Emesa

“ Mâlem Skender received us in his house, and the next morning my companions set off for Bâlbec. The weather had been much colder at Hamah than at Damascus, for I found myself obliged to buy a lamb-skin pelisse, which proved of great comfort to me; and on this day it rained, being the first wet we had had since the month of May.
Hems is the ancient Emesa. It is a neat, compact town, [16] with streets paved, and wider than is customary in Turkey. It contains fourteen or fifteen mosques, and is about a mile and a half in circumference. ”

“ HELIODORUS, of Emesa in Syria, Greek writer of romance. According to his own statement his father’s name was Theodosius, and he belonged to a family of priests of the sun. He was the author of the Aethiopica, the oldest and best of the Greek romances that have come down to us. ”

“ For such a youth employment must be found immediately. Here at Emesa was the very thing ready to hand, the sacerdotal position which was the property of the family. Maesa knew that a high position in the Church is an acquisition which, even in this life, is of lucrative and social advantage to the holder. The High-Priesthood of one of the most important religions of Syria was Bassianus' possession for the mere trouble of undergoing the ordination rite, while with it there still went a certain amount of the former princely kudos of that house. ”

“ In form he was attractive and exceedingly graceful; his hair, which was very fair, glistened like gold in the sun; he was slender and possessed of glorious blue eyes, which in turn were endowed with the power of attracting all beholders to his worship; and he knew his power over men; he had first realised it when the legionaries flocked to the temple at Emesa attracted by the reports of this Prince Charming. He was then just at the age of incipient manhood, and his woman's instinct taught him, as no outside force could have done, that virility and strength were the finest things in the world ”

“ Moreover, she was suffering from a disease which is still considered incurable. Death was approaching her ; she went out to meet it. and either allowed herself to die of starvation or pierced her cancer with a poisoned dagger. The report that Macrinus had ordered her suicide is quite incompatible with his other dealings towards the family of Bassianus.
Maesa, more prudent and more far-seeing, resolved to obey the order literally, and returned with her widowed daughters (Dion) , their two sons, and all her vast treasure to her native city of Emesa, some 125 miles south of Antioch. ”

“ As the Dodola paused before the konak, Amesa said, quite enthusiastically, and designing to be overheard by the fair girl who took the part of thirsting nature, "If Elias can refuse the prayer of so much womanly beauty, I swear, by Jezebel, that I shall hereafter believe, with the Turks, that the austere old prophet has become bewitched with the houris in paradise, and so does not care to look into the faces of earthly damsels." ”

“ Fight not against the Moabites, neither go to battle against them: for I will not give thee any of their land, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot in possession.
2:10. The Emims first were the inhabitants thereof, a people great, and strong, and so tall, that like the race of the Enacims,
2:11. They were esteemed as giants, and were like the sons of the Enacims. But the Moabites call them Emims.
2:12. The Horrhites also formerly dwelt in Seir: who being driven out and destroyed, the children of Esau dwelt there, as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave him. ”

“ Emilia was silent, and had sat down by her sister, who became constantly more and more excited in her discourse, and let certain private matters slip out, which it was not exactly proper for me to know. Emilia, on the other hand, who was trying to pacify her sister, made me a sign from behind that I should withdraw; but as jealousy and suspicion see with a thousand eyes, Lucinda seemed to have noticed this also. She sprang up and advanced to me, but not with vehemence. She stood before me, and seemed to be thinking of something. ”

“ In converting her friend from Mahometanism to Christianity, Emilia had gone back to the source whence alone man can expect to draw pure doctrine: she had taught her from the sacred book itself, such as it appears to an attentive, inquiring, and docile mind:—She had stripped herself of every prejudice, even in favor of the great Reformer to whom so many souls stand indebted for an example of mental courage ”

