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PHOCIS 229 PHOENIXVILLE fell one of the first victims to the enemies torate of Tigranes I., King of Armenia, of his country whom he had aided. 83 B. c. It formed part of the Roman He was tried and sentenced to death, province of Syria 62 b. c, and was de- 317 B. C. prived of all its liberties by Augustus, ' PHOCIS, a division of central Greece ^^ ^- ^• uiitil the Turkish War (1912) and with PHCENIX, or PHENIX, in astrono- Bulgaria (1913). Now forms with Phthi- my, one of the constellations of the Otis a department. Pop. (1911) 174,- Southern Hemisphere, N. of the bright 574. The greater part of the country star Achernar in Eridanus. In botany, is occupied by the mountain range of the typical genus of the family Phoeni- Parnassus {q. v.). The state derives cidae. Habitat, northern Africa and its chief historical importance from pos- southern Asia. Known species about Bessing the famous oracle of Delphi. 12. P. dactylifera is the date palm. During the Peloponnesian war the Pho- P. sylvestris is the wild date, a tree very cians were close allies of the Athenians, common, both wild and cultivated, in In- In the time of^ Philip of Macedon they dia. The fibrous leaflets and the fibers were involved in a 10 years' war, com- from the petioles are manufactured into monly known as the Sacred or Phocian mats, ropes, and baskets; sugar is made War, which ended disastrously for the from the sap of the tree. The juice of Phocians, the whole of whose cities (22 P. furinifera, a small species in sandy in number) were destroyed, with one ex- parts of India, yields sago; its leaves are ception, and the inhabitants parceled out used in mat making, and those of P. among the hamlets. pahidosa, which grows in the Sunder- PHCEBUS (I e., "the Bright"), an ^"'"^l' fo^^^^^h ropes and thatching, epithet, and subsequently a name, of The fruit of P. acai.iis, a stemless species Apollo. It had reference both to the from the Sub-Himalayas and central In- youthful beauty of the god and to the ^'^' '%^^^^? ^y the natives. In entomol- radiance of the sun, when, latterly, ogy,Cidaria ribesaria a geometer moth, Apollo became identified with Helios, the ^^^ ^^^^^^ <^^ ^^'^^ ^^%^^ «" ^li^^* ^"^ sun eod gooseberry bushes. In mythology, a ^ ■ fabulous female bird of Arabia, which PHOENICIA, in ancient geography, was feigned to live for 500 or 600 years in the largest sense, a narrow strip of in the desert, when she built for herself country extending nearly the whole a funeral pyre of wood and aromatic length of the E. coast of the Mediter- gums, to which she set fire by the fan- ranean Sea, from Antioch to the borders ning of her wings, and so consumed her- of Egypt. But Phoenicia proper was in- self; but from the ashes she sprang up eluded between the cities of Laodicea, in again in youth and freshness. Hence Syria, and Tyre, comprehending mainly the phoenix is depicted as an emblem of the territories of Tyre and Sidon, and immortality. In heraldry the bird is forming then only a part of the country represented in coat-armor in flames, of Canaan. Before Joshua conquered Figuratively, a paragon; a person or Palestine, this country was possessed by thing of extreme rarity or excellence. Canaanites, sons of Ham, divided into .«^^.„„.,„ .. « * • j., 11 families, of which the most powerful , F^P^,^^?' ? ^^^^ of Arizona, the capi- was that of Canaan, the founder of tfl of the State and the county-seat of Sidon, ^nd head of the Canaanites, whom Maricopa co. It is on the Maricopa and the Greeks named Phoenicians. A colony Pj^o^nix and the Santa Fe, Prescott, and of Phoenicians, led by Elissa or Dido, set- ^em'^ railroads. It is the site of tied in Africa 878 B. c, and founded ^^e Agricultural Experiment Station. Carthage {q. v.). Phoenicia was in- Among its important buildings are the vaded by Shalmaneser IV., King of As- capitol. Federal Building, city hall, ^ Syria 723 B. c; by Nebuchadnezzar, King .^0"^ house and handsome school build- of Babylon, 587 B. C; and by Cyrus, King ^^Ss., The city has important commer- of Persia, 536 B. c. The Phoenicians sub- cial interests and has an extensive trade sequently assisted the Persians in their ^^ }^^. ^^^^K^ ^^/^'«/n"^^^.«^^' /.nonY wars with the Greeks, and sustained a ISn^^Q^^^^" ^^' ^ ^ 11.134; (1920) total defeat from Cimon, at the naval -^9,053. battle of the Eurymedon, 466 B. c. They PHOENIXVILLE, a town in Chester revolted from Persia 352 B. c, and were co., Pa., at the confluence of French conquered by Alexander III. (the Great) creek and the Schuylkill river, and on the 331 B. c. After his death, 323 B. c, Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia and Phoenicia was annexed to the dominions Reading railroads; 23 miles N. W. of of Ptolemy (I.) Soter, King of Egypt. Philadelphia. Here are a seminary, sev- It was seized by Antigonus of Phrygia, eral banks, many schools, bridge works, 315 B. c., and passed under the protec- silk mill, steel mills, etc. Phoenixville