Part 256 (1/2)
IOLCUS, a town in Thessaly, the port from which the Argonauts sailed in quest of the Golden Fleece.
ION, in the Greek mythology son of Apollo by Creusa, and exposed by her in the cave where she bore him, but who was conveyed by the G.o.d to Delphi and educated by a priestess, and was afterwards owned by his mother, and became the ancestor of the Ionians, her husband, Xuthus, being kept throughout in the dark.
IONA, a fertile little island 1 m. W. of Mull, where St. Columba landed from Ireland A.D. 563, and built a monastery which was for centuries the centre of ecclesiastical life and missionary enterprise among the Scots of Scotland and Ireland and the Angles of the N. of England. It is 3 m. long and 1 broad.
IONIA, ancient name of the western districts of Asia Minor between the Hermus and the Maeander, with adjacent islands; was colonised by Greeks 1050 B.C., and its chief cities, including Miletus, Ephesus, Samos, Chios, and later Smyrna, formed the Ionian League; the Ionians were noted for wealth, art, and luxury; coming under Persian yoke in 557 B.C. they deserted to Greece 479 B.C., in the great war, and became again independent; from 387 B.C. they were again under Persia till Alexander the Great took them and merged their history in that of the surrounding peoples.
IONIAN ISLANDS (250), a chain of forty mountainous islands lying off the W. coast of Greece, the largest being Corfu (78), Santa Maura (25), Cephalonia (80), and Zante (44). The climate is good, and there is much fertile soil in the valleys except in Cephalonia; corn, grapes, and currants are grown; sulphur and coal are found in Corfu; their history has been very chequered; after belonging at different times to Venice, France and Turkey, they were seized by Britain and const.i.tuted a dependency in 1815; never satisfied with British rule, they were a source of constant friction which Mr. Gladstone's mission in 1858 was insufficient to allay, and were handed over to Greece in 1863.
IONIC ORDER, an order of Grecian architecture, characterised by the volute of its capital in the form of a ram's horn, and in which the cornice is dentated, the shaft fluted, and the entablature plain or embellished.
IONIC SCHOOL, the name of the earliest of the schools of philosophy in Greece, the prominent members of which were natives of Ionia, one and all of whom traced the beginning or basis of things back to the action of some physical agent, such as water, air, fire, &c., and among whom are reckoned such men as Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Herac.l.i.tus.
IOWA (1,754), one of the United States, on the right bank of the Mississippi River, with Minnesota to the N. and Missouri to the S., and the Missouri River on its western border; is well watered, very fertile, and, though liable to extremes of temperature, very healthy; agriculture flourishes, the country being an undulating plain and most of the soil being arable; cereals and root crops are raised, cattle fed; there are poultry and dairy farms; coal, gypsum, and lead are mined; manufactures include mill products, canned meats, and agricultural implements; general education in the State is advanced, State policy in this respect being liberal; Iowa was admitted to the Union, 1846; Des Moines (32) is the capital; Iowa (7) is the seat of the State University and of some flour-mills and factories.
IPHICRATES, a famous Athenian general, the son of a shoemaker, celebrated throughout Greece for his defeat of the Spartans in 392, as well as for other great military exploits, for which he was rewarded by his countrymen with almost unprecedented honours; _d_. 348 B.C.
IPHIGENIA, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra; her father having killed a favourite deer belonging to Artemis in Aulis as he was setting out for Troy, the G.o.ddess was offended, and CALCHAS (q. v.), when consulted, told him she could only be appeased by the sacrifice of his daughter; this he proceeded to do, but as he was preparing to offer her up the G.o.ddess descended in a cloud, carried her off to Tauris, and made her a priestess in her temple. The story has been dramatised by Euripides, Racine, and Geothe.
IPSUS, a small town in Phrygia, the scene of a great contest between the generals of Alexander for succession to the empire.
IPSWICH (57), a town in Suffolk, on the Orwell, 12 m. from the sea; is an old town, and has a number of interesting, as well as some old-fas.h.i.+oned, buildings; is well provided with churches and educational establishments, and was the birthplace of Cardinal Wolsey; manufactures agricultural implements, and exports besides these leather, oil, c.o.ke and agricultural produce.
IQUIQUE (16), important seaport in the N. of Chili; exports nitrates, iodine, and silver.
IRAK-ARABI, ancient Babylonia watered by the Euphrates and the Tigris.
IRAN, the ancient name or plateau of Asia, extending N. and S.
between the Hindu Kush and the Persian Gulf, and E. and W. between the Indus and Kurdistan; inhabited by the Aryans; is the official name for Persia.
IRANIANS, the inhabitants of Iran, a people const.i.tuting an important branch of the Indo-European family, including the Persians, Medes, &c.
IRAWADI, a river, navigable throughout its whole course, formed by the union of two streams from the mountains of Thibet; flows S. through Burma 700 miles, pa.s.sing Mandalay, and falling into the Bay of Bengal in a delta, on one branch of which stands Rangoon.