Chaps. 11-14.

Chap. 11.—The Cities of Egypt.

Egypt, besides its boast of extreme antiquity, asserts that it contained, in the reign of King Amasis [The last king of the line of Psammetichus, B.C. 569. He succeeded Apries, whom the Egyptians put to death. He died just before the invasion by Cambyses, having displayed great abilities as a ruler.], 20,000 inhabited cities: in our day they are still very numerous, though no longer of any particular note. Still however we find the following ones mentioned as of great renown—the city of Apollo [There was the Greater Apollinopolis, the modern Edfoo, in the Thebaid, on the western bank of the Nile, in lat. 25° north, about thirteen miles below the lesser Cataract: its inhabitants were enemies of the crocodile and its worshippers. The remains of two temples there are considered second only to the temple of Denderah as specimens of the sacred structures of Egypt. A Lesser Apollinopolis was in Upper Egypt, on the western bank of the Nile, in lat. 27° north. Another Lesser Apollinopolis was a town of the Thebaid in the Coptite Nome, in lat. 26° north, situate between Thebes and Coptos. It was situate at the present Kuss.]; next, that of Leucothea [Its site is unknown. Hardouin suggests that it is the Eilethuia of Ptolemy, the modern El-Kab.]; then Great Diospolis [“City of Jupiter,” the Greek name for Thebes, the No or No Ammon of Scripture. It stood in the centre of the Thebaid, on both banks of the Nile, above Coptos, and in the Nomos Coptites. Its ruins, which are the most magnificent in the world, enclose within their site the four villages of Carnac, Luxor, Medinet Abou, and Gournou.], otherwise Thebes, known to fame for its hundred gates; Coptos [Its hieroglyphical name was Kobto, and its site is now occupied by the modern town of Kouft or Keft. It was situate in lat. 26° north, on the right bank of the Nile, about a mile from its banks. As a halting place or rather watering-place for the caravans, it was enriched by the commerce between Libya and Egypt on the one hand, and Arabia and India and Egypt on the other, the latter being carried on through the port of Berenice on the Red Sea, founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, B.C. 266. In the seventh century of the Christian era, it bore for some time the name of Justinianopolis. There are a few remains of Roman buildings to be seen on its site.], which from its proximity to the Nile, forms its nearest emporium for the merchandise of India and Arabia; then the town of Venus [Also called Aphrodite or Aphroditopolis. Of this name there were several towns or cities in ancient Egypt. In Lower Egypt there was Atarbechis, thus named, and a town mentioned by Strabo in the nome of Leontopolites. In the Heptanomis or Middle Egypt there was the place, the ruins of which are called Aftyeh, on the east side of the Nile, and the capital of the nome of Aphroditopolites. In Upper Egypt or the Thebais there was the present Tachta, on the west side of the Nile, between Ptolemais and Panopolis, capital of another nome of Aphroditopolites, and that one the ruins of which are now called Deir, on the west bank of the Nile, higher up than the former, and, like it, some distance from the river. It was situate in the nome Hermonthites.], and then another town of Jupiter [Another Diospolis. Great Diospolis is mentioned in the preceding page.]. After this comes Tentyris [Or Tentyra. The modern Dendera of the Arabs, called Dendôri or Hidendôri by the ancient Egyptians.], below which is Abydus [In ancient times called This, and in Coptic Ebôt, the ruins of which are now known as Arábat-el-Matfoon. It was the chief town of the Nomos Thinites, and was situate in lat. 26° 10′ north and long. 32° 3′ east. In the Thebaid it ranked next to Thebes itself. Here according to general belief was the burial-place of Osiris. In the time of Strabo it had sunk into a mere village. Its ruins, though nearly buried in the sand, are very extensive. There is, however, some uncertainty as to the exact identity of This with Abydus.], the royal abode of Memnon, and famous for a temple of Osiris [The ruins of these places are still to be seen at Abydus.], which is situate in Libya [He calls the whole of the country on the western bank of the Nile by this name.], at a distance from the river of seven miles and a half. Next to it comes Ptolemais [Called Absou or Absaï by the Arabs, and Psoë by the ancient Egyptians. It has been suggested that it was the same place as This, more generally identified with Abydus.], then Panopolis [Its site is now called Ekhmin or Akhmin by the Arabs, Khmim being its ancient Egyptian name. It was the chief town of the nome of Panopolites, and the deity Phthah was worshipped there under the form of Priapus.], and then another town