a. and sb. Also 7 Zanthian. [f. Xanthus (see def.) + -IAN.] Of or pertaining to (or an inhabitant of) Xanthus, an ancient town in Asia Minor; spec. of a collection of marbles discovered near it.
1685. Cotton, trans. Montaigne, I. xl. (1711), I. 464. The Zanthians, who being besieg’d by Brutus, precipitated themselves … into such a furious appetite of dying,… that Brutus had much ado to save but a very small number.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, I. 662/221.
| Then took the fiery Steeds, e’re yet the Food | |
| Of Troy they taste, or drink the Xanthian Flood. |
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch, IV. 244 (Alexander). A spring in Lycia near the city of the Xanthians.
1842. Sir C. Fellows (title), The Xanthian Marbles, their acquisition, and transmission to England.
