[1] Also in Codex Claromontanus, the _Tractatus de libris_ (x.),
Philastrius of Brescia (c. A.D. 380), and a prologue to the Catholic
Epistles (_Revue benedictine_, xxiii. 82 ff.). It is defended in a
monograph by H. H. B. Ayles (Cambridge, 1899).
[2] i.e. a house-church of upper-class Jewish Christians, not fully
in touch with the attitude even of their own past and present
"leaders" (xiii. 7, 17), as distinct from the local church generally
(xiii. 24). The Gospel had reached them, as also the writer himself
(cf. Acts xviii. 25), through certain hearers of the Lord (ii. 3),
not necessarily apostles.
HEBRIDES, THE, or WESTERN ISLES, a group of islands off the west coast
of Scotland. They are situated between 55 deg. 35' and 58 deg. 30' N.
and 5 deg. 26' and 8 deg. 40' W. Formerly the term was held to embrace
not only all the islands off the Scottish western coast, including the
islands in the Firth of Clyde, but also the peninsula of Kintyre, the
Isle of Man and the Isle of Rathlin, off the coast of Antrim. They have
been broadly classified into the Outer Hebrides and the Inner Hebrides,
the Minch and Little Minch dividing the one group from the other.
Geologically, they have also been differentiated as the Gneiss Islands
and the Trap Islands. The Outer Hebrides being almost entirely composed
of gneiss the epithet suitably serves them, but, strictly speaking, only
the more northerly of the Inner Hebrides may be distinguished as Trap
Islands. The chief islands of the Outer Hebrides are Lewis-with-Harris
(or Long Island), North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, Barra, the Shiants,
St Kilda and the Flannan Isles, or Seven Hunters, an uninhabited group,
about 20 m. N.W. of Gallon Head in Lewis. Of these the Lewis portion of
Long Island, the Shiants and the Flannan belong to the county of Ross
and Cromarty, and the remainder to Inverness-shire. The total length of
this group, from Barra Head to the Butt of Lewis, is 130 m., the breadth
varying from less than 1 m. to 30 m. The Inner Hebrides are much more
scattered and principally include Skye, Small Isles (Canna, Sanday, Rum,
Eigg and Muck), Coll, Tyree, Lismore, Mull, Ulva, Staffa, Iona, Kerrera,
the Slate Islands (Seil, Easdale, Luing, Shuna, Torsay), Colonsay,
Oronsay, Scarba, Jura, Islay and Gigha. Of these Skye and Small Isles
belong to Inverness-shire, and the rest to Argyllshire. The Hebridean
islands exceed 500 in number, of which one-fifth are inhabited. Of the
inhabited islands 11 belong to Ross and Cromarty, 47 to Inverness-shire,
and 44 to Argyllshire, but of this total of 102 islands, one-third have
a population of only 10 souls, or fewer, each. The population of the
Hebrides in 1901 numbered 78,947 (or 28 to the sq. m.), of whom 41,031
were females, who thus exceeded the males by 10%, and 22,733 spoke
Gaelic only and 47,666 Gaelic and English. The most populous island is
Lewis-with-Harris (32,160), and next to it are Skye (13,883), Islay
(6857) and Mull (4334).
Of the total area of 1,800,000 acres, or 2812 sq. m., only one-ninth is
cultivated, most of the surface being moorland and mountain. The annual
rainfall, particularly in the Inner Hebrides, is heavy (42.6 in. at
Stornoway) but the temperature is high, averaging for the year 47 deg. F.
Potatoes and turnips are the only root crops that succeed, and barley
and oats are grown in some of the islands. Sheep-farming and
cattle-raising are carried on very generally, and, with the fisheries,
provide the main occupation of the inhabitants, though they profit not a
little from the tourists who flock to many of the islands throughout the
summer. The principal industries include distilling, slate-quarrying and
the manufacture of tweeds, tartans and other woollens. There are
extensive deer forests in Lewis-with-Harris, Skye, Mull and Jura. On
many of the islands there are prehistoric remains and antiquities within
the Christian period. The more populous islands are in regular
communication with certain points of the mainland by means of steamers
from Glasgow, Oban and Mallaig. The United Free Church has a strong hold
on the people, but in a few of the islands the Roman Catholics have a
great following. In the larger inhabited islands board schools have been
established. The islands unite with the counties to which they belong in
returning members to parliament (one for each shire).
