BELTESIIAZZAK
741
BEN-
on the murder of Evilmcrodach (Beros. ap. Joseph. Apion, i): we may therefore well suppose that on the death of his son Labrosoarchad, Nebuchadnezzar's fam- ily was restored in the person of Nabonnedus or La- bynetus. possibly the son of that king and Nitocris, and father of Belshazzar. The chief objection to this supposition would be, that if Neriglissar married Nebu- chadnezzar's daughter (Joseph, c. Ap. i, 21), Nabon- nedus would through her be connected with Labroso- archad. This difficulty is met by the theory of Rawlin- son {Herod. Essay viii, § 25), who connects Belshazzar with Nebuchadnezzar through his mother, thinking it probable that Nebu-nahit, whom he does not consider related to Nebuchadnezzar, would strengthen his posi- tion by marrying the daughter of that king, who would thus be Belshazzar' s maternal grandfather. A totally different view is taken by Marcus Niebuhr (Geschichtt Assur's und Babel's sett Pkul, p. 91), who considers Bel- shazzar to be another name for Evilmcrodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. He identifies their characters by comparing Dan. v with the language of Berosus about Evilmerodach (jrpoGTac. ruv irpayfiartov avopaig Kai ciGtXywc). He considers that the capture of Babylon described in Daniel was not by the Persians, but by the Medes, under Astyages (i. e. Darius the Mede), and that between the reigns of Evilmerodach or Bel- shazzar, and Neriglissar, we must insert a brief period during which Babylon was subject to the Medes. This solves a difficulty as to the age of Darius (Dan. v, 31 ; comp. Rawlinson, Essay iii, § 11), but most people will probably prefer the actual facts discovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson to the theory (though doubtless very ingenious") of Niebuhr. On Rawlinson's view, Bel- shazzar died B.C. 538, on Niehuhr's B.C. 559 (Gobel, De Belsasaro, Laub. 1757). — Smith. See Babylonia. Eelteshaz'zar (Heb. Belteshatstsar' ', ISSMBB^a, BeVs prince, that is, whom Bel favors; Sept. BaAr«<7a()),_ the Chaldee or Assyrio-Babylonish name, given to ' Daniel at the court of Nebuchadnezzar, in Babylon (Dan. i, 7, etc). See Daniel.
Belus (B/)\o<_). 1. According to classical my- thology, a son of Poseidon by Libya or Eurynome. He was twin brother of Agenor, and father of ^Egyptus and Danaus. He was believed to be the ancestral hero and national divinity of several Eastern nations, from which the legends about him were transplanted to Greece, and became mixed up with Greek myths. (See Apollod. ii, 1, 4; Diod. i, 28; Servius, ad JEn. i, 733.) See Baal.
2. The father of the Carthaginian queen Dido, oth- erwise called Pygmalion, lie conquered Cyprus and then gave it to Teucer. (See Virgil, Mn. i, 621 ; Serv- ius, ad Ain. i, 625, 646.) By some he was thought to be the Tyrian king Eth-baal (q. v.), father of the Israelitish queen Jezebel (1 Kings xvi, 31), from whose period (she was killed B.C. 883) this docs not much differ, for Carthage was founded (according to Jose- phus, Apion, i, 18) B.C. 861.
Belus (BijXivc), called also Pagida by Pliny (v, 19), a small river of Palestine, described by Pliny as taking its rise from a lake called Cendcvia, at the roots of Mount Carmel, which, after running five miles, en- ters the sea near Ptolemais (xxxvi, 26), or two stadia from the city according to Josephus {War, x, 2). It is chief!}' celebrated among the ancients for its vitreous sand ; and the accidental discovery of the manufacture of glass ( q. v.) is ascribed by Pliny to the banks of this river, which he describes as a sluggish stream of un- wholesome water, but consecrated to religious cere- monies (comp. Tacitus, Hist, v, 7). It is now called Nahr Xaaman, but the Lake Cendevia has disappear- ed. It is an ingenious conjecture of Roland (Palcest. p. 290) that its ancient appellation may be connected with the Greek name for glass (i'lXor or vaXoc), and it is possible that the name appears in the Scriptural one, Bcaloth (q. v.), incorrectly rendered "in Aloth"
(1 Kings iv, 16). For the temple of Belus, see Ba- bel.
Bema (firjfia, rostrum), the third or innermost part of the ancient churches, corresponding to what we now call the chancel. The bema was the whole space where stood the altar, the bishop's throne, and the seats of the priests ; in which sense Bingham understands the fifty-sixth canon of Laodieca, which forbids priests to go into the bema and take their scats there before the bishop comes (see Chrysost. Horn. 35, de Pentecost, torn, v, p. 553). The name bona arose from its being more exalted than the rest of the church, and raised upon steps. As the bema was especially devoted to the clergy, they were called sometimes oi rov /3?'//if<-or, and ra^ie, too ftqparoc, or "the Order of the Bema." — Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. viii, eh. vi ; Suicer, The- saurus, i, 682 ; Landon, Eccl. Diet, ii, 143.
Bsmo, John, a Seminole Indian, converted to Christianity, and afterward instrumental in great good to his tribe. He was born in the year 1825, in Florida. When quite .young he was brought to St. Augustine by his father, who perished there through the brutality of the whites. Bemo was kidnapped by a ship's crew, and carried on a several years' voyage, visiting Eu- rope, Asia, and Africa. During this voyage he was thoroughly converted, through the agency of a pious sailor. After other voyages he attended school a year with the "Friends" in Philadelphia, and then com- menced laboring with great success among his people, at their new location in the West, and by his appeals in the Eastern cities he kept them alive when threat- ened with starvation. Further facts are wanting. He was a greatly wronged boy, but an apostolic and blessed man. — Thomson, Biographical Sketches, p. 133.