150 THE PLAINS OF THE JORDAN.
Arbela of Josephus (Ant. xii, 11, 1), and the Maccabees (1 Mace, ix, 1, 2) and the Beth-Arbel of Hosea, x, 14 Near Irbid is the Kulat (Castle) Ibn Man, the castellated or fortified caverns in the face of the lofty precipices of the Wady el 'Hamam. They were besieged and taken by Herod, whose soldiers were let down in boxes suspended by chains from the top of the cliff, as it was found impos- sible to scale the cliffs from the bottom. They were after- wards fortified by Josephus (Josephus, "Wars," I, xvi, 4, " Life," 37). Dr. Tristram and his party got access to the caverns, after Herod's fashion. " Land of Israel," 448. Mons. Gruerin reached them by means of steps cut in the face of the rock and communicating with corridors and galleries in successive stages. Guerin, " Galile'e," i, 201-203.
On the southern side of Wady Abu el 'Amis, facing Irbid, is the Hajaret en Nusara, a clump of basaltic blocks, on the waterparting between Wady Abu el 'Amis and Wady Fejjas, which drains the Plain of Alma. This is the reputed site of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand ; although according to the circumstances of the narrative, it occurred on the eastern side of the lake. About two miles on the north-west along the same ridge are the Horns of Hattin, twin peaks, which the Latin Church has chosen for the place of " the Sermon on the Mount." It is more certain that the decisive Battle of Hattin took place in 1187 on the plain between the Kurn or Horns of Hattin and the village of Lubieh.
The road from the springs of el Fuliyeh also called 'Am el Barideh, skirts the shore at the foot of the hills, and after about a mile and a half enters the northern gate of Tiberias. A path runs parallel with the road, on higher ground along the hill-side, and enters Tiberias by the western gate. The town is surrounded on the land side by a wall, strengthened by many towers and a castle, but breached in various parts by the earthquake of 1837. It lies along the shore for half a mile, and has a width of a quarter of a mile. The ancient city
was of much greater extent. The present town is situated at
