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 ISSACHAR

201

ITALA

from the towns of Palestine and, indeed, from all his dominions. A most cruel and systematic perse- cution ensued, in the course of which the Machabees rebelled against their oppressors. The final result of the Machai:>ean revolt was the o\'erthrow of the Syrian power and the rise of an independent Jewish kingdom. Under the Asmonean dpiasty (135-63 b. c.) the Palestinian Jewish community gradually .spread, by conquest and forcible conversion, from its narrow limits in Nehemias's time, to practically the extent of the territory of ancient Israel. Internally, it was divided between the two ri\-al sects of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, themselves the slow outcome of the twofold movement at work during the Syrian suzerainty, the one against, and the other in favour of, Hellenism. The war which broke out between the last two Asmonean kings, John Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, who were supported by the Pharisees and the Sadducees respectively, gave to the Romans the opportimit3' they had long sought for interven- ing in Judean affairs. In 63 b. c. Pompey invested and took Jerusalem, and put an end to the last Jewish djmasty. Up to 37 b. c, the year of the ac- cession of the Idumean Herod to the throne of Judea, the history of the Palestinian Jews reflects, for the most part, the vicissitudes of the tangled politics of the Roman imperatores. Herod's despotic reign (37 B. c. to A. D. 4) was marked by a rapid growth of Hellenism in nearly every city of Palestine, and also by a consolidation of Pharisaism in the celebrated schools of Hillel and Shammai. Upon the death of Herod, the Emperor Augustus divided his kingdom, and placed Judea under procurators as a part of the Roman Province of Syria. The last political strug- gles to be mentioned are (1) the Jewish revolt against Rome in a. d. 66, which ended in the fall of Jeru- salem in A. D. 70; (2) the rebellion of Bar Cochlia in A. D. 132 under the Emperor Adrian, who finally transformed Jerusalem into the Roman colony of iElia Capitolina from which all Jews were banished. Ever since then, the Jews have been scattered in many countries, often persecuted, yet surviving, al- ways hoping in some manner for a future Messias, and generally influenced by the customs, and morals, and religious beliefs of the nations among whom they live. Besides the works on Biblical history referred to in the bibli- ography to Isaac, the following deser\'e special mention: Vi- GOUROUX. Bible et d^couvertes modernes (Paris, 1896); Sayce, Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments (London, 1894): McCdrdy, History, Prophecy and the Monuments (New York. 1895; new ed. announced, 1909): Lagr-ange, Etudes sur les religions semitiques (Paris, 1903); Pinches, The Old Testa- ment in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia (London. 1903); Wi:jckler, History of Israel (Berlin. 1903); Breasted. Ancient Records of Egypt (Chicago, 1906-07): Vincent, Chanaan d'apris V exploration recente (Paris, 1907); Cornill, History of the People of Israel, tr. (Chicago, 1899); Souttar. A Short History of Ancient Peoples (New York, 1903); Wade, Old Testament History (New York. 19041.

Fhancis E. Gigot.

Issa(har (natJ'C"; Sept. 'lo-o-axop). — The exact derivation and the precise meaning of the name are unknown. It designates, first, the ninth son of Jacob and the fifth son of Lia (Gen., xxx, 16-18; XXXV, 23; I Par., ii, 1), on whom it was bestowed on account of some particular circumstance con- nected with his birth (cf. Gen., xxx, 14-18), and of whom nothing is told in Holy Writ besides the fact that, at the descent into Eg\'pt, he had four sons (Gen., xlvi, 13; Num., xxvi. 23, 24; I Par., vii, 1). It designates, in the second place, one of the tribes of Israel, which had the ninth son of Jacob for its ances- tor. Our knowledge of the tribe of Lssachar is rather meagre. During the journey through the wilder- ness, that tribe, along with those of Juda and Zabulon, marched on the east of the tabernacle (Num., ii, 5). It contained 54.400 warriors when the first census was taken at Mount Sinai (Num., i, 28 sq.), and 64,300 at the time of the second census (Num.,

