A B Y 



ABYDON. Se<" Amvdos. 



AliYDOS, in yfndrnt Gn^raphy, a town built by the 

 Milclians, in Afia, o.i the Heulkshint, where, according 

 to Le Bi-un, (Voyage au l-erant.) the ftrcight is only half 

 a mile, others fay two miles wiilc, oppofite to Seftos, on 

 the European fide ; both of which, according to fome gco- 

 jfraphcrs, are now called the Dardanelles; but others 

 fay, that Seftos was much nearer the Proponlis than Aby- 

 dos; ar.dStrabo, (1. xiii. p. 460.) reckons 3750 pacts from 

 the port of Abydos to that of Seftos. Abydos was fituated 

 midway between Lampfacus and lliiim, and was famous for 

 Xerxcs's bridge, mentioned by Herodotuf, 1. vii. c. 34. ; 

 and by Lucan, Pharf. lib. ii. v. 672. ; alfo for the loves of 

 Leandcr and Hero, recorded by Mufxus and others, and 

 selebrated for its oyftcrs by Virgil a;id Ennius. The inha- 

 bitants were cflemi.iate, and alfo addided, according to 

 Stephanas, (de Urbibus, vol. i. p. 9.) to calumny ; whence 

 the proverb, Ne tcmere ^-Ibytlum ailcare, when we would 

 caution againft danger. This c!ty was fonncrly very 

 important, a; it commanded the llraits, and m.adc thofe 

 who were pofTefied of it maftero of the communication be- 

 tween die Euxine fea and the Archipelago. It was de- 

 fended by its inhabitants with' great courage and obftinacy 

 againft the attack of Philip of Macedon, but at length fur- 

 rendered amidft the horrors of almoft univcrfal (laughter, 

 A. M. 3S03. Ant. J. C. 201. Fifty of the citizens were 

 compelled to take an oath, in the prefence of all the inhabi- 

 tants, that when they fiw the enemy mafter of the inward 

 wall, they would kill the women and children, fet fire to the 

 gailies laden with their effecls, and throw into the fea all 

 their gold and filver ; and then, in the prefence of the priefts, 

 they took another oath, either to conquer or die fword in 

 hand. After the furrender of the city, this dreadful refolu- 

 tion was executed to fuch an extent, that the individuals of 

 ever)' family killed one another, and none cfcaped but thofe 

 who by violent reftraint were prevented from dellroying 

 themfclves. Abydos was taken by the Turks, through the 

 treachery- of the governor's daughter, in the year 1330. 



ABYDUS, an inland town of Thebais in Upper 

 Egypt, between Ptolcmais and Diofpolis Parva, towards 

 Syene, fam.ous for the palace of Memnon and the mag- 

 nificent temple of Ofiris built by Ifmandes, into which 

 no fingers or dancers were allowed to enter. Here the 

 Eg)'ptians revered the oracle of the God Befa, which was 

 one of the moll ancient oracles of Egypt, and fam.ous 

 even in the time of the emperor Conftantius. Strabo, vol. 

 ii. p. 1 167 — 1169. Pliny, 1. v. c. 9. Stephanus (Urb. 

 vol. i. p. 9.) fay, that it was a colony of Milefians. The 

 city, reduced to a village, under the empire af-Auguftus, 

 prefents in our time nothing but a heap of ruins without in- 

 habitants. About three miles v.-eft of the Nile, in the place, 

 as Pococke (Defcript. Eaft. p. 83.) conjeftures, where the 

 prefcnt village El-Berbi is fituated, but to the weft of thefe 

 ruins is ftill found the celebrated monum.ent of Ifmandes. 

