en identified with Commagene; and Alzi with Anzitene, mentioned by Ptolemy (v. 13. 18) as a district between the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates. Tiglath-pileser went out to meet them, traversed a region called Kashuyara, and defeated them with great slaughter. They are next mentioned in an inscription of king Asshur- nasir-abal (W ATI i. 18; translated in AJB i. 65) about 220 years later, who professes to have re- ceived tribute of the Moschi and Commagenians, consisting of ‘ bowls of brass, sheep, and wine,’ in which the first item agrees curiously with the ‘vessels of brass’ which, according to Ezk 27!%, were supplied by ‘Tubal and Meshech’ to Tyre. Their power had become formidable by the time of Sargon (B.C. 722-705), in whose annals the Moschian king Mita plays an important part (Winckler, Die Keilschriftexte Sargons, pp. xxiv-xxxix) ; from 715 this king appears as a formidable enemy of Assyria, who makes common cause with Rusa of Urartu, seizes cities in Cilicia, and otherwise supports Sargon’s enemies. The fortresses of Usi, Usilu, and Uargin are built in 712 to protect the new province of Kammanu against him (id. Ὁ. 33, 1. 192). Not till 709 is Mita forced to make peace with the Assyrian king, owing to an invasion of his territory by one of the latter’s lieutenants (ib, p. 128, ll. 151-153). The Moschi do not, however, appear in the lists of tributaries of the later Assyrian kings, though in Persian times the figure in the 19th Satrapy of Darius (Herod. ii 94). In chs. 37 and 38 Fvekiel mentions them among the allies of Gog, king of Magog, but in 3236. 517 he reckons them among the great departed. It is probable, therefore, that the Israelites knew of their fame only at second-hand, and hence Ezekiel would not be clear as to whether the
MESHELEMIAH
MESSENGER
nation still existed or not. It is not, however, known at whose hands they lost their independ- ence.
Their geographical position probably varied somewhat with the vicissitudes of their fortune, but can be generally fixed by the historical refer- ences in the inscriptions, where it is approached through Kummukh, and has for its neighbours Tubal to the south and Kammanu to the west, and where it is reduced by the governor of Kui (Cilicia). In Greco-Roman times the nation that bore their name is represented as much farther north, be- tween the yous and the Phasis (cf. Strabo, xi. 2. §§ 14, 16); Hecatzeus placed them next to the Matieni (Steph. Byz. s.v.). Too little is known of their language and customs to make it possible to
locate them ethnographically. δ᾽ S. MARGOLIOUTH.
MESHELEMIAH (7>bvin and iypbyin). — The eponym of a family of Korahite doorkeepers, 1 Ch 99 (B Μασαλαμί, A Μοσολλάμ), 26! (B Μοσολαήλ, A Μοσολλάμ), 3 (B Μοσαληά, A Μασελλαμιά), ® (B Μοσομαμείδ, A Meood\\eusd)=Shelemiah of 26%, Shallum of 917- 19. and Meshullam of Neh 12”,
MESHEZABEL (5yrrvn).—1. One of those who assisted to repair the wall, Neh 34(B om.; αὶ Μασ- efeBnd, A Μασεζειήλ). 2. One of those who sealed the covenant, Neh 10% (B Μεσωζεβήλ). 3. The father of Pethahiah, who was at the king’s hand in all matters concerning the people, Neh 11% (B Βασηζά, N° 8 Βασηζαβεήλ). It is quite probable that all three references are to the same individual or family.
MESHILLEMITH (nnbzin).— riest, 1Ch 913 (B Μασελμώθ, A Μοσολλαμώθ), called in Neh 1118 Meshillemoth (wh. see).
MESHILLEMOTH (nvvin).—4. An Ephraimite, 2 Ch 28" (Μοσολαμώθ). 2. A priest, Neh 1118 (AB om. ; N° 8 Μασαλαμίθ), called in 1 Ch 913 Meshille- mith (wh. see).
MESHULLAM (on perh. ‘ the devoted one,’ cog- nate with Arab. Muslim, cf. Del. and G. A. Smith on Is 42°, LX X Μοσολλάμ, Μοσολάομος, Μεσουλάμ, etc. ).— Acommon OT pr. name. 4.2.3. Three Benjamites (1 Ch 8! 978), 4, A Gadite (1 Ch 5%), 5, The [Sete pa of Shaphan the scribe (2 K 22), 6,
he father of Hilkiah the priest (1 Ch 9"). 7. Another priest of the same family as the preceding (1 ΟἿ 913). 8. A Kohathite, one of the superintend- ents appointed by Josiah to direct the repairs on the temple (2 Ch 34%). 9. A son of Zerubbabel (1 Ch 3”). 10. One of the ‘chief men’ whose services were enlisted by Ezra to procure Levites to accompany him to Jerusalem (Ezr 8"). 414. A Levite who opposed Ezra’s proceedings in con- nexion with the foreign marriages (Ezr 10"). 12, One of those who had married foreign wives (Ezr 10”). 18. Son of Berechiah, one of those who helped to repair the walls of Jerusalem (Neh 3+), His daughter was married to Tobiah (015), 184, Son of Besodeiah. He nee to repair the old gate (Neh 3°), 15. One of the company that stood at Ezra’s left hand during the reading of the law (Neh 8"). 16. 17. A priest and a chief of the
eople who sealed the covenant (Neh 107), 48, ee of the princes of Judah who marched in pro- cession at the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh 12%). 19. 20, 21. Two heads of priestly houses and a porter in the time of the high priest Joiakim (Neh 12! 16. %),
MESHULLEMETH (n>>v'p, Luc. and B Μεσολ- Adu, A Μασσαλαμείθ, Vulg. Messalemeth, Jer. de interpr. Messalem).—Wife of king Manasseh and
Her father’s name