CHAP. upon a hill, distant from Shefhamer about seven miles. Its name is still preserved, in the appelSephoury. lation of a miserable village, called Sephoury. An antient aqueduct, which conveyed water to the city, now serves to supply several small mills. We were told, that the French had been quartered in all these villages; that their conduct had rendered the name of a Frenchman, once odious, very popular among the Arabs; that they paid punctually for every thing they took; and left behind them notions, concerning the despotic tyranny of the Turks, which the government of this country will not find it easy to eradicate. We ascended the hill to the village; and found the sun's rays, even at this early hour of the morning, almost insupportable. If we had not adopted the precaution of carrying umbrellas, it would have been impossible to porrò Hebræo Sefforin dicimus, quanquam in scribendo Græci æquè atque Latini, Enowρiv et Sepphorin scribant." Cellarius writes it Sepphoris, from Josephus, (lib. iii. De Bell. cap. 3.) Ziwowpig μeyiorn ovσa τñç radiλaíaç móλıç. Brocardus, (Theat. Terr. Sanct.) as from the Greek, Sephoron, and Sephorum; also Sephor, under which name it occurs in the writings of some authors. It is, according to Cellarius, the Zippor, or Zippori, of the Rabbins. In the Codex Palatinus of Ptolemy, (lib. v. cap. 16.) the name however occurs so nearly according to the manner in which it is now pronounced in the country (Zárovρa), that this antient reading may be preferred to any other. A curious etymology of Zipporis, is noticed by Cellarius, (lib. iii. c. 13. Lips. 1706.) “Judæis est 10Y, Zipporis, ut in Talmud. Megill: fol. 6. col. 1. aiunt, quia monti insidet, 15 sicut avis." continue the journey. The Cactus Ficus-Indicus, or Prickly Pear, which grows to a prodigious size in the Holy Land, as in Egypt, where it is used as a fence for the hedges of inclosures, sprouted luxuriantly among the rocks, displaying its gaudy yellow blossoms, amidst thorns, defying all human approach'. We afterwards saw this plant with a stem, or trunk, as large as the main-mast of a frigate. It produces a delicious cooling fruit, which becomes ripe towards the end of July, and is then sold in all the markets of the country. CHAP. or SAPPHURA, OF SEPPHORIS, now Sephoury, was Sapphura, once the chief city and bulwark of Galilee. Sepphoris. The remains of its fortifications exhibited to us an existing work of Herod, who, after its destruction by Varus, not only rebuilt and fortified Baron De Tott "The Indian (1) It is applied to the same use in the West Indies. notices its importance, as a fence, in the Holy Land. Fig-tree, of which the hedges are formed, serves as an insurmountable barrier for the security of the fields." Memoirs, vol. II. p. 312. Lond. 1785.) It might, in certain latitudes, answer temporary purposes, as an outwork of fortification. Artillery has no effect upon it; fire will not act upon it; pioneers cannot approach it; and neither cavalry nor infantry can traverse it. (2) Σέπφωριν, μεγίστην μὲν οὖσαν τῆς Γαλιλαίας πόλιν, ἐρυμνότατῳ δὲ ἐπεκτισμένην χωρίῳ, καὶ φρουρὰν ὅλου τοῦ ἔθνους ἐσομένην. Sepphoris, quæ Galilææ maxima, et in tutissimo loco condita, totiusque gentis futura præsidio." Joseph. lib. iii. Bell. Jud. cap. 1. p. 832. CHAP. it, but made it the chief city of his tetrarchy'. IV. Medals. Here was held one of the five Sanhedrims of Judea. Its inhabitants often revolted against the Romans3. It was so advantageously situate for defence, that it was deemed impregnable. In later ages, it bore the name of DIOCESAREA. Josephus relates, that the inhabitants of Sepphoris amicably entreated Vespasian, when he arrived in PTOLEMAIS5. Harduin commemorates medals of the city, coined afterwards, under the Romans, in the reigns of Domitian and of Trajan. We were not fortunate in our search for medals, either here, or in any other part of the Holy (1) Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 3. (2) Ibid. lib. xiv. c. 10. (3) Of which instances are mentioned by various authors. Oi ¿v Διοκαισαρείᾳ τῆς Παλαιστίνης Ἰουδαῖοι κατὰ ̔Ρωμαίων ὅπλα