With tbe fall of Ahab's line Jezreel's glory fell. We hear no more of it in the Bible. In the book of Judith it is mentioned under the form Esdrelon ('Ecrairlpuov, iv. 5), and is said to face the great plain,' and to lie near the northern approaches to Jerusalem. Josephus gives various forms of the name clepcfliXa, etc., Antiy. viii. 13. 6 and 8 ; 15. 6 ; see Reland, pp. 6o2, 863). The city is not again referred to till the 4th century of our era, when Eusebius and Jerome speak. of it as a noble village (hrto-77/Lovirn Kth,u77), situated in the great plain between Scythopolis and Legio (Onomast. s. v. Yezrad); the Jerusalem Itinerary locates it ten miles front Scythopolis (Vet. Rom. Itinerana, p. 586). In the time of the crusades the Franks called it Gerin, and the Arabs Zerin (Will. Tyr. in Gesta Dei, xxii. 26 ; Bohadin, Vita Salad., p. 53). The name and the situation of the modern village of Zerin leave no doubt as to its identity with Jezreel.
Zerin occupies a noble site on the western point of mount Gilboa, about Jo° feet above the plain. It overlooks the whole expanse of Esdraelon to Carmel and the hills of Galilee ; and from it we can look down the broad and fertile vale of Jezreel to the tell of Bethshan, and away beyond it and beyond the Jordan to the hills of Gilead. It was
up this valley Jehu came when the kings of Israel and Judah were in Jezreel. The watchman of Joram saw Jehu's escort in the distance, and a messenger was sent to demand who came. When Jehu drew nigh Joram himself went out to mect him in his chariot. The line of the olcl road can be traced ; it descends the steep slope, and enters the valley near a fountain. There, probably, the vineyard of Naboth was situated, and there Joram was killed. The king of Judah turned to flee, taking the road toward Engannirn, but he, too, was mortally wounded (ENGANNIM ; see in Joseph. Anti9. ix. 6. 4).
Zerin is now a wretched village. It contained, when the writer visited it, about a dozen miserable houses and a shattered tower. With the excep tion of a stone sarcophagus, and some large caves, perhaps intended for granaries, hewn in the rocky slopes, there are no traces of antiquity. Jezreel is utterly ruined. As the writer de away from it he saw a number of ravenous-looking dogs prowl ing among the tombs in the little cemetery, which painfully revived the story of Jezebel and Ahab.