312 M. G. MASPEEO 



the scene of the battle fought at the waters of Merom^ '' Berotha^ 

 a town of Upper Galilee, not far from Kedesa/' Kadesh of 

 Naphtali.^ This Berotha of Galilee should answer to the 

 Bierotu of Thothmes III., but where are we to place it ? 

 Among the localities near Kadesh one only offers traces of 

 antiquity and a number of wells considerable enough to 

 explain the origin of the Hebrew name : it is Aitharun. 

 " This village, leaning against the sides of a high hill whose 

 slopes are cultivated for olives, vines, and fig-trees, is 

 inhabited by two hundred Metawalis. Some ancient cisterns 

 wrought in the rock furnish them still with excellent water. 

 As for that of many wells that are dug in the midst of a 

 vast circular depression of the ground, situated at the bottom 

 of the village, it is bitter, and serves only to water the 

 animals, for washing, and for irrigation.^^f The traces are 

 unhappily very faint, and I only notice them for want of 

 better. At any rate, the neighbourhood of Bierotu and of 

 Kadesh may throw some light on the position of laqidua and 

 of Shamanau. We are warranted by some probabilities in 

 recognising here localities in Upper Galilee, but this is all 

 that we are are permitted to say at present. 



Of the twenty following names fourteen present no 



material for discussion. These are (No. 21) ^ _2Si "^ 



Sarona, the y^'^ of Isaiah xxxiii. 9, the modern Sarona, very 



near the lake of Tiberias ; (No. 22) ^%\ J (1(1 Tubi, probably 



el-Taiyibeh on the Wady Wadu, at some distance to the 



south of Sarona; (No. 26) A ^^ (J \\ \ Qainau answers in 



form to n^)^ and is probably the Kana of the New Testament ; 



No. 28, -^"li ^^"^Astirutu, to rii-iiiuji^, D";:"),Tni-i^W 



of Batansea ; No. 29, 5 () ^ ^^ \\ %, Ono-rapha, 

 t^Q"^" u'i^ to Raphon, Raphana, Arpha, of the Decapolis, the 

 present Er-rafeh ; No. 30 M- zi ^^v '=^^^ Maqato, to the 

 MaxeS (^ulg. Mageth) of the 1st Book of Maccabees, the 

 present Mukatta J ; No. 31, tk ^y^ "S Luisa, and No. 32, 



*Josephus, Arch. 5, 1, 18 ; cf. G. Boettger, Topographisch-historisches 

 Lexicon s?t den Scliriften des Fl. Josephus, pp. 55-56. 

 t-Gudrin, (?aZi?6e, t. ii., pp. 373-374. 

 X E. de Saulcy, Dictionnaire topographique de la Bible, p. 216. 



