© 2009 Jan Herca (license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0)
Ancient oriental texts designate Palestine by various names. The classical Egyptian name is retschenu (rtnw) of uncertain meaning. In cuneiform texts we find above all the name Amurru (=the country of the West, seen from Mesopotamia). For this reason the Bible often mentions the “Amorites” among the pre-Israeli inhabitants of Palestine, along with the “Canaanites”. But only the first of these two demonyms also appears in the Bible as the name of a country (=Canaan).
In the Bible, other names appear to designate the area of settlement of the Israelite tribes, such as “land of Israel” (eres Yisrael), sometimes in plural form (arsot Yisrael). It also appears as “land of Yahweh”. The name “Holy Land” (Admat Hakkodes), which is predominant to this day in Christian languages, is mentioned only once in the Bible. The most common name in biblical writings is “land of Canaan” (eres Knaán), also common, along with Amurru, in Cumeiform texts from the 18th century BC. In the Amarna Letters, Canaan is designated as mat kinahni, kinahna, kinahhi. Since the word kinahhu appears in Nuzi texts (15th century BC) with the meaning of “red purple”, some authors have interpreted mat kinahhi as “land of red purple”. In fact, on the Phoenician coasts there was a flourishing trade in purple cloth. The Greeks also gave that region a name (Phoinike = Phoenicia) derived from purple (phoinix). But this name already indicates that the word Canaan did not refer primarily to Palestine, that is, to the southern part of the eastern Mediterranean coast, but to Phoenicia, that is, to the northern part of the coastal strip. In fact, both the Akkadian and Egyptian texts apply the name Canaan to refer to Phoenicia. The Bible uses the concept with a wide margin of freedom: to designate the entire West Bank (i.e. Palestine), only for northern and central Palestine, for Transjordan, but also for the coastal strips and more specifically the Phoenician ones, i.e. the northern zone.
While the name Canaan appears on many pages of Scripture, the name Palestine has an extrabiblical origin. It is derived from the Philistines, a non-Semitic people who already in the 12th century BC (and perhaps even earlier) inhabited the coastal plain south of Carmel and whose wars with the Israelites are reported in numerous passages of the Old Testament. It is known that this name was still applied to the inhabitants of the coastal strip in Persian times. It is true that Greek sailors and merchants called the entire area of Anterior Asia (that is, the area corresponding to present-day Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and part of Iraq) Syria, but they distinguished between two halves on the coast. They distinguished between the northern half, “Phoenician Syria”, and the southern half, or “Palestinian Syria” (Syria ton Palaistinon). Palestinian is therefore a Greek translation of the word “Philistine”. The first expression was used by Herodotus in the 5th century BC. Following Herodotus, other Greek and Roman writers (including the historian Plutarch) also called this southern coastal strip Palestine.
The Roman administration accepted this name and from 135 AD applied the name Syria Palaestina to the entire province, including the inland areas (it replaced the previous and already derogatory Iudaea).
For these reasons, we must conclude that at the time of Jesus there were two common names to designate the entire Jewish territory: a first internal name, taken from the Scriptures, such as “land of Israel” or simply “Israel”; and another international name, by which the rest of the peoples of the world knew it, which was “Palestine”. Although today, for political reasons, these designations do not correspond to what has been said, the fact that this was the situation at the time will lead us to always designate the area of Jewish settlement at the time with these criteria.
Although Palestine is only a part of the mountainous coastal strip that separates the Mediterranean Sea from the mighty block that is the Arabian Peninsula, it can be considered to a certain extent as a geographical unit with natural borders. It has clear western and eastern boundaries: to the west it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea (the Great Sea in Jesus’ time), and to the east by the Jordan and the enclosed waters created by this river.
There are two natural possibilities for drawing its northern border: one can start from the Leontes or Litani River and move the boundary line eastwards to the southern slopes of the Hermon (including two of the three sources of the Jordan). Or one can start from the beautiful height of the “Ladder of Tyre” (ros hannikra) and continue eastwards until reaching the northern shore of the ancient Lake Hule.
The southern border also offers two possibilities: either from the southern end of the Dead Sea (Yam Ha-Melah) through Beer-Sheba, Wadi Ghazze and Gaza to the Mediterranean Sea, or from the same point through Advat, the Torrent of Egypt (Nahal Misrayim) to the sea.
Strictly speaking, Palestine covered only 18,000 km2. A comparative idea can be obtained if one knows that the province of Cáceres has 19,900 km2.
Some approximate figures will help to give a more exact idea of the country’s dimensions. The maximum distance from north to south (Metulah-Elat) is 430 km. From the Mediterranean to the Jordan, at the latitude of Jerusalem, the distance is about 90 km; from Dan to Beer-Sheba it is 240 km; from Jerusalem to Nazareth it is 105 km; from Jerusalem to Jericho it is 24 km (all these distances are understood as the crow flies or as the crow flies).
