Galilee

GALILEE, a Roman province of Palestine, bounded on the south by Samaria and Carmel, on the east by Jordan, on the north by the river Leontes (Litani), and on the west by the Mediterranean. It has a maximum length of 6o m. and a breadth of 3o. Galilee represents a relatively low, but detached, con tinuation of the Lebanon ranges. The basic formation of its hills is limestone, and on this the vulcanism of a later geological age has superimposed extensively a layer of lava whose crumbling has produced a soil remarkable for its fertility. The province was divided into two districts, Upper and Lower, reflecting a change in the configuration of the land distinct enough in nature, but not easy to recognize on the map. The dividing line is a ridge running east and west, reaching the Jordan valley at a point midway between Lake Huleh and the Sea of Galilee.

Upper Galilee is the northern district and is in substance a broad mountain range up-tilted towards the Sea of Galilee. The eastern slopes dominating the Jordan valley are abrupt and rise to a height of 2,800 feet. On the west, the descent towards the sea and the plain of Acre is more gradual. In the southern part of the district the rocky range of Jebel Jarmuk reaches a height of 3,90o feet. The whole region is well watered. The height of the mountains causes a relatively heavy rainfall, and springs abound. Hence the valleys are full of vegetation and the moun tain slopes are clothed on the west with small oaks, and on the east with scrub. The occasional level stretches and gentler slopes are covered with fertile grain fields. Upper Galilee was proverbi ally famous for its fine olives and vines. "It is easier," says the Talmud, "to raise a legion of olives in Galilee than to bring up a child in Palestine." Safed, the chief town, has a population of 18,00o, of whom one half are Jews. It suffered severely in the earthquake of 1837, when 4,000 of its inhabitants perished.

Lower Galilee is the southern district of the province. Its highest hills are not more than 1,80o ft. Across the province, at its southern end, stretches the plain of Esdraelon (also called Jezreel) . Triangular in shape it is drained by the river Kishon which, springing from the Gilboa hills, winds through the plain. For the most part a dry torrent bed in the height of summer, it becomes almost impassable at times during the rains, as when the hosts of Sisera were discomfited on its banks and "the River Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the River Kishon." The eastern end of the plain forms the chief gateway to Palestine from regions beyond Jordan. The whole of Lower Galilee is well supplied with water. Springs abound in eastern Esdraelon, Wady-el-Melek and in the plain El-Buttauf. The great plains of Galilee, Esdraelon, El-Buttauf and the plateau of Sahel el-Ahma, are exceedingly fertile, producing wheat, cotton, maize, sesame, tobacco, millet and a variety of vegetables. The principal towns are Nazareth (q.v.) ; Tiberias (q.v.) ; Seffuriyeh (Sepphoris), a rival to Tiberias as capital and for a short period the abode of the Sanhedrin when it first transferred to Galilee; Jenin (En Gannim), on the southern edge of the plain of Esdraelon; Jez reel (q.v.), now a poor village (Zer `in) but once a royal resi dence, situated on Mt. Gilboa; Endur (Endor, q.v.) ; Nein (Nain, the scene of one of Christ's miracles) ; Lej jun (the Legio of the Romans), now identified with ancient Megiddo, on the west side of the plain, where the mighty empires of Egypt and Hat tiland met in a famous conflict in the 15th century B.C. ; Jefat, a town amongst the hills north of El-Buttauf, the Jotapata which Josephus so vigorously defended against Vespasian; Kefr Kenna (q.v.) probably Cana of Galilee, and Kama, 6 m. north of it, another suggested identification with Cana.

Galilee of old was a highly prosperous land peopled by bold and hardy hillmen, who knew how to defend their homes, as, indeed, they had often occasion to do, since "they were encom passed with so many nations of foreigners." Josephus (Bell. Jud. iii. 3, 2), who in his capacity of military governor of the Galilees, knew the country well, gives an interesting account of the people and the land of his time. "The Galileans are inured to war from their infancy, and have been always very numerous; nor bath the country ever been destitute of men of courage, nor wanted a numerous set of them; for their soil is universally rich and fruitful and full of the plantations of trees of all sorts . . . and no part of it lies idle. Moreover, the cities lie here very thick, and the very many villages are full of people." The Galilee of to-day is not so prosperous nor so populous as in the days of Josephus, but faith in its future is not wanting. Within recent years 16 Jewish colonies have been established by Jewish organizations within its borders.

