Chapter IV: Part 4

AZORES (a-z[=o]rz' or a-z[=o]'res), or WESTERN ISLANDS, a group belonging to and 900 miles west of Portugal, in the North Atlantic Ocean. They are nine in number, and form three distinct groups--a N.W., consisting of Flores and Corvo; a central, consisting of Terceira, Sao Jorge, Pico, Fayal, and Graciosa; and a S.E., consisting of Sao Miguel (or St. Michael) and Santa Maria. The total area is 922 sq. miles; Sao Miguel (containing the capital Ponta Delgada), Pico, and Terceira are the largest. The islands, which are volcanic and subject to earthquakes, are of comparatively recent origin, and are conical, lofty, precipitous, and picturesque. The most remarkable summit is the peak of Pico, about 7600 feet high. There are numerous hot springs. They are covered with luxuriant vegetation, and diversified with woods, corn-fields, vineyards, lemon and orange groves, and rich, open pastures. The mild and somewhat humid climate, combined with the natural fertility of the soil, brings all kinds of vegetable products rapidly to perfection, among the most important being grain, oranges, pine-apples, bananas, potatoes, yams, beans, coffee, and tobacco. The inhabitants are mainly of Portuguese descent, indolent and devoid of enterprise. Principal exports: wine and brandy, oranges, maize, beans, pineapples, cattle. The climate is recommended as suitable for consumptive patients. The Azores were discovered by Cabral about 1431, shortly after which date they were taken possession of and colonized by the Portuguese. When first visited they were uninhabited, and had scarcely any other animals except birds, particularly hawks, to which, called in Portuguese _acores_, the islands owe their name. Pop. 242,613 (1911).

AZ'OTE, a name formerly given to nitrogen; hence substances containing nitrogen and forming part of the structure of plants and animals are known as _azotized_ bodies. Such are albumen, fibrine, caseine, gelatine, urea, kreatine, &c. See _Nitrogen_.

A'ZOV, or ASOV, a town in the Russian government of Ekaterinoslav, upon an island at the mouth of the Don, where it flows into the Sea of Azov; formerly a place of extensive trade, but its harbour has become almost sanded up. Pop. 31,111.

AZOV, SEA OF (ancient, PALUS MOE[=O]TIS), an arm of the Black Sea, with which it is united by the Straits of Kertch or Kaffa; length about 170 miles, breadth about 80 miles; greatest depth not more than 8 fathoms. The W. part, called the Putrid Sea, is separated from the main expanse by a long sandy belt called Arabat, along which runs a military road. The sea teems with fish. The Don and other rivers enter it, and its waters are very fresh.

AZPEITIA ([.a]th-p[=a]'i-ti-[.a]), a town of N.E. Spain, province Guipuzcoa. Near it is the convent of Loyola, a large edifice, now a museum. Pop. 6692.

AZ'RAEL. See _As'rael_.

AZ'TECS (from _Aztatl_ (heron), and _Flacatl_ (man), 'people of the heron'), a race of people who settled in Mexico early in the fourteenth century, ultimately extended their dominion over a large territory, and were still extending their supremacy at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, by whom they were speedily subjugated. Their political organization, termed by the Spanish writers an absolute monarchy, consisted of a military chief exercising important, but not unlimited, power in civil affairs, in which the council of chiefs and periodic assemblies of the judges had also a voice. Their most celebrated ruler was Montezuma, who was reigning when the Spaniards arrived, about the middle of the fifteenth century. It is inferred that considerable numbers of them lived in large communal residences, and that land was held and cultivated upon the communal principle. Slavery and polygamy were both legitimate, but the children of slaves were regarded as free. Although ignorant of the horse, ox, &c., they had a considerable knowledge of agriculture, maize and the agave being the chief produce. Silver, lead, tin, and copper were obtained from mines, and gold from the surface and river beds, but iron was unknown to them, their tools being of bronze and obsidian. Metal coins were not in use. In metal-work, feather-work, weaving, and pottery they possessed a high degree of skill. To record events they used picture-writing, and their lunar calendars were of unusual accuracy. Two special deities claimed their reverence: Huitzilo-pochtli, the god of war, propitiated with human sacrifices; and Quetzalcoatl, the beneficent god of light and air, with whom at first the Aztecs were disposed to identify Cortez. Their temples, with large terraced pyramidal bases, were in the charge of an exceedingly large priesthood, to whom the education of the young was entrusted. As a civilization of apparently independent origin, yet closely resembling in many features the archaic Oriental civilizations, the Aztec civilization is of the first interest, but in most accounts of it a large speculative element has to be discounted.

AZ'ULINE, or AZ'URINE, blue dyes belonging to the coal-tar class.

A'ZURE, the heraldic term for the colour blue, represented in engraving by horizontal lines.

AZ'URINE (_Leuciscus caerul[)e]us_), a fresh-water fish of the same genus as the roach, chub, and minnow, found in some parts of Europe, but rare in Britain; called also _Blue Roach_.

AZ'URITE, a blue mineral, a carbonate of copper, often occurring in crystals. Its formula is 2CuCO_3.Cu(OH)_2, and it is also called _Blue Malachite_. Also a name of lazulite.

AZYMITE. See _Eucharist_.

* * * * *

B

B is the second letter and the first consonant in the English and most other alphabets. It is a mute and labial, pronounced solely by the lips, and is distinguished from _p_ by being sonant, that is, produced by the utterance of voice as distinguished from breath.

B, in _music_, the seventh note of the model diatonic scale or scale of C. It is called the leading note, as there is always a feeling of suspense when it is sounded until the keynote is heard.

BAADER, Franz Xaver von (fr[.a]nts-zae'fer fon bae'der), German philosopher and theologian, born in Munich, 1765, died 1841. He studied engineering, became superintendent of mines, and was ennobled for services. He was deeply interested in the religious speculations of Eckhart, St. Martin, and Boehme, and in 1826 was appointed professor of philosophy and speculative theology in the University of Munich. During the last three years of his life he was interdicted from lecturing for opposing the interference in civil matters of the Roman Catholic Church.

