being his history of the German wars of Gustavus Adolphus, entitled Arma Suecica (pub. 1631–1634, in 12 parts), and the Inventarium Sueciae (1632)—both compilations from existing records. His best known work is the Theatrum Europaeum, a series of chronicles of the chief events in the history of the world down to 1619. He was himself responsible for the first two volumes. It was continued by various writers and grew to twenty-one volumes (Frankf. 1633–1738). The chief interest of the work is, however, its illustration by the beautiful copperplate engravings of Matthäus Merian (1593–1650). Abelin also wrote a history of the antipodes, Historia Antipodum (posthumously pub. Frankf. 1655), and a history of India.
See G. Droysen, Arlanibaeus, Godofredus, Abelinus (Berlin, 1864); and notice in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie.
ABENCERRAGES, a family or faction that is said to have held a prominent position in the Moorish kingdom of Granada in the 15th century. The name appears to have been derived from the Yussuf ben-Serragh, the head of the tribe in the time of Mahommed VII., who did that sovereign good service in his struggles to retain the crown of which he was three times deprived. Nothing is known of the family with certainty; but the name is familiar from the interesting romance of Gines Perez de Hita, Guerras civiles de Granada, which celebrates the feuds of the Abencerrages and the rival family of the Zegris, and the cruel treatment to which the former were subjected. J. P. de Florian’s Gonsalve de Cordoue and Chateaubriand’s Le dernier des Abencerrages are imitations of Perez de Hita’s work. The hall of the Abencerrages in the Alhambra takes its name from being the reputed scene of the massacre of the family.
ABENDANA, the name of two Jewish theologians. (1) Jacob (1630–1695), rabbi (Hakham) of the Spanish Jews in London from 1680. Like his brother Isaac, Jacob Abendana had a circle of Christian friends, and his reputation led to the appreciation of Jewish scholarship by modern Christian theologians. (2) Isaac (c. 1650–1710), his brother, taught Hebrew at Cambridge and afterwards at Oxford. He compiled a Jewish Calendar and wrote Discourses on the Ecclesiastical and Civil Polity of the Jews (1706).
ABENEZRA (Ibn Ezra), or, to give him his full name, Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (1092 or 1093–1167), one of the most distinguished Jewish men of letters and writers of the Middle Ages. He was born at Toledo, left his native land of Spain before 1140 and led until his death a life of restless wandering, which took him to North Africa, Egypt, Italy (Rome, Lucca, Mantua, Verona), Southern France (Narbonne, Beziers), Northern France (Dreux), England (London), and back again to the South of France. At several of the above-named places he remained for some time and developed a rich literary activity. In his native land he had already gained the reputation of a distinguished poet and thinker; but, apart from his poems, his works, which were all in the Hebrew language, were written in the second period of his life. With these works, which cover in the first instance the field of Hebrew philology and Biblical exegesis, he fulfilled the great mission of making accessible to the Jews of Christian Europe the treasures of knowledge enshrined in the works written in Arabic which he had brought with him from Spain. His grammatical writings, among which Moznayim (“the Scales,” written in 1140) and Zahot (“Correctness,” written in 1141) are the most valuable, were the first expositions of Hebrew grammar in the Hebrew language, in which the system of Hayyūj and his school prevailed. He also translated into Hebrew the two writings of Hayyūj in which the foundations of the system were laid down. Of greater original value than the grammatical works of Ibn Ezra are his commentaries on most of the books of the Bible, of which, however, a part has been lost. His reputation as an intelligent and acute expounder of the Bible was founded on his commentary on the Pentateuch, of which the great popularity is evidenced by the numerous commentaries which were written upon it. In the editions of this commentary (ed. princ. Naples 1488) the commentary on the book of Exodus is replaced by a second, more complete commentary of Ibn Ezra, while the first and shorter commentary on