ALPHAGE
177
ALTAR
were known to their friends and countrymen, and by the other to the Romans or strangers. More prob- ably, however, the double name in Greek arises, in this instance, from a diversity in pronouncing the H in his Aramajan name, "'S^Pt (chalphay', changing, as in the Talmudists, Lightfoot, ad Acts, i, 13), a diversity ■which is common also in the Septuagint (Kuinol, Comment, on John xix, 25). See Name. Or rather, perhaps, CI* pis was a Greek name adopted out of re- semblance to the Jewish form of Alpkaus (like '' Paul" for "Saul"), if, indeed, the former be not the original from which the latter was derived by corruption.
2. The father of the evangelist Levi or Matthew (Mark ii, 14). A.D. ante 26.
Alphage or Elphegus, archbishop of Canter- bury, distinguished for humility and piety. Being infected with the views of the ago, he took the habit in the monastery of the Benedictines, and afterward shut himself up in a cell at Bath. Here he remained until, the see of Winchester being vacated by the death of Ethelwold, Dunstan, archbishop of Canter- bury, called him to the vacant bishopric. In 1005 he was elevated to the see of Canterbury. After he had governed this metropolitan see some years, the Danes made an irruption into the city, burned the cathedral, and having put to death upward of seven thousand of the inhabitants, seized the archbishop, whom they kept in bonds seven months, and then murdered ; this was on the 19th April, 1012. Godwin remarks that the murderers did not escape the penalty of their sacri- legious act, scarcely one in the whole Danish army having escaped. — Collier, Eccl. Hist, i, 487-493.
Alphen, Jerome Simon Van, a German theo- logian, was born at Hanau, May 23, 16G5; studied at Franeker and Leyden; became pastor at Warmond, and afterward at Amsterdam; and finally, in 1715, professor of theology at Utrecht, which office he filled until his death at Utrecht, Nov. 7, 1742. His principal work is Specimina Analytica, in Epist. Fault. (Utrecht, 1742, 2 vols. 4to). — Drakenborch, Oratio Funebris in Van Alphen (Utrecht, 1743); Hoefer, Biog. Generate, i, 210.
Alphery, Nicephorus (or Mikipiier), a Rus- sian, allied by birth to the imperial family. In con- sequence of political troubles, he went to England, studied theology, and, in 1618, became curate of War- len, Huntingdonshire. It is said that he was repeat- edly called from his retirement to return to Russia, even with offers of the imperial throne; but he pre- ferred his quiet duties in England. In 1G43 he was deprived of his living, but it was restored to him after the Restoration, and he lived, greatly respected, to a great age. — Biographia Britannica, s. v. ; Walker, Suf- ferings oftJie Clergy in the Great Rebellion, pt. ii.
Alphitomancy, a kind of divination (q. v.) per- formed with barley, first among the pagans, and from them introduced among Christians. A person sus- pected of crime was brought before a priest, who made him swallow a piece of barley-cake ; if this was done without difficulty, he was declared to be innocent; otherwise, not. — Delrio, Disq. Magic, lib. iv, cap. 11 ; Landon, Eccl. Diet. s. v.
Alphonso de Alcala (in Latin Alphonsus Complutensis), a Spanish rabbi, was a native of iWcala de Henares, and lived toward the close of the 15th century. He embraced Christianity, and was employed by Cardinal Ximenes in the revision of the celebrated Polyglot.— Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. i, 193.
Alphonso de Zamora, a Spanish Jew and dis- tinguished rabbi, converted to the Catholic faith, and baptized in 1506. Cardinal Ximenes employed Iiini for fifteen years upon his celebrated Polyglot, after which he composed a Dictionary of the Chaldee and Hebrew words of the Old Testament, and other works relating to the text of the Holy Scriptures. In these
labors he had some assistance from others ; but he composed many other works by himself, mostly on the Hebrew tongue. He wrote also, from Spain, a lettei to the Roman Jews, in Hebrew and Latin interlined, reproaching them for their obstinacy. — Cave, Hist. Lit anno 1506; Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. i, 193.
Alphonsus of Liguori. See Liguori.
Alsted, Joiiannis Heinrich, a German Protestant divine, born in 1588 at Herborn, in Nassau, professor of philosophy and theology in his native town, and sub- sequently at Weissembourg, in Transylvania, where he died in 1638. He represented the Reformed Church of Nassau at the Synod of Dort. Among his numer- ous works may be mentioned, Tractatus de Milk Annis (1618; a treatise on the Millennium, translated and published in London in 1643, 4to) ; Encyclopaedia Bib- lica (Francof. 1620, 1642), in which he attempts to prove that the principles and materials of all the arts and sciences should be sought for in the Scriptures. He wrote also a general Encyclopedia (Lyons, 1649, 4 vols, fol.), and other works, of which a list may be found in Niceron, Mernoires, t. xli.
Altanae'us ('AArfuwoc, prob. for MaXrayatoQ, and this, by resolution of the dagesh, for Mar7-«va<oc), one of the ' ' sons" of Asom (or Hashum), who divorced his Gentile wife after the captivity (1 Esdr. ix, 33) ; evidently the Mattexai (q. v.) of the genuine text (Ezra x, 33).
Altar (H3T53, mizbe'ach, from l"OT, to slay in sac- rifice ; fioupoc), a structure on which sacrifices of any kind are offered. In ancient times this was al- ways done by slaughter or by fire. The term is bor- rowed in modern times to signify a table or other erection in a church on which the sacraments are ad- ministered, or near which prayer is offered and other religious exercises performed (comp. Heb. xiii, 10). They were originally of earth (Exod. xx, 24 ; comp, Lucan. ix, 988 ; Horace, Odss, iii, 8, 4 ; Ovid, Metam. iv, 752; Trist. v, 5, 9; Plinj-, v, 4) or unwrought stone (Exod. xx, 25), erected on such spots as had been early held sacred (Gen. xii, 7 sq. ; xiii, 18 ; xxvi, 25; xxxv, 1; Exod. xvii, 15; xxiv, 4 sq.), especial- ly hill-tops and eminences (Gen. xxii, 9; Ezek. xviii, 6; comp. Herod, i, 131; Homer, Iliad, xxii, 171; Apollon. Rhod. 524; Livy, xxi, 38; Philostr. Apol. i, 2), also house-tops (2 Kings xxiii, 12), as being nearer the sky (Tacit. Anal, xiii, 57; Philostr. Apol. ii, 5); occasionally under remarkable trees (2 Kings xvi, 4). See Smith's Diet, of Class. Antiq. s. v. Ara; Selden, Synedr. iii, 260 sq. ; Jahn, Archiiol. pt. iii, c. 2, 5; Bahr, SymboHk, i, 157, 233; Lakemacher, Antiq. Grcec. sacr. p. 221 sq. The stone altars erected to the true God (Josh, viii, 31; 1 Kings xviii, 31 ; 1 Sam. vi, 14) were imitated by the Gentiles, as appears from Pau- sanias (vi, 382), where he mentions " an altar of white stone," and Apollonius Rhodius, in speaking of the temple of Mars {Argon, ii). Altars were generally erected at the gates of the city (2 Kings xxiii, 8). We may refer to this Acts xiv, 13, where the priest of Jupiter is said to have brought filleted oxen to the gates to perform sacrifice. An altar, both among the Jews and the heathen, was an asylum, a sanctuary, for such persons as fled to it for refuge (Exod. xxi, 14 ; 1 Kings i, 50; ii, 28, etc.). As to the practice of the heathen in this respect, all the Greek writers are more or less copious. See Horns.