GALILEE (Heb. Gala, a " or "circuit "), a name latterly applied to one of the four Roman divisions of Palestine, originally referred only to a district of the tribe of Naphtali. Here were situated the, 20 towns which. Solomon gave to Hiram, king of Tyre, for his assistance in building the temple. Phenician colonies, in consequence, appear to have established themselves here, for at a later period we find Isaiah (ix. 1) speaking of the district as " Galilee of the nations." These "nations," or gentiles, finally spread themselves over all the surrounding country, until, in the time of our Lord, the name " Galilee" embraced the whole northern portion of Palestine from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. The district was divided into upper and lower G., the former being hilly but well wooded, and the latter level and very fertile. As early as the time of the Maccabees (book I. chap. v. verses 20-23), the number of Jews in G. was very small; Strabo, a contemporary of Christ, states that in his day it was mainly inhabited by Syrians, Phenicians, and Arabs, to whom Josephus adds Greeks. The principal towns at the dawn of Christianity were Tiberias, Tarichrea, and Sepphoris; those that figure in the gospels are Cana, Capernaum, Nazareth, and Nain. Tire Jew
ish inhabitants of G. spoke a broader and coarser dialect than their southern brethren of Judea, and were held in low estimation by the latter, partly on account of their more liberal sentiments in regard to religion. It has been thought likely that this liberality, the existence of which is indisputable, was owing to their intercourse with their differ ent heathen neighbors. Every one of the disciples was a Galilean either by birth or residence, and consequently may not have been a Jew at all in the strict sense of the term; i. e., in being able to boast of having "Abraham for his father." The first three gospels are chiefly taken up with records of the Savior's ministrations in this province. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the despised G., as if retributively, became the refuge of the proud doctors of Jewish law, and the city of Tiberias the seat of rabbinical learning. The ruins of many fine synagogues are still extant in the old towns and vil