of Venus [Another Aphroditopolis, the present Tachta, mentioned above, in Note in the last page. Pliny distinguishes it from that now called Deir, mentioned above.], and, on the Libyan side, Lycon [Now known as Es-Siout.], where the mountains form the boundary of the province of Thebais. On passing these, we come to the towns of Mercury [Or Hermopolis—the modern Esh-moon or Ash-mounion, on the eastern bank of the Nile, in lat. 27° 54′ north. It was the capital of the Hermopolite nome in the Heptanomis. It was a place of great opulence and densely populated. The deities Typhon and Thoth were principally worshipped at this place. The latter, the inventor of the pen and letters, nearly corresponded with the Hermes of the Greeks (the Mercury of the Romans), from which the Hellenized name of the place. Its ruins are very extensive.], Alabastron [This town was no doubt connected with the alabaster quarries of Mount Alabasternus, now Mount St. Anthony, and the hill of Alabastrites, now the Côteau Hessan.], the town of Dogs [Or Cynopolis, the chief place of the Cynopolite nome. The Dog-headed deity Anubis was worshipped here. The modern Samallus occupies its site. This place was in the Heptanomis, but there were several other towns of the same name, one of which was situate in the Delta or Lower Egypt.], and that of Hercules already mentioned [In C., when speaking of the nome of Heracleopolites; of which nome, this place, called Heracleopolis, was the capital. It was situate at the entrance of the valley of the Fayoum, on an island formed by the Nile and a canal. After Memphis and Heliopolis it was probably the most important city north of the Thebaid. It furnished two dynasties of kings to Egypt. The ichneumon was worshipped here, from which it may be inferred that the people were hostile to the crocodile. Its ruins are inconsiderable; the village of Anasieh covers part of them.]. We next come to Arsinoë [The capital of the nome of Arsinoïtes, seated on the western bank of the Nile, between the river and Lake Mœris, south-west of Memphis, in lat. 29° north. It was called under the Pharaohs, “the City of Crocodiles,” from the reverence paid by the people to that animal. Its ruins are to be seen at Medinet-el-Fayoom or El-Fares.], and Memphis [Its magnificent ruins, known by the name of Menf and Metrabenny, are to be seen about ten miles above the pyramids of Gizeh.], which has been previously mentioned; between which last and the Nome of Arsinoïtes, upon the Libyan side, are the towers known as the Pyramids, the Labyrinth [This lay beyond Lake Mœris, or Birket-el-Keroun, at a short distance from the city of Arsinoë. It had 3000 apartments, 1500 of which were underground. The accounts given by modern travellers of its supposed ruins do not agree with what we have learned from the ancients respecting its architecture and site. The purposes for which it was built are unknown. Its supposed site is called Havara.] on Lake Mœris, in the construction of which no wood was employed, and the town of Crialon [If this is not an abbreviation or corruption for Crocodilon, as Hardouin suggests, it may probably mean the “town of Rams,” from the worship perhaps of that animal there.]. Besides these, there is one place in the interior, on the confines of Arabia, of great celebrity, the City of the Sun [Heliopolis or Rameses. In Scripture it is called by the names of On and No—Gen. xli. 45 and Ezek. xxx. 15. It stood on the eastern side of the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, near the right bank of the Great Canal which connected the river with the Red Sea, and close adjoining to the present overland route for travellers to India. It was one of the most ancient of the Egyptian cities; here the father-in-law of Joseph exercised the office of high-priest, and here the prophet Jeremiah is supposed to have written his Book of Lamentations. Its priests were the great depositaries of the theological and historical learning of Egypt. Solon, Thales, and Plato were reputed each to have visited its schools. According to Macrobius, Baalbec, the Syrian City of the Sun, was a colony from this place. It was the capital of the nome Heliopolites, and paid worship to the sun and the bull Mnevis, the rival of Apis. From Josephus we learn that after the dispersion and fall of the tribes of Judah and Israel, great numbers of the Jews took refuge at this place, forming almost one-half of its population. The ruins, which were extremely magnificent, occupied in the twelfth century an area nearly three miles in extent. Pliny speaks of the great obelisk there, which is still standing. (See B. xxxvi. c. 9.) The village of Matarieh occupies a part of its site, and besides the obelisk of red granite, there are a few remains of the Temple of the Sun.].

