Chapter X: Part 10

_Ethnology._--None of the conquering races that invaded Asia Minor, whether from the east or from the west, wholly expelled or exterminated the race in possession. The vanquished retired to the hills or absorbed the victors. In the course of ages race distinction has been almost obliterated by fusion of blood; by the complete Hellenization of the country, which followed the introduction of Christianity; by the later acceptance of Islam; and by migrations due to the occupation of cultivated lands by the nomads. It will be convenient here to adopt the modern division into Moslems, Christians and Jews:--(a) _Moslems._ The Turks never established themselves in such numbers as to form the predominant element in the population. Where the land was unsuitable for nomad occupation the agricultural population remained, and it still retains some of its original characteristics. Thus in Cappadocia the facial type of the non-Aryan race is common, and in Galatia there are traces of Gallic blood. The Zeibeks of the west and south-west are apparently representatives of the Carians and Lycians; and the peasants of the Black Sea coast range of the people of Bithynia, Paphlagonia and Pontus. Wherever the people accepted Islam they called themselves Turks, and a majority of the so-called "Turks" belong by blood to the races that occupied Asia Minor before the Seljuk invasion. Turkish and Zaza-speaking Kurds (see KURDISTAN) are found in the Angora and Sivas vilayets. There are many large colonies of Circassians and smaller ones of Noghai (Nogais), Tatars, Georgians, Lazis, Cossacks, Albanians and Pomaks. East of Boghaz Keui there is a compact population of Kizilbash, who are partly descendants of Shia Turks transplanted from Persia and partly of the indigenous race. In the Cilician plain there are large settlements of Nosairis who have migrated from the Syrian mountains (see SYRIA). The nomads and semi-nomads are, for the most part, representatives of the Turks, Mongols and Tatars who poured into the country during the 350 years that followed the defeat of Romanus. Turkomans are found in the Angora and Adana vilayets; Avshars, a tribe of Turkish origin, in the valleys of Anti-Taurus; and Tatars in the Angora and Brusa vilayets; Yuruks are most numerous in the Konia vilayet. They speak Turkish and profess to be Moslems, but have no mosques or imams. The Turkomans have villages in which they spend the winter, wandering over the great plains of the interior with their flocks and herds during the summer. The Yuruks on the contrary are a truly nomad race. Their tents are made of black goats' hair and their principal covering is a cloak of the same material. They are not limited to the milder districts of the interior, but when the harvest is over, descend into the rich plains and valleys near the coast. The Chepmi and Takhtaji, who live chiefly in the Aidin vilayet, appear to be derived from one of the early races. (b) _Christians._ The Greeks are in places the descendants of colonists from Greece, many of whom, e.g. in Pamphylia and the Smyrna district, are of very recent importation; but most of them belong by blood to the indigenous races. These people became "Greeks" as being subjects of the Byzantine empire and members of the Eastern Church. On the west coast, in Pontus and to some extent of late in Cappadocia, and in the mining villages, peopled from the Trebizond Greeks, the language is Romaic; on the south coast and in many inland villages (e.g. in Cappadocia) it is either Turkish, which is written in Greek characters, or a Greco-Turkish jargon. In and near Smyrna there are large colonies of Hellenes. Armenians are most numerous in the eastern districts, where they have been settled since the great migration that preceded and followed the Seljuk invasion. There are, however, Armenians in every large town. In central and western Asia Minor they are the descendants of colonists from Persia and Armenia (see ARMENIA), (c) The _Jews_ live chiefly on the Bosporus; and in Smyrna, Rhodes, Brusa and other western towns. _Gypsies_--some Moslem, some Christian--are also numerous, especially in the south.

_History._--Asia Minor owes the peculiar interest of its history to its geographical position. "Planted like a bridge between Asia and Europe," it has been from the earliest period a battleground between the East and the West. The central plateau (2500 to 4500 ft.), with no navigable river and few natural approaches, with its monotonous scenery and severe climate, is a continuation of central Asia. The west coast, with its alternation of sea and promontory, of rugged mountains and fertile valleys, its bright and varied scenery, and its fine climate, is almost a part of Europe. These conditions are unfavourable to permanence, and the history of Asia Minor is that of the march of hostile armies, and rise and fall of small states, rather than that of a united state under an independent sovereign. At a very early period Asia Minor appears to have been occupied by non-Aryan tribes or races which differed little from each other in religion, language and social system. During the past generation much light has been thrown upon one of these races--the "Hittites" or "Syro-Cappadocians," who, after their rule had passed away, were known to Herodotus as "White Syrians," and whose descendants can still be recognised in the villages of Cappadocia.[1] The centre of their power is supposed to have been Boghaz Keui (see PTERIA), east of the Halys, whence roads radiated to harbours on the Aegean, to Sinope, to northern Syria and to the Cilician plain. Their strange sculptures and inscriptions have been found at Pteria, Euyuk, Fraktin, Kiz Hissar (Tyana), Ivriz, Bulgar, Muden and other places between Smyrna and the Euphrates (see HITTITES). When the great Aryan immigration from Europe commenced is unknown, but it was dying out in the 11th and 10th centuries B.C. In Phrygia the Aryans founded a kingdom, of which traces remain in various rock tombs, forts and towns, and in legends preserved by the Greeks. The Phrygian power was broken in the 9th or 8th century B.C. by the Cimmerii, who entered Asia Minor through Armenia; and on its decline rose the kingdom of Lydia, with its centre at Sardis. A second Cimmerian invasion almost destroyed the rising kingdom, but the invaders were expelled at last by Alyattes, 617 B.C. (see SCYTHIA). The last king, Croesus (? 560-546 B.C.) carried the boundaries of Lydia to the Halys, and subdued the Greek colonies on the coast. The date of the foundation of these colonies cannot be fixed; but at an early period they formed a chain of settlements from Trebizond to Rhodes, and by the 8th century B.C. some of them rivalled the splendour of Tyre and Sidon. Too jealous of each other to combine, and too demoralized by luxury to resist, they fell an easy prey to Lydia; and when the Lydian kingdom ended with the capture of Sardis by Cyrus, 546 B.C. they passed, almost without resistance, to Persia. Under Persian rule Asia Minor was divided into four satrapies, but the Greek cities were governed by Greeks, and several of the tribes in the interior retained their native princes and priest-dynasts. An attempt of the Greeks to regain their freedom was crushed, 500-494 B.C., but later the tide turned and the cities were combined with European Greeks into a league for defence against the Persians. The weakness of Persian rule was disclosed by the expedition of Cyrus and the Ten Thousand Greeks, 402 B.C.; and in the following century Asia Minor was invaded by Alexander the Great (q.v.), 334 B.C. (See GREECE; PERSIA; IONIA.)

