Chapter 21

(W. R. So.)

1Besides the anonymous testimony prefixed to an ancient MS. of Proclus,De Myst.viii. 3 seems to be quoted by the latter as Iamblichus’s. Cf. Meiners. “Judicium de libro qui de Myst. Aeg. inscribitur,” inComment. Soc. Reg. Sci. Gott., vol. iv., 1781, p. 77.

IAMBLICHUS,of Syria, the earliest of the Greek romance writers, flourished in the 2nd centuryA.D.He was the author ofΒαβυλωνιακά, the loves of Rhodanes and Sinonis, of which an epitome is preserved in Photius (cod. 94). Garmus, a legendary king of Babylon, forces Sinonis to marry him and throws Rhodanes into prison. The lovers manage to escape, and after many singular adventures, in which magic plays a considerable part, Garmus is overthrown by Rhodanes, who becomes king of Babylon. According to Suidas, Iamblichus was a freedman, and a scholiast’s note on Photius further informs us that he was a native Syrian (not descended from Greek settlers); that he borrowed the material for his romance from a love story told him by his Babylonian tutor, and that he subsequently applied himself with great success to the study of Greek. A MS. of the original in the library of the Escorial is said to have been destroyed by fire in 1670. Only a few fragments have been preserved, in addition to Photius’s epitome.

SeeScriptores erotici, ed. A. Hirschig (1856) and R. Hercher (1858); A. Mai,Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, ii.; E. Rohde,Der griechische Roman(1900).

IANNINA(i.e.“the city of St John”; Gr.Ioannina; TurkYaniá; also written Janina, Jannina, and, according to its Albanian pronunciation, Yanina), the capital of the vilayet of Iannina, Albania, European Turkey. Pop. (1905) about 22,000. The largest ethnical groups in the population are the Albanian and Greek; the purest form of colloquial Greek is spoken here among the wealthy and highly educated merchant families. The position of Iannina is strikingly picturesque. At the foot of the grey limestone mass of Mount Mitzekeli (1500 ft.), which forms part of the fine range of hills running north from the Gulf of Arta, there lies a valley (theHellopiaof antiquity) partly occupied by a lake; and the city is built on the slopes of a slight eminence, stretching down to the western shore. It has greatly declined from the state of barbaric prosperity which it enjoyed from 1788 to 1822, when it was the seat of Ali Pasha (q.v.), and was estimated to have from 30,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. The fortress—Demir Kule or Iron Castle, which, like the principal seraglio, was built on a promontory jutting into the lake—is now in ruins. But the city is the seat of a Greek archbishop, and still possesses many mosques and churches, besides synagogues, a Greek college (gymnasium), a library and a hospital. Sayades (opposite Corfu) and Arta are the places through which it receives its imports. The rich gold and silver embroidery for which the city has long been famous is still one of the notable articles in its bazaar; but the commercial importance of Iannina has notably declined since the cession of Arta and Thessaly to Greece in 1881. Iannina had previously been one of the chief centres of the Thessalian grain trade; it now exports little except cheese, hides, bitumen and sheepskins to the annual value of about £120,000; the imports, which supply only the local demand for provisions, textile goods, hardware, &c., are worth about double that sum.

The lake of Iannina (perhaps to be identified with the Pambotus or Pambotis of antiquity) is 6 m. long, and has an area of 24 sq.m., with an extreme depth of less than 35 ft. In time of flood it is united with the smaller lake of Labchistas to the north. There are no affluents of any considerable size, and the only outlets are underground passages orkatavothraextending for many miles through the calcareous rocks.

The theory supported by W. M. Leake (Northern Greece, London, 1835) that the citadel of Iannina is to be identified with Dodona, is now generally abandoned in favour of the claims of a more southern site. As Anna Comnena, in describing the capture of the town (τὰ Ἰοάννινα) by Bohemond in 1082, speaks of the walls as being dilapidated, it may be supposed that the place existed before the 11th century. It is mentioned from time to time in the Byzantine annals, and on the establishment of the lordship of Epirus by Michael Angelus Comnenus Ducas, it became his capital. In the middle ages it was successively attacked by Serbs, Macedonians and Albanians; but it was in possession of the successors of Michael when the forces of the Sultan Murad appeared before it in 1430 (cf. Hahn,Alban. Studien, Jena [1854], pp. 319-322). Since 1431 it has continued under Turkish rule.

Descriptions of Iannina will be found in Holland’sTravels(1815); Hughes,Travels in Greece, &c. (1830); H. F. Tozer,Researches in the Highlands of Turkey(London, 1869). See alsoAlbaniaand the authorities there cited.

IAPETUS,in Greek mythology, son of Uranus and Gaea, one of the Titans, father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius, the personifications of certain human qualities (Hesiod,Theog.507). As a punishment for having revolted against Zeus, he was imprisoned in Tartarus (Homer,Iliad, viii. 479) or underneath the island of Inarime off the coast of Campania (Silius Italicus xii. 148). Hyginus makes him the son of Tartarus and Gaea, and one of the giants. Iapetus was considered the original ancestor of the human race, as the father of Prometheus and grandfather of Deucalion. The name is probably identical with Japhet (Japheth), and the son of Noah in the Greek legend of the flood becomes the ancestor of (Noah) Deucalion. Iapetus as the representative of an obsolete order of things is described as warring against the new order under Zeus, and is naturally relegated to Tartarus.

