Djebel Tor, is a large ruinous building at no great distance from the foot of the mountain, inhabited by a few families. It is about three hours and a quarter from Tabaria; and a large fair is held here every Monday.

1

About an hour's distance from the foot of Tabor, towards the north-west, on the northern side of the plain of Esdraelon, is the village of Eksall, (written by Pococke, Zal,) supposed, with some probability, to be the ancient Xaloth mentioned by Josephus, as one of the boundaries of Lower Galilee.* It stands on one of those low ridges of rock which are seen here and there throughout the plain, and near it are many sepulchres cut in the rock: "some," says Pococke, 66 are like stone coffins above ground, others are cut into the rock like graves, some of them having stone covers over them." Mr. Buckingham noticed sarcophagus of rude execution and unusually large dimensions. He describes, also, some subterranean vaults here, descended to by circular openings like the mouths of wells, but which he did not enter. "The most marked feature of the place, however, was," he adds, "the many graves cut down into the rock, exactly in the way in which our modern graves are dug in the earth. These were covered with rude blocks of stone, sufficiently large to overlap the edge of the grave on all sides, and of a height

a

"As for that Galilee which is called the Lower, it extends in length from Tiberias to Zabulon, and of the maritime places Ptolemais is its neighbour. Its breadth is from the village called Xaloth, which lies in the Great Plain, as far as Bersabe. From which beginning also is taken the breadth of the Upper Galilee, as far as the village Baca, which divides the land of the Tyrians from it: its length is also from Meloth to Thella, a village near to Jordan."-Wars, book iii. chap. 6.

or thickness equal to the depth of the grave itself, varying from two to four feet. There were in all, perhaps, twenty of these covered sepulchres still perfect; and in one, whose closing block had been so moved aside as to leave an opening through which the interior of the grave could be seen, a human skull remained perfect."

ROUTE FROM NAZARETH TO ACRE.

THE whole tract of country between Nazareth and the coast was formerly studded with towns and villages. Josephus, describing the two Galilees, says: "Their soil is universally rich and fruitful, and full of the plantations of trees of all sorts, insomuch that it invites the most slothful to take pains in its cultivation, by its fruitfulness. Accordingly, it is all cultivated by its inhabitants, and no part of it lies idle. Moreover, the cities lie here very thick; and the very many villages that are here, are every where so full of people by the richness of their soil, that the very least of them contained above fifteen thousand inhabitants."

About three hours from Nazareth, in the route to Acre, is the site of the ancient Sepphoris, described by Josephus as the largest city in Galilee, and as built in a place by nature so very strong as to command the country. The road lies at first in a northerly direction, over the hills which encompass the vale of Nazareth on that side; it then turns to the westward, over a hilly and stony tract, full of hard limestones, such as are met with in Judea; and Hasselquist noticed the same plants here as in the country about Jerusalem. But at Sepphoury begins what Maun

*

In particular, kali fruticosum. And Dr. Clarke discovered a new species of pink, and some other rare plants.

drell styles" the delicious plain of Zabulon." He was an hour and a half in crossing it, which would make it, on the usual computation, about four miles and a half in length. Hasselquist, however, states it to be above three miles long and three quarters broad; while Pococke conjectures it to be ten miles long and three miles broad. Dr. Clarke says: "The scenery is to the full as delightful as in the rich vales upon the south of the Crimea: it reminded us of the finest parts of Kent and Surrey. The soil, though stony, is exceedingly rich."

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Sapphura, or Sepphoris, (the ancient Zippor, or Tsippor,) at one time honoured with the name of Diocæsarea, affords another instance of the preservation of the more ancient appellation in that by which the site is still known to the natives. It is referred to in the Talmud as the seat of a Jewish university, and was famous for the learning of its rabbies. Josephus writes it Sepphoris. In the Itinerary of R. Benjamin, it is said to be twenty miles from Tiberias. The miserable village which now occupies the site of the ancient city, is called Sephoury. "The remains of its fortifications," says Dr. Clarke, “exhibited to us an existing work of Herod, who, after its destruction by Varus, not only rebuilt and fortified it, but made it the chief city of his tetrarchy,"—an honour which before was enjoyed by Tiberias. Here was held one of the five sanhedrims or judicatures of Palestine, the others being at Jerusalem, Jericho, Gadara, and Amathus. It was so advantageously situated for defence, that it was deemed impregnable; and its inhabitants often revolted against the Romans. But when Vespasian was sent into Syria to subdue the Jews, the citizens of Sepphoris, sensible of the power of the Romans, treated with Cestius Gallus

before Vespasian came, and received a Roman garrison. On the arrival of the general, a deputation met him at Ptolemais, and promised to assist him against their countrymen; and Vespasian, at their desire, left with them as many horsemen and footmen as he thought sufficient to oppose the incursions of the Jews, if they should come against them.* Medals of the city were coined afterwards in the reigns of Domitian and Trajan. But what rendered it illustrious in later ages, was its being considered as the native place of Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin Mary. "Upon the spot where the house of Joachim stood, a conspicuous sanctuary," Quaresmius states, "built with square stones, was afterwards erected. It had two rows of pillars, by which the vault of the triple nave was supported. At the upper end were three chapels." From a passage in Epiphanius, it appears that its construction was the work of one Josephus, a native of Tiberias, who was authorised by Constantine to erect this and other similar edifices in the Holy Land. He built the churches of Tiberias, Diocæsarea, and Capernaum, and was raised to the rank of count by the emperor. This was towards the latter end of the life of Constantine, so that the church of Sepphoris must have been erected before the middle of the fourth century. In the following reign, A.D. 339, and the twenty-fifth of Constantius, in consequence of a seditious insurrection of the citizens, the city was destroyed by the Romans, and the church appears to have shared in the general desolation. In the time of the Crusades, the fountain of Sepphoury, which is about a mile to the south-east,

Joseph. Antiq. book xviii. chap. 3; xiv. 10. Wars, book iii. chap. 2.

towards Nazareth, served as a place of rendezvous for the armies belonging to the kings of Jerusalem, and it is frequently mentioned by William of Tyre. But, as no notice is taken by any of the monkish writers of the church, it is concluded by Dr. Clarke, that it never rose from its ruins. Doubdan, who passed through Sepphoury in the middle of the seventeenth century, has merely the following reference to it. "The town is now a heap of ruins, and upon the summit of the mountain, which is not high, is yet to be seen the remains of a church built on the spot where stood the house of Saint Joachim and Saint Anna." Dr. Clarke, from whom we have borrowed the greater part of these particulars, gives the following description of this noble ruin.

The arches

"We were conducted to the ruins of a stately Gothic edifice, which seems to have been one of the finest structures in the Holy Land. Here we entered, beneath lofty massive arches of stone. The roof of the building was of the same materials. are placed at the intersection of a Greek cross, and originally supported a dome or tower: their appearance is highly picturesque, and they exhibit the grandeur of a noble style of architecture. Broken columns of granite and marble lie scattered among the walls. One aisle of this building is yet entire. At the eastern extremity, a small temporary altar had been recently constructed by the piety of pilgrims: it consisted of loose materials, and was of very modern date." 99 The learned traveller had the good fortune to find here, and obtain possession of, three ancient paintings, exactly resembling in their style, those curious specimens of the art which are found in the

• Travels, 8vo. vol. iv. pp. 140, 141.