CARBUNCLE.— See Stones, Precious.
CARCAS (sr;;. Est 1'°), one of the seven eunuchs orchamherlainsof kinp Aliasuerus. AnetymoluL'y ett^;:ested is the Persian kargas, ' vulture.' The LXX gives a different name.
CARCASE (the spelling has been indillorently carcase or carcass throuj,'liout, though dictionaries have given carcass alone, or by preference since Johnson) is used now only of the dead body of a beast, or contemptuously of a human being, but was formerly used freely of either. The Heb. words are various : (1) .ti: givhjyah (used of living body also) is so tr. only Jg 14'" of the c. of Samson's lion (RV 'body'), wliich is also (14*) called (2) rht^ mappelcth (fr. Ssj to fall, as jml/za fr. irfirreti', cadaver fr. caflere), which has this meaning only here ; elsewhere ' fall ' Pr 29", Ezk 261S- w 3ii» 3210, or . ^uin ' Ezk 27" SV [all]. (3) ■U3 peger ; and (4) n^jj nihhflah are often tr. ' car- case.' Both are also applied to the trunk of an idol, peger Lv 26*' ' I wQl cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols ' ; nihhilah Jer 16'* ' they have tilled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable things.' Both words are used in Heb. of dead bodies only, so that the tr. ' dead carcase' of Dt 14*, Ezk 6°, is as needless for the Heb. as in the Eng. ; RV omits ' dead.'
In Bel *■ ' in the den there were seven lions, and they had given them every day two carcases and two sheep ' (so RV, AVin ' slaves,' Gr. (rui/nara, lit. 'bodies,' used of 'servants,' i.e. slaves. To 10'").
In NT ' carcase ' occurs Mt 24^ ' wheresoever the c. is, there will the eagles be gatliered together ' (iTTwfia, as in Wis 4'*) ; and He 3" ' whose carcases fell in the wilderness' (kCiXov, lit. 'limbs,' the LXX tr. of i;? in Nu 14'-^- '' where the language is nearly identical). J. Hastings.
CARCHEMISH («»'P3-|: ; omitted in the LXX at 2 Ch :!.-)-", but at .Jer 26 [Heb 46]-' XapAteis [Q, Kapx^PM'''] ; Vulg. Ouircaiiiis). There have been various conjectures lus to the site of this city, which was fin.illy correctly located by Messrs. Skene and Geo. Smith, by means of the As.syrian inscrijitions. Carchemish is at present represented by the mounds of JerablOs (Smith, Varaboloos) or llierapolis, on the western bank of the Euphrates, described by Smith as a grand site, with vast walls and palace-moimds 8000 ft. round, and containing numerous sculptures and monoliths with inscrip- tions, many of which are now in the British Museum. Pococke says that the ruins are rect- ang\ilar, and measure \ mile long bj' ^ mile wide. The mounds lie between Birejik and the junction of the Sajur and the Euphrates. Carchemish, the chief city of the Hittites, was called Karkamis by the Babylonians, Gargamis and Kargainis by the Assj'rians, and 4!!arikamaV(?)sa or Karakamisa by the Egyptians, and the city was known — perhaps renowned — as a trading centre as early as tlie 3rd millennium n.C* Amcn-em-hcbe, one of the cap- tains of Tahutmes III. (c. n.C. UiiKI), refers to his cam- paign against the people of I^ankanmV(?)Ra, where he took prisoners ;t and about B.C. 1200 Tiglath- pilesei I. of Assvria plundered ' the land of the neighbourhood of Sulii as far as Carchemish (Ivar-
• Before the rplirn of the Bab. kinjc Aiiimi-zAflutra. c. 2110 n.o. t W. Max MilUer, Airifti und Kurvjia nacK attdgyptiachen Dti'krmiUm, bcipzig, 1803, vol.. I. — 2}
gamis) of the land of IJatte (Kheta or Hit) in a single day.' There is no record, however, that the fortress was taken on this occasion. The ruler of Carchemish about B.C. 880 was Sangara, who paid a large amount of tribute, chielly in manufactured things, such as furniture and woven stutt's, also metal, to Assur-na^ir-pal, king of Assyria. Sangara afterwards came into conflict with Shalmaneser II., son of Assur - na^ir - pal, about B.C. 858, and the Assyrian king says tnat he captured Sangara's cities, receiving from the latter, when he submitted, 2 talents of gold, 70 talents of silver, 30 talents of copper, 100 talents of iron, 20 talents of puiple cloth, 500 weapons, his daughter with a dowry, 100 daughters of the great men of the place, 500 oxen, and 5000 sheep, and fixed as his (yearly) tribute 1 nianeh of gold,
1 talent of silver, and 2 talents of purple cloth, one pajnient of which is duly recorded as having taken place. The large amount of the war in- demnity and the tribute testify to the prosperity and commercial importance of the city. On the bronze gates found by H. Rassam at Balawat the reception of tribute by Shalmaneser II. is twice rejiresented, and in each case a picture in relief of the fortress is given. The city was finally taken by Sargon of Assyria in B.C. 717, when Pisiri or Pisiris, its last king, was made prisoner. P'rom this time it formed part of the Assyrian empire, and was administered by an Assyrian governor.* Its importance as a trading centre continued under its new rulers, the ' maneh of Carchemish ' being one of the standard weights in use at Nineveh. Later notices of the city occur in the Bible itself, when PharaohNecho defeated Josiah in the battle in which the Jewish king lost his life (2 Ch 35"), and was himself defeated by Nebuchadrezzar, four years later (B.C. 605), under the walls of the city (Jer 46^), in the battle which decided the fate of Western Asia. The patron deity of the city was the Asiatic goddess wor- shipped under the name of Atargatis, whose wor- ship, when the city fell into decay, was transferred to the city now represented by Membij, which became the new Hierapolis, and continued in ex- istence after the old city of Carchemish was de- serted. The meaning of the name is unknown.