See F. G. Welcker,Griechische Götterlehre, i. (1857); C. H. Völcker,Die Mythologie des Iapetischen Geschlechtes(1824); M. Mayer,Giganten und Titanen(1887).

IAPYDES,orIapodes, one of the three chief peoples of Roman Illyria. They occupied the interior of the country on the north between the Arsia (Arsa) and Tedanius (perhaps the Zermanja), which separated them from the Liburnians. Their territory formed part of the modern Croatia. They are described by Strabo as a mixed race of Celts and Illyrians, who used Celtic weapons, tattooed themselves, and lived chiefly on spelt and millet. They were a warlike race, addicted to plundering expeditions. In 129B.C.C. Sempronius Tuditanus celebrated a triumph over them, and in 34B.C.they were finally crushed by Augustus. They appear to have had afoeduswith Rome, but subsequently rebelled.

See Strabo iv. 207, vii. 313-315; Dio Cassius xlix. 35; Appian,Illyrica, 10, 14, 16; Livy,Epit.lix. 131; Tibullus iv. 1. 108; Cicero,Pro Balbo, 14.

IATROCHEMISTRY(coined from Gr.ἰατρός, a physician, and “chemistry”), a stage in the history of chemistry, during which the object of this science was held to be “not to make gold but to prepare medicines.” This doctrine dominated chemical thought during the 16th century, its foremost supporters being Paracelsus, van Helmont and de la Boë Sylvius. But it gave way to the new definition formulated by Boyle, viz. that the proper domain of chemistry was “to determine the composition of substances.” (SeeChemistry: I.History;Medicine.)

IAZYGES,a tribe of Sarmatians first heard of on the Maeotis, where they were among the allies of Mithradates the Great. Moving westward across Scythia, and hence called Metanastae, they were on the lower Danube by the time of Ovid, and aboutA.D.50 occupied the plains east of the Theiss. Here, under the general name of Sarmatae, they were a perpetual trouble to the Roman province of Dacia. They were divided into freemen and serfs (Sarmatae Limigantes), the latter of whom had a different manner of life and were probably an older settled population enslaved by nomad masters. They rose against them inA.D.334, but were repressed by foreign aid. Nothing is heard of Iazyges or Sarmatae after the Hunnish invasions. Graves at Keszthely and elsewhere in the Theiss valley, shown by their contents to belong to nomads of the first centuriesA.D., are referred to the Iazyges.

(E. H. M.)

IBADAN,a town of British West Africa, in Yorubaland, Southern Nigeria, 123 m. by rail N.E. of Lagos, and about 50 m. N.E. of Abeokuta. Pop. 1910 estimated at 150,000. The town occupies the slope of a hill, and stretches into the valleythrough which the river Ona flows. It is enclosed by mud walls, which have a circuit of 18 m., and is encompassed by cultivated land 5 or 6 m. in breadth. The native houses are all low, thatched structures, enclosing a square court, and the only break in the mud wall is the door. There are numerous mosques,orishas(idol-houses) and open spaces shaded with trees. There are a few buildings in the European style. Most of the inhabitants are engaged in agriculture; but a great variety of handicrafts is also carried on. Ibadan is the capital of one of the Yoruba states and enjoys a large measure of autonomy. Nominally the state is subject to thealafin(ruler) of Oyo; but it is virtually independent. The administration is in the hands of two chiefs, a civil and a military, thebaleand thebalogun; these together form the highest court of appeal. There is also aniyalodaor mother of the town, to whom are submitted all the disputes of the women. Ibadan long had a feud with Abeokuta, but on the establishment of the British protectorate the intertribal wars were stopped. In 1862 the people of Ibadan destroyed Ijaya, a neighbouring town of 60,000 inhabitants. A British resident and a detachment of Hausa troops are stationed at Ibadan.

See alsoYorubas,AbeokutaandLagos.

IBAGUÉ,orSan Bonifacio de Ibagué, a city of Colombia, and capital of the department of Tolima, about 60 m. W. of Bogotá and 18 m. N.W. of the Nevado de Tolima. Pop. (1900, estimate) 13,000. Ibagué is built on a beautiful plain between the Chipalo and Combeima, small affluents of the Cuello, a western tributary of the Magdalena. Its elevation, 4300 ft. above the sea, gives it a mild, subtropical climate. The plain and the neighbouring valleys produce cacao, tobacco, rice and sugar-cane. There are two thermal springs in the vicinity, and undeveloped mines of sulphur and silver. The city has an endowed college. It is an important commercial centre, being on the road which crosses the Quindio pass, orparamo, into the Cauca valley. Ibagué was founded in 1550 and was the capital of the republic for a short time in 1854.