(10.) With the greatest justice, however, we may lavish our praises upon Alexandria, built by Alexander the Great on the shores of the Egyptian Sea, upon the soil of Africa, at twelve miles’ distance from the Canopic Mouth and near Lake Mareotis [Now called Birk-el-Mariout.]; the spot having previously borne the name of Rhacotes. The plan of this city was designed by the architect Dinochares [Or Dinocrates. He was the architect of the new temple of Diana at Ephesus, which was built after the destruction of the former one by Herostratus. It was this architect who formed a design for cutting Mount Athos into a statue of Alexander, with a city in the right hand and a reservoir of the mountain streams in the left.], who is memorable for the genius which he displayed in many ways. Building the city upon a wide space [Holland seems to think that the word “laxitate” applies to chlamys.] of ground fifteen miles in circumference, he formed it in the circular shape of a Macedonian chlamys [The chlamys was a scarf or cloak worn over the shoulders, and especially used by military persons of high rank. It did not reach lower than the knees, and was open in front, covering only the neck, back, and shoulders.], uneven at the edge, giving it an angular projection on the right and left; while at the same time he devoted one-fifth part of the site to the royal palace.

Lake Mareotis, which lies on the south side of the city, is connected by a canal which joins it to the Canopic mouth, and serves for the purposes of communication with the interior. It has also a great number of islands, and is thirty miles across, and 150 in circumference, according to Claudius Cæsar. Other writers say that it is forty schœni in length, making the schœnum to be thirty stadia; hence, according to them, it is 150 miles [Its real dimensions were something less than 300 stadia, or thirty geographical miles long, and rather more than 150 stadia wide.] in length and the same in breadth.

There are also, in the latter part of the course of the Nile, many towns of considerable celebrity, and more especially those which have given their names to the mouths of the river—I do not mean, all the mouths, for there are no less than twelve of them, as well as four others, which the people call the False Mouths [Or “Pseudostomata.” These were crossed in small boats, as they were not navigable for ships of burden.]. I allude to the seven more famous ones, the Canopic [In the Pharaonic times Canopus was the capital of the nome of Menelaïtes, and the principal harbour of the Delta. It probably owed its name to the god Canobus, a pitcher full of holes, with a human head, which was worshipped here with peculiar pomp. It was remarkable for the number of its festivals and the general dissoluteness of its morals. Traces of its ruins are to be seen about three miles from the modern Aboukir.] Mouth, next to Alexandria, those of Bolbitine [Corresponding to the modern Raschid or Rosetta. It is supposed that this place was noted for its manufactory of chariots.], Sebennys [The town of Sebennys or Sebennytum, now Samannoud, gave name to one of the nomes, and the Sebennytic Mouth of the Nile.], Phatnis [Or the Pathinetic or Bucolic Mouth, said to be the same as the modern Damietta Mouth.], Mendes [The capital of the Mendesian nome, called by the Arabs Ochmoun. This mouth is now known as the Deibeh Mouth.], Tanis [Now called Szan or Tzan. The Tanitic Mouth, which is sometimes called the Saitic, is at the present day called Omm-Faredjé.], and, last of all, Pelusium [Its ruins are to be seen at the modern Tineh. This city in early times had the name of Abaris. It was situate on the eastern side of the most easterly mouth of the Nile, which, after it, was called the Pelusiac Mouth, about two miles from the sea, in the midst of morasses. Being the frontier city towards Syria and Arabia it was strongly fortified. It was the birth-place of Ptolemy the geographer.]. Besides the above there are the towns of Butos [Butos or Buto stood on the Sebennytic arm of the Nile near its mouth, on the southern shores of the Butic Lake. It was the chief seat of the worship of the goddess Buto, whom the Greeks identified with Leto or Latona. The modern Kem Kasir occupies its site.], Pharbæthos [Called Harbait by the Arabs, and Farbait by the ancient Egyptians.], Leontopolis [In the Delta. It was the capital of the nome of Leontopolites, and probably of late foundation, as no writer previous to Pliny mentions it. Its site is uncertain, but Thall-Essabouah, the “Hill of the Lion,” has been suggested.], Athribis [The chief town of the Athribitic nome in Lower Egypt. It stood on the eastern bank of the Tanitic branch of the Nile. This nome and town derived their name from the goddess Thriphis, whom the inscriptions there and at Panopolis designate as