The whole genuine and complete works of Flavius Josephus ... Translated from the original in the Greek language. And diligently revised and compared with the writings of contemporary authors, of different nations, on the subject. All tending to prove the authenticity of the work. ; To which is added various useful indexes ... ; Also a continuation of the history of the Jews, from Josephus down to the present time ... By George Henry Maynard, LL.D. ; Illustrated with marginal references and notes, historical, biographical, classical, critical, geographical, and explanatory. By the Rev. Edward Kimpton, author the the Compleat universal history of the Holy Bible. ; Embellished with upwards of sixty beautiful engravings, taken from original drawings of the Messrs, Metz, Stothard, and Corbould, members of the Royal Academy, and engraved by American artists.

A GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE INDEX OF THE PRINCIPAL PLACES MENTIONED IN THE WORKS OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS.

• * 1.1ABARIM, mentioned in Numbers xxvii.12. was a long ridge of mountains, that reached from the tribe of Reuben into the land of Moab, on each side of the river Arnon, of which the mounts Pisgah, P••or, and Nebo (where Moses died) were a part.
• * 1.2ACRA, a large fortress, built by Antiochus, du|ring the time of his persecution of the Jews, (related in the Maccabees,) out of the ruins he made of Je|rusalem on an eminence of the city of David. The word Acra properly signifies an eminence, or for|tress, built on some raised ground, which has the command of the country round about, and as this of Acra stood higher than that of Simon, it gave the garrison the advantage of annoying all that passed to and from the temple. After sustaining several fortunes and revolutions, it was demolished by the victorious Simon.
• * 1.3ADASA, mentioned in the Maccabees, as the place where Judas Maccabeus pitched his camp, is said, by Jerome, to have been seated in the tribe of Ephraim.
• * 1.4ADIBENA, a province of ancient Assyria. The whole country has been sometimes called by the name of this part of it.
• * 1.5ADIDA, the name of the fort recorded in the Mac|cabees, to be set up, or built, by Simon, in the re|gion of Sephalia, westward of Elutherpolis, in Judaea.
• * 1.6ALEXANDRIA, the greatest city in Egypt, was built by Alexander the Great, on the coast of the Egyptian Sea, and in that part of Africa that is near the mouth of the Nile, where it forms a noble spa|cious haven, in form of a crescent. This city, as founded by Alexander, bears his name, and contains his tomb. On his building it, he brought great numbers of Jews thither to plant it; and Ptolemy So••er, after his death, having fixed the seat of his government there, was so desirous of augmenting and adorning it, that, in order to render it the me|tropolis of Egypt, he brought thither many of that nation for that purpose, where, having granted them free exercise of their religion, and all the same privi|leges with the Macedonians and other Greeks, they soon became a great part of the inhabitants of that city. We are told that Alexandria was almost en|tirely ruined by the Romans, after they had become masters of it: but the emperor Adrian not only re|paired both the public and private buildings, and restored to the inhabitants their former privileges, but heaped new favours upon them. In the palace, which took up one third of the city, one quarter was consecrated to the muses and sciences, and thence called the Museum. There were lodged and entertained, at the public expense, men of learning, divided into societies, or colleges, according to the different sciences which they professed. They were all under one head, named by the emperor, and ho|noured with the title of Pontiff. Among the many eminent persons whom their noble seminary pro|duced, we may reckon Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, and Athanasius. It was adorned with such numbers of choice books, as to form the finest li|brary in the world, which underwent many ravages and accidents, and was frequently repaired and stored with the same number of books, till at length it was burnt by the barbarous Saracens, in making themselves masters of Alexandria. We have not space to enumerate the public edifices and orna|ments of antiquity. This city, by the Romans, was named Pharos Sebeste, Augusta, Julia, Claudia, Domitia, as well as Alexandria; by the natives, Rocotis: but the Turks now call it Scanderia, or Scanderic; for they abbreviate the name of Alex|ander into that of Schander, and thus they give the name Scanderoon to Alexandretta. Its haven, tho' not very safe, is yet much frequented. But, how|ever magnificent, opulent, &c. this city formerly was, it is now reduced, for the most part, to such heaps of ruins, (in some places even higher than the houses that are left in it,) and such desolation reigns through every quarter, that one cannot see a single street entire. Alexandria hath two parts, the old

• and the new: into the first none but Turkish vessels are admitted; the latter receives vessels from Eu|rope. It is, with the rest of Egypt, subject to the Grand Seignior, who seems, however, to have a li|mited authority, being often obliged to submit the administration of government to the humours of the petty princes of Egypt.
• * 1.7ALEXANDRION, a fortress of Judaea, built by Alexander Jannaeus, from whom it had its name. It was situated on an high mountain, at the entrance into Judaea, near the town of Corea, which was the first place in Judaea on the Samaritan side, and upon the road to Jericho, on the frontiers of Judah and Benjamin. Alexandrion was afterwards the bury|ing place of the Jewish kings; so that, though it was demolished by the Romans, it was rebuilt by Herod.
• * 1.8AMATHA, a city on the Jordan, built, probably, by Herod, for the benefit of the hot waters for which it was famed.
• * 1.9ANTIOCH was built by Seleucus, and soon after became, and for ages continued to be, the metropo|lis of the east; for not only the Syrian kings, but af|terwards the Roman emperors, chose it for the usual place of their residence. It stood on the Orontes, (now called the Ha••••) the place where that river empties itself into the Mediterranean, being equally distant from Constantinople and Alexandria, in Egypt. Seleucus called it from his father's name, which was Antiochus. This metropolis of Syria was afterwards known by the name of Tetrapolis, (i. e. fourfold city,) being divided, as it were, into four cities, each of them having its proper wall, be|sides the common one which enclosed them all. The place where it stood was very subject to earth|quakes, by which it greatly suffered, and was often in danger of being overwhelmed. However, it con|tinued 600 years, till it was taken and utterly de|stroyed by Bibaris, sultan of Egypt. It is now (in comparison) a small and contemptible village, known by the name of Anthakia, and remarkable for nothing but its ruins. There is one thing well worth notice with relation to the walls of this city, that within the thickness of it, at a certain place, there is a space left open, and with a gradual and imperceptible ascent, by which loaded carts or waggons may be drawn from the bottom of the wall quite up to the castle. They were flanked with 400 square towers, strongly built, of which there is still a good number left, every one having a cistern in the middle of it, quite entire to this day. It is also famous for giving the name of Christians to the disciples of Our Blessed Saviour; for being the birth-place of St. Luke, the Evangelist; and of Theophilus, hence surnamed Antiochenus; and for its celebrated bishop, St. Ignatius the Martyr.
• * 1.10ANTIPATRIS, a city built, or rather built or repaired, by Herod, and so named in honour of his father Antipater, having been formerly called Cap|harsalama. It does not stand very far from Jeru|salem, in the road to Caesarea.
• * 1.11ANTONIA. After Simon had destroyed Mount Acra, before described, he built fortifications round the mountain on which the temple stoop, for the bet|ter securing and fortifying it against all future in|sults from the heathens, within which he built an house, and dwelt there all his life-time. This house seems to be the same which Hyrcanus afterwards built into the castle Baris, where he, and all his successors of the Asmonean family, dwelt, and kept their court; and here laid up the pontitical stole, or sacred robes of the high-priest, &c. &c. which continued to be done till the time of Herod, who, on his being made king of Judaea, having observed the convenience of the place, rebuilt and made it a very strong fortress. Instead of Baris, the name it formerly bore, he called it Antonia; thereby complimenting Marcus Antonius, the triumvir, who then governed the eastern provinces of the Roman empire. The form of the building was that of a quadrangle, all built on every side, wherein were rooms for all the uses of a palace; and in the middle was a large area for the soldiers to be in; and round it was a stately piazza, or cloister. There was a turret near the middle of the north side of the great square of the temple built remarkably high, that from thence might be seen all that was done in the courts within; so that if a tumult should arise in any part of the temple, it might be observed, and soldiers sent down to quell it. When Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Romans, they continued keeping a strong gar|rison in it; and by reason of its immediate influence on the temple, the captain of the garrison is, in scripture, called the Captain of the Temple. This fortress was at last mastered and taken by the Ro|mans, and destroyed in the deflagration and total destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and his forces.
• ARABIA,* 1.12 if we include all those countries which go under that general name, is of very great ex|tent, and has been, from early times, divided into three parts, viz. Arabia Felix, or happy, to the south; so stiled from its rich produce, and famous for the queen of Sheba, who came to hear the wis|dom of Solomon, or whose kingdom was situated in this fertile country. Arabia Petrea, or rocky; so called not from its capital Petra, as built on a rock, but from the rockiness of the whole division, being full of mountains, among which is Mount Sinai, or Horeb, so famous in sacred scripture. As Arabia Petrea lies to the north of Arabia Felix, so still more north, or rather north-east, lies the third division, called, from its natural barrenness, Arabia Deserta. Various are the opinions of the learned concerning the origin and name of this country, and it would rather tend to perplex than entertain to specify them. As to the climate, part of Arabia is under the hottest, viz. the torrid zone. The air on the north part is extremely hot during the six sum|mer months, the heavens being seldom or ever over-cast with clouds. But on the south side it is much more temperate, being qualified with refresh|ing dews, which fall almost every night in great abundance. The distinct names of the three Ara|bias sufficiently declare the nature of their soil; the northern being extremely barren, and encum|bered with huge formidable rocks; the other over|spread with vast mountains of sand. But the south|ern, deservedly stiled the happy, is blessed with an excellent soil, and extraordinary fertile in many places. It abounds with the rarest and most va|luable commodities; as also with camels, animals of singular use for carriage, that seem formed by nature for this dry and sultry soil, which sometimes affords no water for many days travel. The coun|try is infested with what are called freebooters, a strange species of mortals, scarcely deserving the title of human. They are all of a swarthy com|plexion, of mean stature, raw-boned, and very swift. Their voices are effeminate as well as their temper. They have no settled habitation, except those that live on the sea-coast, where their cities and towns are more regularly built and inhabited, as well all more given to traffic. Those of the inland coun|try roam from place to place, sleep under tents, which they pitch at night, where their conveniency or fancy leads them. As we have hitherto shewn the worst side of their character, we now ought, in jus|tice, to shew the best; for there are, on the other hand, many of them, especially such as live in towns, that apply themselves to trade and commerce, to arts and sciences, in which they generally excell. This is particularly true with regard to the ancient Arabians, whose extraordinary performances, in physic, astronomy, and mathematics, shew them to have been men of great genius and application. They are, to this day, allowed to be very ingenious, witty, and generous, great admirers of poetry and rhetoric. The language of the three Arabias is Arabesk, or corrupt Arabic, which is not only used here, but spoken with some variations of dialect, over great part of the eastern countries. The true and ancient Arabic is a kind of dialect from the Hebrew, and esteemed, by the learned, very neces|sary for understanding the Old Testament. Chris|tianity was first preached here by St Paul, and some of his eminent disciples; so that it had received the

• light of the gospel from the earliest time. But in many parts it was much clouded, long before the grand impostor Mahomet, their countryman, ap|peared, and, upon their being subdued by the Turks, they all embraced his religion, as best suited their depraved inclinations.
• * 1.13ARAM. The name Aram is constantly in Scrip|ture the name of Syria, and the Syrians are called Arameans in divers places thereof. Several authors agree that the people now called Syrians were an|ciently called Aramenians and Arameans. Agreea|bly hereto, the adjoining countries into which the posterity of Aram might spread took his name, with some other additional ones joined to it.
• * 1.14ARBELA, so famed in history for the battle fought near Guagamela, in its neighbourhood, which last, being but an inconsiderable village, the city Arbela was chosen by historians to give name to that cele|brated fight between Darius and Alexander, which proved the decisive stroke for the Persian empire. Arbela is by some placed in Persia, but with more truth in Assyria Propria, or Adiabena. Its plain is described as being 15 leagues in extent, watered with several rivulets, and producing great variety of fine fruit-trees; and the eminences where the ancient castles stood are covered with stately oaks.
• ...

  * 1.15ARMENIA. Authors differ concerning the orign whence this track derived its name. It was ancient|ly divided into the Greater and Lesser, or Armenia Major and Minor. The former was one of the greatest provinces of Asia Minor. The soil of this country is very mountainous, yet the hills are here and there interspersed with fruitful and most beau|tiful dales and vallies. All sorts of grain are very indifferent; and if they had not the conveniency of watering their lands, they would be almost barren. What the country produces is almost entirely ow|ing to painful labour, being either watered actually by hand, or by dug trenches, &c. for the fecunda|tion of the fields. The cold is so intense here, that all manner of fruits are more backward than in most of the northern countries. The hills are co|vered with snow the whole year round, and it some|times falls even in the month of June. The earth of this country produces an excellent medicine, viz. that which, from the name of this territory, receives its own surname Bole Armenic, which was anciently, as well as at present, found in Armenia, and was by Galen first introduced into medicine, and used with success in the time of a terrible plague at Rome. We have no system of the laws of the Armenians, and scarcely withal to form any particular idea of them. As to their religion, we are not so much at a loss, for a writer of credit assures us, they worship the same deities with the Medes and Persians, which will be specified hereafter. We have little or no au|thority for their learning and arts. Their language was much the same with that of the Syrians, at least they used the Syriac characters. The modern Ar|menians use two languages, the learned and the vulgar, the former (as they say) having no affinity with any other oriental language. Though the mo|dern Armenians are now perhaps the greatest traders on the earth, yet we find no mention of any com|merce carried on by them in ancient times. Shah Abbas, king of Persia, is said to have been the first who, considering the oeconomy and indefati|gable industry of this people, put them upon trade, and settled a colony of them at Julfa, the famous suburb of Ispahan. This place contains at present above 30,000 inhabitants, all Armenians and mer|chants. In the reign of Justinian II. the Saracens subdued Armenia, and held it till the irruption of the Turks, who possessed themselves of this coun|try, and called it Turcomania; but the eastern part of it is subject to the Persians at this day. Nor was the extirpation of the royal race of Armenia abso|lutely effected, for we find it had kings again of its own even after such conquests by Sacracens, Turks, Tartars, &c. And in our own chronicles we find mention of Leo, king of Armenia, who, in the reign of Richard II. came into England to sue for and a|gainst the Turks, who had driven him from his kingdom.

  Armenia Minor may be described as in most in|stances similar to Armenia Major, so that it may suffice to observe, that, after a variety of revolutions through a succession of aeras, it was, by Vespasian, made a province of the Roman empire, and so con|tinued till the division of the same, when it became subject to the emperors of the east; and, on the de|cline of their power, it was first subdued by the Per|sians, and afterwards by the Turks, who gave it the name of Ganech, and have held it ever since.

• ARNON.* 1.16 The brook or torrent of Arnon ran along between the countries of the Ammonites and Moabites, and discharged itself into the Black Sea. The river Arnon is supposed to have been the first northern boundary of the Israelites on the other side of Jordan.
• ASCALON, in Palestine,* 1.17 (or the country of the Phi|listines) is a great and noble sea-port to the north|ward of Gaza, and known to us still by the same name it bears in Scripture, and in the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans, by whom it was held in great veneration. This city, as well as Gaza, is reckoned into the lot or tribe of Judah, and was taken by them, but not held. Its situation cannot be disputed, since it may be said to stand at this day, and has been often visited. Ascalon was famous amongst the ancients on many accounts. It was the birth-place of Semiramis, the Assyrian empress. It is noted for the place which originally produced the kind of onion called the shalot, which is supposed from thence to have derived its name. It may seem, at first sight, to be a very oblique deri|vation, till it is observed that the Latin of this plant is Ascalonia, whence the French have their E••che|lote, which we have curtailed into Shalot. It is also famed for its wines, and very remarkable for its great flights of pigeons. With respect to the re|markables of Ascalon, we must not forget to men|tion the cypresses, which were here to be admired, nor the extraordinary wells attributed to Abraham and Isaac. This city had, in the first times of Chris|tianity, an episcopal see; and, in the course of the holy wars, it was beautified with a new wall, and many fair buildings, by king Richard I. But it is now dwindled almost to nothing. The Turks call it Scalana; and it is of no note, except for a Turkish garrison kept in it.
• ASHOOD, or Azotus, was a city of the Philistines,* 1.18 to the N. E. of Ascalon, and of extraordinary fame among the ancients. It stood in a country which produced great plenty of corn. Here was the tem|ple of Dagon, and here was he peculiarly worship|ped. He seems to have been the grand, the most ancient, and favourite deity they had. To him they attributed the invention of bread-corn, or of agri|culture, as his very name imports, the word Dagon signifying bread-corn. This Ashdod of the Old Tes|tament is called Azotus in the New, as well as in the book of the Maccabees. It lies near the shore, be|tween Gaza and Joppa. In the times that Christi|anity flourished in these parts, it was made an epis|copal see, and continued a fair village till the days of St. Jerome.
• ASPHALTITIS, Lake of, or the Dead Sea,* 1.19 is called also the Salt Sea. Much has been said and supposed of this famous or (as most will have it) infamous lake, that nothing will sink in it; and that it rose up from the submersion of the vale of Siddim, where once, as is most generally concluded, stood the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. On this account it has been abhorred and detested, and represented as an everlasting monument of the Divine judge|ment, to deter mankind from the sins committed by those who drew down on them such fierce ven|geance. As to this lake's several names, it was called Asphaltitis from the quantity of bitumen in and about it. It was formerly supposed that great quantities of this combustible substance were thrown up by this sea, and travellers represent it as in great plenty on the shores of it. It exactly resembles

• pitch, and cannot readily be distinguished from it by the sulphureousness of its smell and taste. It is called the Dead Sea, because it produces no fish, nor sustains any thing that has life, through its ex|cessive saline quality. It is called the Salt Sea, as being to the highest degree impregnable with salt, insomuch that Galen supposes it, in specific gravity, to be as much beyond other sea water, as sea water is beyond the water of rivers, and that it was impos|sible to immerge in it. The same physician like|wise observes, that the saltness of the sea is attend|ed with an unpleasant bitterness. All this agrees well enough with what we are told of it at present, except that bodies will immerge in it, though not so easily as in other water. This sea, in its present state, is enclosed on the east and west with exceed|ing high mountains; on the north, it has the Plain of Jericho, or (if we take in both sides of Jordan) the Great Plain, properly so called; and on the south it is open, and extends beyond the reach of the eye.

B.

• * 1.20BABEL. The sons of Noah, on their arrival in a plain, in the land of Shinaar, began to think of building a city and tower. Their motive to this un|dertaking was their apprehension of a second de|luge, and to have a place sufficiently high to fly to. But this enterprize being displeasing to the Almigh|ty, they were obliged to give over their project be|fore they had finished it, their language being so confounded that they could not understand one another; from whence the city took the name of Babel, which signifies confusion, whereupon the dispersion and planting of nations ensued.
• ...

  BABYLON. Some historians make queen Semira|mis, and others Belus, the first founder of this re|nowned city. But the first of these seems most to be depended on. However, it is generally agreed, that it was vastly improved, augmented, adorned, and made the wonder of the world, by Nebuchad|nezzar. The most famous works were the walls, the city, the temple of Belus, his palace, with the gardens, the banks of the river, and the artifi|cial lake and canals, made for the draining of that river, in the magnificence and expence of which works he much exceeded whatever had been done by any king before him; and, excepting the walls of China, nothing like it hath been since attempted. A famous traveller, in his itinerary, which he wrote about the middle of the twelfth century, tells us, that he was on the spot where the city of Babylon stood, and that he saw only some ruins of Nebuchad|nezzar's palace still remaining, which nobody ven|tured to visit by reason of the many serpents and scorpions that infested the place. Another, in the account he gives of his travels from India to Italy, tells us, that, in his time, there was scarce any thing remaining of this great and famous city, and that the place on which it stood was the least frequented of any in all that country. A third con|firms the accounts of the former, observing, "that the village of Elugo stands in the place where for|merly Babylon, the metropolis of Chaldea, stood; that the country is so dry and barren that it cannot be tilled; and so bare, that he should have doubted, very much, whether this potent city, (which was the most famous and stately one of the world, situa|ted in the pleasant and fruitful country of Shinaar) stood in that place, if he had not known it by its situ|ation, and several antiquities still to be seen in that neighbourhood, particularly the old bridge, which was laid ••ver the Euphrates, whereof there were some arches still remaining, built of burnt brick, and wonderfully strong." He adds, that, just be|fore the village of Elugo is the hill whereon the castle stood, and that the ruins of its fortifications were still to be seen; and further, that, at a small distance from the castle stood the tower of Babylon, but so ruinous and full of venomous reptiles, that nobody dares come within half a mile of it, except in two of the winter months, when the insects keep within their holes. This shews how fully the pre|dictions of the prophets, relating to this place, have been accomplished. It was first called Seleucia Ba|bylonia, or Seleucia in the province of Babylon, to distinguish it from several other cities in different provinces bearing the name Seleucia. Afterwards it was known by the name of Babylonia, and at length by that of Babylon. As Babylon was drained of its inhabitants by Seleucia, so was Seleucia, in process of time, by C••esephon and Almadaya, and these a|gain by Bagdat. This last city was first built in the same place where Seleucia, or new Babylon, stood, which gave rise to the common error, that Bagdat stands on the ruins of old Babylon.

  With respect to the Babylonian government it was monarchical and despotic, their laws according|ly vague and uncertain, their punishments unfixed, arbitrary, and rigorous to the utmost. Their religion was rank idolatry, and some at least of their customs (even religious ones) shockingly brutal.