The wars which followed the death of Alexander eventually gave Asia Minor to Seleucus, but none of the Seleucid kings was able to establish his rule over the whole peninsula. Rhodes became a great maritime republic, and much of the south and west coast belonged at one time or another to the Ptolemies of Egypt. An independent kingdom was founded at Pergamum, 283 B.C., which lasted until Attalus III., 133 B.C., made the Romans his heirs. Bithynia became an independent monarchy, and Cappadocia and Paphlagonia tributary provinces under native princes. In southern Asia Minor the Seleucids founded Antioch, Apamea, Attalia, the Laodiceas and Seleuceias, and other cities as centres of commerce, some of which afterwards played an important part in the Hellenization (see HELLENISM) of the country, and in the spread of Christianity. During the 3rd century, 278-277 B.C., certain Gallic tribes crossed the Bosporus and Hellespont, and established a Celtic power in central Asia Minor. They were confined by the victories of Attalus I. of Pergamum, c. 232 B.C., to a district on the Sangarius and Halys to which the name Galatia was applied; and after their defeat by Manlius, 189 B.C., they were subjected to the suzerainty of Pergamum (see GALATIA).

The defeat of Antiochus the Great at Magnesia, 190 B.C., placed Asia Minor at the mercy of Rome; but it was not until 133 that the first Roman province, Asia, was formed to include only western Anatolia, without Bithynia. Errors in policy and in government facilitated the rise of Pontus into a formidable power under Mithradates, who was finally driven out of the country by Pompey, and died 63 B.C. Under the settlement of Asia Minor by Pompey, Bithynia-Pontus and Cilicia became provinces, whilst Galatia and Cappadocia were allowed to retain nominal independence for over half a century more under native kings, and Lycia continued an autonomous League. A long period of tranquillity followed, during which the Roman dominion grew, and all Asia Minor was divided into two provinces. The boundaries were often changed; and about A.D. 297, in Diocletian's reorganization of the empire, the power of the great military commands was broken, and the provinces were made smaller and united in groups called dioceses. A great change followed the introduction of Christianity, which spread first along the main roads that ran north and west from the Cilician Gates, and especially along the great trade route to Ephesus. In some districts it spread rapidly, in others slowly. With its advance the native languages and old religions gradually disappeared, and at last the whole country was thoroughly Hellenized, and the people united by identity of language and religion.

At the close of the 6th century Asia Minor had become wealthy and prosperous; but centuries of peace and over-centralization had affected the _moral_ of the people and weakened the central government. During the 7th century the provincial system broke down, and the country was divided into _themes_ or military districts. From 616 to 626 Persian armies swept unimpeded over the land, and Chosroes (Khosrau) II. pitched his camp on the shore of the Bosporus. The victories of Heraclius forced Chosroes to retire; but the Persians were followed by the Arabs, who, advancing with equal ease, laid siege to Constantinople, A.D. 668. It almost appeared as if Asia Minor would be annexed to the dominion of the Caliph. But the tide of conquest was stemmed by the iconoclast emperors, and the Arab expeditions, excepting those of Harun al-Rashid, 781 and 806, and of el-Motasim, 838, became simply predatory raids. In the 10th century the Arabs were expelled. They never held more than the districts along the main roads, and in the intervals of peace the country rapidly recovered itself. But a more dangerous enemy was soon to appear on the eastern border.

In 1067 the Seljuk Turks ravaged Cappadocia and Cilicia; in 1071 they defeated and captured the emperor Romanus Diogenes, and in 1080 they took Nicaea. One branch of the Seljuks founded the empire of Rum, with its capital first at Nicaea and then at Iconium. The empire, which at one time included nearly the whole of Asia Minor, with portions of Armenia and Syria, passed to the Mongols when they defeated the sultan of Rum in 1243, and the sultans became vassals of the Great Khan. The Seljuk sultans were liberal patrons of art, literature and science, and the remains of their public buildings and tombs are amongst the most beautiful and most interesting in the country. The marches of the Crusaders across Asia Minor left no permanent impression. But the support given by the Latin princes to the Armenians in Cilicia facilitated the growth of the small warlike state of Lesser Armenia, which fell in 1375 with the defeat and capture of Leo VI. by the Mameluke sultan of Egypt. The Mongols were too weak to govern the country they had conquered, and the vassalage of the last sultan of Rum, who died in 1307, was only nominal. On his death the Turkoman governors of his western provinces drove out the Mongols and asserted their independence. A contest for supremacy followed, which eventually ended in favour of the Osmanli Turks of Brusa. In 1400 Sultan Bayezid I. held all Asia Minor west of the Euphrates; but in 1402 he was defeated and made prisoner by Timur, who swept through the country to the shores of the Aegean. On the death of Timur Osmanli supremacy was re-established after a prolonged straggle, which ended with the annexation by Mahommed II. (1451-1481) of Karamania and Trebizond, and the abandonment of the last of the Italian trading settlements which had studded the coast during the 13th and 14th centuries. The later history of Asia Minor is that of the Turkish empire. The most important event was the advance (1832-1833) of an Egyptian army, under Ibrahim Pasha, through the Cilician Gates to Konia and Kutaiah.

