[1] The people, Moslem and Christian, are physically one and appear
to be closely related to the modern Armenians. This relationship is
noticeable in other districts, and the whole original population of
Asia Minor has been characterized as Proto-Armenian or Armenoid.
ASIENTO, or ASSIENTO (from the verb _asentar_, to place, or establish),
a Spanish word meaning a farm of the taxes, or contract. The farmer or
contractor is called an _asentista_. The word acquired a considerable
notoriety in English and American history, on account of the "Asiento
Treaty" of 1713. Until 1702 the Spanish government had given the
contract for the supply of negroes to its colonies in America to the
Genoese. But after the establishment of the Bourbon dynasty in 1700, a
French company was formed which received the exclusive privilege of the
Spanish-American slave trade for ten years--from September 1702 to 1712.
When the peace of Utrecht was signed the British government insisted
that the monopoly should be given to its own subjects. By the terms of
the Asiento treaty signed on the 16th of March 1713, it was provided
that British subjects should be authorized to introduce 144,000 slaves
in the course of thirty years, at the rate of 4800 per annum. The
privilege was to expire on the 1st of May 1743. British subjects were
also authorized to send one ship of 500 tons per annum, laden with
manufactured goods, to the fairs of Porto Bello and La Vera Cruz. Import
duties were to be paid for the slaves and goods. This privilege was
conveyed by the British government to the South Sea Company, formed to
work it. The privilege, to which an exaggerated value was attached,
formed the solid basis of the notorious fit of speculative fever called
the South Sea Bubble. Until 1739 the trade in blacks went on without
interruption, but amid increasingly angry disputes between the Spanish
and the British governments. The right to send a single trading ship to
the fairs of Porto Bello or La Vera Cruz was abused. Under pretence of
renewing her provisions she was followed by tenders which in fact
carried goods. Thus there arose what was in fact a vast contraband
trade. The Spanish government established a service of revenue boats
(_guarda costas_) which insisted on searching all English vessels
approaching the shores of the Spanish colonies. There can be no doubt
that the smugglers were guilty of many piratical excesses, and that the
_guarda costas_ often acted with violence on mere suspicion. After many
disputes, in which the claims of the British government were met by
Spanish counterclaims, war ensued in 1739. When peace was made at
Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 Spain undertook to allow the asiento to be
renewed for the four years which were to run when war broke out in 1739.
But the renewal for so short a period was not considered advantageous,
and by the treaty of El Retiro of 1750, the British government agreed to
the recession of the Asiento treaty altogether on the payment by Spain
of L100,000.
A very convenient account of the Asiento Treaty, and of the trade
which arose under it, will be found in Malachy Postlethwayt's
_Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce_ (London, 1751), s.v.
ASIR, a district in western Arabia, lying between 17 deg. 30' and 21
deg. N., and 40 deg. 30' and 45 deg. E.; bounded N. by Hejaz, E. by
Nejd, S. by Yemen and W. by the Red Sea. Like Yemen, it consists of a
lowland zone some 20 or 30 m. in width along the coast, and of a
mountainous tract, falling steeply on the west and merging into a
highland plateau which slopes gradually to the N.E. towards the Nejd
steppes. Its length along the coast is about 230 m., and its breadth
from the coast to El Besha about 180. The lowland, or Tehama, is hot and
barren; the principal places in it are Kanfuda, the chief port of the
district, Marsa Hali and El Itwad, smaller ports farther south. The
mountainous tract has probably an average altitude of between 6000 and
7000 ft., with a temperate climate and regular rainfall, and is fertile
and populous. The valleys are well watered and produce excellent crops
of cereals and dates. The best-known are the Wadi Taraba and the W.
