Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/33

 JERUSALEM, attachecl, perhaps, to two neijlibouring sites after- wards incorporated into one. The sacred narrative, by iinplication, and Josepiins, explicitly, recognise from the first a distinction between the Up{)er and the Lower city, the memorial of which is supix)sed to be retained in the dual form of the Hebiew name DVw'-IT. The learned are divided in opinion as to whether the Salem of Slelchizedck is identical with Jerusalem. St. Jerome, who cites Josephus and a host of Christian authorities in favour of their identity, himself maintaining the oppasite conclusion, says that extensive ruins of the palace of Mclchizedck were shown in his day in the neighbourhood of Scythopolis, and makes the Salem of that patriarch identical with " Shalem, a city of Shechem" {Gen. xxxiii. 18); the same, no doubt, with the Salini near to Aenon {St. John, iii. 23), where a village of the same name still exists in the mountains cast of Nabliis. Certain, however, it is that Jerusalem is intended by this name in Psalm Ixxvi. 2, and the almost universal agreement of Jews and Christians in its identity with the city of Mclchizedek is still further confirmed by the religious character which seems to have attached to its governor at the time of the coming in of the children of Israel, when we find it under the rule of Adonizedek, the exact equivalent to Mclchizedek (" righteous Lord "). Regarding, then, the latter half of the name as representing the ancient Salem, we have to inquire into the origin of the former half, concerning which there is consider- able diver^ity of opinion. Josephus has been under- stood to derive it from the Greclc word 'Upov, prefixed to Salem. In the obscure passage (.In/, vii. 3. § 2) he is so undci-stood by St. Jerome; but Isaac Vossius defends him from this imputation, which certainly would not raise his character as an etymologist. Lightfoot, after the liabbies, and followed by Whistou, regards the former half of the name as an abbre- viation of the latter part of the title Jehovah-jjVeA, which this place seems to have received on occasion of Abraham offering up his son on one of the moun- tains of " the land of Jloriah." (6'eM. xsii. 8, 14.) IJeland, followed by Raunier, adopts the root C^* yw-ash, and supposes the name to be compounded of C'-VT and D?"', which would give a very good sense, " hereditas," or " possessio hereditaria pacis.'' Lastly, Dr. Wells, followed by Dr. Lee, regards the former pai't of the compound name as a modification of the name Jehus, tJ'13', one of the earlier names of the city, from which its Canaanitish inhabitants were designated Jebusites. Dr. Wells imagines that the 2 was changed into "I, for the sake of euphony; Dr. Lee, for euphemy, as Jebusalem would mean "the trampling down of peace" — a name of ill omen. Of these various interpretations, it may be said that Lightfoot's appears to have the highest authority ; but that Eeland's is otherwise the most satisfactory. Its other Scripture name, Sion, is merely an extension of the name of one particular quarter of the city to the whole. There is a further question among critics as to whether by the city Cadytis, mentioned in Herodotus, Jerusalem is in- tended. It is twice alluded to by the historian : once as a city of the Syrians of Palaestine, not much smaller than Sardis (iii. 5); again, as having been taken by Pharoah-Necho, king of Egypt, after his victory in Magdolum (ii. 159). The main objections urged against the identity of Cadytis and Jerusalem in these passages, are, that in the former passage VOL. II. JERUSALEM. 17 Herodotus is apparently confining his surrey to tliS sea-border of Palaestine, and that the fact narrated in the second is not alluded to in the sacred narrative. But, on the other hand, there is no mention in sacrej or profane history of any other city, maritime or inland, that could at all answer to the description of Cadytis in respect to its size: and the capture of JeriLsalem by Necho after the battle of Megiddo, which is evidently corrupted by Herodotus into Mag- dolum, the name of a city on the frontier of Egypt towards Palaestine, with which he was more fa- miliar, — though not expressly mentioned, is implied in Holy Scripture; for the deposition and deportation of Jehoahaz, and the substitution and subjugation of Jehoiakim, could not have been effected, unless Necho had held j)os.session of the capital. (2 Kings, xxiv. 29 — 35; comp. 2 Cliron. xxxvi. 3.) It may, then, safely be concluded that Cadytis is Jerusalem; and it is remarkable that this earliest fonn of its cla.ssical name is nearly equivalent to the modern name by which alone it is now known to its native inhabit- ants. El-Khiids signifies " the Holy (city)," and this title appears to have been attached to it as early as the period of Isaiah (xlviii. 2, Iii. 1), and is (if frequent recurrence after the Captivity. {^Nehem. xi. 1, 18; St. Matth. iv. 5, xxvii. 53.) Its pagan name Colonia Aelia Capitolina, like those imposed on many other ancient cities in Palaestine, never took any hold on the native population of the country, nor, indeed, on the classical historians or ecclesi- astical writers. It probably existed only in state papers, aud on coins, many of which are preserved to this day. (See the end of the article.) II. General Site. Jerusalem was situated in the heart of the moun- tain district which commences at the south of tiie great plain of Esdraelon and is continued throughout the whole of Samaria and Judaea quite to the southern extremity of the Promised Land. It is almost equidistant from the Jlediterranean and from the river Jordan, being about thirty miles from each, and situated at an elevation of 2000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean. Its site is well defined by its circumjacent valleys. Valleys. — (1) In the north-west quarter of the city is a shallow depression, occupied by an ancient pool. This is the head of the Valley of Hinnom, which from this point takes a southern course, con- fining the city on the western side, until it makes a sharp angle to the east, and forms the southern boundary of the city to its south-east quarter, where it is met by another considerable valley from the north, which must next be described. (2) At the distance of somewhat less than 1500 yards fiom the " upper pool " at the head of the Valley of Hinnom, are the " Tombs of the Kings," situated at the head of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which runs at first in an eastern course at some distance north of the modern city, until, turning sharply to the south, it skirts the eastern side of the town, and meets the Valley of Hinnom at the south- east angle, as already described, from whence they run off together in a southerly direction to the Dead Sea. Through this valley the brook Kedron is sup- posed once to have ran; and, although no water has been known to flow through the valley within the annals of history, it is unquestionably entitled to the alias of the Valley of the Kedron. The space between the basin at the head of the Valley of Hinnom and the head of the Valley of C