[1] So written, with a medial _mem_ ([Hebrew: mem]) instead of the
final ([Hebrew: mem]).
GFRORER, AUGUST FRIEDRICH (1803-1861), German historian, was born at
Calw, Wurttemberg, on the 5th of March 1803, and at the close of his
preliminary studies at the seminary of Blaubeuren entered the university
of Tubingen in 1821 as a student of evangelical theology. After passing
his final examinations in 1825, he spent a year in Switzerland, during
part of the time acting as companion and secretary to C. von Bonstetten
(1745-1832); the year 1827 was spent chiefly in Rome. Returning to
Wurttemberg in 1828, he first undertook the duties of repetent or
theological tutor in Tubingen, and afterwards accepted a curacy in
Stuttgart; but having in 1830 received an appointment in the royal
public library at Stuttgart, he thenceforth gave himself exclusively to
literature and historical science. His first work on Philo (_Philo u.
die judisch-alexandrinische Theosophie_, Stuttgart, 1831) was rapidly
followed by an elaborate biography, in two volumes, of Gustavus Adolphus
(_Gustav Adolf, Konig von Schweden, und seine Zeit_, Stuttgart,
1835-1837), and by a critical history of primitive Christianity
(_Kritische Geschichte des Urchristenthums_, 3 vols., Stuttgart, 1838).
Here Gfrorer had manifested opinions unfavourable to Protestantism,
which, however, were not openly avowed until fully developed in his
church history (_Allgemeine Kirchengeschichte bis Beginn des 14ten
Jahrhunderts_, Stuttgart, 1841-1846). In the autumn of 1846 he was
appointed to the chair of history in the university of Freiburg, where
he continued to teach until his death at Carlsbad on the 6th of July
1861. In 1848 he sat as a representative in the Frankfort parliament,
where he supported the "High German" party, and in 1853 he publicly went
over to the Church of Rome. He was a bitter opponent of Prussia and an
ardent controversialist.
Among his later historical works the most important is the _Geschichte
der ost- u. westfrankischen Karolinger_ (Freiburg, 1848); but those on
the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals (_Untersuchung uber Alter, Ursprung, u.
Werth der Decretalen des falschen Isidorus_, 1848), on the primitive
history of mankind (_Urgeschichte des menschlichen Geschlechts_,
1855), on Hildebrand (_Papst Gregorius VII. u. sein Zeitalter_, 7
vols., 1859-1861), on the history of the 18th century (_Geschichte des
18ten Jahrhunderts_, 1862-1873), on German popular rights (_Zur
Geschichte deutscher Volksrechte im Mittelalter_, Basel, 1865-1866)
and on Byzantine history (_Byzantinische Geschichten_, 1872-1874), are
also of real value.
GHADAMES, GADAMES or RHADAMES, a town in an oasis of the same name, in
that part of the Sahara which forms part of the Turkish vilayet of
Tripoli. It is about 300 m. S.W. of the city of Tripoli and some 10 m.
E. of the Algerian frontier. According to Gerhard Rohlfs, the last form
given to the word most correctly represents the Arabic pronunciation,
but the other forms are more often used in Europe. The streets of the
town are narrow and vaulted and have been likened to the bewildering
galleries of a coalpit. The roofs are laid out as gardens and preserved
for the exclusive use of the women. The Ghadamsi merchants have been
known for centuries as keen and adventurous traders, and their agents
are to be found in the more important places of the western and central
Sudan, such as Kano, Katsena, Kanem, Bornu, Timbuktu, as well as at Ghat
and Tripoli. Ghadames itself is the centre of a large number of caravan
routes, and in the early part of the 19th century about 30,000 laden
camels entered its markets every year. The caravan trade was created by
the Ghadamsi merchants who, aided by their superior intelligence,
capacity and honesty, long enjoyed a monopoly. In 1873 Tripolitan
merchants began to compete with them. In 1893 came the invasion of Bornu
by Rabah, and the total stoppage of this caravan route for nearly ten
years to the great detriment of the merchants of Ghadames. The caravans
from Kano were also frequently pillaged by the Tuareg, so that the
prosperity of the town declined. Later on, the opening of rapid means of
transport from Kano and other cities to the Gulf of Guinea also affected
Ghadames, which, however, maintains a considerable trade. The chief
articles brought by the caravans are ostrich feathers, skins and ivory
and one of the principal imports is tea. In 1845 the population was
estimated at 3000, of whom about 500 were slaves and strangers, and
upwards of 1200 children; in 1905 it amounted in round numbers to 7000.
The inhabitants are chiefly Berbers and Arabs. A Turkish garrison is
maintained in the town.
Before the Christian era Ghadames was a stronghold of the Garamantes
whose power was overthrown in the days of Augustus by L. Cornelius
Balbus Minor, who captured Ghadames (Cydamus). It is not unlikely that
Roman settlers may have been attracted to the spot by the presence of
the warm springs which still rise in the heart of the town, and spread
fertility in the surrounding gardens. In the 7th century Ghadames was
conquered by the Arabs. It appears afterwards to have fallen under the
power of the rulers of Tunisia, then to a native dynasty which reigned
at Tripoli, and in the 16th century it became part of the Turkish
vilayet of Tripoli. It has since then shared the political fortunes of
that country. In the first half of the 19th century it was visited by
several British explorers and later by German and French travellers.
