Joppa

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beauty; comeliness
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


JOPPA.—The principal seaport of S. Palestine; a place of high antiquity, being mentioned in the tribute lists of Thothmes iii., but never before the Exile in Israelite hands, being in Philistine territory. It was theoretically assigned to the tribe of Dan (Jos_19:46), and is spoken of as a seaport in 2Ch_2:16 and Ezr_3:7 [where RV [Note: Revised Version.] reads ‘to the sea, unto Joppa’ in place of AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘to the sea of Joppa’]: these, and its well-known connexion with the story of Jonah (1:3), are the only references to the city to be found in the OT. The Maccabees wrested it more than once from the hands of their Syrian oppressors (1Ma_10:75; 1Ma_12:33; 1Ma_13:11); it was restored to the latter by Pompey (Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Ant. XIV. iv. 4), but again given back to the Jews (ib. XIV. x. 6) some years later. Here St. Peter for a while lodged, restored Tabitha to life, and had his famous vision of the sheet (Act_9:1-43; Act_10:1-48). The traditional sites of Tabitha’s tomb and Simon the tanner’s house are shown to tourists and to pilgrims, but are of course without authority. The city was destroyed by Vespasian (a.d. 68). In the Crusader period the city passed from the Saracens to the Franks and back more than once: it was captured first in 1126, retaken by Saladin 1187, again conquered by Richard Cœur de Lion in 1191, and lost finally in 1196. In recent years it is remarkable for Napoleon’s successful storming of its walls in 1799. It is now a flourishing seaport, though its harbour—little more than a breakwater of reefs—is notoriously bad and dangerous. A railway connects it with Jerusalem. It is also one of the chief centres of the fruit-growing industry in Palestine, and its orange gardens are world-famed. Tradition places here the story of Andromeda and the sea-monster.
R. A. S. Macalister.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

From yaaphah "to shine," from its sunny look. Now Jaffa. The port of Jerusalem. The fabled scene of Andromeda's exposure to the whale; the legend is a tradition derived from Jonah's history, through the Phoenicians. Situated in Dan, S.W. of Palestine (Jos_19:46). On a high hill; with a harbour of difficult approach, hence not used much except in going to and from Jerusalem. It was by way of Joppa that Hiram sent to Solomon the timber from Lebanon for the temple; also Cyrus for Zerubbabel's temple (2Ch_2:16; Ezr_3:7). Here Jonah embarked for Cilician Tarsus. Here too on the housetop of Simon the tanner (tradition still points out the house?) Simon the tanner by the seaside, Peter, in full view of the Mediterranean washing the Gentile lands of the W., had his vision teaching that the middle wall separating Jew and Gentile is broken down, and that the gospel is for all nations (Acts 10). (See SIMON THE TANNER.)
He had come from the neighbouring Lydda to Joppa to raise Tabitha from death; that became the raising of many to spiritual life (Act_9:36-42). Thence at Cornelius' call he went to quicken the Gentiles through the word then first preached to them with the Holy Spirit accompanying it. A vast plain surrounded it. Its situation was between Jamnia and Caesarea, which latter town Peter could reach on "the morrow" from leaving Joppa (Act_10:24). It has now a soap manufacture. The oranges, pomegranates, and water melons are noted. it is one of the oldest cities in the world. Cepheus, its earliest king, may represent Caphtor (Gen_10:14; Deu_2:23). It belonged to the Philistines, a Mizraimite colony of Caphtorim. The kindred to the Phoenicians is implied in the name of Cepheus' brother Phineus. It is N. of Askelon, S. of Caesarea, and 36 miles N.W. from Jerusalem.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Jop'pa. (beauty). Joppa or Japho, now Jaffa or Yafa. A town on the southwest coast of Palestine, in the portion of Dan. Jos_19:46. Having a harbor attached to it ? though always, as still, a dangerous one ? it became the port of Jerusalem, in the days of Solomon, and has been ever since. Here, Jonah "took ship to flee from the presence of his Maker." Here, on the house-top of Simon the tanner, "by the seaside," St. Peter had his vision of tolerance. Act_11:5. The existing town contains about 4000 inhabitants. See Japho.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

called also Japho in the Old Testament, which is still preserved in its modern name of Jaffa or Yafah, a sea port of Palestine, situated on an eminence in a sandy soil, about seventy miles north-west of Jerusalem. Joppa was anciently the port to Jerusalem. Here all the materials sent from Tyre for the building of Solomon's temple were brought and landed; it was, indeed, the only port in Judea, though rocky and dangerous. It possesses still, in times of peace, a considerable commerce with the places in its vicinity; and is well inhabited, chiefly by Arabs. This was the place of landing of the western pilgrims; and here the promised pardons commenced. Here St. Peter raised Dorcas from the dead, and resided many days in the house of one Simon, a tanner, Act_9:36-43; and it was from this place that the Prophet Jonah embarked for Tarshish.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

In Old Testament days Joppa was Israel’s only port on the Mediterranean coast. It lay between the plain of Sharon to the north and the land of the Philistines to the south.
