On April 17, 1912, an opportunity was afforded me of a lengthy conversation with the Archimandrite Antonius, who was educated at the convent of the Cross, Jerusalem, and the Greek College, Halki, Sea of Marmora. He has been in charge of the Orthodox Syrian congregation at Gaza during the last seven years.
I inquired as to the exact spot where St. Hilarion, the first hermit of Palestine, was buried. It seems that both Christians and Muslims reverence his grave at Deir-el-Belah (the ancient Ed-Dârûm), two hours' ride south of Gaza, where the mosque Jami el-Khidr stands on the site of an old chapel.
In the fourth century there were several hermits at Thabatha, one and a half hours' ride to the south of Gaza. During the fifth century the existence of three ancient city churches is recorded: Eudoxiana, Irene, and the Church of the Holy Apostles on the south. The two new churches were St. Sergius and St. Stephen the Protomartyr.
The Archimandrite stated that the dedication of his church was associated with the name of St. Porphyrius, and was built in a.d. 443. The grave of this early Gaza prelate is within the church, which was restored in 1866. There is an ancient circular marble font for immersion in the north-west of the nave.
The Patriarch Damianus on one occasion visited Gaza, but Sophronius, its titular Bishop, has never entered the city.
A native Arabic-speaking priest is associated with the Archimandrite. The services are rendered in Greek, although the Epistles and Gospels are said in Arabic. The whole of the congregation of one thousand "Orthodox" are only familiar with Arabic. The two Orthodox schools contain ninety boys and twenty-five girls. A friendly feeling exists between these Orthodox Christians and Muslims.
1. The Emperor Arcadius married Eudoxia, a beautiful Frank maiden, the daughter of Bauto, who had held office as master of the soldiery.
Arcadius, always weak and indolent, was accustomed to be ruled by his clever wife. "She imagined herself to be religious, because she was liberal in almsgiving, and in building churches, attended the Church services, reverenced the relics of martyrs, and patronised the clergy, so long as they let her have her own way. But she was superstitious, thoroughly worldly-minded, avaricious, absorbed in luxuries and pleasures, and these of a not very innocent character. She at first welcomed St. Chrysostom, and assured him of her favour, but soon turned against him."[31] Her death occurred on October 4, 404.
2. At the end of the fourth century there were eight heathen temples within the city—that of the Sun, of Venus, of Apollo, of Koré (Proserpina), of Hecate, that known as the Heroon (Ἡρῷον), of Juno, of the City's fortune called the Tychæon (Τυχεῖον[32]) depicted on the coins of Gaza, and lastly that of Marnas, that is to say the Marneion, which was thought as being that of Zeus of Crete, and was held to be the most famous of all the temples. There were, besides, numberless idols in the houses and in the villages. A church was built on the site of the Marneion, which latter was destroyed by order of the Empress Eudoxia. The plans of the new church were sent from Constantinople, and were adapted by the architect Rufinus, of Antioch. The construction of the church took five years to complete. It was consecrated by Porphyrius on Easter Day, a.d. 406, and dedicated to St. John Baptist. The Deacon Mark (Biographer of Bishop Porphyrius) says that there were about one thousand hermits present at its consecration.
"The enforcement of Arcadius' Decree was entrusted to Cynegius, who arrived at Gaza ten days after Porphyrius with a force of soldiers and a body of civil officers. When the order for closing the temples was read, the citizens protested; but the soldiers carried out the Imperial commands, and were aided by the Christians and the sailors. The fiercest opposition was encountered at the Marneion, where the priests blocked the entrance with large stones. Seeing, however, that their defence was vain, they buried the temple treasures and escaped. The Marneion was then burned; it took ten days to complete the destruction of all the temples. After the site of the Marneion had been purified, a cruciform church was built on it out of the funds furnished by Eudoxia, after whom it was named the 'Eudoxiana.'
"The courtyard of the church was paved with stones taken from the Marneion, and the women of Gaza refused to walk in it because of their strong attachment to the old cult."[33]
The Eudoxiana was eventually converted into a mosque, and the Roman garrison, consisting of sixty soldiers under the command of Callinicus, having refused to apostatise, were slain at Eleutheropolis and Jerusalem.
[30] Additional information concerning this church is contained in Mr. G. F. Hill's translation of The Life of Porphyry by Mark the Deacon. Oxford: the Clarendon Press, 1913. Unfortunately, my attention was only drawn to this charming little book after these pages were in the hands of the printer.