As far as our knowledge of the geological history of this region goes, Palestine has always been a country bordering on the sea. The coast of that ancient sea, of which the Mediterranean is only a remnant, was not far from the borders of modern Palestine. It seems that for a long time the sea belt ran along the present Jordan trench. At one time, the ancient sea retreated westwards, so that the Palestinian land surfaced. There were, however, other periods during which it advanced as far as Transjordan. It is clear that the south-eastern part of Palestine was always at a higher altitude than the rest of the area, so that it always remained above sea level, first as an island, when the water mass began to retreat. Since the area west of the Jordan always remained under the sea, its rocks are basically the result of marine sediments. These are hard, water-permeable limestones (mountains of Judah, Carmel, Gerizim, Ebal), which are excellent building materials (they were used to build the temples of Solomon and Herod). There is also soft limestone, which is easily eroded by water, and which therefore contributed decisively to the formation of the current Palestinian valley system. In Transjordan, where the sea rarely reaches, the sandstone known as Nubian sandstone predominates, formed on continental soil. It has a predominant (although not exclusive) reddish colour, especially in the southern end of Transjordan, which the Bible calls Edom, that is, “the Red Country”.
In the last phase of the Mesozoic, the Cretaceous, the sea again flooded the whole of Palestine, then the northern part of Transjordan and finally the southern part of this area as well. Later, the waters receded and in an early phase of the Tertiary, in the Eocene, about 50 million years ago, Palestine gradually emerged from the sea. A depression (covered by an arm of the sea) apparently existed already at that time along the line where the Jordan Trench would later break up. The last phase of the Tertiary, the Pliocene, is characterized by two processes that contributed greatly to the formation of present-day Palestine. First, there was intense volcanic activity on both sides of the upper part of the Jordan Trench during this period, with basaltic rock sediments. The other event was the collapse of the Jordan Trench itself. At the end of the Tertiary (about 3 to 2 million years ago), a deep tectonic fracture occurred, which can be traced from the Orontes to East Africa and which reaches its deepest depth in Palestine. As a result of this geological movement, the Palestinian mountain range that runs from north to south across the country was split apart. At the same time, the continental part of the western end of the mountainous area also sank, although it later rose again from the water, so that today there is only a narrow strip between the sea and the mountains. Secondary subsidence occurred in the interior, the most important result of which was the Jezreel Plain.
The Quaternary or Pleistocene began a little over 1 million years ago. As is well known, this era is characterized in Europe by four glacial periods separated by three interglacial periods. Palestine did not experience major glaciations, but did experience periods of abundant rainfall, so that in these regions we must speak of pluvial and interpluvial periods. During the pluvial or diluvial phases the valleys and interior plains were covered by large lakes. The sea level rose and fell according to the periods of melting or growth of ice masses. During periods of high level the Jordan trench may have become an inlet of the Mediterranean Sea. During periods of low level the communication with the sea was broken, so that a series of lakes appeared separated from each other: Lake Hule, Lake (or Sea) of Tiberias and the Dead Sea. This is how Palestine achieved, over the course of hundreds of millions of years, its present multiform and pleasant form.
This brief look at the geological history of Palestine reveals that it can be distinguished by four zones running parallel in a north-south direction.
The part of the coastal plain corresponding to Palestine begins in the north at the height of the “Ladder of Tyre” (Ros Hannikar) and is divided into two sections of different lengths and widths by the even more prominent summit of Mount Carmel. The northern section is usually called the Plain of Akko, after the city that has dominated it since ancient times. In ancient times it was called the Plain of Asher, after the Israelite tribe settled there.
Among the various valleys that flow from the Galilean mountains into the plain, the most striking feature is the gap that leads from Safed to Akko and separates the northern mountainous area from the southern one. Its privileged location at the crossroads of north-south roads and the fact that it is the only natural inlet on the Palestinian coast made Akko the most important port from the Phoenicians to the Crusades.
The coastal strip of the Gulf of Akko is today called the Zebulun Plain. It consists mainly of Nile sand sediments. The Biblical river or torrent Kishon flows into the southern edge of the Gulf. It originates in the Plain of Jezreel and flows along the slopes of Carmel into the sea. The Carmel Mountains close the Plain of Asher to the south. The city of Haifa (Shiqmona) has been located at its foot since Biblical times.
Several zones can also be distinguished in the coastal plain south of the Carmel summit. The first is a narrow strip between Shiqmona and the crocodile river (nahal hattantinim), so called because the alluvial limestone hills in the area made it difficult for water courses to flow to the sea, so that marshy pools formed in which crocodiles abounded for centuries. It seems that in ancient times this area was sparsely inhabited, except for the Phoenician city of Dor, which faced the sea. This part of the coastal strip was named the Dor plain from it.
