of Solomon sailed from the Red Sea round Africa, entering the Mediterranean, and, visiting the colony of Tarshish settled in Spain at Tartessus, there took in part of their lading, and probably obtained the rest along the coast of Africa on their return. This indeed is not improbable, as the ships were navigated by Tyrians and Phenicians, who were a sea-faring people, and by far the most commercial and enterprising of any nation of antiquity. It was the Phenician mariners who, according to Herodotus, conducted the ships of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, from the Red Sea by the same passage round Africa, and entering the Straits of Gibraltar, returned to Egypt by the Mediterranean. This was about two centuries after the time of Solomon. There is a circumstance connected with this voyage, which gives considerable weight to the truth of the relation. Herodotus says that the mariners reported a fact which, for his part, he could by no means believe to be true, namely, that in one part of the voyage their shadows fell the contrary way to what they usually did: a natural consequence of having crossed the equinoctial line, of the existence of which that ancient writer was probably ignorant. The fact of this voyage round Africa by the Phenician navigators, proves them to have possessed sufficient courage and nautical skill, to perform the voyage in the time of Pharaoh, and why not then in the reign of Solomon? Our limits will not allow us to pursue this subject further; but from what has already been said, our readers will perceive that all attempts to determine the situation of the land of Ophir, must rest chiefly upon conjecture. OPHNI, a city of Benjamin. Josh. xviii. 24. OPHRAH, a city of Manasseh, and the native place of Gideon. (Judges vi. 11.) Also a town of Benjamin. Josh. xviii. 23. ORTHOSIAS, a maritime city of Phenicia, opposite_the island of Aradus, and near Tripolis. (1 Macc. xv. 37.) It is now called Tortosa, and still shows interesting antiquities. P. PADAN-ARAM, a country supposed to lie in the north-west of Mesopotamia. Gen. xxviii. 2. 6. PALESTINE, a name properly denoting the country of the Philistines, but frequently used to designate the whole land of Canaan, otherwise called the Holy Land, or Judea. PALMYRA, a city in the desert of Syria towards the Eu phrates, called in Scripture Tadmor, and built by Solomon. (1 Kings ix. 18.) Here was a stream of water and a fertile spot in the midst of that vast desert, and the place being convenient for carrying on the trade with India, and also preserving the intercourse between the Mediterranean and Red Sea, a city was built here by that commercial and enterprising monarch of the Hebrews. Its situation was extremely favourable for the caravan trade, and it soon became a rich and powerful city. It seems to have early passed out of the Jewish nation, probably soon after the death of Solomon, as the Hebrews were then engaged in civil dissensions, and were divided into two kingdoms. Tadmor then submitted to the dominion of the Babylonians and Persians, and afterwards to the Macedonians under Alexander, and the Seleucidæ, his successors. But when the Roman power gained an ascendency in the east, and the Parthians seemed to limit their conquests farther eastward, Palmyra enjoyed a free trade, and was undisturbed by the contending powers, probably in a great measure owing to its situation in the midst of a vast desert, where armies could not well subsist while they reduced it by force. With these advantages of freedom, neutrality and trade, for nearly two centuries, it acquired a state of wealth answerable to the magnificence of its noble structures. In the reign of Adrian it sided with the Romans against the Parthians, and was much favoured and embellished by that emperor. From this time to that of Aurelian, about 148 years, this city continued to flourish and increase in wealth and power to such a degree, that the inhabitants brought a powerful army into the field to the assistance of the Romans against the Persians, for which service the emperor Gallienus gave a share in the empire to Odenathus, one of the lords of Palmyra. He, with his son, being murdered by a kinsman, his wife Zenobia assumed the government of the east; but, her ambitious designs displeasing the emperor Aurelian, he marched against her, and having in two battles routed her forces, he besieged her in Palmyra. The town was yielded to him, and Zenobia, flying with her son, was pursued and taken. Aurelian spared the city, and leaving a small garrison, marched for Rome with his captive. The inhabitants, believing he would not return, again asserted their independence, and killed the garrison he had left in the city. Aurelian hearing of this, though already arrived in Europe, returned, destroyed the city, and put to the