When timber was brought from Lebanon to be used in the construction of Solomon’s temple, it was floated down from Tyre and Sidon in rafts, received at Joppa, and then taken to Jerusalem (2Ch_2:16). A similar arrangement was apparently used four hundred years later when Zerubbabel rebuilt the temple (Ezr_3:7). Joppa was the port where Jonah boarded a ship when he tried to flee from God (Jon_1:3; for map see JONAH).
Joppa was one of the first places outside Jerusalem that the apostles visited in the early days of the church. There Dorcas was raised to life (Act_9:36-43) and there Peter had a remarkable vision that changed his ideas about the evangelization of the Gentiles (Acts 10). The town still exists today, as part of Tel Aviv, and is known as Jaffa (or Yafo).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

jop?a (יפו, yāphō, יפוא, yāphō'; Ἰόππη, Ióppē): In Jos_19:46 the King James Version called ?Japho,? a city in the territory allotted to Dan; but there is nothing to show that in pre-exilic times it ever passed into Israelite hands.

1. Ancient Notices:
?The gate of Joppa? is mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna Letters (214, 32 f; compare 178, 20), as guarded by an Egyptian officer for Amenhotep IV. It was conquered by Thothmes III, and old Egyptian records speak of the excellence of its gardens and fruit trees. Sennacherib claims to have taken Jonathas after a siege (Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, 2, 93). To Jonathas, the Chronicler tells us, the cedars of Lebanon were brought in floats for transportation to Jerusalem by the workmen of the king of Tyre (2Ch_2:16).

2. Biblical References:
The city does not appear in the history as Philistine, so we may, perhaps, infer that it was held by the Phoenicians, the great seamen of those days. It was doubtless a Phoenician ship that Jonah found here, bound for Tarshish, when he fled from the presence of the Lord (Jon_1:3). In Ezra's time, again, cedars were brought here for the buildings in Jerusalem (Ezr_3:7). Having been brought by messengers from Lydda to Jonathas, Peter here raised the dead Dorcas to life (Act_9:36 f). On the roof of Simon's house by the sea, the famous vision was vouchsafed to this apostle, from which he learned that the gospel was designed for Jew and Gentile alike (Act_10:1 ff; Act_11:5 ff).

