DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0340
■r
306 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
of the country ever since the time of Hosea. Not only have the inhabitants of the region
taken refuge in these vast caverns when war has desolated the land, but bands of outlaws have
made them their hiding-place, whence they have issued forth to plunder the neighbouring
villages and people. The account of the capture of these caves by Herod the Great, although
we have no reason to doubt that it is veritable history, reads more like a romance. He had
been appointed captain of Galilee by his father Antipater in the year 46 B.C., when he was
twenty-five years of age, and his acts at that early period are characterized by the same
energy and something of the same severity which marked his later career. In the year
40 B.C. he was appointed King of Judea by a decree from Rome, but did not gain full
possession of his kingdom till the year 37 B.C. It was between these last dates, probably
in the year 39 B.C., that his bold feat of subduing the robbers in these caves was accomplished.
Through a snow-storm—an event which Orientals always regard with terror, and which is
described as "sent of God," and hence must have been of unusual severity—Herod pushed
his way from the south into Galilee and took Sepphoris (see page 286), where he found
ample provisions for his army. He immediately sent a force against Arbela (see page 307),
where " his opponents, who possessed at once military skill and brigand daring, met him
in arms." A battle ensued, in which they were at first victorious; but Herod himself,
having arrived on the scene, rallied his retreating forces and soon overcame the enemy
and put them to flight. Josephus remarks that the caves were not then subdued, as " their
reduction demanded time." This is a significant statement, and affords a hint as to the
character of this stronghold. Herod himself took personal direction of this important
undertaking, and the task before him was no easy one. " To these caves opening on the
face of mountain precipices there was no direct access" (see page 307). "The rock forming
their front extended downward into ravines of prodigious depth," and, in order to reach
them, " the king had recourse at length to a most hazardous contrivance." Great chests,
strongly bound with iron, were let down from the edge of the mountain above, which proved
to be a work of extreme difficulty and danger. " They were filled with armed men, who had
long hooks in their hands, by which they might pull out such as resisted them and tumble
them down and kill them by so doing." Being emboldened by their first successes, "the
soldiers made repeated sallies into the mouths of the caves, where they slew many of the
enemy, and then returned again to their chests." There was a great deal of combustible
material in the caves, and the besiegers set this on fire, which aided them in their work of
destruction. At last, the besieged being weakened in numbers, some of those that remained
submitted to the king while others threw themselves down the precipice, and thus destroyed
their lives rather than submit to the conqueror. A touching story is told of an old man,
the father of seven children, who, with their mother, entreated him to go out and submit
himself under Herod's pledge of protection, which he obstinately refused to do. " Herod,
looking on from an eminence which commanded the spot, was overpowered by his feelings
and extended his right hand to the old man, imploring him to spare his offspring. But he,
unmoved by his exhortations, and even reproaching Herod for his abject birth, slaughtered
306 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
of the country ever since the time of Hosea. Not only have the inhabitants of the region
taken refuge in these vast caverns when war has desolated the land, but bands of outlaws have
made them their hiding-place, whence they have issued forth to plunder the neighbouring
villages and people. The account of the capture of these caves by Herod the Great, although
we have no reason to doubt that it is veritable history, reads more like a romance. He had
been appointed captain of Galilee by his father Antipater in the year 46 B.C., when he was
twenty-five years of age, and his acts at that early period are characterized by the same
energy and something of the same severity which marked his later career. In the year
40 B.C. he was appointed King of Judea by a decree from Rome, but did not gain full
possession of his kingdom till the year 37 B.C. It was between these last dates, probably
in the year 39 B.C., that his bold feat of subduing the robbers in these caves was accomplished.
Through a snow-storm—an event which Orientals always regard with terror, and which is
described as "sent of God," and hence must have been of unusual severity—Herod pushed
his way from the south into Galilee and took Sepphoris (see page 286), where he found
ample provisions for his army. He immediately sent a force against Arbela (see page 307),
where " his opponents, who possessed at once military skill and brigand daring, met him
in arms." A battle ensued, in which they were at first victorious; but Herod himself,
having arrived on the scene, rallied his retreating forces and soon overcame the enemy
and put them to flight. Josephus remarks that the caves were not then subdued, as " their
reduction demanded time." This is a significant statement, and affords a hint as to the
character of this stronghold. Herod himself took personal direction of this important
undertaking, and the task before him was no easy one. " To these caves opening on the
face of mountain precipices there was no direct access" (see page 307). "The rock forming
their front extended downward into ravines of prodigious depth," and, in order to reach
them, " the king had recourse at length to a most hazardous contrivance." Great chests,
strongly bound with iron, were let down from the edge of the mountain above, which proved
to be a work of extreme difficulty and danger. " They were filled with armed men, who had
long hooks in their hands, by which they might pull out such as resisted them and tumble
them down and kill them by so doing." Being emboldened by their first successes, "the
soldiers made repeated sallies into the mouths of the caves, where they slew many of the
enemy, and then returned again to their chests." There was a great deal of combustible
material in the caves, and the besiegers set this on fire, which aided them in their work of
destruction. At last, the besieged being weakened in numbers, some of those that remained
submitted to the king while others threw themselves down the precipice, and thus destroyed
their lives rather than submit to the conqueror. A touching story is told of an old man,
the father of seven children, who, with their mother, entreated him to go out and submit
himself under Herod's pledge of protection, which he obstinately refused to do. " Herod,
looking on from an eminence which commanded the spot, was overpowered by his feelings
and extended his right hand to the old man, imploring him to spare his offspring. But he,
unmoved by his exhortations, and even reproaching Herod for his abject birth, slaughtered