BERENICE, a town in Arabia, the name by which Ezion-Geber was called in the time of Josephus. (Ant. viii. 6. § 4.) It was situated on the Elanitic, or Eastern Gulf of the Red Sea, not far from Elath. Ailah, or Aelana. It is mentioned in the wanderings of the children of Israel (Numb. xxxiii. 35); and is celebrated as the naval arsenal of Solomon and Jehoshaphat. (1 Kings, ix. 26, xxii. 48.) The Arabic historian Makrizi speaks of an ancient city 'Asyûn near Ailah. (Burckhardt's Syria, p. 511.) [G. W.] BERENICE, in Cyrenaica. [HESPERIDES.] BEREUM or BERAEUM (Ariklar?), a town in Moesia (Notit. Imp. 28; Geogr. Rav. iv. 5; Itin. Ant. 225). [L. S.] Keus and Bepevikiádns, fem. Bepevíreia), a city upon | the Gulf of Berenice and Celenderis, there is reason the Red Sea, was founded, or certainly converted to think that Berenice was the name of the bay to from a village into a city, by Ptolemy II. Phila- the eastward of the little port of Kelénderi.” (Leake, delphus, and named in honour of his mother, the Asia Minor, &c. p. 202.) [G. L.] daughter of Ptolemy Lagus and Antigone. It stood about lat. 23° 56' N., and about long. 35° 34' E., and being in the same parallel with Syene, was accordingly on the equinoctial line. Berenice, as modern surveys (Moresby and Carless, 1830-3) have ascertained, stood nearly at the bottom of the Sinus Immundus, or Foul Bay. A lofty range of mountains runs along this side of the African coast, and separates Berenice from Egypt. The emerald mines are in its neighbourhood. The harbour is indifferent, but was improved by art. Berenice stood upon a narrow rim of shore between the hills and the Red Sea. Its prosperity after the third century B. C. was owing in great measure to three causes: the favour of the Macedonian kings, its safe anchorage, and its being a terminus of the great road from Coptos, which rendered Berenice and Myos Hormos the two principal emporia of the trade between Aethiopia and Egypt on the one hand, and Syria and India on the other. The distance between Coptos and Berenice was 258 Roman miles, or eleven days' journey. The wells and halting places of the caravans are enumerated by Pliny (vi. 23. s. 26), and in the Itineraries (Antonin. p. 172, f.). Belzoni (Travels, vol. ii. p. 35) found traces of several of these stations. Under the empire Berenice formed a district in itself, with its peculiar prefect, who was entitled "Praefectus Berenicidis," or P. montis Berenicidis. (Orelli, Inscr. Lat. no. 3880, f.) The harbour of Berenice was sheltered from the NE. wind by the island Ophiodes ('Opiwdns vhoos, Strab. xvi. p. 770; Diod. iii. 39), which was rich in topazes. A small temple of sandstone and soft calcareous stone, in the Egyptian style, has been discovered at Berenice. It is 102 feet long, and 43 wide. A portion of its walls is sculptured with well-executed basso relievos, of Greek work. manship, and hieroglyphics also occasionally occur on the walls. Belzoni confirmed D'Anville's original opinion of the true site of Berenice (Mémoires sur l'Egypte Ancienne), and says that the city measured 1,600 feet from N. to S., and 2,000 from E. to W. He estimates the ancient population at 10,000. (Researches, vol. ii. p. 73.) 2. PANCHRYSOS, a city near Sabae in the Regio Troglodytica, and on the W. coast of the Red Sea, between the 20th and 21st degrees of N. latitude. It obtained the appellation of "all-golden" (rávxpuσos, Steph. B. p. 164, s. v.; Strab. xvi. 771) from its vicinity to the gold mines of Jebel Allaki or Ollaki, from which the ancient Egyptians drew their principal supplies of that metal, and in the working of which they employed criminals and prisoners of war. (Plin. vi. 34.) 