Achmetha
TIIK
Acosta, Uriel
ACHHETHA
Xiimo
i;i
vcn
in tin-
to the Pci-siau city ealleil
(E/.rii. vi. 2)
JEWISH EN'CYCLOPEDIA
Old Testament by tlie Greeks
In Old Persian it is called Ajjbatana. Hajrniatana: in Habylonian. Airaniatanvi: while in the works of Arabic iiistoiians it appears as llamadan. the modern form of the name. When the Median kinsidom aro.sc, in the sevenlli century li.c Ecbatana was the chief city. At a later period it was the summer residence of the Persian kinf;s. According Eebiitaiiii or
to
Herodotus
(i.
9S). the city
was surrounded by
stronir walls, the turrets of which had ditTerent colors. The inner wall suiroimd<(l the palace and
The royal archive mentioned in Ezra, was probably found within the imier wall.
treasury.
vi.
A
jrreatly e.xag^rerated description of the walls occurs in Judith, i. 2, where Arphaxad (Gen. .. 22-2-1. xi. 13) is .said to have been the builder of the city. It is also mentioned in the Talmud (Kid. 'i'ia; Yeb. ~a:
see Xeubaier,
"G. T."
p. 3T6).
F. Bl'.
ACHOR A valley near Jericho.
From Josh.
xv.
would appear that it was situated ujion the northern boundary of Judah. Itsexact position has 7
it
Eusebius ("Ononot. however, been ascertained. niasticon." ed. Lagarde. p. lOo) and Jerome (" Liber
deSitu
et
Nominibus Locorum Heliraicorum,"
xxiii.
as a valley north of Jericho whereas some modern writers identify it with Wadi elKelt, a deep ravine south of Jericho. According to Josh, vii. 2-1-26, Achan was stoned there and. in view of the trouble that he brought upon his people and upon himself, the place assumed a typical character, symbolizing an accursed desolation that will only lie redeemed in the times of the Messiah (Hosea. ii. 1".; Isa. Ixv. 10). M. B. 868) allude to
it
ACHSA or ACHSAH
Anklet ") Daughter of Caleb (I C'hrou. ii. 40). who was promised by her father to the man who should capture Kirjath-sepher. (Dthuiel, the son of Kenaz and nejihew of Cavb, took it and married Achsah (Josh. xv. 16, IT). In Judges, i. 12, 13, the story is repeated, but here Achsjih asks springs of water in addition to the "south land," and both the upper and the lower springs are granfcil
(•'
G. B. L.
licr.
ACHSELRAD, BENEDICT
(Bendet ben Joor preacher, of Lem-
A ilarshan, half of the seventeenth century. the author of several liomiletical works, of
seph ha-Levi) berg in the
tirst
He was which the following have been published: "Ben
Da'at" (The Son of Knowledge). Ilanau. 1616, containing one hundred and tifty homiletic discourses on the Psalms: "Derush 'al 'Aseret ha-Dibl)erot," an Interpretation of the Decalogue, Hanau, 1616. containing homilies on the Ten Commandments; and '"Abodat^ha-Levi" (The Office of the Levile), Cracow, 1)etwecn 1632 and 1648, containing sermons and homiletic Interpretations on Genesis. The last is merely a fragment of a work which treated the whole Pentateuch in the same manner: it has not been pnl)lished. There must also have existed a homiletic commentary by him on Proverbs, which is mentioned several times by Achselrad himself, and the existence of which is also confirmed by Aaron Samuel, nibbi of Fulda, ia his introduction to Achselrad 's
"Ben
Da'at."
BlBLIOGRAPiiv: Steinsohneider, Cat. Bod/, col. 78.T Miotiael, Or ha-IIaiiiiim. No. 'il Zedner, Cat. Hebr. U<Kili.i Brit.
Mtlit. s.V. lifll'hf.
L.
ACHSHAPH:
Town
menlioned
a village northwest of Hunin and south of a branch of the ahr elKasimiye (Guerin. "Galilee." ii. 269). This woidd agree with Josh. xi. 1, but not with xix. 25. as in the latter passjige this town must be looked for in the neighborhood of the coast. The idenlilicatiou of Achshaph with the Aksap of the Egyptian list of Thol limes is imcertain. HiBI.uiGR.vpilv
W. Max
Mflller, -lufeii Hiirf
Enropu,
G.
in Josh. xi. 1
and xii. 2U as the seat of a north Canaanitish king. Robinson ("'Biblical Researches," iii. 55, London, 1856) identifies it with the ruins at Kesaf, or Iksaf,
p. IIH.
F. Br.
hisrh
and
2.
166
ACHZIB
(called also
Chezib, Chozeba):
1.
A
ton n ot .ludah. in the southern Shcphelah or lowland (Josh. XV. 44). coupled with Mareshah in .Micah, i. 14, where it appears as paronoma.stic with deceit. In Gen. xxxviii. 5. it reads Chezib, and in I Chron. iv. 22, it appears as Chozeba, and is there connected with the Judeau clan of Shelah. Comparisons with the names of modern places, such as "Ain Kus(s)aV)e (Hobinson, "Sociu-Ba<leker ), six miles southeast of Tell el Ilesv, or a doubtful 'Ain el-Kezbeh near Bet Nettif (G. A. Smith), have little probability. 2. Phenician city, claimed by the Asherites (Josh, xix. 29), but not conquered (Judges, i. 31). The Greeks called it Ecdijipon (compare Josejihus, "B. J." i. 13, 55 4; uhm. "Ant." v. 1, S 22, where the form Arce occuis). Akzibi is mentioned in a cuneiform iuscrii)tion of Sennacherib. It is the small village, now Ez-Zib, nine miles north of Acre (A<co). on the seashore. On the importance of this place in the Talmud, as determining the southern limits of Palestine for certain ritual purposes, see Neubauer, "La
Geographic du Talmud," under "Kezib,"
p. 233.
W. M. M.
ACME
{'Akiii/): Jewish slave of Livia.wife of the Kniperor Augustus. During the family troubles which cloudeil the last nine years of Herod's life, she came under the intluence of his son Antipater, while he lived at Rome. Induced by large presents and specious ]iromises, she forged a compromising letter from Herod's sister Salome to her mistress, the empress Livia, which she forwarded to Herod through the agency of Anti|)hilus, a friend of Antipater in Egypt. Acme's guilt was discovered by an intercepted letter to Antipater. in which she speaks of having forged the letter at Anlipater's request. Herod reported the matter to Augustu.s, and Acme was put to death in the year 5 n.c.
Bibliogr-vpuy: Joseplius, B. J. 3.
I.
32. S
6;
idem. Ant.
xvll.
ST.
G.
ACOSTA, CRISTOVAL:
Spanish physician
and botanisl of the sixleiiuh century. He was born in Africa, whither his parents fled when exiled from Spain. He studicil medicine, and for several years traveled through Africa and Asia, particularly through China. AVhile on his travels he made the acquaintance of the most important physicians in Arabia. Persia. China. Turkey, and other lands. On his return he established himself at Burgos, Spain, published a work entitled, "Tratado de las Dro-
anil
i .Medicinas de las Indias Orientalescon susPlantasDebujadasal Vivo" (1578) (Treatise on the Drugs and Medicines of the Indies with their Plants Illustrated from Xatiire); which was translated into Italian (Venice, 1.585). and into French by Antoine Collin. Death prevented him from completing a work he had projected on the flora and fauna of India. Acosta was baptized, but at what time is
gas
uncertain. BiRLioGR.vPHV pp.
2W ct
De
Castro. Histnria de los Ju(tioi*cn Eitpaila,
neq. 'Si.
K.