[31] Hore's Eighteen Centuries of the Orthodox Greek Church, p. 188. James Parker & Co., 1899.
[33] Meyer's History of the City of Gaza, pp. 64, 65.
Of seven towns along the Palestine and Syrian coast Ascalon was brought into the most frequent contact with the Crusaders, and Gaza received the fewest visits. "The Crusaders alone do not appear to have used Gaza for commerce, because this city was never so securely in their hands as to permit them to dominate the roads south and east for any distance."—G. A. Smith.
a.d. 1100.—The Crusaders rebuilt the castle in the centre of the city, and from this date Ascalon was made of more importance by the Christians.
a.d. 1149.—The most renowned of the three great military orders founded in the twelfth century for the defence of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem was that of the Knights Templars. From the first this order was strictly a military one. White mantles were worn with a red cross. After Baldwin III returned from Antioch, towards the end of 1149, he was engaged in building a fortress at Gaza.
It was nearly completed in the spring of 1150, and was handed over to the Knights Templars.
Gaza was the last Christian stronghold in the Maritime Plain on the south towards Egypt.
a.d. 1154.—The famous geographer Idrîsi, who wrote of the Holy City as it was during the occupation of the Crusaders, states that Ghazzah is to-day very populous, and is in the hands of the Greeks (Crusaders). The port of Ghazzah is called Tîda or Taidâ.
c. a.d. 1160.—Dirghâm, the Egyptian, conquered the Franks in a battle at, or near, Gaza.
a.d. 1170.—After the death of the great Imad-ed-din Zanki, ruler of Mosul, he was succeeded by his two sons. One of them, Saif-ed-din Gazi, secured Mosul, and the eastern part of his father's dominions. The other, Nur-ed-din Mohammed, became the chief Moslem prince in Syria, with Aleppo for his capital. In the beginning of December 1170, Nur-ed-din being in the north, Salah-ed-din made a dash against Gaza, and destroyed its suburbs. He plundered the town, but was unable to reduce the fortress.
a.d. 1177.—Salah-ed-din, towards the end of 1177, arrived before Ascalon. The Knights Templars were for the most part in Gaza. The Crusaders came upon Saladin's main body while it was crossing a stream, and was obstructed in its movements by the baggage. The Muslims were easily routed.
a.d. 1187.—After the Battle of Hattin, a.d. 1187, and the surrender of Ascalon to Saladin, Gaza also passed into his hands. It appears also to have opened its gate to Richard I of England for a short time, but it soon reverted to the Muslims.
a.d. 1192.—King Richard, during the third Crusade, took the fortress Dârôn (Latin Darum), built by King Amalrich, a coast city, immediately south of Gaza, after a short siege, and destroyed it.[34]
King Richard reconquered Gaza, placing it in the charge of the Knights Templars, who previously had charge of it.
The walls were dismantled after Richard Cœur de Lion's peace with Saladin, in 1193.
a.d. 1239.—A new Crusade arrived in September 1239. Theobald, Count of Champagne and King of Navarre, was its most important leader. Several hundred knights surprised the Muslims in the neighbourhood of Gaza. The result was a serious disaster. The Latins were attacked and practically cut to pieces on November 13. This rebuff occurred in spite of the remonstrances of Theobald. No precautions having been taken by the Duke of Burgundy, the Counts of Bar and Mountfort, they suddenly found themselves nearly surrounded by the enemy in a narrow pass. There was yet time for them to escape by retreating rapidly by the way in which they had entered; but the majority refused to do this, as inconsistent with the high courage which they professed, and after a desperate struggle Count de Bar was slain, and Amory de Mountfort, with many nobles and knights, were taken captives. The main body of the Crusaders arrived too late to be of any assistance.
a.d. 1242.—Damascus had been in Nejm-ed-din Ayub's hands during the early part of 1239, and had been taken from him by Imad-ed-din Ismail. In May 1242, the Knights Templars and their Muslim allies defeated an Egyptian army on the borders of Palestine. The Egyptians lost heavily, and were driven back to Gaza, which was their base of operations.
a.d. 1244.—Ayub in his trouble found allies in an unexpected quarter. The Kharezmian Turks had recently been driven from their homes by the Tartar invasion, and were ready to put their swords at the disposal of the highest bidder. These savages, at the invitation of Ayub, entering from the north, flowed like a tide past Safed and Jerusalem, and on St. Luke's Day (October 18, 1244), annihilated the Christian and Saracen armies united for a common cause in the valley of Gaza. History records few more terrible struggles than this decisive battle, which lasted without ceasing from the rising to the setting of the sun, and was renewed on the morrow with the same ferocity. Thirty thousand of the military Orders are said to have been slain; thirty-three Templars, twenty-six Hospitallers, and three Teutonic Knights alone escaped of these brave Orders. The Master of the Temple was amongst the slain, and the Master of the Hospital was amongst those taken captive.
