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Abadon. Hebrew. “ Destruction ” personified as the Greek
Apolluōn (Revelat. ix, 11), and as Asmodeus (see Asmodeus) called
by Rabbis Ashmadai (see Job xxvi, 6); and in the Book of Wisdom
(xviii, 25) Olothreuōn in the Greek.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abaddon
Abel. It is necessary to distinguish Abel the second son of Adam
(Hebrew Habl), from Habāl or Hobāl the great Arabian deity,
though the letters seem the same (see Habāl). Abel is usually
supposed to be the Babylonian word Ablu “ son.” The Hebrew Ābel
is again different—a common term for “ meadow.” Arabs and
Persians call Abel and Cain, Habīl and Ḳ abīl. No very satisfactory
explanation of their legends in Genesis has been given (see Ḳain).
Detail of the Ghent Altarpiece (1432) at Saint Bavo Cathedral.
Aben. Hebrew Eben, “ a stone.” Perhaps the root is found in
Banah “ to build,” as Ban or Ben (“ a son ”) is builder of the family
(see Ben). Ebenezer (“ stone of help ”) was a stone emblem of the
god, like those of Arabia (see Arabia). Jeremiah tells his tribe that
a stone begat them, and that they committed adulteries with stones
Jer. ii, 27 ; iii, 9. See also Gen. xxxi, 48 ; and 1 Sam. iv, 1 ;
vii, 12). Āban (says Delitzsch) has the sense of a “ peak ” or “ pointed
thing ”—the Assyrian Ubanu “ peak, rock, or finger ” (see Finger).
Abhi-Marsin. Sanskrit. Courting, inciting.
Abi-Kāma. Sanskrit. “ Love primeval,” intense desire, struggle,
war.
Ablathanabla. See Abraxas.
Abors. Bors. The Asamese term for the wild race, calling
themselves Padams or Pagdams, inhabiting the N.E. frontier of British
territory at the bend of the Brāhmapūtra River (N. and N.W.), and
embracing the greater and lesser Dihong river valleys, north of
Sadiya. The term Abor is said to mean “ savage,” “ non-tribute
payer,” or “ fierce man ” : for Abors are a much-feared people who
hunt down even the “ wild cow ” (or Nilgau), and eat buffalo beef,
but not cows—showing a Hindu influence. They worship Nāts or
fays, spirits of the woods and waters : they tattoo their bodies, and
clothe themselves in skins and bark, but go naked in the hot season.
They are never without their bows and arrows—the latter poisoned
(for war) with the powdered root of the wild aconite, or with blood.
They wear a dhār, or long cutlass, at the waist, or slung (as by
Burmese) over the shoulder.
These people are scarcely as yet out of the communal stage, and
pay scant respect to chiefs, with some 250 of whom the Government had to deal in 1859-1870, and to try to keep them quiet by
subsidies. They are all sullen, clownish, and violent when roused,
like their congeners of Tibet and Barmah. Families are distinguished
by totems, or by marks on the forehead. The poorer are often
polyandrous : the richer are polygamous ; and sometimes they are
communists, a group of men living with a group of women. There
are barracks for bachelors and women, where considerable licence is
practised ; and chastity consists in having no intercourse outside the
clan. As regards religion, they believe in a life hereafter, with rewards
and punishments ; and sacrifices are said to please and propitiate the
spirits, and to be necessary to prevent famine and pestilence.
Abram. Abraham. There is no very satisfactory etymology of
this mythical patriarch’s name. Abram (Babylonian Ab-ramu) is
usually rendered “ high father,” that is to say, a deity like Brahmā.
Abraham is compared with the Arabic rahām, “ a host—a “ Lord of
Hosts” like Gānesa, or Yahveh. Hindus call a loving brother Rāmu.
The tablets of Esarhaddon’s days give such names as Abi-ramu and
Am-ramu. If we take the root to be Abr “ strong,” as in Abir a
“ bull ” or “ hero,” the m is only a suffix—as in Hebrew, Sabean, or
Babylonian speech. Some think this word connected with ’Abr (see
Gen. xiv, 13, and Exod. v, 3) ; for Abraham is especially called the
“ Hebrew,” and descendant of ’Eber, father of Peleg. Coming from
Padan-Aram he would naturally worship the “ high God ” (El-’Eliūn),
and seek his shrine at Ieru-salem (“ the abode of salvation ”). There
stood (no doubt) his symbol, a sacred stone (menhir or lingam) ; and
naturally he dedicated to this the agent of creation by circumcision,
swearing solemn oaths thereby, as we read that Abram and Isaac did
by what is euphemistically called the “ thigh.” See the Jewish World
(3rd April 1885), where the learned writer says: “ Abraham is a title
applied to the Creator only ” ; and if so, based on the root Bra “ create “
(Gen. i, 1).
