ZIZAH (zi'zah), (Heb. full breast), second son of a Gershonite Levite (I Chron. xxiii :it) ; called Z1NA in i Chron. sxiji :to.
ZIZANION (Gr. 74cip/ov).
This word occurs in Matt. xiii :25, and several of the following verses, and is translated weeds by Luther, and sores in the A. V.; but it is not found in any Greek author. It is therefore sup posed that, as the Gospel of Matthew was (as some think) first written in Syro-Chaldaic, the vernacular name of some particular plant was adopted, and thus introduced into the Greek ver sion. This seems to be confirmed by the exist ence of a plant which is suitable to the above passage, and of which the Arabic name is very similar to zigouion. Thus, in the parable of the man who sowed good seed in his field, it is said, 'But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat ; when the blade sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.' From this it is evident that the wheat and the zizanion must have had considerable re semblance to each other in the herbaceous parts, which could hardly be the case, unless they were both of the family of the grasses. That such, indeed, is the case, is evident from what Volney says, that the peasants of Palestine and Syria do not cleanse away the seeds of weeds from their grain, but even leave that called Zizt'on by the Arabs, which stuns people and makes them giddy, as he himself experienced. The Ziwon of the Arabs is concluded to be our Darnel, the ioraie of the French, the Lolium temulentum of botanists, and is well suited to the palate. It is a grass often found in grain fields, resembling the wheat until both are in ear, and remarkable as one of the very few of the numerous family of grasses possessed of deleterious properties.
ZOAN (zo'an), (Heb. tsa'an, perhaps place of departure or low region; Sept. Tdms, Tanis).
An ancient city of Lower Egypt, situated on the eastern side of the Tanitic branch of the Nile, called in Egyptian Gone or Gall, i. e. 'low region,' whence both the Hebrew name Zoan, and the Greek Tanis, are derived; as is also the Arabic San. by which name the site is still known.
(1) Scriptural References. Zoan is of con siderable Scriptural interest. It was one of the oldest cities in Egypt, having been built seven years after Hebron, which already existed in the time of Abraham (Num. xiii :22 ; comp. Gen. xxii :2). It seems also to have been one of the principal capitals, or royal abodes, of the Pharaohs (Is. xix :it, 13 ; xxx :4) ; and accordingly, 'the
field of Zoan,' or the fine alluvial plain around the city, is described as the scene of the marvelous works which God wrought in the time of Moses (Ps. lxxviii :12, 43). The destruction predicted in Ezek. xxx :14, has long since befallen Zoan.
(2) Present Site. The 'field' is now a barren waste ; a canal passes through it without being able to fertilize the soil ; 'fire has been set in Zoan;' and the royal city is now the habitation of fisher men, the resort of wild beasts, and infested by reptiles and malignant fevers. The locality is covered with mounds of unusual height and ex tent, full of the fragments of pottery which such sites usually exhibit. These extend for about a mile from north to south, by about three quar ters of a mile. The area in which the sacred en closure of the temple stood, is about fifteen hun dred feet by twelve hundred and fifty, surrounded by the mounds of fallen houses, as at Bubastis (see whose increased elevation above the site of the Temple is doubtless attributable to the same cause—the frequent change in the level of the houses to protect them from the inundation, and the unaltered position of the sacred build ings. There is a gateway of granite and fine grit stone to the enclosure of this temple, bearing the name of Rameses the Great. Though in a very ruinous condition, the fragments of walls, columns, and fallen obelisks, sufficiently attest the former splendor of the building to which they belonged. The obelisks are all of the time of Rameses the Great (B. C. i74o), and their num ber, evidently ten, if not twelve, is unparalleled in any Egyptian temple. The name of this king most frequently occurs ; but the ovals of his suc cessor Pthamen, of Osirtasen III, and of Tir hakah, have also been found. The time of Osirtasen III ascends nearly to that of Joseph, and his name, therefore, corroborates the Scriptural ac count of the antiquity of the town. Two black statues, and a granite sphinx, with blocks of hewn and occasionally sculptured granite, are among the objects which engage the attention of the few travelers who visit this desolate place. The mod ern village of San consists of mere huts, with the exception of a ruined kasr of modern date ( Wilkinson's Modern Egypt, i. 449-452; Narra tive of the Scottish Deputation,pp.72-76; Mariette Bey, Monuments, etc. pp. 308, 309).