3. History from Maccabean Times:
The men of Joppa, having treacherously drowned some 200 Jews, Judas Maccabeus fell upon the town ?and set the haven on fire by night, and burned the boats, and put to the sword those that had fled thither? (2 Macc 12:3 ff). Jonathan took the city, in which Apollonius had placed a garrison (1 Macc 11:47 ff). It was not easy to hold, and some years later it was captured again by Simon, who garrisoned the place, completed the harbor and raised the fortifications (1 Macc 12:36 f; 13:11; 14:5-34). It is recorded as part of Simon's glory that he took it ?for a haven, and made it an entrance for the isles of the sea,? the Jews thus possessing for the first time a seaport through which commerce might be fully developed. It was taken by Pompey and joined to the province of Syria (Ant., XIV, iv, 4; BJ, I, vii, 7). Caesar restored it to the Jews under Hyrcanus (Ant., XIV, x, 6). It was among the cities given by Antony to Cleopatra (XV, iv, 1). Caesar added it to the kingdom of Herod (vii. 3; BJ, I, xx, 3), and at his death it passed to Archelaus (Ant., XVII, xi, 4; BJ, II, vi, 3). At his deposition it was attached to the Roman province. The inhabitants were now zealous Jews, and in the Roman wars it suffered heavily. After a massacre by Cestius Gallus, in which 8,400 of the people perished, it was left desolate. Thus it became a resort of the enemies of Rome, who turned pirates, and preyed upon the shipping in the neighboring waters. The place was promptly captured and destroyed by Vespasian. The people took to their boats, but a terrific storm burst upon them, dashing their frail craft to pieces on the rocks, so that vast numbers perished (BJ, III, ix, 2-4). At a later time it was the seat of a bishopric. During the Crusades it had a checkered history, being taken, now by the Christians, now by the Moslems. It was captured by the French under Kleber in 1799. It was fortified by the English, and afterward extended by the Turks (Baedeker, Palestine, 130).

4. Description:
The modern Yāfā is built on a rocky mound 116 ft. high, at the edge of the sea. A reef of rocks runs parallel to the shore a short distance out. It may be rounded in calm weather by lighter vessels, and it affords a certain amount of protection. There is a gap in the reef through which the boats pass that meet the steamers calling here. In time of storm the passage is dangerous. On one of these rocks Perseus is said to have rescued the chained Andromeda from the dragon. Yafa is a prosperous town, profiting much by the annual streams of pilgrims who pass through it on their way to visit the holy places in Palestine. A good trade is done with Egypt, Syria and Constantinople. Soap, sesame, wheat and oranges are the chief exports. The famous gardens and orange groves of Jaffa form one of the main sights of interest. The Christians and the Moslems have rival traditions as to the site of the house of Simon the tanner. The remains of the house of Tabitha are also pointed out. From Jaffa to Jerusalem the first railway in Palestine was built.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Fig. 235?Joppa
Jop?pa, a sea-port town and haven on the coast of Palestine, situated on an eminence, in a sandy soil, about forty miles N.W. of Jerusalem, and nine miles W.N.W. from Ramleh. It was a very ancient town. To say nothing respecting the fabulous accounts of its great antiquity, it existed when the Israelites invaded the land of Canaan, and is mentioned as lying on the border of the tribe of Dan (Jos_19:46). Joppa was the only port possessed by the Israelites till Herod formed the harbor at Cesarea; and hence it was here that the timber from Lebanon destined for both the first and second temples was landed (1Ki_5:9; 2Ch_2:16; Ezr_3:7). It was the place to which Jonah went, in expectation of finding a ship bound on some distant voyage, and where he found one going to Tarshish (Jon_1:3). Joppa belonged to the powers which were successively dominant on this shore; and it does not again appear in Jewish history till the time of Judas Maccabeus, when the inhabitants having, contrary to the faith of treaties, thrown 200 Jews into the sea, the hero, to avenge them, surprised the haven by night, and set the shipping on fire (2Ma_12:3-7). It is mentioned in the New Testament only in connection with the visit of the Apostle Peter, who here raised Tabitha from the dead, and lodged in the outskirts of the town with Simon, the tanner, when favored with the vision which taught him to 'call no man common or unclean' (Act_9:36-39; Act_10:5; Act_10:18; Act_11:5). From the first crusade down to our own day Joppa has been the landing-place of pilgrims going to Jerusalem. There is still here an hospital for pilgrims, dependent on the convent of St. Salvador in Jerusalem, and occupied by Spanish monks. In 1797 the place was taken by storm by the French army under Napoleon, and was sacked without mercy; when the Turkish prisoners, to the number of 500 or 600, were carried to the neighboring sand-hills and put to death by his order.
