IN PALESTINE IN RELATION TO THE BIBLE. 



249 



refers to an historic character is of value. Such was a Greek 

 inscription, with two words in Hebrew, on an ossuary box dis- 

 covered recently in a coin])licated and extensive tomb on the 

 Mount of Olives. The inscription records the name of the 

 family whose bones had been stored there as that of " Xicaxok, 

 THE Alexandrian, who made the Gate.s." M. Clermont 

 'Ganneau describes,* this discovery in its historical interest 

 as "of the first rank," for he has proved that this Nicanor 

 is the man who made the iamous door in Herod's Temple 

 known as the Gate of Nicanor." This was probably the gate 

 which, though it required twenty men to move it, is said to have 

 •spontaneously opened at midniglit as a sign of the coming- 

 destruction of the city and Temple.t The gate was of Corinthian 

 bronze covered with thick plates of gold and silver, and was 

 50 cubits high by 40 wide. The Talmud describes this Nicanor 

 as of Alexandria. 



Discoveries of the greatest interest are common in Palestine, 

 and in recent years occur with augmented frequency, but they 

 -cannot all throw a direct light on the Bible history. It is 

 tempting to dwell on the Mosaic map of Palestine found at 

 Madeba, or to describe the marvellous Gneco-Phoenician tombs 

 found by jMessrs. Peters and Thiersch at Maresha,J or to show 

 how much may be learned from the recent German excavations 

 at Baalbec and the Synagogues of Galilee, but time does not 

 permit. It has been only possible here to briefly touch on a 

 few of those subjects which have come under the writer's 

 personal observation, and whicli appear to him fruitful in the 

 illumination of the Holy Scriptures. 



A hearty vote of thanks, on the motion of the Chairman, was 

 passed to the author for his communication. 



"Note. — During the present spring three Societies have started work in 

 Palestine under new firmans. Mr. Macalister, under the P.E.F., has 

 resiuned excavations in Gezer ; Prof. Sellin, on behalf of an Austrian 

 Society, is excavating Ancient Jericho ; and Prof. Reissner is working 

 at Sebastejieh — ancient Samaria. Great results may be anticipated 

 from the examinations of three such historic sites. 



* Q. Stat. P.E.F., 1903, p. 124. 



f Joseph, B.J., vi, 5, 3. 



+ "Tombs at Marissa,"P.^.F. 



