Art, with setae Aeeount o/ flee Aniatie Treatment of the Life of $t. John the Baptist, Boston. 1898; T. Beaudoire, QeQas de to cryptopmphis apostolique et de l'architecdara rihulis. Paris, 1903; A Michel, Hid. de Part depuia lee premiere temps chr&iane, vole i.-ii., New York, 1908; end the general works on Christian art and archeology.

ART, HEBREW: The ancient Israelites accomthedpractically nothing in the realm of art. They lacked the necessary natural gifts, constructive power, and creative imagination. In the ancient time, when images of gods were indispensable to worship, their native incapacity was supplemented by no outside influence, and the old Israelitic images were of the rudest kind. After contact with more artistic neighbors had given them technical skill, the peculiar hostility of their religion to representative art prevented its development. To such an extent was this hostility carried that all likenesses of living creatures, whether human or animal, were forbidden. Such a prohibition-which survives in Islam to-daywas manifestly possible only among a people of no artistic tastes or powers; it is inconceivable among the Greeks. There is no mention of Israelitic sculpture. The complete silence concerning statues or stone ornamentation of any kind in Solomon's buildings indicates that nothing of the sort was found there. Stone sarcophagi, such as the Phenicians and Egyptians made, were not used. The mawbhoth, the cultic pillars of stone, make the nearest approach to statuary; but while among other nations the atone pillars developed into true statues of gods, among the Israelites they always remained mere pillars. Such an expression as `~ goodly images " in Hos. x. 1 probably indicates that sometimes, as among other Semitic peoples, rude forms were chiseled on the pillars. Wood carving seems to have been practised. The teraphim certainly had something like a man's head (I Sam. xix. 13). There were two cherubim of olive wood in Solomon's temple (I Kings vi. 23), and in Ezekiel's time the temple doors and walls were adorned with carving (Ezek. xfi. 17-26; of. also the later additions to the description of Solomon's temple, I Kings vii. 18, 29, 35). Doorposta and the wainscoting of houses and articles of furniture, such as divans, tables, and chairs, were thus decorated in the time of the later kings. But it is noteworthy that the masterpiece of such work, Solomon's throne (I Kings x. 18-20), was made by Phenician workmen. Metal work also developed under Phenician influence. Solomon had to send to Tyre for an artist to do the casting necessary for the temple (I Kings vii. 13-46). The art of overlaying with metal seems to have been better understood and to date from an earlier time. The ephod may have been made of wood or clay overlaid with gold or silver (see EPHOD), and the Caves of Dan and Bethel (I Kings xii. 2829) were doubtless constructed in this way. A knowledge of gem cutting is ascribed to the time of the Exodus (Ex. xxviii. 21), and the patriarchs are said to have had seals (Gen. xxxviii. 18),-which proves at least that the art was familiar and old when the narratives were written. There is mention of an iron gmving tool with diamond point (Jer. xvii. 1).

BIHwoaitApHT: G. Perroi, and C. Chipies, Histoire de fart dens t'antiquiM, iv., Paris, 1887, Eng· tranel., flietory of Art in Sardinia, Judea. Syria, and Asia Minor, 2 vols., London, 1890; Bensinger, Arehdolooie, 249-271; Nowack, Archdolopie, i. 259-208.

ARTAXERXES, ar"tax-erk'efz: The name of a Persian king mentioned in Nehemiah and Ezra, where, however, the word occurs in the form of Artachehashta, by which is doubtless meant Artaxerxes I. Longimadus, 465-425 B.C. In the Persian cuneiform inscriptions the name is written Artakhehathra, " righteous " or " sublime ruler." In Ezra iv. 7, Artaxerxes Longimanus is meant, not the Pseudo-Smerdis; so also Ezra vii. 1, 11 where, following Josephus Ant., XI. v. 1, Xerxes has been read. In the twentieth year of Artachshashta or Artaxerxes, that is, in the year 445-444 B.C. Nehemiah, the cup-bearer of the king, went as governor to Jerusalem. See PEBBIA. (B. LmDNEB.)

ARTEMON (dr'ti-men) or ARTEMA$: A heretic of the third century, founder of a small sect called the Artemonites. Nothing is known of him except what may be gathered from brief references in Eusebius, Epiphanius; Theodoret, and Photius; it seems certain that he shrank from applying the name God to Jesus, and he is probably to be classed with the dynamistic Monarchians (see MONARCH mmrsM); he was living at Rome, but separated from the Church and without influence, about 270. Paul of Samosata adopted and developed his views.

ARTHUR, WILLIAM: Methodist; b. at Kells (18 m. n.w. of Belfast), County Antrim, Ireland, Feb. 3, 1819; d. at Cannes, France, March 9, 1901. He began to preach at the age of sixteen, was accepted as a candidate for the ministry by the Irisbt Conference in 1837, and spent the next two years as a student at the Theological Institution at tHoxton, London. In 1839 he went to India, and openeda new mission station at Gutti, Mysore, but returned to England in 1841, completely broken down in health. His eyesight, in particular, was much impaired, and from this affliction he never fully recovered. He was stationed at Boulogne, 1846, in Paris, 1847-18; preached in London, 1849-50; was appointed one of the secretaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, 1851; first principal of the Belfast Methodist College, 1868; honorary missionary secretary, 1871. In 1888 he retired and thenceforth lived chiefly in southern France. In 1856 he was made a member of the legal committee of his Church, and from that time on was prominent in all connectional committees and

BIBwoaaAPBY: Consult The Methodist Recorder, xlii, 11-18, London, Mar. 14, 1901, for biographical sketch.

