S. of Canaan, and in Hebron and Beersheba formed friendly relationships with the dwellers of the land (Gn 14. 2122). The story of Lot seems to indicate that the peoples of Ammon and Moab had originally belonged to the Heb. migration which was led by A., and, having separated themselves from their comrades, occupied the territory of the Rephaim, the Emim, and the Zamzummim (Dt 211. 19-21).

Again, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that some of the references to Ishmael and the allusion to Keturah contain an Isr. picture of the relationship of the Arabian tribes and clans to the Heb. stock rather than the record of personal history. The Egyp. origin of Hagar (Gn 161) and of Ishmael's wife (Gn 2121) will then indicate that the new settlers received into their community a considerable admixture of an Egyp. element at the time when they dispersed throughout N. Arabia. The fact that the sons of Nahor' (Gn 222)-24), ‘the sons of Ishmael' (Gn 2512-18), the sons of Edom' (Gn 3615-19), form groups of twelve, and that the sons of Keturah' thus form a half-group of six, is an additional sign of the probability that the record is not only that of the domestic life of a family, but also that of the political distribution of

a race.

While this consideration must modify the acceptance of a uniform literal historicity for the narrative of A., it is not incompatible with the view that in A. we have the great leader of a racial movement, and one who left his mark upon his fellow-tribesmen, not only by the eminence of his superior gifts, but by the distinctive features of his religious life, the traditional features of which were the devotion to one God, the abandonment of the polytheism of his ancestors, and the adoption of circumcision as the symbol of a purer cult.

iii. A. IN THE THEOLOGY OF OT.-The scattered reminiscences of the patriarchs were collected and compiled, even more for the purpose of illustrating the fundamental principles of the Isr. revelation than with the object of retailing any exhaustive biography.

The religion of Israel dates, according to OT, from A., not from Moses. A.'s servant addresses J" as the God of his master A. (Gn 2412); J" is to Isaac the God of A. (Gn 2624); to Jacob He is 'the God of A. and the fear of Isaac' (Gn 3142). A. never speaks of J" as the God of his fathers. A. is the founder of the religion; he is the head of the family which had J" for its God. There is no designation of the God of Israel which can go farther back to the origin of the Heb. faith than the often-repeated title the God of A.' (cf. Ps 479).

The story of A. reflects the belief in the free grace of God which chose the patriarch and brought him from a distant land, and in spite of his failures loved him and made His covenant with him. The call of A. and the promises made him thus represent the Election (exλoyń) of Israel. A. as the chosen servant is the prophet, the instrument of J's purpose (Gn 207). He is the friend of God (Is 418, 2 Ch 207. Cf. Arab. El-Khalil). God's mercies towards him are appealed to by the prophets of the Captivity (Is 512, Ezk 3324) as the ground of confidence that J" would not forsake the heirs of the promises made to A.

The unique relation in which A., in Isr. theology, stood to the God of revelation is indicated by the ref. of the prophets to A. as 'the one' (see Is 511. 2, Ezk 334, Mal 2). In the Bk of Sir, A. is spoken of as great father of a multitude of nations; and there was none found like him in glory; who kept the law of the Most High, and was taken into covenant with Him: in his flesh he established the covenant; and when he was proved he was found

faithful' (4419-20). In these words are summarised the chief points upon which the later Jewish literature esp. insisted in any reference to the life and character of A. He was the founder of the race; he was credited with a perfect knowledge of the Torah; he was the institutor of circumcision; he was tried, and in virtue of his faith was declared righteous.

iv. A. IN THE THEOLOGY OF NT.-In NT, A. is referred to in a variety of ways. The words of John the Baptist in Mt 39, Lk 38, and of St. Paul, Ro 97, rebuke the popular Jewish supposition that descent from A. carried with it any special claim upon divine favour. Our Lord speaks of A. as one with whom all the partakers of divine redemption shall be privileged to dwell (Mt 811); and as of one who is both cognisant of things on earth, and is also entrusted with the special charge over the souls of the blest (Lk 1622). Our Lord employs the imagery of current religious belief; A. is the typical representative of the righteous' who have been redeemed; he is the father of the faithful.' Hence He says (Jn 856), Your father A. rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad.' He obtained a vision of the meaning of the promises, and rejoiced in the hope of their future fulfilment. Christ was the consummation of all the aspirations of A., the father of the race. According to the Jewish tradition (Bereshith Rabba 44, Wünsche), A. saw the whole history of his descendants in the mysterious vision recorded in Gn 158 ff. Thus he is said to have rejoiced with the joy of the law' (Westcott on Jn 856).

