Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/457

Rh A H A A H A 421 tion with the neighbouring powers in the north, and strengthened himself considerably, so that he was able to consolidate the disunited kingdom, and render it powerful against Judah. Some notices out of Menander, preserved by Josephus, lead to the conclusion that Ethbaal, father of Jezebel, was identical with Ithobal, priest of Astarte, who usurped the throne of Tyre after murdering Pheles the king. It is not improbable that Ahab s marriage with such a princess was the means of procuring him great riches, which brought pomp and luxury in their train, along with the material and social influence that give a certain security to monarchy. We read of his building an ivory palace and founding new cities, the effect perhaps of a share in the flourishing commerce of Phoenicia. But his matrimonial connection with Tyre and Sidon, however fruitful in wealth, was in many respects detrimental. His wife was a strong-minded, passionate devotee of idolatry, who exercised an injurious influence over him. Led by her, he gave a great impulse to the worship of Baal and Astarte in his kingdom. For the former he built a temple with an altar ; of the latter he made the well-known image which existed long after. Under the patronage of Jezebel, the Phoenician cultus assumed important dimensions, for Baal is said to have had 450, Astarte 400 priests and pro phets. The infatuated queen was especially hostile to the prophets and priests of Jehovah, whom she tried to exter minate ; but the former in particular, though sore pressed, were not entirely cut off. They still held their ground ; and Elijah, the most conspicuous of them, came off victor in the contest with Baal s ministers. Jehovism triumphed in the person of the intrepid Tishbite, whom the queen was unable to get into her power. Ahab was a public- spirited and courageous monarch. He defeated the Syrians twice, and concluded a peace with Benhadad on favourable terms. Mesha, king of Moab, paid him a large yearly tribute. In conjunction with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, he went forth to battle a third time against the Syrians, and was slain at Ramoth-Gilead. It speaks favourably for his disposition that he repented of the cruel measures taken against Naboth, and that he humbled himself before the Lord. Though he feared Elijah and Micaiah, he was not insensible to their utterances ; nor could he have suf fered so many as 400 prophets to live in his kingdom without some little regard for their office. The prophetic voice, held as it was in small esteem, must have had some influence upon his administration, especially when political grounds coincided with it. His evil courses were due much more to the influence of Jezebel than to his own vicious impulses. As the accounts of Ahab are fragmentary, it is not always easy to make out from them a clear or connected history of his reign. There is room for conjecture and misconception. Thus Ewald represents him as building a splendid temple, with an oracle- grove of Astarte near his favourite palace at Jezreel, on the basis of 1 Kings xvi. 32, xviii. 1 9 ; but this is imaginary, since the original does not speak of a grove but of Astarlc (xviii. 19) ; nor is it pro bable that a second structure of the kind mentioned existed else where in addition to Baal s temple in Samaria. Neither can it be held as likely&quot; that a large statue of Baal was set up in front of his temple, and small statues of him in the interior, merely because we read in 2 Kings x. 26, 27, first of bringing forth the linages of Baal, and then of breaking the image of the same sun -god. Rather were the smaller images in the porch and the chief one in the interior, so that the reading or punctuation of verse 26 should be slightly altered. Whether the 450 or 400 prophets were distinct from the priests is doubtful. Identifying them, we believe that the priests acted as prophets, procuring for themselves greater renown among the ignorant people by their arts of necromancy and magic. For the biography of this monarch we are indebted almost exclu sively to the books of Kings, where the writers consider him in a theocratic rather than a political aspect. Viewing him from their later prophetic standpoint, their portrait is somewhat one-sided, though correct in the main. It is observable that the portions of the Kings in which he is spoken of are somewhat different in char acter and expression, betraying the use of different sources by the compiler. 