Art, with setae Aeeount o/ flee Aniatie Treatment of the Life of $t. John the Baptist, Boston. 1898; T. Beaudoire, QeQas de to cryptopmphis apostolique et de l'architecdara rihulis. Paris, 1903; A Michel, Hid. de Part depuia lee premiere temps chr&iane, vole i.-ii., New York, 1908; end the general works on Christian art and archeology.

ART, HEBREW: The ancient Israelites accomthedpractically nothing in the realm of art. They lacked the necessary natural gifts, constructive power, and creative imagination. In the ancient time, when images of gods were indispensable to worship, their native incapacity was supplemented by no outside influence, and the old Israelitic images were of the rudest kind. After contact with more artistic neighbors had given them technical skill, the peculiar hostility of their religion to representative art prevented its development. To such an extent was this hostility carried that all likenesses of living creatures, whether human or animal, were forbidden. Such a prohibition-which survives in Islam to-daywas manifestly possible only among a people of no artistic tastes or powers; it is inconceivable among the Greeks. There is no mention of Israelitic sculpture. The complete silence concerning statues or stone ornamentation of any kind in Solomon's buildings indicates that nothing of the sort was found there. Stone sarcophagi, such as the Phenicians and Egyptians made, were not used. The mawbhoth, the cultic pillars of stone, make the nearest approach to statuary; but while among other nations the atone pillars developed into true statues of gods, among the Israelites they always remained mere pillars. Such an expression as `~ goodly images " in Hos. x. 1 probably indicates that sometimes, as among other Semitic peoples, rude forms were chiseled on the pillars. Wood carving seems to have been practised. The teraphim certainly had something like a man's head (I Sam. xix. 13). There were two cherubim of olive wood in Solomon's temple (I Kings vi. 23), and in Ezekiel's time the temple doors and walls were adorned with carving (Ezek. xfi. 17-26; of. also the later additions to the description of Solomon's temple, I Kings vii. 18, 29, 35). Doorposta and the wainscoting of houses and articles of furniture, such as divans, tables, and chairs, were thus decorated in the time of the later kings. But it is noteworthy that the masterpiece of such work, Solomon's throne (I Kings x. 18-20), was made by Phenician workmen. Metal work also developed under Phenician influence. Solomon had to send to Tyre for an artist to do the casting necessary for the temple (I Kings vii. 13-46). The art of overlaying with metal seems to have been better understood and to date from an earlier time. The ephod may have been made of wood or clay overlaid with gold or silver (see EPHOD), and the Caves of Dan and Bethel (I Kings xii. 2829) were doubtless constructed in this way. A knowledge of gem cutting is ascribed to the time of the Exodus (Ex. xxviii. 21), and the patriarchs are said to have had seals (Gen. xxxviii. 18),-which proves at least that the art was familiar and old when the narratives were written. There is mention of an iron gmving tool with diamond point (Jer. xvii. 1).

BIHwoaitApHT: G. Perroi, and C. Chipies, Histoire de fart dens t'antiquiM, iv., Paris, 1887, Eng· tranel., flietory of Art in Sardinia, Judea. Syria, and Asia Minor, 2 vols., London, 1890; Bensinger, Arehdolooie, 249-271; Nowack, Archdolopie, i. 259-208.

ARTAXERXES, ar"tax-erk'efz: The name of a Persian king mentioned in Nehemiah and Ezra, where, however, the word occurs in the form of Artachehashta, by which is doubtless meant Artaxerxes I. Longimadus, 465-425 B.C. In the Persian cuneiform inscriptions the name is written Artakhehathra, " righteous " or " sublime ruler." In Ezra iv. 7, Artaxerxes Longimanus is meant, not the Pseudo-Smerdis; so also Ezra vii. 1, 11 where, following Josephus Ant., XI. v. 1, Xerxes has been read. In the twentieth year of Artachshashta or Artaxerxes, that is, in the year 445-444 B.C. Nehemiah, the cup-bearer of the king, went as governor to Jerusalem. See PEBBIA. (B. LmDNEB.)

ARTEMON (dr'ti-men) or ARTEMA$: A heretic of the third century, founder of a small sect called the Artemonites. Nothing is known of him except what may be gathered from brief references in Eusebius, Epiphanius; Theodoret, and Photius; it seems certain that he shrank from applying the name God to Jesus, and he is probably to be classed with the dynamistic Monarchians (see MONARCH mmrsM); he was living at Rome, but separated from the Church and without influence, about 270. Paul of Samosata adopted and developed his views.

ARTHUR, WILLIAM: Methodist; b. at Kells (18 m. n.w. of Belfast), County Antrim, Ireland, Feb. 3, 1819; d. at Cannes, France, March 9, 1901. He began to preach at the age of sixteen, was accepted as a candidate for the ministry by the Irisbt Conference in 1837, and spent the next two years as a student at the Theological Institution at tHoxton, London. In 1839 he went to India, and openeda new mission station at Gutti, Mysore, but returned to England in 1841, completely broken down in health. His eyesight, in particular, was much impaired, and from this affliction he never fully recovered. He was stationed at Boulogne, 1846, in Paris, 1847-18; preached in London, 1849-50; was appointed one of the secretaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, 1851; first principal of the Belfast Methodist College, 1868; honorary missionary secretary, 1871. In 1888 he retired and thenceforth lived chiefly in southern France. In 1856 he was made a member of the legal committee of his Church, and from that time on was prominent in all connectional committees and

BIBwoaaAPBY: Consult The Methodist Recorder, xlii, 11-18, London, Mar. 14, 1901, for biographical sketch.

ARTICLES, IRISH, LAMBETH, THIRTY-NINE, ETC. See IRISH ARTICLES, LAMBETH ARTICLES, THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES, ETC.

ARUNDEL, ar'vn-dl, THOMAS: Archbishop of Canterbury; b. at Arundel Castle (55 m. s.w. of London), Sussex, 1353; d. at Canterbury Feb. 19, 1414. He was the thirdson of the Earl of Arundel, and the family influence secured his promotion to the bishopric of Ely when only twenty-one; he was made Archbishop of York in 1388, of Canterbury in 1396, this being the first instance of a translation from York to Canterbury. He was active in the turbulent times of Richard II, and incurred the resentment of the king; in 1397, with his brother, the Earl of Arundel, he was impeached of high treason; the Earl was executed and the Archbishop was banished. He went to Rome, but the Pope, Boniface IX, at the request of Richard, transferred him to St. Andrews which in effect deprived him of a see, as Scotland adhered to the rival pope, Benedict XIII. He joined Henry of Lancaster on the continent, returned with him to England, 1399, crowned him king, Oct. 13, and was reinstated as Archbishop of Canterbury. He was five times Lord Chancellor of England, twice under Richard II (1386-89 and 1391-96), and three times under Henry IV. Arundel was a shrewd and far-sighted prelate in the performance of what he understood to be his duty. He spent his wealth freely upon the churches in which he was interested. In leis later years he entered heartily into the persecution of the Lollards and was especially conspicuous in the prosecution of Lord Cobham. He procured a prohibition of the vernacular translation of the Scriptures.

BisrsoaeArar: Consult the works mentioned under ARAB, and, in addition, for Zerah the Ethiopian, H. Winckler, Alttesta-enttida Untereuehunpen, pp. 180 eqq., Leipsic, 1892.

ASBURY, az'ber-i, FRANCIS: The first Methodist bishop ordained in America; b. at Hamatead Bridge, parish of Handaworth (a northern suburb

bas (xv), on the other hand, grounds the observance of Sunday on its having been the day marked by both the resurrection and the ascension. If this is to be reconciled with the Acts, it can only be by the assumption that Luke counts four weeks as four decades, just as later ecclesiastical usage numbers the Sundays before Lent in this loose way as Septuagesima, Sexageaima, and Quinquagesima; but the " forty days " of the Acts sounds too definite for this hypothesis to be accepted. The Christian Church has observed this commemoration on the Thursday of the sixth week after Easter since it has been observed at all, which could only be after the festivals of Easter and Pentecost were firmly established. Origen does not know the festival (Contra Celsum, viii, 23). It is mentioned, however, in the Apostolic Constitutions (v, 19, viii, 13); and Chrysostom has a homily for it, besides referring to it in another place. Socrates (Hist. eocd., vii, 26) mentions, under the year 390, that the people celebrated it as an established custom in a suburb of Constantinople. In the West its observance has been thought to be attested by an obscure canon of the Council of Elvira (306); in any case, Augustine knows it as an old one (Epist. liv. ad Januarium). Its celebration was specially solemn. The paschal candle, lighted at Easter to symbolize the resurrection of the Light of the World, is extinguished after the Gospel in the high mass of that day throughout the Roman Catholic Church, signifying the departure of Christ from earth. The Lutheran Reformation in Germany retained the feast as Scriptural; and it is observed as one of the principal festivals in the Anglican communion. (GEORG RIETSCHEL. )

Perhaps the earliest reference to the feast extant is that of the Peregrinatio Etherdce (0.380), which states that a feast of the Ascension was celebrated in Jerusalem toward the close of the fourth century, coinciding with the festival of Pentecost and observed on the same day. The feast marks the close of the paschal season and is a holyday of obligation in the Roman Catholic Church. In the Latin liturgy the term " ascension " is used exclusively of our Lord. J. T. C.

BrsraoaRSra:: A. Baillet, Lee Vies des saints, asec i'histoire doe f0tse . Paris, 1701; F. Probst, Breerier and Brsvierpeb4 ¢ 93, Tiibingen,1868; DCA, i. 145-147; N. Nilles, Kalendarium manuals ukiusque saleaia, ii, 384, Innsbruck, 1881.

The term"asceticism'' (Gk. askilsia) originally meant " practise," especially the training of an athlete. In philosophical language it denotes moral exercise and discipline (e.g., Epiotetus, Dissertationea, iii, 12; Diogenes Laertius, VIII, viii, 8), and in this sense passed into ecclesiastical language (Eusebius, Hilt. eul., II, xvii, 2; Mar tyree Paliestinw, x, 2, xi, 2, 22). In the history of almost all religions, as well as in ancient moral

Hellenistic and Jewish influences worked together to introduce, with " moralism," in the old catholic time an ascetic order of life.

cism in the fixed hours of prayer, the restricted Early use of food, abstinence from marriage,

case of Origen, Eusebius, Hist. eccl., vi, 2), and as the Church comes to know the world more intimately, it becomes easier to understand the origin of ascetic societies (cf. the pseudo-Clementine Epistles, De virganitade; Hieracasf in Epiphanius, Her., lxvii, 13; Athanasius, Pits Antonii, iii, 14; Cyril, Catechesea, iv, 24, v, 4, xu, 33; Methodius, Conviroium, vii, 3; Aphraates, Hom., vi). Here was the beginning of the later anchoretic and monastic system (see MoNAsmcctsm).

On this road the Middle Ages proceeded. The ascetic practises were extended more and more, and their extension naturally produced among the monks a state of dulness. There are two things especially which mark the history of medieval asceticism: the institution of penance with its works of satisfaction, and the idea of imitating the poverty and suffering of Jesus. The first shows a descending evolution, but the second an ascending one, tending to introspection, as in the circle of the Friends of God. The way of asceticism was considered as the way of perfection. The Augsburg

Confession (art. xxvi, 8) says of the 3. Attitude medieval period: " Christianity was

fasts, attire." On the other hand, the Reformation abolished on principle the medieval estimate of asceticism, because the solemn ascetic works are not enjoined by God, but by worthless human commandments (art. xxiii, 6 eqq., 19 eqq., savi, 18; Apol., xxiii, 6, 60, xxvii, 42-57), and can even be regarded as suicide and tempting of God (Luther, Werke, Erlangen ed., iv, 380, vii, 40, ix, 289, xi, 104). The ascetic system is also abolished by the concept of righteousness by faith which is opposed to meritorious works, which are therefore to be rejected (Auga. Con., xx, 8, 9 eqq., xxvi, I eqq., 8, xxvn, 3,44; Apo1., xv, 6 eqq.; Art. Schmal., iv, 14; Luther, xx, 250, xvii, 8, xlii, 262, AM, 193, lxv, 128, xx;, 330). Thus it is asserted that the ascetic works answer not the will of God and are not meritorious. For " Christian perfection " ascetic works are not necessary; indeed, moral conduct is the more certain evidence of God's Presence (Augs. Con., xvi, 4 sqq., xxvi, 10, xxvii, 10 eqq., xv, 49, 57; Apol., xv, 25-26, xvii, 61; Longer Catechism, precept iv, 145). But asceticism is hereby not done away with. The " mortification of the flesh " ever remains a Christian duty (Augs. Con., xxvi, 31 eqq.). But by this is not meant a weakening and destruction of the natural powers, but the self-discipline by which the natural powers are made subject to the soul, thus becoming fit for serving God. Outward fast-regulations are therefore very useful, but should never become a law (Luther, xlM, 197-199, Ixv, 128). The Protestant view is briefly this: " Every one can use his own discretion as to fasting and watching, for every one knows how much he must do to master his body. Three, however, who think to become pious through works have no regard for fasting, but only for the works and, imagining that they are pious when they do much in that direction, sometimes break their heads over it and ruin their bodies over it " (Luther, xavii, 27, 190, xliii, 199,

from God for " the mortifying of the flesh "; the question is not of self-mortification and invited martyrdom. The cross is not to incite the Christian to sin, but to restrain the sinful lust. From this point of view the Christian is to consider the suffering and be affected by it. (2) Our nature in consequence of the sinfulness of man is exercised and ready to walk the ways pointed out by the evil will. In concrete things it exemplifies chiefly the dominion of the sensual desires over the spiritual will. Over against this, it is a Christian duty to accustom nature to subjugation under the .spiritual will, to the regulation of the desires, to regularity and propriety of life, to steadfastness in useful work, to the proper relation between labor and recreation. Here one has to deal with moral gymnastics, which are to fit human nature to obey the good moral will imparted by grace. (3) For each man exist certain thoughts and incentives which in themselves are morally indifferent, but, as experience teaches, may become a temptation to the individual. To restrain these is the further object of asceticism; and herein it includes fasting in the ardent sense, e.g., with reference to society, eating and drinking, matrimony, sexual intercourse, novel-reading, the theater, dancing, total abstinence. etc. The question here is of a moral dietetics. With this the field of asceticism is circumscribed. Only it should be added that the ascetic practic&1 proof must never become a law; it calls only for individual selfrestraint. This, however, as little precludes ascetic habits in the individual as ascetic customs in communities. It mu4 also be emphasized that the question can not be as to the meritorious character of asceticism; for, in the first place, this thought has no place in evangelical ethics; in the second place, because the necessity of ascetic exercises proves not man's moral maturity, but immaturity. Finally, it must be remarked that in the concrete life the ascetic practical proof can not be separated from sanctification and the moral struggle. R. SzEHEftfi.

ASCHHEIM, ash'haim, SYNOD OF: A synod held in a village of what is now Bavaria, a little to the east of Munich. The church there is mentioned in the seventh century. The year of the synod is not definitely named; but since Tassilo is mentioned as prince, and as still very young, and since its decrees are evidently influenced by those of the Frankish synod of Verneuil (July 11, 755), it must have been held either in the latter half of that year. or in 756. Its canons are directed partly to the regulation of various ecclesiastical relations (ii, for the security of churches, and iv, of church

property; v, payment of tithes; xiii, recognition of the canonical law as to marriage) and partly to the affirmation of the rights of the episcopate (iii, power over church property; vi, subordination of the clergy, and viii, ix, of monks and nuns; xiv, xv, spiritual oversight in courts of justice).

