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MOAWIYAH MOBILE 685 make the stone a pretext for interfering in the government of the country ; they there- fore lighted a tire on it, and when it was hot threw water upon it, which broke it into three large and several small fragments. The three large pieces were obtained by Clermont- Ganneau, dragoman of the French embassy at Constantinople, who had also procured an imperfect paper impression of the text before the stone was broken. Some of the smaller fragments, obtained by Capt. Warren, came into the possession of the Palestine exploration society. Ganneau published a partially restored text, with a translation, in the Revue archeolo- gique for March and June, 1870. The alpha- bet of the inscription is Hebrseo-Phrenician, the oldest known form of Semitic. The language closely resembles Hebrew, and it is believed that the inscription dates from about 920 B. 0. Owing chiefly to the fragmentary condition of the inscription, the decipherment cannot be re- garded as finally established ; but the labors of Ganneau, Neubauer, Ndldeke, Hitzig, Kampf, Derenbourg, Haug, Schlottmann, Deutsch, Gins- burg, Levy, Harkavy, Wright, Lenormant, and others have doubtless determined its general contents. It appears that the stone was set up by Mesha or Mesa, king of Moab, son of Chemosh-Gad, who, speaking in the first per- son, records his wars with Omri, king of Is- rael, and his successors. Mesha fortified Baal- meon, made a successful attack on Kiriathaim, took Ashtaroth, and put all the inhabitants to death. He then assaulted Nebo, slew 7,000 men, and devoted the women to Ashtar-Che- mosh, and the vessels of Jehovah to the same god. The king of Israel fortified Jahaz and attacked Mesha, but was defeated and lost the city, which was thereupon occupied by Moab- ites. Subsequently Mesha restored Korhah, rebuilt Aroer, Beth-bamoth, Bezer, Beth-ga- mul, Beth-diblathaim, and Beth-Baal-meon. In continuation Mesha narrates his successful wars against the Edomites. The fragments of the stone were purchased by the French gov- ernment for 32,000 francs, and were trans- ported to the Louvre in Paris. Recent trav- ellers in Moab report that the Arabs are now afflicted with a mania for "written stones," and offer many for sale which are only cov- ered with tribe marks, or at best fragmentary Nabathasan inscriptions. See Cleraiont-Gan- neau, La stele de Mesa (Paris, 1870); Ward, in the "Bibliotheca Sacra" (Andover, October, 1870) ; Ginsburg, "The Moabite Stone" (Lon- don, 1870 ; 2d ed., revised and enlarged, 1871) ; Palmer, " The Desert of the Exodus " (Lon- don, 1872); and Tristram, "The Land of Mo- ab " (London, 1873). MOAWIYAH. I. The founder of the dynasty of the Ommiyade caliphs, born in Mecca about 610, died in Damascus in the spring of 680. He was the son of Abu Sofian, one of the chiefs at Mecca, and the great-grandson of Om- miya, a cousin of the grandfather of Moham- med. In 641 Omar appointed him governor of Syria ; and although he permitted the island of Cyprus, which fell into Saracen power about 648, to be recaptured by its people in 651, he subjugated and retained the island of Rhodes. On the assassination of the caliph Othman in 655, he refused to recognize Ali, his legiti- mate successor, but proclaimed himself ca- liph. After a long struggle, in which he often displayed tyranny and revolting cruelty, he succeeded in subjugating the whole Saracen empire, and placing its provinces under the control of governors friendly to him. His armies made large additions to his territory, conquering Bokhara and Samarcand on the north, and meeting with no important check until they attacked Constantinople, which was repeatedly besieged until in 678 Mpawiyah was compelled to make terms of peace. He made the caliphate hereditary, though the measure excited great opposition, and com- pelled the recognition of Yezid, his son, as his future successor. II. Grandson of the prece- ding, born in Damascus in 660, died there in 686. He succeeded Yezid as caliph in the au- tumn of 683, but abdicated a few months later, declaring that the act of his grandfather in making the caliphate hereditary had been one of usurpation, in the results of which he would not share. lie refused even to appoint a suc- cessor, but retired to a life of complete pri- vacy. According to some historians, he died of the plague ; according to others, he was poi- soned. (See OMMIYADES.) MOBERLY, George, an English bishop, born in 1803. He graduated at Oxford in 1825, and became successively fellow and tutor of Balliol college, public examiner, and select preacher before the university. In 1835 he was ap- pointed head master of Winchester school. In 1868 he was the Bampton lecturer, and in 1869 he was made bishop of Salisbury. His nu- merous publications include " Introduction to Logic " (1838) ; " Sermons preached at Win- chester College " (2 vols., 1844-'8) ; " Sayings of the Great Forty Days, with an Examination of Mr. Newman's Theory of Development" (1846; 4th ed., 1871); "Studies and Discipline of Public Schools " (1861) ; " The Administra- tion of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ " (Bampton lectures, 1868) ; and " Brightstone Sermons "(1869). MOBILE, the name of a river and bay in the southern part of Alabama, derived from that of a tribe of Indians (the Mauvilians or Mo- bilians) who inhabited the adjacent country at the time of its first settlement by Europeans. The river Mobile is formed by the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee. A few miles below this point it divides into two branches, the eastern one of which takes the name of Tensas, the western retaining that of Mobile. Before reuniting, both these streams separate into several other subdivisions, all of which meet in one common embouchure at the head of Mobile bay. The length of the Mobile river is about 50 m., and its general direction