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goes so far as to trace the settlement of the Karaites in the Crimea back to the time of Cambyses. Bibliography Gottlober, Bikkoret le-Tuledot ha-Kcraim,

18B5, p. 208.

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Br.

BEIRUT, SYRIA(ancient Berytus) City in Phenicia, at the mouth of the river of the same name, on the Mediterranean between Byblus and Sidon. In the El- Amarna texts (Winekler, " Altorientalische

Forschungen,"i. 309,436; "Monatsschrift,"1898,xlii. is called "Birutu" ("Biruna "). At a very remote period it was also called "Beroa," like another town in the vicinity ("Rev. Archeol." v. 549), and only in historic times was it called by the Greeks "Berytus." According to Stephen of Byzantium, the

480) the city

word

B/7purc5c is derived from /%> (-|N3), a well, or rather from its plural ni"lN3 (Muss-Arnolt, in " Transactions of the Am. Phil. Assoc." 1892, xxii. 48). Modern scholars derive the name from Aramaic W andSyriac (Xma), "cypress," the name of the whole country, Qmviivj, being similarly derived from the palm. The form KTTD is found on monuments

Knm

an adjective meaning "Berytic"; see Cook, "A Glossary of Aramaic Inscriptions," s.v.), hence the similarly sounding word in the Talmud (Men. 28J, 63a) must be translated as " apples of the Berytians " another passage (Yer. Pes. 30a) mentions cakes from Berytus. Several places of the name of "Beeroth " are mentioned in the Bible. Some exegetes have erroneously identified Berytus with Berotha (Ezek. xlvii. 16), which was near Hamath and on the northern boundary of Palestine. Just as all places of the name of " Beeroth " are to-day called in Arabic " El-Bireh," so Berytus bore (according to S. Krauss) in Talmudic times the name " Beri " or " Biri " this is clear from a passage in Yalkut (Num. 729), where Beri is located between Sidon and Antiochia as a port; compare Sifre, Num. 84. As Sidon is called in the Bible (Josh, xi. 8, xix. 28) "great Zidon," so Berytus is called in Yer. Sheb. 36c " great Beri " (the name is corrupted in the parallel passages Tos. Sheb. iv. 11 Sifre, Deut. 51), to distinguish it from other places of the same name. In any case the city lay within the jurisdiction (it is





of the Jews, for the Sibylline Books (vii.) also mention Berytus, and Jews, of course, were living there. It is impossible to tell at what time the Jews com-

menced to live at Beirut, as very little is known about the city in Phenician and Seleucid times. In the year 15 B.C., it became a Roman colony, receiv" ing the name " Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Berytus It was for this reason (Schurer, "Gesch." i. 340). that the Herodian house did so much to build it up. Herod erected cloisters, temples, and market-places ("Ant." xvi. § 11, 2; Josephus, "B. Becomes a J." i. 21, § 11 i. 27, § 2), and the emRoman peror Augustus ordered the court to sit here that examined into the charges Colony. made by Herod against his sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, whom he afterward executed (Josephus, "Ant." xvi. 11, § 2; "B. J." i. 27, After Herod's death (4c.e.) the citizens of § 2). Beirut placed 1,500 auxiliaries at the disposal of Quintus Varus to assist in suppressing the robbers

J." ii. that infested Judea ("Ant." xvii. 10, § 9; "B. Agrippa I. (41) also paid particular atten1).

5,

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Behiens

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Beirut

tion to the city, and erected a sumptuous theater, baths, and porticoes ("Ant." xx. 9, § 4). At the dedication of these buildings 400 malefactors were

ordered to take part in the gladiatorial fights (" Ant. xix. 7, § 5). Agrippa II. (50-100) continued to embellish the city at a great expense, and to the serious displeasure of his Jewish subjects, who objected to so much money being spent upon a heathen city ("Ant." xx. 9, § 4). It was to this heathen city that Titus came after the destruction of Jerusalem (70) and, at the games, put to death a great many of the Jews taken captive in the war ("B. J." vii. 3, § 1). The same atrocities are probably referred to in Pesik. R. (xxviii. 135J, ed. Friedmann), where, however, the Berytians are called" children of Bari" (orBeeri). No information can be gotten about Beirut from Talmudic literature. Bartuta, the birthplace of R. Elazarben Judah (see the passages in " Seder ha-Dorot, "ii. 63a, Warsaw, 1878), is not to be identified with it, as Isaac Helo (see below) maintains. For many centuries little mention is made of the Jews of Beirut. The stoiy that they dishonored a picture renowned in ancient times (Athanasius, " De Passione Imaginis Christi ") is declared by Wulfer to be a fable of the

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One of the earliest facts known in regard to the Jews of the city is that in 502 their synagogue was demolished by a great earthquake which des135).

troyed several cities in Syria (Assemani, " Bibl. Orient. " i. 272 "Joshua the Sty lite," ed. Wright, ch. xlvii.). Benjamin of Tudela, about 1173, says in his " Itinerary " that he found there fifty Jews, among whom were Rabbis Solomon, Obadiah, and R. Joseph. Syria at this time was in the First hands of the Seljuk Turks. There Mention of are no historic data to show whether Jews. the Jews of Beirut suffered as did

those of Acre when the sultan Malik alAshraf (Khalil) captured the city from the last CruDuring the fourteenth century Isaac saders in 1291. Helo left Aragon and went with his family to live In his itinerary ("Shebile Yeruin the Holy Land. shalayim," in Carmoly's "Itineraires de la Terre Sainte," p. 249) he mentions Beirut, but says nothing The same is true of the of any Jews living there. anonymous traveler in 1495, who speaks of the commerce of Beirut with Venice in gold, silver, copper, tin, and stuffs (Neubauer, "Zwei Briefe Obadjah's," In 1522 an anonymous Italian Jewish 1863, p. 97). traveler (see "Shibhe Yerushalayim," ed. Leghorn, 1785), embarking at Venice, landed at Beirut, traversed the whole of Palestine, and reembarked again But neither in coming nor in going does at Beirut. he mention any Jews in that city. In 1799 another Italian Jewish traveler explored Palestine, and claimed to have met at Beirut four Jews from BagThis is all that the chroniclers give concerning dad. this city but if the local traditions may be credited, the large synagogue of Beirut, as well as the Jewish cemetery, are 600 years old; and the oldest tombstone, dating back five centuries, is that of R. AbIn his book, "Nach Jerusalem," talion Bouezo. Ludwig August Frankel speaks of the old Jewish cemetery at Beirut, and of a tombstone about four centuries old, but he does not give an exact date. When Sir Charles Napier bombarded the city on