ASHERAH (pl. asherim; in Judges iii, 7, II Chron. xix, 3, xxxiii, 3, asheroth): The transliteration of a Hebrew word which in the A. V. of the English Bible (following the LXX and Vulgate) is rendered "grove" or "groves" (see GROVES AxD TREKS, SACRED); in the A. V. the word is trans-

Two Dis- translation. In explaining its meaning tinct two entirely different senses in which

(1) as a sacred tree-stem or pole; (2) as the name of a Canaanitic goddess. There is now no doubt of the general meaning when the word is used in the former sense. Exactly what the latter refers to is still a matter of much debate. There are only three passages (Judges iii, 7; I Kings xviii, 19; II Kings xxiii, 4) in which the word (used with ba'al) clearly refers to a goddess; or, rather, only two, for in Judges the reading should be `ashtaroth (pl. of 'ashtoreth; see AsHToRETH) as in similar early statements with regard to forbidden cults. The passage I Kings xv, 13, often supposed to refer to the worship of a goddess, should be translated as in the R. V. " made an abominable thing for (i.e., as) an asherah." The other two passages in Kings are regarded by recent conservative commentators as interpolations (cf. R. Kittel, Die Biicher der K6nige, Gottingen, 1900, pp. 143, 300), and certainly justify the conclusion that at a late period asherah was used as another name for Ashtoreth. How this came about may be explained from the history of the asherah in Israel.

In preexilic times an asherah was not a divine companion or concurrent of a bawl or the baals at all. It was, however, an indispensable part of

The Pre- place," or shrine of the baal (bamah) exilic consisted of an altar (with or without

pillar, and an agherah (see ALTAR; HUGH PLACE; MEMORIALS AND SACRED STONES). The pillar was a survival of the old stone-worship; that is to say, the adoration of the local deities or numina, who had their abode in sacred stones (cf. the bathed of Gen. xxviii, 19 and elsewhere). The asherah Or sacred pole was in like manner a Survival of the old tree-worship, that is, of the cult of sacred trees whose sanctity is a marked feature of the early histories (e.g., Gen. xii, 6, R. V.; Judges ix, 37, R. V.). In the Hebrew text of Dent. xi, 30; Judges ix, 6 (cf. R. V.) the sacred tree and the sacred stone appear standing side by side. One step further in the inevitable syncretism was the combination of both of these with the cult of the baal, the presiding divinity or `° proprietor " of the district, who gave fertility to its soil and all

consequential blessings to its inhabitants (cf. Hos. ii, 5, 8; see BAAL). Whatever other factors may have contributed to this cherishing of the asherim, these are the moat important. At first the asherim were probably the stems of trees rudely chopped and stripped; afterward they were conventionalized into a shapely pole or mast, just as the " pillars " or magebhoth were at first roughly hewn blocks of stone.

At a later stage the asherah became transfigured into a goddess and naturally took the place of the

old Ashtoreth in the imagination of Trans- the Hebrews, who, after the Exile, folformed lowed no longer the old Canaanitic into a rites. The fact that the worship of Goddess. Ashtoreth had been combined with that of the baals, or rather absorbed into it, doubtless helped toward the substitution. The deification of an outward object of worship is a familiar phenomenon in nearly all religions, and in the present field of inquiry is actually paralleled by the conversion of a bethel or bait-ill (a god-inhabited stone) into a god, Baitulos, among the Phenicians and elsewhere (cf. Schrader, KA T, pp. 437-438).

Whether the fact that there was an old Canaanitic goddess Ashirtu, with a Babylonian namesake, aided in the confusion, in the Hebrew literature, of the two senses of asherah, is not quite clear. It is, at any rate, practically certain that in the time of the active idolatrous worship of Israel the asherah was not a goddess. See ASHTORETH.

ASHIMA, a-shai'ma: A deity of the Hamathites, whose capital, originally called Hamath, afterward Epiphania, was on the Orontes, north of the Antilebanon. They were transported into Samaria by Shalmaneser to replete that depopulated district (II Kings xvii, 30). The deity was therefore Aramean, and was regarded by the Septuagint as feminine, but since nothing is known of it beyond what is told in II Kings, all suggestions as to its identity are mere conjectures.

ship, mostly associated with that of Baal or the baals, figured largely in the history of idolatry in ancient Israel. This divinity. is especially marked as a goddess of the `° Sidonians " or Pheniciana

(I Kings xi, 5, 33; II Kings xxiii, 13). She had also a temple among the Philistines at Ascalon,

probably the same as that mentioned by Herodotus (i, 105) East of the Jordan her worship was rife in Moab, combined with that of the

r. The national god, Ashtar-Chemosh being Cult in Pal- named on the Moabite Stone in the estine and ninth century B.C.; and the place

This famous goddess is also widely known as Astarte, which is the Greek form of the Phenician 'Ashtart. The name Ashtoreth itself in the orig inal Hebrew texts was 'Ashtareth, the s. Signifi- Masoretic form being a change made cance of by using the vowels of bosheth, " the the Rela- shameful thing," a nickname of Baal ted flames. (q.v.). The Phenician ' a shtart clearly points to the correct reading, as also does the Hebrew plural 'Ashtaroth. The Babylonian and Assyrian forth Ishtar is modified from 'Ashtar, according to a regular phonetic law, through the influence of the initial guttural. 'Ashtar is identical with the South Arabian 'A& tar and Aramaic and North Arabian 'Atar (from 'Athtar), the former being a god and the latter apparently a goddess. Of the Arabian cult very little is known. When more has been learned of South Arabian mythology, much of the mystery which surrounds the origin of the universal Semitic worship of Ishtar-Ashtoreth will be cleared up.

The following are the most important of the facts which may be regarded as established or practically certain: The cult originated in Babylonia and spread northward to As3. Exten- syria, northwestward to Mesopotamia, sion of Ish- thence to Syria and Palestine, and tar Worship. thence through the Phenicians to all of the Mediterranean peoples; south and southwestward it spread to Arabia, and thence across the sea to Abyssinia.

Both the name and the dominant forms of the cult were of Semitic and not of 11 Turanian 11 or Sumerian origin. There was a god-

igin, both in its primary and in its secondary sources. When in greatest vogue as a principal Semitic religion it was, as above indicated, a composite or syncretism of many related cults, non-Semitic as well as Semitic. Of these some left deep traces of their original distinctive features and remained in part practically separate cults. Such, for example, was the worship of Ish-

tar of Arbela, in which the divinity g. Domi- appears as a war-goddess-an attrinant Types bute probably suggested by the very

Sigaiti- and chiefly identified with this most cance. beautiful of celestial objects, especially

as the evening star. This conception spread from Babylonia through the other Semitic lands to the Phenician settlements, and then mainly byway of Cyprus, to the Greeks and Romans as the cults of Aphrodite and Venus. Among its primary sources, therefore, the worship of Ishtar was in large part astral, and Venus was its favorite celestial object. This combination was not of late origin, but is known to have been made in very early times (cf. Schrader, RAT, pp. 424 sqq.)The moon in the Ishtar cult never took the place of Venus; for the moon among the Semites was a male deity, whose worship was older than even that of Ishtar and was centered in Sin, the moongod par ezceuence. Hence Ishtar in the inscriptions is represented not only as the daughter of Ann, the great heaven-god, but also as the daughter of Sin. It was as impossible that " the queen of heaven " of Jer. vii, 18 and other passages could be a name of the moon among the Hebrews in Palestine or Egypt as it could be among the Babylonians. The identification of Ishtar with the fixed star Sirius and with the constellation Virgo (perhaps through its beautiful star Spica), though comparatively early, was of secondary origin.

From the terrestrial side the primary motive of the worship of Ishtar was the impulse to deify

sensuousness and sensuality. Of the 6. The resulting worship Ishtar-Venus became

Develop- legitimated the sexual indulgences meat which marked her cult in Babylonia,

Phenicia, Palestine, and the Semitic world generally, but she was naturally taken as the authoress of the sexual passion and therewith of all derivative and associated sentiments. This accounts for the part played by Ashtoreth or Astarte as the female counterpart of the Phenician Baal and of the local Canaanitic basis, and also for the wide-spread and influential myth of her

Ishtar as the fountain of the tenderest and most sacred human sentiments, also of imaginative conceptions of external nature, and even experiences of the inner moral and spiritua,llife (on the process of transition of. J. F. McCurdy,

History, Prophecy, and the Monuments, iii, New York, 1901, §§ 1184 eqq.). The best illustrations are afforded by the Babylonian hymns to Ishtar as the great mother-goddess, as the creator of the animate universe generally (cf. the exordium of Lucretius, De rerun natura), and as the helper of men, freeing them from sickness and the curse of sin and guilt.

Though we learn nothing directly from the Old Testament as to the character of the service of Ashtoreth in Palestine, the connections in which the word occurs make it clear that, whatever else may have been here and there included, the lowest forms of Ishtar worship were ordinarily exhibited. The regular association in the singular with " the

baal " and in the plural ('Aahta 8. Tendency Loth) with " the baale " indicates the

Isdubar-Ninarod, pp. 57-88, 58-70, ib. 1891; P. Jenson, Die KosmoWis der Babylonier, pp . 117-118, 135, 227 oqq., Strasburg, 1890: Ashtoreth and Her Inigusnoe in the O. T'.

n JBL, z (1891 ), 73 eqq.; G. A. Barton. The Semitic Ishtar Cult, in Hebmica, is (189283). 131-156, z (1893-94).1-74. For the " Q ueen of Heaven " consult: B. Stade, in ZATw, vi (1880), 123-132, 289339; E. Schrader. in Sitcunpaberidafe der BeRinerAkademie, 1888, pp. 477-491; idem, m ZA, iii (1888), 853384; iv (1889), 74-70; J. Well-' haueen, Heidenthurn, pp 88 sqq.: A. Huenen. De Mels cketh des Hemsk, Amsterdam, 1888 (Germ. tranel. in Ge-

On the connection between Aphrodite and Astarte consult: J. B. F. Lajard, Iteeherc)ma sur Is cults de VEnus, Paris, 1837; W. H. Eogel, Hyprot, ii, b-849, Berlin, 1841: L. F. A. Maury. HiNoirs des religions de la Ordoe antique iii, 191-259, Paris, 1869· F. Hommel, Aphrodito-Astarte, in New Jahrbaeher %flr Ph>Tobphie and Pedopopie, mocv (1882). 178; Ohnefadeoh-Richter, ut sup.. Pp. 227; DB, i, 156, 187-171; M. Jaetrow, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898 (of. Index under Ishtar); BB, i. 330-883, 336-339; G. A. Barton, A ,3ketrA o/ Semitic Origins, pp. 108. 248-258. Now York. 1902; Schrader. RAT. pp. 438938.

ASH WEDNESDAY (Lat. Dies cineris, feria quarts cinerum): The first day of Lent, the beginning of the forty days' fast before Easter in the Western Church. The name is not simply a general allusion to the repentance in sackcloth and ashes of which the prophets speak in the Old Testament, but refers more directly to a rite which marks the observance of the day in the Roman Catholic Church. The palm-branches blessed on the PahnBunday of the previous year are burned to ashes, and these ashes are placed in a vessel on the altar before the beginning of mass. The priest, wearing a violet cope (the color of mourning), prays that God will send his angel to hallow the ashes, that they may become a salutary remedy to all penitents. Then follows the prayer of benediction, witch explains the symbolical meaning of the use of ashes still more clearly. The ashes are then thrice sprinkled with holy water and censed, after which the celebrant kneels and places some of them upon his own head. The congregation then approschthe altar and kneel, while the sign of the cross is made upon their foreheads with the blessed ashes; to each one are said the words Memento, homo, quia pulroia ea et in pulverem reverteria (" Remember, O man, that dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return ").

It is impossible to determine accurately the date at which the imposition of ashes, which originally formed a part of the public penance for grievous sinners, became a custom applicable to all the faithful. It is demonstrably at least as old as the synod of Beneventum in 1091, which expressly commands it for clergy and laity alike. In the Anglican communion the day is marked by a special service known as the " commination service," (q.v.) or at least by a special collect and Scripture lessons; and the Irvingite liturgy also contains prayers for it. See CHuRcH YEAR.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bingham, Oripinee, book :viii. chap ii, E 2; G. BevineU History of the ie)'ormakon of Ale Church of England, ii. 94, London 1881; J. Butechksr, Oebraueke, pp. 91-152, Vienna, 1848.

cial district is doubtless meant in I Pet. i, 1, where Asia stands after Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia and before Bithynia, though it is uncertain whether the author ass informed of the political character of these designations. How far the Roman provincial demarcations had become familiar to the people it is difficult to tell. There are passages in the New Testament in which the term Asia is used

in a narrower sense. In the time of Paul the country was still in a stage of development.

11. The Province of Asia: When Attalus III of Pergamos in 133 H.c. willed his country to the Romans, it was declared a province, though the real organization was not effected until 129. The main parts were the maritime districts Mysia, Lydia, and Caria. With these Cicero (Pro Plaew, xxvii, 65) mentions Phrygia, which belonged to the province after 118. Under the emperors Asia was a senatorial province ruled by a proconsul, whose seat was at Ephesus. The diet of the province, to which representatives (Gk. asiamhai; cf . Acts xis, 31) were sent, met annually in different cities. Its powers and duties culminated in the imperial cult; and hence it was presided over by the sacerolm provin cica or, Greek, amhiereus tf Asias, who offered the sacrifices and pronounced the vow for the emperor and his house. This office changed annually and the years were dated accordingly.

III. The Imperial Cult: The empire as the guaranty of peace and the source of all blessings of culture appeared to the people as a divine power. From his point of view the author of the Apocalypse (xiii, 3-8) describes this worship of the empire by the world. He is convinced that the empire owes its success to a supernatural power, but not to the God of heaven-rather to the devil. The Jews as a rule enjoyed religious liberty throughout the empire, and were not required to take part in the imperial cult. What Caesar had granted to them was confirmed by Augustus and Claudius. The sufferings of the Christians of Asia Minor, mentioned in the First Epistle of Peter, were not caused by their refusal to take part in this worship (cf- ii, 13 aqq.). It is true that the populace hated and persecuted the Christians, but not because they refused to honor the emperor; the name of this new supemtuio was distrusted and outlawed as at Rome in the time of Nero (Tacitus, Aanalea, xv, 44).

IV. Cities: The number of free cities was steadily reduced under the emperors; and immunity from taxation was granted in place of autonomy. An edict of Antonim Pius divided the cities into three classes according to size and importance. Puny (Hint. net., V, xxix, 105 sqq.) mentions nine cities which possessed a court of justice, viz.: Laodices ad Lycum, Synnada, Apamea, Alabanda, Sardis, Smyrna, Ephesus, Adramyttium, and Pergamos. Ephesus, at the mouth of the Cayster, often called on inscriptions " the first and greatest metropolis of Ate," was the seat of the proconsul. Another title of the city is " temple-keeper " (i.e., of Diana; d. Acts xix, 35, R. V.; the Greek is neakoroe, the usual word for the custodian of a temple). A college of virgin priestesses ministered to Diana, presided over by a eunuch called Megabysos. It was no exaggeration of Demetrius when he said that the Ephesian Artemis was worshiped not only by all Asia, but by the whole world (Acts xix, 27); for through Ephesus flowed the commerce between the East and the West. Among the strangers riding them were manyiewe, who had& synagogue (Actoxviii,19, 26, xix, 8) and enjoyed special privileges, especially

those who were Roman citizens, as may be seen from documents contained in Josephus and Philo. Ephesus was a member of the confederation of the thirteen Ionian cities, of which Miletue was the head.

A great road led from Ephesus to Magnesia, where was another temple of Anemia which Strabo places on a par with the Ephesian. Christianity came to Magnesia from Ephesus; among the epistles of Ignatius, that to the Magnesians immediately follows that to the Ephesians. After Magnesia, Strabo mentions Tralles (also mentioned by Ignatius), once a wealthy city, called Ciesarea under Augustus. Jews also dwelt there; and it is possible that the Gospel was brought thither from Ephesus (Acts xix, 10). It seems that special missionary attention was devoted to the cities along the Mean der-Lykos road; for one meets with the three closely connected Phrygian congregations Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossee, of which Laodicea was the most important and is alone mentioned in the Apocalypse. The Christian community seems to have shared in the wealth of the city (Rev. iii, 17). Laodicea never had an emperor's temple. Polycmtes of Ephesus mentions among the " great lights" of Asia a bishop and martyr with the Phrygian name Lagaris as buried at Laodicea (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., IV, xxiv, 5). In 185 there was " great strife concerning the Passover there " (ib. IV, xxvi, 3). Colossae, an important city of Phrygia, was long the seat of a bishop. More important than Colossee was Hierapolis, the native place of the philosopher Epictetus, and the place in which the apostle Philip lived and died. Papias was bishop of Hierapolis, as was also Claudius Apollinaris. ApameawasfoundedbyAntiochusBoterand was the seat of a conventus jwidieua. That many Jews lived hem is known from Cicero (Pro Plaoco, xxviii); they had their own constitution, a "law of the Jews."

