Chapter LXXVII: Act 1903: , the powers and duties of the Board of Trade under the (2)

AGUILAS, a seaport of south-eastern Spain, in the province of Murcia, on the Mediterranean Sea, at the terminus of a railway from Huercal-Overa. Pop. (1900) 15,868. Aguilas is built on the landward side of a small peninsula, between two bays--the Puerto Ponente, a good harbour, on the south-west, and the Puerto Levanto, which is somewhat dangerous to shipping in rough weather, on the north-east. It is the chief outlet for the Spanish trade in esparto grass, and for the iron ore and other mineral products of the neighbourhood. It has also some trade in fruit and grain. The imports consist chiefly of coal. In 1904, 296 vessels, of 238,274 tons, cleared at this port.

AGUILERA, VENTURA RUIZ (1820-1881), Spanish poet, was born in 1820 at Salamanca, where he graduated in medicine. He removed to Madrid in 1844, engaged in journalism and won considerable popularity with a collection of poems entitled Ecos Nacionales (1849). His Elegias y armonias (1863) was no less successful, but his Satiras (1874) and Estaciones del ano (1879) showed that his powers were declining. He wrote under the obvious influence of Lamartine, preaching the gospel of liberalism and Christianity in verses which, though deficient in force, leave the impression of a sincere devotion and a charming personality. He became director of the national archaeological museum at Madrid, where he died on the 1st of July 1881.

AGUILLON (AGUILONIUS), FRANCOIS D, (1566-1617), Flemish mathematician. Having entered the Society of Jesus in 1586, he was successively professor of philosophy at Douai and rector of the Jesuit College at Antwerp. He wrote a treatise on optics in six books (Antwerp, 1613), notable for containing the principles of stereographic projection.

AHAB (in Heb. ``father's brother''), king of Israel, the son and successor of Omri, ascended the throne about 875 B.C. (1 Kings xvi. 29-34). He married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon, and the alliance was doubtless the means of procuring him great riches, which brought pomp and luxury in their train. We read of his building an ivory palace and founding new cities, the effect perhaps of a share in the flourishing commerce of Phoenicia.1 The material prosperity of his reign, which is comparable with that of Solomon a century before, was overshadowed by the religious changes which his marriage involved. Although he was a worshipper of Yahweh, as the names of his children prove (cp. also xxii. 5 seq.), his wife was firmly attached to the worship of the Tyrian Baal, Melkart, and led by her he gave a great impulse to this cult by building a temple in honour of Baal in Samaria. This roused the indignation of those prophets whose aim it was to purify the worship of Yahweh (see ELIJAH.) During Ahab's reign Moab, which had been conquered by his father, remained tributary; Judah, with whose king, Jehoshaphat, he was allied by marriage, was probably his vassal; only with Damascus is he said to have had strained relations. The one event mentioned by external sources is the battle at Karkar (perhaps Apamea), where Shalmaneser II. of Assyria fought a great confederation of princes from Cilicia, N. Syria, Israel, Ammon and the tribes of the Syrian desert (854 B.C..) Here Ahabbu Sir'lai (Ahab the Israelite) with Baasha, son of Ruhub (Rehob) of Ammon and nine others are allied with Bir-'idri (Ben-hadad), Ahab's contribution being reckoned at 2000 chariots and 10,000 men. The numbers are comparatively large and possibly include forces from Tyre, Judah, Edom and Moab. The Assyrian king claimed a victory, but his immediate return and subsequent expeditions in 849 and 846 against a similar but unspecified coalition seem to show that he met with no lasting success. According to the Old Testament narratives, however, Ahab with 7000 troops had previously overthrown Ben-hadad and his thirty-two kings, who had come to lay siege to Samaria, and in the following year obtained a remarkable victory over him at Aphek, probably in the plain of Sharon (1 Kings xx.) . A treaty was made whereby Ben-hadad restored the cities which his father had taken from Ahab's father (i.e. Omri, but see xv. 20, 2 Kings xiii. 25), and trading facilities between Damascus and Samaria were granted. A late popular story (xx. 35-42, akin in tone to xii. 33-xiii. 34) condemned Ahab for his leniency and foretold the destruction of the king and his land. Three years later, war broke out on the east of Jordan, and Ahab with Jehoshaphat of Judah went to recover Ramoth-Gilead and was mortally wounded (xxii.). He was succeeded by his sons (Ahaziah and Jehoram).

It is very difficult to obtain any clear idea of the order of these events (LXX. places 1 Kings xxi. immediately after xix.). How the hostile kings of Israel and Syria came to fight a common enemy, and how to correlate the Assyrian and Biblical records, are questions which have perplexed all recent writers. The reality of the difficulties will be apparent from the fact that it has been suggested that the Assyrian scribe wrote ``Ahab'' for his son ``Jehoram'' (Kamphausen, Chronol. d. hebr. Kon., Kittel), and that the very identification of the name with Ahab of Israel has been questioned (Horner, Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., 1898, p. 244).2 Whilst the above passages in 1 Kings view Ahab not unfavourably, there are others which give a less friendly picture. The tragic murder of Naboth (see JEZEBEL), an act of royal encroachment, stirred up popular resentment just as the new cult aroused the opposition of certain of the prophets. The latter found their champion in Elijah, whose history reflects the prophetic teaching of more than one age. (See KINGS.) His denunciation of the royal dynasty, and his emphatic insistence on the worship of Yahweh and Yahweh alone, form the keynote to a period which culminated in the accession of Jehu, an event in which Elijah's chosen disciple Elisha was the leading figure.

The allusions to the statutes and works of Omri and Ahab in Mic. vi. 16 may point to legislative measures of these kings, and the reference to the incidents at the building of Jericho (1 Kings xvi. 34) may be taken to show that foundation sacrifices, familiar in nearly all parts of the world, were not unknown in Israel at this period.3 This has in fact been confirmed by excavation in Palestine.

Another Ahab is known only as an impious prophet in the time of the Babylonian exile (Jer. xxix. 21). (S. A. C.)

