the Cretan towns, and to supersede Q. Metellus Creticus in the command of the island. (Dion Cass. xxxvi. 1, 2 ; Plut. Pomp. 29.) For further details see Metellus, No. 23, p. 1064.
20. L. Octavius, detected in adultery by C. Memmius, and punished by him. (Val. Max. vi. 1. § 13.)
21. P. Octavius, a noted epicure in the reign of Tiberius, who outbid even Apicius in the sum which he gave for a mullet that Tiberius had ordered to be sold. (Senec. Epist. 95.)
22. Octavius Graecinus, one of the generals of Sertorius, in Spain, distinguished himself in the first battle fought between Pompey and Sertorius, near the town of Lauron, b. c. 76. He afterwards joined the conspiracy of M. Perperna, by which Sertorius perished, b. c. 72. (Frontin. Strat. ii. 5. § 31 ; Plut. Sert. 26.)
23. M. Octavius Laenas Curtianus, one of the distinguished men who supplicated the judges on behalf of M. Scaurus, b. c. 54, (Ascon. in Scaur. p. 29, ed. Orelli.)
24. C. Octavius Laenas, curator of the aquaeducts in Rome, in the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula from a. d. 34 to a. d. 38. (Frontin. Aquaed. § 102.)
25. Ser. Octavius Laenas Pontianus, consul with M. Antonius Rufinus, in the reign of Hadrian, a. d. 131. (Fasti.)
26. Octavius Rufus was a friend of the younger Pliny, who addresses two letters to him, in which he presses Octavius to publish the poems he had composed. (Plin. Ep. i. 7, ii. 10.) In another letter (ix. 38) Pliny praises a work of one Rufus, who may, perhaps, be the same as this Octavius Rufus.
Octa'vius Fronto. [Fronto.]
Octa'vius Here'nnius. [Herennius].
Octa'vius Horatia'nus. [Priscianus, Theodorus.]
Octa'vius Laenas. [Octavius, No. 22, 23.]
Octa'vius Lampa'dio. [Lampadio.]
Octa'vius Mami'lius. [Mamilius.]
Octa'vius Sagitta. [Sagitta.]
Ocy'pete (Ὠκυπέτη), the name of two mythical beings, one a Danaid, and the other a Harpy. (Apollod. ii. 1. § 5 ; Hes. Theog. 267.) [L. S.]
Ocy'rhoe. (Ὠκύροη) 1. One of the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys. (Hes. Theog. 360 ; Hom. Hymn. in Cer. 420 ; Paus. iv. 30. § 3.)
2. A daughter of the centaur Cheiron. (Ov. Met. ii. 638 ; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 18 ; Eratosth. Catast. 18.) [L. S.]
Odatis (Ὀδάτις), daughter of Omartes, a Scythian king. According to a story recorded by Chares of Mytilene (ap. Ath. xiii. p. 575), Odatis and Zariadres (king of the country between the Caspian gates and the Tanäis) fell mutually in love from the sight of one another's image in a dream. But Omartes, having no son, wished his daughter to marry one of his own relatives or near friends. He therefore summoned them all to a banquet, whereat he desired Odatis to fill a cup with wine, and present it to whomsoever she chose for her husband. Meanwhile, however, Zariadres had received notice from her of her father's intentions, and, being engaged in a military expedition near the banks of the Tanäis, he set out with only one attendant, and, having travelled a distance of 800 stadia, arrived in the banquet-hall of Omartes, disguised in a Scythian dress, just as Odatis, reluctantly and in tears, was mixing the wine at the board where the goblets stood. Advancing close to her side, he whispered, " Odatis, I am here at thy desire, I, Zariadres." Looking up, she recognised with joy the beautiful youth of her dream, and placed the cup in his hands. Immediately he seized and bore her off to his chariot ; and so the lovers escaped, favoured by the sympathising attendants of the palace, who, when Omartes ordered them to pursue the fugitives, professed ignorance of the way they had taken. This love story, we are told, was most popular in Asia, and a favourite subject for paintings ; and Odatis was a prevalent female name in noble families. [E. E.]
Odena'thus, the husband of the heroic Zenobia [Zenobia], according to Zosimus, was of a noble family of Palmyra, according to Procopius (Persic. ii. 5) the prince of a Saracenic tribe dwelling upon the banks of the Euphrates, according to Agathias (lib. iv.) of humble origin. He is included by Trebellius Pollio in his catalogue of the thirty tyrants [see Aureolus], but unlike the great majority of these usurpers, deserves to be considered as the saviour rather than the destroyer of the Roman power. At the moment when all seemed lost in the East, in consequence of the capture of Valerian, and the dispersion of his army, Odenathus having collected a powerful force marched boldly against the victorious Sapor, whom he drove out of Syria, recovered Nisibis, together with all Mesopotamia, captured the harem of the Persian monarch, and pursued him up to the very walls of Ctesiphon. Returning loaded with plunder, he next turned his arms against Quietus, son of Macrianus, and shut up the pretender in Emesa, where he perished upon the capture of the city. In gratitude for these important services, Gallienus bestowed upon his ally the title of Augustus, and acknowledged him as a colleague in the empire, but Odenathus did not long enjoy his well-earned dignity, for he was slain by the domestic treachery of his cousin, or nephew, Maeonius, not without the consent, it is said, of Zenobia, about the year a. d. 266. Little is known with regard to the history of this warlike Arab, except the naked facts detailed above, and that from his earliest years he took great delight in the chase, and willingly endured the severest hardships. [Maeonius.] [W. R.]
Odi'tes, the name of two mythical beings, one a centaur, and the other an Ethiopian, who was slain by Clymenus at the wedding of Perseus. (Ov. Met. xii. 457, v. 97.) [L. S.]
O'dius. (Ὄδιος). 1. The chief of the Halizones, assisted the Trojans against the Greeks, but was slain by Agamemnon. (Hom. Il. ii. 856, v. 38; Strab. xvi. p. 551.)
2. A herald in the camp of the Greeks at Troy. (Hom. Il. ix. 170.) [L. S.]
Odoa'cer (Ὀδόακρος), King of Italy, from a. d. 476—493. He was the son of one Edeco, who was undoubtedly the same Edecon who was minister of Attila and his ambassador at Constantinople. Odoacer had a brother, Onulf, who likewise became conspicuous. It appears that Odoacer was by origin a Scyrrus, and that after the dispersion of the Scyrri by the East Goths, he was chosen the chief of the remnants of that broken tribe, but he is also called a Rugian, an Herulian,
