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Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), B. (search)
etals. (See axe.) It was used by the Sacae, who formed a part of the forces of Xerxes. Brennus, the Gallic king, who captured Rome, was armed with a battle-axe, ains which pass from bank to bank. The bridge thrown across the Hellespont by Xerxes when he invaded Greece, 480 B. C., had a length of 500 paces, and was supportedy poetical works. The public library of Pisistratus was removed to Persia by Xerxes. The library of Alexander was kept in two precincts of the city, the Brucheinglish long-bow was made of yew or ash. The Indian contingent of the army of Xerxes had bows of cane and arrows of cane with iron points. They wore cotton dressestorians that bridges were constructed by Cyrus (536 B. C.), Darius (490 B. C.), Xerxes (480 B. C.), and Pyrrhus (280 B. C.). Each of these was a military bridge for aors; Xenophon states that the bridge of Cyrus had seven boats. The bridge of Xerxes was 500 paces in length. Ships were used as pontons; cords of flax and biblos
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), C. (search)
Rawlinson from Hit almost to the Bay of Graine. Herodotus and Pliny mention the canals of Asia Minor. The first constructed in Europe was probably that dug by Xerxes across the low Isthmus of Athos. The Greeks attempted to cut one across the Isthmus of Corinth. Among the early European canals may be mentioned the canal thrhoe, bars with eyes, etc. These were principally of a small size and ornamental character. Their cable was of rope, as it was with us until a few decades since. Xerxes thrashed the Hellespont with chains, and then threw chains into the strait as a reminder; but the bridge he built was of rope, supported by ships, and sustaining e of the sheep in beauty and excellence; and the Indians use cloth made from this tree-wool. In another place he states that the Indian contingent of the army of Xerxes wore cotton drawers (Book VII., German Baumwolle, tree-wool, c. 65). Theophrastus, the disciple of Aristotle, derived farther information from the expedition o
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), H. (search)
in the sculptures of Karnak. Herodotus refers to the soft hats of the Persians. They wore round-top caps without peaks, somewhat resembling the modern fez. Hats encircled with plumes were the head-dress of the Lycian contingent in the army of Xerxes. Herodotus said that the skulls of the bareheaded Egyptians were so baked that they would hardly decay, and were, in this respect, very different from the Persians, who protected their heads and kept them so soft that they soon rotted. He obshich was borrowed from them by the Greeks; they were the first to fasten crests on helmets, to put devices on shields, and handles on shields. Herodotus describes (Book VII.) the following head-dresses of the nations forming the motley army of Xerxes: — The Assyrians had helmets of bronze or iron. Layard found some of the latter metal at Nineveh. The Scythians had tall, stiff caps, rising to a point. They were probably of felt. The Ethiopians wore upon their heads the scalps of hor
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), L. (search)
e furnished with a lasso, not as a weapon, but that they may aid in drawing a load on emergencies. The lasso was used in war by the ancient Egyptians, as we see by the paintings at Thebes. The Sagartians, a cavalry contingent of the army of Xerxes, used lassoes which end in a noose. — Herodotus, VII. 85. The lasso is seen in the sculptures upon the palace of Asshur-bani-pal, a son of Esarhaddon, which are now in the British Museum. Pausanias states that the Sarmatians used it; Suidas, Yellow, red, and black morocco yet attest it. The old national dress of the Persians was a closefitting tunic and trousers of leather. Leathern helmets, cuirasses, belts, shirts, and buskins were common among the nations in the motley army of Xerxes. The Libyans wore dresses of leather. The Paphlagonians leathern buskins and helmets. The Gordian knot was of leathern thongs, and was summarily cut about 330 B. C. Alum was used in tawing leather by the Saracens. We do not recolle
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), M. (search)
passage of an army with its artillery and supplies or for maintaining its communications. Probably the earliest on record is that thrown by Darius across the Bosphorus during his invasion of Greece, 490 B. C. Ten years later, his successor, Xerxes, crossed his army, said to have been 1,700,000 strong, from Asia into Europe by similar means. The bridge of Xerxes across the Hellespont consisted of ropes resting on galleys and supporting planks. The account given by Herodotus may be thus Xerxes across the Hellespont consisted of ropes resting on galleys and supporting planks. The account given by Herodotus may be thus briefed: — Two parallel bridges were constructed, one supported by 360 vessels and the other by 314. The vessels are classed as triremes and penteconters, and were anchored parallel, the prows facing up stream, that is, toward the Euxine. To each bridge were assigned six cables, two of white flax and four of papyrus. These were stretched across the strait, lying upon the vessels, and drawn taut by wooden capstans on the Abydos and Chersonese shores. One bridge was for the army, and the ot
