Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/417

 BETHSHEHESH. taJfy situated in the trib« of bsachar. (Onnp. JtJy. i. 37 ; 1 CkrotL vii. 29; Jotk. xtu. 1 1.) It WM situated to the east of the great Plain of Es- draekn (I Maceab, v. 52), not far from the Jordan, and was 600 stadia distant from Jerusalem. (2 Mace, xn. 29.) In the time of Sanl it was occa> pied by the Philistines, who^ after the batUe of Gil- boa, hnng the bodies of Saul and his sons to the walls of this city. (1 Sam. uxi. 10, 12.) It is placed by Josephns at the sonthem extremity of Galilee. (^. J, m. 3. § 1.) He calls it the chief eity of the Decapolis, and near Tiberias. {B, J. iiL 8. § 7.) Elsewhere he states its distance from Tiberias to be 120 stadia. (Vita, § «5.) Ptolemj (v. 16) reckons it as one of Uie cities of Coelesyria. Pliny (y. 18), who assigns it to Decapolis [Deca- polis], says that it was formerly called Nysa, from the nnrse of Bacchus, who was buried there. Several eonfficting accounts are given of its classical name, Seytkopoli», Pliny and others ascribing it to the Scythians, who are supposed to have occupied it on their invasion of Palestine (b. o. 568 — 596), re- corded by Herodotus (i. 105). Reland (p. 983), who rejects this, suggests a derivation from the fact mentioned by St Jerome, that the Suceoth of Cftn. xxxiiL 17, was near this place, on the opposite side of the Jordan, so making Sicvtf^roAis equivalent to ^tmo$6woKir. The modem Greeks derive it from SicirrofssS^pfia (a skin or hide), without offering siiy explanation of the name. This name is first used by the LXX. in their translation of Judgea^ i. 27 (Boitfirfti', fl iari %toAm9 ir<Uif), and occurs in the Apocryi^ial books without its original name. (1 Mace, V. 53, vii. 36; 2 Mace, xii. 89.) It eariy became an episcopal see, and is famous in the annals of the Church. Its modem ruins bear witness to the extent and importance of the ancient eity. Borckhardt found it 8^ hours horn Nazareth, ** situ- ated on a rising ground on tlie west side of the Gbor," the fUya t4Sio¥ of Josephns, «. e. the Valley of the JordaiL ** The ruins are ^ considerable extent, and the town, built along the banks of a rivulet and in the valleys formed by its several branches, must have been nearly three miles in circuit." (7Vav«2ff, p. 343.) Irby and Mangles approached it from Tiberias, and noticed traces of a Roman road on the way, and a Roman mile-stone. The principal object in the ruins is " the theatre, which is quite distinct, . . . .180 feet wide, and has this peculiarity above all other theatres we have ever seen, viz., that those oval recesses half way up the theatre, mentioned by Vitmvius as being otmstracted to contain the brass soanding tubes, are found here. .... There are seven of them, and Vltruvius mentions that even in his day very few theatres had them." (7Vaoe2r, ppi 301, 303.) The necropolis is ^^ at the ME. of the acropolis, without the walls: the sarcophagi re- nuun in some of the tombs, and triangular niches ibr the lamps; some of the doors were also hanging on the ancient hinges of stone, in remarkable pre- •ervatioQ." A fine Roman bridge, some remains of the walls and of one of the gates, among which are pros- trate columns of the Corinthian order, and paved ways leading from the city, are still existing. [G. W.] BETHSHEMESH (hfiSaofus), a priestly city on the northem border of the tribe cf Judah ( JmA. xv. 10, 45, xxi. 16), where the battle, provoked by Amaziah*s foolish chaUenge, was fought between him and Jehoash (about b. c. 826). (2 Kings^ xiv. 11 — 13.) It wss erroneously ascribed to Benjamin oy Eosebios and St. Jerome, and placed by them BETONIM. 399 ten miles from Eleutheropolis, ob the east of the road to Nicopulis. {Om>ma»t. c v.) This corrects the former error, for no place within ten miles of Eleutherapolis could possibly be in Benjamin ; but it commits another, as we should read " west " in- stead of ** east;" for there can be little doubt that the modem village of '^tn ^SAemi represents the ancient Bethshemeah; and this would nearly answer to the descripticnx, with the correction above sug- gested. This view ia oonfirmed by the narrative of 1 Sam. vi. 9 — ^20, where this is mentioned as the first city to which the ark came on ita return from the country of the Philistines; and tiiis city, with some others in " the low country,** was taken by the Philistines in the days of Ahaz. (2 Chron. xxviiL 18.) It is probably identical with Ir-ithemesh in the border of Dan Jo»h. xix. 41.) The manifcbt traces of an ancient site at *Aia SKemt^ further serve to corroborate ito identity with Bethshemesh, which the name suggests, for " here are the vestiges of a former extensive atj consisting of many foundations, and the remains of ancient walls and hewn stone.** (Robinson, B. R. voL iii. p. 17 — 19, and note 6, p. 19.) There was another city of this name in Naphthali {Joth. xix. 38 ; Judg. L 33), of which nothing ia known. [G. W.] BETH-SIMUTH (Bi|0(r4^0> [Bbtiuicsi- MOTH.] BETHULIA (BeruAo^), a atnng city of Sa- maria, situated on the mountain lange at the south of the Plain of Esdraelon, and commanding the passes. It is the scene of the book of Judith, and ite site was recovered by Dr. Schultx in 1847, on the northem dedivity of Mount Gilboa, south-west of Bisan. It is identified by its name B«U Ilfah^ by ite fountain (Judith, viL 3. xii. 7), by considerable ruins, with rock graves, and sarcophagi, and by the names of several sites in the neighbourhood identical with those of the book of Judith. (See Dr. Schuttz's Letter in Williams's JSdg City, vol. L Appendix, pu 469.) [G. W.] BETH-ZUR (Bn^ao^, ^rfivo^x Eth. Bi|0aov. patos, BriBaovpir^s), a city of the tribe of Judah, and one of those fortified by Rehoboam. (^Jothva, XV. 58; 2 Chron. xi. 7.) In the books of Mac- cabees and in Josephns there is frequent mention of one, or perhaps two cities of this name, in the touth of Judaea (1 Mace. xiv. 13), and therefore some- times reckoned to Idaniaea (1 Maeo. iv. 29, but in verse 61, fcor^ Tpdetnop r^s *l8ov/Mmaf, com^ pare 2 Mace. xiiL 19.) It is described as the most strongly fortified place of Judaea. {AnL xiii. 5. §7.) In the time of Judas Maocabaeus it stood a long siege from Antiochns Eupator, but was at length forrad to capitulate (xii. 8. § 4, 5), and was held by the ren^ade Jews after other fortresses had been evacnated by their Syrian garrisons (xiiL 2. § 1), but at length snirendered to Simon (5. § 7). Josephns phujes it 70 stadia distant fhxn Betfa-Zachariah. (xii. 8. § 4.) Eusebius and St. Jerome speak of B€0vo6p, or Bvi9<ropA¥, Bethsur, or Bethsoron, on the road from Aelia to Hebron, twenty miles from the former, and thereforo only two from the hitter. [G. W.] BETIS. [Baetk.] BETONIM (BoTort/i, JotA. xiii. 26), a city of the tribe of Gad, apparenUy in the northern border, near the Jabboh. The place existed under the same name in the time of Eusebius. (Reland, p. 661.) There is a vilhige cf the name of Batneh in the