See J. Richardson, _Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara in 1845-1846
... including a Description of ... Ghadames_ (London, 1848); G.
Rohlfs, _Reise durch Marokko ... und Reise durch die Grosse Wuste uber
Rhadames nach Tripoli_ (Bremen, 1868).
GHAT, or RHAT, an oasis and town, forming part of the Turkish vilayet of
Tripoli. Ghat is an important centre of the caravan trade between the
Nigerian states and the seaports of the Mediterranean (see TRIPOLI).
GHATS, or GHAUTS (literally "the Landing Stairs" from the sea, or
"Passes"), two ranges of mountains extending along the eastern and
western shores of the Indian peninsula. The word properly applies to the
passes through the mountains, but from an early date was transferred by
Europeans to the mountains themselves.
The Eastern Ghats run in fragmentary spurs and ranges down the Madras
coast. They begin in the Orissa district of Balasore, pass southwards
through Cuttack and Puri, enter the Madras presidency in Ganjam, and
sweep southwards through the districts of Vizagapatam, Godavari,
Nellore, Chingleput, South Arcot, Trichinopoly and Tinnevelly. They run
at a distance of 50 to 150 m. from the coast, except in Ganjam and
Vizagapatam, where in places they almost abut on the Bay of Bengal.
Their geological formation is granite, with gneiss and mica slate, with
clay slate, hornblende and primitive limestone overlying. The average
elevation is about 1500 ft., but several hills in Ganjam are between
4000 and 5000 ft. high. For the most part there is a broad expanse of
low land between their base and the sea, and their line is pierced by
the Godavari, Kistna and Cauvery rivers.
The Western Ghats (Sahyadri in Sanskrit) start from the south of the
Tapti valley, and run south through the districts of Khandesh, Nasik,
Thana, Satara, Ratnagiri, Kanara and Malabar, and the states of Cochin
and Travancore, meeting the Eastern Ghats at an angle near Cape Comorin.
The range of the Western Ghats extends uninterruptedly, with the
exception of a gap or valley 25 m. across, known as the Palghat gap,
through which runs the principal railway of the south of India. The
length of the range is 800 m. from the Tapti to the Palghat gap, and
south of this about 200 m. to the extreme south of the peninsula. In
many parts there is only a narrow strip of coast between the hills and
the sea; at one point they rise in magnificent precipices and headlands
out of the ocean. The average elevation is 3000 ft., precipitous on the
western side facing the sea, but with a more gradual slope on the east
to the plains below. The highest peaks in the northern section are
Kalsubai, 5427 ft.; Harischandragarh, 4691 ft.; and Mahabaleshwar, where
is the summer capital of the government of Bombay, 4700 ft. South of
Mahabaleshwar the elevation diminishes, but again increases, and attains
its maximum towards Coorg, where the highest peaks vary from 5500 to
7000 ft., and where the main range joins the interior Nilgiri hills.
South of the Palghat gap, the peaks of the Western Ghats rise as high as
8000 ft. The geological formation is trap in the northern and gneiss in
the southern section.
GHAZALI [Muhammad ibn Muhammad Abu Hamid al-Ghazali] (1058-1111),
Arabian philosopher and theologian, was born at Tus, and belonged to a
family of Ghazala (near Tus) distinguished for its knowledge of canon
law. Educated at first in Tus, then in Jorjan, and again in Tus, he went
to college at Nishapur, where he studied under Juwaini (known as the
Imam ul-Haramain) until 1085, when he visited the celebrated vizier
Nizam ul-Mulk, who appointed him to a professorship in his college at
Bagdad in 1091. Here he was engaged in writing against the Isma'ilites
(Assassins). After four years of this work he suddenly gave up his
chair, left home and family and gave himself to an ascetic life. This
was due to a growing scepticism, which caused him much mental unrest and
which gradually gave way to mysticism. Having secured his chair for his
brother he went to Damascus, Jerusalem, Hebron, Mecca, Medina and
Alexandria, studying, meditating and writing in these cities. In 1106 he
was tempted to go to the West, where the Moravid (Almoravid) reformation
was being led by Yusuf ibn Tashfin, with whom he had been in
correspondence earlier. Yusuf, however, died in this year, and Ghazali
abandoned his idea. At the wish of the sultan Malik Shah he again
undertook professorial work, this time in the college of Nizam ul-Mulk
at Nishapur, but returned soon after to Tus, where he died in December
1111.
Sixty-nine works are ascribed to Ghazali (cf. C. Brockelmann's _Gesch.
d. arabischen Litteratur_, i. 421-426, Weimar, 1898). The most
important of those which have been published are: a treatise on
eschatology called _Ad-durra ul-fakhira_ ("The precious pearl"), ed.