the “most great goddess.” The ruins at Atrieb or Trieb, at the spot where the modern canal of Moueys turns off from the Nile, represent the ancient Athribis. They are very extensive, and among them are considerable remains of the Roman era.], the town of Isis [This was situate near the city or town of Busiris in the Delta. The modern village of Bahbeyt is supposed to cover the ruins of the temple of Isis.], Busiris [The modern Busyr or Abousir, where considerable ruins of the ancient city are still to be seen. It was the chief town of the nome of Busirites, and stood south of Sais, near the Phatnitic mouth, on the western bank of the Nile. This was also the name of a town in Middle Egypt, in the neighbourhood of Memphis, and represented by another village of the name of Abousir. Pliny, B. xxxvi. c. 16, speaks of the Catacombs in its vicinity.], Cynopolis [The place of that name in the Delta is here meant.], Aphrodites [Probably the town of that name, otherwise called Aphroditopolis, in the nome of Leontopolites.], Sais [The ruins of which are now called Sa-el-Hajjar. It was situate in the Delta, on the east side of the Canopic branch of the Nile. It was the ancient capital of Lower Egypt and contained the palace and burial-place of the Pharaohs. It was the chief seat of the worship of the Egyptian goddess Neith, also known as Sais. It gave its name to the nome of Saïtes.], and Naucratis [It was situate in the Delta of Egypt and in the nome of Saïtes, on the eastern bank of the Canopic branch of the Nile. It was a colony of the Milesians, founded probably in the reign of Amasis, about B.C. 550, and remained a pure Greek city. It was the only place in Egypt in which, in the time of the later Pharaohs, foreigners were permitted to settle and trade. In later times it was famous for the worship of Aphrodite or Venus, and rivalled Canopus in the dissoluteness of its manners.], from which last some writers call that the Naucratitic Mouth, which is by others called the Heracleotic, and mention it instead [Ptolemy the geographer does this.] of the Canopic Mouth, which is the next to it.

Chap. 12. (11.)—The Coasts of Arabia, Situate on the Egyptian Sea.

Beyond the Pelusiac Mouth is Arabia [Arabia Petræa; that part of Arabia which immediately joins up to Egypt.], which extends to the Red Sea, and joins the Arabia known by the surname of Happy [Called Arabia Felix to the present day.], so famous for its perfumes and its wealth. This [The part of Arabia which joins up to Egypt, Arabia Petræa namely.] is called Arabia of the Catabanes [Strabo places this people as far south as the mouth of the Red Sea, i. e. on the east of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. Forster (in his ‘Arabia,’ vol. ii.) takes this name to be merely an inversion of Beni Kahtan, the great tribe which mainly peoples, at the present day, central and southern Arabia.], the Esbonitæ [Probably the people of Esebon, the Heshbon of Scripture, spoken of by Jerome as being the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites.], and the Scenitæ [The “tent-people,” from the Greek σκηνὴ, “a tent.” This seems to have been a name common to the nomadic tribes of Arabia. Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of them as being the same as the Saraceni or Saracens.]; it is remarkable for its sterility, except in the parts where it joins up to Syria, and it has nothing remarkable in it except Mount Casius [The modern El Katieh or El Kas; which is the summit of a lofty range of sandstone hills on the borders of Egypt and Arabia Petræa, immediately south of the Sirbonian Lake and the Mediterranean Sea. On its western side was the tomb of Pompey the Great.]. The Arabian nations of the Canchlæi [The same as the Amalekites of Scripture, according to Hardouin. Bochart thinks that they are the same as the Chavilæi, who are mentioned as dwelling in the vicinity of Babylon.] join these on the east, and, on the south the Cedrei [The position which Pliny assigns to this nation would correspond with the northern part of the modern district of the Hedjaz. Forster identifies them with the Cauraitæ, or Cadraitæ of Arrian, and the Darræ of Ptolemy, tracing their origin to the Cedar or Kedar, the son of Ishmael, mentioned in Genesis xxv. 13, and represented by the modern Harb nation and the modern town of Kedeyre. See Psalm cxx. 5: “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!”], both of which peoples are adjoining to the Nabatæi [An Arabian people, said to have descended from the eldest son of Ishmael, who had their original abodes in the north-western part of the Arabian peninsula, east and south-east of the Moabites and Edomites. Extending their territory, we find the Nabatæi of Greek and Roman history occupying nearly the whole of Arabia Petræa, along the north-east coast of the Red Sea, on both sides of the Ælanitic Gulf, and on the Idumæan mountains, where they had their capital, Petra, hewn out of the rock.]