ZINDIKITES, a Mohammedan heretical sect, who disbelieve in Allah, and deny the resurrection and a future life.

ZINZENDORF, a German count, born in Dresden; studied at Wittenberg, came under the influence of the Pietist Spener, gave himself up to evangelical labours, and established a religious community on his estate at Herrnhut, in Saxony, consisting chiefly of a body of Moravian Brethren, who had been driven out of Bohemia and Moravia on account of their religious opinions, and were called Herrnhuters, of which he became one of the leaders and chief apostles, labouring far and wide in the propagation of their doctrines and suffering no small persecution by the way; he was an earnest man, the author of religious writings, controversial and devotional; wrote a number of hymns, and died at Herrnhut, from which he was driven forth, but to which he was allowed to return before the end (1700-1760).

ZION, that one of the four hills on which Jerusalem is built, on the SW. of the city, and the site of the palace of King David and his successors.

ZIONISM, the name given a movement on the part of the Jews to re-establish themselves in Palestine as a nation.

ZIRCONIA LIGHT, an intensely brilliant light, similar to the Drummond light, but differing from it chiefly in the employment of cones of zirconium instead of cylinders of lime; it has been superseded by the electric light.

ZIRCONIUM, a metallic element often found in connection with silica, commonly in the form of a black powder.

ZIRKNITZ, LAKE, a high-lying lake in Carniola, 20 m.  SW. of Laybach, the waters of which in the dry season will sometimes disappear altogether through the fissures, and in rainy will sometimes expand into a lake 5 m. long and 3 m. broad.

ZISKA, JOHANN, Hussite leader, born in Bohemia of a noble family; began life as a page at the court of King Wenceslas, but threw up a courtier’s life in disgust for a career in arms; fought and distinguished himself by his valour against the Teutonic knights at Tannenberg in 1410, to their utter defeat; signalised himself afterwards against the Turks, and in 1413 fought on the English side at Agincourt; failing to rouse Wenceslas to avenge the death of HUSS (q. v.) and of JEROME OF PRAGUE (q. v.), he joined the Hussites, organised their forces, assumed the chief command, and in 1420 gained, with a force of 4000 men, a victory over the Emperor Sigismund with an army of 40,000 mustered to crush him; captured next year the castle of Prague, erected fortresses over the country, one in particular called Tabor, whence the name Taborites given to his party; blind of one eye from his childhood, lost the other at the siege of Ratz, fought on blind notwithstanding, gaining victory after victory, but was seized with the plague and carried off by it at Czaslav, where his remains were buried and his big mace or battle-club, mostly iron, hung honourably on the wall close by; that his skin was tanned and made into the cover of a drum is a fable; he was a tough soldier, and is called once and again in Carlyle’s “Frederick” “Rhinoceros Ziska” (1360-1424).