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Studies in Galilee
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Studies in Galilee
By
ERNEST W.-^URNEY MASTERMAN, M.D., F.R.C.S., F.R.G.S.
Jerusalem
WITH A PREFACE
By
GEORGE ADAM SMITH, D.D., LL.D.
Professor of Old Testament Literature, United Free Church College, Glasgow
CHICAGO
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
1909
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Copyright 1909 By
The Umivbrsity of Chicago
Published October 1909
CompoMd and Printed By
The Univenity of Chicago Frees
Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A.
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IN LOVING MEMORY OF
L. M. N. M.
Born, Nazareth Died, Jerusalem
October 29, 1873 April 27, 1908
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PREFACE
I contribute with pleasure a few lines of preface to my friend
Dr: Masterman's work on Galilee, though I feel, after reading it, that
the value of its contents lifts it above the need of any commendation.
Besides the Memoir of the Survey under the Palestine Exploration
Fund, and the relevant chapters in works dealing with the whole
/S country, several learned monographs have been written in English
^ and German upon the geography, the history, the archaeology and
^ the present dialect of Galilee. Among these Dr. Masterman's book
I^ will take a place of its own. It furnishes fresh and notable contribu-
^>/ tions to our knowledge of so famous a region. It is richly stored with
';j) facts; it is lucidly written; and cannot fail to prove alike valuable
to the expert and interesting to the ordinary reader.
The foreign student, who visits a country for research alone, gains,
it is true, much advantage from the concentration of his attention
upon the particular lines of history or of physical science in which
he is already expert. But his impressions of the life of nature or of
man cannot be so numerous nor always so just as those received by
the cultured resident and servant to the needs of the people. To the
latter things happen, lights break, and materials and powers of judg-
ment are given which are not possible to the more or less rapid traveler,
with limited time, a fixed itinerary, and few opportunities of repeating
and crossing his routes. In the case even of the most learned and
judicious of travelers errors of fact and defects in proportion are inevit-
able. A resident in the country has the means of correcting these
errors and of providing a more just perspective of the whole land.
Dr. Masterman is familiar with Galilee, as he alone can be who
has not merely traveled its main routes, but for some time has
been at work in it; obliged, in pursuit of his calling, to journey by
its numerous byways, welcomed into intimate relations with its
inhabitants. He has lived through the seasons of the Galilean year,
with an eye and mind that have been trained by long observation of
physical phenomena in other parts of Palestine. He has studied the
domestic and public customs of the people, and is familiar with the
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vui PREFACE
folk-lore. Altogether, Dr. Masterman has labored for sixteen or
seventeen years in the East. His numerous papers in journals devoted
to the history or the geography of the Holy Land prove his acquaint-
ance with the literature, ancient and modern, and have been largely
used by experts. Very few know^ the recent history of the land or
the life of the people like himself.
As he points out, there is no better center for exploring the greater
part of the province than Safed, where he has lived and worked for
two years. Safed commands the Upper Jordan Valley, the coasts of
the Lake and both the Upper and Lower Galilees, through all of which
the calls of his profession, as well as the interests of research, have
carried him from time to time, and have given him many opportunities
of revising and increasing his knowledge of the country. It is from
Safed that an observer may most easily become familiar with the pro-
portions of the whole province, while such famous localities as the
plain of Butaiha, Gennesaret and the sites of Capernaum, Chorazin,
and Bethsaida lie immediately below him.
With all these the following chapters are concerned. The reader
will find a lucid account of Galilee as a whole, its structure, frontiers,
divisions, natural products, the resulting characters of its people's
life, and its place in history. On the vexed questions of the particu-
lar topography, whether one agrees or not with Dr. Masterman' s
answers, it will be recognized that the data he oflEers for the latter are
sound and that his reasoning is not arbitrary nor extreme. Especially
welcome is the full information which he contributes about Gennesaret
and the whole northern coasts of the lake. His support of the view,
that extends Gennesaret east of the hill el ^Oreimeh, is an important
contribution to a more than difficult question. Those of us who have
argued for a different conclusion from his as to the site of Capernaum
will appreciate the reasonableness and insight of the evidence which
he brings forward for Telhum; it must influence the further debate
of this problem. Only less helpful are his descriptions of KerS-zeh
and et-Tell, the probable sites of Chorazin and Bethsaida. English
readers will welcome the summary of what is known of the ruined
synagogues of Galilee, vivified as it is by the reports of Dr. Masterman's
own visits to them and his observations of their curiously pagan
features. The criticism of the figures of Josephus and of modem
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PREFACE IX
estimates of the ancient population of Galilee seem to me of great
value. I would have welcomed the expansion of the remarks on
Nazareth into a description and discussion as long as that on Caper-
naum; and some treatment of the site of Taricheae. But Dr. Master-
man does not oflEer his book as exhaustive of the data of Galilee.
What he has given will both stimulate and control future discussion
of a region which is not only full of many topographical problems
but presents these to us in close connection with some of the greatest
events of all history.
GEORGE Adam Smith
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
To three of my friends my hearty thanks are due: to Mr. R. A. S.
Macalister, of the Palestine Exploration Fund, for reading the proofs
and for many suggestions; to Professor George Adam Smith, for
kind help and advice, and to Miss Jean Kennedy for the trouble she
has so generously undertaken in preparing the Index and lists of
references.
E. W. G. M.
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CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface vii
Chapter I. Physical Features, Boundaries, and Chief
Towns 3
A. Lower Galilee
B. Upper Galilee
C. The Upper Jordan Valley and the Lakes
Chapter IL The Inland Fisheries of Galilee ... 37
Chapter III. Gennesaret 51
Chapter IV. Capernaum 71
Chapter V. Chorazin and Bethsaida 93
Chapter VI. The Ancient Synagogues 109
Chapter VII. Galilee in the Time of Christ .129
Index 143
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LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Fisherman Mending Nets by Lake of Galilee, South of
Tiberias Frontispiece
PAGE
The Horns of Hattin — ^A Volcanic Hill 8
SaFED 12
The Village of el Jish 14
Banias 18
Safed — The Moslem Quarter 19
Sea of Galilee (Map) 21
The Environs of Banias (Caesarea Philippi) ... 23
Shepherds Fording the Jordan 29
El Mejdel, the Probable Site of Magdala .... 31
Tiberias fro>i the Lake ' . 32
Gennesaret (Map) 52
Gennesaret (Map) 54
Plain of Gennesaret and Horns of Hattin .... 60
Hill ^Oreimeh 62
The Rock-cut Aqueduct around the Tell of cOreimeh . 63
Double Opening in Birket Sheikh ^Ali edh Dhaher . 65
The Windings of the Jordan River 72
Tell Hum Synagogue (Plan) 75
Tell Hum. 78
Tell Hum 80
A View of Tabighah and the Surrounding District 96
Ruin Heaps of Bethsaida 97
The Shore of the Sea of Galilee near Tabighah 105
Ruins of Synagogue at Irbid — Lower Galilee. 113
Ruins of Synagogue at Umm el cAmed 115
Southern Facade of the Synagogue at Kefr Ber^im — Upper
Galilee 117
Ruins of Synagogue at el Jish — Upper Galilee 118
Southern Facade of Synagogue at Meron — Upper Galilee 120
The Inscribed Lintel at Nebratain 121
Ruins of Synagogue at el Keisium 122
Nazareth 135
XV
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND
CHIEF TOWNS
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CHAPTER I
PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS
The name Galilee is the Graecized form of the Hebrew b^bj galil,
a word used (I Kings 6:34) to describe the "folding" or "rolling" of
a door, and, as a substantive, translated a "ring" in Cant. 5:14;
Esther 1:6. As a geographical expression, applied to other regions
than what we know as Galilee, it is translated "country" (Ezek.
47:8) and "borders" (Josh. 13:2; 22:10, 11). There were thus
several galils as there were many frontiers, but the district now
imder consideration was known as hag-galil or the galU (Josh. 20:7;
21:32;' IKings9:ii; II Kings 15:29; I Chron. 6:76) or, to give it its
full title, galU hag-goyim^ (Isa. 9:1), the "ring" or "region of the
nations." It would appear in the earliest references to have been a
small region around Kedesh, though later it seems to have comprised
the possessions of Zebulon and Naphtali and a considerable propor-
tion of that of Asher and Issachar. Its frontier was an ever-changing
shore line toward the "nations" on which the tide ebbed and
flowed, sometimes submerging the Hebrews and sometimes driving
them north. Even within this district the peoples appear always
to have been, as they are today, strangely mixed in both race and
religion.
The ideal physical boundaries of this region are well defined — few
small provinces have by nature so secure a frontier; yet these bound-
aries never appear in the whole course of Jewish history to have
coincided with the political limits. On the south this division of
Palestine is bounded by the Great Plain of Esdraelon, from the
northern edge of which the hills of Nazareth rise with remarkable
abruptness. To the west the Mediterranean, and to the east the
Jordan and its two lakes, are nature's bounds. On the north
modern custom has come to limit Palestine proper — and therefore
Galilee — by the extraordinary gorge of the Kasimtyeh or Lit&ny
' Almost certainly also in Josh. 12: 23.
» Compare Harosheth hag-goyim (Judges 4:2), and their locality on the borders.
3
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STUDIES IN GALILEE
« a?
4^
\^y
K<
River. This deep canon runs from east to west
across the greater part of the mountain range,
leaving but a narrow strip of high land between
it and the Jordan Valley. The cliflFs of this
ravine rise in places almost sheer for over a
thousand feet, and it is only at a few spots
that it can be crossed.
Within these limits is confined a great variety
of country, of climate, and of scenery. To the
west lies the Plain of Akka — the delta formed
by the two rivers of Lower Galilee, the Kishon
and the Belus — which is separated by the great
seaward jutting mountain range of Ras en
Nakurah from the narrower, though more
famous, coast region of Tyre and Sidon. To
the east lies the most fertile and beautiful
section of the Ghor or Jordan Valley with its
abundant running waters and its tropical
climate. Between these two level areas lies a
region of mountain, hill, and plain, the most
diversified and attractive in Palestine.
The mountain mass of Galilee is made up
of stratified limestone of layers of varying
denseness but almost without exception weath-
ering rapidly under rain and frost. The
rocks and stones, exposed unprotected to such
influences, speedily disintegrate, while caves
produced by the wearing away of soft under-
lying layers of the limestone are exceedingly
common. At some spots near the Jermak are
deep natural well-like holes in the rock of great
depth, similar to the pot-holes found in England
and other parts of Europe. Fossils are scarce,
but bands of flints and spheroidal nodules of
white quartz, varying in size from that of a wal-
nut to a football, are very common, especially all
about the central plateau. Overlying the lime-
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 5
stone there are many patches of trap-rock; all the laval outflows are on
the eastern side of the water-parting. The most extensive area is that
centering round the double volcanic peak known as the "Horns of
Hattin." From here the lava has flowed out on all sides: it caps
the limestone rocks overhanging the western side of the Lake of
Tiberias and flows southeast down the wide valley of Sahel el Ahma,
while northward it is spread out on the fertile plain of Hattin. In
the district immediately to the north of this is another great deposit,
probably an entirely independent outflow through which the Rubu-
dlyeh stream has cut its way. Almost on the water-parting itself two
little outcrops from dykes appear at Unmi el ^Amed and also just
below Deir Hannah. Safed, though its hills are entirely of soft
chalky limestone, is encircled by trap-rock. To the west and north-
west lie the great volcanic plateaus of el Jish and ^Alma — each with a
rain-filled crater-like pool. On the north of Safed there is a patch of
this rock high up in the mountains just below Benlt. To the east a
great outflow occupies the Ghor between Lake Huleh and the Lake
of Tiberias; while southward all the lower ground between the mouth
of the Jordan and el ^Oreimeh is made up of terraces of black lava,
through which, however, liniestone hills project in places. Within
sight of eastern Galilee are the numerous extinct volcanoes of the
Jaulan, and the hot and sometimes sulphurous springs in the neigh-
borhood of the Lake of Galilee are also evidences of slumbering
subterranean fires. The testimony of history that this region has
been the center of severe earthquakes is supported by the terrible
destruction and overthrow of all the ancient remains.
One other physical feature of Galilee requires passing mention,
namely, the great number of rich alluvial plains. Esdraelon, Akka,
Tor^an, Battauf, el Ghuweir (Gennesaret), el Huleh, Kedes, and Mfes
are some of the most important, and all of them are referred to
elsewhere. In all, the alluvial deposits are of great depth and of
extraordinary productiveness. Notwithstanding the long neglect of
careful agriculture these plains still give Galilee something of her
old character of wonderful fertility.
A. LOWER GALILEE
The Talmud' states that "Galilee contains the upper, the lower,
and the valley" (i. e., the Ghor) and these are the three natural
I Shebmh, IX, 2.
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6 STUDIES IN GALILEE
divisions. The mountain region has by nature been very clearly
divided into a southern lower part, where the hills are gentle and
rounded, the plains wide and fertile and the natural roads easy and
direct, and a northern or upper part, where there are lofty mountain
peaks, deep narrow valleys and high plateaus. The natural dividing
line is the great mountain range which runs due east and west to the
north of the plain of Rameh, rising there to the point Jebal Haidar
(3,440 feet) and culminating at the eastern end at the peaks of Jebalat
el ^Aits (3,520 feet). Beyond the deep chasm of Wady el Tawahln
the direction of this range is continued by the southern wall of the
mountain mass of Safed, and terminates at the eastern extremity
of Jebal Kan^an (2,761 feet). When it is remembered that the highest
point in all Lower Galilee is only 1,843 f^^^ above the sea, and most
of it is much lower, the outstanding nature of this great barrier is mani-
fest. Lower Galilee, overlooked from such a height as Jebal Haidar,
appears as a plain broken by wave behind wave of rounded hills.
The lines of narrow plain land, stretching from the plain of Akka in
the west to the Jordan Valley in the east, are most striking. Indeed
this is the most noticeable feature in the geography of this region; the
whole land consists of parallel ranges of hills running east and west
with wide fertile valleys between. From south to north these ranges
are Jebal Dahi (1,690 feet) — the "Little Hermon" of the mediaeval
pilgrims — the Nazareth Range with Mount Tabor, the Tor^an Range
and the Southern and Northern Ranges of esh ShaghAr. The middle of
these ranges — the Tor^an — only extends half way across the land west-
ward, and all these hill formations, but particularly the three southern
ones, make a curved southward bend at their eastern end as they
approach the Jordan or the lake. At these ends, too, the limestone
formation is overlaid with much volcanic trap.
The great Plain of Esdraelon — known as Merj ibn^Amir — appears
naturally rather as a frontier or an arena of battle than as an integral
part of Galilee. The domination over the plain appears to have be-
longed sometimes to the southern and sometimes to the northern in-
habitants, but in times of weakness on the part of both, the Children
of the East would sweep unchecked upon it and devastate its fruitful
harvests like a swarm of locusts. The great western bay between
Jebal Dahi and Tabor is certainly physically, as it has in history been
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS ^
politically, an integral part of Galilee, and Carmel, at one period at
any rate, followed its northern mountain neighbor. As regards the
great triangular main stretch of plain the cities at the edge of the hills,
such as Geba (Sheikh Abreik) , Gabatha (Jebata) , Simonias (Simflnieh) ,
must have grown their cereals there, just as Nazareth does today.
That the frontier was very ill-defined in the time of Josephus is shown
by the fact that though he puts the northern boundary of Samaria at
Ginea' (Jentn), at the southern edge of the plain, he puts^ the southern
boundary of Galilee at Xaloth (the ChesuUoth of the Old Testament),
now Iksal, at the northern edge.
The Nazareth Range of hills reaches at Jebal es Sih, about three
miles northeast of Nazareth, a height of 1,838 feet, and in the outly-
ing spur of Tabor, 1,843 ^^^^ while at Neby Sain, the hill immediately
above Nazareth itself, a height of 1,602 feet is attained. From this
central mass the ground falls on all sides. Westward there is an ex-
tension of low forest -bearing hills lying between the Kishon on the south
and its tributary, the Wady el Malek, on the north. On the southern
edge of this hill-country lies Sheikh Abreik, once a village of much im-
portance, to judge from its tombs and caves, and probably the
Gaba, "the City of Horsemen "of Josephus^ where lived the horse-
men of Herod, while near the northern edge is the little hamlet of Beit
Lahum — the Bethlehem of Zebulon. The eastern extension of the
Nazareth Range consists of a series of fertile plateaus in which volcanic
elements are largely mixed. The high ground runs southward at its
eastern extremity where it overhangs the Jordan Valley.
North of the Nazareth range comes the Plain of Tor'^an along
which runs the modern carriage road from Kefr Kenna to Tiberias.
This alluvial plain, five miles long by one mile wide, drains westward
through the Wady el Rummaneh into the Battauf, its waters finally
reaching the Kishon through the Wady el Malek. Over the main
water-parting near Lubieh the eastern extension of this plain runs
southeast from opposite the "Horns of Hattin," in a wide, sloping
valley, strewn with volcanic stone, which drains to the Jordan by the
Wady el Fejjaz. This valley is known as the Sahel el Ahma, and is
I B. 7., Ill, iii, 4.
a B. 7., Ill, iii, I.
3 Ant. XV, viii, 5; B. 7., Ill, iii, i.
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8
STUDIES IN GALILEE
probably Betzammin' across which Sisera rushed in headlong flight
to his ignominious death. At the head of this same valley, around
the scorched rocks of Hattin, the unfortunate Crusaders made their
last ineffectual stand against the victorious Saladin (1187).
The Kurn Hattin is the center of the Tor^an Range which here
curves southeast and then south, where it overhangs the lake.
THE HORNS OF HATTIN— A VOLCANIC HILL
North of the Jebal Tor'^an is the marshy plain of el Battauf, nine
miles long by two miles wide, doubtless once a lake. The western
end drains into the Wady el Malek, but eastward has no proper outlet,
and in winter months forms a great marsh most dangerous to cross.
This was the plain of Asochis of Josephus. On its northern edge
is Khurbet KAna, identified in the Middle Ages as the Cana of Galilee
of John 2:1-11; 4:46, and more probably the correct site than
Kefr Kenna, a village ui the Nazareth mountains favored by modern
ecclesiastical tradition. It would appear almost certainly to have
been the Cana of Josephus (see Vita, §§ 16, 17, 41). Half an hour's
1 Judges 4:11.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 9
ride up a valley from this ruin is Tell Jefat, a bare rocky hill showing
few remains, but without doubt the site of Jotapata,^ a very important
fixed point in the topography of Josephus.
Over the water-parting to the east of el Battauf there is a rapid
descent to the volcanic plateau of Hattin which drains by means of the
Wady el Hamam into Gennesaret. North of the Battauf lies a some-
what confused moimtain mass known as esh Shaghfir. One or two
points, such as R4s Kruman (1817) and R4s Hazweh (1781), are nearly
as high as the hills of Nazareth, but the average elevation is much
under a thousand feet. The plateau of ^Arrabeh has, when seen
from a height, the appearance of a plain, and it divides esh Shaghflr
into a southern and a northern range. The drainage of this district
is through Wady Sha^ib which joins the Wady Halzfln, one of the
tributaries of the Belus (Nahr Na^^mein). On a hill rising at the
western end of this high plain of ^Arrabeh is Sukhntn, the Sikni or
Siknin^ of the Talmud and the Sogane^ of Josephus. At its eastern
end, crowning the water-parting, is the walled village of Deir Hannah,
beyond which the groimd rapidly sinks eastward into the Wady
Selameh, a well-watered valley which drains the plain of Rameh and
is continued southeast as the Wady er Rubudtyeh into Gennesaret.
Wady es Salameh derives its name from Khurbet es Salameh, a
ruin crowning a strong and extensive site on which once stood the city
of Salamis.^
The Plain of Rameh lies between esh ShaghAr and the southern
range of Upper Galilee. It chiefly drains southward as described.
The valley to the east of Farradeh and Kefr Anan empties its waters
by the Wady Maktul into the Wady el ^AmM and thus to Gen-
nesaret, while the western extension, a long open valley — ^Wady esh
Shaghur — full of olive groves and cornfields, drains through the
Wady el Halzun into the Belus at Akka. The whole of Lower Galilee
is of great natural fertility. The plains are splendid arable lands ; those
of el Mughir and Rameh are celebrated for their great groves of olives,
a product for which Galilee was always celebrated. "It is easier,"
' See Josephus, B. /., Book iii, chaps. 6 and 7.
• Tal. Bab. Rosh.'Nash, Shannah, 29 n.
3 VUa, 51.
4 Josephus, B. /., II, XX, 6.
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lo STUDIES IN GALILEE
it is said in the Talmud/ "to raise a legion of olive trees in Galilee
than to raise one child in Judea." Vines are not today widely culti-
vated except around Rameh and, to some extent, Nazareth. The
hills are in places well wooded, particularly a quadrangular patch
at the southwest corner of the Nazareth range and rolling country to
the northeast and east of the slopes of Tabor. The lower valleys both
to the east and west are all more or less wooded. The hills of Shaghur
and also those to the east of Rameh are covered with "brush wood"
— a shrubby growth now replacing what was only a few years ago
a forest of fine trees. The shrubs consist of dwarf oaks of several
kinds, terebinths, kar^b (locust tree), za^rflr (hawthorn), wild
olives and figs, meis (nettle tree) , and arbutus, all capable of developing
into noble trees, as well as storax, bay-laurel, myrtle, caper, sumakh,
and lentisk, while the water courses are adorned by great masses of
beautiful oleanders, willows, planes, and, occasionally, poplars. The
sycomore fig, once said to have been a characteristic product of Lower
Galilee, is now scarce in these parts. Groves of sacred terebinths
occur in many places and the thorny zizyphus (sidr), when covering
a holy tomb, often attains noble proportions.
The water-supply of this district is rich specially in the lower
ground, but even in the mountains good springs are plentiful. At
many of the villages are copious springs, e.g., Seffurieh, Reineh,
Nazareth, Hattin, Farradeh, while at the head of the Wady Salameh
the fountains give rise to a perennial stream sufficient to work several
mills. Reckoning together the mountain region and the low-lying
plains east, south, and west, it would be hard to find a land at once
so diversified and so richly supplied with nature's gifts. The vast
majority of the historical references to Galilee, whether in the Macca-
bean period, in that of the New Testament or of the Roman wars, refer
to places in Lower Galilee. This is the more natural when we notice
how the great roads traversed the district. The most certainly ancient
of routes is that highroad marked today by the ruins of khans which
crosses lower Galilee from northeast to south, and was known in
mediaeval times as the Via Maris. Coming from Damascus across
the black stony Jaulan, it crossed the Jordan at the Jisr Benat Ya^kAb,
ascended in a southwest direction to the Khan Jubb Yusuf, where,
I Ber. Rahha^ par. 20.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS n
after giving ofiF branches to Safed, to Akka (via Rameh) and to
Kerazeh and the mouth of the Jordan, it descended to the Khan
Minyeh. From here it crossed el Ghuweir (Gennesaret) and, either
by way of the Wady HamS^m, Irbid and Hattin, or (as at present)
by the more open Wady Abu el Amis, it ran up to the higher plateau,
whence it ran by Khan el Tujjax, across Esdraelon, and southward
through the great pass at Lejjiin to the coast. This highroad is an ex-
tremely ancient one and may be that referred to in Isa., chap. 9. A
branch of this road skirted the western shore of the lake and ran south-
ward to Jerusalem via BeisSji, TubUs and the Plain of Makhneh, a
route still strewn along its whole length with groups of Roman mile-
stones. The broad valleys running east to west must always have been
natural routes to the coast, particularly to the ancient port of Akka; one
of the most important of these traversed the Plain of Tor^an, past Suf-
furieh, and thence led by the Wady Abellin tothe Akka plain; another
ran from the ELhan Jubb Yusuf , across the Wady Tawahln, past ELhur-
bet Abu Sheb^a, Rameh and Khurbet Kabra — ^the Gabara of Jose-
phus' — and into the Plain of Akka by the Wady Wazeyeh. Both these
routes are in constant use today. The whole district is intersected with
numberless paths, almost all of which are possible to loaded camels —
except after heavy rain — and in the period of Galilee's greatness all
the chief cities must have been connected by more or less well-made
roads or paths.
B. UPPER GALILEE
The lofty mountain region known as "Upper Galilee'' is not easy
to describe in a terse manner. It appears to the casual observer a
confused mass of tumbled mountains, to which not even the map
can give an orderly view. The sharp line of the southern mountain
rise has already been described; from the Jebal Kan^an at the south-
east corner this range is continued almost due north and runs as a
mountain wall of steep declivity along the whole western edge of
the Jordan Valley, reaching its most impressive heights at the north
where Jebal Hunin (2,951 feet) and Nebi Audeidah (2,814 feet)
tower precipitously above the plain.
» VitGy 10, 15, 25. 40, 46, 47, 61; B. J.y III, vii, I. In some passages called
Gadara, by a textual error.
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Almost in the center of this range is the plateau and town of
Kades — the famous Kadesh Naphthali — a little north of which is
the curious ^hut-in basin of Mfes. Along the length of this chain
runs an important and ancient highroad from Safed to the Merj
Ayun.
The central point of Upper Galilee is Jebal Jermak (3,934 feet),
the highest point in Palestine; it is the culminating point on a ridge
SAFED— THE VILLAGE IN THE FOREGROUND IS BERIAH
which runs from Jebalat el ^Ariis and through the Jermak summit
to the Jebal Ad^ther (3,300 feet). This ridge may be called the
Jermak range. To the northeast of this range is the great central
plateau to which belong the volcanic plateaus of el Jish and ^Alma,
as well as the more westerly fertile plains of Meron, el Jish, and
Yarilln.
In this central region of elevation, the lowest plains of which are
higher than the top of Tabor, four main water courses rise and run
to the four points of the compass. On the east side of Jebal Jermak,
and between that point and the Safed mountains, rises the deep
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 13
gorge of Wady el Tawahtn which runs southward to Gennesaret.
From the northeast slopes near el Jish rises the Wady Hindaj (known
in its higher reaches as Wady Farah and Wady Auba) which, after
making a semicircle to the north, runs out into the Ghor as an extra-
ordinarily steep and precipitous gorge, and finally empties its waters
into the Huleh. From the northwest and west slopes of Jermak
arise the rootlets of the equally deep Wady el Kum which runs due
westward to the Mediterranean. The Wady Selukieh takes its
origin a little north of the Jermak and, after pursuing a course almost
due north, joins the Kasimlyeh some twenty-five miles above its
mouth.
These valleys are the most important in the land; they all have,
over much of their courses, deep and precipitous sides and in parts
perennial streams. They rise close together, all indeed but the
last, from the slopes of the Jebal Jermak itself. By them "Upper
Galilee'* is divided into four quarters. Of these dividing lines the
most important is that made across the land from east to west by
the combined Wady Hindaj and Wady el Kum.
From the summit of the Jermak the greater part of Galilee lies
spread out as on a raised map. Eastward rises the white chalky
hill of Safed with the town itself — the largest in Galilee — clustered
around its lofty castle hill, to the southwest part of the range. Vil-
lages may be seen scattered around some of its numerous springs.
Akbara' with its towering precipice to the south, Ed Dahareyeh just
below Safed itself, and Beriah and ^Ain ez Zeitiin — each with watered
gardens — to the north. On the eastern slopes of Jermak is Meron.
Between it and Safed lie five miles of stony barren hills, once within
memory of living man covered with thick brushwood. To the
northeast the grey volcanic plateau Merj el Jish, with its water-
filled crater (the Birket el Jish), catches the eye.
Around the edge of the plateau are several villages. To the west
of this lies el Jish, crowning a white chalky hill, with a level of fertile
gardens and vineyards to the south. Somewhat nearer is the little
squalid village of Sifs&f, almost hidden in its grove of figs and olives.
Behind el Jish the lofty mountain village of Merlin er R^ stands
out conspicuous. More directly north of us is Sa^a^ which, though
» The Achabari of Josephus, Vita, §37; B. /., II, xx, 6.
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STUDIES IN GALILEE
crowning a hill-top, appears from here to lie in the plain at our feet.
Farther off is Kefr Ber^im, on the waterparting between north and
south. Still beyond lies Yarto. A little to the left (west) of Yarfin
lies Rummaish, on the edge of its fertile plain. Distinctly visible is
its large rain-fed birket, that is much in evidence in the spring.
THE VILLAGE OF EL JISH— VIEW FROM THE SOUTH
To the northwest lie the two villages of ed Deir and el K^sy, on
twin hilltops. Behind these, at a distance of about five miles, is
the lofty hill of Belat. More directly westward is the flourishing
little town of Teirshiha and its neighbor, Malia, rising at the two
extremities of a small plain largely given over to the cultivation of
tobacco. This was part of the rich estate of the Teutonic knights,
the astonishing ruins of whose once powerful castle Montfort (now
Kul^at el Kurein) crowns an almost inaccessible height in the Wady
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 15
el Kum. Between us and Teirshlha we can see the great terebinth
which overshadows the sacred tomb of Nebi Sibelan.'
To the southwest is the high mountain Druze village of Beit Jinn,
rising out of the maze of bush-crowned hill and valley which con-
stitutes the district known as el Jebal or "the Mountain." This,
but for the continuous and ruthless destruction wrought by the
charcoal burners, would be a great forest, as it probably was in
olden days; there are few ruins here. Beyond Beit Jinn and hidden
from our view is the wide open valley of el Bukei^a, one of the tribu-
taries of the Wady el Kurn, in which is the village of el Bukei^a,
with its mixed Druze, Moslem, Christian, and Jewish population.
The town lies in a veritable oasis of verdure, a product of its copious
springs. One of its admiring inhabitants compared it not inaptly to
a miniature Damascus in the style of its dwellings and its fresh, well-
watered gardens. Besides so much of Upper Galilee, tlie Jermak
view includes the Bay of Akka, Carmel, the mountains of Samaria
and all Lower Galilee, the Lake of Tiberias, the Jaulan, Hermon,
and the Lebanon.
The northwest portion of Galilee is a richly wooded district con-
sisting of a vast entanglement of hills and valleys full of villages and
still more of ruins. ' Inasmuch as by the widest estimate of the true
limits of the Galilee of history most of this region must have belonged
to T)n:e, it needs no further description here. Its main roads, or
rather paths, leading to Tyre are unusually good for Palestine.
They wind along valleys frequently clothed from base to summit
with brushwood.
The higher mountain plateaus are as a whole deficient in springs
as compared with Lower Galilee. Even where springs are present,
water is scanty, and many of the villages are entirely dependent on
artificial rain-filled pools. The large Metiweleh village of Bint Umm
Jebail, famous through the land for its great weekly market, has a
pool so considerable that even in September I found boys bathing
waist deep in the water. The large villages of Rumaish, Hunin,
I There is a tiny village around the tomb; the place has been suggested as the
site of the town of Zebulun, but there is no depth of debris here nor any ancient
pottery. If Sibelan contains an echo of Zebulun, the ancient site must be under the
adjoining — ^though lower lying — village of Khurfaish, which is certainly an old site.
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i6 STUDIES IN GALILEE
Tersheiha, Suhmata, ^Alma, and others are entirely dependent on
such pools as these for their water for domestic uses and for their
cattle. ' Safed has many springs in its neighborhood, some of them
very good ones. El Jish and Mer5n each have good fountains in
valleys below them about half a mile away.
This lack of water is largely compensated for by the "dew clouds''
which in all the late summer months fall at night so copiously over
the land. Such "dew" occurs all over Palestine, but nowhere in
such plenty as in the highlands of the north. It is most important
to agriculture; without it the harvest may be long delayed and even
may be partially lost, for the Fellahln maintain that they dare not
gather the ripened grain when absolutely dry, as after the parched
sirocco, because the grain will fall in the process of reaping. After
a night of "dew'' there is no such risk. Then for the grapes, the
figs, and the olives, indeed for all the autunm crops, this heavy
"dew" is essential.
