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•ANTONIA a fortress in Jerusalem, at the north-west corner of the temple area. It is called “the castle” (Acts 21:34, 37). From the stairs of this castle Paul delivered his famous speech to the multitude in the area below (Acts 22:1-21). It was originally a place in which were kept the vestments of the high priest. Herod fortified it, and called it Antonia in honour of his friend Mark Antony. It was of great size, and commanded the temple. It was built on a plateau of rock, separated on the north from the hill Bezetha by a ditch about 30 feet deep and 165 feet wide.
•ANTOTHITE an inhabitant of Anathoth, found only in 1 Chronicles 11:28; 12:3. In 2 Samuel 23:27 it is Anethothite; in 1 Chronicles 27:12, Anetothite. (R.V., “Anathothite.”)
•ANVIL the rendering of the Hebrew word, “beaten,” found only in Isaiah 41:7.
•APE an animal of the monkey tribe (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chronicles 9:21). It was brought from India by the fleets of Solomon and Hiram, and was called by the Hebrews koph, and by the Greeks kepos, both words being just the Indian Tamil name of the monkey, kapi, i.e., swift, nimble, active. No species of ape has ever been found in Palestine or the adjacent regions.
•APELLES a Christian at Rome whom Paul salutes (Romans 16:10), and styles “approved in Christ.”
•APHARSACHITES a company of the colonists whom the Assyrian king planted in Samaria (Ezra 5:6; 6:6).
•APHARSITES another of the tribes removed to Samaria (Ezra 4:9), or perhaps the same as the preceding.
•APHIK (Judges 1:31); Aphek (Joshua 13:4; 19:30), stronghold. (1.) A city of the tribe of Asher. It was the scene of the licentious worship of the Syrian Aphrodite. The ruins of the temple, “magnificent ruins” in a “spot