we cannot help feeling the strongest conviction that we have before us the cities of the Rephaim of which we read in the book of Deuteronomy." Porter visited and passed by more than 30 cities and towns, and saw many others dotted over the plain. In his description of one of the houses of the aboriginal inhabitants he says: "The house seems to have undergone little change from the time that its old master left it, and yet the thick nitrous crust on the floor showed that it had not been inhabited for ages. The walls were perfect, built of large blocks of hewn basalt, without cement of any kind. The roof was formed of large slabs of the same black basalt, lying as regularly and joined as closely as if the workmen had just completed them. They measured 12 ft. in length, 18 inches in breadth, and 6 inches in thickness. The end rests on a plain stone cornice projecting about a foot from each side wall. The outer door was a slab of stone 4 ft. high, 4 wide, and 8 inches thick. It hung upon pivots formed of projecting parts of the slab working in sockets in the lintel and threshhold; and though so massive, it could be opened and shut with ease. At one end of the room was a small window with a stone shutter. An inner door, also of stone, but of finer workmanship, and not quite so heavy as the other, admitted to a chamber of the same size and appearance. From it a much larger door communicated with a third chamber, to which there was a descent by a flight of stone steps. This was a spacious hall, equal in width to the two rooms, and about 25 ft. long by 20 high. A semicircular arch was thrown across it, supporting the stone roof; and a gate so large that camels could pass in and out opened on the street. The gate was of stone and in its place." Some of these cities were supplied with water from distant springs by means of aqueducts. Desolation reigns everywhere; the cities are deserted, and the limited number of Druses and refugees who have settled there raise no more than is indispensable for sustenance, out of fear of arousing the rapacity of an arbitrary government and attracting the Bedouin robbers. (See BOZRAH.) The principal authorities on Bashan are J. L. Porter ("Damascus, ," "The Giant Cities of Bashan," &c.) and Wetzstein (Reisebericht über Hauran und die Trachonen, Berlin, 1860).

BASHAW. See PASHA.

BASHKIRS, or Bashkurts, uncivilized tribes of Russia, scattered from the Caspian to the boundary of Siberia, chiefly W. of the Ural mountains, and inhabiting large tracts of land (together about 50,000 sq. m.) in the governments of Perm, Ufa, Orenburg, Samara, and adjoining parts; total number about 500,000. They are of remote Finnish origin, but considerably mixed with Tartars, and have their local organizations of cantons, clanships, yurts, and villages, though they have been under Russian authority since their final subjugation about the middle of the 18th century. They are under

the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Mohammedan Tartar mufti of Ufa, and are nominally Sunnite Mohammedans, but addicted to paganism. They have many of the Tartar and Kirghiz characteristics, but although semi-savages, they are docile and inoffensive. About 50,000 of them are employed in the Russian cavalry service, and the whole race are relieved from paying taxes. They are excellent horsemen and eat horse flesh, and their horses, famous for endurance, are highly valued. In the war of 1812 the Bashkirs, though inferior to the Cossacks, rendered good service. In the Crimean war they were chiefly employed in rough work connected with the transportation of provisions and material. Some of them reside in permanent villages, cultivating the soil,

and raising cattle and bees; others are nomads, wandering from place to place with their flocks and herds, which are numerous, a rich man sometimes having 2,000 sheep and 500 head of cattle. About 400 schools have been established among them, which are attended by about 8,000 children.

BASIL, a name applied to various odoriferous labiates, but especially to the genus ocymum. The species of this genus number about 40, and are chiefly indigenous to the East Indies, where some species are regarded with superstitious veneration from their supposed power as disinfectants. Basil has been cultivated in many parts of Europe and America as a garden herb, useful in cooking for flavoring. In Madagascar the roots are eaten. A few species have conspicuous purplish flowers and variegated foliage, and find a place in cultivation among ornamental plants; but these are excep tions, and although the genus is closely allied to coleus, well known for its rich foliage, the species are usually recommended by their odor

and not by their appearance. All the species are easily cultivated from seed, and most of them are half hardy in the latitude of Boston.

Sweet Basil (Ocymum basilicum).

