City
VIEW:43 DATA:01-04-2020
CITY.The surprisingly large number of places in the least of all lands which receive in Scripture the honourable designation of city is in itself evidence that the OT cities, like the NT ships, must not be measured by modern standards. The recent excavations in Palestine have confirmed this conclusion. In his recent work, Canaan daprès lexploration récente (1907), the Dominican scholar, Father Vincent, has prepared plans on a uniform scale of the various sites excavated (see op. cit. 27 ff. with plate). From these the modest proportions of an ancient Canaanite or Hebrew city may be best realized. The area of Lachish, for example, did not exceed 15 acres; Taanach and Megiddo each occupied from 12 to 13 acresan area about equal to the probable extent of the Jehusite city on Ophel captured by David (2Sa_5:6 ff.). Gezer, at the time of its greatest expansion, did not exceed 23 acres, or thereby, the circuit of its outer wall being only 1500 yards, about 1/3 of the extent of the present wall of Jerusalem.
With the exception of cities on the sea-board, the situation of the Canaanite city was determined, as elsewhere in that old world, by two supreme considerationsthe presence of an adequate water-supply and the capability of easy defence against the enemy. The cities of Canaan, says Vincent, were almost invariably perched upon a projecting spur of a mountain slope, or upon an isolated eminence in the plain: Megiddo, Gezer, Tell-es-Safy [Gath?]not to mention the hill of the primitive Jerusalemare characteristic examples of the former site, Taanach and Lachish of the latter. With this well-known fact agrees the mention of the cities on their mounds (Jos_11:13 RV [Note: Revised Version.] , Jer_30:18 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] [Heb. tillîm, the Arabic tell, now so common in the topographical nomenclature of Western Asia]).
The relation between the city and the dependent villages was regarded as that of a mother (2Sa_20:19 a mother in Israel) and her daughters, a point lost in our rendering villages (e.g. Jos_15:32; Jos_15:36; Jos_15:41 and passim), though noted in the margins. From these the city was outwardly distinguished by its massive walls (cf. Num_13:28, Deu_1:28 walled up to heaven), on the construction of which recent excavation has thrown a flood of new light (see Fortification). Close to, if not actually upon, the walls, houses were sometimes built, as we learn from Jos_2:15 (cf. 2Co_11:33).
The streets are now seen to have been exceedingly narrow and to have been laid out on no definite plan, a maze of narrow crooked causeways and blind alleys, as at Gezer. Only at the intersection of the more important streets, and especially near the city gates, were broad places (Jer_5:1, Neh_8:1; Neh_8:3; Neh_8:16 RV [Note: Revised Version.] where AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , as often, has streets)the markets (Mat_11:16, Luk_11:43) and market-places (Mat_20:3, Luk_7:32) of NTwhere the citizens met to discuss public affairs, the children to play, and the elders to dispense justice. The importance of the gates, which were closed at nightfall (Jos_2:5), is treated of in art. Fortification and Sieoecraft, § 5. During the night the watchmen mounted guard on the ramparts, or went about the city (Son_3:3, Isa_62:6; cf. Psa_127:1). A feature of an Eastern city in ancient as in modern times was the aggregation in a particular street or streets of representatives of the same craft or occupation, from which the name of the street or quarter was derived (see Arts and Crafts, § 10).
The houses were absurdly small to Western ideas (see House), for the city folk lived their life in the courts and streets, retiring to their houses mainly to eat and sleep. Every city of any importance, and in particular every royal city, had its castle, citadel, or acropolis, as the excavations show, to which the inhabitants might flee as a last defence. Such was the strong tower within the city of Thebez (Jdg_9:51). Indeed the common term for city (ir) is often used in this restricted sense; thus the stronghold of Zion is re-named Davids castle or citadel (2Sa_5:7, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] city of David), and the city of waters (2Sa_12:27) at Rabbath-ammon is really the water fort.
As regards the water-supply, it was essential, as we have seen, to have one or more springs in the immediate vicinity, to which at the time of evening (Gen_24:11) the city maidens went forth to draw (see Well). Against the long rainless summer, and especially against the oft-recurring cases of siege, it was not less necessary that the city should be provided with open pools and covered cisterns for the storage of water. Mesha, king of Moab, tells in his famous inscription how, as there was no cistern in the midst of a certain city, he said to all the people: make you each a cistern in his house (cf. Cistern).
In the internal affairs of the city the king in Canaanite days was supreme. Under the Hebrew monarchy and later, law and justice were in the hands of the elders of the city (Deu_19:12; Deu_21:3 ff., Rth_4:2 etc.). In addition to freemen, possessing the full rights of citizenshipthe men of the city par excellencewith their wives and children, the population will have included many slaves, mostly captives of war, and a sprinkling of sojourners and passing strangers (see Stranger).
No city, finally, was without its sanctuary or high place, either within its own precincts, as in most cities of note (see High Place), or on an adjoining height (1Sa_9:12 ff.). With due religious rites, too, the city had been founded in far-off Canaanite, or even, as we now know, in pre-Canaanite days, when the foundation sacrifice claimed its human victim (see House, § 3). A survival of this wide-spread custom is almost certainly to be recognized in connexion with the rebuilding of Jericho, the foundation of which was laid by Hiel the Bethelite, with the loss of Abiram his first born, and whose gates were set up with the loss of his youngest son, Segub (1Ki_16:34 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ).
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Cain first founded one (Gen_4:16-17). The material civilization of the Cainite race was superior to that of the Sethite. To the former belonged many inventions of useful arts and luxury (Gen_4:20-22). Real refinement and moral civilization are by no means necessary concomitants of material civilization; in these the Sethites took the lead (Gen_4:25-26). The distinction between tent or nomadic and town life early began. The root meaning of the Hebrew terms for "city," 'ar or 'ir (from 'ur "to keep watch"), and kirat (from qarah "to approach as an enemy," Gen_23:2) implies that a leading object of gathering into towns was security against marauders.
So, "the tower of Edar," i.e. flocks (Gen_35:21). Of course, the first "cities" would be mere groups of rude dwellings, fenced round together. Sir H. Rawlinson supposes Rehoboth, Calah, etc., in Gen_10:11, denote only sites of buildings afterward erected. The later dates assigned to the building of Nineveh, Babylon, etc., refer to their being rebuilt on a larger scale on the sites of the primitive towns. Unwalled towns are the symbol of peace and security (Zec_2:4). Special cities furnished supplies for the king's service (1Ki_9:19; 1Ki_4:7; 1Ch_27:25; 2Ch_17:12). So, our Lord represents the different servants having the number of cities assigned them in proportion to their faithfulness (Luk_19:17; Luk_19:19).
Forty-eight cities were assigned to the Levites, of which 13 were for the family of Aaron, nine were in Judah, four were in Benjamin, and six were cities of refuge. The streets of eastern cities are generally narrow, seldom allowing more than two loaded camels to pass one another. But Nineveh's admitted of chariots passing, and had large parks and gardens within (Nah_2:4). Those of one trade generally lived on the same street (Jer_37:21). The GATES are the usual place of assembly, and there courts of judges and kings are held (Gen_23:10; Rth_4:1).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
sit?i (עיר, ‛ı̄r, קריה, ḳiryāh; πόλις, pólis):
I. The Canaanite City
1. Origin
2. Extent
3. Villages
4. Sites
5. External Appearance
6. General
II. The City of the Jewish Occupation
1. Tower or Stronghold
2. High Place
3. Broad Place
4. Streets
5. General Characteristics
III. Store Cities
IV. Levitical Cities
Literature
I. The Canaanite City
1. Origin
The development of the Canaanite city has been traced by Macalister in his report on the excavation at Gezer (Palestine Exploration Fund Statement, 1904, 108ff). It originated on the slopes of a bare rocky spur, in which the Neolithic Troglodytes quarried their habitations out of the solid rock, the stones therefrom being used to form a casing to the earthen ramparts, with which the site was afterwards surrounded and which served as a protection against the intrusion of enemies. Later Semitic intruders occupied the site, stone houses were built, and high stone defense walls were substituted for the earthen stone-cased ramparts. These later walls were much higher and stronger than those of the Neilithic occupation and were the walls seen by the Israelites when they viewed the country of their promise.
2. Extent
?The people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great? (Num_13:28) was the report of the spies sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan, to see ?what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds? (Num_13:19, Num_13:20). The difficulties of the task set before the advancing Israelites and their appreciation of the strength of the cities, is here recorded, and also in Deu_1:28 : ?The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.? This assessment of greatness was based upon comparative ignorance of such fortifications and the want of war experience and the necessary implements of assault. It need not, therefore, be supposed that the cities were ?great? except by comparison in the eyes of a tent-dwelling and pastoral people. On the contrary, most recent exploration has proved that they were small (see P?re Vincent, Canaan, 27, note 3, and Pl. I, where comparative measurements of the areas of ancient cities show that, in nine cities compared, Tell Sandahannah (barely 6 acres) is the smallest). Gezer measures approximately 22 1/4 acres and Tell el-Hesy somewhat greater. By way of illustration, it is interesting to note that the Acropolis at Athens, roughly computed, measures Deu_7:1/4 acres, while the Castle Rock at Edinburgh is about 6 acres, or the same as the whole Seleucidan city of Tell Sandahannah. The Acropolis at Tell Zakar?ya measures about 2 acres or nearly one-fourth of the area of the whole city (about 8 1/2 acres). It is unlikely that Jebus (Jerusalem) itself was an exception, although in Solomonic and later times it extended to a far greater area.
3. Villages
Besides the walled cities there were ?unwalled (country) towns a great many? (Deu_3:5), ?villages,? unfortified suburbs, lying near to and under the protection of the walled cities and occupied by the surplus population. The almost incredible number of cities and their villages mentioned in the Old Testament, while proving the clannishness of their occupants, proves, at the same time, their comparatively small scale.
4. Sites
Traces of similar populations that rise and fall are seen in China and Japan today. As a little poem says of Karakura:
?Where were palaces and merchants and the blades of warriors,
Now are only the cicadas and waving blades of grass.?
