Chapter 3

century to resist the assaults of Psammetichus, king of Egypt, for twenty-nine years (Herod. ii. 157). Restored by the Roman Gabinius from the ruins to which it had been reduced by the Jewish wars (1 Macc. v. 68, x. 77, xvi. 10), it was presented by Augustus to Salome, the sister of Herod. The only New Testament reference is in Acts viii. 40. Ashdod became the seat of a bishop early in the Christian era, but seems never to have attained any importance as a town. The Mount Azotus of 1 Macc. ix. 15, where Judas Maccabeus fell, is possibly the rising ground on which the village stands. A fine Saracenic kh[=a]n is the principal relic of antiquity at 'Esdud.

AZOV, or Asov (in Turkish, _Asak_), a town of Russia, in the government of the Don Cossacks, on the left bank of the southern arm of the Don, about 20 m. from its mouth. The ancient Tanais lay some 10 m. to the north. In the 13th century the Genoese had a factory here which they called Tana. Azov was long a place of great military and commercial importance. Peter the Great obtained possession of it after a protracted siege in 1696, but in 1711 restored it to the Turks; in 1739 it was finally united to the Russian empire. Since then it has greatly declined, owing to the silting up of its harbour and the competition of Taganrog. Its population, principally engaged in the fisheries, numbered 25,124 in 1900.

AZOV, SEA OF an inland sea of southern Europe, communicating with the Black Sea by the Strait of Yenikale, or Kerch, the ancient _Bosporus Cimmerius_. To the Romans it was known as the _Palus Maeotis_, from the name of the neighbouring people, who called it in their native language _Temarenda_, or Mother of Waters. It was long supposed to possess direct communication with the Northern Ocean. In prehistoric times a connexion with the Caspian Sea existed; but since the earliest historical times no great change has taken place in regard to the character or relations of the Sea of Azov. It lies between 45deg 20' and 47deg 18' N. lat, and between 35deg and 39deg E. long., its length from south-west to north-east being 230 m., and its greatest breadth 110. The area runs to 14,515 sq. m. It generally freezes from November to the middle of April. The Don is its largest and, indeed, its only very important affluent. Near the mouth of that river the depth of the sea varies from 3 to 10 ft., and the greatest depth does not exceed 45 ft. Of recent years, too, the level has been constantly dropping, for the surface lies 4-3/4 ft. higher than the surface of the Black Sea. Fierce and continuous winds from the east prevail during July and August, and in the latter part of the year those from the north-east and south-east are not unusual; a great variety of currents is thus produced. The water is for the most part comparatively fresh, but differs considerably in this respect according to locality and current. Fish are so abundant that the Turks describe it as _Baluk-deniz_, or Fish Sea. To the west, separated from the main basin by the long narrow sand-spit of Arabat, lie the remarkable lagoons and marshes known as the Sivash, or Putrid Sea; here the water is intensely salt. The Sea of Azov is of great importance to Russian commerce; along its shores stand the cities of Taganrog, Berdyansk, Mariupol and Yenikale.

AZOXIMES (furo [a.b.] diazoles), a class of organic compounds which contain the ring system

HC = N N = CH[|]\/[|]O.

They may be prepared by converting nitriles into amidoximes by the action of hydroxylamine, the amidoximes so formed being then acylated by acid chlorides or anhydrides. From these acyl derivatives the elements of water are removed, either by simple heating or by boiling their aqueous solution; this elimination is accompanied by the formation of the azoxime ring. Thus

NH_2OH // N.OH boil with C_6H_5CN --------> C_6H_5.C --------> \ NH_2 propionic anhydride

[ //N.O.COC_2H_5 ] // N.O \ [ C_6H_5C ] --> C_6H_5.C C.C_2H_5. [ \ NH_2 ] \ N //

[v.03 p.0086] Azoximes can also be produced from [alpha]-benzil dioxime by the "Beckmann" change. Most of the azoximes are very volatile substances, sublime readily, and are easily soluble in water, alcohol and benzene.

For detailed descriptions, see F. Tiemann (_Ber._, 1885, 18, p. 1059), O. Schulz (_Ber._, 1885, 18, pp. 1084, 2459), and G. Mueller (_Ber._, 1886, 19, p. 1492); also _Annual Reports_ of the Chemical Society).

AZTECS (from the Nahuatl word _aztlan_, "place of the Heron," or "Heron" people), the native name of one of the tribes that occupied the tableland of Mexico on the arrival of the Spaniards in America. It has been very frequently employed as equivalent to the collective national title of Nahuatlecas or Mexicans. The Aztecs came, according to native tradition, from a country to which they gave the name of Aztlan, usually supposed to lie towards the north-west, but the satisfactory localization of it is one of the greatest difficulties in Mexican history. The date of the exodus from Aztlan is equally undetermined, being fixed by various authorities in the 11th and by others in the 12th century. One Mexican manuscript gives a date equivalent to A.D. 1164. They gradually increased their influence among other tribes, until, by union with the Toltecs, who occupied the tableland before them, they extended their empire to an area of from 18,000 to 20,000 square leagues. The researches of Humboldt gave the first clear insight into the early periods of their history. See MEXICO; NAHUATLAN STOCK.

AZUAGA, a town of western Spain, in the province of Badajoz, on the Belmez-Fuente del Arco railway. Pop. (1900) 14,192. Azuaga is the central market for the live-stock of the broad upland pastures watered by the Matachel, a left-hand tributary of the Guadiana, and by the Bembezar, a right-hand tributary of the Guadalquivir. Coarse woollen goods and pottery are manufactured in the town.

AZUAY (sometimes written ASSUAY), a province of Ecuador, bounded N. by the province of Canar, E. by Oriente, S. by Loja, and W. by El Oro. It was formerly called Cuenca, and formed part of the department of Azuay, which also included the province of Loja. Azuay is an elevated mountainous district with a great variety of climates and products; among the latter are silver, quicksilver, wheat, Indian corn, barley, cattle, wool, cinchona and straw hats. The capital is Cuenca.

