ABYSS (a-his') (Gr."A/3vcro-os, a'bas-sos). The Greek word means literally 'without bottom,' but actually deep, profound. It is used in the Sept for the Hebrew word, which we find applied either to the ocean (Gen. i :2; or to the under world (Ps. lxxi :2o ; cvii :26). In the New Testament it is used as a noun to describe Hades, or the place of the dead generally (Rom. x :7) ; but more especially that part of Hades in which the souls of the wicked were supposed to be con fined (Luke viii :31 ; Rev. ix :1, 2, I I ; xx:t, 3; Comp. 2 Pet. ii :4).
(1) Bottomless Pit. In the Revelation the authorized version invariably renders it 'bottom less pit,' elsewhere 'deep.' Most of these uses of the word are explained by reference to some of the cosmological notions which the Hebrews entertained in common with other Eastern nations. It was believed that the abyss, or sea of fathomless waters, encompassed the whole earth. The earth floated on the abyss, of which it covered only a small part. According to the same notion, the earth was founded upon the waters, or, at least, had its foundations in the abyss beneath (Ps. xxiv :2 ; cxxxvi :6).
Under these waters, and at the bottom of the abyss, the wicked were represented as groaning, and undergoing the punishment of their sins. There were confined the Rephaim—those old giants who, while living, caused surrounding nations to tremble (Prov. ix:t8; vii:27, see mar gin). In those dark regions the sovereigns of Tyre, Babylon and Egypt are described by the prophets as undergoing the punishment of their cruelty and pride (Jer. xxv :4; Ezek. xxviii :to, etc.). This was 'the deep' into which the evil spirits in Luke viii:3I besought that they might not be cast, and which was evidently dreaded by them. (See COSMOGONY ; HADES.) (2) Celtic Druids. The notion of such an abyss was by no means confined to the East. It was equally entertained by the Celtic Druids, who held that Annum. (the deep, the low port), the abyss from which the earth arose, was the abode of the evil principle (Gwarthawn), and the place of departed spirits, comprehending both the Elysium and the Tartarus of antiquity. With them also wandering spirits were called Plant annwn, 'the children of the deep' (Davis' Celtic Researches, p. 175; Myth. and Rites of the B. Druids, p. 49 ) . ( See HELL.) Fountains and rivers, in the opinion of the Hebrews, are derived from the abyss or sea; issuing from thence through invisible channels, and returning through others (Eccl. :7). We notice a few special applications of the word "deep" or "abyss" in the Scriptures. Isaiah
(xliv :27) refers to the method by which Cyrus took Babylon. Jeremiah (1:38 and li:36) refers to the same event (Comp. Is. xix :5), where reference is made to the exhaustion of the country by its enemies. In Rom. x :7 we have: "Who shall descend into the abyss" (Deut. xxx :13, "beyond the sea") "to bring tip Christ again from the dead?" The abyss metaphorically means calamities (Ps. xlii :7 ; lxxi :20).
ABYSSINIA "There is no part of Africa, Egypt being excepted, the history of which is connected with so many objects of inter est as Abyssinia. A region of Alpine mountains, ever difficult of access by its nature and peculiar situation, concealing in its bosom the long-sought sources of the Nile, and the still more mysterious origin of its singular people, Abyssinia has alone preserved, in the heart of Africa, its peculiar lit erature and its ancient Christian church. What is still more remarkable, it has preserved existing remains of a previously existing and widespread Judaism, and with a language approaching more than any living tongue to the Hebrew, a state of manners, and a peculiar character of its people, which represent in these latter days the habits and customs of the ancient Israelites in the times of Gideon and of Joshua. So striking is the resemblance between the modern Abyssinians and the Hebrews of old, that we can hardly look upon them but as branches of one nation; and if we had not convincing evidence to the contrary, and knew not for certain that the Abrahamidm orig inated in Chaldea; and to the northward and eastward of Palestine, we might frame a very probable hypothesis, which should bring them down as a band of wandering shepherds from the mountains of Habesh (Abyssinia), and identify them with the pastor kings, who, according to Nlanetho, multiplied their bands of the Pharaohs, and being, after some centuries, expelled thence by the will of the gods, sought refuge in Judea, and built the walls of Jerusalem. Such an hypothesis would explain the existence of an almost Israclitish people, and the preservation of a language so nearly approaching to the Hebrew, in intertropical Africa. It is certainly untrue, and we find no other easy explanation of the facts which the history of Abyssinia presents, and par ticularly the early extension of the Jewish religion and customs through that country' (Prichard's Physical History of Man, pp. 279, 280).