Exodus was not printed until 1840. The great editions of the Hebrew Bible with rabbinical commentaries contained also commentaries of Ibn Ezra’s on the following books of the Bible: Isaiah, Minor Prophets, Psalms, Job, Pentateuch, Daniel; the commentaries on Proverbs, Ezra and Nehemiah which bear his name are really those of Moses Kimhi. Ibn Ezra wrote a second commentary on Genesis as he had done on Exodus, but this was never finished. There are second commentaries also by him on the Song of Songs, Esther and Daniel. The importance of the exegesis of Ibn Ezra consists in the fact that it aims at arriving at the simple sense of the text, the so-called “Pesohat,” on solid grammatical principles. It is in this that, although he takes a great part of his exegetical material from his predecessors, the originality of his mind is everywhere apparent, an originality which displays itself also in the witty and lively language of his commentaries. To judge by certain signs, of which Spinoza in his Tractatus Theologico Politicus makes use, Ibn Ezra belongs to the earliest pioneers of the criticism of the Pentateuch. His commentaries, and especially some of the longer excursuses, contain numerous contributions to the philosophy of religion. One writing in particular, which belongs to this province (Yōsōd Mēra), on the division and the reasons for the Biblical commandments, he wrote in 1158 for a London friend, Joseph b. Jacob. In his philosophical thought neo-platonic ideas prevail; and astrology also had a place in his view of the world. He also wrote various works on mathematical and astronomical subjects. Ibn Ezra died on the 28th of January 1167, the place of his death being unknown.
Among the literature on Ibn Ezra may be especially mentioned: M. Friedländer, Essays on the Writings of Ibn Ezra (London, 1877); W. Bacher, Abraham Ibn Ezra als Grammatiker (Strasburg, 1882); M. Steinschneider, Abraham Ibn Ezra, in the Zeitschrift für Mathematik und Physik, Band xxv., Supplement; D. Rosin, Die Religionsphilosophie Abraham Ibn Ezra’s in vols. xlii. and xliii. of the Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums; his Diwan was edited by T. Egers (Berlin, 1886); a collection of his poems, Reime und Gedichte, with translation and commentary, were published by D. Rosin in several annual reports of the Jewish theological Seminary at Breslau (1885–1894). (W. Ba.)
ABENSBERG, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, on the Abens, a tributary of the Danube, 18 m. S.W. of Regensburg, with which it is connected by rail. Pop. 2202. It has a small spa, and its sulphur baths are resorted to for the cure of rheumatism and gout. The town is the Castra Abusina of the Romans, and Roman remains exist in the neighbourhood. Here, on the 20th of April 1809, Napoleon gained a signal victory over the Austrians under the Archduke Louis and General Hiller.
ABEOKUTA, a town of British West Africa in the Egba division of the Yoruba country, S. Nigeria Protectorate. It is situated in 7° 8′ N., 3° 25′ E., on the Ogun river, 64 m. N. of Lagos by railway, or 81 m. by water. Population, approximately 60,000. Abeokuta lies in a beautiful and fertile country, the surface of which is broken by masses of grey granite. It is spread over an extensive area, being surrounded by mud walls 18 miles in extent. Abeokuta, under the reforming zeal of its native rulers, was largely transformed during the early years of the 20th century. Law courts, government offices, prisons and a substantial bridge were built, good roads made, and a large staff of sanitary inspectors appointed. The streets are generally narrow and the houses built of mud. There are numerous markets in which a considerable trade is done in native products and articles of European manufacture. Palm-oil, timber, rubber, yams and shea-butter are the chief articles of trade. An official newspaper is published in the Yoruba and English languages. Abeokuta is the headquarters of the Yoruba branch of the Church Missionary Society, and British and American missionaries have met with some success in their civilizing work. In their schools about 2000 children are educated. The completion in 1899 of a railway from Lagos helped not only to develop trade but to strengthen generally the influence of the white man.
Abeokuta (a word meaning “under the rocks”), dating
