Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 2, Slice 2 Part 31

[1] No satisfactory etymology of the name has been given; although the first part is usually referred to [Greek: aphros] ("the sea foam"), it is equally probable that it is of Eastern origin. F.

h.o.m.oll (_Jahrbucher fur cla.s.sische Philologie_, cxxv., 1882) explains it as a corruption of Ashtoreth; for other derivations see O. Gruppe, _Griechische Mythologie_, ii. p. 1348, note 2.

APHTHONIUS, of Antioch, Greek sophist and rhetorician, flourished in the second half of the 4th century A.D., or even later. Nothing is known of his life, except that he was a friend of Libanius and of a certain Eutropius, perhaps the author of the epitome of Roman history. We possess by him [Greek: Progumnhasmata], a text-book on the elements of rhetoric, with exercises for the use of the young before they entered the regular rhetorical schools. They apparently formed an introduction to the [Greek: Thechne] of Hermogenes. His style is pure and simple, and ancient critics praise his "Atticism." The book maintained its popularity as late as the 17th century, especially in Germany. A collection of forty fables by Aphthonius, after the style of Aesop, is also extant.

Spengel, _Rhetores Graeci_, ii.; Finckh, _Aphthonii Progytnnasmata_ (1865); Hoppichler, _De Theone, Hermogene, Aphthonioque Pro-gymnasmatum Scriptoribus_ (1884); edition of the fables by Furia (1810).

APHTHONIUS, AELIUS FESTUS, Latin grammarian, possibly of African origin, lived in the 4th century A.D. He wrote a metrical handbook in four books, which has been incorporated by Marius Victorinus in his system of grammar.

Keil, _Gratnmatici Latini_, vi.; Schultz, _Quibus Auctoribus Aelius Festus Aphthonius usus sit_ (1885).

APICIUS, the name of three celebrated Roman epicures. The second of these, M. Gavius Apicius, who lived under Tiberius, is the most famous (Seneca, Consol. ad Helviam, 10). He invented various cakes and sauces, and is said to have written on cookery. The extant _De Re Coquinaria_ (ed. Schuch, 1874), a collection of receipts, ascribed to one Caelius Apicius, is founded on Greek originals, and belongs to the 3rd century A.D. It is probable that the real t.i.tle was Caelii _Apicius_, Apicius being the name of the work (cp. Taciti _Agricola_), and _De Re Coquinaria_ a sub-t.i.tle.

APICULTURE (from Lat. _apis_, a bee), bee-keeping (see BEE). So also other compounds of _api_-. _Apiarium_ or apiary, a bee-house or hive, is used figuratively by old writers for a place of industry, e.g. a college.

APION, Greek grammarian and commentator on Homer, born at Oasis in Libya, flourished in the first half of the 1st century A.D. He studied at Alexandria, and headed a deputation sent to Caligula (in 38) by the Alexandrians to complain of the Jews: his charges were answered by Josephus in his _Contra Apionem_. He settled at Rome--it is uncertain when--and taught rhetoric till the reign of Claudius. Apion was a man of great industry and learning, but extremely vain. He wrote several works, which are lost. The well-known story of Androclus and the lion, preserved in Aulus Gellius, is from his [Greek: Aiguptiaka]; fragments of his [Greek: Ilossy Omerikai] are printed in the _Etymologic.u.m Gudianum_, ed. Sturz, 1818.

APIS or HAPIS, the sacred bull of Memphis, in Egyptian _Hp, Hope, Hope_.

By Manetho his wors.h.i.+p is said to have been inst.i.tuted by Kaiechos of the Second Dynasty. Hape is named on very early monuments, but little is known of the divine animal before the New Kingdom. He was ent.i.tled "the renewal of the life" of the Memphite G.o.d Ptah: but after death he became Osorapis, i.e. the Osiris Apis, just as dead men were a.s.similated to Osiris, the king of the underworld. This Osorapis was identified with Serapis, and may well be really identical with him (see SERAPIS): and Greek writers make the Apis an incarnation of Osiris, ignoring the connexion with Ptah. Apis was the most important of all the sacred animals in Egypt, and, like the others, its importance increased as time went on. Greek and Roman authors have much to say about Apis, the marks by which the black bull-calf was recognized, the manner of his conception by a ray from heaven, his house at Memphis with court for disporting himself, the mode of prognostication from his actions, the mourning at his death, his costly burial and the rejoicings throughout the country when a new Apis was found. Mariette's excavation of the Serapeum at Memphis revealed the tombs of over sixty animals, ranging from the time of Amenophis III. to that of Ptolemy Alexander. At first each animal was buried in a separate tomb with a chapel built above it.