This is the "dew" (tal) of the Bible, but it is really the product
of clouds which are blown often from the north, from Hermon,^ and
settle on the highlands after sunset. The gauzy cloud may be
seen blown overhead as the evening closes in, and in the early morn-
ing the mist lies thick over the ground and fills all the deeper valleys.
How heavy is this "dew" may be judged by the fact that when one
September I traversed the central ridge of Galilee northward toward
Hermon, it was inadvisable on any night to sit without a mackintosh
outside the tent after sunset, and every morning the tent canvas
was soaked with water, the moisture dropping audibly ofiF the edges.
The products of this mountain region are many — wheat, barley,
Egyptian maize, lentils, cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons. Olives
are plentiful as far north as Kefr Ber^im, but north of that on the
central plateau they are very scanty. There the people either pur-
chase olive oil, or use oil which they produce themselves in con-
siderable quantities from sesame (oilseed). Figs are cultivated
everywhere. Mulberries, walnuts, apricots, pears, and other fruits
flourish in favorable spots. Oranges, lemons, and citrons are grown
in the deeper, warmer valleys around Safed. Vines flourish in this
district, and many acres of vineyards are now yielding well in several
^Cf. Ps. 133:3.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 17
of the Jewish colonies, especially at ^Ain ez Zeitlin and at Rosh
Pinna (Ja^uneh) near Safed. Tobacco is grown extensively, espe-
cially in the north and west, but solely for local use; indeed the
authorities of the "Tobacco Regie'" so despise it that they shut
their eyes to its cultivation.
The great natural fertility of Galilee as a whole, as compared with
Judea, may be ascribed to:
1. Its comparatively excellent water supply. Even where the
springs are scanty the "dew'' is very heavy.
2. The gentler slope of the hills and the wider plains.
3. The deep rich soil in which is mixed, in many parts, the detritus
of volcanic rock.
4. The fact that over much of the hills the native growth of
brushwood has been left. In Judea, where every available foot of
the soil had to be utilized, the native growth has in many places
been entirely destroyed to allow of the hills being terraced for culti-
vation. But when the terraces fell from neglect, the earth gradually
was washed down the hillside to the valley below. In Lower Galilee
this has also occurred in many places. With careful terracing the
possible area of cultivation might be vastly increased.
One last characteristic of modern Galilee remains to be mentioned
briefly, namely, its remarkably mixed population* In Lower Galilee
most of the inhabitants are either Moslems (i. e., orthodox Sunnites),
Christians (either Greek orthodox or Greek Catholic), or Jews.
But when we reach the confines of Upper Galilee many new elements
appear. At Rameh, Beit Jinn, el Bukei^a, and elsewhere, we come
across Druzes. In Safed, besides Jews from all parts of the world
and native Moslems, there are Kurds and Algerians. In the villages,
on the high thoroughfare to the north there is a new religion or race
in every second village. At R^s el Ahmar, ^Alma, and Deishftn
there are Algerians. In a separate village of ^Alma, on the same
plain and within sight of its namesake, there is a large settlement of
Circassians, a race which has also settled in other spots. In the
extreme north, near Banias, there is one village of Nasairtyeh and
another of Turkomans.
' Who have a monopoly of tobacco and can if they wish forbid its cultivation or
destroy what they do not need for their own use.
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STUDIES IN GALILEE
As a whole, in the northwest quarter the Christians are Maronites,
and the followers of Mohammed are MetS^weleh, i. e., Shiites. Both
sects agree in fanatical intolerance of all others. Kefr Ber^im, ^Ain
Ibl, and Dibl are Maronite centers. One of the largest Meta.weleh
villages is Bint Umm Jebail, but this sect is in the majority all over
the northern area and in the environs of Tyre it constitutes 70 per
cent, of the population. They will not eat with any but the mem-
BANIAS
bers of their own religion; they will destroy a food- vessel used by
an imbeliever. In many respects they are very unlike their Moslem
(Sunnite) neighbors; their women go unveiled and have none of the
assumed modesty of the ordinary oriental women toward strangers.
It is said that when one of their men has to go a long journey, and
particularly on military service, he hands over his wife to a friend
who takes her into his own household until the real husband's return,
when the wife is handed back; but the friend retains any children
she may have born to him during her temporary marriage to him.'
I This is similar to some of the customs mentioned in Robertson Smithes Kinship
and Marriage in Arabia.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 19
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20 STUDIES IN GALILEE
As a rule a village is either entirely of one sect or at most of two,
and the several communities never intermarry. Though the basis
of separation is religious differences, there is now — if not originally
in all cases — a considerable physical difference that enables one who
knows the people well, to recognize at once to which community
any individual belongs. Taken as a whole, the people of Northern
Palestine are physically finer than those of Southern Palestine.
Their costumes also, which are very varied and often extremely
picturesque, are superior to those of the Fellahtn of the south.
C. THE UPPER JORDAN VALLEY
The Talmud, as has been mentioned, divides Galilee into the
"Upper" the "Lower," and the "Valley." This last section, com-
prising the Upper Jordan Valley and the two lakes, is a district of
great importance to Galilee, though by no means in all history included
politically within it. It wtiS always a valuable frontier to the moun-
tain region and when belonging to the mountaineers must, with its
abundant water supplies and rich verdure, have been a cherished
possession. Much that is said (chap, iii) about Gennesaret will
apply to a large part of the Upper Jordan region. Although it is
rightly described as part of Galilee, the upper portion would appear
to have been looked upon, before the time of Herod, as a separate
district, wild and unsubdued, in the marshes of which robbers found
a refuge."
It is the Jordan and its tributaries which give the distinctive charac-
ter to this region. Two of the sources of the Jordan must be consid-
ered as rising outside of Palestine proper. Of these the more north-
erly is the picturesque ^Ain Ruwwa.r, below Hasbayeh, in which
the water bubbles up in a little pool and, descending under the name
Nahr Hasbani, turns the Wady el Teim into a paradise of verdure.
Below this oasis the river has cut for some miles a deep channel
southward through a mass of lava. At the well-known bridge on
the road to Banias the stream may be seen rimning upon a bed of
limestone, having in. the course of ages cut through the whole
thickness of the volcanic rock. The second of the northerly sources
of- the Jordan is the little Nahr Bareighit which drains the fertile
Merj ^Ayfln — ^the "Meadow of Springs" — known to us in the Bible
» Josephus, B, /., I, xvi, 5.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 21
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22 STUDIES IN GALILEE
(I Kings 15:20; II Kings 25:29; II Chron, 16:4) as Ijon. The
t^rater rises in two large fountains and, being much used for
irrigation, it is only a small stream that descends by a series of
cascades past M'utelleh and the great Tell Abel (Abel-beth-Maacah
.mentioned with Ijon in the above references), and finally, with
contributions from streamlets further south, joins the Hasbani about
a mile north of where the latter loses itself in the true Jordan.
The most impressive sources of the Jordan are the two southerly
ones* at Banias and Tell el Kadi respectively. At the former site,
1,080 feet above sea level, the ice-cold water bursts forth in a
river from the vast accumulation produced by the collapse of the
roof of a former sacred cave. The water tumbles and rushes amid
the ruins of once splendid Caesarea Philippi, and waters a comer of
Palestine unequaled even today, in its neglect, for its picturesque beauty
and for its handsome timbered glades. Here was once the shrine of Pan,
hence the name Paneas. By Cleopatra it was rented to the robber
chieftain Zenodorus and in 20 B. c. came into the hands of Herod
the Great; by Herod Philip it was named Caesarea Philippi; and by
Herod Agrippa II, after entertaining here in pleasure and cruel
sports the conqueror of his people, it was called Neronias in flattery
of another Caesar. All these names are now forgotten locally and
the shrine of Pan is by its inhabitants, who cannot pronounce P,
today called Banias. "Everywhere," writes Tristram,' "there is a
wild medley of cascades, mulberry trees, fig trees, clashing torrents,
festoons of vines, bubbling fountains, reeds and ruins, and the
mingled music of birds and waters." The source at Tell el Kadi (500
feet above sea level) is in many respects a contrast to all this. Here
the waters quietly bubble up, in volume much greater than at Banias,
from the western end of a great tell. Part unite to form a pool
to the west, but the larger volume descends as a quiet millstream
past one of the most impressive sacred groves in the land. This great
tell is probably the site of Dan, for Kady (Arabic) and Dan (Hebrew)
both mean "judge;" while in the name of the river which here arises, el
Leddan, there is possibly an echo of the ancient name. In the time of
Josephus^ the spot was apparently known as Daphne, where was,
he says, the temple of the golden calf.
I Land of Israel, p. 586. » B. /., IV, i, i.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 23
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24 STUDIES IN GALILEE
The two rivers, the Nahr Banias and the Nahr el Leddan, run
southward, independently, for some five or six miles and then join
to make one stream.
Besides these four main streams, a great many rivulets burst up
from the basalt along the whole northern extremity of the valley.
These, together with the numerous irrigation canals, make the center
of this district a scene of running waters and flooded fields in which
are cultivated quantities of rice, maize (Indian com), and cotton.
During the past decade or two there has been a marked increase in
cultivation here, and by means of irrigation canals fruitful areas like
those around Zuk el Tahta and el Khalisah have been converted into
acres of beautiful gardens. Here and elsewhere there are large
clumps of handsome silver poplars — ^the growth of which as timber is a
profitable industry — as well as orchards of fruit trees. What has been
done is but a fraction of what might be accomplished under more
careful husbandry. As it is, the larger part of the great fertile plain
between the Jordan sources and the Huleh marshes is given over to
Bedawin who, besides the crops mentioned, raise quantities of bar-
ley, durra (Egyptian maize), and sesame (oil-seed). Recently the
plain north of the Huleh has been extensively drained and converted
from marsh to pasture land through the artificial lowering of the
Jordan bed below the Huleh Lake' and there are now many hundred
more acres of useful land than, say, forty years ago, when "Rob
Roy" MacGregor made his famous journey. A number of little vil-
lages are dotted over the plain, and near the northern end, besides
many mills, there rises, half hidden in trees, the large mansion which
the sheikh of the Fadl tribe has recently built as his residence.
At intervals along the long line of the Western Galilean Mountains
copious fountains give rise to streams for further irrigation of the
plain. Near these spots are to be found at various seasons the
encampments of the Ghawarineh Bedawin with their flocks of
buflFaloes, cattle, and goats. Never were creatures more adapted to
their environment than these buffaloes which on hot days lie almost
entirely submerged in the running streams or the marshy pools, in
marked contrast to their cousins, the cows, which stand in the broiling
I This work has been done by the managers of the Tchiflik — ^the late sultan's
private property.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 25
sunshine but knee-deep in the cool waters. The Arabs mentioned
make great quantities of mats out of the papyrus reeds from the neigh-
boring swamp, where flourishes the greatest solid mass of pap)n:us in
the world. The men gather the reeds and split them into flat bands
which the women and girls weave on very primitive looms. Of
these mats the people make their own houses, and they dispose of
great numbers as floor-mats to the Fellahln of the mountains.
*^Ain el Mellahah is the largest of these springs; its waters rise in
a large fish-filled pool and, after working several mills, enter Lake
Huleh as a stream of considerable volume. Towering immediately
above this great source is the lofty hill of Harraweh which, from both
its conspicuous position and its extensive ruins, must have been once
a place of great importance and is very generally considered to be
the site of Hazor.' An ancient highroad skirts the foot of these
western hills, running from fountain to fountain, and at several spots
along this route may still be seen sacred groves of terebinths where
the superstitious come for cure of disease, or deposit, in the guardian-
ship of the "spirit of the grove," brushwood, bundles of papyrus, or
*plows, well knowing that no one will dare violate the shrine.
Lake Huleh itself is a shallow expanse of water 3 J miles long by
3 miles wide; its bottom is covered thick with water weeds whose
swaying branches lie almost everywhere just below the surface, while
at many spots the yellow, and here and there the white, water lily
adorn the muddy waters. Fish abound; the catfish and the musht
are caught in quantities both by the cast net from the shore and
from boats by means of the m^batten.^ Among the many birds foimd
here, the beautiful white pelican is particularly conspicuous; when
on the wing it is a strikingly noble bird. The shores on the east
or west sides of this triangular sheet of water are, except after heavy
rain, fairly firm; on the west, rich wheat land^ comes close up to the
beach though standing some six feet above it. Along the northern
edge of the open water there floats a dense mass of papyrus —
some 6 miles long and i^ miles broad — supporting in its interstices
1 See Josephus, Ant., V, v, i.
2 Rabbi Schwarz says, "this lake is called by the Arabs Bahr Chit, * wheat sea,'
because much wheat is sown in the neighborhood," p. 47. This name I have never
heard; it is I think a confusion with the name Ard el Khait.
3 See chap. ii.
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26 STUDIES IN GALILEE
many smaller plants. The Jordan, which loses itself at the northern
extremity of this mass of floating vegetation, reaches the lake along a
narrow winding open channel. When rowing here in a clumsy
fishing-boat in 1907 I was unable to ascend this channel more than
a hundred yards, but "Rob Roy" MacGregor' in his slender canoe
threaded the narrow passage a distance which he calculates was three
miles. Whether the channel is today as it was then — ^40 years ago — ^is
a question which it needs another adventurous canoeist to decide. My
impression is that the present channel very rapidly narrows, then dis-
appears as a single open channel. We did not find the papyrus reeds
as high as he described them — 15 to 20 feet; the average height, after
carefully measuring many specimens, was about 8 to 10 feet. The
fishermen are, we learned, accustomed from time to time to bum the
reeds to restrain their advancing growth, and this may account for their
smaller size.
On the western shore of the Huleh is the Jewish colony of Jessod
Hamaalah, generally known as Ezbaid, from the Arabic name of the
district. Here may be seen hundreds of beautiful eucalypti growing in
their greatest perfection with massive tnmks and lofty spreading*
branches. The colonists are not as prosperous as they deserve to be,
because of a malignant form of malaria and that scourge of Africa,
blackwater fever, which are both endemic here. There is no doubt
that more might be done than has yet been attempted to improve the
sanitary condition. The extensive gardens arid plantations are today
in a condition less flourishing than some years ago, when the settlers
received more outside assistance. Just south of Ezbaid is the squalid
village of et Teleil, supposed by some to be the Thella mentioned by
Josephus* as the eastern boundary of Galilee. Around this place are
encamped numbers of pseudo-Bedawin, some of whom are descendants
of Kurds who settled there a century or more ago. The whole plain
west of the Huleh, known as Ard el Kheit, is one of marvelous agricultural
richness and in the spring there are miles of waving grain.
Lake Huleh, the Lake Samachonitis of Josephus, has been popu-
larly identified with the Waters of Meron of Josh. 11:5-7. ^^ ^ ^^
identification which rests on but little probability. The expression
"waters" (""a) is an unusual one for any lake-like expanse and there
I See Rob Roy on the Jordan, » B. /., Ill, iii, i.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 27
is no trace of a survival of the name Merom in the immediate neighbor-
hood. An echo of the name does, however, appear to remain in
Meron and Marftn er R4s, villages in Upper Galilee. The district
of Meron may have been there and the "waters" may have been the
name of some springs within that area. The modem name Huleh
may with probability be traced back to Ulatha, a name given by Jose-
phus to this very region. It was a division of the comitry by itself,
associated with Paneas, which belonged to the freebooter Zenodonis,
but later to Herod the Great.' On the shores of the Huleh (Samacho-
nitis) was a town called Seleucia which was on the border of Agrippa's
kingdom.*
The Huleh plain, which is bounded on the west, north, and east
by high moimtains, is even to the south very definitely limited by
a number of low volcanic hills which appear from a distance to
convert it into a closed basin. However, the Jordan has, here, as
farther north, managed to cut for itself a deep channel through the
obstruction. For the first two miles the descent is gradual and
the sluggish stream peacefully winds through meadow lands, until
it reaches the Jisr Benit Ya^^kub. This mediaeval bridge probably
derives its name, "the bridge of the daughters of Jacob," not from
any association with the patriarch, but from a connection which it had
in the days of the Crusades with a nunnery of St. James (who is called
in Arabic Ya^kub), the tolls on this bridge having been given to the
nunnery.3 Just below the bridge, where there is a ruin on a low
hill known today as Kusr ^Atra — ^the remains of the Chateau Neuf
of the Crusaders — the river commences its rapid plunge downward.
For some six or seven miles the river rages and tumbles in a bed
deep cut in the lava until, as the Bataihah is approached, its waters
are diverted to many mill streams. Thence the much impoverished
main stream makes a quiet passage seaward through low banks of
alluvial deposit, overhung at many spots by beautiful trees. In the
twelve miles of river between the two lakes the total fall is 689 feet,
I AnLy XV, X, 2.
a B. J., IV, i, I. Schumacher would identify Seluktyeh, a place seven miles to
the southeast of the lake, with Seleucia, but this is opposed to the statement of Josephus.
See The Jaulan, p. 257.
3 See Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, 1898, p. 29.
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28 STUDIES IN GALILEE
an average descent of 57 feet to the mile, but over the central section
the rate of fall is very much greater. The Valley of the Jordan in
this part is inhabited by a few Bedawin who manage to avoid the
taxes and escape the justice of the government by crossing to the
east side when "wanted" by the governor of Safed, or to the west
side when "wanted" by the Damascus authorities.
The Lake of Galilee is characterized by its rich alluvial plains
to the north and south, the great prevalence of volcanic rocks near
its shores, its own natural riches, and, more than all, by its historic
associations. The two great alluvial plains at the northwest and
northeast corners of the lake — el Ghuweir and el Bataihah — are
described elsewhere.' At the southern end the old lacustrine depo-
sits* present toward the present lake a line of low marly cliflFs divided
by the Jordan at its exit. On the cliff to the west of the river mouth,
just above the lake, is el Kerak, once the site of the Taricheae of
Josephus; to the east the cliffs are surmounted by the village of es
Semakh, a place which has recently sprung into notice through its rail-
way station : a rough wooden pier has been erected here for the con-
venience of passengers proceeding to Tiberias. There is a ford at the
mouth of the Jordan and, when the water is raised by the spring floods,
a ferry; but a bridge must some day be erected here connecting
Tiberias with the railway station. A little farther down, the shallow
river eddies and swirls over the ruins of two ancient bridges. The
hill of Kerak is almost an island, a backwater of the river half filling
the deep trench which isolates it on the part not abutting on lake or
river.
On the northern shore the lava reaches the lake wherever the alluvial
land is absent; on the east the cliffs are largely volcanic, overlying the
limestone, and on the west the lava — part of the Hattin outflow —
lies all along the summit of the limestone hills. Along the eastern
side there is a plain — in places nearly a mile wide — ^between the
mountains and the lakes; to the west the plain is narrower but
reaches considerable breadth near Tiberias.
The lake' is 13 miles long by 8 miles broad; its water is pure and
1 See chaps, ii and iv.
2 That is, the sedimentary deposits laid down by the great lake which once filled
this whole valley.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 29
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30 STUDIES IN GALILEE
limpid; storms are rare, but local squalls of considerable violence
sometimes occur with extraordinary rapidity. Sailing on the lake
requires practical experience because of this, and because the gusts of
wind coming down the valley mouths strike the water in unexpected
directions. There is a difference of from two to three feet in the level
of the lake in the spring and autunm.' Recently the phenomena known
as "seiches," which have been studied with such detail on the Swiss
and Scottish lakes, have been observed here.* The rises appear to be
about three an hour.
Around the shores of the lake are the sites of many famous towns.
Near the entrance of the Jordan is et Tell, the site of Bethsaida. On the
opposite side of the river, about two miles to the west, is Tell Hum, the
ruin of Capernaum. Less than two miles to the north of this is Khurbet
Kerazeh, the site of Chorazin. At the northwest comer of the lake is
el Mejdel, now but a squalid village, by tradition the site of Magdala.
Hidden in the mountains farther west is Irbid, the ancient Arbela.
Between el Mejdel and Tiberias lay Bethmaus,^ which may have
occupied an isolated, ruin-crowned hill at the mouth of Wady Abu
el ^Amis. Modem Tiberias occupies but a small area of the great
Roman city which once flourished here. The ancient walls can still
be traced, and included within them was the lofty hill to the southwest,
then the Acropolis. Founded some five or six years before the ministry
of Jesus, on a contaminated site, and populated by Antipas with all the
riff-raflF he could induce to go there, it was for years considered un-
clean by the Jews. Subsequently the irony of fate made it one
of their most sacred cities, the seat of the Sanhedrin, and a great rab-
binical school. Later it was a stronghold of militant Latin Christian-
ity against the Saracen. Now it is a poor, squalid, but nevertheless
"holy" city of the Jews — ^the last surviving "town" of this once densely
populated lake shore. South of Tiberias, near the present hot baths,
was probably the ancient Hammath Qosh. 19:35), and certainly the
Emmaus of Josephus.^ At the southwest comer is a tell known as
1 See the Palestine Exploration Fund Qtiarterly Statement, i905,^p. 363.
2 A limnogram extending over ten hours, taken by the present writer at the Lake
of Galilee, was recently exhibited by Professor Chrystal in a lecture at the Royal
Institution of Great Britain as a fine example of a seiche.
3 Josephus, Vitaj 12.
4 Ant., XVIII, ii, 3; B. /., IV, i, 3.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWNS 31
S'nn en Nabra which appears to be the site of Siimabris; while upon
the extensive level hill at the mouth of the Jordan known as el Kerak we
must recognize the site of Taricheae, a city greater than Tiberias itself,
which at one time gave its name to the whole lake. Upon the lofty
heights just south of the Hieromax (the modem Yarmuk) the great Greek
city of Gadara (now the squalid village of M^Keis) overlooked the lake
and all its surroundings. Nearer the shore and half-way up the eastern
EL MEJDEL, THE PROBABLE SITE OF MAGDALA
coast lay Gamala, built upon a strange camel-shaped hill known as
Kvlkt el Husn, a place celebrated for its extraordinary natural strength
and the bravery of its inhabitants.' Somewhat inland from this hill,
between it and the modem village of Fik (the Aphek of I Kings 20: 26),
is the shapeless min of Sustyeh, the Susitha (i^H^ClC) of Talmudic
Writers* and therefore the Hippos of Josephus, a Greek city which
gave its name (Hippene) to the whole district.^ Some two miles north
I B. /., I, iv, 8; and IV, chap. i.
* Bereshith Rahhah, chaps, xxxi, xxxvii, etc. 3 B. /., Ill, iii, i.
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STUDIES IN GALILEE
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PHYSICAL FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND CHIEF TOWTSTS 33
of the Kul^^at el Husn the hills, which farther south are some distance
from the shore, approach within 40 feet of the lake ; and here, on the
high ground, is the ruined site of Kersa, or, as Schumacher' calls it,
Kurse, which certainly represents the ancient Gerasa, attached to which
was the country of the Grerasenes* (R. V., Mark 5:1; Luke 8:25),
where the incident of the swine occurred. Origen^ states that a city
of this name existed on the shores of the lake and that near it was a
precipice down which the swine ran.
The circuit of the lake thus included in New Testament times a
considerable variety of elements. There was the great Roman city of
Tiberias, pagan and disreputable, yet for a time the capital of the
district. On hill tops overlooking the lake were the free Greek cities
of Gadara, Hippos, and (apparently) Gerasa, intensely anti- Jewish
and hated in turn by the Jews. In the midst of gentile elements
rose Taricheae and Gamala, each destined shortly to be the scene of
a bloody tragedy in the Jewish war of independence. Around two-
thirds of the circumference memory calls back the sound of the clash
of arms and discordant cries of the conquerors and the conquered, while
in times of peace almost everywhere incense rises to heathen gods.
Only upon the quiet, fertile, northern shore in the unfortified Jewish
towns, within sight of the "kingdoms of this world and the glory
of them," one must ever think of those quiet and beneficent labors of
Him who from this one district gathered out a large proportion of those
who are immortal as the ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven.
I The Jaulan.
« See art. on "Gerasenes" in Encyclopaedia Biblica. Gerasa is there considered
more probable than Gergesa.
i In Ev. Joann., 6:24.
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THE INLAND FISHERIES OF GALILEE
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CHAPTER II
THE INLAND FISHERIES OF GALILEE'
The lakes of Galilee have been famous for their plentiful supplies
of fish all through history. In the Roman period fishing boats on
the larger lake appear to have been numbered by the hundred; now
there are not many over a score. During my residence in Safed my
attention was very naturally called to the fishing industry in which
many of my neighbors were interested. Probably no place in North-
em Palestine, oflF the sea coast, receives so large and so regular a
supply of fish as the mountain town of Safed. In the cool weather
it comes from the whole northern shore of the Lake of Galilee and
from the httle lake el Huleh; but in the summer, chiefly from el
Bataihah, the great marshy delta of the Jordan at the northeastern
comer of the Lake of Galilee. From here, processions of mules,
loaded with boxes of fish, make the five hours' journey to Safed at
least once, and often twice, in the twenty-four hours — except during
the Sabbath. It is indeed, as the last proviso implies, particularly
for the Jews that the fish is brought. So great is the demand that
fish is often cheaper and more plentiful in Safed than at Tiberias,
although it is Tiberias men that do all the fishing.
The Government tax on all fish taken from the lake and from
the adjoining Jordan, is one-fifth. Like all the taxes this is "farmed
out," and the ^Ashshdr (tax collector) pays, it is said, i,ooo Turkish
pounds every three years for his right of taking one-fifth of all the fish
caught. In addition to this, the owner of el Bataihah, ^Abd er Rah-
man, a Pasha in Damascus, has private rights, and a Safed Jew paid
him 200 napoleons* annually for the exclusive control of all the fishing
there. He engages the fishermen and pays them a percentage on
all the fish sold.^ The Huleh and ^Ain Mellahah fishing rights are
I Almost the whole of this article appeared in the Quarterly StaUment of the Palestine
Exploration Fund. It is reprinted here by permission of the Committee of the Fund.
« The previous three years the rent was only 180 napoleons.
3 Two piastres for each roU of the best fish and one piastre per rofl for the inferior
kinds. A piastre is a little less than two pence, English money.
37
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38 STUDIES IN GALILEE
under the tchiflik — the management of the Sultan's private property.
There are no government taxes, and the fishing rights are let annually
to a Christian for 260 napoleons. He engages his own fishermen —
from the Bedawin in the neighborhood — and pays all expenses.^
Fishing oflF Tiberias is only followed to a considerable extent
during the winter and early spring months. It is not nearly so impor-
tant as that along the northern shore from Mejdel to el Bataihah.
The bay at et Tabighah is, during the early months of spring, a won-
derful place for fish; they swarm there, attracted by the copious hot
springs which, loaded with vegetable debris, here pour their waters
into the lake. For about three months — mid-January to mid- April —
the fishermen make this their headquarters, erecting a few tents or
reed huts on the shore, close to the mills. While the water a few yards
out teems with larger fish, the shallows close in shore swarm with
small fish-fry.
The fishing oflF el Bataihah is by far the most valuable on the whole
lake. Here, close to the mouth of the Jordan, as well as in the waters
of that river, fish may be taken all the year round — though varying
in kind according to the season. The fishermen, whose homes are
in Tiberias, make temporary reed-mat shelters for themselves while
on shore, beside which they spread out their nets along the beach
to dry (cf. Ezek. 24:5, 14; 47:10). It is interesting to notice that
this, the richest fishing-ground, is close to the ruin et Tell, which is
generally acknowledged to be the site of the village of Bethsaida,
the "place of fishing," which, according to Josephus, was afterward
officially renamed Julias.*
At el Huleh and the ^Ain el Mellahah stream (which flows into
this lake) fishing is carried on by very primitive methods. The
Bedawin fishermen occupy a mat hut, made of papyrus, on the western
shore, close to the Jewish settlement of Ezbaid.^ During the day
they catch fish by means of the "cast net," as will be described;
but at night they employ boats and use the m'hatten^
From the Lake of Galilee fish is carried fresh to Safed, Nazareth,
and other places in Galilee, and is dried and salted for the Damascus
and Jerusalem markets. From el Huleh and <=Ain el Mellahah fish
I This was in 1907. » See chap. v.
3 Really, ez zubaid. 4 More correctly written miibatien.
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INLAND FISHERIES OF GALILEE 39
is sent to Safed, to Merj <^Ayftn (five or six hours away), and to
Damascus. In the case of the latter special precautions have to be
taken; the fish {musht and barbUt) is caught toward the evening, is
sorted out on reed mats, and packed and dispatched the same night
Salted fish is also sent from here to Zahleh and other places in the
Lebanon. During the summer months fish cannot be sent, in a
fresh state, far from the lakes; most of it goes to Safed, and in this
season almost all of it consists of carp and barbel.
The average price of the best fish in Safed is from ten to fourteen
piastres a rotl, or about four pence a pound. Catfish, which is always
cheaper, may be as low as a third of this when there is a glut in the
market.
Almost all the fish are caught by means of nets, of which there
are three kinds: the "cast net" or shabakeh, the "draw net^' or jarf,
and the m^baffen. The old-fashioned method of poisoning fish is
still at times resorted to by amateurs. At Tiberias crumbs of bread
mixed with cochineal (which appears to be a fish poison) are thrown
on the water, and I am told that even ^arak (spirits of wine) is also
sometimes used. The Arabs at ^Ain el Mellahah sometimes capture
the fish in that pool by means of poison, and they also, when the
weather is getting polder, and the fish by instinct make for the deeper
waters, stretch nets across the stream and make big hauls. Yet
another method employed at times at Tiberias is that of using a
weighted string of sharp, unbaited hooks which are rapidly drawn
through the water, and, if skill is used, often come up with several
impaled victims. This may have been the method referred to in
Matt. 17:27. It is, however, the regular fishing with nets which
alone is of commercial importance.
The "cast net" is a small circular net with small bars of lead
attached all round its margin: to the center is usually fixed a small
cord. It is apparently the afi(f>{^Xr)(TTpov of Matt. 4:18, and Mark
1:16. Three sizes are used, differing in wideness of spread and in
fineness of mesh. The smallest size, used for sardinnen, is known
as el mukheiyer; the second, the most commonly used, is called esh
shabakeh (a name usually applied by the public to all "cast nets")
or ^Ashraneyeh Kajdfeh; while the largest, used only in midwinter
for the largest musht, is called ^Ashraneyeh Saroseyeh, or simply
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40 STUDIES IN GALILEE
es saroseyeh. It may be of interest to give the dimensions of samples
of the two latter which I have recently measured. The shabakeh
measured in length, from the center cord attachment to the lead
weights, II feet 6 inches. When spread out fully the circumference
was 39 feet 3 inches. There were seventeen meshes to the lineal foot.
The saroseyeh measured: length, 11 feet 6 inches; circumference,
61 feet 4 inches; meSh, ten to a lineal foot. The method of using
the "cast net" is as follows: The fisherman carefully arranges the
net on his right arm, the weights hang free but the net is wound up.
As the fine mesh gets readily in a tangle he critically examines the
weights to see that none are out of place. He then advances into the
water up to his waist, having gathered his scanty garments well out
of the way; he cautiously looks around till he sees some indication of
fish — a few fins showing, a troubled surface, or a fish jumping — and
then with a bold swing of his arm he deftly lets his net fly through the
air so that it spreads out flat and descends into and through the water
with its weighted edges in a complete level circle. As it does so, it
necessarily shuts in all the fish in the area over which it falls. The
fisherman knows the lie of the net by means of the cord in his hand.
