Map of David's and Solomon's Enipiie.
Map of Palestine after the Schism.
PALESTINE
579
PALESTINE
the nation and sect of the Samaritans (q. v.). A great part of Palestine — nearly the whole of the kingdom of Israel — now became a province of the Assyrian empire, and afterwards passed with it into the hands of the Babylonians. About a centurjr and a half later Nebu- chadnezzar, king of Babylon, took Jerusalem, and led the other section of the Jewish nation captive. Thus all Palestine lost its nationality, and was ruled by a pro- vincial satrap.
4. From the Captivity to the Destruction of Jerusalem bij Titus. — This was the most eventful period of Jewish history, and the most remarkable for the changes which it brought about in the political geography of Palestine. The division of the land into tribes was now completely broken up, and was never again established. Many of the ancient nations which the Israelites had driven from their borders wholly or partially returned to their pos- sessions. The Moabites reoccupied the Mishor imme- diateh' after the first captivity; and hence "the burden of Moab," written by Isaiah (ch. xv, xvi), and the terri- ble prophetic curse pronounced by Jeremiah (ch. xlviii), include that country which the Moabites originally pos- sessed before the conquests of Sihon (Numb, xxi, 26, 30), and which they reoccupied after the captivity of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, to whom Moses had al- lotted it. It appears, also that the ancient tribes of Bashan regained their old territories, and re-established the old names — Bashan, A rr/ob, Haurdn, Golan— V!\\\c\i were subsequently better known as the Greek provinces of BaiancBa, Trachonitis, A uranitis, and Gaulonitis (Porter, Damascus, vol. ii). The Idumseans or Edom- ites, having been driven out of their own mountain homes by the Nabathasans, established themselves along and within the borders of Southern Palestine, to which they gave the name Idumcea (q. v.). The neighboring nations and tribes also seem to have encroached upon the territories of the northern tribes of Israel ; and a large Gentile element was then and afterwards intro- duced into Galilee, which produced important effects upon the subsequent history of the Jews in that prov- ince. See Galilee.
Under the mild rule of Cj'rus the captive Jews were permitted to return to their own land. Ezra and Ne- hemiah re-established the ancient worship and rebuilt the Temple; but, politically, the country remained a province of the Babylonian and Persian empires till the time of Alexander the Great, when it fell under Greek rule. On the death of Alexander the kingdom of the Seleucidoe was established in Syria, and that of the Ptolemies in Egypt. Palestine became at first a part of the former; but the rival dynasty soon attacked and captured it, and it remained for more than half a cen- tury, nominally at least, under tlie rule of the Egyptian monarchs. Then war broke out between Syria and Egj'pt, and the maritime plain of Palestine became the battle-tield. Aided by the Seleucid^, the Jews threw off the yoke of the Ptolemies (B.C. 198), and became subject to the former. During all these troubles the Jews had an ecclesiastical government of their own, the high-priest being chief. But when Antiochus Epiph- anes ascended the throne of Syria, he captured Jerusa- lem, put thousands of the inhabitants to death, and at- tempted to abolish their worship. These acts of bar- barity roused the spirit of the whole nation. The priestly family of the Maccabees (q, v.) headed a noble band of patriots, and after a long and heroic struggle succeeded in establishing the independence of their country. Tiie IMaccabecs gradually extended their conquests over Samaria, Galilee, and a part of the country beyond Jordan. But internal dissensions and civil wars sprang up, and gave occasion for the inter- ference of Kome; and Pompey invaded Palestine and captured Jerusalem in the year B.C. 63. A heavy trib- ute was levied, but the people were still permitted to retain their own rulers. In the year B.C. ?^9 Herod the Great received the title of " King of Judwa" from the Koman emperor, and two years afterwards he succeeded
in establishing himself on the throne. See Herodian Family.
At his death Herod bequeathed his kingdom to his three sons, Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip; but the su- preme authority was in the hands of the Koman pre- fect and procurators. In the N. T., and in the writings of Greek and Roman geographers of that age, Palestine is usually spoken of as divided into a number of prov- inces. Those on the west of the Jordan were Judcca on the south, Samaria in the centre, and Galilee on the north, and the latter was divided into Upper and Lower. The provinces east of the Jordan were Peraa, embrac- ing Gilead and the Mishor of Moab, and the four sub- divisions of Bashan already mentioned — Gaulonitis, Au- ranitis, Batancea, and Ti-achonitis.
5. From the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Present Time. — On the establishment of Christianity in the Ro- man empire a new ecclesiastical division of Palestine appears to have been made, into Prima, Secunda, and Tertia ; but the boundaries are not defined, the lists of their cities are confused, and the territory embraced ex- tended far beyond Palestine proper (see Eeland, p. 204- 214).
After the Mohammedan conquest Palestine became a province of the empire of the Caliphs, and on the dis- memberment of the empire this unhappy country was the theatre of fierce struggles between rival dynasties. About the middle of the 10th century the Fatimites seized it; and a century later it was overrun by the Seljukian Turks, whose cruelty to Christian pilgrims roused the nations of Western Europe to the first C)-u- sade. Jerusalem v/as taken by the Franks in the year 1099, and Palestine was made a Christian kingdom. But the rule of the Crusaders was brief. Defeated by Saladiu, they took refuge in a few of their strongholds. At length, in the year 1291, Acre was stormed by the Mameluke sultan of Egypt, and thus terminated the dominion of the Crusaders in Palestine.