1 Ahab's ivory palace found its imitators (1 Kings xxii. 39; Am. iii. 15). The ivory was probably brought by the Phoenicians from Cyprus or from one of the works on the coast of Asia Minor.

2 See the discussions by Cheyne, Ency. Bib. col. 91 seq., and by Whitehouse, Dict Bib. i. 53.

3 See Trumbull, Threshold Covenant, pp. 46 sqq.; Haddon, Study of Man, pp. 347 sqq.; P. Sartori, Zeitschr. fur Ethnologie, 1898, pp. 1 seq.

'AHAI, of Sabha, an 8th-century Talmudist of high renown. He was author of Quaestiones (Sheiltoth), a collection of homilies (at once learned and popular) on Jewish law and ethics. This is recorded to have been the first work written by a Jewish scholar after the completion of the Talmud.

AHASUERUS (the Latinized form of the Hebrew shin vav resh tsareh vav shvah shin patach heth patach aleph; in LXX. `Assoueros, once in Tobit `Asueros)), a royal Persian or Median name occurring in three of the books of the Old Testament and in one of the books of the Apocrypha. In every case the identification of the person named is a matter of controversy.

In Dan. ix. 1 Ahasuerus is the father of Darius the Mede, who ``was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans'' after the conquest of Babylon and death of Belshazzar. Who this Darius was is one of the most difficult questions in ancient history. Nabonidos (Nabunaid, Nabu-nahid) was immediately succeeded by Cyrus, who ruled the whole Persian empire. Darius may possibly have acted under Cyrus as governor of Babylon, but this view is not favoured by Dan. vi. 1, vi. 25, for Darius (v. 31) is said to have been sixty-two years old at the time (638 B.C.) . This would make him contemporary with Nebuchadrezzar, which agrees with Tob. xiv. 15, where we read ``of the destruction of Nineveh, which Nebuchadnezzar and Ahasuerus took captive.'' As a matter of fact, however, Cyaxares and Nabopolassar were the conquerors of Nineveh, and the latter was the father of Nebuchadrezzar. Cyrus did, on ascending the throne of Babylon, appoint a governor of the province, but his name was Gobryas, the son of Mardonius. The truth is, no doubt, as Prof. Sayce points out, that the book of Daniel was not meant to be strictly historical. As Prof. Driver says, ``tradition, it can hardly be doubted, has here confused persons and events in reality distinct'' (Literature of the Old Test. (6) p. 500).

In Ezra iv. 6 Ahasuerus is mentioned as a king of Persia, to whom the enemies of the Jews sent representations opposing the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem. Here the sequence of the reigns in the Biblical writer and in the profane historians-- in the one, Cyrus, Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, Darius; in the other, Cyrus, Cambyses, Smerdis, Darius--led in the past (Ewald, &c.) to the identification of Ahasuerus with Cambyses (529--522 B.C.), son of Cyrus. The name Khshayarsha, however, has been found in Persian inscriptions, and has been thought to be equivalent to the Xerxes (485-465 B.C.) of the Greeks. On Babylonian tablets both the forms Khishiarshu and Akkashiarshi occur amongst others. Modern scholars, therefore, identify the Ahasuerus of Ezra with Xerxes.

In the book of Esther the king of Persia is called Ahasuerus (rendered in LXX. ``Artaxerxes'' throughout). The identification of Ahasuerus with Artaxerxes I. Longimanus, the son and successor of Xerxes, though countenanced by Josephus, deserves little consideration. Most students are agreed that he must be a monarch of the Achaemenian dynasty, earlier than Artaxerxes I.; and opinion is divided between Darius Hystaspes and Xerxes. In support of the former view it is alleged, among other things, that Darius was the first Persian king of whom it could be said, as in Esther i. 1, that he ``reigned from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces''; and that it was also the distinction of Darius that (Esther x. 1) he laid ``a tribute upon the land and upon the isles of the sea'' (cf. Herod. iii. 89). In support of the identification with Xerxes it is alleged (1) that the Hebrew Ahashverosh is the natural equivalent of the old Persian Khshayarsha, the true name of Xerxes; (2) that there is a striking similarity of character between the Xerxes of Herodotus and the Ahasuerus of Esther; (3) that certain coincidences in dates and events corroborate this identity, as, e.g., the feast in the king's third year (cf. Esther i. 3 with Herod. vii. 8), the return of Xerxes to Susa in the seventh year of his reign and the marriage of Ahasuerus at Shushan in the same year of his. To this it may be added that the interval of four years between the divorce of Vashti and the marriage of Esther is well accounted for by the intervention of an important series of events fully occupying the monarch's thoughts, such as the invasion of Greece.

See articles ``Ahasuerus'' in the Encyclopaedia Biblica, Hastings' Dictionary, the Jewish Encyclopaedis; S. R. Driver, Introd. to the Lit. of the Old Test.; Friedrich Delitzsch in the Calwer Bibellexikon (1893).

AHAZ (Heb. for ``[Yahweh] holds''), son of Jotham, grandson of Uzziah or Azariah and king of Judah. After the death of Menahem, Pekah, king of Israel, and Rezin (rather Rasun), king of Syria, allied against Assyria, invaded Judah, and laid siege to Jerusalem in the hope of setting up one of their puppets upon the throne. At the same time the Edomites recovered Elath on the Gulf of Akabah (so read in 2 Kings xvi. 6; cp. also 2 Chron. xxviii. 16 sqq.) and Judah was isolated. Notwithstanding the counsel of Isaiah (Is. vii. 1-17), Ahaz lost heart and used the temple funds to call in the aid of Tiglath-pileser IV., who after attacking the Philistines destroyed the power of Syria, taking care to exact heavy tribute from Judah, which led to further despoliation of the temple. It was as a vassal that Ahaz presented himself to the Assyrian king at Damascus, and he brought back religious innovations (2 Kings xvi. 10 sqq.; for the priest Urijah see Is. viii. 2) and new ideas to which he proceeded to give effect. His buildings are referred to in 2 Kings xx. 11, xxiii. 12; cf. perhaps Jer. xxii. 15: ``art thou a true king because thou viest with Ahaz'' (see the LXX.). Ahaz was succeeded by his son Hezekiah.

