Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1162

1148 NECO. voyage, Nearchus had written a separate history of the wars of Alexander : but there is certainly no occasion for such a supposition. If, as appears probable, he began his narrative from the first con- struction of the fleet on the Hydaspes, it would naturally include an account of Alexander's wars against the Malii, as well as his subsequent march through Gedrosia : and it is evident that he pre- fixed to his work a general account of India, its inhabitants and their customs, from which both Strabo and Arrian have borrowed largely. Geier (/. c. p. 113 — 115) has justly pointed out that all the facts cited frem Nearchus are such as would naturally be comprised in a work thus limited, or might readily have been introduced in digressions. All the questions, both literary and geographical, connected with the Paraplus of Nearchus, are fully discussed in the work of Dr. Vincent above cited (4to. London. 1807) ; in the preface, notes, and dissertations appended by Schmieder to his edition of Arrian's " Indica" (8vo. Hal. 17.'>8) ; and in Geier's Ateoramiri Magni Historiaruin Scriptores, pp. 108 — 150. The last author has brought together all the fragments of Nearchus, that is to say, all the passages where he is cited by name either by Strabo or Arrian ; but there is no doubt that be- sides these his work is the sole authority followed by the latter writer throughout the narrative of his voyage. [E. H. B.j NEARCHUS, painter. [Aristarete.] NEBRO'PHONUS Qii€po(p6vos), a son of Jason and Hypsipyle, and brother of Euneus. (Apollod. i. 9. § 17.) [L.S.] NEBRUS (Negpo's), the thirteenth in descent from Aesculapius, the son of Sostratus III., and the father of Gnosidicus and Chrysus, who lived in the seventh and sixth centuries b. c. (Jo, Tzetzes, Chil. vii. Hist. 155, in Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. xii. p. 680, ed. vet. ; Poet, Epist. ad Artajc. in Hippocr. Opera^ vol. iii. p. 770 ; Thessal. Orat. ad Aram^ ibid. p. 835, &c.) He was a native of the island of Cos, and the most celebrated physician of his time. During the Crissaean war he joined the camp of the Amphictyons (as has been men- tioned in the article Chrysus), taking with him his son Chrysus, and a penteconter fitted up at his own expence with both medical and military ap- paratus. Here they were of great use to the be- siegers, and Nebrus is said to have poisoned the water used by the town, though, according to Pausanias {Fhoc. c. 37. § 5), this barbarous expe- dient was adopted in consequence of the recom- mendation of Solon, B. c. 591. {Penny Cyclopaedia, art. Nebrus.) [W. A. G.] NECO, or NECHO (Ne/caJs, Ne'xws, Ne/caSs, "KiX"-^^-) Nexaw). 1, Father of Psarainetichus, was put to death by Sabacon, the Aethiopian usurper of the Egyptian throne (Herod, ii. 152). 2. Son of Psamraetichus, whom he succeeded on the throne of Egypt in B. c. 617. His reign was marked by considerable energy and enterprise, both in following up the career of conquest towards the north-east, for which his father had opened the way by the capture of Azotus, and also (as con- nected with this) in the formation of a navy, and the prosecution of maritime discovery. It was probably with a view to war at once, and to com- merce, that he began to dig the canal intended to connect the Nile with the Arabian Gulf. He desisted, however, from the work, according to Herodotus, qn being warned by an oracle, that he NECTANABIS. was constructing it only for the use of the bai^ barian invader. But the greatest and most interest- ing enterprise with which his name is connected, is the circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenicians, in his service, and acting under his directions, who set sail from the Arabian Gulf, and accomplishing the voyage in somewhat more than two years, entered the Mediterranean, and returned to Egypt through the Straits of Gibraltar. His military expeditions were distinguished at first by brilliant success, which was followed, however, by the most rapid and signal reverses. On his march against the Babylonians and Medes, whose joint forces had recently destroyed Nineveh, he was met at Megiddo, in the tribe of Manasseh, by Josiah, king of Judah, who was a vassal of Babylon. In the battle which ensued, Josiah was defeated and mortally wounded, and Necho advanced to the Euphrates, where he conquered the Babylonians and took Carchemish or Circesium, where he ap- pears to have established a garrison. Herodotus tells us that, after the battle at Megiddo, he took the town of Cadytis, which, therefore, it has been argued, can hardly be identified with Jeru- salem, according to the usual opinion, since that place lay far out of the line of his progress (See Ewing in the Classical Museum., vol. ii. p. 93, &c,) But the objection vanishes if we suppose it to have been taken by one of his generals immediately after the battle with Josiah, or afterwards by him- self on his triumphant return homeward from the FiUphrates, when we know that he deposed Je- hoahaz and placed Eliakim (Jehoiakim) on the throne of Judah, as the tributary vassal of Egypt, B.C. 610. In the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, B, c. 606, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Carchemish, defeated Necho, who had marched thither to meet him, and, advancing onward with uninterrupted success, reduced to subjection all the country between " the river of Egypt " and the Euphrates. He would appear also to have invaded Egypt itself. From this period certainly Necho made no effort to recover what he had lost, if we except a preparation for war with Babylon (b. c. 603, the third year of Jehoiachim), which was soon abandoned in fear. In B. c. 601, Necho died after a reign of sixteen years, and was succeeded by his son Psammis or Psammuthis (Herod, ii. 158, 159, iv. 42 ; Larch, ad II. cc. ; Diod. i. 33 ; Wess. ad loc; Strab. i. p. 56, xvii. p, 804 ; Plin. H.N. vi. 29 ; Joseph. Ant. x. 5, 6 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 29, &c., xxiv. 7 ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 20, &c,, xxxvi.l — 4 ; Jerem. xlvi, ; comp. Heaven, African Nations, vol. ii. pp. 374, 389, &c. ; Bunsen, Aegyptens Stelle »» der Weltqeschichte., vol, iii, p. 141, &c.) [E, E.] NECTA'NABIS, NECTA'NEBUS, or NEC- TA'NEBES (Ne/cToi/agts, NeKxaj/egoy, Newra- 1. King of Egypt, the first of the three sove- reigns of the Sebennite dynasty, succeeded Nepherites on the throne about a c. 374, and, in the following year, successfully resisted the invasion of the Persian force under Pharnabazus and Iphi- crates, owing partly to the natural advantages of the country for defence, and partly to the dilatory and over-cautious conduct of Pharnabazus, Necta- nabis died after a reign of ten years, according to Eusebius, and was succeeded by Tachos. (Diod. xv. 41—43 ; Nep, Iph. 2 ; corap, Rehdantz, Vit. Jpiu Chabr. Tim. iv. § 3 ; Bunsen, Aegyptens Stelle in der Weltgesch. vol. iii. Urkundenbuch^ pp. 40, 41.)