Besha, both running north-east towards the W. Dawasir in Nejd. Taraba,
according to John Lewis Burckhardt, is a considerable town, surrounded
by palm groves and gardens, and watered by numerous rivulets, and tamous
for its long resistance to Mehemet Ali's forces in 1815. Five or six
days' journey to the south-east is the district of Besha, the most
important position between Sana and Taif. Here Mehemet Ali's army,
amounting to 12,000 men, found sufficient provisions to supply it during
a fortnight's halt. The Wadi Besha is a broad valley abounding with
streams containing numerous hamlets scattered over a tract some six or
eight hours' journey in length. Its principal affluent, the W. Shahran,
rises 120 m. to the south and runs through the fertile district of
Khamis Mishet, the highest in Asir. The Zahran district lies four days
west of Besha on the crest of the main range: the principal place is
Makhwa, a large town and market, from which grain is exported in
considerable quantities to Mecca. Farther south is the district of
Shamran. Throughout the mountainous country the valleys are well watered
and cultivated, with fortified villages perched on the surrounding
heights. Juniper forests are said to exist on the higher mountains.
Three or four days' journey east and south-east of Besha are the
encampments of the Bani Kahtan, one of the most ancient tribes of
Arabia; their pastures extend into the adjoining district of Nejd, where
they breed camels in large numbers, as well as a few horses.
The inhabitants are a brave and warlike race of mountaineers, and aided
by the natural strength of their country they have hitherto preserved
their independence. Since the beginning of the 19th century they have
been bigoted Wahhabis, though previously regarded by their neighbours as
very lax Mahommedans; during Mehemet Ali's occupation of Nejd their
constant raids on the Egyptian communications compelled him to send
several punitive expeditions into the district, which, however, met with
little success. Since the reconquest of Yemen by the Turks, they have
made repeated attempts to subjugate Asir, but beyond occupying Kanfuda,
and holding one or two isolated points in the interior, of which Ibha
and Manadir are the principal, they have effected nothing.
The chief sources of information regarding Asir are the notes made by
J.L. Burckhardt at Taif in 1814 and those of the French officers with
the Egyptian expeditions into the country from 1814 to 1837. No part of
Arabia would better repay exploration.
AUTHORITIES.--J.L. Burckhardt, _Travels in Arabia_ (London, 1829); F.
Mengin, _Histoire de l'Egypte_, &c. (Paris, 1823); M.O. Tamisier,
_Voyage en Arabie_ (Paris, 1840). (R. A. W.)
ASISIUM (mod. _Assisi_), an ancient town of Umbria, in a lofty situation
about 15 m. E.S.E. of Perusia. As an independent community it had
already begun to use Latin as well as Umbrian in its inscriptions (for
one of these recording the chief magistrates--_marones_--see _C.I.L._
xi. 5390). It became a _municipium_ in 90 B.C., but, though numerous
inscriptions (_C.I.L._ xi. 5371-5606) testify to its importance in the
Imperial period, it is hardly mentioned by our classical authorities.
Scanty traces of the ancient city walls may be seen; within the town the
best-preserved building is the so-called temple of Minerva, with six
Corinthian columns of travertine, now converted into a church, erected
by Gaius and Titus Caesius in the Augustan era. It fronted on to the
ancient forum, part of the pavement of which, with a base for the
equestrian statues of Castor and Pollux (as the inscription upon it
records) has been laid bare beneath the present Piazza Vittorio
Emanuele. The remains of the amphitheatre, in _opus reticulatum_, may be
seen in the north-east corner of the town; and other ancient buildings
have been discovered. Asisium was probably the birthplace of Propertius.
(T. As.)
ASKABAD, or ASKHABAD, a town of Russian central Asia, capital of the
Transcaspian province, 345 m. by rail S.E. of Krasnovodsk and 594 from
Samarkand, situated in a small oasis at the N. foot of the Kopet-dagh
range. It has a public library and a technical railway school; also
cotton-cleaning works, tanneries, brick-works, and a mineral-water
factory. The trade is valued at L250,000 a year. The population, 2500 in
1881, when the Russians seized it, was 19,428 in 1897, one-third
Persians, many of them belonging to the Babi sect.
