Mount Ebal

Mount Ebal (Arabic: جبل عيبال‎ Jabal ‘Aybāl; Hebrew: הר עיבל‎ Har ‘Eival) is one of the two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the Palestinian city of Nablus in the West Bank (biblical Shechem), and forms the northern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated, the southern side being formed by Mount Gerizim. The mountain is one of the highest peaks in the West Bank and rises to 3084 feet (940 meters) above sea level, some 194 feet (59 meters) higher than Mount Gerizim.

Mount Gerizim

Mount Gerizim (pron.: /ˈɡɛrɨˌzɪm/; Samaritan Hebrew Ar-garízim, Arabic جبل جرزيم Jabal Jarizīm, Tiberian Hebrew הַר גְּרִזִּים Har Gərizzîm, Standard Hebrew הַר גְּרִיזִּים Har Gərizzim) is one of the two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the West Bank city of Nablus (biblical Shechem), and forms the southern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated, the northern side being formed by Mount Ebal. The mountain is one of the highest peaks in the West Bank and rises to 2849 feet (881 m) above sea level, 228 feet (69.5 m) shorter than Mount Ebal.

Nâbulus

Nâbulus (1870 ft. above the sea-level) lies in a long line on the floor of the valley between Ebal (Arab. Jebel Eslâmîyeh or esh-Shemûli the N. mountain) and Gerizim (arab. Jebel et-Tôr or el-Kibli, the S. mountain). The environs are beautifully green and extremely fertile, and water flows in abundance from 22 springs, about half of which are perennial. The town contains about 24,000 inhab., including 170 Samaritans (see above), a few Jews, and about 700 Christians, chiefly belonging to the Greek orthodox church; a few are Latins, and 150 Protestants.

Sebastîyeh

History. The palace of Omri, king of the northern empire, at Tirzah having been burned down , he purchased a hill from one Shemer, and erected upon it a new residence for himself called Shomeron, or Samaria (1 Kings xvi. 24). The town continued to be the capital of the kingdom of Israel until it was taken by Sargon in B.C. 722, after a siege of three years. The town was doubtless devastated on that occasion, but in the time of the Maccabees it was again an important and fortified place. After a siege of a year it was taken and totally destroyed by Hyrcanus.

El Fulah - Afula

History: Bronze Age

According to the Survey of Western Palestine (SWP, 1882), it was possibly the place called Alpha in the list of Thutmes III.

Crusader-Ayyubid period

Shunem - Sulam

Sûnem or Shunem was a town of the tribe of Issachar. The form Sulem is found in the word Shulamite (Song of Sol. vi. 13). Here, too, probably stood the house of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings iv. 8).  — The Nebi Dahi is for the first time called Hermon by St. Jerome, and has since been known as 'Little Hermon', with a mistaken reference to Ps. lxxxix. 12. The hill Moreh (Judges vii. 1) is supposed to be identical with this range of hills , which derives its present name Nebi Dahi from a makâm or sanctuary of that prophet and a village situated near the top (1815 ft.).

Nain - Nein

The village of Nain may be visited by making a slight digression from Sûlem. We follow at first the direct road to Nazareth above described, and then, after 35 min., diverge from it to the left. The road skirts the base of the hill and soon reaches (1/2 hr.) Nain, a small village famed as the scene of the raising of the widow's son (Luke vii. 11-15).  The village consists of wretched clay huts. Near it are rock-tombs and a Franciscan chapel.

Bædeker (1898) Route 27 page 278

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