The Lydian Philadelphia was sparsely populated on account of the frequent earthquakes. The Gospel was brought thither from Ephesus. Philadelphia is one of the seven churches of Asia mentioned in the Apocalypse (iii, 7-13); among its inhabitants Jews are mentioned (iii, 9). Ignatius addressed an epistle to the Philadelphians; and Eusebine (Hint. ecd., V, xvii, 3) mentions a prophetess Ammia of Philadelphia. Sardis was the ancient city of the Lydian kings. Jews lived there, having their own jurisdiction. The Church at Sardis, one of the seven mentioned in the Apocalypse (iii, 1-6), was the episcopal seeof Melito in the time of Antomnus Pius. Two famous roads led from Sardis: one to Pergamoe by way of Thyatira, tile other to Smyrna. All three cities are mentioned among the seven Churches of the Apocalypse. Thyatim was known especially for its gild of dyers. The Lydia mentioned in Acts xvi, 14, called a " seller of purple," had probably come to Philippi with wool which had been dyed at home. Thyatira plays an important pan in the history of Montar nism (Epiphanius, Hier., li, 33). Taking a western road from Thyatim one comes to Smyrna, where in 195 a.c. atemplewas built in honorof the den Rome. Tiberius allowed a temple to be erected

here to himself, his mother, and the senate. Politically Smyrna was not as important as Ephesus; but it had the reputation of being the most beautiful city of Asia. Jews in Smyrna are mentioned in Rev. ii, 9 and in the Martyrium Polycarpi, xii, 2, and both times as enemies of the Christians. Paul does not seem to have done missionary work there; but that the congregation was founded by John is not a necessary inference. By the " angel of the church in Smyrna " (Rev. ii, 8) Polycarp might be meant, had not the epistles to the seven churches originated in a much earlier period than the final redaction of the Apocalypse. From Smyrna the road leads by way of Gyme, Myrina, and Elea to Pergamos, where it meets the road to Thyatira. Pergamos, the ancient royal city of the Attalides, was still famous under the Roman empire. In the time of Augustus (29 B.c.) the first provincial temple was erected here, and by the side of Ephesus Pergamos seems to have been the most prominent city in Asia. It was famous for the cult of lEsculapius. Although the Jews had influence, they were not the cause of the animosities mentioned in Rev. ii, 12-17. Though they are called in the Apocalypse a " synagogue of Satan " (ii, 9), it is most unlikely that they are meant by the words: " I know . . . where thou dwellest, where Satan's seat is" (ii, 13); the language points to a more concrete phenomenon, which might be thought of as an embodiment of Satan, and no doubt refers to the worship of IEsculapius. This " savior," whose symbol was the serpent, and who, according to Justin (Apologia, i, 21, 22), looked much like Christ, could easily appear as a devilish caricature of the Son of God. The words " hast not denied my faith" imply that in the days of Antipas the population made an effort to force the worship of Xsculapius upon others.

From the seaport Adramyttium, where there was a canventus juridicus, following the north coast of the Adramyttian bay the road leads to Assos, where Paul seems to have been active (Acts xx, 13-14). It was the birthplace of Cleanthes the Stoic. Troas, or rather Alexandria, became famous under Roman sway. Augustus made it a colony. It was the seaport from which Paul went to Macedonia (Acts xvi, 11). It is perhaps characteristic of the Roman citizen, that, besides Ephesus, Troas is the only city of the province of Asia where Paul labored in person (Acts xx, 5-7; II Cor, ii, 12; II Tim. iv, 13). The Church of Troas is not mentioned in the Apocalypse, but is referred to by Ignatius in his epistles to the Philadelphians (xi, 2) and Smyrnmans (xii, 2). Abydus, Lampsacus, and Cyzicus were not included in Paul's mission.

V. The Islands of the Sgean Sea belonged in great part to the province of Asia. Tenedos was opposite Alexandria Troas; Lesbos, with the capital Mytilene, or as the later form reads in Acts xx, 14, Mitylene, was the first station on the passage from Assos. Thence Paul sailed (Acts xx, 15) to chios, opposite the Ionic peninsula. On the following day he reached Samoa. According to the reading of Codex D, he seems not to have tarried on the island itself in the city of Samos, but in the town of Trogyllium on a little isle of like name before the

cape, mentioned by Strabo. South of Samos lay the small island of Patmos. Following the route of Paul (Acts xxi, 1) one comes to Coos and Rhodes. During the last decades before Christ, Rhodes was a center of culture; it was the native place of the Stoic Panaetius, whose work " On Duty " Cicero used in his De ofciis; in Rhodes, too, labored his pupil Posidonius (about 90-50 s.c.); the rhetorician Apollonius Molon, the teacher of Cicero and Caesar; and Theodore of Gadara, the teacher of Tiberius.

VI. The Province Pontus-Bithynia: When King Nicomedes III, Philopator, of Bithynia bequeathed in 74 s.c. his country to the Romans, the governor of Asia made it a province, and it was extended toward the east in 64 B.c. by annexing north Paphlagonia and Pontus. After the separation of Pontus Galaticus, which was joined to Galatia, the new province with the double name Pontus (and) Bithynia comprised the entire coast region east of the Rhyndacus, north of Mt. Olympus, extending beyond the Halys to the city of Amisus. As a senatorial province it was ruled by proconsuls with a legate, a questor, and six lictors. Pliny the Younger was an extraordinary governor, who was sent to the province (111-112 A.D.) to regulate its finances. The domestic conditions in Bithynia are described not only in the correspondence of Pliny the Younger with Trajan, but also in the speeches of the sophist Dio Chrysostomus of Prusa, which have much of interest to the investigator of early Christianity (ed. H. von Arnim, 2 vols., Berlin, 1893-96; cf. also idem, Dio von Prusa, ib. 1898). The most noteworthy of the cities of Pontus and Bithynia were Apamea, Chalcedon, Byzantium, and Prusa. A court of judgment was also at Nica;a (see NicmA, ComvciLs op), where there was a temple of the dea Roma and of the divus Julius, whereas the provincial temple was at Nicomedia. In Pontus were Amastris, Sinope, Amisus, Abonuteichus, and Comana. Concerning the Jews in Pontus and Bithynia cf. Acts ii, 9, xviii, 2. The spread of Christianity in Pontus is attested by Pliny (Epist., xevi, 9).

VIL The Province Galatia has a complicated history. Its boundaries were often changed. It derived its name from the Celtic tribes which :fated to Asia Minor in the third century B.c., and, according to Strabo, occupied the eastern part of Phrygia. Without going into details, it can be assumed that in the New Testament " Galatia " means not the seat of the three Celtic tribes, but the Roman province including Pisid ;a and Lycaonia, therefore the territory of the first Pauline missionary journey. The question is of interest whether by "the Churches of Galatia " (Gal. i, 2) Paul understood only those of the first missionary journey. He shows an inclination to address his Church according to provinces, following the Roman provincial divisions. When he addresses a Church with reference to its special needs, he naturally speaks to Corinthians, Thessalonians, Philippians; but where he overlooks his missionary territory as a whole, he uses the provincial names. There is no reason to believe that "the Churches of Galatia " means anything else than the Churches

of the Roman province. Since the Epistle to the Galatians was not addressed to one Church, but to a number of Churches, Paul had to select a name expressive of all; and the designation "Churches of Galatia" was quite natural and appropriate for the Roman citizen, to whom the political divisions of the empire, were no fortuitous arrangement, but a moral good. In the time of Paul there were no Galatians in the old sense; and the name means subjects of the Roman emperor belonging to the province of Galatia. Similarly Tychicus and the Ephesian Trophimus (Acts xxi, 29) are said to be of Asia (xx, 4); and Gaius and Aristarchus are called Macedonians (xix, 29, xxvii, 2; cf. II Cor. ix, 2, 4 ), although Gaius was certainly no Macedonian by birth. Of the Galatian cities Ancyra was the seat of the governor, having the provincial temple of Augustus and of the den Roma, on the walls of which the deeds of Augustus were inscribed (the so-called nwnumentum Ancyronum). From Ancyra the road leads eastward to Tavium, the ancient capital of the Trocmee. The capital of the Tolistobogi was Pessinus, famous for the rich temple dedicated to Cybele, whom the natives called Agdistis. North of Pessinus was Germs, a colony founded by Augustus (Julia Augusta Fida Germs). For military purposes a direct connection must have existed with Antioch in Pisidia (Acts xiii, 14), where Augustus had established a military colony under the name of Ciesarea, not mentioned in the New Testament. It was the center of a system of military settlements which the emperor established to protect the province against the mountain tribes of Pisidia and Isaurica. It is possible that Paul went to Iconium by way of Antioch. According to Strabo, Iconium belonged to Lyeaonia; but in Acts xiv, 6 it seems not to be reckoned among the Lycaonian cities; the population was Phrygian. The Jews had a synagogue and in the Acts of Paul and Thecla a proconsul is erroneously mentioned in Iconium. Another city was Lystra, which was a Roman colony and had a temple of Jupiter. Another colony was Derbe at the south end of the province.

VIII. The Province Lycia-Pamphylia was organized by Claudius in 43 A.D. and again under Vespasian. Till 135 it was governed by the emperor; afterward, by the senate. Among the six larger cities of Lycia which are mentioned by Strabo are the two maritime towns Patera and Myra, through which Paul passed on his journeys (Acts xxi, 1-2, xxvii, 5-6). Phaselis, with three ports, did not belong to the Lycian confederacy in the time of Strabo, but was independent. The Jews in Phaselis are mentioned in I Mace. xv, 23. Of the Pamphylian cities Attalla is of special interest, because Paul on returning from his first missionary journey went thither to sail to Antioch (Acts xiv, 25-26). Ramsay suggests that the same vessel which brought the apostlefromPaphos took him to perga also.

IX. The Province Cilicia varied in extent at different times. Under Cicero's administration (51-50 B.C.), besides fSlicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Isaurica, and Lycaonia, the districts of Laodicea, Apamea, Synnada, and Cyprus, afterward joined

X. Cyprus: After a temporary union with Cilicia the province of Cyprus was separated in 22 B.C. and organized as a senatorial province, ruled by a proprcetor pro consuls with a legate and questor. Many Jews lived in Cyprus, and Cyprian Jewish Christians brought the Gospel to Antioch (Acts xi, 20); Barnabas was from Cyprus (Acts iv, 36). In Salamis there were many synagogues. In the revolt under Trajan the Jews killed 240,000 nonJewa, and completely devastated the city of Salamis. For a punishment they were all banished from the island. The Acts of the Apostles mention the two seaports Salamis in the east, and Paphos; Soli, on the southern coast, had a sanctuary of Aphrodite and Isis; Citium was the birthplace of the Stoic Zeno.

XI. The Province Cappadocia: In the year 17 A.D. Cappadocia, after the death of the last king Archelaus, was made a province, governed by a procurator who, as in Judea, was under the governor of the province of Syria in military matters. In the year 70 Vespasian united it with Galatia, but it was afterward again separated. Pontus Galaticus with Amasia and Pontus Polemoniacus, which had belonged to Galatia, Trajan joined to Cappadocia, to which was added Armenia Minor and Lycaonia with Iconium. Cappadocia had very few cities of importance. That Paul did no missionary work there is very intelligible; hence it is also improbable that he should have traveled through Cappadocia (Acts xviii, 23). The road would have brought him within three days from

the Cilician gates to Tyana, the birthplace of Apollonius, a Roman colony after Caracalla; from thence perhaps to Mazaka-Eusebea, called Csesarea, the most important and still flourishing city in Cappadocia, the metropolis of the province, the birthplace of Basil the Great. Nazianzns and Nyasa, the episcopal sees of the two Gregorys, were places of, no importance.

BIHLIOOaAPBT: The article Kkinasisn in der Apostolixhen Zeit, in Hauck-Herzog, RE, 3 d. ed., x, 535-683, is a scholarly and comprehensive trestmenf of the subject. and should be consulted for further information and titles of works dealing with particular localities and special topics. Ritter. Erdkunde, xviii, xix, 2, Berlin, 1868-69, and Sievers, Alien, pp. 78-88, 668-682, Leipsie, 1893. give a general description. For the history: G. F. Hertsberg, Die Geschwkte Griechanlands unter der Herrwhaft der Ramer, vol. ii. Halle, 1888; T. Mommsen, RBmiads Geachichte, vol.v, Berlin. 1904, available for the English reader in the tranel. by T. T. Dickson, Provinces of the Roman Em pire, i, chap. vii, New York, 1887· J. Marquardt, ROmischa Btaataroerwaltunp, i, 333-349, Leipaio, 1881. A complete collection of inscriptions from Asia Minor has been undertaken by the Vienna Academy, of which vol. i, containing the inscriptions in the Lycisn language, has been issued (1900). Of great value in English are W. M. Ramsay, in Classical Review, iii (1889), 174 eqq.. The Historical Geography of Asia Minor, in Supplementary Papers of tee Royal Geographical Society of London, v ol. iv, 1890; idem. The Church in the Roman Empire before A.D. 170, London, 1893; idem, The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrypia, 2 vole., ib. 1896-97; idem, Bt. Paul as Traveller and Roman Citizen, ib. 1899; idem, letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, ib. 1904; articles on the several cities in DB and RE. The article in Ruggiero, Disionario Epiprafiw d i Antiehitd Romans in highly commended. On the political history of the provinces the beat monograph is V. Chapot, La province -romaine prooonsulaire d'Asie, Paris. 1904.

ASINARII, as-i-nvrf-d: Originally a nickname of the Jews, because they were said to worship an ass (see Ass); afterward applied also to the Christians, of whom the same story was told. It is not impossible that the Jews were the first to shift the reproach from themselves to the Christians. Tertullian (Ad nationes, i, 14; Apologia, xvi) tells how an apostate Jew, bitterly hostile to the Christians, exhibited in Carthage a picture representing a god with ass's ears and a hoof on one foot, clad in a toga and holding a book, with the inscription DEUS CHRISTIANORUM ONOHOIHTHE [" Onokoietes, the God of the Christians;" the meaning of " Onokoietes " is not very clear; it has been explained as " ass-priest " or " ass-worshiper "; another reading is ON0HOITHT, " lying in an ass's manger " (7); perhaps there is a ribald implication]. More offensive to the Christians was the "travesty crucifixion" which the Jesuit Garrucci discovered in 1858 in the ruins of a building on the southern declivity of the Palatine, which was Possibly a school for the imperial pages. In that case it was probably sketched in an idle moment by one of then, lads, in mockery of the religion of his Christian comrades. It represents a man's body with an ass's head, not strictly hanging on a cross, since the feet are supported by a platform, but with the arms outstretched and fastened to the transverse piece of a T-shaped cross. To the left is a smaller figure, raising one hand in an attitude of adoration, and under it is the inscription AAE-WAMENOE EEBETE [i.e., alferai] AEON (" Alexamenos worships his god "). It is now in the Museo Kircheriano in Rome.

In 1870 Visconti discovered another inscription in the same building, with the words AAEgAMENOE FIDELIS. Both of these probably belong to the beginning of the third century. That there is nothing improbable in a Christian having been among the imperial pages at that time is shown by Tertullian (Apologia, xxxvii) and by an inscription of the year 217, given by Rossi.