From this blow the Latin Kingdom of the East never recovered. And since this date Gaza has remained a town of comparatively little importance.
a.d. 1250.—King Louis IX (St. Louis of France) and the Mameluke Emirs agreed that all prisoners taken since the Battle of Gaza, in 1244, should be released.
a.d. 1250.—Malek-el-Nâsir of Damascus, as descendant of Saladin, besieged Gaza. Ebek, the first of the Mameluke Slave Dynasty, sent his General Aktai to relieve the city, in which he succeeded.
a.d. 1260.—The whole of Palestine was raided by the Tartar invaders, and they stationed garrisons in towns as remote as Gaza.
The Mongols under Hûlagû, sent an Embassy from Gaza, to El-Mudhaffer Kutuy, Sultan of Egypt, demanding his submission.
The Sultan Edh-Dhahir Beibars drove the Mongols out of Gaza.
a.d. 1280.—Kilâwûn, Sultan of Egypt, marched against the Mongols, and encamped at Gaza for fifty days.
a.d. 1291.—The Egyptian Sultan, Melik-el-Ashraf, made Gaza a separate government, and set up a Governor there.
This put an end to the Frank rule in Palestine.[35]
[34] See Robinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine, vol. ii. p. 38, 1856.
[35] I am indebted for some of the facts and dates in this chapter to Stevenson's The Crusaders in the East (Cambridge: at the University Press, 1907), and Dr. Meyer's History of the City of Gaza, Chap. IX.
Al Nadwan, and other Pashas, ruled Gaza and all Palestine for more than two hundred years. Under the Sultans of Turkey, these Pashas, seven in number, occupied the city after the crusading period. They began to rule from about a.d. 1510.
They possessed much property in many parts of the country. The present British Consular Agent's house belonged to one of these Pashas.
The old court (serai) belonged to them, and the present barracks.
All the existing fine buildings were erected by them.
The minaret at the Great Mosque, and two other minarets at the Sajaiah, were also constructed in their day.
They governed all Palestine and Syria, having their headquarters in Gaza. Consequently, in the middle of the seventeenth century Gaza once assumed somewhat of its former importance.
Their rule was arbitrary. Pilgrims proceeding to Jerusalem from Jaffa were compelled to get permission from the Pasha at Gaza.
If anyone built a house, or owned anything particularly interesting, the Pashas would lay claim to it by using the expression "Mabrook" (Blessed). If the owner did not reply favourably he was immediately hanged.
Hussein Pasha (c. a.d. 1660) made Gaza the capital of Palestine. His serai, which was furnished with great luxury, stood in the middle of a beautiful Gaza garden.[36] One family was called the Frangi. They were the Pashas' gardeners. Their descendants became Muslims.
When the Turks came to Gaza the Pashas only lost the serai and barracks, their other property was not interfered with. It now belongs to their descendants, who are all poor people, and live on their rents.
These Pashas had their own burying ground, which is still seen, and known as the Pashas' cemetery.
When Napoleon Bonaparte came to Gaza (a.d. February 1799) the city was not ruled by any power, and the taxes were collected for him by a private individual.[37]
After the rule of the Pashas, the Muftis governed Gaza—the Turkish Government coming into office in 1852.
It has been extremely difficult to obtain this scanty information about the Gaza Pashas.
[36] For further information of the beneficent rule of Hussein Pasha, see Meyer, pp. 97, 98.
[37] See Meyer on Napoleon in Gaza, pp. 101, 102.
Dagon was represented with the face and hands of a man and the tail of a fish (1 Samuel v. 4). Various kinds of fish were objects of general worship among the Egyptians.
The worship of Dagon did not exclude that of other Baals (2 Kings i. 2, 3). He was eminently the god of agriculture (1 Samuel vi. 4, 5).