3. EPIDEIRES (ènì Deipns, Steph. B. s. v.; Strab. xvi. pp. 769, 773; Mela, iii. 8; Plin. vi. 34; Ptol. viii. 16. § 12), or Berenice upon the Neck of Land, was a town on the W. shore of the Red Sea, near the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its position on a sandy spit or promontory of land was the cause of its distinctive appellation. Some authorities, however, attribute the name to the neighbourhood of a more considerable town named Deira; but the situation of the latter is unknown. [W. B. D.] BERENICE. A Cilician city of this name is mentioned by Stephanus (3. v. Bepevikn); and in the Stadiasmus a bay Berenice is mentioned. "As the Stadiasmus does not mention any distance between BERGA (Bépyn: Eth. Bepyaîos), a town of Macedonia, lying inland from the mouth of the Strymon (Scymnus Ch. 654; Ptol. iii. 13. § 31) only known as the birthplace of the writer Antiphanes, whose tales were so marvellous and incredible as to give rise to a verb Bepyaígew, in the sense of telling falsehoods. (Strab. i. p. 47, ii. pp. 102, 104; Steph. B. s. v.; Dict. of Biogr. vol. i. p. 204.) Leake places Berga near the modern Takhynó, upon the shore of the Strymonic lake. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 229.) BEʼRGIDUM. [ASTCRES.] BERGINTRUM, a place on the Gallic side of the pass of the Alpes Graiae, lying on the road marked in the Antonine Itin. between Mediolanum (Milan) and Vienna (Vienne). D'Anville (Notice, &c.) places it, according to the Table, between Axima (Aime) and Alpis Graia. The distance from Bergintrum to Axima is marked viiii M. P. The Alpis Graia may be the watershed on the pass of the Little St. Bernard, which divides the waters that flow to the Isère from those which flow to the Dora Baltes on the Italian side. This is the place which D'Anville names l'Hôpital, on the authority of a manuscript map of the country. D'Anville supposes that Bergintrum may be St. Maurice; but he admits that xii, the distance in the Table between Bergintrum and Alpis Graia, does not fit the distance between St. Maurice and l'Hôpital, which is less. Walckenaer (Géog. &c. vol. iii. p. 27) supposes that two routes between Arebrigium and Darantasia have been made into one in the Table, and he fixes Bergintrum at Bellentre. He also attempts to show that in the Anton. Itin. between Arebrigium and Darantasia there has been confusion in the numbers and the names of places; and this appears to be the case. The position of Bergintrum cannot be considered as certain, though the limits between which we must look for it are pretty well defined. [G. L.] BERGISTA'NI, a small people of Hispania Tarraconensis, who revolted from the Romans in the war about Emporiae, B. c. 195. (Liv. xxxiv. 16, 17.) They seem to have been neighbours of the Ilergetes, in the mountains of Catalonia, between Berga and Manresa. There can be no doubt that the place, afterwards mentioned by Livy (c. 21) as the stronghold of the rebels, Bergium or Vergium castrum, was one of the seven fortresses of the Bergistani, mentioned by him in the former passage, and that from which they took their name. It is probably Berga. (Marca, Hisp. ii. 23, p. 197; Florez, Esp. S. xxiv. 38; Ukert, vol. ii. pt. i. pp. 318, 426.) [P.S.] BERGULE, BERGULAE, VIRGULAE or BER- | successfully, by the Athenian forces under Callias, GULIUM (Bep yoúλn, Bepyoúλiov: Dsjatal-Borgas), B. c. 432. (Thuc. i. 61.) The statement of Thua town in Thrace, which was in later times called cydides presents some geographical difficulties, as Arcadiupolis. (Ptol. iii. 11. § 12; Geogr. Rav. Beroea lies quite out of the way of the natural route iv. 6; Itin. Hier. p. 569; Cedren. p. 266; Theophan. from Pydna to Potidaea. Mr. Grote (Hist. of Greece, p. 66.) vol. vi. p. 96) considers that another Beroea, situated somewhere between Gigonus and Therma, and out of the limits of that Macedonia which Perdiccas governed, may probably be the place indicated by Thucydides. Any remark from Mr. Grote deserves the highest consideration; but an objection presents itself against this view. His argument rests upon the hypothesis that there was another Beroea in Thrace or in Emathia, though we do not know its exact site. There was a town called Beroea in Thrace, but we are enabled to fix its position with considerable certainty, as lying between Philippopolis and Nicopolis (see below), and no single authority is adduced to show that there was a second Beroea in Thrace between Gigonus and Therma. [L. S.] BE'RGOMUM (Bépyoμov: Eth. Bergomas, atis: Bergamo), a city of Cisalpine Gaul, situated at the foot of the Alps, between Brixia and the Lacus Larius: it was 33 miles NE. from Milan. (Itin. Ant. p. 127.) According to Pliny, who follows the authority of Cato, it was a city of the Orobii, but this tribe is not mentioned by any other author, and Bergomum is included by Ptolemy in the territory of the Cenomani. (Plin. iii. 17. s. 21; Ptol. iii. 1. § 31.) Justin also mentions it among the cities founded by the Gauls, after they had crossed the Alps, and expelled the Tuscans from the plains of northern Italy. (Justin. xx. 5.) No mention of it is, however, found in history previous to the Roman Empire, when it became a considerable municipal town, as attested by inscriptions as well as by Pliny and Ptolemy. It seems to have derived considerable wealth from valuable copper mines which existed in its territory. (Plin. xxxiv. 