?Cities that stood on their mounds? (Jos_11:13; Jer_30:18) as at Lachish and Taanach are distinguished from those built on natural hills or spurs of hills, such as Jebus, Gezer, Tell es Sail (Gath?), Bethshemesh (see Vincent, Canaan, 26ff). The Arabic name ?Tell? is applied to all mounds of ancient cities, whether situated on a natural eminence or on a plain, and the word is common in the geographical nomenclature of Palestine Sites were chosen near a water supply, which was ever the most essential qualification. For purposes of defense, the nearest knoll or spur was selected. Sometimes these knolls were of no great height and their subsequent elevation is accounted for by the gradual accumulation of d?bris from town refuse and from frequent demolitions; restoration being effected after a levelng up of the ruins of the razed city (see Fig. 2: Tell el-Hesy, Palestine Exploration Fund, which shows a section of the Tell from which the levels of the successive cities in distinct stratification were recovered). Closely packed houses, in narrow alleys, with low, rude mud, brick, or stone and mud walls, with timber and mud roofs, burned readily and were easily razed to the ground (Jos_8:1; Jos_11:11).
It would seem that, viewed from the outside, these cities had the appearance of isolated forts, the surrounding walls being strengthened at frequent intervals, with towers. The gates were approached by narrow roads, which mounted the slopes of the mound at the meeting-point of the meandering paths on the plain below.
5. External Appearance
The walls of Tell ej-Judeideh were strengthened by towers in the inside, and presented an unbroken circuit of wall to the outside view (see Fig. 4, PEF). Houses on the wall (Jos_2:15; 2Co_11:33) may have been seen from the outside; but it is unlikely that any building within the walls was visible, except possibly the inner tower or stronghold. The whole of the interior of the early Jerusalem (Jebus) was visible from the hills to the East, but this peculiarity of position is uncommon. Strong and high walls, garrisoned by men-at-arms seen only through the battlements, showed no weakness, and the gates, with their narrow and steep approaches and projecting defense towers, looked uninviting traps. The mystery of these unseen interiors could therefore be easily conjured into an exaggeration of strength.
6. General
The inhabitants of the villages (בּנות, bānōth, ?daughters,? Num_32:42 margin) held feudal occupation and gave service to their lord of the city (אם, 'ēm, ?mother,? 2Sa_20:19), in defense of their own or in attacks on their neighbor's property. Such were the cities of the truculent, marauding kings of Canaan, whose broken territories lent themselves to the upkeep of a condition, of the weakness of which, the Israelites, in their solid advance, took ready advantage.
II. The City of the Jewish Occupation
After the conquest, and the abandonment of the pastoral life for that of agriculture and general trade, the condition of the cities varied but little, except that they were, from time to time, enlarged and strengthened. Solomon's work at Jerusalem was a step forward, but there is little evidence that, in the other cities which he is credited with having put his hands to, there was any embellishment. Megiddo and Gezer at least show nothing worthy of the name. Greek influence brought with it the first real improvements in city building; and the later work of Herod raised cities to a grandeur which was previously undreamed of among the Jews. Within the walls, the main points considered in the ?layout? were, the Tower or Stronghold, the High Place, the Broad Place by the Gate, and the Market-Place.
1. Tower or Stronghold
The Tower or Stronghold was an inner fort which held a garrison and commander, and was provisioned with ?victuals, and oil and wine? (2Ch_11:11), to which the defenders of the city when hard pressed betook themselves, as a last resource. The men of the tower of Shechem held out against Abimelech (Jdg_9:49) who was afterward killed by a stone thrown by a woman from the Tower of Thebez ?within the city? (Jdg_9:51, Jdg_9:53). David took the stronghold of Zion, ?the same is the city of David? (2Sa_5:7), which name (Zion) was afterward applied to the whole city. It is not unlikely that the king's house was included in the stronghold. Macalister (Palestine Exploration Fund Statement, 1907, 192ff) reports the discovery of a Canaanite castle with enormously thick walls abutting against the inside of the city wall. The strongholds at Taanach and Tell el-Hesy are similarly placed; and the Acropolis at Tell Zakar?ya lies close to, but independent of, the city wall.
2. High Place
The High Place was an important feature in all Canaanite cities and retained its importance long after the conquest (1Sa_9:12; 1Ki_3:2; Amo_7:9). It was a sanctuary, where sacrifices were offered and feasts were held, and men did ?eat before Yahweh? (Deu_14:26). The priests, as was their custom, received their portion of the flesh (1Sa_2:12). The High Place discovered at Gezer (Bible Sidelights, chapter iii) is at a lower level than the city surrounding it, and lies North and South. It is about 100 ft. in length, and when complete consisted of a row of ten rude undressed standing stones, of which eight are still remaining, the largest being 10 ft. 6 inches high, and the others varying to much smaller sizes. See HIGH PLACE.
3. Broad Place
The Broad Place (Neh_8:1, Neh_8:3, Neh_8:16; Jer_5:1) seems to have been, usually, immediately inside the city gate. It was not, in early Jewish cities, an extensive open area, but simply a widening of the street, and was designated ?broad? by comparison with the neighboring alleys, dignified by the name of street. It took the place of a general exchange. Justice was dispensed (Rth_4:2) and punishment was administered. Jeremiah was put in ?the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin? (Jer_20:2), proclamations were read, business was transacted, and the news and gossip of the day were exchanged. It was a place for all classes to congregate (Job_29:7 m; Pro_31:23), and was also a market-place (2Ki_7:1). In later times, the market-place became more typically a market square of the Greek agora plan, with an open area surrounded by covered shelters. The present market-place at Haifa resembles this. Probably it was this type of market-place referred to in Mat_11:16; Mat_20:3 and Luk_7:32; Luk_11:43. The street inside the Damascus gate of Jerusalem today is, in many ways, similar to the Broad Place, and retains many of its ancient uses. Here, Bedouin and Fellahin meet from the outlying districts to barter, to arbitrate, to find debtors and to learn the news of the day. Lying as it did immediately inside the gate, the Broad Place had a defensive value, in that it admitted of concentration against the forcing of the gate. There does not seem to have been any plan of either a Canaanite or early Jewish city, in which this question of defense did not predominate. Open areas within the city were ?waste places? (Isa_58:12) and were not an integral part of the plan.
4. Streets
The streets serving these quarters were not laid out on any fixed plan. They were, in fact, narrow, unpaved alleys, all seeming of equal importance, gathering themselves crookedly to the various centers. Having fixed the positions of the City Gates, the Stronghold and the High Place, the inhabitants appear to have been allowed to situate themselves the best way they could, without restriction of line or frontage. Houses were of modest proportions and were poorly built; planned, most often, in utter disregard of the square, and presenting to the street more or less dead walls, which were either topped by parapets or covered with projecting wood and mud roofs (see ARCHITECTURE Fig. 1; HOUSE).
The streets, as in the present day in Palestine,were allocated to separate trades: ?bakers' street? (Jer_37:21), place ?of the merchants? (Neh_3:31, Neh_3:32 the King James Version), ?goldsmiths,? etc. The Valley of the Cheesemakers was a street in the Tyropceon Valley at Jerusalem.
For a discussion of the subject of ?cisterns? , see the separate article under the word
5. General Characteristics
The people pursued the industries consequent upon their own self-establishment. Agriculture claimed first place, and was their most highly esteemed occupation. The king's lands were farmed by his subjects for his own benefit, and considerable tracts of lands belonged to the aristocracy. The most of the lands, however, belonged to the cities and villages, and were allotted among the free husbandmen. Various cereals were raised, wheat and barley being most commonly cultivated. The soil was tilled and the crops reaped and threshed in much the same manner and with much the same implements as are now used in Syria. Cities lying in main trade routes developed various industries more quickly than those whose positions were out of touch with foreign traffic. Crafts and trades, unknown to the early Jews, were at first monopolized by foreigners who, as a matter of course, were elbowed out as time progressed. Cities on the seaboard of Phoenicia depended chiefly on maritime trade. Money, in the form of ingots and bars of precious metals, ?weighed out? (2Ki_12:11), was current in pre?xilic times, and continued in use after foreign coinage had been introduced. The first native coinage dates from the Maccabean period (see Madden, Jewish Coinage, chapter iv). Slavery was freely trafficked in, and a certain number of slaves were attached to the households of the more wealthy. Although they were the absolute property of their masters, they enjoyed certain religious privileges not extended to the ?sojourners? or ?strangers? who sought the protection of the cities, often in considerable numbers.
The king's private property, from which he drew full revenue, lay partly within the city, but to a greater extent beyond it (1Sa_8:15, 1Sa_8:16). In addition to his private property, he received tithes of fields and flocks, ?the tenth part of your seed.? He also drew a tax in the shape of certain ?king's mowings? (Amo_7:1). Vassal kings, paid tribute; Mesha, king of Moab, rendered wool unto the king of Israel? (2Ki_3:4).
See G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, I, chapters v-x, for detailed account of the conditions of Jewish city life. For details of government, see ELDER; JUDGE; SANHEDRIN.
III. Store Cities
These were selected by Solomon and set aside for stores of victuals, chariots, horsemen, etc. (1Ki_9:19). Jehoshaphat ?built in Judah castles and cities of store? (2Ch_17:12). Twelve officers were appointed by Solomon to provision his household, each officer being responsible for the supply in one month in the year (1Ki_4:7). There were also ?storehouses in the fields, in the cities, and in the villages? (1Ch_27:25 the King James Version).
IV. Levitical Cities
These were apportioned 13 to the children of Aaron, 10 to Kohath, 13 to Gershon, 12 to Merari, 48 cities in all (Jos_21:13), 6 of which were cities of Refuge (Num_35:6); see REFUGE, CITIES OF. For further details see ARCHITECTURE; HOUSE.
Literature
PEFS; Bliss and Dickie, Excavations at Jerusalem; Macalister, Excavation at Gezer; Bliss and Macalister, Excavations in Palestine; Sellin, Excavation at Taanach; Schumacher, Excavation at Tell Mutesellim; Macalister, Bible Sidelights; G. A. Smith, Jerusalem; Historical Geography of the Holy Land; Bliss, Mounds of Many Cities; Vincent, Canaan.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Pro_25:28 (a) The Christian is compared to a city filled with treasures, jewels and valuables. His treasures are patience, love, peace, zeal, et cetera, which, unless guarded, will be taken from him by critics, enemies, fault-finders and gossips.
Rev_18:10 (a) This city is a figure of the religious-political groups of earth which build huge buildings, manifest outward piety, have a mixture of Christian doctrines with heathen practices. This "city" is engaged in the business of buying and selling every kind of merchandise, and ruling in the affairs of men. Their merchandise includes the bodies and the souls of men (Rev_18:13 margin). GOD is telling us here that He will visit such religious movements in judgment, and will pour out His wrath upon them. This "city" is said to be decked or guilded with gold, whereas GOD's true city is said to be pure gold. (Compare Rev_18:16 with Rev_21:18).