Most Syrians and Arabs considered Abraham to be a Messiah ;
and prayers are still addressed to him (at his tomb in Hebron), as
Christians pray to Christ or to Mary. Abraham, as Ab-ram, “ the high
father,” was both a Malaki-ṣadī ḳ (Melchisedec), or “ King of righteousness,”
and a Shem—“ sign ” or “ mark.” Yet, says the Rev. Dr Cheyne
(Hibbert Lectures, 1892), “ Abraham must be given up as an historical
figure . . . some one must confess this truth, which ought, long ago,
to have found its way into our schools and colleges.”
This view is corroborated by the various widely different periods
assigned as the age of Abraham. The Samaritan and Greek Bibles say
he lived in 2605 B.C. Josephus said 2576, and the Vulgate, 2015 B.C.
Prof. Hommel (in 1896-7), says he “could not have lived earlier
than 1900 B.C.,” and Archbishop Ussher makes him 175 years
old in 1821 B.C. According to this Biblical chronology, he left Padan
Ararn in 1921 B.C. (see Bible), and went to Egypt on account of a
famine. But by Egypt we may understand the south of Palestine,
then perhaps an Egyptian province. Thence, about 1917 B.C., he
went to settle with Lot, “ towards Sodom.” In 1913 B.C. Chedorlaomer,
King of Elam, came, with ’Aniraphel, King of Shinar, Tidal king of
nations, and Arioch, King of Ellasar (Larsa), to quell a rebellion in
Eastern Palestine, which had been under Elam for twelve years.
The Biblical legend runs that Abraham (apparently 83 years old),
pursued this Babylonian army with three hundred and eighteen armed
retainers, defeating it, and taking the spoil and prisoners (Lot among
them), near Ḥ obah, “ north of Damascus.” This Hebrew fable, however,
enables us to test the dates. A tablet from Tell Lo ḥ (Revue Assyr. iv, p.
85, 1897), has been supposed to mention ’Amraphel (as Ḥ ammurabi),
with Arioch (Eriaku),and Tidal (Tudkhal), in which case Abraham would
live about the 22nd century B.C. [This translation is, however, rejected
by most specialists ; and the tablet is late, and probably refers to events
about 648 B.C.—ED.] Ḥ ammurabi (Kha-am-mu-ra-bi), is usually
supposed to have acceded in 2139 B.C. (the date given by Dr Peiser,
and by Col. Conder in his Hittites, p. 175). He ruled over “ the
west ” (Martu in Akkadian), like his successor Ammi-satana
(2034-2009 B.C.).
It has puzzled some commentators that Abraham went “ south ”
from Egypt on his way to Bethel [see Gen. xiii, 3. But the Hebrew
word so rendered is Negeb, a term applying to the “ dry ” country—as
the word means—near Beersheba.—ED.] The fatherland of Abraham
was at “ Ur of the Chaldees ” (Hebrew “ Ur of the Kasdīm ”), the later
Edessa, now Orfah. Ignoring this site, scholars have placed Ur at
Mugeiyer in Chaldea (near the mouth of the Euphrates), and have been
puzzled to explain why he went to Ḥ aran (near Edessa); but that
Ḥ aran was his fatherland, we see by his sending his confidential servant
there to seek a wife for Isaac. [The error is due to following the Greek
translation of Kasdīm by Khaldaioi (whom Herodotos mentions in
Babylon), and identifying them with the Kaldu, a people of Kaldea,
south of Babylon. Kasdīm appears to mean “ conquerors ” in Assyrian.—
ED.] The author of Acts vii, 2-4 calls Padan-Aram (Mesopotamia), the
“ land of the Ohaldeans.” Ṭ eraḥ called his youngest son also Ḥ aran ; and
there are still many legends of the patriarchs in this region—such as that
Orham, King of Or (Edessa), called Abram Ab-or-ham—reminding us of
Pater Orchamus (Ovid. Metam. iv, 212), the fabled son of Zeus, founder
of the empire of the Anatolian Mineans, who ruled Boiōtia and North
Greece from their capital Orkhomenos. M. Renan (Hist. Israel, i,
p. 63), even says, “Orham has lent his name, and several characteristic
traits, to the history of Abraham.”