L. Gautier (Geneva, 1878); the great work, _Ihya ul-`Ulum_ ("Revival
of the sciences") (Bulaq, 1872; Cairo, 1889); see a commentary by
al-Murtada called the Ithaf, published in 13 vols. at Fez, 1885-1887,
and in 10 vols. at Cairo, 1893; the _Bidayat ul-Hidaya_ (Bulaq, 1870,
and often at Cairo); a compendium of ethics, _Mizan ul-`Amal_,
translated into Hebrew, ed. J. Goldenthal (Paris, 1839); a more
popular treatise on ethics, the _Kimiya us-Sa`ada_, published at
Lucknow, Bombay and Constantinople, ed. H. A. Homes as _The Alchemy of
Happiness_ (Albany, N.Y., 1873); the ethical work _O Child_, ed. by
Hammer-Purgstall in Arabic and German (Vienna, 1838); the _Destruction
of Philosophers_ (_Tahafut ul-Falasifa_) (Cairo, 1885, and Bombay,
1887). Of this work a French translation was begun by Carra de Vaux in
_Museon_, vol. xviii. (1899); the _Maqasid ul-Falasifa_, of which the
first part on logic was translated into Latin by Dom. Gundisalvi
(Venice, 1506), ed. with notes by G. Beer (Leiden, 1888); the _Kitab
ul-Munqid_, giving an account of the changes in his philosophical
ideas, ed. by F. A. Schmolders in his _Essai sur les ecoles
philosophiques chez les Arabes_ (Paris, 1842), also printed at
Constantinople, 1876, and translated into French by Barbier de Meynard
in the _Journal asiatique_ (1877, i. 1-93); answers to questions asked
of him ed. in Arabic and Hebrew, with German translation and notes by
H. Malter (Frankfort, 1896); Eng. trans., _Confessions of
al-Ghazzali_, by Claud Field (1909).
For Ghazali's life see McG. de Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikan,
ii. 621 ff.; R. Gosche's _Uber Ghazzali's Leben und Werke_ (Berlin,
1859); D. B. Macdonald's "Life of al-Ghazzali," in _Journal of
American Oriental Society_, vol. xx. (1899), and Carra de Vaux's
_Gazali_ (Paris, 1902); see ARABIAN PHILOSOPHY. (G. W. T.)
GHAZI (an Arabic word, from _ghaza_, to fight), the name given to
Mahommedans who have vowed to exterminate unbelievers by the sword. It
is also used as a title of honour, generally translated "the
Victorious," in the Ottoman empire for military officers of high rank,
who have distinguished themselves in the field against non-Moslem
enemies; thus it was conferred on Osman Pasha after his famous defence
of Plevna.
GHAZIABAD, a town of British India in Meerut district of the United
Provinces, 12 m. from Delhi and 28 m. from Meerut. Pop. (1901) 11,275.
The town was founded in 1740 by Ghazi-ud-din, son of Azaf Jah, first
nizam of the Deccan, and takes its name from its founder. It has
considerably risen in importance as the point of junction of the East
Indian, the North-Western and the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway systems. The
town has a trade in grain and hides.
GHAZIPUR, a town and district of British India, in the Benares division
of the United Provinces. The town stands on the left bank of the Ganges,
44 m. E. of Benares. It is the headquarters of the government opium
department, where all the opium from the United Provinces is collected
and manufactured under a monopoly. There are also scent distilleries,
using the produce of the rose-gardens in the vicinity. Lord Cornwallis,
governor-general of India, died at Ghazipur in 1805, and a domed
monument and marble statue (by Flaxman) are erected over his grave. Pop.
(1901) 39,429.
The district of Ghazipur has an area of 1389 sq. m. It forms part of the
great alluvial plain of the Ganges, which divides it into two unequal
portions. The northern subdivision lies between the Gumti and the
Gogra, whose confluences with the main stream mark its eastern and
western limits respectively. The southern tract is a much smaller strip
of country, enclosed between the Karamnasa and the great river itself.
There are no hills in the district. A few lakes are scattered here and
there, formed where the rivers have deserted their ancient channels. The
largest is that of Suraha, once a northern bend of the Ganges, but now
an almost isolated sheet of water, 5 m. long by about 4 broad. Ghazipur
is said to be one of the hottest and dampest districts in the United
Provinces. In 1901 the population was 913,818, showing a decrease of 11%
in the decade. Sugar refining is the chief industry, and provides the
principal article of export. The main line of the East Indian railway
traverses the southern portion of the district, with a branch to the
Ganges bank opposite Ghazipur town; the northern portion is served by
the Bengal & North-Western system.
GHAZNI, a famous city in Afghanistan, the seat of an extensive empire
under two medieval dynasties, and again of prominent interest in the
modern history of British India. Ghazni stands on the high tableland of
central Afghanistan, in 68 deg. 18' E. long., 33 deg. 44' N. lat., at a
height of 7280 ft. above the sea, and on the direct road between
Kandahar and Kabul, 221 m. by road N.E. from the former, and 92 m. S.W.
from the latter. A very considerable trade in fruit, wool, skins, &c.,
is carried on between Ghazni and India by the Povindah kafilas, which
yearly enter India in the late autumn and pass back again to the Afghan
highlands in the early spring. The Povindah merchants invariably make
use of the Gomal pass which leads to the British frontier at Dera Ismail
Khan. The opening up of this pass and the British occupation of Wana, by
offering protection to the merchants from Waziri blackmailing, largely
increased the traffic.
