In the time of the Romans there was also a road from Jerusalem to the lake Gennesareth through Shechem and Scythopolis. The same road sent a branch off at Sc\'thopolis in a westerly direction through Esdraelon to C.esarea; and another branch across the Jordan to Gadara, on to Damascus, along which line of country there stiU lies a road, southward of the Sea of Galilee, to the same celebrated city (see Reland, Pakest. p. 410; Itin. Ilierus. p. 585 sq. ; also Antonin. Itiner. p. 198). This road was even traversed by armies (Josephus, Ant. xiv, 3, 4).
4. There were three chief roads running from Jerusa- lem. One passed in a north-easterly direction over the Mount of Olives, by Bethany, through openings in hills and winding ways on to Jericho (Matt, xx, 29; xxi, 1 ; Luke X, 30 sq. ; xix, 1, 28 sq. ; comp. Russegger, Reis. iii, 102 sq.), near which the Jordan was passed when travellers took their way to the north if they wished to pass through Pera^a, ^vhich was the road the Galilean Jews, in coming to and returning from the festivals in the capital, were accustomed to take, thus avoiding the unfriendly territory of Samaria ; or travellers turned their faces towards the south if they intended to go towards the Dead Sea. This road was followed by the Israelites when they directed their steps towards Ca- naan. Through Persea the Syrian and Assyrian armies made their hostile advances on Israel (2 Kings viii, 28 ; ix, 14 ; X, 32 sq. ; 1 Chron. v, 26).
A second road led from Jerusalem southward to Hebron, between mountains, through pleasant valleys (Russegger, y?eiA-. iii, 78), whence travellers went through the wilderness of Juda;a to Aila, as the remains of a Roman road still show ; or they might take a westerly direction on to Gaza, a way which is still pursued and is of two days' duration (Crome, Paldst. i, 97 scj.). The ordinary way from Jerusalem to Gaza appears, in the Roman period, to have lain through Eleutheropolis and Ascalon. From Gaza through Rhinocorura and Pelu- sium was the nearest road down into Egypt from Je- rusalem (Josephus, Ant. xiv, 14, 2). Along this road many thousand prisoners, made by Vespasian in his capture of Jerusalem, were sent to Alexandria in order to be shipped for Rome. Of these two roads from Jeru- salem to Gaza one went westward by Ramlah and As- calon, the other southward by Hebron. This last road Raumer {Paldst. p. 191 ; see also his Beitrdrje, published after Robinson's work on Palestine — namely, in 1843 — correcting or confirming the views given in his Pulds- tina, 1838) is of ojiinion was that which was taken by Philip (Acts viii, 2G sq.), partly because tradition states that tlie euiuich was baptized in the vicinity of He- bron, and this road from Jerusalem to Hebron runs through the "desert" Thekoa (Thecua) in the Onnmas- ticon. And here he finds the reason of the angel's com- mand to go " towards the south" — for Hebron lay south of Jerusalem — whereas but for this direction Philip might have gone westward by Ramlah. Robinson, ad- mitting that there is a road from Jerusalem to Hebron, maintains (i, 320 ; ii, 640) that Philip went by a third road, which led down Wady Musurr to Betogabra (Eleu- theropolis), and thinks that he has found at Tell el-Hasy the spot where the eunuch received baptism. But, says Raumer (ZfeiV/w/p, p. 41), this road ran in a south-west- erly direction, and Philip was commanded to go towards the south, for which purpose he must have gone by Hebron. Raumer then proceeds to confirm his origi- nal position. Jerome, in his Life of Paula, testifies that a road from Jerusalem to Gaza went through Hebron. Paula travelled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, which lay south of the city: "When she reached Bethlehem, she quickened the pace of her horse and took the old road which leads to Gaza." This road conducted to Bethsur (a little north of Hebron), "where," says Je- rome, " while he read the Scriptures, the eunuch found the Gospel fountain." " This," adds Raumer, " is the same Bethsur of which Jerome, in the Onomasticon, says, 'As you go from ^Elia to Hebron, at the twentieth mile-stone, you meet Bethsoron,near which, at the foot of a mountain, is a foimtain bubbling out of the soil. The Acts of the Apostles state that the chamberlain of queen Candace was baptized in it by Philip.' From Bethsur Paula proceeded to Hebron. The Itinerariiun Hierosohjmitanum (of the year 333) mentions Beth- sur as the place where the baptism was performed." "Kaumer concludes by remarking : " Robinson rightlj' rejects tradition when it contrailicts the Sacred Script- ures, but he must also reject those pretended scientific theories which contradict Holy Writ. Such hypothe- ses may easily become the groundwork of scientific le- gends. To fix the baptismal place of the chamberlain at Tell el-Hasy contradicts the Scripture; but Bethsur, which has from the earliest ages been so accounted, agrees with the passage in the Acts of the Apostles."
There only remains for us to mention what Winer reckons the third of the three great roads wliich ran from Jerusalem; this third road went to the Mediter- ranean at Joppa (Jaffa), a way which, from the time of the Crusades, has been taken by jiilgrims proceeding to the holy city from Egypt and from Europe. Its prin- cipal station, Ramleh, seems to have been founded by the Saracens. See De Wette, Arclidolor/ie ; Scholz, Archaolofjic ; Heeren, Iileen, i, 740; Ritter, Erdkunde; Crome, Paldstina, i, 8 ; Burckhardt, Syria, ii, 547 ; Ro- senmiiller, .4 Iterth. II, ii, 338 ; Raumer, Beitrdije, p. 30 sq. ; also the articles GiiotiitAi-iiY ; PALESxtNE,