ASKAULES (Gr. [Greek: askaulaes] [?] from [Greek: askos], bag, [Greek:
aulos], pipe), probably the Greek word for bag-piper, although there is
no documentary authority for its use. Neither it nor [Greek: askaulos]
(which would naturally mean the bag-pipe) has been found in Greek
classical authors, though J.J. Reiske--in a note on Dio Chrysostom,
_Orat._ lxxi. _ad fin._, where an unmistakable description of the
bag-pipe occurs ("and they say that he is skilled to write, to work as
an artist, and to play the pipe with his mouth, on the bag placed under
his arm-pits")--says that [Greek: askaulaes] was the Greek word for
bag-piper. The only actual corroboration of this is the use of
_ascaules_ for the pure Latin _utricularius_ in Martial x. 3. 8. Dio
Chrysostom flourished about A.D. 100; it is therefore only an assumption
that the bag-pipe was known to the classical Greeks by the name of
[Greek: askaulos]. It need not, however, be a matter of surprise that
among the highly cultured Greeks such an instrument as the bag-pipe
should exist without finding a place in literature. It is significant
that it is not mentioned by Pollux (_Onomast._ iv. 74) and Athenaeus
(_Deipnos._ iv. 76) in their lists of the various kinds of pipes.
See articles AULOS and BAG-PIPE; art. "Askaules" in Pauly-Wissowa,
_Realencyclopadie_.
ASKE, ROBERT (d. 1537), English rebel, was a country gentleman who
belonged to an ancient family long settled in Yorkshire, his mother
being a daughter of John, Lord Clifford. When in 1536 the insurrection
called the "Pilgrimage of Grace" broke out in Yorkshire, Aske was made
leader; and marching with the banner of St Cuthbert and with the badge
of the "five wounds," he occupied York on the 16th of October and on the
20th captured Pontefract Castle, with Lord Darcy and the archbishop of
York, who took the oath of the rebels. He caused the monks and nuns to
be reinstated, and refused to allow the king's herald to read the royal
proclamation, announcing his intention of marching to London to declare
the grievances of the commons to the sovereign himself, secure the
expulsion of counsellors of low birth, and obtain restitution for the
church. The whole country was soon in the hands of the rebels, a
military organization with posts from Newcastle to Hull was established,
and Hull was provided with cannon. Subsequently Aske, followed by 30,000
or 40,000 men, proceeded towards Doncaster, where lay the duke of
Norfolk with the royal forces, which, inferior in numbers, would
probably have been overwhelmed had not Aske persuaded his followers to
accept the king's pardon, and the promise of a parliament at York and to
disband. Soon afterwards he received a letter from the king desiring him
to come secretly to London to inform him of the causes of the rebellion.
Aske went under the guarantee of a safe-conduct and was well received by
Henry. He put in writing a full account of the rising and of his own
share in it; and, fully persuaded of the king's good intentions,
returned home on the 8th of January 1537, bringing with him promises of
a visit from the king to Yorkshire, of the holding of a parliament at
York, and of free elections. Shortly afterwards he wrote to the king
warning him of the still unquiet state not only of the north but of the
midlands, and stating his fear that more bloodshed was impending. The
same month he received the king's thanks for his action in pacifying Sir
Francis Bigod's rising. But his position was now a difficult and a
perilous one, and a few weeks later the attitude of the government
towards him was suddenly changed. The new rising had given the court an
excuse for breaking off the treaty and sending another army under
Norfolk into Yorkshire. Possibly in these fresh circumstances Aske may
have given cause for further suspicions of his loyalty, and in his last
confession he acknowledged that communications to obtain aid had been
opened with the imperial ambassador and were contemplated with Flanders.
But it is more probable that the government had from the first
treacherously affected to treat him with confidence to secure the
secrets of the rebels and to effect his destruction. In March Norfolk
congratulated Cromwell on the successful accomplishment of his task,
having persuaded Aske to go to London on false assurances of security.
