4. Yet dancing, on these festive occasions, was com- mon to both Jew and Gentile, and was practised in the same way : youths and virgins, singly, or separated into two bands, but never intermingled, danced to do honor to their deity, their hero, or to the day of their solem- nity. ]\Iiriam (Exod. xv, 20), the daughter of Jephthah (Judg. xi, 84), and David (2 Sam. vi, 14) are familiar in- stances in Holy Writ : the " Carmen S«cidare" of Hor- ace, to quote no more, points to the same custom amongst Greeks and Romans. It is plainly owing to the eleva- tion of woman in the social scale that dancing in pairs (still unknown to the East) has come into fashion. See Danck.
5. Tlie rash oath of Herod, like that of Jephthah in the O. T., has aiforded ample tliscussion to casuists. It is now ruled that all such oaths, where there is no reser- vation, expressed or implied, m favor of the laws of God or man, are illicit and without force. So Solomon had long since decided (1 Kings ii, 20-24 ; see Sanderson, De Jurain. OhUr/. Prcdect. iii, 16). — Smith, s. v. See Oath.
Hero'dion {'RpojSiwv, a deriv. from Herod), a Christian at Rome to whom Paul sent a salutation as his kinsman (Rom. x%'i, 11). A.D. 55. According to Hippolytus, he became bishop of Tarsus, but according to others, of Patra.
Herodivim ('HpwJtoi'), the name of a fortress (Jo- sephus) or toivn (Pliny), built on a conspicuous spot by Herod the Great (Reland, Palmt. p. 820), probably the site anciently occupied by Beth-hacceue.m (Jer. vi, 1 ; Neh. iii, 14), which the authority of Jerome has led some modern tra\-ellers to identify with the well-known emi- nence called by the natives Jehel el-Fureidis, and by Eu- ropeans " the Frank IMountain." If this identity be cor- rect, the site has been the scene of many a remarkable change. Two great kings, in different ages and differ- ent ways, probably adorned it with magnificent works. From their lofty city the old inhabitants must have seen stretched before them, up the green vale of Urtas, the beautifid gardens and fountains of king Solomon, which suggested to the royal poet some of the exquisite imagery of the Canticles ; and nearly a thousand years later, Herod the Great erected, probably on this very hill of Beth-haccerem, " a fortress with its round tow- ers, and in it royal apartments of great strength and splendor" (Josephus, Ant. xv, 9, 4), making it serve as an acropolis amidst a mass of other buildings and pal- aces at the foot of the hill ( War, i, xxi, 20). To this city, called after him Herodium, the Idumtean tyrant was brought for burial from Jericho, where he died {Ant. xvii, 8, 3). The locality still yields its evidence of both these eras. Solomon's reservoirs yet remain (Stanley, p. 165), and the present state of " the Frank jMountain" well agrees with the ancient description of Herodium (Robinson, Researches, ii, 173 ; Thomson, Land and Booh, ii,427).— Kitto.
Herold, Johann, a German divine, was born at Hoehstiidt, Suabia, in 1511. His early history is not known. In 1539 he made his appearance in Basle as a defender of Protestantism. He was pastor of a parish near Basle for some years, but in 1546 retired from it and returned to Basle to devote his time entirely to lit- erary labors. The date of his death is not ascertained ; it was probably about 1570. Among his numerous writ- ings are the following : lleidenwelt tind ihrer Gutter an-
fdnglicher Un^prunr/ (Basel, 1544, fol. ; also under the ti- tle, in a 2d ed.. Thuitrinn Dlrinn Deurumque (Ba.sil. 1628, M.): — Orlli.,. I, ,.,;,,, rai.l,; Tlnnjixjim Doctorex LXXVI, Inmina cliirissiinK { llasil. I.")."i5, Ibl.) : — Iheresiolixjia, sire Synta(jma retcnim tluokxjorum per quos (p-amttte in Ec- cksia hcereses confutantur, etc. (Basil. 1556, fol.).
Heron (ilSSX, anaphah', Lev. xi, 19; Deut, xiv, 18), an unclean bird, for which the kite, woodcock, curlew, peacock, parrot, crane, lapwing, and several others have been suggested. But most of these are not found in Palestine, and others have been identified with differ- ent Hebrew words. The root C|3X, anaph', signifies to breathe, to snort, especially from aiir/er, and thence, fig- lu-atively, to be angry (Gesenius, Thes. Ileh. p. 127). Park- hurst observes that " as the heron is remarkable for its angry disposition, especially when hurt or wounded, this bird seems to be most probably intended." But this equally applies to a great number of different species of birds, and woidd be especially appropriate to the goose, which hisses at the slightest provocation. The heron, though not constantly hissing, can utter a similar soimd of displeasure with much meaning, and the common species, Ardea cinerea, is fomid in Egypt, and is also abundant in the Hauran of Palestine, where it frequents the margins of lakes and pools, and the reedj' water- courses in the deep ravines, striking and devouring an immense quantity offish. The herons are wading-birds, peculiarly initable, remarkable for their voracity, fre- quenting marshes and oozy rivers, and spread over the regions of the East. Most of the species enumerated in English ornithology have been recognised in the vicin- ity of Palestine, and we may include all these under the term in question — "the anaphah after his kind.'" One of the commonest species in Asia is A ixlea russala.