BA'AL, or BEL, a Semitic word, which primarily signified lord or proprietor, and was afterwards applied to many different divinities, or, with qualifying epithets, to the same divinity regarded in different aspects, describing him as an occupier of some physical object or locality, or as a possessor of some attribute. Thus in _Hos._ ii, 16 it is applied to Jehovah himself, while _Baal-berith_ (the Covenant-lord) was the god of the Shechemites, and _Baal-zebub_ (the Fly-god) the idol of the Philistines at Ekron. Baal was the sacred title applied to the Sun as the principal male deity of the Phoenicians and their descendants, the Carthaginians, as well as of the ancient Canaanitish nations, and was worshipped as the supreme ruler and vivifier of nature. The word enters into the composition of many Hebrew, Phoenician, and Carthaginian names of persons and places; thus, _Jerubaal_, _Hasdrubal_ (help of Baal), _Hannibal_ (grace of Baal), and _Baal-Hammon_, _Baal-Thamar_, &c.

BAALBEK' (ancient, HELIOP[)O]LIS, 'city of the sun'), a place in Syria, in a fertile valley at the foot of Antilibanus, 40 miles from Damascus, famous for its magnificent ruins. Of these the chief is the Temple of the Sun, built either by Antoninus Pius or by Septimius Severus. Some of the blocks used in its construction are 60 feet long by 12 thick; and its fifty-four columns, of which six are still standing, were 72 feet high and 22 in circumference. Near it is a temple of Jupiter, of smaller size though larger than the Parthenon at Athens, and there are other structures of an elaborately ornate type. Originally a centre of Sun-worship, it became a Roman colony under Julius Caesar, was garrisoned by Augustus, and acquired increasing renown under Trajan as the seat of an oracle. Under Constantine its temples became churches, but after being sacked by the Arabs in 748, and more completely pillaged by Tamerlane in 1401, it sank into hopeless decay. The work of destruction was completed by an earthquake in 1759.

BAAL-ZEBUB. See _Beelzebub_.

BABA, a cape near the north-west point of Asia Minor.

BABADAGH (b[.a]-b[.a]-daeg'), a town of Roumania, capital of the Dobrudsha, carrying on a considerable Black Sea trade; it was bombarded by the Russians in 1854. Pop. 10,000.

BAB'BAGE, Charles, English mathematician and inventor of the calculating-machine, born 1792, died 1871. He graduated at Cambridge in 1814, and occupied the Lucasian chair of mathematics at Cambridge for eleven years, but delivered no lectures. As early as 1812 he conceived the idea of calculating numerical tables by machinery, and in 1823 he received a grant from Government for the construction of such a machine. After a series of experiments lasting eight years, and an expenditure of L17,000 (L6000 of which was sunk by himself, the balance voted by Government), Babbage abandoned the undertaking in favour of a much more enlarged work, an analytical engine, worked with cards like the jacquard-loom; but the project was never completed. The incompleted machine is now in the South Kensington Museum. Among the many treatises he published on subjects connected with mathematics and mechanics few can be regarded as finished performances. Babbage was instrumental in founding the Astronomical and Statistical Societies (1820 and 1834).

BABBIT-METAL, a soft metal resulting from alloying together certain proportions of copper, tin, and zinc or antimony, used with the view of as far as possible obviating friction in the bearings of journals, cranks, axles, &c., invented by Isaac Babbit (1799-1862), a goldsmith of Taunton, Massachusetts.

BA'BEL. See _Babylon_.

BA'BEL, TOWER OF, according to the 11th chapter of _Genesis_, a structure in the Plain of Shinar, Mesopotamia, commenced by the descendants of Noah subsequent to the deluge, but which was not allowed to proceed to completion. It has commonly been identified with the great temple of Belus, or Bel, that was one of the chief edifices in Babylon, and the huge mound called Birs Nimrud is generally regarded as its site, though another mound, which to this day bears the name of Babil, has been assigned by some as its site. Babel means literally 'gate of God'. The meaning 'confusion' assigned to it in the Bible really belongs to a word of similar form. See _Babylon_.

BAB-EL-MANDEB ('gate of tears', from being dangerous to small craft), a strait, 15 miles wide, between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, formed by projecting points of Arabia in Asia, and Abyssinia in Africa. The Island of Perim is here.

BA'BER, first Grand Mogul, the founder of the Mogul dynasty in Hindustan, born in 1483, died 1530. He was a grandson of the great Tartar prince, Timur or Tamerlane, and was sovereign of Cabul. He invaded Hindustan, and in 1525 overthrew and killed Sultan Ibrahim, the last Hindu emperor of the Pathan or Afghan race. He made many improvements, social and political, in his empire, and left a valuable autobiography (English translation, 1826).

BABEUF (b[.a]-beuf), Francois Noel, a French political agitator, born in 1764; started a democratic journal in Paris, called _Le Tribun du Peuple, par 'Gracchus' Babeuf_, and wrote with great severity against the Jacobins. After the fall of Robespierre, to which he powerfully contributed, he openly attacked the terrorists, and advocated the most democratic principles. He was accused of a conspiracy against the directorial Government, condemned to death, and guillotined in 1797. He was one of the pioneers of Socialism in France.

BAB'INGTON, Anthony, a Catholic gentleman of Derbyshire, born 1561. He associated with others of his own persuasion to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, and deliver Mary, Queen of Scots. The plot being discovered, the conspirators were executed in 1586.

BABIROUSSA. See _Babyroussa_.

BAB'ISM, the doctrines of a Mohammedan sect whose head-quarters is Persia, founded by Seyd Ali Mohammed in 1844. He took the name of Bab-ed-din, 'the gate of the faith', and afterwards that of Nokteh, 'the point', as not merely the recipient of a new divine revelation, but the focus in which all preceding dispensations would converge. One of his most successful disciples was a highly-gifted woman, Gurred-ul-Ayn, 'consolation of the eyes', who perished with many others during a persecution in 1852. The Bab himself had been executed about two years before this, and was succeeded by a noble youth, Mirza Yahya. The sect holds that all individual existence is an emanation from the supreme deity, by whom it will be ultimately reabsorbed. The morality of the sect is pure and cheerful, and it shows great advancement in the treatment of woman. Moses, Christ, and Mohammed are acknowledged as prophets, though only mere precursors of the Bab. A schism divided the followers of Babism into two sects, Bahais and Ezelis. The former have carried on an active propaganda in America.

