ALP 



prifoncr ; and being ivpioached by the fultan for his obfti- 



uatc folly, by liis infok-nt replies provoked a cruel feiitence, 

 that he ihoiild be faftened by his hands and feet to four 

 ftakes, and Kft to expire in thst painliil fitnation. Tlic dcf- 

 perate Jofeph, drawinjj a dagger, ruflied towards the throne; 

 the guards raiUd their battle-axes; but Alp Arllan, the nioft 

 l]<ilful archer ot his age, checked their zeal, and drew his 

 bow ; however liis foot flipped, and the arrow niifTed Jofeph, 

 who planted his dagger in the breail of the fultan, and was 

 himlelf inilantly cut in pieces. The wound was mortal, and 

 the fultan expired, A. 1). 1072, pronouncing an ufeful ad- 

 monition to the pride of kings. " In my youth," laid Alp 

 Arflan, " 1 wa-> advifcd by a fage to humble myfelf before 

 God ; to dillruft my own iirength ; and never to defpife the 

 irioft contemptible foes. I have neglected thcfe Ud'ons, and 

 my negleft ha* been defcrvedly punifhed. Yiilerday, as 

 from an eminence, 1 beheld the numbers, tlie difcipline, and 

 the fpirit of my armies ; the earth feemed to triRible under 

 my feet ; and 1 faid in my hcait, ' Surely thou art the king 

 of the world, the greatell and moft invincible of warriors.' 

 Thofe armies are no longer mine ; and, in the confidence of 

 my ptrlonal Iirength, I now fall by the hand of an afTalhn." 

 This prince reigned nine years and fix months, and lived 44 

 years and three months ; and his remains were depofitcd in 

 the tomb of the Seljukian dynafty, at Marii, one of the four 

 cities of Khoralaii, with this infcription : " O ye who have 

 feen the glory ot Alp Ardan exalted to the heavens, repair 

 to Maru, and you will behold it buried in the duft." The 

 annihilation of the infcription, and of the tomb itltlf, fays a 

 popular hiftorian, more forcibly proclaims the inllability of 

 human grcatnefs. Alp Arflan commanded the relpettofall 

 who approached him by his ftature, afpeft and voice ; his 

 long whiilvers Ihaded his face, and he wore a large turban in 

 the form of a crown. His valour and liberality were equally 

 renov.'ned ; and he was extolled for his piety and his attach- 

 ment to the Mahometan faith and practice. He was fuc- 

 ceeded by his Ion Maick Shah, who had been acknowledged 

 during his life as the future fultan of the Turks ; and who, 

 by a triple viiiloiy over his uncle, coufin, and brother, each 

 cf whom difputed the inheritance, eftabliflied his own re- 

 , putation, and the right of primogeniture. Mod. Un. Hift. 

 vol. iii. p. 394 — 4c I. Gibbon's Hiil. vol. x. p. 352 — 



363- 



ALPEDRINHA, in Geography, a fmall place of Beira, 

 in Portugal, containing about 950 inhabitants, and one 

 churi:h. 



ALPEDRIZ, a fmall place of Eftremadura, in Portugal, 

 containing about 600 inhabitants. 



ALPEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of the Lower 

 , Rhine, and elettorate ef Cologn ; eight miles fouth-wcll ol 

 , Wcfel, and tifty north north-welt of Cologn. 



AI.PENE, orALPFNUs, m jlncient Geogf.iphy, the ca- 

 pital of the Locrians, on the fouth coalt of Phanix, caft of 

 Trachia, and above Thermopyla: and Anthela. 



ALPESA, a town of Bcetica, according to Pliny. 



ALPHA, a river in the vicinity of Aquileia, near 

 which Conilantinc was killed, and into which his body was 

 thrown. 



Alpha Buccelis, a town afcribed by Ptolemy to the 

 Marfi; probably the fame with 7\lba Fiicenjis. 



Alpha, the name of the firil letter in the Greek al- 

 phabet ; correfponding to our A. 



