It is mentioned by Eusebius {Onnmasticon, s. v. Fn- ^fp) as being four miles from Nicopolis or Emmaus, but it was more probably nearer the sea-coast, as in the Maccabees and Josephus it is nearly alwaj's coup- led with Joppa, Azotus, and Jamnia (1 Mace, xiv, 34 ;
XV, 28, 35 ; iv, 15 ; Josephus, Ant. xii, 7, 4 ; xiii, 6, 6; 0, 2 ; War, i, 2, 2), and again in distinct language as bordering upon Azotus (1 Mace, xiv, 34). It appears to have been tlie same place with Gazer or Gezer (q. v.), a town frequently mentioned in the O. T. un- der smilar connections. As David chased the Philis- tines from Geba to Gazer (2 Sam. v, 25 ; 1 Chron. xiv, 16; dxpi TzuXewg Va'^dpaov, Josephus, Ant. vii, 4, 1). so Judas defeated Gorgias at Emmaus and pursued him to Gazara (1 Mace, iv, 15). Piiaraoh, the father-in- law of Solomon, took Gazer (1 Kings ix, 16, 17), then a Canaaiutish city, burnt it, slew the Canaanites that were in it, and gave it in dowry to his daughter, Solo- mon's wife (comiiare Josephus, .Ant. viii, 6, 1). This must have occurred during the reign of David, or early in that of Solomon, and it seems out of the question to suppose that Pharaoh, when the Israelitish kingdom was so powerful, could have advanced far into the in- terior of the country. The site near the sea-coast is therefore confirmed by this circumstance.
Gazara may be identified with the modern village Yazur, Si miles E. of Joppa ; though as a coast town and a place of strength in the time of the Maccabees it is unlikely that it should have so entirely lost its importance (comp. Kitto, Palestine, i, 695 n.). It must be remembered, however, that names sometimes linger in the neighborhood of sites. — Kitto, s. v.
Gazares, a sect of Paulicians, so named from Ga- zarre, a town of Dalmatia. The}' were particularly distinguished by this tenet — that no human govern- ment had any right to sentence men to death for any crime whatever. See Paulicians.
Gaz'athite [usually Ga'z'AtMte'\ (Heb. with the art. ha-Az-athi', '^r'J?!^; Sept. o Pa^aToc, A.V. "the Gazathites"), a designation (Josh, xiii, 3) of the inhab- itants of the city of Gaza (q. v.), elsewhere rendered Gazites (Judg. xvi, 2).
Gazelle {Antilope dorcas), an animal of the genus A ntelopidce, probably designated by the Gr. term cop- KUQ (comp. Acts ix, 36) and the Heb. "12:2, tsehi' (ren- dered "roe" in 2 Sam. ii, 18; 1 Chron. xii, 8; Prov. vi, 5 ; Cant, ii, 7, 9, 17 ; iii, 5 ; viii, 14 ; Isa. xiii, 14 ; and " roebuck" in Deut. xii, 15, 22 ; xiv, 5 ; 1 Kings iv, 23), or in the feminine form fT'3:i, tsebiyah' ("roe," Cant, iv, 5 ; vii, 3) ; " both terms, however, being ap- plicable to the whole group ; and the Hebrew name is b}' distant nations now used for allied species which are unknown in Arabia and Syria. Of this sub-genus gazella at least one species, liut more probably four or five, still inhabit the uplands and deserts of Egypt, Arabia, and the eastern and southern holders of Pal- estine. All these species are nearly allied, the largest not measuring more than two feet in height at the shoulder, and the least, the corinna, not more than about twenty inches. They are graceful and elegant in form, with limbs exceedinglj' slender, and have large and soft eyes, lyrated horns, black, wrinkled, and stri- ated— most robust in sub-f/utturosa and kevella, most slender in corinna, and smallest in cora. Their livery is more or less buff and dun, white beneath, with small tufts of hair or brushes on the fore-knees ; they have all a dark streak passing from each ear through the eyes to the nostrils, and a band of the same color from tiio elbow of the fore-leg along the sides to the flank, excepting tlie corinna, whose markings are more ru- fous and general colors lighter. Most, if not all, have a feeble bleating voice, seldom uttered, are unsurpass- ed in graceful timidity, gregarious in habit, and resi- dents on the open deserts, where they are unceasingh" watchful, and prepared to flee with such speed that greyhounds are liable to be killed by over-exertion in the chase" (Kitto). They roam over the plains of Syria sometimes in herds of one thousand (Russell, Aleppo, ii, 14). Their flesh is lean, but highly prized (Prosp. Alpin. Hist. nat. jEg. iv, 9). They are often
GAZER
758
GEBA
made the sj'inbol of female beauty (Cant, ii, 9, 17 ; viii, 14) liy Orientals (Seth, wl hen Zokuir, p. 98 sq. ; Dop- ke, Comment, z. IJohisl. p. 97 ; Kosenmiiller, Morgenl. iv, 129). See Thomson, JAtnd and Bool; i, 251 sq. ; Kelly's Si/i-ia, p. 38 sq. See Axtelope ; Deep..
Ariel {GazelUi Arahica).
Ga'zer (2 Sam. v, 25; 1 Chron. siv, IG). See Gezek.
Gaze'ra, the name of a place and also of a man in the Apocrj'pha.
1. (rd ru'^)]pa V. r. rarT/;pa,Yulg. Gazeron, Gazani), the town of Palestine (1 Mace, iv, 15 ; vii, 45), else- where called Gazara (q. v.).
2. {UnZilpa V. r. Va^i]pd, Yu]g. Gaze), one of the Temple-servants -whose "eons" returned from Bab}'- lon (1 Esdr. v, 31) ; evidently the Gazzam (q. v.) of the Heb. text (Ezra ii, 48).