• BAHURIM.* 1.21 This place is remarkable for two cir|cumstances: the first as the place where Phalti•••• to whom Saul had given Michal, the wife of David, fol|lowed her weeping, when Ishbosheth restored her to her first husband. The other on account of Shimei's behaviour here towards David, when he fled from his son Absalom. It appears from the particulars mentioned as relative to these circumstances, that Bahurim was near the mount of Olives, and conse|quently not far from Jerusalem to the east, and situ|ated within the tribe of Benjamin.
• BARIS. Hyrcanus is said to have built the stately tower, or rather castle, of Baris,* 1.22 the same which served afterwards for a palace for the Asmonean princes, and was some time after re-built, enlarged, and fortified by Herod. It is to be noticed, that St. Jerome, in his commentary on those sacred books, which were written on the Babylonish capti|vity, such as those of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, &c. observes the word Baris to be of Chaldee extrac|tion, peculiar to Palestine, and to signify an house or castle, enclosed on every side.
• BEER-SHEBA. In Gen. xxi. we learn that Abraham,* 1.23 having entered into a solemn league of friendship with Abimelech, king of the Philistines, to secure his property in a well he had dug, to guard against the outrage of the Philistines, who had taken se|veral wells from him before, and to ratify the aforesaid alliance, presented the king with oxen, sheep, &c. Then taking seven young sheep, he desired him to accept of them as a token that he had dug such a well, and that he should from thence|forth peaceably enjoy it. On this occasion that place was called Beer-sheba, or, The Well of the Oath, because of the covenant they had sworn there. From this Beer, or well, the city, or considerable town, in process of time built near it, was called Beer-sheba, which was the utmost bound of the Land of Promise on the south, as Dan was towards the north, whence came the proverb from Dan to Beer-sheba. This city was one of those that fell to the tribe of Simeon, but because Simeon had this inheritance in the midst of the tribe of Judah, there|fore Beer-sheba is also numbered amongst the cities of Judah.
• BELUS, or the Kav-danah,* 1.24 as it is called at pre|sent, is a river having its sources about four miles to the eastward of the head of Kisho••, near A••ra, or Ptolemais, in Palestine. It is very remarkable for its sands, being not only an excellent material for the making of glass, but also for having admi|nistered the first occasion or hint of that fine in|vention.
• BERACHAH is a valley in the wilderness of Tekoa,* 1.25 called the Valley of Blessing, or Pratie, because of the miraculous rout of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, or inhabitants of mount Seir, who com|bined together against Jehoshaphat.
• BERENICE was a maritime city of Cyrenaica,* 1.26 once an archbishopric, and one of the five cities from which the region had the appellation of Pentapolis,

• situated between the promontory Bareum, towards the greater Syrtis, and the city Arsinoe to the east, from whence it is called. It had its name from queen Berenice, wife of Ptolemy III. Here were the gardens of the Hesperides, so celebrated by the ancients, as also the famous sacred grove. There was another Berenice, in like manner so named by Ptolemy, built also in honour of his queen: it was situated near the Arabian Gulph, and is now called Suaquen.
• * 1.27BERYTUS, a maritime city of Phoenicia, near mount Libanus, was anciently called also Ber••e. It had a good port. After having been ruined, it was restored by Augustus Caesar, who made a colo|ny of it, which was called Julia Felix, and enjoyed the Roman rights. Agrippa conducted two legions thither, and Herod also granted it many favours. Though it might be, and really was, in its time, famous on divers accounts, yet it was so for none more than its being one of those three cities where only the law was publicly taught, the other two being Rome and Constantinople. To prove this we may here produce the express declaration of Justi|nian in these words:

  We may command these three volumes, composed by us, to be delivered only in the royal cities, viz. Rome and Constan|tinople, and the fair city of Berytus, (which may properly be called the nurse of the laws,) as has been appointed by former princes, and in no other places than these, which have merited this privi|lege from our ancestors

  These words inform us that Justinian's predecessors fixed the number of auditories of law to three, but we cannot ascertain the time when it was by them so done. It is now a place of trade, and a stage for the caravans that go to and from Grand Cairo.
• * 1.28BETHEL. In Gen. xxviii. we read that Jacob, in his journey to Padan-aram, being overtaken by the night, lay in the open field, with a stone for his pil|low. In his sleep he had a dream of a ladder reach|ing from that spot to heaven, on which angels as|cended and descended, whilst the Almighty encou|raged him with a promise of being his protector, &c. Awaking, surprized and astonished, he cried out, "Surely God is in this place, and I knew it not;" wherefore he gave it the name of Bethel, sig|nifying the House of God. It is plain, therefore, that this was the first time, as well as the occasion, that the place had this name, it being added, that it was called Luz at the first, as in former times. This same city was made choice of by Jeroboam for setting up one of his golden calves, whereupon Hosea (allud|ing to the name given it by Jacob) calls it Bethaven, instead of Bethel; i. e. the House of Vanity, instead of the House of God. Not that it was the town Beth|aven properly so called. Bethel being within the lot of Ephraim, the son of Joseph, belonged to the kingdom of Israel, after the ten tribes revolted from the house of David, and lay in the southern border of that kingdom, not far from Jerusalem. But it was taken from the kingdom of Israel by Ahijah, king of Judah, and after that accounted as a part of the kingdom of Judah. Bacchides fortified it in the time of the Maccabees.
• * 1.29BETHLEHEM, the city of David of old, is famous for being the birth-place not only of that renowned king, but of Our Blessed Saviour himself, who, ac|cording to the flesh, descended from him. This place was otherwise called Ephrath, or Ephratah, sometimes Bethlehem Ephratah, and sometimes Bethlehem Judah, to distinguish it from another Bethlehem, lying in the tribe of Zebulun. It is situated about six or seven miles from Jerusalem to the southward, in the way to Hebron. Bethlehem, though now but thinly inhabited, is seated on a plea|sant hill, enjoys an excellent air, and, as it has all along been much honoured by Christians of all na|tions, on account of its being the place of Our Sa|viour's birth, so at this very day it is visited by pil|grims and travellers. It is furnished not only with a convent of the Latins, but also with one of the Greeks, and another of the Armenians, the two lat|ter being contiguous to the former.
• BETHORON,* 1.30 mentioned in several places of scrip|ture, was situated northward of Jerusalem, and be|tween that metropolis and Shechem. It is to be noted, that there is express mention of two Betho|rons in the Chronicles, where we are told that a woman of the tribe of Ephraim, by name Sherah, built Bethoron the nether and the upper. It is ac|cordingly agreed among writers, that they both lay within the bounds of the tribe of Ephraim. But it is not agreed in what part of the tribe each lay, some placing Bethoron the upper in the north border of the tribe, whilst others place them nearer one to another, and both in the south border.
• BETHSAIDA. Bethsaida, in Hebrew,* 1.31 imports a place of fishing, or else of hunting; and both sen|ses agree well with the situation of the city; for it lay on the lake of Gennesareth, just at the influx of the river Jordan into the said lake, and so lay very convenient for fishing. It was conveniently situated for hunting likewise, as lying in the tribe of Naph|tali, a country well stored with deer. It was but a village, till Philip the tetrarch built it up to the bulk and appearance of a magnificent city, rich and populous, to which he gave also the name of Julias, out of respect to Julia, the daughter of Caesar. This city stood on the eastern shore, and therefore is thought, by some, to have been distinct from the Bethsaida of Galilee; but this arises from not considering that the name of Galilee was ex|tended, in its larger acceptation, to the parts lying east of the sea of Galilee. The woe de|••••unced is in some measure come upon it, it being reduced again to the state of a very poor village, or hardly that, consisting long ago of a very few poor cottages.
• BETHSAN is a city belonging to the half tribe of Manasseh, on the west of Jordan,* 1.32 and the south coast of the sea of Galilee. It is called Bethsa by the Jews. The Canaanites kept possession of it; and it was the most considerable city in the Decapolis after the Israelites had conquered Palestine. It stood in the middle of a great plain, near the mountain of Gilboa. The Greeks gave it the name of Scytho|polis; and so it is called in the Maccabees, because anciently inhabited by the Scythians, who, accord|ing to Herodotus, had, in the reign of Psamoniticus, king of Egypt, and Cyanares, king of Media, ex|tended their conquests as far as Syria and Palestine. It is known among the eastern nations by the name of Elhyzon.
• BETH••••EMETH, a town belonging to the tribe of Judah, lay in the north border,* 1.33 not far west from Kirjath-jearim.
• BETHSURA, so called from being situated on a rock,* 1.34 was a very strong fortress in the time of the Macca|bees. It was in the tribe of Judah, and had former|ly been fortified by king Rehoboam, being one of the keys of Judea, on the south side of Idumea. That king first built some walls, and other fortifica|tions to it, to keep the revolted Danites in awe; but the Maccabees added such new works as to render the place impregnable. On the top of the hill, where stood Bethsura, is now the village called St. Philip; and though the adjacent parts are called a wilderness, yet they still produce plenty of corn, wine, and olives.
• BEZEC is mentioned, in Judges,* 1.35 as the place where the men of Judah and Simeon made great slaughter of the Canaanites and Perizzites, and where the proud and cruel Adonibezec had his residence. It is again mentioned in scripture as the place where Saul mustered the army wherewith he gave the Am|monites a signal overthrow.
• BEZETHA was the name given, by king Agrippa,* 1.36 to a new quarter, which, at immense charge, he had built, and would have beautified and fortified, on the north side of the city of Jerusalem, the name import|ing the new city. He endeavoured to procure the em|peror's leave for surrounding it with a strong wall, which, if he had obtained, it would have rendered

• the metropolis absolutely impregnable. But the danger of the design being represented to Claudius, orders were sent to Agrippa to desist.
• * 1.37BOTRYS, now called Patron and Elpatron, on the coast of Phoenicia, was a very ancient town, founded by Ithobold, king of Sidon, and situated near the promontory, called by the ancients, Peniel, and, by modern pilots, Cap•• Pagro. Under the Christian emperors it became an episcopal see; but it has far|ed so ill since, that there are few traces of its former state remaining, some ruins of churches and mona|steries excepted, the rest consisting of a number of poor cots, inhabited chiefly by fisherman, scarcely deserving to be called a village.

C.

• * 1.38CAESAREA. This city was raised by Herod, upon a certain place by the sea-side, called Straton's Tower, as being deemed a very commodious track of ground for that purpose. It was completed at an immense charge, and was the paragon of elegance and magnificence. But the master-piece was the port, which was made as large as the Pyraeum, and a safe station against all winds and weathers, not to mention other conveniencies. It stood in Phoenicia, upon the pass into Egypt between Joppa and Dora, two sea-ports, where the south-west wind beats so furiously, that there is no riding in the harbours without being subject to imminent danger. Herod therefore, to encounter this difficulty, ordered a mole to be made in form of a half moon, and large enough for a royal navy to ride in. This mole was two hundred furlongs in extent: one half was de|signed to break the setting of the sea, and the other half for the foundation of a stone wall, fortified with turrets, calling the largest of them, the Tower of Drusus, from Drusus, the son-in-law of Augus|tus, who died young. In fine, nothing was want|ing that could contribute to grandeur, safety, or convenience. On a mount in the midst stood a temple dedicated to Caesar, which was of great use to mariners as a sea mark. In this temple there were two statues; the one of Rome, the other of Caesar; and from hence the city took the name of Caesarea. Though it is called Caesarea in the New Testament, yet it is frequently stiled, by way of distinction from others of the same name, Caesarea Palestinae, as being the metropolis of Palestine, and seat of the Roman proconsul. Here it was that St. Peter converted Cornelius and his kinsmen, the first fruits of the Gentiles. Here lived Philip the apostle. Here Paul defended himself against the Jews and their orator Tertullius; and here, in the amphi|theatre, it was that Herod Antipas was smitten by an angel, as appears from the Acts of the Apostles. As for the times after the New Testament, here was born Eusebius, the learned historian and chronolo|ger, who was bishop of this city in the beginning of the fourth century, and in the reign of Constan|stine the Great, to whom he made a celebrated ora|tion. It was situated between Ptolemais to the north, and Joppa to the south, and was about twenty-six miles to the westward of Jerusalem. It was of old inhabited partly by Jews, and partly by idolatrous Greeks, who were perpetually at dag|gers drawing against each other, and ever hatching some new sedition, till Vespasian took it, and put a Roman colony into it.
• * 1.39CAESAREA PHILIPPI was formerly, by heathen wri|ters, called Paneas, the place where the Jordan had its spring head, which Philip, the brother of Antipas, (Herod) having greatly enlarged and beautified, called it by this new name after his own.
• * 1.40CANA of Galilee (so called to distinguish it from Cana, belonging to the tribe of Asher, lying not far from Sidon) mentioned John ii.1. lay within the tribe of Zebulun, not far from Nazareth. It was the native, or, at least, dwelling-place of Nathaniel, otherwise called Bartholomew; for the Evangelist John expressly stiles him Nathaniel of Cana of Galilee.
• CANAAN has been successively known by several names, as the Land of Israel, the Land of God,* 1.41 the Holy Land, and simply the Land; also Judea, Pa|lestine, Syria Palestine, Syria, Coelo-Syria, Idumea, and Phoenicia. It was called the Land of the He|brews, and sometimes the Land of the Jews It was called the Land of God, as given by him to the posterity of Abraham, and the place of his more especial choice. It was called the Holy Land, first by the Jews, as solely appropriated to the service of God under their dispensation; and, secondly, by Christians, as it was the scene of what was wrought for theirs and the world's salvation. Whence came its appellation of Judea is seemingly plain: Judah, being chief of the tribes, communicated its name to the rest; and the kingdom of Judah standing after the dissolution of that of Israel, may have given far|ther ground for the extensive and general use of this name. It was called Palestine, as being a part of that track very early so denominated. Though this name properly belonged to no more than what is commonly called the Pentapolis of the Philistines, it had the fortune to spread itself over almost all the neighbouring regions.
• CAPERNAUM was a city,* 1.42 situated on an eminence by the lake of Genesareth. It took its name from an adjoining spring, of great repute for its chrystaline flowing waters, which was called by the natives, the Fountain of Capernaum. As the excellence of this fountain was probably one inducement to build the town, so there seems to have been another motive for chusing the situation, viz. its convenience for a wafting place from Galilee to the other side of the sea.
• CARMEL (Mount) on the west coast of the Holy Land, at the south-east end of the tribe of Asher,* 1.43 ten miles from Acra, or Ptolemais, is the most re|markable head of land on all the coast. This name Carmel, we are told, was common both to a town and a mountain.
• CHALCIS, capital of the island of Chalcis in Judea,* 1.44 stood on the narrowest part of the Euripus, being joined to Boeotia by a bridge, which situation agrees with that of the present city of Negropont. It was celebrated by all the ancients, as a most magnificent, populous, and wealthy city.
• CHARRAN, mentioned in Gen. xi. and there called Haran, in memory, as it is said, of Haran,* 1.45 the son of Terah, brother of Abraham, and father of Lot, was situated in the west or north-west part of Mesopo|tamia, or a river which runs into the Euphrates. It was, with little alteration, called Carrae by the Romans.
• CITIUM, anciently a town in Cyprus,* 1.46 was the birth|place of Zeno, the famous stoic.
• COELO-SYRIA. Ancient geographers differ as to the bounds of what is meant by Coelo-Syria;* 1.47 but the preference is given to Strabo, who tells us, that Coelo-Syria was between Libanus and Anti-Libanus, which, however the name may be extended, was undoubtedly the proper Coelo-Syria. The principal cities are Heliopolis, (now Balbeck,) and Damas|cus, (now Sham).
• COMAG••NA, the third division of Syria Propria,* 1.48 was so called from its capital, long since destroyed; after which it was, by the Romans, called Euphratensis, from its situation near the Euphrates. It was bound|ed on the north by Cilicia and the Lesser Armenia, on the west by part of Cilicia, on the south by Coelo-Syria, and on the east by the Euphrates. The prin|cipal cities in this province were Samosata, (now Scempsat,) Germanicia, Catamana, Deba, Doliche, Chaonia, and Chelinadura; of the greater part of which little else is left but the names, and here and there some ruins of monuments, by which one may know where they stood.
• ...

• * 1.49COPTOS, an ancient city of Thebais, having been the chief residence of the native Egyptians for many ages, since their country has been subjected to a foreign power, and whence they received their present name of Copts. It was ruined by Dioclesian.
• * 1.50CYPRUS island was anciently known by various names. It was called Ac••mis, from one of its pro|montories; Amathus, Paphios, and Salansini••, from three of its ancient cities; Macaria, from the fruit|fulness of its soil; Aerosa, from its copper mines; Collinia, from its many hills; Sph••cies, from its an|cient inhabitants the Sphec••s; and C••••asti••, from the many promontories, which, like so many bo••••••, (as the Greek word intimates,) shoot into the sea. Cyprus was, by ancient geographers, divided into four districts, denominated from the chief cities of each; besides which cities, and other less ones, her•• were no fewer than 800 villages. The honey of this island was much commended; as also the wine, oil, wool, and, above all, the copper. It was first discovered by the Phoenicians, about two or three generations, according to Sir Isaac Newton's com|putation, before Asterius and Minor, kings of Crete; i. e. 1600 years before Christ. It was so overgrown with wood that it could not be tilled; and they first cut it down for the melting of copper; and afterwards, when they began to sail without fear, on the Mediterranean, (soon after the Trojan war,) they used to build ships, even great navies. They gave every man leave to cut down what trees he pleased, and possess all the cleared ground. In time, other nations, invited by the fertility of the soil, came and settled here. The government was, without doubt, monarchical. It was governed by no less than nine kings, when Cyrus the Great, by his lieutenants, first conquered it. It afterwards became subject to the Ptolemies of Egypt: from them it passed to the Romans; and thence to the Con|stantinopolitan emperors. It was next conquered by king Richard, A. D. 1194, in his way to the Holy Land, and the royalty of it given by him to Guy of Lusignan, then titular king of Jerusalem, whose posterity reigned in it during seventeen ge|nerations. The Venetians, on failure of that male line, seized it in 1480, and held it till 1570, when Solyman II. claiming it as lord of Egypt, laid siege to Famagusta, the strongest place in it. The Ve|netians defended it with uncommon bravery, but, for want of timely assistance, were forced to surren|der, tho' on honourable terms. The rest were soon subdued, and have groaned under the Turkish yoke ever since. The dukes of Savoy claim the title of king of Cyprus, as descended from Lewis, second husband of Charlotte, grand-daughter of James, the 13th king in descent from Guy aforesaid, who had been put out by James, her husband's brother. But, to speak of this island now in its modern state, it is by far the largest of all those of Asi•• Minor, lies near the bottom of the Mediterranean, and ex|tends along the south coast of Cilicia, from east to west, about 170 or 200 miles. The country was once very fruitful, as above hinted, though the climate is not very temperate, being excessive hot and sultry in summer, insomuch that it sometimes dries up all the springs; for there are no springs or rivers, but what rains produce, which happening to fail thirty years successively, during the reign of Constantine the Great, the inhabitants were obliged to abandon the island for some time. It is likewise much infested with locusts, which hover in the air like clouds, during the hot season, and sometimes devour all their corn and fruit, but are often driven into the sea by the winds. On these accounts, as well as the severity of the Turkish government, the country is thinly peopled, and indifferently cul|tivated, in most parts. Yet, near the cities, it not only produces every thing necessary and delightful, but seems to enjoy a perpetual spring. Here is very good hunting, and a great variety of game. The chief manufactures are cotton and wool, which are the best in all the east. They have likewise silk, but not so good in proportion. They had formerly great quantities of sugar, till one of their bashaws burnt up all the canes. The inhabitants have been always branded for an excessive dissoluteness of manners. The men are accounted warlike, robust, active, and hospitable. Here we must note, when Solyman reduced the island, he murdered, or carri|ed off, all the nobility and gentry, and left none but the meaner sort to continue in it, and these are most|ly Greeks, clad after the Italian manner, but retain|ing their old customs and religion. Jews are inter|dicted the island, on account of an attempt they made on it in Trajan's reign, in which they massa|cred 250,000 of the inhabitants. Cyprus has no con|siderable rivers: and the most noted mountain is that called Olympus. Here is a pr••t••y brisk trade be|tween the merchants of Europe and Asia; and se|veral Europeans nations have their consuls and fac|tors in the island.
• CYRENE, now Caioran, or Corene,* 1.51 the metropolis of Cyrenaica, stood at some distance from the s••••, on a spot in figure representing a table. It was large and populous, abounding with all the elegan|cies as well as necessaries of life. Its territories pro|duced vast numbers of excellent horses, which pro|bably made the Cyrenians, whether Lybians or Greeks, apply themselves to the study and practice of every thing relating to those animals, more than most nations. Cyrene derived its name from the fountain Cyre, near which i•• was situated. Aristip|pus, founder of the sect of Cyrenaics, Eratosthan••s, the geographer, and Carneades, the philosopher, were all natives of Cyrene; as was Simon, mention|ed by St. Luke.
• CYRENIAN Jews. Ptolemy,* 1.52 immediate successor of Alexander the Great, as king of Egypt, with a powerful army, laid siege to Jerusalem in the year of the world 3••87, before Christ 317, when the Jews, out of a superstitious fear of breaking the sabbath, suffered the city to be taken by storm on that day without resistance, and 100,000 of them were by him carried away captives into Egypt. But reflecting soon on their known loyalty to their former con|querors, and the sacred regard they paid to their oaths, and he, by taking this city, becoming master of Judea and Samaria, committed the keeping of several garrisons, both here and in Egypt, to them; and having made them swear allegiance, he endow|ed them with the same privileges they had enjoyed under the Macedonians. Of those whom he carried away, he chose about 30,000 of the stoutest to fill his garrisons: the rest he sent, some to assist them with provisions, others into Lybia and Cyrene just spoken of, of which he had made conquest, and ad|ded it to Egypt, four years before. From these latter were descended the Cyrenian Jews, among whom was Jason, author of the history of the Mac|cabees, in five books, now lost, but of which the se|cond book of the Maccabees is an epitome. (See 2 Macc. ii.23.) Of the same country were those Cyrenian Jews mentioned in the Acts. This Jewish colony grew in time so numerous, as to have 1000 of them put to death, for one mutiny, in the time of Vespasian; and yet, in a succeeding reign, they proved strong enough to master the whole province, and massacre 200,000 inhabitants of other nations. Their rage and fury, in short, were boundless, so that, through this and other massacres, Cyrenaica was next to quite dispeopled.

D.

• DAGON, Temple of, see Gaza; and,* 1.53 for a de|scription of his image, see Ashdod.
• DAMASCUS is the capital of the south part of Sy|ria.* 1.54 It is the most remarkable place for antiquity now in the whole world, being generally agreed to have been built by 〈◊〉〈◊〉, son of Ara••, and grandson of Shem, the son of Noah; and was the birth-place of Eliezer, the steward of Abraham. It is famous, in scripture, for being the residence of the kings of Syria 300 years; till Tigl••th-pile••er, king of Assy|ria, slew Ra••in, the last king of Syria, and added his dominions to his own new empire; in conse|quence of which, the Syrian kingdom passed to the

