DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10358#0124
ACRE, THE KEY OF PALESTINE.
99
now called Haifa el 'Atikah (see map). In the Talmud reference is made to riDin, HaifJia and
Shikmonah.
Mount Carmel is called in Arabic Jebel Mar Elyas (the mountain of Saint Elijah), and
from time immemorial it has been regarded as a sacred place, "the Mount of God." In the
time of Tacitus an altar to the " God of Carmel " is said still to have stood upon the mount,
but without temple or ornament, and upon this altar Vespasian sacrificed and consulted the
oracle as to his future fortunes.
The grottoes and caves of Mount Carmel were at a very early period used as places of
retreat by holy men and sages, and it is recorded that even Pythagoras retired here for study
and meditation. Prophets and philosophers were succeeded by Christian recluses, and a
regular order of "hermits of Mount Carmel" was instituted in the year 400, by Jean,
Patriarch of Jerusalem, in honour of the Prophet Elijah. (Some of the stories and fables
which were related to me by people of Haifa were attributed to a hermit of Mount
Carmel.) Prom these hermits naturally sprang the monastic order of the Carmelites, which
was organized early in the thirteenth century. Under the protection of the Crusaders they
built a monastery, which was visited by Louis IX. in 1252. Edward I. of England was
enrolled in this order, and one of its most famous generals was an Englishman, Simon Stock
or Stoke of Kent, who for sixteen years lived in a grotto, which is now enclosed in a chapel
on the slope of Carmel just below the lighthouse (see page 88). His memory is greatly
revered; he died in 1265.
In 1291, when the Crusaders finally lost their possessions in Palestine, the monastery
(which was on the site of the present building, shown on page 84) was attacked and plundered,
and many of its inmates were murdered. The place was deserted and remained in ruins for a
long period. The grotto known as " the School of the Prophets," at the foot of Mount
Carmel (see page 85), was, after a long interval, purchased and tenanted for a time by a small
company of Carmelites. A little chapel was built close to it by Fra Prospero, but in 1635
the monks were massacred by the Mohammedans, who took possession of the place and have
held it ever since. They regard it with great reverence, and keep lamps constantly burning
there in honour of Elijah, and it is visited by a great number of pilgrims of divers creeds
every year. The grotto, which is partly artificial is twenty-eight by twenty-one feet square,
and eighteen feet in height. I once saw a rudely carved and painted wooden cradle here, and
was told that it had been brought by a young mother who had lost two children successively in
^infancy, and who desired a blessing and protection for her newly-born child, an infant son.
A small house, built only a few years ago, stands opposite the entrance to the grotto, where
the ruins of the chapel of Fra Prospero could formerly be traced. A palm-tree grows within
the enclosed court of this sanctuary (see page 85).
The monastery which Napoleon visited in 1799, anc^ which was used as a hospital for
his wounded soldiers after his unsuccessful siege of 'Akka, was destroyed in 1821 by Abdallah
Pasha.
99
now called Haifa el 'Atikah (see map). In the Talmud reference is made to riDin, HaifJia and
Shikmonah.
Mount Carmel is called in Arabic Jebel Mar Elyas (the mountain of Saint Elijah), and
from time immemorial it has been regarded as a sacred place, "the Mount of God." In the
time of Tacitus an altar to the " God of Carmel " is said still to have stood upon the mount,
but without temple or ornament, and upon this altar Vespasian sacrificed and consulted the
oracle as to his future fortunes.
The grottoes and caves of Mount Carmel were at a very early period used as places of
retreat by holy men and sages, and it is recorded that even Pythagoras retired here for study
and meditation. Prophets and philosophers were succeeded by Christian recluses, and a
regular order of "hermits of Mount Carmel" was instituted in the year 400, by Jean,
Patriarch of Jerusalem, in honour of the Prophet Elijah. (Some of the stories and fables
which were related to me by people of Haifa were attributed to a hermit of Mount
Carmel.) Prom these hermits naturally sprang the monastic order of the Carmelites, which
was organized early in the thirteenth century. Under the protection of the Crusaders they
built a monastery, which was visited by Louis IX. in 1252. Edward I. of England was
enrolled in this order, and one of its most famous generals was an Englishman, Simon Stock
or Stoke of Kent, who for sixteen years lived in a grotto, which is now enclosed in a chapel
on the slope of Carmel just below the lighthouse (see page 88). His memory is greatly
revered; he died in 1265.
In 1291, when the Crusaders finally lost their possessions in Palestine, the monastery
(which was on the site of the present building, shown on page 84) was attacked and plundered,
and many of its inmates were murdered. The place was deserted and remained in ruins for a
long period. The grotto known as " the School of the Prophets," at the foot of Mount
Carmel (see page 85), was, after a long interval, purchased and tenanted for a time by a small
company of Carmelites. A little chapel was built close to it by Fra Prospero, but in 1635
the monks were massacred by the Mohammedans, who took possession of the place and have
held it ever since. They regard it with great reverence, and keep lamps constantly burning
there in honour of Elijah, and it is visited by a great number of pilgrims of divers creeds
every year. The grotto, which is partly artificial is twenty-eight by twenty-one feet square,
and eighteen feet in height. I once saw a rudely carved and painted wooden cradle here, and
was told that it had been brought by a young mother who had lost two children successively in
^infancy, and who desired a blessing and protection for her newly-born child, an infant son.
A small house, built only a few years ago, stands opposite the entrance to the grotto, where
the ruins of the chapel of Fra Prospero could formerly be traced. A palm-tree grows within
the enclosed court of this sanctuary (see page 85).
The monastery which Napoleon visited in 1799, anc^ which was used as a hospital for
his wounded soldiers after his unsuccessful siege of 'Akka, was destroyed in 1821 by Abdallah
Pasha.