sq.) to another region for security and political exten- sion. Ewald (Isr. Gesch. iii, 375), following Gesenius, regards the name as only another for the Persians themselves, adopted out of hostility to the Jews (ib. p. 120), and in a three-fold form to enhance their own importance.
Aphar'sites (Chald. Apharsaye' ', i05'*EX ; Sept. 'AQapoaloi), the name of a tribe removed along with the Apharsachites (q. v.) to Samaria by the king of Assyria, and forming one of the opponents of the Jews after the captivity (Ezra iv, 9). Hiller (Onumast.) re- gards them as the Parrhasii, a tribe of Eastern Media, and Gesenius (Thes. Heb. p. 143) thinks they are the Persians, to whose name theirs certainly bears a much greater affinity, especially in the prolonged form of the latter found in Dan. vi, 29 (Chald. Pavsaya' , NnD"i5). The presence of the proper name of the Persians in Ezra i, 1 ; iv, 3, must throw some doubt upon Gesenius' conjecture ; but it is ver}- possible that the local name of the tribe may have undergone altera- tion, while the official and general name was correctly given.
A'phek (Heb. ApheV, p£N>, prob. strength; with rt directive, Josh, xiii, 4 ; 1 Kings xx, 2G ; 1 Sam. xxix, 1 ; hence not to be confounded with Apiiekah), the name of at least three cities (Schwarz, Palest. p. 90).
1. (Sept. 'A<paicd and 'A(pi]Ku.) A city of the tribe of Asher (Josh, xix, 30), apparently near Phoenicia (Josh, xiii, 4), doubtless the same with Aphik (q. v.), which the Israelites were unable to capture from the Canaanites (Judg. i, 31). This has been thought (see J. D. Michaelis, Supplem. p. 114; Rosenmuller, Al- therth. II, ii, 90 ; Gesenius, Thes. Heb. i, 140 ; Raumer, Paliist. p. 120, and others) to be the same place with the Aphaca ("A^aKa) which Eusebius (Constant, iii, 55) and Sozomen (Hist, ii, 5) place in Lebanon, on the river Adonis (Zozim. i, 58), where there was a famous temple of Venus (Theophanes, Chron. p. 18). A vil- lage called Afka is still found in Lebanon, situated at the bottom of a valley, and probably marks the site of this latter place (Burckhardt, p. 25 ; Richter, p. 107). It is situated in the south-east bank of the great basin of Akurah, where are the sources of the Nahr Ibrahim, the Adonis of the ancients, and in an amphitheatre of verdant beauty. Here a fine fountain bursts forth in cascades from a cavern ; and directly in front of these are the shapeless ruins of a large temple — that of the Venus of Aphaca, still containing massive columns of syenite granite (Bibliotheea Sacra, 1853, p. 150). (For the history and description of this place, sec Kobinson's Bibl. Pes. new ed. iii, G04 sq.) But Re- land (Palest, p. 572) correctly observes that this place is situated too far north to have been included within the bounds of the twelve tribes (sec Keil, Comment, on Josh, xix, 30). It is possible, nevertheless, that the Aphek of Josh, xiii, 4, is identical with this Apheca in Lebanon (Schwarz, Palest, p. G3, 90), and this may, perhaps, be the Canaanitish royal city mentioned in Josh, xii, 18; but even this is doubtful, and it cannot have been the city in the tribe of Asher near Rehob (Josh, xix, 30; Judg. i, 31). From this last circum- stance Schwarz thinks (Palest, p. 194) that the Aphck in question may be the En-Fit (which he says is also called En-Fik) three miles south-west of Banias (sec Zimmermanh's Map); but this is beyond the bounds of Asher, and the Rehob of that tribe is probably dif- ferent from the Syrian city of the same name. See Rehob. Kiepert (in his last Wandkarte vim Palas- tina, 1857) gives this Aphek a conjectural location south-east of Accho, apparently at Tell Kison (Robin- son's Researches, new ed. iii, 103). See Aphaca.
2. (Sept. 'ArpiK.) A city in the tribe of Issachar, not far from Jczreel, where the Philistines twice en- camped before battles with the Israelites (1 Sam. iv,
APHEKAH
288
APIS
1 ; xxix, 1 ; comp. xxviii, 4). Either this or the pre- ceding, but most probably this, was the Aphek (Sept. 'Abated) mentioned in Josh, xii, 18, as a royal city of the Canaanites. Eeland (Palast. p. 572) and others (e. g. Schwarz, Palest, p. 13G) assume that the Aphek of 1 Sam. iv, 1, must have been in the tribe of Judah, because presumed to be near Mizpeh (comp. 1 Sam. vii, 12) ; but this is unnecessary. See Aphekah. Josephus calls it Apheca ('AtyiKd, Ant. v, 11, 1; viii, 14, 4). Eusebius (Onomast. "A<ptp) places it in the vicinity of Endor. Schwarz {Palest, p. 168), con- founding this Aphek with that of 1 Kings xx, 26, seeks it in the village of Fuknah, two miles east of En-Gannim ; but this is beyond the territory of Issa- char. Kiepert (Wandkarte von Paliist. 1856) locates it between the river Kishon and Shunem, apparently at El-Afukh, where the Crusaders placed it (Van de Yelde, Memoir, p. 286), or, rather, at the neighboring El-Fuleh, a ruined village (Robinson's Researches, iii, 163, 176, 181).
3. (Sept. 'Atieica.) A town near which Benhadad was defeated by the Israelites (1 Kings xx, 26), evi- dently on the militar}' road between Damascus and Palestine. It was walled (1 Kings xx, 30), and was apparently a common spot for engagements with Syr- ia (2 Kings xiii, 17). The use of the word "llOSail (Auth. Vers, "the plain") in 1 Kings xx, 25, fixes the situation of Aphek to have been in the level down-country east of the Jordan [see Mishor], and it seems to correspond to the Apheca of Eusebius {On- omast. 'A0£Ka), a large castle situated near Hippo, east of the Sea of Galilee. Josephus also {Ant. viii, 14, 4) calls it Apheca (Afticd), and it appears to have been in the tower of this place (nvpyoe, 'AtytKov) that some of the insurgent Galiheans threw themselves during the war with Cestius Gallus (Joseph. War, ii, 19, 1). The same place is probabl}' mentioned by Burckhardt, Seetzen, and others, under the name of Fik or AJik (see Gesen. in Burckhardt, Tieise, i, 539). It is a village on the top of a mountain, containing about two hundred families, who dwell in huts built out of the ruins of the ancient city, which appears to have been peculiarly situated so as to cause the ruin of the Syrian army by an earthquake (Thomson's Land and Book, ii, 52, 53).