• Persian and to the Grecian, till the Saracens con|quered it, and made this city their royal residence. In this state it continued till Bagdat was built, at which time it was very strong and flourishing. It became afterwards a separate kingdom, under the princes of the Sel••••ecian family, for near 200 years, which ended by the reduction of the city, and death of its last prince, by Hala•••••• the Tartar. Its He|brew name was Dam••s••••h▪ and the Turks now call it Schan, or Scan. It is situated in a fertile plain, encompassed with hills, and upon the celebrated river Chrysorroa, (i. e. golden stream,) called, by the Syrians, Pharpar, and which enriches the city and its country with all kinds of plenty and pleasure. The emperor Julian stiled it the City of Jupiter, the Eye of the East; and added, that it excelled all others in the magnificence of its temples, tempera|ture of its seasons, excellent fountains, number of springs, and fruitfulness of soil. Its territory pro|duces the best corn, wine, and fruits, all the year, which renders the place exceeding rich and delight|ful. The city is of an oblong form, slender to|wards the middle, and bulges out at both ends, es|pecially that to the north-east. It is computed to be about two miles in length; and is so thick beset with towers, domes, fine gardens, summer-houses, turrets, &c. that it yields a most noble prospect, and, from the adjacent hills, looks like a stately city in a wood, enriched with most delightful and constant verdure, occasioned by the vast quantity of water with which the river Barrady supplies both town and country. The public buildings bear a much better outside than the private. The chief of all is the great mosque, formerly a Christian church, built by the emperor Heraclius, in honour of Za|chariah, father of John Baptist, said to be buried in it. This mosque is reckoned one of the most stately in all Turkey, into which it is death for any but a Mussulman to enter. The city has separate wards for every trade, and these are shut up every night by gates, and by a stout iron chain by day, to keep off beasts of burthen. In particular here are not less than 20,000 persons employed in making scy|meters, sword blades, knives, and other cutlery work, bridles, and divers other things in iron and steel, all which are in great repute for the fine temper which the Barrady water gives those metals. On one side of the city lies that which they call the Meidan, or the Green, (Ager Damascenus,) which is a spacious grass field, encompassed with gardens, through which runs a branch of the Barrady. On the side of this green is a spacious noble hospital for pilgrims of all religions. The building is sur|rounded with cloisters, adorned with small cupolas, and a great number of chambers for strangers, who are maintained at the charge of the grand seignior. There is likewise another cloister for the mainte|nance of poor scholars, with a mosque, and hand|some gardens. On another side is a large house, where they bake biscuits for those pilgrims who travel to Mecca, and of which the sultan allows them 200 camels load, and the like quantity of water. Almost in the heart of the city is an high castle, of an oval shape, mostly of square stone, and flanked with fourteen square towers, in which are some cannon. Here are 1500 janissaries con|stantly; 500 to guard the city, 500 to escort the caravan to Mecca, and 500 to attend the grand seignior when he goes to Bagdat. The city is governed by a beglerberg, who has ten sangia••s under him, besides agas, cadis, and other officers. Damascus is the seat of a Greek patriarch, trans|lated hither from Antioch. It was the birth-place of the celebrated and esteemed St. John, thence surnamed Damascus. All sorts of Christians are allowed churches and their particular cere|monies here. Jews are in great numbers, and have stately synagogues. Other sects make but little figure.
• * 1.55DAMIATA, or DUMIATA, in Lower Egypt, is situated on one of the east branches of the Nile. This branch, and that called the Pelusiac, or ut|most eastern, form a kind of small triangular island, on the west angle of which this city is situ|ate. It is one of the most considerable for trade in the whole territory about it, and the most fertile in all Egypt. It is reckoned one of the keys of Egypt, is large, though now ill-built, and contains about 25,000 inhabitants. It fell, with the rest of Egypt, under the yoke of the Saracens, who held it till 1218, when the crusaders laid siege to it, and took it the next year; but had scarce held it three years, when those infidels, letting out the water about them, forced them to abandon it. Lewis, (sur|named Saint,) king of France, regained it in the year 1249, but having been taken prisoner about a year after, was forced to restore it for his ransom. The Saracens, it is said, then burnt it, that it might no more be such a bone of contention. It soon re|covered, and is now a place of great trade, and the seat of an archbishop, under the patriarch of Alex|andria. Copts and Greeks here settled have each a church, and free exercise of religion. The town is under the government of an aga, cadi, and sub|b••chi, all appointed by the bashaw of the province, who exacts part of their income. The inhabitants are severally employed in manufactures, particu|larly of fine linen cloth of all colours. But they so a••hor strangers, especially Europeans, on account of the crusades, (the chief scene of which in Egypt was hereabout,) that they can scarce let them pass along without insult. Some have confounded Da|miata with Old Pelusium, or supposed it to have been reared upon its ruins; but this error has been fully refuted.
• DAN, the Tribe of,* 1.56 had their portion of the Land of Promise thus situate; the Philistines and Judah on the south; Benjamin east; Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh, north; and the Mediterranean west. The district is plain and level, but not so fruit|ful as that of the said half tribe▪ having, in most parts, less depth of soil, and bordering on the sea coast in a range of mountains.
• DAN, City of,* 1.57 hath the same name given it in Ge|nesis and Deuteronomy. It was called also Laish. It was situated at the head of the Jordan, and was usually accounted the utmost north border of the Land of Israel, as Beer-sheba was of the south; whence, as before observed, the expression, "From Dan to Beer-sheba," to denote the whole length of the Holy Land from north to south. Here it was that Jeroboam placed one of his golden calves. By Gentile writers it was called Paneas, from the adjoining spring Paneum, or Panion. This Dan, with its territory, was given, by Augustus, to He|rod the Great, who left it to Philip, his youngest son, together with the tetrarchy of Iturea and Tra|chonitis, to which it adjoined, and he repairing and beautifying it, made it his capital, or at least his residence, giving it the name of Caesarea Philippi, or the Caesarea of Philip, to ingratiate himself with Tiberius Caesar, and to distinguish it from another place of the same name.
• DAPHNE, near Antioch.* 1.58 To the account already given of Antioch, we may add, that Caesar Gallus having, out of zeal to Christianity, caused a Christian church to be built there, the Daphnian Oracle imme|diately ceased. There were several places of this name besides the foregoing, viz. a town of Egypt, near Pelusium; an island of Ethiopia; also a small region of Thessaly, through which flowed the river Paneus.
• DATHEMA is the name of that fortress in the land of Gilead,* 1.59 mentioned in the first book of the Mac|cabees.
• DECAPOLIS was a canton in Palestine,* 1.60 so called from its (Deca) ten cities, situate some on one, and some on the other, side Jordan, the capital of which was Scythopolis. It was mostly inhabited by Gen|tiles.
• DELPHOS, or Delphi,* 1.61 was the chief city of ancient Phocis, famous for the temple of Apollo, whose oracle was resorted to by all from all parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Delphos, among several other cities of Greece and Peloponessus, contended for be|ing situate in the very middle of the world It had so convenient a harbour, and was so excellently well

• situated, (being rather in the heart of Greece than of the world,) that it became, in time, a sessions town of all the Grecian states. Here sat the court of the Amphictyones, chosen out of the prime cities of Greece, and so called from Amphictyon, first founder of this high court. The time of their as|sembling was in spring and autumn. Causes of all kinds were brought before them, from all parts of Grecia; and their sentence was deemed definitive. Mention of them is frequently made in history. Considering, therefore, the great concourse which this court, the oracle, and the games celebrated in honour of Apollo, brought into the city, we need not wonder at its being one of the most opulent of all Greece. As an instance of which, it may be no|ticed, that the gold and silver of which the temple was despoiled, (the 4th year of the 10••th Olympiad,) on occasion of the Grecian holy war, as it was called, amounted to 10,000 talents; i. e. above, 1,000,000l. English money. Delphos was situate in ancient Achaia, now Livadia, in Turkey in Europe, on the south side of Mount Parnassus, where the town of Castri now stands. This modern town does not con|sist of above 200 houses, and those very ill built. It stands between Salona and Livadia, about ten miles from the latter. The number of Turks are very insignificant, though they have a mosque. The Greeks have five or six churches, and are deemed a very good people, though poor. The lit|tle trade they have, consists in cotton and tobacco. Their wine is exceeding good.
• * 1.62DELTA, or the Lower Egypt, reaching from Hep|tanomis to the Mediterranean Sea, contained not only that part which is compassed by the arms of the Nile, and, from its triangular figure, named Delta, but also Mazeotis and Alexandria, with its dependencies, to the west, and Casiotis, with some other territories towards Arabia, to the east. There are various opi|nions and conjectures concerning the ancient state of this part of the world, but it is now acknow|ledged to be the most fertile and best cultivated land in the whole kingdom of Egypt, containing above 360 villages, and yielding grapes and other fruits in abundance; and it fails not bearing even in those years when the Nile, not rising to its usual height, occasions a scarcity in other parts.
• * 1.63DIOSPOLIS was anciently a city in the Lesser The|bais, in Egypt. There was another town of this name in Palestine, vulgarly called Rhama, which Gallus, the Roman general destroyed at the same time, and for the same cause, as he did some other adjacent places, viz. the frequent revolt of the Jews.
• * 1.64DORA, or Dor, was a maritime town, and con|siderable city, strongly situate near Mount Carmel, on the Mideterranean Sea, whence it gave name to the country about it. It was given to the half tribe of Manasseh on this side (i. e. the west side) of Jordan. Jerome observes, that it lay nine miles from Tyre, and was gone quite to decay in his time, so as to be uninhabited.
• * 1.65DOTHAN, mentioned in Gen. xxxvii. was seated about twelve miles to the northward of Samaria. In the neighbourhood of it Joseph was sold, by his brethren, to the Ishmaelites.

E.

• * 1.66ECBATANA. As there are now no monuments re|maining either of the magnificent mausoleum as|cribed to Daniel, or the proud palace where the mo|narchs of Asia went to pass the summer, there is great disagreement, among our modern travellers, about the place where this stately metropolis stood. It is the opinion of many writers, that Tauris is the same with the ancient and famous Ecbatana. Our author assures us, that the palace built by Daniel was entire in his time; but, at present, not even the ruins of any magnificent building are to be seen either at Tauris, or in that neighbourhood; for, in all the ruins there, the materials are only earth, brick, and pebbles, which, in ancient times, were never used in Media for building of palaces.
• ECBATANA,* 1.67 a town in Syr•••• is remarkable for the death of Cambyses, king of Persia, there. This Cam|byses, son of Cyrus, is the Ahas••erus of our bible. While he was in Egypt, having consulted the oracle of Butus in that country, he was told that he should die at Ecbatana, which he understanding of Ecbatana in Media, resolved to preserve his life, by never go|ing thither: but what he thought to avoid in Media, he found in Syria; for the town where he lay sick of his mortal wound was of the same name, being also called Ecbatana.
• EDOM.* 1.68 When the ancient kingdom of Edom was in its meridian, it was supposed to have been bounded on the north by Canaan, and the lake As|phaltitis; on the east by Midian; on the south by the Arabian Gulph, or Red Sea; and on the west by Amalekitis. This track is very mountainous, and great part of it desert. It has few or no streams, but latent springs of water for the use of the inha|bitants, who know where to find them. Corn and wine, nevertheless, seem to have been anciently in some degree of plenty amongst them. So that Esau (that is, the posterity of Esau, or Edom) may an|ciently have enjoyed the "fatness of the earth," according to his father's prophetic blessing, Gen. xxvii.39. though by modern travellers this coun|try is deemed rather an unfertile spot. Amalekitis is by some reckoned to have been a part or province of Edom. The cities, and most remarkable places, of Edom, were, Teman, Dedan, Bozrah, Elath, Mount Hor, and the valley of Salt. Now, though the name of this kingdom is frequently rendered Idumea, for Edome••, (as in our version of the Bible,) yet, when that name occurs in profane and more modern writers, it must not be understood of the ancient Edom, which, losing its old name, was comprehended under the general appellation of Arabia Petrea, and the Third Palestine. The south part of Canaan came to ••e called Idume••, and the whole nation of the Jews sometimes Idumeans. These people were at first ruled by patriarchs, or heads of families; and after that by kings, who were elected into the regal office. This elective kingdom was, some how or other, interrupted and dissolved, and the ancient form took place again, till, perceiving the imperfections of this kind of administration, they coale••••d under one king, there|by to be the better enabled to withstand an invasion from the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. It was governed after by Edomitish kings quite down to the days of king David, who conquered the country: from which time they were kept un|der subjection to the kings of Judah, though al|ways impatient under the yoke, and only waiting for a favourable opportunity of shaking it off. They were a bold and daring people, fo••d of broils and tumults, which they as much delighted in as others in the softening pleasures of luxury. Concerning their religion we are much in the dark. At first they were right in their belief and practice, as they were descended from Isaac, and used cir|cumcision; but, by degrees, they forgot all, degene|rated into idolatry, and disused circumcision. In the end, however, they coalesced with the Jews, and were ever after considered as but one nation with them in divine matters. The Romans conquered this country after the reduction of Judaea, and made it the sixth district in the division of Syria. The Turks are now in possession of it; though it ap|pears not that they maintain much, if any, govern|ment in it, except of the sea-coast, for securing the road from Egypt to Judea, where stand some castles and villages, as Arissa, Dinhadab, &c. it being now inhabited by a wild, roving kind of Arabs, but who are not all entirely so barbarous and rude as some represent them.
• EGYPT, called by its ancient inhabitants Chemin,* 1.69 and by the Copts at present, was so named, accord|ing to the general opinion of writers, from Ham, or Cham, the son of Noah, being more than once in the Psalms stiled the Land of Ham: but the

• name by which it is generally denoted in Scripture, is the Land of Mizraim, from whence the Arabians still call it Mesr, which the Greeks write Mesre, or Mesrea. Ancient Egypt is divided, by some, into two parts, the Upper and the Lower Egypt; by others into three; the upper, properly so called, or The|bais; the middle, or Heptanomi••; and the lower, of which the best part was the Delta. Thebais, now called Al Sald, is the most southern part of Egypt next to Ethiopia, and is near, as large as all the rest, including the country on both sides the Nile down to Heptanomi••, its last cities having been Lycopolis on the west, and Anteopolis on the east, side of the river, which agrees with the present extent of Al Said, the most northern city of which is Manfalut. There were formerly in this part of Egypt a great number of large and magnificent cities, with tem|ples of several deities, and tombs of their ancient princes. Its metropolis, Thebes, called afterwards Diapolis, (i. e. City of Jupiter,) was situate on the Nile, and deservedly reckoned one of the finest ci|ties in the world. Its 100 gates are mentioned by Homer, whence it had the surname of Hecatom|pulos. Its riches were so great, that, after it had been plundered by the Persians, what was found, on burning the remains of the pillage, amounted to about 300 talents of ••old, and 2300 of silver. Who was its founder is uncertain. As the name Thebes was formerly give•• to all Egypt, its great power is the more credible. Heptanomia was so called from the seven N••mes, or pre••••ctures, into which it was di|vided. It was full of very large and noble cities, the principal of which was Memphis, built by Menes, their first king, and, for many ages, capital of the whole kingdom. Here also was the lake Neris, the Labyrinth••, and the Pyramids. The chief cities of the Delta were Tanis, Sai••, and Xoi••, and in later times Alexandria. The climate of Egypt must needs be very warm, from its 〈◊〉〈◊〉 situation to the tropic. Though the air is generally dry, yet great dews fall after the swelling of the Nile, which con|tinue for several months. In the Delta it sometimes rains a little in the winter, notwithstanding what some ancients say to the contrary; and even snow, it is said, has been observed to fall at Alexandria. In Upper Egypt, indeed, towards the cataracts, it rains very seldom. The first summer, (for they reckon two,) which is in March, April and May, is the most inconvenient and sickly season, because the unequal weather, excessive heats, and hot winds, cause distempers; but in the second, June, July, and August, and in autumn and winter, the inhabitants breath•• a much cooler air, the weather is more con|stant, and it is more delightful living, except from the 7th to the 14th of February, when the cold is so felt that the rich wear furs. The fertility of Egypt, and the excellence of its productions and fruits, were greatly celebrated by the ancients, and by Moses himself, in the book of Genesis. It was the granary of Old Rome, as it is now of Constantinople. The most plentiful parts are the Delta, and the province now called Al Feyyum. For this great fertility the land is indebted to the river Nile. The sources of this celebrated river were unknown to the ancients; but they are now well known to be in Ethiopia. The annual inundations of this river has been look|ed on as one of the greatest wonders of the country. Ancient writers tell us it begins to rise in Egypt about the summer ••o••stice, and continues so to do till after the autumnal equinox, for about 100 days, and then it decreases •••• many, till it retires within its banks, and overflows no more till next year. If the river did not rise to 15 or 16 cubits, the country was not covered with its waters, and dearth ensued. This account comes very near to those of modern travellers. As this river could not of itself overflow the lands every where in the necessary proportion, they have cut a vast number of canals: however, as some places lie too high to be watered by the canals, they are obliged to raise the water to cover them by engines. Formerly they made use of Archimedes's screw, thence named the Egyptian pump, but no •• they generally use wheels, which carry a rope or chain of earthen pots of about seven or eight quarts each, and draw the water from the canals. There are besides a vast number of wells, from which the water is drawn in the same manner to water the gar|dens and fruit-trees; so that it is no exaggeration of the matter, to say there are, in Egypt, above 200,000 oxen daily employed in this single labour; besides the men who draw water in wicker baskets, so close and well made that not a drop runs through. As the land lies perfectly even, they cut their gardens into little square beds, which are all surrounded with trenches, which immediately furnish as much water as is necessary; and by these means they have the finest and most fertile gardens in the world. Pome|granates, oranges, and several sorts of trees, af|ford a shade and coolness, that, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, make it delightful walking. The Egyptians have not the laborious task of ploughing, digging, or breaking the clods, but when the river has retired, they have no more to do than to mix a little sand with the earth to abate its strength▪ after which they sow with as little pains, and almost without charge. The pastures are most excellent, the grass generally growing to the height of the cattle. In fine, there is not a more pleasant sight in the world than Egypt in two seasons. Of the animal productions, the crocodile is the most re|markable. This amphibious creature is not, indeed, peculiar to the Nile, it being frequent enough in the Ganges, and other large rivers of India. With re|spect to vegetable productions, though woods are very rare in Egypt, yet there are some forests of palm-trees towards the deserts of Lybia: and near Candera, the ancient Tontyra, is one of wild dates, whose fruit is excessive hard, but much admired. However, Egypt is not a country proper for trees; but the case is different as to plants, which are va|rious, and many of them highly useful. Amongst the arcificial curiosities of this country are the pyra|mids, those stupendous structures, which were de|servedly reckoned, by the ancients, among the won|ders of the world. The Egyptian Labyrinth, from whence Doedalust is supposed to have taken the model of that which he afterwards built in Crete, though he therein imitated but the hundreth part of it, was a celebrated structure; and Herodotus, who saw it, says, that it far surpassed the report of fame, being, in his judgment, even more admirable than the pyramids. But admirable as the Laby|rinth was, the lake Meris, by which it stood, is said to be yet more wonderful: according to the ancients, this lake was much larger than it is now, and one place in particular, which the water has left, is, indeed, become a dangerous quicksand, wherein men and cattle are sometimes lost. Later relations assure us, it is now above half a league abroad, and a day's journey in length, being in circuit above twelve or fifteen leagues. And even this is prodigious enough, if we consider that it was the work of mens hands, as appears from the two pyramids built in the midst of it, which were standing in the time of Herodotus. With respect to the government, ••••ws, religion, customs, &c. of the ancient Egyptians, we shall be as concise as possible. They are said to be the first who found out the rules of government, and the art of making life easy, and a people happy, the true end of politics. Other nations, particularly the Gre|cians, borrowed the best part of those which they established at home of this nation. The crown was hereditary, yet their first kings were obliged to con|form themselves to the established laws of the land, even in their private way of life. They could not punish any person out of passion or caprice, nor give judgment but as law prescribed. While they thus behaved, they were infinitely dear to their people, the state was flourishing, and their extended do|minion became exceeding rich and populous, and en|abled them to adorn the kingdom with works of ini|mitable magnificence. The king, priests, and soldiers, made, as it were, the three estates of the nation. The Egyptians were very careful in the administration of justice, formed most excellent laws, and minutely attended to the execution of them. But as much as the Egyptians seemed to excel other nations in the wisdom of their laws and constitutions, they sur|passed them in bigotry and superstition. They are said to have been the first who erected idolatrous altars, images, and temples; and the first inventors of festivals, ceremonies, and transactions with the gods

• by the mediation of others, and to have first given names to the twelve gods. They had many deities, of different ranks and orders. Those chiefly ho|noured were Osiris and Isis, by which it is most pro|bable they originally meant the Sun and Moon, whose influences governed and preserved the world. Their idolatrous practices became so general at last, that they gave divine honours to several animals; nay, even to some vegetables. We can only hint, that the Egyptians were early famous for many arts and sciences, and particularly so for that called ma|gic. To whomsoever the invention may justly be ascribed, it is certain the art was very ancient here. They had magicians who pretended to the inter|pretation of dreams, and a way of divining by a cup, in the time of Joseph. Gen. xliv.5, 15. What were the real grounds of this science is not for us to say. We wave entering upon the Egyptian chro|nology, in order to present a concise account of the modern state of Egypt. This land, though once so populous, and full of noble and opulent cities, is so far decayed and fallen from its pristine splendor, that it hath now very few places deserving to be called cities, either for extent, strength, beauty, or populousness. Scarce any are enclosed with walls; and many, formerly celebrated for their wealth and beauty, are now no other than overgrown villages, without ramparts or walls. Though Egypt is now by no means so populous as it has formerly been, yet these huge villages, or unwalled towns, are still very numerous, and so near to each other in some parts, that they appear almost contiguous, especially from Cairo to Rosetta, as well as along the canal of Damietta, and much more so in the heart of the Delta. Egypt is now inhabited not only by the Copti, or ancient natives, but by Arabs, Moors, Turks, Greeks, Jews, Franks, and others. The Coptic was the ancient language. But the Greek being introduced by Alexander, &c. continued to be spoken 900 years, till the Greeks were driven out by the Arabs, since which the Arabic hath continued the common language of the country, as they are the most numerous. However, they are kept se|verely under by the Turks, scarce any of them being admitted into offices. Both men and women (con|trary to the ancient Egyptians, who were the most cleanly people in the world) are commonly very nasty, as well as rude and ignorant; and as they have not only embraced the doctrine of Mahomet, but are even more zealous observers of it than the Turks, so that has continued the principal religion of the country. The climate is naturally so exces|sive hot as to occasion a great variety of diseases, extremely dangerous; and, what is far worse, the plague often rages with such violence as to sweep off myriads in a year in the whole country.
• * 1.70EKRON, situated north-west of Gath, in Palestine, was the most northern of all the five cities which gave name to the five lordships of the Philistines, lay in the north border of Judah, and was conse|quently a frontier town. It was once a place of great wealth and power, and is much spoken of in Scripture; but it faded away to a great degree of obscurity; and although the name, and even very considerable vestiges of what it had once been, subsisted for many ages, it happens that no men|tion is made of it in profane authors. It was fa|mous for its idol Baalzebub, called the God of Ek|ron, which was next in repute and dignity to that of Dagon.
• * 1.71ELAH. The valley of Elah, or of the Tere|binth, lay in the road from Eleutheiopolis to Je|rusalem. Here it was that David slew Goliah. As to the heighth of this gigantic Philistine, according to the English standard, it was twelve feet eight inches, and somewhat better than three tenths. His coat of mail weighed 5000 shekels of brass, or upwards of 189 of our pounds troy; and by the same rule the head of his spear, which weighed 600 shekels of iron, exceeded 22 of the same pounds. The weight of these, and the other parts of his ar|mour, was not, as we may imagine, too heavy for so huge a person, his strength, doubtless, being in proportion to his stature.
• ELAM, mentioned in several parts of Scripture,* 1.72 was a kingdom on the river ••lai, to the eastward of the Tigris. It was the Susiana of the Greeks, and lay so opportunely for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, (who was, according to Jeremiah's pro|phecy, to subdue it,) that he could have been no great while in completing its reduction; though, from the prophecy, Elam must have been a great and potent kingdom. And it seems to have waged war with the kings of Scythia, beyond the river Oxus, with various success. Chodorlaomer was the first king of Elam, and he extended his conquests over many provinces of Asia.
• ELATH was a fair and commodius haven on the Arabian Gulph, or Red Sea,* 1.73 adjoining to the south|east part of Mount Seir, or Land of Edom, and, for a long time, was a situation for the shipping which was sent from those parts into the Indies. It lies near the road the Egyptian pilgrims take when they go to Mecca. In the fourteenth cen|tury there were considerable remains of it standing. This was one of the places whence the Jews traded for gold to Ophir. It was also a great mart of the Tyrians.
• ELEPHANTINE, Island of,* 1.74 was situated opposite Si|enna, in Upper Egypt. It had a small city, and is supposed to have taken its name from the elephants found on it. The Romans terminated their empire here, and so do the Egyptians their navigation on the Nile. This small territory is pleasant and fruit|ful, though hot; and the trees and vines are cover|ed with leaves all the year round. It is allowed the last place belonging to Egypt on this side.
• ELEUTHERUS is a river mentioned in the Macca|bees,* 1.75 and by geographers set down as the boun|dary of Syria and Phoenicia. The moderns, with one consent, give that name to a river between Tyre and Sidon, called by the Turks, Casimea, but the ancients place it more to the northward. The writer of the Maccabees lays it in the land of Ha|math, which country, wherever it was, was certain|ly without the borders of Israel, as appears from the same author.
• ELYMAIS, the metropolis of a province of the same name, lying between the rivers Eulaeus and Orontes,* 1.76 and extending from the confines of Media to the Persian Gulph, was famous for a rich temple conse|crated to Diana, which was plundered by one of the Parthian kings, who found in it 10,000 talents. The Elymeans, as Strabo informs us, were a power|ful people, inured to the toils of war, skilful bow|men, &c. and never subdued by the Syro-Macedo|nian or Parthian kings, but governed by their prin|ces. He dates the rise of this kingdom from the downfall of the Persian monarchy, but not one by name. All we know of them is, that they assisted Antiochus in his wars with Rome, but afterwards cut off both him and his army in defence of their temple.
• EMESA, or EMISSA, was a city of Syria Proper,* 1.77 placed by most of the eminent geographers on the Orontes, between Apamia and Laodicea Caliosa. The emperor Heliogabalus was a native of it. It made a great figure during the reign of the Seleu|cidae, and became an episcopal see under that of An|tioch. It was afterwards taken from the Mussul|men Arabs, by the crusaders, in 1098, and retaken by Saladine about 100 years after. The Tartars mastered it about 1258, and afterwards were driven out of it by the Mussulmen Mamalukes, and these at length by the Turks. It is now called Chems, and Aman or Haman, and is under the beglerberg of Damascus, who keeps a deputy-governor and a garrison in it. It is surrounded by strong walls, with six handsome gates, and stately towers, at proper distances. The castle, which appears to be Roman, stands on an eminence, which commands the town and adjacent parts. Here are likewise some fine new churches, though the greater part of them are now turned into mosques. The chief commerce of the place consists in silk of the finest manufacture. The

