Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/426

410 Nicholas, while Nicholas confirmed by his sanction the acts and decrees of the Council of Basel.

1em  BASHAN, a country lying on the east side of the Jordan valley, towards its northern extremity, often mentioned in Jewish history The Hebrew form of the name is i^2 or l^L 1, represented in Greek by Bao-av and Bao-arms (LXX. and Epiphanius), or more frequently by Bcn-araia (Josephus, Ptolemy, Eusebius, etc.). The name is under stood to be derived from a root signifying fertile, or, according to some, basaltic ; and in some of the ancient versions of the Old Testament it is occasionally rendered by a word indicating fertility ; thus, in Ps. xxii. 1 3, the LXX. gives for Bashan moves, Aquila gives Xnrapot, Sym- machus, &amp;lt;rnurroi When we iirst hear of this region in the days of Abraham it is occupied by the Rephaim, whose chief city is Ashteroth Karnaim (Gen. xiv. 5). These Rephaim, with kindred tribes spread over the trans-Jordanic region, were in great part subdued and supplanted by the children of Lot (Deut. ii. 10. 11, 19-21), who in their turn were invaded and displaced by the Amorites (Num. xx. 26-30). By this people, at the time of the Exodus, the whole region north of the Arnon was occupied ; and they formed two kingdoms, the more northerly embracing all Bashan and a part of Gilead (Deut. iii. 8, 13; Josh. xii. 4, 5). Og, who is described as a man of gigantic stature, belonging to the race of the Rephaim, was, at the time referred to, the ruler of this kingdom ; and having come out against the Israelites, he was overthrown in battle at Edrci, one of his own cities. Subsequently, his country became the allotment of thehalf tribe of Manasseh (Josh. xiii. 29-31). The information given in connection with the Israelitish conquest enables us to define with considerable exactness the limits of the ancient Bashan. Towards the west it included Golan (Deut. iv. 43; Josh. xx. 8, xxi. 27), a name which to the present day has continued attached to the district, the Jaulan, lying on the east of the Jordan, in its upper course; while towards the east, it reached to Salchah (Deut, iii 10, &amp;lt;fcc.), the modern Salkhat, situated on the south-eastern slope of the Hauran mountains. On the south it is represented as immediately adjoining the country of Gilead, whose northern boundary is known to have been the river Jarmuk, and on the north, it is expressly said to have extended to Mount Hermon (Deut. iv. 48, xxxiii. 22; Josh. xii. 5, xiii. 11, 12). Within the limits thus indicated, may be pointed out the towns and other localities mentioned as belonging to Bashan. Ashta- roth, Og s metropolis, doubtless the Ashteroth Karnaim of Gen. xiv. 5, called also Beeshterah (cf. Josh. xxi. 27, and 1 Chron. vi. 71), has been sought in various places, especially in Tel Ashtereh (see Newbold, Jour. Geog. Sqe., vol. xvi.), but has now, with much probability, been identified (by Wetzstein, Reisebericht uber Hauran, p. 110) with the well-known Busrah, the Bostra of the Latins, whose position admirably adapts it for a capital city, and whose ruins attest its ancient splendour. Edrei, already mentioned, is to be identified with Derat, on the west of Busrah (Wetzstein, op. cit., p. 47, 77). The position of Golan and Salchah has been indicated, while Kenath (Num. xxxii. 42) is recovered in the modern Kunawat (Porter, Five Years in Damascus, vol. ii. p. 111). The region of Argob will be referred to immediately. Within the same limits lie the provinces included by Josephus in the Bashan of the Israelites (cf. Ant. Jud., iv. 5, 3 ; ix. 8, 1 ; Bell. Jud., ii. G, 3 ; iii. 3, 5), and recog nized generally by the Greek and Roman writers. They are four Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, Auranitis, and Bataricea, answering as nearly as possible to the natural divisions of the country.&quot; The first, Gaulonitis, deriving its name from the ancient Golan, and coincident more or less exactly with the modern Jaulun already mentioned, forms the western division, extending from the Jordan lakes to the Haj road. It is spoken of as divided into two sections, the territory of Gamala, or Gamalitis, and the territory of Sogana (Bell. Jud., iv. 1, 1). It forms a fertile plateau, diversified on its northern half by a range of low, richly-wooded hills, the Tell el Faras, which descends from Mount Hermon. The second, Trachonitis (mentioned Luke iii. 1), lay east of the preceding, and adjoined the territory of Damascus, as well as Auranitis and Batanrea (Ant. Jud., i. 6, 4 ; xv. 10, 1). This leads us to the remarkable tract, now called the Lejah, forming one of the two Trachones, or rocky volcanic districts, lying south and east of Damascus, mentioned by Strabo (Geog. xvi. p. 520). Inscriptions, moreover, have been found in the Lejah (see Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 117), which attest that the district was called Trachon. In this province we may with confidence recognize &quot;the region of Argob,&quot; so often mentioned in the Old Testa ment, as included in the country of Bashan (Deut. iii. 4, 13, 14; 1 Kings iv. 13). The arguments for this identification are, 1st, The etymology of the word Argob (see Gesenius and Fiirst, sub voce) ; 2d, the descriptive term usually conjoined with the name, ckebel Argob, indicating a tract clearly defined and measured off, and applied elsewhere to the line of the sea coast, which the boundary of the Lejiih resembles (cf. Porter, op. cit., vol. ii. p. 241); 3d, by the Targumists the name Argob is rendered Trachuna (Lightfoot, Chorographical Notes, 4). The third province, Auranitis, presents a name known both in ancient and in modern times. In Ezekicl (xlvii. 16, 18) mention is made of Hauran (in the LXX. Avpavms), as a locality on the border of the land of Israel. The name is found also on the inscriptions of Assyria, under the form Havranu (Schrader, Die Keilinschriften itnd das A. T., p. 237), and it is common in Arabian writers, In regard to its modern use Porter says (Join: Sac. Lit., July 1854, p. 303), &quot; The name Hauran is at present applied by those at a distance to the whole country east of Jaulan and Jeidur. By the people of that country, however, it is used in a much more restricted sense, and is given only to the fertile plain on the south of the Lejah, with the narrow strip on the west. The whole of this district is perfectly flat, with little conical hills at intervals. The soil is the most fertile in Syria, admirably adapted to the production of wheat.&quot; (Cf. Burckhardt, op. cit., p. 285). The fourth district is Batantea, a name obviously derived from, and often used by Josephus and others co-extensively with, the old name Bashan. It has, however, a special application to the district lying on the east of the Lejah and of the Hauran plain, including the central masses of the Jebel ed- Druz or Hauran mountain (apparently the Alsadamus or Alsalamus mons of Ptolemy, and, perhaps, the Salmon of Ps. Ixviii. 14; see Reland, Palcestina, p. 458; Wetzstein, op. cit., p. 90) and its eastern slopes. To this portion of the kingdom of Bashan, the name Ard-el-Bathanyeh is still applied by the natives. Says Porter (op. cit., p. 305), &quot; One of the most intelligent Druzes I met with in my whole journey, told me the whole mountains were com prehended in the Ard-el-Bathanyeh.&quot; The history of Bashan, after its conquest by the Israelites, merges into the general history of that nation, and of Western Asia. It is last mentioned in the Old Testament, in 2 Kings x. 33, in connection with the attacks made by Hazael, the king of Damascus, upon the territory of Israel. Throughout the Psalms and the Prophets, Bashan is celebrated for its fertility and luxuriance, its rich pastures, its strong bulls, its failings &quot; of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks ; &quot; its oaks and its firs (Ps. xxii. 