_History._--The Hebrides are mentioned by Ptolemy under the name of
[Greek: Eboudai] and by Pliny under that of _Hebudes_, the modern
spelling having, it is said, originated in a misprint. By the Norwegians
they were called _Sudreyjar_ or Southern Islands. The Latinized form was
_Sodorenses_, preserved to modern times in the title of the bishop of
Sodor and Man. The original inhabitants seem to have been of the same
Celtic race as those settled on the mainland. In the 6th century
Scandinavian hordes poured in with their northern idolatry and lust of
plunder, but in time they adopted the language and faith of the
islanders. Mention is made of incursions of the vikings as early as 793,
but the principal immigration took place towards the end of the 9th
century in the early part of the reign of Harald Fairhair, king of
Norway, and consisted of persons driven to the Hebrides, as well as to
Orkney and Shetland, to escape from his tyrannous rule. Soon afterwards
they began to make incursions against their mother-country, and on this
account Harald fitted out an expedition against them, and placed Orkney,
Shetland, the Hebrides and the Isle of Man under Norwegian government.
The chief seat of the Norwegian sovereignty was Colonsay. About the year
1095 Godred Crovan, king of Dublin, Man and the Hebrides, died in Islay.
His third son, Olaf, succeeded to the government about 1103, and the
daughter of Olaf was married to Somerled, who became the founder of the
dynasty known as Lords of the Isles. Many efforts were made by the
Scottish monarchs to displace the Norwegians. Alexander II. led a fleet
and army to the shores of Argyllshire in 1249, but he died on the island
of Kerrera. On the other hand, Haakon IV., king of Norway, at once to
restrain the independence of his jarls and to keep in check the ambition
of the Scottish kings, set sail in 1263 on a great expedition, which,
however, ended disastrously at Largs. Magnus, son of Haakon, concluded
in 1266 a peace with the Scots, renouncing all claim to the Hebrides and
other islands except Orkney and Shetland, and Alexander III. agreed to
give him a sum of 4000 merks in four yearly payments. It was also
stipulated that Margaret, daughter of Alexander, should be betrothed to
Eric, the son of Magnus, whom she married in 1281. She died two years
later, leaving an only daughter afterwards known as the Maid of Norway.
The race of Somerled continued to rule the islands, and from a younger
son of the same potentate sprang the lords of Lorne, who took the
patronymic of Macdougall. John Macdonald of Islay, who died about 1386,
was the first to adopt the title of Lord of the Isles. He was one of the
most potent of the island princes, and was married to a daughter of the
earl of Strathearn, afterwards Robert II. His son, Donald of the Isles,
was memorable for his rebellion in support of his claim to the earldom
of Ross, in which, however, he was unsuccessful. Alexander, son of
Donald, resumed the hereditary warfare against the Scottish crown; and
in 1462 a treaty was concluded between Alexander's son and successor
John and Edward IV. of England, by which John, his son John, and his
cousin Donald Balloch, became bound to assist King Edward and James,
earl of Douglas, in subduing the kingdom of Scotland. The alliance seems
to have led to no active operations. In the reign of James V. another
John of Islay resumed the title of Lord of the Isles, but was compelled
to surrender the dignity. The glory of the lordship of the isles--the
insular sovereignty--had departed. From the time of Bruce the Campbells
had been gaining the ascendancy in Argyll. The Macleans, Macnaughtons,
Maclachlans, Lamonts, and other ancient races had sunk before this
favoured family. The lordship of Lorne was wrested from the Macdougalls
by Robert Bruce, and their extensive possessions, with Dunstaffnage
Castle, bestowed on the king's relative, Stewart, and his descendants,
afterwards lords of Lorne. The Macdonalds of Sleat, the direct
representatives of Somerled, though driven from Islay and deprived of
supreme power by James V., still kept a sort of insular state in Skye.
