Dúhy; and offered his services as a guide to the mountain, which he said was often visited by the monks.'

Although we could find no remains of antiquity about the village, yet there is little room for doubt, that it is the ancient Shunem of the tribe of Issachar, where the Philistines encamped before Saul's last battle. From the same place apparently, Abishag the Shunamite was brought to the aged David; and here it was, probably, that Elisha often lodged in the house of the Shunamitish woman, and afterwards raised her son from the dead. Eusebius and Jerome describe it in their day, as a village lying five Roman miles from Mount Tabor, towards the southern quarter, and they write the name already Sulem. The crusaders also speak of Suna on the southwest side of the little Hermon ; but from that time onwards, the name I believe nowhere occurs, until we find it upon the map of Jacotin in the present century. In A. D. 1822, the village was seen by Berggren; but although since then various travellers have taken it in their route, yet it has been recognised as Shunem only within the last three or four years."

As we here at Sôlam took leave of the valley of Jezreel, and of the objects immediately connected with it; this may be a proper place to pause for a moment, and bring together what remains to be said upon that valley, and on some other points which have been already brought into view.

Gilboa. I have already adduced the evidence, which goes to show that the heights south of the said valley, separating it from the more southern arm of the great plain, are no other than the ancient mountains of Gilboa; they were so regarded in the days of Eusebius and Jerome, and also in the age of the crusades and since. Yet the name Gilboa (Jelbôn) is not now

We took at Solim the following bearings: Wely ed-Duhy, top of the mountain, N. E. by E. Wezar S 9° E. Zer'in S. 12 W. Jenin S. 20° W. Ta'annuk S. 56° W. Um el-Fahm S. 65° W. Sâlim S. 84° W. (?) Nazareth, as we found afterwards, bears from Sôlam N. 9° W.

2 Josh. 19, 18. 1 Sam. 28, 4.

1 K. 1, 8. 2 K. 4, 8-37. 8, 1-6. Eusebius and Jerome suppose the hostess of Elisha to have dwelt at Sonam, a village in Akrabatene. But the mother, on the death of her child, goes to Elisha on Mount Carmel, apparently not very distant; 2 K. 4, 22-25. This accords far better with the relative position of Sôlam. Onomast. art. Sonam.

* Onomast. art. Sulem. In the present

6

Reisen etc. II. p. 265. Perhaps Scholz means the same by his "Selwam," p. 264. 1 Monro mentions here a tower (not town) as having been destroyed by 'Abdallah Pasha of 'Akka about 1831; Vol. I. pp. 278, 280. Elliott's Travels II. p. 378. Schubert Reise III. p. 165. Raumer Paläst. Ed. 3. p. 124.

See above, p. 317. n. 1; where the words of Eusebius and Jerome are cited. Will. Tyr. 22. 26. Brocardus c. 7. pp. 176, 177.

1

known among the inhabitants, as applied to these mountains, but only to the village upon them. This latter circumstance, together with their relative position to Scythopolis (Beisân), Jezreel, and Shunem, leaves no room for doubt respecting their identity. The highest part is towards the east, two hours or more from Zer'in. Further down toward the Jordan valley, they become somewhat lower.

3

Little Hermon. The high ridge on the north of Jezreel, known to the Arabs as Jebel ed-Duhy, I have above called the Little Hermon, in distinction from Jebel esh-Sheikh north of Baniâs, the true and only Hermon of the Scriptures. There is no ground to suppose that this mountain of Duhy is mentioned in Scripture as Hermon; yet this name was certainly applied to it in the days of Jerome, and may therefore be used without impropriety, for the sake of convenience. It probably had its origin in the fourth century, after the conversion of Constantine had made Palestine accessible to foreign ecclesiastics and monks, who now busied themselves in tracing out all the names and places of Scripture, without much regard to criticism or to earlier tradition. Eusebius appears to have listened doubtfully to an older tradition of Hermon as situated near Paneas; but makes no allusion to one near Tabor. Jerome heard the same tradition of the true Hermon from his Jewish instructor, and speaks of it much more decidedly. The name Hermon, therefore, was probably first applied to this mountain near Tabor, in the interval between these two writers, on a mere conjecture drawn from the words of the Psalmist: "Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name; and it was natural for Jerome Parchi in Asher's Benj. of Tud. II. p. 430. Marinus Sanutus p. 251. Cotovicus p. 847. Doubdan p. 580, etc. Quaresmius does not mention Gilboa.

I speak here advisedly; for I had been misled by Richardson, to look for the mountains of Gilboa as bordering upon the Jordan valley north of Beisan. He says expressly of the mountain there: "The natives still call it Gibl Gilbo, or mount Gilbo;" Travels II. p. 424. This led us to make minute and extensive inquiry, which resulted in showing the language of Richardson to be utterly without founda

tion.

* See more on Jebel esh-Sheikh as Hermon, near the end of the next section.