He was arrested in April, tried before a commission at Westminster, and
sentenced to death for high treason on the 17th of May; and on the 28th
of June he was taken back to Yorkshire, being paraded in the towns and
country through which he passed. He was hanged at York in July,
expressing repentance for breaking the king's laws, but declaring that
he had promise of pardon both from Cromwell and from Henry. It is
related that his servant, Robert Wall, died of grief at the thought of
his master's approaching execution. Aske was a real leader, who gained
the affection and confidence of his followers; and his sudden rise to
greatness and his choice by the people point to abilities that have not
been recorded.
See _Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries_, by F.A. Gasquet (1906);
_Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._, vols. xi. and xii.;
_English Histor. Review_, v. 330, 550 (account of the rebellion,
examination and answers to interrogations); _Chronicle of Henry
VIII._, tr. by M.A.S. Hume (1889); Whitaker's _Richmondshire_, i. 116
(pedigree of the Askes).
ASKEW, or ASCUE, ANNE (1521?-1546), English Protestant martyr, born at
Stallingborough about 1521, was the second daughter of Sir William Askew
(d. 1540) of South Kelsey, Lincoln, by his first wife Elizabeth,
daughter of Thomas Wrottesley. Her elder sister, Martha, was betrothed
by her parents to Thomas Kyme, a Lincolnshire justice of the peace, but
she died before marriage, and Anne was induced or compelled to take her
place. She is said to have had two children by Kyme, but religious
differences and incompatibility of temperament soon estranged the
couple. Kyme was apparently an unimaginative man of the world, while
Anne took to Bible-reading with zeal, became convinced of the falsity of
the doctrine of transubstantiation, and created some stir in Lincoln by
her disputations. According to Bale and Foxe her husband turned her out
of doors, but in the privy council register she is said to have "refused
Kyme to be her husband without any honest allegation." She had as good a
reason for repudiating her husband as Henry VIII. for repudiating Anne
of Cleves. In any case, she came to London and made friends with Joan
Bocher, who was already known for heterodoxy, and other Protestants. She
was examined for heresy in March 1545 by the lord mayor, and was
committed to the Counter prison. Then she was examined by Bonner, the
bishop of London, who drew up a form of recantation which he entered in
his register. This fact led Parsons and other Catholic historians to
state that she actually recanted but she refused to sign Bonner's form
without qualification. Two months later, on the 24th of May, the privy
council ordered her arrest. On the 13th of June 1545, she was arraigned
as a sacramentarian under the Six Articles at the Guildhall; but no
witness appeared against her; she was declared not guilty by the jury
and discharged after paying her fees.
The reactionary party, which, owing to the absence of Hertford and Lisle
and to the presence of Gardiner, gained the upper hand in the council in
the summer of 1546, were not satisfied with this repulse; they probably
aimed at the leaders of the reforming party, such as Hertford and
possibly Queen Catherine Parr, who were suspected of favouring Anne, and
on the 18th of June 1546 Anne was again arraigned before a commission
including the lord mayor, the duke of Norfolk, St John, Bonner and
Heath. No jury was empanelled and no witnesses were called; she was
condemned, simply on her confession, to be burnt. On the same day she
was called before the privy council with her husband. Kyme was sent home
into Lincolnshire, but Anne was committed to Newgate, "for that she was
very obstinate and heady in reasoning of matters of religion." On the
following day she was taken to the Tower and racked; according to Anne's
own statement, as recorded by Bale, the lord chancellor, Wriothesley,
and the solicitor-general, Rich, worked the rack themselves; but she
"would not convert for all the pain" (Wriothesley, _Chronicle_ i. 168).
Her torture, disputed by Jardine, Lingard and others, is substantiated
not only by her own narrative, but by two contemporary chronicles, and
by a contemporary letter (_ibid._; _Narratives of the Reformation_, p.