. The two gulfs of the Red Sea, where it borders upon Egypt, are called the Heroöpolitic [Now the Bahr-el-Soueys, or Gulf of Suez.] and the Ælanitic [The Bahr-el-Akabah, or Gulf of Akabah.]. Between the two towns of Ælana [Now Akabah, an Idumæan town of Arabia Petræa, situate at the head of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, which was called after this town “Ælaniticus Sinus.” It was annexed to the kingdom of Judah, with the other cities of Idumæa, by David, 2 Sam. viii. 14, and was one of the harbours on the Red Sea from which the ships of Solomon sailed for Ophir. See 1 Kings ix. 26 and 2 Chron. viii. 17. It was a place of commercial importance under the Romans and the head-quarters of the Tenth Legion. A fortress now occupies its site.] and Gaza [Its site is now known as Guzzah. It was the last city on the south-west frontier of Palestine, and from the earliest times was a strongly fortified place. It was taken from the Philistines by the Jews more than once, but as often retaken. It was also taken by Cyrus the Great and Alexander, and afterwards by Ptolemy Lagus, who destroyed it. It afterwards recovered, and was again destroyed by Alexander Jannæus, B.C. 96, after which, it was rebuilt by Gabinius and ultimately united to the Roman province of Syria. In A.D. 65 it was again destroyed, but was rebuilt, and finally fell into the hands of the Arabs, in A.D. 634.] upon our sea [Meaning the Mediterranean.], there is a distance of 150 miles. Agrippa says that Arsinoë [The present Suez. See B. vi. c. 33.], a town on the Red Sea, is, by way of the desert, 125 miles from Pelusium. How different the characteristics impressed by nature upon two places separated by so small a distance!

Chap. 13. (12.)—Syria.

Next to these countries Syria occupies the coast, once the greatest of lands, and distinguished by many names; for the part which joins up to Arabia was formerly called Palæstina, Judæa, Cœle [Or the “Hollow” Syria. This was properly the name given, after the Macedonian conquest, to the great valley between the two great ranges of Mount Lebanon, in the south of Syria, bordering upon Phœnicia on the west, and Palestine on the south. In the wars between the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ, the name was applied to the whole of the southern portion of Syria, which became subject for some time to the kings of Egypt; but under the Romans, it was confined to Cœlesyria proper with the district east of Anti-Libanus, about Damascus, and a portion of Palestine east of Jordan.], and Phœnice. The country in the interior was called Damascena, and that further on and more to the south, Babylonia. The part that lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris was called Mesopotamia, that beyond Taurus Sophene, and that on this side of the same chain Comagene. Beyond Armenia was the country of Adiabene, anciently called Assyria, and at the part where it joins up to Cilicia, it was called Antiochia. Its length, between Cilicia and Arabia [Or Ostracine, the northern point of Arabia.], is 470 miles, and its breadth, from Seleucia Pieria [This was a great fortress of Syria founded by Seleucus B.C. 300, at the foot of Mount Pieria and overhanging the Mediterranean, four miles north of the Orontes and twelve miles west of Antioch. It had fallen entirely to decay in the sixth century of our era. There are considerable ruins of its harbour and mole, its walls and necropolis. They bear the name of Seleukeh or Kepse.] to Zeugma [From the Greek ζεῦγμα, “a junction;” built by Seleucus Nicator on the borders of Commagene and Cyrrhestice, on the west bank of the Euphrates, where the river had been crossed by a bridge of boats constructed by Alexander the Great. The modern Rumkaleh is supposed to occupy its site.], a town on the Euphrates, 175. Those who make a still more minute division of this country will have it that Phœnice is surrounded by Syria, and that first comes the maritime coast of Syria, part of which is Idumæa and Judæa, after that Phœnice, and then Syria. The whole of the tract of sea that lies in front of these shores is called the Phœnician Sea. The Phœnician people enjoy the glory of having been the inventors of letters [On this subject see B. vii. c. 57. The invention of letters and the first cultivation of the science of astronomy have been claimed for the Egyptians and other nations. The Tyrians were probably the first who applied the science of astronomy to the purposes of navigation. There is little doubt that warfare must have been studied as an art long before the existence of the Phœnician nation.], and the first discoverers of the sciences of astronomy, navigation, and the art of war.

