Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/320

 JAFFA

26.S

JAFFA

he being the earliest Archbisliop of Canterbury of whose coinage specimens have been preserved.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in R. S. (1861); Florence of Wor- cester, Chronicle, ed. Stephenson (1853); Symeon of Dur- ham, Opera in R. S., II (1882-1885). 53; William of Malmes- BUKY, Gesta Pontiff, in R. S.; Matthew Parls, Vilw Offatum (London. 1640); Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, I (London, 1860), 242-254; Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus, I, (London, 1839) cxiii-clvii; Haduan and Stubbs. EccL Dors., iii, 402-466; Stubbs in Diet. Christ. Biog., a. v.; Hunt in Diet. Nat. Biog., s. v.

Edwin Burton.

Ja£fa, a titular see in the Patriarchate of Jeru- salem. The city of Jaffa is very ancient. Even be- fore the arrival of Josue in Palestine it is mentioned on the pylons of Karnak and the cuneiform talilets of Tell-el-Amarna. Several Greek authors, relying on native legends, traced its foundation to Jopes (Cassiopeia), daughter of Jiolus, and made it the scene of the fable of Andromeda exposed on a rock

n. c.) his brothers Jonathas and Simon Machabeua took final possession of the city (I Mach., x, 74-6). Pompey captured it from the Jews in 63 b. c, and during the period of more than a century, until it became entirely Roman, the city changed masters several times.

Jaffa, which had now become Joppe, soon counted Christians among its inhabitants. It was there that St. Peter raised to life the widow Tabitha, a name interpreted Dorcas (Acts, ix, 36-42), whose tomb is still the object of a popular pilgrimage; there, too, in the house of Simon the Tanner, he had the symboli- cal vision of the unclean animals (Acts, x, 1-23). At the time of the great Jewish revolt against the Romans, Joppe was taken by Cestius Gallus, Gov- ernor of Syria, and its inhabitants slaughtered to the number of 8400. The fugitives from the city and vicinity afterwards reassembled there, and turne<l to piracy, which brought about a second interven-

and delivered by Perseus. Assigned to the tribe of Dan (Jos., xix, 46), Japho, or Jaffa, seems not to have belonged to the Jews before the reign of David, who conquered the maritime region (Judges, i, 34; xviii, 1; II Kings, viii, 1; Ecclus., xlvii, 8). In the time of Solomon it served as the port of landing for the cedars sent by Hiram for the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem (II Par., ii, 16). After the death of Solomon it probably recovered its independ- ence or fell into the power of the kings of Israel. The Prophet Jonas took ship there for Tharsis (Jonas, i, 3), and King Ezechias brought it once more under the power of the Kingdom of Juda (IV Kings, xviiii, 8). In this condition it is several times mentioned in the inscriptions of the kings of Assyria, whose domination passed later to the Chaldeans and Per- sians. In the reign of Cyrus Jaffa again served as a landing-port for the materials destined for the recon- struction of the Temple (I Esd., iii, 7). After the expedition of Alexander the Great (3.33 b. r.) the city passed into the power alternately of Syria and Egypt. In consequence of violent wrong done the Jewish population, Judas Machabeus attacked the harbour at night and burned all the vessels (II Mach., xii, 3-7). Shortly afterwards (about 142

tion of the Romans and the violent death of 4200 persons. The city was then razed to the ground. Be- ing without importance during the first centuries of Christianity, Joppe did not possess a bishop until the fifth century (Lequien, "Oriens Christianus", III, 627)- a very small number of its Greek or Latin bishops are known (ibid.. Ill, 625-30, 1291; Eubel, "Hierarchia catholica medii xvi", Munich, I, 297; II, 186). After the Arab conquest and the destruc- tion of Cffisarea Maritima in the seventh century, Jaffa acquired some importance and became the chief seaport of Palestine. Captured by the cru- saders, it became, under Godfrey of Bouillon, the County of Jaffa and Ascalon, feutlatory to the King of Jerusalem. One of its counts, John of Ibelin, wrote the principal book of the Assizes of the King- dom of Jerusalem (see Assizes of Jerusalem). Re- taken by Saladin in 1187, and surrendered to Richard Coeur de Lion in 1192, Jaffa was nconquorcd in 1197 by the Sultan Melek-el-Adcl, wliu had L'O.OOO Chris- tians massacred there. In V2iH it fell once more into the power of the Christians, who held it until 1268, when Sviltan Bibars of Egypt took possession of it and completely destroyed it. Bonaparte took it liy assault in 1799, and was accused, perhaps