BASIL, a Bulgarian monk and physician, founder of a religious sect called Bogomiles (Slavic Bog, God, and milui, have mercy), burnt alive in Constantinople in 1118. His followers believed that before the birth of Christ God had a son Satanael, who revolted, seduced the angels, created the visible universe, and gave the Mosaic law, and that Christ had the mission to destroy the power of Satanael by consigning him to hell under the name of Satan. Basil repudiated marriage, favoring a free intercourse of the sexes, rejected the doctrine of the resurrection, the books of Moses, and the eucharist, abolished baptism, characterized churches as devilish, denounced priests and monks, and would not recognize any liturgy but the Lord's prayer. He condemned all cruelty to animals, and objected to the eating of meat and eggs. In 1111 the emperor Alexis Comnenus convened a synod for the condemnation of the Bogomiles; and entrapping Basil, as their chief leader, into making a confession of his faith, he convened a second synod (1118), calling upon him to retract; but he remained firm, expecting, even while the flames surrounded him, that angels would come to his rescue. See Engelhardt, Kirchengeschichtliche Abhandlungen (Erlangen, 1832).

BASIL I., or Basilius, surnamed the Macedonian, emperor of the East, born in the province of Macedon about 825, died March 1, 886. At a very early age he was taken prisoner by a party of Bulgarians, who carried him into their country and sold him as a slave. Having obtained his liberty, he proceeded to Constantinople, where a monk caused him to be presented to Theophilus the Little, a relative of the emperor. Accompanying his master to Greece, he won the favor of a rich widow, who made him her heir, and whose wealth enabled

him to purchase large estates in his native country. He continued in the service of Theophilus till 842, when he brought himself to the notice of the emperor Michael III. by vanquishing in single combat a gigantic Bulgarian. He gradually rose to the dignity of chief chamberlain, and repudiated his wife in order to marry one of the emperor's concubines. He formed

conspiracy against Bardas, on whom the dignity of Cæsar had been conferred, caused him to be assassinated in the presence of Michael, and soon afterward was created Augustus and recognized as heir apparent. Henceforward, in consequence of the inebriety and incapacity of Michael, the whole administration of the government devolved upon him. The emperor, perceiving himself reduced to a cipher, be came jealous and resolved on Basil's ruin; but the plot was revealed to Basil, and on Sept. 24, 867, Michael III. was murdered. Basil was now proclaimed emperor, and during a reign of over 18 years displayed a vigor and ability which few of his predecessors had equalled. He removed the patriarch Photius from the see of Constantinople, because of the religious feuds which he had excited there, and installed Ignatius in his place; reduced the revolted Paulicians to obedience; compelled the Arabs to raise the siege of Ragusa in 872, vanquished them in Syria and Mesopotamia in several engagements, and attempted to drive them out of Italy. His general Procopius was defeated and slain through the treachery of his lieutenant Leo, whom Basil accordingly caused to be mutilated and sent into exile. Basil meanwhile became jealous of his own son Leo, owing to the slanders of a courtier; but, convinced at the last moment of the young man's innocence, he restored him to his affections, and punished his calumniator. The emperor died in consequence of a wound received from a stag. He made a collection of some of the laws of the eastern empire, which was entitled the "Basilican Constitutions," and wrote a small work on the moral, religious, social, and political duties of sovereigns, which he dedicated to his son and successor Leo the Philosopher. This work is still extant; the best edition of it is that published in Göttingen, 1674.-Basil II., emperor of the East, eldest son of Romanus II., born in 958, died in 1025. Romanus had decreed that his infant sons Basil and Constantine should reign together under the guardianship of their mother. Immediately after the death of Romanus, however, their mother married Nicephorus Phocas, and raised him to the throne; and the brothers did not succeed to their inheritance till 976. Constantine gave himself up to licentiousness, and the whole administration of the government devolved on Basil. His reign was a series of domestic and foreign wars. He put down the formidable revolt of Sclerus, defeated the attempt of Otho II., emperor of Germany, to enforce his claim to Calabria and Apulia in Italy, in right of his wife Theophania, the sister of

