A second road led from Jerusalem southward to Hebron, whence travellers went through the wilderness of Judma to Aila, as the remains of a Roman road still show ; or they might take a westerly direction on to Gaza, a way which is still pursued, and is of two days' duration. The ordi nary way from Jerusalem to Gaza appears, in the Roman period, to have lain through Eleutheropolis and Ascalon. From Gaza through Rhinocorura and Pelusium was the nearest road down into Egypt from Jerusalem (Antiq. xiv. 14. 2). Along this road many thousand prisoners, made by Vespasian in his capture of Jerusalem, were sent to Alexandria in order to be shipped for Rome. Of these two roads from Jerusalem to Gaza, one went westward by Ramlah and Ascalon ; the other southward by Hebron. This last road Raumer (Paldstina, p. 191 ; see also his Beitth;ge, published after Robin son's work on Palestine, namely in 1843, cor recting or confirming the views given in his Pal iistina, 1838) is of opinion was that which was taken by Philip (Acts viii. 26, seq.), partly becausf tradition states that the eunuch was baptized in the vicinity of Hebron, and this road from Jerusalem to Hebron runs through the desert ' Thekoa (Thecua), in the Onomasticon. And here he finds the reason of the angel's command tr. go towards the south ;' for Hebron lay south of Jerusalem ; whereas but for this direction Puilip might have gone westward by Ramlah. Robin son, admitting that there is a road from Jerusalem to Hebron, maintains (ii. 64o ; 32o) that Philip went by a third road, which led down Wady Musurr to Betogabra (Eleutheropolis), and thinks that he has found at Tell el-Hasy the spot where the eunuch received baptism. But, says Raumer (Beitrdge, p. 41), this road ran in a south-vvesterly direction, and Philip was commanded to go towards the south, for which purpose he must have gone by Hebron. Raumer then proceeds to confirm his original position. Jerome, in his Lift of Paula, testifies that a road from Jerusalem to Gaza went through Hebron. Paula travelled from Jerusalem
to Bethlehem, which lay south of the city : When she reached Bethlehem she quickened the pace of her horse, and took the old road which leads to Gaza.' This road conducted to Bethsur (a little north of Hebron), where,' says Jerome, while he read the Scriptures, the eunuch found the gos pel fountain.' This,' adds Rammer, is the same Bethzur of which Jerome, in his Onomasticon, says, As you go from !Elia to Hebron, at the twentieth milestone, you meet Bethsoron, near which, at the foot of a mountain, is a fountain bubbling out of the soil. The Acts of the Apostles state that the chamberlain of Queen Candace was baptized in it by Philip.' From Bethzur Paula proceeded to Hebron. The Itinerarium Hiero solymitanum (of the year 333) mentions Bethsur as the place where the baptism was performed.' Raumer concludes by remarking—` Robinson rightly rejects tradition when it contradicts the Sacred Scriptures, but he must also reject those pretended scientific theories which contradict Holy Writ. Such hypotheses may easily become the groundwork of scientific legends. To fix the bap tismal-place of the chamberlain at Tel el-Hasy contradicts the Scripture ; but Bethsur, which has from the earliest ages been so accounted, agrees with the passage in the Acts of the Apostles.' There only remains for us to mention what Winer reckons the third of the three great roads which ran from Jerusalem ; this third road went to the Mediterranean at Joppa (Jaffa), a way which from the time of the Crusades has been taken by pilgrims proceeding to the Holy City from Egypt and from Europe.
In addition to the works already referred to, see De Wette, Archaologie ; Scholz, Archdologie ; Heeren, Ideen, 740 ; Ritter, Erdkunde ; Crome, PaPistina, i. 8 ; Burckhardt, Syria, ii. 547 ; also the article GEOGRAPHY. -J. R. B.