Ghazni, as it now exists, is a place in decay, and probably does not
contain more than 4000 inhabitants. It stands at the base of the
terminal spur of a ridge of hills, an offshoot from the Gul-Koh, which
forms the watershed between the Arghandab and Tarnak rivers. The castle
stands at the northern angle of the town next the hills, and is about
150 ft. above the plain. The town walls stand on an elevation, partly
artificial, and form an irregular square, close on a mile in circuit
(including the castle), the walls being partly of stone or brick laid in
mud, and partly of clay built in courses. They are flanked by numerous
towers. There are three gates. The town consists of dirty and very
irregular streets of houses several stories high, but with two
straighter streets of more pretension, crossing near the middle of the
town. Of the strategical importance of Ghazni there can hardly be a
question. The view to the south is extensive, and the plain in the
direction of Kandahar stretches to the horizon. It is bare except in the
vicinity of the river, where villages and gardens are tolerably
numerous. Abundant crops of wheat and barley are grown, as well as of
madder, besides minor products. The climate is notoriously cold,--snow
lying 2 or 3 ft. deep for about three months, and tradition speaks of
the city as having been more than once overwhelmed by snowdrift. Fuel is
scarce, consisting chiefly of prickly shrubs. In summer the heat is not
like that of Kandahar or Kabul, but the radiation from the bare heights
renders the nights oppressive, and constant dust-storms occur. It is
evident that the present restricted walls cannot have contained the
vaunted city of Mahmud. Probably the existing site formed the citadel
only of his city. The remarks of Ibn Batuta (c. 1332) already suggest
the present state of things, viz. a small town occupied, a large space
of ruin; for a considerable area to the N.E. is covered with ruins, or
rather with a vast extent of shapeless mounds, which are pointed out as
Old Ghazni. The only remains retaining architectural character are two
remarkable towers rising to the height of about 140 ft., and some 400
yds. apart from each other. They are similar, but whether identical, in
design, is not clearly recorded. They belong, on a smaller and far less
elaborate scale, to the same class as the Kutb Minar at Delhi (q.v.).
Arabic inscriptions in Cufic characters show the most northerly to have
been the work of Mahmud himself, the other that of his son Masa'ud. On
the Kabul road, a mile beyond the Minaret of Mahmud, is a village called
Rauzah ("the Garden," a term often applied to garden-mausoleums). Here,
in a poor garden, stands the tomb of the famous conqueror. It is a prism
of white marble standing on a plinth of the same, and bearing a Cufic
inscription praying the mercy of God on the most noble Amir, the great
king, the lord of church and state, Abul Kasim Mahmud, son of
Sabuktagin. The tomb stands in a rude chamber, covered with a dome of
clay, and hung with old shawls, ostrich eggs, tiger-skins and so forth.
The village stands among luxuriant gardens and orchards, watered by a
copious aqueduct. Sultan Baber celebrates the excellence of the grapes
of Rauzah.
There are many holy shrines about Ghazni surrounded by orchards and
vineyards. Baber speaks of them, and tells how he detected and put a
stop to the imposture of a pretended miracle at one of them. These
sanctuaries make Ghazni a place of Moslem pilgrimage, and it is said
that at Constantinople much respect is paid to those who have worshipped
at the tomb of the great Ghazi. To test the genuineness of the boast,
professed pilgrims are called on to describe the chief _notabilia_ of
the place, and are expected to name all those detailed in certain
current Persian verses.
_History._--The city is not mentioned by any narrator of Alexander's
expedition, nor by any ancient author so as to admit of positive
recognition. But it is very possibly the _Gazaca_ which Ptolemy places
among the _Paropamisadae_, and this may not be inconsistent with Sir H.
Rawlinson's identification of it with _Gazos_, an Indian city spoken of
by two obscure Greek poets as an impregnable place of war. The name is
probably connected with the Persian and Sanskrit _ganj_ and _ganja_, a
treasury (whence the Greek and Latin _Gaza_). We seem to have positive
evidence of the existence of the city before the Mahommedan times (644)
in the travels of the Chinese pilgrim, Hsuan Tsang, who speaks of
_Ho-si-na_ (i.e. probably _Ghazni_) as one of the capitals of _Tsaukuta_
or Arachosia, a place of great strength. In early Mahommedan times the
country adjoining Ghazni was called _Zabul_. When the Mahommedans first
invaded that region Ghazni was a wealthy entrepot of the Indian trade.
Of the extent of this trade some idea is given by Ibn Haukal, who states
that at Kabul, then a mart of the same trade, there was sold yearly
indigo to the value of two million dinars (L1,000,000). The enterprise
of Islam underwent several ebbs and flows over this region. The
provinces on the Helmund and about Ghazni were invaded as early as the
caliphate of Moaiya (662-680). The arms of Yaqub b. Laith swept over
Kabul and Arachosia (Al-Rukhaj) about 871, and the people of the latter
country were forcibly converted. Though the Hindu dynasty of Kabul held
a part of the valley of Kabul river till the time of Mahmud, it is
probably to the period just mentioned that we must refer the permanent
Mahommedan occupation of Ghazni. Indeed, the building of the fort and
city is ascribed by a Mahommedan historian to Amr b. Laith, the brother
and successor of Ya`kub (d. 901), though the facts already stated
discredit this. In the latter part of the 9th century the family of the
Samanid, sprung from Samarkand, reigned in splendour at Bokhara.
