DICTIONARY OF THE HOLY BIBLE,

AS PUBLISHED BY THE LATE

MR. CHARLES TAYLOR,

WITH

THE FRAGMENTS INCORPORATED.

THE WHOLE CONDENSED AND ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.

American Edition.

REVISED,

WITH LARGE ADDITIONS,

BY EDWARD ROBINSON,

PROFESSOR EXTRAORDINARY OF SACRED LITERATURE IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, ANDOVER.

ILLUSTRATED

With Maps, and Engravings on Wood.

C. BOSTON:

PUBLISHED BY CROCKER AND BREWSTER,

47 WASHINGTON STREET.

NEW YORK: JONATHAN LEAVITT,

182 BROADWAY.

MDCCCXXXII.

The Publishers of this work have in press, and will soon publish, an Abridgment of the present edition of Calmet's Dictionary, with Engravings, for the use of Schools and young persons. Prepared by Professor ROBINSON.

HARVARD COLLE

11 July 1833

LIBRARY

Edits and Publishers

NOTE. In the following work, the letter R. at the close of a paragraph, indicates that the whole of that paragraph, or so much of it as follows the mark [, has been added by the American Editor. The same letter, preceded by an asterisk, *R. indicates that the whole of the preceding article, or so much of it as follows the mark [, is by him.

PREFACE

TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.

THE American public being here presented with the well-known Dictionary of Calmet, in a condensed and somewhat abridged form, it is proper to state the circumstances under which this edition has been brought forward, and the principles on which the revision of the work has been conducted by the present Editor.

Augustin Calmet was a French monk, of the Benedictine order, and, in the latter part of his life, abbot of Senones, in Lorraine. He devoted himself particularly to the studies connected with Biblical literature; and his chief works were a Commentary on all the Books of the Old and New Testament, (Paris, 1707-16, 23 vols. 4to. ; reprinted in 26 vols. 4to., and also in 9 vols. folio,) and the Historical and Critical Dictionary of the Bible, (Paris, 1722-28, 4 vols. folio; reprinted at Geneva, 1730, in 4 vols. 4to., and again at Paris, 1730, in 4 vols. folio.) He published a few other works of a similar nature, which obtained less notoriety, and died at Paris in 1757, at the age of seventy-five years. His general character, as a scholar and writer, is that of a diligent and judicious collector and compiler, with more of tolerance than was usual among the Catholics of that day, but without any profound skill in original investigation, or any distinguished tact or taste in the plan and arrangement of his works.

His Dictionary is justly regarded as affording a popular exhibition of the learning then. extant upon the subjects of which it treats; without making in itself any important additions to the common stock. It was translated into English by D'Oyly and Colson, and published in 1732, in 3 vols. folio. There are said to have been versions of it also in the Latin, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian languages. But no further edition of it appeared in England until 1797, when it was again published under the direction of the late Mr. Charles Taylor, with considerable retrenchments and additions. The retrenchments consisted, principally, in the omission of articles resting on the authority of rabbinic literature and Catholic tradition, and not directly illustrative of the Bible. The additions were given in a separate volume, under the name of Fragments, and consisted of discussions and illustrations of oriental life, character, and manners, drawn chiefly from travellers in the East. second edition of Mr. Taylor's revision was printed in 1800-03; and afterwards a third, from which the American edition of 1812-16, was copied, in 4 vols. 4to. The fourth London edition appeared in 1823, enlarged by a second volume of Fragments; and the fifth edition in 1830, after the death of Mr. Taylor, in 5 vols. 4to., the fifth volume consisting only of the plates.

