subjected to the same fate; and now exists in its almost inaccessible loneliness, only to excite the curiosity of the scholar and the wonder of the traveller, by the singularity of its site, its ruins, and its fortunes. In the beginning of the fifth century, we find introduced a new division of Judea and the adjacent countries, into Palaestina Prima, Secunda, et Tertia. The first comprehended Palestine proper, or Jerusalem and the southern portion of Canaan, and extended northwards to the plain of Esdraelon; the second contained Scythopolis and the territory farther north, including Antioch, etc. The appellation Palaestina Tertia, and also Palaestina Salutaris, was applied to the countries on the east and south of the Dead sea, corresponding to the ancient Idumea or Arabia Petraea.68 At this time, or indeed a century or two before, the christian religion had spread itself over this whole region, and the names of several episcopal cities have been preserved, besides Petra; of which, one at least, Kerek, still nominally retains its ancient ecclesiastical importance. The acts and records of councils in the fourth and fifth centuries, have rescued many names, both of bishops and of their sees, from the oblivion in which they must otherwise long since have been ingulfed.69 The destruction of the Roman sway above described, and the dissolution of those ancient bands of power which linked these regions together as a whole, appear to have taken place long before the rise and subsequent conquests of the Mohammedan dominion; which again united the Arab hordes into one great community of religious zealots, however distinct they might still remain in every other respect. The territory in question appears to have remained for centuries, much in the same condition as at present, the seat of wandering tribes who were the ancestors of those now called Bedouins; with here and there a city whose permanent residents yielded allegiance to one tribe or to another, according to circumstances.70 68 See the authorities in Reland's Palaest. p. 205 sq. 69 Reland. p. 212 sq. 70 About the time of the christian era, the Nabatheans and other wandering tribes of the eastern desert, began to be known to Greek and Roman writers by the name of Saraceni, Saracens. This name is used by Pliny and Ptolemy in the first and second centuries, in a confined sense; but is applied by Procopius and Ammianus, in the latter half of the fourth century, to designate all the Arabian tribes During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the crusaders penetrated at different times into this region, and erected several fortresses, which became in the sequel the occasion of various sieges and battles. The country was known to the occidental historians of that age, by the name of Arabia Tertia, and also Syria Sobal. The first expedition of this kind was made by King Baldwin I, in A. D. 1115. At the head of two hundred knights and four hundred esquires, he advanced as far as to Mount Horeb (Hor); and rebuilt in the vicinity an ancient fortress situated upon a hill, in a pleasant region abounding in corn, wine, and oil. This was the first fortress which the crusaders possessed in the country beyond the Jordan; and the object of Baldwin in rebuilding it, was to obstruct the caravans of the Saracen merchants in their journeys to and from Arabia. This labour was performed in the short space of eighteen days; and he gave to the fortress the name of Mons Regalis, by which it continued to be known to occidental writers. The Arabian geographers call it Shobak or Shaubak.72 In the succeeding year, (A. D. 1116,) Baldwin made an excursion with sixty bold knights to the shores of the Elanitic gulf; and abstained from advancing to Mount Sinai only at the prayer of the monks of the convent, who feared that such a between Palestine and the Euphrates. Procop. de Bell. Persic. I. 17, 19. II. 10. Ammian. Marcell. XIV. 4. This continued to be their appellation during the period of the crusades; when Europeans learned to pronounce the name only with a religious horror, which has been handed down in some measure to the present day.-The etymology and meaning of the word Saracens are unknown. Pococke says it was not adopted by themselves, but applied to them by other nations; he supposes it to mean, most probably, simply Orientals. Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 33 sq. Assemani Bibl. Orient. IV. p. 567. Gibbon's Decline and Fall, etc. Book L. Notes 29, 30. 71 The whole country east of the Jordan appears to have been called at this time Arabia. The region around Bostra or Bozrah was called Arabia Prima; that around Kerek, Arabia Secunda; and that farther south, Arabia Tertia, or Syria Sobal. Jacob. de Vitr. c. 47. c. 28. Wilh. Tyr. XV. 21. See Wilken Gesch. der Kreugzüge, II. p. 616. p. 403. See Wilken 1. c. II. 72 Fulcher. Carn. ad a. 1115. c. 42. Wilh. Tyr. XXII. 5. XI. 26. XX. 29. Alb. Aq. XII. 21. Schultens Ind. Geogr. in Vit. Salad. sub voc. Sjaubechum. Abulfeda Tab. Syr. p. 88. 403. Gesenius' Notes to Burckhardt's Travels, Germ. ed. p. 1068. VOL. III. No. 10. 35 visit would draw down upon them the vengeance of their Mussulman masters.73 The Christians appear also to have obtained possession of Ailah; which was again taken from them by Saladin, in A. D. 1167.74 In A. D. 1132, or not long after, during the reign of king Fulco, a prince of the country who had been cup-bearer to the king, and had received the country east of the Jordan as a fief, built the strong fortress of Kerek, or, as it is also called, Karrak or Krak, adjacent to the city of that name. This fortress became of great importance to the Christians. Its situation in the vicinity of the great route of the caravans of Turkish and Saracen pilgrims and merchants from Damascus and the country on the Euphrates to Arabia, afforded frequent opportunities of obtaining immense booty; and it greatly obstructed also the intercourse of Saladin between Egypt and his Syrian dominions, by the way of the Red sea and Ailah.75 It is therefore no wonder