BY PROF. CHARLES FOSTER KENT

THE SHORTER BIBLE—THE NEW TESTAMENT.

THE SHORTER BIBLE—THE OLD TESTAMENT.

THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS AND JESUS.

BIBLICAL GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY.

THE ORIGIN AND PERMANENT VALUE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

HISTORY OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE. From the Settlement in Canaan to the Fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. 2 vols.

HISTORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. The Babylonian, Persian and Greek Periods.

THE HISTORICAL BIBLE. With Maps. 6 vols.

STUDENT'S OLD TESTAMENT. Logically and Chronologically Arranged and Translated. With Maps. 6 vols.

THE MESSAGES OF ISRAEL'S LAW-GIVERS.

THE MESSAGES OF THE EARLIER PROPHETS.

THE MESSAGES OF THE LATER PROPHETS.

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

MODERN PALESTINE,
WITH
Ancient Towns and Highways

BIBLICAL
GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

BY

CHARLES FOSTER KENT, Ph.D.

WOOLSEY PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE IN YALE UNIVERSITY
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1926

Copyright, 1911, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Printed in the United States of America
Published April, 1911

PREFACE

Geography has within the past few years won a new place among the sciences. It is no longer regarded as simply a description of the earth's surface, but as the foundation of all historical study. Only in the light of their physical setting can the great characters, movements, and events of human history be rightly understood and appreciated. Moreover, geography is now defined as a description not only of the earth and of its influence upon man's development, but also of the solar, atmospheric, and geological forces which throughout millions of years have given the earth its present form. Hence, in its deeper meaning, geography is a description of the divine character and purpose expressing itself through natural forces, in the physical contour of the earth, in the animate world, and, above all, in the life and activities of man. Biblical geography, therefore, is the first and in many ways the most important chapter in that divine revelation which was perfected through the Hebrew race and recorded in the Bible. Thus interpreted it has a profound religious meaning, for through the plains and mountains, the rivers and seas, the climate and flora of the biblical world the Almighty spoke to men as plainly and unmistakably as he did through the voices of his inspired seers and sages.

No other commentary upon the literature of the Bible is so practical and luminous as biblical geography. Throughout their long history the Hebrews were keenly attentive to the voice of the Eternal speaking to them through nature. Their writings abound in references and figures taken from the picturesque scenes and peculiar life of Palestine. The grim encircling desert, the strange water-courses, losing themselves at times in their rocky beds, fertile Carmel and snow-clad Hermon, the resounding sea and the storm-lashed waters of Galilee are but a few of the many physical characteristics of Palestine that have left their indelible marks upon the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. The same is true of Israel's unique faith and institutions. Biblical geography, therefore, is not a study by itself, but the natural introduction to all other biblical studies.

In his Historical Geography of the Holy Land and in the two volumes on Jerusalem, Principal George Adam Smith, of Aberdeen, has given a brilliant and luminous sketch of the geographical divisions and cities of Palestine, tracing their history from the earliest times to the present. Every writer on Palestine owes him a great debt. The keenness and accuracy of his observations, are confirmed at every point by the traveller. At the present time, the need of a more compact manual, to present first the physical geography of the biblical lands and then to trace in broad outlines the history of Israel and of early Christianity in close conjunction with their geographical background, has long been recognized. In the present work unimportant details have been omitted that the vital facts may stand out clearly and in their true significance. The aim has been to furnish the information that every Bible teacher should possess in order to do the most effective work, and the geographical data with which every student of the Bible should be familiar, in order intelligently to interpret and fully appreciate the ancient Scriptures.

This volume embodies the results of many delightful months spent in the lands of the eastern Mediterranean, and especially in Palestine, during the years 1892 and 1910. Owing to improved conditions in the Turkish Empire it is now possible, with the proper camp equipment, to travel safely through the remotest places east of the Jordan and to visit Petra, that most fascinating of Eastern cities. By securing his equipment at Beirut the traveller may cross northern Galilee and then, with comfort, go southward in the early spring through ancient Bashan, Gilead, Moab, and Edom. Thence, with great economy of time and effort, he may return through central Palestine, making frequent détours to points of interest. In this way he will find the quaint, fascinating old Palestine that has escaped the invasions of the railroads and western tourists, and he will bear away exact and vivid impressions of the land as it really was and still is.

The difficulties and expense of Palestine travel, however, render such a journey impossible for the majority of Bible students. Fortunately, the marvellous development of that most valuable aid to modern education, the stereoscope and the stereograph, make it possible for every one at a comparatively small expense to visit Palestine and to gain under expert guidance in many ways a clearer and more exact knowledge of the background of biblical history and literature than he would through months of travel. Through the courtesy of my publishers and the co-operation of the well-known firm of Underwood & Underwood, of New York and London, I have been able to realize an ideal that I have long cherished, and to place at the disposal of the readers of this volume one hundred and forty stereographs (or, if preferred for class and lecture use, stereopticon slides) that illustrate the most important events of biblical geography and history. They have been selected from over five hundred views taken especially for this purpose, and enable the student to gain, as he alone can through the stereoscope, the distinct state of consciousness of being in scores of historic places rarely visited even by the most venturesome travellers. Numbers referring to these stereographs (or stereopticon slides) have been inserted in the body of the text. In Appendix II the titles corresponding to each number are given.

The large debt that I owe to the valiant army of pioneers and explorers who have penetrated every part of the biblical world and given us the results of their observations and study is suggested by the selected bibliography in Appendix I. I am under especial obligations to the officers of the Palestine Exploration Fund, who kindly placed their library and maps in London at my service and have also permitted me to use in reduced form their Photo-Relief Map of Palestine.

C. F. K.

Yale University,
January, 1911.

CONTENTS

PART I—PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

PAGE

I. The General Characteristics of the Biblical World [3]

Extent of the Biblical World.—Conditions Favorable to Early Civilizations.—Egypt's Climate and Resources.—Its Isolation and Limitations.—Conditions in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley.—Forces Developing Its Civilization.—Civilization of Arabia.—Physical Characteristics of Syria and Palestine.—Their Central Position and Lack of Unity.—Asia Minor.—Mycenæ.—Greece.—Italy.—Situation of Rome.—Reason Why Rome Went Forth to Conquer.—Résumé.

II. The General Characteristics of Palestine [13]

History of the Terms Palestine and Canaan.—Bounds of Palestine.—Geological History.—Alluvial and Sand Deposits.—General Divisions.—Variety in Physical Contour.—Effects of This Variety.—Openness to the Arabian Desert.—Absence of Navigable Rivers and Good Harbors.—Incentives to Industry.—Incentives to Faith and Moral Culture.—Central and Exposed to Attack on Every Side.—Significance of Palestine's Characteristics.

III. The Coast Plains[21]

Extent and Character.—Fertility.—Divisions.—Plain of Tyre.—The Plain of Acre.—Carmel.—Plain of Sharon.—The Philistine Plain.—The Shephelah or Lowland.

IV. The Plateau of Galilee and the Plain Of Esdraelon [27]

Physical and Political Significance of the Central Plateau.—Natural and Political Bounds.—Its Extent and Natural Divisions.—Physical Characteristics of Upper Galilee.—Its Fertility.—Characteristics of Lower Galilee.—Situation and Bounds of the Plain of Esdraelon.—Plain of Jezreel.—Water Supply and Fertility of Plain of Esdraelon.—Central and Commanding Position.—Importance of the Plain in Palestinian History.

V. The Hills of Samaria and Judah [34]

Character of the Hills of Samaria.—Northeastern Samaria.—Northwestern Samaria.—The View from Mount Ebal.—Bounds and General Characteristics of Southern Samaria.—Southwestern Samaria.—The Central Heights of Judah.—Lack of Water Supply.—Wilderness of Judea.—Western Judah.—Valley of Ajalon.—Wady Ali.—Valley of Sorek.—Valley of Elah.—Valley of Zephathah.—Wady el-Jizâir.—Significance of These Valleys.—The South Country.—Its Northern and Western Divisions.—Its Central and Eastern Divisions.—The Striking Contrasts between Judah and Samaria.—Effect upon Their Inhabitants.

VI. The Jordan and Dead Sea Valley [45]

Geological History.—Evidences of Volcanic Action.—Natural Divisions.—Mount Hermon.—Source of the Jordan at Banias.—At Tell el-Kadi.—The Two Western Confluents.—The Upper Jordan Valley.—The Rapid Descent to the Sea of Galilee.—The Sea of Galilee.—Its Shores.—From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.—Character of the Valley.—The Jordan Itself.—Fords of the Lower Jordan.—Ancient Names of the Dead Sea.—Its Unique Characteristics.—Its Eastern Bank.—The Southern End.—The Western Shores.—Grim Associations of the Dead Sea.

VII. The East-Jordan Land [55]

Form and Climate of the East-Jordan Land.—Well-Watered and Fertile.—The Four Great Natural Divisions.—Characteristics of the Northern and Western Jaulan.—Southern and Eastern Jaulan.—Character of the Hauran.—Borderland of the Hauran.—Gilead.—The Jabbok and Jebel Ôsha.—Southern Gilead.—Character of the Plateau of Moab.—Its Fertility and Water Supply.—Its Mountains.—Its Views.—The Arnon.—Southern Moab and Edom.—Significance of the East-Jordan Land.

VIII. The Two Capitals: Jerusalem and Samaria[64]

Importance of Jerusalem and Samaria.—Site of Jerusalem.—The Kidron Valley.—The Tyropœon Valley.—The Original City.—Its Extent.—The Western Hill.—The Northern Extension of the City.—Josephus's Description of Jerusalem.—The Geological Formation.—The Water Supply.—Jerusalem's Military Strength.—Strength of Its Position.—Samaria's Name.—Its Situation.—Its Military Strength.—Its Beauty and Prosperity.

IX. The Great Highways of the Biblical World[73]

Importance of the Highways.—Lack of the Road-building Instincts among the Semites.—Evidence that Modern Roads Follow the Old Ways.—Ordinary Palestinian Roads.—Evidence that the Hebrews Built Roads.—The Four Roads from Egypt.—Trails into Palestine from the South.—Highway Through Moab.—The Great Desert Highway.—Character of the Southern Approaches to Palestine.—The Coast Road.—The "Way of the Sea."—Its Commercial and Strategic Importance.—The Central Road and Its Cross-roads in the South.—In the North.—The Road Along the Jordan.—Roads Eastward from Damascus.—The Highway from Antioch to Ephesus.—The Road from Asia Minor to Rome.—From Ephesus to Rome.—From Syria to Rome by Sea.—From Alexandria to Rome by Sea.—Significance of the Great Highways.

PART II—HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

X. Early Palestine[87]

The Aim and Value of Historical Geography.—Sources of Information Regarding Ancient Palestine.—Evidence of the Excavations.—The Oldest Inhabitants of Palestine.—The Semitic Invasions from the Desert.—Influence of the Early Amorite Civilization Upon Babylonia.—Probable Site of the Oldest Semitic Civilization.—Remains of the Old Amorite Civilization.—Babylonian Influence in Palestine.—Egyptian Influence in the Cities of the Plain.—Different Types of Civilization in Palestine.—Conditions Leading to the Hyksos Invasion of Egypt.—Fortunes of the Invaders.—The One Natural Site in Syria for a Great Empire.—Influences of the Land Upon the Early Forms of Worship.—Upon the Beliefs of Its Inhabitants.

XI. Palestine Under the Rule of Egypt[97]

Reasons why Egypt Conquered Palestine.—Commanding Position of Megiddo.—Its Military Strength.—Thotmose III's Advance Against Megiddo.—The Decisive Battle.—Capture of Megiddo.—The Cities of Palestine.—Disastrous Effects of Egyptian Rule.—Lack of Union in Palestine.—Exposure to Invasions from the Desert.—Advance of the Habiri.—Rise of the Hittite Power.—Palestine between 1270 and 1170 B.C.—The Epoch-making Twelfth Century.

XII. The Nomadic and Egyptian Period of Hebrew History[106]

The Entrance of the Forefathers of the Hebrews Into Canaan.—References to Israelites During the Egyptian Period.—The Habiri in Eastern and Central Palestine.—The Trend Toward Egypt.—The Land of Goshen.—The Wady Tumilat.—Ramses II's Policy.—Building the Store Cities of Ramses and Pithom.—Condition of the Hebrew Serfs.—Training of Moses.—The Historical Facts Underlying the Plague Stories.—Method of Travel in the Desert.—Moses' Equipment as a Leader.—The Scene of the Exodus.—Probability that the Passage was at Lake Timsah.

XIII. The Hebrews in the Wilderness and East of the Jordan[115]

Identification of Mount Sinai.—Lateness of the Traditional Identification.—Probable Route of the Hebrews.—Kadesh-barnea.—Effect of the Wilderness upon the Life of the Hebrews.—Evidence that the Hebrews Aimed to Enter Canaan from the South.—Reasons Why They Did Not Succeed.—Tribes that Probably Entered Canaan from the South.—The Journey to the East of the Jordan.—Stations on the Way.—Conquests East of the Dead Sea.—Situation of Heshbon.—Sojourn of the Hebrews East of the Jordan.—Its Significance.

XIV. The Settlement in Canaan[124]

The Approach to the Jordan.—Crossing the Jordan.—Strategic Importance of Jericho.—Results of Recent Excavations.—Capture of Jericho.—Evidence that the Hebrews Were Still Nomads.—Roads Leading Westward from Jericho.—Conquests In the South.—Conquest of Ai and Bethel.—Incompleteness of the Initial Conquest.—Migration of the Danites.—The Moabite Invasion.—The Rally of the Hebrews Against the Canaanites.—The Battle-field.—Effect of a Storm Upon the Plain.—Results of the Victory.—The East-Jordan Tribes.—The Tribes in Southern Canaan.—The Tribes in the North.—Effects of the Settlement Upon the Hebrews.

XV. The Forces that Led to the Establishment of the Hebrew Kingdom[136]

The Lack of Unity Among the Hebrew Tribes.—The Scenes of Gideon's Exploits.—Gideon's Kingdom.—Reasons for the Superiority of the Philistines.—Scenes of the Samson Stories.—The Decisive Battle-field.—Fortunes of the Ark.—The Sanctuary at Shiloh.—Samuel's Home at Ramah.—The Site of Gibeah.—Situation of Jabesh-Gilead.—The Sanctuary at Gilgal.—The Philistine Advance.—The Pass of Michmash.—The Great Victory Over the Philistines.—Saul's Wars.

XVI. The Scenes of David's Exploits[147]

David's Home at Bethlehem.—The Contest in the Valley of Elah.—Situation of Nob.—The Stronghold of Adullam.—Keilah.—Scenes of David's Outlaw Life In Southeastern Judah.—David at Gath.—At Ziklag.—Reasons Why the Philistines Invaded Israel in the North.—Saul's Journey to Endor.—The Battle on Gilboa.—The Remnant of Saul's Kingdom.—Hebron, David's First Capital.—Fortunes of the Two Hebrew Kingdoms.—The Final Struggle with the Philistines.—David's Victories.

XVII. Palestine Under the Rule of David And Solomon[157]

Establishment of Jerusalem as Israel's Capital.—Israel's Natural Boundaries.—Campaigns Against the Moabites and Ammonites.—Situation of Rabbath-Ammon.—The Water City.—Extent of David's Empire.—Absalom's Rebellion.—David East of the Jordan.—Rebellion of the Northern Tribes.—Scenes of Adonijah's Conspiracy and Solomon's Accession.—Capture of Gezer.—Solomon's Fortresses.—Solomon's Strategic and Commercial Policy.—Site of Solomon's Temple.—Significance of the Reigns of David and Solomon.—Influences of the United Kingdom Upon Israel's Faith.—Solomon's Fatal Mistakes.—Forces that Made for Disunion.—Situation of Shechem.—Significance of the Division.

XVIII. The Northern Kingdom[168]

The Varied Elements in the North.—Capitals of Northern Israel.—The Aramean Kingdom.—The Philistine Stronghold of Gibbethon.—Omri's Strong Rule.—Ahab's Aramean Wars.—Strength and Fatal Weakness of Ahab's Policy.—Elijah's Home.—The Scene on Mount Carmel.—Ancient Jezreel.—Situation of Ramoth-Gilead.—Elisha's Home.—Jehu's Revolution.—Rule of the House of Jehu.—The Advance of Assyria.—Amos's Home at Tekoa.—Influence of His Environment Upon the Prophet.—Evidence Regarding Hosea's Home.—View from Jebel Ôsha.—Conquest of Galilee and Gilead.—The Exiled Northern Israelites.—The Fate of Northern Israel.

XIX. The Southern Kingdom[182]

Effect of Environment Upon Judah's History.—Shishak's Invasion.—War Between the Two Kingdoms.—Amaziah's Wars.—Uzziah's Strong Reign.—Isaiah of Jerusalem.—His Advice to Ahaz in the Crisis of 734 B.C.—The Great Rebellion of 703 B.C.—Home of the Prophet Micah.—Judah's Fate in 701 B.C.—Isaiah's Counsel in a Later Crisis.—The Reactionary Reign of Manasseh.—Two Prophetic Reformers.—Situation of Anathoth.—Josiah's Reign.—The Brief Rule of Egypt.—Jehoiakim's Reign.—The First Captivity.—The Second Captivity.—The End of the Southern Kingdom.

XX. The Babylonian and Persian Periods[194]

Jewish Refugees in Egypt.—Situation of Tahpanhes.—Memphis.—The Colony at Elephantine.—Results of the Excavations.—Transformation of the Jews Into Traders.—Home of the Exiles in Babylonia.—Their Life in Babylonia.—Conditions of the Jews in Palestine.—Extent of the Jewish Territory.—Evidences that There Was No General Return of the Exiles in 537 B.C.—The Rebuilding of the Temple.—Discouragement and Hopes of the Jews.—Nehemiah's Response to the Call for Service.—Conditions in the Jewish Community.—Preparations for Rebuilding the Walls.—Character of the Data.—The Walls and Towers on the North.—On the West.—On the South.—On the East.—Significance of Nehemiah's Work.—Extension of Jewish Territory to the Northwest.—Development of Judaism During the Latter Part of the Persian Period.

XXI. The Scenes of the Maccabean Struggle[207]

Alexander's Conquests.—The Impression Upon Southwestern Asia.—The City of Alexandria.—Greek Influence in Palestine.—The Ptolemaic Rule.—Situation of Antioch.—Causes of the Maccabean Struggle.—The Town of Modein.—The First Flame of Revolt.—Character and Work of Judas.—The Pass of Beth-horon.—Scene of the Victory Over the Syrian Generals.—Victory at Bethsura.—Rededication of the Temple.—Campaigns South and East of the Dead Sea.—Victories in Northeastern Gilead.—Cities Captured North of the Yarmuk.—The Second Victory Over Timotheus.—Judas's Return.—Significance of Judas's Victories.—Battle of Beth-zacharias.—Fortunes of Judas's Party.—Victory over Nicanor.—Death of Judas.—Judas's Character and Work.

