MAGDALA (MaTaaltd=Heb. 'a tower,' Mageda). This word occurs in only one place in the Gospels, Matt. xv. 39, and though the T. R. has it in that passage, yet the best MSS. (Sin., Vat., D.) read Magadan (Mwyaady), which, Alford observes, ' appears to have been the original read ing, but the better known name Magdala was sub stituted for it.' It is not unusual, however, for Syrian villages to have two names, and for the same name to have different forms. The parallel passage in Mark viii. to, has Dalmanutha (Aca uavotact) ; though here also some MSS. read Mag dala, and some Afagada (Alford, ad loc.) A close examination of the gospel narrative, and a comparison of the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark (Matt. xv. 39 ; xvi. 1-13, with Mark viii. to-27), prove that Magdala or Magadan must have been situated on the western shore of the sea of Galilee, and Dalmanutha was probably a village near it ; for the whole shores of the lake were then lined with towns and villages. Eusebius and Je rome locate this place, which they call Magedan, on the east of the sea of Galilee, and they say there was in their day a district of Afagedena around Gerasa (Kat ECTI POP ij MayagSavij rept Hp repcigap; Onamast., s. v. Magedan). They also state that Mark (viii. to) reads Mayatbdp, though Jerome's version has Dalmanutha. The old Latin version has 'Yagoda. In some editions of Josephus a Afag data is mentioned on the east side of the lake (Pita, 24), but the best MSS. read Gamala (Ro binson, B. R., ii. 397 ; yoseph. by Hudson, ad loc.), Lightfoot places Magdala beyond Jordan, but his reasons are not satisfactory (Opera, ii. 413). The
Rabbins, in the Jerusalem Talmud, mention Mag dala, and represent it as near Tiberias and Ham math ; and consequently, according to their view.
it must have stood on the west side of the lake, as indicated by the evangelists (Id., p. 226).
There can scarcely be a doubt that the small village of ( = Sian, and Greek May3aXd), which stands on the shore three miles north of Tiberias, is the Magdala of the N. T. It now contains about twenty miserable huts, standing amid low shapeless mounds, which apparently cover the remains of the ancient houses. But the situa tion is beautiful :—On the south a hill rises abruptly in dark frowning cliffs ; on the east the lake ex tends away to the rugged sides of Bashan's great plateau. On the north is the rich plain of Genne saret—the garden of Palestine. It is probable that the place where our Lord landed was at the foot of the cliffs, a short distance south of Magdala, between it and Dalmanutha, which lay a mile dis tant towards Tiberias [DALMANUTHA]. Robinson supposes Magdala to be the Migdal-el of Naphtali (Josh. xix. 38; Robinson, ii. 397). The identifi cation, however, seems doubtful.
It is generally supposed that Magdala was the native town of one of the most devoted followers of our Lord, who was hence called Mary Magda lene--` Mary of Magdala.' If this be so, and the fact can scarcely be doubted, then the name of this little village has been incorporated into all the lan guages of Christendom (Stanley, S. and P. 375)., —J. L. P.