Basil
@ylvius, Ragues, and Segovia). Conmlt J, Lemfant, His- dotre de la guerre dee Huarites wt du Concile de Basle, Am- sterdam, 1731; I. H. von Weesenherg, Die grossen Kir- cheneeroammiungen dos finfschnien und sechaschnien Jahr- hunderta, vol. ii, 4 vols,, Constance, 1840; J. Ascabach, Geschichte des Kaiser Sigmunda, vol. iv, Hamburg, 1845; G. Voigt, Bnee Sylvic Piccolomint als Papst Paul I, vol, i, Basel, 1856; 0. Richter, Organisation wid Geachafteord- mung des Baaler Concila, Leipsic, 1877; _A. Bachmann, Die deuiache Kinige und die Neutralitat, Vienna, 1888; P. Joachimeohn, Gregor Heimburg, —— 3801; J. F. Hurst, History of the Cartatian Church, i, TE5— 786, ii, 69, 03, 341, New York, 1807-1900; Hefele, Con- tiitengeechichte, vol. vii; KZ, i, 2085-2110; Pastor, Popes, i, 280-338; Creighton, Papacy, iii, 1-15.
BASHAR, bé‘shan: The northeastern part of
trans-Jordanic Palestine. The name occurs in the
Old Testament in prose and sometimes in poetry
with the article ( the Bashan ’’}), indicating that
bashan was originally a common noun, and its sig-
ification ia made evident by the Arabie bath-
anak, “a fertile plain free from stones.” The
Greeka had the name in the forms Basan, Basa-
fintie, the LXX has Basaniits, and Josephus Bate-
naia and Batones (cf. Eusebius and Jerome, Onomas-
ficon). The location of the district is clearly noted
in the Old Testament as the northern third of the
plateau to the east of the Jordan (Deut. iii, 8;
Joshua xiii, 11-12), with Gilead (the Yarmuk) as
the southern boundary, Hermon on the north, and
Salcah on the east.
Aa soon as the traveler going east from the Sea of Tiberias crosses the Nabr-al-Allan, eighteen miles away, he may note the abrupt change of the satruc- ture of the plain. The numerous hillocks, a pecu- Harity of the Jaulan, disappear, as do the great lava blocks, and in their place one aces a great plain of mellowed, red-brown, fertile soil stretching away esat, north, and south. The boundary of this on the northeast is the voleanic, wooded heights of Al-Kunetra and the base of Mt. Hermon, on the north the district of Wadi al-Ajam, on the east the Lejjah and Jebel Druz or Jebel Hauran, and on the south the plateau of Al-Hamad, with the stony Jaulan in the weat. It ia divided by two great wadies (Dahab and Zadi), which empty into the Yarmuk. Ruins abound, and on some of the hill- ocks are the graves of the former leaders and chiefs of the districts,
The spongy, easily worked soil is # mixture of disintegrated lava, ashes, and sand from Jebel Hauran. To this composition is due the extracr- dinary fertility of the region, yielding half crops even in seasons of drought. The plain is almost treeless, the only exceptions being the. old tere- binths which stand by Arabic holy-places or vil- ages. The slope of the southern part, which is the of Syria, is quite sharp from east to west, while from north to south the altitude is about the game, The boundaries already noted (the steppe of Hamad and the Druz mountains) are promi- nent. The last are the “ Salmon ” of Ps, ixviii, 14— 15, The region formed part of the kingdom of Og (Joshua xii, 5), It is celebrated in the Old Tes- tament for its cattle (Deut. xxxii, 14; Ezek, xxxix, 18), and in these times probably served better a pastoral than a nomadic population. The “ oaks of Bashan ** (Ins. ii, 13; Ezek. xxvii, 6) have disap- pesred except on the foothills of the Hauran and Hermon mountains, where there are amall groves, and along the Yarmuk.
The following cities of Bashan are mentioned in the Old Testament: (1 and 2) Ashtaroth and Edrei, capitals of Og (Deut. i, 4, iii, 1; Joshua xii, 4); (3} Ashteroth Karnaim (Eusebius and Jerome, Qnomasticon), not far from Job’s grave [an Arab sanctuary], and near Shaikh Sad, until 1903 the seat of government; (4) Bozrah (I Macc. v, 26), at the southwest of the Hauran, containing ruins da- ting from Romantimes; (5) Golan (Joshua xxi, 7), one of the Levitical cities of refuge, probably the modern Ssham al-Jolan on the western edge of the plateau; (6} Karnain (I Macc. v, 26, perhaps Amoa vi, 13, A. V. “ horns”), not located; (7) Salcah, modern Salkhad, east from Bozrah, on the water- shed, with = eastle built in an old crater. These places are all on the edge of the plateau, as are the modern cities.
The Old Testament mentions also the district Argob in Bashan, which had sixty cities (I Kings iv, 13; Deut. ili, 4), & possession of Jair (Deut. iii, 14, but cf. Judges x, 3 aqq., 1 Kings iv, 13}, and in the eastern part of the Jaulan. (1. Gorae.) Brarioorarar: J. L. Porter, Giant-Citice of Bashan, New York, 1871; id., Five Yeara vn Damascus, London, 1855; 3G. Wetstain, Reissbericht aber Hauran und dis Tracho- nen, Berlin, 1860; idem, Das batandiache Leip- sic, 1884; ©, J. M, de Vogtié, La Syrie cenirale, trecrip- Hone vimitiques, 2 vols, Paris, 1868-77; KF. Drake and C. F, T. Drake, Unexplored Syria, 2 vals, London, 1872; ib. 1886; idem, The Jaulan, p. 125, ib, 1888: idem, Das siidliche Basan sum ersten Male cufgenommen und be- achrieben, Leipsic, 1807; W. M. Thomean, The Land and tha Book, 3 valk, New York, 1886; F. Buhl, Geographia von Paldetina, Freiburg, 1896; G. A. Smith, Htstorical Goography of the Holy a pp. 542, 49-553, $75 pag. 611 sqq., London, 1897; D. W. Freahfield, Tha Stone Towns of Central Syria, New York, nd.
BASEFORD, JAMES WHITFORD: Methodist
Episcopal bishop; b. at Fayette, Wie, May 25,
1849. He was educated at the University of Wis-
consin (B.A., 1873), the Theological School of
Boston University (B.D., 1876), the School of
Oratory in the same institution (1878), and Boston
University (Ph.D., 1881}. He was tutor in Greek
at the University of Wisconsin in 1873-74, and held
successive pastorates at Harrison Square Method-
ist Episcopal Church, Boston (1875-78), Jamaics
Plain, Boston (1878-81), Auburndale, Maas. (188i-
84), Chestnut Street, Portiand, Me. (1884-87),
and Delaware Ave., Buffalo, N. Y. (1887-89). He
was president of Ohio Wesleyan University in
1889-1904, and in the ‘atter year was chosen bishop,
and in this capacity went to Shanghai, China. In
theology he is distinctly liberal, believing that
Christianity can be better interpreted from the
point of view of evolution than from the older
standpoint, and being confident that higher crit-
icism, if used with sound scholarship, will not en-
danger the fundamentals of Christianity. Be has
written: Science of Religion (Delaware, O., 1893);
Wesley and Goethe (Cincinnati, 1903); and Afethod-
ism in China (1906).
BASIL OF ACHRIDA: Archbishop of Theasa-
fonica. He came from Acbrida (on the n.e. shore