XXII. The Maccabean and Herodian Age[222]

Jonathan's Policy.—Basis of Agreement With the Syrians.—Concessions to Jonathan.—His Conquests.—Simon's Achievements.—His Strong and Prosperous Rule.—Growth of the Two Rival Parties.—Wars and Conquests of John Hyrcanus.—Reign of Aristobulus I.—The Cruel Rule of Alexander Janneus.—The Rivalry of Parties Under Alexandra.—The Influence of Antipater.—Advance of Rome.—The Appeal to Pompey.—His Capture of the Temple.—Palestine Under the Rule of Rome.—Rebellions Led by Aristobulus and His Sons.—Antipater's Services to Rome.—Rewards for His Services.—The Parthian Conquest.—Herod Made King of the Jews.—His Policy.—His Work as a City Builder.—Herod's Temple.—The Tragedies of His Family Life.—The Popular Hopes of the Jews.

XXIII. The Background of Jesus' Childhood and Young Manhood[236]

The Short Reign of Archelaus.—The Roman Province of Judea.—Territory and Character of Herod Antipas.—Philip's Territory.—The Decapolis.—Place of Jesus' Birth.—Situation of Nazareth.—Its Central Position.—View from the Heights above the City.—The Spring at Nazareth.—Roads to Jerusalem.—Jesus' Educational Opportunities.—Scene of John the Baptist's Early Life.—Field of His Activity.—The Baptism of Jesus.—Machærus, Where John the Baptist Was Beheaded.—Effect of John's Death Upon Jesus.—Jesus' Appearance.

XXIV. The Scenes of Jesus' Ministry[247]

Why Jesus Made Capernaum His Home.—Site of Capernaum.—Archælogical Evidence.—Ruins at Tell Hum.—Testimony of the Gospels and Josephus.—Statements of Early Pilgrims.—Site of Chorazin.—Bethsaida.—Probable Scene of the Feeding of the Multitudes.—The Night Voyage of the Disciples.—Places Where Jesus Taught His Disciples.—Northern End of the Sea of Galilee.—Contrast Between Its Northern and Southern Ends.—Jesus' Visit to the Gadarene Territory.—The Chief Field of Jesus' Ministry.—Journey to Phœnicia.—At Cæsarea Philippi.—The Journey Southward from Galilee.—At Jericho.—Situation of Bethany.—The Triumphal Entrance Into Jerusalem.—Jesus' Activity in the Temple.—The Last Supper and Agony.—Scenes of the Trials.—Traditional Place of the Crucifixion.—The More Probable Site.—The Place of Burial.

XXV. The Spread of Christianity Throughout the Roman Empire[264]

Original Centre at Jerusalem.—Spread of Christianity Outside Judea.—Philip's Work In the South and West.—Extension and Expansion of Christianity During the First Decade.—Situation and History of Tarsus.—Influence of His Early Home Upon Paul.—Work at Antioch.—Importance of the Pioneer Work of Paul.—Paul and Barnabas in Cyprus.—At Paphos.—Journey to Antioch in Galatia.—Conditions at Antioch.—At Iconium.—At Lystra and Derbe.—Decision of the Great Council at Jerusalem.—Work of Paul and Silas in Asia Minor.—Paul's Vision at Troas.—Paul and Silas at Philippi.—At Thessalonica.—Paul at Berœa.—At Athens.—Importance of Corinth.—Paul's Work at Corinth.—His Third Journey.—Situation and Importance of Ephesus.—Return to Palestine.—Journey to Rome.—The World-wide Conquests of Christianity.

APPENDIX I. Selected Bibliography[279]

APPENDIX II. Stereographs and Stereopticon Slides Illustrating Biblical Geography and History[283]

INDEX OF NAMES AND PLACES [289]

LIST OF MAPS

PART I

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

THE OLD TESTAMENT WORLD

I

THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BIBLICAL WORLD

Extent of the Biblical World. In its widest bounds, the biblical world included practically all the important centres of early human civilization. Its western outpost was the Phœnician city of Tarshish in southern Spain (about 5° west longitude) and its eastern outpost did not extend beyond the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf (about 55° east longitude). Its southern horizon was bounded by the land of Ethiopia (about 5° south latitude) and its northern by the Black Sea (about 45° north altitude). Thus the Old and New Testament world extended fully sixty degrees from east to west, but at the most not more than fifty degrees from north to south. With the exception of Arabia, all of these lands gather about the Mediterranean, for although the waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates ultimately find their way into the Indian Ocean, the people living in these fertile valleys ever looked toward the Mediterranean and for the most part found their field for conquest and commerce in the west rather than in the east and south.

Conditions Favorable to Early Civilizations. The greater part of this ancient world consisted of wastes of water, of burning sands or of dry, rocky, pasture lands. Less than one-fifth was arable soil, and yet the tillable strips along the river valleys on the eastern and northern Mediterranean were extremely fertile. Here in four of five favored centres were supplied in varying measure the conditions requisite for a strong primitive civilization: (1) a warm, but not enervating climate; (2) a fertile and easily cultivated territory which enabled the inhabitants to store up a surplus of the things necessary for life; (3) a geographical unity that made possible a homogeneous and closely knit political and social organization; (4) a pressure from without which spurred the people on to constant activity and effort; (5) an opportunity for expansion and for intercommunication with other strong nations. The result was that the lands about the eastern Mediterranean were the scenes of the world's earliest culture and history. From these centres emanated the great civic, political, intellectual, artistic, moral, and religious ideas and ideals that still strongly influence the life and faith of the nations that rule the world. The character of each of these early civilizations was in turn largely shaped by the natural environment amidst which it arose.

Egypt's Climate and Resources. The land of the Nile was peculiarly favorable for the development of an exceedingly early civilization. Lying near the equator and between extended areas of hot, dry desert, it possessed an almost perfect climate. While warm, it was never excessively hot, thanks to the fresh north winds which blew from the sea. The desert kept the atmosphere dry and cloudless through at least eleven months in the year. The narrow strip of alluvial soil which constituted the real land of Egypt was practically inexhaustible. The Nile, which rose during the hot summer months, furnished abundant water for irrigation. At the same tune the necessity for constant activity in order to develop the full resources of the land was a valuable incentive to industry. Finally, the uniformity of the Nile valley furnished an excellent basis for a unified social and political organization.

Its Isolation and Limitations. At first Egypt's isolation favored, but in the end fatally impeded the development of its civilization. On every side it was shut in, not only by miles of rocky desert on the east and west, but also on the north and south by almost impassable barriers. In the south the fertile territory narrows to a mere ribbon, with no natural highways by land, while several great cataracts cut off approach by water. On the north the Nile broadens out into a great impassable marsh with only two narrow gateways. One of these is the main western arm of the Nile, which reaches the Mediterranean near Alexandria; the other is the Wady Tumilat, which runs from the Isthmus of Suez through the biblical land of Goshen to the Nile valley. In early centuries these few narrow and uninviting avenues of approach on the north and south were easily guarded. The result was that the Egyptians, at a very early date, attained a high stage of culture, but they lacked that stimulus from without which is essential to the highest development. Once or twice, as in the days of the Hyksos and Ethiopian invasions, foreigners pressed into the land, and as a result the centuries immediately following were the most glorious in Egypt's history. In general, however, the civilization of the Nile valley was deficient in depth and idealism. It was grossly material; it developed too easily and the people were too contented. Even on the artistic side the brilliant promise of the earlier centuries failed of fruition. Moreover, the protecting natural barriers proved constricting, so that there was little opportunity for expansion. Hence Egypt's civilization was always provincial and by 500 B.C. had ceased to develop. From this time on the people of the Nile tamely submitted to the succession of foreign conquerors who have ever since ruled over this garden land of the eastern world.

Conditions in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. Physical conditions in the Tigris-Euphrates valley were in many ways similar to those along the Nile. A warm but invigorating climate, fertile, alluvial soil, deposited by the great rivers and renewed each year by the floods, and the protection of the desert on the west favored the development of a virile civilization, as early if not earlier than that of Egypt. Starting from the same northern mountains, the two great rivers find their way to the Persian Gulf by widely different courses. The Tigris flows southeast in a comparatively direct course of eleven hundred miles. Its name, "The Arrow," suggests the rapidity of its descent. The Euphrates, on the contrary, makes a long detour westward toward the Mediterranean and then turns to the southeast, where for the greater part of the last half of its one thousand eight hundred miles it flows through the desert. The lands lying between the lower waters of these great rivers were by nature fitted to become the home of the earliest civilization. At a very early period these level plains attracted the nomadic tribes from the neighboring desert. Here they found soil that was exceedingly fertile, but covered to a great extent by the overflow of the great rivers. To be made productive it had to be drained in the flood and irrigated in the dry season by an extensive system of canals and reservoirs. Hence this region furnished powerful incentives to develop an energetic, enterprising civilization. The absence of natural barriers in the level plains of Babylonia and the uniformity of its physical contour meant that in time all the Tigris-Euphrates valley would inevitably be brought under one rule.

Forces Developing Its Civilization. Unlike Egypt, Babylonia was constantly subject to those thrusts from without which were essential to a great civilization. From the Arabian desert came nomadic invaders and from the mountains to the east and north and probably from northern Syria powerful, warlike peoples who either spurred the river dwellers on to strenuous activity in order to repel the hostile attacks or else as conquerors infused new blood and energy into the older races. On the other hand, the absence of constraining barriers gave ample opportunity for natural growth and expansion. The great rivers were the highways of commerce and conquest. The necessity of defence also suggested the advantages of conquest. The result was that at a very early period the armies of Babylonia had penetrated the mountains to the east and north and had carried their victorious rule as far as the shore of the Mediterranean on the west. Traders followed the armies, bearing the products of Babylonian art and in turn enriching the home-land with those of other nations. It was thus that Babylonia in time became not only the mistress of the ancient world, but also one of the chief centres from which emanated political, legal, artistic, and religious ideas and institutions that influenced all the peoples living about the eastern Mediterranean.

Civilization of Arabia. Very different was the site of the third Semitic civilization. The eastern shores of the Red Sea are rocky and barren. No important streams or harbors are found along this cheerless coast. The eastern slope of the range of mountains that runs parallel to the Red Sea is, however, one of the garden lands of the East. The clouds, chilled by the mountains, deposit their rains here, while mountain streams make it possible by irrigation to transform this part of Arabia into a rich agricultural land. Here from an early period was found a high type of civilization. Climate, soil, and the spur of foreign invasion fostered its development. Its products were famous throughout the ancient world. But it was in the highest degree isolated from the stream of the world's progress. Its one means of communication with outside nations was by the caravans which crossed the deserts. Hence a certain halo of mystery always surrounded this distant civilization. Like that of Egypt, it lacked opportunity for expansion and communication and so failed to rise above a certain level or to make any deep or significant impression upon the other Semitic nations.

Physical Characteristics of Syria and Palestine. In marked contrast with Arabia was the strip of hill and mountain country lying on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, known in later tunes as Syria and Palestine. The dominant feature in this part of the Semitic world was the southern spurs of the Taurus mountains, which here run parallel with the coast in two ranges known as the Lebanons and the Anti-Lebanons. A warm, equable climate and fertile soil, especially in the broad valleys between the mountains, furnish the first necessities for a strong civilization. Frequent rain during the whiter and many perennial springs and brooks supply throughout most of this region the water needed for a prosperous, agricultural population. The desert on the east and the mountains in the north were the homes of active, migrating peoples whose ever-recurring attacks gave the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine a constant stimulus.

Its Central Position and Lack of Unity. This region was also the isthmus lying between the sea and the desert that connected Asia with Africa, and the ancient empires of Egypt and Babylonia. The great caravan routes led across it from Arabia on the south and Babylonia on the east to Asia Minor and thence by sea to the ports of the northern Mediterranean. One fatal defect, however, prevented it from becoming the permanent home of one strong, conquering people: it lacked physical unity. Its two rivers, the Orontes and the Jordan, were comparatively unimportant and flowed in opposite directions. Mountain ranges running from north to south and in the north one running from east to west divided the territory into eight or ten distinct areas. Wide variations in climate, flora, and fauna separated these different zones, making a uniform civilization practically impossible. No region, except the fertile valley between the Lebanons and Anti-Lebanons, possessed sufficient natural advantages to rule the whole territory immediately east of the Mediterranean. As a result Syria and Palestine were only at rare and comparatively brief periods completely dominated by native conquerors. The physical characteristics of this territory also suggested from the first a mixed civilization, combining those of the desert, of Babylonia, of Egypt, and of the other lands lying along the Mediterranean. The infusion of foreign elements largely explains the remarkable culture and religious life that flourished within the narrow bounds of Syria and Palestine. This land was at the same time the strategic point that commanded the rest of the ancient world and was destined to send forth influences that were to extend to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Asia Minor. Asia Minor, like Syria, is lacking in physical unity. Its centre is a high, barren plateau. This is encircled on the south, west, and east by fertile coast plains. These coast plains, however, are broken up into independent areas by lofty mountains. From the central plateau came the invaders, who spurred on the coast dwellers to put forth their strongest efforts. Communication by sea and along the great highways that run across the land from east to west brought to these maritime city states the culture of the East and the West. Under these conditions there naturally sprang up an exotic civilization, not unified, but gathered about different civic centres; not independent, but a brilliant fusion of native elements with Semitic and Hellenic culture.

Mycenæ. To the northwest, along the Dardanelles, the coastal plain broadens out into one of the most fertile regions in the ancient world. Frequent rains and perennial mountain streams water the gently rolling fields. Here, in a comparatively small area, were supplied in rich measure the five conditions essential to a strong, early civilization. Here was the seat of that ancient Mycenæan state, whose art and institutions for a brief period rivalled, and in many ways surpassed, those of Babylon and Egypt.

Greece. Of all the ancient centres of civilization Greece was in many ways the most unpromising. Its soil was for the greater part stony and unproductive. Less than one-third could be profitably tilled. The plains were not large and the mountain ranges dominated the land, dividing it into small, distinct areas. There were no navigable rivers and few perennial streams available for irrigation. Moreover, the streams brought down silt into the valleys, transforming them into malarious marshes. As a result, Greece is to-day and probably always has been the most malarial country in Europe. Its limited area gave no opportunity for a great and extensive civilization. Its great assets were a regular climate, a purifying north wind, and the protection of its insular position, which insured its security in its earlier days. While the land of Greece was insular it was also central and in close touch with the civilizations of Asia Minor and the eastern Mediterranean, for the islands of the Ægean Sea were like stepping-stones connecting Greece with the ancient East. The sea was also a great highway which led to the most distant lands. Finally, Greece was in a position to feel the invigorating shock of foreign invasion from the north and east. Its division into small areas meant the development of petty city states, with constant rivalry of arms as well as of wit and art. This keen rivalry and the intense civic loyalty that it kindled were the chief forces in the development of the civilization of ancient Hellas. Its physical character favored the rapid rise of a noble culture, but one which would fall with equal rapidity because of the lack of an opportunity for local expansion. It meant inevitably a scattered people and a widely dispersed civilization. The result was that even in the period of its decline Greek culture permeated and ruled the entire civilized world.

Italy. Further to the west Italy juts out into the heart of the Mediterranean. On the north the lofty Alps protect it from cold winds and snows. On almost every side it is encircled by the warm waters of the Mediterranean and its tributary bays. Throughout most of this narrow peninsula run the high Apennines. On the east they are so close to the coast that the descent to the sea is steep, the rivers insignificant, and the harbors few. On the western side, however, the slope is much more gradual and the coastal plains are exceedingly fertile. They are traversed by rivers fed by the melting snows. The result is that this western coast, with its many good harbors, and its abounding fertility, furnished from earliest times a favorable home for strong and active peoples. Here grew, mingled in great profusion, the fruits and grains of both the temperate and tropical climes. At many points, with the aid of irrigation, the soil yields four or more crops a year. Throughout most of this garden land the climate is semi-tropical without being enervating. The brilliant sunshine is tempered by the cool breezes from the sea and mountains. It is pre-eminently a land of contrasts. On one side is the blue sea, on the other the snow-capped mountains. On this western slope the temperature varies from that of the chill snows and storms on the mountains to the warm, humid air of the river basins. From the beautiful clear lakes on the heights the descent is sudden to the malarial marshes in the lowlands.

Situation of Rome. This western slope is cut midway from north to south by the Tiber, next to the Po the largest river in Italy. To the east the Apennines rise to their greatest height, insuring a heavy annual rainfall. The Tiber valley itself was one of the earliest highways from east to west and was in ancient times the natural division between the highly civilized Etruscans on the north and the Latins and the Greek colonies on the south. Here the varied life of ancient Italy met and mingled and the result was a virile race and a strong, aggressive civilization. Its centre was the Palatine hill, a low volcanic mound beside the Tiber, fourteen miles from its mouth. The uniformity of the Italian territory favored the union of its mixed population under the leadership of Rome its central city.

Reason Why Rome Went Forth to Conquer. Even more important in the development of its culture were the attacks from without to which it was constantly exposed. Even the lofty Alps did not prove impassable barriers to the barbarian hordes who were attracted by this fertile land. Ancient Italy, encircled by the sea and plentifully provided with open harbors on the east and south, was never free from the dread of foreign attack. Not until Rome had conquered the powerful nations living on even the most distant shores of the Mediterranean could she feel secure in her central position. It was this constant fear, as well as the influence of her commanding position, that made Rome in time the mistress of the Mediterranean. From the East she received a century or two later than Greece all that the old civilizations could give, both of good and evil. This inheritance she in turn gave to the western world toward which she faced and to which she belonged. Thus Rome was the great connecting link between the East and the West, between the ancient and the modern world.

Résumé. The biblical world was, both in extent and point of time, identical with the ancient civilized world. The outlook of the biblical writers was at first limited to the eastern Mediterranean, but was gradually broadened until it included practically all the peoples living about the great inland sea. Similarly the life and faith of the Hebrews, at first local, became in time world-wide. Each of the ancient races followed the lines of development marked out by their geographical environment. Two civilizations—that of the Hebrews and that of the Greeks—lacking a suitable background for local growth and expansion, went forth to conquer and transform the life and thought and faith of all the world.

PHOTO-RELIEF MAP OF PALESTINE

II

THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PALESTINE

History of the Terms Palestine and Canaan. The term Palestine, originally applied to the home of Israel's foes, the Philistines, was used by the Greeks as a designation of southern Syria, exclusive of Phœnicia. The Greek historian Herodotus was the first to employ it in this extended sense. The Romans used the same term in the form Palestina and through them the term Palestine has become the prevailing name in the western world of the land once occupied by the Israelites and their immediate neighbors on the east and west. The history of the older name Canaan (Lowland) is similar. In the Tell el-Amarna Letters, written in the fourteenth century B.C., Canaan is limited to the coast plains; but as the Canaanites, the Lowlanders, began to occupy the inland plains the use of the term was extended until it became the designation of all the territory from the Mediterranean to the Jordan and Dead Sea valley. It does not appear, however, to have ever been applied to the east-Jordan land.