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
City
The Hebrews term most frequently thus rendered is עַיר (ir, literally something raised up, i.e. having walls reared; or from עוּר, to keep guard [Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 1004]; Sept. and N.T. πόλις), a word of very extensive signification, embracing not only the idea of an encampment, as a nomade hamlet (Gen_4:17), but also that of small fortifications, as watch-posts or watch-towers (comp. Num_13:19; 2Ki_17:9; Isa_1:8), and thence extended to regular towns. Nearly equivalent to this is קַרְיָה (kiryah'), which, with a few exceptions (Deu_2:26; 1Ki_1:41; 1Ki_1:45), is found only in the poetic style; and analogous (in sense, as probably also in derivation) to this last is קֶרֶת (ke'reth), found only in Job_29:7; Pro_8:3; Pro_9:3; Pro_9:14; Pro_11:11. The word rendered city in Rth_3:11, is שִׁעִר (sha'ar), properly gate. (as it is elsewhere rendered), and there means those assembled in the forum or place of public business at the town gates. The second of these terms (perhaps from קָרָה to approach as an enemy, or rather [Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 1236] to fortify), is often prefixed to the names of towns on both sides of the Jordan existing before the conquest, as Kirjath-Arba, probably the most ancient name for city, but seldom used in prose as a general name for town (Stanley, Palest. App. § 80). The classification of the human race into dwellers in towns and nomade wanderers (Gen_4:20; Gen_4:22) seems to be intimated by the etymological sense of both words, Ar, or Ir, and Kirjath, as places of security against an enemy, distinguished from the unwalled village or hamlet, whose resistance is more easily overcome by the marauding tribes of the desert. SEE IR-; SEE KIRJATH.
This distinction is found actually existing in countries, as Persia and Arabia, in which the tent-dwellers are found, like the Rechabites, almost side by side with the dwellers in cities, sometimes even sojourning within them, but not amalgamated with the inhabitants, and in general making the desert their home, and, unlike the Rechabites, robbery their undissembled occupation (Jdg_5:7; Jer_35:9; Jer_35:11; see Fraser, Persia, p. 366, 380; Malcolm, Sketches of Persia, p. 147-156; Burckhardt, Notes on Bedouins, 1, 157; Wellsted, Travels in Arabia, 1, 335; Porter, Damascus, 2, 96, 181, 188; Vaux, Nineveh and Persepolis, c. 2, note A; Layard, Nineveh, 2, 272; Nin. and Bab. p. 141). SEE VILLAGE.
1. Towns are a natural result of the aggregative principle in human nature. Necessity led the early races of men to build their towns on lofty spots, where, with the aid of the natural advantages of the ground, they could easily protect themselves against beasts of prey and human foes. A town, and a stronghold or fort, would thus be originally identical. As population increased and agriculture spread, so some degree of security came, which permitted the inhabitants of the castle to diffuse themselves over the hill- side, and take up their abode in the valley, and by the side of the stream that lay nearest their acropolis; still the inhabitants kept at no great distance from the center of strength, in order not to be deprived of its protection. The town, however, would thus be enlarged, and as the necessity for self- defense still existed, so would the place soon be surrounded with walls. Thus there would be outer and inner bulwarks, and in some sort two species of community the townspeople, who tilled the ground and carried on trade, and the soldiers, whose business it was to afford protection: these two, however, in the earliest stages of civilization, were one, the peasant and tradesman taking arms when the town was put in danger.
How early towns were formed cannot be determined by any general principle: they were obviously a work of time. The primary tendency in population was to diffuse itself. Aggregation on particular spots would take place at a later period. When, then, Cain is said to have built a city (Gen_4:17), we have evidence which concurs with other intimations to show that it is only a partial history of the first ages that we possess in the records of the book of Genesis. In the time of the Patriarchs we find towns existing in Palestine which were originally surrounded with fortifications, so as to make them fenced cities. (See below.) In these dwelt the agricultural population, who, by means of these places of strength, defended themselves and their property from the nomad tribes of the neighboring desert, who then, as they do now, lived by plunder. Nor were works of any great strength necessary. In Palestine at the present day, while walls are in most parts an indispensable protection, and agriculture can be advantageously prosecuted only so far as sheltered by a fortified town, erections of a very slight nature are found sufficient for the purpose, the rather because the most favorable localities offer themselves on: all sides, owing to the natural inequality of the ground. Hence we find that hills or eminences were almost invariably chosen as sites for this purpose, a fact which even grew into a proverb a city upon a hill. (See Hackett's Illustra. of Script. p. 70.)
Of the ancient method of building in towns and cities we have no accurate knowledge, any farther than we may gather information from the ruins which still lie on the soil of Palestine. But these ruins can afford only general notions, as, though they are numerous, and show that the Land of Promise was thickly peopled and highly flourishing in its better days, the actual remains of ancient towns are to be ascribed to different and very distant periods of history. The Crusades left many strongholds which are now in a state of dilapidation; but the Crusades are of modern days compared with the time of the Savior, which itself is remote from the proper antiquity of the nation. The law of sameness, however, which prevails so rigidly in Eastern countries, gives us an assurance that a modern town in Palestine may be roughly taken as a type of its ancient predecessors. (See Olin's Travels, 2, 423.) To distinguish cities that bore the same name, the name of the tribe was added. In the latter days, especially under the Herods, it was the fashion to give to ancient towns new Greek names, as Diospolis, Neapolis, Sebaste, Cmesarea, Tiberias. Jerusalem, at a later period, was denominated AElia Capitolina. These innovations indicated the slavish disposition of the age, and were tokens of the bondage in which the nation was held.
Palestine underwent constant changes in regard to its towns from the earliest ages; one consequence of which is, that there are names of towns that belong exclusively to certain eras. The period of the Roman domination gave existence, as to structures of great splendor, so to many towns and fortified places. Galilee was especially rich in towns and villages, which, according to Josephus (Life, 45), amounted in all to the number of 204. The names of the. Palestinian cities, for the most part, have meaning, reference being made to the nature of the locality or the character of the inhabitants. The population of towns cannot now be ascertained with any degree of accuracy, for the materials are not only scanty and disconnected, but in a measure uncertain. SEE CENSUS.
2. The earliest notice in Scripture of city-building is of that of the city called Enoch (q.v.) by Cain, in the land of his exile (Nod, Gen_4:17). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar; and Asshur, a branch from the same stock, built Nineveh, Rehoboth-by-the-river, Calah, and Resen, the last being a great city. A subsequent passage mentions Sidon, Gaza, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Lasha, as cities of the Canaanites, but without implying for them antiquity equal to that of Nineveh and the rest (Gen_10:10-12; Gen_10:19; Gen_11:3; Gen_11:9; Gen_36:37). Sir H. Rawlinson supposes, (1.) that the expedition of Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14) was prior to the building of Babylon or Nineveh, indicating a migration or conquest from Persia or Assyria; (2.) that by Nimrod is to be understood, not an individual, but a name denoting the settlers in the Assyrian plain; and (3.) that the names Rehoboth, Calah, etc., when first mentioned, only denoted sites of buildings afterwards erected. He supposes that Nineveh was built about B.C. 1250, and Calah about a century later, while Babylon appears to have existed in the 15th century B.C.
If this be correct, We must infer that the places then attacked, Sodom, Gomorrah, etc., were cities of higher antiquity than Nineveh or Babylon, inasmuch as when they were destroyed a few years later they were cities in every sense of the term. The name Kirjathaim, double city (Gesenius, Thesaur. Heb. p. 1236), indicates an existing city, and not a site only. It may be added that the remains of civic buildings existing in Moab are evidently very ancient, if not, in some cases, the same as those erected by the aboriginal Emim and Rephaim. (Compare also the name Avith, ruins, Gesenius, ib. p. 1000; Gen_19:1; Gen_19:29; Gen_36:35; Isa_23:13; see Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 1, 308; Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 532; Porter, Damascus, 1, 309; 2:196; Rawlinson, Outlines of Assyr. Hist. p. 4, 5.) But though it appears probable that, whatever dates maybe assigned to the building of Babylon or Nineveh in their later condition, they were in fact rebuilt at those epochs, and not founded for the first time, and that towns in some form or other may have occupied the sites of the later Nineveh or Calah; it is quite clear that cities existed in Syria prior to the time of Abraham, who himself came from Ur, the city of the Chaldaeans (Gesenius, ib. p. 55; Rawlinson, p. 4).
The earliest description of a city, properly so called, is that of Sodom (Gen_19:1-22); but it is certain that from very early times cities existed on the sites of Jerusalem, Hebron, and Damascus. The last, said to be the oldest city in the world, must, from its unrivalled situation, have always commanded a congregated population; Hebron is said to have been built seven years before Zoan (Tanis) in Egypt, and is thus the only Syrian town which presents the elements of a date for its foundation (Num_13:22; see Stanley, Palest. p. 409; Josephus, Ant. 1, 6, 4; Conybeare and Howson, St. Paul, 1, 94, 96). But there can be no doubt that, whatever date may be given to Egyptian civilization, there were inhabited cities in Egypt long before this (Gen_12:14-15; see Martineau, Eastern Life, 1, 151; Wilkinson, 1:307; Smith, Dict. of Class. Geog. s.v. Tanis). The name, however, of Hebron, Kirjath-Arba, indicates its existence at least as early as the time of Abraham, as the city, or fortified place of Arba, an aboriginal province of Southern Palestine (Gen_23:2; Jos_14:15). The tower of Edar, near Bethlehem, or of flocks, indicates a position fortified against marauders (Gen_35:21). Whether the city of Shalem be a site or an existing town cannot be determined; but there can be no doubt that the situation of Shechem is as well identified in the present day, as its importance as a fortified place is plain from the Scripture narrative (Gen_33:18; Gen_34:20; Gen_34:26; see Robinson, 3, 114). On the whole, it seems plain that the Canaanite, who was in the land before the coming of Abraham, had already built cities of more or less importance, which had been largely increased. by the time of the return from Egypt. Even before the time of Abraham there were cities in Egypt (Gen_12:14-15; Num_13:22; see Wilkinson, 1:4, 5).