The most famous temples of Dagon were at Gaza (Judges xvi. 21, 30) and Ashdod (1 Samuel v. 5, 6). This latter temple was of pre-Maccabean construction, and was destroyed by Jonathan, the brother of Judas the Maccabee (c. 148 b.c.) during the Maccabean wars (1 Maccabees x. 84).[38]
In connection with the history of Samson at Gaza, Mr. R. A. Stewart-Macalister, 1905, explains the architectural character of the Gaza Temple of Dagon. It must have consisted essentially of three members: the cella itself; a very deep distyle portico, and a forecourt, open to the sky. What seems to have happened was this: the blind prisoner was conducted to the forecourt, whence he could be seen by the Philistine grandees, who sat in the shade of the portico (cf. verse 30, "the house fell upon the Lords"), as well as by the large crowd of commoners assembled on the roof. By tricks of strength and buffoonery he was compelled to give them amusement, after which he was allowed to rest awhile, probably in order that he might have strength to continue the sport. He was set to rest between the pillars, which was the nearest place where he could be shaded from the sun's heat while resting. Taking the opportunity, he put forth his full strength, and before the lords of the Philistines realised what he was doing, he was able slightly to displace the posts holding up the portico, but sufficiently to cause them to fall under the weight of the roof.[39]
Colonel Conder remarks it is often denied that the name Dagon applies to the Babylonian and Phœnician deity represented as a merman, with the head and body of a bearded man, and the tail of a fish; because in Semitic speech Dagon signifies "Corn." It is, however, recognised that Dagon is the same god, called Da-gan in the Akkadian Chronicle of the first dynasty of Babylon; and in Akkadian Da signifies "the upper part of a man," while gan may be compared with Turkish kan for a large fish. Dagon would thus be the same as Oannes (u-khana, "lord of the fish"), a form of the sea-god Ea, who was a man with fish tail. He is represented not only on Assyrian bas-reliefs, but on a seal found near Ashdod in 1875. When the statue of Dagon was broken only the "fishy part" (dagon) was left. In the Laws of Ammurabi, Dagon is invoked as the deity of regions near the Euphrates, apparently as a water-god.[40]
Prof. Sayce and others now insist that Dagon was not a fish-god. The name and worship of Dagon were imported into Philistia from Babylonia.
[38] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Chap. XIII. pp. 4, 5. For a complete list of idolatrous observances mentioned in the Old Testament the reader is referred to The Cambridge Companion to the Bible, pp. 421-5, 1905.
[39] Twelfth Quarterly Report on the Excavation of Gezer, p. 196. P. E. F.
[40] Quarterly Statement P. E. F., Oct. 1909, p. 274.
The great statue from Gaza was discovered on September 6, 1879, by the natives at Tell 'Ajjûl, about four miles and a half south of Gaza. Captain Conder, in 1882, reported that we owe its preservation to the exertions of the Rev. A. W. Schapira, the C.M.S. missionary at Gaza. The Arabs had at once commenced to break up the statue, and had succeeded in greatly damaging the face. Mr. Schapira persuaded the Turkish Governor to set a guard over the spot. The antiquarians of Palestine owe him a debt of gratitude for having prevented the entire destruction of this unique monument.
Dr. Meyer, in his History of the City of Gaza, Note, on page 153, states that this statue was rescued by the missionary Schapira, and adds in a note on page 156, "that Schapira's connection with the finding of the statue tended at first to discredit the authenticity of the find, because of his previous share in the famous Moabite forgeries. But nothing has ever been advanced to show that this statue shares the character of his other discoveries."
Dr. Meyer is mistaken in attributing the Moabite forgeries to the Rev. Alexander Wilhelm Schapira, who was formerly a Church Missionary Society clergyman at Gaza. It was Mr. M. W. Schapira whose name became connected with the celebrated Schapira collection of forgeries in 1873.
