Manual of Ancient History Author:William Cooke Taylor General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1888 Original Publisher: s.n. Subjects: History, Ancient History / Ancient / General History / Ancient / Greece History / World Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Ancient Social Science / Archaeology Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It ha... more »s no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER V. PALESTINE. Section I. -- Geographical Outline Palestine, or the Holy Land, lies between Phoenicia oil the nonL and Idumae'a on the south, separated from both by chains of loftv mountains; to the east its boundaries were the Asphaltic lake, th river Jordan, and the sea of Galilee ; on the west it extended to the Mediterranean. The mountains are the most remarkable features in the geography of Palestine. These mountains divided Palestine into a series of valleys and tablelands, leaving two great plains, called " the region about Jordan," and the plain of Esdraelon, or Jez'reel. These valleys and plains were of very unequal value ; some were so unproductive as to be called deserts, others were the most fertile spots in western Asia. Jordan was the only great river of Palestine; it falls into the As phaltic lake, or Dead sea, which occupies the site of the ancient cities Sod'om and Gomor'rah. There is no outlet from the Asphaltic lake, and its waters are bitter and unwholesome. The sea of Galilee, through which the Jordan flows, is a beautiful fresh-water lake, abounding in fish. The principal cities were Jerusalem, the metropolis of the kingdom of Judah, and Samaria, the capital of Israel. Idumae'a lay south oi Palestine, beyond the chain of Mount Seir: it was in general a rock) and barren country; but being the high road of Arabian traffic, its natural capabilities were improved to the utmost, a...« less