The Israelites, during their sojourn there, were employed in building or fortifying the treasure cities of Pithom (Abbasieh) and Raamses (Exo_1:11; Herod. 2:158; see Robinson, 1:79); but their pastoral habits make it unlikely that they should build, still less fortify, cities of their own in Goshen (Gen_46:34; Gen_47:1-11). Meanwhile the settled inhabitants of Syria on both sides of the Jordan had grown in power, and in number of fenced cities. In the kingdom of Sihon are many names of cities preserved to the present day; and in the kingdom of Og, in Bashan, were sixty great cities with walls and brazen bars, besides unwalled villages; and also twenty-three cities in Gilead, which were occupied, and perhaps partly rebuilt or fortified, by the tribes on the east of Jordan (Num_21:21; Num_21:32-33; Num_21:35; Num_32:1-3; Num_32:34; Num_32:42; Deu_3:4-5; Deu_3:14; Joshua 11, 13; 1Ki_4:13; 1Ch_2:22; see Burckhardt, Syria, p. 311, 457; Porter, Damascus, 2, 195, 196, 206, 259, 275). On the west of Jordan, whilst 31 royal cities are enumerated (Joshua 12), in the district assigned to Judah 125 cities with villages are reckoned (Joshua 15); in Benjamin, 26; to Simeon, 17; Zebulun, 12; Issachar, 16; Asher, 22; Naphtali. 19; Daniel 17 (Joshua 18, 19). But from some of these the possessors were not expelled till a late period, and Jerusalem itself was not captured till the time of David (2Sa_5:6-9). From this time the Hebrews became a city-swelling and agricultural rather than a pastoral people. David enlarged Jerusalem; and Solomon, besides embellishing his capital, also built or rebuilt Tadmor, Palmnyra, Gezer, Beth-horon, Hazor, and Megiddo, besides storecities (2Sa_5:7; 2Sa_5:9-10; 1Ki_9:15-18; 2Ch_8:6). To Solomon also is ascribed by Eastern tradition the building of Persepolis (Chardin, Voyage, 8, 390; Mandelslo, 1:4; Kuran, c. 38). The works of Jeroboam at Shechem (1Ki_12:25; Jdg_9:45), of Rehoboam (2Ch_11:5-10), of Baasha at Rama, interrupted by Asa (1Ki_15:17; 1Ki_15:22), of Omri at Samaria (16, 24), the rebuilding of Jericho in the time of Ahab (16, 34), the works of Jehoshaphat (2Ch_17:12), of Jotham (2Ch_27:4), the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and, later still, the works of Herod and his family, belong to their respective articles.
3. Collections of houses in Syria for social habitation may be classed under three heads: (1.) cities; (2.) towns, with citadels or towers for resort and defense; (3.) unwalled villages. The cities may be assumed to have been in almost all cases fenced cities, i.e. possessing a wall with towers and gates (Lev_25:29; Deu_9:1; Jos_2:15; Jos_6:20; 1Sa_23:7; 1Ki_4:13; 2Ki_6:26; 2Ki_7:3; 2Ki_18:8; 2Ki_18:13; Act_9:25); and that, as a mark of conquest was to break down a portion at least of the city wall of the captured place, so the first care of the defenders, as of the Jews after their return from captivity, was to re. build the fortifications (2Ki_14:13; 2Ki_14:22; 2Ch_26:2; 2Ch_26:6; 2Ch_33:14; Nehemiah 3, 4, 6, 7; 1Ma_4:60-61; 1Ma_10:45; Xen. Hell. 2, 2, 15). But around the city, especially in peaceable times, lay undefended suburbs (1Ch_6:57 sq.; Num_35:1-5; Joshua 21), to which the privileges of the city extended. (See below.) The city thus became the citadel, while the population overflowed into the suburbs (1Ma_11:61). The absence of walls as indicating security in peaceable times, combined with populousness, as was the case in the flourishing period of Egypt, is illustrated by the prophet Zechariah (Zec_2:4; 1Ki_4:25; see Martineau, East. Life, 1, 306).
According to Eastern custom, special cities were appointed to furnish special supplies for the service of the state: cities of store, for chariots, for horsemen, for building purposes, for provision for the royal table. Special governors for these and their surrounding districts were appointed by David and Solomon (1Ki_4:7; 1Ki_9:19; 1Ch_27:25; 2Ch_17:12; 2Ch_21:3; 1Ma_10:39; Xen. Anab. 1, 4, 10). To this practice our Lord alludes in his parable of the pounds, and it agrees with the theory of Hindoo government, which was to be conducted by lords of single townships, of 10, 100, or 1000 towns (Luk_19:17; Luk_19:19; see Elphinstone, India, ch. 2, 1, 39, and App. 5, p. 485). To the Levites 48 cities were assigned, distributed throughout the country, together with a certain amount of suburban ground, and out of these 48, 13 were specially reserved for the family of Aaron, 9 in Judah and 4 in Benjamin, and 6 as refuge cities (Jos_21:13; Jos_21:42), but after the division of the kingdoms the Levites in Israel left their cities and resorted to Judah and Jerusalem (2Ch_11:13-14). (See below.)
4. The internal government of Jewish cities was vested before the Captivity in a council of elders, with judges, who were required to be priests: Josephus says seven judges, with two Levites as officers, ὑπηρέται (Deu_21:5; Deu_21:19; Deu_16:18; Deu_19:17; Rth_4:2, Josephus, Ant. 4, 8,14). Under the kings a president or governor appears to have been appointed (1Ki_22:26; 2Ch_18:25); and judges were sent out on circuit, who referred matters of doubt to a council composed of priests, Levites, and elders at Jerusalem (1Ch_23:4; 1Ch_26:29; 2Ch_19:5; 2Ch_19:8; 2Ch_19:10-11). After the Captivity, Ezra made similar arrangements for the appointment of judges (Ezr_7:25). In the time of Josephus there appear to have been councils in the provincial towns, with presidents in each, under the directions of the great council at Jerusalem (Josephus, Ant. 14, 9, 4; War, 2, 21, 3; Life, 12, 13, 27, 34, 57, 61, 68, 74). SEE SANHEDRIM.
In many Eastern cities much space is occupied by gardens, and thus the size of the cities is much increased (Niebuhr, Voyage, 2, 172, 239; Conybeare and Howson, 1:96; Eothen, p. 240). The vast extent of Nineveh and of Babylon may thus be in part accounted for (Diod. 2:70; Quint. Curt. 5, 1, 26; Jon_4:11; see Chardin, Voy. 7:273, 284; Porter, Damascus, 1, 153; P. della Valle, 2:33). In most Oriental cities the streets are extremely narrow, seldom allowing more than two loaded camels, or one camel and two foot passengers to pass each other, though it is clear that some of the streets of Nineveh must have been wide enough for chariots to pass each other (Nah_2:4; see Olearius, Tray. p. 294, 309; Burckhardt, Trav. in Arabia, 1, 188; Buckingham, Arab Tribes, p. 330; Mrs. Poole, Englishwoman in Egypt, 1, 141). The word for streets used by Nahum ( רְהֹבוֹת, from רָהִב, broad, πλατεῖαι) is used also of streets or broad places in Jerusalem (Pro_1:20; Jer_5:1; Jer_22:4; Son_3:2); and it may be remarked that the thoroughfares (πλατεῖαι) into which the sick were brought to receive the shadow of Peter (Act_5:15) were more likely to be the ordinary streets than the special plazze of the city. It seems likely that the immense concourse which resorted to Jerusalem at the feasts would induce wider streets than in other cities (see 1Ki_20:34). Herod built in Antioch a wide street paved with stone, and having covered ways on each side. Agrippa II paved Jerusalem with white stone (Josephus, Ant. 16, 5, 2 and 3; 20:9, 7). The streets of most cities of Palestine would not need paving, in consequence of the rocky nature of the foundations on which they lay. The Straight Street of Damascus is still clearly defined and recognizable (Irby and Mangles, v. 86; Robinson, new ed. of Res. 3. 454, 455). In building Caesarea, Josephus says that Herod was careful to carry out the drainage effectually (Josephus, Ant. 15, 9, 6). The internal commerce of Jewish'cities was probably carried on as now by means of bazaars (q.v.); for we read of the bakers' street (Jer_37:21), and Josephus speaks of the wool market, the hardware market, a place of blacksmiths' shops, and the clothes market, at Jerusalem (War, 5, 8, 1). SEE STREET.
The open spaces (πλατεῖαι) near the gates of towns were in ancient times, as they are still, used as places of assembly by the elders, of holding courts by kings and judges, and of general resort by citizens (Gen_23:10; Rth_4:1; 2Sa_15:2; 2Sa_18:24; 2Sa_21:12; 2Ki_7:1; 2Ki_7:3; 2Ki_7:20; 2Ch_18:9; 2Ch_32:6; Neh_8:1; Neh_8:13; Neh_8:16; Job_29:7; Jer_17:19; Mat_6:5; Luk_13:26). They were also used as places of public exposure by way of punishment (Jer_20:2; Amo_5:10). SEE GATE. Prisons were, under the kingly government, within the royal precinct (Gen_39:20; 1Ki_22:27; Jer_32:2; Neh_3:25; Act_21:34; Act_23:35).
Great pains were taken to supply Jerusalem with water, both by tanks and cisterns for rain-water, and by reservoirs supplied by aqueducts from distant springs. Such was the fountain of Gihon, the aqueduct of Hezekiah (2Ki_20:20; 2Ch_32:30; Isa_22:9), and of Solomon (Ecc_2:6), of which last water is still conveyed from near Bethlehem to Jerusalem (Maundrell, in Bohn's ed. of Early Trav. p. 457; Robinson, 1:514 sq.; Olin, 2:119 sq.). Josephus also mentions an attempt made by Pilate to bring water to Jerusalem (Ant. 18, 3, 2). SEE CONDUIT. Other cities appear to have been mostly contented with the fountains whose existence had probably led to their formation at the first. SEE WATER.
Burial-places, except in special cases, were outside the city (Num_19:11; Num_19:16; Mat_8:28; Luk_7:12; Joh_19:41; Heb_13:12). SEE GRAVE.
5. A city and its inhabitants are frequently described in the sacred writings under the similitude of a mother and her children; hence the phrase Children of Zion (Joe_2:23). Cities are also characterized as virgins, wives, widows, and harlots, according to their different conditions. Thus Jerusalem is called a virgin (Isa_37:22); and the term harlot is used of Jerusalem (Isa_1:21), also of Tyre (Isa_23:16), of Nineveh (Nah_3:4), and of Samaria (Eze_23:5).
