Ashyath

An Ashcrite (1 Ch 1^). •*ASIA ('Aff/a) was the Roman province which embraced the W. parts of the great peninsula now called Asia Minor, including the countries Mysia, Lydia, Caria, and great part of Phrygia, with the Dorian, Ionian, .and vEoliau co,ast-cities, the Troad, and the islands oft the co.ast (Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Patmos, Cos, etc.) The name, as thas used, was created by the IJom. administra- tion. The Gr.

geographei-s generally employed the name Asia to denote the whole continent ; but the Uomans during the 2nd cent. B.C. were accustomed to term the Pergamenian sovereigns (with whom they were in clo.se political relations) 'kings of Asia' ; and when Attains 111. IxMjueathed his kingdom lo Rome in 133, it w.is formed into a province, and named Asia.

With rare excep- tions, historians and geographers under the earlier Koman Empire use the name Asia only in two senses, — either the Roman province or the entire continent. About AD. 285, Asia w.as greatly reduced in size, Caria, Phrygia, Lvdia, and .\lysia (llellcspontns) being separated from i( ; and the name Asia w.is then reslrieted to the coast-cities and the lower valleys of the Mieander, Cayster, Hermus, .and Caicus. In the NT, as is generally agreed, ' Asia ' means the Rom.

province (Ac 2° being a possible exception). At first Pergamos was the capital of the province ; • See the writer' note on Dt IS'". + I'lermoutGanneau, Itteueil d'ArcIUot. Orientalt, I. (1SS8) p. 81. $ Cf. Strabo, p. 79.V 'ArapYaTi vhi TT\v 'AOapav [KaAovcri] ; and see Noldeke In the ZD.Mtt. I-.7II, pp. 92, lll'.l : K. Meyer, if,. 1n77, pp. 780-781. The N. Vrablan ' Athar of Heaven has been nlreadv inentlone.1 nb..ve. S l)i' Voiffte, Si/rie Cenlrale, No. 8, p. 9. See further Ilatheen, pli.

Oi-7;), I On the ileltv cnlleil 'Ati, cf, Buthgon, p. 70 f. chnr'e.^ .'-'rr.'t.nrr'. ^on/ 172 ASIARCH ASMOD.EUS but after a time the superior advantages of Epliesus gave it the pre-eminence, and llie rule was that the governors must land there. Under Augustus, and even earlier, Ephesus was the supreme ad- ministrative centre of Asia, and the headquarters of the great jjrovincial officials ; but the title ' Kirst of Asia' {ivparn 'Aaias) was keenly contested also by I'ergamos and Smyrna.

The governor, who bore tlie title proconsul, was appointed by the Senate by lot from among the senior ex-consuls ; not less tlian five years must have elapsed between consulship and proconsulship ; and, owing to the 7iumber of ex-consuls, the usu^l interval became longer as time p;vssed (being twelve or more }-e;irs iu the 2nd cent.) As a rule, the office was animal ; but in exceptional ea-ses a second year, and still more rarely even a third year, of office was permitted.

Asia was one of the most wealthy and populous and intellectually active of the Kom. provinces ; hence the natural se(iuence of the work done by Paul and Barnabas on their first journey was to preach in the great cities of Asia; and this was evidently St. I'aul's intention on his second journey, until he found himself prevented from speaking the word in Asia (Ac 16"). The evani;elisation of Asia was reserved for the third journey, when, during St.

Paul's residence of two years and three months in Ephesus, ' the entire population of Asia heard the word ' (Ac 19'") ; partly on account of the frequency with which the provincials came to Ephesus f.ir trade, religion, law, or festivals ; partly through inLs.sions of St. Paul's coadjutors to the leading cities of the province. In ()T Apocr., dating before the forma- tion of tlie Kom. province, the term Asia denotes the continent. On the Asian Jews, see the cities Coii, EiMiKsrs, Laodicea, etc.

