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Hamann, Jouann Gkoiso, an eminent German writer and poet, was born at lviinigsl)erg, in Prussia, on the 27lli of August. 17.'?0. His early education wasmis- ccllnueous, and to it lie attritintcd the want of taste and elegance of \\\s nt vie. At last, when about sixteen years old, ills fnthcr decided on sending him to the high- scliool. lie there ac(iuired a knowledge of Latin and of ancient literature. For a while he felt inclined to stuily tiieology, but an impediment in his speech, and w.int of memory incident upon a sickness he had while at school, made him give it up. Law, for which his parents destined him, was distasteful to him, and he ap- lilied himself diligently to the study of antiquity, the fine arts, and modern literature. In 1751 he closed his course of study at Kdnigslierg with a philosophical dis- sertation entitled T)e somno et soiniiiin, and turned his at-
HAMATH
45
HAI^IATH
laboriously woven web of pitby expressions, of hints, aiui flowers of rhetoric." " His understanding," says V. H. Jacobi, "was penetrating like lightning, and his soul was of more than natural greatness." Most of his writ- ings are collected in Koth's edition of his works (Berlin, 1821-43, 8 vols.). See A. W, Miiller's work, entitled J. G. Ilamann, Chrv<tliche Jiclceimtiiisse iind Zeuijtm.tf (Minister, 182G). — Ilerzog, Rcal-Enq/Mopadlc, v, 48C ; Bwjniphie v. Joh. Geo. Ildtiumn, by Charles Carvacchi (Minister, 1855); Hegel, Werke, xvii, 38; Vilmar, Ge- scliiclite <l< r dentschen Literatur ; Gildemcister, Ilamann's Lch,)/ mid Schrijlm (1864-6, 4 vols.); Saintes, //w^or?/ of Hatiomdism, eh. viii.
Ha'math (Heb. Chamath', nrn. /or/ress ; Sept. 'E^id9, Aif-idSf, and 'Hfid^), a large and important city, capital of one of the smaller kingdoms of Syria, of the same name, on the Orontes, at the northern boundarj' of the Holy Land. Thus it is said (Numb, xiii, 21) that the spies "went. up and searched tlie land, from the wilder- ness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Haniath." Ge- senius is probably right in deriving the word from the Arabic root Chama, " to defend ;" with this agrees the modern name of the city Hamah. The city was at the foot of Ilermon (Josh, xiii, 5 ; Judg. iii, 3), towards Da- mascus (Zech. ix, 2; Jer. xlix, 20; Ezek. xlvii, 16). The kingdom of Hamatli, or, at least, the southern or central parts of it, appear to have nearly c6rresponded with what was afterwards denominated Cak'-Sf/ria (q. v.). It is more fully called llamafh the Great in Amos vi, 2, or Hajiath-Zobah in 2- Cliron. viii, 3. The coun- try or district around is called " the land of Haraath" (2 Kings xxiii, 33; xxv, 21).
Hamatli is one of the oldest cities in the world. We read in Gen. x, 18 that the youngest or last son of Ca- naan was the " Hamathite" (q. v.) — apparently so called because he and his family founded and colonized Ha- matli. It was a place of note, and the cajiital of a prin- cipality, when the Israelites conquered Palestine ; and its name is mentioned in almost every passage in which the northern border of Canaan is detiiied (Numb, xiii, 22 ; xxxiv, 8 ; 1 Kings viii, G5 ; 2 Kings xiv, 25, etc.). Toi was king of Hamath at the time when David con- quered the Syrians of Zobali, and it appears that he had reason to rejoice in the humiliation of a dangerous neighbor, as he sent his own son Joram to congratulate the victor (2 Sam. viii, 9, 10), and (apiiarently) to put Hamath under his jirotection. Hamath was conquered by Solomon (2 Chroii. viii, 3), and its Avhole territory ajipears to have remained subject to the Israelites dur- ing his pros})erous reign (ver. 4-G). The "store-cities" which Solomon " built in Hamath" (2 Chron. viii, 4) were perhaps for staples of trade, the importance of the Orontes valley as a line of traffic always being great. On the death of Solomon and the separation of the two kingdoms, Hamath seems to have regained its indepen- dence. In the Assyrian inscriptions of the time of Ahab (B.C. 900) it appears as a separate power, in alliance with the Syrians of Damascus, the Hittites, and the Phoenicians. About three quarters of a century later Jeroboam the second "recovered Hamath" (2 Kings xiv, 28) ; he seems to have dismantled the place, whence the iirophet Amos, who wrote in hisTeign (Amos i, 1), couples " Hamath the Great" with Gath, as an instance of desolation (ib. vi, 2). At.tliis period the kingdom of Hamath included the valley of the Orontes, from the source of that river to near Antioch (2 Kings xxiii, 33 ; xxv, 21). It bordered Damascus on the south, Zobah on the east and north, and Phoenicia on the west (1 Chron. xviii, 3 ; Ezek. xlvii, 17 ; xlviii, 1 ; Zech. ix, 2). In the time of Hezekiah, thfe town, along with its terri- tory', was conquered by the Ass^'rians (2 Kings xvii, 24 ; xviii, 34, xix, 13; Isa. x, 9; xi, 11), and afterwards by the Chaldreans (.Jer. xxxix, 2, 5). It is mentioned on the cuneiform inscriptions (q. v.). It must have been then a large and influential kingdom, for Amos speaks emphatically of " Haniath the Great" (vi, 2) ; and when