ἀντήρων, (Socrat. Hist. II. c. 33.) "Judæi qui Diocæsaream Palæstinæ incolebant contra Romanos arma sumserunt." See also Sozomen. Histor. lib. iv. c. 7. (4.) Cellarius, tom. II. p. 499. Lips. 1706. and the authors by him cited. Hieronymus de Locis Ebr.in ARABA: "Est et alia villa, Arabâ nomine, in finibus Diocæsareæ, quæ olim Saphorine dicebatur." Hegesippus, lib. i. cap. 30. "Præveniens adventus sui nuntio Sepphorim prisco vocitatam nomine, quam Diocæsaream postea nuncupaverunt." (5) Καὶ κατὰ ταύτην ὑπαιτῶσιν αὐτῷ τὴν πόλιν οἱ τῆς Γαλιλαίας Σέπφωριν νεμόμενοι, τῶν τῇδε εἰρηνικὰ φρονοῦντες. "In hâc porrò civitate occurrerunt ei Sepphoritæ, qui Galilææ oppidum incolunt, animis pacis studiosis." Joseph. lib. iii. Bell. Jud. cap. 1. (6) ΣΕΠΦΟΡΗΝΩΝ. "Domitiani ac Trajani nummi, e Cimelio Regio, quorum postremum laudat Patinus, p. 183, cum palmæ effigie, qui Phoenices in primis, ac Judææ typus." Harduini Numm. Antiq. Illust. p. 449. Paris, 1684. See also Patin. p. 146, and Vaillant, Imp. August. et Cæs. Numism. pp. 23, 31. Par. 1698. IV. Land: these antiquities are so exceedingly CHAP. rare, that the peasants seemed unacquainted with the objects of our inquiry. This was not the case among the Arabs in Egypt, nor in any part of Greece. It is true the French had preceded us, and they might have carried off the few which had of late years been discovered; but they had weightier matters to consider, and the inhabitants among whom we made our inquiry did not say they had supplied them with any relics of this kind. When we arrived in the village, we were invited to visit the House of St. Anne. The proposal surprised us, because it was made by persons in the Arab dress; but we afterwards found that the inhabitants of Galilee, and of the Holy Land in general, are as often Christians as they are Mohammedans; indeed they sometimes consider themselves to be equally followers of Mohammed and of Christ. The Druses, concerning whom, Druses. notwithstanding the detailed account published by Niebuhr and by Volney, we have never received due historical information, worship Jonas, the Prophets, and Mohammed. They have also Pagan rites; and some among them (7) Voyage en Arabie, tom. II. p. 348. Amsterd. 1780. IV. CHAP. certainly offer their highest adoration to a calf'. This account of their religion we received from a sensible and well-informed member of their own community. The worship of the calf may be accounted for, in their Egyptian origin; the remains of superstition, equally antient, being still retained in that country. Although the vicinity of Mount Libanus may be considered as the residence of the main horde of this people, stragglers, and detached parties of them, may be found in every part of the Holy Land. The inhabitants of Sephoury are generally Maronites; yet even here we found some (1) The worship of the Calf has been doubted, and by some denied ; but the existence of this curious relic of the antient mythology of Egypt, as well as of the worship of Venus, among the inhabitants of Mount Libanus, is now placed beyond dispute. Colonel Capper, journeying, overland, from India to Cyprus, in order to join our fleet in the Mediterranean, informed the author that he had witnessed the existence of the last-mentioned superstition. (2) See a Note in the preceding Chapter, p. 90. (3) A very curious account of the Maronite Christians, collected from their own historians, is given by De La Roque (Voyage en Syrie et du Mont Liban, Par. 1722.) wherein it is stated, that this sect were named from their founder, St. Maron, a Syrian hermit, who lived about the beginning of the fifth century, and whose life is written by Theodoret. His austere mode of living spread his reputation all over the East. St. Chrysostom wrote a letter to him from the place of his exile, (“ Ad Maronem Monachum et Presbyterum Epist. S. Joan. Chrysost. 36.") which letter fixes very nearly the time when St. Maron lived, which was about the year of Christ, 400. Pococke says (Descript. of the East. vol. II. p. 94.) that the Maronites are esteemed more honest than any other sect of Christians in the East. |