NIBHAZ (trin1), a deity of the Avites, which they introduced into Samaria (2 Kings xvii. 31). In the T. R. of the LXX. this name is omitted, and instead of it stands 'EpXaVp, which is either the name of another deity of the Avites or another name for Nibhaz. In the Cod. Alex. the reading is '2-1/3aagp sal Natpds K. T.X., which favours the former supposition. The termination is eser, so common in Assyrian proper names. Ot Nibhaz nothing certain is known. The Zabians gave the name 11], to the demon of dark ness (Norberg, 07Z0111. Cod. Adami, 99, ff.) ; but there is no ground for connecting this with the idol of the Avites now before us. The Talmudists say that Nibhaz means dog, connecting it probably with n.=, to bark (Tatra. Rieros., Avoda Sarah, iii. fol. 42 b ; Talm. Bab., Sanhedr., fol. 63. 2) ; Jarchi (in loc.) and Abendana (Michlol Sophi, ad h. I.) expressly say that Nib haz is the image of a dog ;' and Abarbanel (in Proph. priores, ad h. 1.) says, The Avites made Nibhan' [so some Codd. read )ill] for trmi, by which is intended the dog that barks with strength.' By many this has been treated as a mere utterance of Jewish ignorance and prejudice, chiefly on the ground that the dog was amongst the ancient Orientals an object of abomination and not of worship, and that no traces exist of any idol under this shape having been worshipped in Syria or Assyria. But there can be no doubt that the Egyptians worshipped the dog (Strabo, xvii., p. 812 ; • Joseph. Cont. Apion., ii. 7 ; Joy. xv. 8, etc.); and that Anubis the barker' (comp. Virg. Aen., viii. 698; Ovid. Met. ix. 689 ; Propert. Eleg., iii. 9. [iv. x.] 41) was repre
sented by the Greeks and Romans as a dog-faced man (Diodor. Sic., i. 87 ; Apul. Asin. Aur. xi. ; Lucan, Bell. Civ. viii. 831).* Nor is the assertion that the dog was held in abhorrence by all Orien tals borne out by facts ; for among the Arabs and Persians it was not so (Pococke, ad Abul. Faraj. Spec. Hist. Arab., p. 82 ; Hyde, de Relig. Vett. Persar., c. xxxv., p. 54o) ; and among various peoples, dogs were held sacred to the gods, and nourished in the temples (Aelian, Hist. Anim., ix. 5 and 2o). It is said that formerly, about three hours from Beyroot, on the road to Tripoli, there stood a colossal figure of a dog, which was revered by the people around as a guardian to announce coming danger, and from which the neighbouring stream has received the name of Nahr-Kelb, Dog River (Maundrell, p. 412, in Early Travels in Pa lestine, Bohn 1848). Nothing resembling a dog headed deity has been discovered on the Assyrian monuments ; but the dog is frequent on the later sculptures ; and has been found modelled in clay, and also represented in relief on a clay tablet' (Rawlinson, Anc. Mon., i. 294); and a dog-headed deity would certainly not be more incongruous than the hawk-headed figure at Khorsabad (by some, but erroneously, supposed to represent Nisroch), or the evil genii with lions' heads and apes' ears at Koyunjik (Rawlinson, i. 265, 266). On the subject of this article, see Beyer, Additt. ad Seldeni de Diis Syria, p. 321, Amst. 1680 ; Iken, Diss. Phil. Theol., Diss. L. A.