Venetiis in Bihliothecd Naniand asservafce (ibid, 1785, 2 pts. 4to). These catalogues are greatly valued by schoU ars. He left a number of works in JIS. form ; they are now kept at Bologna. See Cavalieri, Mia di Miiigarelli (Xovara, 1817, 8vo); Tipaldo, Bioyrujj/iia deyli Ital. illustr. V, 59.
Mingled People (-"", e'reb, a mixture), spoken of a " mixed" multitude, such as accompanied the Israel- ites from l^gypt (Exod. xii, 38), and joined them after their return froin Babylon (Neb. xiii, 3) ; but specifi- cally (with the def. article) of the promiscuous mass of foreign auxiliaries, e.g. of Solomon (1 Kings x, 15), of Egypt (Ezek. xxx, 5 ; Jer. xxv, 20, 24), of ChakUva (.Jer. 1, 37). " The phrase (3")"r;, hu-ereh), like that of ' the mixed multitude,' which the Hebrew closely resembles, is applied in Jer, xxv, 20, and Ezek. xxx, 5, to denote the. miscellaneous foreign population of Egypt and its frontier-tribes, including every one, says Jerome, who was not a native Egyptian, but was resident there. The Targum of Jonathan understands it in this passage, as well as in Jer. 1,37, of the foreign mercenaries, though in Jer. xxv, 24, where the word again occurs, it is ren- dered 'Arabs.' It is difficult to attach to it any precise meaning, or to identify with the mingled people any race of which we have knowledge. 'The kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,' are the same apparently as the tributary kings (A.V. 'kings of Ara- bia') who brought presents to Solomon (1 Kings x, 15); the Hebrew in the two cases is identical. These have been explained (as in the Targum on 1 Kings x, 15) as foreign mercenary chiefs who were in the pay of Solor mon, but Thenius understands by them the sheiks of the border tribes of Bedouins, living in Arabia Deserta, who were closely connected with the Israelites. The ' mingled people' in the midst of Babylon (Jer. 1, 37) were ]irobably the foreign soldiers or mercenary troops, who lived among the native population, as the Targum takes it. Kimchi compares Exod. xii, 38, and explains hd-ereh of the foreign population of Babylon generally, 'foreigners who were in Babylon from several lands,' or it may, he says, be intcndeil to denote the 'merchants, ereh being thus connected with the ";|;"^"^ "'^"i" of Ezek. xxvii, 27, rendered in the A.V. 'the occupiers of thy merchandise.' His first interpretation is based upon what appea/s to be the primary signification of the root 3^", ^drah, to mingle, while another meaning, ' to pledge, guarantee,' suggested the rendering of the Targum ' mer- cenaries,' which Jarchi adopts in his explanation of 'the kings of hd-ereh,' in 1 Kings x, 15, as the kings who were pledged to Solomon and dependent upon him. The equivalent which he gives is a])parently intended to represent the French yarantie. The rendering of the A. V. is supported by tiie Sept. avupiKTOQ in Jeremiah, and iii ifxiKTOQ in Ezekiel" (Smith), See Mixed Mul-
TITLDIi.
Mingrelia, an Asiatic province of Russia, situated between the Black and Caspian seas, in the country formerly called Colchis. It covers a territory of 2G00 square miles, inhabited by nearly 250,000 people. Tlie country is mountainous, but is largely cultivated. To- bacco, rice, and millet arc raised, and a great deal of silk, honey, and wine are produced. Mingrelia became subject to Hussia in 1803, but was until 18G7 governed by its own prince, called Dadian, who resided in the small town of Zoobdidee. Tlie inhabitants of Jlingre- lia are generally inf(>rior in appearance to the mountain- eers of the Caucasus. We are told by travellers that they are an ignorant, superstitious, and corrujit people.
Jieliyious Condition. — The Jlingrelians arc ostensibly meml)ers of the (Jreek Clnircb, but their religion consists rather in outward ]>ractices and observances than in in- ward ]nirity and heart devotion. :Many of their practices are ojien to severe censure. They observe four Lents, comprebeniiiug (1) the forty-eight days before Easter; (2) the forty days before Christmas; (3) the month pre-
MINGRELIA
295
MINIMS
ce(5,ing St. Peter's day ; and (4) a Lent devoted to the Virgin Mary, and observed for a fortnight. Their chief saint is St. George, who is also the special patron of the Georgians, the Muscovites, and the Greeks. Their wor- ship of images is of such a description that even Eoman- ists declare it deserving the reproach of idolatr\-. They offer them stags' horns, tusks of boars, pheasants' wings, and weapons, with a view of insuring a happy success to their wars and hunting expeditions. It is even said that, like the Jews, they offer bloody sacrifices, immo- late victims, and, like our Western savages, feast on them in general assembly; that they kill animals at the tombs of their parents, and pour wine and oil over the graves, as the pagans did. They abstain from meat on Monda3's, out of regard for the moon, and Friday is ob- served as a holiday. They are exceedingly thievish: theft is not regarded as a crime, but rather a proof of skill that disgraces no one ; he who is caught in the act lias nothing to fear beyond a trifling fine.
Introduction of Christianitij. — Some ecclesiastical his- torians insist that the king, the queen, and the nobility of Colchis were converted to the Christian faith by a female slave, under the reign of Constantine (Socrates, lib. i, c. 20; Sozomen, lib. ii, c. 7). Others assert that the Mingrelians were instructed in the Christian doc- trines by one Cyrillus, whom the Sclavonians in their own tongue call Chiusi, and who is said to have lived about A.D. 806. Perhaps religion was extinguished al- together in these regions during the time that elapsed between the fifth and the ninth centuries. The ]\Iin- grelians show, on the sea-shore, near the Corax River, a large church, in which, according to their statement, St. Andrew preached; but this is to be taken "cum grano sails." In former times the Mingrelians acknowledged the spiritual supremacy of the patriarch of Antioch ; but this supremacy has been transferred to the patri- archal see of Constantinople. Nevertheless they have two primates of their own nation, whom they call ca- thoUcos : one for Georgia, the other for Mingrelia. There were formerly twelve bishoprics. There are only six left at the present time, the other six having been changed into abbeys. The primate or chief bishop of Mingrelia, who resides at Constantinople, makes his ap- pearance in Mingrelia only once in his life, and then only for the purpose of consecrating the holy oil, or chrism, which the Greeks call myron.