The situation is similar in the following area. In the Bible it is called Sharon (Hassaron). It extends from the Crocodile River to an imaginary line drawn from Jaffa to the Aijalon Valley. It is about 80 km long. The most important watercourse in the Sharon Plain is the Yakon River, which has its source in the biblical town of Aphek and flows into the sea near the northern suburbs of Tel Aviv. In the northern part of the Sharon Plain, the Alexander River and the Hadera River, which flow down from the mountains of Samaria, are among the tributaries. This beautiful plain, now populated by lush lemon groves, was covered in biblical times by oak forests and sparsely inhabited. The Bible speaks of the splendour (hadar) of Sharon, and in the Song of Songs the companions of the beloved compare her to the daffodils of wild Sharon. The only important city on this plain in the time of the Israelites was Jaffa or Joppa, until King Herod the Great founded the city of Caesarea, which also reduced the importance of ancient Dor.
The southernmost part of the Palestinian coastline is the Philistine region. This is the last inhabited area before reaching the desert, whose influence is already being felt: the rains are less frequent, the soil is drier, and there is no longer any need to contend with marshy areas. Excellent crops of wheat and barley are harvested here, and wine and oil are also abundant. Trade and culture flourished in the five Philistine cities (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath or Ekron and Acaron). The first three have continued to exist without interruption to the present day. However, the ports of Ashkelon and Ashdod were once covered by sand. A strip of dunes that is 5 km wide in some places festoons the Philistine coast. The maritime plain is at its widest in the south. Together with Gaza it measures 40 km, but it narrows as one moves north (about 30 km in Ashkelon, 20 in Tel Aviv, 15 in Caesarea and barely 3 km between the sea and Carmel).
a) The mountainous area of Galilee and the plain of Yizreel
The Galilean Mountains are an extension of the Lebanon Mountains. While the latter reach their highest point of 3,083 m, the Galilee area does not rise above 1,200 m. The area begins in the north with the Galilean Mountains, which are further divided into Upper or Northern Galilee and Lower or Southern Galilee. The Upper Galilee Mountains were very lush in biblical times (like Lebanon), sparsely populated and played a modest role in the early history of Israel. Here is the highest peak in western Jordan (Har Merom) at 1,208 m. Just 10 km away as the crow flies, the city of Safed rises to the south-east.
To the south of the slope, which is about the height of Akko, begins the mountainous region of Southern Galilee, whose pleasant peaks, partly of volcanic origin, barely reach 500 m. Very close to its steep descent towards the plain of Yizreel, lies the town of Nazareth, lying in a hollow at an altitude of 343-488 m. From the highest point of the town (nebi Sa’in), the gaze reaches northwards to the mountains of Northern Galilee and the narrow inland plain (bikat bet netofah), about 15 km long and 3 km wide, which separates the northern hills of Galilee from the southern ones, while to the south, above the plain of Yizreel, the Samaritan mountains are visible. To the east of Nazareth, the rounded summit of Mount Tabor (588 m) rises from the plain of Yizreel. Its slopes are covered with scrub and chaparral. It is an excellent orientation point, visible from a great distance. To the south, the plain of Yizreel is bordered by the Samaritan Mountains to the north-west, and is framed by the foothills of these mountains, which are an extension of Carmel, and by Mount Gilboa to the north-east. Between Tabor and Gilboa, the so-called “Little Hermon” (Givat Hammoreh), 515 m high, divides the eastern basin of Yizreel into two halves, the northern one from Wadi Es-Sarrar (nahal Tabor), the southern one from nahal Harod. The Kishon flows towards the Mediterranean along the Carmel chain. Both this river and its numerous tributaries have provided the alluvial plain of Yizreel with extraordinary fertility since Biblical times, as indicated by its name (“God sows”; in Greek times it was given the deformed name of Esdraelon).
The Yizreel Plain has five access points: two from the west, one from the north, one from the east and one from the south. To the east, the Nahal Jokneam and Nahal Iron passes, along with the fortresses of Yoknean and Meggido, offer gentle ascents to the interior plain. From the north, the road leads from Akko to Yokneam and then back to Meggido; from the east, the valley of the aforementioned Nahal Harod dominated by the fortress of Beth San. The most important accesses are protected by the fortresses of Meggido and Beth San, which have a checkered history dating back several thousand years. The armies that came from the south and advanced along the sea coast abandoned it in the region of present-day Hadera, entered the Yizreel Plain through Meggido and left it again at Beth San, heading towards Damascus. Megiddo has thus become a prototype of a battlefield and even a symbol of eschatological combat (Harmage-don). The most famous battles of the biblical period were the victory of Thutmose III over the coalition of Syrian princes, with the subsequent conquest of Megiddo, in 1468 BC, and the defeat inflicted on the Judahite king Josiah in 609 BC, by Pharaoh Neco II, who was advancing against the fortress of Megiddo.
