sitiuted at the foot of Mount Olympus. Azonis, with the two neighbouring towns of Pythinm and Doliche, formed a Tripolis. (Liv. xlii. 53, xliv. 2.) There was also a town of the name of Azorus in Pelagonia in Macedonia. (Strab. vii. p. 327; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. pp. 319, 342.)
AZO'TUS (Άζωτος: Eth.Άζώτιος),the Ashdod of Scripture, a city assigned to the tribe of Judah
in the division of the Promised Land (Josh. xv. 47), but occupied by the Philistines, and reckoned as one of their five principal cities, where was the chief seat of the worship of Dagon. (1 Sam. i. 1 — 7.) It is celebrated by Herodotus as having stood a siege of 29 years from Psammetichus, king of Egypt (about B.C. 630), the longest of any city he was acquainted with (ii. 157). It was taken by the Assyrians under Tartan, the general of King Sennacherib (B.C. 713; Is. xx. 1 ). It was taken by Judas Maccabaeus (1 Macc. ix. 50), and by his brother
Jonathan (x. 77); restored by Gabinius (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 5. § 3), and given by Augustus to Salome (xvii. 13. § 5). The ancient geographical and historical notices place it between Askelon and Jamnia, south of the latter, near the coast, but not actually on the sea shore. Its site is clearly identified by the modern village of Esdud, situated on a grassy hill, surrounded by wood. No ruins have been discovered there. (Irby and Mangles, pp. 179 — 162; and Richardson, as cited in Robinson's Bib. Res. vol. ii. p. 368; Beland, pp. 606-609.)[ G. W. ]
BAAL-GAD, m the northern extremity of the Holy Land, "in the valley of Lebanon, under Mount Hermon." (Josh. xi. 17, xii. 7, xiii. .5.)[ G. W. ]
BAAL-MEON, a city of the tribe of Reuben (Nwmb. xxxii. 38; 1 Chron. v. 8), afterwards occupied by the Moabites. (Ezek. xxv. 9.) It is mentioned by St Jerome as a large village in his time, and is placed by him and Eusebius nine miles distant from Heshbon, and near Bare (Baara). (Reland, Palaest. pp. 487, 611.) Burckhardt identifies it with Myoun, ¾ of an hour SE. of the ruins of Heshbon (Travels, p. 385); but this would not be more than 2 or 3 miles, which is too short an interval. Yet the name (written by Irby and Mangles "Mayt", p. 464), and the neighbouring hot springs (see St. Jerome, l. c.), seem to identify it with the Scripture site. It stands on a considerable eminence, in a fertile plain.[ G. W. ]
BAAL-SHALISHA (2 Kings, iv. 42), a town, it would seem, of the district of Shalisha (1 Sam. ix. 4), called by Eusebius and St. Jerome Beth-sa-lisa, is placed by them 15 miles north of Diospolis (Lydda), in the Thammitic district. (Reland, p. 611.)[ G. W. ]
BAAL-TAMAR, a town of the tribe of Benjamin, in the vicinity of Gibeah. (Judges, xx. 33.) It existed in the time of Eusebius under the name of Beth-amar. (Reland, p. 611.)[ G. W. ]
BABBA (Βάβα, Ptol. iv. I. § 14; Βαβαί: Eth.Βαβαίος, Steph. B.), a colony in Mauretania Tingitana, founded by Augustus, 40 M. P. from Lixus. Its full name is given by Pliny in the form Babba Julia Campestris (v. 1). Its coins, which are
numerous, from Augustus downwards, have the inscriptions Col. I. B., i. e. Colonia Julia Babbensis, or COL. C. I. B. or C. C. I. B., i. e. Colonia Campestris
BABYLON.
355
Julia Babbensis. (Eckhel, vol iv. p. 153.) Its site seems quite uncertain. Some place it at Naranja, which appears too far east; others at Bani Teude, in a beautiful plain on the river Guarga (a tributary of the Subur) where ancient ruins are still visible. (Leo Africanus, ap. Mannert, vol. x. pt. 2, p. 489.) Possibly the true position may be at Baba Kelam, E. of Ksar-el-Kebir.[ P. S. ]
BABRA'NTIUM (Βαβράντιον: Eth.Βαβράντιος), a place in the neighbourhood of Chios, mentioned by
Polybius in his sixteenth book, as quoted by Stephanus, s. v.Βαβράντιον It may be the same place as Babras.[ G. L. ]
BABRAS (Βάβρας: Eth. Βάβρας), a small place in Aeolis near Chios. (Steph. B. s. v.Βάβρας.)[ G. L. ]
BABYLLE'NII (Βάβυλλήνιοι, Ptol. iv. 7. § 29), the name of a tribe which belonged to the hybrid population of the Regio Troglodytica, between the Nile and the Red Sea. They were seated between the easternmost boundary of the island Meroe and the Sinus Adulitanus.[ W. B. D. ]
BA'BYLON (Βαβυλών), in later times called also Babylonia (Justin, i. 2; Solin. c. 37: Eth.Βαβυλώνιος,
rarely Βαβυλωνεύς, fem. Βαβυλωνίς),the chief town of Babylonia, and the seat of empire of the Babylonio-Chaldaean kingdom. It extended along both sides of the Euphrates, which ran through the middle of it, and, according to the uniform consent of antiquity, was, at the height of its glory, of immense size. There seems good reason for supposing that it occupied the site, or was at least in the immediate vicinity, of Babel, which is mentioned in Genesis (x. 10) as the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom, and in Genesis (xi. 1 — ^9) as the scene of the confusion of tongues: its name is a Graecized form of the Hebrew Babel. There is, however, no evidence that it was at an early period a place of importance, or, like Ninus (Nineveh), the imperial seat of a long line of kings. The name of Babel is said to be derived from the circumstance of its having been the place of this confusion of tongues (Gen. xi. 9); another and perhaps more natural derivation would give it the meaning of the gate or court of Bel, or Belus, the Zeus of that country. A tradition of this event has been preserved in Berossus, who says that a tower was erected in the place where Babylon now stands, but that the winds assisted the gods in overthrowing it. He adds that the ruins still exist at Babylon, that the gods introduced a diversity of tongues among men, and that the place where the tower was built is called Babylon on account of the confusion of tongues; for confusion is by the Hebrews called Babel. (Beross. ap. Euseb. Praep. Evang. ix.; Syncell. Chron. 44; Euseb. Chron. 13.) A tradition of the diversity of tongues and its cause is preserved also in a fragment of Histiaeus (ap. Joseph. Ant. i. 4), and in Alex. Polyhist (ap. Sync. 44, and Joseph. Ant. i. 4). Eupolemus also (ap. Euseb. Praep. Evang. ix.) attributes the foundation of Babylon to those who escaped from the Deluge, and mentions the tower and its overthrow. He adds that Abraham lived in a city of Babylonia called Camarina, or by some Urie [i.e. Ur], which is interpreted to mean a city of the Chaldaeans.
Of Babel or Babylon, believing them, as we do, to represent one and the same place, we have no subsequent notice in the Bible till the reign of Hoshea, about B.C. 730 (2 Kings, xvii. 24), when the people of Samaria were carried away captive. It seems probable that during this long period Babylon was
