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The Historical Geography of the Holy Land
The Historical Geography of the Holy Land Author:George Adam Smith Originally published by London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1894. — FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION: — An excerpt from the PREFACE: — THERE are many ways of writing a geography of Palestine, and of illustrating the History by the Land, but some are wearisome and some are vain. They do not give a vision of the land as a whole, nor help you to hear through it ... more »the sound of running history.... Students of the Bible desire to see a background and to feel an atmosphere—to discover from "the lie of the land" why the history took certain lines and the prophecy and gospel were expressed in certain styles—to learn what geography has to contribute to questions of Biblical criticism...
For a historical geography compassing such a survey, the conditions are to-day three—personal acquaintance with the land; a study of the exploration, discoveries and decipherments, especially of the last twenty years; and the employment of the results of Biblical criticism during the same period.
The following chapters have been written after two visits to the Holy Land. in the spring of 188o I made a journey through Judea, Samaria, Esdraelon, and Galilee: that was before the great changes which have been produced on many of the most sacred landscapes by European colonists, and by the rivalry in building between the Greek and Latin Churches. Again, in 1891, I was able to extend my knowledge of the country to the Maritime Plain, the Shephelah, the wilderness of Judea, including Masada and Engedi, the Jordan Valley, Hermon, the Beka’, and especially to Damascus, Hauran, Gilead, and Moab. Unfortunately—in consequence of taking Druze servants, we were told—we were turned back by the authorities from Bosra and the Jebel Druz, so that I cannot write from personal acquaintance with those interesting localities, but we spent the more time in the villages of Hauran, and at Gadara, Gerasa and Pella, where we were able to add to the number of discovered inscriptions....
CONTENTS
Preface
List of Plates
Chronological Table
List of Abbreviations, Etc.
BOOK I—THE LAND AS A WHOLE
The Place of Syria in The World’s History
The Form of the Land and Its Historical Consequences
The Climate and Fertility of the Land with Their Effects on Its Religion
The Scenery of the Land with Its Reflection in the Poetry of the Old Testament