The defeat of the emperor Romanus (1071) initiated a change in the condition of Asia Minor which was to be complete and lasting. A long succession of nomad Turkish tribes, pressing forward from central Asia, wandered over the rich country in search of fresh pastures for their flocks and herds. They did not plunder or ill-treat the people, but they cared nothing for town life or for agricultural pursuits, and as they passed onward they left the country bare. Large districts passed out of cultivation and were abandoned to the nomads, who replaced wheeled traffic by the pack horse and the camel. The peasants either became nomads themselves or took refuge in the towns or the mountains. The Mongols, as they advanced, sacked towns and laid waste the agricultural lands. Timur conducted his campaigns with a ruthless disregard of life and property. Entire Christian communities were massacred, flourishing towns were completely destroyed, and all Asia Minor was ravaged. From these disasters the country never recovered, and the last traces of Western civilization disappeared with the enforced use of the Turkish language and the wholesale conversions to Islam under the earliest Osmanli sultans. The recent large increase of the Greek population in the western districts, the construction of railways, and the growing interests of Germany and Russia on the plateau seem, however, to indicate that the tide is again turning in favour of the West.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--1. GENERAL AUTHORITIES:--C. Texier, _Asie Mineure_
(1843); P. Tchihatcheff, _Asie Mineure_ (1853-1860); C. Ritter,
_Erdkunde_, vols. xviii. xix. (1858-1859); W.J. Hamilton, _Researches
in Asia Minor_ (1843); E. Reclus. _Nouv. Geog. Univ._ vol. ix. (1884);
V. Cuinet, _La Turquie d'Asie_ (1890); W.M. Ramsay, _Hist. Geog. of A.
M._ (1890); Murray's _Handbook for A. M. &c._, ed. by Sir C. Wilson
(1895). For GEOLOGY see Tchihatcheff, _Asie Mineure, Geologie_ (Paris,
1867-1869); Schaffer, _Cilicia, Peterm. Mitt. Erganzungsheft_, 141
(1903); Philippson, _Sitz. k. preuss. Akad. Wiss._ (1903), pp.
112-124; English, _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._ (London, 1904), pp.
243-295; see also Suess, _Das Antlitz der Erde_, vol. iii. pp.
402-412, and the accompanying references.

2. A. _Western Asia Minor._--J. Spon and G. Wheler, _Voyage du Levant_
(1679); P. de Tournefort, _Voyage du Levant_ (1718); F. Beaufort,
_Ionian Antiquities_ (1811); R. Chandler, _Travels_ (1817); W.M.
Leake, _Journal of a Tour in A. M._ (1820); F.V.J. Arundell, _Visit to
the Seven Churches_ (1828), and _Discoveries, &c._ (1834); C. Fellows,
_Excursion in A. M._ (1839); C.T. Newton, _Travels_ (1867), and
_Discoveries at Halicarnassus, &c._ (1863); Dilettanti Society,
_Ionian Antiquities_ (1769-1840); J.R.S. Sterrett, _Epigr. Journey_
and _Wolfe Exped._ (Papers, Amer. Arch. Inst. ii. iii.) (1888); J.H.
Skene, _Anadol_ (1853); G. Radet, _Lydie_ (1893); O. Rayet and A.
Thomas, _Milet et le Golfe Latmique_ (1872); K. Buresch, _Aus Lydien_
(1898); W.M. Ramsay, _Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia_ (1895), and
_Impressions of Turkey_ (1898).

B. _Eastern Asia Minor._--W.F. Ainsworth, _Travels in A. M._ (1842);
G. Perrot and E. Guillaume, _Expl. arch, de la Galatie_ (1862-1872);
E.J. Davis, _Anatolica_ (1874); H.F. Tozer, _Turkish Armenia_ (1881);
H.J. v. Lennep, _Travels_ (1870); D.G. Hogarth, _Wandering Scholar_
(1896); Lord Warkworth, _Notes of a Diary, &c._ (1898); E. Sarre,
_Reise_ (1896); D.G. Hogarth and J.A.R. Munro, _Mod. and Anc. Roads_
(R.G.S. Supp. Papers iii.) (1893); H.C. Barkley, _A Ride through A. M.
and Armenia_ (1891); M. Sykes, _Dar ul-Islam_ (1904); E. Chantre,
_Mission en Cappadocie_ (1898).

C. _Southern Asia Minor._--F. Beaufort, _Karamania_ (1817); C.
Fellows, _Discoveries in Lycia_ (1841); T.A.B. Spratt and E. Forbes,
_Travels in Lycia_ (1847); V. Langlois, _Voy. dans la Cilicie_ (1861);
E.J. Davis, _Life in Asiatic Turkey_ (1879); O. Benndorf and E.
Niemann, _Lykien_ (1884); C. Lanckoronski, _Villes de la Pamphylie et
de la Pisidie_ (1890); F. v. Luschan, _Reisen in S.W. Kleinasien_
(1888); E. Petersen and F. v. Luschan, _Lykien_ (1889); K. Humann and
O. Puchstein, _Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien_ (1890).

D. _Northern Asia Minor._--J.M. Kinneir, _Journey through A. M._
(1818); J.G.C. Anderson and F. Cumont, _Studia Pontica_ (1903); E.
Naumann, _Vom Goldenen Horn, &c._ (1893).

See also G. Perrot and C. Chipiez, _Hist. de l'art dans l'antiquite_,
vols. iv. v. (1886-1890); J. Strzygowski, _Kleinasien, &c._ (1903).
Also numerous articles in all leading archaeological periodicals, the
_Geographical Journal_, _Deutsche Rundschau_, _Petermann's Geog.
Mitteilungen_, &c. &c.

3. MAPS.--H. Kiepert, _Nouv. carte gen. des prov. asiat. de l'Emp.
ottoman_ (1894), and _Spezialkarte v. Westkleinasien_ (1890); W. von
Diest, _Karte des Nordwestkleinasien_ (1901); R. Kiepert, _Karte von
Kleinasien_ (1901); E. Friederich, _Handels- und Produktenkarte von
Kleinasien_ (1898); J.G.C. Anderson, _Asia Minor_ (Murray's Handy
Class. Maps) (1903). (C. W. W.; D. G. H.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The people, Moslem and Christian, are physically one and appear
to be closely related to the modern Armenians. This relationship is
noticeable in other districts, and the whole original population of
Asia Minor has been characterized as Proto-Armenian or Armenoid.