305; Ellis, _Original Letters_, 2nd Ser. ii. 177). For four weeks she
was left in prison, and at length on the 16th of July, she was burnt at
Smithfield in the presence of the same persecuting dignitaries who had
condemned her to death.
AUTHORITIES.--Bale's two tracts, printed at Marburg in November 1546
and January 1547, are the basis of Foxe's account. See also _Acts of
the Privy Council_ (1542-1547), pp. 424-462; Wriothesley's _Chron._
i. 155, 167-169; _Narratives of the Reformation_, passim; Gough's
_Index to Parker Soc. Publications_; Burnet's _Hist. of the
Reformation_; Dixon's _Hist. of the Church of England; Dict. Nat.
Biogr._ (A. F. P.)
ASMA'I [Abu Sa'id 'Abd ul-Malik ibn Quraib] (c. 739-831), Arabian
scholar, was born of pure Arab stock in Basra and was a pupil there of
Abu 'Amr ibn ul-'Ala. He seems to have been a poor man until by the
influence of the governor of Basra he was brought to the notice of Harun
al-Rashid, who enjoyed his conversation at court and made him tutor of
his son. He became wealthy and acquired property in Basra, where he
again settled for a time; but returned later to Bagdad, where he died in
831. Asma'i was one of the greatest scholars of his age. From his youth
he stored up in his memory the sacred words of the Koran, the traditions
of the Prophet, the verses of the old poets and the stories of the
ancient wars of the Arabs. He was also a student of language and a
critic. It was as a critic that he was the great rival of Abu 'Ubaida
(q.v.). While the latter followed (or led) the Shu'ubite movement and
declared for the excellence of all things not Arabian, Asma'i was the
pious Moslem and avowed supporter of the superiority of the Arabs over
all peoples, and of the freedom of their language and literature from
all foreign influence. Some of his scholars attained high rank as
literary men. Of Asma'i's many works mentioned in the catalogue known as
the _Fihrist_, only about half a dozen are extant. Of these the _Book of
Distinction_ has been edited by D.H. Muller (Vienna, 1876); the _Book of
the Wild Animals_ by R. Geyer (Vienna, 1887); the _Book of the Horse_,
by A. Haffner (Vienna, 1895); the _Book of the Sheep_, by A. Haffner
(Vienna, 1896).
For life of Asma'i, see Ibn Khallikan, _Biographical Dictionary_,
translated from the Arabic by McG. de Slane (Paris and London, 1842),
vol. ii. pp. 123-127. For his work as a grammarian, G. Flugel, _Die
grammatischen Schulen der Araber_ (Leipzig, 1862), pp. 72-80.
(G. W. T.)
ASMARA, the capital of the Italian colony of Eritrea, N.E. Africa. It is
built on the Hamasen plateau, near its eastern edge, at an elevation of
7800 ft., and is some 40 m. W.S.W. in a direct line of the seaport of
Massawa. Pop. (1904) about 9000, including the garrison of 300 Italian
soldiers, and some 1000 native troops. The European civil population
numbers over 500; the rest of the inhabitants are chiefly Abyssinians.
There is a small Mahommedan colony. The town is strongly fortified. The
European quarter contains several fine public buildings, including the
residence of the governor, club house, barracks and hospital. Fort
Baldissera is built on a hill to the south-west of the town and is
considered impregnable.
