arahant See arhat
Arai Hakuseki \a-r!-ha-ku-'sa-ke\ (b. March 24, 1657, Edo [Tokyo], Japan—d. June 29, 1725, Edo) Japanese scholar of Confucianism and gov¬ ernment official of the mid-ToKUGAWA period. Arai was tutor and later adviser to Tokugawa Ienobu, the sixth Tokugawa shogun. He wrote on such subjects as Japanese geography, philosophy, and legal institutions and is considered one of Japan’s greatest historians. Among his best- known works are Tokushi yoron, a history of Japan, and Koshitsu, a study of early document sources. See also Genroku period; Edo culture.
Arakcheyev \a-r9k-'cha-yif\, Aleksey (Andreyevich), Count
(b. Oct. 4, 1769, Novgorod province, Russia—d. May 3, 1834, Gruzino, Novgorod province) Russian soldier and statesman. Appointed inspector general of artillery in 1803, he reorganized that branch of the army, then served as minister of war (1808-10). In the Russo-Swedish War of 1808— 09, he personally compelled the reluctant Russian forces to cross the fro¬ zen Gulf of Finland to attack the Aland Islands, which ultimately resulted in Sweden’s cession of Finland to Russia. He was Alexander I’s chief military adviser in the Napoleonic Wars. After the wars, he supervised the management of Russia’s domestic matters with brutal and ruthless effi¬ ciency, which caused the period (1815-25) to be known as Arakcheyevsh- china, but also took part in the emancipation of serfs in the Baltic provinces and created a system of military-agricultural colonies.
Araks River See Aras River
Aral Sea Large salt lake between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It once covered some 26,300 sq mi (68,000 sq km) and was the fourth largest inland body of water in the world, but diversion of the waters of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers for irrigation has led to an overall reduction of its surface area by more than half since 1960. Its volume has been reduced drastically, which has led to an increase in salinity. The soil of the dried-up lake bed has been found to contain salts and other toxic sub¬ stances.
Aram \'ar-9m\ Ancient country, Middle East, southwestern Asia. It extended eastward from the Anti-Lebanon Mountains to beyond the Euph¬ rates River. It was named for the Aramaeans, who emerged from the Syr¬ ian desert to invade Syria and Upper Mesopotamia (c. 11th century bc) and who built numerous city-kingdoms, including Damascus. It lends its name to the Aramaic language.
Aramaean \,ar-9-'me-9n\ A member of any people belonging to a con¬ federacy of tribes that migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to the Fertile Crescent c. 1500-1200 bc. Among them were the biblical matriarchs Leah and Rachel, wives of Jacob. The Aramaic language and culture spread through international trade. They reached a cultural peak during the 9th- 8th centuries bc. By 500 bc, Aramaic had become the universal language of commerce, culture, and government throughout the Fertile Crescent and remained so through the time of Jesus and into the 7th century in some areas.
Aramaic \,ar-9-'ma-ik\ language Semitic language originally spoken by the ancient Aramaeans. The earliest Aramaic texts are inscriptions in
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Aramco ► arbitrage I 95
an alphabet of Phoenician origin found in the northern Levant dating from c. 850 to 600 bc. The period 600-200 bc saw a dramatic expansion of Aramaic, leading to the development of a standard form known as Impe¬ rial Aramaic. In later centuries, as “Standard Literary Aramaic,” it became a linguistic model. Late (or Classical) Aramaic (c. ad 200-1200) has an abundant literature, both in Syriac and in Mandaic (see Mandaeanism). With the rise of Islam, Arabic rapidly supplanted Aramaic as a vernacu¬ lar in South Asia. Modern Aramaic (Neo-Aramaic) comprises West Neo- Aramaic, spoken in three villages northeast of Damascus, Syria, and East Neo-Aramaic, a group of languages spoken in scattered settlements of Jews and Christians in southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwest¬ ern Iran, and by modern Mandaeans in the Shatt Al-'Arab. Since c. 1900 persecution has forced most contemporary East Neo-Aramaic-speakers, who number several hundred thousand, into diaspora communities around the world.