Joppa is naturally very unfit for a haven. The port is so dangerous, from exposure to the open sea, that the surf often rolls in with the utmost violence, and even so lately as 1842 a lieutenant and some sailors were lost in pulling to the shore from an English steamer that lay in the harbor. But however bad, it was the only port which existed within reach of the important district which lay behind it inland: and the miserable state of the ancient roads, or rather perhaps the absence of any roads, made a near harbor, however incommodious, of more immediate consequence than a good one at a greater distance.
The town is approached on the land side through rich and extensive gardens and orchards, and is very picturesquely situated upon an eminence or promontory, which is crowned by a castle. It chiefly faces the north; and the buildings appear, from the steepness of the site, as if standing upon one another. The aspect of the whole is mean and gloomy, and inside the place has all the appearance of a poor though large village. There are no public buildings to engage the eye, and the houses are mean and comfortless. No ancient ruins have been observed, nor are any to be expected in a place so often destroyed in war. There are three mosques in Joppa, and Latin, Greek, and Armenian convents. The former is that in which European pilgrims and travelers usually lodge. The town still enjoys a considerable trade with the neighboring coasts. Its chief manufacture is soap, which is largely consumed in the baths of Cairo and Damascus; and its excellent fruits are exported in large quantities, especially watermelons, which are very extensively cultivated here and in other parts of the Plain of Sharon. The inhabitants are said not to exceed 4000, of whom one-fourth are reckoned to be Christians. A British consul is now resident in the place.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Joppa
(Heb. Yapho', יָפוֹ, Jos_19:46; 2Ch_2:16; Jon_1:3, or יָפוֹא, Ezr_3:7; beauty; Sept., N.T., and Josephus Ι᾿όππη, other Greek writers Ι᾿ώππη, Ι᾿ώπη, or Ι᾿όπη; Vulgate Joppe; Auth. Vers. "Japho," except in Jonah; usually "Joppe" in the Apocrypha), a town on the southwest coast of Palestine, the port of Jerusalem in the days of Solomon, as it has been ever since.
1. Legends. — The etymology of the name is variously explained; Rabbinical writers deriving it from Japhet, but classical geographers from Iopa (Ι᾿όπη), daughter of AEolus and wife of Cepheus, Andromeda's father, its reputed founder; others interpreting it "the watchtower of joy," and so forth (Reland, Paloest. p. 864). The fact is, that, from its being a seaport, it had a profane as well as a sacred history. Pliny, following Mela (De situ Orb. 1, 12), says that it was of antediluvian antiquity (Hist. Nat. 5, 14); and even Sir John Maundeville, in the 14th century, bears witness — though, it must be confessed, a clumsy one — to that tradition (Early Travels in P. p. 142). According to Josephus, it originally belonged to the Phoenicians (Ant. 13, 15, 4). Here, writes Strabo, some say Andromeda was exposed to the whale (Geograph. 16, p. 759; comp. Müller's Hist. Groec. Fragm. 4, 325, and his Geograph. Groec. Min. 1, 79), and he appeals to its elevated position in behalf of those who laid the scene there; though, in order to do so consistently, he had already shown that it would be necessary to transport Ethiopia into Phoenicia (Strabo, 1, 43). However, in Pliny's age — and Josephus had just before affirmed the same (War, 3, 9, 3) — they still showed the chains by which Andromeda was bound; and not only so, but M. Scaurus the younger, the same that was so much employed in Judaea by Pompey (War, 1, 6, 2 sq.), had the bones of the monster transported to Rome from Joppa, where till then they had been exhibited (Mela, ibid.), and displayed them there during his aedileship to the public amongst other prodigies. Nor would they have been uninteresting to the modern geologist, if his report be correct; for they measured forty feet in length, the span of the ribs exceeding that of the Indian elephant, and the thickness of the spine or vertebra being one foot and a half ("sesquipedalis," i.e. in circumference — when Solinus says "semipedalis," he means in diameter, see Pliny, Hist. Nat. 9, 5 and the note, Delphin ed.). Reland would trace the adventures of Jonah in this legendary guise, SEE JONAH; but it is far more probable that it symbolizes the first interchange of commerce between the Greeks, personified in their errant hero Perseus, and the Phoenicians, whose lovely, but till then unexplored clime may be shadowed forth in the fair virgin Andromeda. Perseus in the tale, is said to have plunged his dagger into the right shoulder of the monster. Possibly he may have discovered or improved the harbor, the roar from whose foaming reefs on the north could scarcely have been surpassed by the barkings of Scylla or Charybdis. Even the chains shown there may have been those by which his ship was attached to the shore. Rings used by the Romans for mooring their vessels are still to be seen near Terracina, in the south angle of the ancient port (Murray's Handbk. for S. Italy, p. 10, 2d ed.).