Asmara, an Amharic word signifying "good pasture place," is a town of
considerable antiquity. It was included in the maritime province of
northern Abyssinia, which was governed by a viceroy who bore the title
of Bahar-nagash (ruler of the sea). By the Abyssinians the Hamasen
plateau was known as the plain of the thousand villages. Asmara appears
to have been one of the most prosperous of these villages, and to have
attained commercial importance through being on the high road from Axum
to Massawa. When Werner Munzinger (q.v.) became French consul at
Massawa, he entered into a scheme for annexing the Hamasen (of which
Asmara was then the capital) to France, but the outbreak of the war with
Germany in 1870 brought the project to nought (cf. A.B. Wylde, _Modern
Abyssinia_, 1901). In 1872 Munzinger, now in Egyptian service, annexed
Asmara to the khedivial dominions, but in 1884, owing to the rise of the
mahdi, Egypt evacuated her Abyssinian provinces and Asmara was chosen by
Ras Alula, the representative of the negus Johannes (King John), as his
headquarters. Shortly afterwards the Italians occupied Massawa, and in
1889 Asmara (see ABYSSINIA: _History_). In 1900 the seat of government
was transferred from Massawa to Asmara, which in its modern form is the
creation of the Italians. It is surrounded by rich agricultural lands,
cultivated in part by Italian immigrants, and is a busy trading centre.
A railway from Massawa to Asmara was completed as far as Ghinda, at the
foot of the plateau, in 1904. At Medrizien, 6 m. north of Asmara, are
gold-mines which have been partially worked.
See G. Dainelli, _In Africa. Lettere dall' Eritrea_ (Bergamo, 1908);
R. Perini, _Di qua dal Mareb_ (Florence, 1905).
ASMODEUS, or ASHMEDAI, an evil demon who appears in later Jewish
tradition as "king of demons." He is sometimes identified with Beelzebub
or Apollyon (Rev. ix. 11). In the Talmud he plays a great part in the
legends concerning Solomon. In the apocryphal book of Tobit (iii. 8)
occurs the well-known story of his love for Sara, the beautiful daughter
of Raguel, whose seven husbands were slain in succession by him on their
respective bridal nights. At last Tobias, by burning the heart and liver
of a fish, drove off the demon, who fled to Egypt. From the part played
by Asmodeus in this story, he has been often familiarly called the
genius of matrimonial unhappiness or jealousy, and as such may be
compared with Lilith. Le Sage makes him the principal character in his
novel _Le Diable boiteux_. Both the word and the conception seem to have
been derived originally from the Persian. The name has been taken to
mean "covetous." It is in any case no doubt identical with the demon
Aeshma of the Zend-Avesta and the Pahlavi texts. But the meaning is not
certain. It is generally agreed that the second part of the name
Asmodeus is the same as the Zend _daewa, dew_, "demon." The first part
may be equivalent to Aeshma, the impersonation of anger. But W.
Baudissin (Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_) prefers to derive it from
_ish_, to drive, set in motion; whence _ish-min_, driving, impetuous.
The legend of Asmodeus is given fully in the _Jewish Encyclopaedia_,
s.v. See also the articles in the _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, Hastings'
_Dictionary of the Bible_, and Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_.
ASMONEUS, or ASAMONAEUS (so Josephus), great-grandfather of Mattathias,
the father of Judas Maccabaeus. Nothing more is known of him, and the
name is only given by Josephus (not in 1 Macc. ii. 1). But the dynasty
was known to Josephus and the Mishna (once) as "the sons (race) of the
Asamonaeans (of A.)"; and the Targum of 1 Sam. ii. 4 has "the house of
the Hashmoneans who were weak, signs were wrought for them and
strength." If not the founder, Asmoneus was probably the home of the
family (cf. Heshmon, Jos. xv. 27).
See Schurer, _Geschichte des judischen Volkes_, i. 248 N; art.
"Maccabees," S 2, in _Ency. Biblica_. (J. H. A. H.)
ASNIERES, a town of northern France, in the department of Seine, on the
left bank of the Seine, about 1-1/2 m. N.N.W. of the fortifications of
Paris. Pop. (1906) 35,883. The town, which has grown rapidly in recent
years, is a favourite boating centre for the Parisians. The industries
include boat-building and the manufacture of colours and perfumery.