The word is originally Hebrew, formed from aleph, the 

 name of the firit letter of the Hebrew alphabet. 



Alpha, according to Plutarch, was placed at the head of 

 all the lettf rs, becaufe, in the Phoenician language, it de- 



A I, P 



notes an ok : which, with regard to ufc and fci-vice, is the 

 firil among beads. 



Alph>\, in Conipofu'wn, denotes, foinctimes, privation, in 

 the fame fenfe with anp, ivi.hout ; foiretjmes augmentation, 

 as a-jov, much; and fomciiir.es imion, as afia, together. 

 See A. 



Alpha is alfo ufed asa letterof order, to denote the fir/?; 

 and of a number, to fignify one; but when it was a nume- 

 rical letter, a little Uroke, or an acute accent, was drawn 

 above it thus. A', to dillingnifli it from the mere A, which 

 was a letter of order. 



Alpha and Omegn, in the Divine JVrilings, fignify the 

 beginning and the end, or the firil and the ialt, (t/z. before 

 and after all things) ; and therefore the hieroglyphic of God 

 is formed of thefc two letters A and O. 



Thefc two letters were made the fymbol of Chriftianity, 

 and were accordingly engraved on the tombs of the an- 

 cient Chriilians, to diftinguifli them from thofe of idola- 

 ters. 



Alpha is particularly ufed zmong j^ncient Writers, to de- 

 note the chief, or firil man of his clafs or rank. 



In this fenfe, the word llajids contradiflinguiflied from 

 beta, which denotes the fecond perfon. 



Plato was called the alpha of the wits ; Eratofthenes, 

 keeper of the Alexandrian library, whom fome called a fi- 

 cond Plato, is frequently named btta. 



Thus Martial, in imitation of the Greeks, who diftin- 

 guiflied the rank of perfons by letters, fays ; — 

 " Qiiod alpha dixi, Codre, penulatorum, 

 Te nupcr, aliqna, cum jocarer in charta : 

 Si foite bilem movit hie tibi verfus, 

 , Dicas lictbit beta me togatorum." 



Epig. 1. 5. cp. 26. 



Alpha is alfo a title given by fome ancient writerj to the 

 Jewilh legiflator Mofes. The reafon of the application is 

 much controverted. 



ALPHABET, the feveral letters of a language dlfpofcd 

 in their natural or accuftomed order. 



The word is formed from the names of the two firil let- 

 ters of the Greek alphabet, alpha, beta : wlsich were bor- 

 rowed from thofe of the Hebrew, aleph, betli. 



In the Englifli alphabet we reckon 26 letters, "I'l'z. abed 

 efg h ij k I m n p q r ft u v w x y z. Sec each under its 

 proper article. A, B, C, &c. 



But as there is a much greater number of different 

 founds in our language, it is not without reafon that fome 

 grammarians maintain, that there ought to be a greater 

 number of letters : as alfo, that the double letters, x, y, 

 and tc, and the fuperfluous ones, i and g, fliould be re- 

 trtnclied. 



The French alphabet contains only 23 letters. Pafquier 

 indeed maintains it to confiil of 25, becaufe he adds the two 

 double letters l^ for et and '' for us ; but thofe are only ab- 

 breviations. The Abbe d'Angeau, on better grounds, 

 reckons 34 difi'erent founds in the French tongue ; and urges 

 that the alphabet ought of confeqiience to confifl of 34 dif- 

 ferent characters, fetting afide the double letters x aud^, and 

 the fnperlluous one q. 



The difference between languages with refpect to the 

 number of letters in their alphabet is vei-y confiderable : the 

 Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Samarkan alphabets, have 

 each 22 ; the Arabic 28 ; the Perfian 31 ; the Turkifh 33; 

 the Georgian 36 ; the Coptic 32 ; the Mufcovitc, or Ruf- 

 fian, 41, of which fome are only notes of accent in pronun- 

 ciation; the Greek 24 ; the Latin 22; the Sclavonic 27 ; 



5 D 2 the 