FENCED CITY (seldom simply מְצוּרָה, metsurah', a mound or intrenchment of besiegers; mount, Isa_29:3; munition, Nah_2:1), a town with walls of fortification (2Ch_11:11; oftener with עָרֵי, cities of, 2Ch_14:5; or both words in the plur., 2Ch_11:10-11; 2Ch_11:23; 2Ch_12:4; 2Ch_21:3). From the foregoing remarks, it will be understood how the phrases to build a city, and to fortify orfence it, in the Oriental idiom, mean generally the same thing. SEE FORTRESS. The fencing or fortification was usually with high walls, and watch-towers upon them (Deu_3:5). SEE FORTIFICATION. The walls of fortified cities were formed, in part at least, of combustible materials (Amo_1:7; Amo_1:10; Amo_1:14), the gates being covered with thick plates of iron or brass (Psa_107:16; Isa_45:2; Act_12:10). There was also within the city a citadel or tower, to which the inhabitants fled when the city itself could not be defended (Jdg_9:46-52). They were often upon elevated ground, and were entered by a flight of steps (2Ki_10:2; Isa_36:1). SEE WALL.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
With the exception of cities on the sea-board, the situation of the Canaanite city was determined, as elsewhere in that old world, by two supreme considerationsthe presence of an adequate water-supply and the capability of easy defence against the enemy. The cities of Canaan, says Vincent, were almost invariably perched upon a projecting spur of a mountain slope, or upon an isolated eminence in the plain: Megiddo, Gezer, Tell-es-Safy [Gath?]not to mention the hill of the primitive Jerusalemare characteristic examples of the former site, Taanach and Lachish of the latter. With this well-known fact agrees the mention of the cities on their mounds (Jos_11:13 RV [Note: Revised Version.] , Jer_30:18 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] [Heb. tillîm, the Arabic tell, now so common in the topographical nomenclature of Western Asia]).
The relation between the city and the dependent villages was regarded as that of a mother (2Sa_20:19 a mother in Israel) and her daughters, a point lost in our rendering villages (e.g. Jos_15:32; Jos_15:36; Jos_15:41 and passim), though noted in the margins. From these the city was outwardly distinguished by its massive walls (cf. Num_13:28, Deu_1:28 walled up to heaven), on the construction of which recent excavation has thrown a flood of new light (see Fortification). Close to, if not actually upon, the walls, houses were sometimes built, as we learn from Jos_2:15 (cf. 2Co_11:33).
The streets are now seen to have been exceedingly narrow and to have been laid out on no definite plan, a maze of narrow crooked causeways and blind alleys, as at Gezer. Only at the intersection of the more important streets, and especially near the city gates, were broad places (Jer_5:1, Neh_8:1; Neh_8:3; Neh_8:16 RV [Note: Revised Version.] where AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , as often, has streets)the markets (Mat_11:16, Luk_11:43) and market-places (Mat_20:3, Luk_7:32) of NTwhere the citizens met to discuss public affairs, the children to play, and the elders to dispense justice. The importance of the gates, which were closed at nightfall (Jos_2:5), is treated of in art. Fortification and Sieoecraft, § 5. During the night the watchmen mounted guard on the ramparts, or went about the city (Son_3:3, Isa_62:6; cf. Psa_127:1). A feature of an Eastern city in ancient as in modern times was the aggregation in a particular street or streets of representatives of the same craft or occupation, from which the name of the street or quarter was derived (see Arts and Crafts, § 10).
The houses were absurdly small to Western ideas (see House), for the city folk lived their life in the courts and streets, retiring to their houses mainly to eat and sleep. Every city of any importance, and in particular every royal city, had its castle, citadel, or acropolis, as the excavations show, to which the inhabitants might flee as a last defence. Such was the strong tower within the city of Thebez (Jdg_9:51). Indeed the common term for city (ir) is often used in this restricted sense; thus the stronghold of Zion is re-named Davids castle or citadel (2Sa_5:7, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] city of David), and the city of waters (2Sa_12:27) at Rabbath-ammon is really the water fort.
As regards the water-supply, it was essential, as we have seen, to have one or more springs in the immediate vicinity, to which at the time of evening (Gen_24:11) the city maidens went forth to draw (see Well). Against the long rainless summer, and especially against the oft-recurring cases of siege, it was not less necessary that the city should be provided with open pools and covered cisterns for the storage of water. Mesha, king of Moab, tells in his famous inscription how, as there was no cistern in the midst of a certain city, he said to all the people: make you each a cistern in his house (cf. Cistern).
In the internal affairs of the city the king in Canaanite days was supreme. Under the Hebrew monarchy and later, law and justice were in the hands of the elders of the city (Deu_19:12; Deu_21:3 ff., Rth_4:2 etc.). In addition to freemen, possessing the full rights of citizenshipthe men of the city par excellencewith their wives and children, the population will have included many slaves, mostly captives of war, and a sprinkling of sojourners and passing strangers (see Stranger).
No city, finally, was without its sanctuary or high place, either within its own precincts, as in most cities of note (see High Place), or on an adjoining height (1Sa_9:12 ff.). With due religious rites, too, the city had been founded in far-off Canaanite, or even, as we now know, in pre-Canaanite days, when the foundation sacrifice claimed its human victim (see House, § 3). A survival of this wide-spread custom is almost certainly to be recognized in connexion with the rebuilding of Jericho, the foundation of which was laid by Hiel the Bethelite, with the loss of Abiram his first born, and whose gates were set up with the loss of his youngest son, Segub (1Ki_16:34 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ).
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Cain first founded one (Gen_4:16-17). The material civilization of the Cainite race was superior to that of the Sethite. To the former belonged many inventions of useful arts and luxury (Gen_4:20-22). Real refinement and moral civilization are by no means necessary concomitants of material civilization; in these the Sethites took the lead (Gen_4:25-26). The distinction between tent or nomadic and town life early began. The root meaning of the Hebrew terms for "city," 'ar or 'ir (from 'ur "to keep watch"), and kirat (from qarah "to approach as an enemy," Gen_23:2) implies that a leading object of gathering into towns was security against marauders.
So, "the tower of Edar," i.e. flocks (Gen_35:21). Of course, the first "cities" would be mere groups of rude dwellings, fenced round together. Sir H. Rawlinson supposes Rehoboth, Calah, etc., in Gen_10:11, denote only sites of buildings afterward erected. The later dates assigned to the building of Nineveh, Babylon, etc., refer to their being rebuilt on a larger scale on the sites of the primitive towns. Unwalled towns are the symbol of peace and security (Zec_2:4). Special cities furnished supplies for the king's service (1Ki_9:19; 1Ki_4:7; 1Ch_27:25; 2Ch_17:12). So, our Lord represents the different servants having the number of cities assigned them in proportion to their faithfulness (Luk_19:17; Luk_19:19).
Forty-eight cities were assigned to the Levites, of which 13 were for the family of Aaron, nine were in Judah, four were in Benjamin, and six were cities of refuge. The streets of eastern cities are generally narrow, seldom allowing more than two loaded camels to pass one another. But Nineveh's admitted of chariots passing, and had large parks and gardens within (Nah_2:4). Those of one trade generally lived on the same street (Jer_37:21). The GATES are the usual place of assembly, and there courts of judges and kings are held (Gen_23:10; Rth_4:1).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
sit?i (עיר, ‛ı̄r, קריה, ḳiryāh; πόλις, pólis):
I. The Canaanite City
1. Origin
2. Extent
3. Villages
4. Sites
5. External Appearance
6. General
II. The City of the Jewish Occupation
1. Tower or Stronghold
2. High Place
3. Broad Place
4. Streets
5. General Characteristics
III. Store Cities
IV. Levitical Cities
Literature
I. The Canaanite City
1. Origin
The development of the Canaanite city has been traced by Macalister in his report on the excavation at Gezer (Palestine Exploration Fund Statement, 1904, 108ff). It originated on the slopes of a bare rocky spur, in which the Neolithic Troglodytes quarried their habitations out of the solid rock, the stones therefrom being used to form a casing to the earthen ramparts, with which the site was afterwards surrounded and which served as a protection against the intrusion of enemies. Later Semitic intruders occupied the site, stone houses were built, and high stone defense walls were substituted for the earthen stone-cased ramparts. These later walls were much higher and stronger than those of the Neilithic occupation and were the walls seen by the Israelites when they viewed the country of their promise.
2. Extent
?The people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great? (Num_13:28) was the report of the spies sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan, to see ?what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds? (Num_13:19, Num_13:20). The difficulties of the task set before the advancing Israelites and their appreciation of the strength of the cities, is here recorded, and also in Deu_1:28 : ?The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.? This assessment of greatness was based upon comparative ignorance of such fortifications and the want of war experience and the necessary implements of assault. It need not, therefore, be supposed that the cities were ?great? except by comparison in the eyes of a tent-dwelling and pastoral people. On the contrary, most recent exploration has proved that they were small (see P?re Vincent, Canaan, 27, note 3, and Pl. I, where comparative measurements of the areas of ancient cities show that, in nine cities compared, Tell Sandahannah (barely 6 acres) is the smallest). Gezer measures approximately 22 1/4 acres and Tell el-Hesy somewhat greater. By way of illustration, it is interesting to note that the Acropolis at Athens, roughly computed, measures Deu_7:1/4 acres, while the Castle Rock at Edinburgh is about 6 acres, or the same as the whole Seleucidan city of Tell Sandahannah. The Acropolis at Tell Zakar?ya measures about 2 acres or nearly one-fourth of the area of the whole city (about 8 1/2 acres). It is unlikely that Jebus (Jerusalem) itself was an exception, although in Solomonic and later times it extended to a far greater area.
3. Villages
Besides the walled cities there were ?unwalled (country) towns a great many? (Deu_3:5), ?villages,? unfortified suburbs, lying near to and under the protection of the walled cities and occupied by the surplus population. The almost incredible number of cities and their villages mentioned in the Old Testament, while proving the clannishness of their occupants, proves, at the same time, their comparatively small scale.
4. Sites
Traces of similar populations that rise and fall are seen in China and Japan today. As a little poem says of Karakura:
?Where were palaces and merchants and the blades of warriors,
Now are only the cicadas and waving blades of grass.?
?Cities that stood on their mounds? (Jos_11:13; Jer_30:18) as at Lachish and Taanach are distinguished from those built on natural hills or spurs of hills, such as Jebus, Gezer, Tell es Sail (Gath?), Bethshemesh (see Vincent, Canaan, 26ff). The Arabic name ?Tell? is applied to all mounds of ancient cities, whether situated on a natural eminence or on a plain, and the word is common in the geographical nomenclature of Palestine Sites were chosen near a water supply, which was ever the most essential qualification. For purposes of defense, the nearest knoll or spur was selected. Sometimes these knolls were of no great height and their subsequent elevation is accounted for by the gradual accumulation of d?bris from town refuse and from frequent demolitions; restoration being effected after a levelng up of the ruins of the razed city (see Fig. 2: Tell el-Hesy, Palestine Exploration Fund, which shows a section of the Tell from which the levels of the successive cities in distinct stratification were recovered). Closely packed houses, in narrow alleys, with low, rude mud, brick, or stone and mud walls, with timber and mud roofs, burned readily and were easily razed to the ground (Jos_8:1; Jos_11:11).
