names, we are fully warranted in rejecting the | byses, the son of Cyrus; and to Astyages, king notion, that the wise monarch is designed by of the Medes, Dan. ix, 1. the appellations Agur and Lemuel. And it seems most reasonable to consider them as denoting real persons.

AHAB, the son and successor of Omri. He began his reign over Israel, A. M. 3086, and reigned 22 years. In impiety he far exceeded all the kings of Israel. He married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Zidon, who introduced the whole abominations and idols of her country, Baal and Ashtaroth.

2. AHAB the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, were two false prophets, who, about A. M. 3406, seduced the Jewish captives at Babylon with hopes of a speedy deliverance, and stirred them up against Jeremiah. The Lord threatened them with a public and igno. minious death, before such as they had deceived; and that their names should become a curse; men wishing that their foes might be made like Ahab and Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon roasted in the fire, Jer. xxix, 21, 22.

AHAVA. The name of a river of Babylo. nia, or rather of Assyria, where Ezra assembled those captives whom he afterward brought into Judea, Ezra viii, 15. The river Ahava is thought to be that which ran along the Adabene, where a river Diava, or Adiava, is mentioned, and on which Ptolemy places the city Abane or Aavane. This is probably the country called Ava, whence the kings of Assyria translated the people called Avites into Palestine, and where they settled some of the captive Israelites, 2 Kings xvii, 24; xviii, 34; xix, 13; xvii, 31. Ezra, intending to collect as many Israelites as he could, who might return to Judea, halted in the country of Ava, or Aahava, whence he sent agents into the Caspian mount. ains, to invite such Jews as were willing to join him, Ezra viii, 16. The history of Izates, king of the Adiabenians, and of his mother Helena, who became converts to Judaism some years after the death of Jesus Christ, sufficiently proves that there were many Jews still settled in that country.

Such was his impiety, that he was not allowed burial in the sepulchres of the kings of Israel, 2 Kings xvi; 2 Chron. xxviii.

AHASUERUS was the king of Persia, who advanced Esther to be queen, and at her request AHAZ succeeded his father Jotham, as king delivered the Jews from the destruction plotted of Israel, at the age of twenty years, reigned for them by Haman. Archbishop Usher is of till the year before Christ, 726, and addicted opinion that this Ahasuerus was Darius Hy. himself to the practice of idolatry. After the staspes; and that Atossa was the Vashti, and customs of the Heathen, he made his children Artystona the Esther, of the Scriptures. But, to pass through fire; he shut up the temple, according to Herodotus, the latter was the and destroyed its vessels. He became tributary daughter of Cyrus, and therefore could not be to Tiglath-pileser, whose assistance he suppli. Esther; and the former had four sons by Da-cated against the kings of Syria and Israel. rius, besides daughters, born to him after he was king; and therefore she could not be the queen Vashti, divorced from her husband in the third year of his reign, nor he the Ahasue AHAZIAH, the son of Ahab, king of Israel. rus who divorced her. Besides, Atossa retained Ahaziah reigned two years, partly alone, and her influence over Darius to his death, and partly with his father Ahab, who appointed him obtained the succession of the crown for his his associate in the kingdom a year before his son, Xerxes; whereas Vashti was removed from death. Ahaziah imitated his father's impieties, the presence of Ahasuerus by an irrevocable 1 Kings xxii, 52, &c, and paid his adorations decree, Esther i, 19. Joseph Scaliger main- to Baal and Ashtaroth, the worship of whom tains that Xerxes was the Ahasuerus, and Ha- had been introduced into Israel by Jezebel his mestris his queen, the Esther, of Scripture. The mother. The Moabites, who had been always opinion is founded on the similitude of names, obedient to the kings of the ten tribes, ever but contradicted by the dissimilitude of the cha- since their separation from the kingdom of racters of Hamestris and Esther. Besides, Hero- Judah, revolted after the death of Ahab, and dotus says that Xerxes had a son by Hamestris refused to pay the ordinary tribute. Ahaziah that was marriageable in the seventh year of his had not leisure or power to reduce them, 2 Kings reign; and therefore she could not be Esther. i, 1, 2, &c, for, about the same time, having The Ahasuerus of Scripture, according to Dr. fallen through a lattice from the top of his Prideaux, was Artaxerxes Longimanus. Jose- house, he was considerably injured, and sent phus positively says that this was the person. messengers to Ekron to consult Baalzebub, the The Septuagint, through the whole book of god of that place, whether he should recover, Esther, uses Artaxerxes for the Hebrew Aha-2 Kings i, 1-17. Elijah met the messengers, suerus wherever the appellation occurs; and the apocryphal additions to that book every where call the husband of Esther Artaxerxes; and he could be no other than Artaxerxes Longimanus. The extraordinary favour shown to the Jews by this king, first in sending Ezra, and afterward Nehemiah, to relieve this people, and restore them to their ancient prosperity, affords strong presumptive evidence that they had near his person and high in his regard such an advocate as Esther. Ahasuerus is also a name given in Scripture, Ezra iv, 6, to Cam