ASOKA, a famous Buddhist emperor of India who reigned from 264 to 228 or
227 B.C. Thirty-five of his inscriptions on rocks or pillars or in caves
still exist (see INSCRIPTIONS: _Indian_), and they are among the most
remarkable and interesting of Buddhist monuments (see BUDDHISM). Asoka
was the grandson of Chandragupta, the founder of the Maurya (Peacock)
dynasty, who had wrested the Indian provinces of Alexander the Great
from the hands of Seleucus, and he was the son of Bindusara, who
succeeded his father Chandragupta, by a lady from Champa. The Greeks do
not mention him and the Brahmin books ignore him, but the Buddhist
chronicles and legends tell us much about him. The inscriptions, which
contain altogether about five thousand words, are entirely of religious
import, and their references to worldly affairs are incidental. They
begin in the thirteenth year of his reign, and tell us that in the ninth
year he had invaded Kalinga, and had been so deeply impressed by the
horrors involved in warfare that he had then given up the desire for
conquest, and devoted himself to conquest by "religion." What the
religion was is explained in the edicts. It is purely ethical,
independent alike of theology and ritual, and is the code of morals as
laid down in the Buddhist sacred books for laymen. He further tells us
that in the ninth year of his reign he formally joined the Buddhist
community as a layman, in the eleventh year he became a member of the
order, and in the thirteenth he "set out for the Great Wisdom" (the
_Sambodhi_), which is the Buddhist technical term for entering upon the
well-known, eightfold path to Nirvana. One of the edicts is addressed to
the order, and urges upon its members and the laity alike the learning
and rehearsal of passages from the Buddhist scriptures. Two others are
proclamations commemorating visits paid by the king, one to the dome
erected over the ashes of Konagamana, the Buddha, another to the
birthplace of Gotama, the Buddha (q.v.). Three very short ones are
dedications of caves to the use of an order of recluses. The rest either
enunciate the religion as explained above, or describe the means adopted
by the king for propagating it, or acting in accordance with it. These
means are such as the digging of wells, planting medicinal herbs, and
trees for shade, sending out of missionaries, appointment of special
officers to supervise charities, and so on. The missionaries were sent
to Kashmir, to the Himalayas, to the border lands on the Indus, to the
coast of Burma, to south India and to Ceylon. And the king claims that
missions sent by him to certain Greek kingdoms that he names had
resulted in the folk there conforming themselves to his religion. The
extent of Asoka's dominion included all India from the thirteenth degree
of latitude up to the Himalayas, Nepal, Kashmir, the Swat valley,
Afghanistan as far as the Hindu Kush, Sind and Baluchistan. It was thus
as large as, or perhaps somewhat larger than, British India before the
conquest of Burma. He was undoubtedly the most powerful sovereign of his
time and the most remarkable and imposing of the native rulers of India.
"If a man's fame," says Koppen, "can be measured by the number of hearts
who revere his memory, by the number of lips who have mentioned, and
still mention him with honour, Asoka is more famous than Charlemagne or
Caesar." At the same time it is probable that, like Constantine's
patronage of Christianity, his patronage of Buddhism, then the most
rising and influential faith in India, was not unalloyed with political
motives, and it is certain that his vast benefactions to the Buddhist
cause were at least one of the causes that led to its decline.
See also _Asoka_, by Vincent Smith (Oxford, 1901); _Inscriptions de
Piyadasi_, by E. Senart (Paris, 1891); chapters on Asoka in T.W. Rhys
Davids's _Buddhism_ (20th ed., London, 1903), and _Buddhist India_
(London, 1903); V.A. Smith, _Edicts of Asoka_ (1909). (T. W. R. D.)
ASOLO (anc. _Acelum_), a town of Venetia, Italy, in the province of
Treviso, about 19 m. N.W. direct from the town of Treviso, and some 10
m. E. of Bassanoby road. Pop. (1901) 5847. It is well situated on a
hill, 690 ft. above sea-level. Remains of Roman baths and of a theatre
have been discovered in the course of excavation (_Notizie degli scavi_,
1877, 235; 1881, 205; 1882, 289), and the town was probably a
_municipium_. It became an episcopal see in the 6th century. It was to
Asolo that Catherine Cornaro, queen of Cyprus, retired on her
abdication. Here she was visited by Pietro Bembo, who conceived here his
_Dialoghi degli Asolani_, and by Andrea Navagero (Naugerius). Paulus
Manutius was born here. The village of Maser is 4-1/2 m. to the E., and
near it is the Villa Giacomelli, erected by Palladio, containing
frescoes by Paolo Veronese, executed in 1566-1568 for Marcantonio
Barbaro of Venice, and ranking among his best works.
