HOBNIM vpin) occurs only in one passage of Scripture, where the prophet Ezekiel (xxvii. 15), referring to the commerce of Tyre, says The men of Dedan were thy merchants ; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand : they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony (hobnim).' The Hebrew word is translated ` Ebony' in all the European versions ; but, as Bochart states (Ifiero zoicon, 7. 20, pars ii.), the Chaldee version, fol lowed by R. Selomo and other Jews, as well as the Greek and Arabic versions, render haulm by pea fowl (pavanes): Itaque soli veterum Symmachus et Hieronymus vidcrunt (n=n) hobnim esse hebe num.' Some of the Hebrew critics. however, as Kimchius, also acknowledge this: Hobnint interpretantur, quod Arabice vocatur abenus.' Of the correctness of this opinion there can now be no doubt. In the first place, we may allude to Dedan being considered one of the ports of Arabia on the Persian Gulf, or at least to the south of the Red Sea ; and secondly, as observed by Bochart, hobnim et hebenzes sunt voces non absimiles,' the latter word being variously written by ancient authors, as ef3evn, epEpos, egepoy, ebenus and hebenus. The last form is used by Jerome in his Latin, and gpfvos by Sym machus, in his Greek version. The Arabs have which they apply to Ebony, and by that name it is known in northern India at the present day. Forskal mentions abnoos as one of the kinds of wood imported in his time from India into Arabia. Whether the Arabic name be a corrup tion of the Greek, or the Greek a modification, as is most likely, of some Eastern name, we require some other evidence, besides the occurrence of the word in Arabic works on Materia Mediu., to de termine ; since in these, Greek words are some times employed as the principal terms for substances with which they are not well acquainted. Bardztst is, however, given by some as the Arabic name ; abnoos as the Persian. We found the latter ap plied to ebony in North-west India, as did Forskfil in the Red Sea.
Ebony wood was highly esteemed by the ancients, and employed by them for a variety of purposes. It is very appropriately placed in juxta-position with ivory, quamvis unum ex animali, alterum ex arbore petatur ; quippe, ut notat Fullerus vi. 14) utrique est extremus color eodem excellen
tim gradu. Ebori videlicet pulcherrirni candoris, hebeno speciosissimi nigroris. Utrumque politissi mum, nitidissimum, et incomparabili lzevore con spicuum. Uncle est, quod in eosdem usus fere adhibentur, et ex utroque arcus fiunt, pectines, tabulm lusorice, cultrorum manubria,' etc. (Bochart, /. c.) Ivory and Ebony are probably, however, also mentioned together because both were obtained from the same countries—Ethiopia and India ; and, among the comparatively few articles of an cient commerce, must, from this cause, always have been associated together, while their contrast of colour and joint employment in inlaid work, would contribute as additional reasons for their being adduced as articles characteristic of a dis tinct commerce.
But it is not in Ezekiel only that ebony and ivory are mentioned. together. For Diodorus, as quoted by Bochart, tells us that an ancient king of Egypt imposed on the Ethiopians the payment of a tribute of ebony, gold, and elephants teeth. So Hero dotus (iii. 97), as translated by I3ochart, says, `rEthiopes Persis pro triennali tributo vehunt duos chcenices auri apyri (id est, ignem nondum experti), et ducentas ebenz phalangas, et magnos elephanti dentes viginti.' Pliny, referring to this passage, remarks, But Herodotus assigneth it rather to Ethiopia, and saith, that every three years the Ethiopians were wont to pay, by way of tribute, unto the kings of Persia, roo billets of the timber of that tree (that is, Ebene), together with gold and yvorie ;' and, again, from Syene (which confineth and boundeth the lands of our empire and domi nion) as farre as to the island Meroe, for the space of 996 iniles, there is little ebene found : and that in all those parts betweene there be few other trees to be found, but date trees, which peradventure may be a cause that Ebene was counted a rich tribute and deserved the third place, after gold and ivorie' (Holland's .P/iny, xii. 4).