The subject of the faith of A. seems to have formed a stock subject of discussion in the Jewish synagogue. It is alluded to in 1 Mac 252 Was not A. found faithful in temptation, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness?' The 'locus classicus' for the subject was Gn 156; and the question propounded by the Jewish teachers turned upon the nature of the faith which was counted to A. for righteousness. To Philo the whole history of A. was merely an allegory descriptive of the truly wise man whose inner nature is made one with the divine by teaching (didao kaλía), as Isaac's by nature (púσis), and Jacob's by discipline (ἄσκησις). In Philo's treatment of the subject, 'faith,' which frees the soul from the dominion of the senses, was the queen of virtues' (de Abrah. ii. p. 39); and Philo refers to Gn 156 at least 10 times (see Lightfoot, Gal. p. 158, and Ryle, Philo and Holy Scripture, p. 55) for the purpose of indicating the supreme excellence of A.'s faith.

Rabbinical Judaism did not adopt the symbolical and abstract explanation which satisfied the Alex. philosopher. It regarded A. as inseparable from A.'s seed, and the faith of A. as consisting in the fulfilment of the law.

Against this Rabbinic interpretation St. Paul directs his argument in Ro 41-8 and Gal 3. Faith with the apostle is the motive power of the whole spiritual life, and he lays stress on the fact that the mention of A.'s faith precedes the institution of circumcision. The faith of the patriarch was not due to the rite; it was only ratified and confirmed by it (cf. Ro 49-12 and the notes of Sanday and Headlam). The same subject comes under discussion in the Ep. of St. James; and there the apostle of the circumcision safeguards, as it were, the Christian position from a perversion of the Pauline teaching. With St. James the faith' of A. is not so much the motive power of spiritual life as the settled belief, the genuineness of which can only be tested by action (Ja 219, see Mayor, in loc.).

Yet another reference to A.'s faith is found in He 118-11, where the patriarch is described as having been enabled to work towards the fulfilment of

God's counsel by his trust in the unseen' (Westcott, in loc.). The three features of the patriarch's life which the writer of the Ep. selects for the illustration of this faith,' are (1) self-surrender, in the departure from his home (v.); (2) patience, in the pilgrim's expectation of a future abiding place (vv.919); (3) influence, since his faith, affecting Sarah's faith, led to the fulfilment of the promise (vv. 11. 12).

Later Jewish teaching, dwelling on the same theme, says, 'In like manner thou findest that A. our father inherited this world and the world to come solely by the merit of faith whereby he believed on the Lord' (Mechilta on Ex 1431).

V. JEWISH TRADITION.-It was natural that Jewish tradition should be busy with regard to the great founder of the people of Israel. From the fact that A. received the divine call in Ur of the Chaldees, and ur in Heb. meant flame,' the strange story was invented of his having been cast into a fiery furnace by Nimrod. This legend appears in various forms. One of the best known is that which is recorded in the Targ. of Jonathan on Gn 112 And it was when Nimrod had cast A. into the furnace of fire because he would not

worship his idol, and the fire had no power to burn him, that Haran's heart becamne doubtful, saying, If Nimrod overcome, I will be on his side; but if A. overcome, I will be on his side. And when all the people who were there saw that the fire had no power over A., they said in their hearts, Is not Haran the brother of A. full of divinations and charms, and has he not uttered spells over the fire that it should not burn his brother? Immediately there fell fire from the high heavens and consumed him; and Haran died in sight of Terah his father, where he was burned in the land of his nativity, in the furnace of fire which the Chaldæans had made for A. his brother' (Etheridge's tr.).

Another version of the story appears in Bereshith Rabba, where A. refuses to obey Nimrod's command that he should worship fire; and suggests that it would be more reasonable to worship water that quenches fire, or the clouds that give the rain, or the wind that drives the clouds; finally, he exhorts Nimrod to worship the one God. Nimrod causes A. to be thrown into a fiery furnace; but God delivers him from its flames. For other instances of the Rabbinic treatment of A.'s life, see Weber, System der Altsynagog. Palästin. Theologie, Leipzig, 1880. In Pirke Abhoth (v. 4) it is said, With ten temptations was A. our father tempted, and he withstood them all; to show how great was the love of A. our father.' For the ways in which the Rabbins reckoned up these ten temptations, see Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, p. 94.

