Books of Travels. Pococke, Chandler, Tournefort's Letters from the Levant, Olivier, M'Donald Kinneir, Beaufort's Karamanea, Leake, Fellowes, and Hamilton. K VIII. Miles. Length 480, Breadth 100 to 250. SYRIA, including PALESTINA. Boundaries-N. and E., Mt. Amānus, Euphrates, Lat. 31° to terranean. MOUNTAINS.-Pieria, or Mons Pierius, a branch from AMANUS: near the mouth of the Orontes," CASIUS; LIBANUS and ANTILIBANUS, LEBANON, whose summit is called in Scripture HERMON or SION: Itabyrius, Mount Tabor, rising from and overlooking the great plain of Esdraelon, the Megiddon of Scripture; Carmel, terminating in a cognominal promontory. 1 Η Πιέρια, όρος συνεχές τω Αμανῳ. STRAB. 2 Jampridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes. Juv. 111. 62. Oronteâ crines perfundere myrrhâ.—PROP. I. 2. that sweet grove Of Daphne, by Orontes.-PAR. LOST, I. 419. 3 Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath That wash thy hallowed feet and warbling flow, Nightly I visit, nor sometimes forget Those other two equalled with me in fate, So were I equalled with them in renown, Blind Thamyris, and blind Mæonides, And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets old.-PAR. LOST, III. 35. RIVERS.-EUPHRATES, which bounds Syria on the N. E. frontier: ORONTES,' flowing from Lebanon Northward, and then Westward: Leontes; Belus; Kison, from Mount Tabor, dividing Samaria from Galilee: Jordanes, issuing from Lake Phiala, in Lebanon, and forming in its course three Lakes, viz. 1. Lacus Samachonitis, called in Scripture, the Waters of Merom; 2. The Lake Tiberias, Gennesareth, or Sea of Galilee; and 3. Lacus Asphaltītes, or Mare Mortuum, the Dead Sea, a bituminous lake without issue. Towns on the Rivers.-On the Syrian side of the EUPHRATES, Samosata, Samisat, Capital of the district Commagene, and birth-place of Lucian, West of which, Pindenissus; Zeugma; Thapsăcus, (the Tipsah of Scripture, 1 Kings Iv. 24.) On the Orontes, Eměsa, Hems; Epiphania, Hamath, the royal seat of Abulfeda, the Arabian geographer: Apamea, Famieh; Antiochia, Antioch; and, a little lower down, the grove Daphne2; at the mouth, the island Meliboa, famed for its purple. Near the source of Leontes, HELIOPOLIS, BAALBEC. On the brook Kedron, which falls into the Dead Sea, HIEROSOLYMA, JERUSALEM; six miles South of which was Bethlehem, the birth-place of our Saviour. On the Chrysorrhoas, a river without issue, DAMASCUS.5 sparsus in agros Fertilis Euphrates Phariæ vice fungitur undæ.-LUCAN. III. 259. from the bordering Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts Egypt from Syrian ground.-PAR. LOST, I. 419. Nee Jordanes pelago accipitur; sed unum atque alterum lacum integer perfluit: tertio retinetur.-TACIT. HIST. v. 6. delightful seat Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.-PAR. LOST, I. 468. -On the Chalos, also without issue, BEROEA, prius Chalybon, ALEPPO. TOWNS and LOCALITIES along the Coast, beginning from the North.-Pyla Syriæ, and Pyla Amanica: Alexandria (ad Isson, to distinguish it from other towns of the same name), now Scanderoon: Myriandros: Rhosus, Town and Promontory; Seleucia Pieria, Laodicea (ad mare :) Arădus, on a cognominal island: Tripõlis, so called as being composed of three parts, built respectively by the three cities, Sidon, Aradus, and Tyre: Byblos, near the mouth of the small stream Adonis: Berītos, Berut: SIDON, Seyde: Sarepta; TYROS (called anciently by the natives, Sor or Sar, hence Sarranus, Tyrian): the Town called in Scripture Accho, by the Greeks first Akè, and afterwards Ptolemais, and by the moderns, Acre, or St Jean d'Acre; Cæsarea: Joppa, Yaffa; Gaza. In the desert, PALMYRA, Tadmor. DIVISIONS. This eastern coast of the Mediterranean comprehended the two great divisions of Syria and Palæstina. 6 7 8 smooth Adonis from his native rock Ran purple to the sea-supposed with blood Of Thammuz, yearly wounded.-MILT. PAR. Lost, 1. 450. pretiosaque murice Sidon.-LUCAN. III. 217. ne tibi sit tanti Sidonia vestis, Ut timeas, quoties nubilus Auster erit.-PROPERT. II. 13, 55. Non qui Sidonio contendere callidus ostro Nescit Aquinatem potantia vellera fucum.-HOR. EP. 1. 10, 26. Liquit Agenorides Sidonia monia Cadmus, Poneret ut muros in meliore loco.-OV. DE PONT. 1. 3, 77. maris vastum prospectat turribus æquor Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros.-TIBULL. I. 8, 20. - muricibus Tyriis iteratæ vellera lanæ Cui properabantur ?-HOR. EPOD. 12, 21. I. The subdivisions of SYRIA were, 1. Commagene, between Mount Amānus and the Euphrates; 2. Seleucis v. Antiochene v. Syria Propria; 3. Phoenicia v. Phœnice, a maritime district, from 5 to 15 miles broad, beween Lebanon and the Sea, and stretching N. and S. 140 miles from Aradus to Carmel; and, 4. Cale-Syria. II. PALESTINA, the seat of the twelve tribes of Israel, was afterwards divided into four parts: 1. Judæa, between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean: 2. SAMARIA, between the middle course of Jordan and the Mediterranean: 3. GALILEA, farther north: and 4. PERÆA, the habitable country beyond Jordan. NOTES ON SYRIA. Physical Geography.-The country of Syria and Palestine may be considered as a narrow tract of habitable land, stretching north and south, and flanked through its whole length, on the west side by the sea, and on the east by a sandy desert. This country is penetrated longitudinally by a range of mountains, which, with the single interruption of the valley formed by the River Orontes where it passes Antioch, is continued for upwards of 400 miles, from Mount Amānus to the frontiers of Arabia and Egypt. These mountains are entirely calcareous, and, owing to the irregularity of the outline, are singularly picturesque, presenting frequently the appearance of ruined towers and castles. In the northern part, they form a single range, separating the great valley of the Orontes from the maritime district, which is watered by the streams (rivières de cóte) that flow down their western declivities. But about latitude 34°, where they begin to assume their highest elevation, the single range branches off into two, Libănus and Antilibănus, which, inclosing the basin of the Leontes, gave to this part of the country the name of Cole-Syria, (xoλn, cara.) One degree Phoenices primi (famæ si creditur) ausi Mansuram rudibus vocem signare figuris.-LUCAN. III. 221. |