A

The character of Mr. Taylor as an editor, and the value of his additions to Calmet's work, may be given in few words. Acquainted with oriental philology only through the meagre system of Masclef and Parkhurst; as an expounder of etymologies, outstripping even the extravagance of the latter; and as a theorist in the ancient history of nations, overstepping the limits which even Bryant had felt himself constrained to observe ;-his remarks on these and many collateral topics, may be characterized as being in general fanciful, very often rash, and sometimes even involving apparent absurdity. They must ever be received by the student with very great caution. His chief and undoubted merit consists in diligently bringing together, from a variety of sources, facts and extracts which serve to illustrate the antiquities, manners and customs, and geography, of oriental nations.

On account of the diffuse and heterogeneous character which the Dictionary of Calmet had thus been brought to assume, it was a judicious step to undertake a new revision, in which the Fragments should be incorporated with the Dictionary under one alphabet, and the whole condensed and reduced to a proper form and order. Such a work has been published in London, during the present year, in royal octavo, under the direction of the editor of the fifth quarto edition. In order to comprise the work within this compass, the plan appears to have been to leave out all articles not directly illustrative of the Scriptures themselves; and also many of the prolix and trivial critical discussions of the Fragments; omitting, however, nothing which it would be of any importance to retain. This plan appears to have been acted upon throughout-but with some exceptions, and, as it would seem, in great haste. I am not aware, at least, that any thing has been omitted, which it would have been in any degree advisable to have retained.

Such was the work which the enterprising Publishers put into my hands, with the request that I would revise it, and prepare an edition for the American public. On examining it, I found that many retrenchments might still be made, in my judgment, with advantage; while many additions also might be introduced, from sources with which the English editors appear to have been unacquainted.

The retrenchments which I have ventured to make, have been chiefly in respect to such critical, etymological, and mythological discussions of Mr. Taylor, as the English editor had retained. Believing that a much better system of Hebrew philology is beginning to be prevalent in our country, and also a more sober and correct view of Biblical interpretation in general, I felt unwilling to sanction the circulation among us of any such crude and fanciful speculations as could only tend to divert the mind of the Biblical student from the right way. I have, therefore, not hesitated to strike out every thing of this kind, which seemed to me positively wrong and of injurious tendency; although enough still remains to confirm to the sober-minded student the correctness of the preceding remarks.

In the place of these retrenchments, and to a much greater amount, I have made such additions as seemed to be desirable, from all the sources within my reach. The whole range of German labor, in the department of Biblical literature, appears to have been almost unknown to the English editors; I have drawn copiously from it. The works of modern oriental travellers have also been extensively used. During the whole progress of the work, the latest quarto edition of the Dictionary has been open before me, as also the French edition of 1730, and the first English one of 1732; but I have not found occasion to draw from them to any great extent.

The present work contains very many things which I should never have inserted, but which, being once there, I did not feel myself at liberty to reject. Such a course would have resulted rather in the compilation of a new work; which it was neither my wish nor duty to undertake. My province was merely to prepare a revised copy of the English work. This I have done, and almost every page bears evidence of such revision. Of the very numerous Scripture references, many have been found wrong, and have been corrected; but no systematic collation of them has been made. Many errors also, which had come down through all the previous editions, have been corrected. At my request, the Publishers have given a new and important map of the country south of Palestine; and, at their own suggestion, have introduced a better plan of Jerusalem, and also added another map, illustrative of the passage of the Israelites through the Red sea.

In conclusion, I have to return my thanks to the guardians and officers of Harvard University, and the Boston Athenæum, for the very liberal manner in which they met my wishes for the use of books from their respective libraries. To the skilful and very accurate correctors connected with the Boston Type and Stereotype Company, the thanks of the Editor and of the readers of this work are especially due.

The plan of the work, it will be perceived, is neither doctrinal nor devotional. The object of it is simply to explain and illustrate the meaning of the Bible itself, leaving to other occasions the application of that meaning, as it regards both the understanding and the heart. That the work may have the effect to facilitate and promote the study of the Sacred Volume in our land, is now the Editor's fervent prayer, as it has long been the object of his anxious toil.

Theol. Sem. Andover, Oct. 15, 1832.

EDWARD ROBINSON.