[651] According to Josephus, Johannes Hyrcanus dying, B. C. 107, was succeeded by Aristobulus, who took the title of king, this being the first instance of the assumption of that name among the Jews since the Babylonish captivity. Aristobulus, was succeeded by Alexander Jannæus, whose two sons were Hyrcanus II. and Aristobulus II., successively kings of Judæa, B. C. 67, 68.
[652] B. C. 63.
[653] Solomon’s conduit was constructed on the hydraulic principle, that water rises to its own level. The Romans subsequently, being ignorant of this principle, constructed an aqueduct.
[654] Balsamodendron Giliadense. Pliny xii. 25.
[655] Medicago arborea.
[656] The pistachia, b. xv. c. ii. § [10].
[657] In. b. xvi. c. ii. § [16], our author says that it is found on the borders of the Lake Gennesareth.
[658] It yields, during the hot season, an immense quantity of toddy or palm wine.
[659] Obtained by boiling the branches of the balsamodendron in water, and skimming off the resin.
[660] Strabo here commits the singular error of confounding the Lake Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea, with the Lake Sirbonis. Letronne attempts to explain the origin of the error. According to Josephus, the Peræa, or that part of Judæa which is on the eastern side of the Jordan, between the lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, contained a district (the exact position of which is not well known, but which, according to Josephus, could not be far from the Lake Asphaltites) called Silbonitis. The resemblance of this name to Sirbonis probably misled our author.