BA'BOO, or BABU, a Hindu title of respect equivalent to _sir_ or _master_, usually given to wealthy and educated native gentlemen, especially when of the mercantile class.

lus babouin_)]

BABOON', a common name applied to a division of old-world quadrumana (apes and monkeys), comprehending the genera Cynoceph[)a]lus and Papio. They have elongated abrupt muzzles like a dog, strong tusks or canine teeth, usually short tails, cheek-pouches, small deep eyes with large eyebrows, and naked callosities on the buttocks. Their hind and fore feet are well proportioned, so that they run easily on all fours, but they do not maintain themselves in an upright posture with facility. They are generally of the size of a moderately large dog, but the largest, the mandrill, is, when erect, nearly of the height of a man. They are almost all African, ugly, sullen, fierce, lascivious, and gregarious, defending themselves by throwing stones, dirt, &c. They live on fruits and roots, eggs and insects. They include the chacma, drill, common baboon, and mandrill. The chacma or pig-tailed baboon (_Cynoceph[)a]lus porcarius_) is found in considerable numbers in parts of the S. African colonies, where the inhabitants wage war against them on account of the ravages they commit in the fields and gardens. The common baboon (_C. babouin_) inhabits a large part of Africa farther to the north. It is of a brownish-yellow colour, while the chacma is greyish-black, or in parts black. The hamadryas (_C. hamadryas_) of Abyssinia is characterized by long hair, forming a sort of shoulder-cape. The black baboon (_C. niger_) is found in Celebes.

BABOUR (bae'b[u:]r). See _Baber_.

BAB'RIUS, a Greek poet who flourished during the second or third century of the Christian era, and wrote a number of Aesopian fables. Several versions of these made during the Middle Ages have come down to us as _Aesop's Fables_. In 1840 a manuscript containing 120 fables by Babrius, previously unknown, was discovered on Mount Athos.

BABUYA'NES ISLANDS, a group in the Pacific Ocean, between Luzon and Formosa, belonging to United States. Pop. 12,000.

BABY-FARMING. The law relating to the protection of children and young persons has been subjected to amendment and consolidation by the Children Act of 1908, which wholly repealed the Infant Life Protection Act of 1897 dealing with baby-farming and infant life protection.

The Act of 1908 (Part I) deals with baby-farming, and requires that notice shall be given to the Local Authority (in Scotland the Parish Council) by the person undertaking for reward the nursing and maintenance of any infant or infants under seven years of age apart from their parents, within forty-eight hours after reception, unless the period for which it is received be only forty-eight hours or less. The notice requires the name, sex, date and place of birth of the child to be stated, where it is to be kept, and from whom it is received. The Act also provides that such a person shall notify any change in his residence or the removal or death of the infant to the Local Authority within forty-eight hours. In regard to all these matters the Act is retrospective, and necessitates persons who had undertaken nursing and maintenance of such infants before its coming into operation to comply with its provisions within a month after the commencement thereof. But it exempts any person who may have given the similar notice required by the Infant Life Protection Act of 1897, although it does not exempt any person whose duty it was to have given notice thereunder from any liability which such a person may have incurred thereunder.

A duty is imposed upon Local Authorities to inquire regarding persons willing to undertake the nursing and maintenance of infants, to appoint infant-protection visitors of either sex in so far as it provides for infant life protection and gives powers to such Local Authorities and visitors for fulfilling the requirements of the Act. It is an offence for the person undertaking the nursing to refuse to allow such visitors access to the infant or the premises in which it is kept; and, if need be, application may be made to the court for a warrant to enter the house in which an infant is farmed out, and where there is reason to believe that the Act is being contravened. It is an offence for any infant to be kept (1) by any person from whose care an infant has been removed under the Act or the Infant Life Protection Act, or (2) by any person convicted of any offence under Part II of the Children Act of 1908 or the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1904.

The Local Authority may fix the number of infants under the age of seven years which may be kept in any dwelling, and it is an offence to keep more. Provision is also made for the removal of an infant from overcrowded, dangerous, or insanitary premises, or from the custody of a person unfit to take charge of the child; and an application may be made by a visitor to a magistrate for a removal order enforceable by the visitor or a constable. Should the infant die, notice of the fact must be given by the person with whom it is farmed out to the Procurator-fiscal of the district, if in Scotland, and, if in England, to the Coroner of the district, within twenty-four hours. He shall hold an inquest unless a certificate by a medical practitioner specifying the cause of death shall be forwarded. Failure to give such notice is punishable under the Act.

A person nursing an infant for reward shall have no interest in the life of the child for the purposes of life assurance. It is not permissible for such a person or insurance company to insure the life of such a child. To do so renders both the person and the insurance company liable to prosecution.

Any person knowingly or wilfully making any false statement in any notice required to be given under the Act commits an offence under the Act.

Imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding L25, may be imposed upon any person found guilty upon summary conviction of an offence against Part I of the Children Act, 1908; in addition the court may order the removal of the infant to a place of safety. All fines are payable to the Local Authority for the purposes of the Act.

Legal guardians of an infant, as well as institutions established for the protection and care of infants, are exempted from the provisions of Part I of the Children Act, 1908.

