History of Dor. 117 



until the ships arrived which they were expecting ; namely, barges 

 and galleys, laden with provisions, of which they were in need ; for 

 these vessels were sailing in connection with the army along the 

 shore, and carried their provisions on board. The army advanced, 

 using all precaution against the Turks, who kept on their flank, to 

 a town called Merla', where the king had spent one of the previous 

 nights ; there he had determined that he would lead the van himself 

 the next day, on account of the obstacles in the way and because 

 the Templars kept guard in the rear; for the Turks continually 

 threatened them in a body on the flank .... The army, after 

 accomplishing its march with great difficulty, arrived that day at 

 Caesarea^" 



The Capernaum mentioned above is strangely supposed by 

 Conder' to be ancient Dor. He cites as authority for this identi- 

 fication Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, who travelled southward along 

 the coast to Caesarea between 1166 and 1171. The passage in 

 Benjamin reads*: 



pro Nini Dimn nM Nim din^ ^^di niKon^ r^nx ditdi 



"From there (i.e., Haifa), it is four parasangs to Capernaum, 

 which is the village of Nahum, identical with Maon, the place of 

 Nabal the Carmelite\ And from there it is six parasangs to 

 Caesarea, which is Gath of the Philistines." 



Conder mistakenly understands the passage to indicate that the 

 distance from Haifa (instead of from Capernaum!) to Caesarea 

 is six parasangs. He therefore argues that the proportional dis- 

 tances of four and six parasangs from Haifa to Capernaum and 

 Caesarea respectively, point to the identification of Capernaum 

 with ancient Dor. Capernaum is more probably to be placed at 



1 Ed. T. Gale : '*ad oppidum Miriam dictum." According to Dr. Stubbs, 

 this was on Aug. 30, 1191. 



2 The main body passed the night at the Crocodile River (Nahr el-Zerka), 

 north of Caesarea. 



^P.E.F., Special Papers, p. 275. 



* M. N. Adler, Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, pp. ^^ f . 



^ Maon is, of course, contiguous to another Carmel situated in Judah (1 

 Sam. 25 : 2 ff.). Benjamin simply cites the faulty identification current in 

 this region. So also in the case of Gath. 



