Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/387

ALEXANDER BALAS. ALEXANDER BA'LAS. A man of lowly origin whose private name was Balas or Baal, and who possessed a striking resemblani-c to Antioehus V.. Eupator, and was therefore pre- sented by Attains of Perganius as a son of Antioehus IV., Epiphanes, and a claimant to the 8cleueid throne. He was successful against Demetrius Soter, and reigiied as King of Syria from 1.54 to 14.5 B.C. His first official act was to ajjpoint Jonathan the Hasmon;ran as high priest, an office wliieli the latter publicly assumed at the Feast of Tabernacles, 153 B.C. In 158 B.C. Alexander married Cleopatra, daughter of Ptol- emy VII., Philonietor, and on that occasion con- ferred on Jonathan the titles of military and civil governor. In 147 B.C. ApoUonius, (iovernor of Ccelc-Syria, took up arms for Demetrius II.. but was defeated by Jonathan at Ashdod. The Has- mona'ans had every reason to be pleased with Al- exander Balas. But he was an incapable and cor- rupt ruler and hated by his soldiers, who de- serted him in 145 B.C. He fled to Abbte, in Ara- bia, and was there assassinated.

ALEXANDER COL'UMN ( Russ. Aleksandrorftkai/a KoIhiuki). A monument to Alexander I. of Russia. See St. Petersburg.

ALEXANDER FALLS. See H.T River.

ALEXANDER JANNÆUS (Lat. form of Heb. Yiinnai, Jonathan) ( ?-78 B.C.). King of the Jews from 104 to 78 B.C. He was warlike and energetic, and during his reign extended the frontiers of the kingdom toward the west and the south. Defeated by Ptolemy Lathyrus in Galilee, he formed an alliance with Cleopatra of Egypt, and drove the invader from the coiuitry. Wars with the Jloabites, the Anunonites, and the .rabians engaged his attention till the day of his death. Internally his reign was marked by bitter conflicts between the Saddvicees, of which party the King was the head, and the Phar- isees, who comprised the vast mass of the people. It is estimated that 50,000 people perished in the civil strife. In putting down a revolt at .Jerusa- lem he slaughtered (iOOO of the insurgents, and in the year 8(i. returning triumphantly from ex- ile, where he had been driven by the Pharisees, he caused 800 rebels to be crucified in his pres- ence and their wives and children to be butchered before their eyes. Consult: .Josephus, Antii/uities of the Jctrs, Book xiii. chaps. 12-15; and jeuish ^^'nr, Book i. c. 4.

ALEXANDER JOHN I. (1820-73). Prince of Rumania from 18511 to ISOfi. He was a Moldavian boyar. by name .lohn Cuza, who, when Moldavia and Vallachia determined to form a Rumanian State, was elected Prince of Rumania under the above title by the Assemblies. He received the recognition of tlie Sultan in 1861. His reign was arbitrary and unconstitutional, and convinced the Rumanians of the inipracticability of having as sovereign one of their own number. He followed the example of Napoleon III. in his methods, endeavoring to mask arbitrary government under plebiscites and universal suft'rage. He became exceedingly unpopular, and was forced to abdicate in 1801!.

ALEXANDER KARAGEORGEVITCH, ka'ra-ga-or'gu-vich (1806-85). Prince of Servia, born at Topola. He was for a time an officer in the Russian arm .v. and was chosen prince in 1842. Wholly under Austrian influence, he angered the National party by his neutrality during the Crimean War, and iu 1858 was deposed. He was accused of cons]jiracy in the murder of the Prince Michael (1868), and was sentenced to an imprisonment of twenty years in contumaciam. The few reforms accomplished during his reign are not to l)e attributed to him.

ALEXANDER LAND. A land area in the Antarctic (lat. 68" 43' S., long. 70° to 75° W.). discovered liy Itellingsliausen in 1821.

ALEXANDER NEVSKI, nef'ske (1220-G3). A Russian hero and saint. He was born at Vlad- imir, the sou of Prince Yaroslav of Novgorod. In order to defend the country, which was attacked on all sides, but especiall.y by the Mon- gols, his father left Novgorod, intrusting the government to his sons, Feodor and Alexander. Feodor died soon after. Alexander vigorously re- sisted the enemy, but Russia was forced to sub- mit to the Mongol dominion in 1240 a.d. Alex- ander now fought to defend the western frontier against the Danes, the Swedes, and the Teutonic Knights. He received the surname of Nevski from the splendid victory over the Swedes, which he won in 1240 on the Neva, in the region where St. Petersburg now stands. In 1242 on the ice of Lake Peipus he defeated the Livonian Knights of the Sword, who had been instigated by the Pope to attack the Russian heretics. Upon the death of his father, in 1246, he became Prince of Vladimir. Pope Innocent IV. made a diplomatic attempt in 12.51 to reunite the Greek and Roman Churches, since his military scheme had failed, and with this end in view sent an embass.v to Alexander, which, however, proved ineffectual. To the end of his life Alexander re- mained a vassal of the Tartars or Mongols. Thrice he had to renew his oath of fealt.v to the Asiatic barbarians, making in each instance a .journey to their camp. He died November 14, 1263, on his return from the last of these .jour- neys. The gratitude of the nation perpetuated his memorv in popular songs, and even canonized him. Peter the Gireat honored his memory in 1723 bv building a magnificent convent on the spot where he had fought liis great battle, and in 1725 founded the knightly order of St. Alex- ander Nevski.

ALEXANDER OF APH'RODIS'IAS. A Peripatetic ]ihiloso]ilier, who was born at Aphrodisias in Caria and lived about 200 a.d. He was the most learned and intelligent Greek commentator of Aristotle (especially on the metaphysics) and was known as "The Exegetes," or "The Expounder." His works were early translated into Latin, and are in large part preserved. He also wrote original treatises, the most important of which are those On Fate and On the Sotil. At the time of the Renaissance, a philosophic school which adopted Aristotle's views on immortality was named after him "the Alexandrist" (q.v.).

ALEXANDER OF HALES, h.alz (Lat. Alcainirlrr Ualciisis) (?-1245). A famous English theologian, known as "the Irrefragable Doctor.* He was born in Hales, Gloucestershire, but had attended the schools of Paris, had taken the degree of doctor, and had become a noted professor of philosophy and theology there, when (1222) he suddenly entered tlie Order of the Franciscans and became a lecturer among them. He resigned in 1238, and died as a simple monk in Paris, 1245. His chief and only authentic work is the l^umma Universce Theologke (best