THE AGES DIGITAL LIBRARY REFERENCE CYCLOPEDIA of BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL and ECCLESIASTICAL LITERATURE Astruc, Jean - Azzur by James Strong & John McClintock To the Students of the Words, Works and Ways of God: Welcome to the AGES Digital Library. We trust your experience with this and other volumes in the Library fulfills our motto and vision which is our commitment to you: MAKING THE WORDS OF THE WISE AVAILABLE TO ALL — INEXPENSIVELY. AGES Software Rio, WI USA Version 1.0 © 2000 2 Astruc, Jean an eminent French physician, was born at Sauve, in Languedoc, March 19, 1684. His father was a Protestant minister, who, on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, became a Roman Catholic. The son studied in the University of Montpellier, and became M.D. in 1703. In 1710 he was made professor of anatomy and medicine in Toulouse; and he was called to Montpellier in 1715, where he remained until 1728. In 1731 he was appointed professor of medicine in the College of France, and he remained in Paris until his death, May 5, 1766. In his profession Astruc was very eminent as teacher, practitioner, and writer; but he is entitled to a place here from a work published in 1753, entitled Conjectures sur les Memoires originaux dont il parait que Moise s’est servi pour conmposer le livre da la Genese (Bruxelles and Paris, 1753, 12mo), in which he started for the first time the theory now so prevalent, that the fact that Moses compiled Genesis, in part at least, from pre-existing documents, is shown by the distinction in the use of the two names Elohim and Jehovah in the different parts of the book. The work is marked by great skill and acuteness, and opened a new aera in the criticism of the Pentateuch. SEE GENESIS. In 1755 Astruc published a treatise Sur l’immortalite, l’immaterialite, et la liberte de l’ame (Paris, 12mo). — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 3, 487; Herzog, Real-Encyklopadie, Suppl. 1:103. Astyages (Ajstua>ghv, Diodorus Ajspa>dav) was the son and successor of Cyaxares (Smith’s Dict. of Class. Biog. s.v.), and the last king of the Medes, B.C. 595-560 or B.C. 592-558, who was conquered by Cyrus (Bel and Dragon 1). The name is identified by Rawlinson and Niebuhr (Gesch. Assur’s, p. 32) with Deioces = Ashdahak (Arm.), Ajis Dahaka (Pe’s.), the biting snake, the emblem of the Median power. SEE DARIUS THE MEDE. According to Herodotus, he married the daughter of Abyaltes (i. 74), ascended the throne B.C. 595, and reigned thirty-five years (i. 130), with great severity (i. 123). The same historian states that his daughter was married to Cambyses, a Persian noble, but that, in consequence of a dream, the king caused her child (Cyrus) to be exposed by a herdsman, who, on the contrary, brought him up, till, on attaining manhood, he dethroned his grandfather (i. 107). The account of Ctesias (who calls him Astygas, Ajstui`>gav) makes him to have been only the father-in-law of Cyrus, by whom he was conquered and deposed, but treated with respect, until at 3 length treacherously left to perish by a royal eunuch (Ctes. Ap. Phot. cod. 72, p. 36, ed. Bekker). Xenophon, like Herodotus, makes Cyrus the grandson of Astyages, but says that Astyages was succeeded by his son Cyaxares II, on whose death Cyrus succeeded to the vacant throne (Cyrop. 1, 5, 2). This account tallies better with the notices in the Book of Daniel (<270531>Daniel 5:31; 6:1; 9:1) and Josephus (Ant. 10:11, 4), where “Darius (q.v.) the Mede” appears to be the same with this Cyaxares (q.v.). In that case Astyages will be identical with the “Ahasuerus” (q.v.) there named as the father of Darius. SEE CYRUS. Asup’pim (Hebrews Asuppim’, µyPæsua}, - collections; Sept. Ajsafei>n v. r. Ejsefi>m), a part of the Temple, to which two of the Levites of the family of Obed- edom were assigned as guards (<132615>1 Chronicles 26:15, 17). They were apparently the two northernmost gates in the western outer wall of the Temple, the space between them being inclosed for store-chambers, by the name of the “house of Asuppim” (see Strong’s Harmony and Exposition of the Gospels, Appendix 2, p. 30). In the reference to the same building, as restored after the captivity (<161225>Nehemiah 12:25), the term is falsely rendered “thresholds” (µyræ[;V]hi yPesua}Bi, in the store-houses of the gates, Sept. pulwroi< fulakh~v). SEE TEMPLE. Asylum (fl;q]mæ, miklat’, fugadei~on, “refuge”), a place of safety, where it is not permitted to offer violence to, or touch any person, even though a criminal. I. Such a purpose was served (see Mishna, Maccoth, 2, 1-3; comp. Philo, De profugiis, in his Opp. 1, 546 sq.) for the unpremeditated murderer, in