Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/27

 IDUNU.M. poll usque ad Petram et Ailam (haec est possessio Ksau) in specubus liabitatiunculas liabet; et propter iiimius calores solis, quia ineridiana pruviucia est, siibterraiieis tupuriis utitur." {Comment, in Obad. vv. 5, 6.) And again, writing of the same countiy. he says that south of Tekoa " uUra nullus est vicuhis, ne agrestes quidem casae et funioruin simile.-;, quas Afri appellant niapaUa. Tanta est eremi vastitas, quae usque ad JIare IJubrum I'ersarumque et Aethio- pum atque Indorum tenninos dilatalur. Et quia liumi arido atque arenoso nihil omnino frugum gi;;- nitur, cunctft sunt plena pastoribus, ut sterilitatem terrae comijenset pecoruui nmltitudiue." (^Proloy. ad Amosum.) [G. W.] IDUNUM, a town in the estrerae south of Pan- noiiia (Ptol. ii. 14. § 3), which, from inscriptions fiiund on the spot, is identified with the nuxleni JudenbHrg. [L. S.] JKBUS, JEBL'SI'TKS. [.Tkiu;salem.] JKHOSHAPHAr, VALLEY OF. [Jehu- 8am:m.] lENA, in Britain, mentioned by Ptolemy (ii. 3. § 2) as an estuary between the outlets of the riveiN Abravannus and Deva to the south of the prmiKiii- tory of the Novantae (^=]Vitjton Bay). [IJ. G. L.] lEltABUl'tiA. [Akabura.] JEHICIIO ('UpjX'i', 'Ifp'Xoi'^ Strab.), a strongly fortified city of the Canaanites, miraculously taken by Joshua, who utterly destroyed it, and prohibited it from being rebuilt under pain of an anathema (Josh. ii. vi,), which was braved and incurred by Uiel of Bethel, five centuries afterwards, in the reign of Ahab, king of Israel. (1 Kim/s, xvi. .'H.) It then became a school of the projiiiets. (2 Kiiiys, ii. 4, .5.) It lay in the border of Benj:imin, to which tribe it was assigned (Josh, xviii. 12, 21), but wa.s not far from the southern bordei-s of Ephraim (xvi. 1). It is mentioned in the New Testament in con- nection with the wealthy revenue-farmer Zacchaeus, who resided there, and probably farmed the govern- ment dues of its rich and well cultivatetl plain. Josephus describes it as well situated, and fruitful in palms and balsam. (Ant. iv. 8. § 1, B.J. i. 6. § 6.) He places the city 60 stadia from the Jor- dan, 150 from Jerusalem (B. J. iv. 8. § 3), the inten-ening country being a rocky desert, lie ac- counts for the narrow limits of the tribe of Benjamin by the fact that Jericho was included in that tribe, the fertility of which far surpassed the richest soil in other parts of Palestine (§§ 21, 22). Its plain was 70 stadia long by 20 wide, iirigated by the waters of the fountain of Elisha, which possessed almost miraculous properties. (Aiit. iv. 8. §§ 2, 3.) It was one of the eleven toparchies of Judaea. (B. J. iii. 2.) Its palm grove was granted by Antony to Cleopatra (i. 18. § 5), and the subsequent ix>ssession of this envied district by Herod the Great, who first farmed the revenues for Cleopatra, and then redeemed them (Ant. xiv. 4. §§ 1, 2). probably gave occasion to tiie proverbial use of his name in Horace (Ep. ii. 2. 184): — " cessare et luderc et ungi, Praeferat Herodis palmetis pinguibus." It is mentioned by Strabo (■s.vi. p. 763) and Pliny (v. 14) in connection with its palm-trees and foun- tains. The former also alludes to the palace and its garden of balsam, the cultivation and collecting of which is more fully described by Pliny (sii. 25). The palace was built by Herod the Great, as Lis own residence, and there it was that he died ; lElIXE. U having first confined in the hippodrome the most illustrious men of the country, with the intention that they should be massacreil after his death, that there might be a general mourning throughout the country on that occurrence. (B. J. i. 33. "S 6.) Josephus further mentions that Jericho was visited by Vespiisian shortly before he quitted the country, where he left the tenth legion (B. J. iv. 8. § 1, 9. § 1) ; but he does not mention its destruction by Titus on account of the jiei-fidy of its inhabitants; a fact which is supplied by Eusebius and St. Jerome. They add that a third city had been built in its stead; but that the ruins of both the former were still to be seen. (Onomctst. s. v.) The existing ruius can only be referred to this latest city, which is frequently men- tioned in the mediaeval pilgrimages. They stand on the skirt.s of the mountain country that shuts in the valley of the Jordan on the west, about three hours distant from the river. They are very exten- sive, but present nothing of interest. The waters of the fountain of Elisha, now 'Ai/i-es-Sultan, well answer to tiie glowing description of Josephus, and still fertilise the Miil in its immediate neighbourhoo<l. But the ])alms, balsam, sugar-canes, and roses, for which this Paradi.se was furmerly celebrated, have all disappeared, and the mmlern Jiiha consists only of the tents of a Bedouin encampment. [G. W.] lEL'XE, is a better form for the ancient name of Irelaud than Hibekxia, luEitxiA, Ivernia, &c., both as being nearer the present Gaelic name Eri, and as being the oldest form which occurs. It is the fonn found in Aristotle. It is also the form found in the poem attributed to Orpheus on the Argonautic expedition, which, spurious as it is, may nevertheless be as old as the time of Ononiacritus (i. e. the reigu of the first Darius): — — yrjaoKTtv 'lepvitrtv acaov "iKOifiai. (Orpheus, 1164, ed. Leipzig, 1764.) Aristotle (de Mundo, c. 3) writes, that in the ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules " are two islands, called Britannic, very large, Albion and lerne, be- yond the Ccltae." In Diodorus Siculus (v. 32) the form is Iris ; the island Iris being occupied by Britoas, who were cannibals. Strabo (ii. p. 107) makes lerne the farthest voyage northwards from Celtica. It was too cold to be other than barely habitable, the parts beyond it being absolutely uninhabited. The reported distance from Celtica is 500 stadia. The same writer attributes cannibahsm to the Irish j adding, however, that his authority, which was pro- bably the same as that of Diodorus, was insufficient. The form in Pomponius llela is Iverna. In Iverna the luxuriance of the herbage is so great as to cause the cattle who feed on it to burst, imless occasionally taken off. Pliny's form is Hybernia (iv. 30). So- linus, whose form is Hibernia, repeats the statement of Mela as to the pasture, and adds that no snakes are found there. 'NVarlike beyond the rest of her sex, the Hibernian mother, on the birth of a male child, places the fii'st morsel of food in his mouth with the point of a sword (c. 22). Avienus, probably from the similarity of the name to i'epo, writes : — " Ast in duobus in Sacram, sic insulam Dixerc prisci, solibus cursus rata'est. Haec inter undas niulta cespitem jacit Eamque late gens Hibernorum coiit." (OraMarit. 109—113.) Aviemui's authorities were Carthaginian. More im-