Mig'dol (Heb. Migdol', ^1>t?p, a tower; Sept. Mfiy- SctiXov or MaySujXov), a town in Lower Egypt (Jer. xliv, 1 ; xlvi, 14), the northern limit of the country (op- posite Syene, Ezek. xxix, 10 ; xxx, 6). It is apparently the Magdolnm of the Antoniim Itinerary (p. 171), situ- ated twelve Roman miles from Pelusium ; and, as it is doubtless also the place mentioned (Exod. xiv, 2 ; Numb. xxxiii, 7) in the description of the passage of the Red
Sea by the Israelites (see Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 268; Ewald, Isr. Gesch. ii, 55), a difficulty has been experi- enced from the statements of those texts that this oc- curred " between IVIigdol and the sea," and " before Mig- dol," arising from the much greater distance of this locality from Pelusium, which tlie explanation of Heng- stenberg {Mos. u. A eg. p. 58 sq.), that these expressions simply refer to the general region within which the Is- raelites were hemmed, scarcely meets. It is therefore better to regard the distance given in the Itinerary as somewhat vague, so that Migdol may have been situ- ated sufficiently near to be said to be opposite the scene of the miracle. See ExoDii. The name has been traced in the Coptic Meshtol, which signifies many hills (Cham- pollion, VEgypte sous les Pharaons, ii, 79), and has been referred (see Niebuhr, Descr. Arabice, p. 409) to the Meshtul of Arabian geographers, in the province of Sharkje, in Lower Egypt, on the island Myecphor (Ro- senmliller, ,4^/ert/i. iii, 260); but it is better (with For- ster, Ej}. ad Michael, p. 29) to consider it as alluding to a mountainous situation (suitable for a watch-tower on the frontier), and we may then (with Tischendorf, De Israel, per mare rubruni transitu, p. 25 sq. ; Kutscheit, Lepsiusu. der Sinai, p. 6 sq. ; and other earlier travellers) identify it with Jebel Ataka (see Olin's Travels in the East, i, 350). The only objection to this identification that remains, worthy of consideration, is that, according to some travellers, a gentle slope, some two or three miles wide, intervenes between this range of hills and the sea-shore, containing many camel-paths, and offer- ing an easy escape for the Israelites hemmed in by the Egyptians that came down upon them through Wady Tuwarik (Alton's Lands of the Messiah, p. 120) ; but it is doubtful whether so extensive a shore existed here anciently (see ib. p. 106), and even if this margm were not at that time covered by the waves, it may easily have been preoccupied by a detachment of the Egyp- tian troops sent round by way of the isthmus to cut off the retreat of the Israelites. Herodotus (ii, 159) doubt- less alhulcs to this place under the name of Magdulum., which he describes as a frontier town towards Palestine, where Josiah was slain by Necho ; evidently confound- ing it with Megiddo. See Red Sea, Passage of.
Miget, St., a prelate of the French Church, was born about the beginning of the 7th century. His life was written in the 10th century by an anonymous ha- giographer, and published by "the BoUandists, June 6. Another chronicler of the same century, Adson, in his Legende de Saint Waldebert, abbe de Luxueil, says that St. Miget presided at the obsequies of this abbot, who was his dearest friend. St. Miget is spoken of as a re- former within the Church. It appears that he intro- duced great changes in the liturgy of his diocese, and instituted first in the church of Besan^on five arcVidea- cons, to whom he gave important privileges. He died about the year 670, His name is found in the Martyr- ologe Gallican of the date of Aug. 7.— Dunod de Char- nage, Hist, de CEglise de Besan^cn; J.-Jacques Chifflet, Vesuntio, pt. ii ; Vie des Saints de Franche Comte, by the professors of tlie college of St. Francis Xavier, i, 236. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generalc, s. v.
Miglionico. Andrea, a Neapolitan painter, was a pupil of Luca Giordano. According to Dominici, he acquired considerable reputation, and executed m^y works for the churches at Naples, among which the Descent of the Holy Ghost, in the church of S. S. Nunzi- ata, is highly commended. He died about 1710.— Lan- zi's Histoi-y of Painting, transl. by Roscoe (Lond. 1847, 3 vols. 8vo), i"i, 59 ; Spooner, Biog. Hist, of the Fine A rts (N. Y. 1865, 2 vols. 8vo).
Mignard, Pierre (1) (called the Roman), an emi- nent I'rcnc li paintfv. was born at Troyes in IGIO. After receiving s.nne instruction at home, his father placed him in the school of Jean Boucher at Bruges; subsequently under Vouet. In 1036 he went to Rome, to study after Raphael and Michael Angelo ; there he remained twen-
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ty-two years, painting a number of fine IMadonnas, and the portraits of popes Urban VIII and Alexander VII. One of the finest frescos in France, the cupola of the Val dc Grace, was executed by Mignard. He also adorned the great hall at St. Cloud with mythological subjects. He died in 1G95, after having received many distinc- tions and honors. — Lanzi's History of Painting (Loud. 1847, 3 vols. «vo), i, 47G.
Mignard, Pierre (2), a French architect, and neplicw (if ihc i)rt'0(Mliiig, was born at Avignon in 1G40. After a series of extensive journeys throughout France and Italy, during which he devoted himself to the study of arcliitecture, he settled in Paris. He built the Abbey dc Montmajour, near Aries, which gained him great reputation ; and he was intrusted with many important works. Among these may be mentioned the fa(;ade of the church of St. Nicholas and the Porte St. Martin. Hubsc(iuently the Abbey de Montmajour was destroyed by fire, Ijut was rebuilt precisely according to the de- signs of Mignard. He was one of the six architects who, in 1071, founded the French Academy of Architect- ure, of which he was appointed professor. He died in 1725. See Spooner, Biog. Hist, of the Fine Arts (N. Y. 18G.), 2 vols. 8vo), ii, 5G4.