DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0341
MAGDALA.
307
his children and finally his wife,
and, casting their dead bodies
down the precipice, he ended
by throwing himself headlong
after them " (" Antiquities," xiv.
I5. 3—6 : " Wars," i. 16, 4).
Thus these robbers were at last
subdued, and Herod gained
thereby not only the good-will
of the inhabitants of Galilee,
but added security to his own
government. Many of these
caves cannot be visited to-day
without resorting to the use of
ropes, after the manner of
Herod's soldiers; but the result
of such a visit would fully repay
the struggle. Only by visiting
them can one realise their great
extent, and the skill with which
they were protected by walls,
provided with cisterns, and
connected together by passages
and archways. This home of
robbers became afterwards the abode of hermits.
Passing down the Valley of Pigeons, we very
soon reach the plain of Gennesaret, near its southern
end, and in twenty minutes we arrive at the wretched
village of Mejdel, which is all that remains of the
Magdala of the times of our Lord (see page 30
The houses, which are few in number, are little
more than hovels made of mud and stone, while the
people are degraded and filthy, and it would be
difficult to tell whether the children or the dogs
were the more impudent. The situation, however,
on the borders of the lake and at the foot of the
mountain, is a beautiful one; and the views over
the plain of Gennesaret and the Sea of Galilee, and
up to Mount Hermon, are natural attractions of
which even some of the proud cities of the country
THE KUL'AT IBN MA'AN, ON THE NORTH-WEST
SIDE OF THE VALLEY OF PIGEONS.
This castle consists of caverns connected by passages;
opposite to it stands Irbid, the ancient Arbela.
307
his children and finally his wife,
and, casting their dead bodies
down the precipice, he ended
by throwing himself headlong
after them " (" Antiquities," xiv.
I5. 3—6 : " Wars," i. 16, 4).
Thus these robbers were at last
subdued, and Herod gained
thereby not only the good-will
of the inhabitants of Galilee,
but added security to his own
government. Many of these
caves cannot be visited to-day
without resorting to the use of
ropes, after the manner of
Herod's soldiers; but the result
of such a visit would fully repay
the struggle. Only by visiting
them can one realise their great
extent, and the skill with which
they were protected by walls,
provided with cisterns, and
connected together by passages
and archways. This home of
robbers became afterwards the abode of hermits.
Passing down the Valley of Pigeons, we very
soon reach the plain of Gennesaret, near its southern
end, and in twenty minutes we arrive at the wretched
village of Mejdel, which is all that remains of the
Magdala of the times of our Lord (see page 30
The houses, which are few in number, are little
more than hovels made of mud and stone, while the
people are degraded and filthy, and it would be
difficult to tell whether the children or the dogs
were the more impudent. The situation, however,
on the borders of the lake and at the foot of the
mountain, is a beautiful one; and the views over
the plain of Gennesaret and the Sea of Galilee, and
up to Mount Hermon, are natural attractions of
which even some of the proud cities of the country
THE KUL'AT IBN MA'AN, ON THE NORTH-WEST
SIDE OF THE VALLEY OF PIGEONS.
This castle consists of caverns connected by passages;
opposite to it stands Irbid, the ancient Arbela.