442 I S R 
teen miles fouth-eaft of Belgrade, and eight weft of 
Semandria. 
ISOS ; CELES, adj. [from »cos, Gr. equal, and ay.t7\o<;, a 
leg.] In geometry, having two ftdes equal. 
ISQS'CELES, f [from the adj.'] A triangle having two 
slides equal. 
ISOS'TATES, f. [from icroj, Gr. equal, and impi, to 
Hand.] One who was to examine by a proper ftandard. 
Phillips. 
ISPAHAN', a city of Perfia, and capital of the 
whole country, fituated on the river Zenderoud, in the 
province of Irak, furrounded by a wall and ditch, and 
defended by a ca/tle. The walls are built of mud, and are 
about ao,ooo paces in compafs ; but kept in no repair, 
and fo hidden by the adjoining houfes and gardens, that 
they cut no figure, and are hardly to be difcovered. The 
beauty of the city conlifts chiefly in a great number of 
fumptuous palaces, handfome and airy houfes, fpacious 
caravanferas, very beautiful bazars, many canals, and 
ftreets planted on both fides with lofty plane-trees ; though, 
generally lpeaking, the other llreets are narrow, crooked, 
and not paved; but the air being very dry here, and every 
boufekeeper caufing the ftreet to be watered before the 
door twice a-day, there is neither fo much dirt nor duft 
as in many great cities in Europe. The Median Shah, or 
Royal Square, is one of the fineft in the W'orld. It is 440 
paces long, and 160 broad, and is furrounded with a ca¬ 
nal, built with bricks, cemented with black mortar, which 
in time becomes harder than freeftone. The royal mofque 
is at the fouth end of this fquare, and its portico is won¬ 
derfully adorned with a thoufand figures, and an incon¬ 
ceivable profufion of gold and azure, the whole being 
alfo inlaid with enamelled fquares, and a frieze round it 
of the fame materials. Few ftruttures can equal the mag¬ 
nificence of this, many of its pieces and decorations being 
wrought in a manner unknown to our European architects. 
The fame may be laid of the royal palace, and tire haram, 
or women’s apartment. The palace is certainly one of 
the molt fpacious in the world, being nearly five miles in 
compals. Its great portico Hands in the Royal Square, 
and is all built with porphyry, and very high. The Per- 
fians revere it as facred. The luburbs of Ifpahan are very 
large, and chiefly inhabited by Armenians. There are 
beiides 1460 villages round about Ifpahan, and the inha¬ 
bitants live chiefly upon the manufacturing of filk and 
■wool. In 1387, Ifpahan was taken by Timur Bee. The 
inhabitants redeemed their lives by paying a large fum j 
but, an infurreftion taking place in the night, Timur or¬ 
dered that all the inhabitants Ihould be put to the fword; 
and it is computed that 70,000 were killed by the foldiers, 
and their heads piled in heaps on the walls of Ifpahan. 
In 1722, it was taken by the Afghans, under Mahmoud, 
after a long fiege, in which the inhabitants fuffered great 
hardfhips, and many died of hunger. In 1727, it was re¬ 
covered 1 from the Afghans by Nadir Shah. Lat. 32. 20. N. 
Ion. 51. 50. E. 
ISPANHAC', a town of France, in the department of 
the Lozere: five miles north-north-weft of Florae, nine 
fouth of Mende. 
IS'PERLICK, a town of European Turkey, in Servia: 
twenty-four miles north-north-ealt of Nifla. 
IS'PERUD, or Seb'dura, a river of Perfia, which runs 
into the Cafpian Sea near Refhd. 
ISPI'RA, a town of Turkiflr Armenia: feventy-four 
miles north-eaft of Erzerum, and 100 eaftof Trebifond. 
ISQUITENAN'GO, a town of Mexico, in the pro¬ 
vince of Yucatan : ninety miles fouth of Chiapa dos Ef- 
pagnols. 
ISQUIN'TIA, a town of Mexico, in the province of 
Guatimala ; thirty miles weft-north-weft of Guatimala. 
Lat. 14. 32. N. Ion. 93. W. 
• ISQUITEFEC', a town of Mexico, in the province of 
Guaxaca: forty miles wefc-north-weft of Guaxaca. 
IS'RAEL, a river of New Hamplhire, which runs into 
the Connecticut in lat. 44. s6. N. Ion. 71. 3ft. W. 