• gardens about it, as well as the neighbouring coun|try, are very fertile and delightful, abounding with fruits of all sorts, especially, with mulberry trees, to feed silk worms with, and these are planted in rows of considerable length, very regular, and well wa|tered.
• * 1.78EMMA, the same as Amatha before described. The Jews gave the name of Hamah, or H••mmath, to all places that had such waters: that of Em|mans is the same, only softened according to the Greek idiom. We must not, therefore, confound this with the following.
• * 1.79EMMAUS, according to St. Luke, was a village about 60 furlongs from Jerusalem west. It was af|terwards made a city, and a Roman colony, and called Nicopoli••.
• * 1.80ENDOR, mentioned in Scripture as the place of residence of a woman that had a familiar spirit, and to whom Saul applied to raise up Samuel, &c. was a city of the half tribe of Manasseh, on the west of Jordan.
• * 1.81ENGEDI had anciently the name of Hazezon-ta|mar. It was a city in the tribe of Judah, not far from the Salt Sea, and in a wilderness, or desolate country. Engedi is noticed for its camphire, or (as others render it) cypress: and Jerome tells us it was remarkable for opo-balsamum, supposed to be the same now called balm of Gilead, and that it was a great town in his days.
• * 1.82EPHESUS, in Ionia, in Asia Minor, called by the present inhabitants Aiasalogus, was in former times, the metropolis of all Asia. Pliny stiles it the orna|ment of all Asia. Strabo the greatest and most fre|quented emporium of it. The ancient Ephesus was, indeed, very far different from the modern, which is but a sorry village, inhabited by thirty or forty Greek families, as ignorant as inconsiderable. The ancient city stood about 50 miles southward of Smyrna, near the mouth of the river Cayster, and the shore of the Icarian Sea, which is a bay of the Aegean; but as it has been so often destroyed and rebuilt, it is not easy to determine the precise place. Most modern travellers are of opinion, that the an|cient city stood more to the southward than the present, which they argue from the ruins that still remain. Ephesus, in ancient times, was known by several names. When in the Roman times it was the metropolis of all Asia, it acknowledged Lysi|macus for its founder, because that prince, having caused the ancient city to be entirely demolished, re|built, at a vast expence, a new one, in a place more convenient, and nearer the temple. This new Ephe|sus was greatly damaged by an earthquake in the reign of Tiberias, but by him repaired and em|bellished with several stately buildings, of which there are now but few ruins to be seen, and scarce any thing worthy of ancient Ephesus. The aque|duct, part of which is still standing, is generally believed to have been the work of the Greek em|perors. The pillars which support the arches are of fine marble, and higher or lower, as the level of the water required. This aqueduct served to convey water into the city from the spring of Halitee, men|tioned by Pausanius. The Cayster was formerly na|vigable, and afforded a safe place for ships to ride in, but is now almost choaked up with sand. But the chief ornament of Ephesus was the so much celebrated temple of Diana, built at the common charge of all the states of Asia, and, for its struc|ture, size, and furniture, accounted among the wonders of the world. According to Pliny, an in|credible space of time was spent in building this wonderful temple by all Asia. The pillars, which were of marble curiously carved, or highly polish|ed, were the works of the most famous artists of antiquity; and the altar was almost wholly the per|formance of that great master Praxiteles. This temple had the privilege of an asylum, which at first extended to a furlong, afterwards enlarged by Mithridates to a bowshot, and doubled by Mark Anthony, so that it took in part of the city. But Tiberius put a stop to the many abuses and disor|ders that attended privileges of this kind, and de|clared that no man, guilty of any wicked or disho|nest action, should escape justice, though he••ded to the altar itself. All the Ionians resorted yearly to Ephesus with their wives and children, where they solemnized the festival of Diana with great pomp and magnificence, making on that occasion rich of|ferings to the goddess, without forgetting her priests. The great Diana of the Ephesians, as she was stiled by her blind adorers, was, according to Pliny, but a small statue of ebony, made by one Canetia. As Ephesus was, in the days of heathenism, famous for the temple, so it was, in the first Christian times, adorned with a magnificent church, honoured with the name of St. John's. It is yet standing, and re|presented by a traveller of eminence, as peculiarly striking to a stranger, from the loftiness of its fabric, though now converted into a Turkish mosque. Not far from hence was a stately lavatory of porphiry, called St. John's Font, the diameter of which was above seven pikes, wherein it is said he baptized great multitudes. The aqueduct on the east side appears not very antique, at least it seems to have been repaired in latter times, some stones being re|versed in the walls, and seeming as if placed so by the ignorant Turks as they came casually to hand. So now the reliques of the Gentiles, the Christians, and the Turks, are subverted and heaped pr••miscu|ously together: for the whole town is nothing but a habitation of herdsmen and farmers, in low cottages of dirt, covered on the top with earth, sheltered from the extremity of the weather by mighty masses of ru|inous walls, the pride and ostentation of former days, and the emblem in these of the frailty of the world, and the transient vanity of human glory. We con|clude with observing, that the Turks took Ephesus under Mahomet I. the son of Bajazet, since which it hath remained under them, and that its commerce was transported to Smyrna and Scalanova.
• EPHRAIM was a tribe. Also Ephraim, in which was the wood where Absalom perished on an oak,* 1.83 men|tioned in the 2d book of Samuel, and is undoubtedly to be understood not of any wood lying in the tribe of Ephraim on the west of Jordan, (for Ab|salom, as well as David, were passed over Jordan,) but of some wood lying on the east side of Jordan, and so named on some other account, perhaps, as lying over against the tribe of Ephraim.
• EPHRATA, being the same city as Bethlehem,* 1.84 see that article.
• EPHRON is mentioned in the Maccabees,* 1.85 as a great and strong city, lying in the direct way between the land of Gilead and that of Judah.
• ETHIOPIA.* 1.86 Several of the ancients gave the name of Ethiopians to all persons either perfectly black, or of a very swarthy complexion. The Arabs, there|fore, and other Asiatics, as well as a great number of Africans, fell under this denomination. We find the Africans divided into the west, or Hesperian Ethiopians; and the Ethiopians above Egypt to the east of the former. The first inhabited that vast track called Lybia Interior, but the second were looked upon as the proper Ethiopians. As proper Ethiopia might anciently have been of different ex|tent at different times, its frontiers cannot be pre|cisely fixed. In scripture Cush, when taken for a country, is always to be understood of the proper Ethiopia. The ancients imagined the blackness of the Ethiopians, Abyssines, and Abassians, to be oc|casioned by the intense heat of the climate, and therefore so named them. As we have not room to specify all the several Ethiopian nations, as to their characters and customs, we shall only touch on some particulars. The Str••thophagi (or ostrich eaters) lived upon ostriches. They had several arts and devices to take this their food, though that animal defended itself against them with stones, which it threw out of its feet with great vio|lence. Of the skins of these creatures they made both garments and coverlids for their beds. The Iethyphagi (or fish-eaters) by stopping up the

• passages of certain caverns on the coast of the Red Sea, part of which they inhabited, with stones, enclosed vast numbers of large and small fishes, which, upon the reflux of the tide, were left there as in ••••et▪ and served them for food. As they fed on fi••h in their life-time, so they fed on them after death, for they carried their dead to the sea-shore, where they lay till the tide carried them off. The Chelo|nophagi or tortoise-eaters not only lived upon those fishes, but covered their huts with the shells, and used them also as boats. The Acridophagi (or lo|cust-eaters) had a deep valley in the country of many furlongs, which they took care to fill with wood, &c. and when the south wind drove vast numbers of locusts thither, they set the combustibles on fire, and the smoke suffocated these animals, so infinite in number, that the gound for leagues, was covered with their bodies, which these people seasoned with salt, and lived upon the following year. The Sper|matophagi and Hylophagi formed two neighbour|ing cantons; the first feeding on the fruits that fell from the trees in summer, but the ••est of the year on a sweet plant, with a stalk, somewhat resembling that of a turnip; and the latter on the buds and ten|der shoots of trees. These were people of such sur|prising activity, that they skipped from tree to tree almost like birds. They always went naked, had wives in common, but quarrelled about their habita|tions, sighting with clubs. Circumcision was a rite observed among the Ethiopians, as well as Egyptians, from very early intiquity; though which of these first received it cannot be certainly known. The Ethiopian soldiers tied their arrows round their heads, the feathered part of which touched their foreheads, temples, &c. and the other projected out like so many rays, which formed a kind of crown. Their bows were four cubits long, and required so much strength to manage them, that no other people could make use of them. When they came to a ge|neral action with an enemy, they darkened the air with clouding showers of arrows. They retreated fighting, as did the Parthians, discharging vollies of arrows with such dexterity, that, whilst retiring full speed, they dreadfully galled the enemy. Their lances or darts were of immense size, which farther proves their vast strength. The Macrobian (or long-lived Egyptians) fed, for the most part, upon roasted flesh, drank milk, and frequently attained to the age of 122 years, which was said to be owing to a rich and fragrant fountain, wherein they fre|quently bathed themselves. They looked upon brass as the most valuable of metals, and so lit••e esteemed gold▪ that they fettered their common prisoners with golden chains. Diodorus affirms, that they kept the bodies of their relations in their houses, within ••ases of glass; not thinking it right that the know|ledge of the features, and likeness of their deceased relations, should be forgotten by their surviving kindred, or concealed from their posterity. Thus much may suffice concerning the manners, customs, &c. of the divers, and, in some respects, very dif|ferent nations or tribes of the different Ethiopians. Jupiter Ammon, according to the Greek and Latin authors, seems to have been the principal object of religious worship in Ethiopia. Diodorus says they valued themselves on their being the first nation that had a religious establishment. In short, from the general account of authors, their religion dif|fered not much from that of the Egyptians, which is not to be wondered at, considering their vicinity to, and intercourse with that people. The country is at present, inhabited by people of three different religions, viz. Christians, Mahometans, and Pa|gans▪ but the last are most numerous, and are ge|nerally the Blacks, as the Mahometans are tawney, possessing the north shore: and those who are called Christians have abundance of Pagan and Jewish rites intermixed, and are but small in number compared with the other two. Ethiopia did not abound in cities and towns of any considerable note. Auxeme was its metropolis. It is ••ery mountainous, and most of the hills overlook the clouds. In such a region the air cannot be always alike, and perhaps there is no country in the world where so many dif|ferent seasons may be found in so small a compass. The Ethiopi••, as well as the opposite, coast of the Red Sea, and the islands of this sea, are, in summer, intolerably scorched by the solar rays. However, the air is much more temperate in the mountainous parts. In some provinces the winter is extremely severe; in other's as warm as summer in several parts of Europe. They have little or no snow, but frequent and dreadful thunders, that terrify both man and beast, which proceed from the excessive variety of air. The climate, in general, is yet so healthy, that it is still not uncommon for the natives to arrive at 100 years of age. The days and nights in Ethiopia, as lying between the tropic of cancer and the equator, or equinoctial line, are, for the most part, near•••• equal; and the soil in those parts capable of cultivation, is extremely fertile, and produces vast quantities of grain, pulse, and fruit. Metals likewise, particularly gold minerals, vegetables, and a surprising variety of animals, abound here. It is asserted they have sometimes two, sometimes three, harvests in a year. They neither sow or mow (to make hay) for the cattle, the perpetual heat, and continual distillation of moisture from the moun|tains, producing grass in great abundance, and covering the fields with a most beautiful verdure through all the different seasons of the year; yet they are sometimes infested with flights of grass|hoppers, which cover the earth, and, in a short time, devour every blade of grass to the very root. Of all the rivers that water Ethiopia, the most famous is the Nile, which has its source in this country. The chief ports and emporiums were Adulis▪ Mon|dus, Opone, Morylow, and the principal city of the Avalitae, seated upon the Red Sea. The Arabs, from their country, into these places imported fruit, corn, wine, &c. and exported from thence, to Ose|lis and Musa, opposite harbours in Arabia, spices, cassia, perfumes, ivory, myrrh, and several other commodities. The civit-cat is one of the most re|markable animals of Ethiopia, which yields the per|fume called civet, and is a native of the East-In|dies and America, as well as of Africa. It is a sort of wild cat, not much unlike our tame ones, except that the head more resembles that of a fox: their skin is spotted, the claws are less dangerous, and the cry is different. The perfume this animal pro|duces is an unctuous substance, of the consistence of honey, or butter, and has a most fragrant and grate|ful scent. Civet, like musk, is chiefly used by per|fumers and confectioners, having but little place in medicine. The laws of this country allow po|lygamy, though the church canons forbid it, so that they lawfully, though irreligiously, indulge themselves in it. Trades and manufactures are wholly wanting here; though, indeed, their way of living makes them need the fewer. Even those which are most necessary they are supplied with by the Jews, viz. weaving of stuffs for dress, forging heads for the lances, &c.
• EZION-GEBER was a celebrated post-town in the reign of Solomon and Jehoshaphat.* 1.87 From divers texts of Scripture it may be inferred, that Ezion-Geber and Elath were neighbouring places; so that, for the situation of this place, it may suffice to turn to the article Elath. After the division of the king|dom, Edom being of that part which remained to the house of David, they still continued to carry on a trade before established from the two ports of Elath and Ezion-Geber, especially from the latter, which they chiefly made use of till the time of Je|hoshaphat. But he having there lost his fleet, which he had prepared to sail to Ophir, in partnership with Ahaziah, king of Israel, this spoiled the cre|dit of that harbour. Therefore, to avoid future mischiefs the station of the king's ships was thence|forth removed to Elath.

G.

• GADARA, a city of Palestine, in Coelo-Syria,* 1.88 situ|ated near the river of its name, where it dis|charges itself into the lake of Genesareth.
• GALILEE, a province in Judea,* 1.89 in which had been situate the tribes of Ashar, Naphtali, Zebulun,

• and Issachar. It was the most northern part of Pa|lestine, extending beyond the great plain of Jez|reel, and was bounded north by Mount Libanus, east by the Jordan and the sea of Galilee, south by the river Chison, and west by the Mediterra|nean. It was divided into high and low. The for|mer, on the other side Jordan, extending towards the Machonitis, the Libanus, and Batana, was stiled Galilee of the Gentiles, either because mostly inhabited by, or intermixed with, them. Here was seated the half-tribe of Manasseh. The other was richer and more fertile, except in the northermost part, producing excellent corn, wine, and fruits, with little cultivation, and was, in its flouri••••ing state, full of towns and villages, and extremely populous. The inhabitants were stout and warlike, and very zealous for the Jewish religion. Herein stood Ca|pernaum, Choragin and Bethsaida.
• * 1.90GATH, in Palestine, one of the five cities of the Philistines, was anciently the principal one, as being the royal seat in the middle times of that people, but it dwindled away so early, that there are few or no materials for a description of it. Nor is it easy to fix its exact situation, there being a number of cities of the same name, differently placed by the sacred books, some of them distinguished by an ap|pellative, as Gath-Epher, Gath-Rimmon, &c. and others without any. The word signifies a press, a wine-press, oil-press, or any other. Gath and Ek|ron are recorded as the boundaries of the Philistine territory, the former on the south, and the latter on the north; and these, with the three between, com|posed the five satrapies of that brave ancient nation. It must needs have been a very strong populous city, till David took and dismantled it. Rehoboam rebuilt and fortified it. In the days of Amos and Micah, we find it to have been in a flourishing condition, and wholly independent of the kings of Judah, and since then demolished by Hazael, king of Syria. From these various changes it grew to be of little consideration, till, in the time of Christianity, Fulk, king of Jerusalem, built a castle on its ruins. As to the ancient inhabitants of this city and its district, it is evident, from Scripture, that their inveterate en|mity towards the Israelites was such, that a learned author says, "one would be almost tempted to think they were created on purpose to be a thorn in the sides of that chosen people." This enmity seems to have been of very ancient date; for, in the first book of Chronicles, we read, that "the men of Gath slew the children of Ephraim, because they came down to take away their cattle, and Ephraim their father mourned many days, &c."
• * 1.91GAZA was the most renowned city of the Phi|listines, whose gates Sampson took away, and whither he was carried when he was taken, and where he pulled down the house of Dagon on the lords of the Philistines. When it was in its first days cannot be known; but, in time, it became considerable for strength, beauty, and extent. It was situate on an high hill, and stood, as it were, in the very south|west angle or corner of the land of Canaan, upon the skirts of the desert which led to Egypt. In the He|brew it is called Azza; and Aga by the Syrians, which has been altered into Gaza. In latter times it was also called Ione and Minoa; and the sea which washed along the shore from Gaza to Egypt, was called the Ionian Sea. This city was in the lot of Judah, according to the division made by Joshua; but though it was attempted and carried, yet the Philistines possessed it again, and kept it. For the more convenient communication with the sea, it had a port, called Majuma, a place of no great account, till Constantine took notice of it, and called it Con|stantia, in honour of his son Constantius. Julian altered its name into the port of Gaza, or maritime part of that city. There is no signs it ever was a commodious place for the reception of shipping, but that it was a mere shift for that purpose. Gaza often groaned under the miseries of war, of which one instance was in the year of the world 2667, when, after a stout resistance, and great slaughter, it was taken by Alexander the Great. Gaza was sometimes in a flourishing state, with mighty walls and costly edifices, and sometimes in a distressed condition. After several vicissitudes, it lay so far neglected, that, in the Acts of the Apostles, it is called desert; that is, such a desert as it is now, we may suppose, weak in inhabitants; for so fertile a spot can never be called by that appellation accord|ing to the common acceptation of that word with us. Lucan commemorates Gaza with Tyre and Sidon, when its sister cities are either forgotten, or omitted as not worthy a place among the consider|able ones of this part of the coast. Though it is now but a poor place, there are some reliques left that testify its having been in a better condition; for divers simple roofs are supported with goodly pillars of Parian marble, some plain, some curiously carv|ed. On the summit of the hill are the ruins of the huge arches, sunk low in the earth, and other foun|dations of a stately building. Majuma, which is the new or present Gaza, retains some monuments of its former grandeur, and is encompassed with fertile vallies, producing great plenty of fruits. Near this city is a round castle, flanked with four square towers, and in good repair. Over against it is the seraglio, where the basha's wives, &c. are kept; and a little above it the remains of an old Roman castle, the materials of which are remark|ably firm and hard.
• GENESARETH, lake and land. The Lake,* 1.92 called also the Sea of Tiberias, the water of Genesar, and Sea of Galilee, is supposed to have borrowed its name from the city Cinneroth, on its borders, in the tribe of Naphtali. It has great variety of fish, which, for shape and taste, is not to be found any where else. The Jordan runs through the midst of it. The lake takes its name from the country that surrounds it, which is fruitful and agreeable to ad|miration. As to the fertility of the soil, no plant comes amiss to it; besides that, it is improved, by the skill and industry of the inhabitants, to the highest degree; and, by a climate extraordinarily benign, every thing prospers there, as nuts, palms, figs, and orange-trees, that flourish in perfection, though they require a quite different temperature of air in the nature of them. It is as remarkable for a chry|staline flowing fountain, called by the natives, Ca|pernaum. The length of the country, along the lake, is thirty stadia, or furlongs; and the breadth twenty.
• GERAR,* 1.93 a place frequently mentioned in the history of Abraham, was a Philistine city, vene|rable as being the seat of the first kings; but its exact situation is not to be determined. The usual name of the kings thereof seems to have been Abi|melech, as Pharaoh was that of those of Egypt. The kings of Gerar were, in all probability, Philistines by extraction; for the kingdom of Gerar is expressly reckoned within the land of the Philistines.
• GESHUR and Maacah kingdoms.* 1.94 From Joshua xiii.11, 13. it is evident that the cities Geshur and Maacah, the two capitals of these two small king|doms, lay within the borders of the land of Israel, and consequently on the south side of Mount Libi|nus. That Geshur and Maacah were the capitals of two kingdoms, is likewise evident from our hav|ing express mention made of the king of Geshur, 2 Sam. iii.3. and of the king of Maacah, 2 Sam. x.6. How these two cities or kingdoms lay, in re|spect to one another, is not to be determined; but it is certain they both lay in the north part of the half tribe of Manasseh, or the east of Jordan. Ge|shur was a kingdom before Damascus; and Nico|laus Damascenes writes that Abraham was king (i. e. ruler) there.
• GIBEAH lay to the north of Jerusalem,* 1.95 according to modern geographers, about seven or eight miles; and as many from Gibeon, north-west. It stood on an hill, as the name imports. It is, in Scripture, called Gibeah of Benjamin, as belonging to that tribe; and Gibeah of Saul, as being not only his native place, but that of his royal seat. It was here that the concubine of

