z o s 



many thoufand years before Mofes. Upon the whole it 

 appears, that no memorial upon record is placed fo high as 

 the ancient writers have carried this perfonage ; and though 

 their accounts are for the moft part exaggerated, yet they 

 fully afcertain the antiquity of this perfon. 



The title Zoroafter, Mr. Bryant conceives, originally 

 belonged to the fun, and was metaphorically beftowed on 

 facred and enlightened perfonages. Some have thought, 

 that the fir ft among men to whom this title was applied was 

 Ham ; others have taken him for Chus, for Mizraim, and 

 for Nimrod, and Huetius for Mofes. But Mr. Bryant, 

 after examining the primitive characters given of him by 

 different writers, fuppofes, that they concur only in Noah, 

 who was the firft deified mortal, and the prototype in the 

 Magian worftiip. This writer fuppofes, that, as the objeft 

 of the Perfic and Chaldaic worfliip was the fun, and moil 

 of their titles were derived thence, Zoroafter denoted Sol 

 Afterius ; Zor being the fun, and After fignifying ftar. 



The abbe Foucher, in a long feries of memoirs, inferted 

 in the 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 30th, and 31ft vols, of the 

 Hiftoire de 1' Academic Royale des Infcriptions et BeUes 

 Lettres, &c. Paris, has given an ample account of the reli- 

 gion of the Perfians. This learned author maintains, on 

 the authority of Phny, that the moft celebrated Zoroafter 

 was an ancient fage, who lived under Cyaxares, king of the 

 Medes, reftored the worfhip of fire, was revered by the 

 Perfians as a celeftial prophet, and whofe extacies, prodi- 

 aries, and revelations, made a great noife in the world. See 

 Zekdavesta. 



ZOROPASSUS, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia, 

 in LefTer Armenia, dependent on the prefefture of Murianne. 

 Ptol. 



ZORVI, in Geography, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the 

 province of Diarbekir ; 22 miles E. of Ana. 



ZOSAWA, a river of Moravia, which runs into the 

 Frifawa, 5 miles W. of Hohenftadt. 



ZOSIMA, in Botany, an umbelhferous genus, thus called 

 by profeflbr Hoffmann, in compliment to three brothers, 

 Anaftatius, Nicholas, and Zoa Zofima, diftinguilhed for their 

 editions of numerous works of the Greek claffics. This 

 botanical commemoration feems chiefly owing to the great 

 propenfity, (" magna propenjio," ) of the latter of thefe bro- 

 thers, for natural hiftory. We prefume not to difpute the 

 claim, becaufe the author of this name is, doubtlefs, better 

 able to judge of its propriety than we can pofCbly be — 

 Hoffm. Umbell. v. i. 145. t. i. B. f. 9.— Clafs and order, 

 Pentandria Digynia. Nat. Ord. Umbelllferx. 



Gen. Ch. General and partial Umbel of many unequal 

 rays. General and partial Involucrum of many, linear-lance- 

 olate, acute, unequal, villous, permanent leaves. Perianth 

 of five unequal, very ftiort, permanent teeth. Cor. Unl- 

 verjal nearly regular and uniform ; fotvers partly perfeft 

 and fertile ; the central and lateral ones, in each umbel, 

 male : partial of five, nearly equal, fpreading, inverfely 

 heart-fhaped, deflexed petals ; rather concave, on each fide, 

 at the keel ; tapering at the bafe ; obliquely inflexed at the 

 point, which is hnear-lanceolate, acute, involute, channelled. 

 Stam. Filaments five, fpreading or deflexed, ftraight, 

 longer than the involute corolla, dilated at the bafe ; an- 

 thers verfatile, roundifti, two-lobed. Pyi. in the perfeft 

 florets, Germen inferior, ovate, compreffed, villous ; 

 ftyles two, thread-fliaped, channelled ; their tumid bafe 

 wavy and crenate at the margin ; at length reflexed and 

 permanent ; ftigmas fimple, obtufe. Peric. Fruit roundifti- 

 obovate, compreffed, finely downy, bordered ; the border 

 externally tumid, and fomewhat corrugated, internally 

 ftriated ; emarginate at the fummit, crowned with the ftyles 

 Vol. XXXIX. 



z o s 



on their /hort, nearly feflile, crifped bafe ; thickened at the 

 bottom ; the diflc elevated and ftriated. Seeds two, of a 

 fimilar (hape, convex in the middle, with three elevated 

 narrow, central ribs, and two marginal ones ; their inter- 

 ftices, in the upper half, occupied by four coloured ftripes. 