He then walks over the net, feeling with his feet the nature of its
contents, and flattening it down in his progress so that the fish become
well entangled in its meshes. He now draws it up again by means
of the center cord, and as he carefully twists it up over his arm he
disentangles the captives one by one. He may in this way capture
several dozen fish in one throw, indeed (specially when the net is
used in conjunction with the jarf, as described below), so great may
be the mass of fish that the net cannot be raised but must be dragged
on shore. It is seldom that the skilled man casts with no result
whatever. It is delightful, as I have repeatedly done both along the
north shore of the Lake of Galilee and at el Huleh, to watch the skill
and precision with which the net is flung.
The jarf or "drag net" is as much as 400 meters long. In mesh
it is as fine as the shabakeh. It is used at the lake chiefly during day-
light, but along the Bay of Akka many of these nets are employed
after sunset with lanterns and torches to illuminate the scene. The
net is paid out of a boat in an immense semicircle, the two ends being
near the shore. The upper side floats by means of corks, the lower
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INLAND FISHERIES OF GALILEE 41
is kept down by small lead weights. As soon as the net is in position
the men on the shore commence the process of hauling it in. Four men,
if possible, take charge of each extremity; they have long ropes fixed
to the lower and upper comers so that they drag in the bottom at the
same time as the top. In dragging in the net they fix the ropes to their
belts, and in order that a_ steady and uninterrupted pull may be kept
up each man nearest the landward end of the ropes, as soon as there is
room, leaves off his hold there and runs forward to seize the ropes at the
net-end as they come in shore. The fishermen consider it a matter
of importance that when once the net has commenced to come in,
there should be no pause in its progress. As the center parts begin
to come into shallow water some of the fishermen assist its progress
by jumping or diving into the water and lifting the weighted lower
side over the large stones. This is particularly necessary at Tiberias,
where there are many large stones all over the bottom. Finally the
net reaches the shore, having " gathered of every kind" (Matt. 13 :48).
Clearly the net {aayqvrf) here described was the draw net.
The nCbatten (really \j^^^ ^ meaning "lined," a word used for
the lining of clothes) is a compound net about 200 meters long, made
of three nets of equal length and breadth all fixed to one suspending
rope. The two outermost nets have a wide, that in the center a fine,
mesh. Like the jarf, one long side is floated near the surface by means
of corks, while the other is weighted down with lead. In order to
distinguish its situation in the dusk or dark a floating empty petroleum
tin is fixed to the two ends. A fish coming in contact with the net
passes easily through the nearest outer net, but the middle one he,
in his struggles, pushes in front of him, through the meshes of the third
net, in such a way that when he tries to retreat he finds himself hope-
lessly entangled in a kind of bag of netting — covering his broad end.
The m^batten can be laid in any depth of water as it does not
touch the bottom,. but, as a matter of experience, the fishermen find
that the biggest hauls are made usually not far from the shore. The
net is paid out in a long line parallel to the shore; the fishermen then
row their boats slowly along its whole length and back again — par-
ticularly on the landward side — in order to frighten the fishes. If
there is a large catch, the net, weighted down with its contents, sinks
in the middle. When this happens it is immediately hauled on board
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.42 STUDIES IN GALILEE
the two boats. ^ If there is no such result, the net may be left out
from the middle of the night till daybreak. Before paying out the
nets, the fishermen are often able, even in the darkest nights, to locate
a shoal of fish by the sound of the fishes opening and shutting their
mouths at the surface.
Ofif Tiberias yet another method has been adopted in recent years.
It was found that the musht, who are a very wily fish and the most
difficult to catch, frequently managed to jump over the floating edge
of the draw-net after they had been surrounded, so a new device was
contrived. Two boats, as usual, act in concert, their movements
being directed by a man stationed on a point of the shore high above
the water, who, from this vantage ground, is able to detect the pres-
ence of a shoal of musht. Proceeding to the spot indicated, the fisher-
men of one boat quickly drop the long jarf in a circle round the shoal,
while those in the second boat pay out an m^batten — without its lead
weights — all round the circle, keeping it stretched out flat on the level
of the water by means of wooden rods, and loosely fixing it at points
to the floating edge of the jarj. The musht, finding the circle closing
in round them, jump the edge and land on, and are entangled in, this
floating net. The jarj may now be dragged to land. As the bottom
of the lake is full of great stones, some of the fishermen dive in and
assist the progress of the weighted side over these obstructions. When
the circle is very full of fish the shabakeh is used again and again to
partially clear the jarj by securing the inclosed musht; under such
circumstances this net is often brought up an almost solid mass of
fish.
The Tiberias fishermen are quite a class by themselves; fine,
stalwart men, mostly Moslems, with a few Christians. The business
is hereditary in certain families. The nets are usually made and
mended by the women of their households. Irregular fishing with
the "cast net" is carried on by Bedawin living near the Lake of
Galilee, and particularly near the Huleh.
Although it does not do to argue too conclusively from modem
customs to the ancient ones, there are one or two which throw some
light on the narrative in John, chap. 21. There is, first of all, the
unknown Stranger (vs. 4) on the shore who tells the disciples where
I In these maneuvers two boats always work together; cf. Luke 5:7.
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INLAND FISHERIES OF GALILEE 43
to cast the net. If then, as now, fishermen were accustomed to have
their movements directed from the shore — at times*, at any rate —
it will explain the fishermen's ready response to the directions. Then,
it will be noticed that it is at dawn that the nets, if left out all night,
are usually hauled in. The condition of Simon (vs. 7) is readily
understood if the fishermen were accustomed to dive into the water
to assist the progress of their nets along the bottom; and so, too,
his plunging in with his "fisher's coat" to meet his Master, appears,
also, all the more natural and in keeping with the surroundings.
The fishes described (vs. 11) as "great" would probably be members
of the carp (Cyprinidae) family, which often exceed two feet in length.
These, today, are particularly taken in the "drag net" (vs. 8).
With regard to the varieties of fish it is unnecessary here to give
a list of all the forty- three kinds found in the inland waters of Palestine.
Many of them are quite small and others extremely rare. I shall here
almost exclusively refer to the important food fishes of the two lakes
of Galilee and the adjoining streams.
Zoologically these fishes belong to three families — the Chromidde,
allied to the wrass; the5i/wrida^, or catfishes; a,iid the Cy prinidae , or
carps. A small blenny {Blennius varus) is also found in the lake, but
it is too small to be of commercial importance.
The Chromidae are the most characteristic fish of Palestine. In
appearance they are somewhat like their allies — the wrass. They are
broad from back to belly, but somewhat narrow from side to side.
They have a long dorsal fin running the greater part of their length,
the front part of which is supported by fifteen or sixteen strong sharp
spines, while a broader part behind incloses about a dozen softer and
more flexible spines, lying close together. The eight known species
are distinguished largely by differences in the numbers of these spines.
It is on account of the comb-like back that the fishermen have named
this fish musht {hJJo), a comb. These prickly spines are, no doubt,
formidable weapons of defense, and may possibly (though this has
never been proved) be poisonous to smaller fish, as is the case with the
weaver fish, but they, more than anything else, are the cause of their
entanglement in the fine meshes of the fishermen's net. It is the male
members of this family of fish which have the remarkable habit of
carrying the spawn and the young fry in their mouths until they
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44 STUDIES IN GAIJLEE
develop to quite a considerable size.' As the young develop, the cheek
pouches become enormously distended, and the unfortunate parent
• is unable to close its mouth. How it can feed — imless it feeds on
its own fry — is a mystery. This phenomenon is very commonly
observed with the kelb (Hemichromis sacra) — indeed, this is the only
variety in which I have actually seen it — but it has been described
in other species, and is probably, as the fishermen emphatically state,
conmion to all the family. During, or very soon after, the breeding
season most of the musht disappear entirely from their usual haimts —
it seems probable that they take to the depths of the lake. Musht of
various kinds are very plentiful during the winter and early spring
months, particularly immediately after storms, but are very scarce
after about May.
With regard to the varieties, zoologists describe eight species. The
fishermen do not make such fine distinctions. The common com-
mercial kinds are musht abiad, musht lubbud, and kelb, or ktdeibeh.
Musht abiady or white musht is that known as Chromis niloticus, sl
fish found all over the Jordan system and also in the Nile. Although
a very light color, the males, during the breeding season, are consider-
ably darker, with marked spots of a lighter color; it is a very hand-
some fish and the chief favorite for the table. Well-grown specimens
are eight to nine inches long. In addition to color and size, this
musht is distinguished by a slightly convex forehead and a slightly
concave tail.
Musht lubbud is that known scientifically as Chromis tiberalis.
Lubbud is apparently derived from JyJ, meaning ** to stick together,"
"to be compact" (hence lebadeh, meaning "felt"), and may refer to
the extraordinary compact nature of the shoals. Thus Tristram
says:* " I have seen them in shoals of over an acre in extent, so closely
packed that it seemed impossible for them to move, and with their
dorsal fins above the water, giving at a distance the appearance of a
tremendous shower pattering on one spot of the surface of the glassy
I There is a misprint in the P.E.F. Memoirs^ " Flora and Fauna," p. i66, where
it says of these fish-fry that they "do not quit the sheltering cavity till they are about
four inches long." This is impossible. They leave the shelter of their fathers' mouths
when about the size of a lentil, and apparently never return.
a "Flora and Fauna," P.E.JF. Memoir, p. 165.
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INLAND FISHERIES OF GALILEE 45
lake." But others explain it as referring to the habit of this fish to
cling to the ground and hide under stones — a meaning equally per-
missible to the Arabic root. This is the most plentiful of all the
Chromidae. Of average size, perhaps a little smaller than the first
mentioned, it is distinguished from it by a more convex forehead, a
darker color, and a slightly convex tail.
The kelb ("dog" — a name also applied to the "shark") or ktdeiheh
("little dog") is the Hemichromis sacra. It is a small fish than the
two former, from which it is easily distinguished by its narrower shape
(from back to belly), its concave forehead and ugly mouth. It is
less prized as food than these others, and is caught also slightly later
in the season. It is in best condition, however, in the winter, when
it fattens on the sardinnen, among which it plays havoc. It breeds
mong the flags and bulrushes, and so the males, doing their parental
duties, often fall victims to the net.
Some of the smaller Chromidae are called ^^adadi, but I find a good
deal of disagreement among the fishermen as to what species should be
so called. The Memoirs are, however, I believe, correct in saying it
is the Arabic name for the small musht, Chromis Flavii Josephi,
which is distinguished by yellow spots on the anal fin. It is not a
table fish. A Bedawy fisherman also told me that he designated one
kind as marmar (marble), but he could not show me a specimen.
I have seen a small musht in the pools of ^Ain el Madawereh and ^Ain
et Tineh with a "marbled" back, which may be the kind referred to,
but I have not had the chance of handling it. Kart is a name also
applied to a smsM^ musht, "white like silver."
The "catfish" of Galilee — Clarias macrocanthus — is known to the
fishermen as barbiW^ (plural, harabet). This is the fish referred to by
Josephus (5.7., Ill x, §8) under the name Coracinus, as found in the
fountain "Caphemaum." It has a great head, ornamented with a
row of long and prominent barbels, and when it grows to its full size —
four or five feet — is a most formidable-looking beast, and does great
destruction among the smaller fish. Such large individuals are rare;
specimens caught for eating are usually between two and three feet.
They are sold very cheaply, because they are forbidden food to the
Jews on account of the absence of scales (Lev. ii:io). They are
I The verb harhUt is a colloquial Arabic word for making a splashing.
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46 STUDIES IN GALILEE
sometimes as cheap as four piastres (yjrf.) for a roll (=5 lbs. 10 ozs.),
or more than i^ lbs. for 2d, This is about a third of the price of
musht. For the table they are usually cut transversely, and fried
with butter or oil. They are excellent eating. From the fact that
they are not kosher y i. e., "pure," they are thought to be the "bad"
fish of Matt. 13:48, which "they cast away." The habits of the
catfish are in many ways remarkable. They are able to survive a
long time on dry land; they commonly reach Safed alive. This is
due to their curious arborescent gills, which do not collapse when
out of the water, and which, as long as they remain damp, carry on
the process of respiration in the air. Shortly before the breeding
season these creatures become very lively: I have seen numbers of
them tumbling about like small porpoises on the surface of the lake —
near its middle — with a crowd of noisy gulls circling over them.
Although they undoubtedly creep up the warm streams, and along
the irrigation canals — crossing at times even patches of dry land —
the fishermen say they do not (as Tristram states) breed in these
places but, in the Lake of GaUlee at any rate, in the deeper water:
they never see the small fry of the barbUt, In the Huleh they disappear
altogether into the papyrus swamps for four months after May.
When seized the catfish gives a curious squeak, something like a cat.
The Cyprinidae, or carps, are a large family, and twenty-three
different species have been described as occurring in Palestine. Of
these the most important food-fishes are the kersin, the abu kisher,
the hafdfi, the hafdfi bandHk, and the sardinnen.
The kersin, known also as abu buz,^ is scientifically Barbus longi-
ceps. It is a handsome trout-like fish, often over two feet long. Like
all the carps, its upper jaw is provided with small barbules, and the
comers of its mouth with larger ones. It is one of the best fish in the
district for eating, its special attraction on the table being its absence
of the many small bones which make the eating of musht such a mixed
pleasure.
Closely allied to this, but considerably more plentiful, is the binnyy^
or abu kisher (also known as kishereh). The latter names, meaning
"scaly," are given on account of this fish's remarkably large scales.
The specimens which come to the market are usually somewhat
I Lit., "father of a mouth." » Lit., "coffee brown."
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INLAND FISHERIES OF GALILEE 47
smaller than the kersin, but it grows, I believe, at times to the same
length as the latter. Zoologically it is known as Barbus cams.
The hafdfi {Capoeta damascina) is essentially a river fish. It is
found in the Jordan, or near its mouth, as well as in rivers all over the
land. It is, as its Latin name implies, common at Damascus, in the
Barada River. Specimens which I got there some years ago measured
one foot, and this is about the average size. This fish is yellowish in
color, particularly on the belly, and in flavor is inferior to the two
carps previously mentioned.
The Capoeta syriaca, a closely allied species common in all the
rivers of the Jordan system, is known as hajdfi banduk or "bastard"
hajdfi, the fishermen thinking that the fish is the product of the inter-
breeding of the true hajdfi with some other species. Another banduk
is Capoeta socialis. The three species are not distinguished in trade.
Yet a fourth kind is kept by the inhabitants of the village of Deishun
in the village fountain: it also occurs in a neighboring semi-under-
ground pool. It is known as Capoeta fraterctda.
The fishermen also describe banddlk (bastards) of the kersin and
the ahu kisher^ the former with a head like a kersin and scales like the
hjfd^, and the latter with head like the abu buz but scales like abu
kisher; but I am very doubtful whether these are really distinct species
and among a considerable number I have examined, I have never
found one.
Mention must also be made of the sardinnen {Alburnus sillah), sl
small species about six inches in length, which is at times caught in
great numbers in the lake, near the shore, although the greater part
of the year it is scarcely met with, probably because it keeps to the
deep waters. The Arabic name is a modem one, and clearly suggested
by their resemblance in size and shape to sardines. They are eaten
fresh, fried, and when properly cooked are excellent, but they are not
successfully pickled. Attempts have been made in recent years to
prepare them like true sardines, but without much success. Never-
theless, it would appear not improbable that they were the sardines
which we know were prepared here and were even sent to Rome.
Perhaps they were the ^"'113 of the Talmud, and the two " small fishes "
(dyjrdpiov) of John 6:19.^ A still smaller fish of the same order,
' See Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah^ Vol. I, pp. 682, 683.
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48 STUDIES IN GALILEE
known to the natives as libbeh, but scientifically as Descognathus
lanUa, swarms in the hot springs at ef Tabighah. It is a pretty minnow-
like fish, and may easily be caught in countless numbers with a muslin
hand-net, but is too small to be of use for food. In the similar warm
springs near the Dead Sea, e. g., *^Ain Feshkhah, another little fish,
the Cyprinodon dispar, of the family of the "toothed carps" {Cypri-
nodontidae) occurs in numbers equally great.
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GENNESARET
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CHAPTER III
GENNESARET'
As the Lake of Tiberias is in the eyes of many lovers of Palestine
the most picturesque and the most sacred of all spots in Galilee, so
Gennesaret is of those hallowed shores the fullest of holy associations,
the most beautiful, and the most fertile. In no place can the Savior's
life be more vividly pictured; nowhere do the lake's natural attractions
stand out so prominently.
The earliest mention of the name is in I Mace. 11:67, where we
read that "as for Jonathan and his host, they pitched at the waters
of Gennesar." This form Gennesar is found in many of the manu-
scripts of the gospels, as well as in Josephus, and is considered by
good authorities the nearest to the original. The meaning is very
doubtful, but the first syllable appears to be the Hebrew ^S, a garden
or park, which would, from the descriptions of Josephus, seem to be
very suitable. From the New Testament data it is clear that Gennes-
aret was at the northern end of the lake and to the west of the
Jordan (Matt. 14 : 34 ; Mark 6:53). The Talmud identifies Gennesaret
with the Chinnereth of the Old Testament, i. e., with the city of that
name. From Josephus we learn that this region was thirty stadia
by twenty stadia, that is, nearly four miles long by more than two
and a half miles broad. Gennesaret is famous for all time on account
of its connection with the life of Christ; no spot can have been oftener
visited in his frequent joumeyings to and from his '*own city," Caper-
naum, during the stirring days of his public ministry. In this neigh-
borhood were done most of his mighty works. The references in
the gospels are but incidental; for a description of this district we
must refer to Josephus, who in his somewhat exaggerated language
describes it as a veritable paradise. He writes {War, III, x, 8):
Extending along the lake of Gennesaret and bearing also its name, lies a tract
of country, admirable both for its natural properties and its beauty. Such is the
I The writer would express his indebtedness to Professor William Arnold Stevens,
of Rochester Theological Seminary, to whose article on "Gennesaret," which appeared
in the Baptist Qttarterly Review, October, 1886, the present writer owes much.
51
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52
STUDIES IN GALILEE
fertility of the soil that it rejects no plant and accordingly all are here cultivated
by the husbandman; for so genial is the air that it suits every variety. The
walnut, which delights beyond other trees in a wintry climate, grows here luxu-
riantly, together with the palm tree, which is nourished by the heat; and near to
these are figs and olives, to which a milder atmosphere has been assigned. One
SEA
or
CALILEE.
Au«u2a/ry cfj^&utx/^ • • •• ,^aMa£>/iMS
ScaXe. in "En^UtW. HclcS
GEXXESARET
The alluvial plain of el Ghuweir and the adjacent region.
might style this an ambitious effort of nature, doing violence to herself in bringing
together plants of discordant habits, and an amiable rivalry of the seasons, each,
as it were, asserting her right to the soil. For it not only possesses the extraordi-
nary virtue of nourishing fruits of opposite climes, but also maintains a continual
supply of them. Thus it produces those most royal of all, the grape and the fig,
during ten months without intermission, while the other varieties ripen the year
round.
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GENNESARET 53
Although today, in its sad neglect, Gennesaret produces no walnuts,
grapes, or olives, and but a few indifferent figs, yet there is no spot
in all Palestine so manifestly and so richly endowed with the gifts of
nature, nor any place on all the lake where its unchangeable beauties
can be seen to more advantage. The deep, rich alluvial soil, the
abundant streams, the fostering climate, and the fair vision of sur-
rounding beauty all remain: it only needs that the hand of man should
be stretched forth as a blessing and not as a blight to make the place
once again "blossom as the rose."
It is universally accepted that the plain known as el Ghuweir, the
little Ghor (the Jordan Valley as a whole being el Ghor), is the "Plain
of" Gennesaret. It must, however, be remembered that the insertion
of the qualifying epithet, "plain," is an after-invention, unauthorized
by either the New Testament or Josephus. It is impossible that this
region, producing olives, grapes, and figs, could have been only an
irrigated plain, for these fruits are never produced in such conditions.
It will, however, be convenient at the outset to make the plain, el
Ghuweir, the center of the topographical description.
El Ghuweir is an alluvial plain, a kind of delta, formed by the
united deposits of the streams which have made and are still deepening
the valleys opening into it. As will be seen by the plan on the pre-
ceding page, a large area of Galilee is drained by these streams.
Those who have traversed the deep chasms of the Wady el Hamam
and the Wady el ^Amfid must realize the enormous amount of sedi-
ment which, during long ages, has been carried down in the process of
their erosion. Such alluvial soil is proverbially fertile, but here the
sediment is of peculiarly rich quality, being the production of both
basaltic and limestone rocks. The three great basins which drain
into the plain are named after the gorges through which their streams
reach the level: the Hamam, the Rubudtyeh, and the *^Am(ld.
Taking these in order from the south, we deal first with the Wady
el Hamam. This drains the volcanic plateau of Hattin, so called after
a village beautifully situated below and to the north of the well-known
Horns of Hattin. An abundant spring bursts forth from imder a
precipitous limestone rock southwest of the village. This and a
smaller spring lower down the valley are in the dry season entirely
used up in the irrigation of extensive gardens. Immediately to the
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STUDIES IN GALILEE
north of Hattin, beyond the northern limit of the lava, a small spring,
^Ain el Hamam, breaks forth in the bottom of the valley and irrigates
some fruit gardens. A little lower down, just below the ruins of Irbid,
/ •
'*••••.
\
-"far.....
GENNESARET
The district is shaded; the deeply shaded part is el Ghuweir. The whole basin draining into the
plain is inclosed within the dark dotted line.
the ancient Arbela, water breaks forth at one or two spots in the valley
bed, but only during and immediately after rain is there any continu-
ous stream. As we descend the valley the scenery becomes increas-
ingly striking. The path, which is in places almost impassable on
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GENNESARET 55
account of great fallen bowlders, enters a gorge between massive cliflFs,
In places perpendicular, more than a thousand feet high. In the
precipices to the right are the remains of a great cavern fortress —
known today as Kul^at ibn Ma^an — which in both Jewish and Arab
times has been a refuge for robbers. Herod the Great^ broke up a
nest of robbers here by letting soldiers down from the cliffs above
in cages: this also would appear to be the "cave of Arbela'' which
Josephus fortified.^ Today the great griffin vultures circle around
and around their nests on its inaccessible ledges. When the narrow
gorge commences to open out, there breaks forth at the foot of the
northern cliffs a copious spring known as ^Ain Surar. Its waters are
used for irrigating some gardens lower down the valley, and what
remains is conducted by a small canal in a direction due east toward
Mejdel, to be distributed over some vegetable gardens. None of the
water from the Wady el Hamam reaches the Jake. The old channel
is not only dry but in places actually filled up.
The next wady, the Rubudlyeh, commences its course in some
copious springs near the village of Farradeh. It drains the eastern
end of the Plain of Rameh, and for a couple of miles it is perennially
filled with a copious millstream from *^Ain et Tabil. It runs a course
two-thirds of a circle around the lofty village of Mughar el Hazzftr,
being here called Wady Sellameh. Below Khurbet Sellameh the wady
is dry most of the year to within about four miles of the lake. Here
there bursts forth an abundant spring, ^Ain Rubudlyeh. After
gushing out of a rock and descending in a cascade forty feet, it gives
rise to a stream large enough to work several mills, besides irrigating
a considerable area of the open valley — a most charming spot. The
stream bed again narrows as the water forces itself through an outcrop
of lava which has, in prehistoric times, flowed into this valley. About
three miles above the lake it gives off a large conduit on its northern
side, which runs to the mill situated on the low hill of Abu Shusheh.
The main stream plunges down a somewhat deep and stony bed, and,
after passing the ruins of some mills, enters el Ghuweir and runs a
1 Josephus, War, I, 16:2-4.
2 Life, §37. These caves are also referred to in I Mace. 9: 2, and Josephus, Antiq. ,
XII, II : I. They were also fortified during the Crusades. The existing ruined walls,
vaults, and stairs belong to this period.
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56 STUDIES IN GALILEE
sluggish course to the lake. After heavy rains the stream at the ford
near the sea is comparatively wide and deep, reaching above a horse's
girth. The Abu Shusheh millstream pours down from the mill
through a great mass of rank vegetation, and after crossing the Tiber-
ias-Safed highroad in several streamlets its waters unite into a small
brook which enters the lake north of the Rubudlyeh main stream.
The basin of Wady el ^Amud is the third and greatest area draining
into el Ghuweir. This remarkable valley takes its rise near the village
of Meiron on the eastern slopes of Jebal Jermak. It receives the
drainage of the east side of the whole mountain range from Jermak
(the highest mountain in Palestine, 3,934 feet high) to Jebelat el ^Arus.
A northern branch of the valley comes from ^Ain Jinn, a copious, and
at times intermittent, spring. Tributaries to this northern arm carry
down the drainage of part of the volcanic plateau of Merj el Jish and
at neighboring valleys. In the winter great bodies of water descend to
the main wady from the Safed district to the east, and from around
Jebel el Bellaneh on the west. Although liable to fluctuation, the
stream in this valley is perennial and abundant. The upper part is
known as Wady et Tawahin (the Valley of the Mills), because of the
great number of mills there. Part of it is also known, particularly
to the Safed people, as Wady Leimon, because of the extensive and
beautiful orange and lemon plantations there situated. For miles
the deep valley-bottom presents a scene of verdure and cultivation
such as is seldom seen in Palestine. As it approaches the lake the
valley greatly narrows and for over a mile the stream traverses a
narrow gorge between precipitous limestone cliffs, full of caves. The
valley here receives the name Wady el ^Amud. The natives account
for the name (the Valley of the Column) by the appearance of the
straight and lofty cliffs at its mouth; but Robinson^ states that he
saw a column twenty feet long lying near its entrance, and he ascribed
the name to that.
It is necessary to mention here a source of confusion. Some of
the Bedawin call this valley, quite incorretly, Wady el Hamam,
like the one previously described. The well-known "Rob Roy''
MacGregor was led astray by this. He writes:^ "One of these
I Researches, Vol. II, p. 402.
a Rob Roy on the Jordan^ ist ed., p. 367.
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GENNESARET 57
(streams), ^Ain el ^Amud, comes from the south along the Wady
Hamam.or Vale of Doves, etc."
Where the stream of the '^Amud enters the open plain it is crossed
by a modem bridge, and then it traverses the level ground and enters
the sea north of the Abu Shusheh millstream. The remains of two
considerable irrigation canals north of this stream are plainly visible.
One leaves the *^Amud stream just as it emerges from the gorge and,
winding northeast across the plain, enters the sea just south of Khurbet
Minia. The second leaves the ^Amud a little below the bridge, and
runs seaward between the before-mentioned canal and the main
stream. Both these canals are in places filled up, and they have
not been used in their whole length for years. But it is evident that
by their means the plain almost up to Khan Minia has been watered
by the northern stream within comparatively recent times. In ancient
times all these streams must have been used to fertilize the whole
Ghuweir, and probably also the lower slopes of the surrounding hills.
Now the water is largely allowed to run to waste.
One stream has been omitted because it arises in the plain itself.
Between the Wady el Hamam and the Rubudlyeh streams there
arises, close to the Tiberias-Safed road, a copious spring known as
^Ain el Madauwereh (the Round Spring). It has received this name
because it arises within a circular basin some one hundred feet in
diameter. The masonry is Arab and the purpose of the basin is, as
with similar constructions at Tabighah, to raise the level of the water
for irrigation. The water, which has a temperature of 73° F., is
ordinarily about three feet deep and swarms with fish. From it a
perennial stream runs through a thicket of tangled brushwood to the
lake. A conduit from this spring carries its waters, when needed for
irrigation, toward Mejdel; indeed it is probable the original purpose
of this birket was to carry water into such a canal. The remains of a
canal, parallel in parts with the present one, but more carefully con-
structed, are still visible at a somewhat higher level than that now used.
The plain itself is roughly level and is everywhere intersected by
small water channels. Near its center there arises a ragged mass
of laval rock — an offshoot of the Rubudlyeh outcrop — called Wa<=ret es
Sawdah. The plain around Mejdel is cultivated by the Fellahtn of
that village; between there and the mouth of Wady ^Amud by Telia-
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S8 STUDIES IN GAI.ILEE
wiyeh Bedawin; Abu Shusheh is inhabitated by Kharambeh Bedawin;
and the rest of the plain is under the control of the Sumeireh. These
tribes, though tent-dwelling Arabs, are not true Bedawin because
they cultivate the soil like the Fellahtn, which the true nomads never
do.
Recently the plain has almost in its entirety passed into the hands
of two German Roman Catholic societies. The northern part forms
part of the property of the Tabighah Hospice, the southern part
belongs to a conunittee which has purchased a great part of Mejdel
and the land adjoining. It is to be hoped that under European con-
trol great improvements may occur. At present barley is raised, and
on irrigated portions, maize, melons, marrows, tomatoes, peppers,
badingan (egg plant'), bamiyeh (Hibiscus esculentus), etc., are grown;
but large areas are given over to thistles and weeds. In early spring
it is a brilliant green from end to end. There is a sad lack of trees;
only a few prickly acacias (sidr) and some stumpy palms remain
where once fruit flourished so well. Some of the most fertile corners
are near the mouths of the wadies.
Seaward, el Ghuweir is bounded along most of its length by a clean
gravelly beach of tiny stones mixed with, and in parts overspread by,
masses of beautiful little shells. Inside the beach is a fringe of olean-
ders, brambles, and thorny acacia; in places, especially near the
stream and canal-mouths, the shrubs extend to the water's edge.
This shore path from el Mejdel to Khan Minia is one of the most
charming routes in all Palestine. It varies from minute to minute,
now among the shrubs, then over an open lawn, along the bank, or
across a stream. In the spring every grassy patch is ablaze with
flowers, anemones in particular of every hue. The early morning and
the hour of sunset are the perfect times. I shall never forget one sum-
mer when I, with a party of friends, rode all night by moonlight from
Nazareth to Tabighah. We stopped for a midnight meal at Hattin,
beneath the precipitous cliffs, and then traversed the wild gorge of
the Wady Hamam. As we emerged from its close confines with the
full moon behind us, we found the whole plain bathed in the soft light
of dawn and the little birds around us commencing their morning
songs. As the quickening light momentarily gathered strength over
I Solanum.
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GENNESARET 59
the Hills of Bashan, we rode this path beside the gently rippling waters;
we had almost reached our destination, when the sun rose. I have
frequently crossed this plain at all times and seasons, but I have always
found water in the four streams, from south to north — the ^Ain el
Madauwereh, the Rubudlyeh, the Abu Shusheh millstream, and the
Wady ^Amud. Of the four, the Rubudlyeh is much the largest. The
stream beds run dry only when a great quantity of water is temporarily
diverted for irrigation.
A word may be added about the view landward from the center
of the shore. It is very striking. And when we consider that, what-
ever else has changed, the mountains and valleys remain, this view,
once so familiar to the eyes of Jesus, must have a sacred interest. In
the distance, to the southwest, one can see, between the two precipitous
cliffs of Wady Hattin, the double-peaked summit of an extinct vol-
cano, the Horns of Hattin. To the north of this, due west of where
we stand, is a great flat-topped hill of lava. Northeast lie Abu
Shusheh and some ruined mills on the Rubudlyeh, behind which is
Jebal Hazzur with the village of Mughar on its southeastern slope.
A little to the north of this is Jebel Bellaneh; and behind, the horizon
is composed of a long mountain range — the southern line of the Upper
Galilean hills, running from Jebelat el ^Arus to behind Rameh. In
front of Jebelat el ^Arus is the mouth of the Wady ^Amud; and to its
right, due north of us, is Safed and the bare, rocky range of Jebel
Kanaan. Northeast lies ^Oreimeh, and behind that many extinct
volcanoes of the Jaulan. From some points Hermon is also visible.
