"But the most remarkable famine was that of the reign of the Fatimi Khalifeh, El-i\Iustansir billah, which is the only instance on record of one of seven years' duration in Egypt since the time of Jose])h (A.H. 457-464, A.D. 1061-1071). This famine exceeded in severity all others of modern times, and was aggrava- ted by the anarchy which then ravaged the countrs'. Vehement drought and pestilence (says Es-Suyuti, in his llosn il-Mohadarah, MS.) continued for seven con- secutive years, so that they [the people] ate corpses, and animals that died of themselves ; the cattle per- ished; a dog was sold for 5 dinars, and a cat for 3 dinars . . . and an ardebb (about 5 bushels) of wheat for 100 dinars, and then it failed altogether. He adds that all the horses of tlie Khalifeh, save three, perished, and gives numerous instances of tlie straits to which the wretched inhabitants were driven, and of the organized bands of kidnappers who infested Cai- ro, and caught passengers in the streets by ropes fur- nished with hooks and let down from the houses. This account is confirmed by El-Makrizi (in his Khilat; Quatremere has translated the account of this famine in the life of El-Mustansir, contained in his Miinoires Gtor/raphiqves et Hhtoriqiies sjir I'lCf/i/ph), from ■v\liom we further learn that the family, and even the women of tlie Klialifeh fled, by the way of Syria, on foot, to escape the peril that threatened all ranks of the popu- lation. The whole narrative is worthy of attention, since it contains a parallel to the duration of the fam- ine of Joseph, and at the same time enables us to form an idea of the character of famines in the I'^ast. The famine of Samaria resenilded it in many particulars; and that very l)riefly recorded in 2 Kings viii, 1, 2, af- fords another instance of one of seven years : ' Then spake F.lisha unto the woman whose son he had re- stored to life, saying. Arise, and go thou and thy house- hold, and sojourn wheresoever thqu canst sojiuirn : for the Lord hath called for a famine ; and it shall also
FAN
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come upon the land seven years. And the woman arose, and did after the saj^ing of the man of God : and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years." Bunsen {Egypt's Place, etc., ii, 334) quotes the record of a famine in the reign of Sasertesen I, which he supposes to be that of Jo- seph ; but it must be observed that the instance in point is expressly stated not to have extended over the whole land, and is at least equally liiiely, apart from chronological reasons, to have been that of Abra- ham.
"In Arabia, famines are of frequent occurrence. The Arabs, in such cases, when they could not afford to slaughter their camels, used to bleed them and drink tha blood, or mix it with the shorn fur, making a kind of black pudding. They ate also various plants and grains, which at other times were not used as articles of food. Thus the tribe of Hanifeh were taunted with having in a famine eaten their god, which consisted of a dish of dates mashed up with clarilied butter and a preparation of dried curds of milk {Sihdh, MS.)"' (Smitli, s. v.).
Famine is likewise a natural result, in the East, when caterpillars, locusts, or other insects destroy the produce of the earth. The prophet Joel compares lo- custs to a numerous and terrible armj- ravaguig the land (ell. i). Famine was also an effect of God's anger (2 Kings viii, 1, 2). The prophets frequently threaten Israel with the sword of famine, or with war and fam- ine, evils that frequently go together. Amos threat- ens another sort of famine: "I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a tliirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord" (Amos viii, 11). In ancient times, owing to the imperfect modes of war- fiire in use, besieged cities were more frequently re- duced by famine than by anj other means, and the persons shut up were often reduced to the necessity of devouring not only unclean animals, but also human flesh (compare Dent, xxviii, 22-42; 2 Sam. xxi, 1; 2 Kings vi, 25-28; xxv, 3; Jer. xiv, 15; xix, 9; xlii, 17 ; Ezek. v, 10-12, IG ; vi, 12 ; vii, 15).
The famine predicted by Agabus (Acts xi, 28) was the same with that wliicli is related by Josephus {Ant. XX, 2, G) as having taken place in the fourth year of Claudius, and affected especially the province of Ju- dajj. (See Kuinol, Comment, proleg.) See Dearth.
Fan (JTITp, mlzreh\ tttvov), a loinnoimnr/shovel, with which grain was thrown up against the wind, in order to cleanse it from the broken straw and chaff (fsa. XXX, 24; Jer. xv, 7; Matt, iii, 12; Luke iii, 17). See Agriculture. At the present daj', in Syria, the instrument used is a large wooden fork. (See Roljin- son's Researches, ii, 277, 371 ; Smith's Diet, of Class. Antiq. s. V. Pala). Both kinds of instruments are de- lineated on the Egyptian monuments (Wilkinson, ii, 40-46). See Winnowing.
Fanaticism. (1.) The ancients primarily gave the name oifanatici to those who uttered oracular an- nouncements, or exhibited wild antics and gestures under the (supposed) inspiration of some divinity whose temples (fana) they frequented. The heathen rates, who pretended to prophesy under the guidance of an indwelling spirit (paifxiov), was called l)y the Greek writers tj/fltof, and by tlie LsLtins fanaticics (see Suidas, s. v. tj'Oovg; Bingham, Orig. Eccles. xvi, v, 4). Thence the name was transferred to persons actuated b}' a frantic zeal in religion.