1. s. 2; Orell. Inser. 3349, 3898.) In B. C. 452, it was one of the cities laid waste by Attila (Hist. Miscell. xv. p. 549); but after the fall of the Roman Empire it is again mentioned by Procopius as a strong fortress, and under the Lombard kings was one of the chief towns in this part of Italy, and the capital of a duchy. (Procop. B. G. ii. 12; P. Diac. ii. 15, iv. 3) In late writers and the Itineraries the name is corruptly written Pergamus and Bergame: but all earlier writers, as well as inscriptions, have Bergomum. The modern city of Bergamo is a flourishing and populous place, but contains no ancient remains. [E. H. B.] BERGU'SIUM or BERGU'SIA, in Gallia, on the road between Vienna (Vienne) and a place named Augustum. The Antonine Itin. and the Table agree very nearly as to the position of Bergusium, which is xx or xxi M. P. from Vienna, and supposed to be a place named Bourgoin. Augustum is supposed to be Aoste. [G. L.] BERIS or BIRES (Bñpis, Bípns), a river of Pontus, which Arrian places 60 stadia from the Thoaris. Hamilton (Researches, &c. vol. i. p. 280) identifies | it with the Melitsch Chai, "a deep and sluggish river," between Unieh and the Thermodon. He found it to be six miles, or 60 stadia, from the Thuréh Irmak, which he seems to identify correctly with the Thoaris. [G. L.] BE'RMIUS MONS (тò Bépμiov ŏpos: Vérria), a range of mountains in Macedonia, between the Haliacmon and Ludias, at the foot of which stood the city of Beroea. Herodotus relates that this mountain was impassable on account of the cold, and that beyond it were the gardens of Midas, in which the roses grew spontaneously. (Herod. viii. 138; Strab. vii. p. 330.) The Bermius is the same as the Bora of Livy (xlv. 29), and is a continuation of Mount Barnus. (Müller, Dorians, vol. i. p. 469, transl.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 295.) BEROEA. 1. (Bépola, Béppoia: Eth. Bepoaîos, Steph. B.; Beroeus, Liv. xxiii. 39: Verria), a city of Macedonia, in the N. part of the province (Plin. iv. 10), in the district called Emathia (Ptol. iii. 13. § 39), on a river which flows into the Haliacmon, and upon one of the lower ridges of Mount Bermius (Strab. vii. p. 330). It was attacked, though un- | Beroea surrendered to the Roman consul after the battle of Pydna (Liv. xliv. 45), and was assigned, with its territory, to the third region of Macedonia (xlv. 29). St. Paul and Silas withdrew to this city from Thessalonica; and the Jewish residents are described as more ingenuous and of a better disposition than those of the latter place, in that they diligently searched the Scriptures to ascertain the truth of the doctrines taught by the Apostle. (Acts, xvii. 11.) Sopater, a native of this town, accompanied St. Paul to Asia. (Acts, xx. 4.) Lucian (Asinus, 34) describes it as a large and populous town. It was situated 30 M. P. from Pella (Peut. Tab.), and 51 M.P from Thessalonica (Itin. Anton.), and is mentioned as one of the cities of the thema of Macedonia. (Constant. de Them. ii. 2.) For a rare coin of Beroea, belonging to the time of Alexander the Great, see Rasche, vol. i. p. 1492; Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 69. Verria stands on the E. slope of the Olympene range of mountains, about 5 miles from the left bank of the Vistritza or Injékara, just where that river, after having made its way to an immense rocky ravine through the range, enters the great maritime plain. Verria contains about 2000 families, and, from its natural and other advantages, is described as one of the most agreeable towns in Rumili. The remains of the ancient city