kingdom probably succumbed to the Huns established in the neighbourhood. In later times it seems in some sort to have been revived under Byzantine protection, and from time to time Byzantine officers built fortresses and exercised authority at Bosporus, which was constituted an archbishopric. They also held Ta Matarcha on the Asiatic side of the strait, a town which in the 10th and 11th centuries became the seat of the Russian principality of Tmutarakan, which in its turn gave place to Tatar domination.
The Bosporan kingdom is interesting as the first Hellenistic state, the first, that is to say, in which a mixed population adopted the Greek language and civilization. It depended for its prosperity upon the export of wheat, fish and slaves, and this commerce supported a class whose wealth and vulgarity are exemplified by the contents of the numerous tombs to which reference has been made. In later times a Jewish element was added to the population, and under its influence were developed in all the cities of the kingdom, especially Tanais, societies of “worshippers of the highest God,” apparently professing a monotheism which without being distinctively Jewish or Christian was purer than any found among the inhabitants of the Empire.
We possess a large series of coins of Panticapaeum and other cities from the 5th century B.C. The gold staters of Panticapaeum bearing Pan’s head and a griffin are specially remarkable for their weight and fine workmanship. We have also coins with the names of the later Spartocids and a singularly complete series of dated solidi issued by the later or Achaemenian dynasty; in them may be noticed the swift degeneration of the gold solidus through silver and potin to bronze (see also Numismatics).
See, for history, introduction to V. V. Latyshev, Inscrr. orae Septent. Ponti Euxini, vol. ii. (St Petersburg, 1890); art. “Bosporus” (2) by C. G. Brandis in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencycl. vol. iii. 757 (Stuttgart, 1899); E. H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks (Cambridge, 1907). For inscriptions, Latyshev as above and vol. iv. (St Petersburg, 1901). Coins: B. Koehne, Musée Kotschoubey (St Petersburg, 1855). Religious Societies: E. Schürer in Sitzber. d. k. pr. Akad. d. Wissenschaft zu Berlin (1897), i. pp. 200-227. Excavations: Antiquités du Bosphore cimmérien (St Petersburg, 1854, repr. Paris, 1892) and Compte rendu and Bulletin de la Commission Imp. Archéologique de St. Pétersbourg. (E. H. M.)
BOSQUET, PIERRE FRANÇOIS JOSEPH (1810–1861), French marshal, entered the artillery in 1833, and a year later went to Algeria. Here he soon did good service, and made himself remarkable not only for technical skill but the moral qualities indispensable for high command. Becoming captain in 1839, he greatly distinguished himself at the actions of Sidi-Lakhdar and Oued-Melah. He was soon afterwards given the command of a battalion of native tirailleurs, and in 1843 was thanked in general orders for his brilliant work against the Flittahs. In 1845 he became lieutenant-colonel, and in 1847 colonel of a French line regiment. In the following year he was in charge of the Oran district, where his swift suppression of an insurrection won him further promotion to the grade of general of brigade, in which rank he went through the campaign of Kabulia, receiving a severe wound. In 1853 he returned to France after nineteen years’ absence, a general of division. Bosquet was amongst the earliest chosen to serve in the Crimean War, and at the battle of the Alma his division led the French attack. When the Anglo-French troops formed the siege of Sevastopol, Bosquet’s corps of two divisions protected them against interruption. His timely intervention at Inkerman (November 5, 1854) secured the victory for the allies. During 1855 Bosquet’s corps occupied the right wing of the besieging armies opposite the Mamelon and Malakov. He himself led his corps at the storming of the Mamelon (June 7), and at the grand assault of the 8th of September he was in command of the whole of the storming troops. In the struggle for the Malakov he received another serious wound. At the age of forty-five Bosquet, now one of the foremost soldiers in Europe, became a senator and a marshal of France, but his health was broken, and he lived only a few years longer. He had the grand cross of the Bath, the grand cross of the Legion of Honour, and the Medjidieh of the 1st class.