BIHLIoaaAPBT: Older treatments of the subject, still useful, are Morinus, De capita asinino deo Christiano, Dort, 1820; H. Heinsius, De laude asini, p. 188, Leyden. 1829; T. Haeeue, De calumnies olim Judois et CArwtianis impoeta. Erfurt.1718. Later discussions are. P. Garrucci, in Ciroilta cattalica. series 3. vol. iv (1868), 629; DCA, i,149. For the "travesty crucifixion," cf. F. Beaker, Dan Spottarucifix der ri»nierken Kainerpaleste Breslau. 1888; P Garrucci, Starya dclla ante Christiana, plate 483, vi, 135, Presto, 1880; F. %. Kraus, Das Spottavciflx vac Falatin and neuentdw*fer Graffito, Freiburg. 1872; DCA, f, 618.

ASMODEU3, as"mo-df'vs (in the Talmud, Ashmedai): An " evil spirit;" first mentioned in the apocryphal book of Tobit (iii, 8), as loving Sara, the daughter of Raguel at Ecbatana, and causing the death of her seven successive husbands on the bridal night. But Tobias, the eighth, escaped, under the direction of Raphael, by burning "the ashes of the perfumes" with the heart and liver of a fish which he had caught in the Tigris. When Asmodens smelled the fumes, he fled to Upper Egypt, and was bound there by Raphael (Tobit viii, 1-3). The figure of this demon is taken from the Persians who greatly influenced later Jewish angelology and demonology. He is Parsee in origin, and to be identified with Yehma of the Avesta, the impersonation of anger (the primary meaning) and rapine.

Once adopted by the Jews, Asmodeus, thanks to rabbinic fancies, took on greater dimensions. Thus he is said to have been implicated in Noah's drunkenness and to be the offspring of the incest of Tubal-vain with his sister Naamah; he is reputed to have driven Solomon from his kingdom, but later Solomon forced him to serve in building the Temple, which he did noiseleealy by means of the worm Shamir, whose whereabouts he revealed to Solomon.

Brnwoontra:: J. A. Eibamenger, Bntdecktes Judenikum. i, 361-381, 823, Frankfort, 1700; A. F. Gfrarer, Geackidte den. Urvhristenfhums, i. 378-424, Stuttgart, 1838; T Ben fey and M. A. Stern, Usher die Monatenamen, p. 201, Berlin, 1838; F. H. H. Windisohmann, Zoroashwdhe Studien, ad. F. Spiegel, pp. 138-147, ib. 1883; Kohut, Usher die ftldisdhs Anpeloiopie and Ddmonoiopie in direr Abhdnpipkeit von Paraismus in Abhandlunyen for die Kurds de# Morvsnlandes. iv (1888), 72-88; F. Spiegel, Branisehe Alterfumakunde, ii, 131-133, Leipsic, 1873; Granbaum, Beitr4pe Sur roerpleiehendea Mytlrolopw am der Happada. in ZDMG, xxxi (1877). 216-224; consult oleo commen taries on Tobit.

ASPERSION WITH HOLY WATER: A rite of frequent use in the Roman Catholic Church. It

has a place in the administration of baptism and extreme unction, in the nuptial blessing, and in the ceremonies of sepulture, as well as in the consecration of objects for divine worship and in blessings of all kinds. Persons entering or leaving a church make the sign of the cross with holy water. A solemn form of aspersion, practised in

parish churches every Sunday before the high mass, is called the Asperges, from the first word of the antiphon usually intoned by the officiating priest. The explanation of the use of holy water in aspersions is found in the prayer said at the time when it is blessed,-that, wherever it is sprinkled, the invocation of God's name may drive away all evil spirits and every temptation, and that the Holy Spirit by his presence may comfort all who implore the divine mercy. See HOLY WATER.

ASS: The wild am (Hob. pore, poetic 'arodh; asmua onager or hsmippua) is often mentioned in the Old Testament, and appears to have been found in earlier times more frequently in Syria than is now the case. It is described as dwelling in the wilderness (Isa. xxxii, 14; Jer. ii, 24); and to the poet it is a type of unbridled love of freedom (Job xi, 12, xxxix, b-8), and a picture of the wandering Bedouin (Gen. xvi,12; Job xxiv, 6). Hosea (viii, 9) compares Ephraim wilfully running after Assyria, to a wild ass separated from the herd. It feeds on the vegetation of the salt steppe (Job vi, b; Jer. xiv, 6). The animal is larger and more beautiful and graceful than the common ass; it is famous for its swiftness, and is hard to catch.

The tame am has been from ancient times one of the most important domestic animals in the East, whence it was introduced into Greece and Italy (of . V. Helm, Kuuurp flwwan wid Haus0are, Berlin, 1894, pp. 130-131). The Oriental am in larger, quicker, more enduring, and more intelligent than the European. As in older times, the light-gray asses or white asses are still preferred, which the Sleb Bedouins rear in the desert; the usual color is reddish-brown (hence the name lyamor). All classes used them for riding, for which purpose the females were preferred (Num. xxii, 11; Judges x, 4; II Sam. xvii, 23, six, 26; I Kings xiii, 13; II Kings iv, 24; cf. Matt. xxi, 2-9). In the time of David, mules were used (II Sam. xiii, 29; xviii. 9; I Kings i, 33). The driver went alongside or behind (Judges xix, 3; 11 Kings iv, 24). The ass was also used as a beast of burden (Gen. Ail, 26, xliz, 14; I Sam. xxv,18; Neh. xiii, lb), for plowing (Dent. xxii, 10; Isa. xaa, 24, xxxii, 20), and for grinding. Being an unclean animal, it could not be sacrificed (Ex. xiii, 13, xxxiv, 20), nor could its flesh be eaten (but cf. II Kings vi, 2b). With other nations, as the Egyptians, it was sacred, and with this may probably be connected the fable circulated by Greek sad Roman writers that tie Jews worshiped the am as God (see Asmsll).

Brsuoosarfi: An early treat still vsluabk is by B. Boebart, Hiuaroimw. i, 148-149. ii, 214-215, London,

ASS, FEAST OF THE: A popular entertainment provided. by the Church in the Middle Ages in several cities of France. The aim, as in the miracle-plays, mysteries, moralities, and many minor points of the ritual, was to impress the

facts of Bible history upon the minds of the ignorant, and to give general religious instruction. At Rouen a drama was presented at Christmas-tide, in which the prophets, Moses, Aaron, John the Baptist and his parents, Simeon, Nebuchadnezzar, Vergil, and the Sibyl appeared in appropriate dress and announced the coming of a redeemer. The story of Balsam was one of the scenes, and the ass was made to speak by the help of a priest concealed between the legs. At Beauvais a young woman with a child in her arms, and mounted on an ass, was led in procession through the streets on Jan. 14, in commemoration of the flight to Egypt. Mace was then said, during which " hinb- " was substituted for certain of the usual responses. There was a similar festival at Sens, and an ass's feast at Madrid on Jan. 17, in the course of which the story of Balsam's ass was recited. In the fifteenth century these feasts were forbidden because abuse hadjcrept in and they had become a scandal. The ass naturally figured frequently in Palm Sunday processions, and a picture of an ass was often introduced in the churches at that time. See Boy B1980P; FooLe, FEAST Or.

BISmOOa1PHr: 8. du Tilfot. M6nnoirm pow servir 8 BDis, toirs do la fae des fow, p· 14, Lnssnne, 1741; C. F. du Gngee, Glorsarium, N.V. "Festum aeinorum"

ASSEBURG, as'ee-burg, ROSAMU1fDE JULIAME VON: Religious enthusiast; b. at Mgenstedt, near Aschereleben (30 m. n.w. of Halle), Prussia, 1672; d. in Dresden Nov. 8, 1712. She might have been forgotten long ago, if the well-known millenarian, Johann Wilhelm Petersen (q.v.), had not called attention to her, and been followed in the study of her am by such men as Spener, LBecher, and Leibnits. According to her own statement, she received divine revelations and had glorious visions when only seven years old, and was regarded in the neighborhood of her home as an inspired prophetess. She asserted that Christ himself had appeared to her, and that an angel had received her tears in a golden vessel. At first these revelations were confided only to the circle of her friends; but they obtained wider currency when she removed to Magdeburg and became acquainted with Petersen who published a treatise on her case in 1691, discussing the question whether God might be supposed still to reveal himself in direct apparitions. L6ecber, at Dresden, and Johann Friedrich Meyer, at Hamburg, wand against believing her; Spener, asked for his opinion by the electress of Saxony, expressed himself with great caution; Leibnitz supported her, and compared her visions to those of St. Bridget and other holy women of the Middle Ages. Peterson received her at LOneburg, where her mental excitement increased to such a degree as to cause disturbance in the town and to call for an official investigation. Petersen's deposition from the office of superintendent and banishment followed in 1692, and implied the, condemnation of his friend She followed him to Wolfenbfittel and to Magdeburg; later she lived in Berlin, and in the house of a Saxon countess, where Petersen used to call and visit her as late as the year 1708. It is said that she died in Dresden Nov. 8, 1712, and was buried at Schaafeld near Pillnita. Her poem

BIBwoaxAP87: J, W. Petersen, Lebensbeschreebung, Frankfort, 1719 (reproduced in Eng., in the work by J. W. P.,

Exact Account o f what God hath Bestowed upon a Noble Maid written in High-Dutch and Now ,Set Forth in Eng.,

ASSEMANII, as-sb-ma'nf (Italianized from the Arabic al4ama`aniyy, "the Simeonite "): The name of several learned Maronites who came to Rome from the Lebanon.

1. Joseph Simonius Assemani: The oldest and best known; b. at Hasrun (35 m. n.e. of Beirut, near the cedar-grove at the foot of Jabal Makmat); d., eighty.years old, at Rome Jan. 13, 1768. He was educated at the Maronite college in Rome, and is said to have learned thirty languages. In 1715 Pope Clement XI sent him to the East to look for manuscripts, and he was there again from 1735 to 1738 in behalf of the Roman Catholic Christians of the Lebanon. He published numerous works, of which the firit, and perhaps the most important, was the Bibliotheea orimtulia Clementino-Yaticana in qua manuseriPtos codices Syrtacos, Arabicos, Persicos, Tureicos, Hebraims, Samaritanos, Armenicos, Xthiopicos, Grwcos, Rgyptiacm , Ibericos, et Malabaricoa . . . bibliothecas Vaticanas addidoa remnsuit digmsit J. S. Assemani. Twelve volumes were planned, of which four were published (Rome, 1719-28). For Cardinal Quirini's edition of the works of Ephraem Syrus he prepared the three Greek volumes (1734-i6), and in 1751-53 issued four volumes of Italian historkm acriptorm, a supplement to Muratori; four more volumes were planned. Six volumes of Kalendaria eecleaiar uniroerste appeared in 1755; six more were planned and partially completed, but were destroyed by fire in the Vatican library in 1768. The Bibliotheca iuris orientalis canoniei et eivilis (5 vols., 1762-66) is now very rare. The archives of the Propaganda and of the Inquisition contain more than 100 volumes of treatises by Assemani. Many of the works which he planned should be taken up by organized scholarly research. A lint of his manuscript remains is given in Mai, Nova collectio, ii, 2 (Rome, 1828), 166-168.

B. Joseph Aloy&us Assemani: A younger brother ''~ of the preceding; b. about 1710; d. at Rome Feb. 9, 1782. He was professor of Oriental languages in Rome. His chief work was Codex Murgiesa eecleaim universe! in xv. Ztbros distribWus (13 vole., Rome, 1749-66). Most copies of the last volume were burned, but it (as well as the entire work) is accessible in anaetatic reprint. Besides minor dissertations, he published De catholicia aeu pats-iarchia Chaldlaorum st Nestorianorum commentariua h'istorico-thedogicus (1755). His Latin translation of the Colledio canonum of Ebed Jeau and of the Nomocarlon of Barhebrleus is in Mai, Nova colledio, vii (1838).

8. Stephen Evodius Assemani: A cousin of the preceding two; b. 1707; d. Nov. 24, 1782. He was titular bishop of Apamea and member of the Royal Society of Great Britain. He published

Bibliothece Medicem Laurentianm et PaWinte codicum mss. orienWium catalogus (Florence, 1742), containing in twenty-three plates the illustrations of Bible history from the Syriac codex of Rabulas; the three Syriac volumes of the works of Ephraem Syrus in the edition mentioned above; Acts sanctorum martyrum orientalium et occidentalium in duaa partes distribute : adcedunt acts S. Simeonis Btylitar (2 vols., Rome, 1748); and with J. S. Assemani, Bibliothecce apostolicaa Vaticanas codicum manuscriptorum eatalogus in tres panes distributus, of which 3 volumes (Hebrew and Syriac manuscripts) had appeared (1756 sqq.), as well as eighty pages of the fourth (Arabic manuscripts), when the fire in the Vatican library destroyed the remainder.

4. Simon Assemani: A great-nephew of Joseph Simonius and Joseph Aloysius Aasemani; b. in Rome Feb. 19, 1752, according to G. P. Zabeo, Orazionein funerediAssemani(Padua,1821); others say in Tripolis, and give the date as Feb. 20, 1752, and Mar. 14, 1749; d. in Padua, where he was professor of Arabic, Apr. 7,1821. His publications were chiefly on Arabic subjects, as Museo cu fico Naniana (Padua, 1788); Su la Setta Assissana (1806).

Encyclopadie, vol. vi, Leipsic, 1821 sqq.; Nouvelle biographie g&drale, vol. iii, Paris, 1854.

ASSEMBLY, GENERAL: The highest court of the Presbyterian churches (see PREBBYTERIANa). The name is from Heb. xii, 23.

ASSER: Bishop of Sherborne; d. 909 or 910. He was a Briton, a monk of Menevia (St. David's), and related to the bishop of that see. His repute for learning was such that about 885 King Alfred asked him to enter his service, and an arrangement was ultimately made whereby the monkish scholar agreed to spend half of each year with the English king and half in his own home. Alfred gave him very substantial rewards, including a grant at Exeter and its district in Saxonland and Cornwall. He became bishop of Sherborne (in Dorsetahire) before 900. He wrote a life of Alfred (De rebus ge8tis Xl1ridi), which is a chronicle of English history from 849 to 887, with a personal and original narrative of Alfred's career to the latter year. It betrays the author's Celtic birth in many passages, and in existing manuscripts has been much interpolated. The best editions are by F. Wise (Oxford, 1722), in Petrie's Monuments historica Britannica (London, 1848), and by W. H. Stevenson (Oxford, 1904, Eng. transl. by A. S. Cook, Boston, 1906).

Binwoa6APn'Y: T. Wright, Biographia Britannica litemria, i. 405-413, London, 1842 (questions Asser's authorship of the De rebus gestie); R. Pauli, Ar6nig Alfred and seine 3telle in der Gesrhiehte Englands Berlin, 1851 (shows that Wright's objections are unfounded).

ASSHUR: 1. City of Assyria. See AssyRu, IV, I 1. 2. Assyrian God. See A88YRU, VII, J 2.

ASSHURBANIPAL. See ASsyRIA, VI, 3, i§ 1415.

ASSISTANTS IN PUBLIC WORSHIP: The historical functions of those whose place it is to assist the principal minister in divine service belong largely to the development of the various

orders (see ORDERS, HOLY). In the modern Roman Catholic Church the celebrant at high mass isassisted by a dean and subdeacon who are usually priests. The minor functions are performed by acolytes, usually laymen and boys. A priest is not allowed to celebrate even a low mass without at least one person to make the responses. In the Anglican prayer-book the clergymen who read the epistle and gospel are designated not deacon and subdean, but epistoler and gospeler. See also LAY-READER.

German Roman Catholic; b. at Branitz (80 m. s.e. of Breslau) Aug. 26, 1833. He was educated at the University of Breslau, and after his ordination to the priesthood in 1860 was assistant in Hatscher from 1861 to 1864, and a mission priest and military chaplain in Kolberg in 1865-68. From the latter year until 1882 he was divisional chaplain at Neisse, and was then provost of St. Hedwig's, Berlin, and delegate of the prince-bishop for six years. In 1882 he was consecrated titular bishop of Philadelphia, and since the same year has been field provost of the Prussian army and navy, being also the recipient of numerous orders and decorations.

