O P H 
O P II 
cure gold, and the other commodities enumerated in the 
paflages cited, Solomon fent diredftly to Ophir, in his own 
Ihips, in thofe of his friend and ally, Hiram king of Tyre, 
or in the (hips of Tarfhifh, which he probably pro¬ 
cured through Hiram, who had regular and extenfive 
commercial intercourfe with that place; while, at the 
fame time, Solomon traded direftly with Tarfhilh, one of 
the principal depots for the merchandife in the Medi¬ 
terranean. 
Upon the whole, notwithftanding the ingenious hypo¬ 
thecs we have detailed, with the reafonfngs of ingenious 
and learned men, and the proofs they have adduced in 
fupport of them ; we are obliged to fay, that not one of 
thei'e hypothefes has fatisfied ourfelves, and rhatwecon- 
fider the fite of the land of Ophir, and of Tarfhilli, as fill 
undetermined. We fhall here enumerate the fources 
from which this article has been drawn, though moll of 
them have been mentioned in the courfe of it: Ancient 
Univerfal Hiftory, vol. iv. and xviii. Bruce’s Travels, vol. 
ii. Monthly Review, vol ii. and Ixxv. Encyclopaedia 
Britannica, 5th. edit. Salt’s Voyage to Abyflinia, 4to. 
1814. Hiftory of Commerce and Navigation. Gent. Mag. 
vol. 1 vi. New Cyclopaedia, by Dr. Rees. 
O'PHIR, a mountain of Sumatra, fituated immediately 
under the equinoctial line, and fuppofed to be the high- 
eft vifible from the fea ; its fummit being elevated 13,842 
feet above that ievel. The following is the refillt of ob¬ 
servations made by Mr. Robert Nairne, concerning the 
height of Mount Ophir: height of the peak above the level 
of the fea, in feet, 13,842 ; Englifh miles 2-6216, nautical 
miles 2-26325 ; inland, nearly, 26 nautical miles ; dillance 
from Maflang point, 32 nautical miles; diftance at fea, be¬ 
fore the peak is funk under the horizon, 125 nautical 
miles ; latitude of the peak, o°6'N. A volcano mountain, 
fouth of Ophir, is ftiort of that in height by 1379 feet; 
inland, nearly, 29 nautical miles. 
The idea of Sumatra being the country of Ophir, whi¬ 
ther Solomon fent his fleets, is too vague, fays Mr. Marl- 
den, and the fubjeCl wrapt in a veil of too remote anti¬ 
quity, to admit difeuffion. The name of Ophir was given 
to the mountain of Sumatra by the Europeans in modern 
days. 
OP'HIR, a mountain of Malacca : twenty-eight miles 
ealt-north-eaft of Malacca. 
OPHI'RA, J'. [derivation unknown.] In botany, a 
genus of the clafs oftandria, order monogynia, natural 
order of onagrae, Jujf. Generic characters—Calyx : invo¬ 
lucre two-valved, three-flowered j valves lateral, kidney- 
form, emarginate, conduplicate, permanent. Corolla : 
four-petalled, fuperior; petals oblong, converging. Sta¬ 
mina : filaments eight, the length of the corolla; antherae 
ovate. Piftillum: germen inferior, turbinate, hifpid; 
ftyle filiform, (liorter than the ftamens; lligma emargi¬ 
nate. Pericarpium : berry, one-celled. Seeds: two.— 
Ejfential Cliaraftcr. Involucre two-Valved, three-flow¬ 
ered; corolla four-petalled, fuperior; berry one-celled. 
Ophira ftrifla, the only fpecies known. The Items of 
this little ereCt fluub are quadrangular, and greyifii. 
Leaves oppofite, linear or lanceolate, rather pointed, co¬ 
riaceous, green above, filvery white beneath, on fiiort 
ftalks. Flowers axillary, fefiile, lateral, oppofite, capitate. 
Berry a little oblong very-refinous fort of cone, fome- 
vdiat like a minute ltrawberry. This plant was origi¬ 
nally difeovered by Burmann in Africa. Both Juftieu 
and Schreber confidered it as nearly allied to the Grubbia 
of Bergius ; and Dr. Smith, upon examination, finds them 
to be one and the fame plant. 
OPHI'TES, j\ [Greek.] A ftone refembling a ferpent. 
—Ophites has a dulky greenifh ground, with fpots of a 
lighter green, oblong, and ufually nearfquare. Woodward. 
