Maj) of the Vicinity of Sliecheni.
ers must not imagine them to be similar to European streets, fortned by the front of lines of houses, private or public ; but the streets of Nabliis, like those of other Ori- ental towns, are only passages between dead walls, ex- cept where the bazaars break the monotony. These are the Eastern shops or market-places — a kind of recesses in the walls — and are comparatively numerous in Nablns. They are grouped according to the merchandise they contain, and are situated princijjally in the main street.
With regard to the buildings, we may remark that all the houses are built of stone, and are heavy and sombre. They are entered from the street through a [)onderous strong door, barred on the inside ("2 Sam. xiii, 18); a large iron knocker is attached, and two or three blows with this will suffice to bring one of the inmates to ask, '"Who is there?" (Acts xii, 13). From the inside it will be found that each house stands de- tached from its neighbor, and consists of detached vaulted rooms, all built of stone, and all opening into the court, which is uncovered, but screened from the observation of all but the inmates by the high walls of the house on all sides. Every house has one dome or more; but the roof is flat, with battlements sur- rounding it, to prevent any one falling into the street or court (Dent, xxii, 8). In the better sort of houses a kind of family saloon is built on a portion of the roof of the house, much more spacious and airy than the other rooms, and preserved principally for the enter- tainment of guests who are to be treated with marked respect. This is the (ilii/dh, iT"?", of the Old Test. (1 Kings xvii, 19"), and the "larger upper room" {avo)- yaiov /(fya) of the New (IMark xiv, 1.5). The win- dows of the houses are sometimes only scpiare holes in the wall (Acts xx, 9); but generally finished with lat- tice-work as of old (.liidg. V, 28; Cant, ii, 9).
There are no public buildings worth mentioning. The Kenlteh, or synagogue of the Samaritans, is a small edifice, in the interior of which there is nothing re- markable, unless it be an alcove, screened by a curtain,
SHECHEM
635
SHECIIEM
in which their sacred writings are kept. The structure may be tliree or four centuries old. A description and sketch plan of it are given in Mr. Grove's paper On the Muilcni Suviuritam, in Vitcation Tuuristx for 18(51. Nablas has live inos(pies, two of which, according to a tradition in which JMohamraedans, Christians, and Sa- maritans agree, were originally churches. One of them, it is said, was dedicated to John the Baptist ; its eastern portal, still well preserved, shows the European taste of its founders. The domes of the houses and the mina- rets, as they show themselves above the sea of luxuri- ant vegetation which surroimds them, present a strik- ing view to the traveller approaching from the east or the west.
There are a few small portions of the town remain- ing, in all probability, from ancient times. The arched passage in the Samaritan quarter seems to be partly of this class, comprising levelled stones of .Jewish style. Similar ones are in other parts of the town. The mar- ble troughs used at the principal streams are proliably Israelitish remains. These are five in number, dug up in the plain on the eastern side of Gerizim, and original- ly the sarcophagi of the dead. Rosen, during liis stay at Nabliis, examineil anew the Samaritan inscriptions found there, supposed to be among the oldest written monuments in Palestine. He has furnished, as Prof. Kii- diger admits, the best copy of them that has l)een taken (see a fac-simile in Zcitsckr.der dcutsvhen mortjcnl. Gesdl- schaft, 18G0, p. G"21). The inscriptions, on stone-tablets, distinguished in his account as No. 1 and No. 2, belonged originally to a Samaritan synagogue which stood just out of the city, near the Samaritan quarter, of which synagogue a few remains only are now left. They are thought to be as old at least as tiie age of .Justinian, who (A.D. 529) destroyed so many of the Samaritan places of worship. Some, with loss reason, think they may have been saved from tlie Temple on Gerizim, liaving been transferred afterwards to a later synagogue. One of the tablets is now inserted in the wall of a minaret ; the other was discovered not long ago in a heap of rub- bish not far from it. The inscriptions consist of brief extracts from the Samaritan Pentateuch, probably val- uable as paheographic documents. Similar slal)S are to be found built into the walls of several of the sanctu- aries in the neighl)orhood of Nabliis; as at the tombs of Kleazar, Phinehas, and Ithamar at Awertah.
3. To complete our survey of Shechem and its neigh- borhood, we must take a brief glance at the traditional monuments that exist there. The most interesting by far are the Well of .Jacob and tlie Tomb of Joseph. Tliese stand at tlie eastern opening of the valley, the former near the foot of (ierizim, and the latter near the foot of Ebal, as if keeping guard over the parcel of field bought by the patriarch of tlie children of Hamor.