HAMMATH (11Fl ; Sept. Aip.ca,'FIp.a0). One of the fenced cities of Naphtali ( Josh. xix. 35). Von Raumer has confounded it with the great city of Hamath (Pal. p. 126) ; but the latter is far beyond the boundary of Naphtali. It is probably the same as Ilammath-dor, which was assigned to the Levites out of the territory of Naphtali ( Josh. xxi. 32), and which is called Hammon in Chron. vi. 76. The word Hammath signifies warm baths' (from the Arabic root to be hot '), and this, along with the frrct that it is grouped with Chinnemth, enables us to identify its site. Josephus says that there were warm baths in a village called Ammaus (' A,c4Amas), at a. little distance from Tiberias (Antiq. xviii. z. 3); and adds, in another place, the name Ammaus in our language signifies warm water ;' the name being derived from a warm spring which rises there, possessing sanative properties ' (Bell. yzed. iv. 1. 3). Refelence is frequently rnacle to Ham math in the Talmud. It is there said to have been a mile distant from Tiberias (See in Lightfoot, Opp. ii. 224, sq.) We can have no difficulty in identifying the site of Hammath. On the shore of the Sea of Galilee, about a mile south of Tiberias, is a warm spring, still celebrated for its medicinal properties. Spacious baths were built over it by Ibrahim Pasha ; but, like everything else in Palestine, they are falling to ruin. Ancient
ruins are strewn around it, and can be traced along the shore for a considerable distance. This is doubtless the Hammath of the Bible, and the Ammaus of Josephus. Some writers have con founded this Ammaus with another place of the same name east of the Jordan ; and have thus been led into strange topographical blunders. The Hantmath of Gadara, east of the Jordan, on the banks of the river Hieromax, and the Hammath of Tiberias, are both mentioned in the Talmud, and are quite distinct. Pliny, speaking of the Sea of Galilee, says, 'ab occidente Tiberiade, aquis cali dis salubri ' (Hist. Nat. v. 15). There are four warm springs at this place. The water has a temperature of 144° Fahr.; the taste is extremely salt and bitter, and a strong smell of sulphur is emitted. The whole surrounding district has a volcanic aspect. The warm fountains, the rocks of trap and lava, and the frequent earthquakes, prove that the elements of destruction are still at work beneath the surface. It is said that at the time of the great earthquake of 1837 the quantity of water issuing from the springs was greatly in creased, and the temperature much highcr than ordinarily (Hankbook for S. and P., ii. 423; Robinson, Bib. Res. ii. 385 ; Wilson, Lands of the Bible, ii. 397 ; Reland, Pal. pp. 302, 703).— J. L. P.