.—See the article Serpentarius. 
O'PHITES, in church-hillory, the name of a fed of 
Chriftian heretics, who fprung-out of the Gnoftics, in the 
latter end of the fecond century; fo called from their 
523 
worfiiipping the ferpent that feduced Eve. This ferpent, 
they taught, was inftruCled thoroughly in all knowledge; 
and they make it the father and author of all the fciences. 
On which principle they founded a thoufand chimeras ; 
part of which may be leen in St. Epiphanius. They laid 
this ferpent was the Chrift ; but that he was very different 
from Jefus born of the Virgin, into whom, faid they, the 
Chrift defeended ; and that it was this jefus, not the 
Chrift, that fullered. Accordingly, they made all thofe 
of their feet renounce Jefus to follow Chrift. In confe- 
quence of this opinion, they nourifhed a certain number 
of ferpents, which they looked upon as facred, and to 
which they offered a fubordinate kind of honour and 
worfhip. - 
TheSethians, orSethites, mentioned by Theodoret, were 
either the fame with the Ophites, or very little different 
from them. The leader of this ridiculous fed was one 
Euphrates; it had its origin’among the Jews, and was 
of a more ancient date than the Chriftian religion. A 
part of its followers embraced the Gofpel, while the 
others retained their primitive fuperftition ; and from 
hence arofe thedivifion of the Ophites into Chriftian and 
Antichriftian. 
OPHIU'CHUS, f. [cxpiaj/o?, Gr. ferpent-bearer.] A 
conftellation of tiie northern hemifphere; called alio 
Serpentarius. 
Satan flood 
Unterrified, and like a comet burn’d, 
That fires the length of Ophiucus huge 
In the arctic fky. " Milton's P.L. 
OPPIIU'RUS, f. in botany ; [fo denominated from the 
Gr. up a ferpent, and apa, a tail, becaufe of the flender- 
jointed llruftureof the fpilce.] A genus of gralfes, founded 
by Gaertner, and publifhed by his fon in the third volume 
of his work on fruit and feeds. The two fpecies there de- 
feribed, are Rottbcellia incurvata and corymbofa of Lin¬ 
naeus. See Rottbcellia. 
OPHIU'SA, or Ophinza, fometimes called Orphifa, in 
ancient geography, an ifland which feme have confounded 
with theifle of Promontera, for an account of which fee 
Pit vu se Iflands. Ophiufa was called by the Romans 
Coltibraria, and the moderns have given it the names of 
Monculobrer, Columbrates; all in allufion to the number 
of ferpents (o<pi?) which it produced. It is fituated on 
the coaft of the kingdom of Valencia in Spain. 
Ophiusa was alfo, according to Pliny, theancient name 
of the ifland of Rhodes; and, according to Steph. Byz. the 
name of Libya.—Alfo, a town placed by Strabo on the 
fouthern _ bank of the river Tyras, 140 ftadia from its 
mouth ; it is now Palenca. 
OPHIUS'SA, the ancient name of the ifle of Thenos, 
one of the Cyclades, according to Pliny.—Alfo, a fmall 
ifland in the vicinity of the ifle of Crete, and near Hiera- 
pytna. 
OPH'RA, [Heb. duft or aflies.] A city mentioned in 
the book of Jofhua. 
OPHRIN'IUM, Ophrynium, or Renn-Keui, a town 
of Afia Minor, in the Troade, near Dardanum and Rhae- 
tium. Here was a grove confecrated to Heflor. This 
town is mentioned by Herodotus, Strabo, and Xenophon ; 
the laft of whom fays that the inhabitants, facrificed hogs, 
and burnt them entire. 
O'PHRYS, _/. [from the Gr. o$>gtr, the eyebrow, owed 
that appellation, as we learn from Pliny, to its having 
been ufed for blackening the eye-brows. His deferip- 
tion of the plant does not, however, by any means ac¬ 
cord with any Ophrys of modern writers.] Twayblade, 
Ladies’ Traces, &c. in botany, a genus of the clafs gy- 
nandria, order diandria, natural order of orchideie. Ge¬ 
neric characters—Calyx : lpathes wandering; fpadix fim- 
ple ; perianthium none. Corolla : petals five, oblong-, 
converging upwards, equal; two of thefe exterior. Nec¬ 
tary longer than the petals, hanging down pofteriorly, 
one 
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