LEBANON, the loftiest and most celebrated mountain-range in Syria, forming the northern boundary of Palestine, and running thence along the coast of the Mediterranean to the great pass which opens into the plain of Hamath. The range of Anti-lebanon, usually included by geographers under the same general name, lies parallel to the other, commencing on the south at the fountains of the Jordan, and terminating in the plain of Hamath.
I. THE NAME.—In the O. T. these mountain ranges are always called '1'00, Lebanon, to which it. prose the art. is constantly prefixed li)Orl ; in poetry the art. is sometimes prefixed and sometimes not, as in Is. xiv. 8, and Ps. xxix. 5. The origin of the name has been variously accounted for. It is derived from the root 10, to be white.' in is thus emphatically 'The White Moun tain ' of Syria. It is a singular fact that almost uniformly the names of the highest mountains in all countries have a like meaning—Mont Himalayan (in Sanscrit signifying ` snowy '), Ben Nevis, Snowdon, perhaps also Alps (from alb white,' like the Latin albus, and not, as coin monly thought, from alp, high '). Some suppose the name originated in tne white snow by which the ridge is covered a great part of the year (Bo chart, Opera, i. 678 ; Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 741 ; Stanley, S. and P., P. 395). Others derive the name from the whitish colour of the limestone rock of which the great body of the ram,e is com posed (Winer, Realwoerterbuch, s.v.'Libanon ; Schzelzii Leitungen des Hochsten, v., p. 471; Robin son, B. R., ii. 493). The former seems the more natural explanation, and is confirmed by several cir cumstances. Jeremiah mentions the ' snow of Le. banon ' (xviii. 14) ; in the Chaldee paraphrase "11D ts0n, ` snow mountain,' is the name given to it, and this is equivalent to a not uncommon modern Arabic appellation „0,1,Z1n yebel eth-Thell (Gesenius, Thes., 1. c. ; Abulfeda, Tab. Syr., p. 18). Others derive the name Lebanon from A/ 13avomis, frankincense,' the g-um of a tree called Mpapos (Reland, Pa4, p. 312 ; Herodot. 183), which is mentioned among the gifts presented by the magi to the infant Saviour (Matt. ii. 1).
This, however, is in Hebrew miz, Lebonah (Exod. xxx. 34 ; Is. lx. 6). The Greek name of Lebanon, both in the Septuagint and classic authors, is uniformly Alpapos (Strabo, xvi. p. 755 ; Ptol. v. 15). The Septuagint has sometimes 'APTi Xtgavos instead of A/papas, but for what reason it is impossible to tell (Deut 7 ; 25 ; JOS11. 4 ; ix. I). The Latin name is Libanus (Pliny, v. 17), which is the reading of the Vulgate. It would appear that tbe Greek and Roman geogra phers regarded the name as derived from the snow.
Tacitus speaks of it as a remarkable phenomenon that snow should lie where there is such intense heat — Prxcipuum montium Libanum erigit, mirum dicta, tantos inter ardores opacum fidumque nivibus' (Ilistoria, v. 6). And so Jerome writes, Libanus Xemtorp,6s—id est, candor interpretatur' (Ad-versus yovianum, Opera, ii. 2S6, ed. Migne) ; he also notes the identity of the name of this mountain and frankincense '—lip.s.wogwr apud Griecos et Hebros et mons appellatur, et thus' (in Osee, Opp. vi. 160). Arab geographers call the range yebel Librrein, (Abulfeda, Tab. Syr., p. 163 ; Edrisi, p. 336, ed. Jaubert). This name, however, is now seldom heard among the people of Syria, and when used it is confined to the western range. Different parts cif this range have distinct names—the northern section is called 7ebel Akkr2r, the central Sunntre, and the southern ed-Druze. Other local names are also used.
The eastern range, as well as the western, is frequently included under the general name Lebanon in the Bible (Josh. i. 4 ; Judg.
3); hut in Josh. xiii. 5 it is correctly distinguished as Lebanon toward the sun- rising' (7))371 7 tir, min; sept. Alpwrorr ria-b rivaroXei'm '0+4ot/ ; and translated in the Vulgate, Libani quoque regio contra orientem '). The southern section of this range was well known to the sacred writers as HERMON, and had in ancient times several de scriptive titles given to it—Sirion, Shenir, Sion ; just as it has in modern days-7ebel esh-Sheikh, 2: eth-Thelj, y. .4nteir [I I ERMON]. Greek writers called the whole range 'Ain-IX/pros (Strabo, xvi., p. 754 ; Ptolemy, v. 15), a word which is some times found in the Septuagint as the rendering of the Hebrew Lebanon (1. c.) Latin authors also uniformly distinguish the eastern range by the name Antilibanus (Plin. v. 2,o). The name is ap propriate, describin.- its position, lying 'opposite' or 'over against ' Lebanon (Strabo, /. c.) Yet it does not seem to have been known to Josephus, who uniformly calls the eastern as well as the western range Al6avos • thus he speaks of the foun tains of the Jordan as b'eing near to Libanus (Antiq. v. 3. r), and of Abila as situated in Libanus (xix. 5. I). The range of Anti-lebanon is now called by all native geographers Yebel esh-Shurly East mountain '), to distinguish it from Lebanon proper, which is sometimes termed yebel el-Ghurby( , West mountain ;' binson, B. R., 437 ; Burckhardt, Ti-avels SY ria 4)• To insure greater definiteness, and to prevent repetition, the name Lebanon will be applied in this article to the western range, and Anti-lebanon to the eastern.