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), P. (search)
sed to close a sluiceway or entrance to a dock. It works in grooves in the dock walls, and acts as a lock-gate. See Plate XIX. page 884. Pon-ton′--bridge. （Military Engineering.) A temporary military bridge supported on flat-bottomed boats or floats, termed pontons. The use of boats or floats for supporting temporary bridges is of great antiquity. Darius Hytaspes and his army crossed the Bosphorus on a bridge of this kind in order to invade Greece 493 B. C., and his successor Xerxes constructed one across the Hellespont, 480 B. C., for the same purpose, of which we have a description in Herodotus. Its length was 500 paces. Ships were used as pontons; suspension-cords of flax and biblos united them; transverse beams were laid on the ropes, planks on the beams, soil on the planks, and the armies crossed thereon. Cyrus, according to Xenophon, threw over the Meander a bridge supported on seven boats. Pompey crossed the Euphrates by a boat-bridge during the Mithridatic
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), R. (search)
ing a continuous thong with a knife like our modern leather-knife, and by the same means which we adopt, by turning the piece of leather round as he cuts. Two of the coils are represented hanging up in the shop. The process of preparing the hemp is shown in the tombs of Beni-Hassan and Thebes. Ropes of the palm are found in the tombs, and it was probably almost as common as coir or cocoa-nut fiber in India. The ropes which supported the planks of the Hellespont bridge constructed for Xerxes were of papyrus and flax. These were the ordinary materials for the purpose in Egypt, from which country the king had a large contingent. See military-bridge. Ropes of goat's hair are mentioned by Aristotle and Virgil. The famous vessel, the Syracusia, built for Hiero, was furnished with hempen ropes from Rhodes, according to Moschion. The ropes of the Tartars are made of camel's hair or horsehair. — Huc. Coir rope is manufactured from the husk or pericarp of the cocoa-nut.
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), S. (search)
bloodstone, chalcedony, onyx, jasper, serpentine, pyrites, etc. The stones of Ethiopia, used for arrow-heads by the contingent from that country in the army of Xerxes, are spoken of as the kind used for engraving seals. — Herodotus, VII. 69. Gems, precious stones, glass, and other hard substances which do not admit the applifrom Mount Athos, whence the grateful news was in like manner telegraphed to Argos. Fire-signals were prepared by Mardonius to notify his master, the great king Xerxes, then at Sardis, of the second taking of Athens. At a later period, Polybius describes a semaphoric system improved by him, in which messages were transmitted spear of antiquity was sometimes provided with the amentum or thong for throwing. Herodotus distinguishes the nationality of some of the nations in the army of Xerxes by describing the peculiar ornaments on the ends of their spear-shafts. For a dissertation on the spears of the ancients, see article Hasta, in Smith's Diction
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), U. (search)
as made to open and close, like the modern umbrella, but was somewhat more clumsy. The Greek ladies used it in the theater, as did also the Roman. Its use was considered effeminate in a man. They were commonly of green linen stretched upon a frame and supported by a staff. Such are represented on ancient vases, and frequently referred to by contemporary writers: Aristophanes, Ovid, Anacreon, Martial, Juvenal, etc. The Hamilton vases show several instances of Greek and Etruscan umbrellas. Xerxes and Cleopatra are represented as sitting under canopies or umbrellas, watching the fight or the play. The Greek ladies wore straw hats and bonnets (Pollux, Theocr. ). The Roman men wore broadbrimmed felt hats, petasus (wide-awakes). Christie describes an Etruscan vase in which Bacchus presents a dove to a seated female, while an umbrella is held above their heads by another female Anglo-Saxon umbrella Fig. 6857 is from the Harleian Manuscript, No. 603, and represents a servant hold
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), W. (search)
gs, twisted cords of hog's bristles, or sinews of oxen. The scorpio was a whip with iron spurs. The Anglo-Saxon whip for prisoners was three-lashed. Switches were used for soldiers. Eel-skins were used to flog school-boys by the Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The ancient Scythian whip resembled the nogaik of the modern Cossacks. It had a short handle and a single lash, with a round flat piece of leather at the end. The taskmasters of Egypt and Persia hurried up their workmen with whips. Xerxes lashed the laborers who dug the canal across the isthmus of Athos: and his soldiers were hurried by whips across the Hellespont bridge, during the 7 days and nights which they occupied in crossing between Abydos and a rocky point in the Hellespontine Chersonese. The bridge was about 1 1/2 miles long. The artillery-driver's whip has an interior stock of raw hide covered with India-rubber cloth, over which is sewed an outer covering of leather. A loop is attached at the but for suspension
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