Tell es'safi (BEP^ ii. pp. 29-32) is an isolated oblong hUl or ridge stretching from north to south between the Shephelah to the east and the plains of PhUistia to tlie west, Wady es-Sunt (the valley of Elah) passing by on the north. It stands out conspicuously towards the north, south, and west, about 30U ft. above the plain and 700 above the Mediterranean ; and, presenting on three sides many hundred feet of white precipices, would as a fenced city have been remarkably strong. There are many caves and excavations on the northern scarps ; water is obtained to the west at the foot of the hill. The name signifies ' the white hill,' and it can be seen at several hours' distance to north and west.
On the top is a modem vUlaM of mud huts with a sacred tcely. There are still remains of drafted stones visible, remnants of the old castle of Blanchegarde (Alba Specula), erected in A.D. 1144 by Kulke of Anjou as a check against the incur- sions of the Saracens from Ashkelon. It was taken by Saladin in A.D. 1191 and dismantled, but was again fortified by Richard of England in the following year. It continued for some centuries as a place of importance in the hands of the Moslems. (See, in addition to the authorities cited above, G. A. Smith, HGHL 194 ff. ; Gautier, Souvenirs de Terre-Sainte, 93). C. WakreN.
GATH-HEPHER (n;nn n? ' wine-press of digging'; in Jos 19" with n locale -ysn nijj which AV mis-
takenly tr. Gittah-hepher). — The home of the propliet Jonah (2 K 14"), and on the border of Zebulun and Naphtali near Japhia and Rimmon (Jos 19'"- "), which have been identified in the villages of Y6fa and KummAneh.
There is a "oneral concurrence in the identifica- tion of Gathhepher with the present village of el-Mcshhed (SIVP i. pp. 363-307), the site of one of the many Moslem tombs of Neby Yftnas, the prophet Jonah. This village is regarded by both Christians and Moslems as being the home of the prophet Jonah, and there appears to be a chain of tradition supj)ortin<^ this view. About 2J miles to the west of el-MesKlied is the vUl.age of Sejfilrieh, where there are still the remains of a castle and church identified by Robinson (BliP ii. 345) as the site of the Sepplioris of Josephus, the Tsippori of the Rabbins, a place not mentioned in Scripture, but afterwards called by the Romans Dioc;esarea. Jerome says (Procein. in Jonam) that the home and tomb of the prophet Jonah were shown at a small village 2 miles from Sepphoris or Diocesareii on the road to Tiberias. Benjamin of Tudela in the 12th cent, states that the tomb of the proiihet Jonah was shown in his time near Sepphoris (Early Travels in Palestine, p. 89). Isaac Chelo in the 14th cent, states that the name of Gatli-hepher was Meshad (Carmoly, Itin. p. 256). The rabbinical WTiters state that the tomb of Jonah the prophet was shown at Gath-hepher on a hill near Sepplioris. The wely or makdn has two domes, and is verj' conspicuous, dominating the plain on the north at a height of 1250 ft. above the Jlediterranean.
LiTERATimE. — Besides the authorities cited above, see Baedeker-Socin, Pal. 262 ; Eeland, Pal. u. "S6 ; Neuhauer, Giog. da Talm. 200 f. C. WaEREN.
GATH-RIMMON (jtern?).— There are perhaps two places mentioned of this name.
1. A Levitical city in the territory of Dan (.Jos 21=-', 1 Ch 6"'), situated near Jehud, Bene-berak, and Me-jarkon, not far from Joppa (Jos 19^^). The site has not been ascertained. This is prob- ably the Gath mentioned by Eusebius as lying between Antipatris and Jamnia (Onom. s. ' Gath '). A Gath-rimmon is mentioned as Ij'ing between Diospolis and Eutheropolis, but this reference is probably to the royal city of Gath. See Gath.
2. A town of Manasseh, west of Jordan (Jos 21'"), assigned to the Levites. It is only once mentioned, with no indication whatever of its situation within the tribe of Manasseh. It follows immediately after Gath-rimmon of Dan in the previous verse ; and as the LXX has 'Ujiaei (B) or Baiffcri (A), and the parallel passage in 1 Ch 6™ has Bileam (d;;'-?), it is possibly an error of the transcribers. Oxf. Heb. Lex. would read in Jos 21^ o'^^T' "■"'l identify this with the place referred to in 1 Ch 6™ (so also Bennett in SBOT on Jos ad loc.). See further Ibleam.
C. Warren.
GAULANITIS (rauXoyms).— The name of a dis trict east of the Sea of Galilee, and frequently mentioned by Josephus, together with Trachonitis, Auranitis, and Batanrea. It is from Gaulon, Tai\u>v, which is the Gr. form of the Heb. word Golan, [Vu, of which the modem Arab, representa- tive is Jaiildn. Could we locate with certainty Golan, which was the northernmost of the three cities of refuge east of the Jordan, we should have the central or chief city of the district in question, and thus be able, no doubt, to determine its geo- graphical limits more definitely.
After the death of Herod the Great, Gaulanitii fell to his son Philip, and durin" his long reign was a portion of his dominions (Ant. XVIII. iv. 6). It was divided into two parts. Upper and Lower, and belonged to Agrippall., from whom it revolted to the Romans in A.D. 66-70 (Josephus, Life, 37 J