AZUNI, DOMENICO ALBERTO (1749-1827), Italian jurist, was born at Sassar, in Sardinia, in 1749. He studied law at Sassari and Turin, and in 1782 was made judge of the consulate at Nice. In 1786-1788 he published his _Dizionario Universale Ragionato della Giurisprudenza Mercantile_. In 1795 appeared his systematic work on the maritime law of Europe, _Sistema Universale dei Principii del Diritto Maritimo dell' Europa_, which he afterwards recast and translated into French. In 1806 he was appointed one of the French commission engaged in drawing up a general code of commercial law, and in the following year he proceeded to Genoa as president of the court of appeal. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, Azuni lived for a time in retirement at Genoa, till he was invited to Sardinia by Victor Emmanuel I., and appointed judge of the consulate at Cagliari, and director of the university library. He died at Cagliari in 1827. Azuni also wrote numerous pamphlets and minor works, chiefly on maritime law, an important treatise on the origin and progress of maritime law (Paris, 1810), and an historical, geographical and political account of Sardinia (1799, enlarged 1802).

AZURARA, GOMES EANNES DE (?-1474), the second notable Portuguese chronicler in order of date. He adopted the career of letters in middle life. He probably entered the royal library as assistant to Fernao Lopes (_q.v._) during the reign of King Duarte (1433-1438), and he had sole charge of it in 1452. His _Chronicle of the Siege and Capture of Ceuta_, a supplement to the _Chronicle of King John I._, by Lopes, dates from 1450, and three years later he completed the first draft of the _Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea_, our authority for the early Portuguese voyages of discovery down the African coast and in the ocean, more especially for those undertaken under the auspices of Prince Henry the Navigator. It contains some account of the life work of that prince, and has a biographical as well as a geographical interest. On the 6th of June 1454 Azurara became chief keeper of the archives and royal chronicler in succession to Fernao Lopes. In 1456 King Alphonso V. commissioned him to write the history of Ceuta, "the land-gate of the East," under the governorship of D. Pedro de Menezes, from its capture in 1415 until 1437, and he had it ready in 1463. A year afterwards the king charged him with a history of the deeds of D. Duarte de Menezes, captain of Alcacer, and, proceeding to Africa, he spent a twelvemonth in the town collecting materials and studying the scenes of the events he was to describe, and in 1468 he completed the chronicle. Alphonso corresponded with Azurara on terms of affectionate intimacy, and no less than three _commendas_ of the order of Christ rewarded his literary services. He has little of the picturesque ingenuousness of Lopes, and loved to display his erudition by quotations and philosophical reflections, showing that he wrote under the influence of the first Renaissance. Nearly all the leading classical, early Christian and medieval writers figure in his pages, and he was acquainted with the notable chronicles and romances of Europe and had studied the best Italian and Spanish authors. In addition, he had mastered the geographical system of the ancients and their astrology. As an historian he is laborious, accurate and conscientious, though his position did not allow him to tell the whole truth about his hero, Prince Henry.

His works include: (1) _Chronica del Rei D. Joam I. Terceira parte em que se contem a tomada de Ceuta_ (Lisbon, 1644); (2) _Chronica do Descobrimento e Conquista de Guine_ (Paris, 1841; Eng. version in 2 vols. issued by the Hakluyt Society, London, 1896-1899); (3) _Chronica do Conde D. Pedro (de Menezes)_, printed in the _Ineditos de Historia Portugueza_, vol. ii. (Lisbon, 1792); (4) _Chronica do Conde D. Duarte de Menezes_, printed in the _Ineditos_, vol. iii. (Lisbon, 1793). The preface to the English version of the _Chronicle of Guinea_ contains a full account of the life and writings of Azurara and cites all the authorities.

(E. PR.)

AZURE (derived, through the Romance languages, from the Arabic _al-lazward_, for the precious stone _lapis lazuli_, the initial _l_ having dropped), the lapis lazuli; and so its colour, blue.

AZURITE, or CHESSYLITE, a mineral which is a basic copper carbonate, 2CuCO_3.Cu(OH)_2. In its vivid blue colour it contrasts strikingly with the emerald-green malachite, also a basic copper carbonate, but containing rather more water and less carbon dioxide. It was known to Pliny under the name _caeruleum_, and the modern name azurite (given by F. S. Beudant in 1824) also has reference to the azure-blue colour; the name chessylite, also in common use, is of later date (1852), and is from the locality, Chessy near Lyons, which has supplied the best crystallized specimens of the mineral. Crystals of azurite belong to the monoclinic system; they have a vitreous lustre and are translucent. The streak is blue, but lighter than the colour of the mineral in mass. Hardness 3-1/2--4; sp. gr. 3.8.

Azurite occurs with malachite in the upper portions of deposits of copper ore, and owes its origin to the alteration of the sulphide or of native copper by water containing carbon dioxide and oxygen. It is thus a common mineral in all copper mines, and sometimes occurs in large masses, as in Arizona and in South Australia, where it has been worked as an ore of copper, of which element it contains 55%. Being less hydrated than malachite it is itself liable to alteration into this mineral, and pseudomorphs of malachite after azurite are not uncommon. Occasionally the massive material is cut and polished for decorative purposes, though the application in this direction is far less extensive than that of malachite.

(L. J. S.)

AZYMITES (Gr. [Greek: a-], without; [Greek: zume], leaven), a name given by the Orthodox Eastern to the Western or Latin Church, because of the latter's use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist, a practice which arose in the 9th century and is also observed by Armenians and Maronites following the Jewish passover custom. The Orthodox Church strenuously maintains its point, arguing that the very name bread, the holiness of the mystery, and the example of Jesus and the early church alike, testify against the use of unleavened bread in this connexion.