Eff. Ch. General and partial involucrum of many per- 

 manent leaves. Corolla uniform. Some flowers male. 

 Calyx tumid, five-toothed. Petals nearly equal, obovatp, 

 inflexed. Fruit roundifh-obovate, compreffed, villous, with 

 a corrugated border ; the di(k ribbed. 



l.Z.orlentalls. Oriental Zofima. HofFm. n. i. (He- 

 racleum abfinthifolium ; Venten. Choix de PI. 7. t. 7. 

 Marfch. a Bieberft. Taur.-Caucaf. v. i. 224. Sphondylium 

 orientale humilius, foliis abfinthii ; Tourn. Cor. 22.) — Na- 

 tive of Perfia, Georgia, and other countries about Caucafus, 

 flowering in the early part of fummer. The root is biennial, 

 tap-ftiaped, milky. The whole herb when bruifed fmells 

 like Smallage, Jlplum graveolens. Stem ere&, near two feet 

 high, cylindrical, furrowed, fomewhat branched, and 

 nightly leafy, about as thick as a fwan's quill, rough to 

 the touch with Ihort whitifh hairs. Leaves oppofite, 

 ftalked, thrice pinnate, hoary with fliort pubefcence ; leaflets 

 fmall, wedge-fhaped, lobed ; entire at the edges. Umbel: 

 two or three inches in diameter, on long ftalks, terminal : 

 partial ones of from twelve to fifteen Jloivers, which, ac- 

 cording to Ventenat, are milk-white, but Hoffmann de- 

 fcribes the petals of a yellowifti-green. Germen downy. If 

 the Jloivers are really white, we fliould fufpeft this plant to 

 be nearly related to Heracleum tomentofum, Sm. Prodr. Fl. 

 Grzec. Sibth. v. i. 192, which will be exhibited in t. 281. 

 of the Fl. Graeca ; but the fliape of the fruit of the latter is 

 very unlike Hoffmann's figure, nor does it better agree with 

 the reprefentation in Ventenat's work. This laft indeed is 

 itfelf fo unhke Hoffmann's t. i. B. f. 9, (he himfelf erro- 

 neoufly cites f. 7,) that we cannot but fufpeft fome mif- 

 take. Nor are we, after all, perfuaded that the plant under 

 confideration ought to form a feparate genus from Herac- 

 leum. In fo natural a family, the (kill of a botanift is ftiewn 

 in combining, rather than dividing, which laft is the moft 

 eafy thing in the world, and the moft pernicious to fcience. 

 We do not, however, pretend to decide in the prefent cafe ; 

 becaufe the generic diftinftions of Umbellate plants are 

 mW/ubjudice- 



ZOSIMUS, in Biography, a Greek hiftorian, who held 

 various civil offices under the younger Theodofius, about 

 the commencement of the fifth century, and left a hiftory of 

 Roman affairs in fix books ; the firft of which fumiflies a 

 flight view of the emperors, from Auguftus to Diocletian ; 

 and the others detail the public events that occurred to the 

 fecond fiege of Rome by Alaric, and the pontificate and 

 depofition of Attains. Something feems to be wanting 

 towards the end. The ftyle of this hiftorian is concife, per- 

 fpicuous, and pure ; but his prejudices againft the Chriftian 

 emperors have mifled him ; and particularly in his account 

 of Conftantine the Great. Leunclavius has attempted to 

 juftify him ; and it has been allowed that he has divulged 

 fome truths which other hiftorians have fuppreffed. Gibbon 

 fays, " credulous and partial as he is, we muft take our 

 leave of this hiftorian with regret." The firft edition of his 

 work was that of R. Stephens, in 1581 ; others have been 

 pubbftied by T. Smith, Gr. and Lat. Oxon. 1679, 8vo.; 

 and the Variorum by Cellarius, 8vo. 1679, 1712. 



ZosiMUS, Pope, a native of Greece, was elevated to the 

 pontifical throne in March 417, asfuccefforto Innocent I.; 

 at the time when the Pelagian controverfy prevailed. Cx- 

 leftius, the chief difciple of Pelagius, prefeuted his comel- 

 fion of faith to this pope, who approved it and admitted 

 D d hira 