The facts that A. came from Haran, that he won his victory at Hobah, near Damascus (Gn 1415), and that his servant was a native of Damascus (Gn 152), seem to have given rise to the legend that A. conquered Damascus. So Josephus relates that Nicolaus of Damascus,' in the 4th book of his history, says thus: A. reigned at Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land of Babylon... Now the name of A. is even still famous in the country of Damascus; and they show a village named after him, The habitation of A.' (Ant. 1. vii. 2). A.'s native country having been Chaldæa, he was credited by the Jews with a knowledge of secret arts and magic (cf. Philo, de præm. et pæn.; Jos. Ant. 1. vii.); and Josephus records the tradition that A. first introduced into Egypt the knowledge of arithmetic and astrology which he had brought with him from Chaldæa (Ant. 1. viii.).

For the preservation of these and other legends, see Cod. pseudepigr. Vet. Text., J. A. Fabric., tom. 1 (1722), and Beer, Leben Ab.(1859). The Testament of A. (first ed. by James. 'Texts and Studies,' Caib. 1892) deserves especial mention as an apocr.

VOL. 1.-2

(apparently of Egyp. origin) of apocalyptic character, first mentioned by Origen, Legimus... justitia et iniquitatis angelos super Abrahami salute et interitu disceptantes, etc. (In Le. Hom. 35), and recently brought before the notice of students in a most interesting form by the learned editor.

vi. THE NAME ABRAHAM.'-The attempts to discover the etymology of this name can hardly as yet be said to have been successful. According to one very prob. explanation, Abram represents a contracted form of Abiram or Aburam, just as 'Abner' probably stands for Abiner' or 'Abuner'; while Abraham may have been a local, or an Aramaic, dialectical variety of pronunciation. Abiram was a fairly common name (cf. Nu 161-12 269, 1 K 1634) in Heb.; and it is said to be a recognised form of Abu-ramu (so Schrader and Sayce). The proper name in the Assyr. Inscriptions, under the analogy of other proper names, like Abi-melek, Abiel, Abi-jah, makes it exceedingly doubtful whether the name Abram can rightly bear the meanings traditionally assigned to it, Lofty father,' or 'the father of the lofty one.' For (1) it stands to reason that no child, however lofty its descent, would have been called father,' or 'the father of a god, whether Melech, or Jah, or Ram; (2) the feminine names Abi-gail, Abi-tal, show the impossibility of this explanation. Probably, therefore, the right meaning of the name is Ram (the lofty one) is father,' as Hiram would mean Ram is brother,' of the owner of the name. Even so, the origin of the longer name Abraham remains still unexplained. The derivation of the name in termination -raham with the Heb. multitude.' Gn 175 is only a popular word-play, connecting the Halévy (Rev. Et. Juiv. 1887, p. 177) ventured to propose that Abraham represents chief of a multitude,' the first part of the name being derived, not from ab, father,' but from abir, 'chief,' and the second part from ham (root hamah), 'multitude. For this theory there does not appear to be much probability. The deriv. of the longer name must be left uncertain, although the most likely explanation of it is to be found in the variant pron. of proper names in different localities or in different clans of the same people. Thus may be a dialectical form of on; and Abraham the same in meaning as Abram, just as Abiram is the same Baethgen, Beiträge zur Sem. Rel. Gesch.). in meaning as Abram (cf. Oxf. Heb. Lex. p. 4, and

the

LITERATURE. Besides the works mentioned above, the reader is referred to the Comm. on Genesis by Delitzsch, and Dillmann; to the Histories of Israel by Ewald, Reuss, and Kittel; to the works on OT Theology by Oehler, Schultz, and Dillmann. For illustration from Assyr. sources, see Sayce, Patriarchal Pal. (1895); Tomkins, Times of Abraham (1878): Schrader, COT2 (1985). H. E. RYLE.

ABRAHAM, BOOK OF.-A work, consisting of 300 σrixo, bearing this name, is found in a list of Jewish apocryphal writings, preserved from a much earlier period, in an appendix to the Chronographia Compendiaria of Nicephorus (c. 800 A.D.). This list is printed in Credner's Gesch. des Kanons, 1847, as well as in Schürer's HJP II. iii. 126. The socalled Synopsis Athanasii presents the same list, omitting, however, the number of orixo, which is attached to each book in the Stichometry of Nicephorus. It is likely that this is the book from which Origen quotes as to a contest between the angels of righteousness and iniquity with regard to the salvation of Abraham (In Luc. Hom. 35); and James is prob. correct in identifying this Book with the Testament of A. (Texts and Studies, ii. 2, p. 27 ff.). An Apoc. of À. is mentioned by Epiphanius as used by the Ophites.