IBARRA,a city of Ecuador and capital of the province of Imbabura, about 50 m. N.N.E. of Quito, on a small fertile plain at the northern foot of Imbabura volcano, 7300 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1900, estimate) 5000. It stands on the left bank of the Tahuando, a small stream whose waters flow north and west to the Pacific through the Mira, and is separated from the higher plateau of Quito by an elevated transverse ridge of which the Imbabura and Mojanda volcanoes form a part. The surrounding country is mountainous, the valleys being very fertile. Ibarra itself has a mild, humid climate, and is set in the midst of orchards and gardens. It is the see of a bishop and has a large number of churches and convents, and many substantial residences. Ibarra has manufactures of cotton and woollen fabrics, hats, sandals (alpargates), sacks and rope fromcabullafibre, laces, sugar and various kinds of distilled spirits and cordials made from the sugar-cane grown in the vicinity. Mules are bred for the Colombian markets of Pasto and Popayan. Ibarra was founded in 1597 by Alvaro de Ibarra, the president of Quito. It has suffered from the eruptions of Imbabura, and more severely from earthquakes, that of 1859 causing great damage to its public buildings, and the greater one of the 16th of August 1868 almost completely destroyed the town and killed a large number of its inhabitants. The village of Carranqui, 1¼ m. from Ibarra, is the birthplace of Atahualpa, the Inca sovereign executed by Pizarro, and close by is the small lake called Yaguarcocha where the army of Huaynacapac, the father of Atahualpa, inflicted a bloody defeat on the Carranquis. Another aboriginal battle-field is that of Hatuntaqui, near Ibarra, where Huaynacapac won a decisive victory and added the greater part of Ecuador to his realm. The whole region is full oftolas, or Indian burial mounds.

IBERIANS(Iberi,Ἲβηρες), an ancient people inhabiting parts of the Spanish peninsula. Their ethnic affinities are not known, and our knowledge of their history is comparatively slight. It is almost impossible to make any statement in regard to them which will meet with general agreement. At the same time, the general lines of Iberian controversy are clear enough The principal sources of information about the Iberians are (1) historical, (2) numismatic, (3) linguistic, (4) anthropological.

1.Historical.—The name seems to have been applied by the earlier Greek navigators to the peoples who inhabited the eastern coast of Spain; probably it originally meant those who dwelt by the river Iberus (mod.Ebro). It is possible (Boudard,Études sur l’alphabet ibérien(Paris, 1852) that the river-name itself represents the Basque phraseibay-erri“the country of the river.” On the other hand, even in older Greek usage (as in Thuc. vi. 1) the term Iberia is said to have embraced the country as far east as the Rhone (see Herodorus of Heraclea,Fragm. Hist. Gr.ii. 34), and by the time of Strabo it was the common Greek name for the Spanish peninsula. Iberians thus meant sometimes the population of the peninsula in general and sometimes, it would appear, the peoples of some definite race (γένος) which formed one element in that population. Of the tribal distribution of this race, of its linguistic, social and political characteristics, and of the history of its relation to the other peoples of Spain, we have only the most general, fragmentary and contradictory accounts. On the whole, the historical evidence indicates that in Spain, when it first became known to the Greeks and Romans there existed many separate and variously civilized tribes connected by at least apparent identity of race, and by similarity (but not identity) of language, and sufficiently distinguished by their general characteristics from Phoenicians, Romans and Celts. The statement of Diodorus Siculus that the mingling of these Iberians with the immigrant Celts gave rise to the Celtiberians is in itself probable. Varro and Dionysius Afer proposed to identify the Iberians of Spain with the Iberians of the Caucasus, the one regarding the eastern, and other the western, settlements as the earlier.

2.Numismatic.—Knowledge of ancient Iberian language and history is mainly derived from a variety of coins, found widely distributed in the peninsula,1and also in the neighbourhood of Narbonne. They are inscribed in an alphabet which has many points of similarity with the western Greek alphabets, and some with the Punic alphabet; but which seems to retain a few characters from an older script akin to those of Minoan Crete and Roman Libya.2The same Iberian alphabet is found also rarely in inscriptions. The coinage began before the Roman conquest was completed; the monetary system resembles that of the Roman republic, with values analogous todenariiandquinarii. The coin inscriptions usually give only the name of the town,e.g.plplis(Bilbilis),klaqriqs(Calagurris),seqbrics(Segobriga),tmaniav(Dumania). The types show late Greek and perhaps also late Punic influence, but approximate later to Roman models. The commonest reverse type, a charging horseman, reappears on the Roman coins of Bilbilis, Osca, Segobriga and other places. Another common type is one man leading two horses or brandishing a sword or a bow. The obverse has usually a male head, sometimes inscribed with what appears to be a native name.

