DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0330
296
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
be classed with Hermon, which the Psalmist has done (lxxxix. 12), as one of the finest land-
marks of Palestine. The mountain rises two thousand feet above the Mediterranean, and
one thousand feet above the surrounding table-land, from which the ascent to the summit
occupies about fifty minutes. We climb along a made road, which is broken and difficult at
certain points, but every step gives us a wider and wider view of the country below, and
rough roads and hardships are forgotten in our excitement and surprise that, at a single
glance, our eyes can sweep over so much of fair Galilee. Soon after the summit is reached,
and while on the way to the Latin Convent, one passes through a pointed archway called
Bab el Hawa, or Gate of the Wind, which may have been built by the Crusaders, or near the
period of their dominion (see page 289). In both Greek and Latin Convents the stranger
can find very comfortable quarters, and the monks are among the most obliging and kind
that are met with in Syria. They have large gardens, which supply them with vegetables
THE HORNS OF HATTIN (KURUN HATTIN).
The summit of the eastern horn is a little circular plain ; and the top of the lower ridge between the two horns is also level.
and fruit in abundance, while, on days when the heat was severe, we found their cells not
only neat, but cool and quiet, and delightful as a place of rest.
Tabor comes prominently into notice in very early times, amid the stirring events which
attended the defeat of Jabin by Deborah and Barak (Judges iv.). At the command of Deborah,
Barak collected a valiant army of ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun, and
encamped on this watch-tower of Galilee. The great captain, Sisera, rallied his army, described
as a " host" and as a " multitude," and " nine thousand chariots of iron," on the Esdraelon plain
towards the river Kishon, within sight of the enemy, where he suffered an ignominious defeat.
The song which celebrates that day of battle is one of the most vivid and thrilling that can be
found in any literature. All through the nation's history this point seems to have been used
as a fortress. In 218 B.C., Antiochus the Great, before extending his campaign across the
Jordan, subdued Mount Tabor, and garrisoned it with his own troops. Gabinius, fifty-three
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
be classed with Hermon, which the Psalmist has done (lxxxix. 12), as one of the finest land-
marks of Palestine. The mountain rises two thousand feet above the Mediterranean, and
one thousand feet above the surrounding table-land, from which the ascent to the summit
occupies about fifty minutes. We climb along a made road, which is broken and difficult at
certain points, but every step gives us a wider and wider view of the country below, and
rough roads and hardships are forgotten in our excitement and surprise that, at a single
glance, our eyes can sweep over so much of fair Galilee. Soon after the summit is reached,
and while on the way to the Latin Convent, one passes through a pointed archway called
Bab el Hawa, or Gate of the Wind, which may have been built by the Crusaders, or near the
period of their dominion (see page 289). In both Greek and Latin Convents the stranger
can find very comfortable quarters, and the monks are among the most obliging and kind
that are met with in Syria. They have large gardens, which supply them with vegetables
THE HORNS OF HATTIN (KURUN HATTIN).
The summit of the eastern horn is a little circular plain ; and the top of the lower ridge between the two horns is also level.
and fruit in abundance, while, on days when the heat was severe, we found their cells not
only neat, but cool and quiet, and delightful as a place of rest.
Tabor comes prominently into notice in very early times, amid the stirring events which
attended the defeat of Jabin by Deborah and Barak (Judges iv.). At the command of Deborah,
Barak collected a valiant army of ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun, and
encamped on this watch-tower of Galilee. The great captain, Sisera, rallied his army, described
as a " host" and as a " multitude," and " nine thousand chariots of iron," on the Esdraelon plain
towards the river Kishon, within sight of the enemy, where he suffered an ignominious defeat.
The song which celebrates that day of battle is one of the most vivid and thrilling that can be
found in any literature. All through the nation's history this point seems to have been used
as a fortress. In 218 B.C., Antiochus the Great, before extending his campaign across the
Jordan, subdued Mount Tabor, and garrisoned it with his own troops. Gabinius, fifty-three