This Plain of Gennesaret has always been, as it is today, a great
highroad. The famous Via Maris passed from Damascus and the
north, through the Jaulan, across the Jordan at the Jisr Benat Ya^Kftb,
past the Khan Jubb Yusuf, and descended to the plain at the Khan
Minia. It then crossed the plain either by the beach road or by
another much-used path directly through its center. From the plain
it probably ascended the Wady Hamam and thence ran to the coast
at Akka. Another branch passed to Egypt via the Khan et Tujjar
and the historic pass at Megiddo. And a third road skirted the west
shore of the lake and ran south through Beisan, Teyaslr, and Nablus.
Today all these routes are in frequent use, but the Wady Abu el ^Amls
is preferred to the now almost impassable Wady Hamam.
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O
12;
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GENNESARET 6i
The traffic across the plain is continuous. The first time I was at
Khan Minia, in the spring of 1893, while we sat at lunch, an apparently
interminable procession of young camels — many hundreds — filed
past us going from the Bedawin lands east of the Jordan to be sold in
Egypt. Another time when I crossed the plain, I passed great flocks
of sheep in the charge of Kurds from Erzerum in Armenia, moving
along the green pastures of Wady Abu el ^Amls on their way to Egypt.
One of these rough shepherds, knowing scarcely a word of Arabic,
was later brought to me in Safed from Khan Jubb Yusuf for medical
treatment, having fallen ill so many hundred miles away from home
on this long journey. During harvest time caravans of thousands of
loaded camels pass along here toward the coast from the great grain-
growing plateau of the Hauran. In the olden days when Gennesaret
was in its glory how the fame of its beauty and richness must have
been carried through the world by the busy traffickers along its high-
road!
At the northeast corner of the plain arises the copious fountain,
^Ain et Tineh (Spring of the Fig). Its warm (82° F.) brackish water
bursts forth at the base of a precipitous cliff; and after collecting in a
small pool, runs along a small lagoon just inside the shingle for one
hundred yards. Pool and stream swarm with fish and terrapins;
while masses of papyrus and other reeds flourish in the marshy sur-
roundings. There are no remains of any important buildings around,
though excavations some years ago revealed foundations of what was
considered to be a Roman bath close to the pool. The water rises
too hear the level of the lake for it ever to have been of much use for
irrigation. A little to the north of this spring are the extensive ruins
of Khan Minia, now inhabited during certain seasons by people from
Ram^h, who cultivate the plain for the Tabighah Hospice.
About a quarter of a mile due south of the khan are the scattered
ruins known as Khurbet Minia. From their appearance, and espe-
cially from the characteristics of the broken pottery scattered over the
surface, the site may without any hesitation be pronounced entirely
Arab. Probably the buildings belong to the same period as the
khan. The remains are raised very little above the general level of
the plain, so that the occupation of the site cannot have been ancient
or prolonged. On a careful examination of the site with Mr. Macal-
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62 STUDIES IN GALILEE
ister* of the Palestine Exploration Fund we could not find a single
fragment of pottery earlier than Arab times, while the Arab pottery
is abundant.
To the east of Khan Minia is a remarkable hill, el ^Oreimeh.
This hill constitutes the northern limit of el Ghuweir, but not of the
district Gennesaret, as I hope to show. Seaward, this hill runs out
as a precipitous rocky promontory; while on the side toward the plain
HILL cOREIMEH
The Khurbet 'Oreimah appears as a flattened tell on the summit. cAin et Tineh lies below the cliff
at the extreme right of the picture, and Khan Minia is just outside the picture on the left.
and the khan the lower parts present a series of low, ragged, limestone
cliffs, with caves. Indeed, on every side, the ascent of the hill is very
steep. It is just one of those sites which, all over the land, were in
primitive times fortified. On the sununit of this hill is a remarkable
tell, with an artificially leveled top. This mound in the spring is
peculiarly conspicuous from a distance on account of its deep green
I See Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement j April, 1907.
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GENNESARET
63
color. The highest part is 198 feet long by 86 feet wide, but on the
lower ground to the northeast there are more remains.
The whole of the tell is artificial; it is the result of centuries of
occupation of the site. Although the ground has been plowed up
season after season for long years, fragments of pottery ever come to
the surface. A careful examination of these reveals the important
THE ROCK-CUT AQUEDUCT AROUND THE TELL OF cQREIMEH
Looking toward the west.
fact that they all go back to Amorite or, at latest, to early Hebrew
times. There are absolutely no fragments belonging to the Roman
period. The early pottery is so preponderatingly present that it is
possible for Mr. Macalister, an expert on Palestine pottery, to say
positively' that this site cannot have been inhabited in New Testament
times, nor for centuries earlier. In the tombs near at hand unbroken
Amorite pottery vessels, which we have seen, have also been found.
I See Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement y April, 1907.
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64 STUDIES IN GALILEE
The spot would well repay excavating; excavation has as yet revealed
nothing of the Amorite period in Galilee.
Next to this Khurbet el ^Oreimeh, the most noticeable thing on the
hill is the well-known aqueduct. This runs around the semi-precipi-
tous east and southeast sides of the hill where it hangs over the lake,
some fifty feet above its surface level. For forty feet the rock cutting
may be traced continuously. The shape of the passage is peculiar,
being bowed out, as it were, in the middle, as is shown in some degree
by the accompanying illustration. At several parts the outer side
of the aqueduct, which was evidently built up of masonry, has now
disappeared. Extensive surfaces of cement exist and the remains
of a built, cemented channel, the continuation of the rock-cut aqueduct
toward Khan Minia, can be traced. Just before the rock-cut passage
turns northwest after rounding the promontory, there re two breaks
in the outer wall which must from the rounded and smooth condition-
of their surfaces long have been traversed by running water. They
appear to have been made to allow the contents of the conduit to
descend along a mill shoot, and the foundations of the mills which
stood here still may be seen just west of the pool of ^Ain et Tineh.
These outlets and these mills could hardly have been in use until
after the aqueduct farther on toward the Khan had fallen into disuse.
Near the eastern end of the rock cutting is a ruined wely named
Sheikh ^Ali es Sayyad, Extensive traces of broken masonry aque-
duct are visible all the way from the great spring of Birket Sheikh ^Ali
edh Dhaher, across the open valley Khallet es Semak, and then in
the direction of the rock cutting, which show beyond doubt that this
aqueduct was made to carry the water of this fountain to Khan
Minia. As the natives always prefer the lake water for drinking to
any of these warm brackish springs, the probability is that the water
was primarily a millstream which ran to the Khan. It also went to
the settlement now represented by Khurbet Minia, for I believe I can
still trace there the remains of mills. It is quite possible, as has been
suggested by M. Renan,^ that the passage was originally constructed
not for irrigation but for a road (as it is today) around the face of the
cliffs, and only later reconstructed and cemented to make an aqueduct.
I Vie de Jesus, p. 140; a view also indorsed as probable by the engineers of the
Palestine Exploration Fund.
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GENNESARET
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As such, it could have been of use only at the time of the occupation
of Khan Minia and the neighboring town now represented by the
ruins, Khurbet Minia — an unknown date during the palmy days of
the Arab dominion.
On the northeast side of the hill just described is a small plain
known as Khallet es Semak, the delta of the Wady Jamus. This
region is generally known as el Tabighah, a name probably derived
DOUBLE OPENING IN BIRKET SHEIKH cALI EDH DHAHER
The commencement of the ruined aqueduct is seen in the foreground.
from Heptapegon (seven springs). This spot is notable for its abun-
dant warm springs and its excellent fishing. During February and
March it is the best corner in all the lake for fish; they are doubtless
attracted by the warm water there, loaded with vegetable debris.
Those who maintain that there must have been two towns called Beth-
saida — and they are a diminishing number — would locate here Beth-
saida west of the Jordan, while recognizing in et Tell, east of the
Jordan, the site of Bethsaida Julias. Certainly there is no better
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66 STUDIES IN GALILEE
spot for a "house of fishing;" but there are no remains which suggest
that any considerable town was there (such remains as are now to be
seen at this site belong to ruined Arab mills). This must in any case
have been the fishing suburb of Capernaum, and it is probable some
fishermen's huts were here. It is at least suggestive that the two
spots' on the lake where in the spring we find the temporary settle-
ments of fishermen are here and at the Bataihah, that is, at the place
where (from Matt. 14:34 and Mark 6:53) many would wish to locate
a Bethsaida (house of fishing), and at the place near where we know
Bethsaida (Julias) was situated.
There is no more charming spot than this in the whole circuit of
the lake. Near the hill el ^Oreimeh is a small German Roman Catho-
lic hospice, embowered in trees, among which magnificent eucalypti^
and willows are prominent. On the shore near this is the recently
erected wooden pier for the little steamer which has been placed on
the lake to take passengers to and from the railway station at es
Semakh,3 near the outlet of the Jordan.
The little open valley is full of cultivation and fertility, thanks to
the energetic and wise administration of the successive directors of
the hospice. The east end of the valley contains a mass of ruined
and half-ruined mills, aqueducts, and running water. Here there
burst forth from the ground no less than five springs. One of them,
called in the Palestine Exploration Fund Memoirs ^Ain Eyyub (Job's
Fountain), is the largest fountain in Galilee. This spring, for which
I could find no name locally, arises in a great octagonal tank each
side of which is 26 feet. As it stands, the building is the work of a
great Arab chieftain and robber, who during the eighteenth century
dominated the whole of Galilee from Akka to the Jordan. After
him it is named Birket Sheikh ^Ali edh Dhaher. The foundations
are older, better work, probably belonging to the same period as the
aqueduct and Khan Minia; that is, to the days when the Arabic
power was in its zenith, before the steady decline produced by the
I For a detailed account of the " Fisheries of Galilee," see chap. ii.
» Australian eucalypti were introduced into Palestine some quarter of a century
ago, and now flourish all over the land better than the majority of the native trees.
3 On the Damascus-Haifa Railway, opened in 1906, a branch of the great Hejaz
Railway.
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GENNESARET 67
Mongol Turks. The birket, as it stands, is not high enough, by several
feet, to lift the water to the level of the aqueduct; and today it is so
much out of repair that it does not even raise water to the level for
which it was reconstructed.
The present surface of the water is over sixteen feet below the top
of the tank. Near the top there are on the southern side two rounded
openings cut in stone, through which water entered an aqueduct
raised on arches. But for long years it has not attained this level.
The aqueduct is now ruined and the mill has disappeared. The
stream pours out under a platform inside the tank. To this platform
it is now possible to descend by a stone staircase and gaze into the
clear waters of the pool. The water is 86.5° F., and the pool — in
places ten feet deep — is a veritable aquarium of fish, purple and
yellow crabs, crayfish, and mud-turtles. The water pouring out of
the side of this pool still works a mill, and as it ramifies over the ground
supports a mass of tangled rank vegetation. As it cools it deposits
quantities of brownish, stalagmitic limestone which coats the sides of
both aqueduct and mill.
Two other springs have been inclosed: One, Hammam Eyyub
Qob's bath), rises within a ruined tower a few yards to the east of the
birket just described; its water is conducted by a small aqueduct to
water the property of the hospice. The other, Tannur Eyyub^
(Job's oven), lies nearer the shore a little farther east. Here the water
rises in a small circular pool, perhaps four feet deep, within a ruined
tower. Jewish pilgrims are accustomed to take a bath in this pool
on their way to and from Jerusalem. Two other springs also arise
amid the vegetation around. The whole of this Tabighah district
is one of present fertility and greater latent possibilities. It contains
the largest spring in Galilee, one-half equal in volume to the well-
known source of the Jordan at Banias, as well as four or five more.
The bay is the finest fishing ground on the lake. The district is
separated from the plain of el Ghuweir by a hill which in the days of
Josephus must have been under cultivation, perhaps bearing those
very vineyards, orchards, and groves of which he speaks. Viewed
from a little way out on the lake, the two plains appear as one. And I
I In addition to Job's spring, Job's bath, Job's oven, we have on the hill nearby
Mugharet Eyyub (Job's cave), where according to tradition he lived.
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68 STUDIES IN GALILEE
am quite of the opinion, as is suggested by Professor Stevens,^ that in
ancient times Gennesaret must necessarily have included the whole.
The measurements given by Josephus will easily allow of this, while
the extreme measurements of el Ghuweir are only about two and three-
fourths miles long by one and one-half miles broad. The region is
very definitely bounded to the south by the close approach of the hills
to the sea near Mejdel, while to the east beyond the Tabighah springs
the hills again approach the shore and leave no level plain of any size.
The description of the products of this region necessitates the inclu-
sion in it of not only the well- watered valleys opening into it, but also
a considerable margin of fertile and at that time terraced hillside
around. In the whole of this district, with the exception of Mejdel,
usually supposed to be Magdala, there are no ruins marking the sites
of any towns or villages which could have flourished there in New
Testament times. Such sites do not vanish into thin air; even if
no walls remain, pottery fragments are always to be found. On the
top of the hill west of Tabighah we find Khurbet el ^Oreimeh, marking
the site of a town which flourished and perished long before those
days; while at Khurbet Minia we have considerable remains of an
Arab occupation some centuries afterward. The whole area would
appear, as we gather from Josephus, to have been devoted to a great
garden and orchard; with of course the scattered huts and shanties
of those whose duty it was to watch over the produce.
I Loc. cit.
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CAPERNAUM
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CHAPTER IV
CAPERNAUM
Capernaum, the home of Jesus during practically the whole of
hi 5 Galilean public ministry (Matt. 9:1), the native place of at least
three of his apostles, and the scene of many of his most important
miracles and sermons, has, like the other once highly favored cities,
Bethsaida and Chorazin, long since ceased to be a city or even a
village. Today the Christian traveler who intelligently studies the
question has usually to be content with a "perhaps," or a sincere
wish that Capernaum may have been where he would like to think it
stood. On few questions in Palestinian topography have English
and American authorities been more evenly divided.
It is certain that Capernaum must have been an important place;
in Matt. 9 ; i it is called a city (ttoX*?) ; we read of a centurion resident
there (Matt. 8:5), and we may conclude there was a garrison; here
custom dues were collected on goods brought from the east over
the Jordan or over the great highroad from Damascus and the north
to Egypt (Matt. 9:9; Mark. 2:14; Luke 5:27). In position we
know it was on the Lake of Galilee, not far from the region called
Gennesaret (Matt. 14:34; John 6:17). It would appear to have
been a very important Jewish religious center, for it not only contained
a synagogue of peculiar importance, as we shall see later on, but
was frequented by considerable numbers of ultra-orthodox Phari-
sees and scribes who set themselves actively and fanatically to oppose
the new Reaching of the Master (Matt. 9:3; Mark 2:6, 16, 24, etc.).
It was described by Jesus as "exalted unto heaven" (Matt. 11:23;
Luke 10: 15). This is generally interpreted to refer to the opportimi-
ties and privileges the city enjoyed through Jesus' residence there;
it is, however, possible that it may refer to some more material great-
ness as well. • ,
Although the rival suggested sites for Capernaum are all within a
very small geographical area, yet there is no question that the final
and decisive settling of this topographical question would be a sub-
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CAPERNAUM 73
stantial gain because it practically would determine the positions of
other surrounding cities. As in a previous chapter I have incidentally
mentioned the other suggested sites^ for Capernaum, I propose here
before entering into the question of pros and cons to describe the
remaining claimant, Tell Hum. It may be as well to state that,
though for convenience I am here using this form of the name which
has become familiar to us through the publications of the Palestine
Exploration Fund, I have great doubts as to its correctness. It is
much more likely that the word should be transliterated "Telhum."
The site is not a tell at all — although it is probable that this idea may
have influenced the adoption of the present form of the name. Such
a mass of ruins lying on level ground is named in Arabic a khurbet;
a tell is always an elevation, often, but not necessarily, crowned with
ruins. The word Telhum is probably a corruption of Tankhum,
as we know from rabbinical' writings that a village Cepher Tankhum
once stood hereabouts.
Eastward of the springs of Tabighah the hills approach the shore;
and although the latter, with its little bays, presents a certain aspect
of attractiveness, not so much can be said of the hills to the north
with their black volcanic bowlders scattered around. It is only in
the spring when the long luxuriant grass and weeds make a carpet
of verdure, dotted over with myriad brilliant flowers, that this part of
the coast can be called beautiful. A quiet ride or quick walk of twenty
five minutes^ brings us to the outskirts of the Tell Hum property.
Here for quite half a mile along the shore are extensive ruins of houses
of many periods. Among the shapeless heaps of black stones are
the miserable hovels of the Semakeyeh Arabs who make this their
headquarters. A few buildings of the Arab period rise as islands
amid the general desolation: the ground, under the surface, is every-
where full of old house foundations, shaped blocks of stone, and
broken conduits: pottery — mixed Arab and Roman — lies scattered
on every hand.
Nowhere on the whole northern shore of the lake are there ruins
I Khan Minia, Khurbet Minia, el cQreimeh.
a Midrash, Shirhash Shirim, III, i8; Tal. Jer. Trumoth, XI, 7, etc.
3 From the springs of Tabighah to the Tell Hum synagogue is one and three-
fourths miles in a straight line as measured on the map.
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74 STUDIES IN GALILEE
of this extent. Those unaccustomed to Palestinian ruins may belittle
these remains, but compared with other sites they are very consider-
able. Among the heaps of black volcanic stones, once quarried from
the hills around^ a few scattered fragments of limestone — fragments
of columns or capitals — show that some grander building once stood
in this neighborhod. If we now enter the walled-in property of
the Franciscan Brethren we shall see the source of these pieces. Here
lie uncovered the extensive ruins of a magnificent synagogue, the
existence of which has until quite recently been known only by a few
fragments. During recent years a number of these Jewish synagogues
have been excavated- by Herr Kohl, working under the Deutsche
Orient- Geselkchaft. At Kerazeh, on the adjacent hills to the north,
at Irbid in the Wady Hamam, at Kefr Berim, el Jish, Meron, Nebra-
tain, and at Umm el ^Amed — indeed, in all places where indubitable
evidence of ancient synagogues had previously been found — these
buildings have been excavated, measured, and planned.
But it may be said without fear of contradiction that for size and
beauty of ornament this Tell HQm synagogue stands supreme; it
would even appear to have been the model after which all the others
have been built. No effort was spared to make it great and fine.
For whereas with the other synagogues the stone of the locality was
used (e. g., at Kerazeh, the black volcanic rock), here at much labor
and expense a beautiful white limestone (a native marble) was shipped
from a distance block by block for the construction of every part,
even the flooring, of the building. The carving, often in high relief,
is for local work most effective. The trailing vine, the stately palm
with its clusters of dates, the acanthus, the rose, and many other
beautiful designs occur. Perhaps the most interesting are the seven-
branched candlestick and the animal forms; among the latter are
seen lions or lambs (it is not quite clear which), and birds, two eagles
being especially noticeable. It must be remembered that, though all
that lies on the area of the ruined synagogue has been uncovered, it
is only a fraction of the ornamental work that was once here — mere
specimens of the general principles of the design. Quantities of
stone must have been removed, some perhaps to adorn other build-
ings, some to other parts of the town where they still lie beneath the
ruins; but it is to be feared that the bulk has found its way into the
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CAPERNAUM
75
voracious lime kiln. This mass of limestone blocks must for centuries
have been a veritable mine of treasure to the Arab builder, as there
is no other such stone to be found for miles around. This is the
fate which for many centuries has overwhelmed ancient inscriptions
and carved stones all over the land. The Arab has not the slightest
aesthetic feeling about anything of this sort.
The ground-plan of the synagogue is shown in the accompanying
illustration from the sketch-plan of Herr Kohl. It faced the lake;
and from its terraces, doors, and roof a most exquisite view of the
whole lake and shore must have been visible. In front there was a
kind of raised terrace approached from the east and west by steps.
The entrance from this was by a highly ornamental triple gateway;
the center portal was over six feet wide and those at the sides four and
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one-half feet. There was also a lateral entrance on the east. The
inside measurements are 78 feet long by 59 feet wide; there was a
central court surrounded on three sides by columns with a beautiful
and elaborate frieze, supporting an upper gallery. This gallery and
probably the roof were sustained by wooden beams. To the east
of this building a paved open courtyard of the length and nearly the
breadth of the synagogue itself has been uncovered. It is now
structurally part of the synagogue, as is shown both by the arrange-
ments of the steps and terrace in front and also by the character of
the pavement and surrounding wall, but it is also clearly an older
construction incorporated into the present building. It is possible
that it was a kind of Court of the Women. Jewesses in the Orient
are not allowed in the synagogues today. They may only view the
ceremonies, either from a gallery (with which a few synagogues are
provided) , or from just such a court as this. The open space would, of
course, serve also as a place for assembly and discussion between
services.
The date of this work is unknown. Most of these ruined syna-
gogues have been tentatively assigned to the second or third century
after Christ, but in none of them have any dates been found and the
question is quite uncertain. I believe I am correct in saying that
there is nothing in the architecture or the ornamentation which makes
it impossible that it may have been standing in the day of our Lord.
And even if the greater part of the present structure belongs to a later
time, it is likely that the site and some at least of the masonry go back
to the time of Jesus. For there are clear indications that an earlier
building of great architectural pretensions stood here. The owners of
the property are anxious to maintain that the later synagogue is that
of the New Testament. This is improbable. The utter destruction
whi h has overtaken these synagogues is clearly due to the repeated
severe earthquakes which have visited these regions.^
We have therefore at this site of Tell Hum an extensive ruin — the
largest on the northern shore. Besides Arab remains, we everywhere
see evidences of extensive habitation in Roman times, while in the
neighboring wady is a large Roman necropolis. In the midst of the
town is the ruin of a marble synagogue — by far the finest of which
T For a fuller description and discussion, see chap. vi.
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CAPERNAUM 77
we have any urviving traces now in Galilee. Now it is a suggestive
thing that most of the incidents at Capernaum are associated with a
synagogue. In Luke 7 : i-io, when the centurion in this city came
to plead with Jesus about his sick servant, the people *' besought him
earnestly, saying. He is worthy that thou shouldst do this for him;
for he loveth our nation, and himself built us our synagogue" {/cal
TTfv avvayo}yffv avroi ^/coSofjLrfaev ^filv). In Mark 1:21 we read,
"They went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day
he entered into the synagogue and taught." Here in the same syna-
gogue he healed the man with the unclean spirit (Mark 1:21-27;
Luke 4:33-35). In this synagogue the man with the withered hand
received health on the sabbath day (Matt. 12:10-13; Mark 3:1-5;
Luke 6:6-11). We may notice, too, that the expression used (Mark
1:21; Luke 6:6) is the synagogue (ek rrjv avvayayyrjv), Jairus of
Capernaum was a ruler of the synagogue {cipx^ov t^9 avvaya}yrj<;^
Luke 8:41). And it was in the synagogue of Capernaum that Jesus
gave his discourse on the bread of life (John 6:26-59).
Although it is quite possible there may have been several syna-
gogues in Capernaum, it is evident that there was one of pre-eminent
importance and fame, and it was this that our Lord selected as the
scene of his teaching in Galilee, as in Jerusalem he chose the temple
(Mark 14 : 49 ; Luke 22 : 53) . The references to this synagogue appear
the more striking when we notice that, with the exception of one, or
possibly two, visits to the synagogue in Nazareth (Matt. 13:54;
Mark 6:2; Luke : 16-30), there are no references in the ospels to
any other individual synagogues. Is it not conceivable that this
synagogue may have been actually the most important in all Galilee ?
The remains — even the earlier ones — which we find today support
such a theory, but in i ddition we find in the gospel the incidental
mention that a Roman official — a centurion — had been concerned
in building it. It is improbable that this was an act of pri ate gen-
erosity; mor likely he was acting on behalf of the Tetrarch Herod
Antipias, who may have wished to give the ews on the lakeside a
temple worthy to rank with the fin - gentile pag n buildings which
studded the neighborhood of the lake — for example, at Tiberias,
Hippos, Julias, and Gadara.
The existence of such a Jewish center may have actually decided
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CAPERNAUM 79
th 1 step which Jesus took when he moved from Nazareth and made
Capernaum the center of his Galilean ministry. These are conjectures
impossible at pre ent to prove, but the recent discoveries at Tell
Hum make it very difficult to believe that this was not the site of
Capernaum. For, to take one question alone, if Tell Hum was not
the city of Capernaum, what city was it ? It cannot be doubted that
Tell Hum was in Jesus' day an important city, and if we are to trust
the verdict of archaeology it was by far the most important Jewish
place in the district. We must always remember that in the time of
Christ cities were on a ery different scale from those of later times —
they were very small indeed according to our modem ideas. The
ruins all over the Holy Land tell the same tale. Comparing Tell
Hum with these remains, the city once there must have been a rela-
tively large one.
I have so f r discussed the question rather on topographical and
ar haeological than on historical grounds. As the difficulties to the
acceptance of the Tell Hum site for Capernaum have been chiefly
of the latter kind, I must briefly review the historical evidence.
First, we have the testimony of Josephus. Josephus (Vita, §72)
narrates that he had been fighting near Bethsaida Julias, east of the
Jordan, but had the misfortune to fall into a quagmire (in the marshy
Bataihah); he was thrown to the ground, bruised his wrist, and
"was carried into a village named Caphamome," whence he was
next day removed by boat to Taricheae. Caphamome is without
doubt the Capernaum of the gospels. Now there can be no question,
whether Josephus was carried by land or sea (and the former would
appear probable), that the first place of importance he would have
had to pass was some town standing where the ruins of Tell Hum
now stand; and there, if anywhere on the north shore (west of the
Jordan) , he would have been likely to obtain a Jewish physician. The
only reasonable solution is that Caphamome was at this site.
The second reference is part of the passage which was largely
quoted in the previous article on Gennesaret. After his glowing
description of that region, Josephus goes on: "For besides the good
temperature of the air, it is also watered from a most fertile fountain.
The people call it Caphamaum. Some have thought it to be a vein
of the Nile because it produces the coracin fish as well as that lake
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CAPERNAUM 8l
does^which is near Alexandria." Now with regard to this fountain,
if anyone were today without bias to select one for special mention,
there is one, and only one, which from its remarkable size and copious-
ness could for a moment be considered. This fountain is that rising
in the great octagonal basin called Birket Sheikh Ali edh Dhaher,
described in the Palestine Exploration Fund Memoirs as ^Ain Eyyub.
Such a gush of water — the largest course in Galilee, might well be
ascribed by the ignorant to the Nile.^ Today travelers visiting the
spot do not readily appreciate the enormous mass of water that pours,
forth because it rises so quietly in the old birkeh. Under more natural
conditions the sight would be far more impressive. The two springs
which have been suggested as alternative rivals are comparatively
of such insignificance that their claims cannot seriously be maintained.
No one spring can be said now to water the whole land of Gennesaret,
nor ever did. But I have in the preceding chapter given reasons
which seem to me convincing for believing that the comer where this
spring gushes forth is topographically a part — and'a very important
part — of that district.
Hitherto, however, objection has been taken because the coracinus
or catfish has not been found there. This objection is' quite unsound,
because the catfish abounds in the lake all along these shores and
it finds its way up all the streams. Canon Tristram foimd it in the
round basin of ^Ain el Madauwerah, but it is found also in ^Ain et
Tineh. At ^Ain Eyyub, inasmuch as a wall twenty-six feet high
was in Arab times built around the spring, it is not wonderful that this
fish is no longer found there. But we have not the slightest evidence
that the foimtain was so surrounded in the time of Josephus, or that
there was then anything to prevent this fish from finding its way to
these waters. For this reason the absence there of the catfish cannot
be allowed to count as important evidence.*
1 Such suggestions, though so absurd to us, are still made today by the Arabs.
When at ^Ain Feshkhah, by the shores of the Dead Sea, I was solemnly assured that the
water of that spring came from the Virgin's Fountain in the Kedron Valley, Jerusalem
— because both waters were equally brackish I See also Q. S. of the P. E. F.y 1909, p 206.
2 It is an illustration of how carefully one must accept evidence that, whereas I
was assured by one long resident in the district that he had often seen the coracin fish
in this hirkehy on more careful cross-qUestioning I found that he had been quite mis-
informed as to the nature of the coracinus. When I told him it was the well-known
catfish (Arabic, barbUi) he at once said he had never seen it in the birkeh. Nor, so
far as I can make out, has any other person seen it there in recent years.
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It will appear to some a greater difficulty that Capernaum could
give its name to a spring nearly two miles away. Now it is evident
from the word itself that Capernaum was originally the name of a
Capher (Arabic, kefer) village and not of a spring. The spring
must then have been called after the town to which it belonged.
There is no reason for supposing there was ever an aqueduct from
this spring to Tell Hum. But why should there have been ? The
lakeside people always prefer the lake water; they cannot be induced
to dririk anything else. But on the other hand the possession of this
spring — one might say these springs, for all the Tabighah springs
must have gone together — would be important for any town. With
this supply gardens could be irrigated, and also manufactories, e. g.,
tanneries, carried on. Such a fountain would naturally be known
as the Caphemaum fountain. It is perhaps worth noticing that
today the property of Tell Hum, that was brought from the Semake-
yeh Arabs of Tell Hum, comes close up to this fountain; the adjoining
spring, Tannur Eyyub, is actually on the boundary line between the
Tell Hum and the Tabighah properties.
The references in Matt. 14:34; Mark 6:53; John 6:17-21,
although they show that Capernaum lay near the region of Gennesaret
and not far from Bethsaida, are perfectly consistent with the Tell
Hum site. Jesus and his disciples, after the incident of the walking
on the water, were driven beyond their desination (John 6:17) and
lafided at the "land of Gennesaret" — probably at Tabighah — and
made their way to their home at Capernaum on foot. The absence
of a good harbor at Tell Hum has been urged as an objection, but
if the chief fishing-grounds of the city were at Tabighah — the fishing-
center today — the boats may ordinarily have been kept there.
The only rival site to Tell Hum is the ruin Khurbet Minia. I
have in the previous chapter explained that this is a site which has no
claim at all to antiquity. All the remains, masonry and pottery,
point to an extensive Occupation during the Arab period, and we
know from history that in this period this site was occupied. In
the eleventh century a place called Munyat Hisham was there, and
in 1430 a village called el Munja, important enough to give its name
to the whole lake.^ Other people have proposed Khurbet el <=Oreimeh
I G. A. Smith, art. "Capernaum," in the Encyclopedia Biblica.
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CAPERNAUM 83
as the site of Capernaum. But this site, as I have mentioned, was
not occupied in Jesus' day, nor had it been for many centuries previous
to that time. It is a very ancient site. I would suggest that it may
have been the location of the "fenced city" of Naphthali, called
Horem;* in any case it is a quite impossible site for any New Tes-
tament place.
The views of tradition regarding the site of Capernaum must be
reviewed because the great Dr. Robinson makes the astonishing
statement' that "a train of historical notices, extending down to the
seventeenth century, seifems to fix continuously the site of Capernaum
at Khan Minyeh." Professor George Adam Smith, on the other
hand, himself a supporter of the Khan Minia site, in both his His-
torical Geography of the Holy Land and in the Encyclopedia Biblica,
acknowledges that "a strong Christian tradition from the sixth
century onward has fixed it (i. e., Capernaum) at Tell Hum."^ But
he also states that both Jerome (fourth century) and Theodosius
(sixth century) support this site.-* The first authority that Robinson
or G. A. Smith quotes in favor of the Khan Minia site is Arciilfus,
a French bishop who visited Palestine about 670 A. d. Now in the
first place this good pilgrim did not himself visit Capernaum at all —
he only viewed it from an unknown hill in the neighborhood. The
two passages from his writings which Robinson quotes as supporting
the Khan Minia site are: "Those coming from Jerusalem who desire
to go to Capernaum proceed by the direct way through Tiberias;
thence along the Lake of Galilee, and through the place of benediction^
before described; from whence, along the margin of the same lake,
by not a long circuit, they arrive at Capernaum upon the shore."
