ABO 



ABO 



p. 64J. ed. Benedift.) affiims, that every Mol and every 

 image of a man was called an abomlnalion among the Jews. 

 The abominalkn of iLfvlation foretold by the prophet Daniel, 

 (ch. X. 27. xi. ;?!.) is fuppof<.d by fomc intei'preters to de- 

 note the ftatue of Jupiter Olympius, which Antiochus Epi- 

 plianes caufed to be ereded in the temple of Jeriifalem. See 

 I Maccab. i. 54. 59. ch. iv. 3!^. 2 Maccab. vi. 2. The 

 fecond of the paffages above cited may p\ obably refer to this 

 circumftance, as the ilatue of Jupiter did, in facl, matt: Jrfo- 

 laU, by banifhinj^ the true worlhip of God, and thofc who 

 performed it, from the temple. But the former paflp.ge, 

 confidered in its whole ccnuertiop, bears mote immediate re- 

 ference to that which the Evanf^cliiU have denominated the 

 ab'Unlnatir.v. of Jej'nlation. Matt. xxiv. 15, 16. Mark, xiii. 14. 

 This, without doubt, fi^nilies the enfigns of the Roman 

 armies under the command of Til us, during the laft fiege of 

 Jerufalem. The images of their gods and emperors were 

 delineated on thefe eiihgns; and the enfigns themfelvcs, efpc- 

 cially the eagle, which was carried at the head of every legicn, 

 were objefts of worlhip, and, according to the ufual Ityle of 

 Scripture, they were called an abonmialicn. Thefe enfigns 

 were placed unon the ruins of the temple after it was taken 

 and demoliihed; and as Jofephus in'fonns us, (De Bell. Jud. 

 1. vi. c. 6. apud Oper. torn. ii. p. 391. Ed. Havercamp.) the 

 Romans lacrificed to them there. The honor with which the 

 Jews regarded them fufficiently appears from the account 

 which Jofephus (Antiq. 1. xvili. c. 3. § I. &c. c. 5. § 3. 

 apud Oper.toro.i. p.884. 875. Ed.Haverc.) gives of Pilate's 

 introducing them into the city, when lie fent his army from 

 Csefarea into winter-quarters at Jerufalem, and of ViteDius's 

 propoiuig to march through Judxa, after he had received or- 

 ders from Tiberius to attack Aretas, king of Petra. The peo- 

 ple fupplicated and remonftratcd, and induced Pilate to re- 

 move the anny, and Vitellius to march his troops another 

 way. The Jews apply the r.bove paflage of Daniel to the 

 P-omars, as we are infoiTned by Jerome in loc. The 

 learned Mr. Mede (See his Works, b. iv. epiil. 41. p. 797. 

 and b. iii. p. 667. 672.) concurs in the fame opinion. Sir 

 Ifaac Newton (Obf. on Daniel, c. ix. and alfo c. xii. See his 

 Works by Horfley, vol. v. p. 369. 410.) obferves, that in the 

 16th year of the emperor Adrian, A. C. 132. the Romans 

 accomphllied the preditlion of Daniel by building a temple 

 to Jupiter Capitolinus, where the temple of God in Jerufa- 

 lem had flood. Upon this occafion the Jews, under the 

 conduA of Barchochab, rofe up in arms againft the Romans, 

 and in the war had 50 cities demohfhed, 985 of their beft 

 towns deftroyed, and 580,000 menflain bythefword; and in 

 the end of the war, A. C. 1 36, they were banilhed from Judea 

 upon pain of death ; and thenceforth the land remained defo- 

 late of its old inhabitants. Others again have applied the 

 prediction of Daniel to the invafion and defolation of Chrifl- 

 cndom by the Mohammedans, and to their converfion of the 

 churches into mofques. From this interpretation they infer, 

 that the religion of Mohammed will prevail in the eaft 1260 

 years, and be fucceeded by the reftoration of the Jews, the 

 deftniftion of antichrift, the fiUl converfion of the Gen- 

 tiles to the chu-ch of Chrift, and the commencement of the 

 millennium. See Newton on the Prophecies, in his Works, 

 vol. viii. p. 197. 8vo. 



ABON, Abona, or Abonis, in Ancient Geography, a 

 town and river of Albion. According to Camden, the town 

 is Abingdon, and th.e river Alhon or A-von. But by An- 

 tonine's Itinerary, the dillance is nine miles from the Venta 

 Silurum, or Caer-went; and therefore, others take the town 

 to be Porfhut, at the mouth of the river Avon, near Briftol. 

