represent this combination of rulers. If the dynasties were numbered thus before Manetho, the numeral may be the cause of Herodotus's confusion. After his father's death Psammetichus I. (664–610 B.C.) was able to defy the Assyrians and the Ethiopians, and during a long reign marked by intimate relations with the Greeks restored the prosperity of Egypt. The short reign of the second Psammetichus (594-589 B.C.) is noteworthy for the graffiti of his Greek, Phoenician and Carian mercenaries at Abu Simbel (q.v.). The third of the name was the unfortunate prince whose reign terminated after six months in the Persian conquest of Egypt (525 B.C.). It has been conjectured that the family of the Psammetichi was of Libyan origin; on the other hand, some would recognize negro features in a portrait of Psamrnetichus I., which might connect him with the Ethiopian rulers.
See above, Egypt: History; on the name, F. Ll. Griffith, Catalogue of the Rylands dernotic papyri; the portrait, H. Schafer in Zeitschrift fur aegyptische Sprache, xxxiii. 116. (F. Ll. G.)
PSELLUS (Gr. Ψέλλος), the name of several Byzantine writers, of whom the following may be mentioned:—
1. Michael Psellus the elder, a native of Andros and a pupil of Photius, who flourished in the second half of the 9th century. His study of the Alexandrine theology, as well as of profane literature, brought him under the suspicions of the orthodox, and a former pupil of his, by name Constantine, accused him in an elegiac poem of having abandoned Christianity. In order to perfect his knowledge of Christian doctrine, Psellus had recourse to the instructions of Photius, and then replied to his adversary in a long iambic poem, in which he maintained his orthodoxy. None of his works has been preserved.
2. Michael Constantine Psellus the younger, born in 1018 (probably at Nicomedia; according to some, at Constantinople) of a consular and patrician family. He studied at Athens and Constantinople, where he became intimate with John Xiphilinus. Under Constantine Monomachus (1042–1054) he became one of the most influential men in the empire. As professor of philosophy at the newly founded academy of Constantinople he revived the cult of Plato at a time when Aristotle held the field; this, together with his admiration for the old pagan glories of Hellas, aroused suspicions as to his orthodoxy. At the height of his success as a teacher he was recalled to court, where he became state secretary and vestarch, with the honorary title of “Trraros ~r<5v oo6¢>wu (prince of philosophers). Following the example of his friend Xiphilinus he entered the monastery of Olympus (near Prusa in Bithynia), where he assumed the name of Michael. But, finding the life little to his taste, he resumed his public career. Under Isaac Comnenus and Constantine Ducas he exercised great influence, and was prime minister during the regency of Eudocia and the reign of his pupil Michael Parapinaces (1071–1078). It is probable that he died soon after the fall of Parapinaces.
Living during the most melancholy period of Byzantine history, Psellus exhibited the worst faults of his age. He was servile and unscrupulous, weak, fond of intrigue, intolerably vain and ambitious. But as a literary man his intellect was of the highest order. In the extent of his knowledge, in keenness of observation, in variety of style, in his literary output, he has been compared to Voltaire; but it is perhaps as the forerunner of the great Renaissance Platonists that he will be chiefly remembered. His works embraced politics, astronomy, medicine, music, theology, jurisprudence, physics, grammar and history.
Of his works, which are very numerous, many have not yet been printed. We may mention: Chronographia (from 976–1077), which in spite of its bias in favour of the Ducases is a valuable history of his time, chiefly on domestic affairs; three Epitaphioi or funeral orations over the patriarchs Cerularius, Lichudes and Xiphilinus. His letters (nearly 500 in number) are also full of details of the period. A complete list of his works is given in Fabricius, Bibliotheca graeca, x. 41; the most important have been published by C. Sathas in his Μεσαιωνιἡ βιβλιοθήκη, iv, v. On Psellus himself see Leo Allatius, De Psellis et eorum scriptis (1634); E. Egger in Dictionnaire des sciences philosophiques (1875); A. Rambaud in Revue historique (1877); P. V. Bezobrazov, Michel Psellos (1890; in Russian); C. Neumann, Die Weltstellung des byzantinischen Reiches vor den Kreuzzügen (1894); C. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (1897); J. E. Sandys, Hist. of Classical Scholarship (1906), i. 411.