This "place of benediction" he describes in another part as "the level
I The change from Din into &^«.ft is not a great one.
a Biblical Researches j Vol. Ill, pp. 354 f.
3 Historical Geography, p. 456, footnote.
4 Encyclopedia Bihlica, Vol. I, col. 697.
s There are in this neighborhood two sites now pointed out which are apparently-
confused (or were once blended into one) : one is the scene of the Beatitudes which is
traditionally (at any rate onesite of it) on the hillside to the north of the great Tabighah
spring. The site is now marked by a tree called Sajarat el Mubarakeh, high up on
a hill on the head of the Wady et Tabighah. The other site is that of the feeding of
the five thousand as described.
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84 STUDIES IN GALILEE
and grassy plot where the Savior fed the five thousand; where was
also a fonticulus (small fountain); the place was on this [i. e., the
west] side of th^ lake looking toward the city of Tiberias which was
on the sou1;Ji."
Robinson does not venture to decide what this place was. He
says: "The term fonticulus could hardly be applied in strictness
either to ^Ain el Barideh or to the Round Foimtain; it might seem
rather to refer to some small source on the shore, not far perhaps
from Mejdel." But if Robinson had inquired from those who value
and preserve ecclesiastical tradition he would* have learned that "the
level and grassy spot" was the hill immediately to the east of the
Tabighah plain and just north of the springs.' No more beautiful
spot for the scene of this event — or for any other great open-air gather-
ing^ — could be found. The fountain is undoubtedly that rising in
the Birket Sheikh Ali edh Dhaher, as a whole succession of pilgrims
associate the multiplication of the five loaves and the two fishes with
the seven springs or Heptapegon, from which latter word the name
Tabighah is derived.' The derivation does not on paper have the
same manifest reasonableness as it has when one hears the latter word
pronounced by the Bedawin of the desert; the similarity is then
immediately apparent.
Now, this site being fixed, the statement of Bishop Arculfus is
surely correct when he says that from there " along the margin of the
lake, by not a long circuit,, they arrive at Capernaum upon the shore."
He then describes Capernaum as he saw it from a neighboring hill:
1 In the Palestine Exploration Fund Memoirs the hill el cOreimeh, to the west of
the plain of Tabighah, is suggested as the traditional site referred to; it is also stated
that this was probably the spot known as Mensa Christj. Without entering into a
full discussion of these ecclesiastical traditions, which would be foreign to the present
purpose, I may say that all the evidence and the present local tradition seem to be in
favor of the hill to the east of the plain. The Mensa appears at one time to have been
a flat stone near the lake at which Jesus provided the meal after the resurrection. It
is mentioned by several early pilgrims. Later on the stone disappeared or was lost
sight of; and the plain itself, supposed then to be the site of the miracle of the feeding
of the five thousand, was called the Mensa. (See statement of the Franciscan Noe
farther on; also a somewhat fuller discussion of the traditions, and a paper on "Th€
Site of Capernaum" by the present writer in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine
Exploration Fund for July, 1907).
2 For an able review of all the traditions connected with Tabighah see M. Heidet,
Das heilige Land (1896), pp. 347-58, chapter on "Tabighah und seine Erinnerungen."
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CAPERNAUM 85
"It had no wall; and being confined to a narrow space between the
mountain and lake, it extended a long way upon the shore from west
to east, having the mountain on the north and the lake on the south."
I must confess I cannot see one point in this description which fits
the Khurbet Minia, while as a description of the Tell Hum site, espe-
cially as that of one viewing it from the distance, it is quite accurate.
Khurbet Minia is out in the plain el Ghuweir, is in no way shut in
between the mountain and the lake, and does not and can never have
extended along the shore. Arculfus evidently wishes to explain the
curiously long and narrow shape of Tell Hum, and states that this is
due to the narrowness of the level surface near the shore. This is
evident to anyone visiting the place. Immediately to the north of
the ruins the hills slope upward and there is no evidence that the city
ever extended on to those hills.
The second pilgrim quoted by Robinson in favor of his contention
is Willibald, who visited the Holy Land about 723. Robinson says:
" From Tiberias he proceeded along the lake by Magdala to Caper-
naum, where was a house and a great wall. Thence he went on to
Bethsaida, where was a church; and remaining one night, he came
in the morning to Chorazin." This itinerary has more bearing on
the sites of Bethsaida and Chorazin than of Capernaum. But as
now Bethsaida is generally reckoned to have been at el Tell or some
other site on el Bataihah, and Chorazin was at Kerazeh, it seems
evident that this pilgrim went from Tiberias to Magdala, then across
el Ghuweir, past Tabighah to Tell Hum, thence across the Jordan
(by ferry or ford) to Bethsaida, where he stayed the night, and then
again across the Jordan at the ford and up the hills to Chorazin. The
evidence of Willibald has no bearing whatever on the Khan Minia site.
Next we have Eugesippus (Hegesippus) about 11 70. He says
that " the descent of that mountain, where our Lord preached to the
multitude, was two miles from Capernaum; one mile from there is
the place where Jesus fed the five thousand, therefore this place is
named the table (mensa). Below this place is the spot where Jesus
ate with his disciples after his resurrection." This would appear
clear and definite enough, but here Dr. Robinson, in order to maintain
the Khan Minia ^ite, says the mountain here referred to was the
"Horns of Hattin." Were this the case, the description would be
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86 STUDIES IN GALILEE
singularly inexact, as from these to Khan Minia, as measured on the
map on a straight line, is eight miles ! The mountain here referred
to is clearly part of the Tabighah district and perhaps the hill where
today stands the Sajaret el Mubarakeh which is supposed to mark
the "mount of benediction."
The next pilgrim quoted by Robinson is the German Dominican
monk Burkhard or Brocardus about 1283. His testimony is so
important, and, when quoted fully, so contrary to the conclusion of
Robinson, that I quote a translation of it at some length. After
descending the "Mount of the Beatitudes," before described as lying
to the east of the plain of Tabighah, he goes on:
At the foot of the mountain, about thirty paces irom the sea, arises a fountain
of living water, which is surrounded by a wall and which is supposed to be a vein
of the Nile because in it is found the Coracinus fish which is found nowhere else.
Josephus calls this fountain Caphemaum because the whole land from the foun-
tain to the Jordan — a distance of two hours — belonged to Capernaum. Twenty
paces from the fountain toward the lake of Gennesaret is the place where Jesus
stood on the shore, after his resurrection, when he appeared to his seven disciples
who fished there and said to them, *^ Children, have you nothing to eat ?" There
have I seen impressed on a stone three footsteps of our Lord. It was the feast
day of St. Augustine, but when I arrived again on the feast of the Annunciation
the Saracens had removed the stone from its place. Ten paces from this is the
place where the disciples who came from the sea found the coals, and the fish
on them and the bread. This place is called by the Christians tabula or mensa.
From this place, at a distance of one hour, is Capernaum, and two hours from
the same place is the Jordan.
Here the description entirely agrees with that of numerous other
pilgrims who one after another describe the wonderful sites of Hepta-
pegon, i. e., Tabighah, and put Capernaum as one hour — or sometimes
two miles — and the Jordan as two hours, to the east. I have purposely
quoted and referred only, to those pilgrims whose accounts have been
quoted by Robinson as supporting the Khan Minia site for Capernaum.
Among later pilgrims I need only quote the account of the Francis-
can monk Noe who, in the account of his travels (1508), thus refers to
" the place where our Lord fed the five thousand with five loaves and
two fishes." He says:
Now if you leave Capernaum and go about two miles thence you will find a
mountain where our Lord preached and healed a leper; at the foot of this moun-
tain is a place where our Lord fed five thousand persons, without counting women
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CAPERNAUM 87
and children, with five loaves and two fishes, as the gospel tells us. This plain
is a beautiful country and is called the table of honor, Mensa (Totwrey^ because
of the wonders which om- Lord did there.
It would appear that after this time insuperable difficulties* stood
in the way of pilgrims reaching this place. And, as has happened in
other parts of the land, when it became impossible to lead the devout
to the real (or supposed real ) site, more accessible places were selected
as substitutes. Thus the tradition of the "Mount of the Beatitudes"
was transferred to the Horns of Hattin, and the site of the feeding
of the five thousand to a neighboring hill between this last and Tiber-
ias. Prqbably in the earlier times the pilgrims were conducted to
these spots, and from there the sites to the north of the lake were
pointed out; but gradually the places from which these sites were
viewed from afar came to be looked upon by the pilgrims as the actual
sites. The site of thi appearance of Christ after his resurrection,
which through many centuries had been ppii^ted out at Tabighah,
now became changed to Tiberias. All these sites being thus altered,
and the memory of the traditional sites being lost, it is no wonderful
thing that the. site of Capernaum was also changed. Thus it came
about that in 1620 we for the first time read of the suggestion of Quares-
mius that Capernaum was not at Tell Hum but at Minia. Thus he
says: "On the site of Capernaum are many ruins and a miserable
diversorium {khan) called in Arabic Minich, six miles distant from the
place where the Jordan flows into the lake." It is evident that the
Arabic town Munja having fallen into ruins, a supposition arose that
this was the site of Capernaum.
It has been maintained, but without any actual evidence, that
Minia is a word derived from Minima a word used in rabbinical writ-
ings for heretics, the context showing that Christians are meant.
There were many Minim at Kapher Nakhum. In the Midrash
Rabbah on Ecclesiastes 1:8, among the things "full of labor," after
mentioning with examples idleness and trade, it next states that heresy
I It has been suggested to me that this onore may be really a corruption of the
Arab word, ^oreimeh.
a These difl5culties, due probably to the insecurity of the roads and the hostility
of the Moslems, commenced in the middle of the fourteenth century and extended
from that time forward for some centuries. The testimony of Noe quoted above
comes after a long silence, and is the last till modern times in favor of the old traditions.
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(menoth) is "full of labor" and illustrates with the following tale:
A certain Rabbi Khannina came to Kapher Nakhum, where he was
bewitched by the Minim so that he broke the Sabbath by riding on a
donkey. He then returned to his uncle, Rabbi Joshua, who gave him
a kind of ointment by which the spell was removed. The uncle
would not, however, trust his nephew for the future, but said to him:
" Since the braying of that wicked donkey is in you, you cannot stay
in the land of Israel." So he sent him away to Babylon, where he
eventually died. This story is again referred to in the Midrash on
Ecclesiastes 7:26, where, after several other similar illustrations of
tbe hidden meaning of the verse, it explains that the man "good before
God" was Khannina, the nephew of Rabbi Joshua, and the sinners the
"children of Kapher Nakhum." The date of these references is
imcertain; they probably refer to some event which happened in the
very early days of Christianity.
By Jewish tradition the name Kapher Nakhum is derived from
the prophet Nakhum (Nahum), who was buried there. Schwarz
states that Kepher Tankhum is also called in the Jerusalem Talmud
Kaphir Takhumin, i. e., the town of the boundaries, and he says
that here was the boundary between Zebulon and Naphthali, as is
stated in Matt. 4: 13. He also quotes Rabbi Isaac Farhi, who visited
the Holy Land in 1322, as stating in the "Kaftor Raphireh" that
"Kaphir Tankhum or Nakhum is to the east of Gennesaret about
half an hour." In 1334 Isaac Chilo came to Kaphir Nakhum from
Irbid^ and found it in ruins; but the tomb of Nakhum was still
shown, and in 1561 we have mention of Tankhum with the tombs
of Nahum and Rabbi Tankhum. It must be remembered that dur-
ing the very period covered by these visits there was an Arab settlement
on the site of Khurbet Minia, as has been mentioned before. Schwarz
says of his own time (1852) : "This place (Tell Hum) is now a ruin
known to all the Jews; they call it Kaphir Tankhum." He adds that
there are three tombs: that of the Prophet Nakhum, and of the Rabbis
Tankhuma and Tankhum.
I Conder (Bible Handbook) argues that as the Rabbi was going to Kefr Anan
and took Kephir Nakhum on his way, the latter place must have been at Khan Minia,
inasmuch as Tell Hum was too much out of his way. Anyone referring to the map
(e.g., accompanying the chapter (iii) on "Gennesaret") will see that both places are
completely out of the direct route and argument against one condemns both i
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CAPERNAUM 89
That Tell Hum really is the site of Capernaum is thus shown from
five sources: (i) The ruins, especially those of the unique marble
synagogue, witness to how important a city once stood here. The
prominence of the synagogue among the ruins is in striking agreement
with the frequent mention of the synagogue in the gospels. (2) This
site agrees entirely with the Bible references, especially if it be allowed
(as I trust I have demonstrated) that Gennesaret was an area con-
siderably larger than the level plain (el Ghuweir). (3) The refer-
ences in Josephus also harmonize with the identification of this site
as Capernaum; the fountain "Caphemaum" must without doubt
be the great spring at Tabighah. (4) I have, I hope, made it clear
that so far from "a train of historical notices, extending down to the
seventeenth century, fixing the site of Capernaum at Khan Minia,"
the very reverse is the case; and that until the isolated statement
of Quaresmius, in the seventeenth century, every statement by the
Christian pilgrims is consistent with the Tell Hum site. The key
to the understanding of the accounts is the recognition of the various
traditions connected with the seven springs — the Heptapegon —
of Tabighah. (5) In the Jewish references we find Kaphir Nakhum
(the traditional tomb of the prophet Nahum) identified with Kaphir
Tankhimi, which latter word has, by a common linguistic corruption,
been altered to Telhum or, to use the form common to Westerners,
Tell Hum.
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CHORAZIN AND BETHSAIDA
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CHAPTER V
CHORAZIN AND BETHSAIDA
Of Chorazin it may be said truly we know no more than can be
gathered from the scanty references in Matt. 11:21 and Luke 10:13.
It was one of the spots near the Lake of Galilee favored by the teach-
ing of Jesus; it was not far from the associated cities of Capernaum
and Bethsaida, and it may be seen that like them it was an impor-
tant Jewish center in those days. The early Christian writers, Eusebius
and Jerome, describe Chorazin as two Roman miles from Caper-
naum, but the latter introduces an element of difficulty in stating*
that it was upon the shore of the. lake. This cannot however be in-
tended as a strictly geographical description, for he says the same of
Bethsaida which, if at et Tell, was at least as far from the lake itself
as Chorazin. There is no possible ruin by the lake side which can
be identified as that of Chorazin, while at Khurbet Kerazeh, in an
extensive ruin including the remains of a large synagogue, some two
miles north of Tell Hum, we have manifestly the Arabic equivalent of
the ancient name.
With regard to Bethsaida we have much more definite information.
In addition to a number of references in the gospels, there is a good
deal to be gathered from secular historians. Thus Josephus states :*
He [Philip] also advanced the Village («<^mi7) of Bethsaida to the dignity of a
city, both by the number of inhabitants it contained and also its other grandeur,
and called it by the name of Julias, the same name as Caesar's daughter.
In another passage^ we read that —
Caesar (Nero) bestowed on Agrippa a certain part of Galilee, Tiberias and
Taricheae, and ordered them to submit to his jurisdiction. He also gave him
Julias, a city of Perea, with fourteen villages that lay about it.
It is expressly stated in other passages that it lay in lower Gaulanitis^
and close to the Jordan. ^ Philip, when he died there, was buried with
I ". . . . lacus Gennesareth, in cujus litore Capernaum et Tiberias et Bethsaida
et Chorazaim sitae sunt." — ^Jerome, Jes.y 9. i.
a Ant., XVIII, xi, I. 4 B. /., II, ix, i.
3 Ant., XX, viii, 4. 5 B. /., Ill, x, 7; Vita, § 72.
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94 STUDIES IN GALILEE
great pomp and " was carried to that monument which he had already
erected for himself beforehand.''' Pliny and Jerome both mention
that Bethsaida was east of the Jordan.
The city thus referred to is without doubt that mentioned in Luke
9: lo. As several villages appear from the above extract to have been
associated with Julias, it is quite likely that the "desert place/' the
scene of the feeding of the five thousand, may have been a distant
comer of its extensive domains lying, as has been often suggested, some
distance down the east coast; in this well- watered district near the
time of the Passover "green grass" would be present in abimdance
(cf. John 6:4, 10; Luke 6:34). This region being under the juris-
diction of Herod Philip, not Herod Antipas, explains (Matt. 14:13)
our Lord's returning after the death of John the Baptist at the hands
of the latter.
A Bethsaida situated east of the Jordan also suits well the condi-
tions of Mark 8:22, for our Lord immediately after the healing of the
blind man in that city comes to the villages of Caesarea Philippi which
must have been, mainly at any rate, on the east side of the Jordan.
The passage which seems to imply the existence of a second Beth-
saida is Mark 6:45, but as'has repeatedly been shown, this is not neces-
sarily the case. It must be remembered, first, that the site of the
feeding of the five thousand may have been some little distance down
the east shore, and, secondly, that to cross to "over against Bethsaida"
was most quickly done by boat because of the many inlets which
interrupt the shoreway along the plain, el Bataihah. To cross axon-
siderable bay and the mouth of a channel like the Zakeyeh — consider-
ably wider than the mouth of the Jordan itself — might be described
as going to "the other side." Besides, a similar expression is used by
Josephus of crossing from Tiberias to Taricheae — both on the west
side of the lake. They were to wait "over against Bethsaida," that is,
I take it, close to the mouth of the Jordan, but on the eastern side, ready
to escort across the river their Master who was intending to join them
by the land route through Bethsaida. They expected to be there
first and to wait on the shore till he came, but the storm set in and
made a landing at the Jordan mouth, and even at Capernaum, their
headquarters, impossible.
I Ant., XVIII, iv. 6.
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CHORAZIN AND BETHSAIDA 95
With regard to the expression, Bethsaida of Galilee,' used in John's
Gospel, it has been clearly shown^ that the term may perfectly well
have been applied to the city Julias. In a previous quotation from
Josephus^ we notice that Julias was, along with a certain part of Galilee,
Tiberias and Taricheae, given by Nero to Agrippa II; it thus came
under one administration. In 84 a. d., the east coast of the lake was
definitely included in the province of Galilee and not many years later^
(140 A. D.) we have the definite statement that Julias was in Galilee.
If we summarize the facts we find: (i) The gospels make no clear
reference to any second Bethsaida. (2) The probability that there
were two towns or villages of the same name within such a short dis-
tance is very slight. It must be remembered that Julias is not a quali-
fying epithet but a new name. Only confusion is made by using the
name Bethsaida-Julias, as if the names were used together. Probably
the vast majority of the inhabitants clung to the Semitic name Beth-
saida, leaving the new foreign name for use by the officials only. The
survival of Banias (=Panias), while the name Caesarea-Philippi is
quite forgotten, is an example and a result of this custom. (3) There
is no reference to, or any suggestion of, a second Bethsaida in any of
the early Christian writers or pilgrimage records. (4) Archaeologic-
ally there is no site on the western shore which shows any remains of
such a second Bethsaida. If there was such a place it must have been
a mere fishing suburb of Capernaum, at, say, Tabighah.
With regard to the situation of Julias there is a considerable unan-
imity of opinion; there is indeed only one possible site for such a city,
namely, et Tell, at the northwestern comer of the delta-plain, el Batai-
hah. It is true that Dr. Schumacher is often quoted as supporting the
claims of the squalid ruin el Mes^adiyeh on the shore of this plain,
but as he makes an equal claim of another shore-ruin, el *^Araj, this
opinion cannot be worth much in his own eyes. The fact is, neither
the situation^ — it is far from the Jordan, nor the suitability of its site
John 1:44; 12:21.
2 See G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land; and Buhl, Geographie
des alten Paldstinay p. 242.
3 AfU., XX, viii, 4. 4 Pliny, v. i.
5 "The ruins are unimpDrtant, although extensive; the building stones are mostly
unhewn. The place is surrounded by marshes and consequently unhealthy." —
C. Schumacher, The Jaulan, p. 221.
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^ d
O I
Pi g
"I
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CHORAZTN AND BETHSAIDA
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to be that of an attractive and semi-royal city, nor its archaeological
remains — ^which are nil, give it any claim whatever to represent the
site of a city so important as Julias. The more we see of the sites of
the old cities of Palestine the more sure we may be of the likehness of
one site and the impossibility of another; el Mes^diyeh is an im-
possible site for a Judaeo-Roman city. It may well be the site of one
of those villages which were bestowed with the city upon Philip.
RUIN HEAPS OF BETHSAIDA
In giving a description, as I here propose to do, of the two sites,
Kerazeh and et Tell, I think the most satisfactory way will be to de-
scribe a visit to these places. They are both so seldom visited by even
student-tourists that some account of how easily they may be reached
may encourage Bible students to pay them more attention. It is
quite astonishing how few who mention these sites in guide-.books
and accounts of the country have ever been there themselves.
The route followed was from Safed to Kerazeh (3 hours), Kerazeh to
Tell Hum (i J hours), Tell Hum to the Jordan (i hour), Jordan mouth,
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via el Araj, to et Tell (i hour), et Tell via ed Dikkeh to higher fords of
Jordan (i hour), Jordan to Safed (4 hours) — in all ten hours, actual
traveling which might be shortened a little by omitting ed Dikkeh and
crossing the Jordan at the regular ford, in which case a more fre-
quented and shorter way to Safed can be taken. Although the whole
roimd can easily be done by a good rider on a long summer's day,
yet I am, in my accoimt, combining two separate excursions, one made
in January, 1907, from Safed to Tell Hum via Kerazeh, and one
made in June, 1907, from Tell Hum via et Tell to Safed.
Safed is a very favorable center for exploring the greater part of
Galilee. Its position is central. Thus Tiberias is but five hours,
Banias but seven hours, Akka but nine hours away. Either Huleh or
the Lake of Galilee can be reached within three hours' easy ride.
For exploration in the neighborhood of the north shore of the lake, by
far the most interesting point, it is very convenient. Especially is this
the case with those wishing to make their investigations in the summer
months when it is incumbent on the tourist to have a cool resort as
his headquarters. Safed, 2,750 feet above the Mediterranean and
about 3,400 feet above the lake, enjoys in the summer a climate
almost as salubrious as the higher parts of the Lebanon.
, The route from Safed to Kerazeh for the first hour and a half is
the same as that to Tabighah and Tell Hum. The roads diverge at
the ruined khan Jubb Yusuf — one of the mediaeval Arab khans erected
on the great Damascus Road. The Jubb Yusuf, or Pit of Joseph, which
gives its name to the khan^ is a shallow pit on a low hillside, just behind
the khan^ which by a quite worthless Moslem tradition is claimed to be
the one into which Joseph was thrust by his brethren (Gen. 37 : 24).
From this khan roads diverge in many directions: that to Kerazeh
is to the north side of the hill behind the khan. A few hundred yards
along this track we came upon a large encampment of Zinghariyeh
Bedawin, and soon after we found ourselves descending an extraordi-
narily rough track amid confused bowlders of black basaltic rock.
Indescribably bad as the road was, there was no question but that we
were traveling at times on, at other times beside, an ancient highway
which can be traced all the way to Kerazeh. The descent that we
took — there may possibly be a better one — ^for the last quarter of a
mile into the Wady Kerazeh was a sheer scramble dow^n which few
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CHORAZIN AND BETHSAIDA 99
but Syrian horses could have followed us. The valley bottom, down
which trickled a sluggish stream, the result of recent showers, was full
of great black bowlders and rank marsh shrubs. Above us, to the
southeast, we could see some confused heaps and walls, a part of the
ruins of Kerazeh. At first we wandered a little down the valley, as we
had wrongfully gathered from the description in the Palestine Explora-
tion Fund Memoirs^ that some of the ruins were there. Finding
nothing but rugged natural rocks, we scaled the cliflFs some eighty feet,
where the valley makes a sharp turn round a rocky spur. At length,
on reaching the top of this, we found ourselves on the highest point
of the ruins. Near us were several houses which the Bedawin, who
make this their headquarters, have rebuilt and roofed in; among the
stones are many which are well cut, and squared. A little below us
to the east, in practically the center of the remains, was the ruined
synagogue. To the southeast the ground slopes downward in a
small shallow valley running southwest toward the Wady Kerazeh;
there the ground was thick with ruined houses, the majority of the
stones being natural rounded masses, but a considerable proportion
long, well-cut pieces for doors and windows. It must not be forgotten
in visiting such a site as this that the larger proportion of stones for
ordinary house walls were used in their natural condition or roughly
broken. Only the very best buildings were made of cut stone through-
out. The ruins also cover a large area of sloping land to the north-
east. Counting only what lies on the surface, the ruins cover some
acres and are, as far as I can judge, more extensive than those of
Tell Hum. We found the traces of three oil presses which show that
the neighborhood must once have had plenty of olive trees. There is
a Moslem wely to the northeast with, as usual, a few sidr trees around.
The synagague is the only surviving building of importance. Hen-
Kohl laid bare the ground plan of the building and many of the larger
stones, but the site as a whole would be well worth an exhaustive
examination. There was the usual triple gateway, and the dimensions
appear to have been similar to those at Tell Hum.* Very much still
» Vol. I, p. 402.
2 "It appears to have resembled the synagogue at Tell Hum more closely than
the others. The interior length is 74 ft. 6 in., with a breadth of 49 ft." — Palestine
Exploration Fund Memoir Sy Vol. I, p. 401.
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lOO STUDIES IN GALILEE
lie^ under the surface, but the many scattered fragments of elaborately
carved stone on the surface, and built with the walls of neighboring
houses, show that the s)magogue was one over which much labor had
been expended. The result, however, could never have been so fine
as at Tell Hum because only the black volcanic rock of the district
was employed. From the doors of the s)magogue a fine view of the
Lake of Galilee is visible toward the south. This, however, is the
only touch of beauty. Today the neighborhood is dreary in the
extreme. The Wady Kerazeh, which makes a bend round the spur
on which the city stood, presents today an unbroken surface of dull,
black rocks unrelieved by a single green tree; the whole surface of
the ground around is of the same dreary color. Looking about, I
tried in imagination to see the hill slopes covered with terrace above
terrace of clustering vines and the level slopes to the east green with
olive groves; but the depressing reality so obtruded itself that I cannot
recall the site of Chorazin as anything but cheerless and forbidding.
The learned Dr. Robinson condemned this site topographically
without having visited it. He writes i'^
The ruins consist simply of a few foundations of black stones, the remains
evidently of a poor and inconsiderable village. They are known as Khurbet
Kerazeh. We did not go to them as there was no path and because they were in
full view The remains are too trivial to have ever belonged to a place of
importance The site is ... . shut in among the hills, without any view
of the lake and remote from any public road whether ancient or modem.
This very unusual neglectfulness on the part of Dr. Robinson has
caused a regular tangle of difficulties in New Testament topography.
Had he visted this site he would have seen ruins even more extensive
than Tell Hum' and the remains of a synagogue second only in impor-
tance to that of the latter place; he would have noticed the one real
attraction of the site, the magnificent view of the lake, and he could not
have failed to trace the well-marked remains of the ancient, probably
Roman, road. He would not, had he seen the ruins, have located
Chorazin at Tell Htim and made other theories in topography which
have been so much quoted and relied on by subsequent writers. Sir
Charles Wilson who visited the site at a later date gives a very different
1 Biblical Researches ^ Vol. Ill, p. 347.
2 This is the opinion which Herr Kohl expressed to me verbally.
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CHORAZIN AND BETHSAIDA lOi
account.* He has no doubt about this being the site of Chorazin.
We may today, I think, accept this site as one of the certamties of
biblical topography.
From Khurbet Kerazeh to Tell Hum it is possible to follow the old
(Roman) road which ran down the shallow valley, m which lay the
southern parts of the town, and enter the Wady Kerazeh, Near the
mouth of the latter is to be found the Roman necropolis of Capernaum.
Instead of taking this route we descended by a path down the steep,
rocky hillside, reaching our goal in a little over an hour.
Tell Hum to et Tell. — We left the Franciscan hospice at Tell Hum
at 1 1 : 30 and, after riding for ten minutes through ruined foundations,
we crossed the Wady Kerazeh (here called Wady el Weibdah) — a
rather picturesque torrent bed with rocky banks. In a quarter of an
hour we reached the fertile little Wady en Nashef , its center full of
oleanders overhanging a number of small water channels. To the
south there is a pretty bay where many cattle were standing knee deep
in the water. Ten minutes farther on we crossed the Wady Zukluk,
on the lake shore of which is a hdsel (a storehouse for grain, etc.)
belonging to the Shemalneh Bedawin. We here turned to the beach,
passing the wely of Sultan Ibrahim, a tomb under two large sidr
(acacia) trees. The sand lying along the shore is here a dirty grayish
black, being the product of the decomposition of basaltic rocks. On
reaching the Jordan mouth a friendly Bedawy, with his kamts held well
above his waist, escorted us over the ford which here lies along the bar
and makes considerable circuit into the lake. The depth was sufficient
just to submerge our stirrups. A considerable herd of young buflFaloes
lying in the water near our landing-place — looking from the distance
like a crop of black rocks — ^all rose simultaneously as we passed them,
to stare at the strange sight of frangees invading their domains. At
the spot where we reached the shore the beach consists of a solid mass
of white shells with which I, in a few minutes, filled one of my saddle-
bags. Just inland of the beach a considerable stretch of irrigated plain
has recently been planted with Orange and lemon trees. The yoimg
trees look flourishing. We skirted the shore to the spot el Araj, where
there is an old hdsely two modern cottages, and some palms. This is
suggested by Schumacher as the site of the "fishing suburb" of Beth-
I Recovery of Jerusalem^ pp. 346, 347.
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I02 STUDIES IN GALILEE
saida,* and though I had been there before I specially visited it to see
what evidences were to be found to support such a view. I must con-
fess there seemed to me to be little in favor of such a theory. Neither
walls nor hewn stones in any numbers are visible. In this marshy
delta marked changes must have taken place in the last 2,000 years,
and probably the conformation of the low beach here was in New
Testament times quite different from that which holds at present.
We found neither Roman remains nor any sign of a Roman road, but
even had there been it is difficult to see what bearing they could have
on the site of the city of Bethsaida. The fishermen, then as now, prob-
ably occupied temporary huts on the shore when engaged in loading
or unloading their boats. At the back of el Araj is a stretch of marshy
lagoon, which is crossed by a causeway of stones, partially submerged
in the middle : it is a narrow path like a water channel, and admits of
pedestrian traffic only; with our horses we had to skirt the marsh for
about ten minutes in a westerly direction till we rounded its western end.
Thence we turned straight toward et Tell which we could see about a
mile off. Our path ran for most of the way alongside a shallow irri-
gation canal, one of many with which this plain is intersected. Prob-
ably the constant alluvial deposits have buried all traces of the made
roads which must have once run here. Harvesting was going on in
places — it was Jime — ^and trains of camels loaded high with masses
of com swept over the plain in various directions; much of the rich
land, however, was given over to weeds. In just an hour from
el Araj, by our very winding path, we reached the foot of et Tell.
Running past the southern extremity of the hill is a well-trodden high-
road, evidently an ancient route, parallel to which runs an irrigation
canal from the Jordan. At the point at which we reached et Tell, the
southeast comer, is a wely shaded by a terebinth and several sidr
trees.