are very considerable. Leake (Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 291), from who'n this account of Verria is taken, notices the NW. angle of the wall, or perhaps of the acropolis; these walls are traceable from that point southward to two high towers towards the upper part of the modern town, which appears to have been repaired or rebuilt in Roman or Byzantine times. Only three inscriptions have been discovered. (Leake, l. c.) 2. (Bephs, Steph. B.: Eth. Bephotos), a town in Thrace, 87 M. P. from Adrianopolis (Itin. Anton.; Hierocles), and situated somewhere between Philippopolis and Nicopolis. (Amm. Marc. xxvii. 4. § 12, xxxi. 9. § 1; Jornand. de Rebus Geticis, c. 18.) In later times it was called Irenopolis, in honour of the empress Irene, who caused it to be repaired. (Theophan. p. 385; Zonar. Ann. vol. ii. p. 115; Hist. Misc. xxxiii. p. 166, ap. Muratori.) St. Martin, in his notes to Le Beau (Bas Empire, vol. xii. p. 330), confounds this city with the Macedonian Beroea. Liberius was banished to this place from Rome, and spent two years in exile there. (Socrates, H. E. iv. 11.) 3. (Βέροια, Βέροια, Βέρνη, Βεροεία: Eth. Bepóevs, Steph. B.; Berooensis, Plin. v. 23; Itin. An was the strongest city of the district (Liv. 1. c.): it stood at a passage of the Iberus (Strab. p. 162), where the river commenced its navigable course of 260 M. P. (Plin. iii. 3. s. 4): it still bears its ancient naine (Varea, a little below Logroño, with which some confound it; Florez, Cantabr. p. 198; Mentelle, Esp. Med. p. 363): OLIBA ('Oxísa, Ptol.: some assume a corruption by transposition, and identify it with the 'OX6ía mentioned by Stephanus By. zantinus as a city of Iberia); CONTREBRIA, also called Leucas, a stronghold of Sertorius, as being the most convenient head-quarters, from which to march out of the territory of the Berones into any of the neighbouring districts (Liv. Fr. xci. p. 27, where mention is also made of another important city of the same name belonging to the Celtiberi): Ukert takes it for the Cantabria on the Ebro, which is mentioned in the middle ages, and the ruins of which are seen between Logroño and Piana. (Sandoval, Annot. &c. quoted by D'Anville, Mém. de l'Acad. des Inser. vol. xi. p. 771; Ukert, vol. ii. pt. i. pp. 321, 457, 458.) [P.S.] ton.; Hierocles: Haleb, Aleppo), a town in Syria (Strab. xvi. p. 751), about midway between Antioch and Hierapolis. (Procop. B. P. ii. 7; Ptol. v. 15.) Julian, after a laborious march of two days from Antioch, halted on the third at Beroea. (Julian, Epist. xxvii.; Theodoret. iii. 22; Milman's Gibbon, vol. iv. p. 144; Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol. iii. p. 55.) Chosroes, in his inroad upon Syria, A. D. 540, demanded a tribute from Beroea, which he remitted afterwards, as the inhabitants were unable to pay it. (Procop. B. P. ii. 7; Milman's Gibbon, vol. vii. p. 315; Le Beau, vol. ix. p. 13.) A. D. 611 Chosroes II. occupied this city. (Gibbon, vol. viii. p. 225.) It owed its Macedonian name of Beroea to Seleucus Nicator, and continued to be called so till the conquest by the Arabs under Abu Obeidah, A. D. 638, when it resumed its ancient name of Chaleb or Chalybon. (Niceph. H. E. xiv. 39; Schulten's Index Geog. s. v. Haleb; Winer, Bibl. Real-Wort. Buch.) It afterwards became the capital of the Sultans of the race of Hamadan, but in the latter part of the tenth century was united to the Greek empire by the conquests of Zimisces, emperor of Constantinople. The excavations a little way eastward of the town, are the only vestiges of ancient remains in the neighbourhood. They are very extensive, and consist of suites of large apartments, which are separated by portions of solid rock, with massive pilasters left at intervals to support the mass above. (Chesney, Exped. Euphrat. vol. i. p. 435.) Its present population is somewhat more than 100,000 souls. For coins of Beroea, both autonomous and imperial, ranging from Trajan to Antoninus, sec Rasche, vol. i. p. 1492; Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 359. BEROTHA (Bnpwen), mentioned only by Josephus as a city of Upper Galilee, not far from Cadesh (Naphthali) (Ant. v. 1. § 18). He makes it the scene of the decisive battle which