I. H. S. is an inscription or monogram Avhich has probably been used by the Christian Church from an early date among the sacred symbols on church furni- ture, and in painted windows of the house of God, but its use has by no means been confined to ecclesiastical buildings. On tombs, roofs, and walls of houses, on books, and on other possessions of Christians, this mon- ogram has been, and is even now, frequently impressed, especially among the adherents of the Roman, Greek, and Anglican churches. The interpretations which have been given of this mystic title are threefold. One is that they are the initials of the words "/w Hoc Signo,'^ borrowed from the luminous cross which it is said was miraculously displayed in the sky before Constantine and his army. Others make them the initials of the words "Jesus Hominum Salvafor," especiallj^ the Jes- uits, who use it for their badge and motto in the form l.rt.S. i ^™1 sfi'l another, that they are the first three letters of the Greek IH20Y2, Jesus. This last opinion has been espoused by the late '• Cambridge Camden So- ciety" in a work which tlioy jiuljlisbed on this subject: Argument for the GrecJc Origin of the Monogram L II. S. (London, 1841). The earliest Cliristian emblems found also seem to confirm this opinion, as they are in every case written in the Greek language, and " the celebrated monogram inscribed by Constantine's order on the laba- rum, or standard of the cross, was undoubtedly Greek." Eusebius {Eccles. Hist.), in describing the famous stand- ard, says, "A long spear, overlaid with gold, formed the figure of the cross by means of a piece laid transversely over it. On the top of the whole was fixed a crown, formed by the intertexture of gold and precious stones; and on this two letters indicating the name of Christ symbolized the Saviour's title by means of its first char- acters, the letter P being intersected by a X exactly in its centre; and these letters the emperor was in the habit of wearing on his helmet at a later period." In regard to the shape of the letter S being Roman, and
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not Greek, The Church, a paper of the Church of Eng- land in Canada, says, "It might easily have become cor- rupted (i. e. the Greek 2 into a Latin S) — it would not, indeed, liave been intelligible except to a few of the best scholars unless it were corrupted — and so could scarcely have escaped transmutation when the knowledge of the Greek tongue, which we are certified was the case, per- ished, or very nearly so, during the IMicklle Ages in the Western Church."— Staunton, ^Eccl. Did. p. 382 ; Blunt, Eccles. Diet, i, 375. See L.vbaruji.
I'im (Heb. hjim', Q''^2>, ruins, as in Jer. xxvi, 18, etc.), the name of two places. ;. 1. (Sept. Ai'fijUjVulg. lim.) A city in the extreme
south of Judah, mentioned between Baalah and Azem (Josh. XV, 29), and therefore doubtless included within the territory set off to Simeon, as the associated places were (Josh, xix, 3), which afford the only means for a conjectural position nearly midway from the Dead Sea towards the Mediterranean.
2. (Sept. rni', Vulg. Jje(fbarim,\>ot\\ reading the same as in the preceding verse.). One of the stations of the Israelites not long before reaching the Jordan (Numb. xxxiii, 4:5) ; usually called fuUy Ije-abaiuji (ver. 44).
Ijar. See Iyar.
Ij'e-ab'arim (Hebrew IijeW ha-Abarim', "i'^3) E'i'13S'_f1, ruins of the Abarim, or regions beyond; Sept. 'Axayai, but in Numb, xxxiii, 44: simply Fat; Vulg. Jealarlm and Ijeabarini), the forty-seventh station of the Israelites on approaching Canaan, described as be- ing betv.oen Obotli and Dibon-gad, '-in the border of INIoab" (Numb, xxxiii, 44), or between Oboth and the brook Zered, " in the wilderness which is before (i. e. eaM of) Moab, towards the sun-rising" (Numb, xxi, 11), and therefore not far from ,4 iiieh, a little south of wady el-Ahry, which forms the southern boundary of the Mo- abitish territory, and lies near the southern end of the range of Abarim, that give this compound form to the name (simply Iim ni Numb, xxxiii, 44), to distinguish it from the lim of Judah (Josh, xv, 29). See Abakiji.
I'jon (Fieb. Jijon', '(T'^", place of ruins; Sept. 'Atv, Auh', Atuiv), a frontier city of the kingdom of Israel, mentioned as being captiu-ed, along with Abel-Beth- IMeholah and other places in Najthtali, first by Benlia- dad of Syria (1 Kings xv, 20; 2 Chron. xvi, 4), and af- terwards by Tiglath-pileser of Assyria (2 Kings xv, 29). The associated names and circumstances render the sup- position of Dr. Robinson {Researches, iii, 34(5) very prob- ^L able, tliat this locality corresponds to a large ruin-cov-
^B ered liill called Tell Dehbin (Thomson, Land and Book,
• i, 335), in the present j\Ierj Ayun (meadow o^ fountains),
a fine meadow tract between wady et-Teim and the Litany, north of Lake Huleh (comp. Bibliotheca Sacra, 184(), p. 204, 214; new edition of Researches, iii, 375; Schwarz, Palestine, p. 36).
Iken, KoNRAi), a German Protestant theologian and Hebraist, born at Bremen Dec. 25, 1G.S9, was professor of theology at tlie gymnasium of that city, and pastor of one of tlie Reformed churches. He died June 30, 1753. Iken wrote, Antiquitates Hebraicce (Brem. 1730, 4to, 5th ed., annotated by J. H. Schacht, 1810, 8vo) :— Thesaurus Nov. Theolog.-Philol. Dissertationum exeget- icaruni ex Muscso Th. Hascei et Conrad. Ikenii (Leyden, 1732, 2 vols, fol.) : — De tempore celebratm ultimas Coena; paschulis Christi (Bremen, 1735 and 1739, 8vo) ; this work and tlie following are directed against G. F. Gude (q. V.) : — Disseriutio quce contra Gudium demonstratur Cosnam Christi aravQwaifiov vere paschale?nfuisse (Bre- men, 1742, 8vo) : — Tractatus Talmudicus de cultu quo- tidiuno Templi, quern versione Latina donatum et notis il- Imtratum eruditorum examini subjicit Conrad. Ikenius (Bremen, 1736, 4to) : — Si/mbolm litterai-ite ad increment- urn scieniiai-um omnis c/eneris, a variis amicis collatce (Bremen, 1744-49, 3 vols. 8vo) ■.—Harmonia histories per- pessionmn J. Christi (Bremen, 1743, 4to ; 2d ed. Utrecht, 1758, 4to) : — Dissertationes philol.-theolog, in diversa sac.