The tell is a fairly lofty hill, its highest point being some 50 or 60
feet above the surrounding plain. It is connected by a narrow lower
neck with the hills behind it to the north, but the other sides rise
steeply from the level groimd. Its area is considerable, quite enough
to have sustained a city of fair size — in Roman times. From end to
end it is strewn with ruins and although we could find no carved f rag-
» The Jaulatif p. 94.
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CHORAZIN AND BETHSAIDA 103
ments, there is a large quantity of well-cut-squared basaltic blocks.
The south and southwestern slopes are covered with cattle-sheds —
four-walled structures with roofs supported by double arches. These
are all built of basaltic blocks, many well squared, and over the doors
are lintels of long and well-cut stones. Besides several dozen cattle-
sheds still in repair there are at least as many in ruins. No one now
dwells permanently on the tell which, in addition to its use as a winter
refuge for the cattle of the Tellawtyeh Arabs, is the cemetery of this
tribe of mongrel Bedawin. Their graves are scattered all over the hill
both on the summit and around its sides. It is the headquarters of
this tribe, whose name is derived from et Tell.
Thick clumps of tall thistles rendered our examination of the site
difficult, but where vegetation had been trodden down the pottery frag-
ments — Arab, so far as I could judge — were lying thick. There can
be no question but that this is an ancient site of importance which
would well repay excavation; it is to be feared, however, that the
numerous graves scattered over the best parts would be an insuperable
obstacle. From many points of view the site is a suitable one for a
city. It is one of the common type of ancient fortified posts — a hill
isolated by nature on almost every side; such a site as this was probably
a fortified town in pre-Roman times. Secondly, the site is a healthy
one as compared with the intensely malarious plain. ^ Inmiediately
we mounted the hill a refreshing breeze, not felt before, met us. The
dwellers in the Bataihah marshes suffer from a most virulent form of
malaria; no fixed population could flourish in this region. On the hill
slopes, above the irrigated and marshy land, within reach of fresher
air, life might well be far more salubrious. Thirdly, the site is
one of great natural beauty. The view of the lake is one of the
most charming I have seen; although we are looking at the lake
from the northeast comer one receives the impression of being in the
middle of the north shore — the whole of the sweep to the northwest
around Gennesaret is hidden. The plain, shut in by an amphitheater
of hills, even today is attractive, but when fully cultivated must have
presented a sea of verdure. To the southwest the serpentine Jordan
I The whole Jordan Valley is unhealthy, but in the northern part the two worst
spots are the shores of the Huleh and the plain el Bataihah. Here a large proportion
of the inhabitants have enormous spleens and even "black-water fever" occurs.
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I04 STUDIES IN GALILEE
winds its way through a wide plain* of green foliage, while almost due
west — between et Tell and the Jordan — is a mass of trees and shrubs.
The low hills to the north, now so bare, were doubtless, in the days of
the city's habitation, covered thick with olive trees. Many "wild"
olives and figs may be seen today. Then such a city, dominating
a region of rich agricultural possibilities, must have been wealthy.
There is no sign in the whole plain of any rival — Julias was evidently
the chief city of the district: the fourteen villages, which we read were
given with it to Agrippa, were very probably to some extent dependent
on it, the chief city of the district. Today the neighborhood produces
barley, wheat, maize, gourds, and melons, as well as walnuts, pome-
granates, oUves, figs, oranges, lemons, sycomore figs, and prickly pears.
An equally important source of wealth must have been its position as
the distributing center of fish all over Galilee. Today the chief fishing
groimds on the lake are not at Tiberias nor at Tabighah but at el
Bataihah. The fishing at the two former places depends much on the
season; at the last good fishing is obtainable all the year round.
From the shores of this delta, and from the Jordan itself, fish are daily
taken, in large numbers. Loads of fish come up to Safed daily, passing
close to the foot of et Tell. It is true that because of the private
ownership of the plain by a Moslem effendi at Damascus, as well as
the untrustworthiness of the Bedawin, the fishermen do not live here —
their homes are at Tiberias, and they make temporary shelters in reed-
huts along the shore. If, however, at any time fishermen came here
with their families they would unquestionably make their home at
et Tell, if they were allowed to do so. With good roads el Araj or
the Jordan mouth could be reached in half an hpur, and the Jordan,
at the ford, in half that time. Bethsaida could never have been, as
some have suggested, half on one side of the river and half on the
other, if et Tell were the site; it is much too far away. I have
endeavored to make it clear that Bethsaida might have been a place
of fishing, i. e., the center of the fishing industry for practically all
Northern Galilee, and the home of the fishermen, without its being
situated upon the miasmic sea-shore itself.
Et Tell to Safed. — ^At the southwest angle of the tell^ near a beauti-
I For an interesting description of this plain see The JaulaUy pp. io6, 107. Schu-
macher gives its greatest length as four miles; its breadth in the center as ij miles.
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CHORAZIN AND BETHSAIDA
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io6 STUDIES IN GALILEE
ful jamez (sycomore fig), is a copious fountain.' The main road runs
past this due west to the ford and thence to Safed. We took a road
to the right past the jamez, crossed a rocky spur where were camped
some Bedawin, and then traversed a beautiful lane shaded by fruit-
trees and cacti. To our left lay several mills half hidden in luxuriant
foliage, and no less than five mill streams, tier above tier, ran parallel
with our road. We turned north and ascended the Valley of the Jor-
dan, the noisy stream winding by many channels through masses of
willows and oleanders a considerable distance below us. At length we
reached ed Dikkeh, and examined the carved stones, the remains
apparently of a synagogue.' Leaving ed Dikkeh under the guidance
of a yoimg Bedawy, we crossed the Jordan, here divided into no less
than eight strea;ms, several of them rapid and wide, and almost all
with slippery, stony bottoms. On the farther bank we soon found a
path — narrow but well marked throughout — leading to Safed. The
first hour and a half we gradually ascended along and up the western
side of the Jordan Valley; the river itself was, however, hidden in a
deep and narrow bed between steep banks. After crossing the edge
of the ghor we saw before us the Safed hills, toward which we made a
direct course, reaching our destination just four hours after crossing the
Jordan ford.
» This apparently is called ^Ain et Tell; it is not the large spring ^Ain et Mus-
mar, mentioned by Schumacher; this lies farther east. We crossed a considerable
stream flowing westward to the Jordan before we reached the tell.
2 I think it is worth considering that these remains, which today are a mere
jumble of fragments, may possibly have been carried oflF at one time from et Tell.
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THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES
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CHAPTER VI
THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES
A number of ruins, which have been identified as those of syna-
gogues, lie scattered over a comparatively small area of what is
popularly known as Galilee. Successive explorers and archaeologists'
have one after another approached the examination of them afresh,
but each in turn has been compelled to accept the opinion, now imi-
versally held, that these buildings are of Jewish origin. The entire
absence of shrines or idol pedestals is against their being pagan
temples, the want of orientation and absence of apse tell against
their being Christian churches, while several general characteristics
are positively in favor of Jewish influence. The situation of these
buildings, exclusively within an area where we know that Jewish
influence was strong at the period within which they must belong,
and the occurrence upon the surviving fragments of several of these
buildings of Hebrew inscriptions — one at least of which must, from
its position, belong to the time of the building's construction — are
strong points in favor of this view. Further, the architectural orna-
mentation is in many of its details characteristically Jewish; the
seven-branched candlestick, which occurs also on contemporary
Jewish tombs, the vine branches and grape clusters, the palm tree
and palm branches, the cup (thought by some to be the traditional idea
of the Cup of Manna) are all ornaments familiar to us as the most
characteristic adornments of the Jewish coinage. The geometrical
design, known today as Solomon's seal '^X, which occurs at Tell
Hum, is also traditionally of Hebrew origin. Even the frequently
occurring lions are no objection, for these figures are common in
later synagogue architecture.*
I For example, Renan (Mission de Phenicie, pp. 761-83); Robinson (Bibltcal
Researches, Vols. II and III); Gu^rin (Galilie); Kitchener (P. E. F, Memoir Sy Vol. I,
and special papers); Wilson (P. E. F. special papers); Thiersch {Mitt, der detdsch-
orient. Gesellschaft); Kohl (Mitt, der deutsch-orient. Gesellschajt, No. 29).
a See Kaufifmann, "Art in the Synagogue," Jewish Quarterly Review, 1897.
109
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no STUDIES IN GALILEE
The most striking thing about these buildings is their close
architectural similarity. Although there must have been scores of
synagogues in Galilee, these are the only ruins — ^unmistakably
recognized as such — ^that have survived, and yet all are built on one
general plan. The stones of which they are made are large, the exter-
nal face is smoothly dressed, the inner is left rough to receive a
coating of plaster; they are set without mortar. The extremely
massive, almost clumsy character of the masonry has secured the
survival of at least some of the original structures. With but one
exception the synagogues face south; in at least six the main entrance
is through a triple doorway consisting of a large and lofty central
portal and two lower ones on each side. These doors have peculiar
architrave moldings of a kind closely related in all the members of
the group, and in several the lintels are highly ornamented. The
doors were folding, with socket hinges, and were closed by bars fixed
on the inside. Within the building there were rows of pillars resting
on a plinth course running parallel to the side and back walls, and
separating the space into a central lofty court or nave and a three-sided
outer part — similar to the aisles and chancel of a church — divided into
two stories by a wooden gallery. One of the most characteristic
features of these buildings is the occurrence of "double" or more
strictly speaking "clustered" columns at the junction of the lateral
rows with the end row of columns. These clustered columns are
square, like pillars, at the external angles, but internally are composed
of two engaged columns — the transverse section being thus heart
shaped /\. On account of their great bulk, and doubtless, too,
their uselessness for later buildings for which ordinary columns may
have been in demand, remains of these clustered columns have sur-
vived in almost all the ruins. Another feature, probably common to
all the synagogues, was a stone bench for the worshipers against the
three sides under the gallery.
Some of the sculptured decorations have been already mentioned,
others will be touched upon when the individual ruins are described.
But one rather surprising feature, common to all, is the occurrence
of animal figures, especially lions (or lambs),' and eagles. In some
J These figures have almost everywhere been mutilated. The majority are cer-
tainly lions, but some, partly because of the rough carving and partly because of
mutilation, cannot be identified with certainty.
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ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES m
of the synagogues human figures — ^usually intentionally mutilated —
are found.
A brief description of the more important features of the Tell
Hum synagogue is probably the best method of giving an idea of
the general features of the whole group. This building appears to
have been the most ornate as well as the largest of these structures,
and may have been the type after which the others were modeled.
Although it may have been built having its principal entrance south,
with the idea of facing toward Jerusalem — ^in a very general way —
it is quite as likely that this and the Kerazeh synagogue were placed
thus to suit their surroundings, i. e., to turn their highly ornamented
facades toward the lake. Built thus, they present their most pleasing
aspect toward those sailing on the lake and afford the frequenters
beautiful views from the terraces and open doors. The later syna-
gogues being modeled after them followed the same general direction,
although this was not, at any rate according to the Talmud,' the
orthodox arrangement. The Tell Hum synagogue was seventy-eight
feet by fifty-nine feet. The triple southern doors opened upon a
raised terrace, which was approached by flights of steps — ^four on
the western and fourteen on the eastern side. Each of these stair-
cases led from a paved street running toward the lake, some forty-
four yards to the south. In the eastern wall is a small door leading
into the court paved with limestone blocks previously described.*
The northern and eastern boundaries of this court are at such
irregular angles to the synagogue as to make it clear that this must
belong to an earlier building. Several massive blocks of stone lying
here are ornamented in a much more primitive way than the rest,
and may be remains of this more ancient synagogue.
The southern facade was the part of the synagogue on which was
lavished the greater part of the external decoration, the remaining
outer walls being adorned by simple pilasters of low projection.
From the fragments of the southern facade, which were found pro-
jected on the ground as much as eleven yards in front of the terrace
by some mighty earthquake, it is possible to reconstruct its chief
features.3 On the Untel of the central portal were carved an eagle
» Tos. Meg. 4. 22 f.
2 See plan, p. 75.
3 The description is taken from that of Professor Kohl (loc. cit.).
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112 STUDIES IN GAIJLEE
and mythological figures ("genii") carrying garlands; on the side
lintels were palm trees with date clusters, between which were ani-
mals now too much defaced for identification, but some at least of
which appear to have been centaurs. Associated with the main
door were a couple of handsomely carved consoles,' each with a
palm tree with dates in high relief. Above this door was a window
surmounted by a large stone beautifully carved in the form of a
conch. The top of this wall apparently terminated in a gable, within
the angle of which ran a much decorated arch. The interior was
on the general plan referred to above.* A slightly raised plinth ran
twelve and one-half feet inside each of the lateral walls and seven and
one-half feet inside the north wall. Upon this structure stood six
stylobates for round colunms on each side and two at each end, while
at the corners stood elaborate special supports for the bases of the
clustered columns. The columns themselves were monoliths four-
teen feet high, crowned by debased Corinthian capitals carrying a
cornice with a highly ornamented frieze. Numerous well-preserved
fragments of this frieze show a great variety of ornament— foliage,
rosettes, grapes and pomegranates, stars, pentagrams and hexagrams.
On the northern frieze there were small animals — ^lions or lambs —
emerging from acanthus leaves, but these have everywhere been
intentionally mutilated. On the back (i. e., the outer edge) of the
cornice were rows of squared holes for the wooden beams which
supported the gallery, and from the cornice arose a second series
of smaller columns which supported the gabled wooden roof. The
back walls of this gallery appear to have been considerably decorated
with half-columns in relief. There was thus a lofty central part
extending the whole height of the building, around three sides of
which ran rows of columns. The space outside the columns was
divided into two stories, a lower one some twenty feet or more
high, on the same floor-level as the center part, with stone benches
on the three sides set against the outside wall, and an upper part
or gallery with a second series of smaller columns in front and half
columns in relief at the back, against the outer wall. This gallery,
I The position of these consoles may be inferred from the Kefr Ber«im ruin (see
p. 117.
a See plan, p. 75.
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114 STUDIES IN GAIJLEE
judging from modern analogy, may have been for the women. The
general effect of the interior with its double series of columns, the
Corinthian capitals and the elaborate frieze, all of pure white lime-
stone, must have been very striking. But even more effective must
have been the appearance as viewed from the lake of the massive
and highly decorated front, standing out pure white against its sur-
roundings of black buildings and black basaltic rocks.
The synagogue of Kerazeh in the hills to the north of Tell Hum
is slightly smaller than that just described, but follows it very closely
in architectural features — ^more so than any others. Only here,
and at Tell Hum, are the capitals of the Corinthian order. It
is entirely built of the black basaltic stone of the neighborhood;
and doubtless on this account, because of its extreme hardness, the
finish of the sculpturing is much inferior to the work at Tell Hum.
The decorations are very similar, and are an interesting supplement
to the Tell Hum work because the figures of animals and man have
to a much greater extent escaped mutilation. There are many
small animal figures, some rather grotesque human forms, and some
curious four-legged animals which the German explorers take to
be centaurs, but possibly intended for cherubim. Four large stones
(Uke "niche heads") most beautifully carved out as conches with
deUcate surrounding borders, show a very superior workmanship to
the rest. It is the opinion of Messrs. Kohl and Watzinger that they
belonged to a baldachino, the forerunner of the "ark" of modern
synagogues, in which are kept the scrolls of the law. Indications
that such a structure stood in the central court not far from the door
were found in others of the synagogues.
The remaining ruins of undoubted synagogues are scattered to
the northwest and north of the lake. At Irbid — ^the ancient Arbela
— at the commencement of the steep descent to the lake down the
Wady Hamam, less than two hours* ride west of Tell Hum, are the
ruins of a synagogue peculiar in three respects: first, the building,
though otherwise undoubtedly one of this class, has its great triple
doorway facing east instead of south. This is not done in order to
obtain an outlook to the lake, for only Gennesaret is visible between
the high cliffs that shut in the great gorge of the Wady Hamam
(see illustration); it is an inevitable result of the situation, for the
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building occupies ground that rapidly slopes downward to the north.
Second, the architecture is very mixed, both debased Corinthian and
"Jewish" Ionic capitals' occur, and basalt is mixed with the lime-
stone. Third, the building, after partial ruin, was reconstructed as a
mosque and a large mihrab^ has been built in the south wall. The
entire site has long been deserted, and the synagogue in particular
has for ages been a limestone quarry for the neighboring inhabitants.
r
RUINS OF SYNAGOGUE AT UMM EL <^AMED
One hour's ride due west of Irbid, along the track of an ancient
(probably Roman) road, is a ruin known as Khurbet Umm el ^Amed,
i. e., the ruin of the mother of columns. From considerable distances
(5n all sides a great limestone "clustered" column can be seen
standing up from amidst the ruins of a small town (see illustration).
The site is a remarkable one. The ruins occupy the entire surface
of an outcrop of lava occurring in the middle of a saddle of lime-
» That is, a modification of Ionic peculiar to these Jewish buildings.
2 A niche pointing the direction to Mecca.
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Ii6 STUDIES IN GALILEE
stone which forms the eastern boundary of the great plain el Bat-
tauf, known to Josephus as the "Plain of Asochis."* The natural
drainage of the eastern half of the plain is toward the Lake of
Galilee; but this being obstructed by the ridge, much of it becomes,
after the winter's rains, an impassable bog, and in prehistoric times
must have been a shallow lake. It is probable that there is water
close under the surface of the town site; for, though there is no
visible spring, there is a considerable patch of water-loving reeds at
the highest part of the ruins. The site has long been deserted, and
we have no record of its ancient name. The newly excavated syna-
gogue remains lie to the southern side of the town, and, in contrast
to the rest of the ruins, are of limestone. The outline of the original
ground plan has been recovered, the plinth course is entire, and
some of the column bases are in their original situation. A good
deal of the masonry has been transferred to a neighboring mediaeval
building, itself now a ruin. Like the others described, this building
had three doorways to the south; over the main portal was a lintel
with two lions standing to the right and left of a vase, each with his
foot on what is apparently the head or skull of a bull. The capitals
of the columns are a peculiar Jewish modification of Ionic which
occurs also in the northern group of synagogues. The floor was
paved with the white mosaic that is so common in Roman buildings
in Palestine.
The remaining recognized synagogue-ruins form a group to the
west, northwest, and north of Safed. They are all near together, no
member of the group being more than six hours' ride from Tell Hum,
At the Maronite (Christian) village of Kefr Ber^im, on the highroad
from Safed to Tyre, there is a synagogue ruin of great importance.
Some appear to have recognized a fanciful connection between Ber^im
(which is apparently a proper name) and Purim, for the tomb of
Queen Esther used for long to be pointed out here and the Jews were
accustomed to assemble here to read the book of Esther during the
Feast of Purim. The place was visited as a sacred spot by mediaeval
Jews, and by the sixteenth century these pilgrims speak of the syna-
gogues as in ruin. The great synagogue occupies a position at very
nearly the highest part of the modern village. The ruin is of special
I Josephus, VUgj § 41, etc.; see p. 8.
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ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES
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importance because it contains a great part of the southern fajade
(see illustration), thus enabling us to picture the appearance of the
corresponding part in the other ruins. In front of this triple entrance
is a kind of porch, with a sunk court, one column of which is still
in position. On the lintel of the main portal is a wreath which was
apparently supported by mythological figures (genii), now almost
entirely defaced. Over this door was an arched window, and above
each side entrance rectangular windows. The figures which once
SOUTHERN FAgADE OF THE SYNAGOGUE AT KEFR BER^M— UPPER GALILEE
decorated these windows have also been destroyed. Under the
eastern window is a much defaced Hebrew inscription. The internal
plan is identical with those of the buildijtigs already described. The
area was a few years back occupied by some hovels, but has now
been cleared.
In the fields to the north of the village there was till recently a
very striking doorway belonging to a second smaller synagogue. It
is figured in the Palestine Exploration Fund Memoirs^ and when I
I Memoir Sy Vol. I, p. 232.
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first visited the place in 1893 it was standing. In 1907 I found
it gone, and learned that the magnificent sculptured monoliths of
which it was composed had been thrown down and cut up for
building stones. Upon the lintel was a wreath and two much
mutilated lamb-like animals, besides a somewhat illegible Hebrew
inscription, which, according to Renan, read: "Peace be upon this
place and all the places of Israel. Joseph the Levite the son of Levi
put up this lintel. A blessing rest upon his work." This smaller
RUINS OF SYNAGOGUE NEAR EL JISH— UPPER GALILEE
synagogue had only one doorway: the ground-plan was uncovered
and measured by the Palestine Exploration Fund explorers, but it
is today entirely covered up.
At el Jish, the ancient Gischala of Josephus, about two miles
southeast of Kefr Ber^im, there are scattered remains of what was
once apparently a synagogue of the same class as those described.
The original site is probably covered by buildings belonging to the
modern town. About a mile to the northeast of el Jish, on the
northern bank of the deep Wady esh Shaghur, are the remains of
a building which, like the smaller synagogue of Kefr Ber^im, had
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ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES 119
only one door. Parts of the outer walls have quite disappeared, but
the door foundations, the plinth course, and some of the stylobates
remain in position (see illustration). On the under-surface of the
great lintel is carved an eagle with garlands. A worn Hebrew
inscription on one of the columns reads: "Joseph ben Nahum built
this arch. May a blessing fall on him." The synagogue was divided
by the column rows into three aisles, each a little over fifteen feet
wide.
Nearly three miles to the south of el Jish is the little Mohammedan
village of Meron, a place sacred to the Jews on account of the great
Talmudic scholars who, according to tradition, lie there buried.
Here is the very curious (traditional) rock-tomb of Rabbi Hillel and
his thirty-six disciples, that of Rabbi Shammai, and of Rabbi Simeon
ben Jochai. At the tomb of the last named which, with that of his
son, is included in a modern synagogue building, a great annual
feast of two days is held every spring, to which come Jews from all
parts of the world. While bonfires are lighted and wild revelry is
held at this site of very doubtful authenticity, the genuine Jewish
relic — ^the ruined synagogue on the hillside to the north — stands
deserted and entirely neglected by Hebrew sentiment; the Jews
indeed do not appear to recognize at all that this is a work of their
own people. The ruins occupy a prominent situation against the
eastern flank of a small rocky knoll, and from them a beautiful view
of the Lake of Galilee is visible. Only the central and the western
smaller portals of the great southern fajade remain (see illustration).
Upon them are architrave moldings identical with those at Kefr
Ber^^im. The greater part of the synagogue area has been cut out
of the solid rock, and upon the rock-floor may still be traced the
original position of the columns. The whole eastern side of the
building has fallen down and for some reason, evidently the deliberate
act of man, the whole internal area has been cleared and fragments
of columns, bases, stylobates, and capitals strew the hillside below.
The southern facade, the general area-dimensions, and the surviving
fragments show that this was a synagogue practically identical in
style with that at Kefr Ber^^im.
A couple of hours' ride — ^about five miles on the map direct — ^to
the northeast of Meron is Khurbet Nebratain. These ruins occupy
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a couple of low hills, known today as Nebra and Nebratain^ respec-
tively, in a deep valley between Safed and the Jordan. The Upper
Jordan Valley and Hermon are visible from the site. The position
appears somewhat secluded, but it may be seen from several much
frequented paths along the sides of the surrounding mountains.
Both hills are strewn thick with Graeco-Roman pottery, and have
evidently been but little inhabited since that period. The ancient
name is unknown. The synagogue of Nebratain occupies the lower
SOUTHERN FAQADE OF SYNAGOGUE AT MERON— UPPER GALILEE
northernmost hill, and the foundation courses have now been
uncovered by the German archaeologists. It proves to be one of the
smaller buildings, dimensions 53 ft., 7 in. by 37 ft., 9 in., with a
single, southern, door. The lintel is perfect (see illustration) ; on it
is a leaf pattern in the middle of which is a wreath inclosing a seven-
branched candlestick, while below, running the whole length of the
stone, is a cryptic Hebrew inscription — ^the letters apparently being em-
ployed rather for ornament than for word-use. Internally there were
I Nebra means "high place" and Nebratain, "two high places;" the names
certainly suggest that some temple or synagogue was on each of the hills.
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two rows of four columns, and a fifth clustered column at each
northern end. On the side of one of the stylobates is cut the figure of
a hare, and other ornamental fragments include the figure of a lion
and a sculptured vase — cut in relief — out of which a vine branch with
grapes issues on each side. On the southerly hill Nebra are also
remains which may have belonged to a second synagogue, but there
is not enough for certainty. The lime kiln which crowns the height
tells its own tale of recent destruction.
THE INSCRIBED LINTEL AT NEBRATAIN -
This completes the list of synagogues of which we can be certain.
Tell Hum, Kerazeh, Irbid, Umm el ^Amed, Kefr Ber^m, and Meron
all contribute something to the materials for the ideal reconstruction
of the large, triple-door synagogue of the period; at el Jish, Kefr
Ber^im, and Nebratain we have ruins of very similar buildings on a
smaller scale. In the village of el Jish, at the neighboring villages
of Sifsaf and Sa^sa^, as well as at Tiberias, there are remains which
make it clear that similar ruins once existed there. At ed Dikkeh,
a picturesque spot by the Jordan just before it enters el Bataihah,
there are scattered capitals and columns and stones ornamented with
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STUDIES IN GALILEE
vines — all of black basaltic rock — ^which appear to have belonged to
a Jewish building. The German archaeologists traced remains of
the triple doorway, but considered the building was a synagogue of
a later period than those described. The same may be said of the
ruins at Umm el Kanatir* and other places in the Jaulan which do
not concern us here.
At Keisiun, about three miles north of Nebratain, are the ruins
(see illustration) of a columnated building which may have been
RUINS OF SYNAGOGUE AT EL KEISIUN
that of a synagogue, particularly as there are Jewish tombs in the
immediate neighborhood, and the place is probably the Kasioun
mentioned in the Jewish itineraries. The remains, however, present
none of the characteristic features of the group of buildings just
described. This is important, because a Greek inscription belonging
to the time of Septimus Severus, which was found here, was utilized
by Renan in assigning a date in the second century a.d. for all these
buildings. At ^Alma, six miles north of Safed, M. Gu^rin also found
the ruins of a synagogue, among them a lintel with a single line of
» See Schumacher, The Jatdafiy pp. 260-65.
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ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES 123
Hebrew which read " (Peace be) upon this place and all the places
of Israel.*' Somewhat doubtful synagogue remains also exist at
Khurbet es Semmuka on Mount Carmel, and at Khurbet et Taiyebeh
near Shefa ^Amir.
The important buildings at Kades, Yarun, and Belat, once
thought to be synagogues, are certainly not Jewish, and probably
were all pagan temples, that at Yarun having been at a later period
converted into a Christian basilica. Each of these three buildings
preserves some architectural features common to the synagogue
group. At Kades we find sculptured vine leaves with grape clusters
as well as a fine eagle upon the lintel; at Yarun the beautiful carved
palm trees with dates remind us much of similar work at Tell Hum;
at Belat, among the sixteen columns on this lonely height, the same
double clustered columns so characteristic of the synagogues occur.
Indeed, this may, as Kitchener suggests, be the clew to the intro-
duction of this special feature into Jewish architecture. Belat is within
sight of Tyre, where similar gigantic clustered columns of red granite
(afterward used in a Christian cathedral) once formed a part of the
great temple of Melcarth who, we read,^ "was worshiped at Tyre
in the form of two pillars."
When we come to discuss the age of these synagogue ruins we
find a good deal of uncertainty. We shall probably all echo the
words of one* who was among the first to face the problem: "One
attaches a value of the highest order to these buildings which we
should like to date back to the times of the Herods or the later Macca-
beans, when one thinks of the discussions which they must have
heard and of the feet which must have walked in them." Unfortu-
nately our wishes cannot influence the facts. For such an early date
as (say) Herod the Great we may argue from the somewhat unwieldy
character of the masonry, the absence of mortar and the occurrence
of animal, mythological, and even human figures in the decorations —
this last would appear to be an improbable occurrence after the rise
of Talmudic influence. It must also be noted that with but one
exception the buildings are constructed looking southward, instead of
to the east which became the orthodox direction in Talmudic times.
1 Robertson Smith, Religion of the SemiteSy p. 208.
2 Renan, Mission de PhMicie, p. 772.
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124 STUDIES IN GALILEE
As regards Tell Hum, the largest and probably the earliest of these
buildings, it may further be asked: Is it possible that this building
could have been erected far in the Christian era when, as was men-
tioned in the chapter on Capernaum, this place became, apparently
in either the apostolic or sub-apostolic age, a stronghold of Mintm^
(heretics), i.e., Christians? Lastly, anticipating what will be said
farther on, do we know enough of the architecture of Palestine in
the first Christian century to be able to dogmatize as to what could
or could not have been built in that period? Having stated these
suggestions I must now record the opinion of those whom one must
consider architectural and archaeological authorities. With one
voice, though often on differing grounds, they ascribe these buildings
to the second or even the third century in the Christian era; later
than this they cannot be. First, Renan dated them to the end of the
second century — ^a conclusion based partly upon the before-mentioned
Greek inscription of Keisiun; his main arguments, however, that the
style belongs to the second Antonines and that such buildings are
most explicable at this particular period of Jewish history, are valid
today. Lord Kitchener* bases his arguments chiefly on historical
grounds and dates the buildings " between 1 50 and 300 a. d." I much
doubt, however, whether many will follow him in his hypothesis that the
synagogues "were forced upon the people Qews) by their Roman
rulers at a time when they were completely submissive to their power
and that directly they were able they deserted such pagan buildings
as disloyalty to their religion." Nor is it necessary to conclude, as
he does, that the Jews in these buildings prayed "with their backs
to Jerusalem;" it is much more probable that they faced toward
the open doors. Professors Kohl and Watzinger, who have made the
later Roman architecture of Syria their special study, and who did
such epoch-making work at Baalbec, are very positive on archaeologi-
cal grounds alone that these buildings cannot be earlier than Baalbec,
and they would date them to the early part of the third century a. d.
In the absence of any historical mention of these buildings and
of any contemporary datable inscription within them we are thrown
back upon historical probability and the interpretation of the archi-
I See p. 88.
« Loc. cit.
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ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES 125
tecture. On these heads the opinion of specialists concurs, and
unless new light is thrown on the subject, to their opinion we must
submit.
A report has been current in Palestine that the Jews intend to pur-
chase these ruins. It is sincerely to be hoped that this is the case.
It is quite extraordinary how lukewarm is the interest exhibited by
the Jewish people in these venerable and precious relics of their race.
Nothing is more eloquent on this head than the very scanty refer-
ence made to them in their recent monumental work, the Jewish
Encyclopedia.^ One thing is certain, that imless something is done
speedily, the last characteristic fragments will disappear. They have
been melting rapidly away all through the centuries; but now that
their last foundations are uncovered, the Fellahtn will carry off every
available fragment for both building-stone and lime, for which there
is an increasing demand and a rising market.
» Article "Sjmagogue."
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GALILEE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST
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CHAPTER VII
GALILEE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST
From whatever aspect we approach the study of Galilee, our
conclusions have the most vital interest in so far as they cause us to
picture this land when it became the home of Him who is pre-emi-
nently "The Man of Galilee." If anything can enable us to see
what He saw, to be influenced as He must have been, or to reconstruct
in our imagination the human life of Him who is our example for all
the ages, then our efforts are not in vain. We may also recall in passing
that the same environment profoundly influenced the apostles and
many members of the infant church.