[v.03 p.0087]

B This letter corresponds to the second symbol in the Phoenician alphabet, and appears in the same position in all the European alphabets, except those derived, like the Russian, from medieval Greek, in which the pronunciation of this symbol had changed from _b_ to _v_. A new form had therefore to be invented for the genuine _b_ in Slavonic, to which there was, at the period when the alphabet was adopted, no corresponding sound in Greek. The new symbol, which occupies the second position, was made by removing the upper loop of B, thus producing a symbol somewhat resembling an ordinary lowercase b. The old B retained the numerical value of the Greek [beta] as 2, and no numerical value was given to the new symbol. In the Phoenician alphabet the earliest forms are [Two Bs] or more rounded [1]. The rounded form appears also in the earliest Aramaic (see ALPHABET). Like some other alphabetic symbols it was not borrowed by Greek in its original form. In the very early rock inscriptions of Thera (700-600 B.C.), written from right to left; it appears in a form resembling the ordinary Greek [lambda]; this form apparently arose from writing the Semitic symbol upside down. Its form in inscriptions of Melos, Selinus, Syracuse and elsewhere in the 6th and 5th centuries suggests the influence of Aramaic forms in which the head of the letter is opened, [2]. The Corinthian [3], [4] and [5] (also at Corcyra) and the [Two Bs] of Byzantine coins are other adaptations of the same symbol. The form [6] which it takes in the alphabets of Naxos, Delos and other Ionic islands at the same period is difficult to explain. Otherwise its only variation is between pointed and rounded loops ([7] and [8]). The sound which the symbol represents is the voiced stop made by closing the lips and vibrating the vocal chords (see PHONETICS). It differs from _p_ by the presence of vibration of the vocal chords and from _m_ because the nasal passage as well as the lips is closed. When an audible emission of breath attends its production the aspirate _bh_ is formed. This sound was frequent in the pro-ethnic period of the Indo-European languages and survived into the Indo-Aryan languages. According to the system of phonetic changes generally known as "Grimm's law," an original _b_ appears in English as _p_, an original _bh_ as b. An original medial _p_ preceding the chief accent of the word also appears as _b_ in English and the other members of the same group. It is not certain that any English word is descended from an original word beginning with _b_, though it has been suggested that _peg_ is of the same origin as the Latin _baculum_ and the Greek [Greek: baktron]. When the lips are not tightly closed the sound produced is not a stop, but a spirant like the English _w_. In Late Latin there was a tendency to this spirant pronunciation which appears as early as the beginning of the 2nd century A.D.; by the 3rd century _b_ and consonantal _u_ are inextricably confused. When this consonantal _u_ (English _w_ as seen in words borrowed very early from Latin like _wall_ and _wine_) passed into the sound of English _v_ (labio-dental) is not certain, but Germanic words borrowed into Latin in the 5th century A.D. have in their Latin representation _gu_- for Germanic _w_-, _guisa_ corresponding to English _wise_ and reborrowed indirectly as _guise_.

The earliest form of the name of the symbol which we can reach is the Hebrew _beth_, to which the Phoenician must have been closely akin, as is shown by the Greek [Greek: beta], which is borrowed from it with a vowel affixed.

(P. GI.)

BAADER, FRANZ XAVER VON (1765-1841), German philosopher and theologian, born on the 27th of March 1765 at Munich, was the third son of F. P. Baader, court physician to the elector of Bavaria. His brothers were both distinguished--the elder, Clemens, as an author; the second, Joseph (1763-1835), as an engineer. Franz studied medicine at Ingolstadt and Vienna, and for a short time assisted his father in his practice. This life he soon found uncongenial, and decided on becoming a mining engineer. He studied under Abraham Gottlob Werner at Freiberg, travelled through several of the mining districts in north Germany, and for four years, 1792-1796, resided in England. There he became acquainted with the works of Jakob Boehme, and with the ideas of Hume, Hartley and Godwin, which were extremely distasteful to him. The mystical speculations of Meister Eckhart, Saint Martin, and above all those of Boehme, were more in harmony with his mode of thought. In 1796 he returned from England, and in Hamburg became acquainted with F. H. Jacobi, with whom he was for years on terms of friendship. He now learned something of Schelling, and the works he published during this period were manifestly influenced by that philosopher. Yet Baader is no disciple of Schelling, and probably gave out more than he received. Their friendship continued till about the year 1822, when Baader's denunciation of modern philosophy in his letter to the emperor Alexander I. of Russia entirely alienated Schelling.

All this time Baader continued to apply himself to his profession of engineer. He gained a prize of 12,000 gulden (about L1000) for his new method of employing Glauber's salts instead of potash in the making of glass. From 1817 to 1820 he held the post of superintendent of mines, and was raised to the rank of nobility for his services. He retired in 1820, and soon after published one of the best of his works, _Fermenta Cognitionis_, 6 parts, 1822-1825, in which he combats modern philosophy and recommends the study of Boehme. In 1826, when the new university was opened at Munich, he was appointed professor of philosophy and speculative theology. Some of the lectures delivered there he published under the title, _Spekulative Dogmatik_, 4 parts, 1827-1836. In 1838 he opposed the interference in civil matters of the Roman Catholic Church, to which he belonged, and in consequence was, during the last three years of his life, interdicted from lecturing on the philosophy of religion. He died on the 23rd of May 1841.

