panels; or standards
variously composed, but symmetrically scrolled on either side, and on
the tendrils of these scrolls are suspended or placed birds and animals,
human figures and chimeras, of any or all kinds, or indeed any objects
that may take the fancy of the artist. The most perfect specimens of
cinquecento Arabesque are certainly found in sculpture. As specimens of
exquisite work may be mentioned the Martinengo tomb, in the church of
the Padri Riformati at Brescia, and the facade of the church of Santa
Maria del Miracoli there, by the Lombardi; and many of the carvings of
the Chateau de Gaillon, France--all of which fairly illustrate the
beauties and capabilities of the style.

See also Wornum, _Analysis of Ornament_ (1874). (R. N. W.)

ARABGIR, or ARABKIR (Byz. _Arabraces_), a town of Turkey in Asia in the
Mamuret el-Aziz or Kharput vilayet, situated near the confluence of the
eastern and western Euphrates, but some miles from the right bank of the
combined streams. Pop. about 20,000, of which the larger half is
Mussulman. It is connected with Sivas by a _chaussee_, prolonged to the
Euphrates. The inhabitants are enterprising and prosperous, many of them
leaving their native city to push their fortunes elsewhere, while of
those that remain the greater part is employed in the manufacture of
silk and cotton goods, or in the production of fruit. The present town
was built at a comparatively recent date; but about 2 m. north-east is
the old town, now called Eski-Shehr, given (c. 1021) to Senekherim of
Armenia by the emperor Basil II. It contains the ruins of a castle and
of several Seljuk mosques. The Armenian population suffered severely
during the massacres of 1895. (D. G. H.)

ARABIA, a peninsula in the south-west of Asia, lying between 34 deg. 30'
and 12 deg. 45' N., and 32 deg. 30' and 60 deg. E., is bounded W. by the
Red Sea, S. by the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, and E. by the Gulf
of Oman and the Persian Gulf. Its northern or land boundary is more
difficult to define; most authorities, however, agree in taking it from
El Arish on the Mediterranean, along the southern border of Palestine,
between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akaba, then bending northwards
along the Syrian border nearly to Tadmur, thence eastwards to the edge
of the Euphrates valley near Anah, and thence south-east to the mouth of
the Shat el Arab at the head of the Persian Gulf,--the boundary so
defined includes the