BEL 



B E M 



fpring, which is brought down by torrents when the fnow 

 melts. 



Belus, in Entomology, a fpecies of Papilio, that inha- 

 bits Surinam. The v. jugs are greeni.h; inner margin of the 

 pofterior pair rather pale ; beneath brown, with red lunar 

 marks. Fabricius and Jablonficy. 



Belus, iu Andsnt Geography, a town of Spain, fituate 

 near the columns cf Hercules. Steph. Byz. This was pro- 

 bably the fame with Belo or Belon. 



Belus, now Kardanah, a river of Phcsnicia, which flowed 

 at the diftanceof two ftadia fuuth from Ptolemais. It had its 

 fource in mount Carmel, about 4 miles to the call of the 

 Kifhon, i:i the lake called by Pliny Cendevia. The fand 

 of this river ard its vicinity was peculiarly excellent, ac- 

 cording to Strabo, for the manufafture of glafs ; and here, 

 according to Pliny, the manufaclure of glafs was firft dif- 

 covered. 



Belus, in Ancient H'ljlory and Mythology, is fuppofcd by 

 fome to have been the Pul of fcripture ; and the founder of 

 the AfTyrian monarchy ; and they add, that he left his king- 

 dom to his fon Ninus, or Tiglath-Pilefer, who caufed him 

 to be worfliipped after his der.th, and erected to his honour 

 the famous tower of Babel, or Belus, in the city of Babylon. 

 Others conceive Belus to have been the Nimrod of Scripture, 

 ?nd more ancient than the AfTyrian kingdom. (Sec Assy- 

 ria and Babylon). The tower of Belus was afterwards 

 ufed by the Chaldeans as an aftrouomical obfcrvatory ; and 

 it is faid, that Belus himfelf promoted the ftudy of ailrono- 

 my, in order to encourage that faith in ailrologlcal predic- 

 tions, which he knew how to apply to pohtical purpofes. 

 Hence, as Belus was honoured with a place among the di- 

 vinities, fome have traced the origin of thofe fables that are 

 found concerning him in the Grecian mythology, to tliis cir- 

 cumftance. 



Belus, confidered as the founder of the AlTyrian and Ba- 

 bylonian empires, became the principal objcft of veneration 

 and worfaip among the later Babylonians, Pho?nicians, and 

 others, over whom the defcendants of his family extended 

 the dom.inion he had founded. Accordingly, a temple was 

 erected to him in the city of Babylon, and alfo a tower ; 

 though it is not improbable, that the honour of this temple 

 and tower was meant to be divided between him and the 

 true God. This building (fee Babylon) confided of eight 

 towers raifed above one another ; and in the apartments 

 was placed a magnificent bed, with a golden table near it, 

 but Without any image ; nor v.-as any perfon fuffered to lie 

 here in the night, except a particular woman, who, as the 

 priefls reported, was preferred by the god to all others. In 

 this place, according to their accou"t, he ufed to come and 

 rtpofe himfelf ; fo that they muft have regarded him as the 

 fupreme god, who either could not be reprefented, or not 

 bear the prefumotion in them of attempting his refemblance. 

 Beneath this there was another temple, in which was a gi- 

 gantic image of Jupiter or Belus, made of folid gold, with a 

 table and a throne of the fame metal. This Jupiter, fup- 

 pofed to be the great Pul, or Belus, by being placed below 

 the grrat and fupreme god, feems to have implied, that Be- 

 lus, or Pul, divided the empire of the univerfe with him, and 

 that as the former was the god of heaven, the other was at 

 lead delegated god on earth, and invefted with all power by 

 the immediate appointment of the invifible ruler of all things. 

 Some have fuppofed, that the Babylonians, by their fuperior 

 deity, meant the fun, which was undoubtedly a very ancient 

 and a very general object of worfliip ; and the appellation 

 Belus itfelf might be fynonymous with that of Baal, which 

 denoted god or lord. (See Baal.) In the Babylonian 

 temple there were alfo two altars, one of gold, of a moderate 



7 



fr/e, and another much larger : on the former were fscrificcd 

 mne but fucking victims, and on the other none but thofe 

 that were full grown. The former feemcd to have been de- 

 voted to the fupreme god ; and the other to his fubordinatc, 

 Jupiter. They had alfo facrifices that were offered to both. 