There were also the Macdonalds of Clanranald and Glengarry (descendants
of Somerled), with the powerful houses of Macleod of Dunvegan and
Macleod of Harris, M'Neill of Barra and Maclean of Mull. Sanguinary
feuds continued throughout the 16th and 17th centuries among these rival
clans and their dependent tribes, and the turbulent spirit was not
subdued till a comparatively recent period. James VI. made an abortive
endeavour to colonize Lewis. William III. and Queen Anne attempted to
subsidize the chiefs in order to preserve tranquillity, but the wars of
Montrose and Dundee, and the Jacobite insurrections of 1715 and 1745,
showed how futile were all such efforts. It was not till 1748, when a
decisive blow was struck at the power of the chiefs by the abolition of
heritable jurisdictions, and the appointment of sheriffs in the
different districts, that the arts of peace and social improvement made
way in these remote regions. The change was great, and at first not
unmixed with evil. A new system of management and high rents was
imposed, in consequence of which numbers of the tacksmen, or large
tenants, emigrated to North America. The exodus continued for many
years. Sheep-farming on a large scale was next introduced, and the
crofters were thrust into villages or barren corners of the land. The
result was that, despite the numbers who entered the army or emigrated
to Canada, the standard of civilization sank lower, and the population
multiplied in the islands. The people came to subsist almost entirely on
potatoes and herrings; and in 1846, when the potato blight began its
ravages, nearly universal destitution ensued--embracing, over the
islands generally, 70% of the inhabitants. Temporary relief was
administered in the shape of employment on roads and other works; and an
emigration fund being raised, from 4000 to 5000 of the people in the
most crowded districts were removed to Australia. Matters, however, were
not really mended, and in 1884 a royal commission reported upon the
condition of the crofters of the islands and mainland. As a result of
their inquiry the Crofters' Holdings Act was passed in 1886, and in the
course of a few years some improvement was evident and has since been
sustained.
AUTHORITIES.--Martin Martin's _Description of the Western Islands of
Scotland_ (1703); T. Pennant's _Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the
Hebrides_ (1774); James Boswell's _Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel
Johnson, LL.D._ (1898); John Macculloch's _Geological Account of the
Hebrides_ (1819); Hugh Miller's _Cruise of the "Betsy"_ (1858); W. A.
Smith's _Lewisiana, or Life in the Outer Hebrides_ (1874); Alexander
Smith, _A Summer in Skye_ (1865); Robert Buchanan, _The Hebrid Isles_
(1883); C. F. Gordon-Cumming, _In the Hebrides_ (1883); _Report of the
Crofters' Commission_ (1884); A. Goodrich-Freer, _Outer Isles_ (1902);
and W. C. Mackenzie, _History of the Outer Hebrides_ (1903). Their
history under Norwegian rule is given in the _Chronica regum Manniae
et insularum_, edited, with learned notes, from the MS. in the British
Museum by Professor P. A. Munch of Christiania (1860).
HEBRON (mod. _Khulil er-Rahman_, i.e. "the friend of the Merciful
One"--an allusion to Abraham), a city of Palestine some 20 m. S. by S.W.
of Jerusalem. The city, which lies 3040 ft. above the sea, is of extreme
antiquity (see Num. xiii. 22, and Josephus, _War_, iv. 9, 7) and until
taken by the Calebites (Josh. xv. 13) bore the name Kirjath-Arba.
Biblical traditions connect it closely with the patriarch Abraham and
make it a "city of refuge." The town figures prominently under David as
the headquarters of his early rule, the scene of Abner's murder and the
centre of Absalom's rebellion. In later days the Edomites held it for a
time, but Judas Maccabaeus recovered it. It was destroyed in the great
war under Vespasian. In A.D. 1167 Hebron became the see of a Latin
bishop, and it was taken in 1187 by Saladin. In 1834 it joined the
rebellion against Ibrahim Pasha, who took the town and pillaged it.