ASOR (Hebr. for "ten"), an instrument "of ten strings" mentioned in the
Bible, about which authors are not agreed. The word occurs only three
times in the Bible, and has not been traced elsewhere. In Psalm xxxiii.
2 the reference is to "kinnor, nebel and asor"; in Psalm xcii. 3, to
"nebel and asor"; in Psalm cxliv. to "nebel-asor." In the English
version _asor_ is translated "an instrument of ten strings," with a
marginal note "omit" applied to "instrument." In the Septuagint, the
word being derived from a root signifying "ten," the Greek is [Greek: en
dekachordo] or [Greek: psaltaerion dekachordon], in the Vulgate _in
decachordo psalterio_. Each time the word _asor_ is used it follows the
word _nebel_ (see PSALTERY), and probably merely indicates a variant of
the nebel, having ten strings instead of the customary twelve assigned
to it by Josephus (_Antiquities_, vii. 12. 3).
See also Mendel and Reissmann, _Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon_,
vol. i. (Berlin, 1881); Sir John Stainer, _The Music of the Bible_,
pp. 35-37; Forkel, _Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik_, Bd. i. p. 133
(Leipzig, 1788). (K. S.)
ASP (_Vipera aspis_), a species of venomous snake, closely allied to the
common adder of Great Britain, which it represents throughout the
southern parts of Europe, being specially abundant in the region of the
Alps. It differs from the adder in having the head entirely covered with
scales, shields being absent, and in having the snout somewhat turned
up. The term "Asp" [Greek: aspis] seems to have been employed by Greek
and Roman writers, and by writers generally down to comparatively recent
times, to designate more than one species of serpent; thus the asp, by
means of which Cleopatra is said to have ended her life, and so avoided
the disgrace of entering Rome a captive, is now generally supposed to
have been the cerastes, or horned viper (_Cerastes cornutus_), of
northern Africa and Arabia, a snake about 15 in. long, exceedingly
venomous, and provided with curious horn-like protuberances over each
eye, which give it a decidedly sinister appearance. The snake, however,
to which the word "asp" has been most commonly applied is undoubtedly
the haje of Egypt, the _spy-slange_ or spitting snake of the Boers
(_Naja haje_), one of the very poisonous _Elarinae_, from 3 to 4 ft.
long, with the skin of its neck loose, so as to render it dilatable at
the will of the animal, as in the cobra of India, a species from which
it differs only in the absence of the spectacle-like mark on the back of
the neck. Like the cobra, also, the haje has its fangs extracted by the
jugglers of the country, who afterwards train it to perform various
tricks. The asp (_Pethen_, [Hebrew: pethen]) is mentioned in various
parts of the Old Testament. This name is twice translated "adder," but
as nothing is told of it beyond its poisonous character and the
intractability of its disposition, it is impossible accurately to
determine the species.
ASPARAGINE, C4H3N2O3, a naturally occurring base, found in plants
belonging to the natural orders Leguminosae and Cruciferae. It occurs
in two optically active forms, namely, as laevo-asparagine and
dextro-asparagine. Laevo-asparagine was isolated in 1805 by L.N.
Vauquelin. A. Piutti (_Gazz. chim. Ital._, 1887, 17, p. 126; 1888, 18,
p. 457) synthesized the asparagines from the monomethyl ester of
inactive aspartic acid by heating it with alcoholic ammonia. In this way
a mixture of the two asparagines was obtained, which were separated by
picking out the hemihedral crystals.