Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/414

 396 BETUAGLA. Tiii. 24), where wu a ford, from which the place donbtless derived its name, equivalent to ** locus trangUus:* (Reland, p. 626.) [G.W.] BETHAGLA (Bethhogla), a town of Palestine, in the plain of Jericho, on the borders between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but reckoned to the latter. {Josh. xv. 6, xviii. 19, 21.) St. Jerome identifies it with the threshing-iloor of Atad ((7e». L 10, II), the scene of the mouminj^ far Jacob. {Onomast, $, v. Area Atad,") A fountain named situated about two miles from the Jordan, and three from the northern shore of the Dead Sea, still pre- serve the name and memorial of this site. (Rubin- son, B. JL vol. ii. pp. 267—27 1 .) [G. W.] BETHAMMAKIA {BfiBaftttiopiaj Ptol. v. 15. § 14), a town on the W. bank of the Euphrates, the Betamali of the PeuUager Tablet, 14 M. P. from Ceciliana. This place cannot be the Bemmaris of the Antonine Itinerary^ as Bemmaris is placed above the Zeu^rma, and Bethammaria below it. [£. B. J.] BETHANY (Biytfoyla), a village 15 stadia from Jerusalem, at the eastern foot of the Mount of Olives, remarkable for the raising of Lazarus, and for other incidents in our Saviour's life. {St Johny xi. 18.) Its modem name is El-Azarfyeh, i. e. the vilLige of Lazarus. (Robinson, £.i2. vol. ii. p. 100.) [G.W.] BETHAR (Bether, Bither, BiMnfNi), a city cele- brated in the history of the Jewish revolt under Hadrian (a. d. 131) as the last retreat of the Jews when they had been driven out of Jerusalem. They held out there for nearly three years. It is described as a very strong dty not far distant from Jerusalem. (Euseb. H, E, iv. 6.) Its site was recovered and clearly identified in 1843. (Williams, ffoly City, vol. i. pp. 209 — 213.) It is now called BdUvy the exact Arabic form of its ancient name, and is a con- siderable village about six miles SSW. of Jerusalem, still retaining some tiuces of its fortificaUons, while the inhabitants of the modem village have received and preserved traditions of its siege. f G. W.] BETHARAMATHUM (Bi^aofKifiatfoy), identical with Amathus in Peraca {q. v.), as is proved by a comparison of Josephus, AnL xvii. 12. § 6, B.J, ii. 4. § 2. (ReUnd, p. 660.) [G- W.] BETHARA3IPHTHA {^^SapaiJ^a), » city of Peraea, which Herud Antipas encompassed with a wall, and changed its name to Jui^iAS, in honour of the wife of the emperor Tiberius. {Ant, xviii. 2. § 1.) It is certainly identical with that mentioned by Eusebius and St. Jerome as situated on the Jor- dan, originally named Betharamphta, and after- wards called Liviaa by Herod {OnomasL s, v.), and certainly not the same as the Julias which is placed by Josephus whero the Jordan flows into the Sea of Tiberias {B, J. iii. 9. § 7), which was identical with Bethsaida. [Bethsaxda.] But the names Julias and Livias are frequently interchanged, as are Julia and Livia. A still earlier name of this town, ac- cording to Eusebius and St. Jerome, was Bcth-haram, a city of the tribe of Gad (Josh, xiii. 27), doubtless the same with Beth-haran {Num, xxxii. 36), which the Talmud also says was afterwards called Beth^ ramtha. (Reland, p. 642 ; comp. pp. 869, 870, s. v. Julias Peraeae.} It is most probably only another form of the preceding Betharamathumy i. e. the mo- dem .4 moto, near the Jabbok. [Amathus.] [G.W.] BETHAVEN, commonly supposed to be identical with Bethel, so called afler that city had become the scene of idol-worship, Beth-aven signifying '' the house of vanity." But in Josk, (viL 2) the two places BETHHACCAREM. are distinguished, Ai being placed "beside Beth* aven, on the east side of Bethel.