ASIENTO, or ASSIENTO (from the verb _asentar_, to place, or establish), a Spanish word meaning a farm of the taxes, or contract. The farmer or contractor is called an _asentista_. The word acquired a considerable notoriety in English and American history, on account of the "Asiento Treaty" of 1713. Until 1702 the Spanish government had given the contract for the supply of negroes to its colonies in America to the Genoese. But after the establishment of the Bourbon dynasty in 1700, a French company was formed which received the exclusive privilege of the Spanish-American slave trade for ten years--from September 1702 to 1712. When the peace of Utrecht was signed the British government insisted that the monopoly should be given to its own subjects. By the terms of the Asiento treaty signed on the 16th of March 1713, it was provided that British subjects should be authorized to introduce 144,000 slaves in the course of thirty years, at the rate of 4800 per annum. The privilege was to expire on the 1st of May 1743. British subjects were also authorized to send one ship of 500 tons per annum, laden with manufactured goods, to the fairs of Porto Bello and La Vera Cruz. Import duties were to be paid for the slaves and goods. This privilege was conveyed by the British government to the South Sea Company, formed to work it. The privilege, to which an exaggerated value was attached, formed the solid basis of the notorious fit of speculative fever called the South Sea Bubble. Until 1739 the trade in blacks went on without interruption, but amid increasingly angry disputes between the Spanish and the British governments. The right to send a single trading ship to the fairs of Porto Bello or La Vera Cruz was abused. Under pretence of renewing her provisions she was followed by tenders which in fact carried goods. Thus there arose what was in fact a vast contraband trade. The Spanish government established a service of revenue boats (_guarda costas_) which insisted on searching all English vessels approaching the shores of the Spanish colonies. There can be no doubt that the smugglers were guilty of many piratical excesses, and that the _guarda costas_ often acted with violence on mere suspicion. After many disputes, in which the claims of the British government were met by Spanish counterclaims, war ensued in 1739. When peace was made at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 Spain undertook to allow the asiento to be renewed for the four years which were to run when war broke out in 1739. But the renewal for so short a period was not considered advantageous, and by the treaty of El Retiro of 1750, the British government agreed to the recession of the Asiento treaty altogether on the payment by Spain of L100,000.

A very convenient account of the Asiento Treaty, and of the trade
which arose under it, will be found in Malachy Postlethwayt's
_Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce_ (London, 1751), s.v.

ASIR, a district in western Arabia, lying between 17 deg. 30' and 21 deg. N., and 40 deg. 30' and 45 deg. E.; bounded N. by Hejaz, E. by Nejd, S. by Yemen and W. by the Red Sea. Like Yemen, it consists of a lowland zone some 20 or 30 m. in width along the coast, and of a mountainous tract, falling steeply on the west and merging into a highland plateau which slopes gradually to the N.E. towards the Nejd steppes. Its length along the coast is about 230 m., and its breadth from the coast to El Besha about 180. The lowland, or Tehama, is hot and barren; the principal places in it are Kanfuda, the chief port of the district, Marsa Hali and El Itwad, smaller ports farther south. The mountainous tract has probably an average altitude of between 6000 and 7000 ft., with a temperate climate and regular rainfall, and is fertile and populous. The valleys are well watered and produce excellent crops of cereals and dates. The best-known are the Wadi Taraba and the W. Besha, both running north-east towards the W. Dawasir in Nejd. Taraba, according to John Lewis Burckhardt, is a considerable town, surrounded by palm groves and gardens, and watered by numerous rivulets, and tamous for its long resistance to Mehemet Ali's forces in 1815. Five or six days' journey to the south-east is the district of Besha, the most important position between Sana and Taif. Here Mehemet Ali's army, amounting to 12,000 men, found sufficient provisions to supply it during a fortnight's halt. The Wadi Besha is a broad valley abounding with streams containing numerous hamlets scattered over a tract some six or eight hours' journey in length. Its principal affluent, the W. Shahran, rises 120 m. to the south and runs through the fertile district of Khamis Mishet, the highest in Asir. The Zahran district lies four days west of Besha on the crest of the main range: the principal place is Makhwa, a large town and market, from which grain is exported in considerable quantities to Mecca. Farther south is the district of Shamran. Throughout the mountainous country the valleys are well watered and cultivated, with fortified villages perched on the surrounding heights. Juniper forests are said to exist on the higher mountains. Three or four days' journey east and south-east of Besha are the encampments of the Bani Kahtan, one of the most ancient tribes of Arabia; their pastures extend into the adjoining district of Nejd, where they breed camels in large numbers, as well as a few horses.

The inhabitants are a brave and warlike race of mountaineers, and aided by the natural strength of their country they have hitherto preserved their independence. Since the beginning of the 19th century they have been bigoted Wahhabis, though previously regarded by their neighbours as very lax Mahommedans; during Mehemet Ali's occupation of Nejd their constant raids on the Egyptian communications compelled him to send several punitive expeditions into the district, which, however, met with little success. Since the reconquest of Yemen by the Turks, they have made repeated attempts to subjugate Asir, but beyond occupying Kanfuda, and holding one or two isolated points in the interior, of which Ibha and Manadir are the principal, they have effected nothing.

The chief sources of information regarding Asir are the notes made by J.L. Burckhardt at Taif in 1814 and those of the French officers with the Egyptian expeditions into the country from 1814 to 1837. No part of Arabia would better repay exploration.

AUTHORITIES.--J.L. Burckhardt, _Travels in Arabia_ (London, 1829); F.
Mengin, _Histoire de l'Egypte_, &c. (Paris, 1823); M.O. Tamisier,
_Voyage en Arabie_ (Paris, 1840). (R. A. W.)

ASISIUM (mod. _Assisi_), an ancient town of Umbria, in a lofty situation about 15 m. E.S.E. of Perusia. As an independent community it had already begun to use Latin as well as Umbrian in its inscriptions (for one of these recording the chief magistrates--_marones_--see _C.I.L._ xi. 5390). It became a _municipium_ in 90 B.C., but, though numerous inscriptions (_C.I.L._ xi. 5371-5606) testify to its importance in the Imperial period, it is hardly mentioned by our classical authorities. Scanty traces of the ancient city walls may be seen; within the town the best-preserved building is the so-called temple of Minerva, with six Corinthian columns of travertine, now converted into a church, erected by Gaius and Titus Caesius in the Augustan era. It fronted on to the ancient forum, part of the pavement of which, with a base for the equestrian statues of Castor and Pollux (as the inscription upon it records) has been laid bare beneath the present Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. The remains of the amphitheatre, in _opus reticulatum_, may be seen in the north-east corner of the town; and other ancient buildings have been discovered. Asisium was probably the birthplace of Propertius. (T. As.)

