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 XVI THE GAZA JUPITER 74 XVII AN OLD SARCOPHAGUS AT GAZA 76 XVIII THE GREAT MOSQUE (AL JAMI-AL-KEBIR) 79 XIX GAZA--THE KEY OF SYRIA 82 XX GARDENS--OLIVE GROVES--BIRDS, ETC. 87 XXI HISTORY OF THE C.M.S. GAZA MISSION, 1878-1912 90 XXII EL ARÎSH AND C.M.S. MISSION 93

APPENDICES

I PUBLIC GAMES AT GAZA 97 II DESTRUCTION OF THE EIGHT HEATHEN TEMPLES OF GAZA, A.D. 401 110 III BIBLICAL REFERENCES 115 INDEX 117

ILLUSTRATIONS

_To face page_ FROM GAZA TO ASCALON[3] _Frontispiece_ THE MUSLIM MOSQUE--ONCE THE CRUSADER'S CHURCH 79 NATIVES WITHIN THE C.M.S. COMPOUND 90

FOOTNOTE:

[3] Reduced and reproduced by permission of The Palestine Exploration Fund.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED

_A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities_, _etc._, 1891. ALFORD'S _Greek Testament_, vol. ii, 1861. _Apocrypha_, revised version of, 1895.

BÆDEKER'S _Palestine and Syria_, 1906. BARING-GOULD, REV. S., _Lives of the Saints_. BELL'S _The Saints of Christian Art_ ("The Great Hermits"), 1902. _Bible Educator, The_, vols. i and iii (no date). _Bible, Holy, The._ BRIGHT'S _The Age of the Fathers_, 2 vols., 1903.

_Cambridge Companion to the Bible_, 1905. CONDER'S _Syrian Stone Lore_, 1886. CONDER'S _Tent Work in Palestine_, vol. ii, 1878.

_Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_, vol. i, 1875.

_Encyclopædia Britannica_, vol. x (ninth edition), 1879. EUSEBIUS' _Ecclesiastical History_, 1851.

FLINDERS PETRIE'S _Egypt and Israel_, 1911.

GEIKIE'S _The Holy Land and the Bible_, vol. i, 1887. GUY LE STRANGE'S _Palestine under the Muslims_, 1890.

Handbooks of the C.M.S. Missions. _The Palestine Mission_, 1910. HASTINGS' _Dictionary of the Bible_, 1904. HEAD'S _Historia Numorum_, 1887. HILL'S _Life of Porphyry_, 1913.

_Josephus_ (Whiston's), edited by Dr. Margoliouth, 1906. _Jottings and Snapshots from Gaza, S. Palestine_, Nos. 1-3, 1908-1910.

MADDEN'S _Coins of the Jews_, 1881. MEISTERMANN'S _Fr. Barnabas' New Guide to the Holy Land_, 1907. METAXAKIS on the Madaba Map, in _Nea Sion_, 1907. MEYER'S _History of the City of Gaza_, 1907. MURRAY'S _Dictionary of Christian Biography_, 1911. MURRAY'S _Handbook of Syria and Palestine_, Part I, 1868.

NEALE'S _History of the Holy Eastern Church_, Part I, 1850. NEALE'S _History of the Holy Eastern Church_, "The Patriarchate of Alexandria," vol. i, 1847. NEALE'S _Lent Legends_, 1905. NEALE'S _The Patriarchate of Antioch_, 1883.

OLIPHANT'S (LAURENCE) _Haifa_, or _Life in Modern Palestine_, 1887.

PORTER'S _The History of Beirût_, 1912. PUSEY'S _Commentary on the Minor Prophets_, 1879.

_Quarterly Statement_ of the Palestine Exploration Fund--various.

ROBERTSON'S _History of the Christian Church_, vol. i, 1854. ROBERTSON'S _Biblical Researches in Palestine_, vol. ii, 1856.

SAYCE'S _Patriarchal Palestine_, 1912. SCHÜRER'S _History of the Jewish People in the time of Christ_, vols. i, ii, 1898. SMITH'S (GEORGE ADAM) _The Historical Geography of the Holy Land_, 1902. STEVENSON'S _The Crusaders in the East_, 1907.

WORSDWORTH'S _Greek Testament_, "The Acts of the Apostles," 1860. WORDSWORTH'S _The Ministry of Grace_, 1901.

GAZA