ARTICLES, IRISH, LAMBETH, THIRTY-NINE, ETC. See IRISH ARTICLES, LAMBETH ARTICLES, THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES, ETC.

ARUNDEL, ar'vn-dl, THOMAS: Archbishop of Canterbury; b. at Arundel Castle (55 m. s.w. of London), Sussex, 1353; d. at Canterbury Feb. 19, 1414. He was the thirdson of the Earl of Arundel, and the family influence secured his promotion to the bishopric of Ely when only twenty-one; he was made Archbishop of York in 1388, of Canterbury in 1396, this being the first instance of a translation from York to Canterbury. He was active in the turbulent times of Richard II, and incurred the resentment of the king; in 1397, with his brother, the Earl of Arundel, he was impeached of high treason; the Earl was executed and the Archbishop was banished. He went to Rome, but the Pope, Boniface IX, at the request of Richard, transferred him to St. Andrews which in effect deprived him of a see, as Scotland adhered to the rival pope, Benedict XIII. He joined Henry of Lancaster on the continent, returned with him to England, 1399, crowned him king, Oct. 13, and was reinstated as Archbishop of Canterbury. He was five times Lord Chancellor of England, twice under Richard II (1386-89 and 1391-96), and three times under Henry IV. Arundel was a shrewd and far-sighted prelate in the performance of what he understood to be his duty. He spent his wealth freely upon the churches in which he was interested. In leis later years he entered heartily into the persecution of the Lollards and was especially conspicuous in the prosecution of Lord Cobham. He procured a prohibition of the vernacular translation of the Scriptures.

BisrsoaeArar: Consult the works mentioned under ARAB, and, in addition, for Zerah the Ethiopian, H. Winckler, Alttesta-enttida Untereuehunpen, pp. 180 eqq., Leipsic, 1892.

ASBURY, az'ber-i, FRANCIS: The first Methodist bishop ordained in America; b. at Hamatead Bridge, parish of Handaworth (a northern suburb

bas (xv), on the other hand, grounds the observance of Sunday on its having been the day marked by both the resurrection and the ascension. If this is to be reconciled with the Acts, it can only be by the assumption that Luke counts four weeks as four decades, just as later ecclesiastical usage numbers the Sundays before Lent in this loose way as Septuagesima, Sexageaima, and Quinquagesima; but the " forty days " of the Acts sounds too definite for this hypothesis to be accepted. The Christian Church has observed this commemoration on the Thursday of the sixth week after Easter since it has been observed at all, which could only be after the festivals of Easter and Pentecost were firmly established. Origen does not know the festival (Contra Celsum, viii, 23). It is mentioned, however, in the Apostolic Constitutions (v, 19, viii, 13); and Chrysostom has a homily for it, besides referring to it in another place. Socrates (Hist. eocd., vii, 26) mentions, under the year 390, that the people celebrated it as an established custom in a suburb of Constantinople. In the West its observance has been thought to be attested by an obscure canon of the Council of Elvira (306); in any case, Augustine knows it as an old one (Epist. liv. ad Januarium). Its celebration was specially solemn. The paschal candle, lighted at Easter to symbolize the resurrection of the Light of the World, is extinguished after the Gospel in the high mass of that day throughout the Roman Catholic Church, signifying the departure of Christ from earth. The Lutheran Reformation in Germany retained the feast as Scriptural; and it is observed as one of the principal festivals in the Anglican communion. (GEORG RIETSCHEL. )

Perhaps the earliest reference to the feast extant is that of the Peregrinatio Etherdce (0.380), which states that a feast of the Ascension was celebrated in Jerusalem toward the close of the fourth century, coinciding with the festival of Pentecost and observed on the same day. The feast marks the close of the paschal season and is a holyday of obligation in the Roman Catholic Church. In the Latin liturgy the term " ascension " is used exclusively of our Lord. J. T. C.

BrsraoaRSra:: A. Baillet, Lee Vies des saints, asec i'histoire doe f0tse . Paris, 1701; F. Probst, Breerier and Brsvierpeb4 ¢ 93, Tiibingen,1868; DCA, i. 145-147; N. Nilles, Kalendarium manuals ukiusque saleaia, ii, 384, Innsbruck, 1881.

The term"asceticism'' (Gk. askilsia) originally meant " practise," especially the training of an athlete. In philosophical language it denotes moral exercise and discipline (e.g., Epiotetus, Dissertationea, iii, 12; Diogenes Laertius, VIII, viii, 8), and in this sense passed into ecclesiastical language (Eusebius, Hilt. eul., II, xvii, 2; Mar tyree Paliestinw, x, 2, xi, 2, 22). In the history of almost all religions, as well as in ancient moral

Hellenistic and Jewish influences worked together to introduce, with " moralism," in the old catholic time an ascetic order of life.

cism in the fixed hours of prayer, the restricted Early use of food, abstinence from marriage,

case of Origen, Eusebius, Hist. eccl., vi, 2), and as the Church comes to know the world more intimately, it becomes easier to understand the origin of ascetic societies (cf. the pseudo-Clementine Epistles, De virganitade; Hieracasf in Epiphanius, Her., lxvii, 13; Athanasius, Pits Antonii, iii, 14; Cyril, Catechesea, iv, 24, v, 4, xu, 33; Methodius, Conviroium, vii, 3; Aphraates, Hom., vi). Here was the beginning of the later anchoretic and monastic system (see MoNAsmcctsm).

