The term thus appears to have been used by the NT writers in a specific sense (suggested by the classical instance of Korah) of disloyalty in one way or another to the Church, its traditions, its harmony and unity. 1 Co 10'° and Jude '" suggest that, as in the case of Korah, such murmurings are really against God Himself. H. BULCOCK.
MUSIC. — See Praise, and artt. on various Musical Instruments.
UTRA (Miipo, a neut. plur. ; often written Tiippa, as in B). — Myra was 'a city of Lycia' (Ac 27°), situated on a hill 2J miles from the sea (Strabo, XIV. iii. 7), and the name often included the sea- port of Andriaca. In the time of the Ptolemys, Myra shared with other Lycian towns the benefits of a great maritime traffic which was developed between Egypt and Asia Minor ; and when Rome became mistress of the world, the conditions of navigation in the Mediterranean made Myra a place of growing importance. The corn-ships of Alexandria, which brought food to the population of Rome, were in the habit of sailing due nortli to Lycia, making Myra a place of call, and then pro- ceeding westward. This long route was the short- est in the end. Instead of sailing straight for Italy, and, in doing so, contending with the westerly winds which prevail in the Eastern Medi- terranean during the summer months, it was better seamanship to make for the S.W. of Asia Minor, and then get under the protection of the south coast of Crete. When, therefore, the centurion who brought St. Paul from Cfesarea found an Alexandrian corn-ship in the harbour of Myra, about to continue her course to Italy, this was no surprising occurrence. It was not an unlucky event which made a disastrous change in his plans, as T. Lewin suggests {The Life and Epistles of St. PauP, 1875, ii. 187). It was exactly what he had expected. Before he began his voyage he no doubt calculated on being able to trans-ship into one of the vessels of that great fleet of corn-ships which linked the names of Alexandria and Myra in the common talk of all men of the sea.
St. Nicholas, one of the bishops of Myra, became the patron saint of Levantine sailors. Myra was still an important city in the Middle Ages, being known as the portus Adriatici maris when ' the Adriatic ' included the whole Levant.
Both Myra, which is now called Dembre, and Andriaca have some interesting ruins.
LiTF.RATDRE.— W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, London, 1895, p. 298 1. ; E. Petersen and F. V. Luschan, Heisen in Lykien, Milyas nnd Kibyratis, Vienna, 1889. JaMES STRAHAN.
HYSIA {Mvala). — Mysia was an ill - defined country in the N.W. of Asia Minor, having the
MYSTERY, iMYSTKKIES
MYSTERY, MYSTERIES
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.'Egean, the Helles]iout, and the I'ropontis on the W. and N., Bithynia on the N.li., and the equally ill-defined iej;ions of l^hrygia and Mysia on the S. E. and S. The absence of landmarks between the land of the Mysians and that of the Phrygians gave rise to the saying, x"P'5 '''i Miwuji' Kal 'i>pi7wi' oplff/xara. ' The reason is this ; strangers who oanie into the country were soldiers and barbarians ; they had no fixed settlement in the country of which they obtained ])ossession, but were, for the most part, wanderers, expelling others from their territory and being expelled themselves ' (Strabo, Xll. iv. 4). For the most part a mountainous country, Mysia was not so productive as Lydia and Caria. It was sometimes legardcd as including the Troad in the W., some- times as separated therefrom by the river ^^isepus. The river Caicus and Mount Teninos were usually taken as the southern limits, and the district of Phrygia Epictetus, which extends a considerable distance eastward — as far as Dorykeuin and Nakoleia — was at one time in the hands of the Mysians. The Romans, who showed little regard for ethnical distinctions, absorbed Mysia in the great province of Asia.
Mysia is referred to in an important but difficult passage of Acts (16'- *). St. Paul and Silas, having in the second missionary tour 'come over against Mysia ' {(XBdvTei Kara ttjv Mvaiav), were restrained by the Spirit of Jesus from going into Bithynia ; whereupon they turned westward, and ' passing by jNIysia {TrapeXddvTes rrjv Mvfflap) they came down to Troas' (Ac 16'-*). For a discussion of the vexed question as to the apostles' movements before they came to the borders of Bithynia and over against Mysia see Phrygia and Galatia. Assuming that St. Paul and Silas were travelling from Pisidian Antioch northward through Phrygian Asia, Ramsay observes that they would be ' over against Mysia' when they reached such a point that a line drawn across the country at right angles to the general line of their route would touch Mysia {The Church in the Roman Etnpire, 1893, p. 75 n.). This point would be the city of Dorylaium. From there they turned due westward, and, ' passing by,' or neglecting, Mysia — this does not mean passing along its borders, but going straight through it ■\vithout pausing to do any evangelistic work in it — they came down to the yEgean. The other reading, 5icX96;'Tes, preferred by Blass despite its weak authority (D and Vul- gate), seems in Acts and the Pauline Epistles in- variably to designate a missionary tour, which is in this case out of the question, as the apostles have just been forbidden to preach in Asia (Ac IG"). The distance from Doryla^um to Troas is about 240 miles. The route would lead through the valley of the Rhyndacus and the town of Apameia, where there is a local tradition of a Pauline visit (ExjjT X. [1898-99] 495). JAMES Steahan.