Joshua fought with the northern kings, "at the waters of Merom." (Josh. xi. 1-9.) [G.W] 4. (Bepéa, 1 Macc. ix. 4), a village in Judaea (Reland, Palaest. p. 640), which, according to Winer (s. v.), must not be confounded with the Berea mentioned 2 Macc. xiii. 4. [E. B. J.] BERUBIUM, the third promontory on the northwest coast of Scotland, according to Ptolemy. Probably, Noss Head. [R. G. L.] BERYA, a town in Apamene, according to the Peutinger Tables, SE. of Antioch, 25 M. P. from Chalcis and 54 M. P. from Bathna. Niebuhr (Reise, vol. iii. p. 95) found many ruins under the name of Berua. [E. B. J] BERYTUS (Bnpurós, Berytus and Berytus: Eth. Bηpúrios, Berytensis, Berytius, Steph. B. Scylax, p. 42; Dionys. Per. v. 911; Pomp. Mela, i. 12. §5; Amm. Mar. xiv. 8. §9; Tac. Hist. ii. 81; Itin. Anton.; Peut. Tab.; Geogr. Rav.; Hierocles: Beirút), a town of Phoenicia, which has been identified by some with the Berotha or Berothai of the Hebrew Scriptures. (2 Sam. viii. 8; Ezek. xlvii. 16.) In the former passage Berothai is spoken of as belonging to the kingdom of Zobah (comp. v. 5), which appears to have included Hamath (comp. vv. 9, 10; 2 Chron. viii. 3). In the latter passage the border of Israel is drawn in poetic vision, apparently from the Mediterranean, by Hamath and Berothan, towards Damascus and Hauran. The Berotha here meant would, as Dr. Robinson (Palestine, vol. iii. p. 442) argues, more naturally seem to have been an inland city. After its destruction by Tryphon, B. C. 140 (Strab. xvi. p. 756), it was reduced by Agrippa, and colonised by the veterans of the v. Macedonica legio and viii. Augusta, and became a Roman colony under the name of Colonia Julia Augusta felix Berytus (Orelli, Inscr. n. 514, and coins in Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 356; Marquardt, Handbuch der Röm. Alt, p. 199), and was afterwards endowed with the rights of an Italian city. (Ulpian, Dig. 15. 1. § 1; Plin. v. 20.) It was at this city that Herod the Great held the mock trial over his two sons. (Joseph. Ant. xvi. 11. §§ 1-6.) The elder Agrippa greatly favoured the city, and adorned it with a splendid theatre and amphitheatre, beside baths and porticces, inaugurating them with games and spectacles of every kind, including shows of gladiators. (Joseph. Ant. xix. 7. §5.) Here, too, Titus celebrated the birthday of his father Vespasian by the exhibition of BERO'NES or VERO'NES (Bhpwves), a people in the N. of Hispania Tarraconensis, along the upper course of the Iberus (Ebro), on its right bank, about Logroño, between the CELTIBERI on the S., and the CANTABRI on the N., SE. of the AUTRIGONES, and on the borders of the CONTESTANI. They were a Celtic people, and are mentioned by Strabo as forming, with the Celtiberi, the chief remnant of the old Celtic population of Spain. (Liv. Fr. xci., where the common reading is Virones: Strab. iii. pp. 158, 162; Ptol. ii. 6. § 55.) The following were their chief cities: TRITIUM METALLUM (Tpiriov MéTaλλov, Ptol.: Tricio, near Nagera), in the Antonine Itinerary (p. 394) simply Tritium, on the high road from Legio VII. (Leon) to Caesaraugusta, 36 M.P. SE. of VIROVESCA, and not to be confounded with a place of the same name W. of Virovesca: VERELA, on the same road, 18 M. P. SE. of Tritium, and 28 NW. of CALAGURRIS (Calahorra, Itin. p. 393), undoubtedly the VAREIA or VARIA (Ovápeia, Ovapía) of Livy, Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy, which similar spectacles, in which many of the captive Jews perished. (Joseph. B. J. vii. 3. § 1; comp. 5. §1.) Afterwards Berytus became renowned as a school of Greek learning, particularly of law, to which scholars repaired from a distance. Its splendour may be computed to have lasted from the third to the middle of the sixth century. (Milman's Gibbon, vol. iii. p. 51.) Eusebius relates that the martyr Appian resided here for some time to pursue Greek secular learning (De Mart. Paloest. c. iv.), and Gregory Thaumaturgus repaired to Berytus to perfect himself in the civil law. (Socrates, H. E. iv. 27.) A later Greek poet describes it in this respect as the nurse of tranquil life." (Nonnus, Dionys. xli. fin.) Under the reign of Justinian it was laid in ruins by an earthquake, and the