Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1163

NECTANABIS. 2. Appears to have been the nephew of Tachos, who, in his expedition to Phoenicia, in b. c. 301, left his brother behind as governor of Egypt, and placed Nectanabis, who accompanied him, in the command of his Egyptian forces, and sent him to lay siege to the cities in Syria. Taking advantage of the power thus entrusted to him, and aided by his father, who had raised a rebellion at home, Nectanabis persuaded his troops to renounce their allegiance to Tachos, and revolted. Being acknow- ledged by the Egyptian people also as king, he made overtures and large promises to Agesilaus and Chahrias, both of whom were engaged with Greek mercenaries in the service of Tachos. Cha- brias refused to transfer his assistance to him, but he was more fortunate with Agesilaus, and Tachos, finding himself thus deserted, fled for refuge to Artaxerxes II., and, notwithstanding the confused statement of Diodorus to the contrary, seems to have made no furiher attempt to recover the crown. It was, however, disputed with Nectanabis by a certain Mendesian, who for some time met with consideral)le success, but was ultimately defeated by the skill of Agesilaus, and the Spartan king left Egypt with rich presents from Nectanabis, whom he had thus firmly established on the throne. (Xen. Jges. ; Plut. Jges. 37 — 40, Apoph. Lac. Ages. 7(J— 78 ; Diod. xv. 92, 93 ; Wess. ad loc. ; Nep. CM)r. 2, 3, Ages. 8 ; Ath. xiv. p. 616, d, e ; Pans. iii. 1 ; Polyaen. ii. 1 ; Aelian, V. //. v. 1 ; Perizon. ad loc; Clinton, F. //. vol.ii. App. pp. 213, 316 ; Rehdantz, Vit. Jph. Chabr. Tim. v. § 11.) Artaxerxes III. (Ochus), soon after his accession in B. c. 359, made several attempts to recover Egypt ; but the generals, whom he sent thither, were utterly defeated by Nectanabis, through the skill mainly of two experienced commanders in his service, Diophantus, of Athens, and Lamius, of Sparta. The failure of the Persian attacks on Egypt encouraged Phoenicia also and Cyprus to revolt, and Artaxerxes accordingly (leaving the reduction of Cyprus to Idrieus) resolved to put himself at the head of an expedition which should crush the Phoenician rebellion, and should then proceed to take vengeance on Nectanabis. It therefore became necessary for his own defence that the Egyptian king should succour the Phoe- nicians, and we find him accordingly despatching Mentor, the Rhodian, to their aid with 4000 mercenaries. But Mentor went over to Artaxerxes, and, after the subjugation of Phoenicia, accom- panied him in his invasion of Egypt. Nectanabis had made large and active preparations for defence ; but, according to Diodorus, his presumptuous con- fidence made him think that he could conduct the campaign alone, while his utter unfitness for the command of an army (obvious enough indeed in his former war with the Mendesian pretender) caused his ruin. Some of his troops having sus- tained a defeat from Nicostratus and Aristazanes, he adopted in alarm the fatal step of shutting himself up in Memphis. Here he remained without a struggle, while town after town submitted to the enemy, and at length, despairing of his cause, he fled with the greater part of his treasures into Aethiopia. Another account, viz. that of Lynceus yap. Ath. iv. p. 150, b), represents him as having been taken prisoner by Artaxerxes, and kindly treated, while a third story brings him to Mace- donia, and makes him become the father of Alex- ander the Great, having won the fiavours of NECTARIUS. 1140 Olympias by magic arts. Rut this deserves men- tion only as a specimen of those wild legends, by which Oriental vanity strove to reconcile itself to a foreign yoke by identifying the blood of its con- queror with its own (Diod. xvi. 40, 41, 42, 44, 46 — 51 ; comp. Isaiah xix. 11, &c. ; Vitringa, ad loc. ; Thirl wall's Greece^ vol. vL p. 142 ; Wess. ad Diod. xvi. 51). The date usually assigned to the conquest of Egypt by Ochus is B. c. 350 ; but see ThirhvalPs Greece, vol. vi. p. 142, note 2. Nectanabis was the third king of the Sebennite dynast}', and the last native sovereign who ever ruled in Egypt (comp. Ezek. xxix. 14, 15, xxx. 13). We read in Diogenes Laertius (viii. 87 ; comp. Menag. ad loc.) that he received at his court, and recommended to the priests the astronomer Eudoxus, who came to him with a recommendation from Agesilaus. Pliny (//. A^. xxxvi. 9.) speaks of an obelisk which had been made by order of Nectanabis, and was set up at Alexandria by Ptolemy Philadelphus ; but it does not appear to which of the two persons above-mentioned he is alluding. ^ [E. E.] NECTAR (Ne/cTop), was, according to the early poets, the wine or drink of the gods, which was poured out to them by Hebe or Ganymede, and the colour of which is described as red (Hom. II. iv. 3, Od. V. 93, 195, &c. ; Ov. Met. x. 161). Like the wine of mortals it was mixed with water when it was drunk, and the wine which Odysseus had carried with him is called by Polyphemus the cream of nectar (^dnu^pu^ ve/crapos, Od. ix. 359). Later writers sometimes by nectar understand a fragrant balm which prevents the decomposition of organic bodies, as, in fact, even in Homer {II. xix. 39), Thetis prevents the body of Patroclus becoming de- composed by anointing it with ambrosia and nectar (comp. Ov. Met. iv. 250). Some of the ancient poets, moreover, described nectar not as the drink, but as the food of the immortals, that is, they made it the same as ambrosia. (Athen. ii. p. 39 ; Eu- stath. ad Horn. p. 1632.) [L. S.] NECTA'RIUS (Ne/cTo'ptos), was the successor of Gregory of Nazianzus, and the predecessor of John Chrysostom, as bishop of Constantinople. His occupancy of the episcopal chair between two such men would have required extraordinary merit to make him conspicuous. But, in truth, though he does not seem to merit the epithet applied to him by Gibbon, " the indolent Nectarius," the fact of his having been appointed at all is the most remarkable thing in his personal history. When Gregory, as has been related [Voh II. p. 31 3], re- signed his office, A. D. 381, it was during tho meeting of the second oecumenical council at Con- stantinople. Nectarius, a senator, and a man of the highest family, was a native of Tarsus. The ecclesiastical historians relate that, at this time, he intended to visit his native place, and previously waited on Diodorus, the bishop of Tarsus, who wag in Constantinople attending the council. Diodorus, along with the other bishops, was perplexed as to whom they should nominate to the vacant see. Struck by the majestic appearance and the white hair of Nectarius, taking for granted that he had been baptized, Diodorus requested Nectarius to postpone his departure, and recommended him to Flavian, bishop of Antioch, as a fit person to suc- ceed Gregory. Flavian laughed at the strange proposal, but, to oblige his friend, put his name last on the list, which he, as well as the other