Sephiroth (mT'Sp), a Cabalistic term of frequent occurrence in late Jewish writers. The ten Sephiroth have i)een represented in three different forms, all of which may be seen in H. IMore's Opera IViilos. i, 423; and one of which, altliough not tlie most usual, has already been given in the art. Cabala. The Sephiroth have been the theme of endless discussion; and it has even been disputed wliether they are designed to ex- press theological, philosophical, or physical mysteries. The Jews themselves generally regard them as the sum
SEPHORNO
538
SEPTUAGINT
and substance of Cabalistical theology, indicating the emanating grades and order of etHux according to which the nature and manifested operation of the Supreme Being maybe comprehended. Several Christian schol- ars have discerned in them the mysteries of their own faith, the Trinity, and the incarnation of the Messiah. In this they have received some sanction by the fact noticed by Wolf, that most learned Jewish converts en- deavor to demonstrate the truth of Christianity out of the doctrines of the Cabala {Biblioth. llehr. i, 360). The majority of all parties appear to concur in considering the first three Sephiroth to belong to the essence of (iod, and the last seven to denote his attributes, or modes of existence. The following treatises on this subject are among the most remarkable : a dissertation by Khenferd, Be Stylo Apocab/pseos Ciihbalisiico, in Danz's Nov. Test, ex Tulmude lUust. p. 1090, in which he endeavors to point out many extraordinary coinci- dences between the theosophy of the Cabala and the book of Revelation (which may be compared with an essay of similar tendency in Eichhorn's Bibl. Biblioth. iii, 191); some remarks by Lowe, in the last-named journal (v, 377 sq.) ; and a dissertation by Vitringa, De Sephiroth Kabbalislarum, in his ObseiTCtt. Sac?: i, 126, in which he first showed how the Sephiroth accorded with the human form. — Kitto,
Sephorno. See Sforno.
Sepphoris {'S.tnipiopiQ v. r. '2k<j)(popiQ), a town of Upper Galilee, not mentioned under this name in Script- ure, but frequently by Josephus. It was garrisoned by Antigonus in his war with Herod the Great, until the latter took it early in his Galiliean campaign (Josephus, A lit. xiv, 15, 4). It seems to have been a place of arms, and to have been occasionally the roj'al residence, for, in the troubles which arose in the country during the presidency of Varus, the robber chief Judas, son of Eze- kias, seized the palace of Sep|)horis, and carried oft' the arms and treasure which it contained (ibiJ. xvii, 12, 5). It was subsequently taken and Inirned b}' Varus (ibid. xvii, 12, 9). Henxl the tetrarch (Antipas) afterwards rebuilt and fortitied it, and made it the glory of all Gal- ilee, and gave it independence {ibid, xviii, 2, 1) ; al- though, according to the statement of Justus, the son of Pistus, he still maintained the superiority of his new- ly founded city, Tiberias ; and it was not until Nero had assigned Tiberias to Agrippa the Younger that Seppho- ris established its supremacv and became the royal res- idence and depository of the archives. It is termed the strongest city of Galilee, and was early taken by Galhis, the general of Cestius (]Va?; ii, 18, 11). It maintained its allegiance to the Romans after the gen- eral revolt of (ialilee (ibid, iii, 2, 4; 4, 1), but did nut break with the Jewish leaders (Life, 8, 9). Its early importance as a Jewish town, attested by the fact that it was one of the five cities in which district sanhe- drim were instituted by Gabinius (\Va?\ i, 8. 5), was further confirmed by the destruction of Jerusalem, af- ter which catastrophe it became for some years the seat of the Great Sanhedrim, until it was transferred to Tiberias (Koljinson, Bib. Hcs. iii, 202). It was subse- quently called JJioccesarea, which is its more common appellation in the ecclesiastical annals; wiiile Epipha- nius and Jerome recognise both names. A revolt of the Jewish inhabitants in the reign of Constantius (A.D. 339) led to the destruction of the city by Constantius Gallus Cassar (Socrates, //. E. ii, 33 ; Sozomen, //. E. iv, 7). This town, once the most considerable city of Gal- ilee, was situated, according to Jerome, ten miles west of Jlount Tabor (Onnmast. s. v. Haf'iuif) ; I'rocopius (ia- Zieus, Comiiieul. in Lib, Jitdinnii). It was much cele- brated in the history of the Crusaders for its fountain, a favorite camping-])Iace of the Christians. It is still represented by a poor village bearing the name Sejf'u- rieh, distant about five miles to the north of Nazareth, retaining no vestiges of its former greatness, but con- spicuous with a ruined tower anil church, both uf the
Middle Ages; the latter professing to mark the site of the birthplace of the Virgin Mary, assigned by a late tradition to this locality. It became the see of a suffra- gan bishop under the metropolitan of Scythopolis (Le Quien, Orieiis Christianus, iii, 713, 714), and there are coins still extant of the reigns of Domitian, Trajan, etc. (Keland, Palcestina, p. 199-1003; Eckhel, Doct. Vet. Num. iii, 425, 426). — Smith, Diet, of Class. Geog. s. v. A recent German writer (Lebrecht, in his pamphlet on the subject [Berlin, 1877]) maintains that this was the site of the Bether (q. v.) of the Talmud.
Sept. See Septum.