It would seem that, viewed from the outside, these cities had the appearance of isolated forts, the surrounding walls being strengthened at frequent intervals, with towers. The gates were approached by narrow roads, which mounted the slopes of the mound at the meeting-point of the meandering paths on the plain below.
5. External Appearance
The walls of Tell ej-Judeideh were strengthened by towers in the inside, and presented an unbroken circuit of wall to the outside view (see Fig. 4, PEF). Houses on the wall (Jos_2:15; 2Co_11:33) may have been seen from the outside; but it is unlikely that any building within the walls was visible, except possibly the inner tower or stronghold. The whole of the interior of the early Jerusalem (Jebus) was visible from the hills to the East, but this peculiarity of position is uncommon. Strong and high walls, garrisoned by men-at-arms seen only through the battlements, showed no weakness, and the gates, with their narrow and steep approaches and projecting defense towers, looked uninviting traps. The mystery of these unseen interiors could therefore be easily conjured into an exaggeration of strength.
6. General
The inhabitants of the villages (בּנות, bānōth, ?daughters,? Num_32:42 margin) held feudal occupation and gave service to their lord of the city (אם, 'ēm, ?mother,? 2Sa_20:19), in defense of their own or in attacks on their neighbor's property. Such were the cities of the truculent, marauding kings of Canaan, whose broken territories lent themselves to the upkeep of a condition, of the weakness of which, the Israelites, in their solid advance, took ready advantage.
II. The City of the Jewish Occupation
After the conquest, and the abandonment of the pastoral life for that of agriculture and general trade, the condition of the cities varied but little, except that they were, from time to time, enlarged and strengthened. Solomon's work at Jerusalem was a step forward, but there is little evidence that, in the other cities which he is credited with having put his hands to, there was any embellishment. Megiddo and Gezer at least show nothing worthy of the name. Greek influence brought with it the first real improvements in city building; and the later work of Herod raised cities to a grandeur which was previously undreamed of among the Jews. Within the walls, the main points considered in the ?layout? were, the Tower or Stronghold, the High Place, the Broad Place by the Gate, and the Market-Place.
1. Tower or Stronghold
The Tower or Stronghold was an inner fort which held a garrison and commander, and was provisioned with ?victuals, and oil and wine? (2Ch_11:11), to which the defenders of the city when hard pressed betook themselves, as a last resource. The men of the tower of Shechem held out against Abimelech (Jdg_9:49) who was afterward killed by a stone thrown by a woman from the Tower of Thebez ?within the city? (Jdg_9:51, Jdg_9:53). David took the stronghold of Zion, ?the same is the city of David? (2Sa_5:7), which name (Zion) was afterward applied to the whole city. It is not unlikely that the king's house was included in the stronghold. Macalister (Palestine Exploration Fund Statement, 1907, 192ff) reports the discovery of a Canaanite castle with enormously thick walls abutting against the inside of the city wall. The strongholds at Taanach and Tell el-Hesy are similarly placed; and the Acropolis at Tell Zakar?ya lies close to, but independent of, the city wall.
2. High Place
The High Place was an important feature in all Canaanite cities and retained its importance long after the conquest (1Sa_9:12; 1Ki_3:2; Amo_7:9). It was a sanctuary, where sacrifices were offered and feasts were held, and men did ?eat before Yahweh? (Deu_14:26). The priests, as was their custom, received their portion of the flesh (1Sa_2:12). The High Place discovered at Gezer (Bible Sidelights, chapter iii) is at a lower level than the city surrounding it, and lies North and South. It is about 100 ft. in length, and when complete consisted of a row of ten rude undressed standing stones, of which eight are still remaining, the largest being 10 ft. 6 inches high, and the others varying to much smaller sizes. See HIGH PLACE.
3. Broad Place
The Broad Place (Neh_8:1, Neh_8:3, Neh_8:16; Jer_5:1) seems to have been, usually, immediately inside the city gate. It was not, in early Jewish cities, an extensive open area, but simply a widening of the street, and was designated ?broad? by comparison with the neighboring alleys, dignified by the name of street. It took the place of a general exchange. Justice was dispensed (Rth_4:2) and punishment was administered. Jeremiah was put in ?the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin? (Jer_20:2), proclamations were read, business was transacted, and the news and gossip of the day were exchanged. It was a place for all classes to congregate (Job_29:7 m; Pro_31:23), and was also a market-place (2Ki_7:1). In later times, the market-place became more typically a market square of the Greek agora plan, with an open area surrounded by covered shelters. The present market-place at Haifa resembles this. Probably it was this type of market-place referred to in Mat_11:16; Mat_20:3 and Luk_7:32; Luk_11:43. The street inside the Damascus gate of Jerusalem today is, in many ways, similar to the Broad Place, and retains many of its ancient uses. Here, Bedouin and Fellahin meet from the outlying districts to barter, to arbitrate, to find debtors and to learn the news of the day. Lying as it did immediately inside the gate, the Broad Place had a defensive value, in that it admitted of concentration against the forcing of the gate. There does not seem to have been any plan of either a Canaanite or early Jewish city, in which this question of defense did not predominate. Open areas within the city were ?waste places? (Isa_58:12) and were not an integral part of the plan.
4. Streets
The streets serving these quarters were not laid out on any fixed plan. They were, in fact, narrow, unpaved alleys, all seeming of equal importance, gathering themselves crookedly to the various centers. Having fixed the positions of the City Gates, the Stronghold and the High Place, the inhabitants appear to have been allowed to situate themselves the best way they could, without restriction of line or frontage. Houses were of modest proportions and were poorly built; planned, most often, in utter disregard of the square, and presenting to the street more or less dead walls, which were either topped by parapets or covered with projecting wood and mud roofs (see ARCHITECTURE Fig. 1; HOUSE).
The streets, as in the present day in Palestine,were allocated to separate trades: ?bakers' street? (Jer_37:21), place ?of the merchants? (Neh_3:31, Neh_3:32 the King James Version), ?goldsmiths,? etc. The Valley of the Cheesemakers was a street in the Tyropceon Valley at Jerusalem.
For a discussion of the subject of ?cisterns? , see the separate article under the word
5. General Characteristics
The people pursued the industries consequent upon their own self-establishment. Agriculture claimed first place, and was their most highly esteemed occupation. The king's lands were farmed by his subjects for his own benefit, and considerable tracts of lands belonged to the aristocracy. The most of the lands, however, belonged to the cities and villages, and were allotted among the free husbandmen. Various cereals were raised, wheat and barley being most commonly cultivated. The soil was tilled and the crops reaped and threshed in much the same manner and with much the same implements as are now used in Syria. Cities lying in main trade routes developed various industries more quickly than those whose positions were out of touch with foreign traffic. Crafts and trades, unknown to the early Jews, were at first monopolized by foreigners who, as a matter of course, were elbowed out as time progressed. Cities on the seaboard of Phoenicia depended chiefly on maritime trade. Money, in the form of ingots and bars of precious metals, ?weighed out? (2Ki_12:11), was current in pre?xilic times, and continued in use after foreign coinage had been introduced. The first native coinage dates from the Maccabean period (see Madden, Jewish Coinage, chapter iv). Slavery was freely trafficked in, and a certain number of slaves were attached to the households of the more wealthy. Although they were the absolute property of their masters, they enjoyed certain religious privileges not extended to the ?sojourners? or ?strangers? who sought the protection of the cities, often in considerable numbers.
The king's private property, from which he drew full revenue, lay partly within the city, but to a greater extent beyond it (1Sa_8:15, 1Sa_8:16). In addition to his private property, he received tithes of fields and flocks, ?the tenth part of your seed.? He also drew a tax in the shape of certain ?king's mowings? (Amo_7:1). Vassal kings, paid tribute; Mesha, king of Moab, rendered wool unto the king of Israel? (2Ki_3:4).
See G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, I, chapters v-x, for detailed account of the conditions of Jewish city life. For details of government, see ELDER; JUDGE; SANHEDRIN.
III. Store Cities
These were selected by Solomon and set aside for stores of victuals, chariots, horsemen, etc. (1Ki_9:19). Jehoshaphat ?built in Judah castles and cities of store? (2Ch_17:12). Twelve officers were appointed by Solomon to provision his household, each officer being responsible for the supply in one month in the year (1Ki_4:7). There were also ?storehouses in the fields, in the cities, and in the villages? (1Ch_27:25 the King James Version).
IV. Levitical Cities
These were apportioned 13 to the children of Aaron, 10 to Kohath, 13 to Gershon, 12 to Merari, 48 cities in all (Jos_21:13), 6 of which were cities of Refuge (Num_35:6); see REFUGE, CITIES OF. For further details see ARCHITECTURE; HOUSE.
Literature
PEFS; Bliss and Dickie, Excavations at Jerusalem; Macalister, Excavation at Gezer; Bliss and Macalister, Excavations in Palestine; Sellin, Excavation at Taanach; Schumacher, Excavation at Tell Mutesellim; Macalister, Bible Sidelights; G. A. Smith, Jerusalem; Historical Geography of the Holy Land; Bliss, Mounds of Many Cities; Vincent, Canaan.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Pro_25:28 (a) The Christian is compared to a city filled with treasures, jewels and valuables. His treasures are patience, love, peace, zeal, et cetera, which, unless guarded, will be taken from him by critics, enemies, fault-finders and gossips.
Rev_18:10 (a) This city is a figure of the religious-political groups of earth which build huge buildings, manifest outward piety, have a mixture of Christian doctrines with heathen practices. This "city" is engaged in the business of buying and selling every kind of merchandise, and ruling in the affairs of men. Their merchandise includes the bodies and the souls of men (Rev_18:13 margin). GOD is telling us here that He will visit such religious movements in judgment, and will pour out His wrath upon them. This "city" is said to be decked or guilded with gold, whereas GOD's true city is said to be pure gold. (Compare Rev_18:16 with Rev_21:18).
