y. Historical Notices. — Lebanon is first mentioned as a boundary of the country given by the Lord in cove- nant promise to Israel (Dent, i, 7; xi, 24). To the dwellers in the parched and thirsty south, or on the sul- try banks of the Nile, the snows, and streams, and ver- dant forests of Lebanon must have seemed an earthly paradise. By such a contrast we can understand JIo- ses's touching petition, " I pray thee let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon" (Dent, iii, 25). The mountains were originally inhabited by a number of warlike, inde- pendent tribes, some of whom Joshua concpicred on the banks of Lake Merom (xi,2-18). Thej- are said to have been of Phoenician stock (Pliny, v, 17 ; Euscbius, Oiiom. s. V. ; compare 1 Kings v). Further north were tlie Hi- vites (Judg. iii, 3), and the Giblites, and Arkitcs, whose names still cling to the ruins of their ancient strong- holds. See (JiiiLiTE, Akkite. The Israelites never completely subdued them, but the enterprising Phoeni- cians appear to have had them under their jiower, or in their pay, for they got timber for their fleets from the mountains, and they were able to supply Solomon from the same forests when building the 'lemple (1 Kings v, 9-11 ; Ezek. xxvii, 9 sq.). At a later period we find the king of Assyria felling its timber for his military' en- gines (Isa. xiv, 8 ; xxxvii, 24 , Ezek. xxxi, ](>), and it is mentioned on the cuneiform inscriptions (([.v.). Dio- clorus Siculus relates that in like manner Antigonus,
LEBANON
3U
LEBAOTH
G^Siiil
having collected from all quarters hewers of wood, and sawyers, and ship -builders, brouglit down an immense (juantity of timber from Libanus to the sea to build himself a navy (xix, 58). The same fact that this mountain was the famous resort for timber, whether for ar- chitectural, naval, or military pur- poses, api)ears from the Egyptian monuments, where the name is found in the corrupted form of Lemanon (Wilkinson, Egyptians, i, 403). It is there represented as a mountainous country, inaccessible to chariots, and abounding in lofty trees, which the affrighted mountaineers, having fled thith- A suppliant Native of f j- engaged in fell-
Lebanon (the hiero- . . » ' . , , , glyph reads Z-?)i-n-«). "'S' "^ order to impede the ad- Froni the Egyptian vance of the invading Egyptian Moniimeuts. army.
During the conquests of David and the commercial prosperity of the nation under Solomon, the Jews be- came fully acquainted with the richness, the grandeur,
Natives felliu
: Trees in Lebanon. Monuments.
From the Egyptian
and the luxuriant foliage of Lebanon, and ever after that mountain was regarded as the emblem of n-ealth and majesty. Thus the Psalmist savs of the Blessiah's kingdom, "The fruit thereof shall sliake like Lebanon" (Ixxii, 10) ; and Solomon, praising the beauty of the Bridegroom, writes, "His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars" (Cant, v, 15). Isaiah also pre- dicts of the Church, " The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it" (xxxv, 2; compare Ix, 13; Hos. xiv, 5, 6). Indeed, in Scripture, Lebanon is very generally men- tioned in connection with the cedar-trees with which it abounded; but its wines are also noticed (Hos. xiv, 8) ; and in Cant, iv, 11 ; IIos. xiv, 7, it is celebrated for va- rious kinds of fragrant plants. Lebanon is greatly cele- brated both iu sacred and classical writers, and much of the sublime imagery of the prophets of the Old Test, is borrowed from this mountain (e. g. I'sa. xxix, 5, G; civ lG-18; Cant, iv, 8, 15; Isa. ii, 13; Zech. xi. 1. 2). ■
Anti-Lebanon seems to liave Ijecu early l)rought un- der the sway of Damascus, though amid its southern strongholds were some tierce tribes who preserved their independence down to a late period (1 Chron. v, 19-23; Josephus, Ant. xiii, 11. 3; Strabo, xvi, p. 755, 756).
During the reign of the Seleucidae several large cities were founded or rebuilt in these mountains, as Laodi- cea at the northern end of Anti-Lebanon, Chalcis at its eastern base, Abila in the wild glen of the Abana (Luke iii, 1). See Abila. At the commencement of our ;era, Lebanon, with the rest of Syria, passed into the hands of Rome, and under its fostering rule great cities were built and beautiful temples erected. The heights on v/hich Baal-tires had burned in primeval times, and the groves where the rude moinitain tribes worshipped their idols, became the sites of noble buikUngs, wliose ruins to this day excite the admiration of every traveller. Greece itself cannot surpass in grandeur the temples of Ba'albek and Chalcis. There are more than thirty temples in Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon (Porter, Handbook, p. 454, 457, 557, 411 ; comp. Kobinson, iii, 438, G25).
During the wars of the Seleucidffi, the Romans, and the Saracens, the inhabitants of Lebanon probably re- mained in comparative seciu-ity. "When, under the jMuslem rule, Christianity was almost extirpated from the rest of SjTia, it retained its hold there; and the Maronites (q. v.), who still occupy the greater part of the range, are doubtless the lineal descendants of the old Syrians. The sect originated in the 7th century, when the monk Maron taught them the JMonothelitic heresy. In the 12th century they submitted to the pope, and have ever since remained devoted Papists. They num- ber about 200,000. The Druses (q. v.), their hereditary foes, dwell in the southern section of the range, and number about 80,000. The jealousies and feuds of the rival sects, fanned by a cruel and corrupt government, often desolate "that goodly mountain" with fire and sword. Anti-Lebanon has a considerable Christian pop- ulation, but they are mixed with Mohammedans, and have no political status. The whole range is under the authority of the pasha of Damascus.