Niobe (Ni()/3//) is the name of a Greek female deity. She was the daughter of Tantalus (according to the most popular version of the story), the sister of Pelops, and was the wife of Amphion, king of Thebes. She was so proud of the number of her children that she boasted herself as superior to Leto (Latona), who had but two children. The number of those of Niobe is usually given as seven sons and seven daughters. Apol- lo and Artemis (Diana) so heartily espoused the cause of Leto that they killed the children of Niobe with their arrows. Zeus (Jupiter) metamorphosed Niobe into a stone, and placed it on Mount Sipj'lus in Lydia. During the summer this stone always shed tears (see Homer, //. xxiv). The story of Niobe was a favorite subject of ancient art. A group representing Niobe and her children was discovered at Rome in 1583, and is now at Florence. Some of the sculptures are very beautiful.
Niobe and her Children. (Florence.
Even the ancient Romans were in doubt whether the •work proceeded from Scopas or Praxiteles. See Smith, Bid. of Class. Biog. and Mythol. s. v.
Niobites is the name of a party of Alexandrian Monophysiies formed under the leadership of an Alex- andrian rhetorician or sophist named Stephen Niobes (Ntf)/3/;c or N(6/3oc), who attempted to revive the older Monophysite doctrine in opposition to the modified form of it maintained by Damian, Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria (A.D. 570-G03), who belonged to the school
of Severus and the Phthartolatrce (tj. v.). The particu- lar opinion brought forward by the Niobites was that the qualities belonging to human nature could not con- tinue in the human nature of Christ after its amalga- mation with or absorption into the divine nature. He thus took up the position that there was no logical ground for the Severian compromise between ortho- doxy and Monophysitism, and that the Jacobites ought to revert to the creed which they held before Severus came to Egj'pt — that which Dioscorus had maintained in opposition to the Council of Chalcedon. The Niobite party was driven out of Alexandria bj' Damian after the death of Niobes, and settled at Antioch, where, be- fore the death of Damian, they gradually came around to the orthodox opinions, and became energetic sup- porters of the Chalcedonian doctrine. — Blunt, Diet. Theol. See Assemani, Bihlioth. Orient, ii, 72 ; Baur, Gesch, der Dreieniffkeitslehre, ii, 92-95; Neander, Ch. Hist, ii, 551.
Niphon or Nipon. See Japan. Niphoil OF Constantinople, an Eastern ascetic who, near the beginning of the reign of emperor Em- manuel Comnen us (middle of the 12th century), headed a movement for the reform of the Church practices. He joined the Bogomiles (q. v.), and is believed to have ap- proved of many of their fanatical excesses, yet for his pious and strict life he was paid universal reverence. He is described as a man well versed in the Holy Scrip- tures, to the study of which he devoted his time mainly. Niphon's adherence to Bogomilian ideas has on this ac- count seemed strange, but it is possible that he was educated under Bogomilian influences, and thus har- monized their views with Biblical teachings. He made public his peculiar views, and was by an ecclesiastical synod condemned to perpetual confinement in a mon- astery. But the patriarch Cosmas restored Nijdion to liberty; and he stood high in the estimation of that prelate, insomuch that he made him his confidant and table-companion. The friendship of such a man would lead us to judge favorably of Niphon's character, for all the accounts agree in describing Cosmas as a person of great piety and worth ; of a strict life, self-denying love, and a benevolence which prompted him to give away everj-thing, to the very raiment which he wore. Similarity of disposition, and a like dissatisfaction with the corrupt state of the Greek Church, may perhaps have made Cosmas the friend and protector of Niphon. As Cosmas would not abandon Niphon, not- 1 withstanding that the latter had been condemned by an endemic synod, but persisted in declaring that he was a holy man, the sen- tence of deposition was passed upon him also. He signified to the synod his abhorrence of the corrupt Church, saying that he was like Lot in the midst of Sodom. Niphon flourished for a while, and died finally in com- parative obscurity. See Nean- der, Ch. Hist, iv,' 5G3-564. (J. H.W.)
Niphont, bishop of Novgo- rod, a Russian prelate of note, flourished near the middle of the 12th century. He died at Kief April 13, 1150. He is considered as one of the continuators of the Chroni- cles of Nestor. Herberstein has inserted in his Com- mentaries a series of questions, some of them being of the strangest character, which were submitted to Ni- phont, with the replies which he made to them — re- plies which at present serve as law to the Russian clergy. The catalogue of the nianuscript library of count Tolstoi contains, under Nos. 204 and 212, two ser- mons attributed to this bishop. See Tatichtchef, Hist.
NIPHUS
133
NIRVANA
de Russie, vol. ii ; Diet. Hist, des ecrivains cedes. Russes. — Hoefer, Noui: Biog. Generate, xxxviii, 92.
Niphus. See Nifo.
Nipter (Gr. vittti'ip, a basin; in hatin, pedilavium) is the name of a wash-basin used in churches for relig- ious ceremony. The name is also applied to the cere- mony of irashingfeet. This is performed by the Greek Christians on Good Friday, in imitation of our Saviour, who on that day washed his disciples' feet with his own hands. In the monasteries the abbot represents our Saviour, and twelve of the monks the twelve apostles. Among these the steward and porter have always a place ; the former acts the part of St. Peter, and imi- tates his refusal to let Jesus wash his feet ; the latter personates the traitor Judas, and is loaded with scoffs and derision. The office used on this occasion is extant in the Euchologium. See Pkdilavium.