ZION 



6413 



ZODIACAL LIGHT 



ZI'ON. See JERUSALEM. 



ZI'ONIST MOVE'MENT, or ZI'ONISM, a 

 project among present-day Jews whereby they 

 aim to recover Palestine as a home for such 

 members of their race as are persecuted or 

 otherwise in distress among other nations. It 

 ua> first advocated by Theodore Herzl of 

 Vienna, and took form at an international 

 congress held at Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. 

 Herzl's plan was to obtain a charter from the 

 -ul tan granting privileges to Jews settled in 

 Palestine in return for the payment of an an- 

 nual sum. Since Herzl's death, however, in 

 1904, and the changed regime in Turkey, this 

 x-lieme has been abandoned, and Zionist ac- 

 tivities have been directed towards developing 

 the physical resources of Palestine and increas- 

 ing Jewish influence in that land. 



The first Zionist settlers were Russian and 

 Rumanian Jews, who, like other pioneers, suf- 

 fered many privations before their colonies 

 became established. After a generation, how- 

 ever, it may be said that the efforts at a dis- 

 tinctively Jewish nation have been moderately 

 -uccessful. At the outbreak of the War of the 

 Nations there were about forty self-governing 

 colonies, ranging in population from a few 

 families to 2,000 persons. Their organization is 

 democratic, and women have equal rights with 

 men. A guild of honor has been formed among 

 the young men for the protection of their 

 homes and crops against Arab outlaws. Crops 

 of oranges, olives, grapes and almonds and even 

 wheat have been raised and exported in consid- 

 erable quantities. School and banking sys- 

 tems are well established, and the old Hebrew, 

 long considered a dead language, has :i. 

 been made a living tongue. The war brought 

 complete cessation of business activity and 

 much hardship to the Palestine Jews, hut many 

 throughout the world look to its close as th* 

 opportunity for the race to obtain the real 

 nuht of possession in Palestine. Louis D. 

 Brandeis (which see) is one of the promoters of 

 Zionism in the United States. \t \ . 1 1 . 



Consult Jouberfs Aspects of the Jcwi*l< 

 tion; Waldfitein's The Jcwiah Question and th- 

 Mission of the Jews. 



ZITH'ER, a flat, stringed instrument with 

 a wooden frame and flat sounding board. The 

 instrument has from twenty-nine to forty-two 

 strings. When in use it is either placed upon a 

 table or on the knees ; the strings arc played by 

 In- rinlit hand, and in order to bring out. th. 

 melody more distinctly a tm talhr plectrum is 

 fitted on the thumb. The zither, the successor 



of the ancient cithara, is popular among the 

 peasants of Tyrol and of Southern Germany. 



THE ZITHER 



ZODIAC, zo'diak, the name given to a zone 

 among the stars extending 8 on each side of 

 the ecliptic, or path of the sun. The name is 

 derived from the Greek zoon, meaning a livimj 

 creature, and nearly all the constellations in 

 this zone are named after animals. From the 

 earliest known times it has been customary to 

 divide this zone into twelve portions, or pe- 

 riods. The Chinese divided the sun's course 

 into twelve parts, and named the divisions 

 Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Serpent, Horse, 

 Sheep, Monkey, Hen, Dog and Pig. This 

 same division was found among the Aztecs. 

 Hipparchus was the first to divide the zodiac 

 into twelve equal portions of 30 each, and his 

 methods have remained in use to the present 

 time. The idea of dividing the zodiac into 

 twelve parts probably originated with the 

 Chaldeans, and was suggested by the twelve 

 reappearances of the moon during tin- > 



Egyptian astronomers adopted the Greek 

 methods of division,, but changed tin 

 the zodiac to such living creatures as suited 

 them. The signs now employed are also based 

 on the Greek arrangement, and are as follows: 



Arirs 



Taurus 



Gemini 



Leo 

 Virgo 

 Libra 

 Scorpio 



Sagittarius 



THUS 

 Aquarius 

 PIMM 



(T) 

 (II) 



(HE) 



<V3) 



tin- K.iiii. 

 . thr Hull. 



the Twins, 

 the Crab, 

 the Lion. 

 the Virgin, 

 the Balance 

 i hi- Scorpion. 



the Goat. 



zr ) . the Water bearer 

 ( X ) . the Fishes. 



For descriptions of the signs an<i 

 tlonn. see art MOM relating to each; see. also, 

 ASTRONOMY KtM.irnc; CONSTELLATION. 



ZODIACAL, zodiak'al, LIGHT, a 

 shaped glow of nebulous light seen after twi- 

 light in thr . -veiling, or just before twilmht m 



