38 ® 
CLARKSV TRAVELS. 
great mourning ; Rachel seeping for her children, and' would 
not be comforted, because they are not. 55 
The history of Rama is more interesting than the neglect 
shown to it by travellers would induce us to believe. Its 
origin has been ascribed to the Moslems, under Soiiman, son 
of Abdolmelic,* who built the town with materials furnished by 
the ruins of Lydda^ distant three miles from Rama. That 
this, however, is not true, may be proved by reference to the 
writings of St. Jerom : he speaks of its vicinity to Lydda, and 
calls it Arimathea,! from an opinion very prevalent, that it was 
the native place of Joseph, who buried our Saviour.§ The 
testimony of St. Jerom, given anterior to the Mahometan.con¬ 
quest of the country, is sufficient to prove that the city existed 
before the Moslems invaded Palestine. Indeed they are, of 
all mankind, the least likely to found a city; although the 
commercial advantages of situation have sometimes augmented 
places where they reside. It is possible that Rama, from a 
umall village, became a large town under their dominion ; and 
of this opinion is Qjiaresmius.|| There seems very little reason 
to doubt but that this Rama was the village mentioned with 
Mdhoron , by St. Jerom, in the passage already twice referred 
to, # * as the only remains of the two cities so named, which were 
built by Solomon.ff Reland considered Bernard the Monk as 
X,and ; and the learned reader is requested to determine, whether the modern vil¬ 
lage of Bethoor and the modern Rama do not appear to be the places mentioned in the 
following passage cited in a former note from St. Jerom .♦ 11 Rama et Ecthoron et reliquae 
vrb.es nobiles a Salomone constructae parvi viculi demonstrantur Rama was a village in 
the time of Jerom; and the situation of Bethoor is distinctly marked in the Apocry¬ 
pha, with reference to the plain of Rama: ’Ev xaraBdod Bat0wpoovjatt tS 
(1 Maccab. iii. 16. 24.) 
* “ Urbem hanc idem non antiquam, sed conditam esse scribit ( Abulfeda , in geogra- 
phia. suamanuscripta) ab Solimanr.o filio Abdolmelic, vastata urbe Lydda, et aquae 
ductu, cisterna, aliisque rebus ornatam,” &c. (Rel. Pal. Illust. tom. II. p. 959, 
Otr. 1714 ) “ Hanc civitatem aedificaverunt Arabes propeLyddam, quum peregrin! 
primo iverunt ad partes illas post tempora Mahumeti.” Sanutus in Secret. FideL 
Orucis , pag. 152. 
•f Otherwise named Diospolis. It was also called St. George. (See the Itinerary 
<Dl Benjamin of Tudela.) Pliny mentions it among the ten Toparchies of Judaea. 
(Vid. lib. v Hist Nat. c. 14. tom. I. p. 262. L. Bat. 1635.) It was famous for achurch 
dedicated to St. George , said by Boniface (lib. ii. de Perenni Cultu Terr. Sanct.) 
to have been built by an English king. There was also a monastery of that name in 
Rama. 
% “ Haud procul ab ea (Lydda) Arimathiam viculum Joseph qui Dominum sepelL 
vit.” Hieronymus in Epitaphio Paulae. 
cv See also Adrichomius, Theat. T. S. p. 29. Colon. 1628. 
|| Elucidat. Terr. Sanct. tom. II. p. 8. Antv. 1639. 
See former notes of this chapter. 
ti Its most ordinary appellations have been Rama, Ramola, and Ramula; although 
Adrichomius, who believed it to have been Arimathea, mentions the various modifi¬ 
cations of Ramatha, Ramatha?., Ramathaim, and Arimafha, or Arimathia, afterwards 
says he, called ajsd Rimula. Vid. Adrichom. Theat. Terr. Sanct p. 29, 
Colon. 1628. 
