* 
432 PLIFt's ISTATUBAL HTSTOEY. [Book T. 
by the river Chrysorroos^ whicli is drawn off into its 
meadows and eagerly imbibed ; Philadelphia^, and Kha- 
phana^, all which cities fall back towards Arabia ; Scy- 
thopolis^ (formerly called JSTysa by Father Liber, from his 
nurse having been buried there), its present name being 
derived from a Scythian colony which was established 
there ; Gradara'', before which the river Hieromix^ flows ; 
Hippo, which has been previously mentioned ; Dion^, Pella^, 
rich with its waters ; Glalasa^, and Canatha^^. The Tetrar- 
* Or the " Grolden River." It is uncertain whether this was the 
Abana or Pharpar, mentioned in 2 Kings v. 12. Strabo remarks, that 
the waters of the Chrysorroos " are almost entirely consumed in irriga- 
tion, as it waters a large extent of deep soil." 
2 The ancient Kabbath Ammon, a city of the Ammonites. ' It was after- 
wards called Astarte, and then Philadelphia, in honour of Ptolemy Phila- 
delphus. According to D'Anville, the present name of its site is Amman. 
3 Thirty-three miles from Apamea. Its ruins are probably those 
mentioned by Abulfeda under the name of E-afaniat. WiUiam of Tyre 
says, that it was taken in the year 1125 by the Count of Tripoh. 
4 Previously called Beth-shan. It was the next city of the DecapoHs 
in magnitude after Damascus. It was situate in the land of the tribe of 
Issachar, though it belonged to the Manasites. At this place the bodies 
of Saul and his sons were hung up by the Philistines ; see 1 Sam. xxxi. 
10-12. Heland suggests that it received the name of Scythopohs, not 
from a Scythian colony, but from the Succoth of G-en. xxxiii. 17, which 
appears to have been in its vicmity. Its ruins, which still bear the name 
of Baisan, are very extensive. 
^ CaUed by Josephus the capital of Persea, and the chief place of the 
district of the Gradarenes of the Evangehsts. Its ruins, about six miles 
south-east of the Sea of Grahlee, are very extensive. 
6 Still called the Yarmak, evidently from its ancient name. Hippo 
has been mentioned in the last Chapter. 
7 Or Dium, between Pella and Gadara. In later times, this place was 
included in Homan Arabia. 
^ Also called Butis. It was the most southerly of the ten cities which 
comprised the Decapolis, standing about five miles south of Scythopohs, 
or Beth-shan. Its exact site seems not to have been ascertained ; but it 
has been suggested that it is the modern El-Bujeh. From the expression 
used by Pliny, it would appear to have had mineral waters in its vicinity. 
9 Of this place nothing is knoTVTi ; but it is most probable that the 
Gerasa of Ptolemy and Josephus is meant. According to the former 
writer, it was thirty- five miles from Pella. Its site is marked by ex- 
tensive ruins, thirty-five miles east of the Jordan, known by the name 
of G-erash, and on the borders of the Great Desert of the Hauvan. Ac- 
cording to Dr. Keith, the ruins bear extensive marks of splendour, 
Ptolemy mentions a city of this name in Coelesyria. 