Basil; and was repeatedly engaged in war with the caliph of Bagdad, from whom he made valuable conquests, and with his old allies the Sicilian Arabs. But his most important war was that which resulted in the conquest of Bulgaria. This war broke out in 987, and lasted, with few intermissions, till 1018. In the first years of it Basil conquered a considerable portion of the southwestern division of that kingdom; but in 996 Samuel, its king, overran all Macedonia and Thessaly, laid siege to Thessalonica, and penetrated into the Peloponnesus. During his homeward march, however, he was encountered by Basil on the banks of the Sperchius, and defeated. In 999 Nicephorus Xiphias, the general of Basil, captured two of the most important strongholds in Bulgaria proper; and in 1002 Samuel again invaded Macedonia and Thrace, and even took Adrianople, but was driven back to his own kingdom. Basil gave his enemies such an overthrow at Zetunium that they never recovered from the blow. On this occasion the emperor showed no mercy to the vanquished. Of 15,000 prisoners he ordered the eyes of all to be put out save those of one in every 100, who was to guide his 99 unfortunate brethren in arms to their native land. The cries of these poor wretches, as they approached the camp of their countrymen, had an effect on the Bulgarian monarch which the shouts of his foes could never produce; he fell to the ground insensible, and expired on the third day after. The conquest of Bulgaria was, however, not entirely completed till 1018, when it became a Greek province and was subjected to the rule of a Greek governor. Basil contemplated the expulsion of the Arabs from Sicily; but in the midst of his preparations for it he was seized with an illness which terminated his life. To expiate the sins of his youth, Basil wore the hair shirt of a monk beneath his imperial robe, and lived the abstemious life of an ascetic. Notwithstanding his incessant wars, he accumulated from his surplus revenue during his reign an enormous fortune, estimated to have been equal to £8,000,000 sterling.

BASIL THE GREAT, a saint of the Christian church, born at Cæsarea in Cappadocia in 328 or 329, died Jan. 1, 379. His father and mother were St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmelia. His father belonged to a noble family of Pontus, which had long been Christian. He had nine brothers and sisters, all of whom, according to the testimony of their intimate friend St. Gregory Nazianzen, were remarkable for sanctity, and three of whom are canonized, viz., St. Gregory Nyssen, St. Peter of Sebaste, and St. Macrina. His early education was superintended by his father, after whose death he continued his studies at Cæsarea, Constantinople, and Athens. He excelled in eloquence and logic, applied himself also to philosophy, natural science, medicine, poetry, and the fine arts, and was one of the most ardent advocates of the study of classical literature and eloquence

in Christian schools. At Athens he formed an intimacy with St. Gregory Nazianzen. He returned to Cæsarea in 355, and opened a school of rhetoric with brilliant success, but soon gave it up for the purpose of embracing a religious life. Dividing the principal part of his property among the poor, he travelled through Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, to visit the most celebrated anchorets and monasteries. In 358 he returned home, was ordained lector by Dianius, and retired to his grandmother's house in Pontus. His mother and sister had already founded a female convent in the neighborhood, on the bank of the river Isis, in which his sister was superior. Basil now founded a monastery, according to some authorities on the opposite bank, according to others at Seleucobol, and in the course of time other affiliated monasteries. He remained in his own convent as superior for four years, when he yielded his place to his brother St. Peter of Sebaste. After his election to the episcopate he continued to watch over these religious homes, and composed rules and spiritual treatises for them; and the principal part of the religious in the East are hence called Basilians. In 359, during a famine, he sold the remaining portion of his property for the relief of the sufferers. Gregory joined him, and has left an interesting account of the life they led in common, in a little hut with a barren garden spot around it, where they found exercise and diversion in cutting stone, carrying wood, planting flowers, and making canals to irrigate the sandy soil. In 362 Basil went back to Cæsarea and took with him a number of his religious brethren, it seems, to found a cloister. Julian the Apostate was now emperor; he had been Basil's fellow student at Athens, and he sent a hypocritical invitation to him to come to his court. This invitation was declined, and was followed by another, which was accompanied by an order to pay 1,000 pounds of gold to the treasurer or be dragged through the city. Basil replied in a very bold and severe style to his old comrade, who soon afterward found his death in the Persian war. In his 35th year Basil was ordained priest by Eusebius, the successor of Dianius in Cæsarea, but for some reason was soon dismissed from the high post which the bishop had assigned him. Eusebius's conduct met with general censure. Basil retired again to Pontus, but in 366 Eusebius was obliged to recall him to Cæsarea, to stem the irruptions which Arianism was making under the auspices of the emperor Valens. In 370, on the death of Eusebius, he was elected archbishop of Cæsarea. During the remaining nine years of his life he presided over this important see in such a manner as to win the reputation of one of the greatest bishops of the church. The whole city followed him to the grave, Jews and heathen wept with the Christians at his death, and St. Gregory Nazianzen pronounced his panegyric. The principal efforts of St. Basil the Great were directed to the defence of the

E: divinity of Jesus Christ against the Arians. On account of this he is styled by the general council of Chalcedon "the great Basil, the servant of grace, who has proclaimed the truth to the whole earth." He is held in especial veneration in the Greek church, though he was a strenuous supporter of the Nicene creed. His works were first published at Basel with a preface by Erasmus in 1532. The most complete edition is that of Garnier (3 vols., Paris, 1721– '30; reprinted in Paris in 6 vols. 8vo, 1839). BASILAN, an island of the Malay archipelago, the largest of the Sooloo group, separated by the strait of Basilan, 12 m. wide, from the S. W. extremity of the island of Mindanao; area, about 500 sq. m.; pop. about 5,000. The coast abounds with fish; there are wild hogs, deer, and elephants in the forests. It is a favorite resort of pirates.