History.

The name (in origin, a "circle" or "circuit") was in early times loosely applied. In Isaiah (ix. 1) the full name of the district is given as "Galilee of the Gentiles," viz., the Phoe nicians, Syrians and Aramaeans, who hemmed it in. In I Kings (xv. 29) it is the name of a district whose population was deported by Tiglath Pileser. The fortunes of the tribe, with its loose and varying territorial connections, interested the Hebrew more than the political history of a rigidly delimited district. Hence Galilee can hardly be said to have, as a whole, a history. The return of the Jews from captivity concentrated re-awakened national interest and prestige at Jerusalem, and Galilee was frowned upon and left to the hybrid race evolved from the mingling of the Jewish residue and fresh Assyrian colonization. The date of Galilee's reconquest for the Israelites is uncertain, but it is generally ascribed to John Hyrcanus; and the sturdy race which peopled its hills and valleys soon developed a fervid patriotism and nationalistic spirit. The contempt of the metro politan for the Galilean provincial was probably intensified by the latter's uncouth speech, emphasized by his inability to pronounce some of the Hebrew consonants. The jibe "Out of Galilee cometh no prophet" (although Deborah, Jonah, Elisha and perhaps Hosea were Galileans) is not so much a reflection on the religious and cultural interest of the Galilean as a reflection of the biased and prejudiced mind of the metropolitan. We cannot forget that it was amongst the hills of Galilee and by its sea that Christianity was shaped and developed. In the Persian period too, the Mandaean religion took final shape in lone Galilee.

Galilee was moulded into a province by the Romans and be came a tetrarchate governed by members of the Herod family. Galilee was the land of Christ's childhood and the chief centre of his ministry. In the neighbourhood of its great lake some of his chief discourses were uttered, and the scenes and incidents of its landscape inspired his parables. When the destruction of Jeru salem left the Rabbinic Schools homeless they sought refuge in despised Galilee, and Safed and Tiberias (q.v.) became their chief centres. It is in Galilee that the remains of ancient syna gogues are found, and within its confines lie buried many Jewish doctors and philosophers whose tombs are still venerated.

Archaeology.

In Galilee there are relics of the Stone Age in dolmens and menhirs. Rock-cut tombs and wine presses, re mains of Byzantine monasteries, the churches and fortresses of Crusading times bring archaeological interest down to a more recent time. A discovery of particular interest, furnishing a link with Palaeolithic man, was that made in a Galilean cave in 1925. In a cave in the Wady el `Amud, a valley abutting on the plain of Gennesareth, were unearthed portions of a human skull of the Neanderthal species. The fragments consist of nearly the whole of the frontal bone, the right zygomatic bone, and the right half of the sphenoid bone.

In 1927 Professor Garstang announced the discovery in the Huleh basin of a large permanent camp, about i,000 metres in length and 400 across, at a point about 3 m. west of the point where the Jordan leaves the lake. Occupation throughout the three phases of the Bronze Age is indicated, and an identification with Hazor, Jabin's royal city, has been suggested.

The great Galilean field of excavation, however, is the Plain of Esdraelon. At Tell-Husn (Beisan, q.v.) extensive excavations are being carried out with important results. At Ta'annak (the Taanach of Judges v. 19), the walls were laid bare, traces of child sacrifice discovered, and several cuneiform tablets of the Amarna period unearthed. Excavations are proceeding at Me giddo, on the western border of the plain, and the soundings made at Tell Harbaj in the plain of Acre, near to its junction with the plain of Esdraelon make it reasonably certain that it, rather than Harithiyeh, is the site of Harosheth of the Gentiles. Of great interest are the ancient synagogues, of which about a dozen have been discovered at ancient sites, such as Capernaum (q.v.), Kerazeh, Kefr Irbid, Meirun, and elsewhere. The architecture is generally held to be a peculiar and debased imi tation of the classical style associated with the 2nd century A.D.

Crusading fortresses were spread over the land in the 12th century as outposts of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Torou (Tibnin), on the summit of the mountains of Upper Galilee, Beauvoir (Kaukab el-Hawa), south-west of the Sea of Galilee, Chateau Neuf (Hunin), above Huleh lake, Belfort (Esh-Shakif ), on the north bank of the Litani, Montfort (Kala'at el-Kurn), north-east of Acre, and the castle at Banias formed a strong chain of frontier fortresses.