On this road the Middle Ages proceeded. The ascetic practises were extended more and more, and their extension naturally produced among the monks a state of dulness. There are two things especially which mark the history of medieval asceticism: the institution of penance with its works of satisfaction, and the idea of imitating the poverty and suffering of Jesus. The first shows a descending evolution, but the second an ascending one, tending to introspection, as in the circle of the Friends of God. The way of asceticism was considered as the way of perfection. The Augsburg

Confession (art. xxvi, 8) says of the 3. Attitude medieval period: " Christianity was

fasts, attire." On the other hand, the Reformation abolished on principle the medieval estimate of asceticism, because the solemn ascetic works are not enjoined by God, but by worthless human commandments (art. xxiii, 6 eqq., 19 eqq., savi, 18; Apol., xxiii, 6, 60, xxvii, 42-57), and can even be regarded as suicide and tempting of God (Luther, Werke, Erlangen ed., iv, 380, vii, 40, ix, 289, xi, 104). The ascetic system is also abolished by the concept of righteousness by faith which is opposed to meritorious works, which are therefore to be rejected (Auga. Con., xx, 8, 9 eqq., xxvi, I eqq., 8, xxvn, 3,44; Apo1., xv, 6 eqq.; Art. Schmal., iv, 14; Luther, xx, 250, xvii, 8, xlii, 262, AM, 193, lxv, 128, xx;, 330). Thus it is asserted that the ascetic works answer not the will of God and are not meritorious. For " Christian perfection " ascetic works are not necessary; indeed, moral conduct is the more certain evidence of God's Presence (Augs. Con., xvi, 4 sqq., xxvi, 10, xxvii, 10 eqq., xv, 49, 57; Apol., xv, 25-26, xvii, 61; Longer Catechism, precept iv, 145). But asceticism is hereby not done away with. The " mortification of the flesh " ever remains a Christian duty (Augs. Con., xxvi, 31 eqq.). But by this is not meant a weakening and destruction of the natural powers, but the self-discipline by which the natural powers are made subject to the soul, thus becoming fit for serving God. Outward fast-regulations are therefore very useful, but should never become a law (Luther, xlM, 197-199, Ixv, 128). The Protestant view is briefly this: " Every one can use his own discretion as to fasting and watching, for every one knows how much he must do to master his body. Three, however, who think to become pious through works have no regard for fasting, but only for the works and, imagining that they are pious when they do much in that direction, sometimes break their heads over it and ruin their bodies over it " (Luther, xavii, 27, 190, xliii, 199,

from God for " the mortifying of the flesh "; the question is not of self-mortification and invited martyrdom. The cross is not to incite the Christian to sin, but to restrain the sinful lust. From this point of view the Christian is to consider the suffering and be affected by it. (2) Our nature in consequence of the sinfulness of man is exercised and ready to walk the ways pointed out by the evil will. In concrete things it exemplifies chiefly the dominion of the sensual desires over the spiritual will. Over against this, it is a Christian duty to accustom nature to subjugation under the .spiritual will, to the regulation of the desires, to regularity and propriety of life, to steadfastness in useful work, to the proper relation between labor and recreation. Here one has to deal with moral gymnastics, which are to fit human nature to obey the good moral will imparted by grace. (3) For each man exist certain thoughts and incentives which in themselves are morally indifferent, but, as experience teaches, may become a temptation to the individual. To restrain these is the further object of asceticism; and herein it includes fasting in the ardent sense, e.g., with reference to society, eating and drinking, matrimony, sexual intercourse, novel-reading, the theater, dancing, total abstinence. etc. The question here is of a moral dietetics. With this the field of asceticism is circumscribed. Only it should be added that the ascetic practic&1 proof must never become a law; it calls only for individual selfrestraint. This, however, as little precludes ascetic habits in the individual as ascetic customs in communities. It mu4 also be emphasized that the question can not be as to the meritorious character of asceticism; for, in the first place, this thought has no place in evangelical ethics; in the second place, because the necessity of ascetic exercises proves not man's moral maturity, but immaturity. Finally, it must be remarked that in the concrete life the ascetic practical proof can not be separated from sanctification and the moral struggle. R. SzEHEftfi.

ASCHHEIM, ash'haim, SYNOD OF: A synod held in a village of what is now Bavaria, a little to the east of Munich. The church there is mentioned in the seventh century. The year of the synod is not definitely named; but since Tassilo is mentioned as prince, and as still very young, and since its decrees are evidently influenced by those of the Frankish synod of Verneuil (July 11, 755), it must have been held either in the latter half of that year. or in 756. Its canons are directed partly to the regulation of various ecclesiastical relations (ii, for the security of churches, and iv, of church

property; v, payment of tithes; xiii, recognition of the canonical law as to marriage) and partly to the affirmation of the rights of the episcopate (iii, power over church property; vi, subordination of the clergy, and viii, ix, of monks and nuns; xiv, xv, spiritual oversight in courts of justice).

