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grandfon ; and at his deceafe committed the care of Iiim to 

 [lis Ion Abu Tiileb, who w;is the guide and guardian of his 

 youth. The hfc of Abdul MataUch is faid to have been 

 prolonged to tlie age of no years ; and he was the fatlicr 

 of (ix daughters and thirteen fons. 



ADDALONYMUS, defoended from king Cinyras, and 

 of the royal family of Sidon, lived in obfcurity, and fub- 

 filled by cultivating a garden, when Strato had pofTellion of 

 the crown of Sidon. Alexander the Great liaving depofed 

 Strato, wifhed to rellore the race of Cinyras, and Ir.iving 

 found Abdalonymus, he was convinced of his hii;h dcfccut by 

 the apparent dignity of his perion. Interrogating hiiu how he 

 bore his poverty, Abdalonymus replied, " I with I may bear 

 " my new condition as well. Thefe hands have fupplied my 

 " necelTities. I have h^d nothing, and 1 have wanted no- 

 " thing." Alexander was fo nuich pleafed with this reply, 

 that, befides bellowing upon him what belonged to Strato, 

 he augmented his dominions, and gave him a large prefent 

 out of the Perfian fpoils. 



ABDALS, in the Eaftern countries, a kind of faintu 

 fuppofed to be inlpired to a degree of madnefs. The word 

 comes, perhaps, from the Arabic ahdalLih, the fervant of 

 God. The Perlians call them ilevanch l-hoda, agreeably to 

 the Latin way of fpeaking of their prophets and libyls, q. d. 

 furenles Deo, raging tuifh (hn God. 



TheAbdalsare often carried by excefs of zeal, efpecially 

 in the Indies, to run about the ftreets, and kill all they 

 meet of a diiferent religion. The EngUlh failors call this 

 running a muk, from the name of the inllniment, a fort of 

 poignard, employed on this occallon. D'Herbel. Bib. Or. p. 5. 



ABDELAVI, in Botany, an Egyptian plant very like a 

 melon, except that the fruit is more oblong, and acute at 

 the extremities. 



ABDELEUR, in Geography, an ifland in Africa, fituate 

 in the countiy of Anian, in the Indian Sea. N. lat. 11° 

 55'.. E. long. 51 '^ 45'. 



ABDERA, or Addara, in yfndent Geography, a town 

 of Bcctica in Spain, a Phoenician colony ; now yldra or Ala- 

 dra, to the well of Almeira in Granada. 



Abdera, a maritime town of Thrace, not far from 

 the mouth of the river Neftus, on the eaft. fide. So- 

 linus fays, that Abdera was founded by the filler of 

 Diomedes, and took her name ; but Stephanus (de Urb. 

 torn. I. p. 5.) aicribes the name to Abderus, one of the 

 companions of Hercules, who was devoured by the fa- 

 bulous horfes of Diomedes. Herodotus (lib. I. p. 168.) 

 informs us, that Timefius, the Clazomenian, attempted to 

 lay the foundation of it, but he was prevented by the Thra- 

 cians from accomplifhing his purpofe. The Teians afterwards 

 fucceeded and fettled in this place, in order to avoid the 

 contumely of the Perfians, which gave occafion to its being 

 called Abdera pulehra Tejorum colonin, fignifying, that brave 

 men will live any where rather than fuffer oppreffion and ler- 

 viiude. To this laying fome fuppofe that Cicero alludes in 

 his epillles to Atticus, lib. 4. 7. The horfes that fed on 

 the grafs in the neighbourhood of this city were feized with 

 madnefs, according to Pliny (Hill. Nat. torn. 2. p. 374. Ed. 

 Hard.) In the reign of CafTander, king of Macedon, it wna 

 fo infefted with frogs and rats that the inhabitants were 

 obliged, for a time, to quit it. The Ahderites were for fome 

 months, in the reign of L^'fimachus, afflifted with a fingular 

 difeafe. It was a kind of burning fever, according to the 

 delcription of it given by Lueian, (Op. torn. 2. p. i. Ed. 

