The open spaces (irXartiai) near the gates of towns were in ancient times, as they are still, used as places of assembly by the elders, of holding courts by kings and judges, and of general resort by citizens (Gen. xxiii, 10 ; Ruthi v, 1 ; 2 Sam. xv, 2 ; xviii, 24 ; xxi, 12; 2 Kings vii, 1, 8, 20; 2 Chron. xviii, 9; xxxii, 6; Neh. viii, 1, 13, 16 ; Job xxix, 7 ; Jer. xvii, 19 ; Matt, vi, 5 ; Luke xiii, 26). They were also used as places of public exposure by way of punishment (Jer. xx, 2 ; Amos V, 10). See Gate. Prisons were, under the kingly government, within the royal precinct (Gen. xxxix, 20 ; 1 Kings xxii, 27 ; Jer. xxxii, 2 ; Neh. iii, 25; Acts xxi, 84; xxiii, 85).
Great pains were taken to supply Jerusalem with water, bdth by tanks and dstems for rain-water, and by reservoirs syppUed by aqueducts from distant springs. Such was the fountain of Gihon, the aque- duct of Hezekiah (2 Kings xx, 20 ; 2 Chron. xxxii, 80 ; Isa. xxii, 9), and of Solomon (Ecd. ii, 6), of which last water is still conveyed from near Bethlehem to Jerusalem (Maundrell, in Bohn's ed. ot Early Trav. p. 457 ; Robinson, i, 511 sq. ; Olin, ii, 1C9 sq.). Josephus
also mentions an attempt made by Pilate to bring wv ter to Jerusalem (AnL xviii, 8, 2). See CoJn>rrr« Other cities appear to have been mosUy oootesited with the fountains whose existence had probably M to their formation at the first See Waxes.
Burial-places, except in special cases, were oatsds the city (Num. xix, 11, 16 ; Matt, viii, 28 ; Luke to,
12; John xix, 41 ; Heb. xiii, 12) Smith, a. v. 8e«
Gbaye.
5. A city and its inhabitants are frequently described in the sacred writings under the similitude of a modi^ and her children; hence the phrase ^Children of Zion" (Joel ii, 28). Cities are also characterixed as virgins, wives, widows, and harlots, according to their different conditions. Thus Jerusalem is called a vir- gin (Isa. xxxvii, 22) ; and the term harlot is naed of Jerusalem (Isa. i, 21), also of lyre (Isa. xxiii, 16), of Nineveh (Nah. iii, 4), and of Samaria (Exek. xxiii, 5).
Fenced City (seldom simply M^^SIS, metsfaxA', % mound or intrenchment of besiegers; ** mount,** Isa. xxix, 8; '* munition," Nah. ii, 1), a town with walli of fortification (2 Chron. xi, 11 ; oftener with *^^9, at- iesof,2 Chron. xiv, 5 ; or both words in the plor., xi, 10, 11, 28; xii, 4; xxi, 8). From the foregoing re> marks, it will be understood how the phraaee to bmM a city, and to fortify or fence it, in the Oriental idkra, mean generally the same thing. See Fobtbess. The fencing or fortification was usually with high walli, and watch-towers upon them (Dent, iii, 5). See Fob- TiFiCATiON. The walls of fortified cities were fbrmed, in part at least, of combustible materials (Amos i, 7, 10, 14), the gates being covered with thick plates of uron or brass (Psa. cvii, 16 ; Isa. xiv, 2 ; Acts xii, 10)l There was also within the city a citadel or tower, to which the inhabitants fled when the city itself coald not be defended (Judg. ix, 46-52). Thoy were oftca upon elevated ground, and were entered by a flight of steps (2 Kings x, 2 ; Isa. xzxvi, 1). See Wall.
CiTT WITH Suburbs (in the plur. D^«3"^a:3 "^r, arejf' migraMm', citie$ of pasture*, 1 Chron. xiii, 3), i. e. a town surrounded by open pasture-grounds or commons. The forty-eight cities which were given to the Levites were thus denominated ; the extent of the suburbs appertaining to each city is accurately defined in Num. xxxv, 1-8; Josh, xxi, 41, 42. They were evidently the surrounding districts to which the city gave the means of protection and safety. See Sus-
UBB.
City of Rbfvoe (usually in the plur. tt^ptth ''^5, arejf' ham^miUat', fh)m t3^|^ contracted, Gesenius, Tkes, n«h. p. 1216; Sept. ir6X<ic rStv ^vyatsvrtipiw, ^vyaSivrripia, ^yaSiia ; Vulg. oppida in fkgitwanm auxiSa, preesidia, separata, or urbesfltgitworum),
1. Among the Hebrews, six Levitical cities spe- cially chosen for refuge to the involuntary homicide until released from banishment by the death of the high-priest (Num. xxxv, 6, 13, 16 ; Josh, xx, 2, 7, 9). See Blood-bevenqb. There were three on each skie of Jordan. 1. Kedesh, in Naphtali, now Kedes, about twenty miles E.S.E. from Tyre, twelve S.S.W. from Banias (1 Chron. vi, 76 ; see Robinson, iii, 855 ; Benj. of Tudcla, m the Ear^ Trav. p. 89). 2. Shbchem, m Mount Ephraim, Ndbulus (Josh, xxi, 21 ; 1 Chron. vi, 67 ; 2 Chron. x, 1 ; see Robinson, iii, 113). 8. Hs- bbon, in Judah, el-Kk&RL The last two were royal cities, and the latter sacerdotal also, injiabited by Di- vid, and fortified by Reboboam (Josh, xxi, 18; 2 Sam. V, 5; 1 Chron. vi, 55 ; xxix, 27; 2 Chron. xi, 10; see Robinson, i, 814; ii, 454). 4. On Uie E. side of Jor- dan—Bezer, in the tribe of Reuben, in the plains of I Moab, said in the Geniara to be opposite to Hebron, perhaps the later Bosor, and the present AtrosM (Dent, iv, 48; Josh, xx, 8; xxi, 86; 1 Mace v, 26; I Josephus, Ant. iv, 7, 4; see Reland, p. 662). 5. Ba- ^ tf otu-Gilead, in the tribe of Gad, supposed to be oo