• the Levite was abused, the consequence of which is very remarkable, and was very fatal. St. Jerome tells us it was totally ruined in his time.
• * 1.96GIBEON, the capital of the ancient Gibeonites, and a city of the Hivites, was distant about seven miles north from Jerusalem, and situated on an eminence, as its name properly imports. From Joshua x.2. we learn, that it was a great city, greater than A••. Eusebius and Jerome tell us, it was a regal city; though we no where read of a king of Gibeon; whereby it seems to be implied, that, though it was not a regal city, it was, in reality, as considerable. As to the city itself, Eusebius farther tells us, that it was a town or village in his time, still going under its old name, four miles west from Bethel.
• * 1.97GIHON. It is not agreed whether it be a mountain or a fountain. Its situation is generally assigned to be near mount Sion, and on the west side thereof. It was at this Gihon that Solomon, by the especial order of David, was anointed king over Israel; and this is thought to carry in it some inducement to suppose that Gihon was a fountain; David making choice of this fountain for anointing Solomon in opposition to his other son, Adonijah, who was at that time setting up for king near Ennogel, i. e. the well or fountain of Rogel, on another side of Jerusalem.
• * 1.98GILEAD, or Galaad, mount, lies on the east of the sea of Galilee, being part of the ridge of mountains running from mount Lebanon, and including the mountainous region called Trachonites. It had its name from the occasion of the heap made with stones by Laban and Jacob, Galaad or Gilead signi|fying the heap of witness. From this name given to the heap of stones, the whole mountainous track hereabouts was afterwards so called. Hence we read of some places lying in this track or country, that were distinguished by the name of Gilead being added to them, as Jabesh-Gilead and Ramoth-Gile|ad. The word Gilead seems, in some places of Scripture, to denote, if not all, the greatest part of the country beyond Jordan, viz. all the half tribe of Manasseh, and the tribe of Gad.
• * 1.99GILGAL is situated between Jordan and Jericho. Jerome says that the place was shewn in his days at two miles distance from Jericho, and was held in very great veneration by the inhabitants of that country.
• * 1.100GISCHALA was a town in Galilee, and the last there|in reduced by Titus. Of this city was that famed John from this place named John of Gischala, who headed one of the parties of the zealots who defend|ed Jerusalem against the Romans, but, at the same time committed all manner of the most execrable outrages, and brought on the Jews innumerable calamities.
• * 1.101GREECE. The limits of all Greece extended from north to south, i. e. from the long ridge of moun|tains which divided it from Macedonia, and from the river Strymon, by which it was parted from Thrace, to the promontory of T••narus, the utmost southern extent of Peloponnesus; and from east to west from the Ionian to the Aegean Sea. It contained a great number of kingdoms, all of which have, at one time or other, been governed by kings of their own, whose names we only find occasionally men|tioned in the history of the more considerable king|doms of Argos, Attica, Thebes, and Sparta, of the Argonautic expedition, and of the Trojan war. From the names of Grai•••• and Graicoi, they were soon changed into those of Achari and Hellones, by which they are generally called in ancient authors. It is supposed, and with some foundation, that Javan, the son of Japhet, and his descendants, were the first who peopled these countries. If we look upon the infant state of Greece with respect to its inha|bitants, it appears, even by the confession of their own writers, to have been one continued, unculti|vated desert, inhabited by men living indifferently on every fruit, herb, or root that came in their way, and lying either in the open fields, or, at best, sheltering themselves from the inclemency of the weather, in dens, clefts, and hollow trees. Laws they had none, except that of the strongest arm; so that those who were most pleasantly or fruitfully situated, were continually liable to be dispossessed by new invaders. Hence it was that Greece was in a continual fluctuation, the weakest being always sure to be turned out by the strongest. Hence it is also, that whilst other nations, as the Jews, Egyp|tians, Medianites, and Phoenicians, had improved the useful arts to a very great degree, as seen in their several histories, the Greeks alone seem to have been the only strangers to them, insomuch that one may reasonably question, from Homer's making ox|en the standard of the value of things, whether they knew the use of money even in his days. They had no letters till Cadmus brought them thither out of Phoenicia, whose alphabet consisting only of sixteen letters▪ was not perfe••••••d into that of twenty-four till many centuries after him▪ It was from 〈◊〉〈◊〉 likewise that they learned arithmetic, navigation, and commerce. As for other sciences, they continued much longer strangers to them; and it was not till some of their great men began to travel into Egypt, and other kingdoms, that they began to have 〈◊〉〈◊〉 relish for them. Their religion was little else than •• corruption (if we may be allowed the word) of the Egyptian theology, brought thithe•• at first by Ce|crops, an Egyptian exile, and founder of the Attic monarchy. Thus Greece soon after was furnished with a number of deities, suited to the taste of their brutal votaries, and with a fanction and precedent for every unsocial and unnatural vice. To this des|perate and universal degeneracy of the Grecian na|tion, we may venture to ascribe, in some measure, all the fabulous accounts which the poets have given us concerning the birth, extraction, and extrava|gant exploits of those famous heroes, who bestowed so much pains and time to reform and abolish it. Of this number were Minos, Hercules, Theseus, and many more, some of whom cleared the seas, others the land, of that pestilent race: and others, lastly, by wholesome laws, by the introduction of commerce, arts and sciences, laid the happy foun|dation for that politeness and grandeur for which they were so justly famed in after ages Greece (at present called Rumelia by the Turks) is generally considered a temperate, healthful country, and fruit|ful soil; but has had most of the cities it contained destroyed by the barbarous Turks, and a deluge of ignorance introduced into the once admired seats of learning and politeness. Greece, or Rumelia, abounds with fine corn, charming wine, delicious fruits, and great herds of cattle, with fowl and venison in great plenty. The Christian religion was planted in this country, soon after the death of Our Saviour, by St. Paul and Timothy; and it flourished here, for many ages, with more purity than in the western church, producing many champions for the faith, and vener|able fathers, whose writings convey to us the doctrine and discipline of the church very near its native pu|rity. But since the Turks have been masters of this country, and made the people slaves, the state of their religion has very much declined. The Greeks are in their manners much like the Turks: they are covetous, perfidious, treacherous, revengeful to the highest degree, very superstitious, and great hypo|crites; and, indeed, are so despised by the Turks, that they value not a Greek who even turns Maho|metan. The ancient language of Greece is still known to us, being preserved in the writings of their famous philosophers, historians, orators, and poets. But the modern Greek is so far changed by the mixture of foreign languages, that it differs ex|tremely from the ancient, which is but little under|stood by the present inhabitants.

H.

• HAMATH probably adjoined to Rehob north;* 1.102 and, from a clause in the book of Numbers, it seems plainly denoted that Rehob was that part of Canaan as joined next to the country or kingdom of Hamath. It is generally thought that the city of

• Hamath was the same called by the Greeks Epipha|nia, the situation which agrees very well with what is here observed. So that it may be inferred, that the kingdom of Hamath extended itself from the land of Canaan, or more particularly from the king|dom of Rehob, southward, to the city of Epiphania northward; and from the coast of the Mediterra|nean Sea, west, to the kingdom of Damascus (or Syria more particularly called) east. This kingdom is frequently denoted in Scripture by the land of Ha|math, and herein lay Riblah; 2 Kings xxiii.••3. and as the extent of the land of Israel is frequently de|noted by this expression "from Dan unto Beer|sheba," and Numb. xiii.21. "from th•• wilderness of Zin unto Rehob," so 1 Kings viii.63, it is denoted by this expression, "from the entering in of Ha|math, unto the river of Egypt:" and in like manner, in another place, "from the entering in of Hamath, unto the sea of the plain."
• * 1.103HARETH ••orest, whither David retired, was evi|dently within the tribe of Judah, by the words of the prophet, 1 Sam. xxii.••.
• * 1.104HEBRON, or Chebron, was a very ancient city. Some think it was built 90 years after the flood, and that is claimed precedency even of Memphis. It was seated in the hilly country, in the south part of Canaan, and is famous in Scripture on many ac|counts, but now is almost in ruins. Near the ruin|ed old city stand•• a village, called Elkahil, in which is still an handsome church, built by Helena, over the cave where the old patriarchs were buried. It i••, indeed, turned into a mosque, and held in great esteem by the Turks as well as Christians. Hebron, or Elkahil, inconsiderable as it is, is still the capital of a district, called "The territory of the friends of God," consisting of about twenty-five other villages.
• * 1.105HELAM, the place where the Israelites and Syrians engaged in battle, and the latter received a mighty overthrow, is thought to have been the fame with Alm••tha, mentioned by Ptolemy in the reign of Trachonitis.
• * 1.106HELIOPOLIS, i. e. the city of the Sun, wa•• a name given to several Greek cities, and, among the rest, to Corinth.
• * 1.107HERMON Mount. There are two of the name mentioned in Scripture. First, the north-east part of Lebanon, adjoining to the Holy Land, is distin|guished by the name of Mount Hermon, which is consequently mentioned as the north boundary of the country beyond Jordan, particularly the kingdom of Og, or of the half tribe of Manasseh, east of Jor|dan. Second, Hermon lies within the land of Ca|naan, west of the river Jordan, not far from mount Tabor. This Hermon is, like Libanus, capped with snow, but for nothing so remarkable as for the a|bundant dews which fall upon and about it. A tra|veller of note observes, that "he was sufficiently instructed by experience what the holy Psalmist means by the dew of Hermon, as the tents were as wet with it as if it had rained all night."
• * 1.108HERODION. Herod the Great built a stately palace about seven miles from Jerusalem, in the place where he had formerly defeated the Parthians and the Jews of the Asmonean party, when be fled from that city on Antigonus becoming master of it. This, from his own name, he called Herodion. It stood in a very pleasant and strong situation, on the top of a hill, from whence was a prospect of all the country round. From this palace the hill declined all round with an equal and uniform descent, which made a beautiful shew; and at the foot of it were soon built such a number of houses, as amounted to the pro|portion of a considerable city.
• * 1.109HESHBON, the capital of the kingdom of Sihon, appertained to the tribe of Reuben, but stood in the confines of that of Gad, and was remarkable for its excellent fish-pools. After the carrying away of the ten tribes, it was re-possessed by the Moabites, whence, in the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah against Moab, we find frequent mention of it. It has been a Levitical city. It continued a great and noble city till the days of Eusebius and Jerome, being by the Greeks called Esbus.
• HYRCANIA, a province of Persia,* 1.110 was bounded on the north by the Caspian Sea, on the west by Media, on the south by Parthia, and on the east by Margiana, now called Mazandran. The capital was called Hyrcania, as well as the province, and is by the mo|derns denominated Hyrcan. Ancient writers agree in representing Hyrcania as a country abounding in wine, wheat, figs, and all other kinds of fruit, but here and there interspersed with meadows and pas|ture lands, and in some places with the less pleasant prospect of thick woods, abounding with wild beasts almost of every kind. As to its present condition, nothing can be more amazing than the wide differ|ence between the accounts given us by persons of credit and capacity, who have had equal opportuni|ties of acquiring a perfect knowledge of the parti|cular they represent.

J.

• JABE••H-GILLAD.* 1.111That this place lay in Gilead is imported by the name. It joined to the coun|try of the Ammonites. It was still a town in the days of Eusebius and Jerome, six miles from Pella, on a hill, in the way to Ger••sa. Its inhabitants are remarkable in Scripture for their grateful remem|brance of Saul's having raised the siege thereof by the Ammonites.
• JAMNIA, in Judea,* 1.112 stands a few miles from Joppa on the same coast. It i•• famed in the book of the Mac|cabees, and placed at about 290 furlongs from Jeru|salem, and was an episcopal see, under that of Cae|sarea; but it is now in so ruinous a state, that scarce any thing remains of it worth farther notice.
• JERICHO, in Canaan,* 1.113 about six miles west from the river of Jordan, and 23 almost east of Jerusalem, was the first city that was invaded by the Israelites, after their passage over Jordan, and, by the miraculous fall of its walls, taken, set on fire, and levelled with the ground. The tree from which flowed the famed Balm of Gilead, and other odoriferous trees likewise, grew in its vicinity, from the fragrancy of which it is supposed to be named Jericho, which, in the origi|nal, signifies odour. Here Elisha sweetened the waters of the spring that supplied it and the neighbouring countries. Here Herod built a sumptuous palace. It was the dwelling-place of Zaccheus, and honour|ed with Christ's own presence and miracles. It yield|ed to none in all Judea but Jerusalem, in the times of the last kings thereof. Besides the palace afore|said, it was adorned with an hippodrome, an am|phitheatre, and other magnificent buildings. But at present, according to modern travellers, ••t is only a poor village of the Arabs.
• ...

  JERUSALEM. This famous city has been so amply described by our author,* 1.114 together with the various revolutions it underwent, from its foundation to its destruction in the second year of the emperor Ves|pasian, that a recapitulation of them would be both tedious and unnecessary. We therefore proceed to observe, as to its more modern state, that, in A. D. 136, the emperor Adrian having changed the name of Jerusalem in Aelia Capitolina, after the name (Aelius) of his own family, erected a temple to Ju|piter Capitolinus upon the spot where the Jewish temple formerly stood, and planted a Roman colony in the city; whereupon the Jews broke out into a re|bellion, took Jerusalem, and massacred all the Romans settled there. But Severus (governor of Britain) being sent against the rebels, retook the city, redu|ced it to ashes, and plowed up the ground whereon the temple had stood. The emperor and senate of Rome published an edict, forbidding all Jews for ever, upon pain of death, to set foot in Jerusalem,

• ...

  or any place where it might be so much as seen. Even those Jews that embraced Christianity were also prohibited. This quite delivered the church from the servitude of the law; for, till then, the bishops of Jerusalem had often been chosen from among the circumcised Christians, who joined the observance of the law to that of the gospel. Adrian, however, next year, ordered Jerusalem, by the said name of Aelia, to be rebuilt, and peopled it, partly by a Roman colony, and partly by such of the neigh|bouring people as were not Jews. Hereby the church at Jerusalem came to be composed only of converted Gentiles, or Christians proper, St. Mark being appointed the bishop of the place. Constantine the Great afterwards demolished the heathen temples built by Adrian here; and he and his mother Helena (of British extraction) built sumptuous churches in their stead, and other mag|nificent structures. A. D. 614, the city was taken by the Persians, and continued in their hands, and those of the Saracens and Mahometans, till the reign of Charlemagne, to whom it was yielded by the king of Persia. After his death it was retaken, and held by those infidels till the year 1••99, when Godfrey of Bouillon took it from them, and was made its king. A. D. 1187, Saladine, the famed king of Syria and Egypt, made himself master of it, and of all the Holy Land. Last of all it fell into the hands of the Turks, and so it yet con|tinues.

  Jerusalem, in its present state, is about three miles in circumference, and lies in 31 deg. 50 min. north lat. and 36 deg. east long▪ being situated on a rocky mountain. Dr. Bankes, to his excellent System of Geo|graphy, says, "The hills which stand about Jeru|salem make it appear to be situated, as it were, in an amphitheatre, whose area inclineth to the east|ward. We have no where, as I know of, any distinct view of it: that from the Mount of Olives, which is the least, and, perhaps, the farthest, i••, not with|standing, at so small a distance, that when Our Sa|viour was there, he might be said, almost in a li|teral sense, to have wept over it. There are very few remains of the city, either as it was in Our Sa|viour's time, or as it was afterwards rebuilt by Adrian, scarce one stone being left upon another. Even the very situation is altered; for Mount Sion, the most eminent part of the Old Jerusalem, is now excluded, and its ditches filled up; whilst the places adjoining to Mount Calvary, where Christ is said to have suffered without the gate, are now almost in the centre of the city." With respect to its present state, the Turks call it Cudsemb••ri••. It is thinly inhabited: the walls are weak, and without bastions; the ditch inconsiderable. The gates are six in num|ber, viz. Damascus, St. Stephen's, Herod's, Ster|quilina, Bethlehem, and Mount Sion Gate; beside the Golden Gate, which is shut up, on account of a prophecy which the Turks have among them, that by that gate the Christians are to take Jerusalem. The streets are narrow, and the houses mean. Pil|grims and travellers, who flock from all parts, either through devotion or out of curiosity, are the prin|cipal support of the city. A Turkish bassa resides here, to keep good order, collect the Grand Seig|nior's revenues, and protect the pilgrims from the insults of the Arabs. No European Christian is allowed to enter the city till the requisite duties are discharged; nor can a stranger safely stay here, without being upon good terms with the Latin fa|thers. The pilgrims principal object is the church of the Holy Sepulchre, situated upon Mount Cal|vary. It is 100 paces in length, and 60 in breadth. The workmen were obliged to reduce the hill to a plain area, in order to lay the foundation: but great precaution was used not to alter any part of it where our Saviour's Passion was concerned. The scene of the Crucifixion is left entire, being about 12 yards square, and stands at this day so much higher than the floor of the church, that it is ascend|ed to by 21 steps. The Holy Sepulchre, which was originally a cave ••••wn out in the bottom of the rock, may be now compared to a grotto standing above ground, and having the rock cut away, and levelled all round. The walls of the church of the Holy Sepulchre are of stone, and the roof of ce|dar. The east end encloses Mount Calvary, and the west the Holy Sepulchre: the former is covered with a superb cupola, supported by 16 large co|lumns, and open at top. Over the altar there is another fine dome: the nave constitutes the choir; and the sides of the church contain the most remark|able places where the circumstances of Our Sa|viour's Passion were transacted, together with the tombs of Godfrey and Baldwin, the two first Chris|tian kings of Jerusalem. In the church of the Cru|cifixion the hole is shewn where it is said the cross was fixed. The altar has three crosses, richly adorned, on it, particularly with four lamps of immense va|lue, whi•••• are kept constantly burning. The cloi|ster round the sepulchre is divided into sundry cha|pels. The Latins, who take care of the church, have apartments on the north-west side; but they are never suffered to go out, the Turks keeping the keys, and furnishing them with provisions through a wicker. Some grand ceremonies are performed at Easter, representing Christ's passion, crucifixion, death and resurrection. At dusk the pilgrims and monks meet in the chapel of the apparition: the lights are extinguished, and a sermon preached by one of the Latin priests▪ then each being furnished with a lighted taper, all walk in procession•• round the church. They stop first at the Pillar of Plagel|lation, where an hymn is sung, and a sermon preach|ed: thence they proceed to the Chapel of the Prison, to hear another hymn, and another sermon. At the Chapel of the Division of the Garment, to which they go next, an hymn is sung, but no sermon preached. They then proceed to the Chapel of De|rision, the altar of which is supported by two pil|lars; and underneath is a piece of greyish marble, on which they say the soldiers placed Christ when they crowned him with thorns, and mocked him, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" Here a sermon is preached, and a fourth hymn is sung. They next enter another chapel, parted from the former only by a curtain, and advancing to the ••••st end, come to the very spot on which Our Redeemer was cruci|fied. This chapel is covered all over with Mosaic work; and in the middle of the pavement are some marble stones▪ of several colours, designed to shew the very place where Our Lord's blood fell, when his hands and feet were pierced: it is adorned with 13 lamps, and a candlestick with 12 branches. An hymn is here sung, and a sermon preached on some text relative to the Passion. Then two ••riars, who personate Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, come with great solemnity to the cross, and take down the image that resembles Christ, which they put in a winding sheet, carry it to the stone of unc|tion, and sing an hymn over it. A sermon is then preached in Arabic, and thus the ceremonials con|clude. On Mount Moriah, in the south part of the city, stands an edifice called Solomon's Temple, which is situated upon the same spot as the ancient temple; but it is uncertain by whom it was erected. The middle part, where the Jewish Sanctum Sanc|torum was supposed to have stood, is converted into a Turkish mosque. The priests, and other Chris|tians, are kept miserably poor by the tyranny of the government, and have scarce any subsistence, but what they procure by accommodating strangers with food and lodging. The royal sepulchres, without the walls of Jerusalem, are some of the most elaborate, curious, and magnificent antique remains that imagination can conceive. By whom they were built is uncertain, but they consist of a great number of apartments, most which are spacious, all cut out of the marble rock. Near Jerusalem is a spot of ground, of ••0 yards long, and 50 broad, which is now the burial place of the Armenians. It was formerly the aceldama, field of blood, or potter's field, purchased with the price of Judah's treason, as a place of interment for strangers. It is walled round, to prevent the Turks from abusing the bones of the Christians: but one half of it is oc|cupied by a charnel house. The most remark|able places round about Jerusalem, are Mount•• Olivet, Calvary, and Gihon; the vallies of Jeho|shaphat, Hinnone, and Rephaim; and the towns of Nebo, Gibeon, Gibeah, Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho.

• ...

• ...

  * 1.115JOPPA, or Jaffa, as it is at present called, is situ|ated on the Mediterranean coast. It was anciently the principal sea ••ort town to Jerusalem and all Ju|dea, and the place where the cedars of Lebanon, brought in floats from Tyre for building the temple, were landed. It was pleasantly seated on a rock, in a beautiful plain, and situated in 30 deg. 20 min. north latitude, and 35 deg. 3 min. east longitude. Jonas here embarked for Nineveh: and from the history of his miraculous voyage, the story of An|dromeda was fabricated by the heathen poets: for their sea-monster was no other than the Leviathan of the sacred writings, and the whale of the mo|derns.

  —"Huge Leviathan unwieldy moves, "And thro' the waves a living island roves: "In dreadful pastime terribly he sports, "And the vast ocean scarce his weight supports: "Where'er he turns, the hoary deeps divide; "He breathes a tempest, ••nd ••e spouts a tide." BROOME.

  We cannot help adding the sublime description given by Job of this tremendous creature, which the ancients so terribly dreaded, and which the moderns have found the means not only to subdue, but to render subservient to many domestic uses.

  "His bulk is charg'd with ••••ch a furious soul, "That clouds of smoak from his spread nostrils "roll "A•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 furnace; and, when rous'd his ire, "F••••r issues from his jaws in streams of fire. "The rage of tempest, and the roar of seas, "This great superior of the ocean please. "Strength on his ample shoulders sits in state; "His well join'd limbs are dreadfully complete. "His stakes of solid flesh are slow to part: "As steel his nerves, as adamant his heart. "Large is his front: and, when his burnish'd eyes "Lift their br••ad lids, the morning seems to rise. "His pastimes, like a cauldron, boil the flood, "And blacken ocean with the rising mud: "The billows feel him as he works his way, "His hoary footsteps shine along the sea." Dr. YOUNG's Job.

  It was in Joppa that St. Peter raised Dorcas to life, and received the messengers of Cornelius. Though it was anciently a very magnificent town, and a great commercial mart, yet the harbour was never commodious, on account of several rocks▪ which render the passage into it dangerous. It lay for many ages in ruins, but of late hath been much improved, though it still falls beneath its original splendor. The lower ground towards the sea is covered with good houses, chiefly of stone. The principal commodities are Raman and Jerusalem soap. Rice, and other articles, are brought from Egypt, and exported from hence to various places, which yields the bassa of Gaza a considerable annual income. The inhabitants are supplied with water from an excellent spring on the west side of the town. The Christians now have no church, except one almost in ruins, and uncovered; but they have several handsome houses appropriated to their use, and for the entertainment of pilgrims. Jaffa at present, on the Mediterranean coast, was the head sea-port town to Jerusalem, and all Judea, where the timber of Lebanon, brought in floats from Tyre for building the temple, was landed; it being near about thirty miles north-west from Jerusalem, very pleasantly situated on a rock, in a beautiful plain. It is said to have been first built by Japhet, and from him takes its name Japho, since moulded into Joppa; and heathen geographers speak of it as very ancient. It was ••••med, in the time of the Maccabees, for the Jews burning the Syrian fleet before it. Its name is now pronounced and written Jaffa, or Japha; and though it has nothing left of its ancient beauty, but its charming prospect, yet its condition appears much amended since Sir Paul Lucas was here in 1707. At present the lower ground, towards the sea is covered with good houses, mostly stone; and the town carrie•• on a considerable traffic. Great quan|tities of rice, and other commodities, are brought from Egypt. Ships of burthen can conveniently ride in the road; and on the west side, near the shore, a charming spring of water supplies the town. The Christians have here no church but one, almost ru|i••••ted and uncovered; but they have commodious houses to entertain pilgrims.

• JORDAN (River), rising from the lake of Phiala,* 1.116 enters the Samachonite lake, whence proceeding, it divides the Sea of Tiberias, and thence discharges itself into the Dead Sea. The origin of its name, or names, is somewhat obscure. It being by far the principal stream in those parts, is, by way of emi|nence, called "The River;" the rest in the country being comparatively mere brooks. It is remark|able, that, in harvest-time, it is most full, and apt to overflow its banks, contrary to the general nature of rivers, which are fullest in winter; whence it may have been that some have imagined a subter|ranean communication between this and the Nile. The Jordan, from the account of modern travel|lers, seems very different from what it was former|ly. Its stream is so strong and rapid, that a man cannot stem it in swim••ing: the dimensions are by no means large; and the water is turbid▪ the natu|ral consequence of its rapidity. It is very whole|some, and incorruptible in its nature; was former|ly fordable in some places, and may still be so. It seems also to have been formerly crossed in boats and ferries.

K.

• KEILAH is reckoned among the cities of Judah;* 1.117 and it appears, from several circumstances, that it lay on that part of Judah which adjoined the country of the Philistines.
• KIRJATH-JEARIM,* 1.118 very often mentioned in Scrip|ture, is expressly reckoned in Joshua among the cities of the tribe of Judah, and said to lay in the north border of that tribe, not far from Bethshemesh. It had its name from Mount Jearim, o•• or near which it lay.

L.

• LIBANUS, or Lebanon,* 1.119 the most considerable mountain in Coelo-Syria, or between Syria and Palestine, is of prodigious height, as well as extent. The cedars of Lebanon are frequently mentioned in Scripture, th•• few of which now standing are near a monastery called Canobine, about ten hours journey from Tripolis. These cedar trees bear leaves much resembling our juniper, and are green all the year: but in the large ones the ••op spreads itself into a perfect round; whereas the smaller a|scends in form of a pyramid, and like the cypress. They bear the usual fruit, which is a kind of large apple, like that of the pine, only smoother, and of a browne•• colour. Various varieties, and singular be|nign qualities, are attributed to the wood of this tree.
• LYDDA lay north, not far off,* 1.120 but somewhat more inland, from Joppa. It was called Diospolis by the Gentiles: but, from the Christians, in the time of the Holy War, it had the name of St. George's, principally from a very erroneous opi|nion that St. George had there suffered martyrdom; and they ••lso made it, on that mistaken account, an episcopal see.