I s s 
IS'RAEL, [Heb. fignifying one who prevails with 
God.] The name which the angel gave to Jacob after 
having wreltled with him all night at Mahanaim or Pe- 
nuel; (Gen. xxxii. 1, 2, 28, 29, 30. and Hofea xii. 3.) It 
fignifies a conqueror of God, or a prince of God, or, ac¬ 
cording to many of the ancients, a man who fees God. 
By the name of Ilrael is fometimes underftood the perlon 
of Jacob ; fometimes the whole people of Ifrael, or the 
whole race of Jacob ; and fometimes the kingdom of If¬ 
rael, or of the ten tribes diltinCt from the kingdom of 
J udah. 
IS'RAELITES, the defendants of Ifrael; who were at 
firlt called Hebrews, becaufe Abraham came from Heber, 
on the other fide of the Euphrates ; and afterwards lf- 
ratlites, from Ifrael the father of the twelve patriarchs ; 
and laftly Jews, particularly after their return from the 
captivity of Babylon, becaufe the tribe of Judah was then 
much ftronger and more numerous than the other tribes,, 
and foreigners had fcarcely any knowledge of this tribe. 
See the article Jew, in the preceding volume, p. 790* 
& feq. 
IS'RAELITISH, adj. Belonging to Ifrael; defended 
from Ifrael. 
IS'SA, in ancient geography, now Lissa, an ifland in 
the Adriatic Sea, on the coaft of Dalmatia.—A town of 
Illyricum. Strabo. 
IS'SACHAR, [Heb. a reward.] One of the twelve He¬ 
brew patriarchs, the fifth fon of Jacob by Leah, and born 
at Padan-Aram in the year 1745 B- C. In the laft prophetic 
blefling of his father, he is compared to “ a ftrong afs, couch¬ 
ing between two burdens,” or barriers, as the word may 
more properly be rendered, not improbably meaning the bars 
which divide the ltalls of animals. He is faid to fee that his 
refting-place is good, and the land pleafant; to bend his 
fhoulder to the burden, and to become a tributary fervant. 
This defcription exaftly fuited the pofterity of this patri¬ 
arch, the lot of whofe inheritance was in Lower Galilee, and 
one of the richeft and moft fertile ipots in all the land of 
Canaan, and peculiarly adapted to the agricultural life, 
which was the purfuit of the tribe of Iflachar. Patiently 
cultivating their lands, they appear fldom to have en¬ 
gaged in war; and probably contributed their aid to the 
common caufe, when the Ifraelites were embroiled with 
foreign nations, by extraordinary taxes, in exchange for 
perfonal fervice. Their peaceable habits occafioned their 
frequent invafion by ftrangers, elpecially in the time of 
the Judges; when they appear to have purchafed their fe- 
cufity by fubmiflion and tribute, rather than ftruggle for 
their independence in the field. Genejis xxx. 18. xlix. 14. 
15. and Geddes's Crit. Remarks. 
IS'SACHAR, one of the divifions of Paleftine by tribes 
lying to the fouth of Zebulun, lo as by a narrow flip to 
reach the Jordan, between Zebulun and Manafleh, (Jofh. 
xix.) But whether it reached to the fea, is a queltion ; 
fome holding that it did ; an aflertion not eafy to be 
proved, as Jofh ua makes no mention of the fea in this 
tribe, nor does Jofephus extend it farther than to Mount 
Carmel; and, in Jolh. xvii. 10, Afner is laid to touch 
Manafleh on the north, which could not be if Iflachar ex¬ 
tended to the fea. 
ISSAGUN'GE, a town of Hindooftan, in Oude: thirty- 
three miles north-eaft of Kairabad. 
IS'SAH, a river of Hindooftan, which rifes in the Doo- 
ab, and runs into the Ganges twenty miles fouth-fouth- 
eaft of Canoge. 
ISSAPOU'R, a town of Hindooftan, in Oude : twenty- 
five miles north-eaft of Lucknow. 
ISSAWAR'RA, a town of Hindooftan, in Oude : fif¬ 
teen miles louth-eaft of Kairabad. 
IS'SE, in fabulous hiltory, a daughter of Macareus, the 
fon of Lycaon. She was beloved by Apollo, who, to ob¬ 
tain her confidence, changed himfelf into the form of a 
fhepherd to whom fhe was attached. This metamorphofis 
of Apollo was reprel'ented on the web of Arachne. Ovids 
IS'SE. See Ise. 
IS'SE* 