Bounds of Palestine. Palestine lies between the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian desert. Its northern boundary is the southern slope of Mount Hermon and the River Litany, as it turns abruptly to flow westward into the Mediterranean. Palestine begins where the Lebanons and Anti-Lebanons break into a series of elevated plateaus. Its southern boundary is the varying line drawn east from the southeastern end of the Mediterranean a little south of the Dead Sea at the point where the hills of Judah and the South Country descend to the desert. Palestine therefore lies between 33° 30' and 31° north latitude and 34° and 37° east longitude. Its approximate width is about a hundred miles and its length from north to south only about a hundred and fifty miles. It is, therefore, about the size of the State of Vermont.

Geological History. The geological history of Palestine is somewhat complex, but exceedingly illuminating. The underlying rock is granite. This is now almost completely concealed by later layers of sandstone (which appears in Edom and the east-Jordan), dolomitic and nummulitic limestone and marl. During the earlier geological periods the land was entirely covered by the waters of the sea. Probably at the close of the Pliocene period came the great volcanic upheaval which gave to Syria and Palestine their distinctive character. It left a huge rift running from north to south throughout Syria. This rift is represented to-day by the valley between the Lebanons and its continuation, the valley of the Jordan and Dead Sea. Further south it may be traced through the Wady Arabah and the Gulf of Akaba. This vast depression is the deepest to be found anywhere on the earth's surface. The same great volcanic upheaval gave to the mountains along the western coast their decided northern and southern trend and the peculiar cliff-like structure which characterizes their descent to the western shore. Through the centuries frequent and severe earthquakes have been felt along the borders of this ancient rift, and they are still the terror of the inhabitants, even as in the days of the Hebrew prophets.

Alluvial and Sand Deposits. Until a comparatively late geological period the sea came to the foot of the mountains. The coast rose gradually and has later been built up by the process of erosion that has cut down the mountains, especially on the western side, where the rainfall was heaviest. The plains along the shore have thus been enriched by vast alluvial deposits. Very different was the deposit of Nile sediment, which was blown in from the sea by the western winds, leaving a wide border of yellow sand along the coast of Palestine.

General Divisions. Palestine is sharply divided by nature into four divisions or zones, which extend in parallel lines from north to south.^[(1)][1] Along the Great Sea lie the narrow coast plains which broaden in the south into the plains of Sharon and Philistia. The second zone is the central plateau, with hills three to four thousand feet in height in the north, which sink by stages to the large Plain of Esdraelon. South of this great plain lie the fertile hills of Samaria which in turn merge into the stern hills of Judah. These again descend into the low, rocky, rolling hills of the South Country. The third zone is the Jordan and Dead Sea valley which begins at the foot of Mount Hermon and rapidly sinks, until at the Dead Sea it is one thousand two hundred and ninety-two feet below the surface of the ocean. The fourth zone includes the elevated plateaus which extend east of the Jordan and Dead Sea out into the rocky Arabian desert.

Variety in Physical Contour. The first striking characteristic of Palestine is the great variety in physical contour, climate, flora, and fauna to be found within its narrow compass of less than fifteen thousand square miles. Coast plains, inland valleys, elevated plateaus, deep, hot gorges, and glimpses of snow-clad mountains are all included within the closest possible bounds. In a journey of from two to three days the traveller from west to east passes from the equable, balmy climate of the Mediterranean coast to the comparatively cold highlands of the central plateau and then down into the moist, tropical climate of the hot Jordan and Dead Sea valley. Thence he mounts the highlands of Gilead or Moab, where the sun beats down hot at noonday, while the temperature falls low at night and deep snows cover the hilltops in winter. The hills of the central plateaus, covered with the trees of the temperate zone, overhang the palms and tropical fruit trees of the coast plains and Jordan valley.

Effects of this Variety. The different zones touch each other closely, and yet their wide differences in physical contour, climate, flora and fauna constitute invisible but insuperable barriers and produce fundamentally diverse types of life and civilization. To-day, as in the past, inhabitants of cities, tent dwellers, merchants, and peasants live in this narrow land within a few miles, yet separated from each other by the widest possible difference in culture and manner of life. The character of the land made impossible a closely knit civilization. It could never become the centre of a great world-power. It was rather destined to be the abode of many small tribes or nations, with widely differing institutions and degrees of culture. The great variety of scenery, climate, and life, however, made Palestine an epitome of all the world. It was pre-eminently fitted to be the home of a people called to speak a vital message in universal terms to all the races of the earth. Its striking contrasts and its marvellous beauty and picturesqueness also arrested the attention of primitive men and explain the prominence of nature worship among the early inhabitants of Palestine and the large place that its rocks, brooks, hills and meadows occupy in Israel's literature.

Openness to the Arabian Desert. The second marked peculiarity of Palestine is its openness to the desert. As Principal Smith has aptly said, Palestine "lay, so to speak, broadside on to the desert." With its comparatively fertile fields, it has proved a loadstone that for thousands of years has attracted the wandering Arabian tribes. These came in, however, not as a rule in great waves, but as families, or small tribes. Up through the South Country they penetrated the hills of Judah. There in time they learned to cultivate the vine, although they still retained their flocks. East of Moab and Gilead the arable land merges gradually into the rocky desert and the Arabs to-day, as in the past, claim as their own all the land to the Jordan and Dead Sea valley, except where the settled population successfully contests their claim by arms. Palestine, therefore, has always been powerfully influenced by the peculiar life and centralized government and fierce rivalry between tribes and petty peoples—these are but a few of the characteristics of Palestine's history that are primarily due to its openness to Arabia.

Absence of Navigable Rivers and Good Harbors. Palestine, on the other hand, is shut off from close commercial contact with other peoples. No great waterway invited the trader and warrior to go out and conquer the rest of the world. Instead, in the early periods when men depended chiefly upon communication by river or sea, Palestine shut in its inhabitants and tended to develop an intensive rather than an extensive civilization. Its one large river, the Jordan, flows, not into the ocean, but into a low inland sea, whose only outlet is by evaporation. The coast line of Palestine is also characterized by the lack of a single good harbor. At Joppa, at the northwestern end of Carmel, and at Tyre the otherwise straight shore line curves slightly inland; but at each of these points there is no natural protection from the severe western gales. The Phœnicians, shut in by the eastern mountains, dared the perils of the deep; but to the early peoples of Palestine the Great Sea was, on the whole, a barrier rather than an invitation to commerce and conquest.

Incentives to Industry. The physical characteristics of Palestine were well fitted to develop active, industrious inhabitants. The constant pressure on their borders by Arabs, who could be held back only by a strong, organized civilization, was a powerful spur. The natural division of the land among independent and usually hostile races made eternal activity and watchfulness the price that must be paid for life and freedom. Popular tradition, based on a fact that pre-eminently impresses every traveller in the land to-day, states that the fabled Titan, who was sent to scatter stones over the face of the earth, distributed them equally over Europe and Africa, but that when he came to Asia and was passing through Syria, his bag broke, depositing its contents on Palestine. Throughout most of its territory the rich soil can be cultivated only as the stones are gathered either in huge heaps or fences. The fertility of the plains can be utilized only as the waters of the mountain brooks are used for irrigation. It is, therefore, a land that bred hardy men, strong of muscle, resourceful, alert, and, active in mind and body.

Incentives to Faith and Moral Culture. Another still more significant characteristic of Palestine was the powerful incentive which it gave to the development of the faith of its inhabitants. The constant presence of Arab invaders powerfully emphasized their dependence upon their God or gods. The changing climate of Palestine deepened that sense of dependence. No great river like the Nile or the Euphrates brought its unfailing supply of water, and water was essential to life. The waters came down from heaven, or else burst like a miracle from the rocky earth. If the latter rains failed to fill the cisterns and enrich the springs and rivers, drought, with all its train of woes, was inevitable. Little wonder that the ancient Canaanites revered nature deities, and that they, like the Greeks, worshipped the spirits of the springs, and especially those from which came their dashing rivers. Locusts, earthquakes, and pestilence in the lowland frequently brought disaster. In all of these mysterious calamities primitive peoples saw the direct manifestation of the Deity. In the fourth chapter of his prophecy, Amos clearly voiced this wide-spread popular belief:

"I also it was who withheld from you the rain,
And I sent rain upon one city,
While upon another I did not let it rain,
Yet ye did not return to me," is the oracle of Jehovah.

"I smote you with blight and mildew,
I laid waste your gardens and vineyards,
Your fig and your olive trees the young locust devoured;
Yet you did not return to me," is the oracle of Jehovah.

"I sent among you a pestilence by the way of Egypt,
I slew your youths by the sword, taking captive your horses,
And I caused the stench of your camps to rise in your nostrils,
Yet ye did not return to me," is the oracle of Jehovah (Am. 4:7-10).

Hence in a land like Palestine it was natural and almost inevitable that men should eagerly seek to know the will of the Deity and should strive to live in accord with it. It was a fitting school in which to nurture the race that attained the deepest sense of the divine presence, the most intense spirit of worship and devotion, and the most exalted moral consciousness.

Central and Exposed to Attack on Every Side. Palestine, in common with the rest of Syria, held a central position in relation to the other ancient civilizations. Through it ran the great highways from Babylon and Assyria to Egypt. Along its eastern border passed the great road from Damascus and Mesopotamia to Arabia. It was the gateway and key to three continents—Africa, Asia, and Europe. From each of these in turn came conquerors—Egyptians and Ethiopians, Babylonians and Assyrians, Greeks and Romans—against whom the divided peoples of Palestine were practically helpless. Palestine, because of its physical characteristics and central position was destined to be ruled by rather than to rule over its powerful neighbors. And yet this close contact with the powerful nations of the earth inevitably enriched the civilization and faith of the peoples living within this much contested land. It produced the great political, social, and religious crises that called forth the Hebrew prophets. It made the Israelites the transmuters and transmitters of the rich heritage received from their cultured neighbors and from their inspired teachers. In turn it gave them their great opportunity, for repeated foreign conquests and exile enabled them in time to go forth and conquer, not with the sword of steel, but of divine truth, and to build up an empire that knew no bounds of time or space.

Significance of Palestine's Characteristics. Thus the more important characteristics of Palestine are richly suggestive of the unfolding of Israel's life and of the rôle that Judaism and Christianity were destined to play in the world's history. Palestine is the scene of the earlier stages of God's supreme revelation of himself and his purpose to man and through man. The more carefully that revelation is studied the clearer it appears that the means whereby it was perfected were natural and not contra-natural. The stony hills and valleys of Palestine, the unique combination of sea and plain, of mountain and desert, placed in the centre of the ancient world, were all silent but effective agents in realizing God's eternal purpose in the life of man.

III

THE COAST PLAINS

Extent and Character. The eastern shore of the Mediterranean is skirted by a series of low-lying coast plains, from one to five miles wide in the north to twenty-five miles wide in the south. At two points in Palestine the mountains come down to the sea; the one is at the so-called Ladder of Tyre, about fifteen miles south of the city from which it is named. Here the precipitous cliffs break directly over the sea. The other point is at Carmel, which, however, does not touch the sea directly, but is bounded on its western end by a strip of plain about two hundred yards wide. The soil of these coast plains consists of alluvial deposits, largely clay and red quartz sand washed down in the later geological periods from the mountains of the central plateau and constantly renewed by the annual freshets.

Fertility. Because of the nature of the soil and their position, these plains are among the most fertile spots in all Palestine. Numerous brooks and rivers rush down from the eastern headlands. Some of these are perennial; others furnish a supply of water, which, if stored during the winter in reservoirs on the heights above, is amply sufficient to irrigate the plains below. The average temperature of these coast plains is sixty-eight degrees. The cool sea-winds equalize the climate so that the temperature changes little throughout the year and there is but slight variation between the north and the south. Under these favorable conditions the soil produces in rich abundance a great variety of tropical fruits. Here grow side by side oranges, lemons, apricots, figs, plums, bananas, grapes, olives, pomegranates, almonds, citrons, and a great variety of vegetables, as well as the cereals of the higher altitudes.

Divisions. The coast plains of Palestine fall naturally into four great divisions, broken by two mountain barriers. The northern is the Plain of Tyre, which is the southern continuation of the rich plains about Sidon. The second division is the Plain of Acre, which lies directly south of the Ladder of Tyre and extends to Carmel. The third is the Plain of Sharon, which begins at the south of Carmel and merges opposite Joppa into the ever widening Plain of Philistia.

Plain of Tyre. Throughout the Plain of Tyre the low foot-hills come down within a mile of the sea; but for five or six miles back from the coast they must be reckoned as a part of the same division, for their natural and political associations are all with the coast rather than with the uplands. The city of Tyre was originally built on an island ^[(2)] and was supplied with water from the Spring of Tyre, near the shore about five miles to the south. The four great perennial rivers of Phœnicia were the Litany (the present Nahr el-Kasimiyeh, a few miles north of Tyre), the Zaherâni, south of Sidon, the Nahr el-Auwali, which was the ancient Bostrenus that watered the plain to the north of Sidon, and the Nahr ed-Damur which was the Tamyras of the ancients. Many springs in the plain and on the hillsides contribute to the fertility of this land, which was the home of the Phœnicians. At the best the narrowness of the territory, which supported only a very limited population, made it necessary for this enterprising race to find an outlet elsewhere. Long before the days of the Hebrews their colonies had extended down the coast plains to Joppa and northward to the Eleutherus (the present Nahr el-Kebir, north of Tripoli). The nineteenth chapter of Judges refers to the Sidonian colony at Laish (later the Hebrew Dan) at the foot of Mount Hermon; but, with this exception, there is no evidence that they ever attempted to plant colonies inland. Instead they found their great outlet in the sea to the west. Launching their small craft from the smooth sands that extend crescent-shaped to the north and to the south of their chief cities, Tyre and Sidon, they skirted the Mediterranean, colonizing its islands and shores until a line of Phœnician settlements extended from one end of the Great Sea to the other. Thus they were the first to open that great door to the western world through which passed not only the products of Semitic art and industry, but also in time the immortal messages of Israel's inspired prophets, priests, and sages, and of him who spoke as never man spoke before.

The Plain of Acre. For ten miles to the south of the Plain of Tyre the coast plain is almost completely cut off by the mountains, which at Ras el-Abjad, the White Promontory of the Roman writers, and at Ras en-Nakurah push out into the sea. The great coast road runs along the cliffs high above the waters in the rock-cut road made by Egyptian, Assyrian, and Roman conquerors. The Plain of Acre, less than five miles wide in the north, widens to ten miles in the south. Four perennial streams water its fertile fields. On the west the sand from the sea has swept in at places for a mile or more, blocking up the streams in the south and transforming large areas into wet morasses. In ancient times, however, most of the southern part of the plain (like the northern end at present) was probably in a high state of cultivation. Many large tells or ruined mounds testify that it once supported a dense population. During most of its history this plain was held by the Phœnicians or their Greek and Roman conquerors, but at certain times the Hebrews appear to have here reached the sea.

Carmel. The most striking object on the western side of central Palestine is the bold elevated plateau of Carmel. Except for the little strip of lowland on its seaward side, it completely interrupts the succession of coast plains. Its formation is the same as that of the central plateaus. Viewing Palestine as a whole, it would seem that Carmel had slipped out of its natural position, leaving the open Plain of Esdraelon and destroying the otherwise regular symmetry of the land. Its long, slightly waving sky-line, as it rises abruptly above the plains of Acre and Esdraelon, commands the landscape for miles to the north^[(3)] and adds greatly to the picturesqueness of Palestine. It is about eighteen hundred feet in height and slopes gradually downward to the southeast and northwest. The ascent on the north is more abrupt than on the south, where it descends slowly to the Plain of Sharon. As its name Carmel, The Garden, suggests, it is by no means a barren, rocky mountain. Instead, where the thickets and wild flowers have not taken possession of the soil, it is still cultivated, as was most of its broad surface in earlier times. The ruins of wine and olive presses and of ancient villages testify to its rich productivity. On its top the western showers first deposit their waters, so that in the Old Testament Carmel is a synonym for superlative fertility. Like the uplands of central Palestine, it was held by the Hebrews, who from its heights gained their clearest view of the Great Sea.

Plain of Sharon. South of Carmel, beginning with an acute angled triangle between the mountains and sea, rolls the undulating Plain of Sharon. Opposite the southern end of Carmel it is six or seven miles wide. Thence the plain broadens irregularly until, at its southern end, opposite Joppa, it is twelve miles in width. From north to south it is nearly fifty miles long. Groups of hills from two to three hundred feet high dot this undulating expanse of field and pasture. Five perennial streams flow across it to the sea. Of these the most important are the Crocodile River (the modern Nahr el-Zerka) a little north of Cæsarea, and the Iskanderuneh in the south. Here again a wide fringe of yellow sand bounds the sea and at several points holds back the waters of the streams, making large marshes. In the north there are a few groves of oaks, sole survivors of the great forest, mentioned by Josephus and Strabo, which once covered the Plain of Sharon. To-day the southern part of the plain is a series of cultivated, fruitful fields and gardens,^[(4)] but the northern end is covered in spring by a wealth of wild flowers, among which are found anemones, brilliant red poppies, the narcissus, which is probably the rose of Sharon, and the blue iris, which may be the lily of the valley. Rich soil and abundant waters are found on this plain; but its resources were never fully developed, for it was the highway of the nations. Across it ran the great coast road from Egypt to Phœnicia in the north and to Damascus and Babylonia in the northwest. Phœnician, Philistine, and Israelite held this plain in turn, but only in part and temporarily, for having no natural defences, it was open to all the world.

The Philistine Plain. The only natural barrier that separates the plains of Sharon and Philistia is the river which comes down in two branches from the eastern hills, one branch leading westward past the Beth-horons and the other through the Valley of Ajalon. After much twisting and turning, and under many local names, this, the largest river south of Carmel, finds the sea a little north of Joppa. Southward the Plain of Philistia, about forty miles in length, broadens until it is twenty miles wide. The low hills of the Plain of Sharon change first into long, rolling swells and then throughout much of the distance settle into an almost absolutely level plain. In the southwest the sands of the sea have come in many miles. Ashkelon now lies between a sea of water and a sea of sand. At many other points the yellow waves are steadily engulfing the cultivated fields. Three perennial streams, with sprawling confluents, cut their muddy course across this rich alluvial plain. It is one of the important grain fields of Palestine, for the subsoil is constantly saturated with the moisture which falls in abundance in the winter and spring. No barns are necessary, for the grain is thrashed and stored out under the rainless summer skies. It is a land well fitted to support a rich and powerful agricultural civilization. Like all the coast plains, it is wide open to the trader and to the invader. Its possessors were obliged to be ever ready and able to defend their homes from all foes. Its inhabitants necessarily dwelt in a few strongly guarded cities. Here in ancient times, especially on the eastern side, were found the city-dwelling Canaanites. Later the valiant, energetic Philistines established their title to these fruitful plains and maintained it for centuries by sheer enterprise and force of arms. The chief Philistine cities were Ekron and Ashdod in the north, Askelon by the shore, quite close to the Judean foot-hills and Gaza^[(5)] in the southwest. Except during the heroic Maccabean age, the Israelites never succeeded and apparently never seriously attempted to dispute this title. Lying on the highway that ran straight on along the coast to Egypt, this part of Palestine was most exposed to the powerful influences that came from the land of the Nile. The oldest Egyptian inscriptions, as well as the results of recent excavations, all reveal the wide extent of this influence.

