EDENIUS
57
EDGAR
potamia, and Haran be Carrhte, it seems more natural to look for Eden somewhere in the same localitj'. Keil (Comm. on Kinr/s, ii, 97) thinks it may be Ma'doii, which Assemani {Bibl. Or. ii, 2'24) places in Mesopo- tamia, in the modern province of Diarbekr. Bochart, considering the Eden of Genesis and Isaiah as identi- cal, argues that Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and Eden are mentioned in order of geographical position, from north to south; and, identifying Gozan with Gausanitis, Ha- ran with Carrhae, a little below Gausanitis on the Cha- bor, and Rezeph with Iteseipha, he gives to Eden a still more southerly situation at the eonfluence of the Eu- phrates and Tigris, or even lower. According to him, it may be Addan or Addana, wliich geographers place on the Euphrates. Michaelis {Suppl. No. ISSG) is in favor of the modern Aden, a port of Arabia (called b}' Ptolemy 'ApafSicic; tfiiropiov), as the Eden of Ezekiel. — Smith, s. V. See Vedan.
3. ("1?, Amos i, 5, "house of Eden"). See Beth- Eden.
4. (Sept. 'Iwc.uv V. r. 'ItoatVJ^t.) Son of Joah, and one of the Gershonite Levites who assisted in the ref- ormation of public worship under Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxix, 1'2). B.C. 72G. He is probably the same with the Levite appointed in the same connection one of the superintendents of the distribution of the free-will of- ferings (2 Chron. xxxi, 15, Sept. 'O^djU v. r. c^^ov-
Edenius, Jordan Nicolas, a Swedish theologi- an, was born in 1024, and liecame professor of theology at Upsal in 1G59. He died in 1GG6, leaving, among other works, Dissertationes theolofficm de Chris/imice re- lif/umis veritate (Abo, 1664) : — Epitome kistorix eccle- siasticce, published by bishop Gezelius at Abo in 1681. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xv, 6-17.
E'der (Heb. id. ^|'^I^, aJlocJc, as often), the name of a place and also of a man. , See Edar ; Ader.
1. (Sept. 'Ejpo('j',Vat. MS. omits; Yn\g.Eder.) A city in the extreme south of Judah, on the Idumajan border, mentioned between Kabzeel and Jagur (Josh. XV, 21); therefore, doubtless, one of those afterwards assigned to Simeon. Schwavz suggests (Palest, p. 99) that it may V)c the same with Arad (q. v.), by a trans- position of letters; but this is doubtful. Possibly it was situated on the eminence north of the fountain marked as "water" on Van de Velde's J/f/p, in wady el-Ernez, S.W. of the Dead Sea.
2. (Sept. 'Ec^Ep, Vulg. Eder.") The second named of the three " sons" (i. c. descendants) of Mushi appoint- ed to the Levitical oflSces in the time of David (1 Chron. xxiii, 23; xxiv, 30). B.C. 1013.
E'des (rather Ed'vh,'W^mQ,Y\\\Q. Esml), one of the " sons of Ethma," who had married foreign wives after the captivity (1 Esdr. ix, 35) ; evidently the Ja- dau (q. v.) of thc"Heb. list (Ezra x, 43).
Edessa (modem name Urfah or Orfa ; Armeni- an name Edessla ; Arab. Er-Roha ; Syrian, Ui'hm), an ancient city of Mesopotamia, 78 miles S.W. from Di- arbekir. An old legend attrilnites its origin to Nim- rod, or to Khabil)a, a female contemporary of Abra- ham. The Targums (followed by Jerome and Ephrcm Syrus) make it the Erech of Gen. x, 10. Another tra- dition (Jewish and Arabic) makes it Ur of the Chul- dees (Gen. xi, 28). " With tlie conquest of Persia by the Greeks the history of Edessa first becomes clear. Scleucus, in particular, is said to have done much for the aggrandizement of the city. Christianity was in- troduced into Edessa at an earlj' period. In the reign of Trajan the place was made trilnitarj'- to Rome, and in A.D. 21G became a Roman military colony, under the name of Colonia Ifarcia Edrsitennrum. During this period its importance in the history of the Chris- tian Church continued to increase. More than 300 monasteries are said to have been included within its walls. With the extension of the religion of Islam,
Edessa fell into the hands of the Arabian caliphs. Christianity declined, and wars at home and abroad during the caliphate destroyed likewise its temporal splendor add prosperitv', till, in 1040, it fell into the possession of the Seljuk Turks. The Byzantine em- perors succeeded in recovering Edessa, but the viceroy contrived to make himself independent. He was, however, hard. pressed bj' the Turks, and this rendered it easy for the crusader Baldwin, the brother of God- frey of Bouillon, to gain possession of the citj' (A.D. 1097), and make it the capital of a Latin principality and the bulwark of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Under the Frankish princes, Edessa held out valiantly against the Mussulmans, till at length Zengi, ruler of ^Mosul, succeeded in taking the town and citadel in the j^ear 1144, when all the Christian churches were converted into mosques. After many vicissitudes, in the course of which Edessa fell successively into the hands of the sultans of Egypt, the Byzantines, the Mongols, Turko- mans, and Persians, the citj'was finally conquered bj' the Turks, and has ever since formed a portion of the Turkish dominions. The population is variously esti- mated at from 25,000 to 50,000, of whom 2000 are Ar- menian Christians. The Jacobites, in the last century, had 150 houses and a church. The rest are Turks, Arabians, Kurds, and Jews. Edessa is regarded by the Easterns as a sacred city, because they believe it to have been the residence of Abraham" (Chambers, Encyclopedia, s. v.). It is still the seat of a Greek archbishop and an Armenian bishop. A dialect of the Aramaic is still spoken at Edessa (comp. Etheridge on the Aramaic Dialects, p. 10).