On the ritual changes which he introduced see W. R. Smith, Relig. of Semites (2), pp. 485 sqq.; and on his reign, idem, Prophets of Israel (2), pp. 415 sqq. On 2 Kings xvi. 3 (cf. 2 Chron. xxviii. 3) see Moloch. See further Isaiah and Jews.

AHAZIAH (``he whom Yahweh sustains''), the name of two kings in the Bible, one of Israel, the other of Judah. (1) Ahaziah, 8th king of Israel, was the son and successor of Ahab, and reigned for less than two years. On his accession the Moabites refused any longer to pay tribute. Ahaziah lost his life through a fall from the lattice of an upper room in his palace, and it is stated that in his illness he sent to consult the oracle of Baal-zebub at Ekron; his messengers, however, were met by Elijah, who bade them return and tell the king he must die (e Kings i. 2-17; cf. Luke ix. 54-56). (2) Ahaziah, 6th king of Judah, was the son cf Jehoram and Ahab's daughter Athaliah, and reigned one year. He is described as a wicked and idolatrous king, and was slain by Jehu, son of Nimshi. He is variously called Jehoahaz and Azariah.

AHENOBARBUS (``brazen-bearded''), the name cf a plebeian Roman family of the gens Domitia. The name was derived from the red beard and hair by which many of the family were distinguished. Amongst its members the following may be mentioned:--

GNAEUS DOMITIUS AHENOBARBUS, tribune of the people 104 B.C., brought forward a law (lex Domitia de Sacerdotiis) by which the priests of the superior colleges were to be elected by the people in the comitia tributa (seventeen of the tribes voting) instead of by co-optation; the law was repealed by Sulla, revived by Julius Caesar and (perhaps) again repealed by Marcus Antonius, the triumvir (Cicero, De Lege Agraria, ii. 7; Suetonius, Nero, 2). Ahenobarbus was elected pontifex maximus in 103, consul in 96 and censor in 92 with Lucius Licinius Crassus the orator, with whom he was frequently at variance. They took joint action, however, in suppressing the recently established Latin rhetorical schools, which they regarded as injurious to public morality (Aulus Gellius xv. 11).

LUCIUS DOMITIUS AHENOBARBUS, son of the above, husband of Porcia the sister of Cato Uticensis, friend of Cicero and enemy of Caesar, and a strong supporter of the aristocratical party. At first strongly opposed to Pompey, he afterwards sided with him against Caesar. He was consul in 54 B.C., and in 49 he was appointed by the senate to succeed Caesar as governor of Gaul. After the outbreak of the civil war he commanded the Pompeian troops at Corfinium, but was obliged to surrender. Although treated with great generosity by Caesar, he stirred up Massilia (Marseilles) to an unsuccessful resistance against him. After its surrender, he joined Pompey in Greece and was slain in the flight after the battle of Pharsalus, in which he commanded the right wing against Antony (Caesar, Bellum Civile, i., ii., iii.; Dio Cassius xxxix., xli.; Appian, B.C. ii. 82).

GNAEUS DOMITIUS AHENOBARBUS, son of the above, accompanied his father at Corfinium and Pharsalus, and, having been pardoned by Caesar, returned to Rome in 46. After Caesar's assassination he attached himself to Brutus and Cassius, and in 43 was condemned by the lex Pedia as having been implicated in the plot. He obtained considerable naval successes in the Ionian Sea against the triumvirate, but finally, through the mediation of Asinius Pollio, became reconciled to Antony, who made him governor of Bithynia. He took part in Antony's Parthian campaigns, and was consul in 32. When war broke out between Antony and Octavian, he at first supported Antony, but, disgusted with his intrigue with Cleopatra, went over to Octavian shortly before the battle of Actium (31). He died soon afterwards (Dio Cassius xlviii.-l; Appian, Bell. Civ. iv., v.). His son was married to Antonia, daughter of Antony, and became the grandfather of the emperor Nero.

See Drumann, Geschichte Rom., 2nd ed. by Groebe,vol. iii. pp.14 ff.

AHITHOPHEL (Heb. for ``brother of foolishness,'' i.e. foolish!), a man of Judah whose son was a member of David's bodyguard. He was possibly the grandfather of Bathsheiba (see 2 Sam. xi. 3, xxiii. 34), a view which has been thought to have some bearing on his policy. He was one of David's most trusted advisers, and his counsel was ``as though one inquired of the word of God.'' He took a leading part in Absalom's revolt, and his defection was a severe blow to the king, who prayed that God would bring his counsel to ``foolishness.''

The subsequent events are rather obscure. At Ahithophel's advice Absalom first took the precaution of asserting his claim to the throne by seizing his father's concubines (cf. ABNER.) The immediate pursuit of David was then suggested; the advice was accepted, and the sequence of events shows that the king, being warned of this, fled across the Jordan (2 Sam. xvi. 20-23, xvii. 1-4, 22). Inconsistent with this is the account of the intervention of Hushai, whose counsel of delay (in order to gather all Israel ``from Dan to Beersheba''), in spite of popular approbation, was not adopted, and with this episode is connected the tradition that the sagacious counsellor returned to his home and, having disposed of his estate, hanged himself. Instances of suicide are rare in the Old Testament (cf. SAUL), and it is noteworthy that in this case, at least, a burial was not refused. (See further ABSALOM; DAVID; SAMUEL, BOOKS OF.)