It is difficult to summarize Baader's philosophy, for he himself generally gave expression to his deepest thoughts in obscure aphorisms, or mystical symbols and analogies (see Ed. Zeller's _Ges. d. deut. Phil._ 732, 736). Further, he has no systematic works; his doctrines exist for the most part in short detached essays, in comments on the writings of Boehme and Saint Martin, or in his extensive correspondence and journals. At the same time there are salient points which mark the outline of his thought. Baader starts from the position that human reason by itself can never reach the end it aims at, and maintains that we cannot throw aside the presuppositions of faith, church and tradition. His point of view may be described as Scholasticism; for, like the scholastic doctors, he believes that theology and philosophy are not opposed sciences, but that reason has to make clear the truths given by authority and revelation. But in his attempt to draw still closer the realms of faith and knowledge he approaches more nearly to the mysticism of Eckhart, Paracelsus and Boehme. Our existence depends on the fact that we are cognized by God (_cogitor ergo cogito et sum_). All self-consciousness is at the same time God-consciousness; our knowledge is never mere _scientia_, it is invariably _con-scientia_--a knowing with, consciousness of, or participation in God. Baader's philosophy is thus essentially a theosophy. God is not to be conceived as mere abstract Being (_substantia_), but as everlasting process, activity (_actus_). Of this process, this self-generation of God, we may distinguish two aspects--the immanent or esoteric, and the emanent or exoteric. God has reality only in so far as He is absolute spirit, and only in so far as the primitive will is conscious of itself can it become spirit at all. But in this very cognition of self is involved the distinction of knower and known, from which proceeds the power to become spirit. This immanent process of self-consciousness, wherein indeed a trinity of persons is not given but only rendered possible, is mirrored in, and takes place through, the eternal and impersonal idea or wisdom of God, which exists beside, though not distinct from, the primitive will. Concrete reality or personality is given to this divine _Ternar_, as Baader calls it, through _nature_, the principle of self-hood, of individual being, which is eternally and necessarily produced by God. Only in nature is the trinity of _persons_ attained. These processes, it must be noticed, are not to be conceived as successive, or as taking place in time; they are to be looked at _sub specie aeternitatis_, as the necessary elements or moments in the self-evolution of the divine Being. Nor is _nature_ to be confounded with created substance, or with matter as it exists in space and time; it is pure non-being, the mere otherness (_alteritas_) of God-his shadow, desire, want, or _desiderium sui_, as it is called by mystical writers. Creation, itself a free and non-temporal act of God's love and will, cannot be speculatively deduced, but must be accepted as an historic [v.03 p.0088] fact. Created beings were originally of three orders--the intelligent or angels; the non-intelligent natural existences; and man, who mediated between these two orders. Intelligent beings are endowed with freedom; it is possible, but not necessary, that they should fall. Hence the fact of the fall is not a speculative but an historic truth. The angels fell through pride--through desire to raise themselves to equality with God; man fell by lowering himself to the level of nature. Only after the fall of man begins the creation of space, time and matter, or of the world as we now know it; and the motive of this creation was the desire to afford man an opportunity for taking advantage of the scheme of redemption, for bringing forth in purity the image of God according to which he has been fashioned. The physical philosophy and anthropology which Baader, in connexion with this, unfolds in various works, is but little instructive, and coincides in the main with the utterances of Boehme. In nature and in man he finds traces of the dire effects of sin, which has corrupted both and has destroyed their natural harmony. As regards ethics, Baader rejects the Kantian or any autonomic system of morals. Not obedience to a moral law, but realization in ourselves of the divine life is the true ethical end. But man has lost the power to effect this by himself; he has alienated himself from God, and therefore no ethical theory which neglects the facts of sin and redemption is satisfactory or even possible. The history of man and of humanity is the history of the redeeming love of God. The means whereby we put ourselves so in relation with Christ as to receive from Him his healing virtue are chiefly prayer and the sacraments of the church; mere works are never sufficient. Man in his social relations is under two great institutions. One is temporal, natural and limited--the state; the other is eternal, cosmopolitan and universal--the church. In the state two things are requisite: first, common submission to the ruler, which can be secured or given only when the state is Christian, for God alone is the true ruler of men; and, secondly, inequality of rank, without which there can be no organization. A despotism of mere power and liberalism, which naturally produces socialism, are equally objectionable. The ideal state is a civil community ruled by a universal or Catholic church, the principles of which are equally distinct from mere passive pietism, or faith which will know nothing, and from the Protestant doctrine, which is the very radicalism of reason.

Baader is, without doubt, among the greatest speculative theologians of modern Catholicism, and his influence has extended itself even beyond the precincts of his own church. Among those whom he influenced were R. Rothe, Julius Mueller and Hans L. Markensen.

His works were collected and published by a number of his adherents--F. Hoffman, J. Hamberger, E. v. Schaden, Lutterbeck, von Osten-Sacken and Schlueter--_Baader's saemmtliche Werke_ (16 vols., 1851-1860). Valuable introductions by the editors are prefixed to the several volumes. Vol. xv. contains a full biography; vol. xvi. an index, and an able sketch of the whole system by Lutterbeck. See F. Hoffmann, _Vorhalle zur spekulativen Lehre Baader's_ (1836); _Grundzuege der Societaets-Philosophie Franz Baader's_ (1837); _Philosophische Schriften_ (3 vols., 1868-1872); _Die Weltalter_ (1868); _Biographie und Briefwechsel_ (Leipzig, 1887); J. Hamberger, _Cardinalpunkte der Baaderschen Philosophie_ (1855); _Fundamentalbegriffe von F. B.'s Ethik, Politik, u. Religions-Philosophie_ (1858); J. A. B. Lutterbeck, _Philosophische Standpunkte Baaders_ (1854); _Baaders Lehre vom Weltgebaeude_ (1866). The most satisfactory surveys are those given by Erdmann, _Versuch einer Gesch. d. neuern Phil._ iii. 2, pp. 583-636; J. Claassen, _Franz von Baaders Leben und theosophische Werke_ (Stuttgart, 1886-1887), and _Franz von Baaders Gedanken ueber Staat und Gesellschaft_ (Guetersloh, 1890); Otto Pfleiderer, _Philosophy of Religion_ (vol. ii., Eng. trans. 1887); R. Falckenberg, _History of Philosophy_, pp. 472-475 (trans. A. C. Armstrong, New York, 1893); Reichel, _Die Sozietaetsphilosophie Franz v. Baaders_ (Tuebingen, 1901); Kuno Fischer, _Zur hundertjaehrigen Geburtstagfeier Baaders_ (Erlangen, 1865).