b) The mountain of Samaria
To the south, the plain of Yizreel flows into the small plain of Dothan, which extends into a depression that runs first in a south-westerly direction, then in a south-easterly direction, and finally in a southerly direction. This depression divides the Samaritan mountainous area into two halves, a northern and a southern halves, and within each halve, a western mountainous region, which slopes gently down to the coastal plain, and an eastern one, which drops abruptly into the Jordan Valley. This is the line that the road has followed since ancient times. The pass offers a truly impressive view of the gorge that separates the northern mount Ebal (928 m) from the southern mount Gerizim (868 m). From this pass, the road is easily overlooked. It is therefore not surprising that in this area, in biblical times, we find the Canaanite fortress of Shechem and present-day Nablus. This point becomes even more important because it not only extends the trade route to the south, but also opens to the east through the small Sahl Askar plain, from which a valley with abundant water, the Wadi Fara, facilitates communication, first to the northeast and then to the southeast, with the Jordan Valley and with the most important ford of this river.
c) The mountain of Judah
While the Galilean mountain is clearly separated by the plain of Yizreel from the Samaritan mountain, the transition from the latter to the Judean hills is almost imperceptible. There is, however, a gap, formed by the plain of Lubban and the Wadi Selun, which descends from the biblical city of Shiloh and crosses the trade route at Lubban (Lebona). A modern road winds up the Judean hills, whose peaks range from 700 to 1000 m high. It also extends through the mountain gorge used by the road and divides the area into an eastern and western half. In some places the valley is so narrow and isolated that, until recently, it was a bit of a risky venture. Not without good reason, the gap, which runs close to the 32nd parallel, has retained to this day the significant name of Wadi el-Haramiya (“Valley of the Thieves”). Not far from here, in a south-easterly direction, is the highest peak in the chain, Tell el-Assur, the biblical Baal-Hasor. Further south, in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, the landscape takes on a gentler and more pleasant appearance. The most notable peaks are: to the west of the road, Nebi Samuel (“Prophet Samuel”) at 895 m; the biblical Gibeah or Gibeah of Saul, at 839 m, the residence of the first king of Israel, situated in a dominant position. This cleft of the mountain ends at the Mount of Olives, which places us very close to Jerusalem.
Among the towns in the area, Bethlehem is 8 km south of Jerusalem. In this southern direction the mountain narrows and, consequently, the coastal plain widens. The mountainous area of Judah reaches its highest point (1028 m) near Hebron. This mountainous area is well watered, enjoys a healthy and cool climate and is famous, from biblical times to the present day, for its great wealth of vineyards. To the west, the mountain of Judah descends in steps towards the maritime plain (the most famous of which is the “ascent of Beth-Horon”), along which runs the traditional route from Joppa to Jerusalem. The bare limestone peaks of the mountain of Judah are the result of savage felling of the mountains during the Arab-Turkish period. In biblical times they must have been covered with trees, as can be deduced from names such as Quiryat-Yearim (“Forest City”).
The transition zone between the mountains and the coastal plain, called the Shephelah in the Old Testament (sefelah = depression, hollow, lowland, from the point of view of the mountain dwellers), is a region of hills dotted with valleys, 300 to 400 m high; here the Israelites and the Philistines fought bitter and endless battles to gain control of this border region between their respective settlements. The Shephelah is, together with the mountains (har) and the southern area (negeb), one of the classic landscapes of the Bible. In biblical times, it was apparently abundant with sycamore and olive trees.
To the east, the Judean Mountains plunge in formidable undulations into the Jordan Basin, at the bottom of which and along the western shore of the Dead Sea, they form a wall of almost vertical walls. As this part of the mountain is sheltered from the rain, it has a steppe-like appearance; it is the famous “Desert of Judah”, a favourite place of refuge in biblical times for political fugitives or those seeking God. It was there that David fled from Saul’s persecution, and it was there that John the Baptist and Jesus are believed to have prepared for their public activity. The region was inhabited, both in the biblical period and in later times, by numerous monastic communities. The most notable one known today was the community of Qumran. The most important route of communication between the mountains of Judah and the Jordan Valley from Jerusalem to Jericho through the desert runs through Wadi El-Kelt, and people travelled along it until the end of Turkish rule. Another route leads from Jericho and the north-western shore of the Dead Sea to Bethlehem through the small inland plain of El-Buk’a (drained by Wadi Koumran). On the eastern edge of the desert, where a spring emerges, an oasis of tropical vegetation arises around it. The oases of Jericho and En-Gadi are famous in the Bible.
d) The Negev
South of Hebron, the arable lands give way to the grand Southern Desert. Its biblical name is Negeb. Beer-Sheba, which in biblical times was a thriving trading centre for caravans from the desert and agricultural regions, is mentioned in the Old Testament as the southernmost of the Israelite cities.