ASSOCIATE REFORMED SYNOD OF THE SOUTH. See PRESSYTERL&Ns.

ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF THE: A festival of the Roman Catholic Church, commemorating the assumption, or corporal translation, of the Virgin Mary into heaven after her death. This doctrine, which the Greek Church also teaches (Synod of Jerusalem, 1672), has never been made the object of a dogmatic papal definition, but the attitude of the Church toward it and the general teaching of theologians class it among those truths which it would be rash to deny; at the Vatican Council over two hundred bishops desired a decree making the Assumption an article of faith. The Assumption can not be proved from Holy Scripture, and is based entirely upon tradition, though the scriptural prerogatives of Mary are invoked to prove the propriety of such an occurrence. About the year 600 the emperor Maurice ordered the celebration of the feast on Aug. 15; and at about the same time Gregory the Great fixed the same date for the West, where it had previously been observed on Jan. 18, for a reason which can not now be ascertained. The Gallican Church held to Jan. 18 down to the ninth century. The most that can be Said for the antiquity of the feast is that its general solemn observance in East and West at the end of the sixth century would seem to justify the belief that its beginnings date from at least a century earlier. The word " assumption," at one time applied generally to the death of saints, especially martyrs, and their entry into heaven, has come to have an exclusive application to the Blessed Virgin. See MARY, TaE MOTB'E8 OF JESUS.

ASSUMPTION, AUGUSTILRANS OF THE (known popularly as Assumptionists): A religious con-

ASSURANCE: The doctrine that those who are truly converted know beyond doubt that they are saved (of. Col. ii, 2; Heb. vi, 11; x, 22).

The doctrine may easily be made to contribute to spiritual pride. The degree of its objectionableness depends upon the interpretation placed upon it. It is particularly objectionable when it assumes to deny a state of salvation to those who are troubled by doubts, and in its exaggerated form easily leads to Antinomiauism (q.v.). The doctrine was taught by both Luther and Calvin, and has been generally held in Protestantism. Indeed, the Westminster Assembly was the first Protestant synod to declare assurance not to be of the essence of faith. In connection with the belief in unconditional election, the doctrine in Calvinism (cf. Westmi=ter Confession, art. xviii) takes the form of assurance of final Salvation (see PE88WERANCE of TAE SADM). In Methodism it means full confidence of present, not eternal, salvation. In this form the doctrine was advocated by Wesley, who connected it with the witness of the Holy Spirit; and it is still generally held by Methodist theologians (see METBODIM).

L The Name: The original form seems to have been a-war (`° water-plain "), which was assimilated to or confused with the name of the god Anshar (" Host of Heaven "), softened into Asshar, and Asshur. The country appears in both Assyrian and Hebrew as Asshur and " land of Asshur "; to the Greeks it was Assyria; in the Aramaic the name became AEhur and Athuriya.

B. The Country: In the case of a land the extent of which fluctuated so greatly at different periods, and the name of which con-

noted very different areas, some :. Geo- convention is necessary. Accordingly,

and Extent. went, historians regard as Assyria that portion of territory lying along the Tigris, mainly to the east of it, north of the confluence of the Lower (or Little) Zab on the south to the foothills of the mountains of Armenia on the north, and on the east from the Zagros Mountains to just beyond the Tigris on the west. This demarcation coincides with a change in the topographical character of the country at its southern limit. Below the Lower Zab the country becomes alluvial; above that it is rolling or mountainous; while the desert lies to the west. Since this is in accord with native characteristics of the people to be noted later, for which it helps to account, the boundaries given _ above are assumed for this article.

Topographically the Tigris is the chief feature, the.. character of which is best understood by comparson with the Euphrates (q.v.). It rises only a few miles south of the course of the Euphrates and at about the same level, but on the south aide of the mountains. The Euphrates, therefore, has to

skirt the north side of the range and s. The break through on its much longer

the Tigris is quite consistently southeast; and the two rivers reach the same level about opposite Bagdad. The consequence is that to make the difference in level of about 1,000 feet between

Shamehi-R,amamn IV and his Successors, 824-74b a.c. (¢ 8).

Aeshurbanipal'e Successors, 828808 B.C. (1lb).

The Sun-gods Shamash, Ninib, and Nergal (§ b).

Bin, the Moon-god. Nuslcu, the Fire-god (J 6).

Rivalry of Babylonia and Assyria (5 7)·

the source and the alluvium, the Tigris, having a much shorter distance to go, makes a more rapid descent than the Euphrates, sad its current is swifter.' A second and noteworthy difference is that while the Euphrates receives only two important tributaries after turning south, the Tigris continues to receive all the way to its mouth streams which drain the mountain regions and basins to the east. While, therefore, the Euphrates loses much of its water to the thirsty soil through which it passes, the Tigris swells its torrent as it proceeds.

Another characteristic of the country is its partial isolation. Mountains make it difficult of access from the north and east; and the 3. Influence desert dote the same on the west.

deer, and hare may be named, while the great wild ox was not yet extinct. Of birds of prey or carrion, the eagle, vulture, and various hawks were known. Birds suitable for food were the bustard, swan, goose, duck, partridge, grouse, and plover. The common domestic animals were employed, while dogs were trained for the chase. The-pine, poplar, plane, oak, sycamore, and walnut abounded. Under cultivation, though some of them were importations, were the date (of inferior quality), orange, lemon, pomegranate, apricot, mulberry, fig, and grape. Assyrian citrons were famous; melons were abundant; while cucumbers, onions, the grains-wheat, barley, and millet-and the leguminous plants were food staples. Under the careful and extensive system of irrigation in use, the agriculturist reaped a good return for his labors. Mineral resources were abundant and conveniently at hand in the shape of iron, lead, copper, alum, salt, and bitumen, while alabaster of a fine quality, limestone, and sandstone were in close proximity to the cities or easily reached from the Tigris, on which they were floated down to the places where they were required.

III. Exploration and Excavation: It may appear somewhat inconsequent that excavations in Assyria and Babylonia should be the result of the discovery and partial decipherment of inscriptions from a locality so distant as Persepolis. Yet the discovery that these were neither mere ornamentation nor arbitrary signs influenced greatly the patient toil and research which have recovered in large part the history of nations once forgotten, and have carried history back into the fifth preChristian millennium. The steps leading to these

results are as follows. The ruins at :. The Per- Persepolis had been mentioned in sepolis In- 1320 by Qdoric, and the inscriptions scriptions. in 1611 by the friar Antonio de

Gouvea; they were first described by the Spanish ambassador of Philip III to Shah Abbas, Don Garcia Sylva Figueroa, in 1621; the guess that they read from left to right was first made in 1677 by Thomas Herbert; they were first called cuneiform in 1700 by Thomas Hyde; first decided to be in three forms of writing in 1774 by Carden Niebuhr; declared to be in three languages in 1798 by Old Tychsen; and first really translated, in part, in 1815 by Georg F. Grotefend, whose work was the climax which finally stimulated to direct effort upon Assyrian and Babylonian mounds. While discussion had been going on over the Persepolis inscriptions, bits of inscriptions in the cuneiform character had been collected by the surveyors who had been observing, locating, and plotting the mounds in Assyria and Babylonia. A relationship had been asserted between these scraps and the Persepolis writing; and Niebuhr had urgently advised excavation in Babylonia and had predicted rich resulta.

The site of Nineveh had been correctly located as early as 1160 by the rabbi Benjamin of Tudela. Desultory digging had been done in Babylonia at various sites by Claudius Rich of the East India Company, in some cases missing by only a foot or two walls which must have led him to investigate

farther and have anticipated by over a quarter of a century the real discovery of the lost em-

pires. That was in 1811; he visited 2. Prelimi- Nineveh in 1820 and there turned up nary Explo- a few bricks with characters on them ration. Rich and bought others. from the natives, and Porter. all of which were sent home and found

place in the British Museum. A visit of the artist and archeologist Sir R. K. Porter to the region, particularly to the mounds at Hillah in Babylonia, under the guidance of Rich, led to the publication in 1821-22 of a sumptuous work by Porter illustrated by his own brush. The interesting and even brilliant description of what was to be seen and inferred aroused anew the interest of Europe; so that the years which followed, as well as those which preceded his visit, were years of exploration. The sites of the mounds were visited and plotted and described until localities and names, with conjectures as to their history, became almost commonplace. The era of excavation, however, was still to come.

In 1842 a French consulate was established at Mosul, across the river from the site of Nineveh, and Paul Emil Botts was appointed consul. Botts had served in Egypt, Arabia, and Syria, and had so become well acquainted with the Arabs and their methods of working, as well as with French procedure in archeological igvestigation. He had met a German scholar named Julius Mohl, who had visited Babylonia and had been impressed with the opportunities which it was not in his power to grasp. By him Botts was urgently advised not to be content with mere explorations and plotting of sites, but to dig. Accordingly Botts at once began at Kouyunjik, but with results so scanty that he

transferred 11& operations to Khorsa3. Botts at bad, where speedily so large a number Khorsabad. of bas-reliefs and well-preserved in-

scriptions were discovered in the uncovered palace of Sargon, that upon his sober report of the facts the French government made a grant of 3,000 francs to continue the work. The local pasha meanwhile had procured an order for the cessation of the operations; but the arrival of a firman soon enabled Botta to resume, the result being the nucleus of the magnificent collection now in the Louvre, made between 1842 and 1846. In the latter year Botts was transferred, and his work as an excavator came to an end; but the results were published by the French government in five magnifjcent volumes which are even yet almost high-water mark.

While Botts, was engaged in digging, and after some of his successes had been gained, he was visited by Austen Henry Layard, whose early reading had given him a decided bent toward archeology. Layard told the story of the mounds to Lord Stratford, who had secured the Halicarnassus marbles for the British Museum; and in 1845 the latter made a contribution of £60 which Layard was to use in excavating. Layard returned to Mosul, kept his plans from the local pasha,, and began excavating at Nimrud (Calah) at two different points. His first day's work led him into two chambers, belonging to two palaces, lined with

alabaster slabs bearing inscriptions. Further effort resulted in the uncovering of colossi which created sensation first among his Arab laborers and then in England, in the latter case so pronounced that the apathetic British government made a parsimonious grant for the continuance of the work. The local pasha had closed the tren6hes; but authority from the Porte was obtained which over-

ruled opposition. The palace of Shal4. Layard maneser II was excavated, and the and black obelisk unearthed with its

lines of inscription and the mention of Jehu of Israel, along with many other inscriptions. Layard had the benefit of Hormuzd Rassam's skill in managing natives, since Rassam was himself of the country, but educated in England. In 1847 Kalah-Shergat was attacked; and among other finds was the great inscription of TiglathPileser I. An interval of two years was employed partly in writing his first books, and then Layard returned as the agent of the British Museum and excavated at Nimrud, Kalah-Shergat, Nebi Yunus, and Kouyunjik, at the latter place uncovering Sennacherib's palace. In 1851 his transference to the diplomatic service at Constantinople brought his work as an excavator to an end. He had identified Calah and Nineveh, had discovered eight palaces, and had recovered part of the great royal library, many historical inscriptions, the great collection of seals and seal impressions, the great slab, 21 ft. by 18 ft. 7 in., the monolith and statue of Asshurnasirpal, and great numbers of bronze and copper vessels, implements, and arms. Meanwhile his books, written in most pleasing style and using with telling effect Biblical passages referring to Assyria and Babylon, had thoroughly awakened England to the importance of the operations. While his active work in digging creased, his diplomatic post afforded him the opportunity of facilitating the efforts of others by preventing much of the local bigoted and fanatical or avaricious obstruction which had impeded his own success.

In the year 1852 Rassam, who had contributed so much to Layard's success, was commissioned

by the British Museum to continue g. Ratsam, the work of excavating, under the :853. direction of Sir Henry Rawlinson.

He unearthed at Kouyunjik the palace of Asshurbanipal with its " chamber of the lion hunt " and the record chamber with its heaps of inscribed tablets, including the Deluge Tablets, the richest discovery yet made. At Nimrud he found E-zida, the temple of Nebo, six statues of the god, the stele of Shamshi-Ramman IV, and the fragments of the black obelisk of Asshurbanipal II. At Kalah-Shergat the two intact prisms of Tiglath-Pileser I with their 811 lines of inscription were the prizes. His work was followed by that of Loftus and Boutcher, which produced less spectacular but equally solid values, while Hilmi Pasha, who had displaced the unscrupulous Mohammed Pasha, recovered at Nebi Yunus some winged bulls, a number of bas-reliefs, and other important material.

Meanwhile the French government had made an appropriation of 70,000 francs, by which Victor

and Kalah-Shergat. The plan of the former was thoroughly worked out, while fourteen cylinders, a magazine of pottery, another of glazed tiles, and the bakery and wine cellar of the palace were uncovered. Unfortunately the materials gathered by this expedition and the one of the same period at Biro Nimrud in Babylonia were lost by the capsizing of the raft on which they were being conveyed down the river for shipment.

The joint results of these labors being a mass of unread inscriptions, it is hard)y~ surprising that a tacit understanding supervened to suspend excavations until decipherment should decide the value of the documents. Progress was rapid; Assyrian and Babylonian, Vannic and Sumerian yielded their secrets; and the reading of part of the material proved its great importance (see Irrscmrriorrs).

from Asshurbanipal's palace the fragments of the deluge story. The possible, even certain, illumination of the Bible by these documents, guaranteed by the reading of the names of several of the Hebrew kings, stimulated to new effort. The popular demand became urgent for new discovery; yet the government's action was so tardy, under the restrictions of routine, that private enterprise was evoked and the London Daily Telegraph offered £1,000 to defray the expenses of an expedition, if Smith would lead it and send reports of progress. The start was made in January of 1873; Kouyunjik was the site chosen for work; and three new fragments of the deluge series were recovered, along with a number of historical inscriptions. With this success the Telegraph was satisfied and recalled Smith. The same year he was sent back by the British Museum, and secured some 3,000 inscriptions, many of which filled gaps in the material already at hand. In 1875 he was again sent out; but Turkish opposition intervened, and when that had been overcome, his death had occurred.

During the period 1877,82 Reaeam was the agent in the field; and he unearthed at Bala-

site of a palace of Asshurnsairpal II. Kouyunjik was more thoroughly explored, 2,000 pieces, some of them exceedingly fine, being the reward. But the rich finds of previous years made these results seem meager; and the consequence was a cessation of excavation in Assyria which has not yet been resumed, the southern region of Babylonia being more promising and offering greater rewards.

The difficulties which have to be overcome by excavating archeologists in these regions are fourfold. (1) Financial. The French and German governments have established a fine record of sup port of scientific research; the record of the British

is not so clear; the United States has done nothing, Consequently expeditions from the United States have to rely upon private enterprise.

IV. The Cities: According to the best reading of Gen. x, 11 (R. V. margin), " out of Shiner went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, and Resen." By excepting from these Rehoboth-Ir (which is now regarded as a mistake for Rehoboth-Nina, either the place where Mosul new is, or the " open places," i.e., " squares," of Nineveh itself), and by adding Asshur, Arbela, and Dur-Sharrukin, a list of the known cities belonging to Assyria proper is completed.

