Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "GAZA Town PALESTINE".
One of the five Philistine principalities, situated towards the southern extremity of Canaan, about sixteen miles south of Ascalon, and a small distance from the Mediterranean. Its port was called Gazaeorum Portus. As the name of the city of Gaza appears in the first book of Moses, Mela must of course be mistaken, who says it is of Persian origin, and states that Cambyses made this place his chief magazine in the expedition against Egypt. It was, however, an important and strongly-fortified place, as being situated so near the borders of that country. Alexander took and pillaged it, after it had made a powerful resistance for the space of three months. Antiochus the Great sacked it, and it was several times taken from the Syrians by the Maccabees. It was afterwards subjected to new losses, so that St. Luke states that it was, in his time, a desert place. The town was subsequently called Constantia. It is now termed by the Arabs, Ghuzzeh. The ancient name in Hebrew signifies "strong."
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Gaza (Gaza: Eth. Gazaios), a very ancient and important city of Palestine
Proper, first mentioned in the southern border of the Canaanites (Gens. x.: 19),
but originally inhabited by the Avims, who were dispossessed by the Caphtorims.
(Deut. ii.: 23.) It was included in the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 47), but remained
in possession of the Philistines (1 Sam. vi. 17), whose capital it apparently
was (Judges, xvi. 21). Josephus says that it was taken by Hezekiah. (Ant. ix.
13. § 3.) It is celebrated in secular, as in sacred history. Arrian, in his Expedition
of Alexander (ii. 27), describes it as a large city, distant 20 stadia from the
sea, situated on a lofty mound, and fortified by a strong wall. It was well provisioned,
and garrisoned by a force of Arab mercenaries under the command of an eunuch named
Batis (or, according to Josephus, Babemeses), and its high walls baffled the engineers
of Alexander (B.C. 332), who declared themselves unable to invent engines powerful
enough to batter such massive walls. Mounds were raised on the south side of the
town, which was most assailable, and the engines were erected on this artificial
foundation. They were fired by the besieged, in a spirited sally, and the rout
of the Macedonians was checked by the king in person, who was severely wounded
in the shoulder during the skirmish. During his slow recovery the engines that
had been used at Tyre were sent for, and the mound was proceeded with until it
reached the height of 250 feet, and the width of a quarter of a mile. The besiegers
were thrice repulsed from the wall; and when a breach had been effected, in the
third assault, and the city carried by escalade, its brave garrison still fought
with desperate resolution, until they were all killed. The women and children
were reduced to slavery. The siege had apparently occupied three or four months;
and the conqueror introduced a new population into the place from the neighboring
towns, and used it as a fortress. (Arrian, ii. 27, followed by Bp. Thirlwall,
Greece, vol. vi. pp. 354-357.) If this be true, the statement of Strabo, that
it was destroyed by Alexander, and remained desert, must be taken with some qualification.
Indeed, the figure which it makes in the intermediate period discredits the assertion
of Strabo in its literal sense. Only twenty years after its capture by Alexander,
a great battle was fought in its neighbourhood, between Ptolemy and Demetrius,
wherein the latter was defeated, with the loss of 5000 slain and 8000 prisoners.
Gaza, where he had left his baggage, while it opened its gates to his cavalry
on his retreat, fell into the hands of the pursuing enemy. (Thirlwall, vol. vii.
p. 340.) Again, in the wars between Ptolemy Philopator and Antiochus the Great
(B.C. 217), it was used as a depot of military stores by the Egyptian king (Polyb.
v. 68); and when the tide of fortune turned, it retained its fidelity to its old
masters, and was destroyed by Antiochus (B.C. 198). And it is mentioned, to the
credit of its inhabitants, by Polybius, that, although they in no way excelled
in courage the other inhabitants of Coelosyria, yet they far surpassed them in
liberality and fidelity and invincible hardihood, which had shown itself in two
former instances, viz., in first resisting the Persian invaders, [p. 981] and
then in maintaining their allegiance to the Persians against Alexander (xvi. 40).
It was evidently a strong place in the time of the Asmonean princes, for it stood
a siege from Jonathan (1 Maccab. xi. 61, 62; Joseph. Ant. xiii. 5. § 5); and having
taken by Simon, not without resistance, he cast out its idolatrous inhabitants,
peopled it with Jews, made. it stronger than it was before, and built at therein
a dwelling-place for himself (xiii. 43-48). Only a little later, Alexander Jannaeus
besieged it in vain for twelve months, when it was betrayed into his hands. Its
importance at this period is attested by its senate of 500, whom the conqueror
slew and utterly overthrew their city. (Josoph. Ant. xiii. 13. § 3.) It did not
long continue in ruins, for it was one. of the many cities rebuilt by the command
of Gabinins (xiv. 5. § 3). It was given to Herod the Great by Augustus (B. J.
i. 20. § 3), but not included in the dominions of his son Archelaus, as being
a Grecian city (ii. 6. § 3). These notices sufficiently expose the error of Strabo's
statement above cited; nor does there seem to be any authority for the theory
of the transference of the site, by which it has been attempted to reconcile his
statement with these historical notices. It is true that Strabo places the city
7 stadia from the harbour; whereas Arrian states it to be 20 stadia at the most;
but this discrepancy concerning the site of a town of which neither of them could
have any very accurate knowledge, cannot justify the conclusion that the ancient
city had been deserted, and another city of the same name erected in its vicinity.
