ARBACES

arbaces, according to ctesias (diodor. ii. 24 ff. 32), one of the generals of sardanapalus, king of assyria and founder of the median empire about 830 b.c. but ctesias's whole history of the assyrian and median empires is absolutely fabulous; his arbaces and his successors are not historical personages. from the inscriptions of sargon of assyria we know one "arbaku dynast of arnashia" as one of forty-five chiefs of median districts who paid tribute to sargon in 713 b.c. see media. (ed. m.) arbe (serbo-croatian _rab_), an island in the adriatic sea, forming the northernmost point of dalmatia, austria. pop. (1900) 4441. arbe is 13 m. long; its greatest breadth is 5 m. the capital, which bears the same name, is a walled town, remarkable, even among the dalmatian cities, for its beauty. it occupies a steep ridge jutting out from the west coast. at the seaward end of this promontory is the 13th-century cathedral; behind which the belfries of four churches, at least as ancient, rise in a row along the crest of the ridge; while behind these, again, are the castle and a background of desolate hills. many of the houses are roofless and untenanted; for, after five centuries of prosperity under venetian or hungarian rule, an outbreak of plague in 1456 swept away the majority of the townsfolk, and ruined the survivors. some of the old palaces are, nevertheless, of considerable interest; one especially as the birthplace of the celebrated philosopher, marc antonio de dominis. fishing and agriculture constitute the chief resources of the islanders, whose ancient silk industry is still maintained. in 1018 the yearly tribute due to venice was fixed at ten pounds of silk or five pounds of gold. arbela (arba'il, i.e. "four-god-city"), an ancient town in adiabene, the capital in assyrian and pre-assyrian times of the country between the greater and lesser zab, and seat of an important cult of ishtar. the battle in which alexander overthrew darius in 331 b.c., though named in the old books after arbela, was probably fought at gaugamela, some 60 m. away (yorck von wartenburg, _kurze ubersicht der feldzuge a. des gr._). the modern town of erbil or arbil, in the vilayet of mosul, is about 40 m. from mosul on the road to bagdad. the greater part of the town, which seems at one time to have been very large, is situated on an artificial mound about 150 ft. high. it became the seat of the ayyubite sultan saladin in 1184; was bequeathed in 1233 to the caliphs of bagdad; was plundered by the mongols in 1236 and in 1393 by timur, and was taken in 1732 by the persians under nadir shah. in the 14th century the christians were almost exterminated. the population, which varies from 2000 to 6000, is chiefly composed of kurds. the ruins of another arbela (irbid, beth-arbel) in palestine, situated near the west shore of the sea of galilee, a little north of its centre, are not in themselves of high interest, but the site is noteworthy through its connexion with the neighbouring caves in the lofty flank of the wadi hamam, above which arbela stood. these caves (called by the arabs kulat ibn ma'an) are apparently natural, but were enlarged and fortified. they were used by the inhabitants of arbela as a place of refuge from the army of bacchides, general of demetrius iii., king of syria, and were the resort of bandits in the reign of herod the great. he laid siege to them, and his men could only gain access to the caves by being let down from above. the caves were also fortified against the romans by josephus.