and informed them he should certainly die; and he died accordingly.

2. AHAZIAH, king of Judah, the son of Jeho. ram and Athaliah. He succeeded his father in the kingdom of Judah, A. M. 3119; being in the twenty-second year of his age, 2 Kings viii, 26, &c; and he reigned one year only in Jerusalem. He walked in the ways of Ahab's house, to which he was related, his mother being of that family. Joram, king of Israel, 2 Kings viii, going to attack Ramoth Gilead, which the kings of Syria had taken from his

predecessors, was there dangerously wounded, | plied again to Joab, praying to be permitted to and carried by his own appointment to Jezreel, run after Cushi; and, having obtained leave, for the purpose of surgical assistance. Ahaziah, he ran by the way of the plain, and outran Joram's friend and relation, accompanied him Cushi. He was succeeded in the priesthood by in this war, and came afterward to visit him at his son Azariah. Jezreel. In the meantime, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom Joram had left besieging the fortress of Ramoth, rebelled against his master, and set out with a design of extirpating the house of Ahab, according to the commandment of the Lord, 2 Kings ix. Joram and Ahaziah, who knew nothing of his intentions, went to meet him. Jehu killed Joram dead upon the spot: Ahaziah fled, but Jehu's people overtook him at the going up of Gur, and mortally wounded him; notwithstanding which, he had strength enough to reach Megiddo, where he died. His servants, having laid him in his chariot, carried him to Jerusalem, where he was buried with his fathers, in the city of David.

my tent is in her. They both prostituted them. | a stately chamber, adorned with rich curtains,
selves to the Egyptians and Assyrians, in imi- in Babylon, where, during his days of splen.
tating their abominations and idolatries; for dour, the Resch-Glutha fixed his residence.
which reason the Lord abandoned them to The prince was seated on a lofty throne. The
those very people for whose evil practices they heads of the schools of Sura and Pumbeditha
had shown so passionate an affection. They on his right hand and left. These chiefs of
were carried into captivity, and reduced to the the learned men then delivered an address,
severest servitude.
exhorting the new monarch not to abuse his
AI, called by the LXX, Gai, by Josephus power; and reminded him that he was called
Aina, and by others Ajah, a town of Palestine, to slavery rather than to sovereignty, for he
situate west of Bethel, and at a small distance was prince of a captive people. On the next
north-west of Jericho. The three thousand Thursday he was inaugurated by the laying on
men, first sent by Joshua to reduce this city, of hands, and the sound of trumpets, and accla-
were repulsed, on account of the sin of Achan, mations. He was escorted to his palace with
who had violated the anathema pronounced great pomp, and received magnificent presents
against Jericho, by appropriating a part of the from all his subjects. On the Sabbath all the
spoil. After the expiation of this offence, the principal people being assembled before his
whole army of Israel marched against Ai, with house, he placed himself at their head, and,
orders to treat that city as Jericho had been with his face covered with a silken veil, pro-
treated, with this difference, that the plunder ceeded to the synagogue. Benedictions and
was to be given to the army. Joshua, having hymns of thanksgiving announced his en-
appointed an ambush of thirty thousand men, trance. They then brought him the book of
marched against the city, and by a feigned re- the law, out of which he read the first line,
treat, drew out the king of Ai with his troops; afterward he addressed the assembly, with his
and upon a signal given by elevating his shield eyes closed out of respect. He exhorted them
on the top of a pike, the men in ambush enter- to charity, and set the example by offering
ed the city and set fire to it. Thus the soldiers liberal alms to the poor. The ceremony closed
of Ai, placed between two divisions of Joshua's with new acclamations, and prayers to God
army, were all destroyed; the king alone being that, under the new prince, he would be pleased
preserved for a more ignominious death on a to put an end to their calamities. The prince
gibbet, where he hung till sunset. The spoil gave his blessing to the people, and prayed for
of the place was afterward divided among the each province, that it might be preserved from
Israelites. The men appointed for ambush war and famine. He concluded his orisons in
are, in one place, said to be thirty thousand, a low voice, lest his prayer should be repeated
and in another five thousand. For reconciling to the jealous ears of the native monarchs, for
this apparent contradiction, most commentators he prayed for the restoration of the kingdom of
have generally supposed, that there were two Israel, which could not rise but on the ruins of
bodies placed in ambuscade between Bethel their empire. The prince returned to his pa
and Ai, one of twenty-five thousand and the lace, where he gave a splendid banquet to the
other of five thousand men; the latter being chief persons of the community. After that
probably a detachment from the thirty thou-day he lived in a sort of stately oriental seclu-
sand first sent, and ordered to lie as near to the
city as possible. Masius allows only five thou-
sand men for the ambuscade, and twenty-five
thousand for the attack.

