Hipparchus or Hipparchos \hi-'par-kos\ (b. Nicaea, Bithynia—d. after 127 bc, Rhodes?) Greek astronomer and mathematician. He discov¬ ered the precession of the equinoxes (see equinoxes, precession of the), cal¬ culated the length of the year to within 6.5 minutes, compiled the first known star catalog, and made an early formulation of trigonometry. His observations were painstaking and extremely accurate. He rejected all astrology but also Sun-centred views of the universe; his views had a pro¬ found influence on Ptolemy. His star catalog logged the positions of the stars in terms of celestial coordinates, listed about 850 stars, and specified their brightnesses by a system of six magnitudes similar to today’s. He adequately accounted for the irregularities in the Moon’s motion that are due to its elliptical orbit. His main contribution to geography was to apply rigorous mathematical principles to the determination of places on Earth’s surface, and he was the first to do so by specifying latitude and longitude.
Hippias (d. 490 bc) Tyrant of Athens (528/527-510). He succeeded his father, Peisistratus, as tyrant. Hippias was a patron of poets and craftsmen, and Athens prospered under his rule, but he became repressive after the assassination of his brother Hipparchus (514). He was overthrown by the Spartans (510) and went into exile in Asia Minor. He went with the Per¬ sians to attack the Athenians, and it was he who advised Darius I in 490 to land at Marathon, which resulted in a major Persian defeat.
Hippocrates \hi-'pa-kr3-,tez\ (b. c. 460 bc, island of Cos, Greece—d. c. 377, Larissa, Thessaly) Greek physician regarded as the father of medicine. Plato, his contemporary, referred to him twice and implied that he was famous as a physician.
Meno, a pupil of Aristotle, stated that Hippocrates believed that disease was caused by the excreted vapours of undigested food. His philosophy was to see the body as a whole. He apparently traveled widely in Greece and Asia Minor, practicing and teaching. The “Hippocratic Collec¬ tion” supposedly belonged to the library of a medical school (probably at Cos) and then to the Ijbrary of Alexandria. An unknown proportion of the 60 or so surviving manuscripts—the earliest dating from the 10th century ad —are actu¬
ally by Hippocrates. The collection deals with anatomy, clinical subjects, diseases of women and children, prognosis, treatment, surgery, and medi¬ cal ethics. The Hippocratic Oath (not actually written by Hippocrates), also part of the Hippocratic Collection, is divided into two major sections, the first setting out the physician’s obligations to his students and his pupils’ duties to him, the second pledging him to prescribe only benefi¬ cial treatments, refrain from causing harm or hurt, and live an exemplary life.
hippopotamus Huge amphibious African mammal {Hippopotamus amphibius). Once found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, it is now restricted to parts of eastern and southeastern Africa. It has a barrel-shaped body, an enormous mouth, short legs, and four toes on each foot. It com¬ monly reaches a length of 11.5 ft (3.5 m), a height of 5 ft (1.5 m) at the shoulder, and a weight of 7,000 lb (3,200 kg). The skin is very thick, nearly hairless, and grayish brown above, lighter and pinkish below. The ears and nostrils protrude above water when the rest of the body is sub¬ merged. Hippopotamuses live near rivers, lakes, swamps, or other per¬ manent bodies of water, usually in groups of 7 to 15. During the day they sleep and rest in or near the water. At night they go on land to feed on grasses, which they crop with their hard-edged lips. In water they can swim fast, walk along the bottom, and remain submerged (with ears and nostrils closed) for five minutes or more. The rare pygmy hippopotamus {Hexaprotodon liberiensis) is the only other species of the family Hippo- potamidae. Living along streams and in wet forests and swamps of West Africa, it is about the size of a domestic pig.
