Phalsbourg

Phalsbourg, or Pfalzburg, a town of Lorraine, stands on the north-west shoulder of the Vosges, 25 miles NW. of Strasburg. It was fortified by Vauban in 1680; invested, but not taken, by the Allies in 1814-15; and bombarded and taken by the Germans in 1870, after which they razed the fortifications. It was the birthplace of Erckmann, and is widely known through the Erckmann-Chatrian novels. Pop. 3680.

Phantassie

Phantassie, a Haddingtonshire seat, near East Linton, was the birthplace of Rennie.

Pharsalus

Pharsa'lus, now Fersala, a town of Thessaly, to the south of Larissa, on a branch of the Salam-bria, notable for Caesar's great victory over Pom-pey, 9th August 48 b.c.

Phasis

Pha'sis, a river in Colchis, now called Rion or Faz. It rises in the Caucasus, and flows west into the Euxine near the ancient city of Phasis.

Phigalia

Phigalia, an ancient town of SW. Arcadia. From its temple of Apollo, at BassAe, 6 miles distant, a sculptured frieze was brought to the British Museum in 1812. Next to the Theseum at Athens it is the most perfect architectural ruin in all Greece. See Cockerell, Temples of Aegina and Bassœ (1860).

PhilAe

PhilAe (Fye'lee; Egyptian Palek), a Nile island of Nubia, near Assouan and S. of Syene. It is a small granite rock, fringed with rich verdure, about 400 yards long and 150 broad, almost covered with ancient buildings of great architectural beauty. They include a hypAethral or roofless hall, commonly called 'Pharaoh's bed;' the great temple of Isis, to whom the island was sacred; and the propylon or gateway, 60 feet high and over 120 wide, which is the oldest part of the temple (about 361 B.C.). The great irrigation dam at Assouan, completed in 1902, does not submerge or injure the ruins, which have been carefully protected.

Philiphaugh

Philiphaugh (Philiphawhh'), on Yarrow Water, 3 miles WSW. of Selkirk, the property from 1461 till 1889 of the line of the 'Outlaw Murray' of the ballad. Here, on 13th September 1645, Montrose was defeated by David Leslie, who butchered more than a hundred Irish prisoners.

Philippeville

Philippeville (Philipveel'), a seaport of Algeria, the harbour of Constantine, from which it lies 54 miles NNE. by rail. There is a magnificent harbour (1882) protected by two moles, one 4590 feet long, the other 1310. The town was built since 1838. Pop. 25,788.

Philippi

Philippi (Gk. pron. Fil'ipee), a city of Macedonia, named after Philip II. of Macedon, who enlarged it because of the neighbouring goldmines. Two battles were fought in 42 b.c.

between Antony and Octavianus on the one side and the republicans under Brutus and Cassius on the other, in the second of which the republic finally perished. The apostle Paul addressed an epistle to the church he had founded here.

Philippopolis

Philippo'polis, capital of Eastern Roumelia or Southern Bulgaria, on the navigable Maritza, 110 miles by rail W. by N. of Adrianople. It manufactures silk, cotton, tobacco, leather, etc, and prepares and exports otto of roses (to the value of £55,000). It is the seat of a Greek archbishop. Population, 43,800.