In a previous article we dealt with the subject of the size of Galilee
in the time of Christ. It was a small land, by no means so large as
the natural boundaries would suggest. If we may judge from the
description of Josephus,* the southern boundary was, for practical
purposes, rather the northern than the southern edge of the great
plain. The region described as "Lower Galilee" was all included,
but the northern boundary traversed the mountain region on a line
drawn from the deep Wady Hindaj (just south of Kades) on the east
to the neighborhood of el Jish, and thence south along the line of
Jebal Jermak till these mountains abut on Lower Galilee. All
north and west of this line was Tyrian territory (as was Carmel on the
southwest) with doubtless scattered Jewish communities here and
there, like that we read of as existing at Caesarea Philippi. Although
the mountain district of Safed belonged to the Galilee of Christ, yet
we have no proof from the gospels that he ever visited this district.
The most striking thing about this region is the way it was hemmed
in on all sides by hostile neighbors. How much the Jews hated these
gentiles may be seen in the pages of Josephus where he describes how
they rose and massacred them all over the land. The Tyrians, as
» Xyloth (now Iksal) is mentioned by Josephus as on the boundary, and Gaba
(now Sheikh Abreik) appears to have been a kind of frontier settlement at the western
end of the plain.
129
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I30 STUDIES IN GALILEE
Josephus calls them — or, as they are called in the New Testament,^
the Syro-Phenicians — ^lay in contact with Jewish Galilee all along the
northern and western borders. Jewish villages for miles must have
faced villages of an alien race and faith, and doubtless in all the
larger urban resorts the followers of different faiths were then, as
now, in little semi-hostile cliques. Ever present on the eastern
frontier and invading the lowland in places, especially along the
Jordan, were, the nomadic Bedawin. All along the southern frontier,
Galilee borders by an ill-defined boundary upon the territory of
the unfriendly Samaritans. Besides the Semitic elements, many
Greeks and thoroughly Graecized S)n:ians must have been dis-
tributed all over the land. Scythopolis and Gadara, both counted to
Galilee in a loose kind of way, were two of the great cities of the
Decapolis; here, and all along the eastern shores of the lake, Greek
influence was widely diffused. At Tiberias was a newly erected city,
pagan and predominantly Roman. In all the political machinery,
in military organization and in much that makes for civilization, the
Romans were much in evidence. Only perhaps in the quieter village
life of such secluded places as Nazareth were Jewish ideals preserved
more pure.
In such surroundings the Galileans appear to have developed
marked characteristics of their own. It must be remembered that
this region ceased to be Israelitish after the destruction of the North-
ern Kingdom, and even as late as Maccabean times the settlers there
were so few and ill-protected that Simon brought them all away for
safety during his struggles with the heathen (I Mace. 5:21). It is
surmised that it was resettled in the reign of Aristobulus I.' Between
that time and the days of Christ the Jewish inhabitants of Galilee
must have flourished exceedingly, but under conditions which would
encourage independence of character, resourcefulness and readiness
to defend themselves and their property. Their comparatively
small numbers, and their being surrounded on all sides by hostile
religions, would naturally make them tenacious of their own religious
1 Mark 7 : 26.
2 If the suggestion of Schurer is correct that the Iturea conquered by that monarch
was Galilee, it is quite probable that some proportion of the Galileans were prose-
lytes from the non-Israelites of the district, but there is no reason to think the numbers
from this source were large.
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GALILEE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST 131
customs; while their isolation from Jerusalem would, pne might
expect, produce some differences in religious customs in the direction
of less stress on minor points of detail. The history of Josephus
and the references in talmudic literature to the Galilean Jews agree
in showing that this was the case.
In order to picture the district it is necessary to form some idea of
the density of the population. This has been a subject of considera-
ble controversy. While it is impossible to give figures of any cer-
tainty, there are certain points which may guide us to some conclusion.
There is no question whatever that the population was considera-
bly greater than that of today. Galilee was a country of rich fertility
and very highly cultivated;* even now, when so much is neglected,
no part of Palestine is more productive. Extensive tracts now given
over entirely to brushwood or thistles might once again be converted
into .splendid groves of olives and figs; the terracing of the hills has
everywhere fallen into ruins, the bare rock showing over miles of
gentle slopes which once were vineyards and orchards. How well
suited is the land for vine-culture is shown by the results obtained
in the modem Jewish colonies around Safed. Something of the
ancient fame' of Galilee as a producer of olive oil is still main-
tained by the magnificent groves of what the natives call "Roman*'
olives near Rameh. The natural resources of the land have been
previously referred to more in detail. But while allowing that the
population was considerably greater than today, it is difficult to accept
the numbers given by Josephus. In his works it is stated^ that in
Galilee there were 204 cities and villages, and in another passage he
says: "Moreover the cities lie here very thick; and the very many
villages are everywhere so full of people by the richness of the soil
that the very least of them contain above 15,000 inhabitants."^
The late Dr. Merrill in his well-known book* Galilee in the Time of
Christy^ argues that this statement may be literally correct and that
Galilee actually contained a population of upward of three millions.
To the great majority of those who have looked into the question the
statements of Josephus are, as they stand, manifestly absurd. The
numbers may be a wilful exaggeration, which, considering they were so
1 B. /., Ill, iii, 2. 3 Vita, 45.
2 B. /., II, xxi, 2; Deut. 33:34. 4 B. /., Ill, iii, 2. s P. 62.
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132 STUDIES IN GALILEE
easy of refutation, seems hardly possible; or the statement about the
15,000 is misplaced by an error in copying and ought to apply to the
cities only. But in any case the statement, as it stands, is a pre-
carious one on which to base any calculation of total population.
Galilee today is full of villages. One of 1,500 inhabitants is con-
sidered a very large one indeed, and some of the villages have as few
as 50 adult inhabitants. The mean population of the thirty-nine
villages of the Safed district, including all inhabited centers except
Safed itself, is 280 or, counting in the young children not included
in the census, about 500 inhabitants. The largest towns in the whole
of Galilee, with the solitary exception of Safed (23,000 inhabitants)
contain a smaller population than 15,000. But it may be argued that
the villages of those days were very much larger. This is not the
testimony of the existing ruins, mostly shapeless heaps of stones
scattered all over the land. First, it may be noted that these i:uins
are most plentiful not in the district we are considering, but rather
in the environs of Tyre. Secondly, it is evident that they belong to
various ages; some to villages occupied before New Testament
times, and not in the days of Christ (as may be proved by the pottery
fragments); and others, a much larger number, are purely Arab
remains from the centuries just before, during and after the Crusades.
It has never been systematically done, but if the khurbets (i. e., the
ruins) of ^Galilee were catalogued according to their antiquity, I
believe — ^judging from those I have myself examined — that con-
siderably less than half would show evidence of belonging to the
period we are now considering.
When we come to the extent of these ruins a still more striking
thing is noticeable. Very many of them are exceedingly small,
representing indeed little but the ruined walls of a single group of
buildings; and as a whole most of them cover an area about the same
as that covered by a modern village of medium size. They are
manifestly not the ruins of considerable towns. Were the statements
in Josephus correct, we should find enormous areas of ruins covering
acres. Such is the case in a few places, for example at BeisiLn (Scy-
thopolis), Tiberias and Suffuriah (Sepphoris). Further, at the identi-
fied sites of many of the more important towns we see an area of ruin
quite consistent with the remains of large villages or small towns.
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GALILEE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST 133
Salamis, Bersabe (if at Abu Sheb^a), Kefr Anan, Cabul, Abela, Caper-
naum, Chorazin, Bethsaida (Julias), Gischala, Simonias (Semunieh),
could never have been cities in the sense we think of cities today, but
from their frequent mention in Josephus, these appear to have been
some of the more important places in Galilee, and it is impossible that
there were many sites now unoccupied as large as these.
The population of the whole, as described in the Galilee volume
of the Palestine Exploration Memoirs, was, according to the
estimates made at the time of the survey, 103,000. Today these
numbers may with confidence be doubled.' Allowing for young
children not included in the government returns, the population of
this large area of 1,341 square miles, with its 312 towns and villages,
may with safety be estimated at about 250,000. This district is very
much larger than that described as Galilee by Josephus which, at an
outside estimate, could not have included more than 900 square miles.
It includes the whole district of Tyre and all the coast to Carmel. The
denseness of the population by the above estimates works out at 186
inhabitants to the square mile. The present mean population of the
villages is about 500 and that of the towns Haifa, Akka, Nazareth,
Safed, and Tiberias about 13,000. I think the utmost we could allow
is that the average population of the smaller towns and villages was
double that of today, or, say, 1,000 inhabitants to each; while of the
four really great cities of the district,* Sepphoris, Tiberias, Tarichaea,
and Scythopolis, a mean of 50,000 to each would I suppose be as much
as we can believe probable in normal times (in times of war such
towns being fortified would, of course, be temporarily much more
I The following statistics collected from the Safed district make me believe it is safe
to calculate that the population of Galilee has more than doubled in the last twenty-five
years. The present population from the ofl&cial figures in this district is 29,055 (5,594
Jews, 2,131 Greek Church or Greek Catholics-^chiefly the latter — 916 Maronite
Christians, 1,536 Druzes, and 19,878 Moslems). These numbers, however, do not
include a considerable number of foreign subjects, especially Jews, who may safely
be reckoned as at least 5,000 more, making a total of 34,055 persons distributed over
one city, Safed, and thirty-nine small towns and villages. The Palestine Exploration
Fund estimate for the same area, counting up all the towns and villages, was 14,030,
made up of 2,350 Christians, 1,600 Jews, 200 Druzes, 9,880 Moslems. Here again
there are a great many foreign Jews omitted from the count — perhaps 1,500 is not too
many, making the total 15,530 or a little less than half the present population.
a Vita, 27.
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134 STUDIES IN GALn.EE
crowded). If there be reckoned 200 small towns and villages with a
population together of 200,000, and the four great cities with an equal
population (200,000) we get 400,000 as the probable population of
Galilee in the time of Christ, giving a density of population of about
440 to the square mile — six times the density of population by the old
Palestine Exploration Fund estimates, and two and one-half times
the density of population according to the most liberal recent esti-
mates. It is inconceivable that the Galilee of the Jews could have
included a population larger than this, and it is probable this estimate
errs on the side of excess.
Among the villages of Galilee, Nazareth appears to have been one
of the smaller; it is not important enough in size or situation to figure
in any of the stirring events in the pages of Josephus, although its
neighbor Japha is frequently mentioned. Where the ancient village
stood it is impossible to say — ^none of the traditions are of value; but
it cannot have been far from the one spring — ^the "Virgin's fountain,"
and must have nestled somewhere in the pretty valley shut out by its
circle of hills from the rush and hurry of the busy life which pulsated
on all its sides. Today a high road passes through Nazareth, but
this b clearly not a natural route to anywhere. The ancient high
roads passed from west to east, one along the foot of the Galilean hills
to the south, and another through Sepphoris and the Battauf to the
north. It is the sanctity of the spot alone which has dragged the
road out of its natural route to mount the steep hills of Nazareth.
It was long the fashion to insist on the remoteness of the early home
of Jesus, whilst later writers have rather emphasized opposite condi-
tions and pictured his boyhood as within the busy arena of politicians,
soldiers, merchants, and amid all the movements of that stirring
time. Surely there is truth in both aspects. Nazareth itself was
quietly secluded, shut oflF from the things of the world. It was not
despised for any demerit, but was simply insignificant as compared
with its famous neighbors.
At the same time, it was in the center of a district of teeming and
strenuous life. Within sight of its surrounding hills rushed the eager
tide of civilization. From these heights the eye could wander over
scene after scene at once of Israel's ancient history and of present
struggles. Southward spread the great plain with its memories of
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136 STUDIES IN GALILEE
Deborah and Barak, of Gideon and Elijah, of Ahab and Jezebel,
while beyond rose the mountains of those people of whom we hear so
much in the gospels — ^the despised but feared Samaritans. The once
sacred shrine, Mount Tabor— in Christ's time a fortified stronghold —
was visible to the southeast; while southwest stretched the long line of
Carmel, from the lofty eastern end where, by tradition, Elijah cham-
pioned the name of Jehovah before the prophets of Baal and all the
hosts of backsliding Israel, to the further end which dips gently
toward the misty sea to form the southern boundary of the great Bay
of Akka. Here landed the legions of arrogant Rome, the ambitious
soldier, the crafty politician, all those referred to in the sayings of
Jesus as seeking "after all these things."^ To the north we see, fold
after fold, the hills of lower Galilee. Almost at one's feet, but an hour's
ride away, lay Sepphoris, the scene in those days of many an heroic
deed, then soon to lose (though but temporarily) the distinction of
being the capital city of the district in favor of the godless and degraded
Tiberias. The land for sixteen miles around Sepphoris is reported in
the Talmud to have "flowed with milk and honey." Behind Sep-
phoris lay the mountains of esh Shaghtir and the loftier crags of
Upper Galilee, culminating in the Jebal Jermak range. To the north-
east snowclad Hermon was visible, while due west the hills of the
Nazareth range rose higher and shut off the view.
Nazareth was thus a secluded village in th6 midst of a Roman
province of very considerable importance. But an hour's walk to the
north was the capital and a great high road. Less than an hour to
the south was another great road along which chariots, horsemen and
armies hurried backward and forward. V(^ithin a very few miles
were the important villages of Japha, Simonias, Gebatha and Bethle-
hem of Zebulon. It was surroimded on all sides by a busy, worldly
life, with alien races, languages and customs. To the south were the
Samaritans; Carmel, the whole coast plain, and the mountains to the
northwest belonged to the Tyrians (Syro-Phenicians) enjoying self-
government, while Hermon and much of the' land to the east of the
lake was pagan, Greek or Roman. When we consider that the
youthful Jesus viewed these alien lands perhaps almost daily from the
lofty hills above bis home, what added interest it gives to his refer-
I Matt. 6:32. '
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GALILEE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST 137
ences to them: "If the mighty works had been done in Tyre and
Sidon which have been done in you, they had a great while ago
repented, sitting in dust and ashes."^
We cannot doubt that it was to the far-seen land across the Jordan,
very fascinating to those viewing it from the west, that the prodigal
son went when he went to a "far country,'' and there fed swine.
With what prejudice must the people of Nazareth have looked across
the great plain southward to the hills of those hereditary enemies of
theirs, and yet how gentle and loving was this Nazarene in all his
doings with them.^
Although we may not know the exact spot on which stood the
village home of Jesus, there is very much in the village life, in the
recurring seasons and in nature's gracious gifts which must be today
as they were in the days when this was his earthly home. Thus
every year the wondrous miracle of spring must have developed
itself as it does today, and from the long and hard baked earth there
emerged, under the influence of the gentle showers and genial sun-
shine, that marvelous carpet of green leaves and gorgeous flowers
which makes spring in Palestine such a never-ending surprise and
delight. Only those who have lived through the cold, wet, lifeless
winter in Galilee can fully realize the unthinkable change which
comes with the spring. First come the crocuses on the level fields
and the cyclamen in the rocky crevices, each putting forth its early
flowers from the bulbs oi stored-up nourishment; then the anemones
— scarlet, purple, white — ^the gladioli, the purple irises, the pink and
yellow flaxes, the crumpled-leaved cistus, and the ubiquitous primrose-
tinted Palestinian scabious. It is diSicult to believe that, in spite
of a much higher cultivation, these beauties of nature were absent.
Indeed, it is surely to them that our Lord refers when he says "con-
sider the lilies of the field how they grow."^ A little later in the
spring, miles of hillside and valley are waving with grain, and the
great plain in particular is green almost from end to end. The fig
trees now shoot forth their delicate green leaves and tiny figs; the
pomegranates deck out their soberer green with brilliant scarlet
blossoms; the foliage of the grapes appears — ^all signs that the winter
» Luke 10:13.
a Luke 9:56; 10:33; 17:16; John 4:7-42. 3 Matt. 6 : 28-30.
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138 STUDIES IN GALILEE
is past and the summer is near at hand.^ The hilltops are covered
by the flocks of sheep and goats, while all the valleys re-echo to the
shepherds' pipes.
As summer advances and the green blades of the grain arise,
gfoups of women and girls go forth and root out the weeds and tares'
from among the ripening wheat. A few weeks more and the
camels, loaded high with wheat and barley, pour into Nazareth
from the plain, until the village threshing-floor is covered thick with
piled up bundles. Then come the weeks of threshing when the
horses, donkeys, and cattle, by long stamping, reduce the heaps to
the homogeneous mass of broken stalks (Hbn) and grain. With
the late summer breezes come the long afternoons of winnowing,
when the light and worthless chaflF is blown away and the precious
grain is gathered in an ever growing pile to be garnered — after
washing and drying — ^into the granaries; while the surplus chaflf is
burnt up.3
And now the families go out into the fig gardens and vineyards and
watch the ripening fruit until, just before the rains, these too are
gathered in. As the days grow shorter, and the winds cooler, the
stubble is burned off the fields, great blazing fires being visible on the
hillsides far away. At last the winter's rains descend and the sudden
floods sweep down the long dry valley bottom.^ At this time the
peasant goes out with his plow upon his shoulder to furrow the softened
earth; and with him walks the sower, sometimes scattering the seeds
broadcast before the plow, as in the parable,^ at other times fol-
lowing behind it and laying it in the newly turned furrows. The
gathering of brushwood from the thickets for fuel and the beating-
down of the olives are occupations of the early winter, and bring the
agricultural year to a close.
Such are some of the scenes amid which, from year to year, Jesus
moved. The man who planted the vineyard,^ the shepherd who
went to seek his lost sheep,^ the husbandman who spared for one
year more his fruitless fig tree,^ the woman who lost her piece of
I Cant. 2:11; Luke 21:30. s Matt. 13:3, etc.
a Cf. Matt. 13 : 41. 6 Matt. 21 : 33, etc
3 Matt. 3:12; Luke 3: 17; Isa. 5: 24. 7 Luke 15:4.
4 The floods of the parable, Matt. 7: 25. » Luke 13:6.
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GALILEE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST 139
moneys (possibly from her head-dress') — ^may not these and such
parables have been founded upon actual incidents in Jesus' boyhood
life ? All His teaching bears the impress of this village life, though
occasionally there comes also an echo of wider interests, as in the
parables of the marriage of the king's son,^ the ten talents,^ the
unjust steward,^ and the king going to war.^
While nature provided Jesus with such abundant illustrations, the
climate made possible a mode of life for his ministry only practicable
in such a land. Days of unbroken sunshine and nights of pleasant
warmth can be counted upon for six or seven months every year;
it is possible, without fear of rain, to gather crowds on the hillsides
day and night all over the district. The moonlight nights are perfect
for rest out of doors; or, if the days are oppressively hot, for travel.
Never was a land more suited for itinerant work and open-air preach-
ing. Even in midwinter it is no uncommon thing to have six weeks
of sunshine without a shower. The conditions of peasant life in the
east, though hard in many ways, leave much spare time, especially
between sowing and harvest, for leisure and thought; food is cheap
and wants are few; what is not done today can often be equally well
done tomorrow. Certainly the modern Fellah finds plenty of time
for sitting about, particularly in the winter, though working night
and day in times of stress.
Today, as then, the sick are everywhere — ^the fever-stricken, the
blind or semi-blind, the epileptic (now as then supposed to be "pos-
sessed")? the dumb because deaf, the palsied, withered hands and
feet, and the leprous. It is suflBcient for it to be known in any vil-
lage that a hakim is there for every lane to disgorge just such a crowd
as that which, ever renewed, followed the footsteps of our Master.
The ashshur (tax-farmer) is as ubiquitous and as hated as of old. It is
a saying in Galilee that if you would rid yourself of ants it is enough to
sprinkle on their holes some of the earth on which an ashshur has
stood — contact with anything so vile will drive even the ants pre-
cipitately away.
I Luke 15:8.
a This is a popular suggestion, but against this it may be urged that ancient
coins, bored for sewing to the headdress like modern Turkish coins, are not found.
3 Matt. 22: 2. 4 Matt. 25: 14. s Luke 16: 1-13. ^ Luke 14: 16.
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'I40 STUDIES IN GALILEE
There is indeed much in the Galilee of today to remind us of that
of eighteen hundred years ago. The Jews, though few in number,
are scattered over very much the same area as then; they are very
similar in religious ideas; "they tithe mint and anise and cummin/'
but omit the weightier matters. They are oppressed and overtaxed
by a power whoSe yoke is too heavy for them to throw off, but they
cannot forget that they were once a nation, and a smoldering idea of
nationalism has taken possession of many. They are divided into
at least two parties: (i) those who, like the Pharisees of the New
Testament, hold firm to the letter of the law, and believe little in
human effort in any direction except talmudic study; and (2) the
newer party, chiefly colonists, to whom the idea of nationalization
appeals rather than a dreamy religious idealism centered around a
(to them) very doubtful interpretation of prophecy. While the former
are frequently lazy, fll-developed and of low vitality, the latter are
usually fine, sturdy men and women who are raising up a race of
indigenous Israelites on the soil of their forefathers of a type long
foreign to Palestine; they are the hope of Zionism.
Galilee, though small in size and comparatively unimportant in
the world's history, was for a few short years honored forever above
all lands by having been the dwelling-place of Him who is the Teacher
for all who would know the road to the Father, the Master who claims
the allegiance of all hearts. At Nazareth He passed His obscure
years of preparation and development. On the shores of that strange
lake more than six hundred feet below sea level, He gathered out —
almost exclusively from the dwellers in the district — those who, as
His earliest followers, are destined to be famous while this world lasts.
Although the Christian church in this sense took rise here, it can-
not be said that Christianity has ever flourished much on the land of
its birth. The early Christian centuries witnessed the rise in Galilee
of a predominant and powerful rabbinism. And later, when Chris-
tianity became the religion of the district, its reign was short-lived,
for in the seventh century it was on account of its corruption swept
away by the conquering armies of the Arabian prophet. A few
centuries later a militant, though essentially false, Christianity,
for a few brief years triumphant, was humbled to the dust at the
battle of Hattin, between Nazareth and the Lake. Since that time
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GALILEE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST 141
a'night of ignorance and obscurity has descended upon the land, and
even the name of Christ has been hardly known.
The Galilee of the present is only now emerging from the long
blight of ignorance, neglect, and internal discord. Much of the land
is still desolate, its fields and orchards neglected, its people ignorant
of any vital religion and most of all of the teachings of Him on whose
account the eyes of half the civilized world turn in imagination to
their home. But on all sides there are signs of awakening. The
railway from Haifa to Damascus, which traverses the plain of Esdrae-
lon and touches the Lake at its southern end, the little steamboat on
the Lake, the rapidly increasing carriage trafiic, the prosperous
German and Jewish colonies scattered all over the land, all carry
promise of improvement in material things. Many of the Fellahln
are migrating to America; of these a good proportion will return
with enlarged ideas and a certain amount of capital. The immigrant
Jews from all lands, especially the reformed Jews, connected with the
Zionist movement, are introducing many improvements in agriculture
and new industries. Schools are multiplying all over the land, and
many scores of the more intelligent youths of all religions are now
being educated in the first-class Christian educational establishments
of Beirut and Jerusalem. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth once
again "the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, and the poor have the gospel preached to
them.'' It is in His name that all over the land healing and relief
of suffering is meted out to Moslem, Jew, and Christian alike by
loving hands.' We can surely, with confidence, believe that as day
by day the sun rises in splendor behind the dark hills of Bashan and
floods lake and valley and mountain side, each return brings nearer
the dawn of a better era for this land when once again He, for whose
sake the land is ever dear, will here too be honored above all others in
a purer, more intelligent, and more devoted way than ever in the past.
I Particularly at the medical missions at Haifa, Akka, Nazareth, Tiberias, and
Safed.
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LIST OF AUTHORITIES AND INDICES
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LIST OF AUTHORITIES AND INDICES
AUTHORITIES CITED
Arculfus.
Bible Handbook,
Biblical World.
Buhl.
Burkhard.
Chile.
Conder.
Edersheim.
Encyclopedia Biblica.
Eugesippus.
Eusebius.
Farhi.
Gu^rin.
Heidet.
Jerome.
Josephus.
Jewish Encyclopedia.
Jewish Quarterly Review^
Kauffmann.
Kitchener.
Kohl.
Macalister.
MacGregor.
Merill
MiUheUungen der deutschen OrierU-GeseU-
schaft.
No€.
Palestine Exploration Fund Memoirs,
Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly
Statement.
Pliny.
Quaresmius.
Recovery of Jerusalem.
Renan.
Robinson.
Schumacher.
SchUrer.
Schwarz.
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.
Smith, Dr. George Adam.
Smith, Dr. William Robertson.
Stevens.
Tabnud and Talmudic Literature.
Theodosius.
Tristram.
Watzinger.
Willibald.
Wilson.
For references see General and Special Indices.
GENERAL INDEX
Abela, 30, 55, 133.
Abel-beth-Maacah (Tell Abel), 22.
Ahu buZy 46.
Abu Sheb^a (Bersabe?), 133.
AbuKisher (Kisheveh)i 46-
AbuShusheh, 55, 56, 58, 59; Mill-
stream, 56, 57, 59.
Achabari (Akbara), 13, and note,
Agrippa. See Herod Agrippa II.
Ahab, 136.
cAin el ^Amud, 56.
cAin el Barideh, 84.
cAin el Madauwereh (Round Spring),
57, 59, 81, 84.
cAin el Mellahah, 25, 37, 38, 39.
cAin Jinn, 56.
cAin et Musmar, 106 note.
cAin et Tabil, 55.
cAin et Tell, 106 note,
^Ain et Tineh (Spring of the Fig), 61,
64, 81.
cAin Eyyub (Birket Sheikh cAli ed Dhaher
(Job's Foimtain), 64, 66, 81, 84.
«Ain ez Zeitiin, 13, 17.
^Ain Feshkhah, 48, 81, note.
cAin Fuwwir, 20.
cAin Ibl, 18.
cAin Rubudiyeh, 55.
cAin Surar, 55.
Akbara (Achabari), 13, and note.
Akka, 9, II, 59, 98, 133; Bay of, 15, 40,
136; medical mission at, 141 note; plain
of, 4, 5» 74; port of, II.
AUmrnus siUah, 47.
Alexandria, 81.
Algerians, 17.
cAlma, Algerian settlement, 16, 17; syna-
gogue at, 122.
145
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146
STUDIES IN GALILEE
cAlma, Circassian settiementi 17.
cAlma, plateau of, 5, 12.
America, emigration to, from Syria, 141.
cAmud River, 57.
Antonines, 124.
Aphek (Flk), 31.
Arbela (Irbid), 30, 54; Caveof , 55, and note.
Arculfus, Bishop, 83; Capernaum de-
scribed by, 85.
Ard el Kheit 25 note, 26.
Aristobulus I, 130, and note,
Armenia, 61.
^Arrabeh, plain of, 9.
Asher, 3.
Ashsh& (tax-farmer) y 36, 139.
Asochis, Plain of (el Battauf ?), 8, 116.
B
Baal, prophets of, 136.
Baalbec, 124.
Bahr Chit (Lake Huleh), 25 note.
Banias (Caesarea Philippi, Neronias,
Banias, 17, 20, 22, 67, 98; source of
the Jordan, 20, 22.
Baptist Quarterly Review^ article on
" Gennesaret," 51 note.
Barak, 136.
Barbus cants ^ 47.
Barbus Longiceps, 46.
Barbut (coracinus or catfish), 25, 45,
46, 81, and notey 86.
Bashan, hills of, 58, 141.
Bataihah. See el Bataiah.
Battauf, Plain of. See el Battauf.
Beatitudes, Mount of the, 83, and note,
84 note, 86, 87.
Bedawin, 24, 58, 73, 84, 99, loi, 103.
Beirut, 141.
Beis^n (Scythopolis), 11, 59, 132, 133.
Beit Jinn, Druze village, 15, 17.
Beit Lahum. See Bethlehem of Zebulon.
BeliLt hill, 14; clustered columns on, 123.
Belus River (Nahr Na^^mein), 4, 9.
Benlt, 5.
Beriah, 13.
Berinty supposed derivation of, 116.
Bersabe (Abu Sheb<^a?), 133.
Bethlehem (Beit Lahum) of Zebulon,
7» 136.
Bethmaus, 30, and note.
Bethsaida (probably et Tell),|3o, 38, 65, 66,
71, 82, 8s, 89, 93, and note, 95, 97, 102,
104.
Betzammin (probably Sahel el Ahma),
5, 7, 8, and note.
Biblical World: April, igoS, p. 247 /., in
notey 112 note; June, igoOy 407.
Binny, 46.
Bint Umm Jebail. MetHweleh village,
18; weekly market at, 15.
Birket Sheikh cAli edh Dhaher (^Ain
Eyyub Job's Fountain), 64, 66, 67,
81, 84.
Borocardus. See Burkhard.
Boundaries of Galilee, 3, 4, 7, 20, 26, 129.
Buhl, Geographie des alten Palestina,
95 note.
Burkhard (Borocardus), 86.
c
Cabul, 133.
Caesarea Philippi (Banias), 22, 94, 95,
129; name, origin of, 22.
Cana of Galilee (Kefr Kenna? Khur-
bet Kina?), 8.
Capernaum (Caphamaum, Caphamome,
Kapher Nakhum, Kephir Tankhum,
Tell HOm), 66, 71-89, 93, and note;
94, 95» "I note, 112 note, 124, 133;
Christ's "own city," 51, 71; foun-
tain at, 86, 89; Roman necropolis at,
loi; synagogue, Bible references to, 77.
Capher {Kefer)y meaning of word, 82.
Capoeta damascinay 47.
Capoeta fraUrcuUiy 47.
Capoeta sodalis, 47.
Capoeta Syriacay 47.
Carmel, Mount, 7, 15, 123, 129, 133,
136.
Carps (Cyprinidae), 47.
Cepher Tankhum (Kephir Nakhum),
names given to Capernaum, 73.
Chiteau Neuf (Kusr cAtra), 27.
Chesulloth (Iksal, Xaloth, Xyloth), 7,
129 note.
Chilo, Isaac, 88, and note.
Chinneroth, identified with Gennesaret,
51.
Chorazin (Kerazeh, Khurbet Kerazeh),
68, 71, 85, 89, 93, and note, loi, 133.
Christians, 18, 88, 133, 141; Greeks, 17,
130* ^33 ^^> Latins, 31, 66.
Chromidae, 43-45.
Chrystal, Professor, 30 note.
Circassians, 18.
Clarias Macrocanthus, see BarbiU.
Cleopatra, 22.
Climate of Galilee, 52, 139.
Colonies in Galilee: Algerian, 17; Cir-
cassian, 17; German, 141; Jewish,
17, 26, 131, 140, 141; Kurdish, 17, 26;
Turkoman, 17.
Conder, Bible Handbook, 88 note.
Coracinus {barbut, catfish), 25, 45, 46, 81,
and note, 86.
Crusades, 8, 27, 132, 140.
D
Damascus, 10, 15, 28, 39, 59, 104, 141.
Damascus-Haifa Railway, 66 note, 141.
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INDICES
147
Damascus Road, 10, 11, 71, 98.
Dan, 22.
Daphne (Dan ? Tell el Kadi ?), 22.
Dead Sea, 48, 81 note.
Deborah, 136.
Decapolis, cities of the, 130.
Deir Hannah, 5, 9.
DeishCln, 17.
Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, 74, 75.
Dew {tal) of Hermon, 16, 17.
Dibl, 18.
Druzes, 15, 17, 133 note.
ed Dahareyeh, 13.
ed Deir, 14.
ed Dikkeh, 98, 106, 121; synagogue at,
122.