Many years after the above was first written appeared the
valuable paper by Mr Hormazd Rassam, the old explorer of Nineveh
(Proc. Soc. Bib. Arch., February 1898), which proves that “ Ur of the
Ohaldees ” was Edessa, or Orfah. Cappadocia (Kappadokia) proves to
have been early entered by the Babylonians, who spread all over
North Syria. The name Khaldaioi (in the Septuagint) may thus be
connected with that of Khaldis on the Vannic inscriptions [applying
to a deity.—ED.]. From Ur, Ṭ era ḥ ’s family went to Ḥ aran, which is
only some two days’ journey from Edessa. In Judith (v, 6, 7), Jews
are called descendants of the Arameans, “a belief prevalent among all
Hebrews in Biblical lands at the present day” (Rassam). It is not
known, however, why the Septuagint translators changed the Hebrew
Kasdīm into “ Chaldeans.” According to Ezekiel (i, 3), the “ land
of the Kasdīm ” was by the River Chebar (or Khabūr River), a great
tributary of the Euphrates, one affluent of which rises in the Aram
or “ high land ” near to where Edessa is situated. It was the country
of Bal’aam (Deut. xxiii, 4), and was higher up the Euphrates than
Babylon, whereas Mugeiyer is near the mouth of that river, far below
Babylon. All this, and more, is ably set forth by Mr Rassam, who
only follows in the track of many other Oriental scholars.
In the Book Zohar (see Ḳ abbala) Abraham is called an “ incarnation
of love, mystery, and divine unity ” : he is symbolised by a pillar
(p. 41) as were Zeus, Yahveh, etc. He was the first to teach the
Ḳ abbala to Egypt, and received the mysteries “ from Noah, who
received them from Adam, who received them from God ” (Ginsburg’s
Zohar). Moses had personal intercourse with Abraham, as had most
legislators down to David and Solomon (p. 80). In the Book Jetzira
(“ Creation ”) the Ḳ abbala is called “ a monologue of Abraham,”
whereby he is induced to accept the true faith; and he is there said
to have invented writing and the Hebrew characters (p. 65). Elsewhere
he is described as a “ giant, a monster, having the strength of
seventy-four men, and requiring the food and drink of the same.”
The Arabian El Kindy (in our 8th-9th century) says, “ Abraham
lived seventy years in Ḥ aran, worshipping Al’Ozzah, who is still
revered in Arabia ” (see Royal Asiatic Society Journal, January 1882 ;
and Sir W. Muir’s El Kindy). He says that the inhabitants were
given to human sacrifice—which Abram wished to continue in
Palestine, whence the early rite of devoting the first-born to Yahveh.
The sacrifice of Isaac (or, as the Arabs say, of Ishm’ael) has now been
whittled down by Ezra-itic writers, who were evidently ashamed of it,
as making their God a bloodthirsty fiend, and their patriarch the
heartless murderer of his innocent boy. Tradition, and the persistence
of race barbarism, are however too strong for the would-be cleansers of
history ; and God and man still appear cruel and deceitful, while
multitudes still commemorate the half-enacted rite (see Sacrifice).
Abraham is represented as trying to hide his murderous purpose from
his son and servants by a lie, saying he would return with the child.
The deity doubts his sincerity till the knife is raised, when the wouldbe
murderer is lauded for wondrous “ Faith.” Faith in a God ?
—nay, in a dream. His God then promises him wealth, and offspring,
in abundance.
The sacrifice was originaJly commemorated in autumn, when
human sacrifices were common ; and what would be more orthodox
than that a great Sheikh, entering on a new land to found a colony,
should begin by offering his first-born to the god of the land ? Did
not the Christian Saint Columba bury his brother, St. Oran, in the
foundations of his church ? (Rivers of Life, ii, p. 340.)
Abraham, however, seems to have been anything but wealthy
when he died, possessing only the burial-place that he is said to have
purchased. He had given “ all he possessed ” to Isaac, and “ the
rest ” to numerous children by two stray wives. Islāmis say that he
travelled in both Arabia and Babylonia, but chiefly in Arabia ; and
that he assisted Ishm’ael in building the fourth shrine of Makka, and
in establishing the “ Black Stone ” (see our Short Studies, p. 539).
Hebrews and Arabs have reverently called him the Khalīl, or “ friend ”
of Allah (see Gen. xv, 17 ; Isaiah xli, 8).
Among arithmetical errors in the Bible is the statement that he
was born when Ṭ era ḥ was 70 years old, yet was 75 when (apparently)
Ṭ era ḥ died at the age of 205 years. He is also said not to have
known Yahveh, but only the tree gods—Āle-im or Elohim. He twice
dissembled to save his life by endangering his wife’s chastity, which
he seems to have valued little, as she lived some time in the harīms of
Pharaoh and Abimelek, who heaped riches on Abraham. It is untrue
to say that Sarah was “ without shame or reproach,” for Genesis
xii, 19 should read, “ she is my sister though I have taken her for
my wife.”