BAB'YLON, the capital of Babylonia, on the left of the Euphrates, one of the largest and most splendid cities of the ancient world, now a scene of ruins, and earth-mounds containing them. Babylon was a royal city sixteen hundred years before the Christian era; but the old city was almost entirely destroyed in 683 B.C. A new city was built by Nebuchadnezzar nearly a century later. This was in the form of a square, each side 15 miles long, with walls of such immense height and thickness as to constitute one of the wonders of the world. It contained splendid edifices, large gardens and pleasure-grounds, especially the 'hanging-gardens', a sort of lofty terraced structure supporting earth enough for trees to grow, and the celebrated Tower of Babel or Temple of Belus, rising by stages to the height of 625 feet. (See _Babel, Tower of_.) After the city was taken by Cyrus in 538 B.C., and Babylonia made a Persian province, it began to decline, and had suffered severely by the time of Alexander the Great. He intended to restore it, but was prevented by his death, which took place here in 323 B.C., from which time its decay was rapid. Interesting discoveries have been made on its site, more especially of numerous and valuable inscriptions in the cuneiform or arrow-head character. The modern town of Hillah is believed to represent the ancient city, and the plain here for miles round is studded with vast mounds of earth and brick and imposing ruins. The greatest mound is Birs Nimrud, about 6 miles from Hillah. It rises nearly 200 feet, is crowned by a ruined tower, and is commonly believed to be the remains of the ancient Temple of Belus. Another great ruin-mound, called Mujellibeh, has also been assigned as its site.

BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. These ancient seats of Mesopotamian civilization lay across the western Asian trade-routes, Babylonia being in the south and Assyria in the north. The area, in which they flourished is embraced by the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and extends from the head of the Persian Gulf to the frontiers of Armenia and Northern Syria, is bordered on the east by Persia and on the west by the Syro-Arabian desert. 'Mesopotamia' is a term borrowed by the ancient Greeks from the Semites, and was first applied to the north-western region. There was a Roman province of that name. The northern area of the Tigro-Euphrates valley is partly mountainous and partly steppe land, with wide stretches of elevated grazing-lands and fertile districts on the banks of rivers. Assyria, derived from A-usar ('the river-bank region'), had origin in north-eastern Mesopotamia. Its most ancient capital, Asshur (modern Kal'at Sherkat), was situated on the western bank of the River Tigris, between the tributaries the Upper Zab and the Lower Zab. Nineveh, the last capital of all, lay farther north on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and right opposite modern Mosul. The Assyrians called themselves Asshurai, and their national god was Ashur (earlier Ashir), written A-Shur, but confused in time with Ash-Shur, the name of the capital. The southern area of Mesopotamia, below Bagdad, where the Tigris and Euphrates come within 35 miles of one another, is a flat alluvial plain. Babylonia proper is that fish-shaped region between the rivers, which broadens out to about 100 miles and gradually narrows to the point at Kurnah where the rivers meet and form the Shatt-el-Arab. From Kurnah to the head of the Persian Gulf is the ancient area of Chaldea, which means 'Sea-land'. The inhabitants called themselves Kaldu (Sea-landers) and were known to the Hebrews as the Kasdim, and to the Greeks as the Chaldaioi. Babylonia, and the rest of the alluvial plain, is the 'gift' of the rivers which rise in flood each year when the snow melts on the Armenian mountains. Both the Tigris and the Euphrates bring down enormous quantities of sediment--indeed five times as much as does the Egyptian Nile--and they have withal more destructive tendencies. The accumulating silt tends to divert the flow of the rivers in the south, and a process of land-making which began at the close of the Ice Age is still in progress, thrusting back the head of the Persian Gulf. At one time the Tigris and Euphrates entered the gulf by separate mouths, and Chaldea was then a narrow fringe of steppe land, plain, and marshes. The River Tigris is about 1146 miles long, and begins to rise early in March, reaching its height in May, and subsiding before the end of June. The Euphrates is a slower river, about 1780 miles in length. It begins to rise a fortnight later than the Tigris, is longer in flood, and does not reach its lowest level until September. As there is a drop of only 120 feet between Bagdad and the sea, a distance, as the crow flies, of about 300 miles, the ancient Babylonians did their utmost to conserve the water which came down in such abundance and was rapidly drained away, after doing much damage. Near Bagdad the Tigris is on a higher level than the Euphrates, and could be run into it through a canal; farther south the Euphrates, being on the higher level, could be run by canal into the Tigris. The ancient engineers cut these and other canals; indeed, they covered the whole valley with a network of them. To store the Euphrates water for the season of drought and great heat, they formed canals which carried the roaring flood into two depressions in the western desert between the modern towns of Kerbela and Ram[.a]di. These depressions are utilized for the British irrigation scheme. The Babylonians did their utmost to control the Tigris by erecting earthen dams so as to hold up as much of the water as possible. Earthen dykes were also erected to raise its banks. The right bank protected the farms from disastrous flooding. These ancient irrigation works made Babylonia the greatest grain-yielding area in the ancient world. Its vast surplus of food stimulated trade and brought Babylonia immense wealth, while its strategic situation made it very powerful. Its cultural influence flowed along the trade routes, eastward across Persia and the Iranian plateau, northward through Assyria to Armenia (ancient Urartu) and beyond, and north-westward along the Euphrates banks into Syria and Palestine, and into Asia Minor, the land of the Hittites, and then along the highway to Europe, called later by the Persians 'the royal road'. The road to Egypt ran southward from North Syria through Palestine, skirting the maritime valley by 'the way of the Philistines'. The merchants of many nations met in the city of Babylon, the London of the ancient western Asian world, and in the trading centres of North Syria, including Carchemish.

