the fourth century. Here was held the last session of the Sanhedrim, and here the Talmud was collected. It is still a decent town, and around it are extensive ruins, indicative of its former extent and grandeur. 30 or 40 families of Greek Catholics reside here. The present name of this town is Tabaria.
THE CITIES OF ASIA MINOR.
The Asia of the Bible is a peninsula, on the western or south-western side of the continent of Asia, which stretches into the Mediterranean or Great Sea, extending east as far as the Euphrates, west to the islands of the sea, north to what is now called the Black sea, and south to the Mediterranean Sea. It includes the provinces of Bithynia, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Mysia, Troas, Lydia, Lysia, and Caria.
Assyria. (2 Kings xv. 19.) A most powerful empire of Asia, the history of which, both in its glory and in its overthrow, is most significantly told by the prophet.—(Ezek. xxxi.) It was founded probably by Nimrod, 120 years after the deluge.
Cuth, or Cutha, (2 Kings xvii. 24, 30,) was evidently, from the connection, a province of Assyria; and Cush is the marginal reading for Ethiopia in Gen. ii. 13, Hab. iii. 7, and elsewhere.
Lydia. (Ezek. xxx. 5.) There was a celebrated kingdom of Asia Minor known by this name, of which Sardis was the capital. It is supposed to have been settled by the posterity of Lud, a son of Shem. It had Mysia on the north, Phrygia on the east, Caria on the south, and the Ægean Sea on the west. It was once under the dominion of Crœsus, the wealthiest monarch of his age. It was, in the time of the apostles, a province of the Roman empire. The Lydia of the above cited passage is supposed to refer to a place or a people in Africa.
Bithynia. (Acts xvi. 7. A province of Asia Minor. It is bounded on the east by Paphlagonia, north by the Black Sea, and south by Phrygia and Galatia. It is
