Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/516

Rh 478 A L E A L E of the ancient Beroea, and is a place of great antiquity. After the destruction of Palmyra it speedily became the great emporium of the trade between the Mediterranean and the countries of the East. It was overwhelmed by the flood of Saracen invasion in 638; and in 1260, and again in 1401, it was plundered and laid waste by the Tartars. It finally came into the possession of the Turks in 1517. To the east of the modern city extensive remains of its ancient grandeur have been discovered. Aleppo is built on eight low hillocks, and is encircled by limestone hills of greater elevation, while beyond these stretches a fertile plain. The river Koeik, the ancient Chains, flows through the town, and loses itself in a morass 18 miles distant. It is subject to floods in winter, when it overflows its banks, and inundates the neighbour ing gardens. The city is surrounded by a stone wall, 40 feet high and 3 miles in circuit, erected by the Saracens. This wall is flanked by frequent towers, but the ditch is partially choked up; and the city, being commanded by the adjacent heights, is entirely indefensible. The wall is pierced by seven gates, which are known by different names. Outside the city there are large irregular suburbs, erected after the great earthquakes of 1822 and 1830, and increasing the circuit of the place to 7 miles. The city suffered very severely by the earthquake of 1822; two- thirds of the inhabitants were swallowed up, the citadel and many of the mosques were overthrown, and a great part of the town was laid in ruins. Before the occurrence of these disasters Aleppo was the fairest and cleanest of Turkish cities; and although it has only partially recovered from their calamitous effects, it has still an attractive ap pearance, especially when the white minarets of its nume rous mosques, and its houses, picturesquely placed on the terraces of the hills, are viewed from a distance. The houses are built of freestone, with flat roofs, and are gene rally of two or three storeys. One of the mosques, that of Zacharias, is held in peculiar veneration by the Moslem inhabitants. A new citadel has been erected in the N.W. part of the town; and besides many mosques, warehouses, and bazaars, there are several Christian churches and schools, and also Turkish schools, libraries, and hospitals. Aleppo is the seat of a Greek and Armenian patriarch, and of a Maronite bishop. The Mahometan, the Chris tian, and the Jewish portions of the population dwell in separate quarters of the town. Water is brought to the city by an aqueduct from a distance of 8 miles, and sup plies upwards of 200 fountains, massive structures stand ing in the streets. Among the chief attractions of Aleppo are its gardens, which extend continuously for about 12 miles S.E. of the city. They are watered by the Koeik, and produce abundance of fruit and culinary vegetables; but their most celebrated production is the pistachio-nut, which is regularly cultivated. Formerly Aleppo stood in the first rank among the cities of Asia Minor as a place of trade; and it is still the emporium of Northern Syria, and has extensive commercial relations with Diarbekir and the upper parts of Anatolia, and also with Mosul and Baghdad. Large caravans resort to Aleppo from these and other eastern places, and the imported foreign goods are brought by caravans from the ports of Scanderoon or Alexandretta and Latakia. The construction of a carriage-road between Aleppo and Alex andretta has been commenced, but no progress whatever was made with it during 1872. Trade is conducted in Aleppo by more than 100 mercantile houses, several of them British; but no commercial bank has as yet been established in the province. The principal manufacture of the city consists of various kinds of cloth, of silk, cotton, and wool, some flowered and striped, others woven with gold and silver thread. These cloths have long been famous throughout the East, and the manufacture of them employs about 6400 looms. A large amount is invested in the manufacture of carpets, cloaks, and girdles. There are, besides, numerous soap, dyeing, and print works, and also rope-walks. In addition to cloths, the exports include wheat, sesame, wool, cotton, oil, scammony, galls, pistachio- nuts, camels hair, &c.; while the imports chiefly consist of European manufactured goods and colonial produce. The aggregate value of the trade of the province exceeded 1,500,000 in 1872. The air of Aleppo is dry and piercing, but not insalu brious. The city, however, as well as the environs, is subject to a singular epidemic disorder called the boil of Aleppo. It attacks the inhabitants chiefly in their child hood, and the iilcers, which last for a year, commonly break out on the face. This malady is seldom fatal, and does not leave any hurtful effects except the scars, by which almost all the inhabitants are disfigured. The causes of the disease have not been discovered, though some have supposed it due to the quality of the water. Aleppo is also subject to the ravages of the plague, the recurrence of which is anticipated by the inhabitants every ten years. Its effects are rendered the more deadly by the blind fatalism of the Turks, who cannot be persuaded to take any precautions against the progress of this dreadful dis ease. In the end of last century about 60,000 of the inhabitants were swept off by one visitation; and that of 1827 was also very severe. By the visitations of the plague, the earthquakes, the cholera of 1832, and the oppression of the Egyptians while Syria was subject to Mehemet Ali, the population of Aleppo has been much reduced. In the earlier part of the century the inhabitants numbered over 200,000; but the population is now estimated at less than 100,000, of whom 15,500 are Christians, 4000 Jews, and the remainder mostly Mahometans. Although the Christians enjoy tole ration at the hands of the Turkish government, they have nevertheless been exposed to frequent persecution through the jealousy of the turbulent Mahometan population. The tumults of 1850 and 1862 occasioned some bloodshed, and could only be suppressed by force of arms. In the former, property to the amount of a million sterling was destroyed. ALES, or ALESS (ALESIUS), ALEXANDER, a celebrated divine of the school of Augsburg, was born at Edinburgh on the 23d April 1500 (died 1565). His name was origi nally Alane, and that by which he is more generally known, (derived from oAeeiVw) was assumed by him when he went into exile. He studied at St Andrews in the newly- founded college of St Leonards, where he graduated in 1515. Some time afterwards he Avas appointed a canon of the collegiate church, and in this office he at first contended vigorously for the scholastic theology as against the doc trines of the Reformers. His views were entirely changed, however, on the occasion of the execution of Patrick Hamilton in 1528. He had been chosen to meet Hamil ton in controversy, with a view to convincing him of his errors, but the arguments of the Scottish proto-martyr, and above all the spectacle of his intrepid conduct at the stake, impressed Alesius so powerfully that he was entirely won over to the cause of the Reformers, though for a time he did not make the fact known. A sermon which he preached against the dissoluteness of the clergy gave great offence to Prior Hepburn, who cast him into prison, and might have carried his resentment to the extremest limit had not Alesius contrived to escape to the Continent in 1531. After travelling in various countries of northern Europe, he settled down at Wittenberg, where he made the acquaintance of Melancthon, and signed the Augsburg confession. Meanwhile he was tried in Scotland for heresy, and condemned without a hearing. In 1533 a