ASKABAD, or ASKHABAD, a town of Russian central Asia, capital of the Transcaspian province, 345 m. by rail S.E. of Krasnovodsk and 594 from Samarkand, situated in a small oasis at the N. foot of the Kopet-dagh range. It has a public library and a technical railway school; also cotton-cleaning works, tanneries, brick-works, and a mineral-water factory. The trade is valued at L250,000 a year. The population, 2500 in 1881, when the Russians seized it, was 19,428 in 1897, one-third Persians, many of them belonging to the Babi sect.

ASKAULES (Gr. [Greek: askaulaes] [?] from [Greek: askos], bag, [Greek: aulos], pipe), probably the Greek word for bag-piper, although there is no documentary authority for its use. Neither it nor [Greek: askaulos] (which would naturally mean the bag-pipe) has been found in Greek classical authors, though J.J. Reiske--in a note on Dio Chrysostom, _Orat._ lxxi. _ad fin._, where an unmistakable description of the bag-pipe occurs ("and they say that he is skilled to write, to work as an artist, and to play the pipe with his mouth, on the bag placed under his arm-pits")--says that [Greek: askaulaes] was the Greek word for bag-piper. The only actual corroboration of this is the use of _ascaules_ for the pure Latin _utricularius_ in Martial x. 3. 8. Dio Chrysostom flourished about A.D. 100; it is therefore only an assumption that the bag-pipe was known to the classical Greeks by the name of [Greek: askaulos]. It need not, however, be a matter of surprise that among the highly cultured Greeks such an instrument as the bag-pipe should exist without finding a place in literature. It is significant that it is not mentioned by Pollux (_Onomast._ iv. 74) and Athenaeus (_Deipnos._ iv. 76) in their lists of the various kinds of pipes.

See articles AULOS and BAG-PIPE; art. "Askaules" in Pauly-Wissowa,
_Realencyclopadie_.

ASKE, ROBERT (d. 1537), English rebel, was a country gentleman who belonged to an ancient family long settled in Yorkshire, his mother being a daughter of John, Lord Clifford. When in 1536 the insurrection called the "Pilgrimage of Grace" broke out in Yorkshire, Aske was made leader; and marching with the banner of St Cuthbert and with the badge of the "five wounds," he occupied York on the 16th of October and on the 20th captured Pontefract Castle, with Lord Darcy and the archbishop of York, who took the oath of the rebels. He caused the monks and nuns to be reinstated, and refused to allow the king's herald to read the royal proclamation, announcing his intention of marching to London to declare the grievances of the commons to the sovereign himself, secure the expulsion of counsellors of low birth, and obtain restitution for the church. The whole country was soon in the hands of the rebels, a military organization with posts from Newcastle to Hull was established, and Hull was provided with cannon. Subsequently Aske, followed by 30,000 or 40,000 men, proceeded towards Doncaster, where lay the duke of Norfolk with the royal forces, which, inferior in numbers, would probably have been overwhelmed had not Aske persuaded his followers to accept the king's pardon, and the promise of a parliament at York and to disband. Soon afterwards he received a letter from the king desiring him to come secretly to London to inform him of the causes of the rebellion. Aske went under the guarantee of a safe-conduct and was well received by Henry. He put in writing a full account of the rising and of his own share in it; and, fully persuaded of the king's good intentions, returned home on the 8th of January 1537, bringing with him promises of a visit from the king to Yorkshire, of the holding of a parliament at York, and of free elections. Shortly afterwards he wrote to the king warning him of the still unquiet state not only of the north but of the midlands, and stating his fear that more bloodshed was impending. The same month he received the king's thanks for his action in pacifying Sir Francis Bigod's rising. But his position was now a difficult and a perilous one, and a few weeks later the attitude of the government towards him was suddenly changed. The new rising had given the court an excuse for breaking off the treaty and sending another army under Norfolk into Yorkshire. Possibly in these fresh circumstances Aske may have given cause for further suspicions of his loyalty, and in his last confession he acknowledged that communications to obtain aid had been opened with the imperial ambassador and were contemplated with Flanders. But it is more probable that the government had from the first treacherously affected to treat him with confidence to secure the secrets of the rebels and to effect his destruction. In March Norfolk congratulated Cromwell on the successful accomplishment of his task, having persuaded Aske to go to London on false assurances of security. He was arrested in April, tried before a commission at Westminster, and sentenced to death for high treason on the 17th of May; and on the 28th of June he was taken back to Yorkshire, being paraded in the towns and country through which he passed. He was hanged at York in July, expressing repentance for breaking the king's laws, but declaring that he had promise of pardon both from Cromwell and from Henry. It is related that his servant, Robert Wall, died of grief at the thought of his master's approaching execution. Aske was a real leader, who gained the affection and confidence of his followers; and his sudden rise to greatness and his choice by the people point to abilities that have not been recorded.

See _Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries_, by F.A. Gasquet (1906);
_Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._, vols. xi. and xii.;
_English Histor. Review_, v. 330, 550 (account of the rebellion,
examination and answers to interrogations); _Chronicle of Henry
VIII._, tr. by M.A.S. Hume (1889); Whitaker's _Richmondshire_, i. 116
(pedigree of the Askes).

ASKEW, or ASCUE, ANNE (1521?-1546), English Protestant martyr, born at Stallingborough about 1521, was the second daughter of Sir William Askew (d. 1540) of South Kelsey, Lincoln, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Wrottesley. Her elder sister, Martha, was betrothed by her parents to Thomas Kyme, a Lincolnshire justice of the peace, but she died before marriage, and Anne was induced or compelled to take her place. She is said to have had two children by Kyme, but religious differences and incompatibility of temperament soon estranged the couple. Kyme was apparently an unimaginative man of the world, while Anne took to Bible-reading with zeal, became convinced of the falsity of the doctrine of transubstantiation, and created some stir in Lincoln by her disputations. According to Bale and Foxe her husband turned her out of doors, but in the privy council register she is said to have "refused Kyme to be her husband without any honest allegation." She had as good a reason for repudiating her husband as Henry VIII. for repudiating Anne of Cleves. In any case, she came to London and made friends with Joan Bocher, who was already known for heterodoxy, and other Protestants. She was examined for heresy in March 1545 by the lord mayor, and was committed to the Counter prison. Then she was examined by Bonner, the bishop of London, who drew up a form of recantation which he entered in his register. This fact led Parsons and other Catholic historians to state that she actually recanted but she refused to sign Bonner's form without qualification. Two months later, on the 24th of May, the privy council ordered her arrest. On the 13th of June 1545, she was arraigned as a sacramentarian under the Six Articles at the Guildhall; but no witness appeared against her; she was declared not guilty by the jury and discharged after paying her fees.

