comparison made to iron (Pro v. xxvii, 17), "Iron (liter- ally) uniteth iron ; so a man uniteth the countenance of his friend," gives stability to his appearance by his presence.
It was for a long time supposed that the Egyptians were ignorant of the use of iron, and that the allusions in the Pentateuch were anachronisms, as no traces of it have been found in their monuments ; but in the sepul- chres at Thebes butchers are represented as sharpening their knives on a round bar of metal attached to their aprons, which, from its blue color, is presumed to be steel. The steel weapons on the tomb of Rameses III are also painted blue ; those of bronze being red (Wil- kinson, A nc. Eg. iii, 247). One iron mine only has been discovered in Egji:)t, which was Avorked by the ancients. It is at Hammami, between the Nile and the Red Sea; the iron fomid by j\Ir. Burton was in the form of specu- lar and red ore {ibid, iii, 246). That no articles of iron should have been found is readily accounted for by the fact that it is easily destroyed by exposure to the air and moisture. Accordmg to Pliny (xxxiv, 43), it was preserved by a coating of white lead, gypsum, and liquid pitch. Bitumen was probably employed for the same purpose (xxxv, 52). The Egj-ptians obtained their iron almost exclusively from Assyria Proper in the form of bricks or pigs (Laj-ard, Nineveh, ii, 415). Specimens of Assj-rian iron-work overlaid with bronze were discov- ered by Mr. Layard, and are now in the British Jluseum {Xin. and Bab. p. 191). Iron weapons of various kinds were found at Nimrud, but fell to pieces on exposure to the air. Some portions of shields and arrow-heads («6. p. 194, 596) were rescued, and are now in England. A pick of the same metal {ib. p. 194) was also foimd, as well as i)art of a saw (p. 195), and the head of an axe (p. 357), and remains of scale-armor and helmets inlaid with copper {Nineveh, i, 340). It was used by the Etrus- cans for offensive weapons, as bronze for defensive ar- mor. The Assyrians had daggers and arrow-headr, of copper mixed with iron, and hardened with an alloy of tin (Layard, Nineveh, ii, 418). So in the days of Ho- mer war-clubs were shod with iron (//. vii, 141) ; ar- rows were tipped with it {II. iv, 123) ; it was used for the axles of chariots (//. v, 723), for fetters {Od. i, 204), for axes and bills (//. iv, 485; Od. xxi, 3, 81). Adras- tus (//. vi, 48) and Ulysses {Od. xxi, 10) reckoned it among their treasures, the iron weapons being kept in a chest in the treasury with the gold and brass {Od. xxi, 61). In Od. i, 184, Mentes tells Telemachus that he is travelling from Taphos to Tamese to procure brass in exchange for iron, which Eustathius says was not ob- tained from the mines of the island, but was the produce of piratical excursions (Millin, Mineral. Horn. p. 115, 2d ed.). Pliny (xxxiv, 40) mentions iron as used symbol- ically for a statue of Hercules at Thebes (comp. Dan. ii, 33 ; V, 4), and goblets of iron as among the offerings in the temple of :Mars the Avenger, at Rome. Alyattcs the Lydian dedicated to the oracle at Delphi a small goblet of iron, the workmanship of Glaucus of Chios, to whom the olscovery of the art of soldering this metal is attributed (Herod, i, 25). The goblet is described by Pausanias (x, 16). From the fact that such offerings were made to the tcnqiles, and that Achilles gave as a prize of contest a riuUly-sbaped mass of the same metal (Homer, //. xxiii, s.'ti). it lias been argued that in early times iron was so little known as to be greatly esteemed for its rarity. That this -ivas not the case in the time of Lycurgus is evident, and Homer attaches to it no ep- ithet which would denote its preciousness (Jlillin, p. 106). There is reason to suppose that the discovery of brass preceded that of iron (Lucret. v, 1292), though little weight can be attached to the line of Hesiod often (luoted as decisive on this point {Op. et Dies, 150). The Dactyli Idasi of Crete were supposed by the ancients to have the merit of being the first to discover the proper- ties of iron (Pliny, vii, 57 ; Diod. Sic. v, 64), as the Cy- clopes were said to have invented the iron-smith's forge (Pliny, vii, 57). According to the Arundelian marbles,
IROX
659
IRREGULARITY
(
Iron was known B.C. 1370, while Larcher {Chronolnf/ie (T Herod, p. 570) assigns a still earlier date, B.C. 1537. —Smith ; Kitto. See Steel.
I'ron (Heb. Yiron', 'i'iX'71', place of alarm; Sept, 'Ifpwv), one of the "fenced" cities of Naphtali, mention- ed between En-hazor and Migdal-el (Josh, xix, 38). De Saulcy (Xarraf. ii, 382) thinks it may be the Yaroun marked in Zimmerman's map north-west of Safed, the Yaroii observed by Dr. Kobinson (new ed. of Researches, iii, Gl, 62, notes). Van de Velde likewise remarks that it is "now Yarun, a village of Belad Besharah. On the north-east side of the place are the foundations and other remains of the ancient city" {Memoir, p. 822).