AICHMALOTARCH, 'Aixμadorápyns, signifies the prince of the captivity, or chief of the captives. The Jews pretend that this was the title of him who had the government of their people during the captivity of Babylon; and they believe these princes or governors to have been constantly of the tribe of Judah, and family of David. But they give no satisfactory proof of the real existence of these Aichinalotarchs. There was no prince of the captivity before the end of the second century, from which period the office continued till the eleventh century. The princes of the captivity resided at Babylon, where they were installed with great ceremony, held courts of justice, &c, and were set over the eastern Jews, or those settled in Babylon, Chaldæa, Assyria, and Persia. Thus they affected to restore the splen. dour of their ancient monarchy, and in this view the following account may be amusing. The ceremonial of the installation is thus described: The spiritual heads of the people, the masters of the learned schools, the elders, and the people, assembled in great multitudes within

sion, never quitting his palace, except to go to
the schools of the learned, where, as he entered,
the whole assembly rose and continued stand.
ing, till he took his seat. He sometimes paid
a visit to the native sovereign in Babylon (Bag-
dad.) This probably refers to a somewhat later
period. On these great occasions his imperial
host sent his own chariot for his guest; but the
prince of the captivity dared not accept the in-
vidious distinction, he walked in humble and
submissive modesty behind the chariot. Yet
his own state was by no means wanting in
splendour: he was arrayed in eloth of gold;
fifty guards marched before him; all the Jews
who met him on the way paid their homage,
and fell behind into his train. He was received
by the eunuchs, who conducted him to the
throne, while one of his officers, as he marched
slowly along, distributed gold and silver on all
sides. As the prince approached the imperial
throne, he prostrated himself on the ground,
in token of vassalage. The eunuchs raised
him and placed him on the left hand of the
sovereign. After the first salutation, the prince
represented the grievances, or discussed the
affairs, of his people.

The court of the Resch-Glutha is described
as splendid. In imitation of his Persian mas.

ALEXANDER, commonly called the Great, son and successor of Philip, king of Macedon, is denoted in the prophecies of Daniel by a leopard with four wings, signifying his great strength, and the unusual rapidity of his conquests, Dan. vii, 6; and by a one-horned he-goat running over the earth so swiftly as not to touch it, attacking a ram with two horns, overthrow-high priest. ing him, and trampling him under foot, without any being able to rescue him, Dan. viii, 4-7. The he-goat prefigured Alexander; the ram, Darius Codomannus, the last of the Persian kings. In the statue beheld by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream, Dan. ii, 39, the belly of brass was

affirm that he regulated the succession by a will. The author of the first book of Maccabees says, that he divided his kingdom among his generals while he was living, 1 Macc. i, 7. This he might do; or he might express his foresight of what actually took place after his death. It is certain, that a partition was made of Alexander's dominions among the four principal offi. cers of his army, and that the empire which he founded in Asia subsisted for many ages. Alexander died, A. M. 3684, and B. Č. 323, in the thirty-third year of his age, and the twelfth of his reign. The above particulars of Alexander are here introduced because, from his invasion of Palestine, the intercourse of the Jews with the Greeks became intimate, and influenced many events of their subsequent history.