The Shephelah or Lowland. Along the eastern side of the Philistine plain, from the valley of Ajalon southward, runs a series of low-lying foot-hills, which are separated from the central plateau of Palestine by broad, shallow valleys running north and south.^[(6)] This territory was called by the biblical writers, the Shephelah or Lowland. These low chalk and limestone hills, with their narrow glens, their numerous caves and broken rocks, was the debatable ground between plain and hill country. Sometimes it was held by the inhabitants of the plain, sometimes by those of the hill country; always it was the battle-field between the two. Even to-day it is sparsely inhabited, the haunt of the Bedouin tribes, whose presence is clearest evidence of the difficulties that the local government experiences in controlling this wild border land. Like the Scottish lowlands, this region is redolent with the memories of ancient border warfare. It is also richly suggestive of one phase of that severe training which through the long centuries produced a race with a mission and a message to all the world.

IV

THE PLATEAU OF GALILEE AND THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON

Physical and Political Significance of the Central Plateau. The backbone of Palestine is the great central plateau. It was in this important zone that the drama of Israel's history was chiefly enacted. Here was the true home of the Hebrews. By virtue of its position this central zone naturally commanded those to the east and west. For one brief period the Philistines from the western coast plain nearly succeeded in conquering and ruling all Palestine; but otherwise, until the world powers outside began to invade the land, the centre of power lay among the hills. This significant feature of Palestinian history is due to two facts: (1) that in war the great advantage lies with the people who hold the higher eminences and so can fight from above; and (2) that the rugged uplands usually produce more virile, energetic, liberty-loving people. At the same time it may be noted that, while the centre of power lay among the hills, the hill-dwellers never succeeded in conquering completely or in holding permanently the zones to the east and west. So firmly were the invisible bounds of each zone established that the dwellers in one were never able wholly to overleap these real though intangible lines and to weld together the diverse types of civilization that sprang up in these different regions, so near in point of distance, yet really so far removed from each* other.

Natural and Political Bounds. A part of the northern plateau bore even in early Hebrew days the name of Galilee, the Circle or the Region (I Kings, 9:11, II Kings, 15:29, Josh. 20:7). At first this region appears to have been confined to a small area about Kedesh, where the Hebrew and older Gentile population met and mingled. Gradually the name was extended, until in the Maccabean and Roman period Galilee included all of the central plateau north of the Plain of Esdraelon as far as the Litany itself. Its western boundary lay where the central plateau descends to the foot-hills and coast plains of Tyre and Acre, and its eastern was the abrupt cliffs of the Jordan valley. These were its natural boundaries; but Josephus, whose knowledge of Galilee was peculiarly personal, includes in it the towns about the Lake of Gennesaret (commonly designated in the New Testament as the Sea of Galilee), the Plain of Esdraelon and even Mount Carmel (cf. Jewish Wars, II, 3:4, 8:1, III, 3:1).

Its Extent and Natural Divisions. Defined by its narrower natural bounds, Galilee is about thirty miles wide from east to west, and nearly fifty miles long from north to south. It comprises an area, therefore, of a little less than fifteen hundred square miles. It falls into two clearly marked divisions: (1) Upper Galilee with its rolling elevated plateaus, bounded on the east and west by hills which rise rapidly to the height of between two thousand and four thousand feet; and (2) Lower Galilee, lying to the south of an irregular line drawn westward from the northern end of the Lake of Gennesaret to Acre on the shore of the Mediterranean. This division line is marked by the Wady Amud and the Wady et-Tuffah, which flow into the northwestern end of the Lake of Gennesaret, and the series of plains which cut from east to west through Galilee to a point opposite Acre. This second division includes the lower hills, which extend southward from the high plateaus of northern Galilee, making an irregular terrace, never over nineteen hundred feet high and gradually sloping to the Plain of Esdraelon, which sends out several low valleys to meet and intersect the descending hills. This clear-cut line of division was recognized both by Josephus and the Talmudic writers.

Physical Characteristics of Upper Galilee. The elevated hills of upper Galilee constitute, therefore, the first terrace that flanks the southern part of the Lebanons. The deep clefts between the higher Lebanons and Anti-Lebanons to the north here disappear. Even the Litany turns abruptly westward on the northern border of Galilee, leaving a broad mass of rounded limestone hills, greatly weathered by frost and rain. At a distance this mass looks like a mountain range, but it consists in reality of a high rolling plateau, cut by irregular valleys. This plateau of upper Galilee reaches its highest elevation in a line drawn northwest from Safed, which was probably "the city set on a hill" of the Gospel record.^[(7)] The mountain on which Safed stands is two thousand seven hundred and fifty feet above the sea, while to the northwest Jebel Jermak, the highest mountain of Galilee, rises to the height of three thousand nine hundred and thirty-four feet. From this point many fertile upland valleys radiate to the northwest, the north, the northeast, and the east, but none to the south. Thus upper Galilee presents its boldest front to the south, towering high above lower Galilee and sloping to the north until it meets the mountains of the southern Lebanons. On the southeast it slopes gradually down to the Jordan and Lake Huleh, where two brooks come down from the plain of Hazor. Farther north the hills rise very abruptly from the Jordan and present a front unbroken by any important streams. At many points on this eastern slope lava streams have left their bold deposit of trap-rock. On the northwest the descent to the coast plains is very gradual and regular, but farther south the hills jut out abruptly to the sea. Upper Galilee is an open region with splendid vistas of the blue coastline of the Mediterranean on the west, of Carmel and the Samaria hills on the south, of the lofty almost unbroken line of the plateau of the Hauran and Gilead on the east; while the Lebanons tower on the north, and above them all rises the massive peak of Hermon, long into the springtime clad in cold, dazzling whiteness. Galilee, as a whole, was a land well fitted to breed enthusiasts and men of vision, intolerant alike of the inflexible rule of Rome and of the constricting priestcraft of Jerusalem. The Talmud states that the Galileans were ever more anxious for honor than for money.

Its Fertility. Upper Galilee was also a land of great fertility. The one limitation was the profusion of rocks strewn especially over the northern part. But if the Lebanons have poured their stones over northern Galilee, they have compensated with the wealth of waters which run through the valleys and break out in springs or else are scattered in dashing showers and deposited in heavy dews upon its rich soil. Where wars and conquest have not denuded the land, trees grow to the summits of the hills and grass and flowers flourish everywhere in greatest profusion. It is a land of plenty, sunshine, beauty, and contentment. Significant is the fact that it figures so little in Israel's troubled history, for happy is the land that has no history. Josephus's statement that in his day Galilee had a population of nearly three millions is undoubtedly an exaggeration. Even though, as in some parts of the land, to-day, the villages almost touched each other and no part of the land lay idle, Galilee could not have supported more than four or five hundred thousand inhabitants (cf. Masterman, Studies in Galilee, 131-134).

Characteristics of Lower Galilee. Lower Galilee possesses the fertility of upper Galilee in even greater measure. With a lower elevation and slightly warmer climate it bears a large variety of trees and fruits. Its valleys are also broader and lower and enriched with the soil washed down from the hills. The broad, low plain of Asochis (the present Sahel el-Buttauf) lies a little north of the heart of lower Galilee and from it valleys radiate to the northeast, southwest, and southeast. Another broad plain runs northeast from the Plain of Esdraelon to the neighborhood of Nazareth and Mount Tabor, and east of Tabor still another extends down to the Jordan River. The rounded top of Mount Tabor commands a marvellous view of lower Galilee. Across the fertile fields to the northeast lies the Sea of Galilee, shut in by its steep banks, and beyond it the mountain plateau of the Jaulan.^[(8)] Across the valley to the south is the Hill of Moreh and the Samaritan hills beyond.^[(9)] Two perennial brooks, the Wady Fejjas and the Wady el-Bireh, flow down through southeastern Galilee into the Jordan. The result is that lower Galilee is made up of a series of irregular hills (of which the Nazareth group, a little south of the centre, is the chief) separated by a network of broad, rich, intersecting plains. It combines the vistas and large horizons of the north with the fruitfulness of the plains. Here many different types of civilization meet and mingle. Instead of being remote and provincial, as is sometimes mistakenly supposed, lower Galilee is close to the heart of Palestine and open to all the varied influences which radiate from that little world. It is also intersected by a network of little wadys running in every direction from its open valleys and through its low-lying hills. Thus it was bound closely not only to the rest of Palestine, but also to the greater world that lay beyond.

Situation and Bounds of the Plain of Esdraelon. The Plain of Esdraelon is the last of the great terraces by which the Lebanons descend on the south to the sea-level. The plain itself lies only about two hundred feet above the level of the Mediterranean and to the east sinks toward the Jordan to below the sea-level. Its shape is that of an equiangular triangle. Its base lies close under the northeast side of Mount Carmel and is twenty miles long running from Tell el-Kasis to Jenîn. Its northern line runs along the foot of the Nazareth hills for fifteen miles to a point opposite Mount Tabor. The eastern boundary, from Tabor to Jenîn is also about fifteen miles in length but less regular. Moreh or Little Hermon and Mount Gilboa jut out into the plain, which sends down toward the Jordan two broad valleys, of which the most important is the plain of Jezreel to the north of Gilboa.^[(10)] The watershed between these two plains is near the modern village of Zerin which stood not far from the ancient Jezreel.

Plain of Jezreel. The Plain of Jezreel extends like a great broad valley almost due east for about fifteen miles until it reaches the Jordan. Through it runs the Nahr Jalûd with its perennial parallel streams. Where the Plain of Jezreel joins the low-lying Jordan valley stands the guardian of the gateway, the town of Beisan, which represents the ancient Bethshean, later known as Scythopolis. This Plain of Jezreel, together with the narrow valley through which the Kishon now finds its way to the Mediterranean, completes the link between the Great Sea and the Jordan Valley and for a brief space separates the hills of Galilee from those of Samaria.

Water Supply and Fertility of the Plain of Esdraelon. Originally the Plain of Esdraelon appears to have been a shallow inland lake. Viewed from the top of Mount Gilboa it appears to be completely shut in by a circle of mountains on the north, west, and south.^[(11)] Its elevation toward the east is so slight and its outlets to the east and west so imperfect that during the rainy season much of it is practically a morass. Into it drain the waters from the surrounding hills. Some of the drainage is on the surface, but most of it is underground, with the result that at many points on the plain rushing springs pour forth their waters, which run for a time as a dashing brook and then sink again into the porous soil. Springs of this character are found especially on the northeastern and southern sides of the plain. Some of them ultimately send their scattered waters down the Plain of Jezreel to the Jordan, but more of them find their outlet through the low, muddy Kishon, which, with many turnings, ploughs its way through the middle of the Plain of Esdraelon to the shadow of Mount Carmel and then finds a narrow outlet into the Mediterranean past the Galilean foot-hills, which here are scarcely one hundred yards from the spurs of Mount Carmel. As a result of its peculiar position and formation, the Plain of Esdraelon is one of the best watered areas in all Palestine. In certain places, indeed, it suffers from an excess of water. Its loamy, basaltic soil is also richly fertile and its alluvial deposits are free from stone. By nature it is fitted to be the great grain field of central Palestine. The hills that jut out into this garden land were naturally the first centres of a developed agricultural civilization. Here on the southern border are found the large mounds which were once the sites of teeming Canaanite cities.

Central and Commanding Position. The Plain of Esdraelon, like the Plain of Sharon, was a great highway of the nations. Through the broad valleys which lead into it came from every quarter the invaders, whether for peaceful or violent conquest, for here all the important roads converged. On its western border ran the great coast road from Egypt to Phœnicia. The eastern branches of the road also entered the plain from the south through three different avenues. The one was through the valley which led from the Plain of Sharon to the southeastern end of Mount Carmel. Still more direct and easy was the approach through northwestern Samaria along the Wady Arah, past the famous old fortress of Megiddo. The third was farther east along the broad Plain of Dothan to Engannim, the present Jenîn, and thence along the eastern side of the Plain of Esdraelon. These highways in turn connected with those which ran past Mount Tabor to the populous cities on the Lake of Gennesaret and thence to Damascus and the East. Another important artery of trade ran along the wide, level Plain of Jezreel, past Bethshean that guarded its eastern gateway^[(12)] to the Jordan and thence northward to Damascus or directly eastward to Gilead and the desert (cf. chap. IX).

Importance of the Plain in Palestinian History. The Plain of Esdraelon was both the door and the key to Palestine. Through it came the ancient conquerors to possess the land. The Midianites in the days of Gideon were but a part of that ever-advancing Arab horde, which surged up through the Plain of Jezreel whenever the government of central Palestine was weak. On its gently sloping hills from the days of Thotmes III to Napoleon were waged the great battles that determined the possession of the land. Here, under the leadership of Deborah, the Hebrews fought the valiant fight that left them masters of Canaan and free to pass over the barrier of plain that had hitherto kept apart the tribes of the north from those of the south.

V

THE HILLS OF SAMARIA AND JUDAH

Character of the Hills of Samaria. The hills of Samaria and Judah are the southern extension of the central plateau of Palestine, and yet, like Galilee and Esdraelon they constitute an independent natural unit. No sharply defined boundary separates them; rather the one gradually merges into the other. The heights of Samaria and Judah are commonly called mountains and the term is not entirely inappropriate when applied to the range as a whole; but the individual peaks are in reality little more than rounded hills. None of them rise over three thousand four hundred feet above the sea-level. The highest rest upon elevated plateaus, so that only two or three of them convey the impression of towering height and majesty that is ordinarily associated with the word mountain. Rather they are a chain of hills which, viewed from the shore of the Mediterranean or from the heights east of the Jordan, give the impression of a bold mountain range. This is especially true as one looks up toward them from the deep depression of the Jordan and Dead Sea valley, for they completely fill the western horizon. The water=*shed lies on the eastern side of the range. The result is that the western hills have been worn down into gradually descending terraces; while on the east the deep Jordan valley is exceedingly abrupt, becoming more so in the south. At certain points the descent is over twenty-eight hundred feet in nine miles, and down by the western side of the Dead Sea there is often an almost sheer fall of between fifteen hundred and three thousand feet.

Northeastern Samaria. The hills of Samaria fall naturally into two great divisions. The first extends from the plains of Esdraelon and Jezreel to the one great valley which, following the Wady el-Ifzim, cuts through Samaria from the northwest to the southeast, running between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The territory north of this line resembles lower Galilee in many ways. On the east it consists of four ranges of hills, divided by a series of broad valleys filled with rich basaltic soil and plentifully supplied with water. These valleys and ranges of hills, like Mount Carmel, have a general trend from northwest to southeast. The northernmost is Mount Gilboa which rises with a broad gradual slope on every side, to a height of between one thousand two hundred and one thousand six hundred and fifty feet. The bare limestone rock crops out at many points, but villages and cultivated fields are found on its broad top. Viewed from this point the hills of Samaria rise gradually in great terraces.^[(13)] To the east and south of Gilboa the wide plain about Bethshean cuts far into central Palestine. Farther south the hills of Samaria, as bold rocky headlands, jut far out into the Jordan valley. The next great valley south of the Plain of Jezreel is that through which the Wady Farah^[(14)] discharges its plenteous waters into the Jordan. This stream and the Nahr Jalud are the chief western confluents of the lower Jordan.

Northwestern Samaria. In the northwest the hills of Samaria descend gradually and are intersected by wide valleys which open into the Plain of Sharon on the west and Esdraelon on the north. None of its hills are over twenty-five hundred feet in height. Verdure and often trees crown their summits, while in the valleys are the rich fields of grain or olive orchards, watered by springs and rivulets. The chief of these valleys is the Plain of Dothan,^[(15)] which is connected by low passes with the Plain of Sharon on the west and the Plain of Esdraelon on the north. Farther south are the moist upland meadows known to-day as the "Meadow of Sinking in." These in turn are connected by an easy pass with the network of plains that run southward past Ebal and Gerizim and on the southwest to the city of Samaria and the Wady esh-Shair.^[(16)]

The View from Mount Ebal. The one real mountain of northern Samaria is Ebal, which rises to the height of three thousand and seventy-seven feet. It is a broad rounded mass of limestone rock running from east to west parallel to Gerizim, its companion on the south. Its sides, almost to the top, are covered with gardens and olive orchards, enclosed by picturesque cactus hedges. It commands the most comprehensive view of any point in Palestine. Immediately to the south is the broad cultivated back of Mount Gerizim, which lies only a few feet lower than Ebal, while down in the narrow valley between the two mountains is Nablus, the ancient Shechem. In the more distant horizon is the ascending mass of the southern Samaritan and Judean hills.^[(17)] On the east the Gilead hills present a lofty, bold sky-line. Nearer but concealed by the rapidly descending cliffs, is the deep valley of the Jordan; while in the foreground following the sky-line to the northeast lies the level plateau of the Hauran, which extends to the east of the Sea of Galilee, and beyond, if the air is clear, the broad peak of Mount Hermon towers, seventy-five miles away. In the immediate foreground^[(18)] to the north is the network of open valleys of northern Samaria intersected by the ridges of hills which sweep down from the northwest toward the Jordan. Beyond is the depression where lies the Plain of Esdraelon, while still farther to the north rise in regular terraces lower and upper Galilee. The broad low line of highlands in the northwest is Carmel running out to the sea. In the west the irregular Samaritan hills, with their many intersecting valleys, descend leisurely to the coast plains. Beyond, only about twenty-five miles away, is the blue Mediterranean with its fringe of yellow sands.

Bounds and General Characteristics of Southern Samaria. Southern Samaria, which lies to the south and west of Mount Ebal, extends as far as the Wady Kelt and its northern confluent, the Wady es-Suweinit, which comes up from ancient Jericho to the vicinity of Michmash and Geba. On the southwest it reaches to the Wady Malakeh, which, a little north of the pass of Beth-horon, under the name Wady 'Ain 'Arîk, penetrates nearly to the top of the watershed. In many ways southern Samaria resembles northern Galilee. It is an elevated plateau rising gradually from the western coast plains and culminating in the southeast. Baal-Hazor, five miles north of the pass of Michmash, rising to the height of three thousand, three hundred and eighteen feet, is the highest point in Samaria, and lacks only a few feet of being the highest point south of the Plain of Esdraelon.

The descent in the east to the Jordan valley is exceedingly steep and rocky. Two or three rushing brooks have cut deep channels through the barren limestone rocks, which are covered with only a scanty herbage. Northwest of Jericho rises, as a terrace leading up to the heights above, the semi-detached mass of barren rock known as the Quarantana (Jebel Kuruntul), and still higher up to the west lies the wilderness of Bethaven, and beyond the rocky hills of Mount Ephraim.^[(19)] On the high central plateau north of Baal-Hazor are a network of small but open plains, which run up past Shiloh to the east of Mount Gerizim. These are fringed by rocky hills, but are themselves exceedingly well-watered and fruitful and are covered to-day with waving grain fields.

