LYDDA
585
LYDIA
cry by Cassius when he inflicted the calamity of his presence upon Palestine after the death of Julius Caesar (Josephus, /Inf. xiv, 11,2; xii, 0). In the New Testa- ment the place is only noticed under the name of Lyd- da, as the scene of Peter's miracle in healing yEneas (Acts ix, 32, 35). Some years later the town was re- duced to ashes by Cestius Gallus, in his march against Jerusalem (Josephus, War, ii, 19, 1) : but it must soon have revived, for not long after we find it at the head of one of the toparchies of the later Judica, and as such it surrendered to Vespasian, who introduced fresh in- habitants from Galilee (Josephus, War, iii, 3, 5; iv, 8). At that time it is described by Josephus {Ant. xx, 6, 2) as a village equal to a city ; and the Rabbins have much to say of it as a seat of Jewish learning, of v.'hich it was the most eminent in Judasa after Jabneh and Bether (Lightfoot, Parergon, § 8 ; Horce Ihh. p. 35 sq. ; Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 399 sq.). About the time of the siege it was presided over by rabbi GamaUel, second of the name (Lightfoot, Chor. Cent. xvi). Some curious anecdotes and short notices from the Talmuds concerning it are preserved by Lightfoot. One of these states that " queen Helena celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles there !" In the general change of names which took place under the Koman dominion, Lydda became Diospolis (Ptol- emy, V, 10, 6 ; Pliny, v, 15 ; see Reland, Palcest. p. 877), and under this name it occurs in coins of Severus and Caracalla, and is olten mentioned by Eusebius and Je- rome. It was early the seat of a bishopric, and at the different councils the bishops are found to have sub- scribed their names variously, as of Lydda or Diospolis ; but in the later ecclesiastical records the name of Lydda predominates. Tradition reports that the tirst bishop was "Zenas the lawyer" (Tit. iii, 13), originally one of the seventy disciples (Dorotheus, in Keland.p. 879) ; but the tirst historical mention of the see is the signature of "^•Etius Lyddensis" to the acts of the Council of Nicrea (A.D. 325 ; Keland, p. 878). The bishop of Lydda, orig- inally subject to Ca-sarea, became at a later date suffra- gan to Jerusalem (see the two lists in Von Kaumer, p. 401) ; and this is still the case. In the latter end of 415 a council of fourteen bishops was held here, before which Pelagius appeared, and by whom, after much tumultu- ous debate, and in the absence of his two accusers, he was acquitted of heresy, and received as a Christian brother (JMilner, Hut. of Ck. of Christ, cent, v, chap. iii). The latest bishop distinctly mentioned is Apollonius, in A.D. 518. Lydda early became connected with the hom- age paid to the celebrated saint and martyr St. George, who was not less reno^vned in the East than afterwards in the West. He is said to have been born at Lydda, and to have suffered martyrdom at Nicomedia in the earliest persecution under Diocletian and Maximian, at the end of the od century. His remains were transfer- red to his native place, and a church erected in honor of him by the emperor Justinian. This church, which stood outside the town, had just been levelled to the ground by the Moslems when the Crusaders arrived at Lj'dda; but it was soon rebuilt by them, and tliey es- tablished a bishopric of Lydda and Kamleh. Great hon- ors were paid by them to St. George, and they invested him with the dignity of their patron : from this time his renown spread more widely throughout Europe, and he became the patron saint of England and of several other states and kingdoms. The church was destroyed by Saladin in 1191, and there is no evidence that it was ever rebuilt, although there was in later centuries an unfounded impression that the church, the ruins of which were then seen, and which still exist, had been built by the English king Richard. From that time there has been little notice of Lydda by travellers. It now exists, in a fruitful plain, one mile north of Rama, and three east of Jaffa, under its ancient name of Liid or Ludda {Lidd in Tobler, Urilte Wamlerung, p. 69, 450). Within a circle of four miles still stand Ono (Kefr Anna), Hadid (el-Haditheh), and NebaUat (Beit-XebaUah), three places constantly associated with Lod in the an-
cient records. The water-course outside the town is said still to bear the name of Abi-P>utrus (Peter), in memory of the apostle (Tobler, p. 471). The town is, for a jMohammedan place, busy and prosperous (see Van de Velde, Syr. and Palest, i, 244). Buried in palms, and with a large well close to the entrance, it looks from a distance inviting enough, but its interior is very repul- sive on account of the extraordinary number of persons, old and young, whom one encounters at every step, either totally blind, or afflicted with loathsome diseases of the eyes. It is a considerable villagfe of small houses, with nothing to distinguish it from ordinary Moslem villages save the ruins of the celebrated church of St. George, which are situated in the eastern part of the town. Tlie building must have been very large. The walls of the eastern end are standing only in the parts near the al- tar, including the arch over the latter ; but the western end remains more perfect, and has been built into a large mosque, the lofty minaret of which forms the landmark of Lud. As the city of St. George, who is one with the famous personage El-Khudr, Lydda is held in much honor by the Moslems. In their traditions the gate of the city will be the scene of the hnal combat between Christ and Antichrist (Sale's Koran, note to chap, xliii ; and Prel. Disc, iv, § 4; also Jalal ad-Din, Temple of Je- rusalem, ^.^o-^). See Raumer, PM^aVina, p. 208 ; Roh- mson, Bib. Researches,\ii,bb; Sandys, Travaiks; Cotovi- cus, Itiner. p. 137, 138 ; D'Arvieux, Memoires, ii, 28 ; Po- cocke. Description, ii, 58 ; Volney, Voyage, i, 278 ; Thom- son, Land and Bool-, ii, 291 sq. — Kitto ; Smith.