LiTEBATrKE.— The best article on A/tia is in Ruffpiero, Dizio- nario Epiiintjieo lii Antichitd Rotntme : see also .Marquardt, Jioin. S/aalm'truattuitff, i. pp, :J.S;l-349 ; Mommsen, Prueiuces of the Rm». Kiiiji. {Rom Gench. v.) ch. viii. ; and llamsay, flin- iorical Geof/ritjifii/of Asia Minor, clis. A-K : ttieaceovint of the jtrnconsuls of Asia (riven by Wa<idini:ton. FuHtende la Province d' Artie, requires to be supplemented by the list of governors in the Dizioiiario. W. M. RAMSAT.

ASIARCH ("Ao-iopxiO was the title of certain officials of the Rom. province Asia, whose num- ber, tenure of office, and mode of appointment are most obscure. Such widely divergent views are still held about the Asiarchate that it is hardly possil)le to give any adequate account of it in our limited space. The Asiarchs (like the analogous officials, Galatarch, Syriarch, Lykiarch, Pam- phyliarch, etc.)

were provincial, not municipal officials ; and they exercised certain powers in the Association in which the whole province of Asia united for the wor.ship of Rome and the Emperors, called Commune Asia; (Koifhv 'Ao-ias). That the Asiarchs were the high priests of the temples of the Imperial worship erected by the Commune Asice in Pergamos. Smyrna, Ephesus, Cyzicus, S.ardis, and perhaps other cities (^apxifpfvs tTis *A(T(as fjwv Twt', or caoy toC, ^1/ Tlepydfxti'^ w.r. A.)

, is denied by some good authorities, but seems to us highly probable: we take the term A. as a popular conversational name, which gradually established itself even in official usage, for these ' high priests of the temples of Asia.' We also regard it as probable (though it cannot be detinitely proved) that, beyoiul tlie high priests of the temples in the individual cities, there was a supreme high priest as head of the entire provincial cult.

These high lu'iests seem, along with probably some other officials, to have formed a sort of Council, which managed the l)usiness of the Commune Asi(B, and had the di.sposal of certain funds intended for the maintenance of the Imperial temples and cere- monial. The Commune Asice celebrated in the great cities of the province festivals with games, called Koiva 'Aaias ^v 'S.^vpvrj AaodiKeia^ K.r.K. ; and the games were presided over by an A., perhaps the supreme A.

, if we are right in supposing his existence. It is not improb. that the Council of tlie Asiarchs sat at stated periods in the great cities alternately ; and that they assembled at the city where the Koifa 'Aaias were being held. In that case the Asiarchs were prob. a.ssembled at Ephesus for such a jiurpose when they sent advice to St.

Paul to consult his safety (Ac 19^') ; and perhaps the festival had both brought together a vast crowd of the Asian populace, and shown clearly to the artisans that their trade in selling small shrines to the pilgrims and devotees who had tloclicd to the festival was dwindling. The tenure of office of the Asiarchs, ace. to our view, was four yeare (a term which was very common for such offices in the E. provinces) ; but some high authorities hold that the Asiarchs were appointed annually.

It is certain that the proconsul governing Asia (which see) took some part in the appointment ; but tlie details are doubtful and disputed. An A. enjoyed great dignity in his native city, and coins or in- .scriptions of very many cities in the province com- memorate the names of Asiarchs sprung from thence. They acted, doubtless, as presidents in local festivals as well as in the provincial games (Koiri 'Atri'as), and.

of course, incurred in such cases con- siderable expense, part of which was compulsory, but most was voluntary (from ambition, or gener- osity, or ostentation). Literature.— Brandis in Pauly-Wissowa's Beal-Enei/clopcf- (ft?, arts. 'Arcbiereus' and '.Vsiarches'; Monceaux, De Co7nmuni Aititv\ Biichner,/>« Xeocoria\ Mommsen, /'rwi'iflCf* of the Rom. Emp. (Rbmimhe Geschic/ite. vol. v.) ch. viii.; Lightfoot, .SV. IgntitiuK and St. Polyearp. ii. p. Ss" ff. ; Benrlier.

Le Ciille Imperial ; Ouiraud, Leu annemldees provinfiialett de l' Empire Romaiue ; Hicks. Ancient Gr. Inttcrip. in the Brit. Muh. iii. p. S( ; Kamsay, Clatnical Rer. iii. p. 174 tt.. Cities and Bishoprics of Plirijoiit, i. pp. 55-5S, and ii. ch. xi. W. M. R.\MSAY. ASIBIAS (A 'A(r.S(as, B 'Ao-fSf/aO, 1 Es 9-».— One of tlie sons of Phoros or Parosh who agreed to put away his 'strange' wife; answering to Malchijah (2) in Ezr 10^ (■^J^'?", but A 'AaaBii, n 2o6-, B om.) H. ST. J. THACKl.liAY.