BASILIAN MONKS, or Monks of St. Basil, a religious order founded by St. Basil the Great, about the middle of the 4th century. When the saint retired into the deserts of Pontus ho found there a vast number of solitaries whose manner of life he strove to copy. Crowds of followers gathered around him, and so rapidly did their number increase that he found it necessary to build a large monastery, and to embody in a code of written laws instructions for their conduct. These rules were published in 362, and received the sanction of Pope Liberius. The new order spread rapidly throughout the East, and it is said that before his death Basil saw himself the spiritual father of over 90,000 monks. In the 8th century they were treated with great severity by the emperor Constantine Copronymus, a violent iconoclast. The Basilian rule was translated into Latin by Rufinus, and thereupon passed into the West, where it became the basis of all monastic institutions up to the time of St. Benedict. Great numbers embraced it in Italy, Sicily, and Spain; but, though calling themselves by the common name of "monks of St. Basil," these various communities were independent of each other until Pope Gregory XIII. united them under one head, and at the same time corrected several abuses which had crept in among them during the lapse of years. Various causes have since led to their decline in the West, but the order is still large and important. Their principal monastery is that of St. Saviour at Messina. In Spain, where they are very numerous, the Latin rite is universally followed; in Italy and Sicily they generally conform to the ritual of the Greek church, with a few modifications. Most of the monks of the Greek church in Russia claim to belong to the order of St. Basil, but if so they have deviated widely from their original rule. The historians of the order state that it has produced 14 popes, numerous patriarchs, cardinals, and archbishops, 1,800 bishops, and 11,800 martyrs.

BASILICA (Gr. Basilish, from Baoiλevç, king), a term first applied in Athens to buildings in which public business was transacted, and

afterward in Rome to stately edifices of an oblong shape, with four corners, adorned with Corinthian columns, generally used for the administration of justice, and for other public purposes. The first basilica at Rome was built by Cato the Elder, and was called Porcia. The basilica Julia, built by Vitruvius at Fanum for Julius Cæsar, was supported by 100 marble pillars, embellished with gold and precious stones, and contained 13 judgment seats for the prætors. There were about 20 basilicas in Rome, and one in every provincial town. The only one of which considerable remains still exist is that of Trajan. Among the most celebrated basilicas were those at Palestrina, Pompeii, and Pæstum. Many of them became churches, some of which in the 4th and 5th centuries were called basilicas; and the term was also given to the tomb of Edward the Confessor and other medieval church-like sepulchral monuments. There are several churches in Rome called basilicas, but the name is chiefly applied in modern times to the five patriarchal churches of St. Peter, St. John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore, St. Paul, and St. Lorenzo, the last two being without the walls. Of the smaller basilicas the most important are those of Santa Croce, St. Sebastian, St. Agnes, and San Pietro in Vincoli.-See Bunsen, Die christlichen Basiliken Roms (Munich, 1843), and Hübsch, Der altchristliche Kirchenbau (Carlsruhe, 1862).

BASILICATA, a province of S. Italy, situated chiefly E. of the main Apennine ridge, and between it and the gulf of Taranto, occupying the greater part of ancient Lucania; area, 4,122 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 509,089. The chief rivers, the Sinno, Agri, Basento, and Bradano, form extended valleys bounded by offsets from the Apennines, which latter slope gradually toward the sea and settle into low plains within 10 m. of the coast. These plains, famous in antiquity as the plains of Metapontum and Heraclea, are still remarkable for their fertility. The interior is mountainous, rugged, and little visited, and the inhabitants retain primitive modes of life. The principal tree is the pine. The most extensive forests are along the Sinno. In the most northern part of the province, watered by the Ofanto, is the volcanic region of Mount Vultur, which extends N. and S. between 15 and 20 m., and is 20 m. wide. The mountain proper is situated between Melfi and Rionero, and is 3,000 ft. high. Disastrous earthquakes occurred here in 1851 and in December, 1857. Basilicata is rich in cattle, silk, wine, and saffron. Cotton and olive oil are produced moderately. The chief cereals are maize and buckwheat. It is divided into the districts of Lagonegro, Melfi, Matera, and Potenza. Capital, Potenza.