3.Linguistic.—The survival of the non-Aryan language among the Basques around the west Pyrenees has suggested the attempt to interpret by its means a large class of similar-sounding place-names of ancient Spain, some of which are authenticated by their occurrence on the inscribed coins, and to link it with other traces of non-Aryan speech round the shores of the Western Mediterranean and on the Atlantic seaboard of Europe. This phase of Iberian theory opens with K. W. Humboldt (Prüfung der Untersuchungen über die Urbewohner Hispaniens vermittelst der waskischen Sprache, Berlin, 1821),who contended that there existed once a single great Iberian people, speaking a distinct language of their own; that an essentially “Iberian” population was to be found in Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, in southern France, and even in the British Isles; and that the Basques of the present day were remnants of this race, which had elsewhere been expelled or absorbed. This last was the central and the seminal idea of the work, and it has been the point round which the battle of scholarship has mainly raged. The principal evidence which Humboldt adduced in its support was the possibility of explaining a vast number of the ancient topographical names of Spain, and of other asserted Iberian districts, by the forms and significations of Basque. In reply, Graslin (De l’Ibérie, Paris, 1839), maintained that the name Iberia was nothing but a Greek misnomer of Spain, and that there was no proof that the Basque people had ever occupied a wider area than at present; and Bladé (Origine des Basques, Paris, 1869) took the same line of argument, holding that Iberia is a purely geographical term, that there was no proper Iberian race, that the Basques were always shut in by alien races, that their affinity is still to seek, and that the whole Basque-Iberian theory is a figment. His main contention has met with some acceptance,3but the great current of ethnographical speculation still flows in the direction indicated by Humboldt.

4.Anthropological.—Humboldt’s “Iberian theory” depended partly on linguistic comparisons, but partly on his observation of widespread similarity of physical type among the population of south-western Europe. Since his time the anthropological researches of Broca, Thurnam and Davis, Huxley, Busk, Beddoe, Virchow, Tubino and others have proved the existence in Europe, from Neolithic times, of a race, small of stature, with long or oval skulls, and accustomed to bury their dead in tombs. Their remains have been found in Belgium and France, in Britain, Germany and Denmark, as well as in Spain; and they bear a close resemblance to a type which is common among the Basques as well as all over the Iberian peninsula. This Neolithic race has consequently been nicknamed “Iberians,” and it is now common to speak of the “Iberian” ancestry of the people of Britain, recognizing the racial characteristics of “Iberians” in the “small swarthy Welshman,” the “small dark Highlander,” and the “Black Celts to the west of the Shannon,” as well as in the typical inhabitants of Aquitania and Brittany.4Later investigators went further. M. d’Arbois de Jubainville, for example (Les Premiers habitants de l’Europe, Paris, 1877), maintained that besides possessing Spain, Gaul, Italy and the British Isles, “Iberian” peoples penetrated into the Balkan peninsula, and occupied a part of northern Africa, Corsica and Sardinia; and it is now generally accepted that a race with fairly uniform characteristics was at one time in possession of the south of France (or at least of Aquitania), the whole of Spain from the Pyrenees to the straits, the Canary Islands (the Guanches) a part of northern Africa and Corsica. Whether this type is more conveniently designated by the wordIberian, or by some other name (“Eur-african,” “Mediterranean,” &c.) is a matter of comparative indifference, provided that there is no misunderstanding as to the steps by which the termIberianattained its meaning in modern anthropology.