Asehur, the modern Kalah-Shergat, on the west side of the Tigris, rather below the middle point of the places where the Upper and

Nineveh (Assyr. Nina or Ninua; Rehr, Ninweh orNi»s<aeh; L XX, Nineui), the modern Kouyunjik on the north and Nebbi Yunus on the south of the Choser, named probably, lice the southern city of the same name, from Nin, daughter of FA and identified with Ishtar of Nineveh, stood on the

left bank of the Tigris, about twenty miles north of the confluence of the Upper Zab with the Tigris. Its walls enclosed about 1,800 acres, and were about seven and one-half miles in circumference (approximately two miles square), Herodotus describes them as being 380 feet high and 80 feet thick, though in all probability the height given is an exaggeration; but Layard's plans make them, at one of the principal gates, where they were doubtless reinforced, 110 feet thick. The gates were flanked with towers

for their defense. The eastern wall s.Nineveh. was protected by a moat filled with

water from the Choser. The time and circumstances of the founding of the city are unknown, though its Semitic origin seems implied by its name. The last datum is not quite conclusive, since it might have been pre-Semitic and renamed by its Semitic possessors. As it lay on the IndoMediterranean caravan route, its early origin and importance are assured. Gudea (see BABYLOMA, VI,3,,§ 3) left aninscription referringtothe building of a temple in Nineveh which may (and probably does) refer to the Babylonian city. Similarly precarious is the identification of the Assyrian Nineveh with the one mentioned by Dungi, second king of Ur(c.2700 B.c.), as the place where he built a temple to Nergal. The fact that Shalmaneser I made gifts to such a temple in Nineveh does not, considering the diffusion of the worship of Nergal, make the identification secure. The conjecture of Jeremias that it once belonged to a kingdom called Kiashati has little to support it. About 1450 B.c. it was possibly under control of the (Hittite?) state of Mitanni, since Tushratta, king of Mitanni, lent an image of Ishtar of Nineveh to the contemporary Pharaoh. It is named twice in the Amarna Tablets (q.v.), both times in connection with Ishtar. The first Assyrian who made his residence there was Asshur-bel-kale, mentioned above. It was neglected for a number of centuries, and finally under Sennaeherib was made perhaps the richest and lbest adorned city of the times. He tore down the old palace and built a double one, one part in the Assyrian style and one in the Syrian. He also conducted thither a water-supply drawn from the upper reaches of the Choser. Fsarhaddon and Asshurbampal added great structures, and it became the foremost city of the world, a great center of commerce and enormous wealth. Under the hst-named king, it became a repository also of Babylonian culture.

Caiah (Assyr. Kalhu) was the city next in importance, really a suburb of Nineveh, twenty miles

south, in the fork of the Upper zab 3. Cal·h. and the Tigris. It was apparently

founded by Shalmaneser I (c. 1300 B.c.) and used as his capital in place of Awhur. It was then neglected until the time of Asshurnasirpal (c. 880 s.e.), who rebuilt it, fortified it with a massive wall, brought a water-supply from the Zab, and made of it a garden city, adorned with foreign trees and shrubbery. His palace was one of great beauty, and the bas-reliefs found there by Layard, George Smith, and Rseeem are in the British Museum. 8halmaneser II built another palace, one of the adornments of which was the famous

Black Obelisk; and this palace was occupied also by Tiglath-Pileser III. Esarhaddon destroyed it and used the materials to construct his own palace. For these different structures a great platform was built of bricks and faced with stone, forty feet high, to guard against floods.

Of Resen (" fountain-source ") little is known except its location between Nineveh and Calah, and that it is identified with the Larissa of Xenophon's Anabasia (III, iv, 7). Arbela (" [The City of the] Four

Gods "), the modern Erbil, is never 4. Resen, noticed in the early inscriptions, yet

Arbela, must have had an important though and Dur- quiet life, and long outlived its more Sharrukin. pretentious and magnificent sister

cities. It was situated in the mountains between the Upper and Lower Zab, and was the seat of worship of one of the Ishtars, next in prominence to her of Nineveh. Dur-Sharrukin (" Sargon's Fort "), the modern Khorsabad, the site of the palace of Sargon (707 B.C.) and of the necessary adjuncts thereto, was north of Nineveh, near the sources of the Choser and on the slopes of the hills. It was much smaller than the capital, its walls being 3,820 yards in circumference. Two mountain streams flowed past it. Only in Sargon's time did it have much importance.

V. The People, Language, and Culture: The people belonged to the so-called Northern Semites, and were related consequently most closely to the Semitic Babylonians, Arameans, Hebrews, and Phenicians. They were sturdy' in physique, and their physiognomy, clearly portrayed in their many bas-reliefs, is of a pronounced Semitic

served or intensified their native qualities, and prohibited the mellowing influences of contact with other peoples as well as the toleration which comes with admixture of blood. Their country was less attractive to marauders, besides being out of the beaten track of the migrations. The mountaineers to the east and north served as buffers against the great waves from the northeast, until they were subdued or degationalized by forced colonization. Thus, in contrast with the Babylonians, who became a much mixed people, the Assyrians preserved the purity of their race and consequently its primitive characteristics, among them that of fierceness (Isa. xxxiii, 19). This quality of a new people is illustrated in the case of two other Semitic peoples. The ferocity of the Chaldeans (c. 600 B.C.) is attributable to the fact that they, too, were a ".new people," only recently from their Arabian habitat; and the fanaticism of the Mohammedan hosts is a matter of history, due not merely to religious causes. The isolation of the Assyrians is in nothing more remarkably illustrated than in the fact that their literature was of late importation from the south, subsequent to their great military operations, much of it in the days of Asshurbanipal (669-826 B.C.). Another trait of this people is a national self-consciousness lacking to most Semites. The larger cities of Assyria do not appear as self-governing

units bearing impatiently the sway of the overlord. Assyria appears almost without exception as united; and the exceptions come from dissensions in the royal family in disputes about the succession.

The occupations of the people are largely included in the two words " war " and " commerce."

The early Assyrian contract tablets i. Occupa- found in Cappadocia bear testimony

The language belongs also -to the North Semitic group, and is very close to the Babylonian, differing

only dialectically. The expression of 3. Lan- it in the cuneiform was inherited

directly from the pre-Semitic inhabitants of Babylonia, but developing as a consequence of the fact that writing is the expression of a living force, speech.

The culture of Assyria was borrowed. In nothing is this clearer than in their methods of building

Although they lived in a land where 4. The Cul- stone was easily procured, the principal

faced with burnt brick and sometimes with stone. Even the choice of sites, near the rivers where platforms had to be erected to avoid floods, was probably due to early habit acquired in Babylonia or imitated. To this method and material of building were due the constant repetition of building operations on the great templeetructures and the narratives of the same in the annals of both countries. Roof-making was, from a structural point of view, evidently most imperfectly developed. When once the roof was broken, and the elements had access to the unburnt brick, swift collapse of a structure was inevitable. Yet to this very fact in most cases is attributable the preservation of the libraries and records unearthed; for the superincumbent clay sealed hermetically the chambers used as repositories. In the way of literature nothing creative appears to have come from the Assyrians except the mere narratives of the campaigns. The tablets containing the portions of the epics are knows to be

copies from the south. The elegant style of Asshurbanipal's annals suggests that the formative period of Assyrian literature was just beginning, but the speedy collapse of the empire prevented any ripening into creative work.

B.c. Further data are obtained by mention of the ancestors of different monarchs. When RammanNirari calls himself son of Pud-il, grandson of Belnirari, great-grandson of Asahur-Uballit, he serves a useful purpose by naming a succession of four kings. Tiglath-Pileser I announces that the Shamshi-Ramman whom he dates was son of IshmiDagan, and that both were patesis of Assyria. This datum shows also that in their time Assyria was not independent, since patesi is not the title of an independent ruler. These data give results upon which in most cases agreement is reached by scholars within the margin of a year.

2. Ethnological Data: Gutium (Assyr. Kutu) was situated northeast from Nineveh, and stretched

from the headwaters of the Upper z. Peoples Zab to Lake Urumiah. It is prob-

known as the Umman-Maruta, were Aryan tribes beyond the Namri to the east of the mountains and toward the Caspian. The Kasshi, sometimes confused in the Old Testament (the unpointed Hebrew is the same) with Cosh (Ethiopia), were northeastern neighbors of the Elamites and gave a long-lived dynasty to Babylonia. The Kaldu, later known as the Chaldeans, occupied the territory north and west of the head of the Persian Gulf and 'became rulers of Babylonia when the Assyrian empire fell. The Manni or Minni inhabited the territory between lakes Van and Urumiah, and were sturdy foes of the Assyrians. The Urartu or Armenians dwelt in the Armenian mountains and valleys northwest of Lake Van, and partly controlled the plains at the foot. They were perhaps the most difficult foes the Assyrians had to meet. The Mitanni, during the rise of Assyria, held Upper Mesopotamia c. 1400' B.c., and are supposed to have been a Hittite power. By their position they controlled the trade route between the Upper Tigris, the Mediterranean, and the West. Goxan, later Gauzanitis, was a district on the upper waters of the Chabur. Bit-Adini was the Aramean state north of the confluence of the Chabur with the Euphrates. Kummu& was a state considerably to the north of Bit-Adini on the southern spurs of the Taurus Mountains. In the northeastern part of ,Syria, north of where Antioch was situated later, not quite contemporary with each other were the Aramean states of Patina, Unki, Samal, Gurgum, and Yaudi--the latter for many years mistaken by Amyriologists for Judah, particularly as it had a king named Azriyahu nearly contemporary with Azariah of Judah. It lay between samal and Unki Of . Winudah, Altarientalische Eorschuaegen, i, 1893). Kue was the name of the eastern part of the coast of Cilicia. Northeast from Rue was the Musri of Asia Minor (confused in I Kings x, 28 and II Kings vii, 6 with Egypt, though mentioned in connection with Syria and the Hittites in both passages; in the former Passage the name Kue is perhaps concealed in the word ma-koh). Still farther to the north were the

Mushke, known to the Greeks as Moachi The Pheniciane, the Syrians of Aleppo, Hamath, Arpad, and Damascus are all frequently mentioned in the inscriptions, as are the Hebrew kingdoms, Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. Arabia was known as Arabi, Arubu, and Aribi. In North Arabia the cuneiform makes known a district called Mur;ri or Mur, also mistaken in the Hebrew of I Kings xi, 17, for Mizraim, Egypt. It was subdued by Tiglath-Pileser III. South Arabian inscriptions also name the locality. In the same region was a district called Cuah, sometimes confused with Ethiopia. Meluhlsa, the Mrs'in of the Old Testament, was in North Arabia. Saba, the Sheba of I Kings x, 1, Minaea, rediscovered by Glaser, and Ynman, probably the modern Yemen, are all noted in the annals of the kings. Northeast Arabia was known as Magan.

S. The Story of Assyria: The history of Assyria before 1800 B.C. is veiled. Gen. x,11 (R. V. margin)

t. Early of this people, and all evidence from History and archeology, language, and cultural,

but it was before 2300 B.c. Asahur was the first city. The connection with the parent country was close c. 2000 B.C. Hammurabi of Babylon (c. 2250 B.C.) had Assyrian soldiers in his army. No ruler earlier than Ishmi-Dagan (c. 1850 B.C.) is known, and he bore the title of pateai (or swhaku), a term that implied political dependence: In the time of his son, Shamehi-Ramman, Nineveh was already in existence; for he restored a temple of Ishtar there. Between his time and that of Amhur-bel-nisheshu only a few names are known. Igur-kapkapu (or Bel-kapkapu or Bel-bani) and his son Shamshi-Ramman II, Kallu and his son Irishum are all, but of the first it is known that a tablet exists dated in his reign, and (from it) that he bore the title of king. Assyrian contract tablets belonging to the period 1800-1500 B.C. have been found in Cappadocia, indicating commercial, and perhaps a beginning of territorial, expansion. At the time when Thothmes III of Egypt was most active, the Assyrian king sent him a gift of " a great stone of lapis-lazuli " which Thothmes interpreted as a sign of submission, and so recorded it. If Assyria really feared Egypt, that fear did not last long, for the Hittites were soon active, and Egyptian aggression did not threaten the Tigris.

The independence of Assyria, won soon afterward, was due, not to Assyria's strength, but to the

weakness of the parent power. Intern. The Win- nal strife gave the Rawhites the

Independ- but they were too busy cementing ence, 15oo- their own power to attack Assyria,

Asshur-bel-nisheshu and Puzu-Asahur in treaties to which the Kasshite Raraindash of Babylon was one of the parties. This implies independence. About 1400 B.C., fifty years later, the Babylonian Burnaburiash claimed Assyria for his territory. The probable dependence of Nineveh upon Tushratta of Mitanni has been

noted above (IV, 1 2). Assur-uballit wrote to Amenophis IV as an independent monarch; and indeed the claim of Assyria to Babylon began in the same reign. The Assyrian's daughter had married Kara-kardash of Babylon, and the latter's son had succeeded his father and then been murdered by his subjects Asahur-uballit intervened, subjected Babylon, and placed another grandson on the throne In the same reign and the next the Assyrian arms were carried to the borders of Elam, which led to war between Kurigahsu II of Babylon and Bel-nirari in which the northern cause was successful. Ramman-nirari I (c. 1345-30 B.C ) reconquered the lands already overrun, and located cities for their government. He extended his sway beyond the Euphrates, and had a successful essay against Mitanni. New troubles with Babylonia arose over the conquest of Gutium; both sides claimed the victory, but the Assyrian boundary was advanced. Ramman's inscription is the earliest one of Assyria that is dated, and in it he calls himself king, not of Asahur, but of Kisahatii, " the world."

8halmaneser I (e. 1300 B.C.) left on his successors an impression of greatness. He crossed the

Euphrates and pushed his conquests 3. Shalman- as far as Mu;ri, which probably means eser I-Tig- that the territory up to the river at lath-Pileser least was added to Assyrian territory.

Ishtar at Nineveh was also reconstructed, and Harran was added to the possessions of the king. 8halmaneser's son, Tiglath-Ninib, invaded Babylonia, captured and plundered Babylon, partly destroyed the wall, carried north with him the image of Marduk, governed the south from his own capital, and assumed the titles borne by Sargon the Great (see BABYLONIA), king of Sumer and Akkad, as well as of Kiwhati and Asahur. But he could not sustain himself, and lost his life in a rebellion headed by his son. For a time the Assyrian star declined. It is very likely that to this decline the Hittites had contributed; for the dash to the Mediterranean must have aroused them and certainly have included in its scope some of their cities. The Babylonians became the aggressors, and the next king, Asahurnasirpal I had difficulty in repelling them. Under the next four reigns Assyria's territory shrank to about its original extent. Then Assur-Dan I (c. 1210-1181 B.C.) began to regain territory south of the Lower Zab. His grandson, Asshur-rich-ishi, cleared the way to Babylon by conquering foes on the southeast, and then defeated Nebuchadrezzar I of Babylon. He rebuilt the Ishtar-temple in Calah. With Tiglath-Pileser I began a new era for Assyria. The celebrated eight-sided prism contains a part of his record. That full information of his predecemrs' activity is not at hand is shown by his having in the very beginning of his reign to subdue people so distant as the Mushke. Hewon a victory over them among their hills, destroyed 14,000 out of the 20,000 engaged, and pursued the plan of subduing the territory by destroying the fighting forces. Tribute was exacted from the rest. During

the next three years he carried his arms into the mountain regions northeast, northwest, and southeast with the uniform result of success and immense booty A confederation of twenty-three kings from the neighborhood of Lake Van was overcome, and heavy tribute imposed. Muzri was once more subdued, and Babylonia hid to submit. At the end of his fifth year Tiglath-Pileser claimed to have subdued " forty-two countries with their rulers." Mention of the Hittites first occurs in his reign.

At this point it is well to note, in explanation of the preceding and of much that follows, a characteristic of early Semitic rule. Con-

Tiglath-Pileser's activities were not all warlike; he rebuilt Asshur, restored its temples and palaces, and fostered agriculture and arbori-

Hittite possessions including Hamath, Aleppo, and Damascus. They were traders, and, holding the caravan routes, directly menaced Assyrian commerce. The Phenicians, too, had been making of their cities strong fortresses. Between TiglathPileser I and II were several rulers whose names are known and little else, while there is also a gap in the known succession. But the period was not the time of entire weakness generally supposed; the outburst of vigor which followed and continued with little intermission for three and one-half centuri'm proves it a time of development of power which was used in a series of campaign, which have not ceased to astonish since knowledge of them has been regained.

of kings, all of whose names are known, though of what either he or his son Asahur-Dan II (o. 930 B.C.) did, little is certain. During the nest reign, that of Ramman-nirari II (911-891 B.C.), the

Pileser II, the latter losing territory to its op95o B.C. ponent. Tiglath-Ninib (890-885 B.C.)

