Difference between revisions of "Ape"

<p> קוֹ, [[Koph]] )'','' an animal of the monkey tribe mentioned in &nbsp;1 Kings 10:22, and in the parallel passage in &nbsp;2 Chronicles 9:21, among the merchandise brought by the fleets of Solomon and [[Hiram]] once in every three years. The Sept. renders the word by πίθηκος, which is equivalent to the Latin ''Simia.'' The Greeks have the word κῆβος or κῆπος, for a longtailed species of monkey (Aristot. ''Hist. Anim.'' 2, 8, 9), and Pliny (8, 19, 28) uses ''Cephus.'' Both Greeks and Hebrews received the word, with the animal, from India, for the ape, both in Sansc. and Malabar, is called ''Kapi'' =swift, active. Hence also the German ''Affe,'' the [[Anglo-Saxon]] ''Apa,'' and the English ''Ape.'' The name, under these modifications, designates the Simiadae, including, no doubt, species of Cercopithecus, Macacus, and Cynocephalus, or Guenons, apes and baboons; that is, all the aninals of the quadrumanous order known to the Hebrews, Arabs, Egyptians, and the classical writers. Accordingly, we find Pliny and Solinus speaking of [[Ethiopian]] Cephi exhibited at Rome; and in the upper part of the celebrated Praenestine mosaic representing the inundation of the Nile (see Shaw's ''Travels,'' p. 423, 2d ed. 4to) figures of Simiads occur in the region which indicates Nubia; among others, one in a tree, with the name ΚΗΙΠΕΝ beside it, which may be taken for a Cercopithecus of the Guenon group. But in the triumphal procession of Thothmes III at [[Thebes]] nations from the interior of Africa, probably from Nubia, bear curiosities and tributes, among which the camelopardalis or giraffe and six quadrumana may be observed. The Cephs of [[Ethiopia]] are described and figured in Ludolfi Historia Ethiopica, 1, 10, § 52-64. </p> <p> They are represented as tailless animals, climbing rocks, eating worms and ants, and protecting themselves from the attack of lions by casting sand into their eyes. Apes also occur in the lately discovered Assyrian sculptures, both in bas-reliefs on slabs (Layard, Nineveh, 1, 118), and of various species on an obelisk at Nimroud (ib. 2, 330). The Koph of Scripture, named only twice (&nbsp;1 Kings 10:22; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 9:21), is in both cases, associated with תּוֹכַיַּים '', Tokiyim,'' rendered "peacocks." The fleet of Solomen is said to have brought these two kinds of animals from Ophir. Now neither peacocks nor pheasants are indigenous in Africa; they belong to India and the mountains of high Asia, and therefore the version. "peacocks," if correct, would decide, without doubt, not only that ''Koph'' denotes none of the Simiadae above noticed, but also that the fleet of [[Tarshish]] visited India or the Australasian islands. For these reasons we conclude that the [[Hebrew]] ''Koph,'' and names of same root, were, by the nations in question, used generically in some instances and specifically in others, though the species were not thereby defined, nor on that account identical. For the natural history of the ape family, see the ''Penny Cyclopcedia,'' s.v. For some attempts to identify the various kinds of quadrumana which were known to the ancients, see Lichtenstein's ''Commentatio Philologica De Simiarum Quotquot Veteribus Innotuerunt Formis'' (Hamb. 1791), and Tyson's ''Homo Sylvestris, Or The [[Anatomy]] Of A Pigmie'' (Lond. 1699), to which he has added a philosophical essay concerning the Cynocephali, the Satyrs, and Sphinges of the ancients. [[Aristotle]] (''De Anim. Hist.'' 2, 5, ed. Schneider) appears to divide the quadrumana order of mammalia into three tribes, which he characterizes by the names πίθηκοι, κῆβοι, and κυνοκέφαλοι. The ancients were acquainted with several kinds of tailed and tailless apes (Plin. ''Hist. Nat.'' 8, 80; 11:100; Elian, Anim. 17, 25), and obtained them from Ethiopia (Plin. ut sup.) and India (Ctes. in Phot. Cod. 72, p. 66; Arrian, Ind. 15; AElian- Anim. 17, 25, 39; Philostr. Apoll. 3, 4), but in [[Mauritania]] they were domesticated (Strabo, 17:827), as now in [[Arabia]] [[Felix]] (Niebuhr, Bed. p. 167). </p>

<p> '''''āp''''' ( קוף , <i> '''''ḳōph''''' </i> ): The word occurs only in the two parallel passages (&nbsp;1 Kings 10:22; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 9:21 ) in which the magnificence of Solomon is illustrated by the things which are brought to him from foreign countries. Apes are mentioned with gold, silver, ivory and peacocks. [[Peacocks]] are natives of India and Ceylon. Apes and ivory may have been brought from India or Africa. Gold and silver may have come from these or other quarters. An Indian origin may be inferred from the fact that the Hebrew <i> '''''ḳōph''''' </i> , the Greek <i> '''''kḗbos''''' </i> (κῆβος ) and the English "ape" are akin to the [[Sanskrit]] "kapi", which is referred to the root <i> '''''kap''''' </i> , <i> '''''kamp''''' </i> , "to tremble"; but the question of the source of these imports depends upon what is understood by Tarshish and Ophir (which see). [[Canon]] Cheyne in <i> Encyclopedia Biblica </i> (s.v. "Peacock") proposes a reading which would give "gold, silver, ivory and precious stones" instead of "gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks." Assuming, however, that animals are here referred to, the word ape should be understood to mean some kind of monkey. The word "ape" is sometimes used for the tail-less apes or anthropoids such as the gorilla, the chimpanzee and the orangutang, as opposed to the tailed kinds, but this distinction is not strictly held to, and the usage seems formerly to have been freer than now. </p>