge Joachim, in Biography, an 

 excellent German aftronomerand mathematician in the 16th 

 century, and a native of Feldkirk, the chief town of one 

 of the weftern counties of the Tyrolefe, was born in 

 year 1514. Difcovering early an inclination towards the 

 ttudy of the mathematics, he was initiated in the elements of 

 that fcience at Zurich ; whence he removed to the univerfity 

 of Wittemberg : here he took the degree of matter of pi 

 fophy in 1535, and two years afterwards he was made joint 

 profelTor of the mathematics and aitronomy with the famous 

 RnxiiOLD. ( See his article. ) While he \ . 

 into reputation by i. . he was informed of the hypo- 



thec's of Copernicus concerning the revolution of the hea- 

 venly bodies ; which appeared to him to be io re ifoi able, 

 that he determined to relign his profefforfhip, and ttudy 

 the doctrine under the inftru&ions of its author. Accord- 

 ingly, in 1539, he left Wittemberg, and went into Pruflia, 

 where he became a difciple of that great man. To the 

 fyftem of Copernicus he foon became an entire convert ; and 

 he afterwards affifted his mafter for fome years in his aftro- 

 nomical labours. In vain did he for a long ti 

 Copernicus, in common with the other friends of that 

 aftronomer, to favour the world with his grand work, " De 

 Revolutionibus Orbium Cceleilium." At length, the 

 fuations of his friends having prevailed upon Copernicus to 

 permit the appearance of his work, the care of editin 

 was confided to Rheticus, who caufed it to be printed at 

 Nuremberg in 1543, in folio. He now began his 

 elaborate " Canon Docirinx Trianguloruno," or canon of 

 fines, tangents, and fecants, to fifteen places of figures, and 

 to every ten feconds of the quadrant : a defign whic 

 did not live to complete. The canon of fines, how 

 the fame radius, for every ten feconds, and for every fii 

 fecond in the tirlt and laft degree of the quadrant com- 

 puted by him, was publifhed at Francfort in 1613, folio. 

 Upon the death of Copernicus, who lived only a few hi 

 after he received a copy of his printed work, Rh. cui 

 turned to Wittemberg, and was again admitted to his poft 

 of mathematical and altronomical profeffor. For fome I 



after 