M.

• MADIAN is the Modiana of Ptolemy, and Midian,* 1.121 or Madian, of Scripture, and was a city of A|rabia, at present little better than a ••eap of ruins, situate on the east shore of the Sea Al Kolzom, at no great distance from the gulph of Ailah. Most au|thors agree that the Midianites ought to be looked upon a•• the descendants of Abraham by Keturah, ••ho was afterwards seen to hav•• coalesced with the Ishmaelites, since Moses names the same merchants, who sold Joseph to Potiphar, in one place Ishmael|ites, and in another Midianites.
• ...

• * 1.122MAHANAIM (i. e. two camps or hosts) was situate between Mount Gilead and the River Jabbak, not far from the latter. By this were the confines of the tribe of Gad and half t•• of Manasseh, that were on the east of Jordan. It became a place of great strength, and therefore seems to have been chosen by Abner for the royal seat of Ishbosheth during the war between him and David; and for the like reason it seems to have been made choice of for the retiring place of David during the rebellion of Absalom.
• * 1.123MAKKEDAH is reckoned among the cities given to Judah. It stood eight miles to the east of Eleu|theropolis.
• * 1.124MAON (into the wilderness of which David with|drew from that of Ziph) was a neighbouring town to Carmel. Hence it is said of Nabal, (1 Sam. xxv. 2.)

  There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel;

  and Nabal, though he might dwell in Maon, is yet stiled Nabal the Carmelite, from the place where his estate lay.
• * 1.125MARAH. A certain traveller informs us, that, in passing from Shur towards Mount Sinai, they came into the desert, as it is still called, of Marah, where the Israelites met with those bitter waters, or waters of Marah. And as this circumstance did not hap|pen till after they wandered three days in the wil|derness, we may probably fix it at Corondel, where is a small rill of water, which, though diluted by the dews and rains, still continue•• to be brackish.
• MASS••••••, in the tribe of Judah, was a famous for|tress, built by Judas Maccabeus, and represented as impregnable. It was situated on an high, craggy rock, inaccessible on all sides but one, and that very steep and difficult. The siege of it by the Romans under Silva, the general of Titus, is one of the most remarkable events in ancient history. Nothwith|standing the height and ruggedness of the rock it stood on, yet, when you had gained the top, you saw an agreeable, flat, fertile country, so spacious as to supply the town with corn, fruit, &c. Herod the Great finding it a place of such strength and import|ance, added new works and fortifications; and as it had no other supply of water than from the clouds, he ordered several capacious cisterns to receive it, and stored it with a prodigious quantity of provisi|ons of all sorts. He likewise built himself a sump|tuous palace in it, that, in case ••••y revolt should happen, he might take refuge 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a place so well fortified. The Romans called it Collis Achi|lea.
• * 1.126MEDIA, now the north-east part of Persia, but once the seat of a potent empire, plainly derived its name from Madai, the third son of Japh••t; the Medes in Scripture being constantly called Madai. In mo|dern terms it may be said to be the same country where are now the provinces called Aran, Schirevar, and Adzerbayan, with their sub-divisions.
• * 1.127MEGIDDO appertained to the half tribe of Manas|seh on the west of Jordan; but the Canaanites con|tinued to dwell therein tributary to the Israelites. Solomon rebuilt it. Here died Ahaziah and Josiah, kings of Judah.
• * 1.128MELITENE, or Melitina, in Lesser Armenia, was a Roman castle, with a garrison, which the emperor Trajan made a city, appointing it to be the metro|polis of the whole country, whence▪ in process of time, it became one of the most populous and weal|thy cities in the east. It stood on the banks of the Euphrates. The famous thundering legion belong|ed to this place, being raised and generally quar|tered here.
• * 1.129MEMPHIS is called in Scripture Moph and Noph, which name is supposed to be derived from A••se|nophis, according to Sir Isaac Newton, the same person with Menes and Memnon, a prince that ei|ther built or fortified it. The chief idol of the Egyptians was here called Apis, which they wor|shipped in the shape of a bull, and always kept one in his temple. The famous city of Cairo is said to have been built out of its ruins, on the eastern side of the Nile.
• MICHMASH, in Judea, was in the tribe of Benjamin,* 1.130 situated nine miles from Jerusalem, and between it and Gibeon. Eusebius says it was very considerable in his time.
• MYGDONIA, or more properly Macedonia,* 1.131 is thought, by the learned, to be plainly denoted in the first book of Maccabees by the land of Chectim, Alexan•••••• being mentioned as coming from thence. Perseus, king of Macedonia, is therein also called king of the Citims. But as this country was anci|ently inhabited by various nations, so was it, for a long succession of ages, distinguished by different appellations. It was very anciently called Ama|thia; but afterwards the whole country, which the Greeks called Macedonia, received that denomina|tion, as some say, from king Macedo, descended from De••calion; or, according to others, by an easy change of Mygdonia, the name of one of its pro|vinces, into Macedonia. The accessions of territory which Macedonia received▪ were made at different times, and on account of different wars. Pliny tells us, that not less than 150 different nations were seat|ed within its territory; and Mela confirms the mul|titude of different states▪ by saying, it had about as many ••ons as cities. Its form was irregular; but its situation▪ excellent, in respect to its being washed on the east by the Aegian Sea, and on the west by the Ionion, which advantages, however, were never cultivated as they might have been; nor were the Macedonians ever powerful at sea, though ma|ny noble bays and excellent harbours are to be found in their country. Macedonian•• bounded with most sorts of trees which were valuable for timber, fruit, or shade. It had anciently many wast•••• and de|serts. In process of time no part of Europe was better peopled, but since it has been in the hands of the Turks, great part lies uninhabited. It is rich in divers mines of gold; abounds with corn, pasture, cattle, venison; and, in some parts, produces wine and oil.

N.

• NABATHAEA. According to St. Jerome,* 1.132 the country of the Nabathaeans extended from the Euphrates to the Red Sea▪ so that it comprehend|ed Arabia Deserta, and great part of Arabia P••|traea. The manners and customs of these people were much the same as those of Arabia, Ethiopia▪ &c. &c.
• NAIM, or N••in, according to Eusebius, was a city situated in the plain near Mount Tabor,* 1.133 and within two miles of it. He places it at a small di|stance from Endor and Scythopolis. There was another city so called in Id••mea, where Simon, the son of Gorias, made his retreat after he had strong|ly fortified it.
• NAIOTH (to which Samuel retired with David) is situated in Ramah, meaning the district of Ramah,* 1.134 otherwise called Ramathai•••• Zophi••••, the birth|place, and usual residence, of the said great pro|phet.
• NEAPOLIS, a city of note in Trace,* 1.135 on the Aegean Sea, between the river Strymon and the Nestus, the name signifying only New City. One of the quar|ters of Syracuse was so called.
• NEOPOLIS, in Judea. Neopolis, in Ar••eni•• Minor,* 1.136 was built by Pompey, in memory of a signal victory over Tigranes the Great, and thence called Neopo|lis Pompeii.
• NINEVEH, or Ninus, in Assyria, (now Curdistan,* 1.137) is most generally supposed to have been at first built by Nimrod, not long after the Tower of Babel. Its name is generally thought to be taken from Ne|••••es, the son of Nimrod, and to be a compound,

• Neni-nave, i. e. The Dwelling of Ninus. It was seated on the banks of the Tigris, over against where Mae••l now stands, and had increased and grown so prodigiously large in the time of Jonas, who pro|phesied against it, that it was three days journey long, or, as others think, in circumference. It was also so strong as to be esteemed impregnable. How|ever, it was at length taken and destroyed, accord|ing to the prophecy of Nahum: and it is remark|able that Lucian, in one of his dialogues, says, that Ninus (the profane name of Nineveh,) "was so utterly destroyed, that there remained no footsteps of it, nor could one tell so much as where once it stood." A new city, it is probable, w•• quickly built by the Medes, out of the ruins of the old, and called New Nineveh; but this was likewise destroy|ed by Astyages, the eighth Median king from Ar|baces, for its frequent revolts: and to so low a de|gree was it brought in the time of Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, in the middle of the fifth century, that he tells us there was nothing to be seen of it bu•••• great heaps of rubbish: and yet we find a third Nineveh destroyed by the Saracens, as it is supposed, some hundred years after. At a small distance from the ruins of Nineveh is a Turkish mosque.
• * 1.138NISIBIS was once a large, populous, and opulent city; but is at present described as a town in Diar|••••••••••, about •••• miles from the Tigris, and but the shadow of what it once was; though it ••ll the residence of a Turkish Sang••••c. In fine, it is little more than a village; though arches, gates, and the remains of a noble church are yet to be seen. Its territory is fruitful, and, when cultivated, produces c••, wine, and various fruits, the chief business being agriculture. About two miles to the east is a good river, with a very noble stone bridge: and all the way between the town and it, pieces of old walls, and a large arch, whereby it is supposed the city anciently reached quite to that river. Nisibis stands west from the celebrated Ur of the Chaldees, between it and the Tigris.
• * 1.139NOB was a sacerdotal city. By the prophet Ne|hemiah it is reckoned among the cities of Benjamin. It seems, therefore, to have been added to the priests, and that occasionally, when the ark was at Kirjath|jearim, it being moreover not nominated among those that were assigned to them at first.
• * 1.140NOD, the land of, to which fugitive Cain, under a•• apprehension that every one who found him would slay him, by divine order, retired, and therein built a city, calling it Enoch, after the name of his son. Where this land of Nod (which word signifies fugi|tive or wandering) was situate, is thought not quite certain. No remains of the name Nod itself, as a land, are now to be found.

O.

• * 1.141OLIVET Mount, or the Mount of Olives, called, by the Jews, in their language, the Mount of Unction, or the Mount of Olives, or Oil. It was also termed the Mountain of Three Lights, because lighted on the west by the fire of the altar, receiving on the east the light of the sun, and producing much oil, the aliment of light. It stands a sabbath day's journey (i. e. eight furlongs, or one mile) east from Jerusalem, commanding an extensive prospect, as being the loftiest eminence in its neighbourhood. It was once famous for fertility, and was thus de|scribed by an author of the 7th century. "Few or no trees are there to be found, except the olive and vine, according to the report of Acculfus; but wheat and barley there flourish in a most kindly manner, for the nature of the soil is quite productive." With respect to the Turks, notwithstanding their pretend|ed veneration for this mount and its circumstances, it is more than suspected it is not out of real devo|tion, but for lucre's sake, and to exact money from the popish pilgrims, and travellers of curiosity, for admission to see them.
• OPHIR The acutest, nicest,* 1.142 and most sagacious writers are much at a loss to find out a certain settle|ment for Ophir. It is by several supposed to be the place whither Solomon sent ships every three years from Ezim-geba to fetch gold. This opinion some would have supported by several edifices, which seem to have been erected here by foreigners, as they have inscriptions in unknown characters. Be|sides, some say the inhabitants boast of having books, proving that the Israelites, in Solomon's time, sail|ed every third year to these ports to fetch gold.

P.

• ...

  PALESTINE, or Judea, situated between 31 deg. 30.* 1.143 min. and 32 deg. 20. min. north lat. and from 34 deg. 50 min. to 37 deg. 15 min. east long, being bounded by the Mediterranean sea on the west, Syria and Phoenicia on the north, Arabia Deserta on the east, and Arabia Petraea on the south. It is therefore near 200 miles in length, and about 80 in breadth towards the middle, but increases or di|minishes 12 or 15 miles in other places. The longest day is about 14 hours 15 minutes. The air of Judaea is the most salubrious and pleasant imaginable; neither heat nor cold are felt in the extreme, but an agreeable serenity diffuses itself throughout the year, which puts the stranger in mind of the golden age:

  "The flowers unsown in fields and meadows "reign'd, "And western winds immortal spring "main|tain'd."

  Though the climate of this country is at present the most admirable in the universe, we have no doubt but that, in the early ages of the world, when the pastoral life was the most honourable, and agricul|ture the most respected employ, it even exceeded its present excellency, by means of the general cul|tivation of the country. Of the richness and ferti|lity of its soil we have the most authentic testimo|nies; in particular, that it abounded in corn, wine, oil, honey, pomegranates, dates, figs, citrons, oran|ges, apples of Paradise, sugar-canes, cotton, hemp, flax, cedars, cypresses, and a great variety of other stately, fragrant, and fruitful trees, balm of Gilead, and other precious drugs, &c. cattle, fowls, fish, game, and other delicacies, as well as necessaries of life. Indeed, w••oever considers the very small ex|tent of Judaea, will be sensible that nothing but such astonishing fertility could enable it to maintain such a number of inhabitants as resided in it in the time of king David, since they amounted to 6,000,000. The produce of the land not only subsisted this pro|digious multitude, but there was a sufficient super|fluity to send to Tyre, and other places for expor|tation. Yet the soil was only cultivated six years in seven, as the septennial year was always a time of rest from the affairs of agriculture. It is to be ob|served, that the whole of the country was cultivated, and that woods, parks, waste grounds, &c. were un|known. It is now unhappily inhabited by some of the most indolent people existing; yet Dr. Shaw informs us, that, with a little cultivation, it would yield as much as it did in the days of king David and king Solomon.

• ...

  PALMYRA, as called by the Greeks and Romans,* 1.144 Tadmor in the Wilderness in the Scripture, Palmira and Thadamor by Josephus, Tadmor and Tatma by the Arabs and Syrians, stood about fifteen miles east of Damascus. The air is exceeding good, but the soil now barren, (though it formerly had perpetual springs, and yielded fruit and corn,) affording no|thing green but a few palm-trees in gardens, and some scattered up and down

  Palmyra in the deserts of Arabia, or, as by the Scripture stiled Tadmor in the Wilderness, is a most awful spectacle. "As you approach (says Dr. Bankes, in his System of Geography) the first ob|ject which presents itself is a ruinated castle▪ on the north side of the city. From it you descry Tad|mor,

• ...

  enclosed on the three sides by long ridges of mountains. Southward of it is a vast plain extend|ing far beyond the sight. The city must have been of large extent, from the space now taken up by its ••uins▪ among which live about thirty or forty mi|serable families, in huts of dirt, within a spacious court, which once enclosed a magnificent temple. This court hath a stately high wall of large square stone, adorned with pilasters both within and with|out, and are about sixty on each side. The beau|tiful cornices have been beaten down by the Turks. Towards the centre are the remains of a castle, shro••ding the fragments of a temple of exquisite beauty, as appears by what is still standing of its entrance, viz. two stones thirty-five feet long, car|ved with vines and clusters of grapes. In the great court are the remains of two rows of very noble marble pillars, thirty-seven feet high, with capitals finely carved; and the cornices must have been of equal elegance. Fifty-eight of these pillars are en|tire. There must have been many more, as it appears they went quite round the court, supporting a most spacious double piazza. The walks on the west side of this piazza, which face the front of the tem|ple, seem to have been grand and spacious; and at each end are two niches for statues at length, with pedestals, borders, supporters, canopies, &c. carved with inimitable art. The space within this once beautiful enclosure is (or rather was) encompassed by another row of pillars of a different order, fifty feet high; sixteen of which are yet standing. The temple was ninety feet long, and about forty broad. Its grand entrance, on the west, appears, by what re|mains of it, to have been the most magnificent in the world. Over a door-way, in the remaining walls, you trace a spread-eagle: and here are the fragments of cupids, as well as of eagles, most finely imitating nature, on large stones mouldering on the earth. Nothing of the temple stands but the walls, the window-places of which are narrow at top, but richly adorned with sculpture. In the middle is a ••upola, all one solid piece. Leaving this court and temple, your eyes are saluted with a great number of pillars of marble, scattered for near a mile. To the north you have a stately obelisk before you, con|sisting of seven large stones, besides its capital, grandly sculptured. It is more than fifty feet high, and is twelve feet and an half in circumference just above the pedestal; and it is imagined a statue once stood upon it. East and west of this, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile, is another obelisk, that seems to have corresponded with the first men|tioned; and, according to the fragment of a third, it should seem that there was a continued range of them. On one of them, which is about forty feet high, there is a Greek inscription, commemorating two patriots: and about an hundred paces from it is a large and lofty entrance, leading to a grand piazza, adorned with marble pillars, on most of which there are inscriptions. A little farther on|ward, to the left, are the remains of a stately pile of remarkable fine marble, twenty-two feet long. On the west side of the piazza are several openings for gates; two of which appear to have been the most superb that over captivated the human eye, both in point of grandeur of work in general, and the beau|tiful porphyry pillars with which they were adorned. Eastward of the piazza are a great number of scat|tered marble pillars, most of which have been de|prived of their elegant capitals. A little ruined temple lies mouldering at a short distance, which appears to have been a very curious structur••▪ But of all the venerable remains, none more attract the admiration than the magnificent sepulchres towards the north of the city, extending a mile and more, and which, at a distance, have the appearance of tops of decayed churches, or bastions of ruined forti|fications." The magnificent city of Palmyra is mentioned in the Arabic translation of the Chro|nicles, as subsisting before the days of Solomon. But John of Antioch, surnamed Malala, says, that it was built by Solomon, and on the very spot where his father slew the Philistine chief. He affirms that the city was built in commemoration of that memo|rable action. We find, in the ninth chapter of the first book of Kings, and the eighth of the second of Chronicles, that Solomon erected a city in a wilder|ness, and called it Tadmor: that some time after|wards, the Greeks and Romans distinguished it by the name of Palmyra, even while its first name was still retained by the Syrians: and this is confirmed by St. Jerome, who says, that Tadmor and Palmyra are the Syrian and Greek names of the same place: and the country Arabs, even at this time, call it by the former name. In this circumstance they are re|markably particular preserving the ancient denomi|nation of places through various revolutions. Thus the Acca of the Old Testament is at this day called by them Acca; and the Greek name Ptolemais, in which th••t of Acca was for some time immured, is lost through disuse. Not that human judgment can pretend to advance, however, that Palmyra was ac|tually the work of Solomon: an opinion only can be offered, concurrent with that of the present inha|bitants, who say, all these things were done by So|lomon, the son of David. However, such structures as might have been erected by Solomon we will suppose to have been entirely demolished by Nebu|chadnezzar, who in his march to the siege of Jeru|salem, destroyed this city▪ as we are assured by John of Antioch. It was afterwards beautifully ••epaired by Adrian; then destroyed by Antiochus, and re|built by Aurelian; and at last totally demol••shed by the ignorant and bigotted Turks, under w••ose ty|ranny the whole country lies waste. The greatest figure Palmyra ever made in history was in the reign of Galliennus, under whose shameful indolence the Roman glory i•• the ••ast became considerably ob|scured; when Odenathus, joining that emperor's party, collected the poor remains of the discomfited Romans in Syria, whom he led against Sapor, the Persian monarch, put his army to ••••ight, and ad|vanced with his victorious troops to Ctephison, the capital of the empire. On his return from this ex|pedition, full of riches and honours and revered by the Romans, he was unanimously proclaimed Au|gustus, and co-partner in the empire with Galli|ennus. Such of the accounts of Odenathus as have reached posterity▪ serve rather to heighten than gra|tify the human curiosity. He was a native of Pal|myra, and so admirable a politician, that he, for a while, held the balance of power between the empire of Persia and Rome. He drove the Goths out of Asia Minor, where they had committed the most violent ravages: and this was his last great action, in which, it was apprehended, he was treacherously slain by Maeonis, his kinsman. His son, Herodotus, soon afterwards suffered the same fate: nor did Maeonis long survive, being cut to pieces by the soldiery.

  The fortune of the beautiful Zenobia, queen of Odenathus, is well worthy the attention of our readers. The vicissitudes which this lady expe|rienced were various and surprising, and her charac|ter great and extraordinary; though her memory is tarnished with the suspicion of her having been privy to the deaths of her husband and son. The person of Zenobia was graceful and genteel; her com|plexion dark brown; her eyes black, and sparkling with uncommon lustre; her teeth beautifully white; her countenance sprightly; her air noble; and her voice clear and powerful. Her strength was unusu|ally great. She inured herself much to fatigue, was fond of riding, and would sometimes march on foot at the head of her troops. In council she was cir|cumspect and prudent; in executing bold and de|termined. She could be open or reserved, mild or se|vere, as occasion required. She was generous, but not profuse; and observed inviolably the chaftest rules of female honour. No woman was better ac|quainted with history than this accomplished queen: she was mistress of the Greek and Egyptian tongues, as well as the Latin, which she translated into the former. She boasted herself descended from Pto|lemy, and reckoned Cleopatra among her ancestry. That Zenobia attended her husband in the field there is not the least doubt, since the emperor Aure|lian passes the highest encomiums on her military prowess. She assumed, after the death of Oden••|thus, the reigns of government, in the name of her children and renouncing all alliance with Rome, attacked▪ and ••otally routed, the army of Hera|clianus,

• ...

  the Roman general, who was sent against the Persians, he himself narrowly escaping from fall|ing into her hands. She afterwards, while the exi|gency of public affairs called the attention of Clau|dius nearer home, asserted an hereditary right to the dominion of Egypt, as being descended from Pto|lemy; and having secured a strong party there in her favour, she sent thither Zabdas, an experienced and gallant officer, who had served under Odena|thus; and he, defeating the Egyptian army, pos|sessed himself of the province in the name of Zenobia. The Palmyrenes, however, w••re afterwards routed, and nearly driven from their new acquisitions; but taking advantage of Probus, the Egyptia•• praefect, who, in endeavouring to cut off the retreat of the vanquished, discovered his ignorance of the coun|try, they totally defeated his army, and himself was taken prisoner; a disgrace which he could not out|live; but, dying by his own hand, left Zenobia mistress of Egypt. The progress of this heroic queen greatly alarmed Claudius, who being now near the end of the second year of his reign, resolved to turn his forces against her; but was cut off by the plague, at Syrmium in Pannonia. He was succeeded by Aurelian, who was not, however, secured in his power without some trouble, and who, before he thought of relieving the eastern empire, reformed the police at Rome, and reduced the Goths, Van|dals, and Germans. These great tasks being com|pleted, he crossed the Bosphorus at Bizantium, and having taken Tyana, in Cappadocia, he proceeded to Antioch, of which he possessed himself by strata|gem. By two battles, one fought here, the other at Emesa, Aurelian recovered the eastern provinces, and forced the queen to shelter herself within the walls of her capital. Having taken every necessary precaution to supply his army with provisions, Au|relian proceeded to Palmyra; not, however, without being considerably harrassed by the Syrian banditti. Arriving at length before the walls of the city, he laid close siege to it, and was gallantly resisted by the garrison. Being wearied out with military ope|rations, the emperor had recourse to negociations, and made some offers to Zenobia, which she most haughtily rejected, bidding him remember, that her ancestor Cleopatra preferred death to dishonour. This enraging Aurelian, he re-attacked with re-doubled vigour; and the besieged being at length reduced to the last extremity, had no resource but that of applying to their allies, the Persians, for re|lief; and this resolution being agreed on in coun|cil, Zenobia, herself undertook the carrying it into execution, and, mounting a dromedary, set out for Persia, but was taken prisoner as she was about to cross the Euphrates. Palmyra now soon surrender|ed, and the emperor took possession. He spared the inhabitants, but carried off the best part of their riches, leaving behind him a garrison of si•• hun|dred archers, who, some years after, were cut off by the inhabitants, most of whom were by the empe|ror's command, in consequence of the massacre, put to death, and the city quite ruined. The emperor, at Emesa, set on foot an enquiry into the conduct of Zenobia: and here it was that she sullied her great character, by betraying her best friends, among whom was Longinus, by whose advice it was that she had rejected the terms of peace which the em|peror Aurelian had proposed: for this he was or|dered to be executed; but his mistress was reserved to grace a Roman triumph. She afterwards mar|ried, and had children, at Conche, on the road from Rome to the ancient Tiber, where the emperor as|signed her some lands, and the remains of her villa are at this day to be seen. Palmyra, was afterwards governed by the Romans: and, from a Latin in|scription still extant, we discover that Hierocles was for the fifth time president of the provinces, when Dioclesian here erected some magnificent edifices. In the year of Christ 400 the first Illysian legion was quartered here: but Procopius, gives us reason to imagine that the place was so little regarded as to be sometimes left without a garrison. The Roman history makes no farther mention of Palmyra. Ac|cording to Benjamin Tudulensis there were 2000 Jews among the inhabitants in the twelfth century. We shall conclude our account of this once grand and flourishing city, with the following quotation from an author on the subject: "••ir••t Palmyra was used as a place of strength, is evident from alte|rations which have been made in the castle on the hill, and the Temple of the Sun, which must have been intended for defence, and are not more than five or six hundred years old. The most perfect piece of antiquity is a mausoleum, upwards of seven|teen hundred years old, with the floo••ing entire, and an inscription still legible, informing us that it was built by Jambeli••us, son of Mocimus, as a burial-place for himself and family, in the year 314." See Bankes's much admired System of Geography.

