Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/412

 396 I S R I S E was about 10 miles in circumference. The city, which had now re sumed its old name of Ispahan, continued to nourish till the time of Tinmr (1387 A.D.), when in common with so many other cities of the empire it suifered grievously at the hands of the Tartar invaders. Timur indeed is said to have erected a Kelleh Mindr or &quot;skull tower&quot; of 70, 000 heads at the gate of the city, as a warning to deter other communities from resisting his arms. The place, however, owing to its natural advantages, gradually recovered from the effects of this terrible visitation, and when the Sefevsean dynasty who suc ceeded to power in the 16th century, transferred their place of resi dence to it from Casbin, it rose rapidly in populousness and wealth. It was under Shah Abbas the first, the most illustrious sovereign of this house, that Ispahan attained its greatest prosperity. This monarch adopted every possible expedient, by stimulating commerce, encouraging arts and manufactures, and introducing luxurious habits, to attract visitors to his favourite capital. He built several magnificent palaces in the richest style of Oriental decoration, planted gardens and avenues, and distributed amongst them the waters of the Zindeh-rud in an endless series of reservoirs, fountains, and cascades. The baths, the mosques, the colleges, the bazaars, and the caravanserais of the city received an equal share of his atten tion, and European artificers and merchants were largely encouraged to settle in his capital. Ambassadors visited his court from many of the first states of Europe, and factories were permanently established for the merchants of England, France, Holland, the Hanseatic towns, Spain, Portugal, and Moscow. The celebrated traveller Chardin, who passed a great portion of his life at Ispahan in the latter half 01 the 17th century, has left a detailed and most inter esting account of the statistics of the city at that period. He him self estimated the population at 600,000, though in popular belief the number exceeded a million. There were 1500 flourishing villages in the immediate neighbourhood ; the enceinte of the city and suburbs was reckoned at 24 miles, while the mud walls sur rounding the city itself, probably nearly following the lines of the Boide enclosure, measured 20,000 paces. In the interior were counted 162 mosques, 48 public colleges, ]802 caravanserais, 273 baths, and 12 cemeteries. The adjoining suburb of Julfa was also a most flourishing place. Originally founded by Shah Abbas the Great, who transported to this locality 3400 Armenian families from the town of Julfa on the Arras, the colony increased rapidly under his- fostering care, both in wealth and in numbers, the Christian population being estimated in 1685 at 30,000 souls. The first blow to the prosperity of modern Ispahan was given by the Afghan in vasion at the beginning of the 18th century, since which date, although continuing for some time to be the nominal head of the empire, the city has gradually dwindled in importance, and now only ranks as a second or third rate provincial capital. When the Kajar dynasty indeed mounted the throne of Persia at the end of the last century the seat of government was at once transferred to Teheran, with a view to the support of the royal tribe, whose chief seat was in the neighbouring province of Mazeuderan ; and, although it has often been proposed, from considerations of state policy in reference to Russia, to re-establish the court at Ispahan, which is the true centre of Persia, the scheme has never commanded much attention. At the same time the government of Ispahan, owing to the wealth of the surrounding districts, has always been much sought after. Early in the century the post was often conferred upon some powerful minister of the court, but in later times it has been usually the apanage of a favourite son or brother of the reigning sovereign. Feth Ali Shah, who had a particular affection for Ispahan, died at that place in 1834, and it is still a time-honoured custom for the monarch on the throne to seek relief from the heat of Teheran by forming a summer camp at the rich pastures of Gan- doman on the skirts of Zardeh-Koh, to the west of Ispahan, for the exercise of his troops and the health and amusement of his courtiers. (H. C. R.) I S E A E L Rela- 1. A CCORDING to the Book of Genesis, Israel was the tion- j^L brother of Edom, and the cousin of Moab and Ammon. ships of These f our petty peoples, which may be classed together as the Hebrew group, must at one time have formed some sort of a unity and have passed through a common history which resulted in their settlement in south-eastern Palestine. The Israelites, or rather that section of the Hebrew group which afterwards developed into Israel, appear at first to have been the immediate neighbours of Edom, and to have extended westwards towards the border of Egypt. As regards the ethnological position of the Hebrews as a whole, tradition has it that they had connexions not only with the Aramaeans of Osrhoene (Nahor), but also with certain of the old half-Arab inhabitants of the Sinaitic peninsula (Kenites, Amalek, Midian). To the Canaanites, whose language they had adopted, their relation was that of foreign conquerors and lords to a subject race (Gen. ix. 26). Sojourn Some fifteen centuries before our era a section of the inEgypt. Hebrew group left its ancient seat in the extreme south of Palestine to occupy the not distant pasture lands of Egypt (Goshen), where they carried on their old calling, that of shepherds and goatherds. Although settled within the territory of the Pharaohs, and recognizing their authority, they continued to retain all their old characteristics, their language, their patriarchal institutions, their nomad habits of life. But in course of time these foreign guests were subjected to changed treatment. Forced labour was exacted of them for the construction of new public works in Goshen, an exaction which was felt to be an assault upon their freedom and honour, and which in point of fact was fitted to take away all that was distinctive of their nationality. But they had no remedy at hand, and had submitted in despair, until Moses at last saw a favourable opportunity of deliverance. Eeminding his oppressed brethren of the God of their fathers, and urging that their cause was His, he taught them to regard self-assertion against the Egyptians as an article of religion ; and they became once more a united people in a determination to seek refuge from oppression in the wilderness which was the dwelling place of their kindred and the seat of their God. At a Ti time when Egypt was scourged by a grievous plague, the e5 Hebrews broke up their settlement in Goshen one night in spring, and directed their steps towards their old home again. According to the accounts, the king had consented to the exodus, and latterly had even forced it on, but it was none the less a secret flight. To a not very numerous pastoral people such an under taking presented no great difficulty. Nevertheless its execution was not to be carried out unimpeded. The Hebrews, compelled to abandon the direct eastward road (Exod. xiii. 17, 18), turned towards the soiith-west and encamped at last on the Egyptian shore of the northern arm of the Eed Sea, where they were overtaken by Pharaoh s army. The situation was a critical one ; but a high wind during the night had left the shallow sea so low that it became possible to ford it. Moses eagerly accepted the suggestion, and made the venture with success. The Egyptians, rushing after, came up with them on the further shore, and a struggle ensued. But the assailants fought at a disadvantage, the ground being ill suited for their chariots and horsemen; they fell into confusion and attempted a retreat. Meanwhile the wind had changed; the waters returned, and the pursuers were annihilated. 1 After turning aside to visit Sinai as related in Exodus, Se the emigrants settled at Kadesh, eastwards from Goshen, on the southern borders of Palestine, 2 where they remained 1 Ex. xiv. 21, 24, 25, 27, 30, 31. According to the Old Testament the exodus took place 480 years before the building of Solomon s temple, and 960 years before the end of the Babylonian captivity. These figures are &quot;systematic&quot; or at least systematized, but even so they ar certainly more trustworthy than the combinations of the Egyptologists. 2 The site of Sinai (= Horeb ?) hardly admits of ascertainment. The best datum would be the sanctuary of Jethro, if we could identify it with Madian (Jakut, iv. 451), which lies on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea obliquely facing the traditional Sinai. With regard to Kadesh, see Quarterly Statement of Palestine Exploration Fund (1871), pp. 20, 21.