accordance with an ancient usage, by the altar (in the Tabernacle and Temple, <022114>Exodus 21:14; <110150>1 Kings 1:50), the horns of which were seized by the refugee. SEE ALTAR. Under the Law there were instituted, in order to rescue such manslayers from the (doubtless very barbarous) blood-revenge (<043506>Numbers 35:6 sq.; <050441>Deuteronomy 4:41 sq.; 19:3 sq.; comp. <022113>Exodus 21:13; Josephus, Ant. 4, 7, 4), six free cities (fl;q]mæ yri[;, Sept. po>leiv fugadeuthri>wn, po>leiv katafugh~v, Vulg. urbes fugitivorum, Auth. Vers. “cities of refuge”), which lay in different parts of the entire country, and were some of them sacerdotal, others Levitical cities, namely, east of the Jordan, Bezer, Ramoth-Gilead, and Golan; west 4 of the Jordan, Kedesh, Shechem, and (Hebron) Kirjath-Arba (<062007>Joshua 20:7, 8). Here the fugitive, after having undergone a strict investigation to prove that he had not committed the slaughter intentionally, was obliged to remain until the death of the then incumbent of the high-priesthood (comp. the similar exile according to the Athenian statutes, Heffter, Athen. Gerichtsverf. p. 136); if he quitted the city earlier, the blood-avenger might kill him with impunity (<043524>Numbers 35:24 sq.). The roads to the cities of refuge were to be kept in good order (<051903>Deuteronomy 19:3; for other particulars, see Maccoth, 2, 5; Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 66; on the boundaries of these cities, see the Mishna, Maaser.3, 10). Willful murderers (<043512>Numbers 35:12; compo Mishna, Miaccoth, 2, 6) were to be put to death, after a legal investigation, even if they had escaped to a city of refuge. See generally Michaelis, Mos. Recht, 2, 434 sq.; Moebii Disputat. theol. p. 105 sq.; Wichmannshausen, De Praesidiariis Levitarum urbibus (Viteb. 1715); Reis, De urbibus refugii V. T. eorumque fructu (Marburg, 1753); Osiander, De asylis Hebr. (Tubing. 1672, also in Ugolini Thesaur. 31). The reason for assigning the Levitical cities for this purpose was probably in part from their connection with the sacredness of Jehovah, and partly because the Levites, as guardians of the Law, were present to decide concerning the murder as to whether it was intentional or not (see Carpzov, Appar. p. 340). It is not easy to explain the connection of the expiration of the bloods revenge with the death of the high-priest, except that this was regarded as beginning a fresh era (Tabulme noave). Baihr (Symbol. 2, 52), following Maimonides (More Nevochim), advances the not imlprobable supposition that the high-priest was so eminently the head of the theocracy, and representative of the whol nation, that upon his demise every other death should be forgotten, or, at least, mortal enmities buried (for allegorical significations, see Philo, De profugiis, 1, 466). SEE BLOOD-REVENGE. II. Grecian and Roman antiquity likewise affords mention of the light of asylum (Serv. ad AEn. 8, 341), not only at altars, and temples, and sacred places (Herod. 2, 113; Eurip. Hec. 149; Pausan. 2, 5, 6; 3, 5, 6; Dio Cass. 47, 14; Strabo, 5, 230; Tacit. Annal.3, 60, 1; Flor. 2, 12), but also in cities and their vicinity (Polyb. 6, 14, 8; comp. Potter, Greek Ant. 1, 48; see Cramer, De ara exter. templi sec. p. 16 sq.; Dougtaei Anal. 1, 102 sq.), for insolvent debtors (Plutarch. De vitando aere al. 3), for slaves who had fled from the severity of their masters (comp. Philo, Opp. 2, 468), also for murderers. An especially famous city of exemption was Daphne, near 5 Antioch (2 Maccabees 4:33), as also the temple of Diana at Ephesus (Strabo, 14:641; Apollon. Ephes. Ep. 65). But as the abuse of the privileges of asylum often interfered with criminal jurisprudence, it was circumscribed by Tiberius throughout the Roman empire (Suet. Tib. 37; comp. Ernesti Excurs. in loc.). On the immunities referred to in <441612>Acts 16:12, SEE COLONY. (On cities of refuge in Abyssinia, see Ruppell, 2:71.) SEE CITY OF REFUGE. III. The privilege of asylum was retained in the Christian Church, probably in imitation of the cities of refuge, under the old dispensation. All criminals who fled to such asylums were held to be safe, and any person violating an asylum was punished with excommunication. All Christian churches, in the early ages, possessed this privilege of affording protection or asylum. It was introduced by Constantine, and first regulated by law under the emperors Theodosius the Great, Arcadius, Honorius, Theodosius, and Justinian. The multiplication of these privileged places soon became exceedingly inconvenient, and it was found necessary, from time to time, to circumscribe the ecclesiastical right of asylum by various limitations.