Ralishakch, the Assyrian general, endeavored to terrify king llczeki;ih into unconditional surrender, he said, "Have till' gilds of the nations delivered them which my thflKTs have destroyed, as (Jozan, and Ilaran, antl KizcphV AVhcre is the king of Hamath, and t lie king of Arpliad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, He- na, and IvahV" (Isa. xxxvii, 12-14; 2 Kings xviii, 34 sq.). See AsniJiA, The frequent usa of the jihrase, " the entering in of Hamath," also shows that this king- dom was the most important in Northern Syria (Judg. iii, 3). Hamath remained under the Assj-rian rule till the time of Alexander the Great, when it fell into the hands of the Greeks. The Greeks introduced their no- ble language as well as their government into SjTia, and they even gave Greek names to some of the old cities ; among these was Hamath, which was called 7yM- ])hania (E-iri<pdvtia), in honor of Antiochus Epiphanes (CjTil, Comment, ad A mos).
This change of name gave rise to considerable doubts and difficulties among geographers regarding the iden- tity of Hamath. Jerome affirms that there were two cities of that wame^— Great Hamath, identical with An- tioch, and another Hamath called Epiphaiiia {('iiiiniiint. ad Amos, vi). The Targunis in Numb, xiii, 22 rendir Hamath Anftdiu (Relaiid, ridwM. p. 120). Eusehiiis calls it "a city of Damascus," and affirms that it is not the same as Epiphania; but Jerome states, aftei; a care- ful investigation, "reperi ^Emath urbcm Coeles Syria3 aiipellari, qua; nunc (irasco sermone Epiphania dicitur" {Oiwmast. s.Y. Mvamih. and Emath). Theodoret says that Great Hamath was Emesa, and the other Haniath Ejn2)hania {Comment, ad Jerem. iv). Josephus is more accurate when he tells us that Hamath " ^vas still called in his day by the inhabitants 'Apd^r], although the Macedonians called it Epiphania" (.4 nt. i, 6, 2). There is reason to believe that the ancient name Hamath was always retained and used by the Aramaic-speaking pop- ulation ; and, therefore, when Greek power declined, and the Greek language was forgotten, the ancient name in its Arabic form Jfamuh became universal (so t^'C'n in Ezek. xlvii, 16, first occurrence). There is no ground whatever for Eeland's theory {Palwsf. p. 121) that the Haniath spoken of in connection with the northern bor- der of Palestine was not Epiphania, but some other city much further south. The identification of liiblah and Zedad places the true site of Hamath beyond the possi- bility of doubt (Porter, Damascus, ii, 355, 354).
Epiphania remained a flourishing city during the Roman rule in SjTia (Ptolemy, v, 15; Pliny, //tV. Xaf. V, 19). It earh' became, and still continues, the scat of a bishop of the Eastern Church {Caroli a san. Paulo, Geofjr. Sac. p. 288). It was taken by the JMohammc- dans soon after Damascus. On the death of the great Saladin, Hamath was ruled for a long period by his de- scendants, the Eiyubites. Abulfeda, the celebrated Arab liistorian and geographer of the 14th centurv,was a mem- ber of this family and ruler of Hamah (Bohadin, Vila iS(dadiid ; Schulteii's Index Geo//rajihiais, s. v. Hamata). He correctly states (Tab. Spia; p. 108) that this city is mentioned in the books of the Israelites. He adds : " It is reckoned one of the most pleasant towns of Syria. The Orontes flows round the greater j)art of the city on the east and north. It boasts a lofty and \vell-biiilt cit- adel. Within the town are manj' dams and water-ma- chines, by means of which the water is led off by canals to irrigate the gardens and suppU-- private houses. It is remarked of this city and of Schiazar that they abound more in water-machines than aiu' other cities in Syria."
This description still, in a .^reat degree, applies. Ha- math is a picturesque tuwn. of considerable circumfer- ence, and with wide and ((nivenient streets. In Burck- hardt's time the attached district contained 120 inhab- ited villages, and 70 or 80 that lay waste. It is now a town of 30,000 inhabitants, of whom about 2500 are Greek Cliristians, a few Syrians, some Jews, and the
IIAMATH
46
HAMATH
BEIRUT <~;^ <••)"' [/ <^
' ' \Damascus
Ti'R' ^^
V.O'? CiKVWVu
Jebel Haiiran
Map of ihc Vicinity of Ilamatb. rest Moslems. It is bcaiitifiilly situated in the narrow nn.l rifli valley of the Orontes, thirty-two miles nortli i>r Kmesa, and thirty-six south of the ruins of Assamea {.\ii/n„iiii /liiicrariitm, edit. Wesseling, p. 188). Four bnd^'es s|,an the rajjid river, and anumber of hu<;e wheels turned by the current, like those at Verona, rai'^e the water nit., rude ai|uediiets, which convev it to the houses aiul mo.si,ues. There are no remains of antiquity now visible. The mound on which the castle stood is in the centre of the city, but every trace of the castle Itself ha.s .bsni.,.eared. The houses are built of sun-dried bncks nnil timber. Thou-h plain and iioor ext Tuallv somc of them have splendid interiors. They are built on the risniK l>a"ks <.f the Orontes, and on botlj sides of It, the bottom level bein- plaiite.l with fruit-trees, which I '.imsh in tlie utmost luxuriance. The western part of t u' district forms the granary of Northern Syria, thon-h the harvest never yields more than a tenfold returii, cDiotly on account of the immense numbers of mice XV iich sometimes comidetely destroy the crops. Tive iidmbitants carry on a considerable trade in silks and woollen and cotton stuffs with the Bedawin. A iium- |>T of noble but decayed Moslemfamilies resi.lc in Ha- mah, attracted thither by its beauty, salubrity, and