2. History. — We find that Japho or Joppa was situated in the portion of Dan (Jos_19:46), on the coast towards the south, and on a hill so high, says Strabo, that people affirmed (but incorrectly) that Jerusalem was visible from its summit. Having a harbor attached to it — though always, as still, a dangerous one — it became the port of Jerusalem, when Jerusalem became metropolis of the kingdom of the house of David; and certainly never did port and metropolis more strikingly resemble each other in difficulty of approach both by sea and land. Hence, except in journeys to and from Jerusalem, it was not much used. Accordingly, after the above incidental notice, the place is not mentioned till the times of Solomon, when, as being almost the only available seaport, Joppa was the place fixed upon for the cedar and pine wood from Mount Lebanon to be landed by the servants of Hiram, king of Tyre, thence to be conveyed to Jerusalem by the servants of Solomon for the erection of the first "house of habitation" ever made with hands for the invisible Jehovah. It was by way of Joppa similarly that like materials were conveyed from the same locality, by permission of Cyrus, for the rebuilding of the second Temple under Zerubbabel (1Ki_5:9; 2Ch_2:16; Ezr_3:7). Here Jonah, whenever and wherever he may have lived (2Ki_14:25, certainly does not clear up the first of these points), "took ship to flee from the presence of his Maker" (Jon_1:3), and accomplished that singular history which our Lord has appropriated as a type of one of the principal scenes in the great drama of his own (Mat_12:40).
After the close of O.T. history Joppa rose in importance. The sea was then beginning to be the highway of nations. Greece, Egypt, Persia, and some of the little kingdoms of Asia Minor had their fleets for commerce and war. Until the construction of Caesarea by Herod, Joppa was the only port in Palestine proper at which foreign ships could touch; it was thus not only the shipping capital, but the key of the whole country on the seaboard. During the wars of the Maccabees it was one of the principal strongholds of Palestine (1Ma_10:75; 1Ma_14:5; 1Ma_14:34; Josephus, Ant. 13, 15, 1). It would seem that Jews then constituted only a minority of the population, and the foreign residents — Greeks, Egyptians, and Syrians — were so rich and powerful, and so aided by the fleets of their own nations, as to be able to rule the city. During this period, therefore, Joppa experienced many vicissitudes. It had sided with Apollonius, and was attacked and captured by Jonathan Maccabaeus (1Ma_10:76). It witnessed the meeting between the latter and Ptolemy (ibid. 11:6). Simon had his suspicions of its inhabitants, and set a garrison there (ibid. 12:34), which he afterwards strengthened considerably (ibid. 13:11). But when peace was restored, he reestablished it once more as a haven (ibid. 14:5). He likewise rebuilt the fortifications (ibid. 5:34). This occupation of Joppa was one of the grounds of complaint urged by Antiochus, son of Demetrius, against Simon; but the latter alleged in excuse the mischief which had been done by its inhabitants to his fellow citizens (ibid. 15:30 and 35). It would appear that Judas Maccabaeus had burned their haven some time back for a gross act of barbarity (2Ma_12:6). Tribute was subsequently exacted for its possession from Hyrcanus by Antiochus Sidetes. By Pompey it was once more made independent, and comprehended under Syria (Josephus, Ant. 14, 4, 4); but by Caesar it was not only restored to the Jews, but its revenues — whether from land or from export duties — were bestowed upon the 2d Hyrcanus and his heirs (14, 10, 6). When Herod the Great commenced operations, it was seized by him, lest he should leave a hostile stronghold in his rear when he marched upon Jerusalem (14, 15, 1), and Augustus confirmed him in its possession (15, 7, 4). It was afterwards assigned to Archelaus when constituted ethnarch (17, 11,4), and passed with Syria under Cyrenius when Archelaus had been deposed (17, 12, 5). Under Cestius (i.e. Gessius Florus) it was destroyed amidst great slaughter of its inhabitants (War, 2, 18, 8, 10); and such a nest of pirates had it become when Vespasian arrived in those parts that it underwent a second and entire destruction, together with the adjacent villages, at his hands (3, 9, 3). Thus it appears that this port had already begun to be the den of robbers and outcasts which it was in Strabo's time (Geograph. 16, 759), while the district around it was so populous that from Jamnia, a neighboring town. and its vicinity, 40,000 armed men could be collected (ibid.). There was a vast plain around it, as we learn from Josephus (Ant. 13, 4, 4); it lay between Jamnia and Caesarea — the latter of which might be reached "on the morrow" from it (Act_10:9; Act_10:24) — not far from Lydda (Act_9:38), and distant from Antipatris 150 stadia (Joseph. Ant. 13, 15, 1).