BAAL, a Semitic word, which primarily signifies lord, owner or inhabitant,[9] and then, in accordance with the Semitic way of looking at family and religious relations, is specially appropriated to express the relation of a husband to his wife and of the deity to his worshipper. In the latter usage it indicated not that the god was the lord of the worshipper, but rather the possessor of, or ruler in, some place or district. In the Old Testament it is regularly written with the article, _i.e._ "_the_ Baal"; and the baals of different tribes or sanctuaries were not necessarily conceived as identical, so that we find frequent mention of Baalim, or rather "_the_ Baalim" in the plural. That the Israelites even applied the title of Baal to Yahweh himself is proved by the occurrence of such names as Jerubbaal (Gideon), Eshbaal (one of Saul's sons) and Beeliada (a son of David, 1 Chron. xiv. 7). The last name appears in 2 Sam. v. 16 as Eliada, showing that El (God) was regarded as equivalent to Baal; cf. also the name Be'aliah, "Yahweh is _baal_ or lord," which survives in 1 Chron. xii. 5. However, when the name Baal was exclusively appropriated to idolatrous worship (cf. Hos. ii. 16 seq.), abhorrence for the unholy word was marked by writing _b[=o]sheth_ (shameful thing) for _baal_ in compound proper names, and thus we get the usual forms Ishbosheth, Mephibosheth.

The great difficulty which has been felt by investigators in determining the character and attributes of the god Baal mainly arises from the original appellative sense of the word, and many obscure points become clear if we remember that when a title becomes a proper name it may be appropriated by different peoples to quite distinct deities. Baal being originally a title, and not a proper name, the innumerable baals could be distinguished by the addition of the name of a place or of some special attribute.[10] Accordingly, the baals are not to be regarded necessarily as local variations of one and the same god, like the many Virgins or Madonnas of Catholic lands, but as distinct _numina_. Each community could speak of its own baal, although a collection of allied communities might share the same cult, and naturally, since the attributes ascribed to the individual baals were very similar, subsequent syncretism was facilitated.

The Baal, as the head of each worshipping group, is the source of all the gifts of nature (cf. Hos. ii. 8 seq., Ezek. xvi. 19); as the god of fertility all the produce of the soil is his, and his adherents bring to him their tribute of first-fruits. He is the patron of all growth and fertility, and, by the "uncontrolled use of analogy characteristic of early thought," the Baal is the god of the productive element in its widest sense. Originating probably, in the observation of the fertilizing effect of rains and streams upon the receptive and reproductive soil, baalism becomes identical with the grossest nature-worship. Joined with the baals there are naturally found corresponding female figures known as Asht[=a]r[=o]th, embodiments of Asht[=o]reth (see ASTARTE; ISHTAR). In accordance with primitive notions of analogy,[11] which assume that it is possible to control or aid the powers of nature by the practice of "sympathetic magic" (see MAGIC), the cult of the baals and Asht[=a]r[=o]th was characterized by gross sensuality and licentiousness.

The fragmentary allusions to the cult of Baal Peor (Num. xxv., Hos. ix. 10, Ps. cvi. 28 seq.) exemplify the typical species of Dionysiac orgies that prevailed.[12] On the summits of hills and mountains flourished the cult of the givers of increase, and "under every green tree" was practised the licentiousness which in primitive thought was held to secure abundance of crops (see Frazer, _Golden Bough_, 2nd ed. vol. ii. pp. 204 sqq.). Human sacrifice (Jer. xix. 5), the burning of incense (Jer. vii. 9), violent and ecstatic exercises, ceremonial acts of bowing and kissing, the preparing of sacred mystic cakes, appear among the offences denounced by the Israelite prophets, and show that the cult of Baal (and Astarte) included the characteristic features of heathen worship which recur in various parts of the Semitic world, although attached to other names.[13]

By an easy transition the local gods of the streams and springs which fertilized the increase of the fields became identified with [v.03 p.0089] the common source of all streams, and proceeding along this line it was possible for the numerous baals to be regarded eventually as mere forms of one absolute deity. Consequently, the Baal could be identified with some supreme power of nature, _e.g._ the heavens, the sun, the weather or some planet. The particular line of development would vary in different places, but the change from an association of the Baal with earthly objects to heavenly is characteristic of a higher type of belief and appears to be relatively later. The idea which has long prevailed that Baal was properly a sky-god affords no explanation of the local character of the many baals; on the other hand, on the theory of a higher development where the gods become heavenly or astral beings, the fact that ruder conceptions of nature were still retained (often in the unofficial but more popular forms of cult) is more intelligible.

A specific Baal of the heavens appears to have been known among the Hittites in the time of Rameses II., and considerably later, at the beginning of the 7th century, it was the title of one of the gods of Phoenicia. In Babylonia, from a very early period, Baal became a definite individual deity, and was identified with the planet Jupiter. This development is a mark of superior culture and may have been spread through Babylonian influence. Both Baal and Astarte were venerated in Egypt at Thebes and Memphis in the XIXth Dynasty, and the former, through the influence of the Aramaeans who borrowed the Babylonian spelling Bel, ultimately became known as the Greek Belos who was identified with Zeus.

Of the worship of the Tyrian Baal, who is also called Melkart (king of the city), and is often identified with the Greek Heracles, but sometimes with the Olympian Zeus, we have many accounts in ancient writers, from Herodotus downwards. He had a magnificent temple in insular Tyre, founded by Hiram, to which gifts streamed from all countries, especially at the great feasts. The solar character of this deity appears especially in the annual feast of his awakening shortly after the winter solstice (Joseph. _C. Apion._ i. 18). At Tyre, as among the Hebrews, Baal had his symbolical pillars, one of gold and one of smaragdus, which, transported by phantasy to the farthest west, are still familiar to us as the Pillars of Hercules. The worship of the Tyrian Baal was carried to all the Phoenician colonies.[14] His name occurs as an element in Carthaginian proper names (Hanni_bal_, Hasdru_bal_, &c.), and a tablet found at Marseilles still survives to inform us of the charges made by the priests of the temple of Baal for offering sacrifices.

