New Testament, the country of the Gadarenes is described as being on the other side of the sea, over against Galilee,—a notice which removes all doubt with respect to the opinion of those who maintain the existence of a town or village, named Gadara, situated to the northward of the site generally claimed for Gamala, and nearer the body of the lake. The same author tells us, that the account given in the Gospel of the habitation of the demoniac, out of whom the legion of devils was cast, struck him very forcibly while wandering among savage mountains and surrounded by tombs, still used as houses by individuals and even by whole families. A finer occasion for expressing the passions of madness in all their violence, contrasted with the serene virtue and benevolence of Him who went about continually doing good, could hardly be chosen for the pencil of an artist; and a faithful delineation of the rugged and wild majesty of the mountain-scenery on the one hand, with the still calm of the lake on the other, would give an additional charm to the picture.* Amid the interesting ruins of Gamala, situated in a barren district, alike unfavourable for agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, it is impossible not to be surprised at the indications of wealth and luxury which must have centred within its walls. The opulence cannot but have been considerable, which raised such splendid temples and colonnades, and supported two large theatres; erecting, at the same time, such massive tombs and splendid sarcophagi for all classes of the people. Its desolation may be traced to the rebellious spirit of the inhabitants, and the sanguinary wars to which it led under successive emperors. Vespasian, whose name is so closely associated with the history of Palestine not less for evil than for good, directed against it on more than one occasion the fury of the Roman legions, and finally levelled its walls, that they might not again be defended by such * Travels in Palestine, vol. ii. p. 261. desperate insurgents. At a later period, its remote situation withdrew it from the attention of Europeans; and, in truth, its very existence had ceased to be remembered, until its ruins were once more visited by travellers in the course of the present century. Passing along the eastern border of the lake, and advancing towards its northern extremity, the traveller easily recognises that desert place where the multitude was fed upon the miraculous loaves and fishes. Here, too, was the scene of the remarkable punishment inflicted upon the Gadarenes for their insensibility to Divine instruction, as also, perhaps, for the unhallowed occupation of feeding animals the use of which was forbidden by the law of Moses. The brink of the water presents many steep places where such a catastrophe might be easily realized. At the upper end of the lake are the remains of Capernaum, now called Talhewm, or Tel Hoom, situated about ten miles from Tiberias, in a north-easterly direction. This village, although at present nothing more than a station of Bedouins, appears to have been occupied in former times by a settlement of some importance, as the ruins of stately buildings are found scattered over a wide space in the neighbourhood. The foundations also of a magnificent edifice can still be traced; but the structure itself is so much dilapidated that it is no longer possible to determine whether it was a temple or a palace. The northern end is sixty-five paces in length, and, as the eastern wall seems to have extended to the very edge of the water, its length could not be less than five hundred feet. Within this space are seen large blocks of sculptured stone, in friezes, cornices, and mouldings. The appearance of the Sea of Galilee, as seen from this point of view at Capernaum, is very grand. Its greatest length runs nearly north and south from fifteen to eighteen miles, while its breadth averages from five to six. The barren aspect of the mountains on each side, and the total absence of wood, give, however, a cast of dulness to the picture; and this is increased even to a feeling of melancholy by the dead calm of its surface, and the silence which reigns throughout its whole extent, where not a boat or vessel of any kind is to be found. No fisherman any longer plies his laborious craft on the bosom of the lake, nor seeks to vary his scanty meal by letting down his net for a draught. Mr Buckingham observed, from the heights above, shoals of fish darting through the water, and the shore in some places covered with storks and diving-birds, which repair thither in search of food; but when, on one occasion, he suggested that a supper might be procured for his party by exercising a little skill with the rod or net, he discovered that the ignorant barbarians whom he addressed had not yet taken a lesson from the fowls of the air. A circumstance deserving of notice is mentioned by Hasselquist, in regard to the tenants of this lake. He thought it remarkable that the same kind of fishes which frequent the Nile should be met with here,—charmuth, silurus, bænni, mulsil, and sparus Galilæus. This explains the observations of certain travellers, who speak of the Sea of Tiberias as presenting fish peculiar to itself; not being acquainted perhaps with the produce of the Egyptian river. Josephus was of the same opinion; and yet it is worthy of remark that, in describing the Fountain of Capernaum, his conjectures tend to confirm the conclusions of the Swedish naturalist :-"Some consider it," says the Jewish historian, "as a vein of the Nile, because it brings forth fishes resembling the coracinus of the Alexandrian lake." 99% That Capernaum was a place of some wealth and consequence in the time of our Saviour, may be inferred from the expostulation addressed to it, when he upbraided the other cities wherein most of his mighty works were done :-"Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell." But the Joseph. lib. iii. De Bell. Jud. Hasselquist, p. 157. Clarke, vol. iv. p. 227. history of all the towns on the Lake of Gennesareth has been covered with a cloud which it is now impossible to dispel; and nothing, accordingly, is more difficult than to determine the situations occupied, even during the latter period of Roman ascendency, by some of the principal places on which the emperors lavished their wealth and taste. Bethsaida was converted by Herod from an insignificant village into the dignity and grandeur of a city, named Julias, in compliment to the daughter of Augustus. At the present moment, however, no traces remain to point out the line of its walls or the foundations of its palaces. Gennesareth has in like manner disappeared; or if there be any relics of the town, which once gave its name to the inland sea whose shore it adorned, they are so indistinct and ambiguous as hardly to merit the notice of the traveller. Tarachea is represented by the hamlet of Sumuk, and the ruins of Chorazin are imagined to meet the eye somewhere on the opposite coast; but, upon the whole, the denunciation uttered against the unbelieving cities of Galilee has been literally fulfilled, as they are now brought down to the lowest pitch of obscurity and oblivion.* Tiberias is the only place on that venerated Sea which retains any marks of its ancient importance. It is understood to cover the ground formerly occupied by a town of a much remoter age, and of which some traces can still be distinguished on the beach, a little to the southward of the present walls. History relates that it was built by Herod Antipas, and dedicated to Tiberius, his patron; although there also prevails an obscure tradition, that the new city owed its foundation entirely to the imperial pleasure, and was named by him who commanded it to be erected. Josephus notices 66 * Travels in Palestine, vol. ii. p. 359. "Quæ urbes, quod ipse Servator iis prædixerat, hodie in ruinis jacent."-Cluverius, lib. 5. cap. 20. Capernaum was visited in the sixth century by Antoninus the Martyr, an extract from whose Itinerary is preserved by Reland, who speaks of a church erected upon the spot where St Peter's dwelling once stood.”—Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. p. 211. |