xxvi, 25) . After the entrance into Western Palestine, this tribe was one of the six which stood on Mount Garizim during the ceremony of the cursing and the blessing (Deut., xxvii, 12). The precise hmits of its territory are not given in Holy Writ. Its general boundaries were Zabulon and Nephtah to the north, Manasses to the south and to the west, the Jordan to the east. Its lot, according to Jos., xix, 17-23, comprised .sixteen cities and their villages, prominent among which were the cities of Jezrael, Sunem, Engannim, and Anaharath. Within its territory was the great plain of Esdraelon, the general form of which enabled the Hebrew poet (Gen., xlix, 14) to describe lssachar as "a large-limbed ass stretching himself between the sheepfolds", and the fertility of which is praised by travellers down to the present day. The tribe plaj'ed an important part during the period of the Judges (Judges, v, 15; x, 1,2); and in the time of David it counted 145,600 warriors (I Par., vii, 1-5). Its history during the royal period was likewise important, and the third king of Northern Israel belonged to that tribe (HI Kings, XV, 27). The Prophet Ezechiel places lssachar among the Southern tribes between Simeon and Zabulon (Ezech., xlviii, 25, 26), and St. John names it between Levi and Zabulon (Apoc, vii, 7).

See Comm. on Genesis and Biblical Histories in bibliography to Isaac, to which may be added: Robinson, Biblical Re~ searches in Palestine, III (Boston, 1841); Stanley, Sirmi and Palestine (New York, 1859): Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land (New York, 1897).

Francis E. Gigot.

Issus, a titular see of Cilicia Prima, suffragan of Tarsus. The city is famous for a whole series of bat- tles fought there at different periods. The first was the victory of Alexander over Darius in 333 b. c, next that of Septimius Severus over Pescennius Niger, in a. d. 194, that of Heraclius over Chosroes in a. d. 622, finally that of the Sultan of Egypt, Bibars, over the Armenian King Hetoum in August, 1266. So many combats were fought at Issus because in its vicinity was the famous defile leading along the seashore from Cilicia to. Sj-ria, the "Gates of Syria ", or highway from Asia Minor into the Syrian Orient. Issus is not men- tioned in the " Notitiae Episcopatuum " of the Patri- archate of Antioch, to which Cilicia belonged (Echos d'Orient, X, 94, 145), and it is not known in what manner it became a titular see of the Latin Church. Its ruins are situated near Ayaz.

Alishan, Sissouan ou V Armmo-Cilicie (Venice, 1899), 476-81.

S. Vailhe.

Ita, Saint, called the " Brigid of Munster " ; b. in the present County of Wat erf ord, about 475; d. 15 Jan- uary, 570. She became a nun, settling down at Cluain Credhail, a place-name that has ever since been known as Killeedy, — that is, " the Church of St. Ita" — in County Limerick. Her austerities are told by St. Cuimin of Down, and numerous miracles are recorded of her. She was also endowed mth the gift of prophecy and was held in great veneration by a large number of contemporary saints, men as well as women. When she felt her end approaching she sent for her community of nuns, and invoked the blessing of heaven on the clergy and laity of the district around Killeedy. Not alone was St. Ita a great saint, but she was the foster-mother of many saints, including St. Brendan the Voyager, St. Pulcherius (Mochoemog), and St. Cummian Fada. At the request of Bishop Butler of Limerick, Pope Pius IX granted a special Office and Mass for the feast of St. Ita, which is kept on 15 January.

CoLGAN, Acta SS. Hib. (Louvain, 1645); O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints (Dublin, s. d.) ; Lives of the Saints ei Cod. Salm. (Edinburgh. ISSS); O'Donoghue. Brendaniana (2nd ed.. Dub- \m, 1S95); Begley, The Diocese of Limerick (Dublin. 1906).

W. H. Grattan-Flood. Itala Version. See Versions of the Bible.