The history of Baalism among the Hebrews is obscured by the difficulty of determining whether the false worship which the prophets stigmatize is the heathen worship of Yahweh under a conception, and often with rites, which treated him as a local nature god; or whether Baalism was consciously recognized to be distinct from Yahwism from the first. Later religious practice was undoubtedly opposed to that of earlier times, and attempts were made to correct narratives containing views which had come to be regarded as contrary to the true worship of Yahweh. The Old Testament depicts the history of the people as a series of acts of apostasy alternating with subsequent penitence and return to Yahweh, and the question whether this gives effect to actual conditions depends upon the precise character of the elements of Yahweh worship brought by the Israelites into Palestine. This is still under dispute. There is strong evidence at all events that many of the conceptions are contrary to historical fact, and the points of similarity between native Canaanite cult and Israelite worship are so striking that only the persistent traditions of Israel's origin and of the work of Moses compel the conclusion that the germs of specific Yahweh worship existed from his day. The earliest certain reaction against Baalism is ascribed to the reign of Ahab, whose marriage with Jezebel gave the impulse to the introduction of a particular form of the cult. In honour of his wife's god, the king, following the example of Solomon, erected a temple to the Tyrian Baal (see above). This, however, did not prevent him from remaining a follower of Yahweh, whose prophets he still consulted, and whose protection he still cherished when he named his sons Ahaziah and Jehoram ("Yah[weh] holds," "Y. is high"). The antagonism of Elijah was not against Baalism in general, but against the introduction of a rival deity. But by the time of Hosea (ii. 16 seq.) a further advance was marked, and the use of the term "Baal" was felt to be dangerous to true religion. Thus there gradually grew up a tendency to avoid the term, and in accordance with the idea of Ex. xxiii. 13, it was replaced by the contemptuous _b[=o]sheth_, "shame" (see above). However, the books of Deuteronomy and Jeremiah (cf. also Zeph. i. 4) afford complete testimony for the prevalence of Baalism as late as the exile, but prove that the clearest distinction was then drawn between the pure worship of Yahweh the god of Israel and the inveterate and debased cults of the gods of the land. (See further HEBREW RELIGION; PROPHET.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--W. Robertson Smith, _Relig. Semites_, 2nd ed. pp. 93-113 (against his theory of the introduction of Baal among the Arabs see M. J. Lagrange, _Etudes d. relig. sem._ pp. 83-98). For the reading "Baal" in the Amarna tablets (Palestine, about 1400 B.C.) see Knudtzon, _Beitr. z. Assyriol._ (1901), pp. 320 seq., 415; other cuneiform evidence in E. Schrader's _Keilinsch. u. Alte Test._ 3rd ed. p. 357 (by H. Zimmern; see also his _Index_, sub voce). On _Baal-Shamem_ (B. of the heavens) M. Lidzbarski's monograph (_Ephemeris_, i. 243-260, ii. 120) is invaluable, and this work, with his _Handbuch d. nordsemit. Epigraphik_, contains full account of the epigraphical material. See Baethgen, _Beitr. z. semit. Religionsgesch._ pp. 17-32; also the articles on Baal by E. Meyer in Roscher's _Lexikon_, and G. F. Moore in _Ency. Bib._ (On _Beltane_ fires and other apparent points of connexion with Baal it may suffice to refer to Aug. Fick, _Vergleich. Worterbuch_, who derives the element _bel_ from an old Celtic root meaning shining, &c.)

(W. R. S.; S. A. C.)

[1] Cf. its use as a noun of relation _e.g._ a _ba'al_ of hair, "a hairy man" (2 Kings i. 8), _b._ of wings, "a winged creature," and in the plural, _b._ of arrows, "archers" (Gen. xlix. 23), _b._ of oath, "conspirators" (Neh. vi. 18).

[2] Compounds with geographical terms (towns, mountains), _e.g._ Baal of Tyre, of Lebanon, &c., are frequent; see G. B. Gray, _Heb. Proper Names,_ pp. 124-126. Baal-berith or El-berith of Shechem (Judg. ix. 4, 46) is usually interpreted to be the Baal or God of the covenant, but whether of covenants in general or of a particular covenant concluded at Shechem is disputed. The [Greek: Balmarkos] (near Beirut) apparently presided over dancing; another compound (in Cyprus) seems to represent a Baal of healing. On the "Baal of flies" see BEELZEBUB.

[3] The general analogy shows itself further in the idea of the deity as the husband (_ba'al_) of his worshippers or of the land in which they dwell. The Astarte of Gabal (Byblus) was regularly known as the _ba'alath_ (fem. of _baal_), her real name not being pronounced (perhaps out of reverence).

[4] See further Clermont-Ganneau, _Pal. Explor. Fund Quart. Stat._, 1901, pp. 239, 369 sqq.; Buechler, _Rev. d'etudes juives_, 1901, pp. 125 seq.

[5] The extent to which elements of heathen cult entered into purer types of religion is illustrated in the worship of Yahweh. The sacred cakes of Astarte and old holy wells associated with her cult were later even transferred to the worship of the Virgin (_Ency. Bib._ col. 3993; Rouvier, in _Bull. Archeol._, 1900, p. 170).

[6] The sanctuary of Heracles at Daphne near Antioch was properly that of the Semitic Baal, and at Amathus Jupiter Hospes takes the place of Heracles or Malika, in which the Tyrian Melkart is to be recognized (W. R. Smith, _Rel. Sem._ 2nd ed. pp. 178, 376). See further PHOENICIA.

BAALBEK (anc. _Heliopolis_), a town of the Buka'a (Coelesyria), altitude 3850 ft., situated E. of the Litani and near the parting between its waters and those of the Asi. Pop. about 5000, including 2000 Metawali and 1000 Christians (Maronite and Orthodox). Since 1902 Baalbek has been connected by railway with Rayak (Rejak) on the Beirut-Damascus line, and since 1907 with Aleppo. It is famous for its temple ruins of the Roman period, before which we have no record of it, certain though it be that Heliopolis is a translation of an earlier native name, in which Baal was an element. It has been suggested, but without good reason, that this name was the Baalgad of Josh. xi. 17.