The earliest agriculturists and traders of Babylonia were the Sumerians, a non-Semitic people, who built a number of cities in the irrigated valley and founded colonies in Assyria. No trace has been found of a Neolithic Age in Babylonia. Its civilization, so far as our knowledge goes, began after copper was introduced. At an early period Semites filtered into the valley. They absorbed Sumerian civilization, and ultimately became politically predominant in the northern part of the valley, which was called Akkad (the biblical Accad). The southern part was then known as Sumer or Sumeria (the biblical 'Plain of Shinar'). Akkad embraced the city States of Agade, Babylon, Borsippa, Sippar, Kish, Opis, and Kutha. The Sumerian city States included Eridu, Ur (later 'of the Chaldees' and the birthplace of Abraham), Lagash, Shuruppak, Erech, Umma, and Adab. Inter-state wars resulted time and again in the formation of confederacies which were more of political than racial character, and the predominance of one city or another. Religious ideas were fused, and local pantheons appear to have reflected local politics. The chief seat of early Sumerian civilization was the city of Eridu, a name signifying 'on the seashore'. Its site is marked by modern Abu-Shahrein on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, and south-east of Ur, modern Mukayyar. Eridu was originally a seaport on the Persian Gulf, from which it is now separated by about 125 miles of land formed by river silt. The chief god of Eridu was Ea, a name also rendered Ae and Aa, and apparently meaning 'waters' or 'house (region) of waters'. That the term 'waters' had a special significance for the inhabitants of a water-formed land is evident by the fact that the Semitic equivalent of Ea is Enki, which means 'lord of earth'. Other titles of the god were 'lord of Heaven and Earth', 'ruler of the land', 'the deep', 'god of the abyss', and 'king of the river'. He was withal the 'Creator', water having created Sumeria, and Nadimmud, 'lord of everything', as the Egyptian Osiris in his character of god of the Nile was 'Neb-er-Zer', also 'lord of everything'. Ea had a ship with a crew including his son Marduk (Merodach or Marad, the Ni-marad or Nimrod of legend) and In-ab, 'the pilot of Eridu'. The ship was hailed, in religious literature, as the bringer of fertility and joy. Evidently the beginning of Sumerian civilization had some connection with ancient seafarers. Of special interest in this connection are the references made by the Greek writer Berosus to Oannes, a sea-dweller who came daily from the Persian Gulf to instruct the early Babylonians how to irrigate the land, grow crops, erect houses, make laws, write, calculate and measure, and engage in trade. Texts have been discovered which tend to identify Oannes with the god Ea. As the early Sumerians bore a strong physical resemblance to the ancient Egyptians, and there were links between the early religious beliefs and customs of the two peoples, it is suspected that they represented two branches of the same ancient stock. Some think Sumerian civilization was founded by colonists from Egypt, while others believe that Egyptian civilization was stimulated by settlers from Sumeria. The question as to who first invented ships has an important bearing in this connection. When we turn to Sumero-Babylonian religious myths we find that some reflect local natural phenomena. In one the Euphrates is hailed as the River (god) "who didst create all things". Another, referring to the creation of man, says that Marduk (earlier the god Gilimma) "tied reeds on the face of the waters, he formed dust and poured it out beside the reeds ... he formed mankind". Another version is that man was created from the god's blood and bone, or, as Berosus has it, from the god's blood and earth. The oldest Sumerian creation myth states that all things came from primeval water. Then many deities were created by the pre-existing triad of gods, Anu (the sky-god), Enlil ('the elder Bel', the earth-god, and 'lord of grain'), and Ea, who was associated with the goddess Ninkharsagga. Ea had several other wives, including Ninshar or Ninkurra, Ninella, Nintu, and Damkina. These goddesses were ultimately all absorbed by Ishtar, the Semitic name of the love and mother goddess. In the later Babylonian 'Seven Tablets' version of the creation myth a conflict is introduced. The female chaos-dragon Tiamat is slain by Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, 'the later Bel', who cuts up her body and uses part to form the sky and part to keep the waters in their place. After a time a deluge took place. In the Sumerian myth a priest-king called Ziusudu (earlier named Tatug or Uttu) corresponds both to Adam and to Noah, and builds a large vessel, having been warned by Ea of the approaching disaster. The Gilgamesh Epic refers to the hero as Ut-na-pishtim (or Pir-na-pishtim). He and his wife afterwards become immortal, and they are visited on their island by Gilgamesh (the Babylonian Hercules), when, smitten by disease, he searches for the Plant of Life, which he finds and afterwards loses. Ishtar, the goddess who plays a part in this epic, is also the heroine of the poetic legend which tells of her descent to Hades in quest of Tammuz, whose story resembles somewhat that of Adonis and has Osirian characteristics. The Babylonian Persephone was Eresh-ki-gal with whom Tammuz dwelt in her underworld for part of the year. Associated with her was Nergal, chief god of Kutha, whose planet was Mars. He conquered Hades. He and other city gods appear to have been developed from attributes vaguely shared by the earlier triad Anu, Bel-Enlil, and Ea. The moon-god of Ur was Sin (Sumerian Nannara), whose name clings to the desert of Sinai. Shamash was the Semitic name of the sun-god of Sippar, the Sumerian being Utu; Gishnu, the Light, and Ma-banda-anna, 'the boat of heaven' (like the Egyptian Ra), and Mitra were among his other non-Semitic names. Dagan, the god of the Euphrates, is regarded as a form of Ea, and as probably the same deity as Dagon of the Philistines. In later times the astrologers coloured with their doctrines the religious beliefs of Babylonia.

