Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/805

founded about 1400, on the site of a more ancient city. It is the headquarters of a civil and sessions judge, with the usual administrative offices, and has a considerable trade in grain and timber sent down the Rapti to the Gogra and the Ganges. The municipal revenue in 1875–76 was

£4771. Population (1872), 51,117.

GORAMY, or Gouramy (Osphronemus olfax), is reputed to be one of the best-flavoured freshwater fishes in the East Indian archipelago. Its original home is Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and several other East Indian islands, but thence it has been transported to and acclimatized in Penang, Malacca, Mauritius, and even Cayenne.

Goramy.

Being an almost omnivorous fish and tenacious of life, it seems to recommend itself particularly for aeelimatization in other tropical countries ; and specimens kept in captivity become as tame as carps. It attains the size of a large turbot. Its shape is flat and short, the body covered with large scales ; the dorsal and anal fins are provided with numerous spines, and the ventral fins produced into long filaments.

GORCUM, or Gorkum (Dutch, Gorinchem), a town of the Netherlands, chief town of a circle in the province of South Holland, 2'3 miles E.S.E. of Rotterdam, on the right bank of the Merve or Merwede, at the influx of the Linge, by which it is intersected. It is surrounded by walls, and has an old town-house adorned with fine old paintings, a prison, a custom-house, barracks, an arsenal, and a military hospital. The old church of St Vincent contains the monuments of the lords of Arkel. The charitable and benevolent institutions are numerous, and there is also a library and several learned associations. Gorcum possesses a good harbour, and carries on a considerable trade in grain, hemp, cheese, potatoes, and fish, although itis still destitute of railway communication. The population in 1876 was 9301.

The earliest notice of Gorcnm is in a document of J ohn 1., duke of Brahant (in the close of the 13th century), granting the town's folk free trade throughout his duchy. The history in the 15th century is closely connected with that of the countship of Arkel. It was within its walls that \Villiam, the last lord of Arkel, perished in 1417, on the capture of the town by the Kabeljaus; and it was the burghers of Gorcum who in 1573 laid the castle of Arkel in ruins. In 1572, when the town was taken by William de la Marck, he put to death 19 priests and friars, who have a place in the Romish calendar as the Martyrs of Gorcum. The place defended itself suc- cessfully against the French in 1672, but was taken by the Prussians in 1785, by the French in 1795, and by the allies in 1814.

GORDIANUS, or Gordian, the name of three Roman emperors. The first, Marcus Antonius Africanus Gordianus, the wealthiest of the Romans, was descended on the father’s side from the Gracchi, on the mother’s from Trajan, while his wife was the granddaughter of Antoninus Pius. While he gained unbounded popularity by his magnificent games and shows, his prudent and retired life did not alarm the tyranny of Caracalla. Alexander Severus called him to the dangerous honours of government in Africa, ‘and during his proconsulship there occurred the usurpation of Maximin. The universal discontent roused by the oppressive rule of Maximin culminated in a revolt in Africa in 238. and Gordian reluctantly yielded to the popular clamour and assumed the purple. His son was associated with him in the dignity. The senate confirmed the choice of the Africans, and most of the provinces gladly sided with the new emperors; but, even while their cause was so successful abroad, they had fallen before the sudden inroad of Capellianus, who commanded Mauretania in the interest of Maximin. They had reigned only 36 days. Both the Gordians had deserved by their amiable character their high reputation; they were men of great accomplishments, fond of literature, and voluminous authors; but they were rather intellectual voluptuaries than able statesmen or powerful rulers. Having embraced the cause of Gordian, the senate was obliged to continue the revolt against Maximin, and appointed Maximus and Balbinus, two of its noblest and most esteemed members, as joint emperors. ‘ At their in- auguration a sedition arose, and the popular outcry for a Gordian was appeased by the association of M. Antonius Gordianus Pius, nephew of the younger and grandson of the elder Gordian, a boy of thirteen. Maximin forthwith invaded Italy, but was murdered by his own troops while besieging Aquileia ; and a revolt of the praetorian guards, to which Maximus and Balbinus fell victims, left Gordian sole emperor. For some years he was under the control of his mother’s eunuchs, till happily Misitheus, his teacher of rhetoric, whose daughter he married, roused him to free himself from the ignoble tyranny. Misitheus was appointed prefect of the praetorian guards, and wielded ably the supreme power that now belonged to him. When the Persians invaded Mesopotamia, the young emperor at his persuasion opened, for the last time recorded in his- tory, the temple of Janus, and marched in person to the East. Misitheus proved a skilful and prudent general; but his sudden death under strong suspicions of poisoning was the end of Gordian’s prosperity. Discontent and seditions, fostered by Philip, who had succeeded Misitheus, arose in the camp, and Gordian was slain by the mutinous soldiers (244). A monument near the confluence of the Euphrates and Aboras marked the scene.

GORDIUM, an ancient town of Bithynia, was situated not far from the river Sangarius, but the site has not been exactly ascertained, though M. Lejean believes that it may be identified with ruins which he observed in the vicinity of the village Emret. It was undoubtedly a place of high antiquity, and though Strabo describes it as a village, it afterwards increased in size, and, under the name of J uliopolis, which it received in the reign of Augustus, it continued to flourish to the time of Justinian at least. According to the legend, Gordium was founded by a cer- tain Gordius, who had been called to the throne by the Phrygians in obedience to an oracle of Zeus commanding them to select the first person that rode into the agora in a car. The king afterwards dedicated his car to the god, and another oracle declared that whoever succeeded in un-- tying the strangely entwined knot of the yoke should reign over all Asia. Alexander the Great, according to the well- known story, overcame the difficulty of the Gordian knot by a stroke of his sword.

See Kiepert, Bcit’rdgc zu’r inschriftlichcn Topographic Klein- Asicns, 1863; Lejean, in Bull. dc la. Soc. dc Géogr., Paris, 1869.

GORDON, Alexander, the “ Sandy Gordon ” of Scott's

Antiquary, is believed to have been a native of Aberdeen, and a graduate of either King’s or Marischal College, but of his parentage and early history nothing is known. When still a young man he is said to have travelled abroad, probably in the capacity of tutor. He must, how- ever, have returned to Scotland previous to 1726, when, betaking himself to antiquarian pursuits, he made the acquaintance of, among others, Roger Gale, the first vice-

president of the Societ;7 of Antiquaries. In the year Just