BES, the name of an Egyptian god, apparently the same as that of the city Bessa. He is stated to have been worshipped and to have had an oracle at Abydos according to Ammianus Marcellinus, and according to others at Antinoe or Antinoopolis. The name!?« is found in Egyptian monuments attached to a god clad in a lion’s skin, the head and skull of the animal covering his head and concealing his features; his legs are bowed like Ptah, and his whole appearance is grotesque, resembling in other respects the Greek Hercules. This god is represented at a later period in various attitudes and actions, in adoration to Harpocrates, styled his lord or master, playing on the tambourine, the triangular harp, and other musical instruments, brandishing swords, and at the Roman period armed in the paludamentum and holding a sword and buckler. Although supposed to be a form of Typhon he is quite distinct from Set, the ass or gryphon-headed god. For head attire Bes often wears a kind of cornice surmounted by four or five feathers of the hawk. He does not appear among the deities of Egypt till about the 19th or 20th dynasty, and is apparently of foreign origin, being found on the coins of Gaulos, with Phoenician legends, as if belonging to that people and a form of Baal. He appears in the Eit,ual as the guardian of the 20th Pylon or doorway of tho Aahlu or Elysian fields, with his mystical names. His head generally surmounts the little cippi of Harpocrates, and some texts ally him with the god Amen. A temple in Nubia, built by Tirhakah about 690 b.c., has its columns in shape of this god. His figures and busts are common in Egyptian art of a later age, and individuals were called after him both in earlier and later times.

BESANÇON, a city of France, capital of the department of Doubs, 45 miles E. of Dijon, on ihe River Doubs, which flows round it on three sides. It is well protected by strong fortifications and a citadel on an almost impregnable rock, 410 feet above the river. The town is in general well built, and has three main streets running from N. to S. The principal buildings are the Gothic cathedral of St Jean, a court-house, a town-hall, the Gran velle palace, the royal college, an arsenal, a large hospital, barracks, a theatre, a library of 300,000 volumes, a museum and picture gallery, and several handsome fountains. Among the numerous Roman remains are a triumphal arch erected in honour of Crispus Caesar, son of Constantine, a theatre, and an amphitheatre. Besançon is the see of an archbishop, has tribunals of primary jurisdiction and commerce, and is the head court for the departments of Doubs, Jura, and Haute Saône. It possesses also a university-academy, a diocesan seminary, a royal academy of science and belles-lettres, a lyceum, an antiquariau museum, a society of agriculture, and schools of medicine, artillery, and design, besides two deaf and dumb institutions. The chief branch of industry is the manufacture of watches and jewellery. There are also some considerable breweries and manufactories of carpets, porcelain, hardware, Seltzer-water, artificial flowers, Ac. Besançon enjoys a good position for the commerce between F rance and Switzerland. Population in 1872, 39,868. Long. 5° 56'26" E., lat. 47° 14' 12" N....