Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/643

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.—The following laws are abridged from the revised code adopted by the Turf Club:—

1em 1em  ECBATANA (Greek, B^arm/a), or, as it is found in ^Eschylus, Ayftdrava., a name applied by the classical writers to several and possibly to no fewer than seven dis tinct sites, the capital of Media Atropatene, the capital of Media Magna, the citadel of Persepolis, a Syrian city on Mount Carmel, the Assyrian castle of Amadiyah, the Arsacidan stronghold of Europus, and the city of Ispahan. This diversity of application doubtless arises from the fact that the word was a descriptive epithet ; but its derivation has not been ascertained, and it is even possible that under the Greek disguise we may have two totally distinct originals. According to the usual hypothesis the meaning is treasury or place of assemblage, from the Old Persian hagmatan. The Median use of the name is the only one of special moment, involving, as it does, a difficult question of identification. It has long been admitted on all hands that the modern Hamadan, a town of Persia at the foot of the Elvend Mountains, occupies the site and preserves the name of the great city of Ecbatana, which was the summer residence of the Persian kings from the time of Darius Hystaspis to the Greek conquest, and afterwards became the capital of the Parthian empire. But the further identification of this Ecbatana with the Ecbatana of Herodotus, still maintained by some authorities, has been disputed by Sir Henry Rawlinson, who locates the latter city at Takht-i-Suleiman, a conical hill about half-way between Hamadan and Tabriz, which agrees in its main topographical features with the Herodotean description, and is still covered with extensive ruins of ancient date. There it was at least possible for the Media-n monarch Deioces to surround his palace with seven concentric walls of different colours, rising one behind the other ; but, if the site of Hamadan be adopted, this part of the account, recently shown by the similar arrangement at Borsippa to be so probable in itself, must be relegated to the region of myths. One or other of the cities is possibly mentioned in the Old Testament as Achmatha or Amatha ; in the Apocrypha the name frequently occurs in the form of Ekbatana.

1em  ECCARD, (–), a celebrated composer of church music, was born at Muhlhausen on the Unstrut, Prussia, in. After having received his first musical instruction at home, he went, at the age of eighteen, to Munich, where he became the pupil of Orlando Lasso, one of the greatest masters of the Franco-Belgian school. In his company Eccard is said to have visited Paris, but in we find him again at Miihlhausen, where he resided for four years, and edited, together with Johatm von Burgk, his first master, a collection of sacred songs, called Crepundia sacra Helniboldi. Soon afterwards he obtained an artistic appointment in the house of Jacob Fugger, the great Augsburg banker, and in he became assistant conductor, and twelve years later first chapel-master, at Konigsberg in Prussia. In he received a call to Berlin as chief conductor of the elector s chapel, but this post he held only for three years, owing to his premature death in. Eccard s works consist exclusively of vocal compositions, such as songs, sacred cantatas, and chorales for four or five, and sometimes for seven, eight, or even nine voices. Their polyphonous structure is a marvel of art, and still excites the admiration of musicians. At the same time his works are instinct with a spirit of true religious feeling. They have indeed a religions and historic significance beyond their artistic value. The im portant position of music in the service of the Reformed churches is well known. It was derived from, and there fore appealed again to, the feelings of the people. Luther himself recognized the elevating influence of the art by 