AHMAD IBN HANBAL (780-855), the founder, involuntarily and after his death, of the Hanbalite school of canon law, was born at Bagdad in A.H. 164 (A.D. 780) of parents from Merv but of Arab stock. He studied the Koran and its traditions (hadith, sunna) there and on a student journey through Mesopotamia, Arabia and Syria. After his return to Bagdad he studied under ash-Shafi'i between 195 and 198, and became, for his life, a devoted Shafi-'ite. But his position in both theology and law was more narrowly traditional than that of ash-Shafi'i; he rejected all reasoning, whether orthodox or heretical in its conclusions, and stood for acceptance on tradition (naql) only from the Fathers. (See further on this, MAHOMMEDAN RELIGION and MAHOMMEDAN LAW.) In consequence, when al-Ma'mun and, after him, al-Mo'tasim and al-Wathio tried to force upon the people the rationalistic Mo'tazihte doctrine that the Koran was created, Ibn Hanbal, the most prominent and popular theologian who stood for the old view, suffered with others grievous imprisonment and scourging. In 234, under al-Motawakkil, the Koran was finally decreed uncreated, and Ibn Hanbal, who had come through this trial better than any of the other theologians, enjoyed an immense popularity with the mass of the people as a saint, confessor and ascetic. He died at Bagdad in 241 (A.D. 855) and was buried there. There was much popular excitement at his funeral, and his tomb was known and visited until at least the 14th century A.D.

On his great work, the Musnad, a collection of some thirty thousand selected traditions, see Goldzther in ZDMG, l. 463 ff. For his life and works generally see W. M. Patten, Ahmed ibn Hanbal and the Mihna; C. Browkelmann, Geschichte der Arab. Lit. i. 181 ff.; F Wustenfeld, Schfai'iten, 55 ff.; M`G. de Slane's transl. of Ibn Khallikan, i. 44 ff.; Macdonald, Development of Muslim Theology, 110, 157, index. (D. B. MA.)

AHMAD SHAH (1724-1773), founder of the Durani dynasty in Afghanistan, was the son of Sammaun-Khan, hereditary chief of the Abdali tribe. While still a boy Ahmad fell into the hands of the hostile tribe of Ghilzais, by whom he was kept prisoner at Kandahar. In March 1738 he was rescued by Nadir Shah, who soon afterwards gave him the command of a body of cavalry composed chiefly of Abdalis. On the assassination of Nadir in 1747, Ahmad, having failed in an attempt to seize the Persian treasures, retreated to Afghanistan, where he easily persuaded the native tribes to assert their independence and accept him as their sovereign. He was crowned at Kandahar in October 1747, and about the same time he changed the name of his tribe to Durani. Two things may be said to have contributed greatly to the consolidation of his power. He interfered as little as possible with the independence of the different tribes, demanding from each only its due proportion of tribute and military service; and he kept his army constantly engaged in brilliant schemes of foreign conquest. Being possessed of the Koh-i-noor diamond, and being fortunate enough to intercept a consignment of treasure on its way to the shah of Persia, he had all the advantages which great wealth can give. He first crossed the Indus in 1748, when he took Lahore; and in 1751, after a feeble resistance on the part of the Mahommedan viceroy, he became master of the entire Punjab. In 1750 he took Nishapur, and in 1752 subdued Kashmir. His great expedition to Delhi was undertaken in 1756 in order to avenge himself on the Great Mogul for the recapture of Lahore. Ahmad entered Delhi with his army in triumph, and for more than a month the city was given over to pillage. The shah himself added to his wives a princess of the imperial family, and bestowed another upon his son Timur Shah, whom he made governor of the Punjab and Sirhind. As his viceroy in Delhi he left a Rohilla chief in whom he had all confidence, but scarcely had he crossed the Indus when the Mahommedan wazir drove the chief from the city, killed the Great Mogul and set another prince of the family, a tool of his own, upon the throne. The Mahratta chiefs availed themselves of these circumstances to endeavour to possess themselves of the whole country, and Ahmad was compelled more than once to cross the Indus in order to protect his territory from them and the Sikhs, who were constantly attacking his garrisons. In 1758 the Mahrattas obtained possession of the Punjab, but on the 6th of January 1761 they were totally routed by Ahmad in the great battle of Panipat. In a later expedition he inflicted a severe defeat upon the Sikhs, but had to hasten westward immediately afterwards in order to quell an insurrection in Afghanistan. Meanwhile the Sikhs again rose, and Ahmad was now forced to abandon all hope of retaining the command of the Punjab. After lengthened suffering from a terrible disease, said to have been cancer in the face, he died in 1773, leaving to his son Timur the kingdom he had founded.

AHMED I. (1589-1617), sultan of Turkey, was the son of Mahommed III., whom he succeeded in 1603, being the first Ottoman sultan who reached the throne before attaining his majority. He was of kindly and humane disposition, as he showed by refusing to put to death his brother Mustafa, who eventually succeeded him. In the earlier part of his reign he gave proofs of decision and vigour, which were belied by his subsequent conduct. The wars which attended his accession both in Hungary and in Persia terminated unfavourably for Turkey, and her prestige received its first check in the peace of Sitvatorok, signed in 1606, whereby the annual tribute paid by Austria was abolished. Ahmed gave himself up to pleasure during the remainder of his reign, which ended in 1617, and demoralization and corruption became as general throughout the public service as indiscipline in the ranks of the army. The use of tobacco is said to have been introduced into Turkey during Ahmed I.'s reign.

AHMED II. (1643-1695), sultan of Turkey, son of Sultan Ibrahim, succeeded his brother Suleiman II. in 1691. His chief merit was to confirm Mustafa Kuprili as grand vizier. But a few weeks after his accession Turkey sustained a crushing defeat at Slankamen from the Austrians under Prince Louis of Baden and was driven from Hungary; during the four years of his reign disaster followed on disaster, and in 1695 Ahmed died, worn out by disease and sorrow.