Southwestern Samaria. The western part of southern Samaria is the land of deep but open valleys. Trees and grass, with many well-tilled fields, cover the hills and valleys. Chief of these valleys which lead up from the plain are the Wady esh-Shair (the Barley Vale), west of Shechem,^[(16)] the Brook Kanah, the Wady Jib, which first flows south and then westward into the Wady Deir Ballut, and the Wady ez-Zerka, which, like the Wady Malakeh, finds its outlet into the sea a little north of Jaffa. Prosperous villages, some capping the summits of rounded hills, and others far down in sheltered spots in the deep valleys, are scattered throughout this entire region. The site of each was evidently chosen with a view to defence against the many foes that, from earliest times, have passed up through the valleys which stand wide open to the west. Like the rest of Samaria, it was a land where peace could be secured only by the sword and by strong battlements. It was also a land where nature gave rich gifts to those who were strong enough to maintain themselves against all invaders.

The Central Heights of Judah. The central plateau of southern Palestine culminates in Judea. It is a mass of rounded hills averaging only about fifteen miles wide and not more than forty miles long. Here erosion has worn away all bold, imposing peaks. The highest points, Mizpah,^[(20)] the modern Neby Samwil (two thousand, eight hundred and thirty-five feet high), in the north and the heights immediately north of Hebron (three thousand, three hundred and seventy feet), where the southern plateau reaches its maximum elevation, are but rounded hills on the top of a great plateau. Between these are narrow, rocky valleys, dry during most of the year and strewn with stones laid bare by the winter freshets. The landscape lacks distinctive character. The prevailing impression is that of gray and yellow limestone;^[21] and yet these fields of Judah are not altogether unproductive, as is amply demonstrated by the verdant fields in the vicinity of Jerusalem, Bethlehem,^[(22)] and Hebron. Occasionally the native soil has been retained in a little upland plain,^[(23)] as that east of Bethlehem or at Maon and Carmel, south of Hebron, or in certain favored valleys, such as Hinnom, to the south of Jerusalem. The soil, which is held upon the hillsides by the terraces or piles of stone, is exceedingly fruitful and supports patches of grain, or luxurious vines, or verdant olive trees, which stand out in striking contrast to the grim, rocky background.

Lack of Water Supply. Even greater than the lack of soil is the lack of water in Judah. Not a single perennial stream is found within its immediate boundaries. Ezekiel's vision of the broad stream running from the temple and irrigating the entire land clearly indicates what he recognized to be its great need. Throughout the entire land not a dozen copious springs burst from the dry rock. Jerusalem and Hebron are thus blest and, as a result, are still the chief cities of the land. Southwest of Bethlehem are the so-called Pools of Solomon, the plenteous waters of which are treasured in huge, ancient, rock-cut reservoirs, from which, in Roman times, they were conducted by high and low level aqueducts to Jerusalem. No snow-clad Lebanons tower above the parched hills of Judah to supply the much needed waters. To-day the rains of winter rush down the rocky hills and valleys, where there is little soil and vegetation to absorb and retain the moisture, leaving the land more denuded than before. Undoubtedly, when the hills of Judah were properly cultivated, as the presence of ruined terraces and watch-towers even in the most deserted places indicate they once were, the aspect of the landscape was very different; and yet, compared with other parts of Palestine, it was ever barren. Its inhabitants have always had to struggle for soil and water. In the past, as at present, the chief water supply was from the rocky cisterns. These were cut on the inside in the shape of a huge Oriental water-jug and placed in a depression in the rock so that they would be filled by the wash from the winter rains, which are usually very copious throughout Palestine.

Wilderness of Judea. The eastern slope of the southern plateaus of Palestine is rightly called a wilderness. Like the Shephelah or lowland on the west it is a distinct physical division of the west-Jordan land. The cultivated fields extend only four or five miles east of the central watershed. Near Jerusalem the barren wilderness comes up and touches the fertile fields about Bethany.^[(24)] The descent on this eastern side of Judea to the low-lying Dead Sea is so precipitous that the water from the winter rains runs off rapidly and has cut deep channels through the soft clay and limestone cliffs so that irrigation is impossible.^[(25)] No important villages are found in this desolate region except at Engedi, where a beautiful spring bursts out of the cliffs overhanging the Dead Sea and transforms the barren desert into what seems by contrast a little paradise of trees and gardens. Otherwise it is a land of dry, rocky, rounded hills which descend in a series of three great terraces to the depths below. Some vegetation is found between the rocks on the higher uplands. It is the land of the shepherd and of the Arab invaders^[(26)] who here press in from the desert and contend, as they have for thousands of years, with the shepherds of the outlying villages for the possession of the barren land. The dominant features in the landscape are the rocky, rounded bluffs, the great gorge of the Dead Sea, usually enveloped in mists, and the dim outlines of the massive Moabite hills beyond. This wilderness of Judea exercised two powerful influences upon the life and thought of the people of the south: (1) it brought to their doors the atmosphere and peculiar customs and beliefs of the desert; and (2) it kept before them the might and destructive power of Jehovah, as exemplified by the Dead Sea and by the grim traditions that were associated with this remarkable natural phenomenon.

Western Judah. In contrast to the barren wilderness of eastern Judah, the western hills slope gradually down to the Philistine plain. The chief characteristic of this western slope is the series of valleys which lead up from the lowlands, piercing almost to the watershed in the great central plateau of Judah. Most of these valleys are broad and fertile as they enter the hills, but become ever more tortuous and wild as they ascend the rocky heights. In the rainy season (December to February) they are frequently swept by rushing torrents, which, undeterred by soil or vegetation, soon run their course, leaving the stream, during the greater part of the year, dry and rocky. At many points the ascent is abrupt, between steep rocks, clad with low bushes and wild flowers. In some places the path is so narrow that it is impossible for a horse to turn with comfort.

Valley of Ajalon. Six important valleys thus lead up from the plain to the central highlands. The northernmost, and in many ways the most important, is the Valley of Ajalon. It marks the northwestern boundary of Judah. It is a great, broad, fertile plain, lying between five hundred and a thousand feet above sea-level. The stream which ultimately finds its way into the sea a little north of Joppa, here makes a broad curve to the northeast, receiving four or five small tributary streams from the highlands of Judah and southern Samaria. From this valley several roads lead up to the plateau north of Jerusalem. Of these the most important is the one that ascends the pass of the Upper and Lower Beth-horons, along which ran the most direct and, in early times, the main highway from Jerusalem to Joppa.^[(118)]

Wady Ali. A little south of the Valley of Ajalon is the narrow Wady Ali, along which runs to-day the carriage road from Jerusalem to Joppa. Apparently because of the deepness and narrowness of this valley it does not figure in biblical history until the Maccabean period.

Valley of Sorek. The third important gateway to Judah was the Valley of Sorek, the present Wady es-Surar. Here the modern railway from Joppa to Jerusalem penetrates the central plateau. Just before the Valley of Sorek reaches the steep ascent to the highlands it receives two important confluents, the Wady el-Ghurab, from the northwest, and the Wady en-Nagil from the south. Here the valley opens into a broad fertile plain, closely connected with the larger Plain of Philistia and yet encircled by the hills of the Shephelah. Immediately to the north was the home of the Danites and about this picturesque point gather the Samson stories. Along a winding and steep ascent the narrow pass thence runs directly eastward toward Jerusalem, approaching the city across the Valley of Rephaim from the southwest.

Valley of Elah. The fourth valley is that of Elah, the Valley of the Terebinth, which is known to-day as the Wady es-Sunt. This valley abounds in memories of David's earlier exploits.^[(88)] Its eastern branch, the Wady el-Jindy leads through a narrow defile up toward Bethlehem. Its more important branch, the Wady es-Sur, runs directly southward past what are probably to be identified as the ancient Adullam and Keilah, and thence turning eastward, reaches the uplands near the famous Maccabean fortress of Bethzur, a little north of Hebron.

Valley of Zephathah. The fifth valley is that of Zephathah, which is known to-day in its upper course as the Wady el-Afranj. Its western gateway is guarded by the present important city of Beit-Jibrin, the Eleutheropolis of the Greek and Roman period. Recently opened caves near by reveal the importance of the Egyptian influence which, at a very early period entered Palestine along this important highway. The valley itself leads up through winding, narrow walls past the Plain of Mamre, directly to Hebron. Along it ran the great road from Jerusalem to Philistia and Egypt.

Wady el-Jizâir. The southernmost valley of western Judah is a continuation of the Wady el-Hesy, which runs past the frontier town of Lachish and is to-day known in its extension into the Judean highlands as the Wady el-Jizâir. Passing the ancient city of Adoraim, it also led to Hebron and ultimately to Jerusalem.

Significance of These Valleys. Of these six western valleys, unquestionably the three most important were the Valley of Ajalon, with its main gateways opening toward Jerusalem, the Valley of Sorek, with its broad entrance, also leading straight up to the capital city, and the Valley of Elah, rich with historic memories. Each of these, however, could be easily defended at certain strategic points by a few determined men on the heights above. When these natural gates were closed, Judah was practically unassailable on the west and could look with a strong sense of security down from its frowning heights upon the hostile armies which swept along the broad coast plains.

The South Country. The central plateau of Palestine extends south of Judah fully seventy miles. At first it gradually descends in a series of terraces, and then breaks into a confusion of barren, rocky, treeless ridges, running for the most part from east to west and cut by deep waterless gorges. As in Judah, the eastern hills which overhang the Wady Arabah are more abrupt and the winter torrents have cut deep channels in the gray limestone rocks. On the west the descent is more gradual, running out into the level wilderness, bounded on the west by the Wady el-Arish, known to the biblical writers as the Brook of Egypt. This wild, desolate region, fifty miles wide and seventy long, is the famous South Country, which figured so largely in early Israelite history. Its name, Negeb, Dry Land, well describes its general character.^[(1)]

Its Northern and Western Divisions. The hill country immediately to the south of Judah is fairly fertile. Cultivated fields are found in the valleys and terraces on the hillsides, even as far as the Wady Sheba and the famous desert sanctuary of Beersheba. To the south and west of Beersheba are found the ruins of many cities, which evidently enjoyed high prosperity during the later Roman period. Here, as throughout most of the South Country, rain falls during the winter season, so that where the water is stored, irrigation is possible. A few springs also furnish a perennial supply of water. Thus under a strong stable government, the northern and northwestern portions of the South Country are capable of supporting a large, semi-agricultural population. By nature, however, it is the land of the nomad. Throughout most of its history, the Bedouin have dominated it as they do to-day. When undeveloped by irrigation, its hills and valleys are covered in springtime by a green herbage, which disappears, except in some secluded glens, before the glaring heat of summer. To the south, the Negeb at last descends to the great barren desert of Tîh, across which ran the highways to Egypt, to Arabia, and to Babylonia.

Its Central and Eastern Divisions. The central and eastern part of this South Country is dry and barren and occupied only by fierce Bedouin tribes. The absence of water, the ruggedness of its mountain ranges, and the fierceness of its population have rendered it almost impassable throughout most of its history. Many portions of it are still unexplored. Thus, on its southern boundary, Judah was thoroughly protected from the advance of hostile armies. At the same time, from this South Country there came a constant infiltration of the population and ideas of the desert, which left a deep imprint upon the character of the southern Israelites.

The Striking Contrasts Between Judah and Samaria. The contrasts between the hills of Judah and Samaria are many and significant. The hills of Samaria are a collection of distinct groups, divided by broad valleys, which intersect the land in every direction. The hills of Judah, in contrast, constitute a great, elevated, solid plateau, cut by no great valleys running throughout the land from east to west or from north to south. Judah is a mountain fortress, with strong natural barriers on every side. Samaria, on the contrary, stands with doors wide open to the foreign trader and invader. Its inhabitants are compelled to resort to the hilltops, or else to build strong fortresses for their defence. The great highways of commerce pass on either side of Judah, while they ran through the heart of Samaria. Judah was secure, not only because of its natural battlements of rock, but because of its barrenness. Its grim limestone hills, its stony moorlands, and its dry valleys offered few attractions to the invader. On the other hand, the rich fields of Samaria and its opulent cities were a constant loadstone, drawing toward them conquerors from the north, south, and east.

Effect Upon Their Inhabitants. Judah, with its few springs and its rock-strewn fields, offered a frugal livelihood to men who were willing to toil and to live without the luxuries of life. It bred a sturdy, brave race, intensely loyal to their rocks and hills, tenacious of their beliefs, even to the point of bigotry and martyrdom. Like their limestone hills, they were grim and unattractive, but capable of resisting the wearing process of the centuries. In contrast, the fertile hills of Samaria, with their plentiful springs and rushing streams, bred a luxury-loving, care-free, tolerant race, who were ready, almost eager, for foreign ideas and cults, as well as customs. Thus that great schism between north and south, between Jew and Samaritan, was not merely the result of later rivalries, but found its primal cause in the physical characteristics that distinguished the land of Judah from that of Samaria.

VI

THE JORDAN AND DEAD SEA VALLEY

Geological History. The great gorge of the Jordan and Dead Sea valley is the most striking natural phenomenon in Palestine. No place on the face of the earth has had a more dramatic geological history. As has already been noted (p. 14), this great rift which runs from northern Syria to the Red Sea was probably formed in the latter part of the Pliocene Age. At the northern end of the Dead Sea its bed reaches a depth of nearly one-half a mile beneath the ocean level. It is thus by far the deepest depression on the face of the earth. During the Pluvial period this huge rift was filled with water, making a large inland sea, fully two hundred miles long, with its surface nearly one hundred feet above the ocean level. Apparently the higher land to the south of the present Dead Sea cut off the ocean, so that at the first it was a fresh-water lake. During the Interglacial period, possibly in part as the result of volcanic changes, it fell to a level of not more than three hundred feet above the present surface of the Dead Sea. It was during this period and the ice age that followed that the deposits were made on the side of the valley, which have given it its present terraced form.

Evidences of Volcanic Action. From the Pluvial period to the present the valley has been the scene of frequent volcanic disturbances. The water, sinking through the great rifts and subterranean passages, and being transformed by the heat into steam, forced up great masses of lava, which may be traced at many points on the heights both to the east and to the west of the Jordan valley. Earthquakes, many of them severe, are still common in this volcanic region. That of 1837 destroyed the city of Safed, killing one thousand of its inhabitants. In recent years severe shocks were felt in June, 1896, January, 1900, March and December, 1903. Many copious, hot, mineral springs still bear testimony to the presence of volcanic forces. Those near Tiberias, on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and in the Wady Zerka Ma'in, east of the Dead Sea, have a temperature of about 144°, while the waters of El-Hammeh in the Yarmuk Valley vary in temperature from about 93° to 110.° These springs are strongly impregnated with mineral salts and it is from these and similar sources that the salts have come that make the waters of the Dead Sea what they are to-day, heavy and far more saline than the ocean itself.

Natural Divisions. The Jordan and Dead Sea valley falls into four natural divisions: (1) the upper Jordan, from Mount Hermon to the Sea of Galilee, (2) the Sea of Galilee, (3) the lower Jordan, and (4) the Dead Sea. At its northernmost point rises Mount Hermon, called by the natives Jebel es-Sheik, that is, Mountain of the White-haired.

Mount Hermon. Hermon is in reality a massive mountain plateau, twenty miles long from northeast to southwest. Like most of the mountains of Palestine, it is of hard limestone, covered at places with soft chalk. On its northern side the vineyards run up to a height of almost five thousand feet.^[(27)] Above are found scattered oaks, almond and dwarf juniper trees. The mountain rises to the height of nine thousand and fifty feet and is crowned by three peaks.^[(28)] The northern and southern peaks are about the same height, while the western, separated from the others by a depression, is about one hundred feet lower. Mount Hermon commands a marvellous view of almost the entire land of Palestine. From the masses of snow which cover its broad top far into the summer and lie in its ravines throughout the year, come the copious waters of the upper Jordan. Its sources spring from the western and southern bases of Mount Hermon fully developed streams. Three-fourths of the waters of Mount Hermon thus find their way down the deep gorge of the Jordan.

Source of the Jordan at Banias. One of the two main sources of the Jordan is at Banias, the Cæsarea Philippi of New Testament times. About one hundred feet beneath an ancient grotto in the side of a sheer cliff, the stream pours forth from the rocks and goes rushing down through thickets of trees and the gardens which are irrigated by its waters.^[(29)] By Josephus and other ancient writers the springs at Banias were regarded as the true source of the Jordan. Here the ancient Canaanites apparently reared a sanctuary to the god of the stream and later the Greeks built a temple to Pan, from whence comes, with the change of the initial letter, the modern name of Banias, or City of Pan. Here also Herod reared a temple which was one of the glories of the Roman city.

At Tell el-Kadi. The largest source of the Jordan is on the western side of the mound now known as Tell el-Kadi. A stream about ten feet wide flows directly from the rock and is joined by a smaller confluent a little to the south, forming the so-called El-Leddan. The imposing mound of Tell el-Kadi, lying at the head of the Jordan Valley and commanding the highway that leads to Banias, and thence across the eastern spurs of Mount Hermon to Damascus, is probably the site of the Canaanite Laish, later the Hebrew Dan.

The Western Confluents. A mile and a half further to the south the two eastern sources of the Jordan are joined by the Hasbany. This stream springs from a pool on the western side of Mount Hermon and thence flows southward through the broad plain on the west of the mountain from which it sprang. The fourth source of the Jordan, the Nahr Bareighit, the least important of the four, rising not far from the River Litany, comes down through a valley to the northwest.

The Upper Jordan Valley. During the first part of its descent to the Dead Sea, the Jordan winds leisurely through a valley about five miles wide, flanked by hills rising to between fifteen hundred and two thousand feet.^[(30)] Its northernmost part, under the shadow of Mount Hermon, is plentifully strewn with stones, but a few miles below Tell el-Kadi fertile grain fields appear, watered by copious springs. The Jewish colonists on the northwestern edge of the Jordan valley, are beginning to cultivate these meadows, again demonstrating how fertile they are. Six miles above Lake Huleh the river loses itself in reedy marshes^[(31)] and finally empties into the lake through six different channels. Here the papyrus grows in great profusion. Lake Huleh itself, four miles long, is little more than a great malarial marsh, formed by the temporary stopping of the river by the eastern and western hills, which here approach within three or four miles of each other.

The Rapid Descent to the Sea of Galilee. From Banias to Lake Huleh the Jordan descends over one thousand feet and in the eleven miles from the lake to the Sea of Galilee it plunges downward six hundred and ninety feet. These occasional pauses, followed by sudden plunges, have given the river its name, the Jordan, which means the Descender. A little below Lake Huleh, the valley of the Jordan narrows into a rocky gorge. Through this rocky chasm, hemmed in by steep cliffs on both sides, the Jordan plunges in continuous cascades until it reaches the delta which it has formed at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee. At Lake Huleh the waters of the Jordan are seven feet above the ocean level, but at the Sea of Galilee six hundred and eighty-two feet below. The Sea of Galilee is a pear-shaped lake, twelve and one-half miles in length and eight in width, encircled by bold limestone cliffs.^[(32)] Its greatest depth, which is in the north, is seven hundred and fifty feet. Its blue, clear waters, bathed in sunshine, and the soft, warm breezes that blow across the lake, make it in spring-time, and even in winter, one of the most delightful spots in all the world. In the summer, however, its atmosphere is hot and sultry, and at many points malarial. Ordinarily, the ocean winds blow high above the Sea of Galilee without affecting its hot, tropical climate, but occasionally they pour down through the valleys, especially to the north and northwest, suddenly transforming these quiet waters into a tempestuous sea.