Alptagin, originally a Turkish slave, and high in the service of the
dynasty, about the middle of the 10th century, losing the favour of the
court, wrested Ghazni from its chief (who is styled Abu Bakr Lawik, wali
of Ghazni), and established himself there. His government was recognized
from Bokhara, and held till his death. In 977 another Turk slave,
Sabuktagin, who had married the daughter of his master Alptagin,
obtained rule in Ghazni. He made himself lord of nearly all the present
territory of Afghanistan and of the Punjab. In 997 Mahmud, son of
Sabuktagin, succeeded to the government, and with his name Ghazni and
the Ghaznevid dynasty have become perpetually associated. Issuing forth
year after year from that capital, Mahmud (q.v.) carried fully seventeen
expeditions of devastation through northern India and Gujarat, as well
as others to the north and west. From the borders of Kurdistan to
Samarkand, from the Caspian to the Ganges, his authority was
acknowledged. The wealth brought back to Ghazni was enormous, and
contemporary historians give glowing descriptions of the magnificence of
the capital, as well as of the conqueror's munificent support of
literature. Mahmud died in 1030, and some fourteen kings of his house
came after him; but though there was some revival of importance under
Ibrahim (1059-1099), the empire never reached anything like the same
splendour and power. It was overshadowed by the Seljuks of Persia, and
by the rising rivalry of Ghor (q.v.), the hostility of which it had
repeatedly provoked. Bahram Shah (1118-1152) put to death Kutbuddin, one
of the princes of Ghor, called king of the Jibal or Hill country, who
had withdrawn to Ghazni. This prince's brother, Saifuddin Suri, came to
take vengeance, and drove out Bahram. But the latter recapturing the
place (1149) paraded Saifuddin and his vizier ignominiously about the
city, and then hanged them on the bridge. Ala-uddin of Ghor, younger
brother of the two slain princes, then gathered a great host, and came
against Bahram, who met him on the Helmund. The Ghori prince, after
repeated victories, stormed Ghazni, and gave it over to fire and sword.
The dead kings of the house of Mahmud, except the conqueror himself and
two others, were torn from their graves and burnt, whilst the bodies of
the princes of Ghor were solemnly disinterred and carried to the distant
tombs of their ancestors. It seems certain that Ghazni never recovered
the splendour that perished then (1152). Ala-uddin, who from this deed
became known in history as _Jah[=an]-soz_ (_Brulemonde_), returned to
Ghor, and Bahram reoccupied Ghazni; he died in 1157. In the time of his
son Khusru Shah, Ghazni was taken by the Turkish tribes called Ghuzz
(generally believed to have been what are now called Turkomans). The
king fled to Lahore, and the dynasty ended with his son. In 1173 the
Ghuzz were expelled by Ghiyasuddin sultan of Ghor (nephew of Ala-uddin
Jahansoz), who made Ghazni over to his brother Muizuddin. This famous
prince, whom the later historians call Mahommed Ghori, shortly
afterwards (1174-1175) invaded India, taking Multan and Uchh. This was
the first of many successive inroads on western and northern India, in
one of which Lahore was wrested from Khusru Malik, the last of Mahmud's
house, who died a captive in the hills of Ghor. In 1192 Prithvi Rai or
Pithora (as the Moslem writers call him), the Chauhan king of Ajmere,
being defeated and slain near Thanewar, the whole country from the
Himalaya to Ajmere became subject to the Ghori king of Ghazni. On the
death of his brother Ghiyasuddin, with whose power he had been
constantly associated, and of whose conquests he had been the chief
instrument, Muizuddin became sole sovereign over Ghor and Ghazni, and
the latter place was then again for a brief period the seat of an empire
nearly as extensive as that of Mahmud the son of Sabuktagin. Muizuddin
crossed the Indus once more to put down a rebellion of the Khokhars in
the Punjab, and on his way back was murdered by a band of them, or, as
some say, by one of the _Mulahidah_ or Assassins. The slave lieutenants
of Muizuddin carried on the conquest of India, and as the rapidly
succeeding events broke their dependence on any master, they established
at Delhi that monarchy of which, after it had endured through many
dynasties, and had culminated with the Mogul house of Baber, the shadow
perished in 1857. The death of Muizuddin was followed by struggle and
anarchy, ending for a time in the annexation of Ghazni to the empire of
Khwarizm by Mahommed Shah, who conferred it on his famous son,
Jelaluddin, and Ghazni became the headquarters of the latter. After
Jenghiz Khan had extinguished the power of his family in Turkestan,
Jelaluddin defeated the army sent against him by the Mongol at Parwan,
north of Kabul. Jenghiz then advanced and drove Jelaluddin across the
Indus, after which he sent Ogdai his son to besiege Ghazni. Henceforward
Ghazni is much less prominent in Asiatic history. It continued subject
to the Mongols, sometimes to the house of Hulagu in Persia, and
sometimes to that of Jagatai in Turkestan. In 1326, after a battle
between Amir Hosain, the viceroy of the former house in Khorasan, and
Tarmashirin, the reigning khan of Jagatai, the former entered Ghazni and
once more subjected it to devastation, and this time the tomb of Mahmud
to desecration.
Ibn Batuta (c. 1332) says the greater part of the city was in ruins, and
only a small part continued to be a town. Timur seems never to have
visited Ghazni, but we find him in 1401 bestowing the government of
Kabul, Kandahar, and Ghazni on Pir Mahommed, the son of his son
Jahangir. In the end of the century it was still in the hands of a
descendant of Timur, Ulugh Beg Mirza, who was king of Kabul and Ghazni.