school removed to Sidon, A. D. 551. (Milman's Gibbon, vol. vii. p. 420.) In the crusades, Beirut, which was sometimes called Baurim (Alb. Aq. v. 40, x. 8), was an object of great contention between the Christians and the Muslim, and fell successively into the hands of both. In A. D. 1110 it was captured by Baldwin I. (Wilken, Die Kreuz. vol. ii. p. 212), and in A. D. 1187 by Saláh eddín. (Wilken, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 295.) It was in the neighbourhood of Berytus that the scene of the combat between St. George (who was so highly honoured in Syria) and the Dragon is laid. Beirut is now commercially the most important place in Syria. The town is situated on a kind of shoulder sloping towards the shore from the NNW. side of a triangular point, which runs more than two miles into the sea. The population amounts to nearly 15,000 souls. (Chesney, Exped. Euphrat. vol. i. p. 468. For coins of Berytus, both autonomous and imperial, ranging from Trajan to Antoninus, see Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 356; Rasche, Lex. Num. vol. i. p. 1492.) [E. B. J.] LIN PY ARTI А COIN OF BERYTUS. BESA or BESSA. [ATTICA, p. 331, b.] BE'SBICUS (Béσbikos: Eth. Beσbikпvós), a small island in the Propontis, in the neighbourhood of Cyzicus. (Steph. B. s. v. Béσ6ixos.) The mythical story, quoted by Stephanus from Agathocles, fixes the island near the outlet of the Rhyndacus. Pliny (v. 32) places Besbicus opposite to the mouth of the Rhyndacus, and gives it a circuit of 18 Roman miles. In another passage (ii. 88) he enumerates it among the islands which have been separated from the adjacent mainlands by earthquakes. The position assigned to Besbicus by Pliny and Strabo (p. 576) corresponds with that of Kalolimno, a small island which is about 10 miles N. of the mouth of the Rhyndacus. [G. L.] BESE'DA (Béonda: S. Juan de la Badesas), an inland city of the Castellani, in Hispania Tarraconensis. (Ptol. ii. 6. § 71; coins, ap. Sestini, p. 183; Ukert, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 426.) [P.S.] BESIPPO or BAESIPPO (Bauinn), a city of the Turdetani, on or near the S. coast of Hispania Baetica, just outside the Straits, E. of the Pr. Junonis (C. Trafalgar), and 12 M. P. W. of Belo. (Ilin. Ant. p. 408; Mela, ii. 6; Plin. iii. 1. s. 3; Ptol. ii. iv. § 14; Geog. Rav. iv. 43.) Some identify it with Bejer de la Frontera; but others argue that that place lies too far inland to agree with Pliny's statement that Besippo was a sea-port, and take the Roman ruins near Porto Barbato for its site. (Ukert, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 343.) [P. S.] BESOR (Báreλos), a brook in the south of Palestine, between the town of Ziklag (assigned to David by Achish king of the Philistines), and the country of the Amalekites. (1 Sam. xxvii. 6, xxx. 8, 9.) [G. W.] BESSA (Booa: Eth. Bnooaîos), a town in Locris, so called from its situation in a wooded glen, mentioned by Homer, but which had disappeared in the time of Strabo. (Hom. П. ii. 532; Strab ix p. 426; Steph. B. l. c.) BESSI (Bnoσoi), a Thracian tribe occupying the country about the rivers Axius, Strymon, and Nestus. They appear to have been a very numerous people, and at different times to have occupied a more or less extensive country. According to Herodotus (vii. 111), they belonged to the Satrae, a free Thracian people, and had the management of an oracle of Dionysus situated in the highest part of the mountains. In the time of Strabo (vii. p. 318) the Bessi dwelt all along the southern slope of Mount Haemus, from the Euxine to the frontiers of the Dardanians in the west. In the second century of our era their territory might seem to have been greatly reduced, as Ptolemy (iii. 11. § 9) mentions the Beσouch among the smaller σrparηria of Thrace; but his statement evidently refers only to the western portion of the Bessi, occupying the country between the Axius and Strymon, and Pliny (iv. 11. 