Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/36

AAKGAU. 1173 till 1415. when it was taken from them by the Swiss Confederates, who save parts of it to Bern and Lucerne. In 1798 the district was divided into the cantons of Aargau and Baden, which became members of the Helvetic Confederation. Ruled mainly by the aristocratic party, Aargau gained a liberal constitution in 18.3]'. and since then has been the champion of democracy against the reactionists and the clericals. Con.sult: Historische Ge.iellschaft des Kantons Aargau (Aarau, 1898), and J. Heierli, Die Archaologische Karte des Kantons Aargau (Aarau, 1890).

AABHUS, ar'hoos. A seaport and episcopal city of Dennuirk. capital of the Amt of Aarhus, Jutland, situated on a bay of the Kattegat, in a fertile plain. 68 miles northeast of Fredericia (Map: Denmark. D 2). It has a Gothic cathe- dral, whose erection was commenced in 1201. a museum, an exchange, and several banks. The in- habitants are engaged in shipbuilding and manu- facturingr. The town is connected with the rest of Jutland by the State Railroad, and there are regular lines of steamers to Copenhagen and England. The harbor is well protected by a breakwater, and admits vessels of six feet draught. The town ranks among the oldest in Denmark, for it had the first Christian church and was the residence of a bishop in 948. Aarhus was the scene of a Danish defeat by the Prus- sians in 1849. Pop., 1890, 33.300; 1901, 51,909.

AARON, ai-'un. A Jewish High Priest and elder brother of Moses. When Moses was sent on his mission of deliverance to Pharaoh. Aaron was appointed his spokesman and performed some miracles, even bringing on some of the plagues. He is always, however, the subordinate of Moses, from whoni he receives his ordination as High Priest. (Ex. xxix: Lev. viii : 9.) Aaron was not so strong-minded as his brother. While Moses was absent receiving the Ten Command- ments, Aaron acceded to the importimities of the people and fashioned for them the golden calf. Aaron was concerned in two rebellions. In the first, his authority, as well as the authority of Moses, was called into question by the Korahites (Num. xvi). The miraculous budding of the rod of Aaron settled that dispute. In the other, Aaron, perhaps inspired by Miriam, rebelled against the authority of Moses, but here Miriam w'as punished. Because of the incident at Meribah (Num. xx : 8-13) Aaron was not allowed to enter Canaan, but died and was bur- ied on itount Hor, on the confines of Iduma'a. Eleazar, his son. succeeded to the high priest- hood. In later Hebrew literature Aaron appears as the ideal priest, "loving peace, pursuing peace" {Ethics of the Fathers, I : 12), and as the great conciliator. Those who accept the modern Biblical criticism call attention to the fact that it is only in the Pentateucli, vhich, they assert, is post-exilic, that Aaron is re- garded as the ancestor of all lawful priests, whereas in the earlier literature he is merely a prominent figure by the side of Moses and Mir- iam. The prophet Ezckiel does not trace the origin of the .lerusalem priesthood farther back than to Zadok, who lived in the days of Solomon, and when we oonie to the Elohistic history (see Elohist at'D Yahwist) we find Joshua, and not Aaron, assisting Moses in the exercise of religious rites. In the Yahvistic document Aaron is practically ignored, so that we conclude that the picture drawn of him in the Priestly Code and later portions of the Old Testament is part and parcel of the "theocratic" theory which led Hebrew writers to reconstruct Hebrew history to so large an extent. See Moses.

AARON. A character in the Shakespearean play of Titus Androfiicus, a villainous Moor. The resemblance of Aaron's brazen avowal of his wickedness in the last act of this play to a sim- ilar passage in Marlowe's Jew of Malta has been cited as an indication that the Titus Andronicus may possibly owe its origin to the same author.

AARSENS,, (1572-1641). A Dutch diplomat. At twenty-six years of age he was sent to Paris as the agent of the States-General; later he became ambassador for the United Provinces, and long represented his country at the French Court, where he was highly regarded by Richelieu. He was also at different periods Ambassador to Venice, Germany, and England. Motley, who considered Aarsens one of the ablest diplomats of Europe, shows that he contributed largely to the unrighteous death of Barneveldt, 1619.

AASEN, a'sen, Ivar Andreas (1813-96). A Norwegian philologist. He was born, at Sond- more. "He at first studied botany, but subse- quently turned his attention to researches respecting the native dialects. Assisted by the Go'ernment, he traversed nearly the whole of Norway, investigating popular speech, upon which he sought to base a national language that should be free from Danish influence. In 1848 he published Dct ^orske Folkesprogs Gram- matil:, and in 1850 added Ordhog over det Norske Folkesprog, enlarged under the title of Tiorsk Ordhog in 1873, and in 1856 Norske Ordsprog, a treatise on Norw-egian proverbs. Through his linguistic work he was the originator of the patriotic movement generally known as the "Maalstrcev."

AASVÄR, a̤s'vâr. Islands off Norway, about latitude 66° (Map: ../Norway/, D 3). They have herring fisheries, in which more than 10,000 men are employed in December and January, but for the rest of the year they are almost deserted. The fish is the great Nordland herring, and the catch often reaches 200,000 tons in a season.

AASVOGEL, as'fo-gel (South African Dutch, carrion-bird). Any of several South African vul- tures.

AB, ab. The fifth month of the Jewish relig- ious year, and the eleventh (in intercalary years the twelfth) of the Jewish civil year. The first day of Ab became a fast to commemorate the death of Aaron; but of far greater significance is the ninth, commemorated as a fast to mark the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchad- nezzar, 586 B.C., and of the second temple by Titus, 70 A.I)., though there is no evidence to show that the latter ever took place on that day of the month. Ab corresponds roughly to July- August of the common year.

ABAB'BE. A Hamitic people west of the Red Son, below Kosseir. Their habits are those of the desert, the camel being their chief domes- tic animal.

AB'ACA. A term used in the Philippme Islands to designate the plant which produces manila liemp. See Hemp, Makila.

ABACO, iL'Tja-ko, or Lucaya, Great and Little. Two of the Bahama Islands, 150 miles east of Florida, lat. 25° 51' N., long, 77° 5' W. (Map: West Indies, J 1). Together they cover