The illustrious nephew of this prince, Baber, got peaceful possession of
both cities in 1504, and has left notes on both in his own inimitable
Memoirs. His account of Ghazni indicates how far it had now fallen. "It
is," he says, "but a poor mean place, and I have always wondered how its
princes, who possessed also Hindustan and Khorasan, could have chosen
such a wretched country for the seat of their government, in preference
to Khorasan." He commends the fruit of its gardens, which still
contribute largely to the markets of Kabul. Ghazni remained in the hands
of Baber's descendants, reigning at Delhi and Agra, till the invasion of
Nadir Shah (1738), and became after Nadir's death a part of the new
kingdom of the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durani. We know of but two
modern travellers who have recorded visits to the place previous to the
war of 1839. George Forster passed as a disguised traveller with a
qafila in 1783. "Its slender existence," he says, "is now maintained by
some Hindu families, who support a small traffic, and supply the wants
of the few Mahommedan residents." Vigne visited it in 1836, having
reached it from Multan with a caravan of Lohani merchants, travelling by
the Gomal pass. The historical name of Ghazni was brought back from the
dead, as it were, by the news of its capture by the British army under
Sir John Keane, 23rd July 1839. The siege artillery had been left behind
at Kandahar; escalade was judged impracticable; but the project of the
commanding engineer, Captain George Thomson, for blowing in the Kabul
gate with powder in bags, was adopted, and carried out successfully, at
the cost of 182 killed and wounded. Two years and a half later the
Afghan outbreak against the British occupation found Ghazni garrisoned
by a Bengal regiment of sepoys, but neither repaired nor provisioned.
They held out under great hardships from the 16th of December 1841 to
the 6th of March 1842, when they surrendered. In the autumn of the same
year General Nott, advancing from Kandahar upon Kabul, reoccupied
Ghazni, destroyed the defences of the castle and part of the town, and
carried away the famous gates of Somnath (q.v.).
GHEE (Hindustani _ghi_), a kind of clarified butter made in the East.
The best is prepared from butter of the milk of cows, the less esteemed
from that of buffaloes. The butter is melted over a slow fire, and set
aside to cool; the thick, opaque, whitish, and more fluid portion, or
ghee, representing the greater bulk of the butter, is then removed. The
less liquid residue, mixed with ground-nut oil, is sold as an inferior
kind of ghee. It may be obtained also by boiling butter over a clear
fire, skimming it the while, and, when all the water has evaporated,
straining it through a cloth. Ghee which is rancid or tainted, as is
often that of the Indian bazaars, is said to be rendered sweet by
boiling with leaves of the _Moringa pterygosperma_ or horse-radish tree.
In India ghee is one of the commonest articles of diet, and indeed
enters into the composition of everything eaten by the Brahmans. It is
also extensively used in Indian religious ceremonies, being offered as a
sacrifice to idols, which are at times bathed in it. Sanskrit treatises
on therapeutics describe ghee as cooling, emollient and stomachic, as
capable of increasing the mental powers, and of improving the voice and
personal appearance, and as useful in eye-diseases, tympanitis, painful
dyspepsia, wounds, ulcers and other affections. Old ghee is in special
repute among the Hindus as a medicinal agent, and its efficacy as an
external application is believed by them to increase with its age. Ghee
more than ten years old, the _purana ghrita_ of Sanskrit materia
medicas, has a strong odour and the colour of lac. Some specimens which
have been much longer preserved--and "clarified butter a hundred years
old is often heard of"--have an earthy look, and are quite dry and hard,
and nearly inodorous. Medicated ghee is made by warming ordinary ghee
to remove contained water, melting, after the addition of a little
turmeric juice, in a metal pan at a gentle heat, and then boiling with
the prepared drugs till all moisture is expelled, and straining through
a cloth.
GHEEL, or GEEL, a town of Belgium, about 30 m. E. of Antwerp and in the
same province. Pop. (1904) 14,087. It is remarkable on account of the
colony of insane persons which has existed there for many centuries. The
legend reads that in the year 600 Dymphna, an Irish princess, was
executed here by her father, and in consequence of certain miracles she
had effected she was canonized and made the patron saint of the insane.
The old Gothic church is dedicated to her, and in the choir is a shrine,
enclosing her relics, with fine panel paintings representing incidents
in her life by, probably, a contemporary of Memling. The colony of the
insane is established in the farms and houses round the little place
within a circumference of 30 m. and is said to have existed since the
13th century. This area is divided into four sections, each having a
doctor and a superintendent attached to it. The Gheel system is regarded
as the most humane method of dealing with the insane who have no
homicidal tendencies, as it keeps up as long as possible their interest
in life.
GHENT (Flem. _Gent_, Fr. _Gand_), the capital of East Flanders, Belgium,
at the junction of the Scheldt and the Lys (Ley). Pop. (1880) 131,431,
(1904) 162,482. The city is divided by the rivers (including the small
streams Lieve and Moere) and by canals, some navigable, into numerous
islands connected by over 200 bridges of various sorts. Within the
limits of the town, which is 6 m. in circumference, are many gardens,
meadows and promenades; and, though its characteristic lanes are gloomy
and narrow, there are also broad new streets and fine quays and docks.