Jerome twice mentions a Hermon near Mount Tabor. Ep. 44, ad Marcellam, Opp. ed. Mart. T. IV. ii. p. 552, "Apparebit oppidum Naim Videbitur et Hermonim et torrens Endor in quo superatur Sisera." Ep. 86, ad Eustoch. Epitaph. Paula ibid. p. 677, "Scandebat

montem Thabor . . . Aspiciebat procul montes Hermon et Hermonim, et campos latos Galilææ," etc. This form Hermonim is the Hebrew plural, borrowed from Ps. 42, 7.

See the remarks at the beginning of Sect. VII. Vol. I. p. 251 sq.

Onomast. art. Ermon. "Hebræus vero, quo prælegente Scripturos didici, affirmat montem Ermon Paneadi imminere, de quo nunc æstivæ nives Tyrum ad delicias feruntur." Jerome adds all this to the article of Eusebius.

Ps. 89, 12. [13.] It was taken for granted, that as Tabor and Hermon are here mentioned together, they must also lie close together. But both this and all the other passages of Scripture, in which Hermon occurs, apply with far greater strength and beauty to Jebel esh-Sheikh. So especially the difficult passage Ps.133, 3; which, however it may be explained, can have no allusion to the vicinity of

afterwards to speak of it in the plural form, Hermonim, in distinction from what he knew to be the proper Hermon in the north. This name continued, in ecclesiastical tradition, through the middle ages and the following centuries; and maintains itself still in the monasteries.' The Arab Christians appear also to be acquainted with it as Haramôn, but do not use this name; and among the Muslims, it seems to be entirely lost. The old man whom we met at Sôlam, had learned it from pilgrims to the mountain.

This mountain of ed-Duhy, therefore, has little of historical interest; nor has it either beauty or fertility to excite the attention of the traveller. It is in fact a desert shapeless mass; and when, as we approached Jenîn from the south, it was erroneously pointed out to me as Tabor, I felt great disappointment. The highest part, crowned by the Wely, is towards the western end; further east it sinks down gradually to a low ridge of table land, parallel to the eastern part of the valley of Jezreel.

Valley of Jezreel. This great valley is celebrated in Scripture history, for the remarkable victory of Gideon, and the last fatal overthrow of Saul. The Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east had come over Jordan and pitched in the valley of Jezreel; and Gideon had gathered the Israelites of the northern tribes together, and encamped at the well of Harod, probably on Mount Gilboa; since "the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley." Here Gideon went down to the host, and heard the dream; and then, with his three hundred men, attacked and miraculously routed the whole host of Midian. Against Saul, the Philistines came up and pitched in Shunem (Sôlam), and Saul and all Israel pitched in Gilboa; afterwards the Philistines are said to be at Aphek, and the Israelites at a fountain in Jezreel, probably the present 'Ain Jâlud. Forsaken of God and in the depth of his despair, Saul now crossed over the ridge of the little Hermon to Endor, to consult the sorceress. The battle took place next day; "the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa ;" and Saul and his three sons were found among the dead. The Philistines cut off his head, stripped the dead body, and then fastened it to the wall of Beth-shean." Thus in the language of David's pathetic elegy: "The beauty of Israel was slain upon thy high places! and hence the curse upon the scene of slaughter: "Ye mountains of Gilboa, let

there be no dew, neither rain upon you, nor fields of offering."

Beisân. In the former edition of this work, historical notices of Beisân were here subjoined. But as we ourselves visited that place in 1852, the reader is referred for them to the third volume."

Füleh. On the great plain west of Sôlam, lie the ruined villages Füleh and 'Afûleh; the former hardly three quarters of an hour distant, and the latter about a mile beyond; both lying near the low water-shed at the head of the valley of Jezreel. Füleh has become celebrated in modern times as the central point of the battle in A. D. 1799, between the French and the Turkish army advancing from Damascus for the relief of 'Akka, commonly known as the battle of Mount Tabor. But the place has a still older renown, as the site of a fortress in the time of the crusades, known among the Arabs as Füleh and among the Franks as the castle Faba, and occupied by the knights Hospitalers and Templars in common. It is mentioned in A. D. 1183 in connection with the march of the Christians to the fountain Tubania; and was captured by Saladin in 1187 after the battle of Hattin."

Lejjun. On the western border of the great plain of Esdraelon, where it already begins to rise gently towards the low

1 2 Sam. 1, 19. 21.

'See Vol. III. Sect. VII, at the end.

