entaur ran off with his bride
Hippodamia, which gave rise to the famous fight between the Centaurs and
the Lapithae, in which Theseus assisted, and the former were defeated; on
the death of Hippodamia, Pirithous ran off with Persephone and Theseus
with Helen, for which both had to answer in the lower world before Pluto;
Hercules delivered the latter, but Pluto would not release the former.

PIRKE ABOTH (i. e. sayings of the Fathers), the name given to a
collection of aphorisms in the manner of Jesus the Son of Sirach by 60
doctors learned in the Jewish law, representative of their teaching, and
giving the gist of it; they inculcate the importance of familiarity with
the words of the Law.

PIRNA (11), a town in Saxony, on the Elbe, 11 m. SE. of Dresden; has
sandstone quarries in the neighbourhood which employ 8000 quarrymen.

PISA (38), on the Arno, 49 m. by rail W. of Florence, is one of the
oldest cities in Italy; formerly a port, the river has built up the land
at its mouth so that the sea is now 4 m. off, and the ancient trade of
Pisa has been transferred to Leghorn. There are a magnificent cathedral,
rich in art treasures, a peculiar campanile of white marble which
deviates 14 ft. from the perpendicular, known as the leaning tower of
Pisa, several old and beautiful churches, a university, school of art,
and library. Silks and ribbons are woven, and coral ornaments cut. In the
11th century Pisa was at the zenith of its prosperity as a republic, with
a great mercantile fleet, and commercial relations with all the world.
Its Ghibelline sympathies involved it in terrible struggles, in which it
gradually sank till its fortunes were merged in those of Tuscany about
1550. The council of Pisa, 1409, held to determine the long-standing
rival claims of Gregory XII. and Benedict XII. to the Papal chair, ended
by adding a third claimant, Alexander V. Pisa was one of the twelve
cities of ancient Etruria.

PISANO, NICOLA, Italian sculptor and architect of Pisa; his most
famous works are the pulpit in the Baptistery at Pisa, and that for the
Duomo at Siena, the last being the fountain in the piazza of Perugia
(1206-1278).

PISGAH, a mountain range E. of the Lower Jordan, one of the summits
of which is Mount Nebo, from which Moses beheld the Promised Land, and
where he died and was buried.

PISHIN (60), a district of South Afghanistan, N. of Quetta, occupied
by the British since 1878 as strategically of importance