We shall not attempt to record the voluminous legends (in the
Talmud, etc.) concerning Abraham, of which the Old Testament does
not give a tithe. He is said to have visited Nimrod, and to have
converted him by the old feeble argument: “ Fire must not be worshipped
for water quenches it ; nor water because clouds carry this ;
nor clouds because winds drive them.” He might have added, “ Nor
Yahveh because we invented him.” According to other traditions,
Yahveh found great difficulty in calling (or killing) Abraham. He
sent the archangel Michael several times, to break the command to
Abraham as gently as possible : for the patriarch loved life. The
archangel—whom he fed—told his mission to Isaac, who tried to
explain it, deploring that both sun and moon (Abram and Sarah)
must ascend to heaven. The patriarch then accused Michael of
trying to steal away his soul, which he said he would never yield up.
The Lord then reminded him, by Michael, of all that he had done
for him ; and that, like Adam and others, he must die. Abraham
asked that he might first see “ all peoples and their deeds ” ; but,
when carried up in a chariot, he was so disgusted, by what he saw,
that he begged the earth might open and swallow all peoples. God
then shut his eyes lest they should all be destroyed, saying, “ I do not
wish it so, for I created all, and will only destroy the wicked.”
Abraham then saw a narrow road with few people on it, and a man
on a gold throne, “ terrible and like God,” though it was only Adam :
and again a broad road thronged with people, and with pursuing
angels. The man (or god) tore his hair and beard in sorrow, and
cast himself and his throne to the ground ; but, as people increased
on the narrow way, he rose rejoicing though “ in 7000 years only
one soul is saved.” The angels were scourging the wicked with
whips of fire ; and at the door of heaven sat one “ like the Son
of God,” though he was only Abel, having before him a table, and
a Bible twelve yards long and eight yards wide. He wrote down
the virtues and sins of all, and then weighed the souls (like Thoth).
The Lord had commanded Abel to judge all till the final judgment,
which is to be by the Son of God. Some souls were however set
aside as wanting an extra good deed, and “ Abraham prayed for such,
and the Lord saved them because of Abraham’s holiness.” He also
saved, at his request, all whom Abraham had cursed on earth. The
patriarch was then taken back to his house, to the great joy of his
family, and commanded to settle his worldly affairs, and to give up
his soul to Michael. This Abraham again refused to do; so the
Angel of Death was told to visit him—which he was very unwilling
to do. He was however commanded to disguise himself as a gentle
and beautiful spirit ; but he confessed to Abraham that he was the
“ poison of Death.” He argued long that he could not depart
without Abraham’s soul ; and he assumed many horrid forms, but
did not frighten the patriarch, who accused Death of killing even
boys and girls, and made him kneel down with him and pray for
their restoration. Death continued to torment the patriarch, who
was 175 years old ; and at last he slept on his bed, and kissed
Death’s hand, mistaking it for that of his son, so receiving “ the
poison of death.” Michael and innumerable angels “bore away his
pure soul, and placed it in the hands of the Lord ; and his body was
swathed in pure white linen, and buried in ‘ Dria the Black ’ or Elonē-
Mamre.” (From a Roumanian text, published by Dr Gaster, who
gives this interesting Apocalypse in the Transactions, Bib. Arch.
Soc., ix, 1.)
Abraxas. Abrasax. Abracadabra. Ablathanabla.
Abanathabla. Various terms on Gnostik charms—see Rivers of
Life, i, p. 511. [The translations are much disputed. Probably
they are Aramaic sentences: Abrak ha dabra, “ I bless the deed ” :
Ablaṭ ha nabla, “I give life to the corpse” : Abana thabla, “ Thou
our father leadest.”—ED.] The Persian sun-god was seen in the
Greek letters Abraxas, representing in numbers 365—the days of
the solar year. This word, placed on an amulet or seal, exorcised
evil spirits, and was eXplained by Semites as meaning Abra-Shedabara,
“go out bad spirit out” [or perhaps better, Abrak ha āsh, “I
bless the man.”—ED.] In Syria Abraxas was a form of Iao (Yahveh),
Mithras, Ṣ abaoth, or Adonis, figured as a lion-headed solar serpent
with a rayed glory (Rivers of Life, ii, p. 274) : or as a cock-headed
serpent, or the eastern serpent (Sesha) biting his own tail as Ananta
“ the Eternal.” In Egyptian Abrasax was thought to signify “hurt me
not ” ; and the pious Christian Marullus bequeathed to his children
an amulet, with this name on the one side, and a serpent on the
other, of jasper enclosed in a golden Bulla shaped like a heart—the
seat of emotions. Such bullæ are said to be the origin of the “ Sacred
Heart,” and to explain the name of Papal “ Bulls,” though these had
leaden “ seals ” later (Rivers of Life, ii, pp. 237-8). Such amulets
cured bodily pains, and averted the evil eye. We read of the
physician of Gordian II. as prescribing one for his patient (see King’s
Gnostics, pp. 105-6). Basilides the Gnostik is said to have invented
Abraxas, to denote the spirit presiding over the 365 days of the year.
But the radical idea was that of fecundity, for the image is found as
a bearded Priapus grasping his organ like Osiris.
