716 



PALESTINE 



PALESTR.INA 



has now lieen o xecutis I. chiefly liy Major Conder, 

 U.K.. whose name will ! indelibly associated with 

 a work which dan done MI much fur the li^iil 

 iiiidcistaiiding "f llie Itililc in the vei-ioii into 

 English. Tin- whole oi \\ . -tern Palestine is now 

 inap|N'd on a Kale which include- every ruin 

 an well aa even' spring, every watercourse, c\ciy 

 wixxl, anil every hillock. At MM 130 lost biblical 

 sites have l,.-eu iccoM-red ; liy niennii of these the 

 Ixiiiiiilariex of the trilx>s can now U- laid down; 

 mil- finnili only of tli" IliMe names rc-naiii to be 

 i'lentitiel. The topography of Joscphiis, of the 

 Talmud, of the pilgrim-, and of the chroniclers has 

 also l>ecn illustrated ixnd recovered. All imjxirtant 

 height* have lieen ascertained ; tin* levels of the 

 Dead Sea and the Sen of (ialilee are laid down : 

 all the remaining ruin* Imve )>een planned and 

 drawn ; the various form* of nx-k sepulture have 

 been examined ami da iti"<| : rhc rude stori" 

 monuments have lieen marked and planned : for 

 the lirst time the route of invading armies can be 

 followed, and the strategic art of the captains can 

 be understood ; native cu-toms have been gathered ; 

 the seasons, the climate, the fauna and Mora, the 

 monument*, the inscriptions, the ethnology of the 

 ronntry ninl its people have all U-eii collected. 

 The-e tilings bring Hoods of light to lieiir upon the 

 understanding of the Scriptures. Formerly the 

 Btndy of the Bible wan confined to the Ixxiks them- 

 nelves and to the literature of exegesis which had 

 pithered round those hooka. To thi- method we 

 '\e the immense IIIRSN of writings on the Itilile, 

 Inxiks which fill the greater part of our liliraiies, 

 IxMiks of profound erudition from which scarcely 

 anything can IIP gleaned for the instruction of the 

 people. Now, however, there are new methods. 

 \Vc approach the Bible armed with coins, with 

 in-criptions in cuneiform, in hieroglyphics, in 

 Hebrew, Arabic, anil in Greek ; we Imve inscrilxil 

 monuments, such ax the Monbitc Stone, the Siloani 

 iii-ciiption. the stone of the temple; we have a 

 map of the country accurate and exhaustive, a 



] in foi nil ') IIP, -i -!i ill Mt Ml I" ! 



done again ; we have measurements and plans of 

 all tlic ruins; we have traditions, legends, lan- 

 guage's, customs; we have, besides, for those who 

 come after us, a great collection of inscriptions in 

 unknown characters containing one knows not 

 what ancient history. Lastly, which must not l>e 

 omitted, everything which has been found, or 

 which ha* been achieved, in the direction of 

 scientific exploration goes to prove the literal 

 exactness of the historical portions of the Old and 



New Testament. 



The jiiesent condition of the country shows the 

 lining of rapid changes in every direction. The 

 Suivey iif Palestine was undertaken not a day too 

 Boon. In a very few years the ruins which have 

 liecn figured by the surveyors, and so, in a sense, 

 preserved for ever, will have vanished under the 

 iiclive hands of Change. The thousands of 

 Msiinis who every year |Miur into the country con- 

 tribute in no small degree to alter the character. 

 the habit-, and the idea- of the people; roads are 

 Ix'ing cM-iywhcre constructed in a country where 

 up till a few years ago there were no roads. The 

 traveller can now drive from Jaffa to Jerusalem, 

 from Jerusalem to .lericho, from Jerusalem to 

 Hebron, and from Haifa to Tilierias. A railway 

 is in construction Ix-tween Jaffa and Jerusalem'; 

 plans and surveys of another from Haifa to Hamas 

 en-, bv way of S'a/areth, are also ready ; and theie 

 in now a hotel at .lericho. AH regards Jerusalem, a 

 new town has sprung up outside the walls; the 

 i.ins have Jiuildings there which, on occasion-, 

 would serve for fortresses ; the Jews are flocking 

 into tin- cjty it is mummed that there are now 

 done upon 90,000 Jews in and aliout the Holy ( 'ity ; 



the Mount of Olives is being covered with build- 

 ings. There are Jewish colonie- between K.unlah, 

 I.ydda, and Jaffa ; there arc Herman colonies in 

 the .,ime leejon: Circassians occupy Amman, and 

 are willing in the Hani an : the people from the 

 l-elwnon are coming down from their hills and 

 cineiing the countiy east of the .Ionian. In fact, 

 those who wish to MI- I'ale-tine as it has been for 

 a thousand years and more must go at once or they 

 will never have the chance. 