ASHERAH (pl. asherim; in Judges iii, 7, II Chron. xix, 3, xxxiii, 3, asheroth): The transliteration of a Hebrew word which in the A. V. of the English Bible (following the LXX and Vulgate) is rendered "grove" or "groves" (see GROVES AxD TREKS, SACRED); in the A. V. the word is trans-

Two Dis- translation. In explaining its meaning tinct two entirely different senses in which

(1) as a sacred tree-stem or pole; (2) as the name of a Canaanitic goddess. There is now no doubt of the general meaning when the word is used in the former sense. Exactly what the latter refers to is still a matter of much debate. There are only three passages (Judges iii, 7; I Kings xviii, 19; II Kings xxiii, 4) in which the word (used with ba'al) clearly refers to a goddess; or, rather, only two, for in Judges the reading should be `ashtaroth (pl. of 'ashtoreth; see AsHToRETH) as in similar early statements with regard to forbidden cults. The passage I Kings xv, 13, often supposed to refer to the worship of a goddess, should be translated as in the R. V. " made an abominable thing for (i.e., as) an asherah." The other two passages in Kings are regarded by recent conservative commentators as interpolations (cf. R. Kittel, Die Biicher der K6nige, Gottingen, 1900, pp. 143, 300), and certainly justify the conclusion that at a late period asherah was used as another name for Ashtoreth. How this came about may be explained from the history of the asherah in Israel.

In preexilic times an asherah was not a divine companion or concurrent of a bawl or the baals at all. It was, however, an indispensable part of

The Pre- place," or shrine of the baal (bamah) exilic consisted of an altar (with or without

pillar, and an agherah (see ALTAR; HUGH PLACE; MEMORIALS AND SACRED STONES). The pillar was a survival of the old stone-worship; that is to say, the adoration of the local deities or numina, who had their abode in sacred stones (cf. the bathed of Gen. xxviii, 19 and elsewhere). The asherah Or sacred pole was in like manner a Survival of the old tree-worship, that is, of the cult of sacred trees whose sanctity is a marked feature of the early histories (e.g., Gen. xii, 6, R. V.; Judges ix, 37, R. V.). In the Hebrew text of Dent. xi, 30; Judges ix, 6 (cf. R. V.) the sacred tree and the sacred stone appear standing side by side. One step further in the inevitable syncretism was the combination of both of these with the cult of the baal, the presiding divinity or `° proprietor " of the district, who gave fertility to its soil and all

consequential blessings to its inhabitants (cf. Hos. ii, 5, 8; see BAAL). Whatever other factors may have contributed to this cherishing of the asherim, these are the moat important. At first the asherim were probably the stems of trees rudely chopped and stripped; afterward they were conventionalized into a shapely pole or mast, just as the " pillars " or magebhoth were at first roughly hewn blocks of stone.

At a later stage the asherah became transfigured into a goddess and naturally took the place of the

old Ashtoreth in the imagination of Trans- the Hebrews, who, after the Exile, folformed lowed no longer the old Canaanitic into a rites. The fact that the worship of Goddess. Ashtoreth had been combined with that of the baals, or rather absorbed into it, doubtless helped toward the substitution. The deification of an outward object of worship is a familiar phenomenon in nearly all religions, and in the present field of inquiry is actually paralleled by the conversion of a bethel or bait-ill (a god-inhabited stone) into a god, Baitulos, among the Phenicians and elsewhere (cf. Schrader, KA T, pp. 437-438).

Whether the fact that there was an old Canaanitic goddess Ashirtu, with a Babylonian namesake, aided in the confusion, in the Hebrew literature, of the two senses of asherah, is not quite clear. It is, at any rate, practically certain that in the time of the active idolatrous worship of Israel the asherah was not a goddess. See ASHTORETH.

ASHIMA, a-shai'ma: A deity of the Hamathites, whose capital, originally called Hamath, afterward Epiphania, was on the Orontes, north of the Antilebanon. They were transported into Samaria by Shalmaneser to replete that depopulated district (II Kings xvii, 30). The deity was therefore Aramean, and was regarded by the Septuagint as feminine, but since nothing is known of it beyond what is told in II Kings, all suggestions as to its identity are mere conjectures.

ship, mostly associated with that of Baal or the baals, figured largely in the history of idolatry in ancient Israel. This divinity. is especially marked as a goddess of the `° Sidonians " or Pheniciana

(I Kings xi, 5, 33; II Kings xxiii, 13). She had also a temple among the Philistines at Ascalon,

probably the same as that mentioned by Herodotus (i, 105) East of the Jordan her worship was rife in Moab, combined with that of the

r. The national god, Ashtar-Chemosh being Cult in Pal- named on the Moabite Stone in the estine and ninth century B.C.; and the place

This famous goddess is also widely known as Astarte, which is the Greek form of the Phenician 'Ashtart. The name Ashtoreth itself in the orig inal Hebrew texts was 'Ashtareth, the s. Signifi- Masoretic form being a change made cance of by using the vowels of bosheth, " the the Rela- shameful thing," a nickname of Baal ted flames. (q.v.). The Phenician ' a shtart clearly points to the correct reading, as also does the Hebrew plural 'Ashtaroth. The Babylonian and Assyrian forth Ishtar is modified from 'Ashtar, according to a regular phonetic law, through the influence of the initial guttural. 'Ashtar is identical with the South Arabian 'A& tar and Aramaic and North Arabian 'Atar (from 'Athtar), the former being a god and the latter apparently a goddess. Of the Arabian cult very little is known. When more has been learned of South Arabian mythology, much of the mystery which surrounds the origin of the universal Semitic worship of Ishtar-Ashtoreth will be cleared up.

