Gaza A City of Many Battles 1

Gaza A City of Many Battles 1

Gaza A City of Many Battles

(From the Family of Noah to the Present Day)

: Theodore Edward Dowling

PREFACE

On Tuesday in Easter week, 1912, accompanied by the Rev. J. Khadder,

Assistant Chaplain of St. Luke's Mission, Haifa, I left that town for

El-Kaisâriyeh (Cæsarea), where we were entertained at the Orthodox

Greek rented house belonging to a Bosnian landlord. On reaching Jaffa I

secured a fresh carriage on April 12, for Gaza, reaching that city in

nine and a half hours,--an unusually quick journey. During my visit of

ten days there I was the guest of the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Sterling, in

the Church Missionary Society's compound. Nothing could have exceeded

their kind hospitality, and I am greatly indebted to them for valuable

local information. Mrs. Sterling used her typewriter for producing my

Chapter XXI on the "History of the C.M.S. Gaza Mission," 1878-1913.

 

The aged and scholarly German, Father Gatt, one of the Latin Clergy

attached to the Roman Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem, who came

to Gaza thirty-three years ago from Austria, and ministers to eighty

souls, lent me three printed articles on Gaza, and cheerfully added

to my limited knowledge of the city. He mentioned that a History of

Gaza has been printed by Dr. Martin A. Meyer, and published at New

York in 1907, but I had not the advantage of seeing this book. After

my manuscript was completed early in 1912, I procured a copy, and

have during 1913 taken the liberty of incorporating some additional

information from its contents, for which I am grateful.

 

Mr. A. A. Knesevich, H.B.M. Consular Agent at Gaza--of Austrian

parentage--lent me five of his official printed Reports, notes from

which are included under the heading of "The Key of Syria," Chapter XIX.

 

It will be noticed in Chapter XVII that I am also indebted to Mr. Emil

G. Knesevich, for photographs of an "Old Sarcophagus at Gaza," but

unfortunately, they have not proved sufficiently clear for reproduction.

 

Mr. Habeeb el-Khouri, the C.M.S. Catechist, not only accompanied me to

the Great Mosque, but supplied me with information.

 

Miss Kate Sandreczka translated articles in German bearing on the

history of the city.

 

At a short distance from Mayoumas, the maritime quarter of Gaza, on the

north-west side, are the ruins of Thedah (or Tedûn) the site of the

ancient Hellenistic town of Anthedon, lately discovered by Père Gatt.

Alexander Jannæus took it along with Gaza. In company with Dr. Sterling

I visited this spot, enveloped in sand, on April 18, where we found

broken pieces of marble, ornamented glazed pottery, and ancient glass

scattered in every direction. Excavations for hewn stone have not been

infrequent here.

 

Augustus gave this port to Herod the Great, who rebuilt it, and changed

its name into that of Agrippeion, after his friend Marcus Agrippa.

 

Anthedon was an early archiepiscopal see, in Palestina Prima, and I am

familiar with the few specimens of its coinage during the reigns of

Elagabalus (A.D. 218-222), and Alexander Severus (A.D. 222-235). Since

the days of the Muslim occupation there is no mention of this town,

and its name does not appear in Holy Writ.

 

Among the Hellenistic towns in Schürer's _The Jewish People in the Time

of Jesus Christ_, Division II, vol. i, pp. 72-3, there is additional

information on Anthedon, (Ἀνθηδών).[1]

 

On the following afternoon I visited Djebel el-Mountâr, a hill, two

hundred and seventy feet high, about two miles from the city towards

the south-east. It is the "hill that is before Hebron" (Judges xvi.

3) to which Samson carried during the night one of the gates of the

city. He did not carry the gate as far as Hebron, which is upwards of

twelve hours' ride, but he went in the direction of Hebron. It was a

superhuman feat to tear away the gate posts, and carry them across to

the top of a neighbouring hill.

 

It is interesting to compare Josephus' account of this episode with

that of the sacred historian. In his _Antiquities_, Book V, section 10,

Whiston's edition, the following passage occurs--

 

"Samson held the Philistines in contempt, and came to Gaza, and took up

his lodgings in a certain inn. When the rulers of Gaza were informed of

his coming hither, they seized upon the gates, and placed men in ambush

about them, that he might not escape without being perceived; but

Samson, who was acquainted with their contrivances against him, arose

about midnight, and ran by force upon the gates, with their posts and

beams, and the rest of their wooden furniture, and carried them away on

his shoulders, and bore them to the mountain that is over Hebron, and

there laid them down."[2]

 

The hill is covered with Muslim tombs, and over-topped by a Weli,

dedicated to Aly-el-Mountâr--"Aly the Tower of Defence." Marnas was

originally worshipped here.