The reactionary party, which, owing to the absence of Hertford and Lisle and to the presence of Gardiner, gained the upper hand in the council in the summer of 1546, were not satisfied with this repulse; they probably aimed at the leaders of the reforming party, such as Hertford and possibly Queen Catherine Parr, who were suspected of favouring Anne, and on the 18th of June 1546 Anne was again arraigned before a commission including the lord mayor, the duke of Norfolk, St John, Bonner and Heath. No jury was empanelled and no witnesses were called; she was condemned, simply on her confession, to be burnt. On the same day she was called before the privy council with her husband. Kyme was sent home into Lincolnshire, but Anne was committed to Newgate, "for that she was very obstinate and heady in reasoning of matters of religion." On the following day she was taken to the Tower and racked; according to Anne's own statement, as recorded by Bale, the lord chancellor, Wriothesley, and the solicitor-general, Rich, worked the rack themselves; but she "would not convert for all the pain" (Wriothesley, _Chronicle_ i. 168). Her torture, disputed by Jardine, Lingard and others, is substantiated not only by her own narrative, but by two contemporary chronicles, and by a contemporary letter (_ibid._; _Narratives of the Reformation_, p. 305; Ellis, _Original Letters_, 2nd Ser. ii. 177). For four weeks she was left in prison, and at length on the 16th of July, she was burnt at Smithfield in the presence of the same persecuting dignitaries who had condemned her to death.

AUTHORITIES.--Bale's two tracts, printed at Marburg in November 1546
and January 1547, are the basis of Foxe's account. See also _Acts of
the Privy Council_ (1542-1547), pp. 424-462; Wriothesley's _Chron._
i. 155, 167-169; _Narratives of the Reformation_, passim; Gough's
_Index to Parker Soc. Publications_; Burnet's _Hist. of the
Reformation_; Dixon's _Hist. of the Church of England; Dict. Nat.
Biogr._ (A. F. P.)

ASMA'I [Abu Sa'id 'Abd ul-Malik ibn Quraib] (c. 739-831), Arabian scholar, was born of pure Arab stock in Basra and was a pupil there of Abu 'Amr ibn ul-'Ala. He seems to have been a poor man until by the influence of the governor of Basra he was brought to the notice of Harun al-Rashid, who enjoyed his conversation at court and made him tutor of his son. He became wealthy and acquired property in Basra, where he again settled for a time; but returned later to Bagdad, where he died in 831. Asma'i was one of the greatest scholars of his age. From his youth he stored up in his memory the sacred words of the Koran, the traditions of the Prophet, the verses of the old poets and the stories of the ancient wars of the Arabs. He was also a student of language and a critic. It was as a critic that he was the great rival of Abu 'Ubaida (q.v.). While the latter followed (or led) the Shu'ubite movement and declared for the excellence of all things not Arabian, Asma'i was the pious Moslem and avowed supporter of the superiority of the Arabs over all peoples, and of the freedom of their language and literature from all foreign influence. Some of his scholars attained high rank as literary men. Of Asma'i's many works mentioned in the catalogue known as the _Fihrist_, only about half a dozen are extant. Of these the _Book of Distinction_ has been edited by D.H. Muller (Vienna, 1876); the _Book of the Wild Animals_ by R. Geyer (Vienna, 1887); the _Book of the Horse_, by A. Haffner (Vienna, 1895); the _Book of the Sheep_, by A. Haffner (Vienna, 1896).

For life of Asma'i, see Ibn Khallikan, _Biographical Dictionary_,
translated from the Arabic by McG. de Slane (Paris and London, 1842),
vol. ii. pp. 123-127. For his work as a grammarian, G. Flugel, _Die
grammatischen Schulen der Araber_ (Leipzig, 1862), pp. 72-80.
(G. W. T.)

ASMARA, the capital of the Italian colony of Eritrea, N.E. Africa. It is built on the Hamasen plateau, near its eastern edge, at an elevation of 7800 ft., and is some 40 m. W.S.W. in a direct line of the seaport of Massawa. Pop. (1904) about 9000, including the garrison of 300 Italian soldiers, and some 1000 native troops. The European civil population numbers over 500; the rest of the inhabitants are chiefly Abyssinians. There is a small Mahommedan colony. The town is strongly fortified. The European quarter contains several fine public buildings, including the residence of the governor, club house, barracks and hospital. Fort Baldissera is built on a hill to the south-west of the town and is considered impregnable.

Asmara, an Amharic word signifying "good pasture place," is a town of considerable antiquity. It was included in the maritime province of northern Abyssinia, which was governed by a viceroy who bore the title of Bahar-nagash (ruler of the sea). By the Abyssinians the Hamasen plateau was known as the plain of the thousand villages. Asmara appears to have been one of the most prosperous of these villages, and to have attained commercial importance through being on the high road from Axum to Massawa. When Werner Munzinger (q.v.) became French consul at Massawa, he entered into a scheme for annexing the Hamasen (of which Asmara was then the capital) to France, but the outbreak of the war with Germany in 1870 brought the project to nought (cf. A.B. Wylde, _Modern Abyssinia_, 1901). In 1872 Munzinger, now in Egyptian service, annexed Asmara to the khedivial dominions, but in 1884, owing to the rise of the mahdi, Egypt evacuated her Abyssinian provinces and Asmara was chosen by Ras Alula, the representative of the negus Johannes (King John), as his headquarters. Shortly afterwards the Italians occupied Massawa, and in 1889 Asmara (see ABYSSINIA: _History_). In 1900 the seat of government was transferred from Massawa to Asmara, which in its modern form is the creation of the Italians. It is surrounded by rich agricultural lands, cultivated in part by Italian immigrants, and is a busy trading centre. A railway from Massawa to Asmara was completed as far as Ghinda, at the foot of the plateau, in 1904. At Medrizien, 6 m. north of Asmara, are gold-mines which have been partially worked.