sword nearly all the inhabitants. After this it never revived, On these ruins are still found a great number of inscriptions, some in Greek, and others in the ancient Palmyrene characters. The pillars are mostly of marble, from the mountains of Syria; but there are some of porphyry, of great magnitude, and wonderful, considering the distance they must have been brought; no quarries of that stone being known nearer than in Egypt, about midway between Cairo and Syene, between the Nile and the Red Sea. This stone is very valuable for colour and hardness, and the Egyptian quarries furnished blocks of any magnitude. PAMPHYLIA, a province of Asia Minor; bounded north by Pisidia, east by Cilicia, south by the Mediterranean, and west by Lycia, and part of Phrygia. That part of the Mediterranean along its coast was called the sea of Pamphylia. (Acts xxvii. 5.) Perga was one of its cities, where Paul and Barnabas preached. (Acts xiii. 13.) The Pamphylians were a commercial people, and it is probable that many strangers flocked there, among whom were Jews, as we find "dwellers in Pamphylia" mentioned as having come to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. The country is fertile and well cul tivated; but the lower part is extremely hot in summer, and the people retire to the mountains in the northern part of the province, which are a part of the range called Mount Taurus. PANEAS, a city of Syria; the same otherwise called Laish, Leshem, Dan, and Cæsarea Philippi. PAPHOS, a city in the island of Cyprus, now called Baffo; anciently famous for the worship of Venus. (See medals of Cyprus.) Paul and Barnabas preached here, and converted to Christianity Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul or deputy. Acts xiii. 6. PARAN, a desert or wilderness south of the Land of Canaan. See Part I. p. 46. The Paran mentioned in Deut. i. 1. and 1 Kings xi. 18. appears to have been a city, and is probably the same which Eusebius says gave name to the Desert of Paran, being situated in its neighbourhood. PARTHIA, a country lying east of Media, having Hyrcania on the north, Aria on the east, and the desert of Caramania on the south. This country was for a long time connected with Media, and together with it fell to the kings of Persia, being afterwards, with Persia, subdued by Alexander the Great; it continued so until about 250 years before Christ, when Arsaces, a noble Parthian, wrested his own country, and the other provinces east of the Euphrates, from the Græco-Syrian empire, and erected the Parthian kingdom. This new power became a troublesome enemy to the Romans, and sometimes carried its conquests from the Hellespont to the Euphrates, and even to the Indus; on the other side triumphing over Egypt and Libya. The Parthians at length submitted to the Romans, under Augustus Cæsar, so far as to receive for their kings such as should be appointed by the emperor and senate of Rome; but this submission was not of long continuance. The government was overthrown by the Persians about A. D. 232, and in 640 the country was overrun by the Saracens. The ancient Parthia is now the Persian province of Irak; and is a fine and healthy country, though rather hilly. The ancient Parthians were distinguished for the veneration they paid to their kings; and for their peculiar manner of fighting on horseback, when, pretending to retreat, they discharged their arrows with great precision and effect, shooting them backwards over their heads. We find Jews from this country attending the Pentecost at Jerusalem, (Acts ii. 9.) where they appear as distinct from the Elamites or Persians. No. 1. A medal of Parthia, representing the head of one of its kings; and on the reverse, objects and implements of worship, with guards standing on each side of the altar. The head of a man in the flame of the altar, seems to denote that the Parthians worshipped deities allied to those of India, as we sometimes find the head of the Hindoo deity Brahma surrounded with flames. This tends to strengthen the idea of the progress of idolatry from the east. No. 2. Similar in design to No. 1. The heads on these medals are said to be portraits of the kings of Parthia, in whose reign they were struck. In the globe worn by this head is a symbol, supposed to be that of a departed spirit, raised to divine honours. Among the deities of Egypt, we find very frequently a globe borne on the head, as by Isis, &c. The inscriptions on these medals are supposed to be the ancient Persian characters. PARVAIM, a place from which Solomon received gold. (2 Chron. iii. 6.) It is thought to be the same as Ophir, or Havilah. PASDAMMIM, (1 Chron. xi. 13.) the same as Ephesdammim, a city of Judah. 1 Sam. xvii. 1. PATARA, a city of Lycia, in Asia Minor, once a sea-port with a good harbour. St. Paul arrived at this place from |