from the city and measures some 2000 ft. long, 133 ft. wide and 66 ft. high, the ditch being some 80 ft. wide. The second, ½ m. farther north-east, is smaller. In the cliffs below the plateau to the north are early rock habitations, and upon the plateau primitive Latin pottery has been found. In 1900 a group of tombs cut in the rock was examined; they are outside the farther mound and ditch, and belong, therefore, to the period after the second extension of the city.

ARDEBIL, or Ardabil, chief town of a district, or sub-province, of same name, of the province of Azerbaijan in north-western Persia, in lat. 38° 14′ N., and long. 48° 21′ E., and at an elevation of 4500 ft. It is situated on the Baluk Su (Fish river), a tributary of the Kara Su (Black river), which flows northwards to the Aras, and in a fertile plain bounded on the west by Mount Savelan, a volcanic cone with an altitude of 15,792 ft. (Russian triangulation), and on the east by the Talish mountains (9000 ft.). Ardebil has a population of about 10,000, and post and telegraph offices. Its trade, principally in the hands of Armenians, is still important, but is chiefly a transit trade between Russia and Persia by way of Astara, a port on the Caspian 30 m. north-east of Ardebil. It is surrounded by a ruinous mud wall flanked by towers; a quarter of a mile east of it stands a mud fort, 180 yds. square, constructed according to European system of fortification. Inside the city are the famous sepulchres and shrines of Shaikh Safi ud-din and his descendant Shah Ismail I. (1502-1524) the first Shiah shah of Persia and founder of the Safavi dynasty. Plans and photographs of the shrines were taken in 1897 by Dr F. Sarre of Berlin and published in 1901 (Denkmäler Persischer Baukunst; 65 large folio plates).

European and Chinese merchants resided at Ardebil in the middle ages, and for a long time the city was a great emporium for central Asian and Indian merchandise, which was forwarded to Europe via Tabriz, Trebizond and the Black Sea, and also by way of the Caucasus and the Volga. Since the beginning of the 16th century, when Persia fell under the sway of the Safavis, the place has been much frequented by pilgrims who come to pay their devotions at the shrine of Shaikh Safi. This shrine is a richly endowed establishment with mosques and college attached, and had a fine library containing many rare and valuable MSS. presented by Shah Abbas I. at the beginning of the 17th century, and mostly carried off by the Russians in 1828 and placed in the library at St Petersburg. The grand carpet which had covered the floor of one of the mosques for three centuries was purchased by a traveller about 1890 for 100 pounds, and was finally acquired by the South Kensington Museum for many thousands. This beautiful carpet measures 34 ft. by 17 ft. 6 in., and contains 380 hand-tied knots in the square inch, which gives over 32,500,000 knots to the whole carpet (W. Griggs, Asian Carpet Designs).

ARDÈCHE, an inland department of south-eastern France, formed in 1790 from the Vivarais, a district of Languedoc. Pop. (1906) 347,140. Area, 2145 sq. m. It is bounded N.W. by the department of Loire, E. by the Rhone which divides it from Isère and Drôme, S. by Gard and W. by Lozère and Haute-Loire. The surface of Ardèche is almost entirely covered by the Cévennes mountains, the main chain, continued in the Boutières mountains, forming its western boundary. Its centre is traversed from south-east to north-west by the Coiron range which extends from the Rhone to the Mont Mézenc (5755 ft.), the highest point in the department, and the oldest of its many volcanoes. These mountains separate the southern half of the department, which comprises the basin of the Ardèche, from the northern half which is watered by numerous smaller tributaries of the Rhone, the chief of which are the Érieux and the Doux. A few rivers belong to the Atlantic side of the watershed, the chief being the Loire, which rises on the western borders of the department, and the Allier, which for a short distance separates it from Lozère. Nearly all the rivers of the department are of torrential swiftness and subject to sudden floods. The scenery through which they flow is often of great beauty and grandeur. Natural curiosities are the Pont d’Arc, over the Ardèche, and the Chaussée des Géants, near Vals. The climate in the valley of the Rhone is, in general, warm, and sometimes very hot; but westward, as the elevation increases, the cold becomes more intense and the winters longer. Some districts, especially in summer, are liable to sudden alterations in the temperature. Rye, wheat and potatoes are the chief crops cultivated. Good red and white wines are grown in the hilly region bordering the Rhone valley, the white wine of St Péray being highly esteemed. The principal fruits are the chestnut, which is largely exported, the olive and the walnut. In the rearing of silk-worms, Ardèche ranks second to Gard among French departments, and great numbers of mulberry trees are grown for the purposes of this industry. The many goats and sheep of Ardèche make it one of the chief sources of supply of skins for glove-making. Mines of coal, iron, lead and zinc are worked, and the quarries furnish hydraulic lime (Le Teil) and other products. Besides flour-mills, distilleries and saw-mills, there are important silk-mills and leather-works and paper-factories. Annonay is the principal industrial town. The department exports wine, cattle, lime, mineral waters, silk, paper, &c. Hot springs are numerous, and some of them, as those of Vals, St Laurent-les-Bains, Celles and Neyrac, are largely resorted to. Ardèche is served by the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway and has some 43 m. of navigable waterway. The department is divided into the arrondissements of Privas, Largentière and Tournon, with 31 cantons and 342 communes. It forms the diocese of Viviers and part of the archiepiscopal province of Avignon. It is in the region of the XV. army corps, and within the circumscription of the académie (educational division) of Grenoble. Its court of appeal is at Nimes. Privas, the capital, Annonay, Aubenas, Largentière and Tournon are the principal towns. Bourg-St Andéol, Thines, Mélas and Cruas have interesting Romanesque churches. Mazan has remains of a Cistercian abbey founded in the 12th century to which its vast church belongs. Viviers is an old town with a church of various styles of architecture and several old houses.

ARDEE, a market-town of Co. Louth, Ireland, in the south parliamentary division, on the river Dee, 48 m. N. by W. from Dublin on a branch of the Great Northern railway. Pop. (1901) 1883. It has some trade in grain and basket-making. The town is of high antiquity, and its name (Ather-dee) is taken to signify the ford of the Dee. A form Ath-Firdia, however, is connected with the ancient story of the warrior Cuchullain of Ulster, who, while defending the ford against the men of Connaught, was forced to slay many with whom he was on friendly terms, and among them the warrior Firdia, whom he regarded with special affection. A castle of the lords of the manor was built early in the 14th century, and remains, as does another adjacent fortified building of the same period. Roger de Peppart, lord of the manor early in the 13th century, founded the present Protestant church and a house of Crutched Friars. There was also a house of Carmelite Friars, but neither of these remains. Ardee received its first recorded charter in 1377. It had a full share in the several