 Reitz. ) which came to a crifis on the feventh day. During its 

 continuance, the imaginations of thofe who were feized with 

 it were diftrafted, and they fancied themfelves players ; and 

 they continued reciting verfes from fome tragedy, particu- 



VoL. I. 



larly out of the Andromeda of Euripides, till the cokl of 

 winter terminated their delirium. Of the caufe of this dif- 

 eafe Eucian gives the following account. Archelaiis per- 

 forrned the tragedy of Andromeda before tlie Abdcritcs in a 

 very hot fummer ; feveral perfons were attacked with the 

 fever on their leaving the theatre ; and their imaginations 

 being fully pofleflcd vvith the dramatic incidents which iiad 

 been exhibited, tliey could not forbear imitating Archelau..'s 

 a6lion and declamation : and from them the fever was 

 communicated to others by infe£lion. 



The Abderites were reproached for want of wit and judg- 

 ment ; neverthelefa many eminent peifons, as Protagoras, 

 Democritus, Anaxarchus, Hecataius thejhitlorian, Kicxne- 

 tus the poet, and i«veral others, were boni in this cily. It 

 was formerly famous for its gold and filver mines ; but it in 

 now reduced to a mean place, on the Aichipelago, called 

 Polyllilo, Afperofa, and Al?rizzo. There was another 

 city of the fame name in Iberia, bulk by the Phanicians, 

 and now c;Jled Alineria. 



ABDERAHMA, Audirachman, or Ar.nAi.p.AiiMAN, 

 a Saracen viccrov in Spain, who revolted and itmned an in- 

 dependent principality at Cordova. He had feveral fuccef- 

 fors of the iame name. 



A viceroy and captain-general of this name led the Sara- 

 cens and their followers into France, ravaging the country 

 wherever they came ; but at length he was met at Touvs 

 by Charles Martel, v.'ho had been reinforced by a body of 

 Germans and Gepidx ; and, after many (Ivirmiflies, a gene- 

 ral aftion took place, in which the Saracen army was totally 

 defeated, and y/ZY/errt/ima was killed, with 370,000 Moors. 

 This great event, which firll broke the Saracen power, and 

 taught the Europeans that they were not invincible, is placed 

 by moll writers in the year 732, Heg. 114. Mariana (Hid. 

 Spain, 1. 7. c. 2.) dates this battle in the year 734, twenty- 

 one years after the conqueft of Spain. 



ABDERANA. See Ariana. 



ABDl'^ST, among the Mahometans, a peculiar manner 

 of wafliing, before prayer, entering the molque, or reading 

 the Afcoran ; pradlifed with fome difference both by Turks 

 and Perfians. The word is compounded of the Perfian abf 

 •water, and dejl, hand. 



K&'Dlh.'Si oi Babylon, in Biography, a legend-writer, who 

 had the effrontery to boaft, that he had feen Chrift, was one 

 of the 70 difciples, had been eye-witnefs of the aftions and 

 prayers of feveral of the apoilles at their death, and had fol- 

 lowed St. Simon and St. Jude into Perfia, by whom he had been 

 made the firll billiop of Babylon. But his forgery is eafily de- 

 tefted ; as he mentions Hegefippus and Jul. Africanus, one 

 of whom hved about 130 and the other 221 years after 

 our Lord's afcenfion. plis book, intitled Hijloria Certaminis 

 Apojlolici, was publilhed by Wolfgang Lazius at Bafil, in 

 1 55 1, and has paffed through feveral editions in other places. 

 It may be feen, with notes, in Fabr. Codex. Apocr. N. T. 

 part 2. p. 3R8. 



ABDICARIA/ro/^/io, in Logic, is ufed for a ncgatiye 

 propofition. 



ABDICATION, Abdicatio, derived from abdicare, to 

 ren'.unee, the aft whereby a magiftrate, or perfon in oilice, 

 renounces, and gives up the fame, before the legal term of 

 fervice is expired. 



Abdication is frequently confounded with rej\gnatir,n ; but, 

 ftriftly fpeaking, there is a difference : abdication being done 

 purely and fimplv ; whereas rejignaiion is done in favour of 

 fome other perion. 



In this ienfe, Dioclefian is faid to have ald'cnted the 

 crown ; but Philip IV. of Spain rcfigned it. The parlia- 

 ment of England voted that king James II. having endea- 



D voured 