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
City
The Hebrews term most frequently thus rendered is עַיר (ir, literally something raised up, i.e. having walls reared; or from עוּר, to keep guard [Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 1004]; Sept. and N.T. πόλις), a word of very extensive signification, embracing not only the idea of an encampment, as a nomade hamlet (Gen_4:17), but also that of small fortifications, as watch-posts or watch-towers (comp. Num_13:19; 2Ki_17:9; Isa_1:8), and thence extended to regular towns. Nearly equivalent to this is קַרְיָה (kiryah'), which, with a few exceptions (Deu_2:26; 1Ki_1:41; 1Ki_1:45), is found only in the poetic style; and analogous (in sense, as probably also in derivation) to this last is קֶרֶת (ke'reth), found only in Job_29:7; Pro_8:3; Pro_9:3; Pro_9:14; Pro_11:11. The word rendered city in Rth_3:11, is שִׁעִר (sha'ar), properly gate. (as it is elsewhere rendered), and there means those assembled in the forum or place of public business at the town gates. The second of these terms (perhaps from קָרָה to approach as an enemy, or rather [Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 1236] to fortify), is often prefixed to the names of towns on both sides of the Jordan existing before the conquest, as Kirjath-Arba, probably the most ancient name for city, but seldom used in prose as a general name for town (Stanley, Palest. App. § 80). The classification of the human race into dwellers in towns and nomade wanderers (Gen_4:20; Gen_4:22) seems to be intimated by the etymological sense of both words, Ar, or Ir, and Kirjath, as places of security against an enemy, distinguished from the unwalled village or hamlet, whose resistance is more easily overcome by the marauding tribes of the desert. SEE IR-; SEE KIRJATH.
This distinction is found actually existing in countries, as Persia and Arabia, in which the tent-dwellers are found, like the Rechabites, almost side by side with the dwellers in cities, sometimes even sojourning within them, but not amalgamated with the inhabitants, and in general making the desert their home, and, unlike the Rechabites, robbery their undissembled occupation (Jdg_5:7; Jer_35:9; Jer_35:11; see Fraser, Persia, p. 366, 380; Malcolm, Sketches of Persia, p. 147-156; Burckhardt, Notes on Bedouins, 1, 157; Wellsted, Travels in Arabia, 1, 335; Porter, Damascus, 2, 96, 181, 188; Vaux, Nineveh and Persepolis, c. 2, note A; Layard, Nineveh, 2, 272; Nin. and Bab. p. 141). SEE VILLAGE.
1. Towns are a natural result of the aggregative principle in human nature. Necessity led the early races of men to build their towns on lofty spots, where, with the aid of the natural advantages of the ground, they could easily protect themselves against beasts of prey and human foes. A town, and a stronghold or fort, would thus be originally identical. As population increased and agriculture spread, so some degree of security came, which permitted the inhabitants of the castle to diffuse themselves over the hill- side, and take up their abode in the valley, and by the side of the stream that lay nearest their acropolis; still the inhabitants kept at no great distance from the center of strength, in order not to be deprived of its protection. The town, however, would thus be enlarged, and as the necessity for self- defense still existed, so would the place soon be surrounded with walls. Thus there would be outer and inner bulwarks, and in some sort two species of community the townspeople, who tilled the ground and carried on trade, and the soldiers, whose business it was to afford protection: these two, however, in the earliest stages of civilization, were one, the peasant and tradesman taking arms when the town was put in danger.
How early towns were formed cannot be determined by any general principle: they were obviously a work of time. The primary tendency in population was to diffuse itself. Aggregation on particular spots would take place at a later period. When, then, Cain is said to have built a city (Gen_4:17), we have evidence which concurs with other intimations to show that it is only a partial history of the first ages that we possess in the records of the book of Genesis. In the time of the Patriarchs we find towns existing in Palestine which were originally surrounded with fortifications, so as to make them fenced cities. (See below.) In these dwelt the agricultural population, who, by means of these places of strength, defended themselves and their property from the nomad tribes of the neighboring desert, who then, as they do now, lived by plunder. Nor were works of any great strength necessary. In Palestine at the present day, while walls are in most parts an indispensable protection, and agriculture can be advantageously prosecuted only so far as sheltered by a fortified town, erections of a very slight nature are found sufficient for the purpose, the rather because the most favorable localities offer themselves on: all sides, owing to the natural inequality of the ground. Hence we find that hills or eminences were almost invariably chosen as sites for this purpose, a fact which even grew into a proverb a city upon a hill. (See Hackett's Illustra. of Script. p. 70.)
Of the ancient method of building in towns and cities we have no accurate knowledge, any farther than we may gather information from the ruins which still lie on the soil of Palestine. But these ruins can afford only general notions, as, though they are numerous, and show that the Land of Promise was thickly peopled and highly flourishing in its better days, the actual remains of ancient towns are to be ascribed to different and very distant periods of history. The Crusades left many strongholds which are now in a state of dilapidation; but the Crusades are of modern days compared with the time of the Savior, which itself is remote from the proper antiquity of the nation. The law of sameness, however, which prevails so rigidly in Eastern countries, gives us an assurance that a modern town in Palestine may be roughly taken as a type of its ancient predecessors. (See Olin's Travels, 2, 423.) To distinguish cities that bore the same name, the name of the tribe was added. In the latter days, especially under the Herods, it was the fashion to give to ancient towns new Greek names, as Diospolis, Neapolis, Sebaste, Cmesarea, Tiberias. Jerusalem, at a later period, was denominated AElia Capitolina. These innovations indicated the slavish disposition of the age, and were tokens of the bondage in which the nation was held.
Palestine underwent constant changes in regard to its towns from the earliest ages; one consequence of which is, that there are names of towns that belong exclusively to certain eras. The period of the Roman domination gave existence, as to structures of great splendor, so to many towns and fortified places. Galilee was especially rich in towns and villages, which, according to Josephus (Life, 45), amounted in all to the number of 204. The names of the. Palestinian cities, for the most part, have meaning, reference being made to the nature of the locality or the character of the inhabitants. The population of towns cannot now be ascertained with any degree of accuracy, for the materials are not only scanty and disconnected, but in a measure uncertain. SEE CENSUS.
2. The earliest notice in Scripture of city-building is of that of the city called Enoch (q.v.) by Cain, in the land of his exile (Nod, Gen_4:17). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar; and Asshur, a branch from the same stock, built Nineveh, Rehoboth-by-the-river, Calah, and Resen, the last being a great city. A subsequent passage mentions Sidon, Gaza, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Lasha, as cities of the Canaanites, but without implying for them antiquity equal to that of Nineveh and the rest (Gen_10:10-12; Gen_10:19; Gen_11:3; Gen_11:9; Gen_36:37). Sir H. Rawlinson supposes, (1.) that the expedition of Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14) was prior to the building of Babylon or Nineveh, indicating a migration or conquest from Persia or Assyria; (2.) that by Nimrod is to be understood, not an individual, but a name denoting the settlers in the Assyrian plain; and (3.) that the names Rehoboth, Calah, etc., when first mentioned, only denoted sites of buildings afterwards erected. He supposes that Nineveh was built about B.C. 1250, and Calah about a century later, while Babylon appears to have existed in the 15th century B.C.
If this be correct, We must infer that the places then attacked, Sodom, Gomorrah, etc., were cities of higher antiquity than Nineveh or Babylon, inasmuch as when they were destroyed a few years later they were cities in every sense of the term. The name Kirjathaim, double city (Gesenius, Thesaur. Heb. p. 1236), indicates an existing city, and not a site only. It may be added that the remains of civic buildings existing in Moab are evidently very ancient, if not, in some cases, the same as those erected by the aboriginal Emim and Rephaim. (Compare also the name Avith, ruins, Gesenius, ib. p. 1000; Gen_19:1; Gen_19:29; Gen_36:35; Isa_23:13; see Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 1, 308; Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 532; Porter, Damascus, 1, 309; 2:196; Rawlinson, Outlines of Assyr. Hist. p. 4, 5.) But though it appears probable that, whatever dates maybe assigned to the building of Babylon or Nineveh in their later condition, they were in fact rebuilt at those epochs, and not founded for the first time, and that towns in some form or other may have occupied the sites of the later Nineveh or Calah; it is quite clear that cities existed in Syria prior to the time of Abraham, who himself came from Ur, the city of the Chaldaeans (Gesenius, ib. p. 55; Rawlinson, p. 4).
The earliest description of a city, properly so called, is that of Sodom (Gen_19:1-22); but it is certain that from very early times cities existed on the sites of Jerusalem, Hebron, and Damascus. The last, said to be the oldest city in the world, must, from its unrivalled situation, have always commanded a congregated population; Hebron is said to have been built seven years before Zoan (Tanis) in Egypt, and is thus the only Syrian town which presents the elements of a date for its foundation (Num_13:22; see Stanley, Palest. p. 409; Josephus, Ant. 1, 6, 4; Conybeare and Howson, St. Paul, 1, 94, 96). But there can be no doubt that, whatever date may be given to Egyptian civilization, there were inhabited cities in Egypt long before this (Gen_12:14-15; see Martineau, Eastern Life, 1, 151; Wilkinson, 1:307; Smith, Dict. of Class. Geog. s.v. Tanis). The name, however, of Hebron, Kirjath-Arba, indicates its existence at least as early as the time of Abraham, as the city, or fortified place of Arba, an aboriginal province of Southern Palestine (Gen_23:2; Jos_14:15). The tower of Edar, near Bethlehem, or of flocks, indicates a position fortified against marauders (Gen_35:21). Whether the city of Shalem be a site or an existing town cannot be determined; but there can be no doubt that the situation of Shechem is as well identified in the present day, as its importance as a fortified place is plain from the Scripture narrative (Gen_33:18; Gen_34:20; Gen_34:26; see Robinson, 3, 114). On the whole, it seems plain that the Canaanite, who was in the land before the coming of Abraham, had already built cities of more or less importance, which had been largely increased. by the time of the return from Egypt. Even before the time of Abraham there were cities in Egypt (Gen_12:14-15; Num_13:22; see Wilkinson, 1:4, 5).
