JOPPA and JAPHO (iZ' and te1t:, 'beauty ;' in the LXX. and N. T. ibrru ; Vulg. yoppe), one of the most ancient and important sea-port towns of Palestine, situated on the coast of tilt Mediterranean, in lat. 32° 2', and long. E. 34° 47', about 3o geographical miles from Jenisalern, and nearly midway between the promontory of Carmel and Gaza. Various accounts have been given of the orig,in and meaning of the name. Some derive it from the Heb. beautiful ;' others from Japhet, the son of Noah ; classic au thors from 'Iorn, the daughter of Aeolus (see Reland, p. 864-65).
The first mention of Japho is in the description given by Joshua of the boundaries of Dan, of which it was one of the marks (xix. 46). We hear no more of it till the time of Solomon. That wise monarch was the father of Jewish commerce, and he resolved to imitate the Phcenicians in building navies and founding sea-ports. By him, probably, Joppa was made the Port of the Jewish capital, and the western outlet of its trade, as Eziongeber was the eastern. When building the Temple he employed Tyrian workmen to fell timber in the pine and cedar forests of Lebanon ; they conveyed it in floats by sea to Yoppa,' whence it was carried to Jerusalem (2 Chron. 16). At Joppa Jonah embarked for Tarshish, in his vain attempt to escape an unpleasant mission to Nineveh (Jonah i. 3). During the captivity the situation of the city, and its commercial importance, appear to have saved it from ruin. On the return of the Jews, Ezra tells us that they gave 'meat, and drink, ancl oil to them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar-trees from Lebanon to the sea of yapper,' for rebuilding the House of the Lord (iii. 7).
After the close of O. T. history Joppa rose in importance. The sea was then beginning to be the highway of nations. Greece, Egypt, Persia, and some of the little kingdoms of Asia Minor had their fleets for commerce and war. Joppa was the only port in Palestine proper at which foreign ships could touch ; it was thus not only the shipping capital, but the key of the whole country on the sea-board. During the wars of the Maccabees it was one of the principal strongholds of Palestine (1 Maccab. x. 75 ; xiv. 5, 34 ; Joseph. Antiq. xiii. 15,
1). It would seem that Jews then constituted only a minority of the population ; and the foreign residents—Greeks, Egyptians, and Syrians--were so rich and powerful, and so aided by the fleets of their own nations, as to be able to rule the city. On one occasion they enticed zoo Jews on board ships, and threw them into the sea. For this act of cruelty Judas Maccabmus took signal revenge. Attacking the town by night, he burned all the shipping with every human being on board (2 Maccab. xii. 3-7). The Maccabman princes subse quently strengthened the fortifications, placed a garrison in the citadel, and retained Joppa in their hands as the chief port of their little kingdom (r Maccab. xii. 34 ; xiii. ; xiv. 5).
When Pompey invaded Palestine (n.c. 63), Joppa was among the first cities captured and annexed to the Roman province of Syria, doubtless because it was deemed wise to secure such an important sea port (Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 4. 4). After the fall of Antony and Cleopatra, Cmsar gave Joppa, with other cities, to Herod the Great (xv. 7. 3). Herod founded Cmsarea Palmstina on the coast a little south of Carmel, formed a harbour there at vast expense, and made it the capital of his kingdom. After Herod's death Joppa passed into the handi of Archelaus (xvii. 4) ; but on his deposition (A.D. 6) the whole of Palestine was annexed to the Roman province of Syria, and placed under the immediate rule of a deputy.
Joppa was virtually a Roman town in the time of the apostles. The population was mixed, as is the case in all sea-ports—Greeks, Syrians, Phce nicians, and Egyptians, with a few Roman officials, and a large Jewish community, chiefly engaged in trade (Strabo, xvi. 2. 34). When Peter visited Lydda, ten miles distant across the plain of Sharon, the Christians of Joppa sent for him, fondly hoping that he would be able to restore to them the dead Tabitha. He came and raised her; and while staying there with one Simon a tanner, whose house was by the sea-side,' and while praying on the house-top, he saw that remarkable vision which shewed him that the distinction between Jew and Gentile was for ever removed by the Gospel (Acts ix. 36-43 ; x. 9-18).