that the Mohammedans made every effort to recover it. In A. D. 1172 an unsuccessful attack was made upon it by Nureddin.76 The impetuous and reckless Rainald of Chatillon was for several years governor of this territory, and made repeated incursions into the adjacent regions; in one of which (A. D. 1182) he seized upon the harbour of Ailah and the fleet collected there; despatched a portion of the fleet manned by Christians against the coast of Arabia Felix, and with his remaining troops, prosecuted the siege of the citadel of Ailah. He was however defeated in both these objects, and compelled to a shameful flight." In A. D. 1183, Saladin made a terrific assault upon Kerek, where Rainald was then present; but was induced to abandon the siege on the approach of Baldwin IV, with an army from Jerusalem.78 But he gained possession of the fortress in A. D. 1188, only four years after;79 and at the same time succeeded in subduing Shobak or Mons Regalis, after a long siege.80 From this time onward there are few if any notices of this whole tract of country; until it was first visited in modern times by Seetzen, and then more fully laid open by the journey of Burckhardt. 4. Cities and Towns of ancient Idumea. Having in the preceding sections gone through with the historical accounts relating to the country of Idumea in general, it only remains here to collect the geographical notices of the various cities and towns whose names have come down to us, either as having been themselves of importance in ancient times, or as serving to connect and identify the ancient and modern sites of places. But before entering upon this, it will be convenient here to bring together the results at which we have arrived, in respect to the name and limits of the land of Idumea. We have seen that Mount Seir, or the land of Edom or Esau, included originally the mountainous tract on the east side of the great valley El Ghor and El Araba, extending between the Dead sea and the Elanitic gulf of the Red Sea. This is the Edom of the Old Testament. In the later periods of the kingdom of Judah and during the Jewish exile, the Edomites extended their conquests northward, and included Bozrah; and at the return of the Jews, were also in possession of Hebron and all the southern part of Palestine. About the same time, or not long after, they were supplanted in the southern regions of their own country, by the Nabatheans, who had possession of Petra and the adjacent territory, at least earlier then B. C. 300. The Idumea of Josephus, therefore, included only the northern parts of the ancient territory of Edom, and was applied chiefly to the southern portion of Judea; while the Greek and Roman writers of that age, did not hesitate to employ it to designate the whole of Palestine. The former territory of the Edomites was now called Gebalene;81 and constituted the king 81 Also Gabala and Gobolitis. The proofs of the identity of Gebalene and the more ancient Idumea, are collected by Reland, Palaest. p. 69, 71, 82 sq.. A few of the more striking may stand here. Jos. Ant. II. 1. 2. Οὗτοι κατώκησαν τῆς Ιδουμαίας τὴν Γοβολῖτιν λεγομένην, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ ̓Αμαλήκου κληθεῖσαν Αμαληκίτιν πολλὴ γὰρ γενομένη ποτὲ Ιδουμαία, τότε πάσης αὐτῆς ἀπέσωζεν ὄνομα, καὶ τοῖς μέρεσι τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκητόρων προσηγορίας διεφύλαξεν. “These (the sons of Esau) inhabited the region of Idumea [now] called Gobolitis, and also that dom of Arabia Petraea. It afterwards came under the power of the Romans; and from the beginning of the fifth century was included under the appellation of Palaestina Tertia vel Salutaris. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it was comprehended by the crusaders under the general name of Arabia Tertia, and was also sometimes called Syria Sobal. At present, as we have seen above, the whole mountainous tract between the two seas, from Kerek to Akaba, bears in three chief divisions the names of Djebal or mountains on the north, Djebel Shera in the middle, and Djebel Hesma on the south. In our notices of the ancient cities and towns of this tract of country, we commence with the most northern, and proceed regularly towards the south; reserving however the more minute description of Petra, the metropolis, until the last. Zoara was identical with the Zoar and Bela of Gen. 14:2. 19: 22 sq. to which Lot escaped.82 Josephus mentions it as belonging to Arabia, and as having been taken by Alexander Jannaeus from the Arabians, i. e. the kingdom of Arabia.83 Eusebius speaks of it, under the names of Zoar, Bala, and called Amalekitis from Amalek; for Idumea, which was formerly very extensive, has retained the name of the whole country, and derived appellations for the parts of it from their inhabitants." Eusebius frequently asserts the same; and indeed usually speaks of Gebalene and the Idumea of the Old Testament, as synonymous; e. g. Onomast. Art. ΙδουμαίαἜστι δὲ ἡ ἀμφὶ τὴν Πέτραν Γεβαλήνη καλουμένη, i. e. as translated by Jerome; "Est autem circa urbem Petram quae nunc dicitur Gebalene.” Art. Αλλουδ, χώρα ἡγεμόνων (τῆς Ιδουμαίας) ἐν τῇ νῦν Γεβαλήνῃ Πέτρᾳ τῇ πόλει παρακειμένη. Jerome, “Regio Idumaeorum quae nunc Gabalene dicitur, vicina Petrae civitatis." And especially the following articles: Γεθεὰ, ἐν τῇ Ιδουμαίᾳ καὶ νῦν Γεβαλήνῃ xalovuiry, Jerome : In Idumea terra quae nunc Gebalene dicitur." Art. Σηεὶρ, ὄρος γῆς Εδώμ, ἔνθα ᾤκει Ησαὺ ἐν τῇ Γαβαλήνῃ, Jerome: "Mons in terra Edom, in qua habitavit Esau in regione Gabalena." Art. Ιάθερ, χώρα ἡγεμόνων Εδὼμ ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς Γεβαλήνης, Jerome: "Jether, regio principum Edom in eadem Gebalene." Eusebius wrote in the first half of the fourth century. The testimony of Stephen of Byzantium in the latter part of the fifth century, is to the same effect; see in Reland 1. c. p. 83. 66 82 It is written in Greek by Josephus and Ptolemy, Zaaga; by Eusebius, Zóaga; in the Sept. Zóyoga, Gen. 13: 10, and Znywg Gen. 14: 2. 83 Jos. B. J. IV. 8. 4. Ant. XIV. 1. 4. |