Its Shores. On the east rise the steep, now barren but probably once tree-clad, limestone hills of the Jaulan, capped by vast layers of black basalt, towering in the distance like huge battlements. They stand back, however, from the lake, leaving a shore averaging one-half mile in width. On the north the Jordan has worn down the hills, which here descend gradually in wild, stony moorlands, covered with thorns and rough grasses. To the northwest opens the fertile plain of Gennesaret,^[(33)] four miles wide, watered by dashing mountain brooks and flanked by the high hills of upper Galilee. The industry of German colonists is again beginning to demonstrate the marvellous fertility of this fair plain, where the fruits and grains of tropical and temperate climes grow side by side. On the western side of the lake the hills descend in terraces, leaving a narrow strip of shore, connected with the uplands by one or two shallow valleys. To the south the shore broadens and the hills recede until they are four miles apart at the southern end,^[(34)] where the Jordan leaves the Sea of Galilee.

From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. The distance from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea in a straight line is only sixty-five miles, but, owing to its constant turnings, the actual course of the river measures nearly two hundred miles. In this last plunge the river descends more than one thousand feet. Its descent is more rapid in the upper part of its course. A little below the Sea of Galilee it receives its largest confluent, the River Yarmuk, which breaks through the heights of the Hauran to the east. The volume of the water thus poured in nearly equals that of the Jordan itself at this point. Further south the Brook Jalûd comes down on the west from the Plain of Jezreel past Bethshean. About twenty miles from its mouth, the Jordan receives the waters from the Jabbok, which descends from the heights of Gilead on the east, and from the Wady Farah, which comes from the vicinity of Shechem on the west.

Character of the Valley. Below the Sea of Galilee the Jordan valley, at first but four miles wide, gradually broadens until it is eight miles in width opposite Bethshean, where the valley of Jezreel joins that of the Jordan. Most of the land in this part of the Jordan valley, immediately below the Sea of Galilee, is tillable. The ruins of ancient aqueducts indicate that the streams that come down from the hillsides were once used for irrigation. The valley is again being in part reclaimed by Jewish colonists. Ten miles south of Bethshean the Samaritan headlands crowd close to the Jordan, so that the valley is only three miles in width. Where the Jabbok and Wady Farah join the Jordan the valley again broadens until, opposite Jericho, it is fourteen miles in width.^[(35)] Most of this lower Jordan valley is a parched desert covered by low bushes and desert plants, except where the streams from the highlands are used for irrigation. Fertile fields are thus reclaimed where the Wady Nimrin and the Wady el-Kefrein come from the eastern hills opposite Jericho. At Jericho itself the waters of the Wady Kelt and those of the famous Fountain of Elisha are utilized to-day as they were in ancient times. South of Jericho, however, the soil is heavily impregnated with saline and alkaline salts, so that it extends in an almost barren waste to the northern end of the Dead Sea.

The Jordan Itself. Through this broad valley the Jordan winds, frequently changing its course, and ploughing a great furrow, called by the natives the Zôr.^[(36)] In flood time the river is from five hundred feet to a mile wide, while in the summer it is at places not more than seventy-five or a hundred feet in width and varies in depth from three to twelve feet. At all times it is a muddy, coffee-colored stream, partaking of the color of the slimy, alluvial soil through which it flows. Its banks are covered by thickets of trees, bushes, and reeds, in which are found many wild beasts and birds. This flood channel of the Jordan is a scene of wreckage and ruin, mingled with tropical luxuriance. The lowest bed of this ancient inland lake is given up to-day, as it always was in the past, to wild beasts, to occasional fugitives, to squalid Bedouin, and to the muddy, sprawling river which here rules supreme.

Fords of the Lower Jordan. The lower course of the Jordan is now spanned by four bridges. In ancient times the dwellers in Palestine were obliged to depend entirely upon its fords, of which there are between twenty and twenty-five. One of the more important is at the point where the river leaves the Sea of Galilee and is still used as a ferry. Another is the famous ford of Abarah, a little northeast of Bethshean. The third is a little farther south, opposite the ancient Pella. Another, the Dâmieh ford, is at the mouth of the Jabbok. The fifth is northeast of Jericho just below the point where the Wady Nimrin enters the Jordan. The most famous is the Pilgrim Ford, southeast of Jericho, just below the place where the Wady Kelt joins the Jordan. Owing to the alluvial character of its banks, its rapid current, and the frequency of the floods, fed by the melting snows from the Lebanons and by the heavy storms of the winter and spring, the Jordan has always proved a river difficult to cross. Its rôle throughout all of its history has been that of a divider rather than that of a binder together of tribes and races. Throughout its course of one hundred and seven miles it is rarely navigable. Flowing, as it does, into the barren waters of the Dead Sea, the Jordan was, therefore, a check upon rather than an encouragement to commerce.

Ancient Names of the Dead Sea. The residue of the ancient inland lake is represented by the present Dead Sea. This name is comparatively modern. In the Bible it is called by various names, such as simply the Sea, the Sea of the Plain, the Eastern Sea, or the Salt Sea. To-day it is known among the Arabs as the Sea of Lot.

Its Unique Characteristics. The Dead Sea lies one thousand two hundred and ninety-two feet below the surface of the ocean.^[(37)] It is forty-seven and a half miles long and ten miles across at its widest point. At its northeastern end, under the heights of Moab, the lake reaches to the vast depth of one thousand two hundred and seventy-eight feet. In striking contrast, the southern end of the sea is only ten to fifteen feet in depth. Its waters are so thoroughly impregnated with poisonous chemicals that no fish can live in them and only the lowest organisms survive. Its bitter taste is due to the presence of chloride of magnesium and the oily feeling is produced by the chloride of calcium, which it holds in solution. As is well known, the density is so great that it is practically impossible for man or beast to sink beneath its waters. In time of storm the waves beat on the shore with a heavy, metallic sound. The waters of the sea are frequently lashed by heavy thunder-storms, which linger here sometimes for hours, held in by the high, towering cliffs on either side. With few exceptions the shores of the Dead Sea are barren and strewn at places with the wreckage of trees. Its water, however, is limpid, varying from light blue to green. Owing to the proximity of the desert and the intense heat—the temperature rising in summer as high as 118°—it is the scene of a stupendous process of evaporation. It is computed that between six and eight million tons of water rise in vapor from this great natural caldron each day. Often the vapor is so dense that it obscures the landscape, but at other times it imparts a marvellous prismatic color to the huge cliffs that encircle the lake,^[(38)] so that the combination of the blue waters, the cloudless skies, and the rich, blended reds, grays, and purples of the opalescent landscape make it one of the most sublime views in all the world.

Its Eastern Bank. On the eastern side the cliffs of Moab rise at some points almost sheer to the height of between twenty-five hundred and three thousand feet. These limestone hills are mottled with huge blotches of black limestone and basalt and are frequently capped with white, chalky rocks. They are cut by several important streams, which have worn deep canyons that extend back many miles into the Moabite hills. A few miles south of the northeastern end the Wady Zerka Ma'in flows into the sea. On its northern bank, near the sea, the famous baths of Callirrhöe burst from the rock. Farther south the River Arnon, cutting a canyon three thousand feet deep through the plateau of Moab, reaches the sea through a broad opening. Here a few scattered palms and acacias relieve the utter desolation of this eastern wall of rock. Still farther south the promontory of El-Lisan, The Tongue, as it is called by the natives, pushes out into the sea, extending to within three miles of the western shore. It is a bold mass of calcareous marl, forty to eighty feet in height, treeless and barren. In pleasing contrast with this barrenness is the oasis lying behind it, watered by the Wady el-Kerak. Here are found the four Bedouin villages which are the only towns along the coast of this desolate sea.

The Southern End. At the southern end of the Dead Sea is a slimy mud marsh, low and malarial, covered with tropical thickets which are filled with the birds and the beasts of the southern clime. Farther south is the fertile Ghôr es-Safieh. In this little oasis, lying between the sea and the wilderness, a little wheat, barley, and tobacco are grown and a dense tropical vegetation abounds. Southward for a hundred and twelve miles to the Gulf of Akaba extends the Arabah,^[(39)] the continuation of the great rift of which the Jordan and the Dead Sea valleys are a part. Low sand-hills lie across the centre of this broad, shallow valley, making direct travel impossible. Sixty-five miles to the south the watershed is reached. This is six hundred and sixty feet above the level of the ocean, that is, nearly two thousand feet above the level of the Dead Sea. It is a land of stones, gravel, and sand,^[(40)] with only a few trickling springs—a lonesome, forbidding region where heat, dust, and the Bedouin rule supreme to-day as they have for thousands of years.

The Western Shores. The hills on the western side of the Dead Sea, except at two points, do not come close to the margin of the water. A beach from a hundred yards to a mile in width fringes the sea on this western side. Beyond this shore the hills rise in terraces to the height of from two thousand to two thousand five hundred feet. These are white, rounded, and barren, except at Engedi, where the waters of its famous spring have developed an oasis,^[(41)] which marks the side of the plateau with a pleasing mass of dark green. Many small wadies cut down through these western hills. In their beds are found a few trees and bushes, but otherwise the landscape is as bold and unrelieved by vegetation as on the east. On the southwest, at Jebel Usdum, there is a remarkable range of salt cliffs, six hundred feet high, three and three-fourth miles in length and a half mile in width. Here local tradition fixes the scene of the death of Lot's wife. Along this western shore are also found deposits of bitumen. Frequently portions of it are found floating in the waters; sometimes they catch on fire, adding to the lurid impressiveness of this mysterious valley.

Grim Associations of the Dead Sea. These are a few of the many reminders that fully justify the modern name of the Dead Sea. Its historic associations, the destruction of the wicked cities of the plain, the murder of John the Baptist at Machærus on the eastern heights, and the later massacre at Masada are all harsh and appalling. In common with the Jordan valley, this region is richly suggestive of the destructive forces of nature. Life is here grim, severe, and relentless. It is not difficult to detect in Jewish character the deep impressions made by this constant contact with the symbols of death and with these suggestions of the presence of a stern, austere God.

VII

THE EAST-JORDAN LAND

Form and Climate of the East-Jordan Land. The east-Jordan land of biblical history is in form an irregular triangle, with its base skirting the Jordan Valley, its northern angle at the foot of Mount Hermon, its southern a little beyond the southern end of the Dead Sea, while its third angle lies in the Druse Mountains, about seventy miles east of the Sea of Galilee. Damascus,^[(42)] to the northwest, is just beyond the bounds of Palestine. This famous ancient city lies in the midst of a verdant oasis made by the waters of the Abana River,^[(43)] which breaks through the eastern Lebanons and finally loses itself in the Arabian desert. The heart of the east-Jordan land is the wide, level plain watered by the tributaries of the Yarmuk River. The east-Jordan territory is a great elevated plateau, averaging fully two thousand feet in height. This southern continuation of the Anti-Lebanon mountains is a land that lies open to the sunshine and to the strong breezes that blow from the dry desert or fresh from the western sea. Its temperature, as a whole, is much colder than that of western Palestine. Frosts at night begin as early as the first of November and continue into March. Deep snows cover a large portion of it in winter. I myself have travelled in the middle of March for hours through blinding snows, two or three feet deep, up among the highlands of Gilead. In summer frequent mists sweep over the heights. At night the temperature often falls very low, and, as a result, heavy dews are deposited. Even during the day cool sea-breezes make the air thoroughly invigorating. Thus it richly deserved the reputation which it enjoyed in antiquity of being one of the most healthful regions in all the world.

Well Watered and Fertile. In contrast to western Palestine, the east-Jordan land is well supplied with springs and perennial rivers. Grass grows almost everywhere in rich profusion, even far out toward the desert. Great forests are still found in Gilead, and fruit trees that yield abundantly. East of the Jordan are the chief grain fields of Palestine, but it is pre-eminently the home of the herdsman and shepherd. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats dot the landscape almost everywhere from the foot of Hermon to the southern end of Moab.

The Four Great Natural Divisions. The east-Jordan land falls into four great natural divisions. The first is the Jaulan or Golan, the Gaulanitis of the Roman period, which extends from the foot of Mount Hermon to the Yarmuk River and from the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee to the Nahr el-Allân, a northern tributary of the Yarmuk. To the east and southeast of the Jaulan is the second great division, the Hauran. It extends northward to the vast lava-beds of El-Lejah, and eastward to the Druse Mountains, which look out upon the desert. In certain passages of the Old Testament the term Bashan seems to have been applied to the entire region north of the Yarmuk, but its exact bounds are not clearly defined. The third division includes the mountains of Gilead, which extend from the Yarmuk to the Wady Heshbân at the northern end of the Dead Sea, and from the Jordan out to the desert beyond the territory of ancient Ammon. The fourth division is the plateau of Moab, which extends from the Wady Heshbân to the Wady el-Hesa, southeast of the Dead Sea, and from the Salt Sea to the great pilgrim road on the borders of the desert.

Characteristics of the Northern and Western Jaulan. The Jaulan slopes southward to the Yarmuk and westward to the Jordan. Its characteristic features are two parallel ranges of isolated volcanic mountains between two and four thousand feet in height extending southward from Mount Hermon.

In some of these bold peaks the outlines of the ancient craters are still visible. Tell Abu Neda, of the western range, rises to the height of nearly four thousand feet. Its crater is broken at one side and its ulterior is cultivated, producing a variety of vegetables and grains. Another peak farther south, Tell el-Faras, about three thousand one hundred feet high, has a well-preserved, round crater, which inclines to the north. From these craters in early times successive waves of lava flowed toward the Jordan valley, covering this entire region. The northern part of the Jaulan is a great rocky pasture land, strewn with black basaltic boulders. In the spring it is a mass of green, which attracts thousands of Bedouin with their flocks. In the summer it becomes dry and desolate except where a few perennial springs develop little oases. The villages are small and far apart. Inland a few wadies supply water for irrigation, but as they run westward toward the Jordan they soon cut deep torrent beds through the rocks and thus become practically useless for purposes of agriculture.

Southern and Eastern Jaulan. The southern part of the Jaulan, from a point opposite the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, is a lofty plateau. Here the volcanic rock is more broken. In this rich, dark red soil much grain is raised, especially wheat and barley. Two important streams, the Wady Semakh and the Wady Fîk, here descend to the Sea of Galilee through long deep gorges. The southeastern Jaulan is pierced by two parallel streams, the Nahr er-Rukkad and the Nahr el-Allân, which run almost due south. In their upper courses they flow on the surface of the ground, but soon sink into deep gorges which lead to the Yarmuk. The Yarmuk itself is the most commanding river of all the east-Jordan land. Its tributaries water the fertile lands of the Hauran. Like all the great rivers east of the Jordan, it has cut a deep channel through the basaltic rocks. To-day the railroad from Damascus to Haifa twists along its tortuous course between walls of rock five hundred to one thousand feet in height. The climate in this deep gorge is that of the Jordan valley itself. Oleanders, palms, and figs grow here, overshadowed by the pines and oaks of the upland plateau. The variety of twisted and tilted limestone and volcanic rocks laid bare on its rugged sides makes it one of the wildest and most picturesque valleys in all Palestine.

Character of the Hauran. The most productive grain fields of the eastern Mediterranean are found in the Hauran or Hollow.^[(1)] With the exception of an occasional low hill, this region is as level as a floor. The soil is a rich volcanic loam, well watered and superlatively fruitful. Unlike the Jaulan, which was once largely wooded, it is treeless, except among the mountains to the east. It is also one of the few spots in Palestine practically free from stones. Here wheat and barley and the other grains of Palestine grow in rankest profusion. The landscape is comparatively monotonous except as an occasional wady furrows its way down toward the Yarmuk or some of its tributaries. Like many regions in Palestine it is dominated by the snowy heights of Hermon, which stand out in brilliant contrast to the monotony of the plain.

Borderland of the Hauran. To the north rises, thirty or forty feet above the plain, the great lava plain of El-Lejah. It is a solid, gently undulating mass of lava, containing an area of three hundred and fifty square miles. No rivers, and only occasional springs, are found throughout this barren waste, which is penetrated only by a few footpaths. It is the ancient Trachonitis, the refuge of outlaws and robbers to-day as in the past. To the east the plain of the Hauran rises to Jebel Hauran, also known as the Druse Mountains. Three of the peaks of these eastern sentinels are between four and six thousand feet high. On the south, the Hauran gradually merges into the yellow steppes of El-Hamâd and farther west into the limestone hills of Ez-Zumleh.

Gilead. South of the Yarmuk the black basalt of the Jaulan yields to the light limestone of the west-Jordan. The entire territory of Gilead more closely resembles the western hills of Palestine than does any other part of the east-Jordan region. On the broad rolling uplands of eastern Gilead there are large grain fields and the soil is cultivated at many other points. In the Roman period great cities, of which Gerasa^[(44)] was the chief, testified to the rich productivity of this region, but for the most part it is the paradise of the herdsmen and the shepherd. It is a land of deep valleys, rounded hills, and frequent springs. On the northwest many small streams cut their way to the Jordan valley. The roads run up and down steep inclines where the flocks and the herds cling to the sloping hillsides. Groves of noble oaks cover the hilltops and reveal the strength inherent in the soil.

The Jabbok and Jebel Osha. The dominant factor in southern Gilead is the River Jabbok.^[(45)] It rises among the hills not far from the Moabite border, only eighteen miles from the Jordan, and then flows northeast, past the old Ammonite capital. Thence it completes the half circle, cutting its way through the Gileadite hills to the Jordan. At some points its channel is between two and three thousand feet below the level of the plateau. It is a joyous river, rippling in flashes of sunlight over the rocks, through green glades and tangles of oleanders and rushes, a type of this happy, picturesque land of the shepherd. The centre of the half circle described by the Brook Jabbok is the Jebel Osha, the highest peak in Gilead. From its height of three thousand five hundred and ninety-five feet, practically all of Gilead is spread to the north and south and east like a great variegated carpet.

Southern Gilead. In southern Gilead the trees become fewer and fewer until south of Jebel Osha they almost disappear. In spring-time the fields are green with grass and grain, but in summer they become parched and brown. The wadies in the south, such as Wady Nimrin and Wady Heshbân, avail little for irrigation, since their channels are far beneath the level of the surrounding plateau. The region as a whole begins to take on something of the sombre color of the Dead Sea region which lies in the depths below.