“ Ten minutes later Metem stood in the chamber of Aziel.
“Has she seen the letter, and what did she answer?” asked the prince, springing up almost as he passed the threshold.
“In the name of all the gods of all the nations I pray you not to speak so loud,” answered Metem when he had closed the door and looked suspiciously about him. “Oh! if ever I find myself safe in Tyre again, I vow a gift, and no mean one, to each of them that has a temple there, and they are many; for no single god is strong enough to bring me safe out of this trouble. Have I seen the lady Elissa? ”

“ Israel was herding its flocks in Egypt, Edom was establishing itself in the mountains of Seir. Esau, the brother of Jacob, had already gathered around him a body of followers, and had married into the family of a Horite chief. His descendants, partly by conquest, partly by absorption, planted themselves securely in the country which was henceforth to be called Edom. Horite and Amalekite Bedâwin were alike absorbed into the new-comers, whose position in Edom resembled that of the Israelites in Canaan. ”

“ When the Bagdād caliphs lost control of their dominions, Edessa shared the fortunes of western Mesopotamia, changing with the rise and fall of Egyptian dynasties and Arab chieftains. In the 10th century al-Masʽūdī, writing in the very year in which it happened, tells how the Mahommedan ruler of Edessa, with the permission of the caliph, purchased peace of the emperor Romanus Lecapenus by surrendering to him the napkin of Jesus of Nazareth, wherewith he had dried himself after his baptism. ”

“ Even this fortress was sore bested. The slingers, for which Israel, and specially the tribe of Benjamin, was so famous, advanced to drive its defenders from the battlements. King Mesha fought with undaunted heroism. He decided to take the seven hundred warriors who were left to him, and cut his way through the besieging host to the king of Edom. He thought that even now he might persuade the Edomites to abandon this new and unnatural alliance, and turn the battle against their common [Pg 37] enemies. ”

“ He won several victories over Canute, but was defeated at Assandun in Essex, and forced to surrender the midland and northern counties to Canute. He died after a reign of only seven months.
Edom, in the New Testament Idumæa, in ancient times a country lying to the south of Palestine. The Edomites are said in Genesis to be the descendants of Esau, who was also called Edom (a word signifying 'red') , and who dwelt in Mount Seir, the mountain range now called Jebel Shera, stretching between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akabah. Edom is frequently mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions. ”

“ Mesu fell away;
[Mesu is the Egyptian name of Moses, whom we may consider as a contemporary of Rameses, under whose successor the exodus of the Jews from Egypt took place.]
and Pentaur may follow him. Must my aim be an unworthy one because it does not attract the noblest? Not so. Each feels himself made of better stuff than his companions in destiny, constitutes his own law, and fears to see the great expended in trifles; but I think otherwise; like a brook of ferruginous water from Lebanon, I mix with the great stream, and tinge it with my color. ”

“ Others have fallen upon the like, or perhaps the [364] same conceit under another appellation; deducing its name not from King Erythrus, but Esau or Edom, whose habitation was upon the coasts thereof. Now Edom is as much as Erythrus, and the red Sea no more then the Idumean; from whence the posterity of Edom removing towards the Mediterranean coast, according to their former nomination by the Greeks were called Phœnicians or red men: and from a plantation and colony of theirs, an Island near Spain was by the Greek describers termed Erithra, as is declared by Strabo and Solinus. ”

“ Chiefs and captains of the great and ancient people of the Otomie, I your princess have been sent to you by Cuitlahua, my king and yours, together with my lord, to plead with you on a certain matter. Our king has heard, and I also have heard with shame, that many of the warriors of our blood have joined the Tlascalans, who were ever foes to the Aztecs, in their unholy alliance with the Teules. Now for a while the white men are beaten back, but they have touched the gold they covet, and they will return again like bees to a half-drained flower. ”

“ The power of the goddess who punishes the misdeeds of the reckless is called irresistible and uncontrollable; but one thing softens even her, and checks her usually resistless wheel: it is a mother’s prayer. I heard this from my own mother, and experienced it myself, especially in my oldest son Eumedes, who from the wildest madcap became an ornament of his class, and to whom the King—you doubtless know it—intrusted the command of the fleet which is to open the Ethiopian land of elephants to the Egyptian power. ”

