Under the presidency of Rabbi Judah Hakkodesh the School flourished, and acquired 
the acknowledged title of the Capital of Jewish learning. The first natural enterprise 
of such a School was the collection of the ancient interpretations and traditions of the 
Law; and those were embodied by Rabbi Judah in the Mishna (about a.d. 220). 
In the third century, Rabbi Jochanan compiled the Gemara, a supplement to the 
Mishna (about a.d. 270), now known as the Jerusalem Talmud. In the sixth century, 
the Babylonian Jews also compiled a Gemara, named the Talmud of Babylon, now 
more esteemed by the Jews. But the School of Tiberias is said also to have 
produced the Masora, or Canon for preserving the purity of the text in the Old 
Testament,— a labour whose value, however the subject of controversy, is admitted 
to be incontrovertible. 
The civil history of Tiberias is the common recapitulation of Eastern sieges and 
slaughters. Fortified by Justinian, it fell successively into the hands of the Saracens, 
the Crusaders, Salaclin, the Syrians, 1 and the Turks. The French invasion brought 
Tiberias into European notice once more (a.d. 1799). On then* retreat it sank into 
its old obscurity, and must wait another change, of good or evil fortune, to be 
known. 
1 Niebuhr, Eeisc. iii. Volney, Voyage, c. xxv. 
THE TOMB OF JOSEPH AT SHECHEM. 
Among- the relics associated with Biblical history at Nablous, the Tomb of Joseph 
is an object of great veneration. The Artist describes it as standing nearly in the 
centre of a small inclosure, at the eastern entrance to the valley which lies between 
the Mounts Gerizim and Ebal, and not far from the ruins of the early Christian 
Church now covering the Well of Jacob. The Tomb is plain, and plastered over, 
with a small recess at the foot, in which he observed that some small lamps were 
placed, probably by pious Jews, by whom also the walls were covered with writing 
in the Hebrew character. The people hold this spot in deep reverence. At the 
head and foot of the Tomb are two rude altars, which the guides pointed out as 
the Tombs of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph. 1 
Joseph died in the faith, that the Land of Canaan was to be the inheritance 
of his people. And, on his death-bed, he directed the children of Israel “ to carry 
up his bones” from Egypt; “and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin 
in Egypt.” 2 “ And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out 
of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of 
the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for an hundred pieces of silver; and 
it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.” 3 
The reverence with which the resting-place of the great protector of his people 
has been so long regarded, leaves but little doubt of its actual identity. It is 
now, and has been for ages, pointed out as the spot of his sepulture; and in this 
belief in the tradition, Jews and Samaritans, Christians and Mahommedans, agree. 4 
1 Roberts’s Journal. a Gen. 1. 26. 3 Joshua, xxiv. 32. 4 Heb. xi. 22. Acts vii. 16. 