Heliopolis was made a _colonia_ probably by Octavian (coins of 1st century A.D.), and there must have been a Baal temple there in which Trajan consulted the oracle. The foundation of the present buildings, however, dates from Antoninus Pius, and their dedication from Septimius Severus, whose coins first show the two temples. The great courts of approach were not finished before the reigns of Caracalla and Philip. In commemoration, no doubt, of the dedication of the new sanctuaries, Severus conferred the _jus Italicum_ on the city. The greater of the two temples was sacred to Jupiter (Baal), identified with the Sun, with whom were associated Venus and Mercury as [Greek: sumbomoi theoi]. The lesser temple was built in honour of Bacchus (not the Sun, as formerly believed). Jupiter-Baal was represented locally as a beardless god in long scaly drapery, holding a whip in his right hand and lightning and ears of corn in his left. Two bulls supported him. In this guise he passed into European worship in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. The extreme licence of the Heliopolitan worship is often animadverted upon by early Christian writers, and Constantine, making an effort to curb the Venus cult, built a basilica. Theodosius erected another, with western apse, in the main court of the Jupiter temple.

When Abu Ubaida (or Obaida) attacked the place after the Moslem capture of Damascus (A.D. 635), it was still an opulent city and yielded a rich booty. It became a bone of contention between the various Syrian dynasties and the caliphs first of Damascus, then of Egypt, and in 748 was sacked with great slaughter. In 1090 it passed to the Seljuks, and in 1134 to Jenghiz Khan; but after 1145 it remained attached to Damascus and was captured by Saladin in 1175. The Crusaders raided its valley more than once, but never took the city. Three times shaken by earthquake in the 12th century, it was dismantled by Hulagu in 1260. But it revived, and most of its fine Moslem mosque and fortress architecture, still extant, belongs to the [v.03 p.0090] reign of Sultan Kala[=u]n (1282) and the succeeding century, during which Abulfeda describes it as a very strong place. In 1400 Timur pillaged it, and in 1517 it passed, with the rest of Syria, to the Ottoman dominion. But Ottoman jurisdiction was merely nominal in the Lebanon district, and Baalbek was really in the hands of the Metawali (see LEBANON), who retained it against other Lebanon tribes, until "Jezzar" Pasha, the rebel governor of the Acre province, broke their power in the last half of the 18th century. The anarchy which succeeded his death in 1804 was only ended by the Egyptian occupation (1832). With the treaty of London (1840) Baalbek became really Ottoman, and since the settlement of the Lebanon (1864) has attracted great numbers of tourists.

The ruins were brought to European notice by Pierre Belon in 1555, though previously visited, in 1507, by Martin von Baumgarten. Much damaged by the earthquake of 1759, they remained a wilderness of fallen blocks till 1901, when their clearance was undertaken by the German Archaeological Institute and entrusted to the direction of Prof. O. Puchstein. They lie mainly on the ancient Acropolis, which has been shored up with huge walls to form a terrace raised on vaults and measuring about 1100 ft. from E. to W. The _Propylaea_ lie at the E. end, and were approached by a flight of steps now quarried away. These propylaea formed a covered hall, or vestibule, about 35 ft. deep, flanked with towers richly decorated within and without (much damaged by Arab reconstruction). Columns stood in front, whose bases still exist and bear the names of Antoninus Pius and Julia Domna. Hence, through a triple gateway in a richly ornamented screen, access is gained to the first or Hexagonal Court, which measures about 250 ft. from angle to angle. It is now razed almost to foundation level; but it can be seen that it was flanked with halls each having four columns in front. A portal on the W., 50 ft. wide, flanked by lesser ones 10 ft. wide (that on the N. is alone preserved), admitted to the Main Court, in whose centre was the High Altar of Burnt Sacrifice. This altar and a great tank on the N. were covered by the foundations of Theodosius' basilica and not seen till the recent German clearance. The Main Court measures about 440 ft. from E. to W. and 370 ft. from N. to S., thus covering about 3-1/2 acres. It had a continuous fringe of covered halls of various dimensions and shapes, once richly adorned with statues and columnar screens. Some of these halls are in fair preservation. Stairs on the W. led up to the temple of Jupiter-Baal, now much ruined, having only 6 of the 54 columns of its peristyle erect. Three fell in the earthquake of 1759. Those still standing are Nos. 11 to 16 in the southern rank. Their bases and shafts are not finished, though the capitals and rich entablature seem completely worked. They have a height of 60 ft. and diameter of 7-1/2 ft., and are mostly formed of three blocks. The architrave is threefold and bears a frieze with lion-heads, on which rest a moulding and cornice.

The temple of Bacchus stood on a platform of its own formed by a southern projection of the Acropolis. It was much smaller than the Jupiter temple, but is better preserved. The steps of the E. approach were intact up to 1688. The temple was peripteral with 46 columns in its peristyle. These were over 52 ft. in height and of the Corinthian order, and supported an entablature 7 ft. high with double frieze, connected with the cella walls by a coffered ceiling, which contained slabs with heads of gods and emperors. Richard Burton, when consul-general at Damascus in 1870, cleared an Arab screen out of the vestibule, and in consequence the exquisite doorway leading into the cella can now be well seen. On either side of it staircases constructed within columns lead to the roof. The cracked door-lintel, which shows an eagle on the soffit, was propped up first by Burton, and lately, more securely, by the Germans. The cella, now ruinous, had inner wall-reliefs and engaged columns, which supported rich entablatures.

The vaults below the Great Court of the Jupiter Temple, together with the supporting walls of the terrace, are noticeable. In the W. wall of the latter occur the three famous megaliths, which gave the name _Trilithon_ to the Jupiter temple in Byzantine times. These measure from 63 to 64 ft. in length and 13 ft. in height and breadth, and have been raised 20 ft. above the ground. They are the largest blocks known to have been used in actual construction, but are excelled by another block still attached to its bed in the quarries half a mile S.W. This is 68 ft. long by 14 ft. high and weighs about 1500 tons. For long these blocks were supposed, even by European visitors, to be relics of a primeval race of giant builders.

