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BABYLONIAK CAPTIVITY 374 BACCIFEROUS Persian monarch, in 538, and the second Babylonian empire came to an end, Baby- lonia being incorporated in the Persian empire. Its subsequent history was simi- lar to that of Assyria {q. v.). The account of the civilization, arts, and social advancement of the Assyrians already given in the article Assyria, may be taken as generally applying also to the Babylonians. BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY, a term usually applied to the deportation of the two tribes of the kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nabuchadnezzar,, 585 B. C. The duration of this captivity is usually reckoned 70 years, though, strictly speak- ing, it lasted only 56 years. A great part of the 10 tribes of Israel had been previously taken captive to Assyria. BACCARAT (ba-ka-ra'), a town of France, in the department of Meurthe- et-Moselle, having the most important plate glass works in France. Pop. of commune about 7,500. BACCARAT, or BACCARA, a game played with the ordinary playing cards. Any number of players may participate, and as many packs of cards may be used as necessary, the number being increased to correspond with the number of play- ers. One member of the party is se- lected to act as banker. He deals out the cards from a box, after they have been shuffled. The face cards each count 10, and the others according to the num- bers of their spots. After the bets have been made, the banker deals two cards to each of the players, including himself, but the other players must receive their cards before the banker is served. The aim of the players is to make the num- bers 9, 19, 29, or as nearly those as pos- sible, as 8, 18, and 28. Any player is at liberty either to "stand" or to be "con- tent" with the two cards at first dealt, or to call for more, at the risk of exceed- ing 29, when his stake is forfeited to the dealer. If, after the first distribution of two cards to each, any player has a "nat- ural" — i e., a sum making 9, or next in value, 19 — he declares it wins, and the banker pays all who hold superior hands to his own, and claims from those hold- ing inferior hands. The players stake their money separately, there being, in fact, as many separate games in progress as there are players, and the spectators may wager their money on any one of them, all of which must be accepted by the banker. Prior to the banker making a start, he states the amount of the bank. Anyone sitting down at the table has the right to call the whole of the bank, selecting the left or the right on which to pick up the cards. Previous to the banker dealing the cards, it is the duty of two croupiers,, one on the right and the other on the left, to count up the stakes deposited on either side, and then make up the bank. Thus the banker knows, to the smallest coin, the exact amount of his liabilities. BACCHANALIA, or DIONYSIA, feasts in honor of Bacchus, or Dionysos, characterized by licentiousness and rev- elry, and celebrated in ancient Athens. The Bacchantes of both sexes were clothed in fawn-skins, crowned with ivy, and bore in their hands thyrsi, that is, spears entwined with ivy. These feasts passed from the Greeks to the Romans, who abolished them in b. C. 186. BACCHANTE (bak-an'te), a person taking part in revels in honor of Bac- chus. BACCHIGLIONE (bak-il-yo'-na), a river of northern Italy, rises in the Alps, passes through the towns of Vicenza and Padua, and enters the Adriatic near Chioggia, after a course of about 90 miles. BACCHUS (bak-us), the god of wine, son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Semele. He first taught the cultivation of the vine and the preparation of wine. His love was shared by several; but Ariadne, whom he found deserted upon Naxos, alone was elevated to the dignity of a wife, and became a sharer of his immor- tality. In art he is usually represented crowned with wine leaves, and a mantle is hung negligently around his shoulders ; sometimes a fawn-skin hangs across his breast. He is often accompanied by si- leni, bacchantes, satyrs, etc» BACCHYLIDES (bak-il'e-des) , a Greek poet, a native of Julis, a town on the island of Cos. He was a cousin of the still more famous lyric poet Simon- ides, with whom he remained for some time at the court of Hiero and Sicily. He traveled also in the Peloponnesus. He is said to have been a rival of Pindar. He flourished about 470 B. C. In 1895 a well-preserved text of his poems was dis- covered and published, and Bacchylides has now taken a permanent place as a master of Greek verse. BACCIFEROUS (bak-sif'er-us), a term applied to those trees that bear ber- ries. They are of four kinds: (1) Such as bear a caliculate, or naked berry; the flower and calix both falling off together, and leaving the berry bare; as the sas- safras trees. (2) Such as have a naked monospermous fruit; that is, containing in it only one seed; as the arbutes. (3)