It was at Joppa, on the house top of Simon the tanner, "by the seaside" — with the view therefore circumscribed on the east by the high ground on which the town stood, but commanding a boundless prospect over the western waters — that the apostle Peter had his "vision of tolerance," as it has been happily designated, and went forth like a second Perseus — but from the east to emancipate, from still worse thralldom, the virgin daughter of the west. The Christian poet Arator has not failed to discover a mystical connection between the raising to life of the aged Tabitha — the occasion of Peter's visit to Joppa — and the baptism of the first Gentile household (De Act. Apostol. 1. 840, ap. Migne, Patrol. Curs. Compl. 68, 164).
In the 4th century Eusebius calls Joppa a city (Onomast. s.v.); and it was then made the seat of a bishopric, an honor which it retained till the conquest of the country by the Saracens (Reland, p. 868; S. Paul, Geogr. Sac. p. 305); the subscriptions of its prelates are preserved in the acts of various synods of the 5th and 6th centuries (Le Quien, Oriens Christian. 3, 629). Joppa has been the landing place of pilgrims going to Jerusalem for more than a thousand years, from Arculf in the 7th century to his royal highness the prince of Wales in the 19th, and it is mentioned in almost all the itineraries and books of travel in the Holy Land which have appeared in different languages (Early Travels in Pal. p. 10, 34, 142, 286). None of the early travelers, however, give any explicit description of the place. During the Crusades Joppa was several times taken and retaken by Franks and Saracens.
It had been taken possession of by the forces of Godfrey de Bouillon previously to the capture of Jerusalem. The town had been deserted. and was allowed to fall into ruin, the Crusaders contenting themselves with possession of the citadel (William of Tyre, Hist. 8, 9); and it was in part assigned subsequently for the support of the Church of the Resurrection (ibid. 9, 16), though there seem to have been bishops of Joppa (perhaps only titular after all) between A.D. 1253 and 1363 (Le Quien, 1291; compare p. 1241). Saladin, in A.D. 1188, destroyed its fortifications (Sanut. Secret. Fid. Crucis, lib. 3, part 10, c. 5); but Richard of England, who was confined here by sickness, rebuilt them (ibid., and Richard of Devizes in Bohn's Ant. Lib. p. 61). Its last occupation by Christians was that of St. Louis, A.D. 1253, and when he came it was still a city and governed by a count. "Of the immense sums," says Joinville, "which it cost the king to enclose Jaffa, it does not become me to speak, for they were countless. He enclosed the town from one side of the sea to the other; and there were twenty-four towers, including small and great. The ditches were well scoured, and kept clean, both within and without. There were three gates" (Chronicles of Crus. p. 495, Bohn). So restored, it fell into the hands of the sultans of Egypt, together with the rest of Palestine, by whom it was once more laid in ruins; so much so that Bertrand de la Brocquiere, visiting it about the middle of the 15th century, states that it then consisted only of a few tents covered with reeds, having been a strong place under the Christians. Guides, accredited by the sultan, here met the pilgrims and received the customary tribute from them; and here the papal indulgences offered to pilgrims commenced (Early Travels, p. 286). Finally, Jaffa fell under the Turks, in whose hands it still is, exhibiting the usual decrepitude of the cities possessed by them, and depending on Christian commerce for its feeble existence. During the period of their rule it has been three times sacked — by the Arabs in, 1722, by the Mamelukes in 1775, and lastly by Napoleon I in 1799, when a body of 4000 Albanians, who held a strong position in the town, surrendered on promise of having their lives spared. Yet the whole 4000 were afterwards pinioned and shot on the strand! When Napoleon was compelled to retreat to Egypt, between 400 and 500 French soldiers lay ill of the plague in the hospitals of Joppa. They could not be removed, and Napoleon ordered them to be poisoned! (Porter, Handbook for S. and P. p. 288).