The southern desert is lost in the Sinai Peninsula. The part attributed to Palestine is roughly shaped like a triangle, resting on one of its vertices, with a base of about 110 km and a height of 190 km. Thus, from the beginning of the Negeb to its southern limit is as far as the northern limit of Palestine. While Beer-Sheba does not rise above 240 m above sea level, the Negeb rises southwards to altitudes of 1035 m (i.e. similar to those of the mountain of Judah near Hebron). The Negeb is divided into peaks that run, in a more or less parallel direction, from the north-east to the south-west and descend more abruptly and steeply in the south-east than in the north-west. Erosion has formed impressive craters at three points, called maktesim (“mortars”) in Israel: the “Great Maktes”, the “Little Maktes” and the “Upper Maktes”. The latter is by far the largest of them all. The highest peaks of these maktesim reach, respectively, 710, 540 and 1006 metres.
This is the name given to the Palestinian part of the great Tertiary tectonic subsidence which extends the high valley separating the mountain chains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. The part of the trench which falls towards Palestine extends from the Hermon to the Gulf of El-Akaba and is divided into two halves by the Dead Sea. The northern half is characterised by the course of the Jordan and Lake Gennesaret, formed by that river (Jordan Trench in the strict sense of the term), while the southern half is a desert trench.
The Jordan is born from three magnificent springs at the foot of Mount Hermon, whose snowy summit can be seen from a great distance in Galilee. The meaning of the Hebrew word yarden is disputed. In the Bible this name is always preceded by an article (hayarden). Because of its steep slope, the Hebrew verb yarad (=to flow torrentially) has been suggested. But the more widely held opinion is that the name is of Indo-Germanic origin. Homer mentions a Yardanos from Crete. “Jordan” would therefore be a generic name, a generic name that simply means “river.”
The northernmost of the three streams that form the Jordan, the Nahr el-Hasbani, rises on the western slope of the Hermon. On the southern slope of this mountain it is joined by the Nahal Dan, which rises in the ancient city of Dan. Both are joined, 43 m above sea level, by the Nahal Paneas, which comes from Syria. The easternmost of these sources is the one with the greatest historical fame. Here the Jordan emerges with a powerful force from the depths of a formidable limestone cave. This prodigy of nature has awakened in men, from ancient times, feelings of veneration for divine powers.
Here the Phoenicians worshipped their god Baal. The Greeks consecrated the place to the god of nature Pan and called it Paneion, and the nearest town Paneas. When Augustus gave the whole region as a gift to Herod the Great, the monarch ordered a temple of white marble to be built on the top of the rocky cliff to honour his benefactor. His son Herod Philip made the ancient Paneas into a new city, which he named Caesarea Philippi in honour of Caesar and himself. The Synoptic Gospels place a stay of Jesus with the apostles here.
Once the three sources have joined together, the river flows through a fertile plain of tropical vegetation, situated almost at sea level. Until recently, the Jordan formed the small Lake Hule here, in an area plagued by malaria. From this point, and until its mouth in Lake Gennesaret, the Jordan crosses a difference in altitude of 210 m (from +2 to -208 m in relation to the level of the Mediterranean) in a distance of 16 km. From the point where the ancient road to Damascus crosses the Jordan (“Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob”), the river rushes into a deep gorge with numerous rapids through black basaltic rocks in a southerly direction, to then flow gently into Lake Gennesaret, tempered by a sandbank formed by the current of the Jordan itself.
Lake Gennesaret lies within a quadrangular valley, bordered on its western side by the mountains of Galilee and on its eastern side by the heights of the Transjordanian plain. The southern shores are steeper on both sides than those on the northern side. The only significant opening in the lake basin (outside the northern and southern ends of the Jordan Valley) is formed by the small plain of Gennesar on the northwestern edge of the lake, from which several connecting valleys lead to the mountains of Upper Galilee (Safed), the inner plain of Galilee and Nazareth. The lake has a maximum north-south length of 21 km, a maximum east-west width of 12 km and a maximum depth of 44 m. Its surface area is 168 km2, and its level is 208 m below the Mediterranean. The water is fresh, clear and, like water in biblical times, offers abundant fish. The peculiar situation of the lake explains its well-known sudden storms. During the day, the lake is extremely hot (temperatures of up to 50°C are not uncommon in summer). At night, cold winds blow in from the sea through the mountains of Galilee. As they are situated above the warm caldera, and since cold air is heavier than warm air, they rush at high speed into the lake basin and whip the water surface with fury.
The Jordan leaves the Gennesaret plain at its south-west end and flows southwards, meandering in innumerable meanders, towards the Dead Sea. Along the 110 km that separate this sea from the lake, the river descends from -208 to -390 metres as the crow flies. In the first 40 km the valley is wide and fertile. Rain and tributaries still provide abundant water. The most important of these tributaries are, on the eastern bank, the Yarmuk, which flows into the lake, and on the western bank the Nahal Harod, which flows from the plain of Yizreel. In this section, the Jordan also offers easy access, since its bed is more or less at the same height as the bottom of the valley.
