ANTIPATRIS


649


oppressor,  as  he  heard  the  hoofs  of  the  horses  on  the  pavement,  and  the
"well-known  tramp  of  the  Roman  soldiers.  A  second  resting-place  might
perhaps  be  found  at  Tliamna,^  a  city  mentioned  by  Joseplms  in  the  Jewish
■wars,  and  possibly  the  "  Timnatli  Heres,"  where  Joshua  "^  was  buried  "  in
Mount  Ephraim,  in  the  border  of  his  inheritance."  And  then  they
proceeded,  still  descending  over  a  rocky  and  thinly-cultivated  tract,'^  till
about  daybreak  they  came  to  the  ridge  of  the  last  hill,*  and  overlooked
"  the  great  plain  of  Sharon  coming  quite  up  to  its  base  on  the  west."
The  road  now  turned  northwards,'  across  the  rich  land  of  the  plain
of  Sharon,  through  fields  of  wheat  and  barley,^  just  then  almost  ready
for  the  harvest.  "  On  the  east  were  the  mountains  of  Samaria,  rising
gradually  above  each  other,  and  bounding  the  plain  in  that  direction :
on  the  left  lay  a  line  of  low  wooded  hills,  shutting  it  in  from  the
sea."  Between  this  higher  and  lower  range,  but  on  the  level  ground,  in
a  place  well  watered  and  richly  wooded,  was  the  town  of  Antipatris.
Both  its  history  and  situation  are  described  to  us  by  Josephus.  The
ancient  Caphar-Saba,  from  which  one  of  the  Asmonean  princes  had  dug
a  trench  and  built  a  wall  to  Joppa,  to  protect  the  country  from  inva-


1  One  of  the  collateral  results  of  Mr.  Eli
Smith's  journey  is  the  identification  of  the
site'of  this  city  —  not  the  Timnath  of  Josh.
XV.  10  —  but  a  place  mentioned  in  the  follow-
ing passages   of   Josephus,   Ant.  xiv.  11,  2;

iVar,  iii.  3,  5,  iv.  8,   1  :  also  1  Mace.  ix.   50.
The  ruins  are  now  called  Tibneh.