Among the early empire-builders of Babylonia were Lugal-zaggisi of Sumerian Erech, who claimed to have subdued all lands from the Lower Sea (Persian Gulf) to the Upper Sea (the Mediterranean). He flourished about 2800 B.C. Another was Sargon of Akkad, who lived about a century and a half later. He must not be confused with the much later biblical Sargon of Assyria. His son or grandson, Naram-Sin, recorded his great trading activities and victories over his enemies, including the Elamites, whose chief stronghold was Susa in south-western Persia. Elam was a rival power of considerable strength. About 2200 B.C. it had overrun a great part of Sumeria, and Akkad fell to the invading bands of Amorites. These Amorites founded the Hammurabi Dynasty, of which the king of that name was sixth in succession; Hammurabi extinguished the last sparks of Elamite power in Sumeria, which, with Akkad, was united to form the kingdom of Babylonia, named after Babylon, the capital. It was during this period that Abraham migrated from Ur to Palestine. Hammurabi (_c._ 2123-2081 B.C.) codified the ancient Sumerian laws and did much to develop trade. The chief god of his kingdom was Marduk, 'the later Bel', whose temple was called Esagilla. Babylon became the greatest trading centre in Western Asia and a rival of the Egyptian Memphis. Sumerian gradually ceased to be a spoken language, being supplanted by Semitic, but remained, like Latin, in mediaeval Europe, the language of law, culture, and religion, while the Babylonian language became the language of trade and diplomacy, and was used in international correspondence by all the great Powers. The Hammurabi dynasty came to an end about 1926 B.C., when the Hittites raided Babylonia and carried off the statues of Marduk and his consort. Kassites, assisted by Elamites, had been attacking Babylonia from the east, and the Sea-landers, who were Arabians mixed with Sumerians, established their independence. In the end the Kassites, who were probably Aryan by race, conquered Babylonia and established a new dynasty. Like the Trojans they were 'tamers of horses'. Their military successes are believed to have been due to the use of the horse, which was a rarity in Babylonia before their time, but became common as a beast of burden as soon as the Kassite dynasty was established. Kassite supremacy lasted for over 570 years, and during that period Babylonia was known as Karduniash. One of its early kings brought back from Khani (Mitanni) the statues of Marduk and his consort which had been carried off by the Hittites. Babylonian civilization was not changed by Kassite conquest, and its trade went on as of yore. The Kassites formed an aristocracy like the Normans in England. During the Kassite period Assyria was a growing power. It had origin as a Sumerian colony, but above the relics of the Sumerians at Asshur have been found those of a people whose kings had such non-Semitic and probably Aryan names as Ushpia, Kikia, and Adasi. The Amorites afterwards swept into Assyria, which they Semitized. During the Hammurabi dynasty it was subject to Babylonian overlordship. It grew independent during the latter period of the Kassite dynasty, and its kings formed compacts with the Kassites. Their western neighbours were by this time the Mitannians. An Aryan military aristocracy had formed a powerful State in north-western Mesopotamia, where they worshipped Indra, Varuna, and Mitra, gods which figure in the mythology of the Aryan invaders of India. Egypt, under Thothmes III, extended her Syrian empire to the borders of Mitannia and a friendship sprang up between the two Powers. Assyria was during the period subject to Mitanni. The Tell-el-Amarna letters reveal the fact that Egyptian monarchs had married princesses from Mitanni, and the famous Akhenaton had Mitannian blood in his veins.