• PERSIA. The word Persia is supposed to be only a corruption of the word Parthia,* 1.145 and that the mo|dern Persians derive their name from their proge|nitors the Parthians, the ancient inhabitants of the country. The word itself implies in horseman; and the Persians and Parthians have always been famed for their skill in that exercise. Persia includes all those countries which were anciently celebrated and known by the names of Media, Parthia, part of Assyria, Alpcania, Colchis, Bactria, Iberia, and Su|siana. It is bounded on the north by the Caspian Sea, which separates it from Russia; and on the north-cast by the river Oxus, which divides it from Usbec Tartary. The north-west boundaries are the Daghistan mountains, and the mountains of Ara|rat, which divide it from Circassian Tartary. India is the eastern boundary; the Indian Ocean, and the Gulphs of Persia and Ormus, the southern; and Arabia and Turkey the western. The prodigious mountains of Ararat and Caucasus have long made a distinguished figure in history: nor hath that long chain of mountains, known by the name of Tauris, which run quite through the empire, been less cele|brated. From the distracted state of Persia for many successive years, the political division of the provinces cannot be ascertained; but the most re|markable places in the empire are, Ispahan, the me|tropolis, and residence of the sophi; Schamachie, Ardehil, Sulthania, Caswin, Rom, Reschd, Der|bent, Schiras, and the cities of Ormus and Gom|broon, on the Persian Gulph. These last are much on the decline at present, though they were for|merly places of great commerical consequence. Most of the European nations, particularly the English, have established factories at Gombroon, by means of which they carry on a trade with the Persians, Turks, Tartars, Arabians, Armenians, Banyans, &c. The soil of Persia is in most parts very fertile, producing various kinds of grain, cattle of all kinds, game, and plenty of the choicest fruits. Tha Persian language is spoken in common through|out the whole empire, but more correctly in some provinces than others. The Turkish is the polite or court language; and the Arabic is the learned language, in which all the books on sublime subjects are written. The sciences flourished in Persia be|fore they did in Europe; but the modern Persians fall very short of the Europeans in every branch of learning. The grand epocha, by which they date all events, is the Hegira, or flight of Mahomet from Mecca, which took place in the year 622. They reckon twenty-four hours to the day, but do not subdivide it into day and night as we do. As they begin their week on Saturday, Friday i•• their Sab|••ath. Their year begins at the vernal equinox. ••heir solar and lun•••• years differ in the space of twelve days, because they reckon but twelve moons to their lunar year. The most celebr••••ed and sin|gular antiquities in Persia, are the ruins of Pers••|polis, formerly a superb city, till it was destroyed by Alexander the Great, to oblige the Grecian cour|tezan Thais. These ruins are about the distance of thirty English miles from the city of Schira••. They are situated in a fine plain, which is about 120 miles in length, and only six or seven in breadth. This plain is overflowed with water several months in the year, which occasions it to be so exceedingly fertile, particularly in rice, that it is covered with little villages, or hamlets, to the number, as the in|habitants assert, of 880 including those which are situated in the adjacent mountains. The ruins ap|pear like an amphitheatre, and are situated in a kind

• of semicircle, formed by the mountains. The an|cient palace of the Persian monarch••, which was formerly called the house of Darius, and which the modern inhabitants term Chil-minar, or the palace of Forty Pillars, is situated at the foot of a moun|tain, which hath for time immemorial been known by the name of the Royal Mountain. Near the mountains are two ancient sepulchres of Persian monarchs, the fronts of which are ornamented with various figures. Near Derbent there are the ruins of a wall which extend 5 leagues in length; and the wall is said to have reached from the Caspian to the buying seas; and on the side of that city are above 〈◊〉〈◊〉 gra••e-••iones, most of which have Arabic in|scriptions. There is not, perhaps, any kingdom or empire whatever which has undergone greater revo|lutions than that of Persia, to recount which would be too extensive to be here admitted. We shall therefore only mention the most recent, which was occasioned by the celebrated Kouli Khan, who, in the year 1734, was so exceeding successful against the Turks and Tartars, as to conquer all the open country of Georgia and Armenia. In 1735 he de|stroyed great part of the Turkish army at Arpa Kavi. In 1736 the young Shah Abbas (the then emperor) died, when Kouli Khan convened the Persian chiefs and nobles, and told them that they were at liberty to chuse an emperor. They there|fore unanimously begged him to accept of the crown, being, indeed, afraid to do otherwise. Hav|ing mounted the throne, he ruled the Persians with a rod of iron▪ destroyed many of the Royal family, and putting to death all the nobility, except those who were deemed idiots, or whose understanding he despised. He then seized many estates, particu|larly the church lands; and having concluded a pe••ce with the Turks and Russians, marched into the territories of the Great Mogul, defeated the ar|mies of that monarch, made himself master of Delhi, the capital of Hindostan, took the Great Mogul himself prisoner, put multitudes to the sword, and plundered the empire of jewels, gold, and other valuables, to the amount of 87,500;000l. sterling, a greater treasure than any other monarch in any age or nation ever before possessed. These immense treasures he lodged in his hereditary prin|cipality of Chalat: but did not trust the guarding of them either to Turks or Persians, but to 12,000 Georgians, all of whom were Christians. He then subdued the Usbeck Tartars, and brought their country to be tributary to Persia: after which he returned to Ispahan, and severely reprimanded his son for the mal-administration of affairs during his absence. The year 1741 he spent in quelling seve|ral insurrections. In all these expeditions he com|mitted unheard of cruelties. Among the rebels his eldest son proved one, for he attempted to murder him, but escaped till the year 1742, when he was brought as a prisoner to his father, and had his eyes put out by order of that monarch. The Turks hav|ing, in the year 1744, set up a pretender to the throne of Persia, who gave out that he was a younger son of the late emperor Shah Thomas, Kouli Khan sent one of his sons at the head of an army against him. The pretended prince was defeated and taken pri|soner. Kouli Khan being informed of this, in a temporary fit of humanity, gave orders that he might be permitted to escape: nevertheless, he di|rected that 282 of his followers should be beheaded. In the year 1745 he again marched against the Turks, and defeated them; but in 1746 and 1747, he was entirely employed in quelling domestic broils, and intestine rebellions. He was now generally looked upon to be in a state of insanity. His actions were usually absurd, and always unaccountable: some|times a gleam of generosity and humanity would seem to direct his intentions, but avarice and the most horrid cruelty at most times predominated. He was, however, on the second of July, 1747, as|sassinated by five of the principal officers of his guards. This event happened thus: the conspira|tor•• entered his tent about one o'clock in the morn|ing, when one of them stumbling over some of the cords that fastened it, Kouli Khan waked, started up, seized his sabre, and with one blow cut off the head of him who was next to him. He then struck the next on the left shoulder with such force, that the sabre lodged in the spine or back bone, and stuck so fast that, before he could withdraw it, the remaining assassins dispatched him, and cut off his head, which they took with them, and having bu|ried their companions, they retired. When the peo|ple heard of his death they were greatly rejoiced. They immediately put to death his blind son, and his grandson, and even all his women, lest any of them should be pregnant by him; so much did they de|test the breed of his cruel and bloody tyrant, who seems to have thrown Nero, and all the inhuman monsters of antiquity, at a distance. Since the death of Kouli Khan, all has been, and still i••, anarchy and confusion in that unhappy country. Several of his family, as well as others, have been, and are, con|tending for the empire; but as their various suc|cesses, and the late revolutions, are not known in Europe, at least not properly authenticated, we must conclude our historical observations on the Persian empire.
• PELLA, anciently Bunemas, or ••••nomi••,* 1.146 in Ma|cedonia, was seated at the mouth of the river Ac|tius, and was the birth place of Philip, and his son Alexander the Great, which Philip was there edu|cated. He therefore enlarged it▪ and made it the capital of Macedonia. It had in its neighbourhood the tomb of Euripides, the celebrated tragic poet. It now lies in ruins, and is, by the Greeks, called Pa|latisia; i. e. the Little Palace. Pine. marbles are daily dug out of its ruins. There were other places of the same name.
• PELUSIUM.* 1.147 Ancient Pelusium is now called the village Belbai••, and situated on the Pele••sia branch of the Nile, for which reason Damiata is often taken for Pelusium. This place is said to have been sur|rounded with triple walls.
• PENIEL, or Penuel, (signifying, The light of God,* 1.148) so called by Jacob, on reciving the blessing after his wrestling with the angel was a place near the brook Jaddok. It became afterwards a city of note; for we find Gideon pulled down one of its towers because they had denied him bread. It was rebuilt by Jeroboam, who likewise erected three others. It stood by the Jordan, and belonged to the tribe of Gad. Strabo mentions a city adjoining to Tripolis, which was called by the same name, at one end of Mount Liba••••••s.
• PERGAMUS, or Pergamos,* 1.149 a city of the greatest note in Asia Minor, but which, in time, became the metropolis of a separate kingdom, said to be founded about the year of Rome 74, and made a considerable figure, was seated on a spacious plain on the banks of the Caicus. It was the royal seat of the Attalic kings, and of Eumenes, and enriched with a library of 200,000 volumes; for the trans|cribing of which parchment was here first invented; and by the Latins thence called Charta Perga|mena, or Pergamenum. Ptolemy, king of Egypt, gave occasion to this useful contrivance, by prohi|ting the exportation of the Pagyrus, in order to defeat the design of Eumenes, which was to cause all the valuable books then extant to be carefully transcribed, and thereby make a collection th•••• might vie with Alexander's famed library at Alex••andria. Here were likewise invented those costly hangings, by us called ••••••estry, by the Romans named Aulaea, from Aula, •• hall, because the hall of Attalus, who invented them, was the first room adorned with this furniture. Galen, the famed bo|tanist and physician was ••••n in this city; and here Esculapi•••• is said to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 practised physic. To speak of it at present, Per••••••nos is not a very con|siderable town (in compar••••••) of Phrygia, in Asia Minor; but the plain about it •••• so well watered by the Pitanu••, as well as the Caicus, which fall into the Hermus, that it is one of the most fertile in this country, especially in corn. At a small distance is another river, smaller, and more rapid, called, by the ancients, Selenus, which falls into the Caicus a little below the town; on the other side whereof is a stately mosque, formerly a Christian church. The

• ancient cathedral was dedicated to St. John; but nothing is now left of it, except some of the walls. The Christians here now are but ten or twelve mi|serable families, who are allowed a church; but the Turks are said to be between 2 and 3000 souls. On the east side stands the ruine of an ancient palace; and many other antiquities are here and there seen, such as a parcel of fine marble columne; a noble bas••-relief of a man on horseback, curiously carved; the remains of an aq••educt, of which six ••v••h•••• yet stand over a brook, and farther south six others, with spacious vaults under them.
• * 1.150P••TRA, the capital of Arabia Petrea, se•• to have been denominated, by the Hebrews, Selah, (2 Kings, xi••.7.) both which words are of the same import, viz. Rock, in Greek and Hebrew; Petra being but a translation of Selah. St. Jerome intimates, that, among the Syrians it went by the name of Re••em, and that the latter was the same town in the text just quoted, stiled Joktheel. Petra was the chief for|tress of the Idumaeans, Edomites, or Nabatheans, and derived its name from its rocky situation. It is agreed that it was accessible only by one narrow path, which, with the steepness of the ascent, rendered it almost impregnable. It was seated in a plain full of gardens, but surrounded with rocks, according to Strabo. Pliny says merely the same, and that the Nabatheans inhabited the city of Petra, situated in a plain watered by a river, and encompassed by in|accessible mountains. A gr••••t diversity of opini|ons in this particular prevaile among the moderns; but we shall only observe, that it is, by the approved judicious, allowed most probable that Errakim, or Arrak••••, a town in a north direction from Ha|••ra, near O••r••••h••, seems to correspond best with the Petra of the ancients. There were several other places which had the name of Petra: and particu|larly one in the third Palestine; but then, as Jerome and Eusebius extend Palestine as far as the Red Sea to El••th, it comprehended Idumaea and Arabia Pe|trea.
• * 1.151PHAS••L••S was a tower in Jerusalem, of very great circumference.
• * 1.152PHIALA Lake, situated not far from the Sama|chonite Lake, in the Holy Land, is now known to be the true so•••••••• of the Jordan. That it was so was long disputed; 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the doubt was decided by Phi|lip the Tetrarch, who casting straw or chaff into it, they came out at Panion. The name, which signifies a p••••••••l, was common to other waters of the same kind. It is situated in the midst of a most delightful coun|try, which is also so well adapted for the carrying on of business, that marts or fairs are held there all the summer by the neighbouring people.
• * 1.153PHILIPPI properly belongs to Thrace, but is by most geographers placed in Macedon, pursuant to the division ••ver since the time of Philip, the father of Alexander, who having reduced the country between the Strymon (the ancient boundary of Ma|cedon) and the Nessus, or N••st••••, added it to his he|reditary kingdom, whence that track was ever after looked on as a part of Macedon. It afterwards be|cau•••• a Roman colony. It was situated on a rising ground, abounding with springs; having on the north ••••de several hills, covered with woods; on the south a marsh, which reached on the Aegean Sea; on the ••••st the streights of Symde••, and on the w••st a large plain extending to the S••••ymon. On this plain, the probable boundary between Macedon and Thrace, was the memorable bottle between Brutus and Cassius, and Anthony and Octavianus, afterwards Augustus▪ St. Paul preached in this city, convert|ed many, and wrote to th•••• from Rome the epistle we have in the New Testament by such title. To speak of it in its present state, it is situated near the borders of Romania, about 190 miles from Con|stantinople. The Greeks, w•• are told, still call it Philippig•• (Land of Philip.) The first thing ap|parent to travellers is the castle on a mountain, very large, and the wall•• almost entire. On the se|veral hills, which surround this mountain, stand divers fortresses communicating with the castle, be|ing encompassed with large walls, which extend into the plain. Within the place are several heaps of free-stones and pieces of marble, but no footsteps of buildings. There are a great number of edifices half demolished. It is natural to suppose here were stately temples of white marble, sumptuous palaces, and magnificent monuments; the broken remains of all which afford beholders a grand idea of ancient architecture. This town is still an archbishop's see; but it retains nothing of its ancient splendor, and is very thin peopled.
• PTOLEMAIS. Ptolemy makes Ptolemais,* 1.154 and Bar|ca, in Cyrenia, two different cities, placing the for|mer in the island, the latter on the coast. This Ptolemais is now commonly called Tolmeta.

R.

• RABBATH, or Rabbah,* 1.155 (a word importing great and populous,) the metropolis of the Am|monites, to distinguish it from the city of Moab, which bore the same name or epithet, was called Rab|bah of the children of Ammon. This capital seems to have been distinguished into two parts, Rabbah properly so called, and the City of Waters. Whence these waters were derived to it, whether from the Jabbok, or from exuberant springs in or about it, is not determined. We have some authority to say, it was the most delightful part of the city, and that the king's house stood there, from whence this part may have been stiled the Royal City. This part (before which fell the brave Uriah) Joab took, and then sent to David, who came accordingly, with all his forces, and took the other part. Rabbah was also famous for being the place where the great iron bedstood of Og, king of Bashan, was seen. In pro|cess of time, this city was called Philadelphia, from Ptolemy Philadelphus, who sumptuously rebuilt it, and for ages was a city of eminence.
• RAGABA was a fortress in the territory of the Ge|••••sens, beyond Jordan.* 1.156
• RAP••••••, a city,* 1.157 is placed by Strabo and Livy in Phoenicia, by Ptolemy in Samaria, and by Pliny in Idum••••a. But as it stood near Gaza, between it and Rhino••••l••••••, it is by other geographers counted amongst those of Palestine. It is particularly fa|mous for the decisive battle between Antiochus, king of Syria, and Ptolemy Euergetes, wherein the former was defeated, forced to withdraw to An|tioch, and quit all his conquests.
• REPHAIM. The Valley of Rephaim, from a text in Joshua, appears to lie near Jerusalem,* 1.158 in the con|fi••es at least of Judah and Benjamin. Travellers inform us, that the road from Jerusalem to Bethle|hem lies through this valley, famous for being the theatre of several victories obtained by David over the Philistines. As to the Rephaim••, considered as a nation, race, or family, they are mostly placed in Bashan, where reigned Og, the declared l••st of their race. They were, as the name manifests, m••n of gigantic stature, that of Og himself being repre|sented by the size of his bedstead, &c. In the book of Genesis, the Raphaims are reckoned as one of the ten nations whose land was promised to the seed of Abraham.
• RHINOCOLURA was situate near the mouth of the ••asa••, (supposed that called in scripture,* 1.159 River of the Wilderness,) and placed, by ancient geographers sometimes in Syria and sometimes in Egypt, to which last kingdom it once belonged. It is now, we are ••••ld, called Pharami••••, and was strongly forti|fied during the holy war, to prevent the Turkish auxiliaries coming out of Egypt into Palestine, since which time it is gone to decay, and is an in|considerable place.

S.

• * 1.160SABA in Arabia Felix. The Sabaei seem to have possessed a considerable territory in the S. and best part of this peninsula. It was celebrated amongst the ancients for the vast quantity of frankincens•• it produced. Saba, its metropolis▪ according to an|cient geographers, stood upon an hill as no consider|able distance from the Red Sea▪ being a large, opu|lent and strong city. It was defended by a castle, and, as has been supposed by many learned ••••n, to|gether with the Arab nation in general, the residence of the queen of Sheba. The Arabs assert both the town and district to have been so denominated from Saba, the son of Jexhad, and grandson of Joktan, whose name imports to lead into captivity, because he was the first who reduced men to a state of servi|tude. The aforesaid Sheba is said, besides this city of her name, to have built that famous mound which formed the vast reservoir about it, by means whereof, it received all the waters that came down from the mountains, the kings of Yaman did not only supply the inhabitants of Saba and their lands with water, but likewise kept the territories they had subdued in greater awe, for by c••tting them off from a communication with it, they could at any time greatly distress them. This building stood like a mountain above the city, and was by the Sabeans esteemed so strong, that they were under no appre|hension of its ever failing. Each family had a por|tion of the water distributed by the aqueducts. But at length a mighty flood broke down the mou•••• by night, while the inhabitants were asleep, and carried away the city with the neighbouring towns and peo|ple. This inundation in the Koran, styled, "The inundation of Al-Aren," occasioned so terrible a destruction, that henceforth it became proverbial, thus to express a total dispersion, "They were gone and scattered like Sheba." It is the most received opinion that this catastrophe happened about the time of Alexander the Great.
• * 1.161SAMARIA (or Sebaste) was situated in the tri••e of Ephraim, 45 miles N. of Jerusalem. It was the capital city of the kingdom, and royal seat of the kings of Israel, till a period was put to that king|dom. Hence Samaria often in the Old Testament denotes such whole kingdom. Samaria, when un|der king Ahab, was twice besieged by Benhad••d, king of Syria, and othe•• confederate princes, with an immense army, and, in the course of the latter siege, reduced to the direst extremity: the army, however, at length, through a judicial terror, raised the siege with the utmost precipitation. In the year before Christ 721 Salam••na••ar▪ king of Assyria, took the city after three year••, and carried away the ten tribes of Israel (or most of them) into cap|tivity, and so put an end to that kingdom after it had stood 254 years divided from that of Judah. The enemy committed the most horrid cruelties on their captives, so that Samaria was reduced almost to an heap of rubbish, and all the land laid waste. This melancholy and fatal end of that kingdom happened in the 6th year of Hezekiah and 9th of Hosea. But Samaria must have been soon repaired, for colonies were thereupon sent either by Sala|manazar, or his successor, to re-people the land of Israel, chiefly from Cutha, whence the new inhabi|tants were called Cutheans. From some religious and other causes it seems a mutual hatred subsisted between the Jews and Samarians, the former abo|minating even the name of the latter, and those on their part always disclaiming any kindred with them in time of adversity, though forward enough to claim it in time of prosperity. After divers revolu|tions it was at length taken by Aris••••bulus, and its region, together with Galilee, and again restored ••o Judea. Samaria was partly rebuilt by Gabinius, and new called S••baste by Herod, who put the finishing stroke to it. It was made the metropolis of Pale|stine Secunda under the Romans, and an archbi|shopric under the Christians. Herod Agrippa ob|tained it of the emperor Caligula, and siding with the Romans against the Jews under Vespasian, they at that time avoided the common calamity of the country. But afterwards, taking other measures, they were, together with the rest of the Jews, extir|pated out of Palestine by Adrian, and the city has since gone to decay. The melancholy fragments of this once famous city stand upon a long mount of an oral figure, having first a fruitful valley, and than a rising hill running about it, The Turks have e••••cted a mosque ••••re, into which they let any Christian for a small piece of money.
• SAMOSATA, once the capital of C••••ag••na Proper,* 1.162 was situated on the Euphrates, near the confines of Armenia Major. It was the residence of Antiochus Asiaticus, after Pompey had confined his kingdom to this small province▪ and stripped him of the rest of Syria. It was the native place of the witty Lu|cian. It is now called Scempsal, but is only a poor village, surrounded with an heap of ruins of the an|cient city.
• SCYTHOPOLIS. See Beths••a.* 1.163
• SELEUCIA.* 1.164 There were nine cities of this name built by Seleucus, but distinguished by some ad|junct; some of th•• most eminent of which follow. Seleucia on the Tigris, so called from Seleucus Ni|canor, its founder, who made it the metropolis of his empire beyond the Euphrates. Seleucia, sur|named Trachonitis, or Aspera, (on appellation well agreeing with the mountains and rocky country of Cilicia, on which it stood,) about twelve miles from the sea, on the banks of the Caliced••••••••. Its bishopric became subject to the patriarch of Con|stantinople about the ninth country. In modern name is Sel••schi. Seleu••••a surnamed ••••oria, on the north side of the Orontes, now reduced to a poor village called Selu••i J••lb••r. Seleucia Pis••diae, called Seleucia ad Taurum, because it stood on some part of that ridge of mountains; and Seleucia Fer|rea, perhaps from iron mines or manufactures, is now in ruins.
• SEPPHORIS, a city of Galilee.* 1.165 It stood in the tribe of Zebulun, and was one of the first cities in Galilee on the road from Ptolemais. It became in time the metropolis of that province, when the emperor gave it to young Agrippa. The younger Varu••, the Ro|man general, taking it, sold the inhabitants by auc|tion, set fire to the city, and reduced it to ash••s▪ Herod Antipater having the territory of Galilee for his share of the government, rebuilt it, and sur|rounded it with strong walls, so that i•• became one of the best cities in the ca••ton.
• SHILOH in Canaan,* 1.166 where was set up the taberna|cle, in which was kept the ark, and where the ark remained till just before the death of Eli, was situa|ted in the tribe of Ephraim. After the Philistines took the ark, Shiloh ••ell so to decay•• ••hat Jeremiah, foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem▪ says, it would be brought into the same ruino••s condition with Shiloh. And Jerome says there was nothing left of it in his time but the foundation of the altar of burnt sacrifices.
• SICH••M, Sochem, or Shechem.* 1.167 The proper and original name seems to have been Sh••lem, which in time grew out of use among the Israelites, they cal|ling it Shechem and Sichem, from Shechem, the son of H••mor. It stood ten miles E. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Hyr••a|nion, was several times ruined and rebuilt, had been one of the cities of refuge given to the Levites, and was made the metropolis of Samaria, after the demo|lishing the city of that name.
• S••••ON is properly to be stiled the metropolis of Phoenicia. It borrowed its name from Sidon,* 1.168 the eldest son of Canaan, by whom it is said to have been built: though it is not universally agreed, that the name was derived from the said Sidon. Sidon is said to have been the greatest of the maritime cities in general, having long enjoyed an enriching trade, which caused such voluptuousness in the inhabi|tants, that to live at case and pleasure is denoted in

