During the last Jewish war Joppa suffered severely. Cestius, marching from the north, sud denly captured the city, and massacred upwards of Soo° of its inhabitants (Joseph. Bell. IS. 10). A few years later bands of pirates, taking advantage of the disturbed state of the country, rebuilt Joppa, established themselves there, and extended their ravages over the whole sea from Cilicia to Egypt. The attention of Vespasian was at length drawn to them, and he took their strong hold, and when the people fled to their ships a storm rose, dashed them to pieces on the rocky shore, so that not a single man escaped. The houses and fortifications were then razed to the ground (id. iii. 9. 2-4).
Joppa is mentioned by many of the classic authors ; and some of them assign to it a wondrous antiquity, affirming that it existed before the flood (Pliny, Hz:rt. Nat.v. 14). It was mainly, however, in connection with the fable of Andromeda that Joppa was known to Greeks and Romans. Pliny tells us that in front of the city lies a rock upon which they point out the vestiges of the chains by which Andromeda was bound, when she was res cued, and the sea-monster slain by Perseus (ffist. Nat. ; Apollod. ii. 4. 3 ; Strabo, xvi. 2. 28 ; 2. 35 ; Joseph. Bell. Yud. iii. 9. 3.; Jerome, i).
Joppa must have soon revived again. In the 4th century Eusebius calls it a city (Onomast. s. ; and it was then made the seat of a bishopric, an honour which it retained till the conquest of the counny by the Saracens (Reland, p. 868 ; S. Paul, Geogr. Sac. p. 303). Joppa has bcen the landing place of pilgrims going to Jerusalem for more than a thousand years, from Arculf in the 7th century to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in the r9th ; and it is mentioned in almost all the itine raries and books of travel in the Holy Land which have appeared in different languages (Early Travels in Pal., pp. to, 34, 142, 286). During the Cru sades Joppa was several times taken and retaken by Franks and Saracens. Saladin destroyed its fortifications, and Richard of England rebuilt them (Itinerazy of Richard Z, iv. 23 and 26 ; vi. 13 and 18). After the close of the Crusades Joppa fell to ruin. In the 13th century it did not contain a single habitable house. Bertrandon de la Brou quiere says of it in that age—` It formerly belonged to the Christians, and was then strong ; at present it is entirely destroyed, having only a few tents covered with reeds, whither pilgrims retire to shelter themselves from the heat of the sun' (Early Travels in Pal., Bohn, p. 286). It soon after wards began to revive, and has since attained to something of its ancient importance. In the year
1797 it was taken by the French, and upon that occasion the conquerors were ,ruilty of an act of cruelty fortunately rare in modern warfare. A body of 4octo Albanians, who held a strong position in the town, surrendered on promise of having their lives spared. The promise was given, and yet the whole 400o were afterwards pinioned and shot on the strand ! Another tra,redy perpetrated at Joppa by Napoleon is not onry an everlasting disgrace to the man, but it leaves a dark stain on the histoly of a civilized nation. When compelled to retreat to Egypt, between 400 and soo French soldiers lay ill of the plague in the hospitals of Joppa. They could not be removed, and Na poi eon ordered them to be poisoned (Handbook for S. and P., p. 288).
Yafa is the modern name of Joppa, and is identi cal with the old Hebrew 7apho = NiD4). lt contains about 5000 inhabitants, of whom r000 are Christians, about 130 Jews, and the rest Muslems. It is beautifully situated on a little rounded hill, dipping on the west into the waves of the Mediterranean, and on the land side encom passed by orchards of orange, lemon, apricot, and other trees, which for luxuriance and beauty are not surpassed in the world. They extend for several miles across the great plain. Like most Oriental towns, however, it looks best in the distance. The houses are huddled together without order ; the streets are narrow, crooked, and filthy ; the town is so crowded along the steep sides of the hill that the rickety dwellings in the upper part seem to be toppling over on the flat roofs of those below. It has no port, and it is only under favourable circum stances of wind and weather, vessels can ride at anchor a mile or so from the shore. There is a place on the shore which is called the harbour.' It consists of a snip of water from fifteen to twenty yards wide and two to three deep, enclosed on the sea side by a ridge of low and partially sunken rocks. It may afford a little shelter to boats, but it is worse than useless so far as commerce is con cerned. The town is defended by a wall, on which a few old guns are mounted. With the exception of a few broken columns scattered about the strcets, and through the gardens on the southern slope of the hill, and the large stones in the foundations of the castle, Joppa has no remains of antiquity ; and none of its modern buildings, not even the reputed ` house of Simon the tanner,' which the monks show, are worthy of note. The town has still a considerable trade as the port of Jerusalem, and its fruits are reckoned the best in Syria.—J. L. P.