| <p> Son of Peleth, chief of Reuben; took part with Korah, Dathan, etc., against Moses ( Numbers 16:1). Since his name is not repeated, he probably renounced the conspiracy. The rabbis say that his wife saved him. </p> | | <p> '''''Ηeliopolis''''' in the Septuagint. '''''Βeth Shemesh''''' ("house of the sun") in Jeremiah 43:13. "Nebuchadnezzar shall break the standing images of [[Beth]] Shemesh in Egypt." The "standing images" may mean "obelisks," for which the On sun temple was famed; they stood before the temple gates. "The houses of the gods shall he burn with fire." '''''Shu''''' "the god of light", '''''Τafnet''''' "the fire goddess", and '''''Ra''''' "the sun god", could not save their own dwellings from the element which they were thought to rule! E. of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, 30 miles N.E. of Memphis, Ephraem Syrus says the statue rose 60 cubits high, the base 10, above was a mitre 1,008 lbs. weight. The obelisk of red granite there now is 68 ft. high above the pedestal, the oldest and one of the finest in Egypt. It was part of the temple of the sun; its sculptured dedication is by Osirtasin I of the 12th dynasty. [[Josephus]] (Ant 10:9, section 7) says Nebuchadnezzar, the fifth year after Jerusalem's fall, left the siege of [[Tyre]] to march against Egypt. (See [[Hophra]] .) </p> <p> Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 30:17) calls it Aven; perhaps a play on the name, meaning "vanity", because of its idolatry. Re-Athom is the [[Egyptian]] hieroglyphical designation, the sun (Ra) the father of the gods, as Adam or Athom was of mankind. [[Manetho]] says '''''Μnevis''''' "the bull" was first worshipped here under the second king of the second dynasty. '''''Αtum''''' is represented as "the setting sun," the "sun of the nether world" ( Genesis 41:45; Genesis 41:50). In Isaiah 19:18, "five cities in Egypt shall speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called the 'city of destruction' " ( '''''Ηa-Ηeres''''' ). [[Onias]] who fled into Egypt, in disappointment at not getting the high priesthood, and rose to rank under [[Ptolemy]] Philometor, read "city of the sun" ( '''''Ηa-Cheres''''' ). He persuaded [[Philometor]] to let him build a temple (149 B.C.) at Leontopolis in the "prefecture" ( '''''Nome''''' ) of Heliopolis, on the ground that it would induce [[Jews]] to reside there, and that Isaiah almost 600 years before foretold the site. "City of destruction," if referring to this temple, will mean censure of it, as violating God's law that sanctioned only the one temple at Jerusalem. [[Gesenius]] translated "city of deliverance," God "sending them a saviour" to "deliver them because of the oppressors" ( Isaiah 19:20). (See [[Ir-Ha-Heres]] </p> <p> '''''Ηa-Ra''''' is the Egyptian sacred name, "abode of the sun"; '''''Αn''''' is the Egyptian common name; [[Cyril]] of [[Alexandria]] says '''''Οn''''' means "the sun"; the hieroglyphic '''''Uben''''' , related to '''''Aven''''' , means "shining". [[Reputed]] the oldest capital in Egypt, it and [[Memphis]] are mentioned in very early inscriptions as the two seats of justice; [[Thebes]] is added in hieroglyphics of the 18th dynasty; "the three seats of justice of both Egypts." Under the Greek rulers, On, Memphis, and Thebes sent forth ten justices to the surrounding districts. Shu, son of Atum, and Tafnet his daughter, were worshipped, as well as Ra to whom Mnevis was sacred, also '''''Βennu''''' "the phoenix", represented by a living bird of the crane kind; the rising from its ashes indicated symbolically a recommencing cycle of time. On was famed for learning. It was the ecclesiastical metropolis of Lower Egypt, where the Greek historians and philosophers obtained their information about Egypt. [[Plato]] studied under its priests. (See [[Joseph]] .) Tradition makes On the place visited by Joseph, Mary, and our Lord, and a sycamore is shown under which they rested in their flight ( Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15). The [[Septuagint]] adds On to the cities which [[Israel]] built, i.e. fortified, for the [[Egyptians]] ( Exodus 1:11). </p> |
| <p> ''''' on ''''' ( און , <i> ''''' 'ōn ''''' </i> ; [[Egyptian]] <i> ''''' Ǎn ''''' </i> , <i> ''''' Ǎnt ''''' . </i> , <i> ''''' Ǎnnū ''''' </i> , probably pronounced <i> ''''' Ǎn ''''' </i> only, as this is often all that is written, a "stone" or "stone pillars"): Later called Hellopolis. The name On occurs only in [[Genesis]] 41:45 , Genesis 41:50; Genesis 46:20 . It occurs in one other place in the [[Septuagint]] ( Exodus 1:11 ), where On is mentioned with [[Pithom]] and [[Raamses]] as strong cities which the [[Israelites]] built. [[Hebrew]] slaves may have worked upon fortifications here, but certainly did not build the city. On is possibly referred to as ההרס עיר , <i> ''''' ‛ı̄r ''''' </i> <i> ''''' ha ''''' </i> - <i> ''''' hereṣ ''''' </i> , in Isaiah 19:18 (see [[Ir-Ha-Heres]] ). On may also be mentioned by Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 43:13 ) under the name Beth-shemesh. Ezekiel speaks of an [[Aven]] (און , <i> ''''' 'āwen ''''' </i> ) ( Ezekiel 30:17 ), where it is mentioned with [[Pibeseth]] (Bubastis). Aven in this passage is almost