Modern Hebron rises on the east slope of a shallow valley--a long narrow
town of stone houses, the flat roofs having small stone domes. The main
quarter is about 700 yds. long, and two smaller groups of houses exist
north and south of this. The hill behind is terraced, and luxuriant
vineyards and fruit plantations surround the place, which is well
watered on the north by three principal springs, including the Well
Sirah, now 'Ain Sara (2 Sam. iii. 26). Three conspicuous minarets rise,
two from the _Haram_, the other in the north quarter. The population
(10,000) includes Moslems and about 500 Jews. The Bedouins bring wool
and camel's hair to the market; and glass bracelets, lamps and leather
water-skins are manufactured in the town. The most conspicuous building
is the _Haram_ built over the supposed site of the cave of Machpelah. It
is an enclosure measuring 112 ft. east and west by 198 north and south,
surrounded with high rampart walls of masonry similar in size and
dressing to that of the Jerusalem Haram walls. These ramparts are
ascribed by architectural authorities to the Herodian period. The
interior area is partly occupied by a 12th-century Gothic church, and
contains six modern cenotaphs of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca
and Leah. The cave beneath the platform has probably not been entered
for at least 600 years. The numerous traditional sites now shown round
Hebron are traceable generally to medieval legendary topography; they
include the Oak of Mamre (Gen. xiii. 18 R.V.) which has at various times
been shown in different positions from 3/4 to 2 m. from the town.
There are a British medical mission, a German Protestant mission with
church and schools, and, near Abraham's Oak, a Russian mission. Since
1880 several notices of the Haram, within which are the tombs of the
Patriarchs, have appeared.
See C. R. Conder, Pal. Exp. Fund, _Memoirs_, iii. 333, &c.; Riant,
_Archives de l'orient latin_, ii. 411, &c.; Dalton and Chaplin,
_P.E.F. Quarterly Statement_ (1897); Goldziher, "Das Patriarchengrab
in Hebron," in _Zeitschrift d. Dn. Pal. Vereins_, xvii.
(R. A. S. M.)
HECATAEUS OF ABDERA (or of Teos), Greek historian and Sceptic
philosopher, flourished in the 4th century B.C. He accompanied Ptolemy
I. Soter in an expedition to Syria, and sailed up the Nile with him as
far as Thebes (Diogenes Laertius ix. 61). The result of his travels was
set down by him in two works--[Greek: Aiguptiaka] and [Greek: Peri
Uperboreon], which were used by Diodorus Siculus. According to Suidas,
he also wrote a treatise on the poetry of Hesiod and Homer. Regarding
his authorship of a work on the Jews (utilized by Josephus in _Contra
Apionem_), it is conjectured that portions of the [Greek: Aiguptiaka]
were revised by a Hellenistic Jew from his point of view and published
as a special work.
Fragments in C. W. Muller's _Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum_.
HECATAEUS OF MILETUS (6th-5th century B.C.), Greek historian, son of
Hegesander, flourished during the time of the Persian invasion. After
having travelled extensively, he settled in his native city, where he
occupied a high position, and devoted his time to the composition of
geographical and historical works. When Aristagoras held a council of
the leading Ionians at Miletus, to organize a revolt against the Persian
rule, Hecataeus in vain tried to dissuade his countrymen from the
undertaking (Herodotus v. 36, 125). In 494, when the defeated Ionians
were obliged to sue for terms, he was one of the ambassadors to the
Persian satrap Artaphernes, whom he persuaded to restore the
constitution of the Ionic cities (Diod. Sic. x. 25). He is by some
credited with a work entitled [Greek: Ges periodos] ("Travels round the
Earth"), in two books, one on Europe, the other on Asia, in which were
described the countries and inhabitants of the known world, the account
of Egypt being especially comprehensive; the descriptive matter was
accompanied by a map, based upon Anaximander's map of the earth, which
he corrected and enlarged. The authenticity of the work is, however,
strongly attacked by J. Wells in the _Journal of Hellenic Studies_,
xxix. pt. i. 1909. The only certainly genuine work of Hecataeus was the
[Greek: Geneelogiai] or [Greek: Historiai], a systematic account of the
traditions and mythology of the Greeks. He was probably the first to
attempt a serious prose history and to employ critical method to
distinguish myth from historical fact, though he accepts Homer and the
other poets as trustworthy authority. Herodotus, though he once at least
controverts his statements, is indebted to Hecataeus not only for facts,
but also in regard of method and general scheme, but the extent of the
debt depends on the genuineness of the [Greek: Ges periodos].