Aramco \3-'ram-ko\ in full Arabian American Oil Company Oil
company founded by the Standard Oil Co. of California (Chevron) in 1933, when the government of Saudi Arabia granted it a concession. Other U.S. companies joined after oil was found near Dhahran in 1938. In 1950 Aramco opened a pipeline from Saudi Arabia to the Mediterranean Sea port of Sidon, Leb. It was closed in 1983 except to supply a refinery in Jordan. A more successful pipeline, with a destination on the Persian Gulf, was finished in 1981. In 1951 Aramco found the first offshore oil field in the Middle East. In the 1970s and ’80s, control gradually passed to the Saudi Arabian government, which eventually took over Aramco and renamed it Saudi Aramco in 1988.
Aran Islands \'ar-an\ Islands (pop., 2001: 543), Galway Bay, western Ireland. The group of small islands, totaling about 18 sq mi (47 sq km), includes Inishmore (or Aranmore), Inishmaan, and Inisheer. Their main town is Kilronan on Inishmore. The islands contain impressive prehis¬ toric and early Christian forts. Novelist Liam O' Flaherty was born on Inish¬ more.
Arany \6r-'on y \ Janos (b. March 2, 1817, Nagyszalonta, Hung.—d. Oct. 22, 1882, Budapest) Hungarian epic poet. His main work is the tril¬ ogy of Toldi (1847), Toldi szerelme (1848-79), and Toldi esteje (1854). Recounting the adventures of a 14th-century youth of great physical strength, it was received with enthusiasm by a public craving a national literature of quality in a language all could grasp. Other notable works include a fragment of an epic poem, Bolond Istok (1850), and The Death of King Buda (1864), the first part of a projected Hun trilogy. The Osz- ikek, written just before his death, poignantly reflects his sense of unful¬ fillment and isolation. He is considered Hungary’s greatest epic poet.
arap Moi, Daniel See Daniel arap Moi
Arapaho \3-'ra-p9-,ho\ North American Plains Indian peoples living mostly in Oklahoma and Wyoming, U.S. They are believed to have once lived in permanent villages in the eastern woodlands. Their language is of Algonquian stock. Like other Plains groups, the Arapaho were nomadic, living in tepees and depending on the buffalo for subsistence. They split into northern and southern groups after 1830. They were highly religious and practiced the sun dance. Their social organization included age-graded military societies as well as men’s shamanistic societies. They traded with the Mandan and Arikara and were often at war with the Shos¬ hone, Ute, and Pawnee. A southern branch was long allied with the Chey¬ enne and fought with them against Col. George Custer at Little Bighorn in 1876. In the 2000 U.S. census some 7,000 people claimed sole Arapahoe descent.
Ararat \'ar-3-,rat\, Mount Turkish Agri Dagi Extinct volcanic mas¬ sif, eastern Turkey. Located in Ago province, near the Iranian border, Ararat has two peaks, Great Ararat, at 16,853 ft (5,137 m) the highest point of elevation in Turkey, and Little Ararat, almost 13,000 ft (4,000 m). Ararat is traditionally associated with the mountain where Noah’s ark came to rest at the end of the biblical Deluge. A village on its slopes at the site where Noah is said to have built an altar was destroyed in an earthquake in 1840.
Aras \a-'ras\ River or Araks \a-'raks\ River River in Turkey, Arme¬ nia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It rises in the mountains south of Erzurum, Tur¬ key, and flows east to join the Kura River in Azerbaijan about 75 mi (120 km) from its mouth. Since a flood in 1897, a separate distributary of the Aras has also emptied into the Caspian Sea. Some 665 mi (1,070 km) long,
it forms the boundary between Armenia and Azerbaijan (north) and Tur¬ key and Iran (south). Located on an island from 180 bc to ad 50 was Armenia’s capital, Artaxata.