 Alhon or Av^n, in the Celtic language, denotes a river. 



ABONI, in Geography, a town jn the ^Terior part of 



Africa, near the Slnvc-coaft, which gives name to a province 

 that is rich in gold. 



ABONOTICA, or Ai)ONOTirMos, i. e. aCu'vh ruxc;, 

 in Anciin! Geography, a fmall fortified town of Paphlagonia, 

 whole fituation is determined by Arrian and Ptolemy. This 

 was the habitation of the emperor Alexander, whom I^ucian 

 (Pfeudomant.ap. Oper. tom.ii. p. 217, See.) has pr.rticularly 

 defcribed. On the coin of Antoninus Pius it is dt noted by 

 a double fcrpent, the attribute of ^fculaplns. This town 

 was called lonopolis after the time of Alexander. 



ABORAS, called by Xcnophon Arasca, a river of 

 Mefopotamia, which rofe near the Tigris, was increafed 

 a few m.ilts below Nifibis by the httle ftrcam of the 

 Mygdonius, paffed under the walls of.Singara, and fell into 

 the Euphrates at Circ' fium. It was fixed as the boundary 

 between the Roman and Perfian empires, in the negotiation 

 between Dioclefian and Naifes, towards the clofe of the 3d 

 centur)', A. D. 29;. 



ABORIGINES, or Aforigenes, in Hijtory, a name 

 fometimes given to the primitive ir.habitants of a ccuntrv, or 

 thofe who had their original in it; in contradidinc^ion to co- 

 lonies, or new races of inhabitants, derived from other places. 



The tenn Aiorigines is famous in antiqr.ity. — Though 

 now an appellative, it was originally a proper name given 

 only to a certain people in Italy ; and both the reafon and 

 origin of it are greatly difputed among the learned. 



Aborigines then primarily denoted a nation in Italy, which 

 inliabited tlie ancient Latiuni, or country now called Ro- 

 mania, or Campagna di Roma. 



In which fenfe the Aborigines are diftingui/hed from the 

 Janigenx, who, accoiding to the falfe Berofus, inhabited 

 the country before them ; from the Siculi, whom they ex- 

 pelled ; from the Grecians, from whom they d. feendcd ; 

 from the Latins, whofe name they alTumtd, after their 

 union with ^neas and the Trojans ; and laftly, from the 

 Aufonii, Volfci, Oenotrii, &;c. neighbouring nations in other 

 parts of the country. 



Whence this people came by the appellation is much dif- 

 puted, 



S. Jerome fays, they were fo called, as being, alfque ori- 

 gine, the primitive planters of the country after the flood. 

 Dionyiius of HahcarnaiTus, (Antiq. Rom. 1. i. c. 10. apud 

 Op. torn. i. p. 8, 9. II. ed. Oxon.) recites fevcral opinions 

 as to the origin of the appellation. Some, he fays, allege 

 that they owe their name to their being original inhabitants 

 of the country', and becaufe they were the founders of the 

 race that occupied it, and that the denomination is fimilar to 

 the Greek term y»ap;^ai and 'afo'}o;otcit. Others conllder the ap- 

 pellation as fynonymous witliy/^crr/f/n«,and others again con- 

 ceive them to have been originally Arcadians, and that their 

 anceltors were theOenotrii, who n:igrated from Greece feven- 

 teen generations before the Trojan war, and fettled in tl.-it 

 countiy above 400 years before the Trojan war ; and that 

 they derived their name either from the mountains of Arca- 

 dia, qit. ofwi ysvo;, natives of the niounlains, or becaufe 

 they gave origin to the Latins, who being defcended from 

 them, called them Aborigines ; that is, the people from 

 whom they derived their origin : and to this opinion he 

 himfelf inclines. 



Aurelius Viftor (de Orig. Roman.) fuggefts, that they 

 were called Aborigines, q. d. Aberrigincs, from ab, from, and 

 errare, to luanJer ; as having been before a wandering 

 people, who, coming from different countries, met acci- 

 dentally in Italy, and lived there by rapine ; to which opi« 

 nion Feftus gives fome credit. It is added, that Pelafgians, 

 another name fometimes given them, is of the fame import, 

 and denotes vagabonds, like cranes. 



Paufanias 



