Achish (Hastings' Dictionary)

The king of Gath to whom David lied for refuge after the massacre of the priests at Nob. Finding himself recognised as the slayer of Goliath, David feigned madness, and BO escaped from the Phil, court (1 S 21'"). (This incident belongs to one of the later documents of Samuel.) In 1 S 27' (belonging to the Judaic or earliest document) A. is called ' the son of Maoch' (possibly = ' son of Maacah.'l K2*), receives David with his band of 6(H) men, and a-isigns him the city of Ziklag in the S.

of Judah. De.s|iite the vlabes of A., the other Phil, princes refuse to let David take part in the final campaign against Saul. J. F. Stenning. ACHMETHA(Knsn!<, 'Ejtj3aropa),thecap. of Media, mentioned Ezr 6- as the place where State docu- ments of the time of Cyrus were preserved. The Aram, form of the name employed in Ezr (LXX 'Aim$d) closely resembles the Pehlevi [uno.T (Bunde- hesh, p. 23, i. 4), derived from the Old Pers. hang- matana {Behistan Inscr. II. xiii.

8), derived by Rawlinson from ham and gam, with the meaning 'meeting-place.' This Old Pers. form, accommo- dated to the Greek pronunciation, gave rise to the name Agbatana or Ecbatana (To 6, Jth P"), and survives in the modem Hamadan (34° 8' N, 48° 3' E), the cap. of the province of Persia bearing the same name, with, which the ancient cap. of Media is ordinarily identified. Hamadan lies at the foot of Mt.

Elwend, ' whence it derives a copious water supply, and in a plain thickly besprmkled with vineyards, orchards, and gardens, but whose elevation is 6000 ft. above the sea ; it enjoys one of the finest situations in Persia' (Curzon, Persia, i. 566). This is clearly the Ecbatana of To 6», where it is represented as lying midway between Nineveh and Rhages ; and also of Strabo, xi.

523, who knows of it as the summer residence of the Parthian kin^s ; for which its elevation and con- sequently cool climate suited it. But the ancient cap. of the Median empire, built, according to Herodotus (L 98, 99), by the first king Deioces (c. 700 B.C.), ' with walls of great size and strength, rising in circles one within the other,' each wall being coloured to correspond with one of the seven planets, is to be sought, ace. to Sir H. Rawlinson (JUGS x., art. 2, and ad I.e. Herod.)

, not at Hamadan, but at Takht-i-Sulayman (36° 25' N, 47° 10' E) in Adherbijan, the ancient Atropatene, disting:uished from Media Mao:na. The Armenian historian, Moses of Chorene (li. 84, ed.

Whiston), speaks of the ' second Ecbatana, the seven-walled city ' ; and in the very learned paper quoted, Rawlinson (1) identifies that city with the Gazaka of the Greeks and Ganzak of the Armenians j (2) identifies Ganzak with the Shiz of Mohammedan >vriter8; and (3) localises Shiz at Takht-i-Sulayraan, where a conical hill, surrounded by ruins, which enclose a lake that has attracted the observation of ancient and modem travellers, corresponds with the description of Ecbatana ^ven by Herodotus, as well as with what that historian tells us of the char- acter of the surrounding country (i.

110). Hama- dan, which lies at the foot of a mountain, would not admit of being fortified in the way described ; and, though searcli has been made by numerous explorers (see Polak in Mittheilungen der Wiener Geograph. Gesellscha/t, 1883, art. 1), no traces have been discovered of buildin<58 such as Herodotus mentions.

The description in Jth (I'"), to which no historical value attaches, would seem to refer to the same city as that of Herodotus ; and another record of the impression created by the strength of its fortifications is, according to Kawlinson, to lie found in the account of Var in the 2nd Fargard of the Vendidad. D. S. MaroOLIOUTH. ACHOR Valley (-Asy p72 'valley of trouble,' Jos 7-"'-" 15', Is (m'", IIos 'i"). — In the last passage the name niaj perhajis not be geographical.

The valley was near Jericho, but its exact position is not quite cert,ain. It appears, however, from itc connexion with the border of Judah, to be probably WAdt/ Kelt, a deep ravine close to the site of the Jericho of the Christian era. The stream becomes a foaming torrent after rains, and, issuing into the plains, runs between steep li;inks south of mciilern Jericho to the Jordan {SWP vol. iii. sh. xviii.) C. R. CONDEa. ACHSAH ACTS OF THE APOSTLES ACHSAH copy anklet," 1 Cli2*»AV Achsa).

— The daiiu'liur i>f Caleb. She was proiiiLseil in marriage by her father to the man who should capture l)ebir or Kiriath-seplier. Othuiel, the brotlier (nephew?) of Caleb, accoinplishefl the feat, and obtained the promised reward. As the bride was being conducted to her home, she lighted ofli her ass, and besought her father to add ' springs of water' to the dowry of a south land (Xegeb), which he had already given her.

In response he granted her ' the upper springs and the nether springs' (Jos 15"i-i9, jg i9.i6). R. M. BoYD.