• Judges xviii, 7. by living after their manner. The men being shipwrights were very famous for hewing timber (See 1 Kings v.6.) and therefore Solomon had thence hi•• principal workmen to build the tem|ple. They are allowed also to have been excellent artificers in other trades, and said to have been the fir••t makers of chrystal glass. It was taken by the Saracens in 936▪ and recovered, repaired, and for|tified by the Christians in 110••▪ and was held by the Teutonic knights, and had 〈…〉〈…〉 guarded by the knight templars, since which the Turks, having made themselves masters of it, have let it 〈◊〉〈◊〉 into decay. It is n••w named Said or Sayd, and is situated in a fertile and delightful soil, though but a s••••ll town. The great mosque is handsome as well as large, and the public bagnio is in good condition. The haven is large but unsafe, and the ships are forced to ride under a small ridge of rocks about a mile from shore on the n••rthern side. Sidon is reckoned to contain about 60••0 inhabi|tants. The Turks have 14 mosques, Roman Ca|tholics, and Greeks, each a church, and the Ma|ronites a chapel. They carry on a considerable trade. Provisions are very plenteous and cheap, and the air is so clear as to attract wild beasts and birds in great numbers into the country adjacent. Sidon, by a grant of the pope, gaye title to an archbishop.
• * 1.169SILOAH, or Siloam, is a fountain in the valley of Jehoshaphat, from which all the gardens of it are watered. The Turks hold this water so sacred, that numbers of them almost every day wash therein. Its waters are now said to be an immediate cure for fevers. Over against this fountain, on the other side of the valley, is the place called Siloe, where Solomon is said to have kept his strange wives.
• * 1.170SIN, wilderness of. This wilderness, we are told in Exodus, lay between Elim and Sinai. Here it was that heaven first sent the Israelites manna.
• * 1.171SINAI, wilderness and mount. There are many windings and difficult ways between the deserts of Sin and Sinai. The latter is a beautiful plain more than one league broad, near three long, lying open to the north-west, but closed up to the south by some of the lower eminences of the mount. In this direction likewise the higher parts of it make such encroach|ments upon the plain, that they divide it into two parts, each of them capacious enough for the Israelites whole encampment. There are now con|vents upon this spot, and such ludicrous and enthu|siastic stories related concerning religions bigots, as cannot be described without offending a serious and intelligent reader.
• * 1.172SODOM seems to have been the chief of the five cities, and the delightful plain or valley in which it stood allured Lot to pitch his tent near it, and afterwards to dwell in it, though so detestably in|famous for that most odious and shocking crime against nature, from which this city derived its name.
• * 1.173STRATON's Tower. See Caesarea.
• * 1.174SUCCOTH was the name of two places. That in Exodus was the place of the Israelites first en|campment after their departure from Rameses. But little of the geography of this and some other places mentioned in the journal of the Israelites, is at this time known. This Succoth must not be confounded with that situated ne••r the river Jordan, between that and the Jabbok, which Jacob called by that name when he came out of Mesopotamia; tho' the former may have been so called in imitation of the latter, on account of the booths or tents which the people set up there.
• * 1.175SUSA. The Scripture Shusan (now called Schon|ster) was the metropolis of the Susiana province, built on the banks of the river Eulaeus (by Daniel called Ulai) by Memnon, as some say, who was slain by the Thessalians in the Trojan war. Strabo and Pa••sanias compare its walls even with those of Ba|bylon. It is called Memnonica, by Herodotus and others, from Memnon its founder. In Scripture it is constantly named the Palace; but besides the king's palace, there was doubtless a city, as is plain from all the profane writers The wealth and magnificence of this city may be gathered from the vast wealth sound in it by Alexander the Great, when it was surrendered to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 some little time after the battle of Arbela, or ••n th•••• Gaugamela, twenty days after his departure from Babylon, which had before been delivered up to him. Here Ahasuerus kept his great f•••••••• 185 days. It is said this city now lies in ruins by the name of Scho••••ter.

T.

• TARICHEA was a town of Galilee,* 1.176 situate on an emi|nence by the lake of Genezareth, over against Gam••la. It having been besieged by Titus both by land and water, made a desperate defence, till a dis|sention happened within, which coming to the ears of the Roman general, it was taken by storm.
• TAR••HISH, son o•• Javan, settled in the east part of the south track of Asia Minor is very probable•• for the name of Tarsha, the chief town of Ci••icia,* 1.177 is thought to carry some probable marks of its being first founded by Tarshish himself, or some of his descendants. It is affirmed by an historian of cre|dit, that the city was so called from Tarshish, and that Cilicia was originally known by the name of Tarshish. Indeed, it is scarcely doubted that this was the Tarshish so often mentioned by the pro|phets on account of its trading with Tyre.
• TARSUS, in Cilicia as aforesaid,* 1.178 seems to have borrowed its name from Tarshish. It was at first the metropolis of Cilicia, and after Constantin••'s di|vision of Cilicia Prima. It was the native city of St. Paul (though an Hebrew of the Hebrews, or a Jew both by father and mother's side,) and, accord|ing to Strabo in former times, not inferior, for the study of philosophy and polite literature, either to Athens or Alexandria. The inhabitants enjoyed the privileges of Roman citizens according to the Parthian Law, which the apostle thought proper to claim and use upon several occasions, as recorded in the Acts. The Tarsians, to ingratiate themselves with Julius Caesar, changed the city's name into Juliopolis; but the old name survived the new; and it is to this day by the Greeks called Tersia, or Te|rassa, by the Turk•• Tarsow, and sometimes Hern|sa. It is so reduced that the remains hardly merit notice.
• TAURUS is the greatest mountain of Asia,* 1.179 and here|tofore thought the greatest in the world. It runs from west to east under several names, through di|vers large kingdoms and countries even to India, whereby all Asia is divided into two parts, of which that on the north side is called Asia intra Taurum, and that on the south Asia extra Taurum. It also passes between Armenia and Mesopotamia, and sends forth many branches under divers particular names to|wards the north and south.
• THABOR, Mount,* 1.180 of which name there was a city upon it, called Itabyrion, or Itabyr, and Atabyrion, in the plain of Esdraclon, in Judaea, not far distant from Nazareth. In the seventh century it is descri|bed to have been of wonderful regularity, verdant and florid. A modern traveller thus describes it. "It has a plain area at top most fertile and deli|cious, of an oval figure. This area is enclosed with trees on all parts, except to the south. It was an|ciently environed with walls, trenches, and other fortifications, of which it exhibits many remains at this day.
• TIBERIAS. See Genezareth.* 1.181 Herod the tetrarch of Galilee (Antipas) building a city on the north bank of Genezareth, and calling it Tiberias, in ho|nour of Tiberius, the lake thence took this name also. The city was built on a spot full of se|pulchres:

• but the great privileges granted by He|rod to people for becoming inhabitants, which overcame their scruple of conscience as to pollution by dead bodies, &c. made it quickly become one of the principal cities of these parts. It is said ••o have had in it 13 synagogues and an academy; that here was the last sessions of the Sanhedrim, or chief council of the Jews; and here the Talmud, or body of the Jewish civil and canon law, was collected.
• TIMNAH was first assigned to the tribe of Judah, but afterwards to that of Dan.* 1.182 In the days of Eu|sebius and Jerome, a great town, named Thamnah, lay in the borders of Diapolis, towards Jerusalem, which is supposed to have been the same with that formerly called Timnah.
• * 1.183TIRZAH is mentioned frequently in sacred history, as being long the regal city of the kings of Israel. From an expression in the Canticles it appears to have been beautiful and pleasant to live in; but its situation is not certainly determined.
• * 1.184TRACHONI••••••, a region of Judea, which seems to have derived its name from two famous moun|tains, which Strabo calls Trachones. The greatest part of it had such ridges of rocks and mountains, especially on the sides of Arabia and Iturea, that some of them had caverns large enough to lodge 1000 men. It, together with Iturea, made one te|trarchy in the time of Our Saviour. Luke iii.1.
• * 1.185TRIPOLIS, in Phoenicia, called Ruad by the Turks, and Tripolis in Syria, to distinguish it from others, stands on the Levant Sea, the same coast with lamnia and Joppa, above Sidon. It had its name from its forming three cities, each one furlong distant from the other; one whereof belonged to the Aradians, or ancient kingdom of Arad; the second to the Sidonians; and the third to the Tyrians. It is still divided into the upper and lower city, and is in a flourishing condition, be|ing large, populous, and strong, adorned with mul|berry-tree plantations for silk-worms, from which is drawn considerable profit. The walls are strong, and fortified with several towers. The castle is the residence of the beglerbeg, and garrisoned by two hundred janissaries. It is a strong fortress, situated on an eminence, and well stored with canon. On account of its importance, it is deemed the me|tropolis of Phoenicia. The haven is rather an open sea than an enclosed harbour, unless that it is partly defended by two small islands about two leagues from it. There are six square towers, or castles, along the shore, well fortified with artillery. The town contains about 8000 houses, and 60,000 inhabitants, who consist of Turks, Jews, and Chris|tians. The river hath a good stone bridge over it for the convenience of passangers, and the stream turns several mills. The air is extremely clear and healthy, the country about very rich and fruitful, and the town supplied with every thing desirable. Among the handsome buildings is a great mosque, once a Christian church, a large and stately edifice. The Christians have some monasteries and hand|some chapels, and the Jesuits an handsome college. This city was famous in the holy war, being one of the four capital cities the Christians had in these parts.
• * 1.186TROGLODYTES. In their manner of life the great|est part of them nearly resembled the Libyan No|mades. They were divided into tribes, but all un|der one head. A part of them fought with clubs, carrying before them round shields, made of raw ox hides. Many, however, used bows and arrows.
• * 1.187TYRE, on the coast of Phoenicia Proper, was anci|ently named Sor. It is commonly called the Daugh|ter of Sidon, and stood also upon the sea, 200 furlongs to the south of Sidon. It had two havens, one look|ing towards Sidon, the other towards Egypt; from whence it is plain that Tyre on the Island, and Old Tyre on the Main, were considered as but one city after the isthmus was thrown up between them, and possibly there might have been buildings conti|guous to each other. This famous emporium was never of very great extent, for which reason they built so very lofty, and with more stories, it is said, than the houses at Rome. The buildings, in gene|ral, were spacious and magnificent; and a••ove the rest appeared the temples built by King Hiram to Jupiter, Hercules, and Arstar••e. It is now called Sur, and is a mere babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, &c. there not being one entire house left. Its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretche••, who harbour in vaults, and subsist chiefly by fishing. King Hiram is famed, in sacred hist••ry, for main|taining a strict friendship and alliance with king David, presenting him with cedars, and sending him ••••••••ful work men to build a palace. He enter|tained the same affection for his son and successor▪ Solomon, which occasioned an interchange of let|ters of amity. Tyre was besieged 13 years together by Nebuchadnezzar, who at length subdued i••▪ when he put all the inhabitants he could find to the sword, and destroyed the ancient city. But many of the people had, in time, prudently retired▪ with the chief of their effects, to an island at some distance from the shore, where they built New Tyre, or Tyre on the Island. The city, however, at length, sub|mitted to Nebuchadnezzar, who appointed Baal subordinate king thereof, under his own supreme authority. In the reign of Azelmic, Tyre was be|sieged by Alexander the Great, and taken by storm, after holding out seven months. After destroying the place, and murdering the inhabitants, he was very sorry for his rashness; and, like other men of the same precipitate disposition, who become wise too late, determined to add one evil to another; in consequence of which resolution he seized most of the artificers in the neighbouring countries, and having compelled them to rebuild the city, he obliged them to reside in it, lest he should have a great city without any inhabitants. Such was the conduct of many of the great heroes of anti|quity, who fought for fighting sake, did injuries instead of redressing them, and quarrelled with every body to avoid being idle. Mr. Pope very justly observes,

  Heroes are much the same, it is agreed, From Macedonia's madman to the Swede: The whole strange purpose of their lives to find, Or make, an enemy of all mankind: Not one looks backward, onward still he goes, Yet never sees and inch beyond his nose.

  Having thus rebuilt and re-peopled this ancient ci|ty, Alexander thought proper to stile himself the Founder of Tyre, in order, it may be supposed, to prevent the people from recollecting that he had been the destroyer of Tyre. The city, in time, recovered its beauty and opulence, became confe|derate with the Romans, and was invested with the privileges of a Roman city on account of its great fidelity. In the times of primitive Christianity, it was made the metropolitan see for the province of Phoenicia. In 636 it was conquered by the Sara|cens, but in 1124 recovered by the Christians. In 1280 it was finally subdued by the Turks, in whose hands it has continued ever since. Those infidels took it soon after the reduction of Acra, or Acre, where they committed such unheard of cruelties, that the Tyrians, terrified with the report thereof, betook themselves to their ships at midnight, and abandoned the city to their fury. They entered it the next day, and reduced it to the deplorable situ|ation of which the dismal ruins are still a monu|ment. We must not omit to observe, that the Ty|rians were particularly celebrated for dying purple, which was first found out by them from an accident, viz. a dog's lips being finely tinged by eating of the fish called conchilis. This fish is a buccinum, a name given by the ancients to all fishes whose shells bear any resemblance to a•• hunting born; and it appears from Pliny, that the famed Tyrian purple was obtained from it. This dye was so much va|lued in the time of the Roman emperors, on account of its being the imperial colour, that only one pound of it cost a thousand Roman denarii, or above thirty pounds sterling.

V.

• * 1.188VIENNE, capital of the province of Viennois, about seven leagues from Lyons, at the foot of a mountain on the Rhine, has been a large, famous city, but now is not above a fourth of what it was, having its two old fortresses demolished. The Allo|broges are said to have founded it; and it became a colony of the Romans, who adorned it with a pa|lace, amphitheatre, and other magnificent works, the ruins whereof are yet seen. It was some time the capital of Burgundy. The cathedral is a stately pile, as are some other churches and public build|ings. The inhabitants are expert in manufactures, particularly of plates of iron and steel, paper, &c. by mills and engines.
• * 1.189UR, of the Chaldees, where Abraham was born, and whence he removed, at the Divine call, to Char|ran, and so to Canaan. The word Ur signifies fire. The most probable opinion therefore is, that the city might be so denominated from its inhabitants being worshippers of the sun, and of fire, its emblem, and for having temples wherein the sacred fire was kept always burning. The Chaldees were famed for it, and carried it, in great pomp, at the head of their armies when they went to battle.

Z.

• * 1.190ZEBULON, his lot, or the land of his tribe. Ja|cob, in his prophetic blessing of his son Ze|bulon, says, that he shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for an haven of ships, and his border shall be unto Sidon. And so it happened, that tribe's posse••••ion being from the Mediterra|nean, on the west, to the lake of Genezareth, on the east, side.
• ZIPH, Wilderness of.* 1.191 We find in Joshua a city called Ziph, mentioned together with Carmel and Maon. We have also, in the history of David, mention made of Carmel and Maon as adjoining to Ziph. So that it is not to be doubted, but in the wilderness where was David, and where was the hill Aschelah, is to be understood Ziph near Carmel and Maon. This is placed, by Jerome, eight miles east from Hebron.
• ZOAR. The Syriac version reads Zoan.* 1.192 It was probably the most ancient royal seat of the Pha|raoh's; for the miracles wrought by Moses and Aaron before one of them, are expressly said, in the Psalms, to be done in the field of Zoan.
• ZOBAH.* 1.193 That the country of Zobah pertained to the Syrians, is evident from 2 Sam. x.6. where we read expressly of the Syrians of Zobah; and, from their being hired by the Ammonites, it appears that Zobah lay in the parts adjoining to the Am|monites. The kingdom of Damascus is looked upon by the learned to have arisen out of that of Zobah, or to be no other than one and the same kingdom, which formerly had Zobah, and after|wards Damascus, for its capital city, as the seat of its kings. To the south of Zobah lay the land of Ishtob.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Abarim.
• * 1.2

  Acra.
• * 1.3

  Adasa.
• * 1.4

  Adibena.
• * 1.5

  Adida.
• * 1.6

  Alexandria.
• * 1.7

  Alexan|drion.
• * 1.8

  Amatha.
• * 1.9

  Antioch.
• * 1.10

  Antipatris.
• * 1.11

  Antonia.
• * 1.12

  Arabia.
• * 1.13

  Aram.
• * 1.14

  Arbela.
• * 1.15

  Armenia.
• * 1.16

  Arnon.
• * 1.17

  Ascalon.
• * 1.18

  Ashdod.
• * 1.19

  The lake of Asphal|titis.
• * 1.20

  Babel.
• * 1.21

  Bahurim.
• * 1.22

  Baris
• * 1.23

  Beer-sheba.
• * 1.24

  Belus.
• * 1.25

  Beracha••
• * 1.26

  Berenice
• * 1.27

  Berytus
• * 1.28

  Bethel
• * 1.29

  Bethlehem
• * 1.30

  Bethoron
• * 1.31

  Bethsaida.
• * 1.32

  Bethsan.
• * 1.33

  Beth••••e|meth.
• * 1.34

  Bethsura.
• * 1.35

  Bezec.
• * 1.36

  Bezetha.
• * 1.37

  Botrys.
• * 1.38

  Caesarea.
• * 1.39

  Caesarea••Philippi.
• * 1.40

  Cana.
• * 1.41

  Canaan.
• * 1.42

  Caper|naum.
• * 1.43

  Carmel.
• * 1.44

  Chalcis.
• * 1.45

  Charran.
• * 1.46

  Citium.
• * 1.47

  Coelo-Syria.
• * 1.48

  Comag••na.
• * 1.49

  Coptos.
• * 1.50

  Cyprus
• * 1.51

  Cyrene.
• * 1.52

  Cyrenian Jews.
• * 1.53

  Dagon.
• * 1.54

  Damascus.
• * 1.55

  Damiata.
• * 1.56

  Dan (tribe••
• * 1.57

  Dan (city)
• * 1.58

  Daphne.
• * 1.59

  Dathema.
• * 1.60

  Decapol••••▪
• * 1.61

  Delphos▪
• * 1.62

  Delta.
• * 1.63

  Diospolis.
• * 1.64

  Dora.
• * 1.65

  Dothan.
• * 1.66

  Ecbatana.
• * 1.67

  Ecbatana.
• * 1.68

  Edom.
• * 1.69

  Egypt.
• * 1.70

  〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.71

  〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.72

  Elam
• * 1.73

  Elath.
• * 1.74

  Ele••han|tine
• * 1.75

  Eleutherus
• * 1.76

  Elymais.
• * 1.77

  Emesa.
• * 1.78

  Emma
• * 1.79

  Emmaus.
• * 1.80

  Endor.
• * 1.81

  Engedi.
• * 1.82

  Ephesus.
• * 1.83

  Ephraim
• * 1.84

  Ephrata.
• * 1.85

  Ephron.
• * 1.86

  Ethiopia▪
• * 1.87

  Ezion-Geber.
• * 1.88

  Gadara.
• * 1.89

  Galilee.
• * 1.90

  Gath.
• * 1.91

  Gaza.
• * 1.92

  Genesa••
• * 1.93

  Gerar.
• * 1.94

  Geshur.
• * 1.95

  Gibeah.
• * 1.96

  Gibeon.
• * 1.97

  Gihon.
• * 1.98

  Gilead.
• * 1.99

  Gilgal.
• * 1.100

  Gischala.
• * 1.101

  Greece.
• * 1.102

  Hamath.
• * 1.103

  Hareth.
• * 1.104

  Hebron.
• * 1.105

  Helam.
• * 1.106

  Heliopolis.
• * 1.107

  Hermon.
• * 1.108

  Herodion.
• * 1.109

  Heshbon.
• * 1.110

  Hyrcania.
• * 1.111

  Jabesh Gi|lead.
• * 1.112

  Jamnia.
• * 1.113

  Jericho.
• * 1.114

  Jerusalem.
• * 1.115

  Joppa.
• * 1.116

  Jordan.
• * 1.117

  Keilah.
• * 1.118

  Kirjath-jearim.
• * 1.119

  Libanus.
• * 1.120

  Lydda.
• * 1.121

  Madian.
• * 1.122

  Mahanaim
• * 1.123

  Makkedah.
• * 1.124

  Maon.
• * 1.125

  Marah.
• * 1.126

  Media.
• * 1.127

  Megiddo.
• * 1.128

  Melitene.
• * 1.129

  Memphis.
• * 1.130

  Michmash.
• * 1.131

  Mygdonia.
• * 1.132

  Nabathaea.
• * 1.133

  Naim.
• * 1.134

  Naioth.
• * 1.135

  Neapolis.
• * 1.136

  Neopolis.
• * 1.137

  Nineveh.
• * 1.138

  Nisibis.
• * 1.139

  Nob.
• * 1.140

  Nod.
• * 1.141

  Olivet.
• * 1.142

  Ophir.
• * 1.143

  Palestine.
• * 1.144

  Palmyra.
• * 1.145

  Per••ia
• * 1.146

  Pella.
• * 1.147

  Pelusium.
• * 1.148

  Peniel.
• * 1.149

  Pergamus.
• * 1.150

  P••tra.
• * 1.151

  Phas••lus.
• * 1.152

  Phiala.
• * 1.153

  Philippi.
• * 1.154

  Ptolemais.
• * 1.155

  Rabbah.
• * 1.156

  Raga••a.
• * 1.157

  Raphia.
• * 1.158

  Rephaim.
• * 1.159

  Rhinoco|lura.
• * 1.160

  Saba.
• * 1.161

  Samaria.
• * 1.162

  Samosata.
• * 1.163

  Scythopoli
• * 1.164

  Seleucia.
• * 1.165

  Sepphori••
• * 1.166

  Shilo.
• * 1.167

  Sichem.
• * 1.168

  Sidon.
• * 1.169

  Siloah.
• * 1.170

  Sin.
• * 1.171

  Sinai.
• * 1.172

  Sodom
• * 1.173

  Straton's Tower.
• * 1.174

  Succoth.
• * 1.175

  Susa.
• * 1.176

  Tarich••••.
• * 1.177

  Tar••hish.
• * 1.178

  Tarsus.
• * 1.179

  Taurus.
• * 1.180

  Thabor.
• * 1.181

  Tiberias.
• * 1.182

  Timnah
• * 1.183

  Tirzah.
• * 1.184

  Trachonitia
• * 1.185

  Tripolis.
• * 1.186

  Troglo|dytes.
• * 1.187

  Tyre.
• * 1.188

  Vienne.
• * 1.189

  Ur.
• * 1.190

  Zebulon.
• * 1.191

  Z••ph.
• * 1.192

  Z••ar
• * 1.193

  Zobah.