1173 till 1415. when it was taken from them by the Swiss Confederates, who save parts of it to Bern and Lucerne. In 1798 the district was divided into the cantons of Aargau and Baden, which became members of the Helvetic Confederation. Ruled mainly by the aristocratic party, Aargau gained a liberal constitution in 18.3]'. and since then has been the champion of democracy against the reactionists and the clericals. Con.sult: Historische Ge.iellschaft des Kantons Aargau (Aarau, 1898), and J. Heierli, Die Archaologische Karte des Kantons Aargau (Aarau, 1890).
AABHUS, ar'hoos. A seaport and episcopal
city of Dennuirk. capital of the Amt of Aarhus,
Jutland, situated on a bay of the Kattegat, in a
fertile plain. 68 miles northeast of Fredericia
(Map: Denmark. D 2). It has a Gothic cathe-
dral, whose erection was commenced in 1201. a
museum, an exchange, and several banks. The in-
habitants are engaged in shipbuilding and manu-
facturingr. The town is connected with the rest
of Jutland by the State Railroad, and there are
regular lines of steamers to Copenhagen and
England. The harbor is well protected by a
breakwater, and admits vessels of six feet
draught. The town ranks among the oldest in
Denmark, for it had the first Christian church
and was the residence of a bishop in 948. Aarhus
was the scene of a Danish defeat by the Prus-
sians in 1849. Pop., 1890, 33.300; 1901, 51,909.
AARON, ai-'un. A Jewish High Priest and
elder brother of Moses. When Moses was sent on
his mission of deliverance to Pharaoh. Aaron was
appointed his spokesman and performed some
miracles, even bringing on some of the plagues.
He is always, however, the subordinate of Moses,
from whoni he receives his ordination as High
Priest. (Ex. xxix: Lev. viii : 9.) Aaron was
not so strong-minded as his brother. While
Moses was absent receiving the Ten Command-
ments, Aaron acceded to the importimities of the
people and fashioned for them the golden calf.
Aaron was concerned in two rebellions. In the
first, his authority, as well as the authority of
Moses, was called into question by the Korahites
(Num. xvi). The miraculous budding of the
rod of Aaron settled that dispute. In the other,
Aaron, perhaps inspired by Miriam, rebelled
against the authority of Moses, but here Miriam
w'as punished. Because of the incident at
Meribah (Num. xx : 8-13) Aaron was not
allowed to enter Canaan, but died and was bur-
ied on itount Hor, on the confines of Iduma'a.
Eleazar, his son. succeeded to the high priest-
hood. In later Hebrew literature Aaron appears
as the ideal priest, "loving peace, pursuing
peace" {Ethics of the Fathers, I : 12), and as
the great conciliator. Those who accept the
modern Biblical criticism call attention to the
fact that it is only in the Pentateucli, vhich,
they assert, is post-exilic, that Aaron is re-
garded as the ancestor of all lawful priests,
whereas in the earlier literature he is merely a
prominent figure by the side of Moses and Mir-
iam. The prophet Ezckiel does not trace the
origin of the .lerusalem priesthood farther back
than to Zadok, who lived in the days of Solomon,
and when we oonie to the Elohistic history (see
Elohist at'D Yahwist) we find Joshua, and
not Aaron, assisting Moses in the exercise of
religious rites. In the Yahvistic document Aaron
is practically ignored, so that we conclude
that the picture drawn of him in the Priestly
Code and later portions of the Old Testament
is part and parcel of the "theocratic" theory
which led Hebrew writers to reconstruct Hebrew
history to so large an extent. See Moses.
AARON. A character in the Shakespearean
play of Titus Androfiicus, a villainous Moor.
The resemblance of Aaron's brazen avowal of his
wickedness in the last act of this play to a sim-
ilar passage in Marlowe's Jew of Malta has been
cited as an indication that the Titus Andronicus
may possibly owe its origin to the same author.
AARSENS, är′sens, Frans van (1572-1641). A Dutch diplomat. At twenty-six years of age
he was sent to Paris as the agent of the States-General;
later he became ambassador for the United Provinces, and long represented his country at the French Court, where he was highly regarded by Richelieu. He was also at different periods Ambassador to Venice, Germany, and
England. Motley, who considered Aarsens one of the ablest diplomats of Europe, shows that he contributed largely to the unrighteous death of Barneveldt, 1619.
AASEN, a'sen, Ivar Andreas (1813-96). A
Norwegian philologist. He was born, at Sond-
more. "He at first studied botany, but subse-
quently turned his attention to researches
respecting the native dialects. Assisted by the
Go'ernment, he traversed nearly the whole of
Norway, investigating popular speech, upon
which he sought to base a national language
that should be free from Danish influence. In
1848 he published Dct ^orske Folkesprogs Gram-
matil:, and in 1850 added Ordhog over det Norske
Folkesprog, enlarged under the title of Tiorsk
Ordhog in 1873, and in 1856 Norske Ordsprog,
a treatise on Norw-egian proverbs. Through his
linguistic work he was the originator of the
patriotic movement generally known as the
"Maalstrcev."
AASVÄR, a̤s'vâr. Islands off Norway, about latitude 66° (Map: Norway, D 3). They have herring fisheries, in which more than 10,000 men are employed in December and January, but for
the rest of the year they are almost deserted. The fish is the great Nordland herring, and the catch often reaches 200,000 tons in a season.
AASVOGEL, as'fo-gel (South African Dutch,
carrion-bird) . Any of several South African vul-
tures.
AB, ab. The fifth month of the Jewish relig-
ious year, and the eleventh (in intercalary years
the twelfth) of the Jewish civil year. The first
day of Ab became a fast to commemorate the
death of Aaron; but of far greater significance
is the ninth, commemorated as a fast to mark
the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchad-
nezzar, 586 B.C., and of the second temple by
Titus, 70 A.I)., though there is no evidence to
show that the latter ever took place on that day
of the month. Ab corresponds roughly to July-
August of the common year.
ABAB'BE. A Hamitic people west of the
Red Son, below Kosseir. Their habits are those
of the desert, the camel being their chief domes-
tic animal.
AB'ACA. A term used in the Philippme
Islands to designate the plant which produces
manila liemp. See Hemp, Makila.
ABACO, iL'Tja-ko, or Lucaya, Great and Little. Two of the Bahama Islands, 150 miles east of Florida, lat. 25° 51' N., long, 77° 5' W. (Map: West Indies, J 1). Together they cover
