CAR'MEL (garden or choice plantation). A mountain range rising abruptly from the plain of Dothan, near Joint, and extending in a north west direction for about 26 miles (Map: Pales tine. B 2). The northwest end is almost at the Mediterranean and terminates as abruptly as the eastern. The highest point of the range is at Estlyeli, where 1810 feet above sea-level is reached. On the eastern side of the range is the Plain of Esdraelon, watered by the brook Kishon, and on the western side the Plain of Sharon. Car mel, though forming a natural barrier which affected the course taken by invaders of the country, did not play any part in the military history of the Jews, but it is important in the religious history. It was in the Carmel district, forming part of Ahab's dominions, somewhere between Samaria and Ekron, that Elijah had the priests of Baal slaughtered (I. Kings
17-39) . El isila also visited it (11. Kings ii. 25• iv. 25). Carmel was always productive, so that with the prophets it is the type of a land blessed by God (Isa. xxxv. 2; Jer. i. 19; .Micah vii. 14), and the devastation of this district was threat ened with severe punishment. The in mint a in was regarded as sacred and had the name 'Mount of God' in very early times. Anchorites established themselves there in the early days of Christian ity, and many monasteries were built along the range in the course of time. One of these Napo leon used in 1799 as a hospital for the sick and wounded of his army. A German eolony now cultivates a portion of the range, and has built a sanatorium upon the highest part. Consult George Adam Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, pp. 337-340.