Khamuis, the priestly son of Rameses II. (c. 1300 B.C.), excavated a great gallery to be lined with the tomb chambers; another similar gallery was added by Psammetichus I. The careful statement of the ages of the animals in the later instances, with the regnal dates for their birth, enthronization and death have thrown much light on the chronology from the XXIInd dynasty onwards. The name of the mother-cow and the place of birth are often recorded. The sarcophagi are of immense size, and the burial must have entailed enormous expense. It is therefore remarkable that the priests contrived to bury one of the animals in the fourth year of Cambyses.

See Jablonski, _Pantheon_, ii.; Budge, _G.o.ds of the Egyptians_, ii.

350; Mariette-Maspero, _Le Serapeum de Memphis_. (F. Ll. G.)

APLITE, in petrology, the name given to intrusive rock in which quartz and felspar are the dominant minerals. Aplites are usually very fine-grained, white, grey or flesh-coloured, and their const.i.tuents are visible only with the help of a magnifying lens. d.y.k.es and threads of aplite are very frequently to be observed traversing granitic bosses; they occur also, though in less numbers, in syenites, diorites, quartz-diabases and gabbros. Without doubt they have usually a genetic affinity to the rocks they intersect. The aplites of granite areas, for example, are the last part of the magma to crystallize, and correspond in composition to the quartzo-felspathic aggregates which fill up the inters.p.a.ces between the early minerals in the main body of the rock.

They bear a considerable resemblance to the eutectic mixtures which are formed on the cooling of solutions of mineral salts, and remain liquid till the excess of either of the components has separated out, finally solidifying _en ma.s.se_ when the proper proportions of the const.i.tuents and a suitable temperature are reached. The essential components of the aplites are quartz and alkali felspar (the latter usually orthoclase or microperthite). Crystallization has been apparently rapid (as the rocks are so fine-grained), and the ingredients have solidified almost at the same time. Hence their crystals are rather imperfect and fit closely to one another in a sort of fine mosaic of nearly equi-dimensional grains.

Porphyritic felspars occur occasionally and quartz more seldom; but the relation of the aplites to quartz-porphyries, granophyres and felsites is very close, as all these rocks have nearly the same chemical composition. Yet the aplites a.s.sociated with diorites and quartz-diabases differ in minor respects from the common aplites, which accompany granites. The accessory minerals of these rocks are princ.i.p.ally oligoclase, muscovite, apat.i.te and zircon. Biot.i.te and all ferromagnesian minerals rarely appear in them, and never are in considerable amount. Riebeckite-granites (paisanites) have close affinities to aplites, shown especially in the prevalence of alkali felspars. Tourmaline also occurs in some aplites. The rocks of this group are very frequent in all areas where ma.s.ses of granite are known.

They form d.y.k.es and irregular veins which may be only a few inches or many feet in diameter. Less frequently aplite forms stocks or bosses, or occupies the edges or irregular portions of the interior of outcrops of granite. The syenite-aplites consist mainly of alkali felspar; the diorite-aplites of plagioclase; there are nepheline-bearing aplites which intersect some elaeolite-syenites. In all cases they bear the same relation to the parent ma.s.ses. By increase of quartz aplites pa.s.s gradually, in a few localities, through highly quartzose modifications (beresite, &c.) into quartz veins. (J. S. F.)

APNOEA (Gr. [Greek: apnoia], from [Greek: a-], privative, [Greek: pneein], to breathe), a technical term for suspension of breathing.

APOCALYPSE (Gr. [Greek: apokalupsis], disclosure), a term applied to the disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the ma.s.s of men. The Greek root corresponds in the Septuagint to the Heb.

_galah_, to reveal. The last book of the New Testament bears in Greek the t.i.tle [Greek: Apokalypsis Ioannou], and is frequently referred to as the Apocalypse of John, but in the English Bible it appears as the Revelation of St John the Divine (see REVELATION). Earlier among the h.e.l.lenistic Jews the term was used of a number of writings which depicted in a prophetic and parabolic way the end or future state of the world (e.g. _Apocalypse of Baruch_), the whole cla.s.s is now commonly known as Apocalyptic Literature (q.v.).

APOCALYPSE, KNIGHTS OF THE, a secret society founded in Italy in 1693 to defend the church against the expected Antichrist. Agostino Gabrino, the son of a merchant of Brescia, was its founder. On Palm Sunday 1693, when the choir of St Peter's was chanting _Quis est iste Rex Gloriae?_ Gabrino sword in hand, rushed to the altar crying _Ego sum Rex Gloriae._ Though Gabrino was treated as a madman, the society flourished, until a member denounced it to the Inquisition, who arrested the knights. Though chiefly mechanics they always carried swords even when at work, and wore on their b.r.e.a.s.t.s a star with seven rays. Gabrino styled himself monarch of the Holy Trinity. He was credited by his enemies with a desire to introduce polygamy.

APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE. The Apocalyptic literature of Judaism and Christianity embraces a considerable period, from the centuries following the exile down to the close of the middle ages. In the present survey we shall limit ourselves to the great formative periods in this literature--in Judaism to 200 B.C. to A.D. 100, and in Christianity to A.D. 50 to 350 or thereabouts.

The transition from prophecy to apocalyptic ([Greek: apokalyptein], to reveal something hidden) was gradual and already accomplished within the limits of the Old Testament. Beginning in the bosom of prophecy, and steadily differentiating itself from it in its successive developments, it never came to stand in absolute contrast to it. Apocalyptical elements disclose themselves in the prophetical books of Ezekiel, Joel, Zechariah, while in Isaiah xxiv.-xxvii. and x.x.xiii. we find well-developed apocalypses; but it is not until we come to Daniel that we have a fully matured and cla.s.sical example of this cla.s.s of literature. The way, however, had in an especial degree been prepared for the apocalyptic type of thought and literature by Ezekiel, for with him the word of G.o.d had become identical with a written book (ii. 9-iii.

3) by the eating of which he learnt the will of G.o.d, just as primitive man conceived that the eating of the tree in Paradise imparted spiritual knowledge. When the divine word is thus conceived as a written message, the sole office of the prophet is to communicate what is written. Thus the human element is reduced to zero, and the conception of prophecy becomes mechanical. And as the personal element disappears in the conception of the prophetic calling, so it tends to disappear in the prophetic view of history, and the future comes to be conceived not as the organic result of the present under the divine guidance, but as mechanically determined from the beginning in the counsels of G.o.d, and arranged under artificial categories of time. This is essentially the apocalyptic conception of history, and Ezekiel may be justly represented as in certain essential aspects its founder in Israel.

We shall now consider (I.) Apocalyptic, its origin and general characteristics; (II.) Old Testament Apocalyptic; (III.) New Testament Apocalyptic.

I. APOCALYPTIC--ITS ORIGIN AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

i. _Sources of Apocalyptic._--The origin of Apocalyptic is to be sought in (a) unfulfilled prophecy and in (b) traditional elements drawn from various sources.

(a) The origin of Apocalyptic is to be sought in _unfulfilled prophecy_.

That certain prophecies relating to the coming kingdom of G.o.d had clearly not been fulfilled was a matter of religious difficulty to the returned exiles from Babylon. The judgments predicted by the pre-exilic prophets had indeed been executed to the letter, but where were the promised glories of the renewed kingdom and Israel's unquestioned sovereignty over the nations of the earth? One such unfulfilled prophecy Ezekiel takes up and reinterprets in such a way as to show that its fulfilment is still to come. The prophets Jeremiah (iv.-vi.) and Zephaniah had foretold the invasion of Judah by a mighty people from the north. But as this northern foe had failed to appear Ezekiel re-edited this prophecy in a new form as a final a.s.sault of Gog and his hosts on Jerusalem, and thus established a permanent dogma in Jewish apocalyptic, which in due course pa.s.sed over into Christian.

But the non-fulfilment of prophecies relating to this or that individual event or people served to popularize the methods of apocalyptic in a very slight degree in comparison with the non-fulfilment of the greatest of all prophecies--the advent of the Messianic kingdom. Thus, though Jeremiah had promised that after seventy years (xxv. 11., xxix. 10) Israel should be restored to their own land (xxiv. 5, 6), and then enjoy the blessings of the Messianic kingdom under the Messianic king (xxiii.

5, 6), this period pa.s.sed by and things remained as of old. Haggai and Zechariah explained the delay by the failure of Judah to rebuild the temple, and so generation after generation the hope of the kingdom persisted, sustained most probably by ever-fresh reinterpretations of ancient prophecy, till in the first half of the 2nd century the delay is explained in the Books of Daniel and Enoch as due not to man's shortcomings but to the counsels of G.o.d. The 70 years of Jeremiah are interpreted by the angel in Daniel (ix. 25-27) as 70 weeks of years, of which 69 have already expired, while the writer of Enoch (lx.x.xv.-xc.) interprets the 70 years of Jeremiah as the 70 successive reigns of the 70 angelic patrons of the nations, which are to come to a close in his own generation.

But the above periods came and pa.s.sed by, and again the expectations of the Jews were disappointed. Presently the Greek empire of the East was overthrown by Rome, and in due course this new phenomenon, so full of meaning for the Jews, called forth a new interpretation of Daniel. The fourth and last empire which, according to Daniel vii. 10-25, was to be Greek, was now declared to be Roman by the Apocalypse of Baruch (x.x.xvi.-xl.) and 4 Ezra (x. 60-xii. 35). Once more such ideas as those of "the day of Yahweh" and the "new heavens and a new earth" were constantly re-edited with fresh nuances in conformity with their new settings. Thus the inner development of Jewish apocalyptic was always conditioned by the historical experiences of the nation.