HIrah Yhir-oV Al- Ancient city, Middle East. Located near present-day Al-Kufah in south-central Iraq, in the 5th-6th centuries ad it was the capital of the Lakhmid dynasty, which itself was subordinate to the Sasa- NlAN dynasty of Persia. The city was a diplomatic, political, and military centre and an important station on the Persia-Arabia caravan route. Tra¬ dition holds that the Arabic script was developed there. Also the seat of a bishopric for Nestorian Christians, it promoted Christian monotheism in the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Hlrah began to decline following the collapse of the Lakhmids early in the 7th century, and in 633 the city was taken by the Muslims.
Hirata Atsutane \,he- , ra-ta- 1 a-tsu- , ta-na\ (b. Sept. 25, 1776, Akita, Japan—d. Oct. 4, 1843, Akita) Leader of the Japanese Restoration Shinto school. He settled in Edo (modern Tokyo) at age 20 and became a dis¬ ciple of Motoori Norinaga. Hirata sought to develop a Shinto theologi¬ cal system offering principles for social and political action. He proclaimed the natural superiority of Japan and championed the imperial line. For criticizing the Tokugawa shogunate (see Tokugawa period), which had reduced the emperor to a powerless symbol, he was punished by being confined to his birthplace for the rest of his life. His theories helped bring about the shogunate’s overthrow, and he influenced 20th-century Shinto and Japanese nationalism.
Hirohito \,hir-o-'he-to\ or Showa \'sho-o\ emperor (b. April 29, 1901, Tokyo, Japan—d. Jan. 7, 1989, Tokyo) Longest-reigning of Japan’s monarchs (1926-89). His rule coincided with Japan’s 20th-century mili¬ tarism and its aggression against China and Southeast Asia and in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. Though the Meiji Constitution invested the emperor with supreme authority, in practice he merely ratified the policies formulated by his ministers and advisers. Historians have debated whether Hirohito could have diverted Japan from its militaristic path and what responsibility he should bear for the actions of the government and military during the war. In August 1945 he broke the precedent of impe¬ rial silence when he made a national radio broadcast to announce Japan’s surrender, and in 1946 he made a second broadcast to repudiate the tra¬ ditional quasi-divine status of Japan’s emperors. See also Showa period.
Hiroshige V.hir-o-'she-ga-'an-doV in full Ando Hiroshige known as Utagawa Hiroshige or Ichiyusai Hiroshige (b. 1797, Edo, Japan—d. Oct. 12, 1858, Edo) Japanese artist and master of the colour woodblock print. He became a pupil of the ukiyo-e master Utagawa Toy- okuni in Edo (now Tokyo) c. 1811. In 1833-34 a series of 55 landscape prints, Fifty-three Stages on the Tokaido, established him as one of the most popular ukiyo-e artists of all time. Demand for his figure-with- landscape designs became so great that overproduction diminished their quality. He produced more than 5,000 prints, and 10,000 copies were made from some of his woodcuts. His genius was first recognized in the West by the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, on whom he exerted much influence. See also Edo culture.
Hippocrates, Roman bust copied from a Greek original, c. 3rd century bc; in the collection of the Antichita Di Ostia, Italy
COURTESY OF THE SOPRINTENDENZA ALLE ANTICHITA DI OSTIA, ITALY
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Hiroshima ► history I 879
Hiroshima Mio-'ro-sho-mo, .hir-s-'she-moX City (pop., 2002 est.: 1,113,786), southwestern Honshu,
Japan. Founded as a castle town in the 16th century, it was from 1868 a military centre. In 1945 it became the first city ever to be struck by an atomic bomb, dropped by the U.S. in the last days of World War II.
Rebuilding began in 1950, and Hiroshima is now the largest indus¬ trial city in the region. It has become a spiritual centre of the peace move¬ ment to ban nuclear weapons; Peace Memorial Park is dedicated to those killed by the bomb, and Atomic Bomb Dome is the ruin of the only building to survive the blast.
Hirsch \'hirsh\, Samson Raphael (b. June 20, 1808,
Hamburg—d. Dec. 31, 1888,