See G. Dainelli, _In Africa. Lettere dall' Eritrea_ (Bergamo, 1908);
R. Perini, _Di qua dal Mareb_ (Florence, 1905).

ASMODEUS, or ASHMEDAI, an evil demon who appears in later Jewish tradition as "king of demons." He is sometimes identified with Beelzebub or Apollyon (Rev. ix. 11). In the Talmud he plays a great part in the legends concerning Solomon. In the apocryphal book of Tobit (iii. 8) occurs the well-known story of his love for Sara, the beautiful daughter of Raguel, whose seven husbands were slain in succession by him on their respective bridal nights. At last Tobias, by burning the heart and liver of a fish, drove off the demon, who fled to Egypt. From the part played by Asmodeus in this story, he has been often familiarly called the genius of matrimonial unhappiness or jealousy, and as such may be compared with Lilith. Le Sage makes him the principal character in his novel _Le Diable boiteux_. Both the word and the conception seem to have been derived originally from the Persian. The name has been taken to mean "covetous." It is in any case no doubt identical with the demon Aeshma of the Zend-Avesta and the Pahlavi texts. But the meaning is not certain. It is generally agreed that the second part of the name Asmodeus is the same as the Zend _daewa, dew_, "demon." The first part may be equivalent to Aeshma, the impersonation of anger. But W. Baudissin (Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_) prefers to derive it from _ish_, to drive, set in motion; whence _ish-min_, driving, impetuous.

The legend of Asmodeus is given fully in the _Jewish Encyclopaedia_,
s.v. See also the articles in the _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, Hastings'
_Dictionary of the Bible_, and Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_.

ASMONEUS, or ASAMONAEUS (so Josephus), great-grandfather of Mattathias, the father of Judas Maccabaeus. Nothing more is known of him, and the name is only given by Josephus (not in 1 Macc. ii. 1). But the dynasty was known to Josephus and the Mishna (once) as "the sons (race) of the Asamonaeans (of A.)"; and the Targum of 1 Sam. ii. 4 has "the house of the Hashmoneans who were weak, signs were wrought for them and strength." If not the founder, Asmoneus was probably the home of the family (cf. Heshmon, Jos. xv. 27).

See Schurer, _Geschichte des judischen Volkes_, i. 248 N; art.
"Maccabees," S 2, in _Ency. Biblica_. (J. H. A. H.)

ASNIERES, a town of northern France, in the department of Seine, on the left bank of the Seine, about 1-1/2 m. N.N.W. of the fortifications of Paris. Pop. (1906) 35,883. The town, which has grown rapidly in recent years, is a favourite boating centre for the Parisians. The industries include boat-building and the manufacture of colours and perfumery.

ASOKA, a famous Buddhist emperor of India who reigned from 264 to 228 or 227 B.C. Thirty-five of his inscriptions on rocks or pillars or in caves still exist (see INSCRIPTIONS: _Indian_), and they are among the most remarkable and interesting of Buddhist monuments (see BUDDHISM). Asoka was the grandson of Chandragupta, the founder of the Maurya (Peacock) dynasty, who had wrested the Indian provinces of Alexander the Great from the hands of Seleucus, and he was the son of Bindusara, who succeeded his father Chandragupta, by a lady from Champa. The Greeks do not mention him and the Brahmin books ignore him, but the Buddhist chronicles and legends tell us much about him. The inscriptions, which contain altogether about five thousand words, are entirely of religious import, and their references to worldly affairs are incidental. They begin in the thirteenth year of his reign, and tell us that in the ninth year he had invaded Kalinga, and had been so deeply impressed by the horrors involved in warfare that he had then given up the desire for conquest, and devoted himself to conquest by "religion." What the religion was is explained in the edicts. It is purely ethical, independent alike of theology and ritual, and is the code of morals as laid down in the Buddhist sacred books for laymen. He further tells us that in the ninth year of his reign he formally joined the Buddhist community as a layman, in the eleventh year he became a member of the order, and in the thirteenth he "set out for the Great Wisdom" (the _Sambodhi_), which is the Buddhist technical term for entering upon the well-known, eightfold path to Nirvana. One of the edicts is addressed to the order, and urges upon its members and the laity alike the learning and rehearsal of passages from the Buddhist scriptures. Two others are proclamations commemorating visits paid by the king, one to the dome erected over the ashes of Konagamana, the Buddha, another to the birthplace of Gotama, the Buddha (q.v.). Three very short ones are dedications of caves to the use of an order of recluses. The rest either enunciate the religion as explained above, or describe the means adopted by the king for propagating it, or acting in accordance with it. These means are such as the digging of wells, planting medicinal herbs, and trees for shade, sending out of missionaries, appointment of special officers to supervise charities, and so on. The missionaries were sent to Kashmir, to the Himalayas, to the border lands on the Indus, to the coast of Burma, to south India and to Ceylon. And the king claims that missions sent by him to certain Greek kingdoms that he names had resulted in the folk there conforming themselves to his religion. The extent of Asoka's dominion included all India from the thirteenth degree of latitude up to the Himalayas, Nepal, Kashmir, the Swat valley, Afghanistan as far as the Hindu Kush, Sind and Baluchistan. It was thus as large as, or perhaps somewhat larger than, British India before the conquest of Burma. He was undoubtedly the most powerful sovereign of his time and the most remarkable and imposing of the native rulers of India. "If a man's fame," says Koppen, "can be measured by the number of hearts who revere his memory, by the number of lips who have mentioned, and still mention him with honour, Asoka is more famous than Charlemagne or Caesar." At the same time it is probable that, like Constantine's patronage of Christianity, his patronage of Buddhism, then the most rising and influential faith in India, was not unalloyed with political motives, and it is certain that his vast benefactions to the Buddhist cause were at least one of the causes that led to its decline.

See also _Asoka_, by Vincent Smith (Oxford, 1901); _Inscriptions de
Piyadasi_, by E. Senart (Paris, 1891); chapters on Asoka in T.W. Rhys
Davids's _Buddhism_ (20th ed., London, 1903), and _Buddhist India_
(London, 1903); V.A. Smith, _Edicts of Asoka_ (1909). (T. W. R. D.)