J. T. MARSHALL. ABRAHAM'S BOSOM.-A term used of the abode of the righteous dead, defining it as a position of blessedness in intimate association with the father of the faithful, the friend of God.' In Scripture

mitted to approach the presence of the king. This unnatural ondition of things continued for two years, when A. applied to Joab to use his interest at court to procure a full reconciliation. David's general had, however, for some reason become less hearty in the matter, and declined even to meet A., until the latter resorted to the expedient of ordering his servants to set fire to Joab's barley field. When the owner of the field came in person to demand an explanation of this injury, he was at length persuaded to intercede with the king on behalf of his son, and his mediation proved successful. It is easy to conceive that David, by his injudicious mingling of leniency and severity, had completely forfeited the confidence of his son, and it was doubtless from this occasion onwards that A. began to hatch the plot that proved fatal to him, and which has gained for his name an unenviable immortality. He took advantage of a misunderstanding that seems to have existed between David and the men of Judah, and set himself sedulously to gain the confidence and affection of all visitors to the court. In particular, those who came to have matters of law decided were flattered by the attentions of the heir-apparent, who also was careful to drop hints that the king might do far more to expedite the administration of justice, and that if he (Absalom) were only judge, a very different state of things would be inaugurated. Thus he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.' He was greatly helped in the accomplishment of his scheme by the extraordinary personal charms he possessed (2 S 145-27).

How long this preparatory stage lasted is uncertain. The forty years of 2 S 157 manifestly cannot be correct, and should perhaps be read four years. When at length he judged that the time was ripe for the execution of his rebellious enterprise, A. obtained leave of absence from his father, on pretence of having to go to Hebron to pay a vow he had made during his sojourn in Geshur. His emissaries were at work throughout the whole land, preparing for a general rising, and his adherents became daily more numerous. At the very outset he gained over David's famous counsellor Ahithophel the Gilonite, who may have had reasons of his own for deserting the king (see BATHSHEBA). So alarming were the reports which reached David, that he resolved to abandon the capital and save himself and his household by flight to the eastern Jordanic territory. He was accompanied by the faithful Cherethites and Pelethites, to whom were added on this occasion a body of Gittites who had probably formed part of David's followers in the old days at Ziklag. The offer of Zadok and Abiathar to accompany him with the ark was declined, and Hushai the Archite was also directed to remain at Jerusalem and do his utmost to defeat the counsel of Alithophel. Upon Absalom's arrival in Jerusalem, Hushai played the part of rebel so skilfully that he gained the complete confidence of the aspirant to the throne. Alithophel first of all counselled A. to take a step which would make the breach between him and his father irreparable (2 S 162-23), and then advised that prompt measures should be taken to pursue and destroy David before he could rally around him any considerable number of troops. Hushai counselled delay and cautious measures, and his advice was followed, to the chagrin of Ahithophel, who, seeing that all was lost, went and set his house in order and hanged himself. The two sons of Zadok and Abiathar were despatched by Hushai with intelligence to David of what had transpired at Jerusalem. The young men were hotly pursued, and narrowly escaped capture, but evading their pursuers by stratagem reached David, who the same night with his whole company passed over

Jordan. At Mahanaim, Barzillai the Gileadite and others supplied him liberally with provisions. Ere long a sufficient number of troops was assembled to justify the king in joining battle with the forces of A., which by this time had also passed the Jordan. The decisive battle was fought in the wood of Ephraim.' David, yielding to the wish of his supporters that he should not expose his life by taking the field in person, arranged his army in three divisions, commanded respectively by Joab, Abishai, and Ittai the Gittite. To each of these three generals he gave the charge, 'Deal gently, for my sake, with the young man, even with Absalom.' From the very first the tide of battle set strongly against the rebel army, which lost heavily in the engagement, and still more heavily in its retreat through the forest. Absalom himself was hurried by his mule under an oak, and becoming entangled by the head in the fork of a branch, hung defenceless. In this situation he was discovered by a soldier, who at once informed Joab. The royal general, who appreciated the situation more justly than his master, unhesitatingly pierced the hapless youth to the heart. Having thus disposed of the rebel leader, Joab recalled his troops from the pursuit of the vanquished army. news of the issue of the battle was brought to David, he forgot everything else in grief at his son's death, and exclaimed again and again, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!' This conduct, natural enough from one point of view, might have had serious results but for the sturdy common-sense of Joab, who pointed out that the king had to think of his soldiers as well as his son. The remonstrance was sufficiently rough in its expression, yet David recognised its wisdom, and, stifling his emotion for the time, came out and thanked his troops for their gallant service in the field. A. was buried near the scene of his death, and the spot was marked by a great heap of stones. According to 2 S 14 he had three sons, and a daughter named Tamar. The latter is with much probability identified with Maacah of IK 152, the wife of Rehoboam (cf. 2 S 33, 2 Ch 110.). The sons must have predeceased their father, or else a different tradition is followed in 2 S 18, where we are told that A. had no son.