AHMED III. (1637-1736), sultan of Turkey, son of Mahommed IV., succeeded to the throne in 1703 on the abdication of his brother Mustafa II. He cultivated good relations with England, in view doubtless of Russia's menacing attitude. He afforded a refuge in Turkey to Charles XII. of Sweden, after his defeat at Poltava (1709). Forced against his will into war with Russia, he came nearer than any Turkish sovereign before or since to breaking the power of his northern rival, whom his Grand Vizier Baltaji Mahommed Pasha succeeded in completely surrounding near the Pruth (1711). In the treaty which Russia was compelled to sign Turkey obtained the restitution of Azov, the destruction of the forts built by Russia and the undertaking that the tsar should abstain from future interference in the affairs of the Poles or the Cossacks. Discontent at the leniency of these terms was so strong at Constantinople that it nearly brought on a renewal of the war. In 1715 the Morea was taken from the Venetians. This led to hostilities with Austria, in which Turkey was unsuccessful, and Belgrade fell into the hands of Austria (1717). Through the mediation of England and Holland the peace of Passarowitz was concluded (1718), by which Turkey retained her conquests from the Venetians, but lost Hungary. A war with Persia terminated in disaster, leading to a revolt of the janissaries, who deposed Ahmed in September 1730. He died in captivity some years later.

AHMEDABAD, or AHMADABAD, a city and district of British India in the northern division of Bombay. The city was once the handsomest and most flourishing in western India, and it still ranks next to Agra and Delhi for the beauty and extent of its architectural remains. It was founded by Ahmad Shah in A.D. 1411 on the site of several Hindu towns, which had preceded it, and was embellished by him with fine buildings of marble, brought from a distance. The Portuguese traveller Barbosa, who visited Gujarat in A.D. 1511 and 1514, described Ahmedabad as ``very rich and well embellished with good streets and squares supplied with houses of stone and cement.'' In Sir Thomas Roe's time, A.D. 1615, ``it was a goodly city as large as London.'' During the course of its history it has passed through two periods of greatness, two of decay and one of revival. From 1411 to 1511 it grew in size and wealth; from 1512 to 1572 it declined with the decay of the dynasty of Gujarat; from 1572 to 1709 it renewed its greatness under the Mogul emperors; from 1709 to 1809 it dwindled with their decline; and from 1818 onwards it has again increased under British rule.

The consequence of all these changes of dynasty was that Ahmedabad became the meeting-place of Hindu, Mahommedan and Jain architecture. Ahmad Shah pulled down Hindu temples in order to build his mosques with the material. The Jama Masjid itself, which he built in A.D. 1424, with its three hundred pillars fantastically carved, is a Hindu temple converted into a mosque (see INDIAN ARCHITECTURE, Plate III., fig. 15). One of the finest buildings is the modern Jain temple of Hathi Singh outside the Delhi gate, which was built only in 1848, and is a standing monument to the endurance of Jain architectural art The external porch, between two circular towers, is of great magnificence, most elaborately ornamented, and leads to an outer court, with sixteen cells on either side. In the centre of this court is a domed porch of the usual form with twenty pillars. The court leads to an inner porch of twenty-two pillars, two stories in height. This inner porch conducts to a triple sanctuary. James Fergusson wrote of this temple that ``each part increases in dignity to the sanctuary; and whether looked at from its courts or from outside, it possesses variety without confusion, and an appropriateness of every part to the purpose for which it was intended.'' But perhaps the most unique sight in Ahmedabad is the two windows in Sidi Said's mosque of filigree marble work. The design is an imitation of twining and interlaced branches, a marvel of delicacy and grace, and finer than anything of the kind to be found in Agra or Delhi.

The modern city of Ahmedabad is situated on the left bank of the river Sabarmati, and is still surrounded by walls enclosing an area of about 2 sq. m. Its population in 1901 was 185,889. It has a station on the Bombay and Baroda railway, 309 m. from Bombay, whence branch lines diverge into Kathiawar and Mahi Kantha, and is a great centre for both trade and manufacture. Its native bankers, shopkeepers and workers are all strongly organized in gilds. It has cotton mills for spinning and weaving, besides many handlooms, and factories for ginning and pressing cotton. Other industries include the manufacture of gold and silver thread, silk brocades, pottery, paper and shoes. The prosperity of Ahmedabad, says a native proverb, hangs on three threads--silk, gold and cotton; and though its manufactures are on a smaller scale than formerly, they are still moderately flourishing. The military cantonment, 3 m. north of the native town, is the headquarters of the northern division of the Bombay command, with an arsenal.

The DISTRICT OF AHMEDABAD lies at the head of the Gulf of Cambay, between Baroda and Kathiawar. Area 3816 sq. m. The river Sabarmati and its tributaries, flowing from north-east to south-west into the Gulf of Cambay, are the principal streams that water the district. The north-eastern portion is slightly elevated, and dotted with low hills, which gradually sink into a vast plain, subject to inundation on its western extremity. With the exception of this latter portion, the soil is very fertile, and some parts of the district are beautifully wooded. The population in 1901 was 795,967, showing a decrease of 14% in the decade, due to the effects of famine. The principal crops are millets, cotton, wheat and pulse. The district is traversed by the Bombay and Baroda railway, and has two seaports, Dholera and Gogo, the former of which has given its name to a mark of raw cotton in the Liverpool market. It suffered severely in the famine of 1899-1900.

AHMEDNAGAR, or AHMADNAGAR, a city and district of British India in the Central division of Bombay on the left bank of the river Sina. The town is of considerable antiquity, having been founded in 1494 by Ahmad Nizam Shah, on the site of a more ancient city, Bhingar. This Ahmad established a new monarchy, which lasted till its overthrow by Shah Jahan in 1636. In 1759 the Peshwa obtained possession of the place by bribing the Mahommedan commander, and in 1797 it was ceded by the Peshwa to the Mahratta chief Daulat Rao Sindhia. During the war with the Mahrattas in 1803 Ahmednagar was invested by a British force under General Wellesley and captured. It was afterwards restored to the Mahrattas, but again came into the possession of the British in 1817, according to the terms of the treaty of Poona. The town has rapidly advanced in prosperity under British rule. Several mosques and tombs have been converted to the use of British administration. The old industries of carpet-weaving and paper-making have died out; but there is a large trade in cotton and silk goods, and in copper and brass pots, and there are factories for ginning and pressing cotton. Ahmednagar is a station on the loop line of the Great Indian Peninsula railway, 218 m. from Bombay, and a military cantonment, being the headquarters of a brigade in the 6th division of the western army corps. The population in 1901 was 43,032.