The Israelites, during their sojourn there, were employed in building or fortifying the treasure cities of Pithom (Abbasieh) and Raamses (Exo_1:11; Herod. 2:158; see Robinson, 1:79); but their pastoral habits make it unlikely that they should build, still less fortify, cities of their own in Goshen (Gen_46:34; Gen_47:1-11). Meanwhile the settled inhabitants of Syria on both sides of the Jordan had grown in power, and in number of fenced cities. In the kingdom of Sihon are many names of cities preserved to the present day; and in the kingdom of Og, in Bashan, were sixty great cities with walls and brazen bars, besides unwalled villages; and also twenty-three cities in Gilead, which were occupied, and perhaps partly rebuilt or fortified, by the tribes on the east of Jordan (Num_21:21; Num_21:32-33; Num_21:35; Num_32:1-3; Num_32:34; Num_32:42; Deu_3:4-5; Deu_3:14; Joshua 11, 13; 1Ki_4:13; 1Ch_2:22; see Burckhardt, Syria, p. 311, 457; Porter, Damascus, 2, 195, 196, 206, 259, 275). On the west of Jordan, whilst 31 royal cities are enumerated (Joshua 12), in the district assigned to Judah 125 cities with villages are reckoned (Joshua 15); in Benjamin, 26; to Simeon, 17; Zebulun, 12; Issachar, 16; Asher, 22; Naphtali. 19; Daniel 17 (Joshua 18, 19). But from some of these the possessors were not expelled till a late period, and Jerusalem itself was not captured till the time of David (2Sa_5:6-9). From this time the Hebrews became a city-swelling and agricultural rather than a pastoral people. David enlarged Jerusalem; and Solomon, besides embellishing his capital, also built or rebuilt Tadmor, Palmnyra, Gezer, Beth-horon, Hazor, and Megiddo, besides storecities (2Sa_5:7; 2Sa_5:9-10; 1Ki_9:15-18; 2Ch_8:6). To Solomon also is ascribed by Eastern tradition the building of Persepolis (Chardin, Voyage, 8, 390; Mandelslo, 1:4; Kuran, c. 38). The works of Jeroboam at Shechem (1Ki_12:25; Jdg_9:45), of Rehoboam (2Ch_11:5-10), of Baasha at Rama, interrupted by Asa (1Ki_15:17; 1Ki_15:22), of Omri at Samaria (16, 24), the rebuilding of Jericho in the time of Ahab (16, 34), the works of Jehoshaphat (2Ch_17:12), of Jotham (2Ch_27:4), the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and, later still, the works of Herod and his family, belong to their respective articles.
3. Collections of houses in Syria for social habitation may be classed under three heads: (1.) cities; (2.) towns, with citadels or towers for resort and defense; (3.) unwalled villages. The cities may be assumed to have been in almost all cases fenced cities, i.e. possessing a wall with towers and gates (Lev_25:29; Deu_9:1; Jos_2:15; Jos_6:20; 1Sa_23:7; 1Ki_4:13; 2Ki_6:26; 2Ki_7:3; 2Ki_18:8; 2Ki_18:13; Act_9:25); and that, as a mark of conquest was to break down a portion at least of the city wall of the captured place, so the first care of the defenders, as of the Jews after their return from captivity, was to re. build the fortifications (2Ki_14:13; 2Ki_14:22; 2Ch_26:2; 2Ch_26:6; 2Ch_33:14; Nehemiah 3, 4, 6, 7; 1Ma_4:60-61; 1Ma_10:45; Xen. Hell. 2, 2, 15). But around the city, especially in peaceable times, lay undefended suburbs (1Ch_6:57 sq.; Num_35:1-5; Joshua 21), to which the privileges of the city extended. (See below.) The city thus became the citadel, while the population overflowed into the suburbs (1Ma_11:61). The absence of walls as indicating security in peaceable times, combined with populousness, as was the case in the flourishing period of Egypt, is illustrated by the prophet Zechariah (Zec_2:4; 1Ki_4:25; see Martineau, East. Life, 1, 306).
According to Eastern custom, special cities were appointed to furnish special supplies for the service of the state: cities of store, for chariots, for horsemen, for building purposes, for provision for the royal table. Special governors for these and their surrounding districts were appointed by David and Solomon (1Ki_4:7; 1Ki_9:19; 1Ch_27:25; 2Ch_17:12; 2Ch_21:3; 1Ma_10:39; Xen. Anab. 1, 4, 10). To this practice our Lord alludes in his parable of the pounds, and it agrees with the theory of Hindoo government, which was to be conducted by lords of single townships, of 10, 100, or 1000 towns (Luk_19:17; Luk_19:19; see Elphinstone, India, ch. 2, 1, 39, and App. 5, p. 485). To the Levites 48 cities were assigned, distributed throughout the country, together with a certain amount of suburban ground, and out of these 48, 13 were specially reserved for the family of Aaron, 9 in Judah and 4 in Benjamin, and 6 as refuge cities (Jos_21:13; Jos_21:42), but after the division of the kingdoms the Levites in Israel left their cities and resorted to Judah and Jerusalem (2Ch_11:13-14). (See below.)
4. The internal government of Jewish cities was vested before the Captivity in a council of elders, with judges, who were required to be priests: Josephus says seven judges, with two Levites as officers, ὑπηρέται (Deu_21:5; Deu_21:19; Deu_16:18; Deu_19:17; Rth_4:2, Josephus, Ant. 4, 8,14). Under the kings a president or governor appears to have been appointed (1Ki_22:26; 2Ch_18:25); and judges were sent out on circuit, who referred matters of doubt to a council composed of priests, Levites, and elders at Jerusalem (1Ch_23:4; 1Ch_26:29; 2Ch_19:5; 2Ch_19:8; 2Ch_19:10-11). After the Captivity, Ezra made similar arrangements for the appointment of judges (Ezr_7:25). In the time of Josephus there appear to have been councils in the provincial towns, with presidents in each, under the directions of the great council at Jerusalem (Josephus, Ant. 14, 9, 4; War, 2, 21, 3; Life, 12, 13, 27, 34, 57, 61, 68, 74). SEE SANHEDRIM.
In many Eastern cities much space is occupied by gardens, and thus the size of the cities is much increased (Niebuhr, Voyage, 2, 172, 239; Conybeare and Howson, 1:96; Eothen, p. 240). The vast extent of Nineveh and of Babylon may thus be in part accounted for (Diod. 2:70; Quint. Curt. 5, 1, 26; Jon_4:11; see Chardin, Voy. 7:273, 284; Porter, Damascus, 1, 153; P. della Valle, 2:33). In most Oriental cities the streets are extremely narrow, seldom allowing more than two loaded camels, or one camel and two foot passengers to pass each other, though it is clear that some of the streets of Nineveh must have been wide enough for chariots to pass each other (Nah_2:4; see Olearius, Tray. p. 294, 309; Burckhardt, Trav. in Arabia, 1, 188; Buckingham, Arab Tribes, p. 330; Mrs. Poole, Englishwoman in Egypt, 1, 141). The word for streets used by Nahum ( רְהֹבוֹת, from רָהִב, broad, πλατεῖαι) is used also of streets or broad places in Jerusalem (Pro_1:20; Jer_5:1; Jer_22:4; Son_3:2); and it may be remarked that the thoroughfares (πλατεῖαι) into which the sick were brought to receive the shadow of Peter (Act_5:15) were more likely to be the ordinary streets than the special plazze of the city. It seems likely that the immense concourse which resorted to Jerusalem at the feasts would induce wider streets than in other cities (see 1Ki_20:34). Herod built in Antioch a wide street paved with stone, and having covered ways on each side. Agrippa II paved Jerusalem with white stone (Josephus, Ant. 16, 5, 2 and 3; 20:9, 7). The streets of most cities of Palestine would not need paving, in consequence of the rocky nature of the foundations on which they lay. The Straight Street of Damascus is still clearly defined and recognizable (Irby and Mangles, v. 86; Robinson, new ed. of Res. 3. 454, 455). In building Caesarea, Josephus says that Herod was careful to carry out the drainage effectually (Josephus, Ant. 15, 9, 6). The internal commerce of Jewish'cities was probably carried on as now by means of bazaars (q.v.); for we read of the bakers' street (Jer_37:21), and Josephus speaks of the wool market, the hardware market, a place of blacksmiths' shops, and the clothes market, at Jerusalem (War, 5, 8, 1). SEE STREET.
The open spaces (πλατεῖαι) near the gates of towns were in ancient times, as they are still, used as places of assembly by the elders, of holding courts by kings and judges, and of general resort by citizens (Gen_23:10; Rth_4:1; 2Sa_15:2; 2Sa_18:24; 2Sa_21:12; 2Ki_7:1; 2Ki_7:3; 2Ki_7:20; 2Ch_18:9; 2Ch_32:6; Neh_8:1; Neh_8:13; Neh_8:16; Job_29:7; Jer_17:19; Mat_6:5; Luk_13:26). They were also used as places of public exposure by way of punishment (Jer_20:2; Amo_5:10). SEE GATE. Prisons were, under the kingly government, within the royal precinct (Gen_39:20; 1Ki_22:27; Jer_32:2; Neh_3:25; Act_21:34; Act_23:35).
Great pains were taken to supply Jerusalem with water, both by tanks and cisterns for rain-water, and by reservoirs supplied by aqueducts from distant springs. Such was the fountain of Gihon, the aqueduct of Hezekiah (2Ki_20:20; 2Ch_32:30; Isa_22:9), and of Solomon (Ecc_2:6), of which last water is still conveyed from near Bethlehem to Jerusalem (Maundrell, in Bohn's ed. of Early Trav. p. 457; Robinson, 1:514 sq.; Olin, 2:119 sq.). Josephus also mentions an attempt made by Pilate to bring water to Jerusalem (Ant. 18, 3, 2). SEE CONDUIT. Other cities appear to have been mostly contented with the fountains whose existence had probably led to their formation at the first. SEE WATER.
Burial-places, except in special cases, were outside the city (Num_19:11; Num_19:16; Mat_8:28; Luk_7:12; Joh_19:41; Heb_13:12). SEE GRAVE.
5. A city and its inhabitants are frequently described in the sacred writings under the similitude of a mother and her children; hence the phrase Children of Zion (Joe_2:23). Cities are also characterized as virgins, wives, widows, and harlots, according to their different conditions. Thus Jerusalem is called a virgin (Isa_37:22); and the term harlot is used of Jerusalem (Isa_1:21), also of Tyre (Isa_23:16), of Nineveh (Nah_3:4), and of Samaria (Eze_23:5).
FENCED CITY (seldom simply מְצוּרָה, metsurah', a mound or intrenchment of besiegers; mount, Isa_29:3; munition, Nah_2:1), a town with walls of fortification (2Ch_11:11; oftener with עָרֵי, cities of, 2Ch_14:5; or both words in the plur., 2Ch_11:10-11; 2Ch_11:23; 2Ch_12:4; 2Ch_21:3). From the foregoing remarks, it will be understood how the phrases to build a city, and to fortify orfence it, in the Oriental idiom, mean generally the same thing. SEE FORTRESS. The fencing or fortification was usually with high walls, and watch-towers upon them (Deu_3:5). SEE FORTIFICATION. The walls of fortified cities were formed, in part at least, of combustible materials (Amo_1:7; Amo_1:10; Amo_1:14), the gates being covered with thick plates of iron or brass (Psa_107:16; Isa_45:2; Act_12:10). There was also within the city a citadel or tower, to which the inhabitants fled when the city itself could not be defended (Jdg_9:46-52). They were often upon elevated ground, and were entered by a flight of steps (2Ki_10:2; Isa_36:1). SEE WALL.
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