Bânâas to the Castle of Subeibeh 1 0
Mejdel esh-Shems . 115
Beit Jenn .. 215
Kefr Hauwar .. .. 1 45
Artûz.. 6.00... 3.5
Darâya 1 30
Damascus .. 1 10
————
Total .. .. .. 12 0
The only recommendation I can give of this route is, that it is the shortest between the 2 points. The next route is much to be preferred, both because it affords a better view of the country, and because it takes us past some objects of interest.
CÆSAREA-PHILIPPI, Bâniâs.—This ancient city occupies one of the most picturesque sites in Syria. A broad terrace in the mountain side looks out over the plain of Hûleh westward to the castellated heights of Hunîn. Behind it rises in bold rugged peaks the southern ridge of Hermon, wooded to the summit. Two sublime ravines, one to the N. and one to the S., open up the ridge, having between them an isolated cone more than 1000 ft. in height, and crowned by the noble ruins of the castle of Subeibeh. On the terrace at the base of this cone lie!the ruins of Cæsarea-Philippi.
Bâniyâs. — History. The modern Bâniyâs was anciently the Greek Paneas, which, according to Josephus, appears also to have been the name of a district. A grotto above the source of the Jordan was a sanctuary of Pan (Paneion). When Herod the Great received from Augustus the territory of Zenodorus and the tetrarchy to the N. and N.E. of the Lake of Tiberias, including Paneas, he erected a temple over the spring in honour of Augustus.
History. Ba'albek is the Heliopolis of Græco-Roman authors, but we possess no written records regarding the city earlier than the 3rd or 4th cent. of our era. The Greek name suggests that the place was connected with the worship of the sun, and Baal corresponds generally with the sungod. Coins of Heliopolis as early as the 1st cent. show that the town was a Roman colony. Coins of Septimius Severus (193-211), however, no longer bear the earlier device of a colonist with an ox, but the outlines of two temples.
ROUTE 37. DAMASCUS TO BA’ALBEK,
Damascus to Dummar 1 15
Ain Fîjeh 2 45
Sik Wady Barada, Abila 1 40
Zebdâny 3 0
Surghâya 2 0
Ba‘albek, Heliopolis 4 30
Total .. .. . 15 10
Those who come from Egypt will do well to arrange with dragoman and servants there for the whole tour through Syria. This will save time and trouble. (For the usual mode of contract with the dragoman, see above, 7; and for the wages of servants, see ‘Handbook for Egypt.’) Such as come to Syria direct will find dragomen and servants at Beyrout and Jerusalem. They are generally bad and dear. Their written certificates are not to be depended on, for they are transferable; and the recommendations of hotel-keepers are worthless, for they are interested.
...are few in number, strangers in race and language, hated by every religion and class, wanting in physical power, destitute of moral principle, and yet they are the despots of the land. The Arabs have a proverb that, “though a Turk should compass the whole circle of the sciences, he would still remain a barbarian.” Those occupying the higher government situations in Syria are Turks, almost to a man. They obtain their power by bribery, and they exercise it for extortion and oppression.
A sketch of the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine could not be regarded as complete without a notice of the Jews. They are in one sense the most interesting people in the land. For 18 centuries have they been driven forth from the home of their fathers, and yet they cling to its "holy places” still. They moisten the stones of Jerusalem with their tears; “her very dust to them is dear,” and their most earnest wish on earth is that their bodies should mingle with it.
...are divided into several sects, the origin and tenets of which the traveller may wish to know.
(The generic name in Arabic is ed-Derúz —sing. Durzy).—This remarkable sect calls for a somewhat more minute notice than the others, for two reasons :—First, because their religious tenets have excited a good deal of interest in Europe; and second, because they are generally regarded as allies of England, and English travellers are likely to hear and see much of them.