The most conspicuous building in the city is the cathedral of St
Bavon[1] (Sint Baafs), the rich interior of which contrasts strongly
with its somewhat heavy exterior. Its crypt dates from 941, the choir
from 1274-1300, the Late Gothic choir chapels from the 15th century, and
the nave and transept from 1533-1554. Among the treasures of the church
is the famous "Worship of the Lamb" by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. Of the
original 12 panels, taken to France during the Revolutionary Wars, only
4 are now here, 6 being in the Berlin museum and two in that of
Brussels. Among the other 55 churches may be mentioned that of St
Nicholas, an Early Gothic building, the oldest church in date of
foundation in Ghent, and that of St Michael, completed in 1480, with an
unfinished tower. In the centre of the city stands the unfinished Belfry
(_Beffroi_), a square tower some 300 ft. high, built 1183-1339. If has a
cast-iron steeple (restored in 1854), on the top of which is a gold
dragon which, according to tradition, was brought from Constantinople
either by the Varangians or by the emperor Baldwin after the Latin
conquest. Close to it is the former Cloth-hall, a Gothic building of
1325. The hotel-de-ville consists of two distinct parts. The northern
facade, a magnificent example of Flamboyant Gothic, was erected between
1518 and 1533, restored in 1829 and again some fifty years later. The
eastern facade overlooking the market-place was built in 1595-1628, in
the Renaissance style, with three tiers of columns. It contains a
valuable collection of archives, from the 13th century onwards. On the
left bank of the Lys is the Oudeburg (s'Gravenstein, Chateau des
Contes), the former castle of the first counts of Flanders, dating from
1180 and now restored. The chateau of the later counts, in which the
emperor Charles V. was born, is commemorated only in the name of a
street, the Cours des Princes.
To the north of the Oudeburg, on the other side of the Lys, is the
Marche du Vendredi, the principal square of the city. This was the
centre of the life of the medieval city, the scene of all great public
functions, such as the homage of the burghers to the counts, and of the
auto-da-fes under the Spanish regime. In it stands a bronze statue of
Jacob van Artevelde, by Devigne-Quyo, erected in 1863. At a corner of
the square is a remarkable cannon, known as _Dulle Griete_ (Mad Meg), 19
ft. long and 11 ft. in circumference. It is ornamented with the arms of
Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, and must have been cast between 1419
and 1467. On the Scheldt, near the Place Laurent, is the
Geerard-duivelsteen (chateau of Gerard the Devil), a 13th-century tower
formerly belonging to one of the patrician families, now restored and
used as the office of the provincial records. Of modern buildings may be
mentioned the University (1826), the Palais de Justice (1844), and the
new theatre (1848), all designed by Roelandt, and the Institut des
Sciences (1890) by A. Pauli. In the park on the site of the citadel
erected by Charles V. are some ruins of the ancient abbey of St Bavon
and of a 12th-century octagonal chapel dedicated to St Macharius. In the
park is also situated the Museum of Fine Arts, completed in 1902.
One of the most interesting institutions of Ghent is the great Beguinage
(Begynhof) which, originally established in 1234 by the Bruges gate, was
transferred in 1874 to the suburb of St Amandsberg. It constitutes a
little town of itself, surrounded by walls and a moat, and contains
numerous small houses, 18 convents and a church. It is occupied by some
700 Beguines, women devoted to good works (see BEGUINES). Near the
station is a second Beguinage with 400 inmates. In addition to these
there were in Ghent in 1901 fifty religious houses of various orders.
As a manufacturing centre Ghent, though not so conspicuous as it was in
the middle ages, is of considerable importance. The main industries are
cotton-spinning, flax-spinning, cotton-printing, tanning and sugar
refining; in addition to which there are iron and copper foundries,
machine-building works, breweries and factories of soap, paper, tobacco,
&c. As a trading centre the city is even more important. It has direct
communication with the sea by a ship-canal, greatly enlarged and
deepened since 1895, which connects the Grand Basin, stretching along
the north side of the city, with a spacious harbour excavated at
Terneuzen on the Scheldt, 21-1/2 m. to the north, thus making Ghent
practically a sea-port; while a second canal, from the Lys, connects the
city via Bruges with Ostende.
Among the educational establishments is the State University, founded by
King William I. of the Netherlands in 1816. With it are connected a
school of engineering, a school of arts and industries and the famous
library (about 300,000 printed volumes and 2000 MSS.) formerly belonging
to the city. In addition there are training schools for teachers, an
episcopal seminary, a conservatoire and an art academy with a fine
collection of pictures mainly taken from the religious houses of the
city on their suppression in 1795. The oldest Belgian newspaper, the
_Gazet van Gent_, was founded here in 1667.
_History._--The history of the city is closely associated with that of
the countship of Flanders (q.v.), of which it was the seat. It is
mentioned so early as the 7th century and in 868 Baldwin of the Iron
Arm, first count of Flanders, who had been entrusted by Charles the Bald
with the defence of the northern marches, built a castle here against
the Normans raiding up the Scheldt. This was captured in 949 by the
emperor Otto I. and was occupied by an imperial burgrave for some fifty
years, after which it was retaken by the counts of Flanders. Under their
protection, and favoured by its site, the city rapidly grew in wealth
and population, the zenith of its power and prosperity being reached
between the 13th and 15th centuries, when it was the emporium of the
trade of Germany and the Low Countries, the centre of a great cloth
industry, and could put some 20,000 armed citizens into the field. The
wealth of the burghers during this period was equalled by their
turbulent spirit of independence; feuds were frequent,--against the
rival city of Bruges, against the counts, or, within the city itself,
between the plebeian crafts and the patrician governing class. Of these
risings the most notable was that, in the earlier half of the 14th
century, against Louis de Crecy, count of Flanders, under the leadership
of Jacob van Artevelde (q.v.).