certainly the same as On in Genesis 41:45; Genesis 46:20 , as the letters of both words are the same in the Hebrew. Only the placing of the vowel-points makes any difference. If there is a mistake, it is a mistake of the Massoretes, not of the Hebrew writer. </p> 1. Location and Description: <p> There were two Ons in Egypt: one in Upper Egypt, <i> ''''' An ''''' </i> - <i> ''''' res ''''' </i> (Hermonthis); the other in Lower Egypt, <i> ''''' An ''''' </i> - <i> ''''' Meheet ''''' </i> (Brugsch, <i> Geogr </i> . <i> Inschr </i> ., 254,255, Numbers 1217 , a, b, 1218,8708, 1225). The latter is the On referred to in the Bible. It lay about 20 miles North of the site of old Memphis, about 10 miles Northeast of the location of modern Cairo. It has left until this time about 4 square miles of ruins within the old walls. Little or nothing remains outside the walls. </p> <p> On was built at the edge of the desert, which has now retreated some 3 or 4 miles eastward, the result of the rising of the bed of the Nile by sediment from the inundation, and the broadening of the area of infiltration which now carries the water of the Nile that much to the East. The land around On has risen about 10 ft., and the waters of infiltration at the time of lowest Nile are now about 1 1/2 ft. above the floor-level of the temple. </p> 2. History: <p> The history of On is very obscure, yet its very great importance is in no doubt. No clear description of the ancient city or sanctuary has come down to us, but there are so many incidental references, and so much is implied in ancient records, that it stands out as of the very first importance, both as capital and sanctuary. The city comes from the Ist Dynasty, when it was the seat of government, and indeed must have been founded by the Ist Dynasty or have come down to it from pre-historic time. From the IIIrd to the VIth Dynasty the seat of government was shifted from On to Memphis, and in the Xii th Dynasty to Diospolis. Throughout these changes On retained its religious importance. It had been the great sanctuary in the time of the [[Pyramid]] Texts, the oldest religious texts of Egypt, and judging from the evident great development of the temple of On at the time of the writing of the texts, the city must have antedated them by considerable time (Budge, <i> History of Egypt </i> , II, 83,84, 108; Breasted, <i> Development of [[Religion]] and [[Thought]] in Egypt </i> , chapters i, ii). The myth of [[Osiris]] makes even the charge against Set for the murder of Osiris to have been preferred at [[Heliopolis]] (Breasted, op. cit., 34). This certainly implies a very great age for the sanctuary at On. It contained a temple of the sun under the name Ra, the sun, and also Atum, the setting sun, or the sun of the Underworld. There was also a [[Phoenix]] Hall and asacred object called a <i> ''''' ben ''''' </i> , probably a stone, and the origin of the name An, a "stone" or "pillar" (compare Breasted, op. cit., 76,11, and 71). Though the Xii th Dynasty removed the capital to Diospolis, Usertsen I (Senwesret) of that Dynasty erected a great obelisk at On in front of the entrance to the temple. The situation of this obelisk in the templearea indicates that the great temple was already more than a half-mile in length as early as the Xii th Dynasty. The mate of this obelisk on the opposite side of the entrance seems not to have been erected until the Xviii th Dynasty. Its foundations were discovered in 1912 by Petrie. Some scraps of the granite of the obelisk bear inscriptions of Thothmes [[Iii. A]] great [[Hyksos]] wall, also discovered by Petrie in 1912, exactly similar to that of the fortified camp at <i> ''''' Tel ''''' </i> <i> ''''' el ''''' </i> <i> ''''' Yehudiyeh ''''' </i> , 4 miles North, makes it quite certain that these usurpers between the Old [[Empire]] and the New fortified On as the capital once more. The manifest subserviency of the priests of On in the story of [[Joseph]] makes it most probable that the old capital at On had already been subjugated in Joseph's time, and that within this old fortification still existing Joseph ruled as prime minister of Egypt. Merenptah in his 5th year began to fortify On. Sheshonk 3 called himself "divine prince of Annu," and seems to have made On one of the greatest sanctuaries of his long reign. On still figured in Egyptian history in the rebellion against Ashurbanipal. The city has been deserted since the [[Persian]] invasion of 525 BC. Tradition makes the dwelling-place of Joseph and Mary with the child Jesus, while in Egypt, to have been near Heliopolis. </p> <p> The exploration of On was attempted by Schiaparelli, but was not carried out, and his work has not been published. In 1912 Petrie began a systematic work of excavation which, it is expected, will continue until the whole city has been examined. The only great discovery of the first season was the Hyksos wall of fortification. Its full import can only be determined by the continuance of the exploration. </p> | | <p> ( און , <i> ''''' 'ōn ''''' </i> ; Αὔν , <i> ''''' Aún ''''' </i> ): A R eubenite, son of Peleth, who took part with [[Dathan]] and [[Abiram]] in their revolt against Moses ( Numbers 16:1 ). </p> |
