Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/717

699 I D R I F F 699 IDIIIA, a mining town in Austria, in the duchy of Carniula and circle of Loitsch, situated in a narrow Alpine valley on the river Idrizza, 28 miles north-north east of Trieste. It is the seat of a circle court and of an office of mines, the building used for which is the old castle of Gewerkenegg or Gewerkenburg, built in 1527 by the miners during the lordship of the Venetian republic. The town also possesses a handsome church, a high school, a mining school, and a theatre. Linen weaving, lace making, and gin distilling employ a considerable number of the inhabitants, but the origin and prosperity of the town are due to the rich mines of quicksilver which were accidentally discovered in 1497. Since 1580 they have been under the management of the Government. The mercurial ore lies in a bed of clay slate, and is found both mingled with schist and in the form of cinnabar. A special excellence of the ore is the greatness of the yield of pure metal compared with the amount of the refuse. The mine is reached by a shaft 150 fathoms deep, and the descent is accomplished partly by means of ladders and partly by steps cut out of the solid rock. The number of miners employed is about five hundred ; they wear a peculiar uniform. Formerly the mines were wrought by state prisoners, but notwithstanding the unhealthiness of the employment it is now largely sought after on account of the high wages offered to the workmen, as well as the pension allowed them when disabled, and the provision that is made for their widows and orphans. In 1870 improved ovens for smelting the ore were erected. The yearly yield of the mines is about 290 tons. The population of Idria in 18G9 was 3813. IDIUSI. See EDBISI. IDTJMEA (iSovfjMia) is the Greek form of the Hebrew Edom (D l), a district south of the Holy Land. The name Edorn is restricted in the Bible to the mountain country south-east of the Dead Sea, and to the chain of Mount Hor near Petra. The word means &quot; red,&quot; and the title was no doubt derived from the red colour of the cliffs of Nubian sandstone, which form the greater part of this chain. The coast or desert of Edom was bounded by the desert of Zin (the present Arabak) on the W., by the desert of Paran on the S.W., and extended as far as Ezion- geber and Eloth, at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. It is identified with Mount Seir, the possession of Esau (Gen. xxxii. 3). In later times, however, we find that the term Idumea receives a considerable extension, embracing all the pastoral country south of Judaea, and extending even within the borders of Philistia. Bethsura (Beit Stir), Acra- battine (Acrabbim), and Hebron are in 1 Mace. iv. and v. alluded to as within or near its limits. By Josephus the term Idumea is used with this more extended meaning, embracing an area of 3000 square miles. It answers to the Biblical term Negeb (&quot;dry&quot;) applied to the south country, where the formation is a soft chalk, and which is inhabited by nomadic pastoral tribes. Josephus divides the Idumean district into minor divisions, viz., (1) Gobalitis (&quot;mountains&quot;), the original Seir or Edom ; (2) Amalekitis (&quot; the land of Amalek &quot;), west of the former; (3) Acrabattine (&quot;the scorpion land&quot;), the ancient Acrabbim south-west of the Dead Sea. The frontier towns on the north were Tekoa, Bethsura, and Bethgubrin (Beitjibrtn), and among the more important places within the district were Hebron, Petra, Arad, Malatha (Tell el Milk), Beersheba, Rehobuth, Elusa (Khalasah), Eboda (Abdefi), &c. Josephus speaks of Upper Idumea, apparently the district round Hebron, and enumerates Begabris (Beit jibrln) and Caphar Topha (Tvfd/i, near Hebron) among its towns. In the Talmud Eleutheropolis (Beit jibrln) is placed in Idumea (Midrash Yalkut, Gen. xxxiii., and Bereshith Rabba, ch. vi.). Jerome defines Idumea as extending from Eleutheropolis to Petra and Eloth. The south boundary of the Holy Land, as defined in the Talmud, included Idumea, the reason being that the Idumeans had embraced Judaism about 140 B.C. (Joseph., Ant., xiii. 9, 1). Strabo (lib. xvi.) speaks of the Edomttes as of Nabathean or Arab origin. Pliny (//. N., v. 12) makes the country extend southwards to the Serbonian bog (near the present Port Said). Ptolemy (v. 15), in the middle of the 2d century, restricts the name to a district west of Jordan, including Elusa (Khalasah) and Gemmaruris (probably Jemrtirah in the Hebron hills). The original Edom is called by this geographer Arabia Petrsea. The aboriginal inhabitants of Idumea were the Horim or &quot; cave dwellers &quot; expelled by Esau. Mount Seir is said to have been named after one of their chiefs (Gen. xxxvi. 20, Deut. ii. 12). Jerome speaks of the natives of this country as still dwelling in caves, and in common with the Talmudic writers attributes to them the great caverns at Eleutheropolis. The inhabitants appear to have been always nomadic and pastoral, they were mingled with the Jews (tribe of Simeon) and with the Hittites. At the time of the great siege of Jerusalem the Idumeans fought in concert with the Jews (Jos., B. J., vi. 8, 2), and the Romans applied the name Idumea very loosely to the whole of southern Palestine, including even Jerusalem. At the present day the habit of living in caverns is very marked in this district, the rock being soft and easily excavated. The soil is generally a soft white marl, producing a rich herbage in spring, and supporting numerous flocks. (c. E. c.) IFFLA.ND, AUGUST WILHELM (1759-1814), a Ger^ man actor and dramatic author, was born in Hanover on the 19th of April 1759. His father was registrar at the war office of Hanover, and intended that his son should be a clergyman. Young Iffland, however, preferred the stage to theology, an 1 at the age of eighteen went to Gotha in order to prepare himself for a theatrical career. At that time the greatest actor in Germany was Eckhof, a man of undoubted genius, for whom Lessing repeatedly expressed the warmest admiration in his Hamburgische Dramaturgic. Iffland was fortunate enough to receive instruction from him in Gotha, and under his guidance made such rapid progress that he was able in 1779 to accept an engagement at the theatre in Mannheim, then the most famous of the German theatres. He soon stood high in his profession, and extended his reputation by frequently appearing at the leading theatres in different parts of the country. In 1796 he settled in Berlin, where he became director of the national theatre of Prussia; and in 1811 he was made general director of all representations before royalty. On the 22d of September 181 4 he died. His plays are I almost entirely destitute of imagination ; but they display J a thorough mastery of the technical necessities of the stage, and a remarkable power of devising effective situa tions His best characters are simple and natural, fond of domestic life, but too much given to the utterance of sen timental commonplace. His best known plays are Die Jiifjer, Dien&tpflickt, Die Advocaten, Die Miindel, and Die Hagestolzen, all of which are still occasionally represented. Iffland was a dramatic critic as well as a dramatic author, and German actors place high value on the reasonings and hints respecting their art which are to be found in his Almanachfiir das Theater. As an actor he fell far short of his master, Eckhof, whose style was marked by spontaneity and passion, while Iffland s acting always bore traces of elaborate study. Hence he failed in great tragical parts ;. but he was unexcelled in his day in the skill with which he interpreted dramatic conceptions representing the course of ordinary middle class life. Within these limits he was almost equally distinguished in his capacity for rendering comic and pathetic effects. In 1798-1802 Iffland issued