18) speaks of Bessi living about the Nestus and Mount Rhodope. Looking at the country they occupied, and the character given them by Herodotus, there can be no doubt that they were the chief people of Thrace; they were warlike and independent, and were probably never subdued by the Macedonians; the Romans succeeded in conquering them only in their repeated wars against the Thracians. It would seem that the whole nation of the Bessi was divided into four cantons (Steph. Byz. s. v. Teтpаxwpirai), of which the Diobessi mentioned by Pliny may have been one. In the time of Strabo the Bessi are said to have been the greatest robbers among the Thracians, who were themselves notorious as Anoral. That they were not, however, wholly uncivilised, is clear from the fact that they inhabited towns, the chief of which was called Uscudama (Entrop. vi. 10). Another town, Bessapara, is mentioned by Procopius and others. (Comp. Dion Cass. liv. 34, and Baehr on Herodotus, l. c.) [L. S.] BETA'SII, a people mentioned by Tacitus. In the war with Civilis, Claudius Labeo, a Batavian, mustered a force of Nervii and Betasii (Hist. iv. 56); and he opposed Civilis at a bridge over the Mosa with a hastily raised body of Betasii, Tungri, and Nervii (Hist. iv. 66). Pliny (iv. 17) mentions the Betasii, but he does not help us to fix their position. It seems probable that the Betasii were the neighbours of the Nervii and Tungri, and it is conjectured that the name is preserved in that of Beetz, on the left bank of the Geete, south of Haalen, in South Brabant. [G. L.] BETHABARA (Вn0a6apà), mentioned in St. John's Gospel (i. 28) as the place of our Lord's Baptism. It is placed by the Evangelist "beyond Jordan," i. e. on the eastern side of the river (comp. x. 40), perhaps identical with Beth-bara (Judges, are distinguished, Ai being placed "beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel." Michmash is also placed "eastward from Bethaven." (1 Sam. xiii. 2.) It is joined with Gibeah and Ramah, and ascribed so Benjamin. (Hos. v. 8.) The LXX. translate it (in Josh. vii. 2) Ba‹0ńλ, (in xviii. 12) Baiter, (in Hos. v. 8) olke v. [G. W.] viii. 24), where was a ford, from which the place doubtless derived its name, equivalent to "locus transitus." (Reland, p. 626.) [G.W.] BETHAGLA (Bethhogla), a town of Palestine, in the plain of Jericho, on the borders between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but reckoned to the latter. (Josh. xv. 6, xviii. 19, 21.) St. Jerome identifies it with the threshing-floor of Atad (Gen. 1. 10, 11), the scene of the mourning for Jacob. (Onomast. s. v. Area Atad.) A fountain named 'Ain Hajla, and a ruined monastery, Kusr Hajla, situated about two miles from the Jordan, and three from the northern shore of the Dead Sea, still preserve the name and memorial of this site. (Robin-east of Jaffa, the other SE. of Nablus. They donltson, B. R. vol. ii. pp. 267-271.) [G. W.] BETHAMMA'RIA (Bnoaμμapía, Ptol. v. 15. §14), a town on the W. bank of the Euphrates, the Betamali of the Peutinger Tables, 14 M. P. from Ceciliana. This place cannot be the Bemmaris of the Antonine Itinerary, as Bemmaris is placed above the Zeugma, and Bethammaria below it. [E. B. J.] BETHANY (Bη@avía), a village 15 stadia from Jerusalem, at the eastern foot of the Mount of Olives, remarkable for the raising of Lazarus, and for other incidents in our Saviour's life. (St. John, xi. 18.) Its modern name is El-Azartyeh, i. e. the village of Lazarus. (Robinson, B. R. vol. ii. p. 100.) [G. W.] BETHAR (Bether, Bither, Bi00npa), a city celebrated in the history of the Jewish revolt under Hadrian (A. D. 131) as the last retreat of the Jews when they had been driven out of Jerusalem. They held out there for nearly three years. It is described as a very strong city not far distant from Jerusalem. (Enseb. H. E. iv. 6.) Its site was recovered and clearly identified in 1843. (Williams, Holy City, vol. pp. 209-213.) It is now called Beitir, the exact Arabic form of its ancient name, and is a considerable village about six miles SSW. of Jerusalem, still retaining some traces of its fortifications, while the inhabitants of the modern village have received and preserved traditions of its siege. [G. W.] BETHARAMATHUM (Bη@aрáμatov), identical with Amathus in Peraca (q. v.), as is proved by a comparison of Josephus, Ant. xvii. 12. § 6, B. J. ii. 4. § 2. (Reland, p. 560.) [G. W.] BETHARAMPHTHA (Bn9apa줤â), a city of Peraea, which Herod Antipas encompassed with a wall, and changed its name to JULIAS, in honour of the wife of the emperor Tiberius. (Ant. xviii. 