The Cnisaders found the ruins called Hjclin (A.D. 1 144, William of Tyre), where they built the fortress Ibulin (corrupted from Jabneel), mistaking it for Gath, and it gave its name to the French familj' of d'Ibelin, one of whom, Jean, count of Jalla and Ashkelon, restored (c. 1255) the famous code of the 'Assises of Jerusalem,' originally composed by Godfrey de Bouillon (Gibbon, ch. 58 ; Samut. 1. iii. p. xii, c. 58). Benjamin of Tudela {c. A.n. 1163) identified Ibelln, three parasangs south of JafTa, as the ancient Jabneh, and states that the site of the schools might still be traced there {Early Travels, p. 87). The Ilin. Ant. places Jamnia 12 Ml", from l)iospolis(Lydda) and Joppa, 20 Ml", from Ashkelon, and 36 MP. from Gaza. It was on the old road from Joppa to Ashkelon, through Janmia and Azotus [t'cutinger Tables) ; another road led to it from Diospolis.
The modem village of Yehnak stands on the ruins of the town of Jamnia. It occu|iies a strong site, 170 ft. above the sea, on an isolated rounded hill, south of the Wady RCibln, in the position assigned to
it by the Itin. Ant., and the old road from Jalla tc Ashkelon passes by it. The houses are of mud, but there are interesting ruins of a church and also of a mosque erected by Crusaders and Saracens. The ancient Majumns or harbour of Jamnia is situated immediately south of the mouth of the Wady KClbin. The port seems to have been double, and entered by narrow passages as at Tyre and Jalla. The northern bay is some 400 i)aces across (north and south), (lanked with a rocky promontory on each side. The southern bay is larger, and on the promontory south of it are the ruins of ed-Uubbeh. A large reef is visible outside, beneath the water {SWP vol. ii. p. 200). The port would seem to be natur- ally better than any alonj; the coast of Palestine south of Ca'.sarea. A very little trouble in clearing a pas.sage through the reefs would probably render the Minet liiibin a better port than Jalla, as the reefs are farther from the beach (Conder, I'EFSt, 1875, p. 168). The harvests about Yebnah are very abundant, and the giound is of surprising fertility (Land and Book). The present writer (BEFSt, 1875, p. 181) suggests that Yebnah or Ibnah may be the modem equivalent of Libnah as well as Jabneel. Libnah was given over to the priests, the sons of Aaron (Jos 21", 1 Ch 6"), within the bo\indary of the tribe of Judah, and has not been identified, though supposed to be near Beer- sheba. Both Jabneh (Jos 15'' B) and Libnah appear as Xtfjivi in the LXX.
LiTERATURB.— Lo Quien, OrUm Chrift. rol. Iii. ; Ilin. Ant.; 0/iom. g.v. 'la/x»i.(K ; Irby and Mangles, TraveU ; Li);hlfoot, 0pp. ; Milman, //iV(. o/ Jewg ; Scpp, Jer. u. dan UL ; .Stral>o ; Pliny ; Philo, df Legat. ad Gaium ; Kpinhanius, adv. Utrr. lib. ii. 730 ; Grau, Oesch. der Juden ; Neubauer, G^og. du Taiin. 73 fl. ; Schiirer, UJ}- ii. L 78 f. ; Gu^rin, Judde, ii. 66 fl.
2. (B 'l((f>0aimt, A 'lojSuJX, Jabna-cl). It appears in Jos 19" in connexion with Adami-nekeb and Lakkum as part of the northern boundary- of Naphtali, Lakkum being near the Jordan. "There is no clue to identifying its position. Conder (Handbook to the Bible, p. 209) gives the following identifications to the places in Jos 19**: —
Heleph is probably Beit LIf, at the edge of the higher mountains towards the west. Adami is the ruin Adain ; Nckeb (the Talmudic Tziidetha, Talm. Jerus. Mcgilla/i i. 1) is the ruin Seiyftdeh ; Jabneel (the Caphar Yama of the Talnmd) is Yemma, 7 miles south of Tiberias in Naiihtali {SU'P i. p. 365). The Variorum Bible, however, gives ' Adami-hannekeb,' i.e. 'Adami in the pass.' Schwarz (p. 144) places Kefr Yamah (' the vdlage by the sea') on the southern shore of the Sea of Cialilee ; and Neubauer {CUog. du Talmud, p. 225) places it between Tabor and the Sea of Galilee, thus apparently agreeing with Conder in the identification of yeni ma as Jabneel. Josephus speaks of 'la/ivcia ( Vita, 37) or 'laixnW {BJ II. xx. 6) as a rocky fastness in Upper Galilee which he fortified, together with Merotu, Achabari, and Seph (cf. BJ II. vi. 3).
C. Wakuen.
JABNEH.— See Jabneel.
JACAN (tjv:)— A Gadite chief, 1 Ch 6", AV Jachan. See Genealogy.
JACHIN (I-;;).— 1. Fourth son of Simeon, Gn 46>*, Ex 6". 1m 1 Ch 4" ho is called Jarib (:-^:). but Kittel corrects this lo Jachin. In Nu 26''' the patronymic Jachinites occurs. 2. Ejionvm of a priestly family,! Ch 9'°, Neb ll'o. SeeGENEALOOV.
JACHIN. — One of the brazen pillars elected in front of Solomon's temple, that on the right (look- ing eastwani) or south of the porch, see 1 K 7-', 2 Ch 3", Jer 62". See for particulars BoAZ and Temple.
526
JACINTH
JACOB
JACINTH {vdKiveot, hi/acinthus), one of the foumlation stones of the New Jerus.ilem (Kev 21"), KVm ' sapphire.' The uncertainty which Burrounds the real meaning of many of the precious stones named in tlie Bible applies also to the jacinth ; this was inevitable in an age when the principles of chemistry and crystallography were unknowii. According to C. W. King (An<. Hist, of Gems, p. 167), the jacinth comes to us from the Italian giacinto, and this from the Latin hyacinthtis. In medineval times the jacinth seems to have been a gem of a yellow colour, but some- times tinged blue or purple : — characteristics which belong to varieties of quartz, such as the cairn- gorm and ametli3'st : and it was frequently em- ployed by the Greeks for intagli in early times, ami by the Romans for cameos. According to Pliny {UN xxi. 26), ' Hyacinthus in Gallia eximie provenit. Hoc ibi pro cocco hysginum tingitur.' The dye hysginum is usually translated ' blue.'