See fragments in C. W. Muller, _Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum_, i.;
H. Berger, _Geschichte der wissenschaftlichen Erdkunde der Griechen_
(1903); E. H. Bunbury, _History of Ancient Geography_, i.; W. Mure,
_History of Greek Literature_, iv.; especially J. V. Prasek,
_Hekataios als Herodots Quelle zur Geschichte Vorderasiens. Beitrage
zur alten Geschichte (Klio)_, iv. 193 seq. (1904), and J. Wells in
_Journ. Hell. Stud._, as above.
HECATE (Gr. [Greek: Hekate], "she who works from afar"[1]), a goddess in
Greek mythology. According to the generally accepted view, she is of
Hellenic origin, but Farnell regards her as a foreign importation from
Thrace, the home of Bendis, with whom Hecate has many points in common.
She is not mentioned in the _Iliad_ or the _Odyssey_, but in Hesiod
(_Theogony_, 409) she is the daughter of the Titan Perses and Asterie,
in a passage which may be a later interpolation by the Orphists (for
other genealogies see Steuding in Roscher's _Lexikon_). She is there
represented as a mighty goddess, having power over heaven, earth and
sea; hence she is the bestower of wealth and all the blessings of daily
life. The range of her influence is most varied, extending to war,
athletic games, the tending of cattle, hunting, the assembly of the
people and the law-courts. Hecate is frequently identified with Artemis,
an identification usually justified by the assumption that both were
moon-goddesses. Farnell, who regards Artemis as originally an
earth-goddess, while recognizing a "genuine lunar element" in Hecate
from the 5th century, considers her a chthonian rather than a lunar
divinity (see also Warr in _Classical Review_, ix. 390). He is of
opinion that neither borrowed much from, nor exercised much influence
on, the cult and character of the other.
Hecate is the chief goddess who presides over magic arts and spells, and
in this connexion she is the mother of the sorceresses Circe and Medea.
She is constantly invoked, in the well-known idyll (ii.) of Theocritus,
in the incantation to bring back a woman's faithless lover. As a
chthonian power, she is worshipped at the Samothracian mysteries, and is
closely connected with Demeter. Alone of the gods besides Helios, she
witnessed the abduction of Persephone, and, torch in hand (a natural
symbol for the moon's light, but see Farnell), assisted Demeter in her
search for her daughter. On moonlight nights she is seen at the
cross-roads (hence her name [Greek: trioditis], Lat. _Trivia_)
accompanied by the dogs of the Styx and crowds of the dead. Here, on the
last day of the month, eggs and fish were offered to her. Black puppies
and she-lambs (black victims being offered to chthonian deities) were
also sacrificed (Schol. on Theocritus ii. 12). Pillars like the Hermae,
called Hecataea, stood, especially in Athens, at cross-roads and
doorways, perhaps to keep away the spirits of evil. Like Artemis, Hecate
is also a goddess of fertility, presiding especially over the birth and
the youth of wild animals, and over human birth and marriage. She also
attends when the soul leaves the body at death, and is found near
graves, and on the hearth, where the master of the house was formerly
buried. It is to be noted that Hecate plays little or no part in
mythological legend. Her worship seems to have flourished especially in
the wilder parts of Greece, such as Samothrace and Thessaly, in Caria
and on the coasts of Asia Minor. In Greece proper it prevailed on the
east coast and especially in Aegina, where her aid was invoked against
madness.
In older times Hecate is represented as single-formed, clad in a long
robe, holding burning torches; later she becomes _triformis_,
"triple-formed," with three bodies standing back to back--corresponding,
according to those who regard her as a moon-goddess, to the new, the
full and the waning moon. In her six hands are torches, sometimes a
snake, a key (as wardress of the lower world), a whip or a dagger; her
favourite animal was the dog, which was sacrificed to her--an indication
of her non-Hellenic origin, since this animal very rarely fills this
part in genuine Greek ritual.
See H. Steuding in Roscher's _Lexikon_, where the functions of Hecate
are systematically derived from the conception of her as a
moon-goddess; L. R. Farnell, _Cults of the Greek States_, ii., where
this view is examined; P. Paris in Daremberg and Saglio's
_Dictionnaire des antiquites_; O. Gruppe, _Griechische Mythologie_,
ii. (1906) p. 1288.