Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/124

86 "

Archipherecites Ardit

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

lonymusben Kalonymus (after 1306) twice turned the treatise "

On Conoids and

Hebrew, under the title NJllQVNm -in32. He is said to have made use of an Arabic translation of Costa ben Luca, though Arabic bibliographers know nothing of such a translation. An unknown author whom Steinschneider surmises to have been the same Kalonymus translated mVAod iiABrjaiQ under the title ilMJJjn niTCCO Dn^DOIN ")3D, from the Arabic Spheroids

"

into

—

—

vella,"

No.

86

146, Uspl 'Eppaiuv, of the

year 553, in

which the Archipherecites, the elders, and the teachers are forbidden to use their power of anathema in order to prevent the reading of the Greek version of the Bible in place of the Midrashic or Targumic interpretation.

Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. der Jude n, iii. 359, note7; KrieCompare Academies in Palesgel, Corpus Juris, iii. 640. tine.

K.

ARCHISYNAGOGUE

(apxtawayuyoc; Heb. JlDJ3n Wi): Synagogue-chief. The use of this name as the title of the officer who supervised matters pertaining to the religious services of the synagogue can be traced from the time of Jesus to about It occurs several times in the year 300 (Pes. 496). the New Testament. The distinctive function of the

Archisynagogue was to select suitable men for the reading of the Law, the reciting of prayers, and for preaching since in ancient times the synagogue did not have regularly appointed officers for the performance of these duties. Despite the specifically Jewish character of the functions of the Archisynagogue, however, the name is borrowed from the Greek, and was therefore used throughout the

Roman Empire where Jews were

^tfl

I

pk Jl

m

i

settled, but not in Hence, the Babylonian Talmud, when mentioning the Archisynagogue, finds it necessary

Babylonia.

to translate the

.1..

word by DJ1D

flvet. 84;

compare

Yer. Ber. iii. 1, 6b). Prom the Jerusalem Talmud {I.e.) it further appears that in cases of necessity the Archisynagogue of a community had to act as its reader. In consonance with the nature of his office, the Archisynagogue was chosen for his piety and good moral character, while in the case of an archon the essential requirements were social position and influence. The Pharisees therefore regarded the Archisynagogues as inferior only to the O'D^n 'HWn ("disciples of the wise "), the Jewish scholars (Pes. 495. This passage is, however, of Palestinian origin). Like most of the offices of the pharisaic Jews, that of the Archisynagogue was not limited as to time, but was usually held for life, and not infrequently was hereditary; the Pharisees holding (see Torat Kohanim Ahare Mot viii. ed. Weiss, p. 8'da) that the son had a claim upon his father's office unless he had shown himself unworthy. This explains why the title Archisynagogue was sometimes attached to the names of the wife and the children, as found on some Greek inscriptions. It was used, no doubt, to indicate that they were members of an archisynagogal family. ,

Archers as Body-Guard of Darius. (From Maspero, " Passing

of the Empires.")

of Thabit ibn Kurrah (the Hebrew title is to be corrected to fO'E'DD,. which means "extension," and corresponds exactly to the Arabic "Masahat"). Abraham bar Hiyyah shows a perfect knowledge of the theories of Archimedes in his " Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences " (compare Steinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." vii. 92); and the same is true of Abraham ibn Ezra, in his astronomical work "Reshit

Hokmah. Bibliography: G.

1.

Steinschneider,

Hebr. Uebers.%310;

Z.D.M.

173 et seq. I.

G.

BB.

ARCHIPHERECITES (apxKpcpeKirai) Grecized form of the Aramaic XpIS Wl = "heads of the

Bibliography: Schurer, Gesch. fassuny, pp. 35-28



Weinberg,

ii.

364-367, 519

M.

G.

W.



Gemeindever-

1897, p. 657.

L. G.

a.

ARCHITE

Inhabitant of a town or district on the southern border of Judah probably connected with the Erech (A. V. Archi) of Josh. xvi. 2. Hushai, David's friend, was from that region (II Sam. xv. 32). It would appear to be somewhere in the neighborhood of Ataroth, but has not been identified



with any certainty.



school" course").

(pirka,

"chapter," hence "disoccurs in Justinian's "No-

literally

The name

t.

ARCHITECTURE, JEWISH. America, Jewish Architecture in

J.

SeeALMEMAR;

Ark Ceme;

.