Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 15, NIC-PAR

PAM [ 72° ] PAN
Palmyra at this according to our author, surpasses any
II thing he had seen at Palmyra, or anywhere else. “ All
Pamphilus., tjiese views of Palmyra and Baalbec (says he) are now
in the king’s collection. They are the most magnifi¬
cent offering, in their line, that ever was made by one
subject to his sovereign.”—In the neighbourhood of
Palmyra are some salt-marshes ; and to the adjacent
country a trade is carried on in kelp from Tripoli in
Syria. There are two Arab tribes, almost equally pow¬
erful 5 one of them, called Annecy, remarkable for the
finest horses in the world.
Respecting the latitude and longitude there are still
various opinions : that which appears to be nearest the
truth is E. Long. 38. 50. N. Lat. 33. 20. It stands
about 50 leagues south-east of Aleppo, as much from
Damascus, and 20 leagues west of the Euphrates.
PALPABLE, something perceivable by the senses,
particularly that of feeling.
PALPITATION of the Heart. See Medicine
- Index.
PALSY. See Medicine Index.
PALUDAMENTUM, in Roman antiquity, a ha¬
bit that differed but little from the chlamys, except
that this last belonged chiefly to the lower class of
people. It was worn by the officers and principal men
among the Romans in time of war, who are therefore
called Paludati; which distinguished them from the
common soldiers, who, because they wore the sagum,
Were called the Sagati. The paludamentum came down
only to the navel, was open on the sides, had short
sleeves resembling angels wings, and was generally white
or red. It is sometimes used to signify the common
soldier’s coat.
PALUS Meotis, the ancient name of a gulf be¬
tween Europe and Asia, to the north of the Black sea,
now called the sea of Zabaeh or Asoph.
PALY, or Pale, in Heraldry, is when the shield
is divided into four or more equal parts, by perpendicu¬
lar lines falling from the top to the bottom.
Paly Bendc, is when the escutcheon is divided by
perpendicular lines, which is paly ; and also by diago¬
nals, which is called bendy.
PAMBOUK, the Turkish name of the ruined city
of Hierapolis. See Hierapolis.
PAMLICO Sound, an inland sea on the east coast
of the United States, about 80 miles long, and 20 or 30
broad. It is formed by a range of low sandy islands
Scarcely a mile broad, which stretch along the shores of
North Carolina at a greater or less distance from the
Continent. Through these islands there are three in¬
lets, the deepest of which has only ten feet water. They
render the coast of North Carolina inaccessible to an
enemy.
PAMPELUNA, the capital of the kingdom of Na¬
varre in Spain, writh a very strong citadel and rich bi¬
shopric. It is handsome and populous, and carries on a
great trade, seated in a very fertile plain, in E. Long.
X. 25. N. Lat. 42. 42.
PamPEluna, a town of New Granda in South A-
ttnerica, famous for its gold mines and numerous flocks
of sheep. W. Long. 68. 30. N. Lat. 6. 30.
PAMPHILUS, a celebrated painter of Macedonia,
in the age of Philip. He was founder of the school
for painting at Sicyon ; and he made a law which was
observed not only in Sicyon'but all over Greece, that
none but children of noble and dignified persons should Pampliilus,
be permitted to learn painting. Apelles wTas one of his ||
pupils. Pan.
PAMPHYLIA, the ancient name of a country ofV""" *
Natolia in Asia, now called Carimania and Cay-bay,
between Lycia and Cilicia, on the south coast, to the
north of the Mediterranean sea.
PAN, the god of shepherds, hunters, and all coun¬
try exercises. Such he is described by the Greek and
Roman poets ; but he bore a higher character among
the earliest Greeks, as well as among the Egyptians ;
from whom his worship was borrowed by that people.
In Egypt he was known by the name of Mcndes,
which, according to Jablonski *, signifies fecundity. * Panthon
Hence his symbol was a living he-goat, the most sa)a- Egyptio-
cious of all animals: “ Hircum Mendesium coluntr“m-
JEgypti, eo quod virtuti prolificse ac genitivse, con-
secratus est.—Nam animal hoc coitus valde cupidum
est.” H is principal temple was a magnificent build,
ing in a city of Lower Egypt, called after his name.
It is well known (see Polytheism) that from dedi¬
cating certain animals to certain gods, the Egyptians
proceeded to consider the-animals themselves as actuat¬
ed by the divinities to whom they were sacred. Hence
the origin of brute worship. In the temple of Mendes
was kept a he-goat, to whom sacrifices of a very mon¬
strous kind were offered. Herodotus, speaking of the
praefecture of Mendes, says +, Eysvsia 3’ ru lopu r*v]t/^A^u
£9T tptu TtVTO TO yVYXIKI Tgxyof ipuryiTC avx^xv^cv.
Tovro to- ownxero. Our readers, learned
and unlearned, will forgive us for not translating this
passage, which contains, however, nothing that is not
confirmed by the testimony of other writers} particular¬
ly of Plutaich, and Pindar as he is quoted by Strabo.
The most wonderful circumstance of this monstrous sa¬
crifice is, that it was made publicly in the presence of a
great concourse of men ! But to what divinity was it
made ? To a mere goat, or to some superior principle
animating the goat ? Doubtless to the latter ; for it is
said that the fair worshippers were of the first rank, and
of unspotted fame } and that if they had borne a differ¬
ent character, the deity would not "have accepted of
their devotions.
The deity whom the Egyptians adored by the name
of Mendes, was no other than the Soul of the Uni¬
verse } for he was their most ancient god : and we are
told by Plutarch J, “That they took the first God ^De hid.
and the Universe for one and the same thing.” Hencert Osir.
his name n«ev among the Greeks: not that either
the Greeks or their masters in theology worshipped,
as their first god, mere brute matter, but that spirit
which they conceived to be coeternal with matter, and
to animate all things, making them one. Thus Orpheus,
who imported the Egyptian doctrine into Greece, de¬
clares that all things are one : and after him Parmeni-
das, and other philosophers, taught tr untt ro ttxv, that
“ one is the universe j” and that “ the universe is im¬
moveable.” That the ancient Grecian Pan, or the
Egyptian Mendes, was not the corporeal world, as sense¬
less and inanimate, but the whole system of things ani¬
mated and eternal, appears further from the following
testimony of Macrobius. “ Hunc deum Arcades co-
lunt, appellantes rev tjjj xvgtov, non sylvarum domi-
num, sed universce substantiae material is dominatorem}
—The Arcadians worship this god, calling him the
|i ran
—""
Ufter
min
life.
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