Isaac
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
one of the patriarchal ancestors of the Hebrew nation and of Christ, son of Abraham and Sarah; born 1896 B. C. At the age of 40 he married Rebecca, by whom he had two sons, Esau and Jacob; the former becoming the founder of the Edomites, and the latter, under the name of Israel, the parent of the Twelve Tribes, or the Israelites. Isaac lived to attain his 180th year, dying 1716 b. c. ISAAC I., COMNENUS, Emperor of Constantinople, was the first of the Comneni who attained that dignity. Under the successors of Basil II. Isaac served in the army, winning the hearts of officers and men by his prudence and uprightness, and on the deposition of Michael VI. in 1057 was elevated to the throne. He repelled the Hungarians attacking his N. frontier; and then, resigning the crown (1059) retired to a convent, where he lived two years longer. He was one of the most virtuous and able emperors of the East. There are extant from his pen scholia and other works on Homer. ISAAC II., ANGELUS, connected through his mother with the Comnenian emperors, became sovereign of the East in 1185, and reigned 10 years. Isaac was a vicious and cowardly prince, and his reign was a period of war and tumult. He was dethroned, blinded, and im prisoned by his brother Alexius in 1195. Eight years later he was restored to the throne, and reigned for a period of six months , when he was again dethroned, and soon after he died in prison.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 gave Isaac exact dates, born 1896 B.C. and dead in 1716 B.C., figures inherited from the biblical chronologies of Ussher and his successors; no modern scholar would print them. Through the mid-twentieth century archaeologists such as W. F. Albright argued that the patriarchal stories fitted a real Bronze Age setting, but that case was dismantled in the 1970s by Thomas Thompson and John Van Seters, and Genesis is now generally read as a literary tradition shaped in the first millennium B.C. rather than a dated biography. The account of Isaac's family and of his place in Jewish, Christian and, as Ishaq, Muslim tradition still holds. The two Byzantine emperors are described much as historians describe them today, though Isaac II Angelos is now discussed chiefly for his restoration in 1203 by the Fourth Crusade, which Collier's mentions only as a return to the throne.
Written for this edition, 2026.