Magalhaeus, Pedro de, a Portuguese theologian, was born at Torres- Vedras about 159"2; was for some time instructor in theology at the convent of the Do- minican order to which he himself belonged ; and died in 1G77. He published Be Scientia Dei (Lisbon, 1866, 4to) : — De Prcedestinationis Excequaiione (ibid. 1667, 4to ; Lyons, 1674) : — De Volant ate et de Trinitute (ibid. 1669, 4to). He also left several valuable works in MS. — Hoe- fer, Xouv. Biog. Gi'nerale, vol. xxxii, s. v,
Magarita, Magarites, names given by some writers of the ^Middle Ages to the apostates from Chris- tianity, especially to such as became Mohammedans. The origin of the name is unknown. See Du Cange, s. v.; Herzog, Real-Enci/klopadie, viii, 661.
Mag'bish (Hebrew Maffbish', '0'^^j>'2, gathering ; Sept. M«y£/3(C, Vulg. Megbis), a man whose descemlants (so Clericus, ad loc, who compares the Persian name Megabijzm. Herod, ii, 70, 160) to the number of 156 re- turned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii, 30). It is omitted in the parallel list (Neh. vii, 33, 34). Most interpreters regard it as the name of a place, probably in Palestine, and if so, doubtless in Benjamin, as the as- sociated names are those of localities in that tribe. But it was perhaps rather another fonn for that of the Mag- piash (q. v.) of Neh. x, 20, where some of the same names are mentioned in a similar connection.
Mag'dala (MoycaXa [v. r. Mrtyaccn/], prob. the Chald. emphatic form of the Hebrew bna"2, Migdal, a tower; see Paulus, Comm. ii, 437 sq.), a town in GalUee
opposite the Sea of Tiberias (Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 401). It is mentioned only in Matt, xv, 39, as a place to which Jesus repaired after having crossed the lake, " though the best MSS. (Sin., Vat., D.) read Magadan, which, Alford observes, ' appears to have been the original read- ing, but the better-known name Magdala was substituted for it.' It is not unusual, however, for Syrian v-illages to have two names, aiul for the same name to have dif- ferent forms. The parallel passage in Mark viii, 10 has Dalmanutha (^AaT^fiavov^d), though here also some MSS. read Magdala and some Magada (Alford, ad loc). A close examination of the Gospel narrative, and a com- parison of the parallel passages in Matthev/ and Marie (Matt, xv, 39; xvi, 1-13, with Mark viii, 10-27), prove that Magdala or Magadan must have been situated on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and Dalmanutha was probably a village near it, for the whole shore of the lake was then lined with towns and villages. Eu- sebius and Jerome locate this place, which they call Magedan, on the east of the Sea of Galilee, and they say there was in their day a district of 3fagedena around Gerasa (icai tan vvv »/ Mayaicavt] Trtpi Hiv Tipusav ; Onomast. s. v. ]Magedan). They also state that Mark (viii, 10) reads Mayaicav, though Jerome's version has Dalmanutha. The old Latin version has Magada. In some editions of Josephus a Magdala is mentioned on the east side of the lake {Life, p. 24), but the best ]\ISS. read Gamala (Robinson, B. R. ii, 397 ; Josep>hus, by Hud- son, ad loc). Lightfoot places Magdala bej-ond Jordan, but his reasons are not satisfactory {Opera, ii, 413)" (Kitto). The above position on the western shore, al- though it has usually been located on the eastern (see Robinson's Researches, iii, 278 ; Strong's Harmong of the Gospels, § 70), is confirmed by the Jerusalem Talmud (compiled at Tiberias), which several times speaks of Magdala as being adjacent to Tiberias and Hamath, or the hot springs (Lightfoot, Chorog. Cent. cap. Ixxvi). It was a seat of Jewish learning after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the rabbins of Magdala are often men- tioned in the Talmud (Lightfoot, /. c). M. Do Saulcy, however, takes an opposite view on all these points {Xari'ative, ii, 355-357), as Pococke had done before {Observations, ii, 71). In the Gospels it is principally referred to as probably the birthplace of Mary Magda- len, i. e. the Magdalene (q. v.), or of Magdala. A small Moslem village, bearing the name of Mejdel, is now found on the shore of the lake about three miles north by west of Tiberias, and the name and situation are very strongly in favor of the conclusion that it rep- resents the Magdala of Scripture. It evidently (like the ancient town) derived its name from a tower or cas- tle, and here Buckingham found the ruins of an old structure of this kind {Trav. i, 404). He speaks of it as being a small village close to the edge of the lake, beneath a range of high cliffs, in which small grottoes are seen, with the remains of an old square tower, and some larger buildings of rude construction, apparently of great antiquity. "A large solitary thorn-tree stands beside it. The situation, otherwise mimarked, is digni- fied by the high limestone rock which overhangs it on the south-west, perforated with caves, recalling, by a curious though doubtless unintentional coincidence, the scene of Correggio's celebrated picture. These caves are said by Schwarz (p. 189) — though on no clear au- thority— to bear the name of Teliman, i. e. Talmanutha. 'A clear stream rushes past the rock into the sea, issu- ing in a tangled thicket of thorn and willow from a deep ravine at the back of the plain' (Stanley, S. and P. p. 382, 383). Jerome, although he plays upon the name ]Magdalene — ' recte vocatam Magdalenen, id ist Turri- tam, ob ejus singularem tidei ac ardoris constantiam' — does not appear to connect it with the place in question. By the Jews the word Nbi;"a is used to denote a person who platted or twisted hair, a practice then much in use among women of loose character. A certain ■ Miriam Magdala' is mentioned b}' the Talmudists, who is prob- ably intended for Mary Magdalene. (See Otho, Lex.