The DISTRICT OF AHMEDNACAR is a comparatively barren tract with a small rainfall. The area is 6586 sq. m. The population in 1901 was 837,695, showing a decrease of 6% in the decade, due to the results of famine. The bulk of the population consists of Mahrattas and Kunbis, the latter being the agriculturists. On the north the district is watered by the Godavari and its tributaries the Prawara and the Mula; on the north-east by the Dor, another tributary of the Godavari; on the east by the Sephani, which flows through the valley below the Balaghat range; and in the extreme south by the Bhima and its tributary the Gor. The Sina river, another tributary of the Bhima, flows through the Nagar and Karjat talukas. The principal crops are millet, pulse, oil-seeds and wheat. The district suffered from drought in 1896-1897, and again in 1899-1900.

AHMED TEWFIK, PASHA (1845- ), Turkish diplomatist, was the son of Ismail Hakki Pasha. He was at first in the army, but left the service in 1862; four years later he entered the diplomatic service, being employed at various European capitals. He became minister at Athens in 1883 and ambassador in Berlin in 1884. He was appointed minister for foreign affairs (Kharijie Naziri) in 1896.

AHMED VEFIK, PASHA (1819-1891), Turkish statesman and man of letters, was born in Stambul in 1819. He was the son of Rouheddin Effendi, at one time charge d'affaires in Paris, an accomplished French scholar, who was, therefore, attached, in the capacity of secretary-interpreter, to Reshid Pasha's diplomatic mission to Paris in 1834. Reshid took Ahmed with him and placed him at school, where he remained about five years and completed his studies. He then returned to Constantinople, and was appointed to a post in the bureau de traduction of the ministry for foreign affairs. While thus employed he devoted his leisure to the translation of Moliere's plays into Turkish and to the compilation of educational books--dictionaries, historical and geographical manuals, &c.--for use in Turkish schools, with the object of promoting cultivation of the French language among the rising generation. In 1847 he brought out the first edition of the Salnameh, the official annual of the Ottoman empire. Two years later he was appointed imperial commissioner in the Danubian principalities, and held that office till early in 1851 when he was sent to Persia as ambassador--a post which suited his temperament, and in which he rendered good service to his goverment for more than four years. Recalled in 1855, he was sent on a mission to inspect the eastern frontiers, and on his return was appointed member of the Grand Council of Justice, and was entrusted with the revision of the penal code and the code of procedure. This work occupied him until the beginning of 1860, when he was sent as ambassador to Paris, for the special purpose of averting the much-dreaded intervention of France in the affairs of Syria. But Ahmed Vefik's abrupt frankness, irascibility and abhorrence of compromise unfitted him for European diplomacy. He offended the French government; his mission failed, and he was recalled in January, 1861. None the less his integrity of purpose was fully understood and appreciated in Paris. On his return he was appointed minister of the evkaj, but he only retained his seat in the cabinet for a few months. He was then for a brief period president of the Board of Audit, and subsequently inspector of the Anatolian provinces, where he was engaged for more than three years. His next appointment was that of director-general of customs, whence he was removed to the office of musteshar of the grand vizierate, and in the following year entered the cabinet of Midhat Pasha as minister of public instruction, but very soon retired to his seat in the Council of State and remained out of office until 1875, when he represented Turkey at the International Telegraphic Conference in St Petersburg. He was president of the short-lived Turkish parliament during its first session--March 19 to June 28, 1877--and at its close was appointed vali of Adrianople, where he rendered invaluable aid to the Red Cross Society. On his recall, at the beginning of 1878, he accepted the ministry of public instruction in the cabinet of Ahmed Hamdi Pasha, and on the abolition of the grand vizierate (February 5, 1878) he became prime minister and held office till about the middle of April, when he resigned. Early in the following year he was appointed vali of Brusa, where he remained nearly four years, and rendered admirable services to the province. The drainage of the pestilent marshes, the water-supply from the mountains, the numerous roads, the suppression of brigandage, the multiplication of schools, the vast development of the silk industry through the substitution of mulberry plantations for rice-fields, the opening out of the mineral springs of Chitli, the introduction of rose-trees and the production of attar of roses--all these were Ahmed Vefik's work; and he became so popular that when in 1882 he was recalled, it was thought advisable that he should be taken away secretly by night from the konak in Brusa and brought to his private residence on the Bosporus. A few days after his return he was again appointed prime minister (December 1, 1882), but Ahmed Vefik demanded, as the condition of his acceptance of office, that he should choose the other members of the cabinet, and that a number of persons in the sultan's entourage should be dismissed. Upon this, the sultan, on the 3rd of December, revoked the irade of the 1st of December, and appointed Said Pasha prime minister. For the rest of his life Ahmed Vefik, by the sultan's orders, was practically a prisoner in his own house; and eventually he died, on the 1st of April 1891, of a renal complaint from which he had long been a sufferer. Ahmed Vefik was a great linguist. He spoke and wrote French perfectly, and thoroughly understood English, German, Italian, Greek, Arabic and Persian. From all these languages he translated many books into Turkish, but wrote no original work. His splendid library of 15,000 volumes contained priceless manuscripts in many languages. In his lifetime he appreciably aided the progress of education; but, as he had no following, the effects of his labour and influence in a great measure faded away after his death. In all his social and family relations Ahmed Vefik was most exemplary. His charity knew no bounds. He was devoted to his aged mother and to his one wife and children. To his friends and acquaintances he was hospitable, courteous and obliging; his conversation was intellectual and refined, and in every act of his private life he manifested the spirit of a true gentleman. At home his habits, attire and mode of life were quite Turkish, but he was perfectly at his ease in European society; he had strong English proclivities, and numbered many English men and women amongst his intimate friends. In public life his gifts were almost sterilized by peculiarities of temperament and incompatibility with official surroundings; and his mission as ambassador to Persia and his administration of Brusa were his only thorough successes. But his intellectual powers, literary erudition and noble character made him for the last forty years of his life a conspicuous figure in eastern Europe. (E. W.*)