In the town, below the Acropolis, on the S.E. is a small temple of the late imperial age, consisting of a semicircular cella with a peristyle of eight Corinthian columns, supporting a projecting entablature. The cella is decorated without with a frieze, and within with pillars and arcading. This temple owes its preservation to its use as a church of St Barbara, a local martyr, also claimed by the Egyptian Heliopolis. Hence the building is known as Barbarat al-atika. Considerable remains of the N. gate of the city have also been exposed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--These vast ruins, more imposing from their immensity than pleasing in detail, have been described by scores of travellers and tourists; but it will be sufficient here to refer to the following works:--(First discoverers) M. von Baumgarten, _Peregrinatio in ... Syriam_ (1594); P. Belon, _De admirabili operum antiquorum praestantia_ (1553); and _Observations_, &c. (1555). (Before earthquake of 1759) R. Wood, _Ruins of Baalbec_ (1757). (Before excavation) H. Frauberger, _Die Akropolis von Baalbek_ (1892). (After excavation) O. Puchstein, _Fuehrer durch die Ruinen v. Baalbek_ (1905), (with Th. v. Luepke) _Ansichten_, &c. (1905). See also R. Phene Spiers, _Quart. Stat. Pal. Exp. Fund_, 1904, pp. 58-64, and the _Builder_, 11 Feb. 1905.

(D. G. H.)

BAARN, a small town in the province of Utrecht, Holland, 5 m. by rail E. of Hilversum, at the junction of a branch line to Utrecht. Like Hilversum it is situated in the midst of picturesque and wooded surroundings, and is a favourite summer resort of people from Amsterdam. The Baarnsche Bosch, or wood, stretches southward to Soestdyk, where there is a royal [v.03 p.0091] country-seat, originally acquired by the state in 1795. Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland, who was very fond of the spot, formed a zoological collection here which was removed to Amsterdam in 1809. In 1816 the estate was presented by the nation to the prince of Orange (afterwards King William II.) in recognition of his services at the battle of Quatre Bras. Since then the palace and grounds have been considerably enlarged and beautified. Close to Baarn in the south-west were formerly situated the ancient castles of Drakenburg and Drakenstein, and at Vuursche there is a remarkable dolmen.

BABADAG, or BABATAG, a town in the department of Tulcea, Rumania; situated on a small lake formed by the river Taitza among the densely wooded highlands of the northern Dobrudja. Pop. (1900) about 3500. The Taitza lake is divided only by a strip of marshland from Lake Razim, a broad landlocked sheet of water which opens on the Black Sea. Babadag is a market for the wool and mutton of the Dobrudja. It was founded by Bayezid I., sultan of the Turks from 1389 to 1403. It occasionally served as the winter headquarters of the Turks in their wars with Russia, and was bombarded by the Russians in 1854.

BABBAGE, CHARLES (1792-1871), English mathematician and mechanician, was born on the 26th of December 1792 at Teignmouth in Devonshire. He was educated at a private school, and afterwards entered St Peter's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1814. Though he did not compete in the mathematical tripos, he acquired a great reputation at the university. In the years 1815-1817 he contributed three papers on the "Calculus of Functions" to the _Philosophical Transactions_, and in 1816 was made a fellow of the Royal Society. Along with Sir John Herschel and George Peacock he laboured to raise the standard of mathematical instruction in England, and especially endeavoured to supersede the Newtonian by the Leibnitzian notation in the infinitesimal calculus. Babbage's attention seems to have been very early drawn to the number and importance of the errors introduced into astronomical and other calculations through inaccuracies in the computation of tables. He contributed to the Royal Society some notices on the relation between notation and mechanism; and in 1822, in a letter to Sir H. Davy on the application of machinery to the calculation and printing of mathematical tables, he discussed the principles of a calculating engine, to the construction of which he devoted many years of his life. Government was induced to grant its aid, and the inventor himself spent a portion of his private fortune in the prosecution of his undertaking. He travelled through several of the countries of Europe, examining different systems of machinery; and some of the results of his investigations were published in the admirable little work, _Economy of Machines and Manufactures_ (1834). The great calculating engine was never completed; the constructor apparently desired to adopt a new principle when the first specimen was nearly complete, to make it not a difference but an analytical engine, and the government declined to accept the further risk (see CALCULATING MACHINES). From 1828 to 1839 Babbage was Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge. He contributed largely to several scientific periodicals, and was instrumental in founding the Astronomical (1820) and Statistical (1834) Societies. He only once endeavoured to enter public life, when, in 1832, he stood unsuccessfully for the borough of Finsbury. During the later years of his life he resided in London, devoting himself to the construction of machines capable of performing arithmetical and even algebraical calculations. He died at London on the 18th of October 1871. He gives a few biographical details in his _Passages from the Life of a Philosopher_ (1864), a work which throws considerable light upon his somewhat peculiar character. His works, pamphlets and papers were very numerous; in the _Passages_ he enumerates eighty separate writings. Of these the most important, besides the few already mentioned, are _Tables of Logarithms_ (1826); _Comparative View of the Various Institutions for the Assurance of Lives_ (1826); _Decline of Science in England_ (1830); _Ninth Bridgewater Treatise_ (1837); _The Exposition of 1851_ (1851).

See _Monthly Notices, Royal Astronomical Society_, vol. 32.

BABEL, the native name of the city called Babylon (_q.v._) by the Greeks, the modern _Hillah_. It means "gate of the god," not "gate of the gods," corresponding to the Assyrian _B[=a]b-ili_. According to Gen. xi 1-9 (J), mankind, after the deluge, travelled from the mountain of the East, where the ark had rested, and settled in Shinar. Here they attempted to build a city and a tower whose top might reach unto heaven, but were miraculously prevented by their language being confounded. In this way the diversity of human speech and the dispersion of mankind were accounted for; and in Gen.