ASIDE, that is, on (or to) one side, has a moral sense = astray, in Ps 14^ 'They are all gone a., they are all together become filthv ' ; Sir 2' ' go not a., lest ye fall.' J. Hastings. ASIEL (''N'VT)-— 1. Grandfather of Jehu a Simeonite 'prince' (1 Ch 4"^). 2. (^Asihel) One of five writers employed by Ezra to transcribe the law (2 Es 14-1). 3. ('AatjjK ; Heb. >n-v ; AV Asael) A forefather of Tobit (To 1'). Probably a corrupt form of the name Jahzeel {^:f>'^- Gn 46-), a son of Naphtali ; A.

is said to belong to this tribe. J. T. Makshai.1,. ASIPHA (A 'A^fKpd, B Taaa-pi), 1 P:s 529.— His sons were among the temple servants who returned with Zerubbabel. Called Hasupha (T='-7) Ezr 2<8, Neh 7"'. H. ST. J. TilACKEKAY. ASM0D;EUS (•''-''■r'^ To 3'- ") is probably identi- cal with the evil demon of the ancient Persian religion, ..ICshma da-va = the 'covetous' or 'lustful demon.' When the Hebrews borrowed the name, they connected it with ■'^'f, ft> destroy.

Hence this is the being called 6 oKedpfvuf in Wis 18^^, and i'''?.? = S airoWvuy in Kev 9". In the latter passage he is styled ' angel of the aby.ss ' and ' king ' of the destructive creatures .shaped like locusts, but with men's faces and flowing hair. The only mention of Asmodseus in the (ir. Bible is in Tobit, where he is described as rrh wopvp^f Saifnii'io:' ; Vulg. d:emonium nequissimuin ; but in the Aram, and Heb. VSS ' King of the Shedhiin.' By this name he is known AS.

N'AH ASS 173 in the Bab. Talmud (Pesachim llOfi), and in the Tarf,'. of Ec 1". In To 6» (B. Syr. Itala) we are told that he ' loved ' Sarah, the daughter of Raj^uel, and that he slew seven men to whom she was married as soon as they entered the nuptial chamber (3").

When Tobias N-isited Raguel, he also at once loved Sarah, and yet naturally was afraid to marry her ; but his companion, Raphael in disguise, taught him how to exorcise the demon by a funiitra- tion of tlie heart and liver of a fish. The demon tiud to Upper Egypt, where he was pursued by Kaphael and bound ( To 8'), after which the pious couple lived in peace. The Shedhim are the Soi/xina of the Gospel narrative.

They were conceived by the Jews as distinct from the fallen angels of the Book of Enoch, in being mortal, of both sexes, and, according to some, the offspring of those angels and human mothers (Chngigah 16a ; Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus, ii. 759-763). As Sammael was head of all the Satans, so Asmoda^us was king of the demons, and the long-haired Lilith was their queen (Ervbin lOili).

In Talmudic legends, Asmodneus was implicated in Noah's drunkenness ; and after revealing to Solomon the whereabouts of the worm Samir, which noiselessly shaped the stones of the temple, he dethroned that monarch for a while, assumed his appearance, and was the real author of the offences which history ascribes to Solomon. LrrKRATURK.— OWrer, CrchrUitenthum, L 87&-424; Kohut, Jiiditche AngeiotoffU und Ddrnorwloyit, p. 72 ; Eifienmeuger, Bntdeckta JudtnOium, 1893 edition, ch. xvi. J. T.

Marshall. ASNAH (.■ij9K = Aram. K;f!< 'thorn bush,' 'Aaevi). —The head of a family of Nethinim which returned with Zerubbabel (Ezr 2", 1 Es 5""). ASOM {'AaSfi), 1 Es 9". — His sons were among those who put away their 'strange' wives. Callea Hashum (oij-ij), Ezr lO**.