Sharon is derived by Gesenius {Thesanr. p. G42) from "ID'^, to he straiffht or even — the root, also, of Mishor, the name of a district east of Jordan. The application to it, however, by the Sept., by Josephus (.4 nt. xv, 13, 3 ; War,
i, 13, 2), and by Strabo (xvi, p. 758) of the name Apvfioc, or Apvfiol, " woodland," is singular. It does not seem certain that that term im|)lies the existence of wood on the plain of Sharon. Keland has pointed out {Paltest. p. 190) that the Saronicus Sinus, or Bay of Saron, in Greece, was so called (Pliny, //. N. iv, 5) because of its woods, adpiin'it; meaning an oak. Thus it is not im- possible that Aptijucif was used as an equivalent of the name Sharon, and was not intended to denote the pres- ence of oaks or woods on the spot. May it not be a token that the original meaning of Saron, or Sharon, is not that which its received Hebrew root would imply, and that it has perished except in this one instance? The Alexandrine Jews who translated the Sept. are not likely to have known much either of the Saronic Gulf or of its connection with a rare Greek word. The thick- ets and groves of the region are proverbial (see below). 2. Description. — According to Acts ix, 15, this district was the level region adjacent to Lydda. Eusebius and Jerome {Onomast. s. v. " Saron"), under the name of Sa- ronas, specify it as the region extending from Cicsarea to Joppa. This is corroborated by Jerome in his com- ments on the three passages in Isaiah, in one of which {on In; 10) he appears to extend it as far south as Jam- nia. He .elsewhere {Comm. on Isa. xxxv, 2) character- izes it in words which admirably portray its aspects even at the present: "Omnis igitur candor [the white sand-hills of the coast], cultus Dei [the wide crops of the finest corn], et circumcisionis scientia [the well-trimmed plantations], et loca uberrima et campestria [the long gentle swells of rich red and black earth], quaj appellan- tur Saron." It is that broad, rich tract of land which lies between the mountains of the central part of the Holy Land and the Mediterranean — the northern con- tinuation of the Shephelah. From the passages above cited we gatlier that it was a place of pasture for cattle, where the royal herds of David grazed (1 Chron. xxvii, 29): the beauty of which was as generally recognised as that of Carmel itself (Isa. xxxv, 2), and the desola- tion of which would be indeed a calamity (xxxiii, 9), and its re-establishment a symbol of the highest pros- perity (Ixv, 10). The rose of Sharon (q. v.). was a sim- ile for all that a lover would express (Cant, ii, 1). Add to these slight traits the indications contained in the renderings of the Sept., to ttecHov, " the plain," and 6 Spv/xoc, " the wood," and we have exhausted all that we can gather from the Bible of the characteristics of Sharon. There are occasional allusions to wood in the description of the events which occurred in this district in later times. Thus, in the chronicles of the Crusades, the "Forest of Saron" was the scene of one of the most romantic adventures of Richard (JMichaud, Histoirc, viii); the "Forest of Assur" (i. e. Arsuf ) is mentioned by Yinl- sauf (iv, If)). To the south-east of Kaisariyeh there is still "a dreary wood of natural dwarf pines and entan- gled bushes" (Thomson, Land and Book; ch. xxxiii). The orchards and palm-groves round Jimzu, Lydd, and Ramleh, and the dense thickets o\'dum in the neighbor- hood of the two last, as well as the mulberry plantations in the valley of the Aujeh, a few miles from .laffa — an industry happily increasing every day — show how easi- ly wood might be maintained by care and cultivation (see Stanley, Simti and Pal. p. 12t)0, note). It was fa- mous for Sarnnite wine (Mishna, Nidda, li, 7, comp. Chilaim, ii, 6), for roses, anciently (Mariti. Voyar/e, p. 350; Chateaubriand, Trav. ii, 55, comp. Russegger, iii, 201, 287) as well as now (Thomson, lAind and Hook, ii, 269). In Its midst, between Lydda and Arsuf, accord- ing to some, lay the village of Sliaron (see Mariti, loc. cit.), once a city. (This is meant, perhaps, in Josh, xii, 18, Acts IX, 35.) But later travellers do not mention it, and It is not certain that the passages adduced refer to a city. There are many villages still on the [Jain (Berggren, Reis. iii, 162). The district has lost much of its ancient fertility, but it is yet good pasture land; there are still Hocks to l)e foinid grazing on it, though few in comparison with former days. Like the plain of
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Esilraelon, Sharon is very much, we might say entirely, 1 deserted. Around Jaffa, indeed, it is well cnltivated, and as you move northward from that town you are encompassed with groves of orange, olive, fig, lemon, pomegranate, and palm ; the fragrance is delicious, al- most oppressive. But farther north, save in a few rich spots, you find but little cultivation. Yet over all the undulating waste your eye is refreshed by the profusion of wild flowers scattered everywhere. Like many of the spots famed anciently for beauty and fertility, it only gives indications of what it might become (see Porter, H and-hook Jm- Pal. p. 380).