On the account above given of the interview between Alexander and the Jewish high priest, by Josephus, many doubts have been cast by critics. But the sudden change of his feelings toward them, and the favour with which the nation was treated by him, render the story not

Having left Jerusalem, Alexander visited other cities of Palestine, and was every where received with great testimonies of friendship and submission. The Samaritans who dwelt at Sichem, and were apostates from the Jewish religion, observing how kindly Alexander had treated the Jews, resolved to say that they also were by religion Jews. For it was their practice, when they saw the affairs of the Jews in a prosperous state, to boast that they were descended from Manasseh and Ephraim; but when they thought it their interest to say the contrary, they failed not to affirm, and even to swear, that they were not related to the Jews. They came, therefore, with many demonstrations of joy, to meet Alexander, as far almost as the territories of Jerusalem. Alexander commend-improbable. ed their zeal; and the Sichemites entreated him to visit their temple and city. Alexander promised this at his return; but as they petitioned him for the same privileges as the Jews, he asked them if they were Jews. They replied, they were Hebrews, and were called by the Phonicians, Sichemites. Alexander said that he had granted this exemption only to the Jews, but that at his return he would inquire into the affair, and do them justice.

This prince having conquered Egypt, and regulated it, gave orders for the building of the city of Alexandria, and departed thence, about spring, in pursuit of Darius. Passing through Palestine, he was informed that the Samaritans, in a general insurrection, had killed Androma. chus, governor of Syria and Palestine, who had come to Samaria to regulate some affairs. This action greatly incensed Alexander, who loved Andromachus. He therefore commanded all those who were concerned in his murder to be put to death, and the rest to be banished from Samaria; and settied a colony of Macedonians in their room. What remained of their lands he gave to the Jews, and exempted them from the payment of tribute. The Samaritans who escaped this calamity, retired to Sichem, at the foot of mount Gerizim, which afterward became their capital. Lest the eight thousand men of this nation, who were in the service of Alexander, and had accompanied him since the siege of Tyre, if permitted to return to their own country, should renew the spirit of rebellion, he sent them into Thebais, the most remote southern province of Egypt, where he assigned them lands.

Alexander, after defeating Darius in a pitched battle, and subduing all Asia and the Indies with incredible rapidity, gave himself up to intemperance. Having drunk to excess, he fell sick and died, after he had obliged "all the world to be quiet before him," 1 Macc. i, 3. Being sensible that his end was near, he sent for the grandees of his court, and declared that "he gave the empire to the most deserving." Some

ALEXANDRIA, a famous city of Egypt, and, during the reign of the Ptolemies, the regal capital of that kingdom. It was founded by Alexander the Great: who being struck with the advantageous situation of the spot where the city afterward stood, ordered its immediate erection; drew the plan of the city himself, and peopled it with colonies of Greeks and Jews: to which latter people, in particular, he gave great encouragement. They were, in fact, made free citizens, and had all the privileges of Macedonians granted to them; which liberal policy contributed much to the rise and prosperity of the new city; for this enterprising and commercial people knew much better than either the Greeks or the Egyptians how to turn the happy situation of Alexandria to the best account. The fall of Tyre happening about the same time, the trade of that city was soon drawn to Alexandria, which became the centre of commercial intercourse between the east and the west; and in process of time grew to such an extent, in magnitude and wealth, as to be second in point of population and magnificence to none but Rome itself.

Alexandria owed much of its celebrity as well as its population to the Ptolemies. Ptolemy Soter, one of Alexander's captains, who, after the death of this monarch, was first governor of Egypt, and afterward assumed the title of king, made this city the place of his residence, about B. C. 304. This prince founded an academy, called the Museum, in which a society of learned men devoted themselves to philoso. phical studies, and the improvement of all the other sciences; and he also gave them a library, which was prodigiously increased by his successors. He likewise induced the merchants of Syria and Greece to reside in this city, and to make it a principal mart of their commerce. His son and successor, Ptolemy Philadelphus, pursued the designs of his father.

In the hands of the Romans, the successors of the Macedonians in the government of Egypt, the trade of Alexandria continued to