Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/428

 412 NEAPOLIS. proximity, translated in our version, " a teacher of ]ies" (ii. 18). The time when it assumed its new name, which it still retains almost uncorrupted in Nablus, is marked by the authors above cited and by the coins. Pliny died durinjj the reign of Titus, under whom Josephus wrote, and the earliest coins bearing the inscription *AAOTI. NEAHOA. 2AMAP. are of the same reign. Sichem is an exceedingly ancient town, and is frequently mentioned in tiie history of the earliest patriarchs. It was the tirst place of Abraham's sojourn on coming into the land of Canaan, and there he built an altar to the Lord. (Gen. sii. 6.) The connection of Jacob with the place is marked by the traditionary well still called by his name, and referred to as an undoubtedly authentic tradition, eighteen centuries ago, — that is, at the expiration of about half the period that has elapsed since the time of the patriarch (Gen. xxxiii. 18, xxxiv.; St. John, iv. 5, 6, 12); nor need the authority of the other local tradition of Joseph's tomb be questioned, as he was certainly deposited there on the coming in of the Israelites, and the reverence paid by them to their fathers' sepulchres forbids us to suppose that it could fall into oblivion. (Gen. 1. 25; Josh, xxxiv. 32.) That tomb was probably situated in the " parcel of a field " where Jacob had spread his tent, which he had bought of the children of Hamor, Shechems' father, for a hundred pieces of money, but which the patriarch himself represents as taken (probably recovered) " from the Amorites with his sword and with his bow" (^Gen. xlviii. 22), and which he retained as pasture-ground for his cattle after his removal from that vicinity (xxxvii. 12 — 14). In the division of the land, it fell to the tribe of Ephraim, and is described as situated in Mount Epiiraim ; it was a Levitical city, and one of the three cities of refuge on the west of Jordan. (Josh. sx. 7, xsi. 20, 21.) There it was that Joshua assembled the national con%'ention shortly before his death (xxiv. 1, 25); at which time " he took a great stone and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord " (ver. 26), proving that the tabernacle was then at Sliechem, probably in the identical place, the memory of which the Samaritan tradition has perpetuated to this day. [Ebal ; Gerizlni.] The pillar erected by Joshua continued to be held in veneration throughout the time of the Judges ; there the Sheehemites " made Abimelech king, by the plain (|| oak) of the pillar that was in Sliechem," — his own birthplace, and the scene of his father Gideon's victory over the Slidianites (Judfjes, vii. 1, viii. 31, ix. 6) ; and there it was that the Is- raelites assembled to make Ilehoboam king. ( 1 Kings, xii. 1 ; 2 Chron. x. 1.) The remainder of its history is so identified with that of its sacred Blount Gerizim that it has been anticipated under that article. There can be little doubt that this is the city of Samaria mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, where Philip preached with such success, and which furnished to the Church one of its earliest and most dangerous adversaries, and its first and most distinguished apologist. Not that Simon JIagus was a native of Neapolis, but of a village of Samaria named Gitton (PiTToii', Just, ilart, Aj)ol. i. 36 ; conip. Euseb. H. E. ii. 13), but Neapolis was the principal theatre of his sorceries. Justin Martyr was a native of the city, according to Eusebius (hrh 4>Aauias vias TrdA^ais 'Zvpias t^s IlaAaiCTTiVrjs, Hkt. Eccks. ii. 13). Sichem is placed by Eiiscbius and St. Jerome, x. M. P. from Shilo, which agrees well with NEAPOLIS. the interval between Silun and Nablus. (Onomast. -A s. V. SijAci.) But it must be observed, that these I authors distinguish between the Sychem of Ephraim, near the sepulchre of Joseph, — which, having been destroyed and sown with salt by Abimelech, was restored by Jeroboam (comp. Judges, ix. 45, with 1 Kings, xii. 25), who, Josephus says, built his palace there (Ant. viii. 8. § 4), — and the city of refuge in Mount Ephraim, which they assign to Blanasseh, and, with strange inconsistency, immediately identify with the preceding by the fact that Joseph's bones were buried there. (Onomast. s. v. Sux^'m-) The author of the Jerusalem Itinerary places it xl. M. P. from Jerusalem. The modern town of Nablus is situated in a valley lying between Mount Ebal on the N., and Blount Gerizim on the S., giving to the valley a direction from E. to W. On the E., the Nablus valley opens into a much wider valley, about 2 miles from the town ; this valley is called Erd-AIiikhna Where the Nabliis valley meets the Erd-Midchna, at the NE. base of Blount Gerizim, is Jacob's well, and, hard by the well, is the traditionary site of Joseph's tomb, both of them close to the Bloslem village of Aslcar, situated at the SE. base of Blount Ebal. Possibly this Ashar may mark the site of ancient Sychar, the names present only an anagrammatical variation. This would satisfy the language of Eusebius and St. Jerome, cited at the commencement of the article, and remove the obvious difficulty of supposing the ^vell so far distant from the city as is Nablus, par- ticularly as Nablus abounds with running streams, and there are copious fountains between it and the well. One of these, not noticed by any traveller, situated about mid-way between the well and the town, in the middle of the valley, is called 'Ain Daphne, so named, no doubt, at the time when Greeks inhabited Neapolis, from the infamous fountain and grove near Antioch. The modern Nablus is a large and well-built town, containing a population of from 12,000 to 14,000 souls, almost entirely Blohammedans; the Samaritans having been reduced to something under 200 of all ages anl both sexes. (Eaunier, Paliistina, pp. 144 — 148, notes ; Robinson, Bib. Res. vol. iii. pp. 95 — 136.) The coins of Neapolis are very frequent under the emperors from Titus to Volusianus. The common inscription is *A. N6ACnOAeC0C, more rarely ^AAOT, as in the one below, in which is also added, as in many examples, the name of the region. The more usual emblem on the reverse is a temple situated on the summit of a mountain, to which is an ascent by many steps. The temple is doubtless that men- tioned by Damasius as Aibs '^lificrov ayiwraTov lepov (ap. Phot. Bibl. p. 1055), the steps those alluded to by the Bordeaux Pilgrim in A. r>. 333 : — " Ascenduntur usque ad summum montem gradus numero ccc." On the coins of Titus, however, before the Blount Gerizim was introduced, a palm, as in the example below, was the type; or a laurel, with COIN OF NEAPOLIS IN PALESTINE.