I'ri (Ileb. Iri', '^"I'^S', citizen; Sept. Oupt, Vulg. Urai), the last-named of the five sons of Bela, son of Benjamin (1 Chron. vii, 7). B.C. between 1856 and 1658. See Ir.
I'RI also appears in the A. Vers, of the Apocrypha (1 JLsdr. viii, 62) as tne name (Otinia v. r. Ovpi, Vulg. Jorus) of the father of the priest Marmoth ; evidently the Uriah (q. v.) of Ezra viii, 33.
Iri'jah (Heb. Yiriyah', iT^''X'11', seen by Jehovah; Sept. Sfrpo!Mrtc,Vulg. Jerius), son of Shelemiah, and a captain of the ward at the gate of Benjamin, who ar- rested the prophet Jeremiali on the pretence that he was deserting to the Chaldieans (Jer. xxxvii, 13, 14). B.C. 589.
Irish Church. See Ireland. IrmeiLsaul, a statue of unknown form and signifl- cance, which was erected at Eresberge, in Hessen or Westphalia, and worshipped by the ancient Saxons. In 772, Charlemagne, having conquered the country and brought the people under subjection, destroyed it, to discontinue the idolatrous worship. It is said that he found in the inside a great amount of gold and silver. In the cathedral of Hildesheim they show a column of green marble which is claimed to be the column of Ir- mensaul. See Grimm, Irmenstrasse u. Irmensaule (Vien- na, 1815) ; Von der Hagen, /rmin, seine Sdule u. s. Wege (Bresl. 1817).— Pierer, Univ. Lex. ix, 66. (.J. N. P.)
Ir-na'hash [many Ir'nahash~\ (Heb. Ir-Nachash', t3n3 ~'^^', serpent city; Sept. irnXi^ N«af, Vulg. urhs Naas, Auth. Vers, margin, "city of Nahash"), a place founded (rebuilt) by Tehinnah, the son of Eshton, of the tribe of Judah (1 Chron. iv, 12). Schwarz (Palest. p. 116) thinks it the present Dir-Nachas, one mile east of Beth-Jibrin ; prob. the same marked (perh. inaccu- rately) Dar-Hakhas on Zimmerman's map, a short dis- tance north-east of Beit-Jibrin. Van de Velde like^vise identities it Avith " Deir-Nnkhaz, a village with ancient remains east of Beit-Jibrin" {Memoir, p. 322). See Nahasu.
Iron {hl'^2,barzer ; Chald.bns./wrip/',- Gr. a.7?;- pog, hat. J'errum). There is not much room to doubt the identity of the metal denoted by the above terms. Tubal-Cain is the first-metiiioned smith, " a forger of ev- ery instrument of iron" (Gen. iv, 22), As this metal is rarely found in its native state, but generally in combi- nation with oxygen, the knowledge of the art of forging it, which is attributed to Tubal-Cain, argues an acquaint- ance with the difficulties that attend the smelting of this metal. Iron melts at a temperature of about 3000^ Fahrenheit, and to produce this heat large furnaces sup- plied by a strong blast of air are necessary. But, how- ever difficult it may be to imagine a knowledge of such appliances at so early a period, it is )ierfcctly certain that the use of iron is of extreme antiquity, and that therefore some means of overcoming the obstacles in question must have been discovered. What the process may have been is left entirely to conjecture; a method is employed by the natives of India, extremely simple and of great antiquitv, which, though rude, is verj' effec- IV.— T T
tive, and suggests the possibility of similar knowledge in an early stage of civilization (Ure, Diet. A rts and Sciences, s. v. Steel). The smelting furnaces of yEtha- lia, described by Diodorus (v, 13), remains of which still exist in that country, correspond roughly with the modern bloomeries (Napier, Metallurgy of the Bible p. 140). Malleable iron was in common use, but it is doubtful whether the ancients were acquainted with cast-iron. See Metal,
The mineral wealth of Canaan is indicated by describ- ing it as " a land whose stones are iron" (Deut. viii, 9), a passage from which it would seem that in ancient times it was a plentiful production of that vicinity (compare Job xxviii, 2), as it is still in Syria, especially in the re- gion of Lebanon (Volney's Trav. i, 233). There apjiear to have been furnaces for smelting at an early period iu Egypt (Deut, iv, 20 ; comp, Hengstenberg, Mos. v. Aeg. p, 19), Winer, indeed {Realw. s. v. Eisen), understands that the basalt which predominates in the Ilauran (Burckhardt, ii, 637) is the material of which Og's bed- stead (Deut, iii, 11) was made, as it contains a large percentage of iron. But this is doubtful, Pliny (xxxvi, 11), who is quoted as an authority, says, indeed, that basalt is " ferrei coloris atque duritia?," but does not hint that iron was ever extracted from it. The book of Job contains passages which indicate that iron was a metal well known. Of the manner of procuring it, we learn that " iron is taken from dust" (xxviii, 2). Iron was pre- pared in abundance by David for the building of the Temple (1 Chron. xxii,3), to the amount of one hundred thousand talents (1 Chron. xxix, 7), or, rather, " with- out weight" (1 Chron. xxii, 14). Working in iron was considered a calling (2 Chron. ii, 7). See Smith. In Ecclus. xxxviii, 28, we have a picture of the interior of an iron-smith's (Isa. xliv, 12) workshop : the smith, parched with the smoke and heat of the furnace, sitting beside his anvil, and contemplating the unwrought iron, his ears deafened with the din of the heavy hammer, his eyes fixed on his model, and never sleeping till he has accomplished his task. The superior hardness and strength of iron above aU other substances is alluded to in Dan, ii, 40; its exceeding utility, in Sir, xxxix, 31, It was found among the Midianites (Numb, xxxi, 22), and was part of the wealth distributed among the tribes at their location in the land (Josh, xxii, 8),