In contrast to the previous section, the last 70 km of the lower Jordan Valley present a completely different picture. The valley becomes increasingly narrow and deep. From the west, the slopes of the Samaritan Mountains approach, and from the east, the mountainous region of Gilead falls away. The area becomes steppe-like, the soil no longer supports cultivation and the vegetation is sparse. After about 20 km, the ditch widens again and receives from both banks tributaries of both physical and historical importance: from the east, the Yabbok, and from the west, the Wadi Fara, which flows into the Jordan at the historic Adam’s Ford. In its final course, the ditch is almost as long as it is wide, so that it forms a kind of circle. This is, in fact, the expression (kikkar = circle) used in the Bible. Here, the Jordan no longer flows at the level of the valley floor, as it does in the north. On both sides of the river there is a wide terrace, called in Arabic el-ghor (‘sink, depth’). From here the marly ground drops in fantastic shapes to the river bed. This drop is called kattara (‘ravine’) in Arabic. After a few hundred metres we find ourselves on the vertical bank of the Jordan, which, as it flows, becomes increasingly yellowish in colour due to the clay soil. Only the strip immediately adjacent to the river has tropical vegetation, in which saltpeter species such as the Jordan tamarisk are particularly present, and where lions were abundant in Jeremiah’s time. Wild boars still survive today. This is why the Old Testament calls this area ‘the splendour, the pomp, the finery of the Jordan’. From a bird’s eye view, the course of the Jordan looks like a black band, through which the silver thread of the river meanders.
Not far from the Jordan, on the elevated marly terrace of the ghor (although still below the level of the Mediterranean, Beth-San: -130 m; Jericho: -250 m) are, according to recent archaeological discoveries, the oldest known urban settlements not only in Palestine but in the whole world. These settlements were facilitated by the springs that give rise to oases of tropical vegetation. The largest and most important of these oases is that of Jericho. Its leafy and abundant palm trees and fruit trees provide a vivid contrast to the arid and bare desert that surrounds it.
The influence of the Dead Sea can be felt a few kilometres upstream of the river. This sea is undoubtedly the most unusual body of water on our planet. It is 78 km long, has a maximum width of 17-18 km and reaches depths of up to 400 m. Its total surface area is around 1000 km2. The average water surface level is -395 m (but this was not known until 150 years ago). An anvil-shaped peninsula, which extends from the eastern shore to more than half of the basin, divides the sea into two halves. Of these, only the northern part reaches the aforementioned depths, while the southern part is only a few metres deep. The name Dead Sea is not biblical. It is due to the fact that, due to the high salt content of this inland sea, there is no trace of plant or animal life of higher organisms in it. In the Bible it is called the “Desert Sea” (because of the Arabah desert trench that borders it in the south), “Eastern Sea” (as opposed to the Mediterranean Sea, Great Sea or Western Sea) and “Salty Sea” or “Sea of Salt.”
The Dead Sea has a salt content of around 25%, which is eight times higher than the average for the oceans. This phenomenon is due to the fact that it is a sea with no drainage. As a result, the salt content of this inland sea, which in prehistoric times was probably an arm of the Mediterranean, has increased over time, especially since the Jordan River flows through saline terrain. This proportion remains constant because it loses a volume of water through evaporation similar to that received (around 6.5 million tons per day).
Given the harsh living conditions at the Dead Sea, there has never been a dense human population in its vicinity. However, the Bible mentions the existence of five towns in the area in ancient times, all but one of which were destroyed in a catastrophe: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela or Zoar. Excavations have revealed a high level of culture as early as the 4th millennium BC. There is no doubt that the oases of En-gedi and Eneglayim on the western edge of the Dead Sea were inhabited in biblical times (excavations at En-gedi have revealed the existence of a powerful cult centre in the 4th millennium BC and five stages of settlement from the time of Josiah (7th century BC) to the Byzantine period). Today we also know that a Jewish religious community lived in Qumran, on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. In the oasis of En-gedi, famous in biblical times for its vineyards, palm trees, early legumes and other crops are still growing today.
The Dead Sea extends into a steppe trench (the Bible uses the name ha-arabah to designate the Jordan Trench north of the Dead Sea). It runs between the Palestinian Negeb and the Edom plateau and at its greatest length, from the southern tip of the Dead Sea to the apex of the Gulf of Aqaba (Elat), it reaches almost 180 km. Three unequal areas can be distinguished in it: the first 15 km south of the Dead Sea form the Sodom salt marshes. It is covered by a dense undergrowth of saltpeter plants and is, for the most part, absolutely impassable. In this section, the trench rises from 390 m to about 250 below the Mediterranean level. In the Middle Arabah, the terrain continues to rise to 230 m above the Mediterranean level, although this rise is almost imperceptible, since it occurs over a distance of 90 km. This zone ends at the crest of Seluhat Nosah. From here, the Southern Arabah begins a gentle descent that reaches sea level at the Gulf of Aqaba (Elat). For the most part, the valley floor is covered with hard pebbles, although saline calderas with softer soil, groundwater and salty tropical flora appear from time to time.
