6000 citizens were massacred. Eight hundred
houses were burnt down, and over two millions sterling of damage was
wrought in the town on that occasion.

In 1585 a severe blow was struck at the prosperity of Antwerp when Parma
captured it after a long siege and sent all its Protestant citizens into
exile. The recognition of the independence of the United Provinces by
the treaty of Munster in 1648 carried with it the death-blow to
Antwerp's prosperity as a place of trade, for one of its clauses
stipulated that the Scheldt should be closed to navigation. This
impediment remained in force until 1863, although the provisions were
relaxed during French rule from 1795 to 1814, and also during the time
Belgium formed part of the kingdom of the Netherlands (1815 to 1830).
Antwerp had reached the lowest point of its fortunes in 1800, and its
population had sunk under 40,000, when Napoleon, realizing its
strategical importance, assigned two millions for the construction of
two docks and a mole.

One other incident in the chequered history of Antwerp deserves mention.
In 1830 the city was captured by the Belgian insurgents, but the citadel
continued to be held by a Dutch garrison under General Chasse. For a
time this officer subjected the town to a periodical bombardment which
inflicted much damage, and at the end of 1832 the citadel itself was
besieged by a French army. During this attack the town was further
injured. In December 1832, after a gallant defence, Chasse made an
honourable surrender.

See J.L. Motley's _Rise of the Dutch Republic_; C. Scribanii,
_Origines Antwerpiensium_; Gens, _Hist. de la ville d'Anvers_; Mertens
and Torfs, _Geschiedenis van Antwerp_; Genard, _Anvers a travers les
ages_; _Annuaire statisgue de la Belgigue_. (D. C. B.)

ANU, a Babylonian deity, who, by virtue of being the first figure in a
triad consisting of Anu, Bel and Ea, came to be regarded as the father
and king of the gods. Anu is so prominently associated with the city of
Erech in southern Babylonia that there are good reasons for believing
this place to have been the original seat of the Anu cult. If this be
correct, then the goddess Nana (or Ishtar) of Erech was presumably
regarded as his consort. The name of the god signifies the "high one"
and he was probably a god of the atmospheric region above the
earth--perhaps a storm god like Adad (q.v.), or like Yahweh among the
ancient Hebrews. However this may be, already in