BIDI.IOORAPHT. The book* published on Palestine are 

 far too mime-roil* to be set down. But the Surrey has 

 rui'lcrwl iniMt of them practically useless. All the books 

 of travel of modern times may now be neglfct.il ; their 

 rcmilts are embodied in the Survey. The .S'urrrj/ of 

 Wrttrrn I'alrttitu' consists of cicht volumes viz. vols. i. 

 to iii. Mvmoirs, by Captain Conder and Captain Kitchener, 

 witb phtiis and drawings of most of the ruins ; Jerusalem, 

 by .'sir Charles Warren nnd Captuin Conder, witb a port- 

 folio of sixty sheets illustrating the excavations ; the 

 Fauna and Mora, liy Canon Tristram ; a volume of special 

 )i|H'r on various subjects connected with the Survey; 

 the Name-lists, containing all the names in Arabic with 

 the English transliteration and the translation ; and the 

 (ienlogy of Western 1'nlestine, by Professor Edward Hall, 

 Kits. ; to which is added an index in one volume. The 

 Kiirrry of f.'iirtrm J'alctline has been advanced one 

 volume only. These volumes contain the facts necessary 

 for the student. Should he only want the popular 

 results he may read the works of Major Coinl. r, Tint- 

 tank iii J'titntitir. llillt atij Moati, Si/nun .^tout-lore, or 

 that of Mr H. A. Harper, entitled The Bible and Muiii-n 

 Diicoreriti. An ex(xllent resiinid of the Survey and of 

 recent research is also contained in Conder's I'lilislinr. 

 A collection of early pilgrims is in course of publication 

 by the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society. Palatine untler 

 thf Motlcjiw, by (uy le Strange ( Palestine Exploration 

 Fund), gives the world for the first time an historical 

 and geographical account of the country compiled exclu- 

 sively from Moslem writers. See also Canon Tristram, 

 Land of Iirael (2d ed. 1H72); Socin. I'tiltttiix and 

 Syria (Baedeker's guide, 187H); Thomson, The Land 

 anl tht B'* ( 18T/J ; new ed. 18i); Sir R. Temple, 

 PalettiM ( 188S ) ; G. A. Smith, Historical f/rniraj,/ 

 the Holy Law! (1WM); bibliographies by Toblcr (1S7~>) 

 and Riihricht (I**)); and Thirty Yean of Work in the 

 Holy Latui (Pal. Explor. Fund, 1>5). See, too, JEBU- 

 8ALEM, and works cited there ; JEWS, TEUPLAKS. 



I'ali'stilK'. capital of Anderson county, Texas, 

 151 miles by rail N. of Houston. It manufactures 

 brass and iron goods, and baa a pop. ( 1!KK)) of s^.17. 



I'nlcstrilia. the ancient Prreitestc. an Italian 

 city, iftJ miles K. by S. of Home, on the slope of 



an otl'set of the Ai>ennines, contains the chief 

 castle of the Colonna-s and the palace of the 

 Karlierini family, the owners after Hi.'io. It U 

 built almo-t entirely upon the gigantic sulistruc- 

 tions of the ancient Temple of I'ortune, one of the 

 greatest religious edifices in all Italy, celebrated 

 not only for its sjileiidour, but also for its oracle, 

 which WILS consulted down to the time of Con- 

 stantine. Portions of the ancient wall Cyclo|>ean 

 blocks of limestone still remain. I'rn'lieste w.as 

 a member of the Latin League, until in 490 r. .('. 

 it joined the Unmans. Yet it took a prominent 

 part in the Ijitin war (340-338 B.C.) against Home. 

 Having given shelter to the youngci -Manns in 82 

 H.C.. it wns taken and sacked by Sulla, lUelevated 

 and healthy situation, at no great distance from 

 the capital, made it a favourite summer-rcsoi t of 

 the Unmans. Augustiisund Tiberius frequented it; 

 Hoiace found it a pleasant retreat ; Ha<lrian built 

 there an exleu-ive villa; and Antoninus erected a 

 palace. Numerous valuable works of art and 

 other remains have IM-CII recovered, dating prin- 

 cipally from the 8th, and from the 3d and '2d, cen- 

 times n.r., the fonnershowing Phoenician influence, 

 the latter Ix-ing Honmii. Pop. 5855. 



PnleHtrlnn. CIHVANXI PIKDU-IOI DA, tho 

 greatest of Italian musical composcix, was lx>rn at 