The Hittites conquered Northern Syria and overran Mitannia when the Egyptian Asian empire went to pieces. Assyria then became powerful and independent again, the first great king of its new age being Ashur-uballit, who was strong enough to interfere with Babylonia's domestic politics. Shalmaneser I of Assyria (_c._ 1300 B.C.) conquered the whole of the Mitanni kingdom and extended the Assyrian empire westward across the Babylonian caravan road to North Syria. He built a new capital at Kalah (Nimrud). His son, Tulkulti--Nineb I--(_c._ 1275 B.C.), conquered Babylonia and reigned over it for seven years. In the end he was murdered by political conspirators, with whom his son was associated. Civil war ensued, and Assyria's history is found to be obscure for a century afterwards. In Babylon the Kassite dynasty, under which trade flourished, came to an end as a result of an Elamite invasion about 1185 B.C. A new Babylonian dynasty then arose, and the third king, Nebuchadnezzar I, revived the old empire and waged war against Assyria. But the future lay with Assyria, which was organized as a military State. It did not have Babylonia's natural resources, and could only exist as a great Power by imposing tribute on weaker States. A standing army was the basis of its strength. The national god was Ashur, who was symbolized by a winged disk, an adaptation of the Egyptian winged disk of Horus. It was carried to battle with the king, so that wherever the king was, there was the national god of war. The heavily-bearded Assyrians were a fiercer and more war-like people than the mild shaven Babylonians, who were ever influenced by Sumerian modes of thought. The Assyrian temperament is reflected in its art, which at its best is characterized by vigorous realism and brilliant ferocity. Much of it is harsh, exaggerated, and pompous. A sharp contrast is presented by the calmer and more idealistic art of the Sumero-Babylonians. The records of Assyrian monarchs deal mainly with extensive conquests. They did their utmost to set up a reign of terror in Western Asia, and when subject States revolted the chief men in them were flayed alive or impaled on stakes. The wholesale destruction of trading city States and the massacres of thousands of innocents were fit subjects for an Assyrian conqueror to boast of in his inscriptions. Hittites, North Syrians, Babylonians, and Urartians (Armenians), were time and again plundered and subjected. A great conqueror of the Middle Period was Tiglath-Pileser I (_c._ 1100 B.C.), and other monarchs of the same name repeated his conquests and atrocities during the last century of Assyria's existence. The military glory of such a monarch as Ashur-natsir-pal III (885-860 B.C.), whose armies swept through western Asia like cyclones, has a lurid background of savage cruelty and oppression. He fought for no greater cause than plunder and the maintenance of Assyria's ability to wring tribute from the oppressed. His son, Shalmaneser III, extended the empire but died under a cloud of internal revolt. Subsequent rulers dominated Babylonia, and one, Adad-nirari IV (810-782 B.C.), married the Babylonian princess, Sammurammat, the Semiramis of tradition. Tiglath-Pileser IV (745-727 B.C.) was overlord of Babylon, and, indeed, Babylonia was more or less under Assyrian sway for the next century. Sargon II ('Sargon the later') did his utmost to break the national spirit in subject States by transporting whole communities from one to another. He removed a portion of the 'ten lost tribes' to the Median hills, and dispatched Babylonians from Kutha to Samaria, where they made Nergal their chief god. His campaigns extended to Phoenicia, Cilicia, and Armenia. Sennacherib, his son, defeated Egypt and her allies in Palestine and besieged Hezekiah in Jerusalem. A revolution in Babylonia broke out, and he swept into it and devastated Babylon, so that Nineveh might become the chief city in Mesopotamia. But Babylon had to be rebuilt by his son Esarhaddon, so that its dislocated trade might be restored. Esarhaddon, recognizing that the great commercial rival of Babylonia was Egypt, and that Egypt instigated the Palestinian and Syrian revolts against Assyria, invaded the Nile valley and captured and sacked Memphis. Ashur-bani-pal (668-626 B.C.), the next Assyrian emperor, punished the Egyptian rebels by sweeping southwards and capturing and sacking Thebes, which is referred to as No (Nu-Amon) in the Bible (_Nahum_, iii, 8-10): "Populous No ... Yet was she carried away ... her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they (the Assyrians) cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains". Egypt became for a time an Assyrian province. Elam was similarly dealt with, the great capital Susa being treated like Thebes. On the north and east Assyrian power was established with characteristic Assyrian ferocity and thoroughness. The result was that the predatory nomadic tribes of Scythians and Medes were able to sweep through the devastated territories and strike at the very heart of the empire. Ashur-bani-pal was the last great monarch of Assyria. In private life he was cultured and scholarly, and his library, which contained copies of many ancient records and literary works, is one of the sources of Mesopotamian history. Although the Sardanapulus of Greek tradition, he was not the actual monarch who perished when Nineveh was captured and sacked about 606 B.C. by the fiery hillmen from the east. The Assyrian military organization collapsed and Assyria ceased to be. The factors that led to the downfall of Assyria can only be guessed at. It may be that its many wars of conquest had left it in a state of exhaustion. It is also possible that the new generation of the aristocratic class that grew up in wealth and luxury was disorganized by intrigues and corruption. After Ashur-bani-pal died, no great leader arose, and the vast unwieldy empire suffered from internal decay. Babylonia was the first to foster organized revolt. It was overrun by the Chaldeans from the south, who, two years after Ashur-bani-pal's death, set on the throne at Babylon their leader, King Nabopolassar. With him began the Neo-Babylonian dynasty which lasted for 86 years. He had an ambitious and capable son named Nebuchadnezzar, who set out, as soon as Nineveh fell, to seize the western portion of the Assyrian Empire--the Medes, with whom the Chaldeans had an agreement, being content to retain north-eastern Mesopotamia. The Egyptians, having overcome the Assyrian garrisons in the Nile valley, were by this time moving northward through Palestine with the idea of re-establishing their ancient empire in Asia. Memphis and Babylon were rival trading centres, and the struggle that ensued was one which was to decide which should have preeminence on the western Asian trade-routes, and especially the 'clearing-houses' of North Syria. In 604 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar met and defeated Pharaoh Necho's Egyptian army at Carchemish. The Egyptians retreated in confusion and were pursued to their frontier. Nabopolassar's death in Babylon caused Nebuchadnezzar to return home and ascend the throne. Eight years later, however, he was back in Palestine again. Judah had been plotting with Egypt, its ally, and the Babylonian monarch besieged and captured Jerusalem. Thousands of Jews were carried off as captives to Babylonia. In 587 B.C. Egypt involved Judah in a second revolt. Nebuchadnezzar II again captured Jerusalem. This time he destroyed the city and carried away the greater part of the remnant of the Jewish people to serve his artisans and agriculturists "by Babel's streams". Babylon was triumphant as a political and trading centre, and, during Nebuchadnezzar's long reign of 42 years, prospered greatly. Its products and its culture were carried far and wide, and Chaldean astrologers as well as merchants became known in Egypt and Greece. Babylonia was the birthplace of the science of astronomy, which developed from astrology. Nebuchadnezzar was a great builder. It is the ruins of his Babylon that have been excavated in our own day. Although Greek descriptions of the city have been found to be somewhat exaggerated, it was yet made very strong and impressive. The royal palace was rebuilt, and the Hanging Garden on its terraced platform became one of the seven wonders of the world. Trade flourished in the capital, and a harbour was built at the head of the Persian Gulf to promote sea traffic. In 539 B.C. Cyrus, the Persian conqueror, having defeated the Babylonian army, entered Babylon in state and was welcomed by the priests, Nabo-nidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian empire, having made them his enemies. The independence of Babylonia then came to an end, but the importance of its capital as a trading centre did not suffer sudden decline. When it was captured by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C. it had been much damaged in consequence of revolts against Persia. The Macedonian conqueror resolved to make it his capital, but his early death, and subsequent political developments, hastened its decay. The Greeks had removed the rocks that blocked the Tigris, which then could be navigated by vessels from the Persian Gulf. Seleucus built the new capital of Seleucia on the right bank of the Tigris, and the traders followed the officials to the new Babylon. In time Ctesiphon arose on the left bank, and after the fall of the Parthian empire it was the principal city of the province. The Moslem conquest of Mesopotamia in the seventh century of our era brought about the rise of Bagdad, a few miles to the north of Ctesiphon. It will be noted that all these cities are strategically situated in the neck of land, between the rivers, which is crossed by the caravan roads leading east and west. During the reign of the famous Harun al Rashid (786-809) Bagdad was at the height of its splendour. A portion of this ruler's great palace still remains, and the tomb of Zobiede, his queen, is a prominent feature on the outskirts of the city. Bagdad declined as a trading centre after Vasco da Gama discovered the sea-route to India, and diverted the merchandise previously carried to Europe across the overland routes across Persia and through Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Bagdad afterwards depended chiefly on the traffic caused by pilgrim caravans to and from Mecca. The disastrous neglect of Babylonia's irrigation system occurred under Turkish rule. Towards the close of the nineteenth century Germany obtained concessions from the Turks and planned the Bagdad railway, so as to reopen the ancient overland trade-route for Indo-Persian trade. British interests in the Persian Gulf were seriously threatened by this scheme. When war broke out in 1914, a British force landed in ancient Chaldea and pushed northward. Bagdad, the modern Babylon, was captured in 1917, and Mosul (Nineveh) was occupied in 1918. The Peace Treaty between the Allied Powers and Turkey placed Mesopotamia under the protection of Great Britain, which thus secured control of the Bagdad railway. An extensive irrigation scheme in the southern alluvial valley promises to restore ancient Babylonia to its importance as one of the great grain-yielding areas of the world.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. W. Rogers, _History of Babylonia and Assyria_; H. Winckler, _History of Babylonia and Assyria_; L. W. King and H. R. H. Hall, _Egypt and Western Asia in the Light of recent Discoveries_; P. S. P. Handcock, _The Latest Light on Bible Lands_; L. W. King, _History of Babylon_; D. A. Mackenzie, _Myths of Babylonia and Assyria_; T. G. Pinches, _The Religion of Babylon and Assyria_; _The Old Testament in the Light of the Records of Assyria and Babylonia_; A. H. Sayce, _Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia_; M. Jastrow, _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria_; R. Koldeweg, _The Excavations of Babylon_.

