Astruc, Jeant, an eminent French physician, was born at Sauve, in Languedoc, March 19, 1684. His father was a Protestant minister, who, on the revoca- tion of the edict of Nantes, became a. Roman Catholic. The son studied in the University of Montpellier, and became M.D. in 1703. In 1710 he was made professor of anatomy and medicine in Toulouse ; and he was called to Montpellier in 1715, where he remained un- til 172S. In 1731 he was appointed professor of medi- cine in the. College of France, and he remained in Paris until his death, May 5, 1766. In his profession Astruc was very eminent as teacher, practitioner, and writer; but ho is entitled to a place here from a work published in 1753, entitled Conjectures si/r les Memoires originaux dm// ilparait que Moise s'est servi pour com- poser le livre de la Genese (Bruxelles and Paris, 1753, 12mo), in which he started for the first time the the- ory now so prevalent, that the fact that Moses com- piled Genesis, in part at least, from pre-existing doc- uments, is shown by the distinction in the use of the two names Flohini and Jehovah in the different parts of the book. The work is marked by great skill and
ASTYAGES
501
ASYLUM
aeuteness, and opened a new sera in the criticism of the Pentateuch. See Genesis. In 1755 Astruc pub- lished a treatise Sur Vimmortalite, I'immnti rinlit, ■', it In liberte de fame (Paris, 12mo). — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generate, iii, 487; Herzog, Real- Eneyklopiidie, Suppl. i, 103.
Astyages (Aarvdyijc, Diodorus 'A&iraSag) was the son and successor of Cyaxares (Smith's Diet, of Class. Biog. s. v.), and the last king of the Medes, B.C. 595-5G0 or B.C. 592-558, who was conquered by Cyrus (Bel and Dragon 1). The name is identified by Hawlinson andNiebuhr (Gesch. Assur's, p. 32) with Deioces = Ashdahak (Arm.), Ajis Dahaka (Pers.), the biting snake, the emblem of the Median power. See Darius the Mede. According to Herodotus, he mar- ried the daughter of Abyaltes (i, 74), ascended the throne B.C. 595, and reigned thirty-five years (i, 130), with great severity (i, 123). The same historian states that his daughter was married to Cambyses, a Persian noble, but that, in consequence of a dream, the king caused her child (Cyrus) to be exposed by a herdsman, who, on the contrary, brought him up, till, on attaining manhood, he dethroned his grandfather (i, 107). The account of Ctesias (who calls him A s- tyigas, ' Av-viyac) makes him to have been only the father-in-law of Cyrus, by whom he was conquered and deposed, but treated with respect, until at length treacherously left to perish by a royal eunuch (Ctes. Ap. Phot. cod. 72, p. 36, ed. Bekker). Xenophon, like Herodotus, makes Cyrus the grandson of Astyages, but says that Astyages was succeeded by his son Cy- axares II, on whose death Cyrus succeeded to the va- cant throne (Cyrop. i, 5, 2). This account tallies bet- ter with the notices in the Book of Daniel (v, 31 ; vi, 1 ; ix, 1) and Josephus (Ant. x, 11, 4), where " Darius (q. v.) the Mede" appears to be the same with this Cy- axares (q. v.). In that case Astyages will be identi- cal with the "Ahasuerus" (q. v.) there named as the father of Darius. See Cyrus.
Asup'pim (Ileb. Asuppim', D^SCX, collections; Sept. 'Aaa<pt!v v. r. 'Eatcpi/.i'), a part of the Temple, to which two of the Levites of the family of Obed-edom were assigned as guards (1 Chron. xxvi, 15, 17). They were apparently the two northernmost gates in the western outer wall of the Temple, the space be- tween them being inclosed for store-chambers, by the name of the "house of Asuppim" (see Strong's Har- mony and Exposition of the Gospels, Appendix ii, p. 30). In the reference to the same building, as restored after the captivity (Neh. xii, 25), the term is falsely render- ed "thresholds" (Z^V'^'tl 12SX2, in the stoi-e-houses of the gates, Sept. iruXwpoi <&uAaia/c). See Temple.
Asylum ("3^":, mihlat', (pvyaStXov, "refuge"), a place of safety, where it is not permitted to offer vio- lence to, or touch any person, even though a criminal.
I. Such a purpose was served (see Mishna, Maccoth, ii, 1-3; comp. Philo, De profugiis, in his Opp. i, 54G sq.) for the unpremeditated murderer, in accordance with an ancient usage, by the altar (in the Tabernacle and Temple, Exod. xxi, 14; 1 Kings i, 50), the horns of which were seized by the refugee. See Altar. Under the Law there were instituted, in order to res- cue such manslayers from the (doubtless very barbar- ous) blood-revenge (Num. xxxv, 6 sq. ; Dent, iv, 41 sq. ; xix, 3 sq. ; comp. Exod. xxi, 13; Josephus, Ant. iv, 7, 4), six free cities (Vib'p-q *"iV, Sept. TrtWur <;,v- yaOiVTijpiioj', TroXf.ig icaracpuyijc, Vulg. urbes fugitivo- rum, Auth. Vers, "cities of refuge"), which lay in dif- ferent parts of the entire country, and were some of them sacerdotal, others Levitical cities, namely, east of the Jordan, Bezer, Eamoth-Gilead, and Golan ; west of the Jordan, Kedesh, Shechem, and (Hebron) Kir- jath-Arba (Josh, xx, 7, 8). Here the fugitive, after having undergone a strict investigation to prove that he had not committed the slaughter intentionally, was
obliged to remain until the death of the then incum- bent of the high-priesthood (comp. the similar exile according to the Athenian statutes, Heffter, Athen. Grichtsverf. p. 136) ; if he quitted the city earlier, the blood-avenger might kill him with impunity (Num. xxxv, 24 sq.). The roads to the cities of refuge were to be kept in good order (Deut. xix, 3 ; for other par- ticulars, see Maccoth, ii, 5; Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 66; on the boundaries of these cities, see the Mishna, Manser. iii, 10). Wilful murderers (Num. xxxv, 12; comp. Mishna, Maccoth, ii, 6) were to be put to death, after a legal investigation, even if they had escaped to a city of refuge. See generally Michaelis, Mas. Recht. ii, 434 sq. ; Moebii Disputat. theol. p. 105 sq. ; Wich- mannshausen, I)ePrcesidiariisLevitarumurbibus(Yi^a. 1715); Keis, De urbibus refugii V. T. eorumque fructu (Marburg, 1753) ; Osiander, De asylis Hebr. (Tubing. 1672, also in Ugolini Thesaur. xxxi). The reason for assigning the Levitical cities for this purpose was probabty in part from their connection with the sacred- ness of Jehovah, and partly because the Levites, as guardians of the Law, were present to decide concern- ing the murder as to whether it was intentional or not (see Carpzov, Appar. p. 340). It is not easy to explain the connection of the expiration of the blood- revenge with the death of the high-priest, except that this was regarded as beginning a fresh era (Tabula} nora:~). Biihr (Symbol, ii, 52), following Maimonides (More Nevochim), advances the not improbable suppo- sition that the high-priest was so eminently the head of the theocracy, and representative of the whole na- tion, that upon his demise every other death should be forgotten, or, at least, mortal enmities buried (for alle- gorical significations, see Philo, De pi-ofugiis, i, 466). See Blood-revenge.