Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/460

 426 pli^t's natural HISTOET. [Book Y. terior ; and Joppe a city of the Phoenicians, which existed, it is said, before the deluge of the earth. It is situate on the slope of a hill, and in front of it lies a rock, upon which they point out the vestiges of the chains by which Andro- meda was bound^. Here the fabulous goddess Ceto^ is worshipped. Next to this place comes Apollonia^, and then the Tower of Strato^, otherwise Csesarea, built by 2 Chron. xxvi. 6 (where it is called Jabneh in the EngHsh version), as one of the cities of the Pliilistines taken and destroyed by King Uzziah. The place of this name that lay in the interior, is probably the one spoken of by Josephus as in that part of tlie tribe of Judah occupied by the cliildren of Dan, as also in the 1 Maccabees, x. 69-71. The one was probably the port of the other. The ruins of the port still retain the name of Yebora, and are situate on an eminence about an hour's distance from the sea, on the banks of the river Rubin. ^ Or Joppa of Scripture, now called Yafa or Jaffa. The timber from Lebanon intended for both the first and second Temples was landed here. It was taken and retaken more than once dm'ing the wars of the Macca- bees, and was finally amaexed by Pompey to the Roman province of Syria. It is mentioned several times in the New Testament in coimection with Saint Peter. In the Jewish war, having become a refuge for pirates, it was taken by Cestius and destroyed, and even the very ruins were de- mohshed by Yespasian. It was afterwards rebuilt, and in the time of the Crusades was alternately in the hands of the Christians and the Moslems. 2 To be devom-ed by the sea monster, ft'om which she was dehvered by Perseus, who had borrowed for the occasion the talaria or winged shoes of Mercury. In B. ix. c, 4, Pliny states that the skeleton of the monster was exhibited at Rome by M. ^mihus Scamais, when he was Curule ^dile. 3 Probably the same as Derceto or Atargatis, the fish-goddess with a woman's head, of the Syrians. name to the Macedonian kings of either Egypt or Syria. Arsuf, a de- serted village, but which itself was of considerable importance in the time of the Crusades, represents the ancient Apollonia. 5 The site of the Turris Stratonis was afterwards occupied by Csesarea, a city on the coast, founded by Herod the G-reat, and named Ctesarea in honom* of Augustus Caesar. It was renowned for the extent and magni- ficence of its harbour, which was secured by a breakwater of stupendous construction. For some time it was considered the principal city of Palestine and the chief seat of the Roman government. Although it again changed its name, as Pliny states, it still retained its name of Csesarea as the Metropohtan See of the First Palestine. It was also of considerable importance during the occupation of the Iloly Land by the Crusaders. Its ruins are still visible, but have served as a quarry for many generations, and Jaffa, Sidon, Acre and Beyrout have been sup-
 * Situate between Csesarea and Joppa. It is probable that it owed its