Authorities.—K. W. von Humboldt, “Über die cantabrische oder baskische Sprache” in Adelung,Mithridatesiv. (1817), andPrüfung d. Untersuchungen ü. die Urbewohner Hispaniens vermittelst der waskischen Sprache(Berlin, 1821); L. F. Graslin,De l’Ibérie(Paris, 1838); T. B. G. M. Bory de St Vincent,Essai géologique sur le genre humain(1838); G. Lagneau, “Sur l’ethnologie des peuples ibériens,” inBull. soc. anthrop.(1867), pp. 146-161; J. F. Bladé,Études sur l’origine des Basques(Paris, 1869),Défense des études, &c. (Paris, 1870); Phillips,Die Einwanderung der Iberer in die pyren. Halbinsel(Vienna, 1870),Über das iberische Alphabet(Vienna, 1870); W. Boyd Dawkins, “The Northern Range of the Basques,” inFortnightly Rev.N.S. xvi. 323-337 (1874); W. T. van Eys, “La Langue ibérienne et la langue basque,” inRevue de linguistique, pp. 3-15 (1874); W. Webster, “The Basque and the Kelt,” inJourn. Anthrop. Inst.v. 5-29 (1875); F. M. Tubino,Los Aborigines ibericos o los Berberos en la peninsula(Madrid, 1876); A. Luchaire,Les Origines linguistiques de l’Aquitaine(Paris, 1877); W. Boyd Dawkins,Early Man in Britain(London, 1880); A. Castaing, “Les Origines des Aquitains,”Mém. Soc. Eth.N.S. 1, pp. 183-328 (1884); G. C. C. Gerland, “Die Basken und die Iberer” in Gröber,Grundriss d. roman. Philologie, 1, pp. 313-334 (1888); M. H. d’Arbois de Jubainville,Les Premiers habitants de l’Europe(1889-1894); J. F. Bladé,Les Vascons avant leur établissement en Novempopulanie, Agen. (1891); W. Webster, “The Celt-iberians,”Academyxl. 268-269 (and consequent correspondence) (1891); J. Rhys, “The Inscriptions and Language of the Northern Picts,”Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot.xxvi. 263-351 (1892); F. Fita, “El Vascuence en las inscripciones ógmicas,”Bol. Real. Acad. Hist. Madrid(June 1893), xxii. 579-587; G. v. d. Gabelentz, “Baskisch u. Berberisch,”Sitz. k. preuss. Akad. Wiss.593-613 (Berlin, 1893),Die Verwandtschaft der Baskischen mit der Berber-Sprache Nordafrikas nachgewiesen(Braunschweig, 1894); M. H. d’Arbois de Jubainville, “Les Celtes en Espagne,”Rev. celtique, xiv. 357-395 (1894); G. Buschan, “Über die iberische Rasse,”Ausland, lxvi. 342-344 (1894); F. Olóriz y Aguilera,Distribucion geografica del indice cefalico en España(Madrid, 1894), “La Talla humana en España” inDiscursos R. Acad. Medicinaxxxvi. 389 (Madrid, 1896); R. Collignon, “La Race basque,”L’Anthropologie, v. 276-287 (1894); T. de Aranzadi, “Le Peuple basque, résumé”Bull. soc. d’anth.510-520 (1894), “Consideraciones acerca de la raza basca”Euskel-Erriaxxxv. 33, 65, 97, 129 (1896); H. Schuchhardt,Baskische Studien, i. “Über die Entstehung der Bezugsformen des baskischen Zeitworts”;Denkschriften der K. Akad. der Wiss., Phil.-Hist., Classe, Bd. 42, Abh. 3. (Wien, 1893); Ph. Salmon,Rev. mens. Éc. d’anthr.v. 155-181, 214-220 (1895); R. Collignon, “Anthr. du S.-O. de la France,”Mém. Soc. Anthr.§ 3. 1. 4. p. 1-129 (1895),Ann. de géogr.v. 156-166 (1896), and with J. Deniker, “Les Maures de Sénégal,”L’Anthr.vii. 57-69 (1897); G. Hervé,Rev. mens. Éc. d’anthr.vi. 97-109 (1896); G. Sergi,Africa: Anthropologia della stirpe Camitica(Turin, 1897),Arii ed Italici(1898); L. de Hoyos Sainz, “L’Anthropologie et la préhistorique en Espagne et en Portugal en 1897,”L’Anthropologie, ix. 37-51 (1898); J. Deniker (see Collignon) “Les Races de l’Europe,”L’Anthropologie, ix. 113-133 (1898); M. Gèze, “De quelques rapports entre les langues berbère et basque,”Mém. soc. arch. du Midi de la France, xiii. See also the works quoted in the footnotes; and the bibliography underBasques.

(J. L. M.)

1For the prehistoric civilization of the peninsula as a whole seeSpain.2P. A. Boudard’sÉtudes sur l’alphabet ibérien(Paris, 1852). andNumismatique ibérienne(Béziers, 1859); Aloiss Heiss,Notes sur les monnaies celtibériennes(Paris, 1865), andDescription générale des monnaies antiques de l’Espagne(Paris, 1870); Phillips,Über das iberische Alphabet(Vienna, 1870),Die Einwanderung der Iberer in die pyren. Halbinsel(Vienna, 1870); W. M. Flinders Petrie,Journ. Anthr. Inst.xxix. (1899) 204, and above all E. Hübner,Monumenta linguae Ibericae.3W. van Eys, for example, “La Langue ibérienne et la langue basque,” inRevue de linguistique, goes against Humboldt; but Prince Napoleon and to a considerable extent A. Luchaire maintain the justice of his method and the value of many of his results. See Luchaire,Les Origines linguistiques de l’Aquitaine(Paris, 1877).4Compare the interesting résumé of the whole question in Boyd Dawkins’sEarly Man in Britain(London, 1880).

1For the prehistoric civilization of the peninsula as a whole seeSpain.

2P. A. Boudard’sÉtudes sur l’alphabet ibérien(Paris, 1852). andNumismatique ibérienne(Béziers, 1859); Aloiss Heiss,Notes sur les monnaies celtibériennes(Paris, 1865), andDescription générale des monnaies antiques de l’Espagne(Paris, 1870); Phillips,Über das iberische Alphabet(Vienna, 1870),Die Einwanderung der Iberer in die pyren. Halbinsel(Vienna, 1870); W. M. Flinders Petrie,Journ. Anthr. Inst.xxix. (1899) 204, and above all E. Hübner,Monumenta linguae Ibericae.

3W. van Eys, for example, “La Langue ibérienne et la langue basque,” inRevue de linguistique, goes against Humboldt; but Prince Napoleon and to a considerable extent A. Luchaire maintain the justice of his method and the value of many of his results. See Luchaire,Les Origines linguistiques de l’Aquitaine(Paris, 1877).

4Compare the interesting résumé of the whole question in Boyd Dawkins’sEarly Man in Britain(London, 1880).