“ Formosante nodded her head; she had sometimes been shocked at the language of the Babylonian charioteers.
'The land where dwells my master,' continued the bird, 'is perhaps the only one in the world where animals are treated with proper respect, and where, therefore, they consent to live happily with man.'
'And where is that?' asked the Princess eagerly.
'It is in the country of the Gangarids beyond the Ganges that Amazan my master was born. He is no king—indeed I hardly think he would condescend to be one—and, like his countrymen, he is a shepherd. ”

“ And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, "Lord, there is none beside thee to help, between the mighty and him that hath no strength: help us, O Lord our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we come against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee."
So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before his host ”

“ In the colophons Isaac says: "I have toiled much for the glory of the kingdom of Ethiopia, and for the going forth (manifestation ?) of the heavenly Zion, and for the glory of the King of Ethiopia." These words throw some light upon Isaac's motive in translating the book, and supply the reason for his devoted labour. He firmly believed: 1. That the lawful kings of Ethiopia were descended from Solomon, King of Israel. 2. That the Tabernacle of the Law of God, i.e. the Ark of the Covenant, had been brought from Jerusalem to Aksum by Menyelek, Solomon's firstborn son, according to the Ethiopians. ”

“ Well, thank you.
[Janek and Kristina bring chairs]
Emilia
Sit down, Max.
Hauk-Sendorf
Thank you very much.
Emilia
You sit down, too, Baron. Berti can sit on my lap.
Gregor
Too kind of you.
Emilia
If you don’t want to, you can stand up.
Hauk-Sendorf
Beautiful, divine lady. On my knees I beg your pardon.
Emilia
Why?
Hauk-Sendorf
I’m an old fool. How could a woman long since dead concern you?
Emilia
Is she dead? ”

“ But I rather think Ozema hath received this holy rite, for she often pointed to the cross she weareth, when speaking of the union with thy nephew. Indeed, from her allusions, I understood her to say that she became a Christian, ere she became a wife."
"And that blessed cross, Señora, was a gift of Mercedes to the reckless, fickle-minded boy; a parting gift in which the holy symbol was intended to remind him of constancy and faith!"
"The world maketh so many inroads into the hearts of men, Beatriz, that they know not woman's reliance and woman's fidelity. ”

“ On the one hand, they are eager to have documentary proof of their nation’s noble origin and glorious past; on the other, they nourish a feeling of opposition towards other nationalities, on which they cast shame. The nation of Edom receives Esau as ancestor: and the reminiscence of nomadic conceptions which draws their sympathy towards Jacob, the persecuted brother, and turns with antipathy away from the red solar hunter, is again revived in the service of the formation of a national myth which paints Esau in the most repulsive colours. ”

“ Amme, or Emma, no doubt formed by the first lispings of a child, is amme, a nurse, in Germany, and ama, a housekeeper, in Spain. As a name, it was at first exclusively Frank, and used by the Karling daughters. The first Emma mentioned was the daughter of Charlemagne; and the sister of Hugh Capet, who married Richard the Fearless, of Normandy, was likewise so called. Her granddaughter was the wife, first of Ethelred the Unready, then of Knut, and the supposed heroine of the ordeal of the ploughshares. Emma was considered as so un-English that her name was translated into Ælfgifu. ”

“ EDESSA, the Greek name of an ancient city of N.W. Mesopotamia (in 37° 21′ N. lat. and 39° 6′ E. long.) , suggested perhaps by a comparison of its site, or its water supply, [1] with that of its Macedonian namesake. It still bears its earlier name, modified since the 15th century (by the Turks?) to Urfa.
The oldest certain form is the Aramaic Urhāi (“Western” pronunciation Urhōi) , which appears in Greek as an adjective as Ὀρροηνή [2] , -νοί [3] (perhaps also as a fortress with spring, as Ὀρρά) , [4] and in Latin as Orr (h) ei, [5] and (in the inscription on Abgar’s grave) Orrhenoru (m) . ”