(b) Another source of apocalyptic was _primitive mythological and cosmological traditions_, in which the eye of the seer could see the secrets of the future no less surely than those of the past. Thus the six days of the world's creation, followed by a seventh of rest, were regarded as at once a history of the past and a forecasting of the future. As the world was made in six days its history would be accomplished in six thousand years, since each day with G.o.d was as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day; and as the six days of creation were followed by one of rest, so the six thousand years of the world's history would be followed by a rest of a thousand years (2 Enoch x.x.xii. 2-x.x.xiii. 2). Of primitive mythological traditions we might mention the primeval serpent, leviathan, behemoth, while to ideas native to or familiar in apocalyptic belong those of the seven archangels, the angelic patrons of the nations (Deut. x.x.xii. 8, in LXX.; Isaiah xxiv.

21; Dan. x. 13, 20, &c.), the mountain of G.o.d in the north (Isaiah xiv.

13; Ezek. i. 4, &c.), the garden of Eden.

ii. _Object and Contents of Apocalyptic._--The object of this literature in general was to solve the difficulties connected with the righteousness of G.o.d and the suffering condition of His righteous servants on earth. The righteousness of G.o.d postulated according to the law the temporal prosperity of the righteous and the _temporal_ prosperity of necessity; for as yet there was no promise of life or recompense beyond the grave. But this connexion was not found to obtain as a rule in life, and the difficulties arising from this conflict between promise and experience centred round the lot of the righteous as a community and the lot of the righteous man as an individual. Old Testament prophecy had addressed itself to both these problems, though it was hardly conscious of the claims of the latter. It concerned itself essentially with the present, and with the future only as growing organically out of the present. It taught the absolute need of personal and national righteousness, and foretold the ultimate blessedness of the righteous nation on the present earth. But its views were not systematic and comprehensive in regard to the nations in general, while as regards the individual it held that G.o.d's service here was its own and adequate reward, and saw no need of postulating another world to set right the evils of this. But later, with the growing claims of the individual and the acknowledgment of these in the religious and intellectual life, both problems, and especially the latter, pressed themselves irresistibly on the notice of religious thinkers, and made it impossible for any conception of the divine rule and righteousness to gain acceptance, which did not render adequate satisfaction to the claims of both problems. To render such satisfaction was the task undertaken by apocalyptic, as well as to vindicate the righteousness of G.o.d alike in respect of the individual and of the nation. To justify their contention they sketched in outline the history of the world and mankind, the origin of evil and its course, and the final consummation of all things.

Thus they presented in fact a theodicy, a rudimentary philosophy of religion. The righteous as a nation should yet possess the earth, even in this world the faithful community should attain its rights in an eternal Messianic kingdom on earth, or else in temporary blessedness here and eternal blessedness hereafter. So far as regards the righteous community. It was, however, in regard to the destiny of the individual that apocalyptic rendered its chief service. Though the individual might perish amid the disorders of this world, he would not fail, apocalyptic taught, to attain through resurrection the recompense that was his due in the Messianic kingdom or in heaven itself. Apocalyptic thus forms the indispensable preparation for the religion of the New Testament.

iii. _Form of Apocalyptic._--The form of apocalyptic is a literary form; for we cannot suppose that the writers experienced the voluminous and detailed visions we find in their books. On the other hand the reality of the visions is to some extent guaranteed by the writer's intense earnestness and by his manifest belief in the divine origin of his message. But the difficulty of regarding the visions as actual experiences, or as in any sense actual, is intensified, when full account is taken of the artifices of the writer; for the major part of his visions consists of what is to him really past history dressed up in the guise of prediction. Moreover, the writer no doubt intended that his reader should take the accuracy of the prediction (?) already accomplished to be a guarantee for the accuracy of that which was still unrealized. How, then, it may well be asked, can this be consistent with reality of visionary experience? Are we not here obliged to a.s.sume that the visions are a literary invention and nothing more?

However we may explain the inconsistency, we are precluded by the moral earnestness of the writer from a.s.suming the visions to be pure inventions. But the inconsistency has in part been explained by Gunkel, who has rightly emphasized that the writer did not freely invent his materials but derived them in the main from tradition, as he held that these mysterious traditions of his people were, if rightly expounded, forecasts of the time to come. Furthermore, the visionary who is found at most periods of great spiritual excitement was forced by the prejudice of his time, which refused to acknowledge any inspiration in the present, to ascribe his visionary experiences and reinterpretations of the mysterious traditions of his people to some heroic figure of the past. Moreover, there will always be a difficulty in determining what belongs to his actual vision and what to the literary skill or free invention of the author, seeing that the visionary must be dependent on memory and past experience for the forms and much of the matter of the actual vision.