The following appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette, November 11, 1879—
"An interesting archæological discovery is reported from Palestine. An Arab who was quarrying stone the other day at a place about four miles and a half from Gaza unearthed a marble figure supposed to be a colossal god of the Philistines. The dimensions of the figure are as follows: Three feet from the top of its head to the end of its beard, twenty-seven inches from ear to ear, thirteen and a half inches from top of forehead to mouth, fifty-four inches from shoulder to shoulder, eighty-one inches from crown of head to waist, and fifty-four inches the circumference of the neck. The total height of the figure is fifteen feet. The hair hangs in long ringlets down upon the shoulders, and the beard is long, indicating a man of venerable age. The right arm is broken in half, while the left arm is crossed over the breast to the right shoulder, where the hand is hidden by the drapery of a cloth covering the shoulders. There is no inscription on the figure, or the pedestal, which is a huge block carved in one piece with the figure. The statue was found in a recumbent position, buried in the sand, on the top of a hill near the sea. It had evidently been removed from its original site, which is unknown. Its estimated weight is 12,000 lbs. The Pasha of Jerusalem has ordered a guard to watch this relic of ancient art, and to prevent any injury to it by the fanatics of Gaza."
Captain Conder, in his notes from Constantinople, July 1882, sent a copy of the sketch which he had made from the original of the Gaza Jupiter in the porch of the Stamboul Museum, which is reproduced in the Quarterly Statement P. E. F., July 1882, p. 148.
Conder supposed that the terrible mutilations of this Jupiter may have been effected before the statue was discovered, and it is possible that the pious pagans may have buried their Jupiter to save him from the Christians, and have been obliged to divide it for facility of transport.
The Jerusalem paper, El-Kuds, in its issue of February 25, 1910, gave an interesting account of a discovery made at Gaza, and Prof. R. A. S. Macalister has kindly forwarded a translation of the relevant portions of the description. After some remarks on the history of Gaza, the paper proceeds as follows—
"We have been induced to record the above by our having heard that Musa el-Burtu and his partner, Ibn Halaweh, of the people of Gaza, bought land at Gaza for six hundred dollars; and that when Musa went to his land, and was working and digging in it, he found a little door. He entered by it into a cave divided into two chambers, and, entering through the second door, he found a coffin of hard wood. And he opened it, and in the coffin was another of crystal. And he broke this, and inside it he found one of the old queens embalmed, and on her head a crown adorned with precious stones, and on her neck a necklace of pearls, and three chains besides on her breast; and above her head was a candlestick of gold with a spout, a metre and a half long, and another at her foot a metre long. And he collected all these things and brought them to Beirût, and thence to Egypt; and we have learnt that he sent to his partner in Gaza to pay to the workmen a sum of five hundred napoleons.
"And when the Government heard of this they sent, on their part, a number of people to the said place to preserve and protect it, because the tomb in which the queen was found is of marble, and her portrait is carved on it. And there are other graves besides."
We are, fortunately, able to supplement this by an account sent to us by Mr. Emil G. Knesevich, of Gaza, who has also kindly forwarded a photograph of the sarcophagus.
"At the commencement of 1910, some men were digging out stones in their orange garden, about two miles to the north-west of Gaza, and after reaching a depth of six metres, came upon the ruins of an old door, which led to a big cave about five metres by six metres, and about three metres in height. In the floor and walls of this cave, some tombs were found containing bones, the remains of dead bodies, and a number of idols resembling men, monkeys, eagles, and dogs. These were made of clay and plaster of Paris, and were tinged with a beautiful green tint. In the cave another door was observed; this led to another small cave about two metres by three metres, and two metres in height, in which was found the sarcophagus, of which the following is a description—
"The sarcophagus was by itself in the inner cave, strongly fortified by a sort of a vault built over it of huge stones and plaster of Paris, to prevent it from being damaged. When the stones were removed there appeared this beautiful and remarkable sarcophagus. It was made of pure white marble, and was composed of two pieces, the lid and the coffin. When the lid was taken away, there was found the mummy of a female in a fine state of preservation. The coffin was two hundred and twenty centimetres long, seventy centimetres wide, and seventy-two centimetres high. Unfortunately, the men who found the mummy destroyed it in searching the coffin, hoping to find precious antiques, but they assert that they found nothing, save an artificial tooth attached to a golden wire. Some people say, however, that a book and some precious things were discovered. No inscription of any kind was upon the sarcophagus.
"The lid was beautifully and artistically carved in the exact form of the mummy. Nothing except the head, neck, and shoes were seen, and the rest of the body was carved so as to appear swathed in bandages of linen. The head was neatly fashioned, and the eyes and lips were painted their natural colour. The head was bound with a fillet, the hair was loose and thrown on both sides of the chest. The head, fillet, and the nose suggest that the mummy was a Roman, but the shoes, as carved on the lid, are Egyptian.