The earliest charter to the citizens of Ghent was that granted by Count
Philip of Flanders between 1169 and 1191. It did little more than
arrange for the administration of justice by nominated jurats
(_scabini_) under the count's _bailli_. Far more comprehensive was the
second charter, granted by Philip's widow Mathilda, after his death on
crusade in 1191, as the price paid for the faithfulness of the city to
her cause. The magistrates of the city were still nominated _scabini_
(fixed at thirteen), but their duties and rights were strictly defined
and the liberties of the citizens safe-guarded; the city, moreover,
received the right to fortify itself and even individuals within it to
fortify their houses. This charter was confirmed and extended by Count
Baldwin VIII. when he took over the city from Mathilda, an important new
provision being that general rules for the government of the city were
only to be made by arrangement between the count or his officials and
the common council of the citizens. The burghers thus attained to a very
considerable measure of self-government. A charter of 1212 of Count
Ferdinand (of Portugal) and his wife Johanna introduced a modified
system of election for the _scabini_; a further charter (1228) fixed the
executive at 39 members, including _scabini_ and members of the commune,
and ordained that the _bailli_ of the count and his _servientes_, like
the _podestas_ of Italian cities, were not to be natives of Ghent.
Thus far the constitution of the city had been wholly aristocratic; in
the 13th century the patricians seem to have been united into a gild
(_Commans-gulde_) from whose members the magistrates were chosen. By the
14th century, however, the democratic craft gilds, notably that of the
weavers, had asserted themselves; the citizens were divided for civic
and military purposes into three classes; the rich (i.e. those living on
capital), the weavers and the members of the 52 other gilds. In the
civic executive, as it existed to the time of Charles V., the deans of
the two lower classes sat with the _scabini_ and councillors.
The constitution and liberties of the city, which survived its
incorporation in Burgundy, were lost for a time as a result of the
unsuccessful rising against Duke Philip the Good (1450). The citizens,
however, retained their turbulent spirit. After the death of Mary of
Burgundy, who had resided in the city, they forced her husband, the
archduke Maximilian, to conclude the treaty of Arras (1482). They were
less fortunate in their opposition to Maximilian's son, the emperor
Charles V. In 1539 they refused, on the plea of their privileges, to
contribute to a general tax laid on Flanders, and when Charles's sister
Mary, the governess of the Netherlands, seized some merchants as bail
for the payment, they retaliated by driving out the nobles and the
adherents of Charles's government. The appearance of Charles himself,
however, with an overwhelming force quelled the disturbance; the
ringleaders were executed, and all the property and privileges of the
city were confiscated. In addition, a fine of 150,000 golden gulden was
levied on the city, and used to build the "Spanish Citadel" on the site
of what is now the public park.
In the long struggle of the Netherlands against Spain, Ghent took a
conspicuous part, and it was here that, on the 8th of November 1576, was
signed the instrument, known as the Pacification of Ghent, which
established the league against Spanish tyranny. In 1584, however, the
city had to surrender on onerous terms to the prince of Parma.
The horrors of war and of religious persecution, and the consequent
emigration or expulsion of its inhabitants, had wrecked the prosperity
of Ghent, the recovery of which was made impossible by the closing of
the Scheldt. The city was captured by the French in 1698, 1708 and 1745.
After 1714 it formed part of the Austrian Netherlands, and in 1794
became the capital of the French department of the Scheldt. In 1814 it
was incorporated in the kingdom of the United Netherlands, and it was
here that Louis XVIII. of France took refuge during the Hundred Days.
Here too was signed (December 24, 1814) the treaty of peace between
Great Britain and the United States of America. After 1815 Ghent was for
a time the centre of Catholic opposition to Dutch rule, as it is now
that of the Flemish movement in Belgium. During the 19th century its
prosperity rapidly increased. In 1866-1867, however, a serious outbreak
of cholera again threatened it with ruin; but improved sanitation, the
provision of a supply of pure water and the demolition of a mass of
houses unfit for habitation soon effected a radical cure.
See L. A. Warnkonig, _Flandrische Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte bis
1305_ (3 vols., Tubingen, 1835-1842), and Gueldorf, _Hist. de Gand_,
translated from Warnkonig, with corrections and additions (Brussels,
1846); F. de Potter, _Gent van den oudsten tijd tot heden_ (6 vols.,
Ghent, 1883-1891); Van Duyse, _Gand monumental et pittoresque_
(Brussels, 1886); de Vlaminck, _Les Origines de la ville de Gand_
(Brussels, 1891); _Annales Gandenses_, ed. G. Funck-Brentano (Paris,
1895); Vuylsteke, _Oorkondenboek der stad Gent_ (Ghent, 1900, &c.);
Karl Hegel, _Stadte und Gilden_ (Leipzig, 1891), vol. ii. p. 175,
where further authorities are cited. For a comprehensive bibliography,
including monographs and published documents, see Ulysse Chevalier,
_Repertoire des sources hist. Topo-bibliogr._, s.v. "Gand."