BOSS. (1) (From the O. Eng. boce, a swelling, cf. Ital. bozza,
and Fr. bosse, possibly connected with the O. Ger. bōzan, to beat),
a round protuberance; the projecting centre or “umbo” of a
buckler; in geology a projection of rock through strata of
another species; in architecture, the projecting keystone of the
ribs of a vault which masks their junction; the term is also
applied to similar projecting blocks at every intersection. The
boss was often richly carved, generally with conventional
foliage but sometimes with angels, animals or grotesque figures.
The boss was also employed in the flat timber ceilings of the
15th century, where it formed the junction of cross-ribs. (2)
(From the Dutch baas, a word used by the Dutch settlers in
New York for “master,” and so generally used by the Kaffirs in
South Africa; connected with the Ger. Base, cousin, meaning
a “chief kinsman,” the head of a household or family), a colloquial
term, first used in America, for an employer, a foreman,
and generally any one who gives orders, especially in American
political slang for the manager of a party organization.
BOSSI, GIUSEPPE (1777–1816), Italian painter and writer
on art, was born at the village of Busto Arsizio, near Milan.
He was educated at the college of Monza; and his early fondness
for drawing was fostered by the director of the college, who
supplied him with prints after the works of Agostino Caracci
for copies. He then studied at the academy of Brera at Milan,
and about 1795 went to Rome, where he formed an intimate
friendship with Canova. On his return to Milan he became
assistant secretary, and then secretary, of the Academy of Fine
Arts. He rendered important service in the organization of this
new institution. In 1804, in conjunction with Oriani, he drew
up the rules of the three academies of art of Bologna, Venice
and Milan, and soon after was rewarded with the decoration of
the Iron Crown. On the occasion of the visit of Napoleon I.
to Milan in 1805, Bossi exhibited a drawing of the Last Judgment
of Michelangelo, and pictures representing Aurora and Night,
Oedipus and Creon, and the Italian Parnassus. By command
of Prince Eugene, viceroy of Italy, Bossi undertook to make a
copy of the Last Supper of Leonardo, then almost obliterated,
for the purpose of getting it rendered in mosaic. The drawing
was made from the remains of the original with the aid of copies
and the best prints. The mosaic was executed by Raffaelli,
and was placed in the imperial gallery of Vienna. Bossi made
another copy in oil, which was placed in the museum of Brera.
This museum owed to him a fine collection of casts of great
works of sculpture acquired at Paris, Rome and Florence.
Bossi devoted a large part of his life to the study of the works
of Leonardo; and his last work was a series of drawings in
monochrome representing incidents in the life of that great
master. He left unfinished a large cartoon in black chalk of the
Dead Christ in the bosom of Mary, with John and the Magdalene.
In 1810 he published a special work in large quarto, entitled
Del Cenacolo di Leonardo da Vinci, which had the merit of greatly
interesting Goethe. His other works are Delle Opinioni di Leonardo intorno alla simmetria de’ corpi umani (1811), and Del Tipo dell’ arte della pittura (1816). Bossi died at Milan on the 15th of December
1816. A monument by Canova was erected to his memory
in the Ambrosian library, and a bust was placed in the Brera.
BOSSU, RENÉ LE (1631–1680), French critic, was born in Paris on the 16th of March 1631. He studied at Nanterre, and in 1649 became one of the regular canons of Sainte-Geneviève. He wrote Parallèle des principes de la physique d’Aristote et de celle de René Descartes (1674), and a Traité du poème épique, highly praised by Boileau, the leading doctrine of which was that the subject should be chosen before the characters, and that the action should be arranged without reference to the personages who are to figure in the scene. He died on the 14th of March 1680.
BOSSUET, JAQUES BÉNIGNE (1627–1704), French divine, orator and writer, was born at Dijon on the 27th of September 1627. He came of a family of prosperous Burgundian lawyers; his father was a judge of the parliament (a provincial high court) at Dijon, afterwards at Metz. The boy was sent to school with the Jesuits of Dijon till 1642, when he went up to the college of Navarre in Paris to begin the study of theology; for a pious mother had brought him up to look on the priesthood as his natural vocation. At Navarre he gained a great reputation for
