* Sic, C!7., Kill, Itoman Socitty in th» latt Century qf tin Weium Jimpiret p. IM ff.
special liomes of literature in the ages preceding tlie invention of printing. The accommodation for books was at first neither large nor luxurious. The early buildings of monasteries show no place for a library. Tlie books (apart from such precious ones as were jilaccd in the shrine of the patron saint) were stored in cupboards (armaria) along the sides of the cloister, or in recesses in its walls ; and in the cloister the monks read and copied them. In course of time the cloister windows adjoining the books were glazed as a protection, and the elder monks, at least, had 'carrells' or
Eews in which they could sit at their work. As ooks multiplied, increased provision had to be made for tliem. In the Cistercian houses, small cupboard-like rooms were introduced, in which the books lay upon shelves round the walls, much after the fashion of the Roman library at Hercul- aneum. In the 14th and 15th centuries larger rooms were provided, generally above some earlier building ; and here the books could be arranged in regular bookcases. Libraries are pro^aded for also in the statutes of the earliest colleges at the univer- sities ; and the manner of them can be realized from examples still extant, as in the Laurentian library at Florence. Sometimes the books lay on desks, sometimes they stood on shelves, with desks below or above on wliich they could be placed for consultation. In either case they were normally attached to their place by chains, so that they could not be carried away without permission. For the copying of MSS special scriptoria were provided in the great monasteries, and monks with a turn for literature were told oil' for this duty ; so that in many i)laces (as at Grotta Ferrata or St. Albans) distinct traditions of penmanship were established, and special styles, whether of historical chronicles or of illuminated miniatures, were culti- vated. For a long time these were practically confined to monasteries. Only with tlie revival of learning did literature and art issue out to the world in general ; and then the end of the reign of nianu.scripts was at hand. In the 15th and 16th centuries we find many scribes (especially the Greek scribes in Italj-) and many miniaturists wlio were certainly laymen ; and so, before the decline of monasticism was .accomplished, its special work as the exclusive guardian of literature was done, and the secular world was ready to take into its own keeping the heritage of learning wliich the monks bad been so largely instrumental in hand- ing down to it.
LiTKRATURE. — Guidf to the Babylonian and Assyrian An- tiquitifs in tlie liritish Museum, IDOO, pp. .^4-78; Dziatzko, art. ' Bibliothelten' in Pauly-Wissowa. Ji?^ ; Edwards, Memoirs of Libraries, 1859, Libraries and Founders of Libraries, 18C5 ; S. R. Maitland, The Dark Ages^, 188fl ; F. A. Gasquet, Som« Notes on Mediaeval Monastic Libraries, 1891 ; J. W. Clark, The Care o/ Books, 1901.
On Heb. (also Phcon., I'alinyr., Aram., etc.) pala30;;raphy, with facsimiles of penis, seals, inscriptions, etc., see, fiirUicr, refer- ences and illustrations under artt. ^ioNRY and Wrigiits and Mrascrbs; M. A. Levy, Siegel u. Grmme mil aram. phun. altheb., etc, Inschri/trn(l^iMi); Lidzl>.irski, Ildh. drr nordsein, Kjngr. nebst ausfjewuhlten Inschri/ten (ISOS, with plates ; in- dispensable for further study of subject, with full biblioprnphy, pp. 4-ii8, 493-99); ilordtmann u. Miiller, Sabdisclie Denkunthr, 1883; D. II. Mullcr, Kpiqr. Denkmaler aus Arabicn, 1889; Ilommel, SUdarab. Chrestomathie, 1893; C/S (Ph.cn., Aram., Ilimyar. insf.'riptions, with facsimiles); Cleniiont-Ganneau, Jifc' d'Arch^ol, orient.; the collection of fine l-'acsiniHe.i t>t' MSS and Inscriptions, pub. by the Palieopraph. Society ((JrientjU series); the atlas of facsimiles of Heb. MSS acconi- piinyinp Neubaucr's Cataloijue of Heb. MSS in the Bmtl. Libran/. See also the recently established periodicals : Lid/,, barski's lipfietneris /Ur sem. Ejtitjraphik (I. I. 1900); and lUperUrirt d' Epigrapltie tin. [iuppl. to CIS] (1. 1. 1900).
F. G. Kknyom
958
XANTHICUS
YOKEFELLOW
X
XANTHICDS.— See Time, p. 765.
XERXES (ii?pfi!s), king of Persia (B.C. 485-465), i.si the Ahasuerus of Ezr 4" and of the Book of E.-^tlier.* In the first of these instances the position of the name, between Darius (Hystaspis) and Arta- xerxes{Longimanus), scarcely permits of any other conclusion. The view (Ewald, et al.) that Cambyses the son of Cyrus is referred to, is now generally abandoned. There has never been any doubt as to tlie intention of the author of the Book of Esther to identify his Ahasuerus with Xerxes, although a difierence of opinion has prevailed regarding the historicity of tlie role he assigns to this king. It may suffice to say here that, while the extravagance, cruelty, and caprice attributed to Ahasuerus, and
* It seems hopeless to attempt to fix the identity of the Ahasuerus of Dn 9' and To U". In ftuy case he cannot be the hutoricat Xerxes.
the vindictiveness of Esther, correspond closely enough to what we are told of Xerxes and hia queen Amestris (cf. e.g. Herod, vii. 35, 114, 11811'., 238 ; viii. 24 if. ; ix. 110 ft'.), there are powerful con- siderations which forbid our accepting the book as a record of actual occurrences. See, further, Esther, vol. i. pp. 773", 775.
The name Ahasuerus appears in the MT as I^niv'nx or eillynt* [in Est 101 E^tfiibh, prob. by cop.yist's error, has ti'lcnNJ. The LXX forms are : Ezr 4fl B 'A<rUrf>«C [or peril.' AvUripoi], A 'A<r<r«w- Kfioi, Luc. 'Afffvrr-i^ ; Dn 91 Theod. 'Ac-e-Jrpot [Al B] or 'Air<rour,pot [A* »" Ql, LX.X Si;{r(, Luc. 'Arm^ptt ; To 1410 B 'A.ri^fx, A 'Artlxpott N*^-' ' Airffi/v)poe ; in Esther BA, confusing with Nnc'cnrnK (Artax^rxes), reproduce uniformly by 'Afniclipirt or some corruption of that name, although Luc. has 'Acsi/v^pof except in 920 'A/>Ta{if jrf. Bevan (Daniel, p. 149) holds that the form of the name originally in use among the Jews was no doubt K'TcnK {Ahashj/arsh or Abshayarsh), answering to the Pers. Ehshayarahd (Aram riK-pn, CIS II. L 122).