Common Pelican {Pelecanus Onocrotalus).
PELICAN, in Christian symhnlism. A figure of this bird " vulning herself" — that is, feeding her young with her own blood — was common in old churches, the allu- sion being emblematic of our redemption tlirough the sufferings of Christ. The pelican often surmounts the cross. A brass pelican was employed as a lectern prior to the use of the eagle. See Eagle; Lectern.
Pelisson. See Pf.u.isson.
Pell, John, a learned divine and mathematician,
who settled at Breda as professor of philosophy and mathematics, and was a great correspondent of Caven- dish, was born at Southwick, in Sussex, in IGIO, and died in 1685. Besides the works published by him, his MSS. and letters in the British Museum occupy nearly forty folio volumes.
Pell, "W. E., a clergyman of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, was born near the beginning of the 19th centurv. He was for many years a member of the North Carolina Conference ; but, his health failing, he was obliged to relinquish travelling, whereupon he turned his attention to journalism, and subsequently became one of the editors of the Raleigh Sentinel. He was an advocate of Southern rights. He died at Ra- leigh, N. C, Nov. 11,1 870. See Appleton, A me?: Cyclop. X, 581,
Pella (Gr. HtXXo), a city of Palestine, and one of the towns of the Decapolis in Persea, being the most northerlj' place in the latter district (Pliny, v, 1(5, 18; Josephus, \Vai; iii, 3, 3 ; comp. Ptolemy, v, 15, "23, and Stephanus, s, v.). It was also called Butis (i) Boiirif). The place is not named in the Bible, but the district of "Decapolis," or ten cities, of which Pella was one, is mentioned in Matt, iv, 25 ; Mark v, 20; vii, 31. That district must have extended round to the south-east as well as to the east and north-east of the Sea of Galilee. Gerasa, Gadara, and Hippos, three cities of the Decap- olis, lay to the south-east of that sea, and Pella is men- tioned with these by Josephus (ir«?-, ii, 18, 1). Pella must therefore have been somewhere in that direction. Eusebius and .Jerome say that it was six miles from Jabesh-Gilead, on the road over the mountains from Gerasa to Bethshan, and twenty-one miles north of Amathus, now Ainateh. near the junction of the Zerka or Jabbok with the Jordan. The name of Jabesh is still retained in Wady Yiibes, or the valley of Jabesh, which comes down from Jebel AjlTin, or the mountains of Northern (iilead, in a south-westerly direction, and enters the Ghor, or the plain of the Jordan, about eight or ten miles below the latitude of Bethshan. Jabesh- Gilead no doubt lay somewhere within or upon that valley. The only ancient site with nans within that valley, and on the old road from Bethshan to Gerasa, is one called Ed-Deir, on a height, on the south side of Wady Yiibes, a little to the south of Kefr-Abil — Arbel of Jerome, and Arbela of Eusebius, in the borders of Pella. This, i. e. Ed-Deir, is supposed to be the site of Jabesh-Gilead (see Robinson, Laf. Bible Res. p. 319; Van de Veldc, Palest, ii, 352). In early times a con- vent possibly stood on the site of Jabesh-Gilead, or a convent may have been the last Iniilding that remained ; hence probably the name of Ed-Doir, or "the convent," called perhaps at first "the convent of Jabesh -(iilead," and afterwards simply " the convent," meaning the con- vent of Yabes or Jabesh. About two hours or six miles from Ed-Deir, on the old road to Bethshan, and about twenty-one miles north of Amateh.on an elevated pla- teau in the side of the mountains of Gilead, immediate- ly above the plain of the Jordan, and about 1000 feet above the level of that plain, alnwst directly opposite to, or to the east of, Bethshan, and immediately above Sukut, or ancient Succoth, in the plain below, is an an- cient site with extensive ruins, called Tubuknt Fahel, or Tuhukat Felah, as Dr. Thomson's Arab guide called it, who insisted upon this being the true name {Land and Book, ii, 176). This no doubt is Pella. Tiie Arabs pronounce it Pella, or Felah, as they have no ;) in their language, and use/or b for^j. The place is described by Porter as a low flat tell, in a nook among higher hills, having around it on the north, west, and south a narrow plain, with a ravine on its south side intersecting the plain. The tell and a part of the plain are covered with ruins — veritable remains of an ancient and important city. Columns of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian or- ders were observed by Irby ami IMangles in 1818. Por- tions of the walls are still standing, and the line of
PELLEGRINI
879
PELLICAN
streets is here and there traceable. Among the ruins are the remains of an ancient Christian church. The plain stands out like a terrace in the side of the mountains ; hence its modern name, " the Terrace of Pella" (Porter, Jlandboolx-, p. 318).
Tlie origin of Pella, like that of Gerasa, is not known. But it is said that some Macedonian veterans from the armies of Alexander the Great settled there under the Seleucidffi, and named their new home after Pella of Macedon. Fahel, or Felah, however, may be the form of an earlier Arabic or Hebrew name, which the Greeks converted into Pella. The place was taken by Anti- ochus the (Jreat, in the year B.C. 218 (Poiyb. v,"70, 12). It was afterwards destroyed by the Jews under Alexan- der JanniBus, because the inhabitants refused to conform to the Jewish rites and customs (Josephus, A nt. xiii, 15, 4). It was built again, however, and afterwards taken by Pompey, who restored it to its former inhabitants {Ant. xiv, 4, 4) ; and it finally became the head or cap- ital of a toparchy or district. But what makes Pella specially interesting is the fact that it formed the refuge and home of the Christians of Jerusalem during the siege and destruction of that city by the Romans (see Baier, De Christianoy-um 7nigrutione in Pellam, Jen. 1G94). The disciples had been directed by their divine Master to "Hee into the mountains" (Matt, xxiv, 16), and to this i)lace in the mountains of Gilead, we are told, they retired (Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. iii, 5). If the name of the place be of Hebrew origin, its meaning would be, hidden, secret, ivonderj'til, severed, set apart, escape or deliverance, and a very suitable description would it be, as if it had been providentially intended by anticipation, of the hidinij-jiluce of the Lord's people, where his hidden ones dwelt in the secret place of the Most High, and were safe until the calamities of those times were passed ; where the seo-et of tlie Lord was with them that feared him, and his dealings with them so wonderful; where he severed between his servants and the rest of the nation, and set apart the godly for himself; and wliere they that escaped out of Jacob, the remnant that was to inherit his holy mountains, found deliverance. The view of the surroiuiding country from the place is very charming, and the waters of Pella are celebrated. In the ravine on the south side of the city or tell is a large and beautiful fountain, which sends forth a tine, clear, and copious stream down the valley called Wad}' Mauz, or the valley of the banana or plan- tain, now full of tamarisks and oleanders, into the plain of the Jordan. The fountain is of such co]iiousness as to show it at once to be the famous fountain of Pella spoken of by ancient authors. In the early ages of Christianity, Pella became an episcopal city, but it seems to have been destroyed and deserted, at or immediately after the conquest of Syria by the Saracens (Keland, Palcest. p. 024 sfi.\ — Fairbairn.