It is a plateau with an average altitude of about 800 m. To the west it slopes sharply towards the Jordan Basin, while to the east it flows into the Syro-Arabian Desert. Rainfall decreases as one moves from north to south and from west to east. Four powerful transverse valleys divide the entire region into five zones. The northernmost of these, facing the Hule basin and Lake Gennesaret, is today called Golan (Roman Gaulanitis), and constitutes the westernmost part of the biblical country of Bashan, famous for its oak groves and its magnificent flocks. This volcanic landscape, 1000 m high, with extinct craters rising to 1200 m, softens towards the east to become a cereal plain of about 600 m, which bears the significant name of en-nukra (“the hole”). To the east it is bordered by the sparsely inhabited lava field of el-ledja (“the refuge” of dubious people), the ancient Trachonitis, and to the south-east by the basaltic mountains of biblical Juran, from which the Latin name Auranitis, which designates the entire region, is derived. Its highest peak rises to 1839 m.
The Yarmuk marks the dividing line between the Golan Heights and the wooded Adjulan. Its highest peak is 1,261 m high. Adjulan is part of the Biblical region of Gilead, with its pleasant landscapes, which has been famous since ancient times for its extensive forests, which were rich in medicinal plants. The impressive ruins near the village of Djerasen still bear witness to the fact that the city of Gerasa, which was part of the Decaolis, was the capital of the entire region from the Hellenistic to the Byzantine era.
The Adjlun is bordered on the south by the Yabbok. This river, which has its source near the ancient Ammonite capital of Rabbat Ammon (ancient Philadelphia), heads north and north-west in its upper course, turns west south of Gerasa and then flows through a deeply sunken bed to the Jordan, which it reaches at the ford of Ed-Damge. During this course it climbs a height difference of almost 1,100 m (from +758 to -350). The land south of the Yabbok is called Belka (“Land without trees”), with wide plateaus (and a maximum height of 1,096 m). The Belka was once inhabited by the Ammonites. According to biblical tradition, Moses looked down on the land of Canaan from Mount Nebo, on a spur at the western end of the mountain range, and there he died. The two peaks of Nebo provide an unforgettable view of the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley.
The Arnon Gorge marks the dividing line between Beelkah and the ancient habitat of the Moabites. The river receives numerous tributaries from the Sio-Arabian Steppe plateau and channels the winter rains to the Dead Sea through a bed deeply carved into the mountain, the last section of which takes the form of a canyon. The difference in altitude between the source of the river and the Dead Sea is about 1,300 m. To the south, the Moabite region was bordered by the biblical stream or torrent of Zerad, today’s Wadi el-Hesa, which forms a gorge as deep as that of the Arnon and flows south into the Dead Sea. Today, the entire region between the two rivers is called el-Kerak, from the name of its largest town. The defensive city of Kerak has an excellent natural fortress in the Wadi el-Kerak, which carries its boulders to the Lisan peninsula. North of Wadi el-Kerak, the Belka extends into the Moabite region, with an average altitude of about 800 m. The climate becomes increasingly steppe-like. South of Wad el-Kerak, however, the plateau rises to 1,641 m. To the east, the mountain dissolves into the Syro-Arabian desert, while to the west it drops vertically towards the Arabah. The landscape is increasingly dominated by a reddish rock that reminds us that we are in Edom, “the red country” (from the Hebrew adom = red). The ruins of the city of Petra are of exceptional interest.
The climate of Palestine has remained largely unchanged from biblical times to the present day. It is extremely healthy, subtropical (tropical in the Jordan Valley), with shorter summer days and longer winter days than in temperate zones (the longest days have 14 hours of sunlight, the shortest 10. The very short duration of twilight is remarkable: after sunset, night breaks almost suddenly).
There are numerous references to the Palestinian climate in the Bible. For example, the promise in Genesis: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will not cease.”
As can be seen from this passage, there are only two seasons in this region: summer and winter. Winter (horef) is characterized by rain, summer (kayis) by the absence of rain. The season of early rains (yoreh = autumn rain) ends in March/April with the beautiful late rains (malkos = spring rain). In accordance with these seasons, sowing takes place in winter, because then the earth is spongy thanks to the action of the first rains. The harvest is obviously gathered in summer. It is therefore understandable that the Jews place the beginning of the year, even in our days, in autumn. With the grape harvest the year ends and the rebirth of life, with the arrival of the first rains, invites a new beginning. The heaviest rainfall, accompanied by lacerating winds, occurs in December and January. The latter month has the coldest days of the year. During the winter, there are an average of 60 days of rain. Although the early and late rains are very important, they account for only a tenth of the total rainfall. The annual average is about 600 mm in Joppa, 560 mm in Jerusalem, 700 mm in Nablus, 200 mm in Beer-Sheba and 100 mm in Jericho. It rarely snows, although there are times when it exceeds all expectations, both in terms of quantity and time. For example, at the end of January there can be snowfalls of up to 40 cm, and 10 cm on the coast and even in the Jordan Valley.
