little regard to chronological sequence: Phoronis, chiefly genealogical, with short notices of events from the times of Phoroneus the Argive “first man” to the return of the Heraclidae; Troica and Persica, histories of Troy and Persia.
Hellanicus marks a real step in the development of historiography. He transcended the narrow local limits of the older logographers, and was not content to repeat the traditions that had gained general acceptation through the poets. He tried to give the traditions as they were locally current, and availed himself of the few national or priestly registers that presented something like contemporary registration. He endeavoured to lay the foundations of a scientific chronology, based primarily on the list of the Argive priestesses of Hera, and secondarily on genealogies, lists of magistrates (e.g. the archons at Athens), and Oriental dates, in place of the old reckoning by generations. But his materials were insufficient and he often had recourse to the older methods. On account of his deviations from common tradition, Hellanicus is often called an untrustworthy writer by the ancients themselves, and it is a curious fact that he appears to have made no systematic use of the many inscriptions which were ready to hand. Dionysius of Halicarnassus censures him for arranging his history, not according to the natural connexion of events, but according to the locality or the nation he was describing; and undoubtedly he never, like his contemporary Herodotus, rose to the conception of a single current of events wider than the local distinction of race. His style, like that of the older logographers, was dry and bald.
Fragments in Müller, Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum, i. and iv.; see among older works L. Preller, De Hellanico Lesbio historico (1840); Mure, History of Greek Literature, iv.; late criticism in H. Kullmer, “Hellanikos” in Jahrbücher für klass. Philologie (Supplementband, xxvii. 455 sqq.) (1902), which contains new edition and arrangement of fragments; C. F. Lehmann-Haupt, “Hellanikos, Herodot, Thukydides,” in Klio vi. 127 sqq. (1906); J. B. Bury, Ancient Greek Historians (1909), pp. 27 sqq.
HELLEBORE (Gr. ἑλλέβορος: mod. Gr. also σκάφη:
Ger. Nieswurz, Christwurz; Fr. hellébore, and in the district of
Avranche, herbe enragée), a genus (Helleborus) of plants of the
natural order Ranunculaceae, natives of Europe and western
Asia. They are coarse perennial herbs with palmately or pedately
lobed leaves. The flowers have five persistent petaloid sepals,
within the circle of which are placed the minute honey-containing
tubular petals of the form of a horn with an irregular opening.
The stamens are very numerous, and are spirally arranged; and
the carpels are variable in number, sessile or stipitate and slightly
united at the base and dehisce by ventral suture.
Helleborus niger, black hellebore, or, as from blooming in mid-winter it is termed the Christmas rose (Ger. Schwarze Nieswurz; Fr., rose de Noël or rose d’hiver), is found in southern and central Europe, and with other species was cultivated in the time of Gerard (see Herball, p. 977, ed. Johnson, 1633) in English gardens. Its knotty root-stock is blackish-brown externally, and, as with other species, gives origin to numerous straight roots. The leaves spring from the top of the root-stock, and are smooth, distinctly pedate, dark-green above, and lighter below, with 7 to 9 segments and long petioles. The scapes, which end the branches of the rhizome, have a loose entire bract at the base, and terminate in a single flower, with two bracts, from the axis of one of which a second flower may be developed. The flowers have 5 white or pale-rose, eventually greenish sepals, 15 to 18 lines in breadth; 8 to 13 tubular green petals containing honey; and 5 to 10 free carpels. There are several forms, the best being maximus. The Christmas rose is extensively grown in many market gardens to provide white flowers forced in gentle heat about Christmas time for decorations, emblems, &c.
H. orientalis, the Lenten rose, has given rise to several fine hybrids with H. niger, some of the best forms being clear in colour and distinctly spotted. H. foetidus, stinking hellebore, is a native of England, where like H. viridis, it is confined chiefly to limestone districts; it is common in France and the south of Europe. Its leaves have 7- to 11-toothed divisions, and the flowers are in panicles, numerous, cup-shaped and drooping, with many bracts, and green sepals tinged with purple, alternating with the five petals.
H. viridis, or green hellebore proper, is probably indigenous in some of the southern and eastern counties of England, and occurs also in central and southern Europe. It has bright yellowish-green flowers, 2 to 4 on a stem, with large leaf-like bracts. O. Brunfels and H. Bock (16th century) regarded the plant as the black hellebore of the Greeks.
H. lividus, holly-leaved hellebore, found in the Balearic Islands, and in Corsica and Sardinia, is remarkable for the handsomeness of its foliage. White hellebore is Veratrum album (see Veratrum), a liliaceous plant.
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| Helleborus niger. 1, Vertical section of flower; 2, Nectary, side and front view. |
Hellebores may be grown in any ordinary light garden mould, but thrive best in a soil of about equal parts of turfy loam and well-rotted manure, with half a part each of fibrous peat and coarse sand, and in moist but thoroughly-drained situations, more especially where, as at the margins of shrubberies, the plants can receive partial shade in summer. For propagation cuttings of the rhizome may be taken in August, and placed in pans of light soil, with a bottom heat of 60° to 70° Fahr.; hellebores can also be grown from seed, which must be sown as soon as ripe, since it quickly loses its vitality. The seedlings usually blossom in their third year. The exclusion of frost favours the production of flowers; but the plants, if forced, must be gradually inured to a warm atmosphere, and a free supply of air must be afforded, without which they are apt to become much affected by greenfly. For potting, H. niger and its varieties, and H. orientalis, atrorubens and olympicus have been found well suited. After lifting, preferably in September, the plants should receive plenty of light, with abundance of water, and once a week liquid manure, not over-strong. The flowers are improved in delicacy of hue, and are brought well up among the leaves, by preventing access of light except to the upper part of the plants. Of the numerous species of hellebore now grown, the deep-purple-flowered H. colchicus is one of the handsomest; by crossing with H. guttatus and other species several valuable garden forms have been produced, having variously coloured spreading or bell-shaped flowers, spotted with crimson, red or purple.
The rhizome of H. niger occurs in commerce in irregular and nodular pieces, from about 1 to 3 in. in length, white and of a horny texture within. Cut transversely it presents internally a circle of 8 to 12 cuneiform ligneous bundles, surrounded by a thick bark. It emits a faint odour when cut or broken, and has a bitter and slightly acrid taste. The drug is sometimes adulterated with the rhizome of baneberry, Actaea spicata, which, however, may be recognized by the distinctly cruciate appearance of the central portion of the attached roots when