Another and a decisive argument against this theory is, that while the modern
city occupies an eminence corresponding with that described by Aprian, and is
covered with ancient ruins, no vestiges have been discovered in the neighbourhood
which could mark the site of an earlier city. A succession of coins, struck at
Gaza, some few prior to the emperors, but many more from Hadrian downwards, attest
the importance of the city subsequently to the Christian aera, and present some
peculiarities worthy of observation. The cypher, or characteristic sign of the
city, impressed on almost all the coins, has been variously explained, but by
no one satisfactorily: but all that is intelligible clearly attests it to have
been a pagan city, in accordance with the historical notices above cited The city
itself is represented by a woman's head; and the Greek deities, Zeus, Artemis,
Apollo, Hercules, which figure in the coins, with the absence of the local deity,
Astarte, by far the most common in the coins of other maritime cities of Syria,
prove the city to have been, as Josephus asserts (B. J. vii. 13. § 4), a Grecian
city, probably a colony, which may account for its inveterate adhesion to the
exploded superstition in the reign of Constantine (Sozoman, H. E. v. 3). The h
legends of the various coins serve no less to elucidate the history of the city.
The earliest (probably A. U. C. 693) proves the city to have been autonomous;
and as history bears witness to its senate (bole) of 500, so does this coin to
its Demox. Iep. Axg. further prove it to have enjoyed the privileges of a sacred
city and an asylum. The name Eio serves to connect this city with the mythic Io;
and the name Meino applied to an armed warrior with a sceptre in his hand, connects
it also with the Cretan hero Minos, and suggests the idea that it may have been
colonised from that island; and this idea is confirmed by another inscription,
Mapna, the signification of which is famished by early Christian writers, who
tell us that the most magnificent temple in Gaza (afterwards converted into a
Christian church) was dedicated to Mama, and thence called Marnion. This Mama,
they add, was identical with the Cretan Jove. (Eckhel, vol. iii. pp. 448-454.)
Many of the Jewish captives taken by Hadrian (A.D. 119) were sold at a fair instituted
Gaza, which was called, from this fact, the fair of Hadrian for many centuries
after. (Chrosn. Paschale in ann.) The town is frequently noticed in Christian
and Moslem annals. It early became an episcopal see, and the names of its bishops
are found in many councils. (Le Quien, Oriens Christ., vol. iii. pp. 603-622).
It was a frontier town of great importance in the middle ages; and the historical
notices have been collected by Quatremere (Les Suttans Mamlouks de Mackrisi, tom.
i. liv. 2. pp. 228-239).
The modern town, still called by its ancient name, Azzah, signifying
the strong, is situated on a low round hill of considerable extent, not elevated
more than 50 or 60 feet above the plain around. This hill may be regarded as the
nucleus of the city, although only the southern half is now covered with houses.
But the greater part of the modern city has sprung up on the plain below: a sort
of suburbs stretching far out on the eastern and northern sides. The ancient city
lay obviously chiefly on the hill. The present town has no gates; yet the places
of the former ones remain, and are pointed out around the hill. (Robinson, Bib.
Res. vol. ii. pp. 374, 375.) It contains, with the two villages or suburbs adjoining,
about 10,000 inhabitants. It is situated a short league from the coast, which
is here an open beach, and the landing difficult excepting in very calm weather.
It is surrounded by gardens, which produce fruit in abundance. (Alderson, Notes
on Acre, p. 7, note 6.)
The port of Gaza was called Majuma Gazae; the Arabic word Majuma,
signifying portus or navcale, being applied alike to Ascalon, Jamnia Azotus, and
Gaza. (Le Quien, Oriens Christ. vol. iii. p. 622.) It was situated, according
to Strabo, only seven stadia from the city. Arrian, in agreement with Sozomen,
makes the interva 20 stadia. (Sozomen, H. E. ii. 5, p. 450, ed. Vales.) All that
we know of it we learn from the last-mentioned historian. Having been formerly
strongly addicted to pagan superstition, it was converted to the faith of Christ
in the reign of Constantine, who consequently honoured it with special privileges,
and erected it into an independent civitas, and called it Constantia, exempting
it from its subjection to Gaza whose inhabitants still retained their attachment
to the pagan superstition. (Sozomen.) Under the emperor Julian the people of Gaza
reasserted their supremacy, and the emperor decided in favour of their claim.
Its new name was withdrawn. and it was comprehended again within the name and
municipal jurisdiction of Gaza.
The ecclesiastical position of Gaza still continued distinct, with
a bishop and usages of its own; and when an attempt was made by a bishop of Gaza
in the fifth century to unite the two churches, the provincial synod confirmed
it in its former independence of that see. (Sozomen, H. E. v. 3, p. 597). Several
of its bishops are mentioned in the ecclesiastical annals. (Le Quien, Oriens Christ.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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