Bith'ron (more accurately "the Bithron," Heb. hab- Bithron , ■j'Tltlilil, thebrolcen or divided place, from 1F3, to cut vp ; Sept. ») 7rapartii'ovaa ; Vulg. Beth- horon), a place — from the form of the expression, "all the Bithron," doubtless a district — in the Arabah or Jordan valley, on the east side of the river (2 Sam. ii, 29). The spot at which Abner's party crossed the Jor- dan not being specified, we cannot fix the position of the Bithron, which lay between that ford and Maha- naim. So far as we know, the whole of the country in the Ghor, on the other side of the river, is of the broken and intersected character indicated by the derivation of the name. It appears, therefore, to be the designa- tion of that region in general rather than of any specific locality. — Smith, s. v. See Bether.
Bithyn'ia (Bidvria, derivation unknown ; for an attempted Semitic etymology, see Bochart, Canaan, i, 10 ; Sickler, Handb. p. 544), a province of Asia Minor, on the Euxine Sea and Propontis (Plin. v, 40; Ptol. v, 1 ; Mel. i, 19), bounded on the west by Mysia, on the south and east by Phrygia and Galatia, and on the east by Paphlagonia (see Mannert, VI, iii, 515 sq.). See Asia (Minor). The Bithynians were a rude and uncivilized people, Thracians who had colonized this part of Asia, and occupied no towns, but lived in vil- lages (Kwpo7r6\iic, Strabo, p. 566). On the east its limits underwent great modifications. The province was originally inherited by the Roman republic (B.C. 74) as a legacy from Nicodemus III, the last of an in- dependent line of monarchs, one of whom had invited into Asia Minor those Gauls who gave the name of Galatia to the central district of the peninsula. On the death of Mithridates, king of Pontus, B.C. 63, the western part of the Pontic kingdom was added to the province of Bithynia, which again received farther ac- cessions on this side under Augustus A.D. 7. Thus the province is sometimes called "Pontus and Bithyn- ia" in inscriptions; and the language of Pliny's let- ters is similar. The province of Pontus was not con- stituted till the reign of Nero. It is observable that in Acts ii, 9, Pontus is in the enumeration and not Bithynia, and that in 1 Pet. i, 1, both are mentioned. (See Marquardt's continuation of Becker's Rom. Alter* thiimer, III, i, 146.) For a description of the country,
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which is mountainous, well wooded, and fertile, Hamil- ton's Researches in Asia Minor may be consulted ; also a paper by Ainsworth in the Roy. Geog. Journal, vol. ix. The course of the River Rhyndacus is a marked feature on the western frontier of Bithynia, and the snowy range of the Mysian Olympus on the south- west. (See Smith's Diet, of Class. Geog. s. v.) That Christian congregations were formed at an early pe- riod in Bithynia is evident from the apostle Peter having addressed the first of his Epistles to them (1 Pet. i, 1). The apostle Paul was at one time inclined to go into Bithynia with his assistants Silas and Timo-
Coins of liitliynia, with the Heads of Roman Emperors.
thy, "but the Spirit suffered him not" (Acts xvi, 7). (See Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of St. Paul, i, 240.) This province of Asia Minor became il- lustrious in the earlier parts of post-apostolic history through Pliny's letters and the council of Nicsea (q. v.). It had two regular metropolitans, at Nicomedia and Ni- csea, and a titular one at Chalcedon (see Wiltsch, Hand- book of the Geogr. and Statist, of the Church, i, 161 sq. ; 443 sq.). Bithynia now forms one of the districts of Turkish Anatolia, and is the nearest province to Turkey in Europe, being separated from it by only the narrow strait of the Thracian Bosphorus opposite Constanti- nople, and contains one of the suburbs of that city called Scutari, a short distance from which is Chalce- don. A considerable proportion of the population of Bithynia belongs to the Greek and Armenian churches. (For a full account of this district, see Penny Cyclo- paedia, s. v.)
Bitter (always some form of the root "H^, marar' ' , m/cpoc). Bitterness (Exod. i, 14; Ruth C 20 ; Jer. ix, 15) is symbolical of affliction, misery, and servi- tude. It was for this reason that, in the celebration of the Passover, the servitude of the Israelites in Egypt was typically represented by bitter herbs (see below). On the day of bitterness in Amos viii, 10, comp. Tibul- lus, ii, 4, 11 — "Nunc et amara dies, et noctis amarior umbra est." In Habakk. i, G, the Chaldseans are called " that bitter and swift nation," which Schultens illustrates by remarking that the root merer in Arabic (answering to the Hebrew word for bitter) is usually applied to strength and courage. The gall of bitterness (Acts viii, 23) describes a state of extreme wickedness, highly offensive to God and hurtful to others. A root of bitterness (Heb. xiii, 15) expresses a wicked or scan- dalous person, or any dangerous sin leading to apos- tasy (Wemyss's Claris Symbolica, etc.). The "waters made bitter" (Rev. viii, 11) is a symbol of severe po- litical or providential events. See Wormwood. On the bitter wafers of jealousy, or what may be termed the ordeal oath (Num. v, 11-24), see Adultery (trial of). On the "bitter clusters" of Sodom (Deut. xxxii, 32), 6ee Apple; Hemlock.