"When the French invaded Syria, Nazareth was occupied by six or eight hundred men, whose advanced posts were at Tŭbariyeh and Safed. Two hours from Nazareth, General Kleber sustained, with a corps not exceeding fifteen hundred men, the attack of the whole Syrian army, amounting to at least twenty-five thousand. He was posted in the plain of Esdraelon, near the village of Fûleh, where he formed his battalion into a square, which continued fighting from sunrise to mid-day, until they had expended almost all their ammunition. Bonaparte, informed of Kleber's perilous situation, advanced to his support with six hundred men. No sooner had he come in sight of the enemy and fired a shot over the plain, than the Turks supposing that a large force was advancing, took precipitately to flight; during which several thousand were killed and many drowned in the river of Debûrieh, which then inundated a part of the plain. Bonaparte dined at Nazareth, . . . and returned the same day to 'Akka." Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, etc. p. 339. This was on the 16th of April, 1799. The same general account is given in the various Lives of

Napoleon; see likewise Thiers Révolution Francaise, Tom. X. p. 405-407. Paris, 1834.

Faba is simply the translation of Fûleh, 'a bean;' Fr. la Fève. Hugo Plagon in Martene et Durand, Tom. V. pp. 598, 599. Wilken Gesch. der Kr. III. ii. pp. 231, 267. Brocardus c. 7. p. 176In Le Clerc's edition of Brocardus, this name is wrongly printed Suba; the edition of Reineccius (Magdeb. 1587) has correctly Faba.

Bohaed. Vit. Salad. p. 54. Wilken 1. c. pp. 231, 232.-Abulfed Annal. A. H. 583. Mejr ed-Din in Fundgr. des Or. III. p. 81. Wilken Comment. de Bell. Cruc. p. 142.-The Frank fortress Belvoir, mentioned in connection with the same events, appears to be the Kaukab of the Arabs, the present Kaukab el-Hawa described further on, situated on the heights west of the Jordan valley, between Beisân and the lake. A place 'Afúrbala (Lat. Forbelat) is also mentioned, which lay apparently between Beisan and Belvoir on a plain; but whether below in the Jordan valley, or on the table land above, is not said. Will. Tyr. 22. 16, 26. Bohned. Vit. Salad. pp. 54, 76, et Ind. art. Apherbala. Wilken Gesch. der. Kr. III. ii. pp. 210, 211, 232.

range of hills, which connect Carmel and the mountains of Samaria, there was pointed out to us from Sôlam, as also from Zer'in, the position of el-Lejjûn. Near by it there was said to be a large fountain, sending forth a mill stream; which, like that at Jenin and all the brooks along the southwestern hills, so far as these flow at all, runs into the plain, and goes to aid in forming the ancient Kishon. The place was visited by Maundrell, who speaks of it in his day as an old village near a brook, with a Khân then in good repair; he could here overlook the plain of Esdraelon.' The Khân was for the accommodation of caravans, passing on the great road between Egypt and Damas cus, which here comes over the hills from the western plain along the coast, and enters that of Esdraelon."

Lejjûn is without doubt the ancient Legio of Eusebius and Jerome. In their day it must have been an important and well known place; since they assume it as a central point, from which to mark the position of several other places in this quarter. Yet I find no further certain allusion to it, neither during the age of the crusades, nor in the preceding nor subsequent centuries, until the time of Abulfeda. The visit of Maundrell took place in A. D. 1697. In the present century it reappears upon the map of Jacotin.

It does not seem probable, that the ancient Legio was a city founded by the Romans; but rather, that this was a new name imposed upon a still older place; which, like the names Nâbulus and Sebustieh, has maintained itself in the mouths of the native population, while the earlier name has perished. This circumstance led us naturally to inquire, whether there was any ancient city so situated, as to correspond with the position of Lejjûn. As we travelled across the plain, and had Ta'annuk and the place of Lejjûn continually in view, we could not resist the impression, that the latter probably occupies the site of the ancient Megiddo, so often mentioned along with Taanach. The distance of Taanach from Legio is given by Eusebius and Je

'Maundrell, March 22.

We visited Lejjûn in 1852; see Vol III. Sect. III, under Apr. 21st.

See the Onomast. arts. Aphraim, Camona, Nazareth, Thaanach and Thanaach, etc.

Abulf. Tab. Syr. p. 8, and Addenda prefixed. In the Latin ecclesiastical Notitia appended to the History of William of Tyre, the name Legionum occurs as a suffragan see; Will. Tyr. in Gesta Dei p. 1046. Reland Pal. p. 228. From this it has sometimes been inferred, that Lejjûn was made a bishopric in the age of the crusades; Bachiene Th. II. iv. p. 40. Rau

mer Pal. p. 141. ed. 3. That list is obviously composed, on the one hand, of earlier materials; for it contains Beit Jibrîn which had long been destroyed, and also Neapolis which was never a Latin see; and on the other hand, it exhibits, among other additions, Nazareth, which was made a bishopric only during the crusades, and Mount Tabor, which appears never to have been a bishop's seat at all. If Legionum be actually the same as Lejjûn, it may in like manner have been added as the seat of a Christian community; but there seems to be no other trace of its ever having been a bishopric.