1 Kings xvi. 29-33, xxii. 39, 2 Kings x. 25-28, are mor historical than the rest, which contain almost all that is related of Ahab, and were derived from tradition. It has been conjectured by Hitzig that the 45th psalm owes its origin to Ahab, being the joyous poetical expression of a matrimonial connection with Tyre, which augured unusual prosperity for the distracted kingdom. But the assumption is improbable, because, as De Wette observes, an event belonging to Ephraim was hardly a fitting subject for a poem included in the canon. Another Ahab, a false prophet in the time of the Baby lonian exile, is mentioned by Jeremiah (xxix. 21), and threatened with terrible punishment. (s. D.) AHALA, a noble Roman family of the gens Servilia, which produced many distinguished men. Of these the most celebrated is C. Servilius Structus Ahala, master of the horse to the dictator Cincinnatus, B.C. 439. He sig nalised himself by his boldness in slaying in the forum with his own hand the popular agitator Sp. Mselius, for refusing to appear before the dictator on a charge of con spiracy against the state. For this act Ahala was brought to trial. He saved himself from condemnation by retiring into exile. AHANTA, a territory on the Gold Co ast of Africa, lying on the second parallel of W long. It is one of the richest and most fertile districts in that part of the con tinent. Axim, the chief settlement, was founded by the Dutch, but now belongs to Britain. AHASUERUS, the Latinised form of the Hebrew Ahashverosh, ^&quot;Tlff*? (in the LXX. Aa-crovypos, once in Tobit Acrur/pos), occurs as a royal Persian or Median name in three of the books of the canonical Scriptures, and in one of the books of the Apocrypha. In every case the identi fication of the person thus named with those found in profane history is matter of controversy. The hypothesis of Fiirst and others, that in all the passages one and the same person is meant, viz., the well-known Xerxes, may be set aside as quite inapplicable to the facts ; and it becomes necessary to glance at the particular places. In Dan. ix. 1, Ahasuerus appears as the father of Darius the llede, who &quot;was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans&quot; after the conquest of Babylon and death of Belshazzar. Who this Darius was is one of the most difficult and disputed questions of ancient history. If, as is very generally supposed, he is Astyages, the grandfather of the great Cyrus, and the last independent king of Media, then Ahasuerus is to be identified with Cyaxares, the father of Astyages. The passage in Tobit where the name occurs (xiv. 15) lends confirmation to this view. It is there stated that Nineveh was captured and destroyed by &quot; Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus.&quot; According to Herodotus (i. 106 cf. Rawlinson s Her., vol. i. 412), it was the Medes under Cyaxares who took Nineveh. In Ezra iv. 6 Ahasuerus is mentioned as a king of Persia, to whom the enemies of the Jews sent representations opposing the re building of the temple at Jerusalem. Here the sequence of the reigns in the sacred writer and in the profane historians in the one, Cyrus, Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, Darius ; in the other, Cyrus, Cambyses, Smerdis, Darius leads naturally to the identification of Ahasuerus with Cambyses. Other circumstances, especially the known policy of the usurper Smerdis, and its reversal by Darius (see Inscr. of Behistun, col. i. 14), corroborate this conclusion. In the Book of Esther, Ahasuerus is the name borne by that king of Persia, certain events of whose court and empire (which will be noticed elsewhere, see ESTHER) form the subject of the whole nar rative. (Throughout this book the LXX. render the name by Apra- fpfrs. ) The hypothesis of certain writers, that this Ahasuerus is the Cyaxares, king of Media, already referred to, may be at once dis missed. That of others, identifying him with Artaxerxes Longi- manus, the son and successor of Xerxes, though countenanced by Josephus, deserves scarcely more consideration. Recent in quirers are all but universally of opinion that he must be a mon arch of the Achtemenian dynasty, earlier than this Artaxerxes ; and opinion is divided between Darius Hystaspis and his son and suc cessor Xerxes. In support of the former viow it is alleged, among other things (see Tyrwhitt s Esther and Ahasuerus, p. 162), that Darius was the first Persian king of whom it could be said, as in Esther i. 1, that he &quot;reigned from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces ;&quot; and that it was also the distinction of Darius that (Esther x. 1) he &quot;laid a tribute upon the laud and upon the isles of the sea&quot; (cf. Herod, iii. 89). In support of the latter view it is alleged (1.) That the Hebrew