PSEUDO-DIPTERAL (Gr. ψευδής, false, δίς, double, and πτερόν, a wing), the term given to a dipteral temple, i.e. in which there are two rows of columns round the naos, the inner row of which has been omitted to give more space for the processions or for shelter (see Temple).
PSEUDONYM (Gr. ψευδώνυμος, having a false name,
ψευδής, false and ὄνυμα, name), a false or invented name, particularly the fictitious name under which an author produces his work in order to conceal his identity. The same end is gained by publication without any name, i.e. anonymously (Gr. ἁνώνυμος, without a name). The body of works thus produced
either without the author's name or under a fictitious
name is known as anonymous and pseudonymous literature,
and many books have been published affording a key to the
identity of the various writers, forming an important section of
bibliography. Though Fredericus Geisler published a short
treatise on the subject entitled Larva detracta, &c., in 1669, the
chief early work was that of Vincent Placcius (1642–1699) whose
Theatrurn anonymorurn et pseudonymorurn was published in 1708,
edited by L. F. Vischer with a preface and life by J. A. Fabricius;
supplements were published in 1711 and in 1740. The next
important work, only a fragment of the purposed scheme, was
that of Adrien Baillet (q.v.), under the title of Auteurs déguisés
sous les noms étrangers, &c. (1690). Antoine Alexandre Barbier
(q.v.) published his standard work Dictionnaire des outrages
anonymies et pseudonymes in 1806–1809 (2nd ed., 1822–1827).
This was followed by the Supercheries littéraires dévoitées of J. M.
Quérard (q.v.). The third edition of Barbier's work, embodying
Quérard and much new matter, was published in 1872–1879.
This was edited by P. Gustave Brunet, who published a supplement
in 1889. Other works in French are those of C. Jolliet,
Les Pseudonymes du jour (1867 and 1884), and F. Drujon, Livres
à clef (1888). Of German works in this sphere of bibliography the
Index pseudonymorurn, Wörterbuch der Pseudonymen of Emil
Weller appeared in 1856, of which several supplements were
published later. The most monumental of all works are the
Deutsches Anonymen-Lexikon, 1501–1850, by M. Holzmann and
H. Bohatta (1902–1907), supplement, 1851–1908 (1909), and the
Deutsches Pseudonymen-Lexikon, by the same authors (1906). See
also F. Sintenis, Die Pseudonyme der neueren deutschen Literatur
(1899), and the supplementary volume (1909), to Meyers's
Konversations-Lexikon (6th ed.). The chief Italian work is the
Dizionario di opere anonime e pseudonime di scrittori italiani, by
G. Melzi (1848–1859), with supplement by G. Passano (1887).
The Dutch Vermomde en naamlooze schrijvers . . . der Nederl. en
Vlaarnschen letteren, by J. I. van Doorninck (1883–1885), was a
second edition of an earlier work. The Academy of Upsala is
publishing, under the editorship of L. Bygden, a Swedish
dictionary Svenskt anonym och pseudonym lexikon (1898), &c.
England was late in entering the field. The first work actually
published was the Handbook of Fictitious Names, by R. Thomas
(Olphar Hamst) (1868). Samuel Halkett, and the successor to his
compilations, John Laing, both died before their work was
published; edited and revised by Miss C. Laing it appeared in
1882–1888 in 4 vols. as the Dictionary of the Anonymous and
Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain, by S. Halkett and J.
Laing. This remains the standard work on the subject in
English. Other works are W. Cushing, Initials and Pseudonyms
(American and English from the beginning of the 18th century);
2nd series (1886, 1888), and Anonyms (1890); F. Marchmont, A
Concise Handbook of Literature issued under Pseudonyms or
Initials (1896); see also especially W. P. Courtney, The Secrets
of our National Literature (1908), the first chapter of which
contains a sketch of the history of the subject, to which the
above account is mainly due. The anonymous and pseudonymous
Latin literature of the middle ages has been treated in
modern times by A. Franklin, Dictionnaire des noms, &c., latins
1100–1530 (1875), and A. G. Little, Initia operum latinorum
saec. 13–15 (1904).
PSEUDO-PERIPTERAL (Gr. ψευδής, false, περί, round,
πτερόν, a wing), a term in architecture given to a temple in
which the columns surrounding the naos have had walls built