AHOM, or AHAM, a tribe of Shan descent inhabiting the Assam Valley, and, prior to the invasion of the Burmese at the commencement of the 19th century, the dominant race in that country. The Ahoms, together with the Shans of Burma and Eastern China and the Siamese, were members of the Tai race. The name is believed to be a corruption of the word ``A-sam,'' the latter part of which is identical with ``Shan'' (properly ``Sham'') and with ``Siam.'' Under their king Su-ka-pha they invaded Assam (q.v.) from the East in the year A.D. 1228, giving their name to the country. For a century and a half from 1228 the successors of Su-ka-pha appear to have ruled undisturbed over a small territory in Lakkimpur and Sibsagar districts. The extension of their power westward down the valley of the Brahmaputra was very gradual, and its success was by no means uniform. In the time of Aurangzeb the Ahom kings held sway over the entire Brahmaputra valley from Sadiya to near Goalpara, and from the skirts of the southern hills to the Bhutia frontier on the north. The dynasty attained the height of its power under Rudra Singh, who is said to have ascended the throne in 1695. In the following century the power of the Ahoms began to decay, alike from internal dissensions and the pressure of outside invaders. The Burmese were called in to the assistance of one of the contending factions in 1810. Having once obtained a foothold in the country, they established their power over the entire valley and ruled with merciless barbarity, until they were expelled by the British in 1824-1825. In the census of 1901 the total Ahom population in Assam was returned at 178,049.

The Ahoms retained the form of government in Assam peculiar to the Shan tribes, which may he briefly described as an organized system of personal service in lieu of taxation. Their religion was pagan, being quite distinct from Buddhism; but in Assam they gradually became Hinduized, and their kings finally adopted Hindu names and titles. They believed that there were in the beginning no heavenly bodies, air or earth, only water everywhere, over which at first hovered a formless Supreme Being called Pha. He took corporeal shape as a huge crab that lay floating, face upwards, upon the waters. In turn other animals took shape, the last being two golden spiders from whose excrement the earth gradually rose above the surrounding ocean. Pha then formed a female counterpart of himself, who laid four eggs, from which were hatched four sons. One of these was appointed to rule the earth, but died and became a spirit. His son also died and became the national household deity of the Ahoms. The origin of mankind is connected with a flood legend. The only survivors of the flood, and of the conflagration that followed it, were an old man and a pumpkin-seed. From the latter there grew a gigantic gourd. This was split open by a thunderbolt, the old man sacrificing himself to save the lives of those who were inside, and from it there issued the progenitors of the present races of men, beasts, birds, fishes and plants. The kings claimed independent divine origin.

The religion and language have both died out, being only preserved by a few priests of the old cult; but even among them the tradition of the pronunciation of the language has been lost. The Ahoms had a considerable literature, much of which is still in existence. Their historic sense was very fully developed, and many priests and nobles maintained bu-ran-jis (i.e. ``stores of instruction for the ignorant''), or chronicles, which were carefully written up from time to time. A few of these have been translated, but as yet no European scholar possesses knowledge sufficient to enable him to study these valuable documents at first hand.

The Ahom language is the oldest member of the Tai branch of the Siamese-Chinese linguistic family of which we have any record. It bears much the same relationship to Siamese and Shan that Latin does to Italian. It is more nearly related to modern Siamese than to modern ahan, but possesses many groups of consonants which have become simplified in both. It is a language of the isolating class, in which every word is a monosyllable, and may be employed either as a noun or as a verb according to its context and its position in a sentence. In the order of words, the genitive follows the norm it governs, and, as usual in such cases, the relations of time and place are indicated by prefixes, not by suffixes. The meanings of the monosyllables were differentiated, as in the other Tai languages and in Chinese, by a system of tones, but these were rarely indicated in writing, and the tradition regarding them is lost. The language had an alphabet of its own, which was clearly related to that of Burmese.

See E. A. Gait, A History of Assam (Calcutta, 1906). For the language see The Linguistis Survey of India, vol. ii. (Calcutta, 1906) (contains grammar and vocabulary); G. A. Grierson, ``Notes on Ahom,'' in the Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellshaft, vol. lvi., 1902, pp. 1 ff. (contains grammar and vocabulary, with specimens), and ``An Ahom Cosmogony, with a translation and a vocabulary of the Ahom language,'' in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1904, pp. 181 ff. (G. A. GR.)

AHR, a river of Germany. It is a left-bank tributary of the Rhine, into which it falls at Sinzig, rising in the Eifel mountains, and having a total length of 55 m. It flows at first through rather monotonous country, but the latter portion of its course, from the village of Altenahr, over which tower rhe ruins of the castle of Ahr, or Are (10th century), is full of romantic beauty. It is well stocked with trout, and the steep declivities of the lower valley furnish red wines of excellent quality.

AHRENS, FRANZ HEINRICH LUDOLF (1809-1881), German philologist, was born at Helmstedt on the 6th of June 1809. After studying at Gottingen (1826-1829) under K. O. Muller and Ludolf Dissen, and holding several educational appointments, in 1849 he succeeded G. F. Grotefend as director of the Lyceum at Hanover, a post which he filled with great success for thirty years. He died on the 25th of September 1881. His most important work is De Graecae Linguae Dialectis (1839-1843, new ed. by Meister, 1882-1889), which, although unfortunately incomplete, dealing only with Aeolic and Doric, and in some respects superseded by modern research, will always remain a standard treatise on the subject. He also published Bucolicorum Graecorum Reliquiae (1855-1859); studies on the dialects of Homer and the Greek lyrists; on Aeschylus; and some excellent school-books. A volume of his minor works (ed. Haberlin) was published in 1891, which also contains a complete list of his writings.

