ZIDON (SIDON). See Phenicia, Phenicians, I. § 5.

ZIEGENBALG, BARTHOLOMAEUS: The first German Protestant missionary to India; b. at Pulsnitz (16 m. n.e. of Dresden), Saxony, June 14, 1683; d. at Tranquebar (140 m. s. by w. of Madras), India, Feb. 23, 1719. He was educated at Halle, and in 1705 was one of two missionaries selected by the king of Denmark to spread the Gospel in the Danish possessions in India. Landing in Tranquebar in July, 1706, Ziegenbalg and his companion began their labors under the most adverse conditions, being forced to encounter not only the antipathy of the Hindus, but also the ill-concealed hostility of the Danish governor and of the other European residents. Nevertheless, Ziegenbalg contrived to learn Tamil within a year, although when he arrived in India he was utterly unacquainted with the language, and he was soon able to prepare for baptism five slaves of Europeans. In 1707 he made an extensive preaching-tour, and in the following year was enabled by the Dutch magistrate at Negapatam to hold there a friendly conference on religious matters with the Brahmans. Ziegenbalg remained at Tranquebar until 1715, busily engaged in preaching to Hindus, half-breed Portuguese, and slaves, as well as holding a weekly German service, besides his necessary labor of translating the New Testament and a considerable portion of the Old into Tamil, and writing much in his adopted language. In 1715 ill-health forced him to return to Europe, and he was received with high honors both in Germany and in England. Early in 1719 he went once more to India, but died within a short time.

The Tamil translation of the Bible, in which Ziegenbalg was assisted by B. Schultze and J. E. Griindler, commenced to appear at Tranquebar in 1714, though the work was not finished until 1728; it is especially noteworthy as being the first translation of the Scriptures into any of the languages of India. Ziegenbalg was likewise the author, among other works (many of them in Tamil), of Grarrh matica Damulica (Halle, 1716), the earliest portions of Der kaniglichen d4nischen Missionarien aus OstIndien eingesandte ausfuhrliche Berichte (95 parts, 1718-1848), which had been preceded by his Merckwiirdige Nachricht am Ost-Indien (3d ed., Leipsic, 1709; Eng. transl., Propagation of the Gospel in the East, 3 parts, London, 1709-14) and his Ausführlicher Bericht, wie er . . . das Amt des Evangelii . . fuhre (2d ed., 7 parts, Halle, 1713-14; partial Eng. transl., Account of the . .. . Malabarians, London, 1717); Brevis delineatio missionis operis, good ad propagandam Christi cognitionem . . . inter paganos Orientates et proeclpue inter Damulos . . . Tranquebarim geritur (in collaboration with J. E. Griindler, Tranquebar, 1717); and Genealogie der malabarischen GBtter (ed. W. Germann, Madras, 1867).

Bibliography: d. H. Brauer, Bartholomtiue Ziegenbaip und seine Mitarbeiter in Trankebar Altona,1837; W. Germann, Ziegenbalg und Plütschau, Erlsagen, 1888; F. Schlegel- milch Bart)wlomtlue Ziegenbalg, Berlin, 1902; A. Gehring, BartholomSue Ziegenbaig, 2d ed., Leipsic, 1907.