ABULFEDA ABYSSINIA. 



ABUI.FEDA; known by Uie name Ismael, prince of 

 I lamah, In Syria, surnamed the victorious king and 

 (hv. pillar of religion. This Arabian, famous as an 

 historian and geographer, was born at Damascus, in 

 the year of the Hegira 672, A.D. 1273. He sprung 

 from the family of the Ayubites, which had already 

 given birth to the famous Saladin, and was renown- 

 ed for the valour of its members. While a youth, 

 he distinguished himself in various campaigns, troin 

 his uncle he inherited the principality ot Hamah ; . 

 but, on account of a quarrel with his brother, he did 

 not come into possession of it for several years ; after 

 which he remained undisturbed therein till his death, 

 in the year of the Hegira 732, A.D. 1333. All 

 writers who ritention him represent him as a prince 

 of the greatest talents, equally remarkable for cou- 

 rage and coolness in war, and for wisdom in council. 

 Amid the cares of government, he devoted himself 

 with zeal to study, drew the learned around him, and 

 rendered his power and wealth subservient to the 

 cause of science. He was well acquainted with his- 

 tory, jurisprudence, medicine, botany, mathematics, 

 and astronomy, and has bequeathed to us the fruits 

 of his long inquiries in several valuable works, of 

 which his history of the human race, and his geogra- 

 phy, entitled The true Situation of Countries, are the 

 most famous. We have several partial translations 

 and editions of them. viz. of the historical works, 1st, 

 Annales Moslemici Arab, et Lot. Op. ct Stud. Reis- 

 kii, L789 94, 5 vols. 2nd, De Vita et Rebus gestis 

 Mohammedis, ed. Gagnier, 1723, to which Schul- 

 tens has annexed an appendix. For portions of his 

 geography, we are indebted to Graevius, Reiske, 

 Muratori, Michaelis, Rink, Eichhorn, Rosenmuller, 

 Paulus, and Rommel. Abulfeda's own manuscript is 

 at Paris. He is a trust-worthy author, and his style 

 is good. 



ABYDOS ; an ancient city of Asia, on the eastern 

 side of the Dardanelles, famous for the bridge of 

 boats, which Xerxes is related to have thrown here 

 across the Hellespont, and for the loves of Hero and 

 Leander. This city defended itself with great cou- 

 rage against Philip of Macedon. Another Abydos 

 was an ancient town of Upper Egypt, which con- 

 tained the palace of Memnon, and the celebrated 

 temple of Osiris built by Osymandyas. Under Au- 

 gustus, the town was reduced to ruins, but to the 

 west of it, in the present village of El-Berbi, mag- 

 nificent ruins are still found. 



ABYLA ; a mountain in Africa, one of the pillars of 

 Hercules, as they were anciently called ; being di- 

 rectly opposite to Calpe, (now Gibraltar) in Spain, 

 from which it is distant only 18 miles. Between 

 these mountains are the straits of Gibraltar. 



ABYSSINIA ; an extensive kingdom of Africa, 

 bounded on the east by the red sea, on the north by 

 Senuaar, on the west and south partly by Sennaar 

 and Cordofan, and partly by vast and barbarous re- 

 gions, of which the names have scarcely reached us. 

 Pinkerton makes Abyssinia 770 miles in length, and 

 560 in breadth. The number of inhabitants is from 

 4 to 5 millions, the greater part of whom are of Ara- 

 bian extraction, mixed with Jews, Turks, and Ne- 

 groes. The ancients called this country, and some 

 of the parts adjacent, in a peculiar sense, Ethiopia. 

 They also gave the same name, indefinitely to the 

 interior of Africa, and even to a great part of Asia. 