AHRIMAN (Gr. 'Areimanios in Aristotle, or in Agathias; in the Avesta, Angro Mainyush--``the Destructive Spirit''), the name of the principle of evil in the dualistic doctrine of Zoroaster. The name does not occur in the Old Persian inscriptions. In the Avesta he is called the twin-brother of the Holy Spirits, and contrasted either with the Holy Spirit of Ormazd or with Ormazd himself. He is the all destroying Satan, the source of all evil in the world and, like Ormazd, exists since the beginning of the world. Eventually, in the great world catastrophe, he will be defeated by Ormazd and disappear. The later sect of the Zervanites held that both were visible manifestations of the primeval principle Zruvan akarana (Infinite Time). (See ZOROASTER.)

AHRWEILER, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, on the river Ahr and the Remagen-Adenau line of railway. Pop. 5000. It is a town of medieval aspect and is surrounded by ancient walls, with battlements and four gates in good repair. There is a Gothic church (dating from 1245). A convent school of the Ursuline nuns is a prominent feature On a hill to the south. The trade is almost exclusively confined to the manufacture and export of the wines of the district.

AHT, a confederacy of twenty-two tribes of North American Indians of the Wakashan stock. They are settled on the west Coast of Vancouver, British Columbia. The chief tribes included are the Nitinaht, Tlaasaht or Makah, Tlaokiwaht or Clahoquaht, Ahansaht and Ehatishaht. The confederacy numbers some 3500.

AHTENA (``ice people''), the name of an Athapascan tribe of North American Indians, in the basin of Copper River, Alaska.

See Handbook of American Indians, ed. F. W. Hodge (Washington, 1907).

AHVAZ, a town of Persia, in the province of Arabistan, on the left bank of the river Karun, 48 m. S. of Shushter, in 31 deg. 18' N., 49 deg. E. It has been identified with the Aginis of Nearchus, 500 stadia from Susa, and occupies the site of what was once an extensive and important city. Of this ancient city vast remains are left, extending several miles along the bank of the river. Among the most remarkable are the ruins of a bridge and a citadel, or palace, besides vestiges of canals and watermills, which tell of former commercial activity. There are also the ruins of a band, or stone dam of great strength, which was thrown across the river for the purposes of irrigation. The band was 1150 yds. in length and had a diameter of 24 ft. at its base. Remains of massive structure are still visible, and many single blocks in it measure from 8 to 10 ft. in thickness. Ahvaz reached the height of its prosperity in the 12th and 13th centuries and is now a collection of wretched hovels, with a small rectangular fort in a state of ruin, and an Arab population of about 400. Since the opening of the Karun to foreign commerce in October 1888, another settlement called Benderi Nassiri, in compliment to the Shah Nassir ed din (d. 1896), has been established on a slight elevation overlooking the river at the point below the rapids where steamers come to anchor, about one mile below Ahvaz. It has post and telegraph offices; and agencies of some mercantile firms, a British vice-consul (since 1904) and a Russian consular agent (since 1902) are established there. The new caravan road to Isfahan, opened for traffic in 1900, promised, if successful, to give Ahvaz greater commercial importance.

AI [Sept. 'Aggai, 'Aggai Gai, Vulg. Hai], a small royal city of the Canaanites, E. of Bethel. The meaning of the name may be ``the stone heap''; but it is not necessarily a Hebrew word. Abraham pitched his tent between Ai and Bethel (Gen. xii. 8, xiii. 3); but it is chiefly noted for its capture and destruction by Joshua (vii. 2-4. viii. 1-20). who made it ``a heap for ever, even a desolation.'' It is mentioned by Isaiah (x. 28), and also after the captivity (Ezra ii. 28; Neh. vii. 32), but then probably was not more than a village. In the later Hebrew writings the name sometimes has a feminine form, Aiath (Is. x. 28), Aija (Neh. xi. 31). The definite article is usually prefixed to the name in Hebrew. The site was known, and some scanty ruins still existed, in the time of Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast., s.v. 'Aggai.) Dr E. Robinson was unable to discover any certain traces of either name or ruins. He remarks, however (Bib. Researches, ed. 1856, i. p. 443), that it must have been close to Bethel on account of Biblical narrative (Josh. viii. 17) . A little to the south of a village called Deir Diwan, and one hour's journey south-east from Bethel, is the site of an ancient place called Khirbet Haiyan indicated by reservoirs hewn in the rock, excavated tombs and foundations of hewn stone. This may possibly be the site of Ai; it agrees with all the intimations as to its position. It has also been identified with a mound now called Et-Tell (``the heap''), but though the name of a neighbouring village, Turmus Aya, is suggestive, it is in the wrong direction from Bethel. In this view recent authorities, such as G. A. Smith, generally coincide.

See Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, 1869, p. 123; 1874, p. 62; 1878, pp. 10, 132, 194, 1881, p. 254. (R. A. S. M.)

AIBONITO, an inland town of the electoral district of Guayama, Porto Rico, on the highway between San Juan and Ponce, 25 m. E.N.E. of the latter. It is the capital of a municipal district of the same name. Pop. (1899) of the town, 2085; of the district, 8596. The town is about 2200 ft. above sea level, and owing to its cool climate and freedom from malaria it has been chosen as an acclimatizing station and sanatorium for foreigners. It is surrounded by coffee plantations, and tobacco of excellent quality is raised in the vicinity. The town was considerably damaged by the great hurricane of the 8th of August 1899.

AICARD, JEAN FRANCOIS VICTOR (1848- ), French poet and dramatist, was born at Toulon on the 4th of February 1848. His father, Jean Aicard, was a journalist of some distinction, and the son early began his career in 1867 with Les Rebellions et les apaistments (1871); Poemes de Provence (1874), and La Chanson de l'Enfant (1876), both of which were crowned by the Academy; Miette et Nore (1880), a Provencal idyll; Le Livre d'heures de l'amour (1887); Jesus (1896), &c. Of his plays the most successful was Le Pere Lebonnard (1890), which was originally produced at the Theatre Libre. Among his other works are the novels, Le Roi de Camargue (1890), L'Ame d'un enfant (1898) and Talas (1901), Benjamine (1906) and La Venus de Milo (1874), an account of the discovery of the statue from unpublished documents.