The following are the most important of the facts which may be regarded as established or practically certain: The cult originated in Babylonia and spread northward to As3. Exten- syria, northwestward to Mesopotamia, sion of Ish- thence to Syria and Palestine, and tar Worship. thence through the Phenicians to all of the Mediterranean peoples; south and southwestward it spread to Arabia, and thence across the sea to Abyssinia.

Both the name and the dominant forms of the cult were of Semitic and not of 11 Turanian 11 or Sumerian origin. There was a god-

igin, both in its primary and in its secondary sources. When in greatest vogue as a principal Semitic religion it was, as above indicated, a composite or syncretism of many related cults, non-Semitic as well as Semitic. Of these some left deep traces of their original distinctive features and remained in part practically separate cults. Such, for example, was the worship of Ish-

tar of Arbela, in which the divinity g. Domi- appears as a war-goddess-an attrinant Types bute probably suggested by the very

Sigaiti- and chiefly identified with this most cance. beautiful of celestial objects, especially

as the evening star. This conception spread from Babylonia through the other Semitic lands to the Phenician settlements, and then mainly byway of Cyprus, to the Greeks and Romans as the cults of Aphrodite and Venus. Among its primary sources, therefore, the worship of Ishtar was in large part astral, and Venus was its favorite celestial object. This combination was not of late origin, but is known to have been made in very early times (cf. Schrader, RAT, pp. 424 sqq.)The moon in the Ishtar cult never took the place of Venus; for the moon among the Semites was a male deity, whose worship was older than even that of Ishtar and was centered in Sin, the moongod par ezceuence. Hence Ishtar in the inscriptions is represented not only as the daughter of Ann, the great heaven-god, but also as the daughter of Sin. It was as impossible that " the queen of heaven " of Jer. vii, 18 and other passages could be a name of the moon among the Hebrews in Palestine or Egypt as it could be among the Babylonians. The identification of Ishtar with the fixed star Sirius and with the constellation Virgo (perhaps through its beautiful star Spica), though comparatively early, was of secondary origin.

From the terrestrial side the primary motive of the worship of Ishtar was the impulse to deify

sensuousness and sensuality. Of the 6. The resulting worship Ishtar-Venus became

Develop- legitimated the sexual indulgences meat which marked her cult in Babylonia,

Phenicia, Palestine, and the Semitic world generally, but she was naturally taken as the authoress of the sexual passion and therewith of all derivative and associated sentiments. This accounts for the part played by Ashtoreth or Astarte as the female counterpart of the Phenician Baal and of the local Canaanitic basis, and also for the wide-spread and influential myth of her

Ishtar as the fountain of the tenderest and most sacred human sentiments, also of imaginative conceptions of external nature, and even experiences of the inner moral and spiritua,llife (on the process of transition of. J. F. McCurdy,

History, Prophecy, and the Monuments, iii, New York, 1901, §§ 1184 eqq.). The best illustrations are afforded by the Babylonian hymns to Ishtar as the great mother-goddess, as the creator of the animate universe generally (cf. the exordium of Lucretius, De rerun natura), and as the helper of men, freeing them from sickness and the curse of sin and guilt.

Though we learn nothing directly from the Old Testament as to the character of the service of Ashtoreth in Palestine, the connections in which the word occurs make it clear that, whatever else may have been here and there included, the lowest forms of Ishtar worship were ordinarily exhibited. The regular association in the singular with " the

baal " and in the plural ('Aahta 8. Tendency Loth) with " the baale " indicates the

Isdubar-Ninarod, pp. 57-88, 58-70, ib. 1891; P. Jenson, Die KosmoWis der Babylonier, pp . 117-118, 135, 227 oqq., Strasburg, 1890: Ashtoreth and Her Inigusnoe in the O. T'.

n JBL, z (1891 ), 73 eqq.; G. A. Barton. The Semitic Ishtar Cult, in Hebmica, is (189283). 131-156, z (1893-94).1-74. For the " Q ueen of Heaven " consult: B. Stade, in ZATw, vi (1880), 123-132, 289339; E. Schrader. in Sitcunpaberidafe der BeRinerAkademie, 1888, pp. 477-491; idem, m ZA, iii (1888), 853384; iv (1889), 74-70; J. Well-' haueen, Heidenthurn, pp 88 sqq.: A. Huenen. De Mels cketh des Hemsk, Amsterdam, 1888 (Germ. tranel. in Ge-

On the connection between Aphrodite and Astarte consult: J. B. F. Lajard, Iteeherc)ma sur Is cults de VEnus, Paris, 1837; W. H. Eogel, Hyprot, ii, b-849, Berlin, 1841: L. F. A. Maury. HiNoirs des religions de la Ordoe antique iii, 191-259, Paris, 1869· F. Hommel, Aphrodito-Astarte, in New Jahrbaeher %flr Ph>Tobphie and Pedopopie, mocv (1882). 178; Ohnefadeoh-Richter, ut sup.. Pp. 227; DB, i, 156, 187-171; M. Jaetrow, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898 (of. Index under Ishtar); BB, i. 330-883, 336-339; G. A. Barton, A ,3ketrA o/ Semitic Origins, pp. 108. 248-258. Now York. 1902; Schrader. RAT. pp. 438938.