ASOLO (anc. _Acelum_), a town of Venetia, Italy, in the province of Treviso, about 19 m. N.W. direct from the town of Treviso, and some 10 m. E. of Bassanoby road. Pop. (1901) 5847. It is well situated on a hill, 690 ft. above sea-level. Remains of Roman baths and of a theatre have been discovered in the course of excavation (_Notizie degli scavi_, 1877, 235; 1881, 205; 1882, 289), and the town was probably a _municipium_. It became an episcopal see in the 6th century. It was to Asolo that Catherine Cornaro, queen of Cyprus, retired on her abdication. Here she was visited by Pietro Bembo, who conceived here his _Dialoghi degli Asolani_, and by Andrea Navagero (Naugerius). Paulus Manutius was born here. The village of Maser is 4-1/2 m. to the E., and near it is the Villa Giacomelli, erected by Palladio, containing frescoes by Paolo Veronese, executed in 1566-1568 for Marcantonio Barbaro of Venice, and ranking among his best works.

ASOR (Hebr. for "ten"), an instrument "of ten strings" mentioned in the Bible, about which authors are not agreed. The word occurs only three times in the Bible, and has not been traced elsewhere. In Psalm xxxiii. 2 the reference is to "kinnor, nebel and asor"; in Psalm xcii. 3, to "nebel and asor"; in Psalm cxliv. to "nebel-asor." In the English version _asor_ is translated "an instrument of ten strings," with a marginal note "omit" applied to "instrument." In the Septuagint, the word being derived from a root signifying "ten," the Greek is [Greek: en dekachordo] or [Greek: psaltaerion dekachordon], in the Vulgate _in decachordo psalterio_. Each time the word _asor_ is used it follows the word _nebel_ (see PSALTERY), and probably merely indicates a variant of the nebel, having ten strings instead of the customary twelve assigned to it by Josephus (_Antiquities_, vii. 12. 3).

See also Mendel and Reissmann, _Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon_,
vol. i. (Berlin, 1881); Sir John Stainer, _The Music of the Bible_,
pp. 35-37; Forkel, _Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik_, Bd. i. p. 133
(Leipzig, 1788). (K. S.)

ASP (_Vipera aspis_), a species of venomous snake, closely allied to the common adder of Great Britain, which it represents throughout the southern parts of Europe, being specially abundant in the region of the Alps. It differs from the adder in having the head entirely covered with scales, shields being absent, and in having the snout somewhat turned up. The term "Asp" [Greek: aspis] seems to have been employed by Greek and Roman writers, and by writers generally down to comparatively recent times, to designate more than one species of serpent; thus the asp, by means of which Cleopatra is said to have ended her life, and so avoided the disgrace of entering Rome a captive, is now generally supposed to have been the cerastes, or horned viper (_Cerastes cornutus_), of northern Africa and Arabia, a snake about 15 in. long, exceedingly venomous, and provided with curious horn-like protuberances over each eye, which give it a decidedly sinister appearance. The snake, however, to which the word "asp" has been most commonly applied is undoubtedly the haje of Egypt, the _spy-slange_ or spitting snake of the Boers (_Naja haje_), one of the very poisonous _Elarinae_, from 3 to 4 ft. long, with the skin of its neck loose, so as to render it dilatable at the will of the animal, as in the cobra of India, a species from which it differs only in the absence of the spectacle-like mark on the back of the neck. Like the cobra, also, the haje has its fangs extracted by the jugglers of the country, who afterwards train it to perform various tricks. The asp (_Pethen_, [Hebrew: pethen]) is mentioned in various parts of the Old Testament. This name is twice translated "adder," but as nothing is told of it beyond its poisonous character and the intractability of its disposition, it is impossible accurately to determine the species.

ASPARAGINE, C4H3N2O3, a naturally occurring base, found in plants belonging to the natural orders Leguminosae and Cruciferae. It occurs in two optically active forms, namely, as laevo-asparagine and dextro-asparagine. Laevo-asparagine was isolated in 1805 by L.N. Vauquelin. A. Piutti (_Gazz. chim. Ital._, 1887, 17, p. 126; 1888, 18, p. 457) synthesized the asparagines from the monomethyl ester of inactive aspartic acid by heating it with alcoholic ammonia. In this way a mixture of the two asparagines was obtained, which were separated by picking out the hemihedral crystals.

HOOC.CH.NH2CH2.COOC2H5 + NH3 = C2H5OH + HOOC.CH.NH2.CH2.CONH2.

Laevo-asparagine is slightly soluble in cold water and readily soluble in hot water. It crystallizes in prisms, containing one molecule of water of crystallization, the anhydrous form melting at 234-235 deg. C. Nitrous acid converts it into malic acid, HOOC.CHOH.CH2.COOH. It is laevo-rotatory in aqueous or in alkaline solution, and dextro-rotatory in acid solution (L. Pasteur, _Ann. Chim. Phys._, 1851 [2], 31, p. 67). Dextro-asparagine was first found in 1886 in the shoots of the vetch (Piutti). It forms rhombic crystals possessing a sweet taste. It is dextro-rotatory in aqueous or alkaline solution, and laevo-rotatory in acid solution.

Hydrolysis by means of acids or alkalis converts the asparagines into aspartic acid; whilst on heating with water in a sealed tube they are converted into ammonium aspartate. The constitution of the asparagines has been determined by A. Piutti (_Gazz. chim. Ital._, 1888, 18, p. 457).

ASPARAGUS, a genus of plants (nat. ord. Liliaceae) containing more than 100 species, and widely distributed in the temperate and warmer parts of the Old World; it was introduced from Europe into America with the early settlers. The name is derived from the Greek [Greek: asparagos] or [Greek: aspharagos], the origin of which is obscure. _Sperage_ or _sparage_ was the form in use from the 16th to 18th centuries, cf. the modern Italian _sparagio_. The vulgar corruption _sparrow-grass_ or _sparagrass_ was in accepted popular use during the 18th century, "asparagus" being considered pedantic. The plants have a short, creeping, underground stem from which spring slender, branched, aerial shoots. The leaves are reduced to minute scales bearing in their axils tufts of green, needle-like branches (the so-called _cladodes_), which simulate, and perform the functions of, leaves. In one section of the genus, sometimes regarded as a distinct genus _Myrsiphyllum_, the cladodes are flattened. The plants often climb or scramble, in which they are helped by the development of the scale-leaves into persistent spines. The flowers are small, whitish and pendulous; the fruit is a berry.