IBEX,one of the names of the Alpine wild goat, otherwise known as the steinbok and bouquetin, and scientifically asCapra ibex. Formerly the ibex was common on the mountain-ranges of Germany, Switzerland and Tirol, but is now confined to the Alps which separate Valais from Piedmont, and to the lofty peaks of Savoy, where its existence is mainly due to game-laws. The ibex is a handsome animal, measuring about 4½ ft. in length and standing about 40 in. at the shoulder. The skin is covered in summer with a short fur of an ashy-grey colour, and in winter with much longer yellowish-brown hair concealing a dense fur beneath. The horns of the male rise from the crest of the skull, and after bending gradually backwards terminate in smooth tips; the front surface of the remainder carrying bold transverse ridges or knots. About 1 yd. is the maximum recorded length of ibex-horns. The fact that the fore-legs are somewhat shorter than those behind enables the ibex to ascend mountain slopes with more facility than it can descend, while its hoofs are as hard as steel, rough underneath and when walking over a flat surface capable of being spread out. These, together with its powerful sinews, enable it to take prodigious leaps, to balance itself on the smallest foothold and to scale almost perpendicular rocks. Ibex live habitually at a greater height than chamois or any other Alpine mammals, their vertical limit being the line of perpetual snow. There they rest in sunny nooks during the day, descending at night to the highest woods to graze. Ibex are gregarious, feeding in herds of ten to fifteen individuals; but the old males generally live apart from, and usually at greater elevations than, the females and young. They utter a sharp whistling sound not unlike that of the chamois, but when greatly irritated or frightened make a peculiar snorting noise. The period of gestation in the female is ninety days, after which she produces—usually at the end of June—a single young one which is able at once to follow its mother. Kids when caught young and fed on goat’s milk can be readily tamed; and in the 16th century young tamed ibex were frequently driven to themountains along with the goats, in whose company they would afterwards return. Even wild ibex have been known to stray among the herds of goats, although they shun the society of chamois. Its flesh is said to resemble mutton, but has a flavour of game.

By naturalists the name “ibex” has been extended to embrace all the kindred species of wild goats, while by sportsmen it is used in a still more elastic sense, to include not only the true wild goat (known in India as the Sind ibex) but even the short-hornedHemitragus hylocriusof the Nilgiris. Dealing only with species zoologically known as ibex, the one nearest akin to the European kind is the Asiatic or Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica), which, with several local phases, extends from the northern side of Kashmir over an enormous area in Central Asia. These ibex, especially the race from the Thian Shan, are incomparably finer than the European species, their bold knotted horns sometimes attaining a length of close on 60 in. The Arabian, or Nubian, ibex (C. nubiana) is characterized by the more slender type of horn, in which the front edge is much narrower; while the Simien ibex (C. vali) of Central Abyssinia is a very large and dark-coloured animal, with the horns black instead of brownish, and bearing only slightly marked front ridges. The Caucasian ibex (C. caucasica), or tur, is a wholly fox-coloured animal, in which the horns are still flatter in front, and thus depart yet further from the ibex type. In the Spanish ibex (C. pyrenaica) the horns are flattened, with ill-defined knobs, and a spiral twist. (SeeGoat.)

(W. H. F.; R. L.*)

IBIS,one of the sacred birds of the ancient Egyptians. James Bruce identified this bird with theAbu-Hannesor “Father John” of the Abyssinians, and in 1790 it received from Latham (Index ornithologicus, p. 706) the name ofTantalus aethiopicus. This determination was placed beyond question by Cuvier (Ann. du Muséum, iv. 116-135) and Savigny (Hist. nat. et mythol. de l’ibis) in 1805. They, however, removed it from the Linnaean genusTantalusand, Lacépède having some years before founded a genusIbis, it was transferred thither, and is now generally known asI. aethiopica, though some speak of it asI. religiosa. No attempt can here be made to treat the ibis from a mythological or antiquarian point of view. Savigny’s memoir contains a great deal of matter on the subject. Wilkinson (Ancient Egyptians, ser. 2, vol. ii. pp. 217-224) added some of the results of later research, and Renouf in hisHibbert Lecturesexplains the origin of the myth.

The ibis is chiefly an inhabitant of the Nile basin from Dongola southward, as well as of Kordofan and Sennar; whence about midsummer it moves northwards to Egypt.1In Lower Egypt it bears the name ofAbu-mengel, or “father of the sickle,” from the form of its bill, but it does not stay long in that country, disappearing when the Nile has subsided. Hence most travellers have failed to meet with it there2(since their acquaintance with the birds of Egypt is limited to those which frequent the country in winter), and writers have denied generally to this species a place in its modern fauna (cf. Shelley,Birds of Egypt, p. 261). However, in 1864, von Heuglin (Journ. für Ornithologie, 1865, p. 100) saw a young bird which had been shot in the Delta, and E. C. Taylor (Ibis, 1878, p. 372) saw an adult which had been killed near Lake Menzal in 1877. The story told to Herodotus of its destroying snakes is, according to Savigny, devoid of truth, but Cuvier states that he discovered partly digested remains of a snake in the stomach of a mummied ibis.