3. Description. — Yafa is the modern name of Joppa, and is identical with the old Hebrew Japho. It contains about 5000 inhabitants, of whom 1000 are Christians, about 150 Jews, and the rest Moslems. It is beautifully situated on a little rounded hill, dipping on the west into the waves of the Mediterranean, and on the land side encompassed by orchards of orange, lemon, apricot, and other trees, which for luxuriance and beauty are not surpassed in the world. They extend for several miles across the great plain. Like most Oriental towns, however, it looks best in the distance. The houses are huddled together without order; the streets are narrow, crooked, and filthy; the town is so crowded along the steep sides of the hill that the rickety dwellings in the upper part seem to be toppling over on the flat roofs of those below. The most prominent features of the architecture from without are the flattened domes by which most of the buildings are surmounted, and the appearance of arched vaults. But the aspect of the whole is mean and gloomy, and inside the place has all the appearance of a poor though large village. From the steepness of the site many of the streets are connected by flights of steps, and the one that runs along the seawall is the most clean and regular of the whole. There are three mosques in Joppa, and Latin, Greek, and Armenian convents. The former is that in which European pilgrims and travelers usually lodge.
The bazaars are worth a visit. The chief manufacture is soap. It has no port, and it is only under favorable circumstances of wind and weather that vessels can ride at anchor a mile or so from the shore. There is a place on the shore which is called "the harbor." It consists of a strip of water from fifteen to twenty yards wide and two or three deep, enclosed on the sea side by a ridge of low and partially sunken rocks. It may afford a little shelter to boats, but it is worse than useless so far as commerce is concerned. The town is defended by a wall, on which a few old guns are mounted. With the exception of a few broken columns scattered about the streets, and through the gardens on the southern slope of the hill, and the large stones in the foundations of the castle, Joppa has no remains of antiquity; and none of its modern buildings, not even the reputed "house of Simon the tanner," which the monks show, are worthy of note, although the locality of the last is not badly chosen (Stanley, S. and P. p. 263, 274; and see Seddon's Memoir, p. 86, 185). The town has still a considerable trade as the port of Jerusalem. The oranges of Jaffa are the finest in all Palestine and Syria; its pomegranates and watermelons are likewise in high repute, and its gardens and orange and citron groves deliciously fragrant and fertile. But among its population are fugitives and vagabonds from all countries; and Europeans have little security, whether of life or property, to induce a permanent abode there. A British consul is now resident in the place, and a railroad has been projected to Jerusalem.
See Raumer's Palästina; Volney, 1, 136 sq.; Chateaubriand, 2, 103; Clarke, 4, 438 sq.; Buckingham, 1, 227 sq.; Richter, p. 12; Richardsun, 2, 16; Skinner, 1, 175-184; Robinson, 1, 18; Stent, 2, 27; M'Culloch's Gazetteer; Reland, p. 864; Cellar. Not. 2, 524;. Hamelsveld, 1, 442; 2, 229, Hasselquist, p. 137; Niebuhr, 3, 41; Joliffe, p. 243; Light, p. 125; Ritter, Erdk. 2, 400; Schwarz, p. 142, 373, 375; Thomson, Land and Book 2, 273.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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