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| Title | Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt, Vol. 2 |
| Creator (LCNAF) |
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| Publisher | D. Appleton and Company |
| Date | 1883 |
| Description | Index: Phoenicia and Lebanon / by the Rev. H. W. Jessup -- The Phoenician plain / by the Rev. Canon Tristram -- Acre, the key of Palestine, Mount Carmel and the river Kishon, Maritime cities and plains of Palestine / by Miss M. E. Rogers -- Lydda and Ramleh, Philistia / By Lt. Col. Warren -- The south country of Judaea / by the Rev. Canon Tristram -- The southern borderland and Dead Sea / by Professor Palmer -- Mount Hor and the cliffs of Edom, The convent of St. Catherine / by Miss M. E. Rogers -- Sinai / by the Rev. C. P. Clarke -- The land of Goshen, Cairo, Memphis, Thebes, Edfu and Philae / by S. Lane-Poole. |
| Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
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| Genre (AAT) |
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| Language | English |
| Type (DCMI) |
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| Original Item Location | DS107 .W73 v.2 |
| Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b1703789~S11 |
| Digital Collection | Exotic Impressions: Views of Foreign Lands |
| Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/exotic |
| Repository | Kenneth Franzheim II Rare Books Room, William R. Jenkins Architecture and Art Library, University of Houston Libraries |
| Repository URL | http://info.lib.uh.edu/about/campus-libraries-collections/william-r-jenkins-architecture-art-library |
| Use and Reproduction | No Copyright - United States |
| Identifier | exotic_201304_015 |
| Title | Page 7 |
| Format (IMT) |
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| File Name | exotic_201304_015_021.jpg |
| Transcript | PHCENICIA AND LEBANON. 7 Melkarth at Tyre, for in the temple of Jerusalem (an exact reproduction of its arrangements), in order to efface all vestiges of a symbolism so contrary to the spirit of the worship of Jehovah, they were replaced by the two columns with bronze capitals, Jachin and Boaz. Three monoliths of the same type are still to be seen among the ruins of Marothus ('Amrlt)." It is probably impossible for one in our day to imagine the depth of immorality and abominable licentiousness which was inwrought in the very spirit and fibre of the old Phoenician Baal-worship. " . . . . Baal next, and Ashtaroth, And ali the idolatries of heathen round, Besides their other worse than heathenish crimes." Around their religious system gathered, in the external and public worship, a host of frightful debaucheries, orgies, and prostitutions in honour of the deities, such as accompanied all the naturalistic religions of antiquity. Creuzer, as quoted by Lenormant, says, " This religion silenced all the best feelings of human nature, degraded men's minds by a superstition alternately cruel and profligate, and we may seek in vain for any influence for good it could have exercised on the nation." Their human sacrifices to Baal Moloch were followed by feasts in which deep sorrow and frantic joy alternated. The Phoenicians are described by ancient writers as both unruly and servile, gloomy and cruel, corrupt and ferocious, selfish and covetous, implacable and faithless. It is well for us to have these peculiarities of the old Baal- worship in mind as we are proceeding on our journey south through the maritime cities, the Lebanon strongholds, and the characteristic temples of the ancient Phoenicians. Just to the north of the three conical symbolic shafts of 'Amrit is the extraordinary rock- hewn temple of "'Ain el Haiyeh," or Serpent Fountain. The name is appropriate to the place, for no part of Syria is more infested with venomous serpents than these cretaceous hills along the coast of the Arvadites. On every journey in this region we hear stories of their ravages. While riding ahead of my companions near this very temple I heard a sudden rustling in the wheat stubble ; my horse started back, and I saw a repulsive-looking snake about two feet in length, of a dark yellow hue, and about as thick as my wrist from head to tail, floundering along towards a rejmeh, or stone heap. The boy with us exclaimed, " Beware, a serpent!" It was of the most venomous character. Michaud relates, in the history of the eighteenth Crusade, that when the Christian army remained three days on the banks of the river Eleuctera (Nahr el Kebir), fifteen miles south of' Amrit, they were assailed by serpents called tarenta, whose bite produced death. The Crusaders were stricken with terror, but the remedy proposed by the natives surprised them even more. It was of a nature so vile as to remind one of the abominable rites of the ancient Baal-worshippers of the same plains. On the north-east of the fountain is an excavation a quarter of a mile long, cut in the rock, ninety feet wide at the top, descending in steps to the bottom. The rock-hewn temple consists of a court one hundred and fifty feet square, cut nine feet deep from the ledge of rocks, smoothly hewn on the floor, the north side being cut away to form an opening towards the stream. In the middle of the northern opening a square block of the native rock is left, sixteen and a |