th of Brahma, Buddha, Mahomet, or Christ.

ASIA MINOR, called also ANATOLE`, a peninsular extension
westward of the Armenian and Kurdistan highlands in Asia, bounded on the
N. by the Black Sea, on the W. by the Archipelago, and on the S. by the
Levant; indented all round, mainland as well as adjoining islands, with
bays and harbours, all more or less busy centres of trade; is as large as
France, and consists of a plateau with slopes all round to the coasts;
has a population of over 28,000,000.

ASKEW, ANNE, a lady of good birth, a victim of persecution in the
time of Henry VIII. for denying transubstantiation, tortured on the rack
and burnt at the stake, 1546.

ASKEW, ANTONY, a physician and classical scholar, a collector of
rare and curious books (1722-1774).

ASMODE`US, a mischievous demon or goblin of the Jewish demonology,
who gloats on the vices and follies of mankind, and figures in Le Sage's
"Le Diable Boiteux," or the "Devil on Two Sticks," as lifting off the
roofs of the houses of Madrid and exposing their inmost interiors and the
secret doings of the inhabitants.

ASMONAE`ANS, a name given to the Maccabees, from Asmon, the place of
their origin.

ASO`KA, a king of Behar, in India; after his accession in 264 B.C.
became an ardent disciple of Buddha; organised Buddhism, as Constantine
did Christianity, into a State religion; convened the third great council
of the Church of that creed at Patna; made a proclamation of this faith
as far as his influence extended, evidence of which is still extant in
pillars and rocks inscribed with his edicts in wide districts of Northern
India; _d_. 223 B.C.

ASP, a poisonous Egyptian viper of uncertain species.

ASPA`SIA, a woman remarkable for her wit, beauty, and culture, a
native of Miletus; being attracted to Athens, came and settled in it;
became the wife of Pericles, and her home the rendezvous of all the
intellectual and wise people of the city, Socrates included; her
character was often both justly and unjustly assailed.

AS`PERN, a village in Austria, on the Danube, 4 m. NE. of Vienna,
where a charge of the Austrians under the Archduke Charles was defeated
by Napoleon, May 21, 1809, and Marshal Lannes killed.

ASPHALT, a mineral pitch of a black or brownish-black colour,
consisting chiefly of carbon; also a limestone impregnated with bitumen,
and more or less in every quarter of the globe.

ASPHALTIC LAKE, the DEAD SEA (q. v.), so call