 

The extensive view well repays the ascent, for on a clear day the

mountains of Hebron may be seen. The sea is visible. There is a fine

view of Gaza, and the extensive plain is under cultivation. Due south

on the coast is the site Deir el-Belah (Convent of Dates), where the

body of St. Hilarion was said to be finally buried.

 

Napoleon Bonaparte camped here with his army one night towards the end

of February 1799, and on the following morning continued his march

towards Jaffa.

 

I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to express my delight and

astonishment at finding such an exceptionally well managed native

girls' school in the C.M.S. compound. And no wonder, when Miss Smithies

instructs the four native female teachers, the two monitresses, and

the four half-monitresses, twice every weekday! My experience is that

the most useful boys' school in Syria is at Sidon, under the American

Congregationalists, and Gaza may well be proud of its girls' school,

for there is nothing to approach its varied excellence in Palestine.

 

The misgovernment of Gaza and its district is worse under the Young

Turks than under the late _régime_. But the C.M.S. mission work in the

Gaza compound is indeed a bright spot in the city, and the persistent

Christian teaching--boldly proclaimed--is bearing fruit in unexpected

quarters. Holy enthusiasm is bound to tell in the course of time.

 

It seems more common for the younger boys of the poorer class in Gaza,

than in other parts of Palestine, to have their hair fancifully

shaved. One has a tuft on the top of the skull; another a small ring of

hair. Some small fellahin boys have the hair growing quite long over

the back of the neck, while the whole crown is well shaved. The tuft of

hair implies that Mohammed will pull them into heaven. Another theory

is that this tuft is left for the benefit of the resurrection angel,

who will facilitate their resurrection from the grave.

 

It will be noticed that I have made free use of Dr. George Adam Smith's

_Historical Geography of the Holy Land_, twelfth edition, 1906.

 

Mr. Miltiades N. Assimacopoulos, B.C., of Acre (Ptolemais), has

rendered me invaluable assistance in looking up references, arranging

the Index, and typewriting portions of the manuscript for the press.

 

The indulgent reader will kindly remember that this book has been

compiled under peculiar circumstances. There is no public reference

library in this Muslim town of Haifa, and the authorities who have been

consulted on Gaza are not agreed as to several dates in its chequered

history.

 

My thanks are due to the Rev. R. J. E. Boggis, B.D., St. Mary

Magdalene's Vicarage, Barnstaple, for carefully correcting the

proof-sheets, as well as those of _The Orthodox Greek Patriarchate of

Jerusalem_.

 

_St. Luke's Mission, Haifa-under-Mt. Carmel, Palestine,

September 5, 1913._

 

FOOTNOTES:

 

[1] See also _The Historical Geography of the Holy Land_, 1902, p. 189.

 

[2] See Chapter XV on the architectural character of the Gaza Temple of

Dagon.

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS

 

 

CHAP. PAGE

 

DEDICATION v

PREFACE vii

CONTENTS xiii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED xvii

I OLD TESTAMENT--DEUTERO-CANONICAL BOOKS--NEW

TESTAMENT REFERENCES TO GAZA 19

II SUMMARY OF CHIEF EVENTS RELATING TO GAZA,

FROM 1503 B.C. TO A.D. 1913 28

SECTION I (1503 B.C.-30 B.C.).

SECTION II (A.D. 41-A.D. 1913).

III FRANKINCENSE (ARABIAN) AND GAZA 39

IV NOTES ON GAZA COINS 41

V THE JEWS AT GAZA 46

VI THE SAMARITANS 48

VII SOME EARLY BISHOPS 50

(1) OF GAZA.

(2) OF MAYOUMAS.

VIII THIRTEEN MARTYRS AT GAZA 56

IX ST. HILARION 58

X SOZOMEN--CHURCH HISTORIAN 61

XI THE ORTHODOX GREEK CHURCH IN GAZA 63

XII THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA--THE GAZA CHURCH

"EUDOXIANA" 64

XIII THE CRUSADERS AT GAZA 66

XIV THE PASHAS OF GAZA 70

XV DAGON--THE NATIONAL GOD OF THE PHILISTINES 72