[Ajalon, Valley of], in Palestine, scene of a battle between Joshua and five Canaanitish kings, during which the sun and moon stood still at the prayer of Joshua, to enable him to finish his victory.
[A`jan Coast], a district on the E. coast of Africa, from Cape Guardafui to the mouth of the Juba, under the protectorate of Germany.
[A`jax] the name of two Greek heroes in the Trojan war, and the synonym of a fiery and impetuous warrior: Ajax, the son of Telamon of Sparta, one of the bravest of the Greeks, who, on the death of Achilles, contended with Ulysses for his arms, but was defeated, in consequence of which he lost his reason and put an end to his life; and Ajax, the son of Oïleus, swift of foot, like Achilles, who suffered shipwreck on his homeward voyage, as a judgment for an outrage he perpetrated on the person of Cassandra in the temple of Athena in Troy.
[Ajmere`] (68), a city in a small territory in the heart of Rajputana, under the rule of the Viceroy; well built, and contains some famous edifices.
[Ajodhya], an ancient city of Oudh, 77 m. E. of Lucknow, once, on religious grounds, one of the largest and most magnificent cities of India, now in ruins; the modern town is an insignificant place, but has an annual fair, attended by often 600,000 pilgrims.
[Ak`aba], a gulf forming the NE. inlet of the Red Sea.
[Akakia, Doctor], a satire of a very biting nature by Voltaire, directed against pretentious pedants of science in the person of Maupertuis, the President of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin, which so excited the anger of Frederick the Great, the patron of the Academy, that he ordered it to be burnt by the common hangman, after 30,000 copies of it had been sold in Paris!
[Akakia, Martin], physician of Francis I., born at Châlons-sur-Marne, his real name being Sans-Malice; d. 1551.
[Ak`bar], the great Mogul emperor of India, who, after a minority of a few years, assumed the reins of government at the age of eighteen, and in ten or twelve years, such was his power of conquest, had the whole of India north of the Vindhya Mts. subject to his rule. He was wise in government as well as powerful in war, and one of the most large-minded and largest-hearted rulers recorded in history. He reigned half a century (1542-1605).
[Akenside, Mark], an English physician, who wrote, among other productions and pieces, the "Hymn to the Naiads," especially a poem entitled the "Pleasures of Imagination," much quoted from at one time, and suggested by the study of Addison on the Imagination in the Spectator (1721-1770).