[3648] Or “Sacred Solyma.”
[3649] A fortress of Palæstina, erected by Herod the Great, at a distance of about sixty stadia from Jerusalem, and not far from Tekoa. Its site has been identified by modern travellers with El-Furedis, or the Paradise; probably the same as the spot called the “Frank Mountain,” on the top of which the ruined walls of the fortress are still to be seen.
[3650] Called by the Arabs Bahr-el-Arden.
[3651] Situate on Mount Panias, or Paneas, on the range of Anti-Libanus.
[3652] In C. [16] of the present Book.
[3653] On the contrary, as Parisot observes, the Jordan runs in a straight line almost into the Dead Sea.
[3654] The Lake of Sodom, or the Dead Sea, in which the Cities of the Plain were swallowed up.
[3655] In Scripture also called the Lake Tiberias, and the Sea of Gennesareth, or Chinnereth. It is now called the Sea of Tabariah, or Tabarieh.
[3656] The one of the two Bethsaidas, which was situate on the north of the Sea of Tiberias. It was enlarged by Philip the Tetrarch, who greatly beautified it, and changed its name to Julias, in honour of the daughter of Augustus, the wife of Tiberius. It is generally supposed by the learned world, that this was not the Bethsaida mentioned so often in the New Testament. Its ruins are probably those now seen on a hill called Et-Tell, on the north-western extremity of the lake.
[3657] On the east of the lake. From it the district of Hippene took its name.