fhom Acre to nazareth. i45~ 
SAFEHtTHA, or Sepphoris, now Sephounp was once the chief 
city and bulwark of Galilee. 4 ' The remains of its fortifica¬ 
tions exhibited to us an existing work of Herod, who, after its 
destruction by Yarns, not only rebuilt and fortified it, but 
made it the chief city of his tetrarchy.f Here was held one 
of the five Sanhedrims of Judaea.t Its inhabitants often 
revolted against the Romans.§ It was so advantageously sit¬ 
uated for defence, that it was deemed impregnable. In later 
ages, it bore the name of Dioccesarea. || Josephus relates, that 
the inhabitants of Sepphoris amicably entreated Vespasian, 
w r hen he arrived in Ptolemais. 44 Harduin commemorates 
medals of the city, coined afterward, under the Romans, in the 
reigns of Bomitian and of Trajau. ff We were not fortunate in our 
search for medals, either here, or in any other part of the Holy 
Land; and, speaking generally of the country, these antiqui¬ 
ties are so exceedingly rare, that the peasants seemed unac¬ 
quainted w ith the objects of our inquiry* This was not the 
case among the Arabs in Egypt, nor in any part of Greece. It 
is true, the French had preceded us, and they might have car¬ 
ried off the few which had of late years been discovered ; but 
they had weightier matters to consider, and the inhabitants 
among whom we made our inquiry did not mention having 
supplied them with any reiiques of this kind. When we arriv* 
ed in the village, we were invited to visit the house of St. Anne . 
The proposal surprised us, coming from persons in the Arab 
dress; but we afterward found that the inhabitants of Galilee^ 
and of the Holy Land in general, are as often Christians as 
^Zbrtpwpivy fXtylcrTrw jijv ovctolv rnr ra\i\a(cts rrokiv, ipujavoTCtTcp 51 tfffxTicrjUivnv 
yoopico, xai (ppoupciv o hau rou tOvoui tcrojLitvnv. “Sepphoris, quit Galiltsa maxima , et in 
lutissimq loco- condita, totmsqu& gentis fntura pracsidio.' > ' Joseph, lib, iii. Bell J ml, 
cap. i. p. 832. 
f Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 3. 
f Ibid. lib. xiv. c- 10. 
V Of which instances are mentioned by various authors. Oi iv Aioxaicrapfux tnt 
HaAa crrfvnj xara ‘Pcojiai'eov onKa &vrhpuv. (Socrat. Hist, ii. c. 33.) “ Judaei 
qui Biocaesaream Paleestinae incolebant contra Romanos arma sumserunt.” See also 
Sozomen. Histor. lib iv. c. 7. 
|| Cellaring, tom ii. p. 499. Lips. 1706. and the authors by him cited. Hieronymus 
de Locis Ebr. in Araba ; “ Est et alia villa, Araba nomine, in finibus Diocaesareae, 
quae olim Saphorine dicebatur.” Hegesippus, lib. i. cap. 30. “ Praeveniens adventus' 
su.i nuntio Sepphorim prisco vocitatam nomine, quam Biocaesaream postea nuncupa- 
verunt.” 
**.Ka» xatet Taurnv vTraiT&cnv aiirw rnv irohiv of rns FaXiAai'as XFr(pwpiv vsud/Mvoi, 
twv rnSf tlpinvixtt (ppovovvrfs. “ In haeporro civitate oecurrerunt ei Sepphoritae, 
qui Galilaeae. oppidum incolunt, animis pads studiosis.” Joseph, lib. iii. Bell. Jud. 
cap. 1. 
tt CEIK&OPHNQN. “ Domitiani ac Trajan i nummi, e Cimelio Regio, quorum 
postremum laudat Patinus, p. 183, cum palmae, effigie, qui Phcenices in primis. ac 
.iudaeae typus.” Harduini Nurara. Antiq. illust. p. 449. Paris, 1684. See also Eatia. 
246. and Vaillant, Imp, August, et Cass. Numism, pp, 23, 31. Par. 1698, 
Y 2- 