Chap. 14.—Idumæa, Palæstina, and Samaria.

On leaving Pelusium we come to the Camp of Chabrias [Strabo places this between Mount Casius and Pelusium.], Mount Casius [See C. of the present Book. Chabrias the Athenian aided Nectanebus II. against his revolted subjects.], the temple of Jupiter Casius, and the tomb of Pompeius Magnus. Ostracine [Its ruins are to be seen on the present Ras Straki.], at a distance of sixty-five miles from Pelusium, is the frontier town of Arabia.

(13.) After this, at the point where the Sirbonian Lake [Now called the Sabakat Bardowal. It lay on the coast of Egypt, east of Mount Casius, and it is not improbable that the boundary-line between Egypt and Palæstina or Idumæa ran through the middle of its waters. It was strongly impregnated with asphaltus. A connection formerly existed between it and the Mediterranean, but this being stopped up, it gradually grew smaller by evaporation and is now nearly dry.] becomes visible, Idumæa and Palæstina begin. This lake, which some writers have made to be 150 miles in circumference, Herodotus has placed at the foot of Mount Casius; it is now an inconsiderable fen. The towns are Rhinocolura [The present Kulat-el-Arich or El Arish, situate at the mouth of the brook El-Arish, called by the Scriptures the “river of Egypt.” Its name signifies in Greek, “cutting off of noses,” and is probably derived from the fact of its having been the place of exile for criminals who had been so mutilated, under the Æthiopian kings of Egypt. Poinsinet suggests however that the name means the “town of the circumcised.”], and, in the interior, Rhaphea [The place on its site is still called Refah, but it was really situate on the coast. Gaza has been already mentioned in a Note to C. 12, p. 423.], Gaza, and, still more inland, Anthedon [Anthedon was on the coast of Palestine, although Pliny says to the contrary. It was situate about three miles to the south-west of Gaza, and was destroyed by Alexander Jannæus. In the time of Julian it was addicted to the worship of Astarte, the Syrian Venus. According to Dupinet the present name of its site is Daron.]: there is also Mount Argaris [Brotier says that this is the same as the Mount Gerizim of Scripture, but that was situate in Samaria, a considerable distance from the southern coast of Palæstina. Pliny is the only author that mentions it.]. Proceeding along the coast we come to the region of Samaria; Ascalo [The Ascalon of Scripture, one of the five cities of the Philistines, situate on the coast of the Mediterranean, between Gaza and Jamnia. In early times it was the seat of the worship of Derceto, a fish with a woman’s head. The ruins, which still bear the name of Askulân, are very extensive, and indicative of great strength. The shalot or scallion was originally a native of this place, and thence derived its name.], a free town, Azotus [The Ashdod of Scripture. It was one of the five cities of the Philistines and the chief seat of the worship of Dagon. Herodotus states that it stood a siege of twenty-nine years from Psammetichus, king of Egypt. It was afterwards taken and retaken several times. It was situate between Ascalon and Jamnia, and its site is indicated by the modern village of Esdad, but no ruins of the ancient city are visible.], the two Jamniæ [One of these was a city of the Philistines, assigned to the tribe of Judah in the fifteenth Chapter of Joshua, 45, according to the Septuagint version, but omitted in the Hebrew, which only mentions it in 2 Chron. xxvi. 6 (where it is called Jabneh in the English version), as one of the cities of the Philistines taken and destroyed by King Uzziah. The place of this name that lay in the interior, is probably the one spoken of by Josephus as in that part of the tribe of Judah occupied by the children of Dan, as also in the 1 Maccabees, x. 69-71. The one was probably the port of the other. The ruins of the port still retain the name of Yebora, and are situate on an eminence about an hour’s distance from the sea, on the banks of the river Rûbin.], one of them in the interior; and Joppe [Or Joppa of Scripture, now called