The ibis is somewhat larger than a curlew,Numenius arquata, which bird it resembles, with a much stouter bill and stouter legs. The head and greater part of the neck are bare and black. The plumage is white, except the primaries, which are black, and a black plume, formed by the secondaries, tertials and lower scapulars, and richly glossed with bronze, blue and green, which curves gracefully over the hind-quarters. The bill and feet are also black. The young lack the ornamental plume, and in them the head and neck are clothed with short black feathers, while the bill is yellow. The nest is placed in bushes or high trees, the bird generally building in companies, and in the middle of August von Heuglin (Orn. Nord-Ost-Afrikas, p. 1138) found that it had from two to four young or much incubated eggs.3These are of a dingy white, splashed, spotted and speckled with reddish-brown.

Congeneric with the typical ibis are two or three other species, theI. melanocephalaof India, theI. moluccaorI. strictipennis, of Australia, and theI. bernieriof Madagascar, all of which closely resembleI. aethiopica; while many other forms not very far removed from it, though placed by authors in distinct genera,4are known. Among these are several beautiful species such as the JapaneseGeronticus nippon, theLophotibis cristataof Madagascar, and the scarlet ibis,5Eudocimus ruber, of America. The glossy ibis,Plegadis falcinellus, found throughout the West Indies, Central and the south-eastern part of North America, as well as in many parts of Europe (whence it not unfrequently strays to the British Islands), Africa, Asia and Australia. This bird, believed to be the second kind of ibis spoken of by Herodotus, is rather smaller than the sacred ibis, and mostly of a dark chestnut colour with brilliant green and purple reflections on the upper parts, exhibiting, however, when young none of the rufous hue. This species lays eggs of a deep sea-green colour, having wholly the character of heron’s eggs, and it often breeds in company with herons, while the eggs of all other ibises whose eggs are known resemble those of the sacred ibis. Though ibises resemble the curlews externally, there is no affinity between them. TheIbididaeare more nearly related to the storks,Ciconiidae, and still more to the spoonbills,Plataleidae, with which latter many systematists consider them to form one group, theHemiglottidesof Nitzsch. Together these groups form the sub-orderCiconiaeof the orderCiconiiformes. The true ibises are also to be clearly separated from the wood-ibises,Tantalidae, of which there are four or five species, by several not unimportant structural characters. Fossil remains of a trueibis,I. pagana, have been found in considerable numbers in the middle Tertiary beds of France.6

(A. N.)

1It has been said to occur occasionally in Europe (Greece and southern Russia).2E. C. Taylor remarked (Ibis, 1859, p. 51), that the buff-backed heron,Ardea bubulcus, was made by the tourists’ dragomans to do duty for the “sacred ibis,” and this seems to be no novel practice, since by it, or something like it, Hasselqvist was misled, and through him Linnaeus.3The ibis has more than once nested in the gardens of the Zoological Society in London, and even reared its young there.4For some account of these may be consulted Dr Reichenow’s paper inJourn. für Ornithologie(1877), pp. 143-156; Elliot’s inProc. Zool. Society(1877), pp. 477-510; and that of Oustalet inNouv. Arch. du Muséum, ser. 2, vols. i. pp. 167-184.5It is a popular error—especially among painters—that this bird was the sacred ibis of the Egyptians.6The name “Ibis” was selected as the title of an ornithological magazine, frequently referred to in this and other articles, which made its first appearance in 1859.

1It has been said to occur occasionally in Europe (Greece and southern Russia).

2E. C. Taylor remarked (Ibis, 1859, p. 51), that the buff-backed heron,Ardea bubulcus, was made by the tourists’ dragomans to do duty for the “sacred ibis,” and this seems to be no novel practice, since by it, or something like it, Hasselqvist was misled, and through him Linnaeus.

3The ibis has more than once nested in the gardens of the Zoological Society in London, and even reared its young there.

4For some account of these may be consulted Dr Reichenow’s paper inJourn. für Ornithologie(1877), pp. 143-156; Elliot’s inProc. Zool. Society(1877), pp. 477-510; and that of Oustalet inNouv. Arch. du Muséum, ser. 2, vols. i. pp. 167-184.

5It is a popular error—especially among painters—that this bird was the sacred ibis of the Egyptians.

6The name “Ibis” was selected as the title of an ornithological magazine, frequently referred to in this and other articles, which made its first appearance in 1859.

IBLIS,orEblis, in Moslem mythology the counterpart of the Christian and Jewish devil. He figures oftener in the Koran under the name Shaitan, Iblis being mentioned 11 times, whereas Shaitan appears in 87 passages. He is chief of the spirits of evil, and his personality is adapted to that of his Jewish prototype. Iblis rebelled against Allah and was expelled from Paradise. The Koranic legend is that his fall was a punishment for his refusal to worship Adam. Condemned to death he was afterwards respited till the judgment day (Koran vii. 13).

See Gustav Weil,The Bible, the Koran and the Talmud(London, 1846).

