During the time of Christ, Joppa was one of the eleven toparchies of which Jerusalem was the chief.
Since the time of the Romans similar Wcissitudca have marked the history of this unfortunate sea- port. It has often chaiigeil hands, and each change nf ownership lias been a time of destruction and renewal. It has belonged to Saracens, Crusaders, and the Sultans of Egypt ; it was conquered and .severely treated by Naixileon, and has finally found rest under the Turkish (Jovernment.
The modem town of JiiJ'a bus about SiXKi inhabitants — Moslems, Christians, and Jews. Its main street leading from the harbour is steep, narrow, crooked, dark, and dirty, with lanes slill darker and dirtier lemling oil among the huildle of houses on each side. As might be expected io
756
JOPPA, SEA OF
JORDAN
such a seaport, many types and nationalities meet and minKle together. Europeans, Egyptians, Sou- danese, Nortliem Syrians, fellaljin oi Palestine, and IJedawln of the desert, are seen lounging about or noisily pushing their way among the baggage animals that throng the narrow street. The thoroughfare from the harbour meets a broad sandy road skirting the landward side of the town and running parallel to the coast-line. It was fitting that a town with such a history of changes should be the starting-point of the lirst railway in Palestine, by which it is now in daily communica- tion with Jerusalem.
LiTKRiTimi!. —The books ot Maccabees (a« above) and Josepbus (poMim); Schiirer, IIJ P ll. 1. 79-88; Buhl, GAP 73 1., 82, 86, 126, 187; Thomson, Land and Book, i. off. etc.; W. Max Mtiller, Agien u. Europa, 159; Triatrara, Bible Placfn, 7off. ; Berold, Ttl et-Amama Tablett in Brit. Hut. 146; G. A. Smith, EGHL 121, 13*11.; Outrin, J«d.'«, i. 1(1.; PEF Mem. VL 264 ff., 276 ff. ; OlennoDt-Qamicau, Misxion en Pal. el en PMnid*. G. M. MaCKIE.
JOPPA, SEA OF (ii^b; d,-S((, rpis ei\a(raav 'Wirjrijs, ad mare Joppe, Ezr 3'), the portion of the Mediter. near the harbour of Joppa (cf. Ryssel, ad loc). But RV ' to the sea, unto Joppa,' cf 2 Ch 2" AV.
JORAH (.TjV, cf. n^V ' autumn rain,' Ovpi,' loipd). — The name of a family which returned from exile under Zerubbabel, Ezr 2". In Neh 7" the name appears as Hariph, which is probably the true form. 1 Es 5" reads Arsiphurith ('Apaei- (povpelS B, ' kpiyKppovpeW A), which is probably due to the conflation of a corrupt reading and the cor- rection ; read ' kpcKpovpeW = rrcitnn. Cf. E. Meyer, Entstehung d. Judenthums, p. 144. See Gene- alogy. H. A. White.
JORAI (nv 'whom J' teacheth').— A Gadite chief, 1 Ch 5". See Genealogy.
JORAM.— 1. (Di"i>) son of Toi, 2 S 8'», prob. a miiitake for Hadoram, the form in 1 Ch IS". 2. (DT) a Levite, 1 Ch 26'». 3. ("lupd/x) 1 Es 1» = JozABAD, 2 Ch 36». i. 3. See Jehoram, Nos. 1 and 2.
JORDAN, iTj: (Yarden), in prose always with the deGnite article XTV^ (as an appellative), so called from descending (t:;). The two exceptions to the use of the article are Ps 42^ and Job 40^. In the latter instance this arises from the name being used as a representation of any violent rush of water. (See Davidson and DUlm. ad loc). The present Arabic name of the Jordan is esh-Sheri'ah, ' the watering - place,' to which the epithet el- Kebir, ' the great,' is sometimes annexed to dis- tinguish it from esh-Sheriat el-Mandhiir ovJarmHk, the ancient Hieromax, which joins it from the east about two hours below the Lake of Tiberias. The common name of the great valley through which it thus flows, below the Lake of Tiberias, is el-Ghur, signifying a depressed tract or plain, usually between two mountains ; and the same name continues to be applied to the valley for the whole length of the Dead Sea, and for some distance beyond ; it thus corresponda to the Aulon of Eusebius and Jerome (Onomastkon ; Robinson, BRP^- i. p. 537) and ' the Arabah ' of OT. The form el- Urdun was used among early Arabic writers (Abulfeda, Tab. Syr. ■ Edrisi, ed. Jaubert ; Schulten's 'Index in Vit. Saladin,' F. Jordanes ; Reland, Palest.) before the time of the Crusades.
It is scarcely ever called the ' river' or ' brook ' or any other name than itso\^'n, 'the Jordan' (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, 284). Josephus always calls it the Jordan, except once when he calls it ' the river,' without any distinctive name, when de- scribing the borders of Issachar {Ant. V. i. 22).
The derivation of the name Jordan from Jor and Dan hiui been traced back as far as Jerome {Oiio- masticun, s.v. ' Dan '), who .says (Cumin, in Ml 10") : ' Jordanes oritur ad radices l>ibani ; et liabet duos fonles, unum nomine Jor, et alteruni Jian ; qui siniul mixti Jordanis nomen elliciimt.' This was cojiied by Arculf, 8 ; Willibald, 10 ; Saewulf, 47 ; Will, of Tyre, 13, 18; Brocardus, c. 3, p. 172; Marinus Sanutus on his map ; Andrichomius, p. lU'J : .John of Wiirzburg, 2U. It is also current among the Christians of the country to the present day. There is no basis, however, for this etymology, for the name Jordan is merely the Greek form ('\op5avris) for the Hebrew Yardcn, which has no relation to Dan. The Arabs near Tell el-JsAdi (Dan) call it there ed-Dan or el-Lcddun {liliP' iii. 392). Jerome (Onoina.it. s.v. ' Dan') considers Jor equivalent to river ; but G. Williams points out that "ix; is the Hebrew * form of ' river,' while the proper name (Jordan) is ]T!:, and never \n><], as the proposed etymology would require.