Yâfa or Jaffa. The timber from Lebanon intended for both the first and second Temples was landed here. It was taken and retaken more than once during the wars of the Maccabees, and was finally annexed by Pompey to the Roman province of Syria. It is mentioned several times in the New Testament in connection with Saint Peter. In the Jewish war, having become a refuge for pirates, it was taken by Cestius and destroyed, and even the very ruins were demolished by Vespasian. It was afterwards rebuilt, and in the time of the Crusades was alternately in the hands of the Christians and the Moslems.], a city of the Phœnicians, which existed, it is said, before the deluge of the earth. It is situate on the slope of a hill, and in front of it lies a rock, upon which they point out the vestiges of the chains by which Andromeda was bound [To be devoured by the sea monster, from which she was delivered by Perseus, who had borrowed for the occasion the talaria or winged shoes of Mercury. In B. ix. c. 4, Pliny states that the skeleton of the monster was exhibited at Rome by M. Æmilius Scaurus, when he was Curule Ædile.]. Here the fabulous goddess Ceto [Probably the same as Derceto or Atargatis, the fish-goddess with a woman’s head, of the Syrians.] is worshipped. Next to this place comes Apollonia [Situate between Cæsarea and Joppa. It is probable that it owed its name to the Macedonian kings of either Egypt or Syria. Arsûf, a deserted village, but which itself was of considerable importance in the time of the Crusades, represents the ancient Apollonia.], and then the Tower of Strato [The site of the Turris Stratonis was afterwards occupied by Cæsarea, a city on the coast, founded by Herod the Great, and named Cæsarea in honour of Augustus Cæsar. It was renowned for the extent and magnificence of its harbour, which was secured by a breakwater of stupendous construction. For some time it was considered the principal city of Palestine and the chief seat of the Roman government. Although it again changed its name, as Pliny states, it still retained its name of Cæsarea as the Metropolitan See of the First Palestine. It was also of considerable importance during the occupation of the Holy Land by the Crusaders. Its ruins are still visible, but have served as a quarry for many generations, and Jaffa, Sidon, Acre and Beyrout have been supplied with stones from this site. Massive remains of its mole or breakwater and its towers still exist.], otherwise Cæsarea, built by King Herod, but now the Colony of Prima Flavia, established by the Emperor Vespasianus: this place is the frontier town of Palæstina, at a distance of 188 miles from the confines of Arabia; after which comes Phœnice [Or Phœnicia.]. In the interior of Samaria are the towns of Neapolis [By some regarded as the Scriptural town of Sichem, but by others as a distinct place, though in its immediate vicinity. Its present name is Naplous or Nabolos, situate between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim. Its proper name under the Romans was Flavia Neapolis. It was the birth-place of Justin Martyr.], formerly called Mamortha, Sebaste [The city of Samaria, so called from Shemer, the owner of the hill which Omri, King of Israel, purchased, about B.C. 922, for its site. Herod greatly renovated this city, which he called Sebaste, in honour of his patron Augustus, in Greek “Sebastos.” Its site is now occupied by a poor village, which bears the name of Sebustieh.], situate on a mountain, and, on a still more lofty one, Gamala [A town of Palæstina, frequently mentioned by Josephus as remarkable for the strength of its fortifications, and situate on the Lake Tiberias, opposite to Tarichæa. After a spirited defence, it was taken by Vespasian, who slaughtered 4000 of the survivors, upon which 5000 threw themselves from the walls, and were dashed to pieces below. The site had been forgotten for nearly eighteen centuries, when Lord Lindsay discovered it on a lofty hill on the east of Lake Tiberias, and nearly opposite the town of that name. It is now called El-Hossn, and the ruins of the fortifications are very extensive.].