MANASSAS

manassas, a district of prince william county, virginia, and a town of the district, about 30 m. w.s.w. of washington, d.c. pop. (1910) of the district, 3381; of the town, 1217. the village of manassas (in the town), known also as manassas junction, is served by the chesapeake & ohio and the southern railways. north of the junction is bull run, a small stream which empties into the occoquan, an arm of the potomac. in this neighbourhood two important battles of the american civil war, the first and second battles of bull run, were fought on the 21st of july 1861 and on the 29th-30th of august 1862 respectively; by southern historians these battles are called the battles of manassas. at manassas is the manassas industrial school for coloured youth (non-sectarian; privately supported), which was founded in 1892 and opened in 1894; in 1908-1909 it had nine teachers (all negroes) and 121 pupils, all in elementary grades. manasseh (7th cent. b.c.), son of hezekiah, and king of judah (2 kings xxi. 1-18). his reign of fifty-five years was marked by a reaction against the reforming policy of his father, and his persistent idolatry and bloodshed were subsequently regarded as the cause of the destruction of jerusalem and of the dispersion of the people (2 kings xxiii. 26 seq.; jer. xv. 4). as a vassal of assyria he was contemporary with sennacherib, esar-haddon (681-668 b.c.) and assur-bani-pal (668-626 b.c.), and his name (_me-na-si-e_) appears among the tributaries of the two latter. little is known of his history. the chronicler, however, relates that the assyrian army took him in chains to babylon, and that after his repentance he returned, and distinguished himself by his piety, by building operations in jerusalem and by military organization (2 chron. xxxiii. 10 sqq.). the story of his penitence referred to in xxxiii. 22, is untrustworthy, but the historical foundation may have been some share in the revolt of the babylonian samas-sum-ukin (648 b.c.), on which occasion he may have been summoned before assur-bani-pal with other rebels and subsequently reinstated. see further driver, in hogarth, _authority and archaeology_, pp. 114 sqq. manasseh was succeeded by his son amon, who after a brief reign of two years perished in a conspiracy, his place being taken by amon's son (or brother) josiah (q.v.). a lament formerly ascribed to manasseh (cf. 2 chron. xxxiii. 18) is preserved in the apocrypha (see manasses, prayer of; and apocryphal literature). on judg. xviii. 30 (marg.), see jonathan. manasseh (apparently hebrew for "he who causes to forget," but see h. w. hogg, _encyc. bib._, s.v.); in the bible, a tribe of israel, the elder but less important of the "sons" of joseph. its seat lay to the north of ephraim, but its boundaries can scarcely be defined. it merged itself with its "brother" in the south, and with issachar, zebulun and other tribes in the north (josh. xvii. 7 sqq.). from the latter it was separated for a time by a line of canaanite cities extending from dor to bethshean, which apparently were not all subdued till the days of david or solomon (judg. i. 27; 1 sam. xxxi. 10; 1 kings ix. 15). besides its western settlement in the fertile glades of northern samaria, running out into the great plain, there were territories east of the jordan reckoned to manasseh. gilead and bashan were said to have been taken by machir, and a number of places of uncertain identification were occupied by nobah and jair (num. xxxii. 41; judg. x. 3-5). it seems most natural to suppose that these districts were held before the israelites crossed over to the west (cf. the tradition num. xxi., deut. iii.). on the other hand, in judg. v. 14, machir may conceivably belong to the west, and it is possible that, according to another tradition, these movements were the result of the complaint of the joseph tribes that their original territory was too restricted.[1] in the genealogical lists, machir, perhaps originally an independent branch, is the eldest son of manasseh (josh. xvii. 1 _b_, 2); but according to later schemes he is manasseh's only son (num. xxvi. 28-34). intermixture with arameans is indicated in the view that he was the son of manasseh and an aramean concubine (1 chron. vii. 14), and this is supported by the statement that the arameans of geshur and maacah (cf. 2 sam. x. 6; gen. xxii. 24) dwelt among the israelites of eastern jordan (josh. xiii. 13). subsequently, at an unknown period of history, sixty cities were lost (1 chron. ii. 23). the story of the daughters of the manassite zelophehad is of interest for the hebrew law of inheritance (num. xxvii. 1-11, xxxvi.). some details of the history of this twofold branch of the israelites are contained in the stories of gideon (w. manasseh) and jephthah (e. manasseh). the relations between saul and jabesh-gilead point to the close bond uniting the two districts, but the details have been variously interpreted: winckler, for example, suggesting that saul himself was originally from e. manasseh and that he followed in the steps of jephthah (_keilinschr. u. d. alte test._, pp. 216 seq. 227). generally speaking, its position in the west made it share the fortunes of ephraim, whilst on the east the proximity of ammonites and moabites controlled its history; see also the articles on its southern neighbours, gad and reuben, and the articles genealogy (biblical); and jews: _history_. (s. a. c.) footnote: [1] so budde (_richter u. samuel_), who recovers certain old fragments and arranges josh. xvii. 14-18 (v. 18 read "hill-country of gilead"); num. xxxii. 39, 41 seq.; josh. xiii. 13.