siderably west of Neah. C. R. CONDER.
NEAPOLIS (Νέα Πόλις, ‘new city’) was the port at which St. Paul landed, when, in accordance with his vision at Troas (Ac 16"), he sailed thence for Macedonia (Ac 16") to begin his ministry in Europe. It was the seaport of Philippi, which lay bout 10 miles inland. Its position has been generally identified, or at least closely associated, with that of the modern town (of about 5000 in- habitants) called Kavalia, in the vicinity of which various remains have been found pointing to an earlier town of some importance, especially a great aqueduct bringing water from some distance, and stones bearing Greek or J.atin inscriptions. Cousinéry (Voyage dans la Macédoine, ii. p. 119 ff.) and Tafel (de tig Eqnatia) have argued in favour of a site some 10 miles farther to the west, where there is a deserted harbour called Hski or Old Kavalla; but Hackett (see art. ‘Neapolis’ in Smith’s DB) appears to have finally settled the matter in favour of the town now bearing the name of Kavalla. The latter is situated on the bay which takes its name from it, at a point where, nearly opposite to the island of Thasos, a promontory projects, having a harbour on either side; that one which faced the west, especially, affording so suitable an anchorage that at the time of the battle of Philippi the triremes of Brutus and Cassius were moored in the bay of Neapolis (Appian, Bell. Civ. iv. 106). Its earlier name would seem to have been Daton or Datos, for Strabo designates Neapolis ‘a town of the Dateni,’ and describes Daton as ‘ possessing fruitful plains, and a port (λίμνη), and streams, and shipbuilding, and lucrative gold-mines, whence comes the pro- verb as to the ‘good things of Daton”’ (Strabo, vii. fr. 36). Probably the place received the newer name on becoming the seat of some fresh colony (from Thasos or from Athens?). Pliny (ΗΝ iv. 18) treats Neapolis as belonging to Thrace; but Strabo vii. 330) and Ptolemy (ili. 13) connect it with
acedonia. WILLIAM P, Dickson.
NEARIAH (nny;).—1. A descendant of David,
1Ch 3“*, 2, ASimeonite, 1 Ch4“. In both these
B and A have Nwad(e)id, but Luc. has
ee and Naapds. The interchange of 7 and 1
accounts for the difference between MT and BA of
LXX. Which has preserved the true reading must remain uncertain.
NEBAIOTH (n'3} or ni}, Sam. rnd} 5 LXx Nafaii?).—Firstborn of Ishmael, Gn 25'5 28° 363, 1Ch 1”. In Is 607 coupled with Kedar as the name of a pastoral tribe. The same tribe is men- tioned repeatedly in the Cylinder Rm 1 of Assur-
NEBO 501
banipal also in company with Kedar; the Assyrian form of the name as Na ba'ali ta, In col. 8, ll. 1615 of that inscription we learn that their king Natnu, who was the first prince of the tribe that paid homage to the Assyrians, joined the revolting Arabs, but was defeated by urbanipal’s forces, Their country is described as ‘very distant’ (ashar- shu ruuku) in 1. 58; Glaser (Skizze, ii. 267, etc.) places them in the Arabian provinces Yemamah and Kasim, but it may be doubted whether they can be localized soexactly. His opinion, however, that the name has no connexion with the Naba- teans, is probably to be accepted. In the despatch K. 562 (S. A. Smith, ii. 36) there is a reference to the Niba’ati, who probably represent the same tribe; and a kirg Nadan is mentioned in K, 524 (tb. 54), who may or may not be the king of Nebaioth. The king’s name seems to be the equivalent of the Hebrew Nathan; it may have been altered by the Assyrian transcriber. The etymology of the name Nebaioth is pay to be found in Arabic; according to the Lisan al- Arab, xx. 172, nabawdt would mean ‘lofty places, emi- nences.’ The name certainly seems to be a femi- nine plural, which would exclude connexion with the Nabat. D. S. MARGOLIOUTH.
NEBALLAT (»53}; BA om., N° * ™!2f NaSadddr).— A town mentioned only after the Captivity, along with Lod and Ono, as inhabited by Benjamites, Neh 11%. It is Pde ara the modern Beit Nebdla, a village N.E. of Lydda.
NEBAT (»3}; Ναβάτ (Nafdé)).—Father of Jero- boam 1. (1 K 11% and onwards). The constant designation of Jeroboam I. as ‘ ben-Nebat’ is probably the usage of a writer later than Jero-
oam ben-Joash. It is intended, doubtless, to distinguish the two kings. On the first occasion of its use (1 K 1155), the formula has been added at the expense of appropriateness, since Jeroboam is further described as the son of a widow (B υἱὸς γυναικὸς χήρας). ‘Son of Nebat’ may have been absent from the earliest form of the narrative. It is wanting in LXX of 1 Καὶ 12™>(from B). It is less probable that ‘widow woman’ is secondary. Nebat was therefore dead before his son’s advancement under Solomon. The name perhaps signifies ‘brightness.’ Its equivalence to $xv23 ‘God is splendour’ has been suggested (Cheyne, JQF xi. 559). Thatis known as a Sa name (Gesenius, HWB*), The interpretation ‘Nabatzean’ con- flicts with 1 K 1139 (‘ Nebat, an Ephraimite’).
W. B. STEVENSON.
NEBO 03), Ναβώ, Assyr. Nabium, contracted Nabu, ‘the Prophet’).—Nebo was the interpreter of the will of Bel-Merodach of Babylon, and con- sequently hada shrine in E-Saggilla, the great temple of Bel, at Babylon. But his own temple was E-Zida (now Birs-i-Nimrid) in Borsippa, the suburb of Babylon. He was the son of Merodach and Zarpanit, and the husband of Tasmit ‘the hearer.’ He presided over literature and science, and the cuneiform system of writing was regarded as his creation. Hence, in the pre-Semitic Sumer- ian language of Chaldmwa, he is termed dim-sar, ‘ the scribe.’ Among his titles are those of ‘the wise,’ ‘the intelligent,’ ‘the creator of the oracle,’ ‘the maker of writing,’ ‘the opener,’ and ‘enlarger of the ear.’ Assurbanipal traces to him his zeal for knowledge. ‘Nebo and Tasmit had given him broad ears and seeing eyes,’ he says, so that he had caused the Bitisa literature of the country to be republished, as well as ‘the secrets of Nebo, the list of all the characters that exist.’ In later days Nebo was identified with Nusku, a solar deity of fire, who was the messenger of Bel of Nippur, just as Nebo was the messenger of Bel-