In the early part of the 14th century, another brother preacher, Jordanus Catalani, recorded in his _Mirabilia_ (_Hakluyt Soc. Publ._, 9), that those schismatics had adopted the Catholic faith in several cities of Persia, to wit, at Tabreez, Soultanyà, and at “Ur of the Chaldees, where Abraham was born, which is a very opulent city, distant about two days from Tabriz”. Heyd says that this Ur cannot be Orfa, a town in central Mesopotamia, which has been identified with the Ur-Khasdim of the Arabians (Ritter, _Die Erdkunde_ etc., x, 333); but is more probably the ancient city of Maranda, not far from the lake Ouroumyeh and fifty miles only from Tabreez. But Meragha was, in like manner, at no great distance from the said lake, and only twenty-four miles, or, according to Hadjy Khalpha, seven farsangs from Tabreez; we are, therefore, justified in concluding, that it was this place the friar designated as Ur of the Chaldees, especially as it was a large city and a bishop’s see in 1320 (Galanus, _Concil. Eccl. Arm. cum Rom._, i, 508; quoted by Heyd, 324). The same cannot be said of Maranda. Bartholomew of Bologna has given evidence of his zeal, in the fact that many of the Armenian clergy went over to the Church of Rome, and with the view of cementing this union, a new Order, “Fratres prædicatores Uniti”, was founded and affiliated to the Dominicans, whose head-centre was at Meragha. But the theory propounded by Bishop Aïvazoffsky is worthy of consideration, viz., that Ur is no other than Urmi or Ormi, a town of some size, hitherto largely inhabited by Nestorian Chaldæans, and that has given its name to the lake Ourmiah, Ormi, or Ouroumyeh. It is believed to be the birth-place of Zoroaster, who might have been mistaken for Abraham as easily as he has been for Moses.—BRUUN. [1] Abbott says (_Persian Azerbaijan_, MS.) that the tomb of Houlakou, or its reputed site, is pointed out near the town of Meragha.—ED. (6.) “Gelat.”—Khelat was taken in 1229 by the sultan, Jalaluddin, after a three days’ siege. Aboulfeda quotes Abou Said, who says that it rivalled Damascus. Bakui (_Not. et Extr._, ii, 513) extols Khelat for its good water, fruit, and the fish taken from the lake, especially the tamrin, possibly the dorakine found in the Kour, as related by Ystachry (_Mordtmann edition_, 1845). The numerous ruins in the neighbourhood are of the time when Akhlat was the residence of the Shahy Armen—kings of Armenia; they include those of a superb palace, of gorgeous tombs, artificial grottoes, and of a fortress on the shore of Lake Van. Khelat is now a miserable hamlet occupied by Kurds.—BRUUN. (6A.) Khelat, Ghelath, Ashlath, was long the residence of a suffragan bishop of the Armenian Church.—ED.