-Asshur- placed under tribute the highlands nasirpalI3I, of the north from Urumiah to the 885-86o Mediterranean. Asshurnasirpal III

B.C. (885-880 B.C.), son of the foregoing, carried forward the work of conquest, One of the finest inscriptions extant is his, on alabaster in 389 lines, corroborated by other texts. His first campaign in Armenia was so savage that with a single exception, severely punished, all tribes in his line of march hastened to submit. While on a campaign against Kummuh, he heard of the rebellion of an Aramean community at Bit-Kalupe on the Euphrates. He at once countermarched, took and plundered the city, cut off the legs of the officers engaged in the rebellion, flayed the nobles and stretched their skins on a pile built for the purpose, and sent the rebel governor to Nineveh to be flayed. The result was immediate submission of the district and of all in his line of march. While he was thus engaged in the west, rebellion broke out in the east and southeast, was crushed, broke out again, and was again put down with plundering, devastation, and slaughter. Sedition among the Arameans, fomented and assisted by Nabupaliddin of Babylonix, was overcome, and Suru, the capital, destroyed. The fomenter of the trouble in turn found work in repelling the Aramean hordes and occupation in rebuilding the temple of Shamash at Sippar. Continued rebellion among the Arameans revealed the fact that the little state of Bit-Adini, the Bene'Edhen of II Kings xu,12, was the cause of the rising. This the Assyrians assailed and destroyed, and showed that they would permit no strong state on the Euphrates. The Mediterranean coast was next visited; tribute was received from the Phenicians; wood was gathered for the new works at Calah; and a memorial was left on the rocks at Nahr-el-Kalb (near Beirut). Asshurna$irpal made the Assyrian name a synonym for ferocity and savagery. Yet war was not his whole occupation. Calah had fallen into ruins while Asshur had been the capital. He rebuilt it, erected there a great palace, and conducted to the city a water-supply from the Lower Zab.

With Shahmaneser II J860-M B.C.) began contact of the Assyrians *nth the Hebrews. In the Black Obelisk and the Monolith y. Shalman- texts this ldng has left some of the eser II, 86o- finest inscriptions lrnown. These with

brews, Arabs, and Egyptians till about 660 B.C. The three prominent Syrian powers at the time were centered at Hamath, Patin, and Damascus.

A coalition of these with their allies, including Israelites (Ahab furnished a contingent of 2,000 [7] chariots and 10,000 men), Arabs, and Ammonites, was met and defeated at Karkar. The quality of the victory claimed by Shalmaneser is doubtful, since in three inscriptions (the Black Obelisk, Monolith, and Bull; cf. Schrader, %eilschrift forschung, p. 47) the number of killed varies from 14,000 to 25,000, and no statement is made of tribute imposed. The victory was barren. There was revealed here a force which might have stayed the advance of Assyria could it have been held together. Six campaigns were made in this region during 854-839 B.C., none decisive in itself, but contributing in the end to the isolation of Damascus. Jehu of Israel sent tribute to divert from himself the attacks of Damascus. With reference to his campaigns in Armenia, Shalmaneser describes himself as " trampling down the country like a wild bull." But there, too, results were indecisive, and the region remained a menace to the dominant power. Media was invaded in a mere bootysnatching expedition. Internal conflict in Babylonia resulted in the reestablishment of Assyrian power there, and in checking the northward march of the Kaldu. The later years of the king were harassed by rebellions at home, led in one case by his sons, and due in part probably to utter weariness at the constant drain caused by the perpetual wars.

This legacy of civil war was left to the son Shamshi-Ramman IV (824-812 B.C.), who used two years in defeating his brother and in 8. Shamshi- repressing the general rebellion of

his Succes- and Kaldu was met and defeated and sors, 824- quiet restored after two campaigns.

Under the great 71glath-Pileser -III (745-727 B.C ), the Pul of 11 Kings xv, 19, Assyria recovered

passed it. The origin of the new king is un

known, for in his numerous inscriptions he never

mentions his ancestry. His vigor

9. Tiglath- and boldness of conception and awift

Pileser III, ness of execution were unparalleled

745-727 even in Assyrian history. Babylonia,

B.C. during the period of Assyria's weak

ness, had been unable to take advan

tage of relief from pressure, owing to attacks by

the Arameans. Tiglath-Pileser invaded the country,

repelled the Arameans, reorganized the government,

and conciliated the inhabitants by paying homage

to the chief deities. The districts east were recon

quered, and a new policy carried out of settling

disaffected subjects in a distant part of the empire.

Urartu, under a king named Sarduris II, had

completely demolished Assyrian supremacy in

the north. A single sweeping victory over him

changed all this, and his allies paid their tribute

to the conqueror. Arpad fell in 740 B.C., and with

it the northwest was pacified. A new coalition of

states of Syria, Asia Minor, and Palestine was

formed; but at the appearance in the field of the

Assyrian forces, it fell apart, Menahem of Israel

paid tribute, the states north of Israel were put

under a governor, their inhabitants deported, and

colonists brought in from other parts. A rebellion

near Nineveh was suppressed by the governors,

who had been made responsible for good order.

They deported the rebellious subjects to Syria

and settled Syrians in their places. Armenia

was crippled in a campaign which reached the

capital on Lake Van, but did not capture it. Tig

lath-Pileser began next to clear the road to Egypt,

just then weakened by attacks from Ethiopia.

Syria was effectually overawed, Phenicia paid

tribute, and Gaza was captured and held as an

outpost. To offset this, Israel and Damascus had

detehmined to force Judah into an alliance against

the Assyrian. Ahaa was thoroughly alarmed,

and all the efforts of Isaiah were insufficient to

restrain him from throwing himself into the arms

of Assyria. Tiglath-Pileser listened to the appeal,

ravaged Israel, had Hoshea made king (II Kings

xv-xvi), assailed Dwnascus, destroyed its depend

encies, and finally captured it in 732 B.C. While

engaged in the west, the king heard of rebellion in

Babylonia. This was punished; and Merodach

baladan, who proved almost a perennial rebel,

submitted. The Assyrian appointed governors

from the north instead of leaving native princes

to rule, did homage to the gods of the land, in 726

B.C. " took the hands of Bel, " the annual right and

duty of the rightful king of Babylon, and assumed

the name Pul with the old title " King of Sumer

and Akkad and of Babylon " (see BABYLONLI).

T5glath-Pileser's death occurred the next year. His

achievements in war and in government were the

greatest the world had yet known. The Semitic

crescent of territory from the Persian Gulf to the

border of Egypt was his without dispute; tribute

was sent from Arabia as far south as Sabwa, from

Armenia, from Elam, and from the states on the

Mediterranean. The policy of exchanging popu

lations of chronically rebellious states had made

the empire more homogeneous by putting seditious nations where circumstances did not favor risings.

:o. Shat- him Hoshea was led into what proved maneser IV, the final rebellion of the northern

727-7ss Ieraelitie kingdom, and the episode B.C. narrated in II Kings xvii occurred. In this chapter Hoshea is represented as sending messengers to " So, king of Egypt." So has been erroneously identified with Shabak. Sargon mentions a Shabi of the Arabian Muzri; Shabt in Assyrian would represent the Hebrew word So pointed to read Save; and modern scholars are inclined to follow Winekler (Miuheilungen der roorderasW%sehen Geseuwhaft, i, 5) and see a double confusion in Miqraam (" Egypt ") for Mugra, and in So for Save. It is to the point that this Shabi furnished no little trouble for Sargon, Shalmaneser's successor. From him, then, Hoshea expected help and rebelled, when Shalmaneser attacked, defeated, and captured him, and invested Samaria. The city held out for three years. Meanwhile Shahnaneser died and was succeeded by Sargon (722-705 B.c.). Samaria was captured in 721; and the Isrselitie kingdom ceased to exist.

Sargon's ancestry is very doubtful: he claimed no royal lineage, nor did his son for him; but his grandson, Sennacherib, connected him

Finally peace was secured in the north by the ending of the kingdom of Urartu, which had for centuries defied Assyria and proved its most dangerous foe. A new uprising in Palestine, Philistia, Edom, and Moab, involving Hezekiah of Judah and evidently fomented by Egypt (Ina. xx), necessitated the sending of Sargon's tartan with an army, who occupied the Philistine cities, deported the inhabitants, and crushed the rebellion. The other states seem to have escaped punishment. Only Babylon was needed to round out the empire. Merodachbaladan had foreign military forces in support; but he had alienated the native priests, the most influential class of his subjects. They called in the Assyrians, who put the Chaldeans to flight- and Sargon was acclaimed the deliverer of the city of Babylon. He performed sacrifice and took office

as viceroy (not king), and restored the templeworship in the great religious centers. In the northwest, boundaries were pushed back, and even Cyprus sent tribute. Sargon built Dur-Sharrukin with its magnificent palace, but occupied it only

ayearSargon was succeeded by his son Sennacherib

(705-681 e.c.). The change in succession was

followed by another attempt of Mero

rs. San- dach-baladan to possess Babylonia.

nacherib, It is likely that the embassy to Heze

705-681 kiah (II Kings xviii, 13) occurred here.

B.C. If so, its motive is plain: he wasfoment

ing a revolt in the west to create a

diversion while he settled himself in the south.

But Sennacherib marched south at once, defeated

the rebel, captured Babylon, rifled the palace, and

then punished severely the Aramean supporters

of the Kaldu, appropriating immense booty and

removing, according to the Taylor cylinder, over

200,000 people and settling them in the Median

mountains after a successful campaign there.

The rebellion fomented by Merodach (if the sugges

tion above be correct) had gathered headway,

with Hezekiah leading the movement, the latter

having seized Philistia. The revolt must have

been general; for Sennacherib first visited Phenicia,

captured Sidon, set up his appointee as king, and

apportioned him a fair kingdom. The coalition fell

apart before his army, though several of the Phi

listine towns held out and were reduced. An army

from Egypt was defeated, Ekron captured, and its

chiefs impaled. Then Sennacherib turned on Judah,

captured forty-six towns, deported 200,150' in

habitants, and gave the district to his governors

in Philistia to manage. Hezekiah submitted and

paid tribute, to gather which he was compelled

to strip palace and temple. Sennacherib, either

at this time or later, sent a small force to demand

the surrender of Jerusalem. Beyond question

the reason for this was that the conquest of Egypt

was projected, and the Assyrian did not care to

leave so strong a fortress as Jerusalem in his rear.

The surrender was refused; the forces were with

drawn; a new campaign in Babylonk. against the

irrepressible Merodaah-baladan was successfully

carried through; and Asahur-nadir-chum, son of

Sennacherib, was put on the throne of Babylon.

The nest eleven years were spent mainly in the

south against the Elamites and KaIdu under Mero

dach-baladan. After holding the country for some

time the allies were defeated in 691 s.c. after a

terrible conflict. Babylon was taken, sacked,

burned to the ground, the waters of the EUphMteB

turned upon the site, and the statue of Marduk taken

to Asahur. A final expedition against Egypt was

probably undertaken near the end of his life by

Sennacherib. Tirhakah of Egypt advanced to meet

him, perhaps as far as Pelusium. There Sennach

erib experienced a severe check, variously ex

plained. 11 Kings ix, 35 tells of a pestilence which

destroyed in a single night 185,000 mien; Tirhakah

claimed credit for a great victory; Herodotus

(ii, 141) was told by the Egyptians that field-mice

gnawed the bow-strings and quivers of the As

eyrians and left them defenseless before the Egyp-

tians; and the Babylonian Chronicles suggest the necessity for return in a rebellion in that region. Sennacherib was killed in 681 B.C. by one (Babylonian Chronicle) or two (II Kings xix, 36-37) of his sons. He had removed the seat of government from Calah to Nineveh, and built there the " peerless " palace, and had provided the city with a system of water-works.

Esar-haddon (681-668 B.C.), Sargon's son, who succeeded him, reversed the policy toward Baby-

lonia. He assumed the title of viceroy 13. Esar- of Babylon, and almost at once set

The events of the reign of Asshur 14. Asshur- banipal (668-626 B.C.; Greek, Sardana-

is clear, however, that his first movement was to the borderland between Elam. and Babylonia, where his presence prevented serious trouble. A new invasion of Egypt was made necessary by Tirhakah's return, the Assyrian forces being gathered partly on the Mediterranean coast. Tirhakah was defeated, and the country occupied this time as far south as Thebes. A new rising which took place almost immediately was as quickly punished in ruthless fashion, and enormous booty was sent home. A third insurrection under the son of the now dead Tirhakah was futile. Tyre had finally submitted and sent tribute. But the story continues of revolts in different parts of the empire which presage its speedy fall. The king was occupied in desperate attempts to maintain himself. Participation in these led to the conquest of Elam up to the very walls of Suss. Even his brother on the throne of Babylon revolted; but Asshurbanipal's movements were swift and sure. Babylon, Borsippa, Sippara, and Cutha were beset; Shamash-shun-ukin in despair burned himself in his own palace; and people from the captured towns were settled in Samaria. A new challenge from Elam was accepted; and finally Sum was taken with immense booty. The usual success attended the king's final campaign in Arabia. The results of this long succession of successful wars was the heaping up of enormous wealth in the cities of Assyria, particularly in Nineveh. The end of a victorious campaign was the transportation of precious metals, works of art, flocks, and herds, and, in the later reigns, of people as slaves to Assyria. The great works of the Assyrian kings were doubtless in great part the product of the toil of captives. And the captors of Nineveh fell heir to this immense wealth. Asshurbanipal's wars were not his only interest. Apart from the palace which he built, the walls of which were lined with sculptured reliefs, he was fond of the hunt, and his contests with lions am frequently portrayed. Most significant for modern times was his interest in literature. His library, uncovered by George Smith, was amassed by the copying of tablets from libraries in the south, and contained works on history, ethics, science, religion, and linguistics.

Asshurbanipai was succeeded by his son Asshuretil-ilani, of whom it is known that he built or re-

stored the temple E-zida in Calah, and 15. Asehur- that during his fourth year he claimed

Successors, Whether a Sin-chum-lishir next reigned 626-606 is not known; but mention of him as a

of Nineveh. The rush of the Scythians, which so terrified western Asia and elicited the prophecies of Nahum and Zephaniah (Driver, Introduction, 5th ed., 1894, pp. 314-320), is to be explained by their alliance with Assyria and a desire to attack Egypt, the king of which, Psammetichus, had assailed Philistia. Their sudden disappearance is as remarkable as their unheralded coming.

The Umman-Manda returned soon to Nineveh. The story of the siege is unknown; but the city fell 607-606 H.e., and its vast treasures became the nucleus of the tremendous wealth of the later Persian empire.' With it fell the empire which twenty-five years earlier had controlled all southwestern Asia.

lonian religions. The reeemblanees are as Religion. follows: (1) The general character of the cults is the same; the liturgies, prayers, psalms are often identical, as are some of the deities. (2) The goddesses are of minor importance in Assyria, appearing .hardly as prominent as in the southern land. Theoretically the gods had consorts; practically these are but shadows and a name. (3) The great exceptions to this in both countries were the Ishtars; to the extent exhibited below, the pantheons were the same, at least in theory (see BABPLONLI). The dissimilarities are: (1) Asshur assumes the character of a national god as far back as he can be traced. (2) His aloofness is a new feature; he in particular seems ever without consort and family.