 Upon the whole, it feerr:s not improbable, that by I'l, Baa!, 

 or Bc-lus, the Babylonians underftocd either the fun or their 

 deified founder Pul ; but whether they trancfoi-med him info 

 the fun, or kept the worfirp of this luminar)-, and that of 

 their hero difliuft, fo as never to confound them together, 

 is a queftion not eaiily decided. For a defcription of the 

 temple of Belus, fee Herodotus, lib. i. fee alfo Babylon. 



BELUTTA, in Botany. See Celosia and Crinum. 



BELY BoGUE, in Mythology. &e.s BelyJiocvt. 



BELZICA, in Geogniphy, a town of Poland, in the pa- 

 latinate of Lublin, 14 miles S. W. of Lublin. 



BEi^ZIG, a town of Germany, in the circle of LTpper 

 Saxonv, and eleclorateof Saxony, feated on the Welfe; 30 

 miles E. of Magdeburg. The prefefturate of which this 

 is the chief town bears the fame name. 



BEMA, /SnrxK, in Antiquity, denotes a flep or pace. 



The bema made a kind of itinerary mtafure am.ong the 

 Greeks, whofe length was equivalent to one cubit, a^d two 

 thirds, or ten palms. 



Wlience alfo the term /3r,u.«Ti^E»», to meafure a road. 



Bema, in Ecckjiajlical Writers, denotes the altar-part, or 

 fanftuary, in the ancient churches. In which fenfe, bema 

 made the third or innerm.ofl part of the church, anfwering 

 to the chancel among us. 



Bema was alfo ufed for thebifhop's chair, feat, or throne, 

 placed in the fanftuary. It was called btraa, from tlie fteps 

 by which it was to be afcended. 



Bema was alfo ufed for the reader's deflt. 



This in the Greek church was denominated jSr/^a '/wrm, 

 in the Latin church ambo. 



Bema is more peculiarly ufed for the Manichees' altar, 

 which was in a different place from that of the cathohcs. 



Bema was alfo a denomination given by this fer!t; to the 

 anniverfary of the day when Mnnes was killed, which with 

 them was a folemn feart, and a day of rejoicing. 



One of the chief ceremonies of the fcaft confided in fet- 

 ting out and adorning their bema, or altar, with great mag- 

 nificence. 



BEMBEA, or Bembi, in Geography, a province of the 

 kingdom of Angola in Africa, which is divided into Higher 

 and Lower, extending on one fide along the fea, and on the 

 other dividing the kingdom of Angola from the other foreign 

 ftates on the fouth. The country is populous:, and abounds 

 with large and fniall cattle, with the fat of which the inha- 

 bitants anoint their heads and bodies ; and they alfo clothe 

 themfelve-, with the hides, coarfely dreffcd. They are ad- 

 dicted to the fame idolatrous fuperititions with other parts of 

 the kingdom, but fpeak a quite different language. The 

 great river Lutano, or San Francifco, waters and fcrtih/es 

 mod part of this province ; but fwarms with crocodiles, fea- 

 hcrfes, and mondrous ferpents, which not onlydedroy much 

 of its fid), but do great mifchief to the adjacent grounds. 



BEMBER, a town of Hindodan, in the dlreA road 

 from Lahore to Cadimere ; at the diftance of 33 Acbaree 

 coffes (each cofs being 4757 yards,) on a bearing of 

 N. a httle W. from Lahore. N. lat. 33°. E. long. 



73° ^o'- 



BEMBEX, in Entomalngy, one of the Fabrician genera 



of PiEZATA, and forming, in the Linnxan fyftem, a feftion 



in the Vespa genus; they are diftinguifhed by having the 



tongue inflefted, and five cleft ; lip advanced, mouth invol- 



ved. See V£spa. _ ,„„ 



BEMBO, 



