HORAPOLLON

horapollon, of phaenebythis in the nome of panopolis in egypt, greek grammarian, flourished in the 4th century a.d. during the reign of theodosius i. according to suidas, he wrote commentaries on sophocles, alcaeus and homer, and a work ([greek: temenika]) on places consecrated to the gods. photius (cod. 279), who calls him a dramatist as well as a grammarian, ascribes to him a history of the foundation and antiquities of alexandria (unless this is by an egyptian of the same name, who lived in the reign of zeno, 474-491). under the name of horapollon two books on _hieroglyphics_ are extant, which profess to be a translation from an egyptian original into greek by a certain philippus, of whom nothing is known. the inferior greek of the translation, and the character of the additions in the second book point to its being of late date; some have even assigned it to the 15th century. though a very large proportion of the statements seem absurd and cannot be accounted for by anything known in the latest and most fanciful usage, yet there is ample evidence in both the books, in individual cases, that the tradition of the values of the hieroglyphic signs was not yet extinct in the days of their author. bibliography.--editions by c. leemans (1835) and a. t. cory (1840) with english translation and notes; see also g. rathgeber in ersch and gruber's _allgemeine encyclopadie_; h. schafer, _zeitschrift fur agyptische sprache_ (1905), p. 72. horatii and curiatii, in roman legend, two sets of three brothers born at one birth on the same day--the former roman, the latter alban--the mothers being twin sisters. during the war between rome and alba longa it was agreed that the issue should depend on a combat between the two families. two of the horatii were soon slain; the third brother feigned flight, and when the curiatii, who were all wounded, pursued him without concert he slew them one by one. when he entered rome in triumph, his sister recognized a cloak which he was wearing as a trophy as one she had herself made for her lover, one of the curiatii. she thereupon invoked a curse upon her brother, who slew her on the spot. horatius was condemned to be scourged to death, but on his appealing to the people his life was spared (livy i. 25, 26; dion. halic. iii. 13-22). monuments of the tragic story were shown by the romans in the time of livy (the altar of janus curiatius near the _sororium tigillum_, the "sister's beam," or yoke under which horatius had to pass; and the altar of juno sororia). the legend was probably invented to account for the origin of the _provocatio_ (right of appeal to the people), while at the same time it points to the close connexion and final struggle for supremacy between the older city on the mountain and the younger city on the plain. their relationship and origin from three tribes are symbolically represented by the twin sisters and the two sets of three brothers. for a critical examination of the story, see schwegler, _romische geschichte_, bk. xii. 11. 14; sir g. cornewall lewis, _credibility of early roman history_, ch. xi. 15; w. ihne, _hist. of rome_, i.; e. pais, _storia di roma_, i. ch. 3 (1898), and _ancient legends of roman history_ (eng. trans., 1906), where the story is connected with the ceremonies performed in honour of jupiter tigillus and juno sororia; c. pascal, _fatti e legende di roma antica_ (florence, 1903); o. gilbert, _geschichte und topographie der stadt rom im altertum_ (1883-1885).