Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/463

 Chap. 15.] ACCOUNT OF COTTNTEIES, ETC. 429 have occasion to speak'. This is a delightful stream, and, so far as the situation of the localities will allow of, winds along- in its course and lingers among the dwellers upon its banks. "With the greatest reluctance, as it were, it moves onward towards Asphaltites^, a lake of a gloomy and unpropitious nature, by which it is at last swallowed up, and its bepraised waters are lost sight of on being mingled with the pestilential streams of the lake. For this reason it is that, as soon as ever the valleys through which it runs aftbrd it the opportimity, it discharges itsell' into a lake, by many writers known as Genesara^, sixteen miles in lengtli and six wide ; which is skirted by the pleasant to^vns of Jidias^ and Hippo^ on the east, of Tarichea'' on the south (a name which is by many persons given to the lake itself), and of Tiberias^ on the west, the hot springs^ of which are so conducive to the restoration of health. r (IG.) Asphaltites'" produces nothing whatever except bitu- 1 In C. 16 of the present Book. - On the contrary, as Parisot observes, the Jordan runs in a straight Hnc abnost into the Dead Sea. 3 The Lake of Sodom, or the Dead Sea, in which the Cities of the Plain were swallowed up. •^ In Scripture also called the Lake Tiberias, and the Sea of G-ennc- sareth, or Chinnereth. It is now called the Sea of Tabariah, or Tabarieh. the Sea of Tiberias. It was enlarged by Pliilip the Tctrarch, who greatly beautified it, and changed its name to Jidias, in honour of the daugliter of Augustus, the wife of Tiberius. It is generally supposed by the learned world, that this was not the Bethsaida mentioned so often in tlio New Testament. Its ruins are probably those now seen on a liill called Et-TeU, on the north-western extremity of the lake. '"' On the east of the lake. From it the district of Hippene took its name. ' Its ruins arc to be seen at El-Kereh, on the south side of the Jake. It was strongly fortified, and made a vigorous resistance agamst tho Komans in the Jewish War. It received its name from the great quan- tities of fish which were salted there, raptx"'- Now Tabariah, or Tabarieh, a miserable village. It was built by Ilcrod Antipas, m honour of the Emperor Tiberius. After the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, it became the seat of the Jewish Sanhedrim. 3 These hot springs are by Josephus called Emmaiis, ]irobably a form of the Hebrew name Ilammath. Dr. Robinson, in his Biblical Re- Bcarehes, identifies tliis with the to^^l of llaiumatli, of the tribe of Naph- thah, mentioned in Joshua xix. 35. "^ From the Greek datpaXros,
 * The one of the two Bethsaidas, which was situate on the north of