IBN ‘ABD RABBIHI[Abū ‘Umar Aḥmad ibn Maḥommed ibn ‘Abd Rabbihi] (860-940), Arabian poet, was born in Cordova and descended from a freed slave of Hishām, the second Spanish Omayyad caliph. He enjoyed a great reputation for learning and eloquence. No diwan of his is extant, but many selections from his poems are given in theYatīmat ud-Dahr, i. 412-436 (Damascus, 1887). More widely known than his poetry is his great anthology, the‘Iqd ul-Farīd(“The Precious Necklace”), a work divided into twenty-five sections, the thirteenth being named the middle jewel of the necklace, the chapters on either side of this being named after other jewels. It is anadabbook (seeArabia:Literature, section “Belles Lettres”) resembling Ibn Qutaiba’s‘Uyūn ul-Akhbār, from which it borrows largely. It has been printed, several times in Cairo (1876, 1886, &c.).

(G. W. T.)

IBN ‘ARABĪ[Muḥyiuddīn Abū ‘Abdallāh ibn ul-’Arabī] (1165-1240), Moslem theologian and mystic, was born in Murcia and educated in Seville. When thirty-eight he travelled in Egypt, Arabia, Bagdad, Mosul and Asia Minor, after which he lived in Damascus for the rest of his life. In law he was a Zahirite, in theology a mystic of the extreme order, though professing orthodox Ash’arite theology and combating in many points the Indo-Persian mysticism (pantheism). He claims to have had conversations with all the prophets past and future, and reports conversations with God himself. Of his numerous works about 150 still exist. The most extensive is the twelve-volumeFutūḥāt ul-Makkīyāt(“Meccan Revelations”), a general encyclopaedia of Sufic beliefs and doctrines. Numerous extracts from this work are contained in Sha‘rānī’s (d. 1565) manual of Sufic dogma (Yawāqīt) published several times in Cairo. A short account of these works is given in A. von Kremer’sGeschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams, pp. 102-109 (Leipzig, 1868). Another characteristic and more accessible work of Ibn ‘Arabi is theFuṣūṣ ul-Ḥikam, on the nature and importance of the twenty-seven chief prophets, written in 1230 (ed. Bulāq, 1837) and with theCommentary(Cairo, 1891) of Qāshāni (d. 1350); cf. analysis by M. Schreiner inJournal of German Oriental Society, lii. 516-525.

Of some 289 works said to have been written by Ibn ‘Arabī 150 are mentioned in C. Brockelmann’sGesch. der arabischen Litteratur, vol. i. (Weimar, 1898), pp. 441-448. See also R. A. Nicholson,A Literary History of the Arabs, pp. 399-404 (London, 1907).

(G. W. T.)

IBN ATHĪR,the family name of three brothers, all famous in Arabian literature, born at Jazīrat ibn ‘Umar in Kurdistan. The eldest brother, known asMajd ud-Dīn(1149-1210), was long in the service of the amir of Mosul, and was an earnest student of tradition and language. His dictionary of traditions (Kitāb un-Nihāya) was published at Cairo (1893), and his dictionary of family names (Kitāb ul-Murassa’) has been edited by Seybold (Weimar, 1896). The youngest brother, known asDiyā ud-Dīn(1163-1239), served Saladin from 1191 on, then his son, al-Malik ul-Afdal, and was afterwards in Egypt, Samosata, Aleppo, Mosul and Bagdad. He was one of the most famous aesthetic and stylistic critics in Arabian literature. HisKitāb ul-Mathal, published in Bulāq in 1865 (cf.Journal of the German Oriental Society, xxxv. 148, and Goldziher’sAbhandlungen, i. 161 sqq.), contains some very independent criticism of ancient and modern Arabic verse. Some of his letters have been published by D. S. Margoliouth “On the Royal Correspondence of Diya ed-Din el-Jazari” in theActes du dixième congrès international des orientalistes, sect. 3, pp. 7-21.

The brother best known by the simple name of Ibn Athīr wasAbu-l-Ḥasan ‘Izzuddīn Mahommed Ibn ul-Athīr(1160-1234), who devoted himself to the study of history and tradition. At the age of twenty-one he settled with his father in Mosul and continued his studies there. In the service of the amir for many years, he visited Bagdad and Jerusalem and later Aleppo and Damascus. He died in Mosul. His great history, theKāmil, extends to the year 1231; it has been edited by C. J. Tornberg,Ibn al-Athiri Chronicon quod perfectissimum inscribitur(14 vols., Leiden, 1851-1876), and has been published in 12 vols. in Cairo (1873 and 1886). The first part of this work up toA.H.310 (A.D.923) is an abbreviation of the work of Tabarī (q.v.) with additions. Ibn Athīr also wrote a history of the Atabegs of Mosul, published in theRecueil des historiens des croisades(vol. ii., Paris); a work (Usd ul-Ghāba), giving an account of 7500 companions of Mahomet (5 vols., Cairo, 1863), and a compendium (theLubāb) of Sam‘āni’sKitāb ul-Anṣāb(cf. F. Wüstenfeld’sSpecimen el-Lobabi, Göttingen, 1835).

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