"The lower part of the coffin also was cut in the shape of the body, as shown in the photograph. The place that supported the head was carved to resemble the head and neck, and the lower part of the coffin, that rested on the ground, is carved in the shape of the back part of the body. The local government got possession of the sarcophagus, and dispatched it to Constantinople, together with the remains of the mummy, and the above-mentioned idols, on the 26th of May last."[42]
THE MUSLIM MOSQUE—ONCE THE CRUSADERS' CHURCH
[41] Quarterly Statement P. E. F., Oct. 1910, pp. 294-6.
[42] "A curious seal was, during 1874, found in the vicinity of Gaza. It was in possession of Dr. De Hass, a former American Consul, who gave Lieut. Conder an impression. It represents a human figure with four wings, seemingly like those of a fly or bee, and with a large misshapen human head. In each hand the figure holds an animal resembling an ape, head downwards, being held by the hind leg. Dr. De Haas supposed this to be an effigy of Baalzebub, god of Ekron, to whom apes were sometimes offered. The seal is square, about one inch wide, and the figure in low relief, roughly cut. A similar seal was found some years ago, and is now in England. It represents a fly or mosquito, with an inscription, the equivalent of the Arabic 'Allah,' perhaps the symbolical effigy of the deity of Ekron."—Quarterly Statement P. E. F., Jan. 1875, p. 10.
The one object of archæological interest in Gaza is the Great Mosque (Djamia el Kebîr) which rises on the top of the hill in the middle of the upper city. This mosque is built upon the site of the Basilica, which the Empress Eudoxia founded, where the Marneion formerly stood, and was built of ancient materials.
In the twelfth century it was a splendid cathedral dedicated to St. John Baptist.
The style of architecture is severe, and the ornamentation very plain. The fine groined roof is entire.
The mosque has three aisles, two of which formed part of the mediæval church.
Rows of pillars, with Corinthian capitals, divide them one from the other.
The roof of the central nave is supported by rows of pillars, one above the other, each pillar of the lower row having a cluster of small marble pillars round it, for greater strength.
One of the upper pillars on the north-east side of the mosque, of grey veined marble, bears a bas-relief of a seven-branched candlestick, with a Greek and Hebrew inscription of three lines inside a wreath. It belongs, as M. Clermont-Ganneau surmises, to one of the thirty columns sent by the Empress Eudoxia, and probably comes from the Synagogue of Cæsarea.[43]
The walls and ceiling are now whitewashed. The church was undoubtedly decorated with mosaic and pictures.
The three apses have disappeared to make room for a large octagonal minaret.
On the south side the Moslems have built an additional aisle.
The total length of the building is one hundred and eight and a half feet, interior measure, the nave being twenty-one and a half feet wide, and the aisles thirteen feet.
The west doorway is a beautiful mediæval specimen of the Italian Gothic of the twelfth century churches in Palestine, with delicate clustered shafts and pillars, deeply undercut lily-leaves adorning the capitals.
Lieut. Kitchener, in 1874, took a photograph of the western door as well as the interior of the mosque.
The large marble cruciform font has been removed and it now lies in the courtyard adjoining the mosque, where two other Christian symbols may be seen, viz. a bishop's staff, and chalice in marble.
Another view of the history of this mosque is given by the Archimandrite Meletius Metaxakis, in an article on the Madaba Mosaic Map, in Nea Sion, March and April 1907, pp. 262-304, in which he states that the modern authors of Guides to Palestine hold that the Eudoxian Church is the modern Great Mosque, Djamia-el-Kebîr, taking into consideration, it seems, the information that the Eudoxian Church was to be built in the middle of the city. If, however, we are to accept that the sketch on the chart shows the Eudoxian Church, then we ought to treat the Eudoxian Church as identical, not with the mosque, but rather with the Modern Orthodox Church, built in 1856, during the Patriarchate of Kyrillus II (1845-1872), and through the expenditure of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. With regard to its position, the Greek Church is wholly identical with the sketch on the chart.
With regard to the mosque, this is really a three-branched church, being perhaps one of the churches built by Marcian; the columns of this church (having no connection with those from Constantinople for the Eudoxian Church) appear to have been transported from some Hebrew synagogue, perhaps that of Cæsarea, because there is engraved on one of them a seven-branched lamp, under which appears the Hebrew and Greek inscription, "Hananias the son of Jacob."
[43] The reader is referred for additional information to Chap. XIV, "Inscriptions," in Meyer's History of the City of Gaza.