ASH WEDNESDAY (Lat. Dies cineris, feria quarts cinerum): The first day of Lent, the beginning of the forty days' fast before Easter in the Western Church. The name is not simply a general allusion to the repentance in sackcloth and ashes of which the prophets speak in the Old Testament, but refers more directly to a rite which marks the observance of the day in the Roman Catholic Church. The palm-branches blessed on the PahnBunday of the previous year are burned to ashes, and these ashes are placed in a vessel on the altar before the beginning of mass. The priest, wearing a violet cope (the color of mourning), prays that God will send his angel to hallow the ashes, that they may become a salutary remedy to all penitents. Then follows the prayer of benediction, witch explains the symbolical meaning of the use of ashes still more clearly. The ashes are then thrice sprinkled with holy water and censed, after which the celebrant kneels and places some of them upon his own head. The congregation then approschthe altar and kneel, while the sign of the cross is made upon their foreheads with the blessed ashes; to each one are said the words Memento, homo, quia pulroia ea et in pulverem reverteria (" Remember, O man, that dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return ").

It is impossible to determine accurately the date at which the imposition of ashes, which originally formed a part of the public penance for grievous sinners, became a custom applicable to all the faithful. It is demonstrably at least as old as the synod of Beneventum in 1091, which expressly commands it for clergy and laity alike. In the Anglican communion the day is marked by a special service known as the " commination service," (q.v.) or at least by a special collect and Scripture lessons; and the Irvingite liturgy also contains prayers for it. See CHuRcH YEAR.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bingham, Oripinee, book :viii. chap ii, E 2; G. BevineU History of the ie)'ormakon of Ale Church of England, ii. 94, London 1881; J. Butechksr, Oebraueke, pp. 91-152, Vienna, 1848.

cial district is doubtless meant in I Pet. i, 1, where Asia stands after Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia and before Bithynia, though it is uncertain whether the author ass informed of the political character of these designations. How far the Roman provincial demarcations had become familiar to the people it is difficult to tell. There are passages in the New Testament in which the term Asia is used

in a narrower sense. In the time of Paul the country was still in a stage of development.

11. The Province of Asia: When Attalus III of Pergamos in 133 H.c. willed his country to the Romans, it was declared a province, though the real organization was not effected until 129. The main parts were the maritime districts Mysia, Lydia, and Caria. With these Cicero (Pro Plaew, xxvii, 65) mentions Phrygia, which belonged to the province after 118. Under the emperors Asia was a senatorial province ruled by a proconsul, whose seat was at Ephesus. The diet of the province, to which representatives (Gk. asiamhai; cf . Acts xis, 31) were sent, met annually in different cities. Its powers and duties culminated in the imperial cult; and hence it was presided over by the sacerolm provin cica or, Greek, amhiereus tf Asias, who offered the sacrifices and pronounced the vow for the emperor and his house. This office changed annually and the years were dated accordingly.

III. The Imperial Cult: The empire as the guaranty of peace and the source of all blessings of culture appeared to the people as a divine power. From his point of view the author of the Apocalypse (xiii, 3-8) describes this worship of the empire by the world. He is convinced that the empire owes its success to a supernatural power, but not to the God of heaven-rather to the devil. The Jews as a rule enjoyed religious liberty throughout the empire, and were not required to take part in the imperial cult. What Caesar had granted to them was confirmed by Augustus and Claudius. The sufferings of the Christians of Asia Minor, mentioned in the First Epistle of Peter, were not caused by their refusal to take part in this worship (cf- ii, 13 aqq.). It is true that the populace hated and persecuted the Christians, but not because they refused to honor the emperor; the name of this new supemtuio was distrusted and outlawed as at Rome in the time of Nero (Tacitus, Aanalea, xv, 44).

IV. Cities: The number of free cities was steadily reduced under the emperors; and immunity from taxation was granted in place of autonomy. An edict of Antonim Pius divided the cities into three classes according to size and importance. Puny (Hint. net., V, xxix, 105 sqq.) mentions nine cities which possessed a court of justice, viz.: Laodices ad Lycum, Synnada, Apamea, Alabanda, Sardis, Smyrna, Ephesus, Adramyttium, and Pergamos. Ephesus, at the mouth of the Cayster, often called on inscriptions " the first and greatest metropolis of Ate," was the seat of the proconsul. Another title of the city is " temple-keeper " (i.e., of Diana; d. Acts xix, 35, R. V.; the Greek is neakoroe, the usual word for the custodian of a temple). A college of virgin priestesses ministered to Diana, presided over by a eunuch called Megabysos. It was no exaggeration of Demetrius when he said that the Ephesian Artemis was worshiped not only by all Asia, but by the whole world (Acts xix, 27); for through Ephesus flowed the commerce between the East and the West. Among the strangers riding them were manyiewe, who had& synagogue (Actoxviii,19, 26, xix, 8) and enjoyed special privileges, especially

those who were Roman citizens, as may be seen from documents contained in Josephus and Philo. Ephesus was a member of the confederation of the thirteen Ionian cities, of which Miletue was the head.

