slaves who were employed to build the Alhambra, and confined
here in subterranean cells. The Torres Bermejas (Vermilion
Towers), also on Monte Mauror, are a well-preserved Moorish
fortification, with underground cisterns, stables, and
accommodation for a garrison of 200 men. Several Roman tombs
were discovered in 1829 and 1857 at the base of Monte Mauror.
See Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra;
from drawings taken on the spot by J. Goury and Owen Jones;
with a complete translation of the Arabic inscriptions and a
historical notice of the Kings of Granada, by P. de Gayangos.
These two magnificent folios, though first published in London
between 1842 and 1845, give the best pictorial representation
of the Alhambra. See also Rafael Contreras, La Alhanabra,
El Alcazar, y la gran Mezquita de Occidente Madrid, 1885);
The Alhambra, by Washington Irving, was written in 1832,
and rewritten in 1857, when it had already become widely
celebrated for its picturesque and humorous descriptions.
A well-Illustrated edition was published in London in 1896.
ALHAZEN (ABU ALI AL-HASAN IBN ALHASAN), Arabian mathematician
of the 11th century, was born at Basra and died at Cairo in
1038. He is to be distinguished from another Alhazen who
translated Ptolemy's Almagest in the 10th century. Having
boasted that he could construct a machine for regulating
the inundations of the Nile, he was summoned to Egypt by
the caliph Hakim; but, aware of the impracticability of his
scheme, and fearing the caliph's anger, he feigned madness
until Hakim's death in 1021. Alhazen was, nevertheless,
a diligent and successful student, being the first great
discoverer in optics after the time of Ptolemy. According to
Giovanni Battista della Porta, he first explained the apparent
increase of heavenly bodies near the horizon, although Bacon
gives the credit of this discovery to Ptolemy. He taught,
previous to the Polish physicist Witelo, that vision does
not result from the emission of rays from the eye, and wrote
also on the refraction of light, especially on atmospheric
refraction, showing, e.g. the cause of morning and evening
twilight. He solved the problem of finding the point in a
convex mirror at which a ray coming from one given point shall
be reflected to another given point. His treatise on optics
was translated into Latin by Witelo (1270), and afterwards
published by F. Risner in 1572, with the title Oticae thesaurus
Alhazeni libri VII., cum ejusdem libro de crepusculis et
nubium ascensionibus. This work enjoyed a great reputation
during the middle ages. Works on geometrical subjects were
found in the Bibliotheque nationale de Paris in 1834
by E. A. Sedillot; other manuscripts are preserved in the
Bodleian library at Oxford and in the library of Leiden.
See Casiri, Bibl. Arab. Hisp. Escur.; J. E. Montucla,
Histoire des mathemaltiques (1758); and E. A. Sedillot,
Materiaux pour l'histoire des sciences mathematiques.
ALI, in full, 'ALI BEN ABU TALIB (c. 600-661), the
fourth of the caliphs or successors of Mahomet, was born at
Mecca about the year A.D. 600. His father, Abu Talib, was
an uncle of the prophet, and Ali himself was adopted by Mahomet
and educated under his care. As a mere boy he distinguished
himself by being one of the first to declare his adhesion
to the cause of Mahomet, who some years afterwards gave him
his daughter Fatima in marriage. Ali proved himself to be
a brave and faithful soldier, and when Mahomet died without
male issue, a few emigrants thought him to have the best
claim to succeed him. Abu Bekr, Omar and Othman, however,
occupied this position before him, and it was not until
656, after the murder of Othman, that he assumed the title of
caliph. The fact that he took no steps to prevent this murder
is, perhaps, the only real blot upon his character. Almost
the first act of his reign was the suppression of a rebellion
under Talha and Zobair, who were instigated by Ayesha,
Mahomet's widow, a bitter enemy of Ali, and one of the chief
hindrances to his advancement to the caliphate. The rebel
army was defeated at the ``Battle of the Camel,'' near Bassorah
(Basra), the two generals being killed, and Ayesha taken
prisoner. Ali soon afterwards made Kufa his capital. His
next care was to get rid of the opposition of Moawiya, who
had established himself in Syria at the head of a numerous
army. A prolonged battle took place in July 657 in the
plain of Siffin (Suffein), near the Euphrates; the fighting
was at first, it is said, in favour of Ali, when suddenly
a number of the enemy, fixing copies of the Koran to the
points of their spears, exclaimed that ``the matter ought to
be settled by reference to this book, which forbids Moslems
to shed each other's blood.'' The superstitious soldiers of
Ali refused to fight any longer, and demanded that the issue
be referred to arbitration (see further CALIPHATE, section
B. 1). Abu Musa was appointed umpire on the part of Ali,
and `Amr-ibn-el-Ass, a veteran diplomatist, on the part of
Moawiya. It is said that `Amr persuaded Abu Musa that it would
be for the advantage of Islam that neither candidate should
reign, and asked him to give his decision first. Abu Musa
having proclaimed that he deposed both Ali and Moawiya, `Amr
declared that he also deposed Ali, and announced further that
he invested Moawiya with the caliphate. This treacherous
decision (but see CALIPHATE, ib.) greatly injured the
cause of Ali, which was still further weakened by the loss of
Egypt. After much indecisive fighting, Ali found his position
so unsatisfactory that according to some historians he made an
agreement with Moawiya by which each retained his own dominions
unmolested. It chanced, however--according to a legend, the
details of which are quite uncertain--that three of the fanatic
sect of the Kharijites had made an agreement to assassinate
Ali, Moawiya and `Amr, as the authors of disastrous feuds
among the faithful. The only victim of this plot was Ali,
who died at Kufa in 661, of the wound inflicted by a poisoned
weapon. A splendid mosque called Meshed Ali was afterwards
erected near the city, but the place of his burial is unknown.
