Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/422

 408 HAM being surrendered to the English, Mirabeau, the ministers of Charles X., Louis Napoleon (1840-'46), Cavaignac, Lamoriciere, Changar- Fortreas of Ham. nier, and others. It was surrendered to the Germans, Nov. 21, 1870. HAM, one of the sons of Noah, supposed to have been the youngest. The name signifies in Hebrew " hot" or " burnt," and is regarded as indicative of the regions allotted to his descen- dants, who, according to G-en. x., occupied the southern parts of the ancient world. The foundation of the empires of Assyria and Egypt is attributed to them, as well as that of Sidon and other Phoenician states. Egypt, in par- ticular, is designated in poetical passages of the Scriptures as the "land of Ham," which an- swers to the Coptic name of that country, Ke- mi or Khami, the ~S.rjfj.ia of Plutarch, and the Chm& of the Rosetta inscription, according to Champollion. The Canaanites formed a branch of the Biblical Hamitic race. HAMADAN, a town of Persia, in the province of Irak Ajemi, at the foot of Mt. Elwend, 175 m.W.S.W. of Teheran, on the site, it is gen- erally supposed, of an- cient Ecbatana, but ac- cording to Rawlinson of one of two Median cities of that name ; pop. about 40,000. It occupies a large surface on sloping ground, and has numerous gardens, bazaars, baths, cara- vansaries, and mosques, is an edifice which contains the tomb of Avi- cenna, the celebrated Arabian physician, who HAMAH lived there in the first half of the llth cen- tury; another edifice is believed by the in- habitants to contain the tombs of Esther and Mordecai. There are also a synagogue and an Arme- nian church. The town is mostly decayed and unat- tractive ; the tomb of Avi- cenna, however, draws nu- merous pilgrims. It has a hot mineral spring, some manufactures in silk fabrics and carpets, and a large trade with Bagdad and oth- er cities of Persia. Hama- dan was conquered by the Arabs shortly after the death of Mohammed, was destroyed and rebuilt, and was taken by the Seljuks, and by the Mongols of Gen- ghis Khan and Tamerlane. HAMAH, or Hamath (Heb., fortress or citadel), a city of northern Syria, situated on both sides of the Aasy or Orontes, 30 m. N. of Horns; pop. about 40,000, of whom about 10,000 are Greeks or fellahs belonging to the Greek church, about 300 Jacobites, and the re- mainder Moslems, the Jews having entirely dis- appeared. The Christian quarter in the S. W. part of the city is described by Burton as filthy and miserable. Four bridges span the river, and several huge wheels turned by the current raise the water to the level of the houses and fields. Each aqueduct and wheel is the prop- erty of a limited company. There are 24 min- arets. An interesting part of modern Hamah is the castle mound, which, like that of Horns, Hamah. Near one of the last was probably the site of an ancient temple. It appears from Scripture that Hamath was the capital of a kingdom at the period of the exo-