2. §1.) It is certainly identical with that mentioned by Eusebius and St. Jerome as situated on the Jordan, originally named Betharamphta, and afterwards called Livias by Herod (Onomast. s. v.), and certainly not the same as the Julias which is placed by Josephus where the Jordan flows into the Sea of Tiberias (B. J. iii. 9. § 7), which was identical with Bethsaida. [BETHSAIDA.] But the names Julias and Livias are frequently interchanged, as are Julia and Livia. A still earlier name of this town, according to Eusebius and St. Jerome, was Beth-haram, a city of the tribe of Gad (Josh, xiii. 27), doubtless the same with Beth-haran (Num. xxxii. 36), which the Talmud also says was afterwards called Bethramtha. (Reland, p. 642; comp. pp. 869, 870, s. v. Julias Peraeae.) It is most probably only another form of the preceding Betharamathum, i. e. the modern Amata, near the Jabbok. [AMATHUS.] [G.W.] BETHAVEN, commonly supposed to be identical with Bethel, so called after that city had become the scene of idol-worship, Beth-aven signifying "the house of vanity." But in Josh. (vii. 2) the two places BETHDAGON (Bŋodaywv). Two cities of this name occur in the lists in the book of Joshua, one situated in the tribe of Judah, apparently towards the SW.; and the other in the tribe of Asher (x5. 41, xix. 27). There are two villages of this name, Beit-dajan, now in Palestine, one a few miles to the less represent ancient sites, but are not identical with either of those first named. The village of this name near Jaffa apparently occupies the site of Caphardagon, a large village mentioned by Eusebias (Onomast. s. v. Beth-Dagon) between Dispos (Lydda) and Jamnia (Febna). (Robinson, B. R. vol. iii. p. 30, n. 2.) The frequent recurrence of this name shows how widely spread was the worship of Dagon through Palestine. [G. W.] BETH-DIBLATHAIM (olkus Aaixafaiμ), a city of Moab, mentioned only by Jeremiah (xlviii. LXX. xxxi. 22). [G. W.] BETHEL (Baðhλ, Bŋеýλ), a border city of the tribe of Ephraim, for the northern boundary of Benjamin passed south of it. (Josh. xviii. 13; Judges, i. 22-26.) It was originally named Luz, and was celebrated in the history of the early patriarchs. (Gen. xii. 5, xxviii. 10-19, xxxi. 1—15.) It owed its new name, signifying "the house of God," to the vision of Jacob's ladder, and the altar which he afterwards erected there. It afterwards became infamous for the worship of the golden calf, here instituted by Jeroboam. (1 Kings, xii. 28, 33. xiii. ) It was inhabited after the captivity (Ezra, ii. 28; Nehem. vii. 32, xi. 31), and was fortified by Bacchides. (1 Maccab. ix. 50; Joseph. Ant. xiii. İ. §3.) It was taken by Vespasian after he had subjugated the country between this and the coast. (B. J. iv. 9. § 9.) It is described by Eusebius and St. Jereme as a small village on the road from Jerusalem to Sichem (Nablus), twelve miles from the former (Onomast. s. v. "Ayyai), on the left (or east) of the road going south, according to the Itin. Hierosol. Precisely in this situation are large ruins of an ancient city, bearing the name of Beitin, according to a common variation of in for el in the termination of Arabic proper names. (Robinson, Bib. Res. vol. ii. p. 128, n. 1.) [G. W.] BETH-GAMUL (olkos гaiμáλ), a city of Moab, mentioned only by Jeremiah (xlviii. 23), probably represented by the modern village of Um-el-Jemál or Edjmal, west of the ancient Bozrah. (Robinson, B. R. iii., Appendix, p. 153.) [G. W.] .. Mal BETHIACCAREM (Βαιθαχαρμά, Βηθαγχαρία), mentioned by Jeremiah (vi. 1.) as the place where the beacon fire should be lighted to give the alarm of the Chaldaeans' approach to Jerusalem. chiah, the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Bethhaccarem," is mentioned by Nehemiah (iii. 14), which would seem to intimate that it was a place of considerable importance after the captivity. St. Jerome (Comment. in Jerem. l. c.) speaks of it as a village of Juda, situated on a mountain between Aelia and Thecua-i. e. Tekoa. Its site was conjecturally fixed by Pocock (Trav. ii. p. 42) to a very remarkable conical hill, about three miles east of Bethlehem, and about the same distance north of |