BABYROUSSA (bab-i-r[u:]s'a; a Malay word signifying stag-hog), a species of wild hog (_Sus_ or _Porcus Babyrussa_), a native of the Indian Archipelago. From the outside of the upper jaw spring two teeth 12 inches long, curving upwards and backwards like horns, and almost touching the forehead. The tusks of the lower jaw also appear externally, though they are not so long as those of the upper jaw. Along the back are some weak bristles, and on the rest of the body only a sort of wool. These animals live in herds, feed on herbage, are sometimes tamed, and their flesh is well flavoured.

BAC'CARAT, a gambling card game of French origin, played by any number of players, or rather betters, and a banker. The latter deals two cards to each player and two to himself, and covers the stakes of each with an equal sum. The cards are then examined, and according to the scores made the players take their own stake and the banker's, or the latter takes all or a certain number of the stakes.

BACCARAT (b[.a]k-[.a]-rae), a town of France, about 15 miles south-east of Luneville, department Meurthe-et-Moselle, on the River Meurthe, with a handsome new church, and one of the largest works for plate-glass and crystal in France. Pop. 7277.

BACCHANA'LIA, or DIONYSIA, feasts in honour of Bacchus or Dionysus, characterized by licentiousness and revelry, and celebrated in ancient Athens. In the processions were bands of Bacchantes of both sexes, who, inspired by real or feigned intoxication, wandered about rioting and dancing. They were clothed in fawn-skins, crowned with ivy, and bore in their hands _thyrsi_, that is spears entwined with ivy, or having a pine-cone stuck on the point. These feasts passed from the Greeks to the Romans, who celebrated them with still greater dissoluteness till the Senate abolished them, 187 B.C.

BACCHANTE (bak-an'te), a person taking part in revels in honour of Bacchus. See _Bacchanalia_.

BACCHIGLIONE (b[.a]k-kil'y[=o]-n[=a]), a river of Northern Italy, rises in the Alps, passes through the towns of Vicenza and Padua, and enters the Adriatic near Chioggia, after a course of about 90 miles.

BACCHUS (bak'us; in Greek, generally _Dion[)y]sus_), the god of wine, son of Zeus (Jupiter) and S[)e]m[)e]l[=e]. He first taught the cultivation of the vine and the preparation of wine. To spread the knowledge of his invention he travelled over various countries and received in every quarter divine honours. Drawn by lions (some say panthers, tigers, or lynxes), he began his march, which resembled a triumphal procession. Those who opposed him were severely punished, but on those who received him hospitably he bestowed rewards. His love was shared by several; but Ariadne, whom he found deserted upon Naxos, alone was elevated to the dignity of a wife, and became a sharer of his immortality. In art he is represented with the round, soft, and graceful form of a maiden rather than with that of a young man. His long waving hair is knitted behind in a knot, and wreathed with sprigs of ivy and vine leaves. He is usually naked; sometimes he has a loose mantle hung negligently round his shoulders; sometimes a fawn-skin hangs across his breast. He is often accompanied by Silenus, Bacchantes, Satyrs, &c. See _Bacchanalia_.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Farnell, _Cults of the Greek States_; J. E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_; Sir J. G. Frazer, _The Golden Bough_.

BACCHYLIDES (bak-kil'i-d[=e]z), born in the Island of Cos, about the middle of the fifth century B.C., the last of the great lyric poets of Greece, a nephew of Simonides and a contemporary of Pindar. The extant remains of his odes, hymns, paeans, &c., were augmented in 1897 by papyrus discoveries.

BACCIOCCHI (b[.a]t-chok'[=e]), Maria Anne Eliza Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon, born at Ajaccio, 1777, died near Trieste, 1820; a great patroness of literature and art. She married Captain Bacciocchi, who in 1805 was created Prince of Lucca and Piombino. She virtually ruled these principalities herself, and as Grand-Duchess of Tuscany she enacted the part of a queen. She fell with the Empire.

BACCIO DELIA PORTA (b[.a]ch'[=o]). See _Bartolommeo_.

BACH (ba_h_), Johann Sebastian, one of the greatest of German musicians, born in 1685 at Eisenach, died in 1750 at Leipzig. Being the son of a musician he was early trained in the art, and soon distinguished himself. In 1703 he was engaged as a player at the Court of Weimar, and subsequently he was musical director to the Duke of Anhalt-Koethen, and afterwards held an appointment at Leipzig. He paid a visit to Potsdam on the invitation of Frederick the Great. As a player on the harpsichord and organ he had no equal among his contemporaries; but it was not till a century after his death that his greatness as a composer was fully recognized. His compositions, many of which are pieces of sacred music, show great originality. They include pieces, vocal and instrumental, for the organ, piano, stringed and keyed instruments; church cantatas, oratorios, masses, passion music, &c. More than fifty musical performers have proceeded from this family. Sebastian himself had eleven sons, all distinguished as musicians. The most renowned were the following:--Wilhelm Friedemann, born in 1710 at Weimar, died at Berlin in 1784. He was one of the most scientific harmonists and most skilful organists.--Karl Philipp Emmanuel, born in 1714 at Weimar, died in 1788 at Hamburg. He composed mostly for the piano, and published melodies for Gellert's hymns; he also wrote _The True Manner of Playing the Harpsichord_.--Johann Christoph Friedrich, born at Weimar, 1732, died in 1795, a great organist, is known also by the music he published.--Johann Christian, born in 1735 at Leipzig, died in London, 1782, was a favourite composer and conductor with the English public.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Spitta, _Johann Sebastian Bach_; A. Pirro, _L'Esthetique de Jean Sebastian Bach_.

BACHARACH (b[.a]_h_'[.a]-r[.a]_h_), a small place of 2000 inhabitants on the Rhine, 12 miles S. of Coblenz. The vicinity produces excellent wine, which was once highly esteemed. The view from the ruins of the castle is one of the sublimest on the Rhine.