A great road led from Ephesus to Magnesia, where was another temple of Anemia which Strabo places on a par with the Ephesian. Christianity came to Magnesia from Ephesus; among the epistles of Ignatius, that to the Magnesians immediately follows that to the Ephesians. After Magnesia, Strabo mentions Tralles (also mentioned by Ignatius), once a wealthy city, called Ciesarea under Augustus. Jews also dwelt there; and it is possible that the Gospel was brought thither from Ephesus (Acts xix, 10). It seems that special missionary attention was devoted to the cities along the Mean der-Lykos road; for one meets with the three closely connected Phrygian congregations Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossee, of which Laodicea was the most important and is alone mentioned in the Apocalypse. The Christian community seems to have shared in the wealth of the city (Rev. iii, 17). Laodicea never had an emperor's temple. Polycmtes of Ephesus mentions among the " great lights" of Asia a bishop and martyr with the Phrygian name Lagaris as buried at Laodicea (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., IV, xxiv, 5). In 185 there was " great strife concerning the Passover there " (ib. IV, xxvi, 3). Colossae, an important city of Phrygia, was long the seat of a bishop. More important than Colossee was Hierapolis, the native place of the philosopher Epictetus, and the place in which the apostle Philip lived and died. Papias was bishop of Hierapolis, as was also Claudius Apollinaris. ApameawasfoundedbyAntiochusBoterand was the seat of a conventus jwidieua. That many Jews lived hem is known from Cicero (Pro Plaoco, xxviii); they had their own constitution, a "law of the Jews."

The Lydian Philadelphia was sparsely populated on account of the frequent earthquakes. The Gospel was brought thither from Ephesus. Philadelphia is one of the seven churches of Asia mentioned in the Apocalypse (iii, 7-13); among its inhabitants Jews are mentioned (iii, 9). Ignatius addressed an epistle to the Philadelphians; and Eusebine (Hint. ecd., V, xvii, 3) mentions a prophetess Ammia of Philadelphia. Sardis was the ancient city of the Lydian kings. Jews lived there, having their own jurisdiction. The Church at Sardis, one of the seven mentioned in the Apocalypse (iii, 1-6), was the episcopal seeof Melito in the time of Antomnus Pius. Two famous roads led from Sardis: one to Pergamoe by way of Thyatira, tile other to Smyrna. All three cities are mentioned among the seven Churches of the Apocalypse. Thyatim was known especially for its gild of dyers. The Lydia mentioned in Acts xvi, 14, called a " seller of purple," had probably come to Philippi with wool which had been dyed at home. Thyatira plays an important pan in the history of Montar nism (Epiphanius, Hier., li, 33). Taking a western road from Thyatim one comes to Smyrna, where in 195 a.c. atemplewas built in honorof the den Rome. Tiberius allowed a temple to be erected

here to himself, his mother, and the senate. Politically Smyrna was not as important as Ephesus; but it had the reputation of being the most beautiful city of Asia. Jews in Smyrna are mentioned in Rev. ii, 9 and in the Martyrium Polycarpi, xii, 2, and both times as enemies of the Christians. Paul does not seem to have done missionary work there; but that the congregation was founded by John is not a necessary inference. By the " angel of the church in Smyrna " (Rev. ii, 8) Polycarp might be meant, had not the epistles to the seven churches originated in a much earlier period than the final redaction of the Apocalypse. From Smyrna the road leads by way of Gyme, Myrina, and Elea to Pergamos, where it meets the road to Thyatira. Pergamos, the ancient royal city of the Attalides, was still famous under the Roman empire. In the time of Augustus (29 B.c.) the first provincial temple was erected here, and by the side of Ephesus Pergamos seems to have been the most prominent city in Asia. It was famous for the cult of lEsculapius. Although the Jews had influence, they were not the cause of the animosities mentioned in Rev. ii, 12-17. Though they are called in the Apocalypse a " synagogue of Satan " (ii, 9), it is most unlikely that they are meant by the words: " I know . . . where thou dwellest, where Satan's seat is" (ii, 13); the language points to a more concrete phenomenon, which might be thought of as an embodiment of Satan, and no doubt refers to the worship of IEsculapius. This " savior," whose symbol was the serpent, and who, according to Justin (Apologia, i, 21, 22), looked much like Christ, could easily appear as a devilish caricature of the Son of God. The words " hast not denied my faith" imply that in the days of Antipas the population made an effort to force the worship of Xsculapius upon others.