Character of the Plateau of Moab. In its largest bounds Moab is a territory sixty miles long and thirty miles wide. From across the Dead Sea it looks like a high mountain range, but in reality it is simply a lofty upland plateau^[(46)] towering above the deep gorge of the Dead Sea. Throughout most of its extent it is between two thousand five hundred and three thousand three hundred feet above the ocean level, and therefore from three thousand eight hundred to four thousand six hundred feet above the blue waters of the Dead Sea. It is a gently rolling, treeless plain; its low hilltops are crowned with the ruins of ancient cities. Only a few bushes are to be found upon these bare moors. The prevailing rock is soft cretaceous limestone, which crops out at many points. The soil of the central zone, however, which runs from north to south, averaging about ten miles in width, is exceedingly fertile. Many grain fields are found throughout this territory; but like Gilead, Moab is pre-eminently the land of the herdsman and the shepherd. In the wadies which run down to the Dead Sea thousands of camels are bred, while on the hills above are seen at every point flocks of cattle, sheep, and goats.

Its Fertility and Water Supply. In the spring-time the upland fields are masses of green, which almost conceal the stones and outcrop of rock. The marvel is that any vegetation is found in a land thus bounded, on the west by the Sea of Death and on the east by the rocky desert. Most of the streams run through deep glens and no springs are found on the surface. The explanation of the marvel is found in the high elevation of the plateau and the great process of evaporation which is ever going on in the Dead Sea basin below. The west winds from the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea come laden with moisture, which they deposit in the winter and spring in drenching rains, and throughout the year in heavy dews at night.

Its Mountains. The mountains of Moab are little more than hills rising a few hundred feet above the rolling upland. The so-called mountains of the Abarim are simply the wild, rocky hills and promontories which rise rapidly from the Dead Sea.^[(47)] Seen from across the Dead Sea they have the appearance of mountains. They skirt the eastern side of the lower Jordan and Dead Sea, running eastward nine or ten miles to meet the fields of Moab on the heights. This region corresponds to the wilderness of Judea across the sea on the west. Mount Nebo, which now bears the name Neba, is a flat tongue of land two thousand six hundred and forty-three feet above the ocean level, running out two miles westward from the main plateau. It overlooks the northern end of the Dead Sea, which is nearly four thousand feet below. It commands a marvellous view up the Jordan valley, between the lofty heights of Gilead on the right and the hills of Samaria and Judah on the left. Farther inland and to the south is the loftier peak of Jebel Attarus. The chief mountain south of the Arnon is Jebel Shihan, which rises to the height of two thousand seven hundred and eighty feet above the ocean level.

Its Rivers. The most striking features in the landscape of Moab are the deep canyons which plough from east to west across the plateau. Those in the north run back only a few miles, leaving northeastern Moab a comparatively unbroken plateau, but in the south they cut deep furrows eastward even to the borders of the desert. The Wady Zerka Ma'in has worn a broad channel through the limestone, basaltic, and sandstone rocks of northwestern Moab, so that ten miles from the point where it flows into the Dead Sea it is fully two miles across. Along the bottom of this great chasm runs a limpid brook, winding through beautiful groves of oleanders and beside fertile patches of land, which are in marked contrast to the utterly barren and desolate cliffs above.

The Arnon. Farther south the Arnon, the chief river of Moab, rises on the border of the desert. Rapidly cutting its way down into the plateau, it receives its first important confluent from the south, and farther on the Wady Waleh from the north. At the point where the central highway through Moab from the north crosses the Arnon the canyon is three thousand feet deep and two miles from bank to bank. It is by far the most stupendous and picturesque chasm in all Palestine.^[(48)] The steep red cliffs, variegated and richly colored by white, gray, and yellow strata, extend in wavy billows east and west as far as the eyes can reach. The descent is almost sheer into the depths below, where the river, easily fordable at many points and with an actual channel only a few feet wide, rushes over the smooth rocks or winds leisurely through its fringe of oleanders and green bushes. Where the tributary wadies have cut down the soft limestone, nature's castles stand out, guarding the broad natural highway from the desert to the sea. The Arnon only in a lesser degree separated the land of Moab and destroyed its political unity, even as did the Jordan the land of Israel.

Southern Moab and Edom. Farther south the Wady el-Kerak, narrow and deep, runs past both sides of the natural citadel, whose name it bears,^[(49)] and finds its way to the Dead Sea back of the barren promontory of El-Lisan. Thus the three zones of Moab, the western promontories, the central fields, and the dry pasture lands on the east, are repeatedly intersected by the deep gorges that make it a land easy to approach from the desert and difficult to defend. Farther south the plateau of Moab merges into the wild, picturesque mountains of Mount Seir, the home of the Edomites. The valley becomes narrower and the mountains bolder, more jagged, and abrupt. The culmination of these natural wonders is the Wady Mûsa, which cuts a deep, narrow channel through the heart of the mountains.^[(50)] In the midst of this valley, surrounded by gorgeously colored sandstone cliffs, out of which have been carved homes, streets, tombs, theatres, temples,^[(51)] and well-preserved high places,^{[(52,] [53)]} stands that most astonishing and marvellous of all oriental cities—Petra.

Significance of the East-Jordan Land. Health, beauty, and fertility have ever been the three rich possessions of the east-Jordan land. It was effectually cut off, however, from contact with the teeming, highly civilized life of the Mediterranean seaboard by the deep chasm of the Jordan and Dead Sea valley and by the barren hills that flanked this great gorge on its southern end. It was a land that faced the desert and the east rather than the west. It was itself the loadstone that constantly attracted the wandering dwellers of the desert. The life and institutions of the desert have here prevailed through all the centuries. Here the wandering nomads first tasted and learned to appreciate the advantages of settled agricultural life and made the gradual and natural transition from the nomadic to the agricultural state. Here also the mighty energies of the powerful western nations were put forth in a mighty effort to conquer and to hold this land, for they realized that it was their natural eastern outpost against the desert. It was here, therefore, that the militant civilization and life of the East and West met, struggled, and mingled. Here the same conflicts and processes are going on to-day as in the past. This close contact with the desert has always been the strength, the significance, and the weakness of the east-Jordan land.

VIII

THE TWO CAPITALS: JERUSALEM AND SAMARIA

Importance of Jerusalem and Samaria. Two cities of ancient Palestine, Jerusalem and Samaria, towered above all others, both in size and in importance. Each was for a long period the capital of an important kingdom. Each represented a distinct type of civilization and religion. Their topography throws much light upon their development and history.

Site of Jerusalem. At first glance the site of Jerusalem seems one of the most unpromising places in all the land of Palestine for a great city. It lies on two or three low hills, projecting from the irregular plateau, which extends southward from the watershed of central Judah. It is overshadowed by higher hills near by and has no lofty, commanding acropolis. The Wilderness of Judea bounds it on the east and the hills and valleys about are rocky and comparatively barren. The reason why a city originally sprang up on this forbidding site was the presence of a spring, now known as the Virgin's Spring, on the side of the Kidron Valley^[(54)] to the southeast of the present Jerusalem. It is the one perennial spring in this region and fixes at once the site of the old pre-Israelite town. (Cf. map op. p. 203.)

The Kidron Valley. The Kidron is a characteristic Palestinian wady. It runs almost due north past the city and then gradually bends to the west. It is about two hundred yards in width and is flanked by hills, which rise four to six hundred feet on either side. During the winter and spring rains a brook rushes down this ravine, but in the summer it is waterless, although many olive trees find sufficient moisture in the bottom and on sides of the valley. At its southern end the Kidron is joined by the broad valley of Ben Hinnom,^[(55)] which runs due west nearly half a mile and then turns northward, thus, with the Kidron, enclosing on three sides a nearly regular rectangle half to three-quarters of a mile in width.

The Tyropœon Valley. The southern promontories or hills thus enclosed were in ancient times divided by a small shallow valley, the Tyropœon or Cheesemongers' Valley, which ran northward from the Valley of Hinnom, separating the rectangle into two unequal parts. The city has been so often besieged and razed to the ground that its original site has been largely obscured by the masses of débris scattered everywhere and especially in the Tyropœon Valley. At many points the native rock lies from forty to one hundred feet beneath the present level. East of the temple area a shaft was sunk one hundred and twenty feet before the virgin rock was reached. Hundreds of such shafts have been sent down at different points throughout the city so that the exact site of the ancient town is now well known. The Tyropœon Valley, which cuts through the heart of Jerusalem, is the key to the understanding of the ancient city. From the point where it joins the Kidron and Hinnom valleys in the south to its northern end, a little outside the present Damascus Gate, this valley is about sixteen hundred yards in length. The hills on either side originally rose to the height of between one hundred and one hundred and fifty feet above the bottom of the valley, which becomes broader and shallower toward the north. Opposite the present temple area a western branch extends about three hundred yards, nearly cutting off the southwestern hill from the northern plateau.

The Original City. The rounded ridge of rock between the Tyropœon and Kidron valleys was clearly the original site of Jerusalem. It is the so-called Ophel, on which the ancient Jebusite fortress was reared. The southern end rises rapidly from the valley below where the Tyropœon and Kidron join. Its northern continuation is the temple area. Excavations have shown that immediately north of the present temple area there was a rock cutting, from the Tyropœon Valley on the west to the Kidron Valley on the east, leaving a precipice of native rock twenty-five feet high as a barrier against attack from the north. At the southeastern corner of the temple area traces have also been found of the well-built wall which ran along the edge of the Kidron Valley, probably encircling the ancient Jebusite city. Thus it was surrounded on three sides with rapidly descending valleys from one to three hundred feet deep, while immediately below was the perennial spring, essential to the life of its early inhabitants. It is easy, therefore, to understand why the early Jebusites regarded their city as impregnable.

Its Extent. The hill Ophel contains an area of between sixteen and eighteen acres, which was amply sufficient for a crowded village of ancient times. This was also, without reasonable doubt, the site of David's city. As the Israelite city grew it probably extended almost to the level of the valley in the south, near the modern Pool of Siloam. At present the northern end of the hill Ophel is higher than the southern. It also broadens into the temple area, which is two thousand four hundred and forty feet above the sea-level. It is not improbable, however, that the site of the old Jebusite fortress was once higher than the temple rock to the north. If the fortress of Akra, which figures prominently in Maccabean history, was identical with the ancient citadel of Ophel, then, according to the testimony of Josephus (Jew. Wars, V, 4:1), Simon the Maccabean ruler cut down this southern eminence to make it lower than the adjoining temple area.

The Western Hill. It is not clear when the western hill was included within the bounds of Jerusalem; possibly in the days of Solomon; certainly some time before the Babylonian exile. On the south and west this hill descends rapidly to the Valley of Hinnom, on the east to the Tyropœon Valley; while on the north it is connected by a narrow neck of rock with the northern hill of Jerusalem. It is about seven hundred yards long from north to south and four hundred from east to west. It is highest on the west, where it is two thousand five hundred and twenty feet above the sea-level. It is therefore about eighty feet higher than the temple area to the east.

The Northern Extension of the City. As the city grew in later times, it extended naturally to the north and included the little hill or knob directly north of the so-called western hill, with which it was connected by a neck of rock. This northern hill was bounded on the west by a depression running from the Hinnom Valley and on the south and east by the upper Tyropœon. On the north it had no natural defence.^[(56)] Its highest point, about two thousand four hundred and ninety feet, was nearly on the same level as the temple area. The northern extension of the city also included another section of the ridge of rock which runs northward from the temple area, parallel to the Kidron Valley. A scarp twenty feet deep was cut across this ridge from east to west and to-day forms the northeastern limits of the city. In contrast to the ancient city, which extended far down into the valleys to the south, the modern city has climbed up the plateau toward the north.

Josephus's Description of Jerusalem. The late Jewish historian, Josephus, has given the most graphic description of the topography of Jerusalem. In the light of the preceding study of its site, his vivid picture becomes clearly intelligible. While he had in mind the city of his own day (the middle of the first Christian century) his words describe equally well the ancient town: "The city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on such parts as were not surrounded with impassable valleys; for in such places it had but one wall. The city was built upon two hills, which are opposite to one another, and have a valley to divide them asunder, at which valley the corresponding houses on both hills end. Of these hills, that which contains the upper city is much higher, and in length more direct. But the other hill, which was called the Acra, and sustains the lower city, is of the shape of a moon when it is horned; over against this there was a third hill, but naturally lower than the Acra, and parted formerly from the other by a broad valley. However, in those times, when the Asmoneans reigned, they filled up that valley with earth, and had a mind to join the city to the temple. They then took off part of the height of Acra and reduced it to a less elevation than it was before, that the temple might be superior to it. Now the Valley of the Cheesemongers, as it was called, which separated the hill of the upper city from that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam; for that is the name of a fountain which has sweet water in it, and this also in great plenty. But on the outside these hills are surrounded by deep valleys, and by reason of the precipices belonging to them, they are on both sides everywhere inaccessible."

The Geological Formation. The geological formation of the hills of Jerusalem also throws much light upon its history. The strata is inclined toward the southeast at an average angle of ten or twelve degrees. The surface rock is hard, silicious limestone with bands of flint. This crops out on the top of the temple mount, on the west side of the Kidron Valley, and in the quarries to the north of Jerusalem. Below is a bed of soft, white limestone, easy to cut and good for building, since it hardens with exposure. The presence of this underlying rock made possible the extensive system of cisterns and underground passages with which Jerusalem is honeycombed and which has played such a large part in the tragic history of the city. Beneath this layer is a hard, dolomitic limestone, white but streaked with pink. While the upper layers of rock are porous, this lower stratum holds the water, with the result that at the one point where it comes to the surface on the western side of the lower Kidron Valley there is a spring. The southern inclination of this hard rock also carries the drainage of the city to the south, to the point where the Kidron and Hinnom valleys meet.

The Water Supply. Jerusalem, like most of the cities of Judah, was inadequately supplied with springs. The Virgin's Spring, which is in all probability identical with the ancient spring of Gihon, is intermittent. Its waters issue from a natural siphon in the rock, flowing according to the local rainfall, sometimes for only an hour or more, and at others for several days. It is entered by steps which lead into a natural cave, half way down the side of the Kidron Valley. From this point, in early times, the waters were conducted through the ridge of rock on which the city rested by a rock-cut tunnel, which is one of the wonders of ancient engineering. Thence they were carried to a point at the southern end of the Tyropœon Valley, where was once the famous Pool of Siloam, which was probably inside the ancient city walls. Here was built in later times a great basin, fifty-two feet square, from which the inhabitants of the city drew their chief supply of water.^[(112)] Still another conduit carried the overflow from this pool to the so-called Job's Well, four hundred and fifty yards to the southeast, where the Kidron and the Hinnom valleys meet. West of the temple area there was apparently in ancient times a pool which received the waters from the upper basin of the Tyropœon, but there is no clear geological or historical evidence of a living spring in the northern or western part of the city. Aside from their one perennial spring and these pools the inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem were wholly dependent upon rock-cisterns for their water supply. Modern excavations have revealed the remains of the aqueducts, by which the plentiful waters of the so-called Pools of Solomon, southwest of Bethlehem, were later conducted through the valleys and along the hillsides to Jerusalem. The water was then distributed by means of high and low level aqueducts in different parts of the city, but especially in the temple area, for use in connection with the sacrificial ritual. From the same Pools of Solomon water is still brought by pipes to the southwestern side of the city.^[(57)]

Jerusalem's Military Strength. Jerusalem's strength consisted not in its elevation, but in the deep ravines which encircled it on the east, south, west, and in part on the north. The native rock lay only a few feet beneath the surface, and the soft limestone could be cut with comparative ease. A vertical cutting of twenty or twenty-five feet into the steep side of the hill gave a precipitous rampart of native rock, indestructible and difficult to scale. The weakness of Jerusalem was the lack of natural defences on the north.^[(56)] This natural defect was partially overcome by the deep cuttings in the natural rock, which at certain points left a sheer descent of twenty or twenty-five feet. These artificial defences were supplemented in the more level places by broad, strong walls that made Jerusalem, throughout most of its history, the strongest citadel in Palestine.

Strength of Its Position. The city shared with the rest of Judah the protection of natural barriers on every side. It could be approached on the east only over the rough headlands that arose above the Jordan and the Dead Sea. While it was on the great highway which led along the central plateau from northern Israel to Hebron and the South Country, large invading armies never advanced against Jerusalem by this difficult mountain road. On the west the valleys which led up from the coast plains converged at Jerusalem, making it comparatively easy for the Hebrews in command of these upland passages to descend rapidly upon their foes in the plain. These passes were also easily guarded from above against advancing armies. The comparative barrenness of the territory about Jerusalem was another important source of its strength, for the land furnished insufficient sustenance for a large besieging army. Thus Jerusalem, although close to the great currents of the world's civilization, stood apart and aloof, secure because of its poverty and comparative insignificance, secure behind its bold western headlands and its walls of gray limestone.^[(58)] It was the fitting capital of an austere race, who jealously and bravely guarded their freedom and their faith. Shut in among the limestone hills, it was typical of the land of Judah.

Samaria's Name. Samaria, situated in the midst of a broad, fertile plain, opening toward the sea and commanding far-reaching, glorious vistas, was equally representative of northern Israel. Both capitals were raised to the commanding position which they enjoyed, not as the result of chance, but through the deliberate choice of a strong and able sovereign. In I Kings 16:24 it is stated that Omri, the founder of the most powerful military dynasty of northern Israel, "bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill and named the city Samaria, after Shemer, the owner of the hill." Whatever be its historical derivation, the name Shomeron, or Samaria, is eminently appropriate, for it means watch-tower.

Its Situation. The hill lies on the eastern side of the Wady esh-Shair or Barley Vale, a wide and beautiful valley, which comes up from the Plain of Sharon. Opposite Samaria it broadens out and unites with several shallow valleys, which come down from the north and northeast. Along the Barley Vale runs the great highway which leads northwest from Shechem and central Israel to the Plain of Esdraelon and Phœnicia. Another highway runs directly north, past the Plain of Dothan to northern Israel and Damascus. Samaria lay near the border line between the powerful tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. It was, however, a little south and east of the centre of northern Israel. Its gates were wide open to the civilization and commerce which swept up and down the coast plains. From the city's heights there was a fine view of the Mediterranean, which represented that larger world into close touch with which Omri aimed to bring his people.

Its Military Strength. The city was built on an elongated, isolated hill,^[(59)] rising on the west between three and four hundred feet above the plain. The hill descends precipitously on three sides; on the east it is connected with the hills by a neck of land which lies about two hundred feet above the surrounding plain. As in the case of Jerusalem, these surrounding valleys were the source of its military strength. The hill is about three-fourths of a mile in length. On its top rises a large acropolis,^[(60)] nearly round and about a third of a mile in diameter. In the Roman period this acropolis was surrounded by a wide terrace, with a colonnade about one and one-half miles in circumference. On the top of this rounded hill there was ample space for a large and powerful city. Surrounded, like Jerusalem, by a strong wall, it was practically impregnable.