 The Ethiopian kingdoms, of which the ancients liad 

 any distinct knowledge, were two. The first, and 

 the only one known to the earliest writers, is Meroe, 

 or the peninsula, which they supposed to be an island, 

 formed by the successive union of the Nile with the 

 Asteborus and the Astapus, (Blue River and 

 Tacazze.) The chief city of Meroe was placed by 

 there on the Nile, in lat. 16 26'; and Bruce <a\v 



near Chendi, in Sennaar, immense ruins, which 

 probably belonged to this ancient capital. The 

 other kingdom was not known until the Greeks, un- 

 der the successors of Alexander, had extended 

 their navigation along the easteni coast of Africa. 

 It was that of the AxumiUe, situated upon the 

 Red sea, and occupying part of the Abyssinian 

 province of Tigre. The capital, Axum, still re- 

 mains, though in a state of decay. Its port, Adulis, 

 was the channel by which the finest ivory then 

 known was exported, and a commercial intercourse 

 maintained with the coasts both of the Red sea and 

 the Indian ocean. The Abyssinians boast that 

 their country was the Sheba of Scripture, and that 

 it was converted to J udaism several centuries be- 

 fore the Christian era. It is much more certain, 

 that, prior to the middle of the fourth century, the 

 nation was converted to Christianity, which it has 

 ever since professed. This is, however, more 

 tinctured with Judaism than among other nations. 

 Boys and girls, are circumcised ; the Mosaic laws 

 in regard to clean and unclean meats are respected ; 

 the seventh day is their Sabbath, and their altars 

 have the form of the ark of the covenant. In their 

 dogmas, they follow the Monophysitic doctrine. 

 (See Monophy sites.) In the church service they use 

 the Bible, with the apocryphal books, in the Tigre 

 or Gheez language, which is their language of liter- 

 ature. Baptism and the Eucharist are administered 

 according to the ritual of the Greek church, of which 

 they have all the festivals and fasts. It is, however, 

 peculiar to the Abyssinians, that persons of rank re- 

 ceive larger pieces of bread at the Lord's supper, 

 and that no one is admitted to it before his 25th 

 year, because they pretend that no one is account- 

 able for sin before that age, and tliat all who die 

 prior to it are sure of salvation. They consider the 

 bodies of the dead as unclean, and hasten their in- 

 terment. Their small, round, conical churches 

 stand on hills, near running water, surrounded by 

 cedars, and are full of pictures. During the ser- 

 vice every body is obliged to stand, as in the Greek 

 churches. The shoes are left at the door, and pass- 

 ing 1 horsemen must dismount. The service, like that 

 orthe Greek church, consists in reading parts of the 

 Bible and praying. The clergy, who are very igno- 

 rant, generally marry, and are distinguished by a cross, 

 which they offer to passengers to be kissed. The 

 head of the Abyssinian church is called Alnma, 

 (our father,) and is generally taken from the Coptic 

 priests, as the Abyssinians and the Copts keep up a 

 communication with each other in Cairo. Under 

 the abuna are the kamosats, or the chief priests of 

 the secular clergy, the learned theologians and 

 monks. The latter pretend to be of the order of 

 St Augustine, and are divided into two classes. 

 The'members of the one, living unmarried, reside in 

 wealthy convents ; those of the other, with their 

 wives and children, live around the churches, sup- 

 ported by agriculture. Botli sorts, as well as the 

 numerous nuns, travel about the country, trade in the 

 markets, and do not appear scrupulously observant 

 of their vow of chastity. The Abyssinian clergy have 

 neither a particular dress nor peculiar privileges. A , 

 is now divided into three separate states, Tigre, 

 Amhara, and Efat. The negus, or negush, as the 

 king of all A. was called before its division, lives at 

 Gongar, in Amhara, enjoying only a nominal sove- 

 reignty, and watched by the chief of that stele- 

 The pope has several times attempted to gain over 

 A. An opportunity of reducing the Abyssinians to 

 the Roman church was offered by their war with 

 the Turks, in which the regent Helena sought assis- 

 tance for David II., the minor negus, from the 

 Portuguese, 1516. In 1520, a Portuguese fleet, 