When

The story of Absalom forms part of the section 2 S 9-20 and 1 K 1-2, which, with the exception of a few passages, comes from a single pen. its dominating aim is to trace the progress of Solomon to the throne. Hence it has to explain how the three sons of David who seemed to have superior claims, Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah, failed to secure the succession. The style is bright and flowing, the descriptions are graphic, and, with all the writer's evident partiality for David and Solomon, the historical character of these chapters, down even to the minutest details, is established by proofs that are amongst the strongest in the O.T.

LITERATURE.-Driver, Introduction, p. 172f.; Budde, Richter u. Samuel, pp. 247-255; Wellhausen, Composition des Hexateuchs, etc., pp. 258-263, also Hist. of Isr. and Jud. 50f.

J. A. SELBIE. ABSALOM IN APOCR. ('Αβεσσάλωμος, ̓Αγάλωμος A).-1. A. was the father of Mattathias, one of the captains who stood by Jonathan the Maccabee when the main part of his army fled at the beginning of a battle against the Syrians at Hazor in Northern Galilee (1 Mac 117=Jos. Ant. XIII. v. 7). It is perhaps the same Absalom whose son Jonathan was sent by Simon the Maccabee to secure Joppa after his brother Jonathan had been imprisoned by Tryphon (1 Mac 13"-Jos. Ant. XIII. vi. 4). 2. According to 2 Mac 11, one of two envoys sent by the Jews to Lysias when he began to treat with them for peace after his defeat at Bethsuron

ABUNDANCE.-This word is used with great freedom in AV, translating about twenty Heb. and nearly as many Gr. words. Each occurrence should be considered in relation to the orig. word. Here it is necessary only to draw attention to the obs. use of a. to signify superfluity: Mk 124 All they did cast in of their a.' (RV superfluity,' Gr. To repoσevov, as opp. to vσrépnois, 'deficiency,' said of the widow; so Lk 21'); Ps 105 Their land brought forth frogs in a.' (RV 'swarmed with frogs,' Heb. ; so Ex 83, and cf. Gn 120.21 97); 2 Co 127 through the a. of the revelations' (Gr. værepßon, RV 'exceeding greatness').

J. HASTINGS.

ABUSE, ABUSER. - 1. In NT abuse is used twice (as tr. of κатaxрáoμaι) when the meaning is not a. but use to the full' regardless of consequences (see Thayer, N.T. Lex.): 1 Co 731 "Those that use the world as not abusing it' (RV m. using it to the full); 918 that I a. not my power in the gospel' (RV so as not to use to the full my right in the gospel'). 2. In OT a. is found thrice (as tr. of hy) with a person as object. In 1 S 31 and 1 Ch 10 the meaning is insult or dishonour, as in Milton, Sam. Ag. i. 36

'I, dark in light, exposed

To daily fraud, contempt, abuse, and wrong.' But in Jg 1925 it is the old sense of defile or ravish: They knew her, and abused her all the night.' Cf. Fordyce, Serm. to Young Women (1767): He that abuses you, dishonours his mother.' Hence in 1 Co 6 dpσevоKоirns, 'one that lies with a male,' is trd abusers of themselves with mankind' (RV 'men'); and RV gives the same tr. at 1 Ti 110.