The rainy season is followed by a splendid flowering period and the whole of Palestine, including the steppe, resembles a multicoloured carpet, which is quickly put to rest by the summer heat. The cool westerly winds, which blow regularly in the afternoon and evening, make the climate perfectly bearable even in the hottest months (July to September), especially in the Paletina mountains and the Transjordan plateau. However, it is true that during May and September-October a hot and paralysing desert wind (serkije or kamsin) blows across the country during the day and can cause devastating damage to cultivated areas.
In the time of Jesus, the territory that constituted the Jewish zone was a set of changing districts due to the succession of monarchs and wars.
We have to divide Jewish history from the time of Jesus into two moments that caused the distribution of these districts to vary among their rulers:
1st. The reign of Herod the Great, from 37 to 4 BC
2nd. The government of the sons of Herod the Great or his substitutes, from 4 BC onwards, until the uprising of the people occurred in 66 AD and the war against the Romans took place.
Jesus lived, as we suppose, from 7 BC (uncertain date) to 30 AD (certain date). His days were therefore spent during the reign of the sons of Herod the Great, except for those three years of Herod’s reign, which in any case forced Jesus and his parents to move to Egypt.
Let us therefore first determine how the Jewish territory was distributed at the time of Herod’s death. He divided his kingdom among four of his sons at his death. The division was as follows:
Tetrarchy of Archelaus: included Judea, Samaria and part of Idumea. From 6 AD, this territory came under the rule of a procuratorate due to the serious unrest that occurred under the government of Archelaus.
Tetrarchy of Herod Antipas: included Galilee and Perea.
Tetrarchy of Philip: included Panias, Ulata, Gaulanitide, Batanea, Auranitide and Trachonitide.
Tetrarchy of Lysanias: it corresponded to Abilene.
There was also a group of cities that were tributary to Salome, Herod’s sister. These were: Azotus (Ashdod), Kidron, Ekron, Jamnia (Jabneh), Phasaelis, Archelais.
Apart from these territories there were districts not governed by the Herodian family. They were the following:
Decapolis: autonomous territory not defined by borders of 10 independent cities.
Phoenicia and the cities of Gaza and Anthedon (Mayumas): they were part of the Roman province of Syria.
Ammon and Moabites: two territories south of Pera not subject to Jewish authority.
Nabatea: a kingdom separate from the Jewish one, which had a period of great splendor, especially before the days of Jesus. It was located in the desert, surrounding the Jewish territory to the east and south.
Arabia: the Arabs lived in the peninsula of their name, and in the time of Jesus they were an important people.
Idumea: part of this territory was part of the inheritance that Herod the Great left to his son Archelaus, but another part was independent.
Ashkelon: independent city with its own government.
Waters of Merom, Arbel, Bethlehem (Bet-Helem), Capernaum (Kefar Nahum), Cana, Chorazim (Korazim), Dabarite, Endor, Gennesaret (Guinnosar), Guiscala, Hazor (ruins), Iron, Jezreel, Jotapata, Madon, Magdala (Magdiel), Naim, Nazareth, Ramah, Rimmon, Safed, Sarid, Sepphoris, Shunem, Tabja, Tarichea, Zebulun
Abel-Sittim, Adam, Amatus, Asophon (Zaphon), Beth-Meon, Betabara (Bethany of the Jordan), Bethenabris (Bet-Nimra), Bezemoth, Callirhoe, Gedor, Livias, Macareus (Macheron), Mispe, Penuel, Ragaba, Succot, Tire
Alexandrian, Apollonia, Capharsheba, Caesarea del Mar, Dothan, En-Ganim, Geba, Ginea, Meggido, Pirathon, Sychar, Shechem (Sebaste)
Adida, Adora, Adulan, Antipatris, Arad, Arimathea, Beeroth, Bethlehem, Bersheba (Bersheba), Beth-El, Beth-Gubrin, Beth-Horon, Beth-Zechariah, Bethany, Bethphage, Bethsura, Doq, Ephraim, Elasa, Emmaus , En-Gaddi, Gazara, Gibeon, Gofna, Hebron, Herodion, Hyrcania, Jericho, Joppa (Jaffa), Lebona, Lidda, Maresha, Masada, Mikmas, Modin, Cheruhaim, Ramah, Shekaka (Qumran), Tamna, Tekoa, Timna, Yutta
Abila, Bosora, Canta, Capitolias, Damascus, Dium, Efrom, Scythopolis (Betshan or Beth-Shean), Philadelphia (Rabbat Ammon), Gadara, Gilead, Gerasa, Hippos (Susita), Jazer, Jogbehá, Pella, Rafaná
Ashtaroth, Bethsaida (Saidan), Bethsaida Julias, Bosor, Dan, Edrei, Gamala, Geresah (Cheresah), Luz, Maget, Qarnayim, Seluecia