NEREUS. 363 NEEO. he plajs scarcely any other part than father of the Xereids. among whom was included Thetis, inotliur ol Auliilles. -lu the mytlis he is usually friendly and helpful, and his only contest is with Hercules, who, in order to learn the way to the Garden of the Ilesperides, was obliged to wrestle with and hold Nereus, in spite of his manilcild changes of shape. NER'GAL. A prominent deity in the Baby- lonian and Assyrian pantheons. The name (prob- ably better, Nerigal) is assured by the Old Testament; its meaning is obscure ('the rager,' or 'the great ruler') , the Babylonian etjTiiologists explaining it as 'the mighty one of the great dwclling-])lace,' with reference to Nergal's lord- ship over Hades. His original aspect sterns to liave been that of a solar deity, representing especially the blazing beat of the sun at noon or the summer solstice; thus he is referred to as "the hero of the gods, the lofty meridian sun.' As a destructive deity he became the god of war and the god of pestilence. He shares the former characteristic with Xinib, along with whom he also appears as the god of the chase. But he appears more uniquely as the god of pestilence, and so he became by an easy transition of thought the god of those whom he destroyed, and thus the deity of the lower world. Accordingly in the later mythology he stood for the declining sun. and the month of Chislcv (December) is dedi- cated to him. This development in the char- acter of X'ergal is presented in a story preserved in an .marna tablet, to the effect that the gods of the upper world became engaged in war with Allatu ( Ercsh-kigal ) , the godd(;ss of Hades; Xergal as their leader makes his way into her ]>resence, but is induced by her supplications to save her life and to marry her, so becoming the god of the lower world. With this may be com- pared the classic myth of Pluto and Proserpine. Xergal had also as wife Laz, probably an upper- world goddess. As god of war and destruction, Xergal was identified with the planet JIars, while the lion was his symbol. X^ergal's ancient sanctuary, with which he was always associated from earliest to latest times, was Cutha, the name of which even became a synonym of Hades. Accordingly, the Cutha'an colony which was set- tled in Samaria after the deportation of Israel brought thither the cult of Xergal (11. Kings xvii. 301 . His cult, however, was widespread and seems to have been especially patronized in the later Assyrian Em])ire. Consvilt .Tastrow. I?eli- gion of Bahtjlotiia and Assyria (Boston, 1898). NERI, na're, Philip. See Philip Neei, Saint. NERIN'EA (Neo-Lat.. from Lat. .Vcnjip, vari- ant of Xrrrix. X^ereid). A genus of siphnnosto- mate gastropods allied to the Cerithiid;p and ex'clnsively restricted to the Jlesozoic formations, where it is especially abundant in and character- istic of the .Jurassic coral beds of Kurope. The shell is long and turreted, with many whorls, and the columella always, and usually also the inner lip of the aperture, are ornamented with strong ridges. Longitudinal sections of the shell show that Ihese ridges increase in size and com- plexity from the apex to the aperture of the shell, in other words, as the shell increases in gro^vth from it^; young to its adult stage. NEKIS'SA. In Shakespeare's Merchant of Venire, the companion of Portia. She marries Gratiano. Vol. XIV.— 24. NE'RIUm. A subtropical plant. See Ole- ANUEK. NERLY, ner'le (properly Xeuklicu), Fbied- HU II il.SOT-78). A German architectural and landscape painter, born at Krfurt, and educated at Hamburg. After studying in Home for several years, Xerly visited Southern Italy, and in 1837 settled in Venice. Thenceforth he painted, almost exclusively, views in Venice, one of the first being the "Piazzetta by -Moonlight." a subject which met with universal favor. A fine view of "San Gio- vanni e Paolo" is in the National Gallery, Berlin, and mention may be made of a "Team of Buffaloes Drawing a Huge Marble Block Through the Cani- pagmi." in the Schwerin Gallery. His son and pupil. Fbiedbk'II ( 184;: — ), attained distinction as an able landscape and marine painter. NERNST, nernst, Waltheb (1804—). A German |jhysicist, born at Briesen (West Prus- sia ) . He studied at the universities of Zurich, Berlin, Gratz, and Wiirzburg; in 1887 was ap- pointed assistant to Ostwald at Leipzig, and in 1889 lecturer in [)hysical chemistry in the uni- versity. In 1891 he became professor at Giittin- gen, where in 189.5 he also organized and be- came director of the institute for physical chem- istry. He is known as the inventor of the Xernst incandescent electric lamp, in which the carbon filament of the ordinary incandescent lamp is replaced by a bar of magnesia, which, unlike the carbon, is efficient at nearly its melting-point, and therefore much superior in illuminating power. The cost of operation is also said to be consid- erabU" less. See Electbic Lighting. NERNST LAMP. See Electric Lighting. NE'RO (..D. .37-08). A Roman Emperor { a.d. 54-68). He was born at Antium, on the coast of Latitnn. December 1.5, a.d. 37. and was the son of Cn. Domititis Ahenobarbus and of Agrippina, the daughter of Gernuinicus Coesar, and sister of Caligula. His mother afterwards became the wife of the Emperor Claudius, who adopted him (A.D. 50), and his name, originally L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, was changed to Nero Claudius Ciesar Drusus Gennanicus. After the death of Claudius (..D. 54), the Prsetorian Guards, at the instigation of Afranius Burrus. their prefect, de- clared him Emperor, instead of Claudius's son Britannicus, and their choice was acknowledged both by the Senate and the provinces. His reign began imder the gtiidance of Burrus and his tutor, Seneca, the philosopher; but the inlhience of his" mother, together with his own moral weakness and sensuality, frustrated their efforts, and ho soon plunged into debauchery, extravagance, and tyranny. He caused Britannicus. the son of Claudius, to be poisoned at the age of fourteen, because he dreaded hiin as a rival, and afterwards (A.n. 59) procured the death of his own mother, -Agrippina. to please his mistress, Poppa;a Sabina. She was the wife of his principal boon- companion. Otho. afterwards Emperor, and in order to marry her he divorced and afterwards put to death his wife Octavia. the sister of Bri- tanniciLs (A.n. 0)2). The affairs of the Empire were at this time far from tranquil. In A.D. Gl an insurrection broke out in Britain among the Tceni under their Queen, Boadicea. which was, however, suppressed by Suefoniiis Paulinus. The following year saw an imsuccessful war against the Parthians in Armenia. At home matters