Eygpt, 59» 61.
el cAraj, 95, 98, loi, 102, 104.
el Bataihah, 27, 28, 66, 79, 85, 94, 95,
103, and note^ 104, and note, 121.
el Battauf (Plain of Asodus), 5, 8, 9, 116,
and note^ 134.
el Bukeica, 15, 17.
el Ghor. See Jordan Valley,
el Ghuweir. See Gennesaret, Plain of.
el Huleh. See Huleh, Lake,
el Jish (Gischala), 13, 16, 74, 119, 121,
129, 133; Birket, 13; synagogue, 118,
119, 121; volcanic plateau, 5, 12.
Elijah, 136.
el Jebal ("the Mountain"), 15.
el KiLsy, 14.
el Kerak. See Kerak.
el Khalisah, 24.
el Leddan River. See Nahr el Leddan.
el Mejdel. See Mejdel.
el Mes^adlyeh, suggested site of Beth-
saida, 95, 97.
el Mughar, 9.
el Munja, 83, and note, 87.
el cQreimeh, suggested site of Capernaum,
5, 73 note, 84; aqueduct, 64; German
Catholic hospice, 66; Tell on, 62, 63,
68, 83.
el Tabighah. See Tabigah.
elTeleil (Thella?), 26, and note.
Emmaus (Hammath), 30.
Encyclopedia Bihlica, 83, and note; article
on "Gerasenes," 33 note,
England, 4.
Erzerum, 61.
Esdraelon, Plain of (Merj ibn ^Amr), 3,
5, 6, II, 141.
es Semakh, 28, 66.
esh ShaghClr (ShughClr) mountain range,
6, 9, 10, 136.
Esther, Queen, 116.
et Tell (probable site of Bethsaida), 30,
65* 85, 95, 97, loi, 104, and note;
description of, 102, 103, 104.
Eucal3rptus trees, 26, 66, and note,
Eugesippus (Hegesippus), 85.
Europe, 4.
Eusebius, 93.
ez Zubaid (Jessod Hamaalah) Jewish
colony, 26, 38.
Fadl Bedawin, 24.
Farhi, Rabbi Isaac, 88.
Farradeh village and spring, 9, 10, 55.
"Fellah" (peasant), life of, 138, 139.
Fertility of Galilee, 5, 9, 17, 66, 131.
Flk (Aphek), 31.
Fish and Fishing, 25, 37-48, 65, 67, 104.
Flowers of Galilee, 58, 73, 137, 138.
Franciscans, 74.
Gaba (Geba), probably Sheikh Abreik,
7, 129 note,
Gabara (Khurbet Elabra), 11, and note,
Gabatha (Jebata), 7.
Gadara (M^Keis), 11 note, 31, 79, 130.
Galilee, passim; boundaries, 3, 4, 7,
20, 26, 129; eastern, 5; fertility of,
5, 9, 17, 66, 131.
— Lake of (Lake of Gennesaret, Lake of
Tiberias, Sea of Galilee): 5, 15, 37-42,
51, 52, 71, 83, 86 noU, 93, 98, 100, 116,
119, 140, 141; description of, 28, and
note, 30; fishing in, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42,
67, 104; level of, 30, and note.
—Lower: 4, 5-11, 15, 17, 20, 129,
136; historical references to, 10 physi-
cal features, 5-1 1; religious sects in,
17; roads, 10, 11; vegetation, 9, 10;
water supply 10.
— Name, derivation of, 3.
— Physical features, 4, 5.
— Population, 17, 131, and notes, 132,
133, and note, 134.
— Size in time of Christ, 129.
— Upper: 5, 11-20, 136; physical feat-
ures, 12, 13; products, 17; religious
sects in, 17; roads, 15; water supply,
13,15- ^
—"Valley'^ (el Ghor), 5, 20.
— ^Western: Bedawin flocks in, 24; water
supply, 24, 25, 26.
Gamala, 33, and note.
Gaulanitis, 93, and note,
Geba (Gaba, Sheikh Abreik), 7, 129 note.
Gebatha, 136.
Gennesaret, Plain of (Chinneroth, el
Ghuweir, Gennesar), 5, 9, 11, 13, 20,
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148
STUDIES IN GALILEE
28, 51-68, 71, 81, 82, 85, 88, and note,
89, 103, 114; Josephus' description of,
52; name, derivation of, 51; products,
58; water supply and irrigation, 53,
54, 55» 57, 61; Lake of. See Galilee,
Lake of.
Gerasa (Kersa, Kerse), 33, and note.
Gergesa, 33 note.
Ghawarineh Bedawin, 24.
Ghor, the (el). See Jordan Valley.
Ghor, the little (el Ghuweir). See Gen-
nesaret, Plain of.
Gideon, 136.
Ginea (Jenln), 7, and note.
Gischala. See el Jish.
Greek Church, 130, 133 note; Catholic,
17; orthodox, 17.
Greeks, 136.
Groves, Superstitions re, 25.
Guerin, 122; Galilee^ 109 note,
H
Hafafiy 46, 47-
Haifa, 133; medical mission at, 141 note.
Haifa-Damascus Railway, 66 note, 141.
Hakim (physician), 139.
Hammam Eyyub (Job's bath), 67, and
note.
Hammath (Emmaus), 30.
Harraweh (Hazor?), 25, and note.
Hasbani, 22.
Hasbayeh, 20.
"Hasel" (storehouse for grain), loi.
Hattin, 11, 28, 58; battle of (1187), 8,
140; horns of (suggested site of giving
of the Beatitudes), 5, 7, 8, 53, 59, 86,
87; plain of, 5; plateau of, 20, 53;
spring of, 10; village of, 53, 54.
Hauran, 61.
Hazor (Harraweh ?), 25, and note.
Hegesippus (Eugesippus), 85.
Heidet: Das hetlige Land (1896), 347-
58, 84 note.
Hejaz Railway, 66 note.
Hemichromis Sacra, 44.
Heptapegon. See Tabighah.
Hermon, Mount, 15, 16, and note, 59,
120, 136; dew of, 16.
Hermon, the Little (Jebel Dahi), 6.
Herod Agrippa II, 22, 27 note, 93, 104.
Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch, 30, 76, 94.
Herod the Great, 7, 20, 22, 27, 55, 123.
Herod Philip, 22, 93, 94, and note, 97.
Hieromax (Yarmuk?), 31.
Hillel, Rabbi, tomb of, at Meron, 119.
Hippos (Susitha, Suslyeh), 31, and notes,
79-
Horeni, 83, and note.
Huleh, Lake (Bahr Chit, Lake Samacho-
nites, Ulatha, Waters of Merom), 5,
13, 24, and note, 25, and note, 26, 27,
42, 98, 103 note.
Huleh Plain, 5, 27.
Hunln, 15.
Ibrahim, Sultan, wely of, loi.
Ijon (Merj ^Ayiin), 20, 22.
Iksal (Chesulloth, Xaloth, Xyloth), 7,
129 note.
Irbid (Arbela), 11, 30, 54, 74, 88 note,
115; Synagogue, 114, 115, 121.
Israel, Northern Kingdom of, 130.
Issachar, i.
Iturea, suggested identity with Galilee,
130 note.
Japha, 135, 136.
Jarf, 40, 41, 42.
Jaulan, the, 5, 10, 15, 59, 122.
Jacuneh (Rosh Pinna), 17.
Jebata. See Gabatha.
Jebal Adather, 12.
Jebalat el ^Ariis, 12, 56, 59.
Jebal Dahi (the little Hermon), 6.
Jebal el Bellaneh, 56, 59.
Jebal es Sih, 7.
Jebal Haidar, 6.
Jebal Hazzur, 59.
Jebal Hunln, 12.
Jebal Jermak, highest point in Palestine,
12, 13, 15, 56, 129, 136.
Jebal Kan<^an, 6, 12, 59.
Jebal Tor<:an, 8.
Jenln (Ginea), 7, and note,
Jermak River, 4.
Jerome, 83, 93, 94; Jes., g, 1, Q3 note.
Jerusalem, 11, 67, 81, note, iii, 124, 131,
141; Temple at, 77.
Jessod Hamaalah (ez Zubaid), Jewish
colony, 26, 37 note.
Jesus Christ, 30, 33, 51, 76, 82, 86, 93, 94,
132, 136, 137, 141; Capernaum the
center of his Galilean work, 71; "Man
of Galilee," 129; parables drawn from
daily life, 138, 139.
Jews, 3, 17, 30, 33, 133 note, 141; Gali-
lean, characteristics of, 130, 131; reli-
gious ideas, 139.
Jewish colonies in Galilee, 17, 26, 131,
140, 141.
Jewish emblems, 109.
Jewish Encyclopedia, Art. "Synagogue,"
125, and note.
Jewish Quarterly Review, iSgy, 109 note.
Jezabel, 136.
Jisr Benat Ya^kClb, 10, 27, 59.
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INDICES
149
Job's Fountain (^Ain Eyyub, Birket
Sheikh cAli ed Dhaher), 64, 66, 67, 81,
84. Jonathan, 51.
Jordan River, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 20, 22, 27,
28, 29, 30, 31, 37, 44, 47. 5i» 59» 61, 65,
66, 71, 79, 85, 86, 87, 93, and note, 94,
95> 97 » 98, loi, 102, 103, 104, 106, and
note, 120, 121, 130; artificial lowering
of bed, 24, and note; channel, 20, 26,
27; fords, 28, 85, 98, 104, 106; rate of
fall, 27, 28; sources, 20, 22, 24, 67.
Jordan Valley (Ghor), 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13,
28, 103 note, 106; upper, 20, 24, 120.
Joseph ben Nahum, 119.
Joseph, Pit of (Jubb Yusuf), 98.
Joseph the Levite, 118.
Josephus, 8, 26, 28, 51, 67, 68, 79, 81,
86, 94, 118, 129, and note, 131, and
notes, 132, 133, and note, 134. For
references see Special Index I.
Jotapata (Tell Jefat), 9, and note.
Jubb Yusuf (Joseph's Pit) Khan, 10,
II, 59, 61, 98.
Judea, 10, 17.
Julias. See Bethsaida.
Julias, daughter of Caesar, 93, 94.
Kades (Kadesh Naphtali), 12, 129. Carv-
ing on ruins at, 133.
Kady, meaning of word, 23.
Kaftor Raphireh, 88.
Kapher Nakhum (Kepher Tankhum,
Kephir Tankhumin), derivation of
name, 88 note, 89.
Kasimlyeh (Litany) River, 3, 13.
Kasioun. See Keisiun.
Kaufifmann, "Art in the Synagogue,"
Jewish Quarterly Review, l8gy, 109
note.
Kedes, plain of, 5.
Kedesh, 3.
Kedron Valley, 81 note.
Kefr Anan, 9, 88 note, 133.
Kefr Ber<:im, 14, 16, 18, 74, 112 note,
118, 119; synagogues at, described,
116, 117, 118, 121.
Kefr Kenna (Cana of Galilee?), 7, 8.
Keisiun (Kasioun), building with Greek
inscription at, 122, 124.
Kepher Tankhum. See Kapher Nakhum.
Kerak (Tarichaea), 29, 31.
Kerazeh (Khurbet Kerazeh), site of
Chorazin, 11, 30, 74, 85, 93, 97, 99,
loi; Roman road near, 100, loi;
synagogue, 99, and note, 100, iii, 114,
121.
Kersa (Gerasa, Kurse), 33, and note.
Kersin, 46.
Khallet es Semak, 64, 65.
Khan Jubb Yusuf, 10, 11, 59, 61, 98.
Khan (Khurbet) Minia (Minich, Minyeh),
suggested site of Capernaum, 11, 57,
58, 59, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 68, 78 nole,
82, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88 note, 89.
Khan TujjlLr, 11, 59.
Kharambeh Bedawin, 58.
Khurbet, meaning of word, 73, 132.
Khurbet Abu Sheb^a, 11.
Khurbet el cQreimeh, suggested site of
Capernaum. See el cQreimeh.
Khurbet es Salameh, 9, 85.
Khurbet es Semmuka, 123.
Murbet et Taiyebeh, 123.
Khurbet Kabra (Gabara), 11, and note.
Khurbet Kina (Cana of Galilee ?), 8.
Khurbet Kerazeh. See Kerazeh.
Khurbet Minia. See Khan Minia.
Khurbet Nebratain. See Nebratain.
Khurbet Umm el ^Amed, 115; synagogue,
116.
Khurfish, 15 note.
Kishon River, 4, 7.
Kitchener, Lord, 123, 124, and note;
Palestine Exploration Fund Memoirs,
contributions to, 109 note.
Kohl, Professor, 74, 75, 99, 1 11 note, 123,
124; Mittheilungen der deutschen
OrierU-Gesellschaft, contribution to, 109
note.
Kul<^t el Husn, 33.
Kul^at el Kurein (Montfort Castle), 14.
Kulcat ibn Ma<^an, 55.
Kurds, 17, 61, 26.
Kurn Hattin, 8.
Kurse (Gerasa, Kersa), 33, and note.
Kusr cAtra (Chateau Neuf), 27.
Lava. See Volcanic districts.
Lebanon, 15, 39, 98.
LejjCln, II.
Levi, 118.
LitlLny (Kasimlyeh) River, 3, 13.
Lubieh, 7.
M
Macalister, R. A. Stewart, 61, 63.
Maccabees, the, 123, 130.
MacGregor, "Rob Roy," 24, 26, and
note; Rob Roy on the Jordan, 1st ed.,
367. 56.
Magdala. See Mejdel.
M^khneh, Plain of, 11.
Malia, 14.
Maronites, 18, 116, 133 note.
Martin er RAs, 27.
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I50
STUDIES IN G.\LILEE
"Meadow of Springs" (Ijon, Merj
cAyiin), 12, 20.
Meccai 116 note.
Mediterranean Sea, 3, 13, 98.
Megiddo, 59.
Meiron, 56.
Mejdel (Magdala), 30, 55, 57, 58, 68,
84, 85.
Melcartli, Temple of, 123, and note,
"Mensa (Tabula) Christi" (Mensa d*
onore), 84 note^ 86, 87.
Merj cAyun (Ijon, "Meadow of Springs"),
12, 20, 39.
Merj el Jish, 13, 56.
Merj ibn ^Amr. See Esdraelon, Plain of.
Merill, Dr.: Galilee in the Times of
Christy p. 62 J 131, and note.
Meron, 13, 16, 27, 74, 119; plain of, 12;
synagogue 119, 121; tombs of rabbis,
119; waters of (Lake Huleh), 27.
Merdn er RAs, 13.
M6s, 5, 12.
Metiweleh (Shiites), 15, 18; customs
and traditions of, 18.
Milestones, remains of Roman, 11.
Minia. See Khan Minia.
"Minim," 88, 124.
Mittheilungen der deutschen Orient-Ge-
sellschaftf 109 note.
M^Keis (Gadara), 31.
Mohanuned, 17.
Montfort Castle (Kul^at el Kurein), 14.
Mongol Turks, 67.
Moslems, 17, 18, 87 note^ 98, 133 notCf
141.
Mount of the Beatitudes, 83, and note,
84, and notey 86, 87.
Mughar el Hazzur, 55, 59.
Munja. See el Munja.
Munyat Hisham, 82.
Muhatteny 41, 42.
Mushty 43, 44.
M^utelleh, 22.
N
Nablus, 59.
Nahr Banias, 24.
Nahr Bareight, 20.
Nahr el Leddan, 22, 24.
Nahr Hasbani, 20.
Nahr Na^mein (Belus), 4, 9.
Nahum (Nakhimi), the Prophet, 88, and
notey 89.
Naphthali, 3, 83, 88.
Nasairlyeh, 17.
Nazareth, 7, 10, 58, 79, 130, 133, ^134,
140; medical mission at, 141 note;
mountains of, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 134, 136;
position and surroundings in time of
Christ, 134, 136, 137; synagogue, 77;
Virgin's Fountain, 10, 134.
Nebi Audeidah, 11.
Nebi Sain, 7.
Nebi Sibelan (Zebulon?), tomb at, 15,
and note.
Nebra hill, 120, 121.
Nebratain (Khurbet Nebratain), 74, 119,
120, endnote, 122; synagogue, 120, 121.
Nero, 93, 95.
Neronias, name given to Banias, 22.
Nets used by Galilean fishermen, 39-42.
Nile River, 81, 86.
No^, 84 notCy 87, and note.
o
Olives, cultivated in Galilee, 9, 10, 53,
99, 104, 131.
«Oreimeh. See el ^reimeh.
Origen, Ev. Joann., 6:24y 33 note.
Palestine, passim.
Palestine Exploration Fund, 64 note,
73, 118; MemoirSy 66, 81, 84 notey 109
note, 133, and notCy 134; /, 2j2y 117,
and note; /, 402, 99, and note; Quar-
terly Statementy 84 note; i8g8y p. 2g,
27 note; iQO^y p. jdjy 30 note; 1907,
Aprily 61, 63 note; iQo8y p. 2Qy 27
note; iQoSy Januaryy "Fisheries of
Galilee," 37 note.
Panias (Banias), origin of name, 22, 27.
Papyrus, 25, 26, 61.
Peasant life in Galilee, 138, 139.
Pharisees, 71, 140.
Philip. See Herod Philip.
Pliny, 94; V. I, 95 note.
Population of Galilee in Time of Christ,
132, i33» and notey 134.
Pottery: Amorite or Hebrew at Khurbet
cOreimeh, 63; Arab at et Tell, 103;
Arab at Khurbet Minia, 61, 62, 83 ; Arab
and Roman at Tell Hum, 74; Graeco-
Roman at Nebratain, 120; pre-Chris-
tian, 132.
Products of Galilee, 9, 10, 16, 22, 24, 25,
26, 52, 53» 55» 56, 58, 66, 104, 137-
Purim, Feast of, 116.
Quaresmius, 87, 89.
Rameh, 11, 17, 61; plain of, 6, 9, 10, 55;
"Roman" olives near, 131.
Rls el Ahmar, 17.
RAs en Nakurah, 4.
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INDICES
151
Rls Hazweh, 9.
Ras Kruman, 9.
Reineh, Springs at, 10.
Renan, 118, 122, 124; Mission de Pheni-
cie, pp. 761-83, 109 note; p. 772, 123
note; Vie de JSsus, p. 140, 64 note.
Roads in Galilee, 10, 11, 15, 56, 57, 59,
61, 71, 98.
Robinson, Dr., 85, 86; Biblical Researches,
II, III, 109 note; II, p. 402, 56, and
note; III, p. 347, S^, and note; III, p.
354, 2>^, and note, 84.
Romans, 10, 77, 102, 136.
Rosh Pinna (Jacuneh), 17.
Round Fountain (^Ain el Madauwereh),
57, 59, 81, 84.
Royal Institution of Great Britain, 30
note.
Rubudiyeh River, 5, 53, 56, 57, 59.
Ruins in Galilee, age and size of, 132.
Rumaish, 14, 15.
Safed, 5, 6, ii, 12, 17, 28, 37, 39, 56, 59, 61,
97, 98, 104, 106, 116, 120, 122, 129, 132,
133, and note; central position of, 13, 98;
medical mission at, 141 note; moun-
tains, II, 13; products of district, 16,
131; springs near, 15; statistics of
population and religions, 132, 133
note.
Sahel el Ahma (probably Betzammin),
5, 7, 8, and note.
St. Augustine, 86.
St. James, nunnery of, 27, and note.
Sajaret el Mubarakeh, 84 note, 86.
Saladin, 8.
Salamis, 9, and note, 133.
Samachonitis, Lake (Lake Huleh), 26.
Samaria, 7, 15.
Samaritans, 130, 136.
Sanhedrin, the, 30.
Saracens, 30, 86.
Sardinnen, 47.
Sa^saS 13, 121.
Schumacher, Dr.: Gerasenes, article in
Encyclopedia Biblica, 33 note; Jaulan,
26, and note; p. Q4. loi, 103, and
note; p. 221, 9^, and note; pp. 106, 107,
104; p. 2j7, 27 note; pp. 260-65, 122
note.
Schiirer, 130 note.
Schwarz, Rabbi, 25 note, 88, 89.
Scribes, 71.
Scythopolis (Beisan), 130, 132, 133.
Sefifurieh (Sepphoris, Suffurieh), 10, 11,
132, 133-
Seiches on Lake of Galilee, 30, and note.
Seleucia (Seluklyeh ?), 27, and note.
Semakeyeh Arabs, 73, 82.
Semunieh (Simonias), 133.
Sepphoris, 134, 136.
Septimius Severus, 122.
Shabakeh, 39, 40.
Shaghtir. See Esh Shaghdr.
Shammai, Rabbi, tomb of, at Meron, 119.
Shefa ^Amir, 123.
Sheikh Abreik (probably Gaba), 7, 129
note.
Sheikh ^Ali es Sajryad, 64.
Shemabneh Bedawin, loi.
Shiites (Met^weleh), 15, i8.
Sidon, 4, 137.
SifsM, 13, 121.
Sikni (Siknin, Sukhnln, Sogane), 9, and
notes.
Simeon ben Jochai, Rabbi, tomb of, at
Meron, 119.
Simonias (SimClnieh), 7, 136.
Sinn en Nabra (Sinnabris), 31.
Sisera, 8.
Smith, Dr. George Adam: article in
Encyclopedia Biblica, I, col. 6q7, 83,
and note; Historical Geography of the
Holy Land, 83, and note, 95 note.
Smith, Dr. William Robertson: Kinship
and Marriage in Arabia, 20 note;
Religion of the Semites, p. 208, 123
note.
Sogane (Sikni, Siknin, Sukhnln), 9, and
notes.
Solomon's seal, 109.
Stevens, Professor William Arnold, 68;
article in Baptist Qtmrterly Review, 51
note.
Suffuriah (Sefifurieh, Sepphoris), 11, 132,
133-
Suhmata, 16.
Sukhnin (Sikni, Sogane), 9, and notes.
Sultan of Turkey, 24 note.
Sumeireh Bedawin, 58.
Sunnites, 17, 18.
Sussitha (Hippos, Susiyeh), ^^, and notes,
79-
Synagogues in Galilee: characteristics
common to all, 109, no; date of, 82,
and note, 123, 124; excavations by
Professor Kohl, 74; gospel references
to, 77; Jewish origin, proofs of, J09.
See also Irbid, Kerazeh, Tell Hum,
etc.
Syria, 124.
Syro-Phenicians or Tyrians, 130.
Tabighah (Heptapegon, 48, 57, 58, 65,
67, 68, 82, 84 note, 85, 86, 87. 89, 95,
98, 104; hospice at, 58, 61; name,
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152
STUDIES IN GALILEE
derivation of, 84; plain of, 84, and
note; seven springs of, 68, 73, and
notCy 82, 84, and note, 89.
Tabor, Mount, 6, 7, 10, 12, 136.
Tabula Christi {Mensa Christie mensa
d'onore), 84 notty 86, 87.
Tal (dew), 16, 17.
Talmud and Talmudic Literature, 20, 47,
5 1, 136 ; Bab. Rosh.-Nash, Shanna, 2g n.,
9, and note; Ber. Rabbah, par 20,
10, and note; Bereshith Rabbah,
chaps, xxociy xxxviiff.t 31 note; Jeru-
salem Talmud, 88; Jer. Trumoth
oci. 7, etc.y 73 note; Midrash Rabbah
on Eicclesiastes, 1:8^ ^.-26, 88; Mid-
rash Shirhash Shirim, III:i8y 73 note;
Shebiith, IX:2y 5 note; Tos. Meg.,
44:22 f,y III note.
Tankhum, Rabbi, 88, 89.
Tankhuma, Rabbi, 89.
Tannur Eyyub (Job's oven), 67, and note^
82.
Taricheae (Kerak), 28, 33, 79, 93, 94,
95» ^IZ^
Tchiflik, the, 24 note.
Teirshlha, 15.
TeUy meaning of word, 73.
Tell Abel (Abel-beth-Maacah), 22.
Tellawlyeh-Bedawin, 57, 105
Tell el Kadi (Dan? Daphne?), groves
at, 22.
Tell Hum (Tankhum Telhum, Caper-
naum), 30, I, 79, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88
note^ 89, 97, 98, 99, 100, 116; Fran-
ciscan hospice at, loi; proofs of iden-
tity with Capernaum, 88; ruins at,
77, 78; stronghold of Christians, 88,
124; synagogue, 73 note, 74, 75, 76,
77, 79, 80, 89, 99, and note, 109, 121,
123; date of , 124; description of, 121-
23-
Tell Jefat (Jotapata), 9 and note,
Tershelha, 16.
Teyasir, 59.
Thella (el Teleil?), 26, and note.
Theodosius, 83.
Thiersch, article in Mittheilungen der
deutschen Orient-Gesdlschaft, 109 note.
Tiberias, 7, 28, 30, 79, 83, 84, 85, 87, 93,
and note, 94, 95, 98, 104, 121, 132, 133,
136; baths, 30; history of, 30, 30;
lake of. See Galilee, Lake of; medi-
cal missions at, 141 note; rabbinical
school, 30; Roman and pjigan city
in time of Christ, 130; fishing at, 39,
41, 42.
Tiberias-Safed Road, 56, 57.
Tobacco cultivated in Galilee, 14, 17,
and note.
Tor^an, plain of, 5, 7, 11.
Tor«an range, 6, 8.
Tristram, Canon, 81; Land of Israel,
p. $86, 22, and note.
Tubis, II.
Turkomans, 17.
Tyre, 4, 15, 18, 116, 123, 132, 133, 137;
territory of, in time of Christ, 129.
Tyrians (Syro-Phenicians ?). 129, 136.
u
Ulatha (Huleh Lake), 27.
Umm el ^Amed, 5, 74; synagogue, 121.
Umm el Kanatir synagogue, 122, and
note.
Valley (el Ghor). See Jordan Valley.
Vegetation of Galilee, 9, 10, 16, 20, 24,
25» 26, 52, 53, 56, 58, 66, 67, loi, 104,
137-
Via Maris, oldest route through Galilee,
10, 59.
Virgin's Fountain, Jerusalem, 81 note.
Volcanic districts, 5, 9, 13, 20, 27, 28, 53,
54, 55» 57, 59, 74, 100.
w
Wady Abellin, 11.
Wady Abu el ^Amls, 11, 30, 59, 61.
Wady Auba (Wady Hindaj), 13.
WadyelcAmad, 9, 53, 56, 57, 59, 64;
called Wady el Hamam, 56, 57.
Wady el Fejjaz, 7.
Wady el Halzun, 9.
Wady el Hamam (Valley of Doves), 9,
", 53, 55, 56, 57» 58, 59, 74, "4.
Wady el Kurn, 13, 14.
Wady el Malek, 7, 8.
Wady el Rummaneh, 7.
Wady el Teim, 20.
Wady el Weibdah. See Wady Kerazeh.
Wady en Nashef, loi.
Wady er Rubudiyeh, 9, 55.
Wady esh Shagh^r, 9, 118.
Wady et Tabighah, 84 note.
Wady et Tawahln (Valley of the Mills),
6, II, 13, 56.
Wady Farah (Wady Hindaj), 13.
Wady Hindaj (Wady Auba, Wady Farah),
13, 129.
Wady Halzun, 9.
Wady Hattin, 59.
Wady Jamus, 65.
Wady Kerazeh (Wady el Weibdah), 98,
99, 100, lOI.
Wady Maktul, 9.
Wady Salameh (part of Wady Rubudi-
yeh), 9, 10, 55.
Wady Selukieh, 13.
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INDICES
153
Wady Sha^ib, 9.
Wady Wazeyeh, 11.
Wady Zukluk, loi.
Wa<^ret es Sawdah, 57.
Water supply in Galilee, 10, 12, 13, 16,
57, 61, 64, 66.
Watzinger, Herr, 123, 124.
Willibald, 85.
Wilson, Sir Charles; Recovery of Jeru-
salem^ pp. 346, 547, 100, loi, and note.
Wood in Galilee, 24, 25, 26, 52, 66, 99,
lOI.
Xaloth (Xyloth).
X
See Iksal.
Yarmuk (Hieromax), 31.
Yariin, 12, 14; carving on ancient build-
ing, 123.
Zahleh, 39.
Zakeyeh, 94.
Zebulon (Sibelan ?), 3, 7, 15 note, 88, 136.
Zonodorus, 24, 27.
- Zinghariyeh Bedawin, 98.
Zionist movement in Galilee, 140, 141.
Zuk el Tahta, 24.
SPECIAL INDEX I
JOSEPHUS
I. Antiquities of the Jews (cited as Ant.)
V, V, 1 25 note
XII, ii, 1 55 note
XV, viii, 5 7 note
XV, X, 2 27 note
XVIII, ii, I gsnote
XVIII, ii, 3 30 noU
XVIII, iv, 6 94 note
XX, viii, 4 93 note, 95 note
2. Jewish Wars (cited as B. J.)
I, iv, 8 .' 31 note
I, xvi, 2-4 55 note
I, xvi, 5 20 note
II, ix, 1 93 note
II, XX, 6 9 note, 13 note
II, xxi, 2 131 note
III, iii, 1 7 notes, 26 note, 31 note
III, iii, 2 131 note
III, iii, 4 7 note
III, vi, vii 9 note
111, vii, I II note
III, X, 7 93 note
III, X, 8 51
IV, i, 1 22 notes, 27 note, 31 note
IV, i, 3 so note
3. Life of Josephus (cited as Vita)
10, 15, 25, 40, 46, 47» 61 II note
12 30 note
§§i6, 17, 41 8
27 133 note
§37 13 note, 55 note
§§41, etc 116 note
45 131 note
51 9 note
§72 79 note, 93 note
SPECIAL INDEX II
Passages of the Bible and the Apocrypha
Lev. 11:10 45
Deut. 33 : 24 131 note
Josh. 1 1 : 5-7 26
12:23 snote
13:2 3
19:35 30
2I-.32 3
22:10, II 3
Judg. 4:2 3 note
4:11 8 note
I Kings 6:34 3
9:11 3
15:20 22
II Kings 15: 29 3
II Kings 25 : 29 22
I Chron. 6:76 3
II Chron. 16:4 22
Esther 1:6 3
Psalms 133:3 16
Song of Sol. 2:11 138 note
5:14 3
Isa. 5 : 24 138 note
9:1 3
Ezek. 24:5, 14 38
47:8 38
47:10 38
I Mace. 5:21 130
9:2 55
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154 STUDIES IN GALILEE
I Mace. 11:67 51 Luke 3: 17 138 note
Matt. 3:12 i^S note 4-16-30,33-35 77
4:13 88 5:7 42 note
4:18 39 5:27 71
6:28-30 i$y note 6:6-11 77
6:32 1^6 note 6:34 94
7-25 13S note 8:25 (R; V.) : . . . 33
8:5 71 8:41 77
9:1 71 9-IO 94
9:3 71 9-56 137 note
9:9 71 10:13 93, 137 ^^^
11:21 93 10:15 7r
12:10-13 77 10:33 137 ^^
13 *. 3 ^'1 41 138 note 13:6 138 note
13:48 41, 46 14:16 139 note
i3"-54 77 15:4 13S note
i4*- 13 94 15:8 • isg noU
14*. 34 5i» 66, 71, 82 16:1-13 i3g note
17 : 27 39 17 : 16 137 note
21:33, etc 138 note 21:30 138 note
22:2 i^g note 22:53 77
25:14 139 note John 1:44 95 note
Mark 1:16 39 2 : i-i i 8
1:21-27 77 4:7-42 137 note
2:6, 14, 16, 24, «^ 71 4:46 8
3:1-5 77 6:4,10 94
5:1 (R-V.) 33 6:17 71
6:2 77 6:17-21 82
6:45 94 6:19 47
6:53 51,66, 82 6:26-59 77
7 : 26 130 note 12:21 95 note
8:22 94 21:4, 7, 8, II 42,43
14:49 77
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