*' Michmash is also placed " eastward from Bethaven.** ( 1 Sam. xiii. 2.) It is joined with Gibeah and Ramah, and ascribed to Benjamin. {Hos. v. 8.) The LXX. translate it (in Josh. vii. 2) Bai0^A, (m xviii. 12) BaO^, (in Bos. V. 8) oU^ 'Xlir. [G. W.] BETHDAGON (BneBay<iv). Two cities of this name occur in the lists in the book of Joshua, one situated in the tribe of Judah, apparently towards the SW.; and the other in the tribe oi Aeher (xv. 41, xix. 27). There are two villages of this name, Beit-dajan, now in Palestine, one a few miles to the east of Jaffa, the other SE. of Nablus. They doubt- less represent ancient sites, but are not identical with either of those firbt named. The village of this name near JaflQi apparently occupies the site of Caphardagon, a lar^^e village mentioned by Euscbiua {Onofnast, s, v. Beth-Dagon) between Diospolis (Lyddd) and Jamnia {Yebna), (Robinson, B.R, vol. iii. p. 30, n. 2.) The frequent recurrence of this name shows how widely spread was the wonhip of Dagon through Palestine. [G. W. j BETH-DIBLATHAIM (<iUvs AiutfAotei^), a city of Moab, mentiooed only bv Jeremiah (xlviii. LXX. xxxi. 22). ■ [G. W.] BETHEL (Boii^X, Bif^X), a boiler city of the tribe of Ephraim, for the northern boundaiy of Ben- jamin passed south of it. {Josh. xviiL 13; Judges, i. 22 — 26.) It was originally named Luz, and was celebrated in the history of the early patriarchs. {Gen. xii. 5, xxviii. 10 — 19, xxxi. 1 — 15.) It owed its new name, signifying " the house of God," to the vision of Jacob's ladder, and the altar which he afterwards erected there. It afterwards became infamous for the worship of the golden calf, here instituted by Jeroboam. (1 Kings, xii. 28, 33. xiii.) It was inhabited after the captivity {Ezra, ii. 28; Nthem. vii. 32, xi. 31), and was fortified by Bac- chides. (1 Maccab. ix. 50; Joseph. ^n<. xiii. I. § 3.) It was taken by Vespasian af^er he had subjugated the country between this and the cotst {B. J. iv. 9. § 9.) It is described by Eusebius and St Jerome as a small village on the road from Jerusalem to Sichem {Nablus), twelve miles from the former {Onomast. s. v. "AT^ai), cm the left (or east) of the road going south, according to the Itin. HierosoL Precisely in this situation are large ruins of an an- cient city, bearing the name of BeUtn, according to a common variation of m for el in the termination of Arabic proper names. (Robinson, Bib, Bts, vol. ii, p. 128, n. 1.) [G.W.] BETH-GAMUL {oJkos VaitL&K), a city of Moab, mentioned only by Jeremiah (xlviiL 23^ probably represented by the modem vilb^i^ of Vm-elJemAl or Edjmal, west of the ancient Bozrah. (Robinson, B. R. iii., Appendix, p. 163.) [G. W.] BETHHACCAREM {lbaidaxapi»d, BnStsyxaA^ mentioned by Jeremiah (vL 1.) as the place whero the beacon fire should be lighted to give the alarm of the Chaldaeans' approach to Jerusalem. " MaU diiah, the son of Rechab, the mier of part of Beth- haccarem," is mentioned by Nehemiah (iii. 14), which would seem to intimate that it was a phtce of considerable importance after the captivity. St. Je* rome {Comment, in Jerem, L c) speaks of it as a village of Juda, situated on a mountain between Aelia and Tbecua — i. e. Tekoa. Its site waa con~ jecturally fixed by Pocock {Trav. ii. p. 42) to a very remarkable conical hill, about three miles east of Bethlehem, and about the same distance north of
 * Ain Hajlay and a ruined monasteiy, Ktur ffctjloy