a celebrated dithyrambic poet, a native of the island of Cythera, flourished B.C. 398, being contemporary with Timotheus and Telesctes, and died at the age of sixty, B.C. 380. He was a son of Euletidas, and when Cythera was taken by the Macedonians, he was carried off as a slave. He was sold to Agesilaus, and on his death was bought by the poet Melanippos, by whose instruction he seems to have profited. He was devoted to the pleasures of the table, and became a great favourite of the elder Dionysius. It is said the luxury of the court of Syracuse furnished the theme of his poem Δάναος (Dinner). His poem Cyclops or Galateia is said to have been one of the finest of his productions. Alexander the Great was a great admirer of the dithyrambs of Philoxenus and Telesctes. The fragments of Philoxenus are almost all in Athenaeus. Most of them have been recently edited by Meincke, by Bergk, and by Schmidt.

PHILITÉR (φιλίτηρ, a love charm, from φιλέω, I love), was a potion given by the Greeks and Romans to excite love. Its composition is not known.

PHILEGON, a Greek historian, was a native of Tralles, in Lydia, and the freedman of the Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138). He was the author of a History or Chronicle, in sixteen books, which ended A.D. 141, and which is now lost. Besides a fragment, De Olympias, we have also two other works, De Longuevis libellus and De Rebus Mirabilibus liber. The edition of Bast (Halle, 1822, 8vo) includes all the valuable annotations of his predecessors; but that of Westermann, in his Scriptores Rerum Mirabilium Graec., 1859, is unquestionably the best.

PHILIUS, an independent city in the north-eastern part of Pheconnesus, stood on a hill called Arantinus, on the left bank of the Asopus (Asopo). Its territory, bounded on the S. by Argolis, on the W. by Arcadia, on the N. by Sicymnia, and on the E. by Cleone, was an upland valley, well watered by mountain streams, and fruitful in vines. Its inhabitants are celebrated for their alliance with Sparta. The ruins of Philus are still visible.

PHOCÆA (the modern Phocia), the most northern of the cities of Ionia, was situated on the coast, about 200 stadia from Smyrna. It was founded by a colony of Phocians, led by two Athenians, Philogenes and Damon. Its citizens are said to have been the first amongst the Greeks who extended their commercial voyages to great distances; and its inhabitants abandoned their city rather than submit to the Persians, B.C. 544. They settled in Italy, and founded Velia. Massilia in France, and Allalia in Corsica, were colonies of the Phocians.