J. HASTINGS.

ABYSS.-The translation (in RV, not in AV) of Burgos, a word compounded from a intensive and Buoobs, Ionic form of Bulbs, depth (2 Co 1125), and connected (see Curtins) with Babus, deep, and the Eng. bath; primarily and classically an adj. very deep, or even bottomless; applied to the yawning gulfs of Tartarus (Eur. Phoen. 1605) and, metaph., to a sea of calamity (Asch. Suppl. 470): in profane Greek used as a subst. by Diog. Laert. only (iv. 5. 27), on an epitaph, the black abyss of Pluto.' (Comp. Job 4123 LXX Tòv Táрrapov Ts άBúσrov.) Once (perhaps twice) in LXX it is an adj. (Wis 1019 the bottomless deep of the Red Sea: possibly also Job 361% metaph.boundless): elsewhere, LXX, NT, and eccl. Gr., a subst.; in LXX the trans., with few exceptions, of těhôm, the tumultuous water-deep (some thirty times), and, once each, of mězúlah, sea-deep (Job 41), of zulah (Is 44%), the deep flood (of Euphrates) and of rahabh, spacious place (Job 3616 if subst.). Primarily in LXX it signifies (with tehom) the waters beneath, by which the earth was at first covered (Gn 12, Ps 1046-9), but on which it was afterwards made to rest (Jon 26; see Ps 24°), and

from which its springs and rivers welled up (Gn 711 4925, Dt 87: cf. Rev 91 ppéap). Not unnatur ally it denoted also the upper seas and rivers connected with the subterraneous waters (Ps 1072 106), the original notion of tumultuousness in těhôm (Ps 427) being overlaid by that of depth in aBurgos (Sir 24, Jon 26, P's 367). Secondarily, from the notion of subterraneousness and depth, it is the place after death, but is never in LXX the actual translation of Sheol (though this etymologically depth, Ps 710; cf. Ps 8613); in this sense, apparently, it is not justifiable to eliminate altogether the connotation of raging waters. [Comp. the contrast with heaven in Gn 711 (πnyai áßúσσov) with that in Ps 139 (Sheol) and in Ro 107 (ǎBurgos); also Job 412 LXX, and Job 265.6 (üdaros).] The relation to Sheol, with its dull, shadowy monotony and even misery, coupled with the OT idea of Sheol as a pit dungeon (Is 24), and with pre-NT apocalyptic usage (Enoch 1013 chasm of fire; 21 prison of the angels; 1811 abyss), prepared for the NT use of the word. It occurs only twice outside Rev: in Ro 10 it is simply the abode of the dead; in Lk 81 it is the prison destined for evil spirits. In seven passages of Rev (chs. 9. 11. 17. 20) it is a prison in which evil powers are confined (2013), and out of which they can at times be let loose (117 178), but is not the lake of fire (2010); nor is Satan regarded as himself cast into this prison, but only to be so cast (2012) for 1000 years. J. MASSIE.

ACACIA.-See SHITTIM.

ACCABA (Β 'Ακκαβά, Α Γαβά, AV Agaba), 1 Es 530.-His descendants returned among the temple servants' under Zerubbabel. Called Hagab (245), Ezr 2; Hagaba, Neh 78.

ACCAD, ACCADIANS.—Accad (or Akkad), with Babel, Erech, and Calneh, was one of the chief cities in the land of Shinar. These four constituted the beginning of the kingdom of Nimrod (Gn 101). The LXX reads 'Apxád. The Bab.-Assyr. inscriptions are the source of all our information on this name. It was at first supposed that Akkadú, occurring so frequently in the inscriptions in connexion with Sumer, referred only to a district or province. But it is now known that there was a city of that name (Hilprecht, Freibrief Neb. i. col. ii. 1. 50). Its form is

and is read al Akkad (or 'non-Sem.' Aqade), city of Accad, the name under which the city was for long centuries known. It was the residence of the first historical ruler of all Babylonia, Sargon I., whose activity dates from 3800 B.C., according to the statement of Nabonidus (555-538 B.C.), an inscrip. tion discovered in 1881 on the site of Sippar. Frequent references to two Sippars, Sippar of the Sun-god' and 'Sippar of Anunit,' indicate some strange fortunes in connexion with this site. The worship of Ishtar of Accad was replaced by that of Anunit of Sippar. In very early times Sippar was the chief seat of sun-worship, and Accad of Ishtar worship. Gradually there was a political absorption, and all references seem to justify the assumption that of those two cities lying close together, Sippar with its Sun-god became the more powerful, and practically absorbed Accad. The worship of Ishtar, however, did not lose its identity, but was continued under the name of Sippar of Anunit (McCurdy, Hist. Prophecy and the Monuments, § 94). It is possible, but still unproved, that the city of Accad lay opposite tc Sippar on the left bank of the Euphrates. Its exact site is a matter of doubt, but it is thought to have been located near Abu-habba, about fifteer