Its Beauty and Prosperity. The view from Samaria is one of the most picturesque and attractive in all Palestine. Isaiah well describes this city as "the splendid ornament which crowns the fertile valley." Green fields, olive and vine-clad hills delight the eye on every side. Between the hills may be seen glimpses of green, peaceful valleys. Plenty and prosperity are in evidence at every turn. Samaria itself lies one thousand four hundred and fifty-four feet above the sea-level and is surrounded by higher hills on nearly every side. Two miles to the north is a hill between nine hundred and a thousand feet higher than that of Samaria, while to the southeast other hills lead up to the rocky heights of Mount Ebal, over three thousand feet above the sea-level. Thus Samaria was a symbol of the beauty, the prosperity, the openness to foreign influence, the inherent strength and the fatal weakness of northern, as contrasted with southern Israel.

THE MAIN HIGHWAYS OF THE ANCIENT SEMITIC WORLD
L.L. Poates Engr'g Co., N.Y.

IX

THE GREAT HIGHWAYS OF THE BIBLICAL WORLD

Importance of the Highways. Upon the direction and character of the highways depend to a great extent the growth and history of early civilization. By the great roads which entered Palestine the Hebrews came as immigrants. Along the same roads those later waves of both hostile and peaceful invasion swept in upon them that largely shaped their history. These highways were to them the open doors to the life and civilization of the outside world. Over these same roads the Hebrews later fled as fugitives or were dragged as captives. Along these channels of communication and commerce the missionaries and apostles at a still later day went forth to their peaceful conquest of the Roman empire. Thus, next to the land itself, the highways of the ancient world have exerted the most powerful influence upon biblical history, literature, and religion.

Lack of the Road-building Instincts among the Semites. The Semitic races, as a rule, were not road-builders. Their earlier nomadic experiences had accustomed them to long and arduous marches over rough, rocky roads. The ox, the camel, the horse, and the donkey furnished the common means of transportation. Most of the people went from place to place on foot, and in Palestine the distances were so short that this mode of travel was easy and practical. To-day in well-travelled roads large boulders lie in the middle of the way, worn smooth by the hoofs of pack-animals and by the feet of countless passersby, who through the centuries have stumbled over them rather than put forth the effort of a few moments in removing them. The Aryans were the first to develop good roads in southwestern Asia. The royal Persian post-roads, that connected remote parts of the vast empire, introduced a new era in road-building. The greatest road-builders of antiquity were the Romans; but most of the superb highways, which to-day arouse the wonder and admiration of the traveller, were constructed by them in the second and third Christian centuries, later, therefore, than the biblical period.

Evidence that Modern Roads Follow the Old Ways. There is strong evidence that the later roads usually followed the ancient paths. Both were connecting links between the same important centres. Both necessarily crossed the same fords and the same mountain passes. The later roads were held within the same limits by natural barriers and by that tendency to follow established traditions which has ever characterized the East. In riding over the roads of Palestine to-day the traveller is constantly reminded that he is following in the footsteps of the early inhabitants of the land. Often the path, instead of following the most direct course, climbs over a pass or steep hill, past a rocky ruin once a famous city, but now a mere chaos of scattered rocks. The road still follows this awkward détour simply because a thousand years ago it led to a populous town. Where the roads have changed their course it has been because the centre of population or of political ascendancy has changed, or else because the Romans, disregarding old traditions or physical obstacles, flung their mighty highways over the mountains and across the deep valleys.

Ordinary Palestinian Roads. The common Hebrew word for road is derekh, which means literally a trodden path, made by the feet of men and animals. It well describes a majority of the roads of Palestine to-day. It suggests to the experienced Palestinian traveller in most cases a narrow path, so thickly strewn with rocks that it is to him a never-ceasing wonder that his horse or mule is able, without mishap, hour after hour to pick its way over these rough piles of stone. Sometimes the path runs over a steep mountain hillside, where the animal is obliged to lift itself and rider by sheer strength up rocky steps a foot and a half to two feet in height or to hold itself with marvellous skill on the sloping side of a slippery rock. Often the horse flounders blindly among scattered boulders while it braces itself against the rush of a mountain stream. At times the traveller must balance himself on his horse as it struggles and often swims through fords whose waters reach almost to the top of its back.

Evidence that the Hebrews Built Roads. There are indications, however, that road construction was not entirely unknown to the ancient Hebrews. M[)e]sill[=a]h, another common Hebrew term for road, means literally that which is heaped up, that is, a raised way. The common translation, highway, is exact. In Judges 20:31, 32 there are references to highways which ran to Bethel and to Gibeah. In I Samuel 6:12 is an incidental reference to the road which ran from the Philistine city of Ekron up through the Valley of Sorek toward Jerusalem. Along this road the ark was sent, drawn on a cart by two cows. The ancient narrative alludes, however, to the roughness of the road. From I Kings 12:18 it is clear that in the days of the united kingdom a highway for chariots ran from Shechem to Jerusalem. The allusions in II Kings 7 also indicate that in the later days of the northern kingdom there was a road from Damascus to Samaria, over which the chariots of the Arameans passed. As early as the reign of David royal chariots became common in Israel (e. g., I Kings 1:5). This fact does not prove the existence of great highways like those built by the Romans, for the ancient charioteers were able to drive over roads which would seem to a westerner utterly impassable; but it does imply the rude beginnings of road construction, probably under royal supervision. Apparently the Israelites inherited from the more highly civilized Canaanites a few well-worn highways and a certain knowledge of the art of road-making.

The Four Roads from Egypt. Four great roads led eastward from the land of Egypt. The northernmost, which was called "the way of the land of the Philistines" (Ex. 13:17), issued from the northern end of the Nile delta and passed north of the marshy Lake Menzaleh. Thence it ran along within a few miles of the coast of the Mediterranean, through Raphia to Gaza. There it met the great coast road to the north and the local roads running through the heart of Palestine. The second road was called "the way to Shur" (Gen. 16:17, I Sam. 15:7). It seems to have first passed through the present Wady Tumilat, thence turning northward to the southern end of Lake Menzaleh, to have run past the Egyptian fortress of Taru, now Tell Abu Sefeh. Taru may be identical with the word Shur, which appears in the Hebrew name of this highway.

From this point the road struck almost directly across the undulating desert to Beersheba and thence along the Wady es-Seba and the Wady el-Kulil to Hebron. The third highway led from the eastern end of the Wady Tumilat almost due east until it crossed the Brook of Egypt. Then one branch turned northeast past the ancient Rehoboth, to join the second road at Beersheba. The other branch went on eastward across the Arabah to Petra and thence across the Arabian Desert to Babylonia. The fourth road from Egypt also started from the Wady Tumilat, thence past the Bitter Lakes directly across the northern end of the Sinaitic peninsula to the ancient Elath, at the end of the northeastern arm of the Red Sea.

Trails into Palestine from the South. Five roads led up into Palestine from the south. One, "the way of the Red Sea" (Yam Suph, Nu. 14:25, 21:4, Dt. 1:40), starting from Elath, ran northwest, until at Aboda it joined the third highway from Egypt, which ran northeast to Beersheba and Hebron. A second more arduous and less used trail ran directly north from Elath through the Arabah to the southwestern end of the Dead Sea. Thence the traveller might proceed to Jerusalem by a western détour through El-Fôkâ and Hebron, or else keep along the shore of the Dead Sea and then turn inland at Engedi. A third trail led from Elath along the desert to the old Edomite and later Nabatean capital of Petra. With camels and a sufficient supply of water it was possible thence to cross the Arabah and the heart of the South Country in a northwesterly direction to Beersheba.

Highway Through Moab. The fourth road ran directly north from Petra across deep gorges and over rocky roads through Shôbek, et-Tufileh, Kerak and northward, following a straight course about eighteen miles to the east of the Dead Sea. This was the main highway through the heart of Moab. Farther north it ran past the famous Moabite towns of Dibon and Medeba. At Heshban, opposite the northern end of the Dead Sea, a branch turned westward to the lower ford of the Jordan, while the main road ran north along the eastern side of the Jordan until it joined the Damascus road south of the Sea of Galilee. At Heshban another important branch turned to the northeast and, passing through Rabbath-Ammon, joined the desert road to Damascus. In later times the Romans, to protect their east-Jordan border cities, built a magnificent road from Rabbath-Ammon to Petra, following the ancient highway through the heart of Moab. Mile-stones, great rock-cuttings, ruins of stone bridges, and miles of stone pavement still remain to bear testimony to Rome's strength in the distant provinces even during the period of the empire's decline.

The Great Desert Highway. The chief highway from the south to the north was the present pilgrim road from Damascus to Mecca, along which now runs the modern Turkish railway. This road was the main connecting link between Arabia and the lands of the eastern Mediterranean. Making a wide détour westward to touch the port of Elath, it then turned to the northeast of Petra and ran along the desert highland between thirty and forty miles to the east of the Jordan and Dead Sea valley. It crossed the dry, open desert, strewn at many points with débris of black basaltic rocks. Like most desert roads it sprawled out over the hot plains, unconfined by fields or mountain passes. The stations were simply stopping-places for travellers and traders, for it everywhere avoided the cultivated land, except where its western branch passed through the heart of the Hauran on its way to Damascus. Here it ran close to the important cities of Edrei, the famous fortress on the upper Yarmuk, and Ashteroth-Karnaim. A little northeast of Rabbath-Ammon one branch, deflected to the northeast, and passing through the desert town of Bozrah, and thence skirting the eastern side of the lava tract of El-Lejah, reached Damascus. From Edrei and Bozrah a caravan route ran southeast to the ancient Duma, the present Dumat el-Jandal, and on to the oasis of Tema.

Character of the Southern Approaches to Palestine. It is significant that the chief entrances to the west-Jordan land from the south are not through the South Country but by the way of Moab. The roads which lead directly into Judah are deflected by the grim, barren ranges of the South Country either to Beersheba on the southwest or to the Arabah on the southeast. The roads themselves lie through a rough, wild, dry, Bedouin-invested country, over which it is impossible for large tribes or armies to advance. Of the two east-Jordan highways, that through the heart of Moab passes over steep mountains and down into deep wadies, and in ancient times led through a thickly populated and well-guarded region. The great and easy highway is along the borders of the desert, and it was probably by this way that most of the invaders from the south found their way to the west-Jordan land.

The Coast Road. In western Palestine four main highways, connected by cross-roads, led from the south to northern Syria and eastward to Assyria and Babylonia. The first was the direct coast road which connected Egypt with Phœnicia and Asia Minor. Throughout its course it kept close to the sea. Only in Philistia was it driven inland by the drifting sands. Along an artificially constructed causeway it rounded the end of Mount Carmel and proceeded northward along the Plain of Acre over the difficult cliffs of the Ladder of Tyre to the plains of Phœnicia. Thence it ran along the open way past Beirut, until it reached the difficult pass of the Dog River. There the bas-reliefs and inscriptions on the rocks indicate not only that from the days of Ramses II the great conquerors of antiquity had passed along this highway of the nations, but also that many of them shared in the task of cutting the road across these difficult cliffs.

The "Way of the Sea." The second great northern highway, the famous Via Maris of the Romans, branching from the coast road either at Ashdod or Joppa, ran on the eastern side of the Plain of Sharon, close to the foothills of Samaria. Near where it was joined by the important road which came down through the Barley Vale from Shechem and Samaria, this great highway divided into three branches. One ran to the north along the eastern and northern side of Mount Carmel and joined the coast road. Another, apparently the main branch, turned to the northeast, passed through the Wady Arah, and emerged upon the Plain of Esdraelon beside the famous old fortress of Megiddo. From here it ran directly across the plain, past Mount Tabor through Lubieh and down the steep decline from the plateau to the northwestern end of the Sea of Galilee. Owing to the soft, loamy character of the Plain of Esdraelon, this was often impassable in the winter and spring. Caravans and armies would then take the third branch from the Plain of Sharon, which at first ran almost due east over the Plain of Dothan and past the old Canaanite city of Ibleam. Thence it crossed the Plain of Esdraelon at Jezreel and joined the direct road that ran past Mount Tabor to the Sea of Galilee. From the northwestern end of the Sea of Galilee this much traveled Way of the Sea ascended the heights to the north and crossed the Jordan a little below Lake Huleh at the ford now spanned by the old stone bridge known as the "Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob." From the Jordan the road followed an almost straight line northwest, past El-Kuneitra in eastern Jaulan, across the desert to Damascus.

Its Commercial and Strategic Importance. From the point where it crossed the Jordan a branch of this main highway went westward through the valley between upper and lower Galilee, to ancient Accho, the chief seaport of Damascus. Thus across Galilee, with its open roads, poured the commerce of Damascus and the desert world of which it was the outlet. From Damascus to Egypt this second great highway of Syria ran almost entirely over broad deserts or open plains. It was the main road through the heart of northern Israel, along which passed not only the merchants, but also the conquering armies of Babylonia and Assyria.

The Central Road and Its Cross-Roads in the South. The third great northern highway was connected with Egypt and the south by the way of Beersheba. It followed close to the watershed of central Judah, along the line of the present carriage-road from Hebron to Jerusalem. It ran past Bethzur and Beth-zecharias, famous in Maccabean warfare. From Bethzur an important highway deflected to the northwest, following the Wady es-Sur and the eastern side of the Shephelah, or Lowlands, as far as the Valley of Ajalon on the borders of the Philistine Plain. From Jerusalem several roads ran through the valleys to the west and northwest, connecting with the highways on the Plain of Sharon. Of these the chief went northwest past Gibeon, down the deep descent of the upper and lower Beth-horons to Joppa. Another ran still farther to the northwest to Gophna, to join the second great highway at Antipatris.

In the North. The main highway continued directly north from Jerusalem to Shechem. Then turning a little to the northwest it passed through the city of Samaria over the open plains to Ibleam, where it joined the eastern branch of the famous Way of the Sea, which led past the northwestern end of the Sea of Galilee to Damascus. Opposite Mount Gerizim a branch of the central road turned northeast and ran through Thebez, Bethshean, and the western side of the Sea of Galilee. An extension of the central highway ran north over central Galilee through the valley of Merj Ayun to the great valley between the Lebanons and Anti-Lebanons. Thence this central highway continued through Riblah and Hamath, crossing the upper Euphrates at Carchemish. Turning eastward at this point it ran through northern Mesopotamia past Harran and across the level plains between the Tigris and the Euphrates to Nineveh and Babylon. It was along this broad highway that the Assyrian and Babylonian conquerors repeatedly advanced against Palestine and later carried away Hebrew captives from both northern and southern Israel.

The Road Along the Jordan. The fourth main highway to the north, starting from Jerusalem, passed northeast through the barren, picturesque wilderness of Judea to Jericho. Thence it followed the western side of the Jordan Valley and the Sea of Galilee to Khan Minyeh, where it joined the other great roads which led to northern Syria and Damascus. From this fourth highway many cross-roads led eastward and westward. From Jericho a western road ran up the Wady Suweinit to Michmash and thence across southwestern Samaria. Farther north, three others led up from the Plain of the Jordan to Shechem and thence by the Barley Vale to the Plain of Sharon. At Bethshean the road to the north was crossed by another highway, which ran from Gilead westward across the Plain of Jezreel. Thence a highway crossed the northwestern side of the Plain of Esdraelon, reaching the great coast road at Haifa and Accho. Also from the southwestern end of the Sea of Galilee another important road ran northwest past the Plain of Asochis to Accho. From the upper Jordan valley a highway led northeast past ancient Dan and Banias along the eastern spurs of Mount Hermon to Damascus.

Roads Eastward from Damascus. From Damascus a great caravan route struck off due east across the northern end of the Arabian Desert, reaching the Euphrates in the vicinity of Sippar. Thence it turned southward to Babylon and the cities of lower Babylonia. Another route, popular in later times and probably also in use during the Assyrio-Babylonian period, made a larger circle to the north, touching at Palmyra and other desert stations. Palestine, and especially the central plain of Esdraelon, was therefore the focus of the great highways which connected all points in the ancient world.

The Highway from Antioch to Ephesus. The main highway which skirted the coast of the eastern Mediterranean crossed the Amanus Mountains through the Syrian Gates a little north of Antioch. At this point one branch ran northward to connect with the great trade routes which came from Babylonia and the East. The main road to the west, however, after touching at Alexandria (the present Alexandretta) rounded the eastern end of the Mediterranean, where it was joined by one of the great trade routes which came from the Euphrates Valley. After passing through Tarsus, it abruptly turned almost due north, crossing the Taurus Mountains by the Cilician Pass, and then with much twisting and winding went westward, following in general the dividing line between the central plateau of Asia Minor and the rugged southern mountains. At Kybistra it forked, the northern branch crossing the plateau directly to Laodicea. The southern and more commonly used branch made a long détour through the important cities of Derbe and Iconium. At Julia to the northwest the great western highway again parted. One main branch ran in a southwesterly direction through Apameia, Colossæ, and thence by the broad and fertile valley of the River Mæander to Ephesus, the commercial and later the political capital of Asia Minor. Another straighter but less used highway followed the valley of the Cayster to Ephesus.

THE MAIN HIGHWAYS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE SCENE OF PAUL'S WORK
L.L. Poates Engr'g Co., N.Y.

The Road from Asia Minor to Rome. The other great branch of the main highway from Julia westward was the old overland route to Rome. It ran first due east. Two important branches came down from Dorylaion in the north, connecting it with Nicæa and Constantinople. The old overland route continued eastward through Philadelphia and Sardis. From Sardis a branch ran straight to Smyrna, the commercial rival of Ephesus. The main road, however, turned to the northwest from Sardis, passing through Thyatira, Pergamus, the earlier capital of Asia Minor, to Troas, from whence the traveller could take ship directly to Neopolis and Philippi. A highway, however, passed northward across the Hellespont and thence through southern Thrace to Philippi. From this point the great Via Egnatia led due west through Thessalonica and Pella to Aulonia and Dyrrachium. From these Adriatic ports a short sea voyage brought the traveller to Brundisium, whence a well-worn highway led directly across southern Italy to Rome. This long and arduous road through southern Europe and central Asia Minor was the main thoroughfare for travel, trade, and official communication between Rome and her eastern provinces.

From Ephesus to Rome. Travellers who preferred a shorter land and a longer water journey took ship from Ephesus to Corinth. Thence they were transferred across the isthmus to a ship which skirted the shores of Epirus and landed them at Brundisium. If they preferred a still longer water journey, they could take ship at Ephesus around the southern end of Greece, either to Brundisium or else through the straits of Messina; thence to Puteoli, or to Ostia, the port of Rome itself.

From Syria to Rome by Sea. Travellers or merchants making the journey from Palestine wholly by water had before them the choice of two ways. The most common course was to take ship at some one of the ports of Syria: Cæsarea, Accho, Tyre, or Sidon. Thence they skirted the shores of Syria and Asia Minor to Rhodes, seeking a harbor each night or whenever the weather was unfavorable. From Rhodes the ordinary course was to the eastern end of Crete and thence along its southern shores, where favorable harbors could be found. From the western end of Crete the ancient mariners skirted the southern shores of Greece, and then, with the aid of the northern winds, which came down through the Adriatic, made their way to the eastern shores of Sicily and thence through the straits of Messina. From here they sailed to Puteoli or else to the mouth of the Tiber.