(1 Maccab. vi. 23; Joseph. Ant. xii. 9. § 4; B. J.
i. 1. § 5.) It was here that Judas Maccabasus encamped at a mountain pass, to defend the approach to
Jerusalem against Antiochus Eupator, and here an
engagement took place, in which Judas was defeated,
with the loss of his brother Eleazar, who was crushed
to death by one of the elephants, which he had
stabbed in the belly. (Joseph. l. c.) Sozomen calls
it (
Greek characters) (H. E. ix. 17), and places it in the
region of Eleutheropolis [BETHOGABRIS], and, apparently in order to account for the name, says that the
body of Zachariah was found there. A village named
Tell-Zakariya (Robinson, B. R. vol. ii. p. 350) still
marks the site of the ancient town. It is situated
in the SW. of Wady-es-Sumt, formerly the valley
of Elah, in the narrowest part of the valley, so that
the scene of Judas's conflict with the forces of Antiochus was not far distant from that of David's
overthrow of the Philistine champion. [G. W.]
BETHORON ((Greek characters)). There were
two cities of this name in the northern border of the
tribe of Benjamin (Josh. xvi. 5, xviii. 13), but belonging to the tribe of Ephraim, and assigned to the
Levites. (Josh. xxi. 22.) Originally built by
Sherah (1 Chron. vii. 24); they were fortified by
Solomon. (2 Chron. viii. 5.) The two cities were
distinguished as the Upper and the Lower, the Upper
being situated more to the east, the Lower to the
west, where the mountain country inclines towards
the great western plain. It was in this neighbourhood that Joshua defeated the allied kings (x. 10,
11), and 15 centuries later that same "going down
to Bethoron" was fatal to the Roman army under
Cestius, retreating before the Jews from his unsuccessful attempt upon the city (B. J. ii. 19. §§ 2, 8),
as it had been once again, in the interim, to the forces
of Antiochus Epiphanes, under Seron, who lost 800
men in this descent after he had been routed by
Judas Maccabaeus. (1 Macc. iii. 16, 24.) Beth-
oron was one of several cities fortified by Bacchides
against Jonathan, the brother of Judas (ix. 50).
These towns lay on the high road from Jerusalem to
Caesarea, by way of Lydda, and are frequently men-
tioned in the line of march of the Roman legions
(l. cc., B. J. ii. 19. §§ 1, 2, 8). The highway rob-
bery of Stephanus, the servant of the emperor Clau-
dius, one of the events which helped to precipitate
the war, took place on this road (B. J. ii. 12. § 2),
at the distance of 100 stadia from Jerusalem. (cf.
Ant. xx. 5. § 4.) Eusebius and St. Jerome men-
tion two villages of this name 12 miles from Aelia
(Jerusalem), on the road to Nicopolis (Emmaus)
[they would more correctly have written Diospolis
(Lydda)]; and St. Jerome remarks that Rama,
Bethoron, and the other renowned cities built by
Solomon, were then inconsiderable villages. (Com-
ment. in Sophon. c. 1.) Villages still remain on the
sites of both of these ancient towns, and are still
distinguished as Beit-'úr et-Tahta and el-Foka, i. e.
the Lower and the Upper. They both contain scanty
remains of ancient buildings, and traces of a Roman
road are to be found between them. They are about
an hour (or three miles) apart. (Robinson, B. R.
vol. iii. pp. 59-62.)
[G. W.]
BETHPHAGE (Body), a place on Mount Olivet, between Bethany and Jerusalem (St. Matth. xxi. 1; St. Luke, xix. 29); for our Lord, having passed the preceding night at Bethany (St. John, xii. 1), came on the following morning to "Beth- phage and Bethany," i. e., as Lightfoot explains it, to that part of the mountain where the district of
Bethany met that of Bethphage. (Chorograph. Cent. ch. xxxvii; Exercitutions on St. Luke, xXİV. 50; Horae Heb. &c. in Act. Ap. i. 12.) This writer denies that there was any village of Bethphage, but assigns the name to the whole western slope of Mount Olivet as far as the city, explaining it to mean the "place of figs," from the trees planted on the terraced sides of the mount. (Chorograph. Cent. xxxvii.) Eusebius and St. Jerome, however, describe it as a small village on the Mount of Olives, and the latter explains the name to mean villa (5. domus) sacerdotalium maxillarum "(Comment. in St. Matth. xxi.; Epitaph. Paulae), as being a village of the priests to whom the maxilla of the victims be- longed. [G. W.]
BETHSAIDA (Brädd). 1. A town of Galilee, situated on the Sea of Tiberias. (St. John, xii. 21; St. Mark, vi. 45, viii. 22.) It was the native place of four of our Lord's apostles (St. John, i. 45), and probably derived its name from the occupation of its inhabitants="vicus piscatorum." (Reland, s. v.) It is mentioned in connection with Chorazin and Ca- pernaum as one of the towns where most of our Lord's mighty works were done (St. Matth. xi. 21 -23; St. Luke, x. 13); and Epiphanius speaks of Bethsaida and Capernaum as not far distant from each other. (Ade. Haer. ii. p. 437.) At the NE. extremity of the plain of Gennesareth, where the western coast of the Sea of Tiberias joins the north coast, is a rocky promontory which is called Ras (Cape) Seiyada, and between this and some ruined water- works of Roman construction now called Tavga (mills), from some corn-mills still worked by water from the Roman tanks and aqueducts— are the ruins of a town on the shore which the natives believe to mark the site of Bethsaida. 2. Another town on the northern shore of the Sea of Tiberias, which Philip the Tetrarch enlarged and beautified, and changed its name to Julias, in honour of the daughter of Augustus and the wife of Ti- berius. (Ant. xviii. 2. § 1.) As Julia was dis- graced by Augustus before his death, and repudiated by Tiberius immediately on his assuming the purple, it is clear that the name must have been changed some time before the death of Augustus (A. D. 14), and probably before the disgrace of Julia (B.C. 2). And it is therefore nearly certain that this town is not (as has been supposed) the Bethsaida of the Gospels, since the sacred writers would doubtless, as in the parallel case of the town of Tiberias, have adopted its new name. Besides which, the Bethsaida of the Gospels was in Galilee (see supra, No. 1), while Julias was in Lower Gaulomitis (B. J. ii. 9. § 1), and therefore subject to Philip, as Galilee was not. Its exact situation is indicated by Josephus, where he says that the Jordan enters the Lake of Gennesareth at the city Julias. (B. J. iii. 9. § 7.) It was therefore on the left bank of the Jordan, at its embouchure into the Sea of Tiberias. It is not otherwise known in history except as the place of Philip the Tetrarch's death. (Ant. xviii. 5. § 6.) It is mentioned also by Pliny in connection with Hippo, as one of several agreeable towns near to the place where the Jordan enters the lake, and on the E. shore (v. 15). The small triangular plain be- tween the lake and the river is thickly covered with ruins, but especially at et-Tell, a conspicuous hill at its NW. extremnity. (Robinson, Bib. Res. vol. iii. pp. 304-308.) [G. W.] BETHSAN (Bethshan, Baubody, Beboden), or SCYTHOPOLIS, a city of the Manassites, but lo-