BASILIDES, the founder of a Gnostic sect, who taught in Alexandria about the year 120. Some say that he was born in Egypt, others in Syria or Persia. He taught that the Supreme Being produced from himself seven other

beings, called æons. These are, Intelligence (Nous), Reason (Aoyóç), Providence, Wisdom, Power, Peace, and Holiness; these seven, with the Supreme Being himself, constituting the perfect eight ('Oydoás). The ons Wisdom and Power produced the angels of the first order, who produced those of the second order, and so on to the number of 365 orders, each order dwelling in its own heaven. From Greek letters the numerical value of which is 365 was formed the mystical word Abraxas, which became the symbol of the sect founded by Basilides. The seven angels of the lowest order, whose archon or chief was the God of the Hebrews, were the creators of the world. All human souls had committed sins in a previous state of existence, and were consequently excluded from the realm of light. To effect their return to this realm, the Nous united himself with the man Christ Jesus at the time of his baptism; but the sufferings which Jesus endured were borne by the man only, and were in expiation, as all suffering is, of sins committed by him in a former state of existence. Basilides forbade marriage and the eating of meat. He wrote a book entitled Exegetica, fragments of which are still extant, and several other works, among which is a gospel. His followers, the Basilidians, existed as late as the 4th century; but they soon degenerated from the doctrines of their founder, affirming the God of the Hebrews to be the enemy of the world of light, and became grossly immoral.

BASILISCUS, emperor of the East, died in Cappadocia in 477. Though his early exploits against the Scythians had been far from brilliant, he was through the influence of his sister, the empress Verina, wife of Leo I., placed in command in 468 of the fleet which sailed from Constantinople to Carthage against Genseric, consisting of over 1,100 ships and 100,000 men. The expedition safely reached the coast of Africa, but ended disastrously. Basiliscus, after displaying either the greatest pusillanimity or treachery, fled to Constantinople at the beginning of the contest, and hid himself in St. Sophia until his sister had appeased the wrath of the emperor. He was punished merely with banishment to Thrace. After the death of Leo I. (474) the throne devolved on his infant grandson, Leo II., the son of his daughter Ariadne and of her Isaurian consort Zeno. The latter, hoping to become sole ruler after the suspiciously sudden death of his son, was deposed by Verina and Basiliscus, and Basiliscus was proclaimed emperor by the senate. During his brief administration Constantinople was partly laid in ashes (476), the famous public library with over 120,000 MS. volumes, including the 48 books of the Iliad and the Odyssey, executed in golden letters, being burned. He burdened the people with taxes, and his rule became so intolerable that Zeno was recalled and Basiliscus and his wife and children were imprisoned in a tower in Cappadocia, where they were left to die of cold and starvation.

BASILISK (basiliscus, Laurenti), a genus of saurian reptiles of the family of iguanida, inhabiting the northern parts of South America, the West Indies, and Central America. The genus is characterized by a thin triangular fold of skin rising vertically from the occiput and inclined backward, resembling in shape a Phrygian cap; the external edge of the posterior toes is bordered with a scaly serrated fringe; the back and tail are surmounted in the adult male by an elevated crest, supported on the spinous process of the vertebrae, of varying height, and serrated; in one species this crest resembles the dorsal fin of a fish, while in the other it is merely a serrated scaly ridge; between the dorsal and caudal portions the crest is interrupted, and both are covered with thin scales disposed in series parallel to the spinous processes. Under the neck is a rudimentary angular crest, behind which is a well marked transverse fold. There are 5 or 6 teeth on each palatal bone, and 50 to 60 in each jaw, pointed and subconical, or compressed. It is distinguished from the iguana by the absence

of femoral pores. The head is covered with small many-sided ridged scales; the body above has rhomboidal ridged scales, arranged in transverse bands; the ventral scales are either smooth or ridged, according to the species. The limbs, especially the posterior, are very long, as are also the toes, which are slender and armed with nails; the body is nearly cylindrical, and the tail compressed and three times as long as the trunk. Two species are described. 1. The hooded basilisk (B. mitratus, Daudin) has the above-mentioned cap and dorsal crest, and the ventral scales smooth, without transverse black bands on the back; the color above is yellowish brown, beneath whitish; the sides of the neck are leaden brown, and the throat is marked by longitudinal bands of the same color; sometimes there is a white band bordered with black on the sides of the neck and back; the length varies from 24 to 30 inches, of which the tail measures about two thirds. 2. The banded basilisk (B. vittatus, Wiegmann) differs from the preceding in having only a slight serrated crest along the back and tail, the ventral scales