IVORY (rv&D, (Heb. shen-hab-beent', ivory tusk. 1 Kings X:22; 2 Chr011. iX:21; Rev.
'Elephant's tooth,' or simply 'elephant,' is a common name for ivory, not only in the Oriental languages and in Greek, but also in the Western tongues; although itt all of them teeth of other species may be included. Tly! tusks are called horns (Ezek. xxvii :15). Elephants' teeth were largely imported as merchandise, and also brought as tribute into Egypt. The processions of lunnan figures bearing presents, etc., still extant on the walls of palaces and tombs, attest by the black crisp-haired bearers of huge teeth, that some of these came from Ethiopia or Central Africa ; and by white men similarly laden, who also bring an Asiatic elephant and a white bear, that others came from the East. Plicenician traders had ivory in such abundance that the chief seats of their galleys were inlaid with it. In the Scrip tures, according to the Chaldee Paraphrase, Ja cob's bed was made of this substance (Gen. xlix: 33) ; we find King Solomon importing it from Tarshish (1 Kings x:22) ; and if Ps. xlv :8 was written before his reign, ivory was extensively used in the furniture of royal residences at a still earlier period.
The tusks of African <.lephants are generally much longer than those of the Asiatic ; and it may be observed in this place, that the ancients, as well as the moderns, are mistaken when they assert elephants' tusks to be a kind of horns. They are genuine teeth, combining in themselves, and occupying, in the upper jaw, the whole mass of secretions which in other animals form the upper incisor and laniary teeth. They are used for defense and offense, and for holding down green branches, or rooting up water-plants ; but still they are not absolutely necessary, since there is a variety of elephant in the Indian forests en tirely destitute of tusks, and the females in most of the races are either without them, or have them very small ; not turned downwards, as Bochart states, but rather straight, as correctly described by Pliny. (See ELEPHANT.) C. S.
IVY (i-q) (Gr. Karcrds, kis.sos'), is mentioned only once, and that in the Apocrypha (2 Macc. vi :7), where the Temple is described as being desecrated by the Gentiles, and the Jews forced to depart from the laws of their fathers: 'And when the feast of Bacchus was kept, the Jews were pelled to go in procession to Bacchus, carrying The term Kicrabs or ICITT6S seems tG 11/1VC been applied by the Greeks in a general sense, and to have included many plants, and among them some climbers, as the coin...a/ruins, besides the common ivy, which was especially dedicated to Bacchus.
It is well known that in the Dionysia, or festivals in honor of Dionysus, and in the pro cessions called Biacrot, thee'as-oy, with which they were celebratod, women also took part, in the dis guise of Bacchw, Naiado, Nymplim, etc. adonaed with garlands of ivy, etc.
IYAR (e'yg.r), (II eb. ee-yawh, the late name of that month which WILS the second of the sacred, and the seventh of the civil, yoir of the Jews, and which began with the new moon May.
The few memorable days in it are the loth, as a fast for the death of Eli ; the 14th, as the sccond or lesser Passover, for those whom uncleanness or absence prevented from celebrating the feast in Nisan (Num. ix :ii) ; the 23d, as a feast: instituted by Simon the Maccabee itt memory of his taking the citadel Acrai in Jerusalem (1 Macc. xiii :5i, 52) ; the 28th, as a fast for the death of Samuel.
The name Iyar does not occur in the Old Tes tament, this month being always described as the second month, except in four places in which it is called Ziv (t Kings v 37; Dan. ii :31; iv :33). Ziv is not considered to be a proper name, but an appellative. It radically means bright, an appro priate epithet of the month of flowers. J. N. IZEHAR (Tz'e-har), (Num. iii:to). See IntAtt.