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 Eusebius gives the legend in its oldest form; it was worked up in the Doctrina Addaei in the second half of the 4th century; and Moses of Chorene was dependent upon both these sources.

.—R. Schmidt in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopädie; Lipsius, Die Edessenische Abgarsage kritisch untersucht (1880); Matthes, Die Edessenische Abgarsage auf ihre Fortbildung untersucht (1882); Tixeront, Les Origines de l’église d’Edesse et la légende d’A. (1888); A. Harnack, Geschichte d. altchristlichen Litteratur, i. 2 (1893); L. Duchesne, Bulletin critique, 1889, pp. 41-48; for the Epistles see, sect. “New Testament” (c).

 ABHIDHAMHA,the name of one of the three Pitakas, or baskets of tradition, into which the Buddhist scriptures (see ) are divided. It consists of seven works: 1. Dhamma Sanganī (enumeration of qualities). 2. Vibhanga (exposition). 3. Kathā Vatthu (bases of opinion). 4. Puggala Paññatti (on individuals). 5. Dhatu Kathā (on relations of moral dispositions). 6. Yamaka (the pairs, that is, of ethical states). 7. Patthāna (evolution of ethical states). These have now been published by the Pali Text Society. The first has been translated into English, and an abstract of the third has been published. The approximate date of these works is probably from about 400 to about 250, the first being the oldest and the third the latest of the seven. Before the publication of the texts, when they were known only by hearsay, the term Abhidhamma was usually rendered “Metaphysics.” This is now seen to be quite erroneous. Dhamma means the doctrine, and Abhidhamma has a relation to Dhamma similar to that of by-law to law. It expands, classifies, tabulates, draws corollaries from the ethical doctrines laid down in the more popular treatises. There is no metaphysics in it at all, only psychological ethics of a peculiarly dry and scholastic kind. And there is no originality in it; only endless permutations and combinations of doctrines already known and accepted. As in the course of centuries the doctrine itself, in certain schools, varied, it was felt necessary to rewrite these secondary works. This was first done, so far as is at present known, by the Sarvāstivādins (Realists), who in the century before and after Christ produced a fresh set of seven Abhidhamma books. These are lost in India, but still exist in Chinese translations. The translations have been analysed in a masterly way by Professor Takakusu in the article mentioned below. They deal only with psychological ethics. In the course of further centuries these books in turn were superseded by new treatises; and in one school at least, that of the Mahā-yāna (great vehicle) there was eventually developed a system of metaphysics. But the word Abhidhamma then fell out of use in that school, though it is still used in the schools that continue to follow the original seven books.

 ABHORRERS, the name given in 1679 to the persons who expressed their abhorrence at the action of those who had signed petitions urging King Charles II. to assemble parliament. Feeling against Roman Catholics, and especially against James, duke of York, was running strongly; the Exclusion Bill had been passed by the House of Commons, and the popularity of James, duke of Monmouth, was very great. To prevent this bill from passing into law, Charles had dissolved parliament in July 1679, and in the following October had prorogued its successor without allowing it to meet. He was then deluged with petitions urging him to call it together, and this agitation was opposed by (q.v.) and Francis Wythens, who presented addresses expressing “abhorrence” of the “Petitioners,” and thus initiated the movement of the abhorrers, who supported the action of the king. “The frolic went all over England,” says Roger North; and the addresses of the Abhorrers which reached the king from all parts of the country formed a counterblast to those of the Petitioners. It is said that the terms Whig and Tory were first applied to English political parties in consequence of this dispute.

 ABIATHAR (Heb. Ebyāthar, “the [divine] father is pre-eminent”), in the Bible, son of Ahimelech or Ahijah, priest at Nob. The only one of the priests to escape from Saul’s massacre, he fled to David at Keilah, taking with him the ephod (1 Sam. xxii. 20 f., xxiii. 6, 9). He was of great service to David, especially at the time of the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sam. xv. 24, 29, 35, xx. 25). In 1 Kings iv. 4 Zadok and Abiathar are found acting together as priests under Solomon. In 1 Kings i. 7, 19, 25, however, Abiathar appears as a supporter of Adonijah, and in ii. 22 and 26 it is said that he was deposed by Solomon and banished to Anathoth. In 2 Sam. viii. 17 “Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech” should be read, with the Syriac, for “Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar.” For a similar confusion see Mark ii. 26.

 ABICH, OTTO WILHELM HERMANN VON (1806–1886), German mineralogist and geologist, was born at Berlin on the 11th of December 1806, and educated at the university in that city. His earliest scientific work related to spinels and other minerals, and later he made special studies of fumaroles, of the mineral deposits around volcanic vents and of the structure of volcanoes. In 1842 he was appointed professor of mineralogy in the university of Dorpat, and henceforth gave attention to the geology and mineralogy of Russia. Residing for some time at Tiflis he investigated the geology of the Caucasus. Ultimately he retired to Vienna, where he died on the 1st of July 1886. The mineral Abichite was named after him.

 ABIGAIL (Heb. Abigayil, perhaps “father is joy”), or (2 Sam. iii. 3), in the Bible, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite, on whose death she became the wife of David (1 Sam. xxv.). By her David had a son, whose name appears in the Hebrew of 2 Sam. iii. 3 as Chileab, in the Septuagint as Daluyah, and in 1 Chron. iii. 1 as Daniel. The name Abigail was also borne by a sister of David (2 Sam. xvii. 25; 1 Chron. ii. 16 f.). From the former (self-styled “handmaid” 1 Sam. xxv. 25 f.) is derived the colloquial use of the term for a waiting-woman (cf. Abigail, the “waiting gentlewoman,” in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Scornful Lady.)

 ABIJAH (Heb. Abiyyah and Abiyyahu, “Yah is father”), a name borne by nine different persons mentioned in the Old Testament, of whom the most noteworthy are the following. (1) The son and successor of Rehoboam, king of Judah (2 Chron. xii. 16-xiii.), reigned about two years (918–915 ). The accounts of him in the books of Kings and Chronicles are very conflicting (compare 1 Kings xv. 2 and 2 Chron. xi. 20 with 2 Chron. xiii. 2). The Chronicler tells us that he has drawn his facts from the Midrash (commentary) of the prophet Iddo. This is perhaps sufficient to explain the character of the narrative. (2) The second son of Samuel (1 Sam. viii. 2; 1 Chron. vi. 28 [13]). He and his brother Joel judged at Beersheba. Their misconduct was made by the elders of Israel a pretext for demanding a king (1 Sam. viii. 4). (3) A son of Jeroboam I., king of Israel; he died young (1 Kings xiv. 1 ff., 17). (4) Head of the eighth order of priests (1 Chron. xxiv. 10), the order to which Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, belonged (Luke i. 5).

The alternative form Abijam is probably a mistake, though it is upheld by M. Jastrow.

 ABILA, (1) a city of ancient Syria, the capital of the tetrarchy of Abilene, a territory whose extent it is impossible to define. It is generally called Abila of Lysanias, to distinguish it from (2) below. Abila was an important town on the imperial highway from Damascus to Heliopolis (Baalbek). The site is indicated by ruins of a temple, aqueducts, &c., and inscriptions on the banks of the river Barada at Sūk Wādi Baradā, a village called by early Arab geographers Ābil-es-Sūk, between Baalbek and Damascus. Though the names Abel and Abila differ in derivation and in meaning, their similarity has given rise to the tradition that this was the place of Abel’s burial. According to Josephus, Abilene was a separate Iturean kingdom till 37, when it was granted by Caligula to Agrippa I.; in 52 Claudius<section end="Abila" />