From the seaport Adramyttium, where there was a canventus juridicus, following the north coast of the Adramyttian bay the road leads to Assos, where Paul seems to have been active (Acts xx, 13-14). It was the birthplace of Cleanthes the Stoic. Troas, or rather Alexandria, became famous under Roman sway. Augustus made it a colony. It was the seaport from which Paul went to Macedonia (Acts xvi, 11). It is perhaps characteristic of the Roman citizen, that, besides Ephesus, Troas is the only city of the province of Asia where Paul labored in person (Acts xx, 5-7; II Cor, ii, 12; II Tim. iv, 13). The Church of Troas is not mentioned in the Apocalypse, but is referred to by Ignatius in his epistles to the Philadelphians (xi, 2) and Smyrnmans (xii, 2). Abydus, Lampsacus, and Cyzicus were not included in Paul's mission.

V. The Islands of the Sgean Sea belonged in great part to the province of Asia. Tenedos was opposite Alexandria Troas; Lesbos, with the capital Mytilene, or as the later form reads in Acts xx, 14, Mitylene, was the first station on the passage from Assos. Thence Paul sailed (Acts xx, 15) to chios, opposite the Ionic peninsula. On the following day he reached Samoa. According to the reading of Codex D, he seems not to have tarried on the island itself in the city of Samos, but in the town of Trogyllium on a little isle of like name before the

cape, mentioned by Strabo. South of Samos lay the small island of Patmos. Following the route of Paul (Acts xxi, 1) one comes to Coos and Rhodes. During the last decades before Christ, Rhodes was a center of culture; it was the native place of the Stoic Panaetius, whose work " On Duty " Cicero used in his De ofciis; in Rhodes, too, labored his pupil Posidonius (about 90-50 s.c.); the rhetorician Apollonius Molon, the teacher of Cicero and Caesar; and Theodore of Gadara, the teacher of Tiberius.

VI. The Province Pontus-Bithynia: When King Nicomedes III, Philopator, of Bithynia bequeathed in 74 s.c. his country to the Romans, the governor of Asia made it a province, and it was extended toward the east in 64 B.c. by annexing north Paphlagonia and Pontus. After the separation of Pontus Galaticus, which was joined to Galatia, the new province with the double name Pontus (and) Bithynia comprised the entire coast region east of the Rhyndacus, north of Mt. Olympus, extending beyond the Halys to the city of Amisus. As a senatorial province it was ruled by proconsuls with a legate, a questor, and six lictors. Pliny the Younger was an extraordinary governor, who was sent to the province (111-112 A.D.) to regulate its finances. The domestic conditions in Bithynia are described not only in the correspondence of Pliny the Younger with Trajan, but also in the speeches of the sophist Dio Chrysostomus of Prusa, which have much of interest to the investigator of early Christianity (ed. H. von Arnim, 2 vols., Berlin, 1893-96; cf. also idem, Dio von Prusa, ib. 1898). The most noteworthy of the cities of Pontus and Bithynia were Apamea, Chalcedon, Byzantium, and Prusa. A court of judgment was also at Nica;a (see NicmA, ComvciLs op), where there was a temple of the dea Roma and of the divus Julius, whereas the provincial temple was at Nicomedia. In Pontus were Amastris, Sinope, Amisus, Abonuteichus, and Comana. Concerning the Jews in Pontus and Bithynia cf. Acts ii, 9, xviii, 2. The spread of Christianity in Pontus is attested by Pliny (Epist., xevi, 9).

VIL The Province Galatia has a complicated history. Its boundaries were often changed. It derived its name from the Celtic tribes which :fated to Asia Minor in the third century B.c., and, according to Strabo, occupied the eastern part of Phrygia. Without going into details, it can be assumed that in the New Testament " Galatia " means not the seat of the three Celtic tribes, but the Roman province including Pisid ;a and Lycaonia, therefore the territory of the first Pauline missionary journey. The question is of interest whether by "the Churches of Galatia " (Gal. i, 2) Paul understood only those of the first missionary journey. He shows an inclination to address his Church according to provinces, following the Roman provincial divisions. When he addresses a Church with reference to its special needs, he naturally speaks to Corinthians, Thessalonians, Philippians; but where he overlooks his missionary territory as a whole, he uses the provincial names. There is no reason to believe that "the Churches of Galatia " means anything else than the Churches

of the Roman province. Since the Epistle to the Galatians was not addressed to one Church, but to a number of Churches, Paul had to select a name expressive of all; and the designation "Churches of Galatia" was quite natural and appropriate for the Roman citizen, to whom the political divisions of the empire, were no fortuitous arrangement, but a moral good. In the time of Paul there were no Galatians in the old sense; and the name means subjects of the Roman emperor belonging to the province of Galatia. Similarly Tychicus and the Ephesian Trophimus (Acts xxi, 29) are said to be of Asia (xx, 4); and Gaius and Aristarchus are called Macedonians (xix, 29, xxvii, 2; cf. II Cor. ix, 2, 4 ), although Gaius was certainly no Macedonian by birth. Of the Galatian cities Ancyra was the seat of the governor, having the provincial temple of Augustus and of the den Roma, on the walls of which the deeds of Augustus were inscribed (the so-called nwnumentum Ancyronum). From Ancyra the road leads eastward to Tavium, the ancient capital of the Trocmee. The capital of the Tolistobogi was Pessinus, famous for the rich temple dedicated to Cybele, whom the natives called Agdistis