NAPOLOSE. 275 
Pnlcestine as the place where the Temple of chap. 
Solomon originally stood. It was, in fact^ in ' , — ' 
the midst of a renowned coemetery, containing 
also the sepulchres of other Patriarchs ; particu- 
larly of one, whose synagogue is mentioned by 
Benjajnin of Tudela, as being in the neighbour- 
hood of the warm baths of Tiberias^. These 
tojnhs are hewn in the solid rock, like those of 
Telmessus in the Gulph of Glaucus, and are 
calculated for duration, equal to that of the 
hills in which tliey have been excavated. It 
may also be worthy of notice, that, when 
writers of the age of Benjamin and Petachias 
are speaking of the immediate receptacles of 
embalmed bodies, as relics held in veneration 
by the Jeivs, they refer to Soroi constituting 
integral parts of mountains ; which have been 
chisseled with a degree of labour not to be 
conceived from mere description. These are 
monuments on which a lapse of ages effects no 
change : they have defied, and will defy, the 
attacks of time, and continue as perfect at this 
hour as they were in the first moment of their 
completion. Thus we are informed in sacred 
Scripture, according to the Septuapnt Version, 
(6) Benjaminis Itinerariuw , cap. 10. Helmst. 1636. 