(3) The next difference needs stating at some length. In their annals the Babylonians laid great stress upon their temple-building, even more than upon wars and the construction of palaces. From the emphasis laid upon religion, and the care taken to house the divinities and provide for their maintenance, the country seems priest-ridden, with the kings devoted first of all to religion. The Assyrians, on the other hand, while indeed they often built or restored temples, devoted much less space to the recital of their operations and put far less emphasis on the story of this activity than on that attending their wars and the construction of their palaces. They seemed less absorbed in their religion, though not less devout when worshiping. It is a case of correctly reading in a lease, abun. dance of matter a lower quality of intensity. Religion seemed less on the Assyrian's mind. (4) The pantheon was much smaller. Tiglath-Pileser I, one of the most pious of Assyrian monarchs, names Asahur, Bel (rarelynamed elsewhere), Sin, Ramman, Ninib, and Ishtar. Shalmaneser II mentions on the obelisk, in addition to the gods of Tiglath-Pileser h Ann, EA, Marduk, Nergal, Nusku, and Belit. It is just the deities mentioned here which were most generally disregarded; and their notice by this king is doubtless to be traced to his attempt to fuse more closely the north and the south.

busehurbaniPal omits Anu, E e, Marduk, and Belit, but mentions two 1ehtam and adds, Nebo. But

a caveat should be entered here, which is justified by knowledge of facts existing in other lands where a similar civilization had been attained; as in Oriental countries generally, so in Assyria there were an aristocratic or official cult and a popular and democratic cult. The pantheon of the kings, particularly of Tiglath-Pileser, represented the former; the peasant and farmer worshiped the gods and spirits of field, tree, and fountain, and these did not get into the inscriptions.

The chief of the Assyrian pantheon, not found in the pantheon of Babylonia, was Assbur. His derivation and origin are obscure, though

Ishtar was in Syria never one, but at least three; she of Nineveh, of Arbea, and of $itmur (a city of which almost nothing is known). The first two were the most

Prominent; and both appear to have been above all goddesses of battle. Ishtar of Kit-

mur ruled in the domain of love. In the south this goddess reached her eminence by absorbing

or assimilating the beings, functions, and rites of local goddesses, such as Nana of Erech, Nina and Ban of Shirpurla, Sarpanit of Babylon, and Anunit. In neither place was she originally a moon-deity; this function appears in late times, and generally in the west after she had become associated, often as consort, with Bag as sun-god. In some cases religious prostitution was associated with her cult; but it was not, as is so often supposed, exclusively or primarily her rite. The origin of name andgoddess is obscure. Nearly, if not quite, all Semitic peoples had a deity of the name, though Athtar of South Arabia was male. The hypothesis of non-Semitic origin seems out of court, in view of the universality of her cult among Semites; and yet no satisfactory Semitic etymology has been found. If she was a loan-goddess, she was borrowed in the prehistoric age of the Semitic peoples. The Ishtar of Nineveh ranked next to Asshur in estimation, was to the Assyrians Belit (" the Lady "), as Asshur was Bel (" the Lord "); yet, as is implied in the foregoing, she was never his consort. " Goddess of Battle," '° Princess of Heaven and Earth," " Queen of All," are titles given her. In the religious literature she is invoked as the " gracious mother of creation, the giver of plenty, hearer of the supplications of the sinner," and as the goddess of fertility. It was partly out of this latter conception that the debasing worship grew which attended her as the Oriental Aphrodite. The functions of the various Ishtars were quite the same; and there is more of the primitive attachment to locality than in the case of Asshur. (See ABHTOBETH.)

The deity who seemed to rank third, at any rate if one may judge by the frequency with which his

name was used in the fdrmation of 4. Ramman. proper names, was Ramman, the

thunderer, god of storms, and probably in consequence of this, also of fertility and fruitfulness. He was identified with Hadad or Adad, a deity of Syria, one of whose principal seats was Aleppo. There has always been considerable doubt whether his name, which in the cuneiform is represented by the sign IM, should be read Ramman or Hadad. The name has been found in the region of Van in the cuneiform written phonetically Hadad, so that it is settled that at least the form common in Syria was known in Assyria and used there. But it is not a necessary conclusion that the sign IM is always to be read Hadad and never Rdmman.

Doubtless the cults of Asshur, Ishtar, and Ramman were those characteristic of Assyria. But the student of religions will always be alert for signs

of sun-worship; and, since Asshur, if g. The Sun- he was indeed originally a sun-deity, gods Sham- had been disassociated from that rehash, Ninib, tionship, it would be expected that and NergaL other deities would represent that phase

of early worship. There were three sun-gods in Assyria who had a more or less prominent position, were derived from the south and were known in both lands as Shamash, Ninib, and Nergal. The first was par excellence the sun-god (of. the Hebr. ahemeah, " sun "); and the splendor

and fervor and inspiration of his ritual tlmost equals that of Asshur, It is practically certain that he had temples in every city. Ninib became connected among the Assyrians with hunting and sports, and then with war. Nergal represented rather the maleficent, destructive power of the sun; he was, therefore, associated with war as the destroyer, with pestilence, and also with the chase.

A religion which derived its elements in large part from a people to whom the moon had been an eminent power would be expected to retain clear traces of that cult. Accordingly Sin, called also Nannar, the pre-Semitic EN-ZU,

6. Sin, the god of wisdom, who had early seats Moon-god. in Ur and Harran, both connected Nusku, the by the Hebrews' tradition with the

of Baby- god Marduk to become domiciled in lonia and Nineveh or Asshur or Calah, for he

The background and undercurrent of Assyrian religion was thoroughly animistic. Omens of all sorts were consulted; magic of formulas and of material, sympathetic and simple, was everywhere;

sorcery was a constant peril and device; spirits evil and good, maleficent and beneficent, swarmed. The diagnosis of disease was recognition of obsession or infliction of suffering or prevention 8. Magic. of health by spirits or deities who must be driven out or exorcised or placated in order to lighten or abolish the suffering or to secure health. The formulas of magic were numerous and potent, the medicine-man or shaman as well as the priest thrived. While for king, nobility, army, and priesthood the great gods were supreme, there are hints even in the annals of the kings, and more decided proof in the collections of magical texts, of apprehensions of the lower powers, of hopes that rested not on the gods. Of incantation tablets a whole series give a ritual of " the evil demons." Parts of the body had their appropriate ritual for their preservation from disease and to banish the spirits which chose them as the spheres of their operations. The formulas arose and became fixed because the occasion which produced them appeared to be recurrent. And, as elsewhere in early religion, the exact letter, word, and intonation were essential to success in using them.

The idea of sin as transgression against the will of the gods was highly developed; and some of the penitential psalms, with the polytheistic expressions eliminated, would fitly express the most pious sentiments of devout Christians in worship of today. The notion of communion between god and man is involved in the elaborate system of omens and oracles which obtained. For ideas of eschatology, the underworld, and future life, see BABYLONIA.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: On the explorations and discoveries: R. W. Rogers, History of Babylonia and Assyria, vol. i, New York, 1900; H. V. Hilpreeht, Explorations in Bible Lands, pp. 1-578, Philadelphia, 1903 (very full and fresh); A. H. Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains, 2 vole., London, 184849 (an old classic and good for geographical and topographical detail), and as a companion piece, H. Rassam, Asshur and the Land of Nimrod, New York, 1897.

On the language: F. Delitzsch. Assyrische Grammatik. Leipsic, 1908, Eng. trawl., 1889; J. Menant, Les Lanpues perdues de la Perse et de 1'Asayrie, Paris, 1885; A. H. Sayce, Primer of Assyriology, New York, 1895 (deals with the people, the language, and the whole subject).

For sours: H. C. Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inecriptions of Western Asia, 5 vols., London, 1881-84; Assyriologiaehe Bibliothek, begun by C. Bezold, continued by F. Dalitzseh and P. Haupt, Leipsic, 1888 sqq.; Schrader, . KB; H. Winekler, Sammlung yon Keilinschriften, Leipsic, 1893 sqq.; J. A. Craig, Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts, 2 vols., ib. 1895-97; C. Johnston, Epistolary Literature o/ Assyrians and Babylonians, Baltimore, 1898; R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Letters, 5 vole., Chicago, 1900-05; idem. Assyrian Literature. New York, 1901.

On chronology: A. Kamphawen, DM Chronolopis der hebrdiechan K6nipe, Bonn. 1883; B. G. Niebuhr, Die CAronolopia . . . Babyloniene and Assyrians. Leipsic. 1898.

On the history the best for the English reader is R. W. Rogers, History of Babylonia and Assyria, ii, New York. 1900; other works are: F. Hommel, Oeschichle BabYloniens and Assyriens, Berlin. 1885; C. P. Tiele, Babyloniackaaayriache Gesehichtt. 1888-88; F. Mardter and F. Delitzseh, Oeschichte won Babylonian and Assyrien. Stuttgart, 1891; H. Winekler, Geachichte Babylonians and Assyriene Leiosio, 1892; idem. Die V61ker Vorderasiena, and Die poiuiwM Enkoiekelunp Babyierliens and Assyrians, in Dar alle Orient, I, i, II, i, ib. 1899-1900; G. Maspero. Dawn

exposition of the Nicene (.'reed, growing up by degrees in Gaul from the fifth century and assuming its present form in the sixth; to this was added perhaps in the eighth or ninth the second half, about whose origin nothing can be certainly said except that it is older than the ninth century. Ommanney and Burn added new material but no new results. An independent French investigation by Morin urged the claims of Pope Anastasius II (496-498).

of Civilization, New York, 1894; idem, The Struggle of the Nations, 1897; idem, The Passing o/ the Empires, 1900; J. F. McCurdy, History, Prophecy and the Monuments, 3 vole., ib. 1894-1901 (gives the parallel development of Israel and the contemporary nations); F. Kaulen, Aseyrien and Babylonjen nach den neuesten Entdeckungen, Frei burg, 1899; L. B. Paton, Early History o/ Syria and Palestine, New York, 1901 (involves the history of As syria); G. S. Goodspeed, History of Babylonians and Assyrians, New York, 1902 (popular).

On special subjects: G. Smith, History of Assurbanipal, London, 1871; W. Lots, Die InwAriften Tiglath-Pilewrs I., Leipsic, 1880; E. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften am Eingange der Quellgrotte des Sebeneh-Su, Berlin, 1885.(on the reliefs of Tiglath-Pileser I, Tiglath-Ninib, and Asshurnasirpal III at Sebneh); S. A. Smith, Die Keilachrifttezte Assurbanipals, Leipsic, 1887-89; H. Winekler, Die Keilaehrifttexte Sargons, ib. 1889; idem, Die Inschriften Tiplat-Pilesers 1., ib.1893; idem, Die Keilschr%fttexte Assurbanipals, ib. 1895; B. Meissner and P. Rost, Die Bauinschri/ten Sanheribs, ib. 1893; P. Rost, Die Keilechrif6 texts Tiglab-Pileaera ill., ib. 1893; D. G. Lyon, Die Keilschrifttexte Sarpons II., in Assyriolopiache Bibliothek, I, iv, ib. 1883; H. Winekler, Altorientalische Forachungen, lit series, ib. 1893 97, 2d series, 1898-1901, 3d series, 1902, in progress (I, i. 1893, on Ysudi; I, iv, 1898, on Muzri; I, vi, 1897, on the Cimmerians; II, i, on Esarhaddon; II, ii, 1898, on Tiglath-Pileser III); O. Weber, Sanherib Kbnip yon Assyrien, n Der alts Orient, ib. 1905; L. W. King, Records of the Reign o/ Tukulti-Ninib l., King of Assyria, London, 1904; F. Delitzsch and P. Haupt, Beitrage zur Asayriologis, ib. 1890-1908 (contains a series of treatises on special topics); on Muzri, Meluhha, and Main, cf. H. Winekler, in Mitteilungen der vorderasiatischen Gesellecha/t, i and iv, 1898, Schrader, KA T, i, 140 eqq., and Winokler, Oeschichte Israeli, i, 150-153, 2 vols., Leipeio, 1895-1900.

On the religion: M. Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898 (revised ed., in German, issued in parts and still in progress. Berlin); J. A. Knudtzon, Aaabriache Gebets an den Sonnengott, Leipsio, 1894; G. Tasks, AltteetamendicAe Theologie, Hanover, 1904; A. S. Geden. Studies in Comparative Religion, London, 1898.

On the relations of Assyriology to the Old Testament: Schrader. KAT. and COT; B. T. A. Evetts. New Light on the Holy Land, ib. 1891; H. Winckler, AMeetamentliche Untemuchunpen, .Leipsic, 1892; A. H. Sayce, Higher Criticism and the Monuments, London, 1894; C. J. Ball, Light from the East, ib. 1899; T. G. Pinches, The Old Testament in the Light of the History . . . o/ Assyria and Babylonia, ib. 1902; H. Winckler, Keilinwhrifaiche Textbush rum Allen Testament, Leipsic, 1903; J. Jeremiss, Das Alle Testament dm Lic1Je des alien Orients, ib. 1904; F. DeHtzseh, Babel and Bibel, Leipsic, 1902, Eng. trawl., Chicago, 1908.

Journals of note containing valuable material are: ZA; Revue d'Assyrsolopie et d'Arehtolopie Orientals, Paris; prientaliache Litteraturzeitunp, Berlin; American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Chicago; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, London; Transactions and PSBA, ib. Consult also the literature under BABYLONIA.

ASTERIUS, as-tyre-us: Name of twenty-five writers mentioned in Fabricius-Harles (Bibliotheca Graca, ix, Hamburg, 1804, 513-522). The following axe the more important:

1. Asterius Urbanus: Montanist, editor of a collection of oracles used by the anti-Montanist mentioned in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., V, xvi, 17.

BIRLIOGRAPHy: A NF, vii, 333-337 (contains introduction and Eng. trawl. of fragments); cf. Eusebius. Hitt. Eccl. by McGiffert, NPNF, 2d series, i, 232, note 27.

2. Asterius of Cappadocia: A teacher of rheto

ric, converted from paganism to Christianity. He

relapsed in the persecution under Maximianus (e.

305), and, notwithstanding the support of the semi

Arian party, could not afterward attain to ecclesi

astical dignities. Theologically he was a disciple

than, that attributed to Bruno of W tlrzburg (d.

W40-the so-called Expositio Fortu

3· Ancient nati. The latter, first published by

Commen- Muratori from the Codex Ambrosiantta

tarleL 79 (eleventh or twelfth century), was

ascribed by most of the earlier inves

tigators to Venantius Fortunatus (d. c. 600), and

regarded as the oldest evidence of the existence of

the Quicunque. At present there are sixteen ex-

3. Bishop of Petra in Arabia. He was originally a follower of Eusebius, but renounced the party at Sardica in 343, and was banished to Libya. In 362 he took part in the synod held at Alexandria.

4. Bishop of Amasia in Pontus from 378; d. before 431. He was a famous pulpit orator of the ancient Greek Church; of his homilies,. which have historical importance, twenty-one are wholly extant, and extracts from six others are given by Photius (codex 271). They are in MPG, xl.

ASTRUC, as"trlic', JEAN: Roman Catholic; b. at Sauve (20 m. w.n.w. of Ntmes, department of Gard), Languedoc, Mar. 19, 1684; d. in Paris May 5, 1766. He was carefully educated by his father, who had been a Protestant pastor, but had been converted to Roman Catholicism; he studied also at Montpellier, where he received the degrees of M.A. and M.D. (1703), lectured at Montpellier, became professor on the medical faculty at Toulouse (1710); and at Montpellier (1717). In 1729 he became physician to King Augustus III of Po· land, returned to France in 1730 as physician to Louis XV, was professor at the royal college in Paris from 1731, and member of the medical faculty there from 1743. He was eminent in his profession and published several medical treatises of value.

The study of skin diseases led him to consider the Pentateuchal laws of the clean and the unclean; and this occasioned the work which entitles him to mention in a theological encyclopedia, a work which is regarded by many modern scholars as pointing out the true path of Pentateuchal investigation. It appeared anonymously (12mo, Brussels, 1753), with the title, Conjectures cur lea mdmoires originaux dont il paroit que Moyae seat aervi pour composer le livre de la G6nhe. Aveo des.remarques qui appuient ou qui klaircisaent ces conjectures, and consists of a preface (pp. 1-2), preliminary remarks (pp 3-24), the Book of Genesis and chapters i and ii of Exodus in French translation from the Geneva folio edition of 1610 arranged according to the supposed m6moires (pp. 25-280), the ° conjectures " proper (pp. 281-495), closing with an index of twenty-eight pages