 The entrance is under a portico, 60 feet high, and fupported 

 by two rows of maffy columns. This leads into a temple 

 300 ftct long, and 145 wide. There are feveral other fpa- 

 cious apartment?, which communicate with one another, 

 both by paffages and ftair-cafes. The folidity of the edifice, 

 the huge maftes of marble which compofe it, and the hiero- 

 glyphics tliat cover the walls, evidently tellify that it is a 

 work of the ancient Egyptians. In the multitude of hviman 

 figures, which arc intermixed with thofe of other animals, 

 there may be difcovered women fuckling their children, ai^ 

 men prelenling ofTerings to Venus. Here arc alfo the divi- 

 nities of India, fuch as they are reprefented in the temples of 

 Indoftan. Six hons' heads, placed on the two fides of the 



A B Y 



temple, fer\e as fpouts to carry off the water. The ftair- 

 cafe is formed of Hones incrufted in the wall, and proje£l)ng 

 fix feet from it, fo that being fupported only at one end, 

 they appear to be fufpended in the air. The wr.lls, roof, 

 and columns of this ftupendous edifice, have luffered nothing 

 from the injuries of time ; and its folidity will refill the na- 

 tural decay of many ages. Except the coloflal figures 

 whofe heads ferve as an ornament to the capitals of the co- 

 lumns, and which are fculptured in relievo, the other hiero- 

 gl)-phics, which cover the infide, are carved in ftone. To 

 the left of the great building, there is another much fmaller, 

 with an altar at the bottom of it, which wis probably the 

 fancluarj- of the temple of Ofiris. Savary has minutely de- 

 fcribed this llrciElure in his Letters on Egypt, vol. ii. 

 p. 5, &c. 



ABYLA, one of Herculcs's pillars, on the African fide, 

 called by the Spaniards Sierra de las Mcnas, over againft 

 Calpe, in Spai^i, the other pillar. Thefe were fuppofed to 

 have been formerly joined, but fcparatcdby Hercules, in or- 

 der to make an entrance into the fea, now called the Medi- 

 terranean. This, according to Pliny, (Prooem. 1. 3.) was 

 the hmit of the labours of Hercules. The Hebrew 2y ol>> 

 denotes a thick cloud, and alfo a column, and m.ight there- 

 fore be apphed to ?. high mountain, or to the pillar of Her- 

 cules. See Bochart. Open torn. i. p. 731 — 733. Edit. 

 Villem. S-!e the other authors Strabo, Mela, and Ptolemy, 

 cited by Cellarius, torn. ii. p. 136. 



Aeyla. SccAbila. 



ABYO, or Abuvo, vH- Geography, one of the Philip- 

 piME iflands, in the Eaft Indies, between Mindanao and 

 Luzon, where the Spaniai-ds have a fort. E. long. 122° 15'. 

 N. lat. 10^ o'. 



ABYSS, in a genenJ fenfe, denotes fomething profound, 

 and, as it were, bottomlcfs. 



The word is originally Greek, a'S-jo-To: ; compounded 

 of the privative a, and ^lo-s-oj, bottom ; q. d. ivithaut a 

 bottom. 



Abyss, in a more particular fenfe, denotes a deep m.afs, 

 or fund of waters. 



In this fenfe the word is particularly ufed, in the Septua- 

 gint, for the water which God created at the beginning 

 with the earth, wliich encompaiTcd it round, and which oiu- 

 tranflators render by the deep. Thus it is that d.xrknefs is 

 faid to have been on the face of the abyfs. 



Abyss is alfo ufed for an immenfe cavern in the earth, 

 where God collefted all thofe waters on the third day ; which, 

 in our verfion is rendered the deep, and elfewhcre, the great 

 deep. 



Dr. Woodward has made feveral obler%'ations and conjec- 

 tures with reference to this great abyfs, in his Natur;J 

 Hiftory of the Earth. He afferts, that there is a vaft col- 

 leftion of waters eoclofed in the bowels of the eailh ; con- 

 ftituting a huge orb in the interior or central parts of it ; 

 and over the fiuface of this v.-ater he fuppofes the terreftrial 

 ftrata to be expanded. This, according to him, is what 

 Mofes calls the great deep, and what nioft authors render the 

 great alyfs. 



The water of this vaft abyfs, he alleges, communicates 

 with that of the ocean, by mea. 3 of certain hiatufes, or 

 chafms pafling betwixt it and the bottom of the ocean : and 

 this and the abyfs he fuppofes to have one common cejitre, 

 around which the water cf both is placed ; but fo that the 

 ordinary furface of the abyfs is not level with that of the 

 ocean, nor at fo great a diftaace from the centre, as the 

 other, it being, fur the moft part, rellrained and deprefled 

 by the ftrata of earth lying upon it ; but wherever thofe 

 ftrata are broken, or are fo lax and porous, that water 



caa 



