See EGYPT: ITS NAMES.
MOABITES, The.
The Moabite Stone.
As related in the Bible (Genesis xix. 37), Moab was the son of
Lot's eldest daughter and the ancient people called Moabites
were descended from him. They occupied at an early time the
rich tableland or highlands on the east side of the Dead Sea;
but the Amorites drove them out of the richer northern part of
this territory into its southern half, where they occupied a
very narrow domain, but one easily defended. This occurred
shortly before the coming of the Israelites into Canaan.
Between the Moabites and the Israelites, after the settlement
of the latter, there was frequent war, but sometimes relations
both peaceful and friendly. David finally subjugated their
nation, in a war of peculiar atrocity. After the division of
the kingdoms, Moab was subject to Israel, but revolted on the
death of Ahab and was nearly destroyed in the horrible war
which followed. The Biblical account of this war is given in 2
Kings III. It is strangely supplemented and filled out by a
Moabite record—the famous Moabite Stone—found and deciphered
within quite recent times, under the following circumstance.
Dr. Klein, a German missionary, travelling in 1869 in what was
formerly the "Land of Moab," discovered a stone of black
basalt bearing a long inscription in Phœnician characters. He
copied a small part of it and made his discovery known. The
Prussian government opened negotiations for the purchase of
the stone, and M. Clermont-Ganneau, of the French consulate at
Jerusalem, made efforts likewise to secure it for his own
country. Meantime, very fortunately, the latter sent men to
take impressions—squeezes, as they are called—of the
inscription, which was imperfectly done. But these imperfect
squeezes proved invaluable; for the Arabs, finding the stone
to be a covetable thing, and fearing that it was to be taken
from them, crumbled it into fragments with the aid of fire and
water. Most of the pieces were subsequently recovered, and
were put together by the help of M. Clermont-Ganneau's
squeezes, so that an important part of the inscription was
deciphered in the end. It was found to be a record by Mesha,
king of Moab, of the war with Israel referred to above.
_A. H. Sayce,
Fresh Light from the
Ancient Monuments,
chapter 4._
{2194}
The Moabites appear to have recovered from the blow, but not
much of their subsequent history is known.
_G. Grove,
Dictionary of the Bible._
ALSO IN:
_J. King,
Moab's Patriarchal Stone._
See, also, JEWS: THE EARLY HEBREW HISTORY,
and JEWS: UNDER THE JUDGES.
MOAWIYAH,
Caliph (founder of the Omeyyad dynasty), A. D. 661-679.
Moawiyah II., Caliph, A. D. 683.
----------MOBILE: Start--------
MOBILE: A. D. 1702-1711.
The founding of the city by the French.
See LOUISIANA: A. D. 1698-1712.
MOBILE: A. D. 1763.
Surrendered to the English.
See FLORIDA: A. D. 1763 (JULY).
MOBILE: A. D. 1781.
Retaken by the Spaniards.
See FLORIDA: A. D. 1779-1781.
MOBILE: A. D. 1813.
Possession taken from the Spaniards by the United States.
See FLORIDA: A. D. 1810-1813.
MOBILE: A. D. 1864.
The Battle in the Bay.
Farragut's naval victory.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (AUGUST: ALABAMA).
MOBILE: A. D. 1865 (March-April).
Siege and capture by the National forces.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (APRIL-MAY).
----------MOBILE: End--------
MOBILIANS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY.
MOCOVIS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PAMPAS TRIBES.
----------MODENA: Start--------
MODENA, Founding of.
See MUTINA.
MODENA: A. D. 1288-1453.
Acquired by the Marquess of Este.
Created a Duchy.
See ESTE, THE HOUSE OF.
MODENA: A. D. 1767.
Expulsion of the Jesuits.
See JESUITS: A. D. 1761-1769.
MODENA: A. D. 1796.
Dethronement of the Duke by Bonaparte.
Formation of the Cispadane Republic.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1796-1797 (OCTOBER-APRIL).
MODENA: A. D. 1801.
Annexation to the Cisalpine Republic.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1801-1803.
MODENA: A. D. 1803.
The duchy acquired by the House of Austria.
See ESTE, HOUSE OF.
MODENA: A. D. 1815.
Given to an Austrian Prince.
See VIENNA, THE CONGRESS OF.
MODENA: A. D. 1831.
Revolt and expulsion of the Duke.
His restoration by Austrian troops.
See ITALY: A. D. 1830-1832.
MODENA: A. D. 1848-1849.
Abortive revolution.
See ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849.
MODENA: A. D. 1859-1861.
End of the dukedom.
Absorption in the new Kingdom of Italy.
See ITALY: A. D. 1856-1859; and 1859-1861.
----------MODENA: End--------
MODIUS, The.
See AMPHORA.
MODOCS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MODOCS.
MOERIS, Lake.
"On the west of Egypt there is an oasis of cultivable land,
the Fayum, buried in the midst of the desert, and attached by
a sort of isthmus to the country watered by the Nile. In the
centre of this oasis is a large plateau about the same level
as the valley of the Nile; to the west, however, a
considerable depression of the land produces a valley occupied
by a natural lake more than ten leagues in length, the 'Birket
Kerun.' In the centre of this plateau Amenemhe [twelfth
dynasty] undertook the formation of an artificial lake with an
area of ten millions of square metres. If the rise of the Nile
was insufficient, the water was led into the lake and stored
up for use, not only in the Fayum, but over the whole of the
left bank of the Nile as far as the sea. If too large an
inundation threatened the dykes, the vast reservoir of the
artificial lake remained open, and when the lake itself
overflowed, the surplus waters were led by a canal into the
Birket Kerun. The two names given in Egypt to this admirable
work of Amenemhe III. deserve to be recorded. Of one, Meri,
that is 'the Lake,' par excellence, the Greeks have made
Moeris, a name erroneously applied by them to a king; whilst
the other, P-iom, 'the Sea,' has become, in the mouth of the
Arabs, the name of the entire province,
Fayum."
_M. Mariette,
quoted in Lenormant's
Manual of Ancient History of the East,
book 3, chapter 2._
MŒSIA,
MÆSIA.
"After the Danube had received the waters of the Teyss
[Theiss] and the Save, it acquired, at least among the Greeks,
the name of Ister. It formerly divided Mœsia and Dacia, the
latter of which, as we have already seen, was a conquest of
Trajan, and the only province beyond the river. … On the
right hand of the Danube, Mœsia, … during the middle ages,
was broken into the barbarian kingdoms of Servia and
Bulgaria."
_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 1._
Mœsia was occupied by the Goths in the 4th century.
See GOTHS: A. D. 341-381; and 376.
MOESKIRCH, Battle of (1800).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1800-1801 (MAY-FEBRUARY).