The modern village of Beit Jibrin is about twenty- five miles from Jerusalem, on tlic road to Gaza. It contains between two and three hundred inhabitants, and is situated in a little nook or glen in the side of a long green valley, which is shut in by low ridges of limestone partially covered with dark copse. The ancient ruins are scattered around it, and are of con- siderable extent. The principal one is a large iiTegu- lar inclosure, formerly surrounded by a massive wall, still in part standing, and containing the remains of the Crusaders' castle. A great part of this outer wall is completely ruinous; but the north side, which skirts the bank of the valley, is still several feet high. The inclosure is about GOO feet in diameter. The fortress is about 200 feet square, and is of a much later date than the outer wall. In the castle, along the ."outh side, are portions of the walls and the groined roof and clustered columns of a fine old chapel — the same, doubtless, which was built by the Crusaders. An Arabic inscription over the castle-gate bears the date A.H. 958 = A.D. 1551— probably the time when it was last repaired. A short distance eastward are other massive ruins and a deep well ; while about a mile up the valley are the picturesque remains of the church of St. Anne (Porter, Handbook for Syr. and Pal. p. 256 sq.). Several curious traditions have found a " local habitation" at Beit Jibrin. One places here the mi- raculous fountain which sprang from the jaw-bone Samson wielded with such success against the Philis- tines (Anton. Mant. Bin. p. 30, 32).
The valley, on the side of which the ruins of Eleu- theropolis lie, runs up among the hills for two miles or more south-by-east. On each side of it are low ridgee of soft limestone, which rises here and there in white bare crowns over the dark shrubs. In these ridges are some of the most remarkable caverns and excavations in Palestine, rivalling in extent and in- terest the catacombs of Eome and Malta. They are altogether diff'ercnt in character from the rock-tombs of .lerusalem and tlie grottos of Petra. They were examined and described by Dr. Kobinson, and they have since been more fully explored liy Mr. Porter. They are found together in clusters, and form subter- ranean villages. Some are rectangular, 100 feet and more in length, witli smooth walls and lofty arched rodfs. Others are bell-shaped — from 40 to 70 feet in diameter, by nearly 00 feet in height— all connected toirctbcr \>\ arclied doorways and winding subterra- nean jiassagcs. A few are entirely dark, but most of them are lighted by a circular aperture at the top. They occur at sliort intervals along both sides of the whole valley, and may also be seen at several- other neighboring villages. The origin and object of these singtilar excavations are easily ascertained. During the Babylonian captivity the Edomites overran and
occupied the whole of southern Palestine, which is hence called bj' Josephus Idumaja. Jerome calls the Idumreans Horites, and says tliey inhabited the whole country extending from Eleutheropolis to Petra and Elah, and that they dwelt in caves — preferring them both on account of their securitj' and their coolness during the heat of summer (Comm. in Ohad. i). The original inhabitants of Edom were Horites. that is, Troylodytes, ^^dwMc'Ts in caves." The descendants of Esau adopted the habits of their predecessors, and when the}' took possession of southern Palestine exca- vated rock dwellings wherever practicable (see Robin- son's Biblical Researches, 2d ed. ii, 23, 57 sq. ; Van de Velde, Narrative, ii, 147 sq. ; Thomson, Land and Booh, ii, 358 sq.). — Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v.
Eleu'therus (EXsvOtnoc.free ; see Simonis, Onom. p. 58), a river of Syria mentioned in 1 Mace, xi, 7 ; xii, 30. In early ages it was a noted border stream (Pliny, V, 17 ; ix, 12 ; Ptolemy, v, 15, 4). According to Strabo, it separated S3'ria from Phoenicia (xvi, 753), and formed the northern limit of Ccele-Syria. Jose- phus infomis us that Antony gave Cleopatra " the cities that were within the river Eleutherus, as far as Egypt, except Tyre and Sidon" (Ant. xv, 4, 1; War, i, 18, 5). A careful examination of the passages in Num. xxxiv, 8-10, and Ezek. xlvii, 15-17, and a com- parison of them with the features of the country, lead Mr. Porter to the conclusion that this river also formed in part the northern border of the " Promised Land" (Five Years in Damascus, ii, 354 sq.). Pliny says that at a certain season of the j'ear it swarmed with tor- toise (ix, 10). Of the identitj' of the Eleutherus with the modern Nahr el-Kebh; "Great River," there can- not be a doubt. Its highest source is at the north- eastern base of Lebanon ; it sweeps round the northern end of the range, through the opening called in Scrip- ture "the entrance of Hamath" (Num. xxxiv, 8), and, after receiving several small trilmtaries from the heights of Lebanon, it falls into the Mediterranean about eighteen miles north of Tripolis. It still forms the boundary between the provinces of Akkar ar.d el- Hnsn. During smnmer and autumn it is but a small stream, easily forded, liut in winter it swells into a large and rapid river (Manndrell, p. 33; Burckhardt, p. 270 ; Paulus, Sammh i, 35, 803).— Smith, s. v.