\ucient \ jiians attacking a Furt.
As among the Hebrews there was no system of construction strictly so called, but simply an applica- tion of the means of defence to the localities, no nni- formitj' of adaptation existed, and tlierefore we refer to the foregoing as specimens of the numerous illustra- tions of this subject that occur on the Egyptian and Ass^'rian monuments, and to other explanations which are given under the several terms in other parts of this work. See also City ; Siege; War, etc.
The wall, n^in. chomali , was sometimes double or triple (2 Chron. xxxii, 5), successively girding a rocky elevation ; and " building a city" original!}' meant the construction of the wall. See Wall. Before wall- towers, r"bl5^, migdaloth' , were introduced, the gate of a cit}', originallj' single, formed a kind of citadel, and was the strongest part of all the defences : it was the armory of the community, and the council-house of the authorities. " Sitting in the gate" was, and still is, synonymous with the possession of power, and even now there is commonly in the fortified gate of a royal palace in the East, on the floor above the door- way, a council-room with a kind of balcony, whence the sovereign sometimes sees his people, and where he may sit in judgment. Hence the Turkish government is not unfrequenth' termed the Porte, and in this sense allusion to gates often occurs in the Scriptures. The tower, n"^"!JJ, tseri'ach, was another fortification of the earliest date, being often the -citadel or last retreat when a city was taken ; or, standing alone in some naturally strong position, was intended to protect a frontier, command a pass, or to be a place of refuge and deposit of treasure in the mountains, when the plain should be no longer defensible. This was the kind of citadel which defended passes, and in the mountains served for retreat in times of calamity, and for the security of the royal treasures ; and it was on account of the confined space within, and the great ele- vation of the ramparts, that private houses frequently stood upon their summit, as was the case when the harlot Rahab received Joshua's spies in Jericho (Josh, ii, 1). Watch-towers, HETto, mizpah', and IT^"^^, ti'
FORTRESS
628
FOSTER
rah' , used by shepherds all over Asia, and even now built on eminences above some city in the plain, in or- der to lieep a look-out upon the distant country, were already iu use, and occasionally converted into places of defence (2 Chron. xxvi, 10 ; xxvii, 4). See Tow- er. The gateways were closed by ponderous folding- doors, 1^'d, ska'ar, tlie valves or folds, 0^r^'^,dela- tha'i/im, being secured by wooden bars : both the doors and bars were in after times plated with metal. Sec Gate. A ditch (? b"n, cheijl), where the nature of the localitj' required it, was dug in front of the ram- part, and sometimes there was an inner wall, with a second ditch before it. See Ditch. As tlie experi- ence of ages increased, huge "counter forts,"' double buttresses, or masses of solid stone and masonry (not bulwarks), were built in particular parts to sustain the outer wall, and aftbrd space on the summit to place military engines ("2 Chron. xxvi, 15). — Kitto, s. v. See Fenced City ; Munition.
Jlodern Fersian Fort.
Portress, the rendering in the A.V. of the follow- ing Hebrew terms: ^'!iJ*2, matsor' (Jvom. its iiitrench- mtni\ fortification, 3 GT. x, 17 (elsewhere "bulwark," " fenced city," etc.). tlTij:^, metsudak' (from its secu- rity), a castle, espec. poet., 2 Sam. xvii, 2 ; Psa. xviii, 2, 3; Ixxi, 3; xci, 3; cxliv, 2 (elsewhere usually "stronghold"). ^'S2^, miblsar' (as being inaccessible), a. Jortified place, Isa. xviii, 3; xxv, 12; xxxiv, 13; Hos.x,14; Amos V, 9 (elsewhere "fenced city" [q.v.], "stronghold," etc.). 1'^V'C, maoz' (from its strength), a stronghold, Jer. xvi, 19 ; Dan. xi, 7, 10 (elsewhere '•strength," etc.). See Fortification.
Fortunatianiis, bishop of Aquileia, was of Afri- can origin, and an active participant in the strifes which agitated the Churcli in the 4tli century. At the Coun- cil of Milan, A.D. 355, he joined in the condemnation of Athanasius, but after 357 we hear no more of him. He wrote commentaries on the Gospels, characterized by Jerome as useful, though incorrect in style. — Hoe- fer, Nonv. Biog. Gentrale, xviii, 232 ; Ceillier, Histoire dcs Auteurs Ecclesiastiques, t. vi, p. 11. (J. AV. M.)
Fortuna'tus (Gra-cized <i>opTovvaToc), a disciple of Corinth, of IJoman birth or origin, as his name indi- cates, who visited Paul at Ei)hesus, and returned, along with Stephanus and Achaii'us, in charge of that apos- tle's first Epistle to the Corinthian Churcli (1 Cor. xvi, 17), A.D. 54. Some have supposed that these three Corinthian brethren were "they whicli are of the house of Chloe" (oi XXo)f)r), alluded to in 1 Cor. i, 11 ; but the language of irony, in which the apostle must in tliat case lie interpreted in ch. xvi as speaking of their presence, would become sarcasm too cutting for so ten- der a heart as Paul's to have uttered among his vale- dictions. "The household of Stephanas" is mention- ed in chap, i, IG as having been baptized hy Paul him- self: perhaps Fortunatus and Achafcus may have been members of that household. Tliere is a Fortunatus mentioned at the end of Clement's first Epistle to the Corinthians, who was possibly the same person. — Kit- to, s. V. ; Smith, s. v.