[Page 228.]—Tabor.] The author (misled perhaps by the absurd prints in Maundrell’s Travels) has rather fancifully described Tabor as resembling a pillar; its real form is that of a truncated cone. Hence its name טבור, umbilicus. See the view in Pococke, ii. pl. v. He says the ascent is about two miles by a winding route, and the top of it half a mile long and a quarter of a mile broad. Mr. Buckingham ascended it, with great exertion, in half an hour. Others reckon the ascent at four miles. Both Maundrell (p. 115) and Pococke speak of the magnificence of the view from the summit. Egmont and Heyman mention its abounding in game. (Travels, ii. 26.) I know not on what authority it is said that the exhalations of the Dead Sea may be seen from it. The rivulet mentioned as discharging itself into the sea of Tiberias, appears to be that called Serrar by Egmont and Heyman, ii. 27. Mariti, ii. 126. But Mr. Buckingham (p. 108) says, the Ain el Sharrar forms the Kishon; nor is it probable, from the nature of the country, that a stream should flow from the same point into the Mediterranean and the lake of Galilee. There was a town on mount Tabor called Atabyrium, (Polybius, v. 70.) which was taken by Antiochus. The mountain was very strongly fortified by Josephus, when he commanded in Galilee, (Bell. Jud. ii. 20.) and numerous traces of the works are still visible. Pococke, ii. 64. Burckhardt, p. 332.
[Page 229.]—Nazareth.] “Nazareth,” says Dr. Richardson, “stands in a vale, resembling a circular basin encompassed by mountains: it seems as if fifteen mountains met to form an enclosure for this delightful spot; they rise round it like the edge of a shell, to guard it from intrusion.” Travels with Lord Belmore, ii. 434. It does not stand, nor do the words of the Evangelist imply it, (Luke iv. 29.) on the summit of a hill, but on the side. Yet we should expect that the “brow” there spoken of should be nearer to Nazareth than two miles, (Pococke, ii. 63.) or a mile and a half, (Richardson, ii. 441.) and Buckingham (p. 99) mentions a precipice just above the town.
[Page 231.]—Scythopolis.] It is uncertain for what reason the Greeks gave the name of Σκυθοπόλις to Bethshan, unless from some event connected with the incursion of the Scythians mentioned by Herod, i. 104. who spread themselves to the confines of Egypt, in the middle of the seventh century before Christ. The present name is Bysan: many remains of the ancient town of Su are still visible, from which Burckhardt estimates its ancient circumference at three miles, (p. 343.) Here he crossed the Jordan. From Bethshan to near Jericho, the western bank of the Jordan is very barren, and there are no remains of cities on it, (345 note.) Herod built a city to the north of Jericho, and thus produced an increase of cultivation in the surrounding country, before desert. Jos. Ant. xvi. 5. 3. The great plain of Esdraelon begins near Bethshan, and extends across to Carmel. Egmont and Heyman, ii. 28. Jos. Ant. xii. 8. 5. The boundaries of Galilee are laid down by Josephus, and its fertility and populousness described, Bell. Jud. iii. 3. Vit. 45.
[Page 233.]—The gate with its pious inscriptions.] The Jews of the present day, to avoid profaning the word of God by public exposure, write the passages of the law on parchment, (called Mezuzoth) and enclose it in the door-post. Leo of Modena, P. i. c. 2.
[Page 237.]—“He giveth it to his beloved in sleep.”] “Perennem et solidam felicitatem dat suis quasi in somno,” Dathe, i. e. without thought or labour on their part.
[Page 241.]—There are allusions in many passages of Scripture to parts of the nuptial ceremonies; as Gen. xxiv. xxxiv. 8. Judges xiv. Isaiah lxii. 10. Esther ii. 8-12. Tobit viii. 19. 1 Maccab. ix. 37. Matth. ix. 15. xxii. xxv. John ii. 1-10. Ps. xix. 5. Jer: vii. 34. But the circumstances by which our author has filled up his description, are chiefly taken from the accounts of nuptial ceremonies among the nations of the east at the present day. See Russell’s Aleppo, i. 281; 436. ii; 48. 79. Harmer, iii. 295. Calmet’s Dict. Art. Marriage, Fragments to Calmet, Nos. xlix. clvii. clxiii. Calmet’s Dissert. vol. i. 277.
The lifting of the bride over the threshold appears to be a Greek rather than an Oriental custom; at least I do not remember to have seen it mentioned in the authors who have described Oriental marriages. Nor is it very probable that a Gentile, as Myron was, should have been allowed to take part in so sacred a ceremony. Besides these companions, the New Testament alludes to one, the paranymph or friend of the bridegroom, (John iii. 29.) who stood at the door of the nuptial chamber.
[Page 245.]—These benedictions are those (much abridged) which the Jews still employ at marriages. See Calmet.
[Page 251.]—The Orphici of Thrace.] Of the Orphic and Pythagorean discipline, see Herod, ii. 81. and Valckenaer on Euripid. Hipp. 956. The Tomyri of Dodona were the priests of Jupiter, Strabo, 1. vii. p. 506. They were the same probably as the Selloi, whose rigid mode of life is alluded to by Homer, II. xvi. 233. Ἀπθὶ δὲ Σελλοὶ, Σοὶ ναίους’ ὑποθῆται ἀνιπτόποδες χαμαιεῦναι. Soph. Trach. 1168. Heyne, Excurs. ad Il. loc cit. A fragment of the Cretans of Euripides, preserved by Porphyry, shows that the Curetes, priests of Idæan Jupiter, led a life very similar to the Essenes. Καὶ Κουρήταν Βόκχος ἐκλήθην, ὁσιωθέις. Πάλλευκα δ’ ἔχων εἴματα, θεύγω Γένεσίν τε βροτῶν καὶ νεκροθήκης Οὐ χριμπτόμενος· τήν τ’ ἐπψύχων Βρῶσιν ἐδεστῶν πεθύλαγμαι.
[Page 251.]—Worship of the earlier Samaritans.] When Salmanassar had led captive the inhabitants of the kingdom of Israel, he supplied their place by colonies from Babylon and other places, (2 Kings xvii.) who brought with them their various idols. From this people and the Israelites left in the land, sprung the Samaritans, who, if the Jews may be believed, joined the worship of Jehovah with that of idols. Selden, de Dis Syris, p. 327. Addit. p. 285.