He had eight wives after Fatima's death, and in all, it is
said, thirty-three children, one of whom, Hassan, a son of
Fatima, succeeded him in the caliphate. His descendants by
Fatima are known as the Fatimites (q.v.; see also EGYPT:
History, Mahommedan period). The question of Ali's right to
succeed to the caliphate is an article of faith which divided
the Mahommedan world into two great sects, the Sunnites and the
Shiites, the former denying, and the latter affirming, his
right. The Turks, consequently, hold his memory in abhorrence;
whereas the Persians, who are generally Shi`as, venerate
him as second only to the prophet, call him the ``Lion of
God'' (Sher-i-Khuda), and celebrate the anniversary of his
martyrdom. Ali is described as a bold, noble and generous
man, ``the last and worthiest of the primitive Moslems, who
imbibed his religious enthusiasm from companionship with the
prophet himself, and who followed to the last the simplicity
of his example.'' It is maintained, on the other hand, that his
motives were throughout those of ambition rather than piety, and
that, apart from the tragedy of his death, he would have been
an insignificant figure in history. (See further CALIPHATE.)
In the eyes of the later Moslems he was remarkable for learning
and wisdom, and there are extant collections (almost all
certainly spurious) of proverbs and verses which bear his name:
the Sentences of Ali (Eng. trans., William Yule, Edinburgh,
1832); H. L. Fleischer, Alis hundert Spruche (Leipz. 1837);
the Divan, by G. Kuypert (Leiden, 1745, and at Bulak, 1835); C.
Brockelmann, Gesch. d. arabisch. Lit. (vol. i., Weimar, 1899).
ALI, known as ALI BEY (1766-1818), the assumed name
of DOMINGO BADIA Y LEBLICH, a Spanish traveller, born in
1766. After receiving a liberal education he devoted particular
attention to the Arabic language, and made a special study
of the manners and customs of the East. Pretending to be
a descendant of the Abbasids, Badia in 1803 set out on his
travels. Under the name of Ali Bey el Abbassi, and in Mussulman
costume, he visited Morocco, Tripoli, Egypt, Arabia and
Syria, and was received as a person of high rank wherever he
appeared. He made the pilgrimage to Mecca, at that time
in the possession of the Wahabites. On his return to Spain
in 1807 he declared himself a Bonapartist, and was made
intendant first of Segovia and afterwards of Cordova.
When the French were driven from Spain, Badia was compelled
to take refuge in France, and there in 1814, published an
account of his travels under the title of Voyage d'Aii Bey
en Asie et en Afrique, &c. A few years later he set out
again for Syria, under the assumed name of Ali Othman, and,
it is said, accredited as a political agent by the French
government. He reached Aleppo, and there died on the 30th of
August 1818, not without suspicion of having been poisoned.
An account of his Eastern adventures was published in London in
1816, in two volumes, entitled Travels in Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus,
Egypt, Arabia, Syria and Turkey, between the years 1803 and 1807.
ALI, known as ALI PASHA (1741-1822),Turkish pasha of
Iannina, surnamed Arslan, ``the Lion,'' was born at Tepeleni,
a village in Albania at the foot of the Klissura mountains.
He was one of the Toske tribe, and his ancestors had for some
time held the hereditary office of bey of Tepeleni. His father,
a man of mild and peaceful disposition, was killed when Ali
was fourteen years old by neighbouring chiefs who seized his
territories. His mother Khamko, a woman of extraordinary
character, thereupon herself formed and led a brigand band,
and studied to inspire the boy with her own fierce and
indomitable temper, with a view to revenge and the recovery
of the lost property. In this wild school Ali proved an apt
pupil. A hundred tales, for the most part probably mythical,
are told of his powers and cunning during the years he spent
among the mountains as a brigand leader. At last, by a
picturesque stratagem, he gained possession of Tepeleni and
took vengeance on his enemies. To secure himself from rivals
in his own family, he is said to have murdered his brother
and imprisoned his mother on a charge of attempting to poison
him. With a view to establishing his authority he now made
overtures to the Porte and was commissioned to chastise the
rebellious pasha of Scutari, whom he defeated and killed. He
also, on pretext of his disloyalty, put to death Selim, pasha of
Delvinon. Ali was now confirmed in the possession of all
his father's territory and was also appointed lieutenant to
the derwend-pasha of Rumelia, whose duty it was to suppress
brigandage and highway robbery. This gave him an opportunity
for amassing wealth by sharing the booty of the robbers in
return for leaving them alone. The disgrace that fell in
consequence on his superior, Ali escaped by the use of lavish
bribes at Constantinople. In 1787 he took part in the war
with Russia, and was rewarded by being made pasha of Trikala
in Thessaly and derwend-pasha of Rumelia. It now suited his
policy to suppress the brigands, which he did by enlisting
most of them under his own banner. His power was now already
considerable; and in 1788 he added to it by securing his
nomination to the pashalik of Iannina by a characteristic trick.
The illiterate brigand, whose boyish ambition had not
looked beyond the recovery of his father's beylick, was now
