Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/707

 RAGAE. passed it two hours north of Kerah. " The ruins," they say, " are situated on an eminence, and present nothing of interest, except two old ruined Roman temples and some tombs. The whole circuit of the town does not seem to have exceeded a mile, which is a small extent for a city that was the capital of Moab, and which bore such a high-sounding Greek name." {Journal, June 5, p. 457.) They must not be held responsible for the double error involved in the last cited words, regarding the etymology of the name Areopolis, and its identity with Rabbath, which are almost universal. [G. W.] RAGAE. [RiiAGAE.] KAGANDO or EAGINDO, a town in the south- east of Noricum, on the great road leading from Celeia to Poetovium, between the rivers Savus and Dravus. {It. Ant. p. 129; It. Hieros. p. 561 ; Tab. Pent.) JIuchar {Noricum, p. 240) looks for its site near Mount Studenitz; but other geographers entertain difi'erent opinions, and nothing certain can be said. [L. S.] RAGAU {'Vayav, Isidor. Stathm. rarlh. § 13), a town mentioned by Isidorus in the district of Parthia called Apavarctene. It is probably the same place as the Ragaea of Ptolemy (^Vaycda, vi. 5. § 4). It is not clear whether there exist at present any remains of this town, but it must have been situated to the E. of AWjcipf/r, between that town and Herat. [V.] RAGIRAVA. [Rapava.] RAMAH ('PaMci). 1. A city of the tribe of Benjamin, mentioned with Gibeon and Beeroth {Josh, xviii. 25), and elsewhere with Bethel, as in or near Mount Ephraim. {Judges, iv. 5.) PVom six. 13 of Judges it would appear to have been not far north of Jerusalem, and lying near to Gibeah of Benjamin. Being a border city between the king- doms of Israel and Judah, it was fortified by Baasha king of Israel, " that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah." (1 Kings, XV. 17, comp. xii. 27.) It is placed by Eusebius 6 miles north of Jerusalem, over against Bethel {Onomast. s. v.), and by S. Jerome 7 miles from Jerusalem near Gabaa, and was a small village in his day. {Comment, in Eos. cap. v., in Sophon. cap. i.) Joseph us places it 40 stadia from Jeru- salem. (^«t. viii. 12. § 3.) Its site is still marked by the miserable village of Er-Rdm, situated on a hill on the east of the Nalilus road, 2 hours north of Jerusalem, and half an hour west of Jeba the ancient Gibeah. Its situation is very com- manding, and it retains a few scattered relics of its ancient importance. (Robinson, Bill. Res. vol. ii. pp. 315, 316.) 2. See also Ramatha and Ramotii. [G. W.] RAMATH-LEHI, or simply LEHI (translated in LXX. 'Avaiptais (Tia.y6vos), where Samson slew the Philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass. {Judges, XV. 14 — 19.) 'J'iie name liamleh appears so like an abbreviation or contraction — perhaps a corruption — of this name, that it may well be identified as the scene of this slaughter. And here probably was the Ramah in the Thamnitic toparchy in which Eusebius and S. Jerome found the Ramathaim Sophim of Samuel, and the Arimathaea of the Evan- gelists, which they place near to Lydda in the plain. (5. Matth. xxvii. 57 ; S. Mark, xv. 42 ; S. Luke, xxiii. 50; S.John, xix. 38, 'ApifJ-aOaia; Eusebius, Onomast. s.v. Ai-matha Sophim ; S. Jerome, £pi- inph. I'aulae, p. 673.) Dr. Robinson, indeed, con- troverts all these positions; but hia arguments cannot RAJIATHA. r,91 prevail against the admitted facts, " that a place called Ramathem or Ramatha did anciently exist in this region, somewhere not far distant from Lydda " {Bibl. Res. vol. iii. p. 40), and that no other place can be found answering to this description but liamleh, which has been regarded from very early times as the place in question. The facts of Ramleh having been built by Suliman, son of the khalif Abd-el-Melik, after the destruction of Lydda in the early part of the 8th century, and that the Arabic name signifies " the sand," will not seriously mili- tate against the hypotheses with those who con- sider the great probability that the khalif would fix on an ancient, but perhaps neglected, site for his new town, and the common practice of the Arabs to modify the ancient names, to which they would attach no meaning, to similar sounds intelligible to them, and in this instance certainly not less appro- priate than the ancient name; although the situation of the town '" on a broad low swell in the sandy though fertile plain," would satisfy the condition re- quired by its presumed ancient designation. {Bibl. Res. vol. iii. p. 25 — 43.) It may be questioned whetherthe7J07nw«of Ramathem, mentioned with those of Apheirema and Lydda, as taken from Samaritis and added to Judaea (1 Maccab. xi.34; Josephus, Ant. 2. § 3, 4. § 9), derived its name from this or from one of the other Ramahs, in Benjamin, [G. W.] RAMATHA ("Pa^iaed), the form in which Jo- sephus represents the name of Samuel's native city, Ramathaim Sophim (LXX. 'Ap/xo6ai/i 2i<fa) of Mount Ephraim (1 Sam. i. 1), perhaps identical with Ramah, where was his ordinary residence (vii. 17, viii. 4, xix. 18 — 24, xxv. 1), but distinct from the Ramah above named. Ancient tradition has fixed this city at Neby Samwil, i. e. " The Prophet Samuel," a village situated on a very high and commanding hill, two hours to the NNW. of Jeru- salem, where the place of his sepulture is shown. Eusebius and S. Jerome, however, found it in the western plain, near Lydda {Onomast. s.v. Armatha Sophim; see RamathLeiii). Dr. Robinson has stated his objections to the identification of Ra- mathaim Sophim with A^eJ?/ .Sa?)M4;a7, and has endea- voured to fix the former much further to the south, on the hill called Suba, a little to the south of the Jaffa road, about 3 hours from Jeru>alem; while Mr. Wolcott has carried it as far south as the vicinity of Hebron. (Robinson. Bibl. Res. vol. ii. jip. 139 — 144, 330—334, Bill. Sacra, vol, i, pp. 44—52,) These objections are based on the hypothesis that the incidents attending Saul's unction to the king- dom, narrated in 1 Sam. ix. x., took place in Ramali of Samuel, of which, however, there is no evidence; and his difficulty would press almost with equal weight on Soba, as the direct route from Suba to Gibeah {Jeba') -would certainly not have conducted Saul by Rachel's sepulchre. Neither can the distiict of Mount Ephraim be extended so far south. Indeed, this last seems to be the strongest objection to Xeby Samwil, and suggests a site further north, perhaps Rnm-Ullah, in the same parallel of latitude as the other Ramah and Betliel, which were certainly in Mount Ephraim. {Judges, . ti.) On the other hand, the name Ramah, signifying "a height," is so remarkably applicable to Neby Samwil, which is evidently the site of an ancient town, which could not, as Dr. Robinson suggests, have been Mi/.]iah, that it would be difficult to find a position better suited to Ramathaim Sojihim than that which tra- dition has assigned it. [MizrAii.] [G. V/,] Y Y 2