Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

PHASELUS.

298

PICTURA.

allusion to that at Alexandria, which was the
model for their construction.

PHASELUS (^aerrjAos), a vessel rather long
and narrow, apparently so called from its
resemblance to the shape of a phaselus or
kidney-bean. It was chiefly used by the
Egyptians, and was of various sizes, from a
mere boat to a vessel adapted for long voy-
ages. The phaselus was built for speed, to
which more attention seems to have been
paid than to its strength : whence the epithet
fragilis is given to it by Horace. These ves-
sels were sometimes made of clay, to which
the epithet of Horace may perhaps also refer.

PHASES (<pd<ns, from $aiVu>), one of the
various methods by which public offenders at
Athens might be prosecuted ; but the word
is often used to denote any kind of informa-
tion ; and we do not know in what respects
the Fhasis was distinguished from other
methods of prosecution. The word syco-
phantrs (cruKocJ>ai>-nj?) is derived from the
practice of laying information against those
who exported figs. [Sycophantks.]

PHORMINX. [Lyra.]

PIIRATRIA. [Teibus.]

PHYLARCHI ('/ju'Aapxot) were at Athens
after the age of Cleisthenes ten officers, one
for each of the tribes, and were specially
charged with the command and superintend-
ence of the cavalry. There can be but little
doubt that each of the phylarchs commanded
the cavalry of his own tribe, and they were
themselves collectively and individually under
the control of the two hipparchs, just as the
taxiarchs were subject to the two strategi.
Herodotus informs us that when Cleisthenes
increased the number of the tribes from four
to ten, he also made ten phylarchs instead of
four. It has been thought, however, that
the historian should have said ten phylarchs
in the place of the old phylobasileis, who
were four in number, one for each of the old
tribes.

PHYLOBASILEIS ((/>u\ojWi\e«) were
four in number, representing each one of the
four ancient Athenian tribes, and probably
elected (but not for life) from and by them.
They were nominated from the Eupatridae,
and during the continuance of royalty at
Athens these " kings of the tribes " were the
constant assessors of the sovereign, and rather
as his colleagues than counsellors. Though
they were originally connected with the four
ancient tribes, still they were not abolished
by Cleisthenes when he increased the number
of tribes, probably because their duties were
mainly of a religious character. They appear
to have existed even after his time, and acted
as judges, but in unimportant or merely
formal matters.

PICTURA (ypa<|)Tj, ypatfiiKri, fwypa^i'a),
painting. I. History of the Art. It is sin-
gular that the poems of Homer do not con-
tain any mention of painting as an imitative
art. This is the more remarkable, since
Homer speaks of rich and elaborate em-
broidery as a thing not uncommon. This
embroidery is actual painting in principle,
and is a species of painting in practice, and
it was considered such by the Romans, who
termed it " pictura textilis." The various
allusions also to other arts, similar in nature
to painting, are sufficient to prove that paint-
ing must have existed in some degree in
Homer's time, although the only kind of
painting he notices is the " red-cheeked"
and " purple-cheeked ships," and an ivory
ornament for the faces of horses, which a
Maeonian or Carian woman colours with
purple. Painting seems to have made con-
siderable progress in Asia Minor while it
was still in its infancy in Greece, for Can-
daules, king of Lydia (b.c. 71G), is said to
have purchased at a high price a painting of
Bularchus, which represented a battle of the
Magnetes. The old Ionic painting probably
flourished at the same time with the Ionian
architecture, and continued as an independent
school until the sixth century b.c., when the
Ionians lost their liberty, and with their
liberty their art. Herodotus (i. 164) men-
tions that when Harpagus besieged the town
of Phoeaea (b.c. 544), the inhabitants col-
lected all their valuables, their statues and
votive offerings from the temples, leaving
only their paintings, and such works in metal
or of stone as could not easily be removed,
and fled with them to the island of Chios ;
from which we may conclude that paintings
were not only valued by the Phoeaeans, but
also common among them. Herodotus [it.
88) also informs us that Mandrocles of Samos,
who constructed for Darius Hystaspis the
bridge of boats across the Bosporus (b.c.
508), had a picture painted, representing the
passage of Darius's army, and the king
seated on a throne reviewing the troops as
they passed, which he dedicated in the temple
of Hera at Samos. After the conquest of
Ionia, Samos became the seat of the arts.
The Heraeum at Samos, in which the picture
of Mandrocles was placed, was a general de-
pository for works of art, and in the time of
Strabo appears to have been particularly rich
in paintings, for he terms it a " picture-
gallery " (nivaKoSriKri). The first painter in
Greece itself, whose name is recorded, is
Cimon of Cleonae. His exact period is un-
certain, but he was probably a contemporary
of Solon, and lived at least a century before
Polygnotus. It was with Polygnotus of Tha-