Reading Companion to Book 1 of The Seculary of a Wandering Jew
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Kidron Valley runs along the eastern wall of The Old City of Jerusalem, separating the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. It then continues east through the Judean Desert, towards the Dead Sea, descending 4000 feet along its 20 mile course. The settlement Kedar, located on a ridge above the valley, is named after it. The neighborhood of Wadi Al-Joz bears the valley's Arabic name.
Cilicia
Roman Province in Asia Minor (Turkey)
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire. Cilicia extends inland from the southeastern coast of modern Turkey, due north and northeast of the island of Cyprus.
It was annexed to the Roman Empire in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence in the east, after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It was subdivided by Diocletian in around 297, and it remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for several centuries, until falling to the Islamic conquests.
Ctesiphon
City in Persia (Iraq)
Ctesiphon, one of the imperial capitals of the Arsacid Dynasty, and the summer capital of Sassanid Iran, under whom it was officially called "Iran-khwarah" (the Glory of Iran). It was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.
Ctesiphon is located approximately at Al-Mada'in, 20 miles (32 km) southeast of the modern city of Baghdad, Iraq, along the river Tigris. Ctesiphon measured 30 square kilometers (cf. the 13.7 square kilometers of 4th century imperial Rome). The only visible remains are the great arch Taq-i Kisra (the literal meaning: arch of Khosrau) located in what is now the Iraqi town of Salman Pak.
Because of its importance, Ctesiphon was a major military objective for the leaders of the Roman Empire in their eastern wars. The city was captured by Rome five times in its history - three times in the 2nd century alone. The emperor Trajan captured Ctesiphon in 116, but his successor, Hadrian, decided to willingly return Ctesiphon in 117 as part of a peace settlement. The Roman general Avidius Cassius captured Ctesiphon in 164 during another Parthian war, but abandoned it when peace was concluded. In 197, the emperor Septimius Severus sacked Ctesiphon and carried off thousands of its inhabitants, whom he sold into slavery.
Cynosure
Dog-Tail constellation / Polar star
Cyprus
Roman Province / Island in the Mediterranean
Damascus
City in Roman Syria
According to the 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, Damascus, was founded by Uz, the son of Aram. Elsewhere, he stated:
Nicolaus of Damascus, in the fourth book of his History, says thus: "Abraham reigned at Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land above Babylon, called the land of the Chaldeans: but, after a long time, he got him up, and removed from that country also, with his people, and went into the land then called the land of Canaan, but now the land of Judea, and this when his posterity were become a multitude; as to which posterity of his, we relate their history in another work.
Damascus was conquered by Alexander the Great. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, Damascus became the site of a struggle between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. The control of the city passed frequently from one empire to the other. Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander's generals, made Antioch the capital of his vast empire, which led to the decline of Damascus' importance.
In 64 BC, the Roman general Pompey annexed the western part of Syria. The Romans occupied Damascus and subsequently incorporated it into the league of ten cities known as the Decapolis because it was considered such an important center of Greco-Roman culture.
According to the New Testament, Saint Paul was on the road to Damascus when he received a vision of Jesus, and as a result accepted Him as the Messiah.
Delphi
City in Greece, site of the Oracle of Apollo
Delphi is both an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis.
In Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python, a dragon who lived there and protected the navel of the Earth.
Apollo's sacred precinct in Delphi was a PanHellenic sanctuary, where every four years, starting in 776 BC athletes from all over the Greek world competed in the Pythian Games, one of the four PanHellenic games, precursors of the Modern Olympics. The victors at Delphi were presented with a laurel crown (stephanos) which was ceremonially cut from a tree by a boy who re-enacted the slaying of the Python.
Delphi would have been a renowned city whether or not it hosted these games; it had other attractions that led to it being labeled the "omphalos" (navel) of the earth, in other words, the center of the world.
Domus Tiberiana
One of the imperial residences on the Palatine
Dor
Town close to Caesarea
Dor is a village in northern Israel. Located near Zikhron Ya'akov.
The village was established by immigrants from Greece, who were later joined by immigrants from Iraq. It was named after the ancient Phoenician city of Dor, which inhabited by the tribe of Manasseh in the Israelite period.
The city is mentioned in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua and Chronicles. It was renamed Tantura after the Arab conquest.
The ancient city of Dor was situated on the excavated mount north of today's village, overlooking Kibbutz Nahsholim.
Emmaus
Town in Judaea
Emmaus (meaning "warm spring") was an ancient town located approximately 7 miles (11km) northwest of present day Jerusalem.
Many sites have been suggested for the biblical Emmaus, among them Emmaus Nicopolis (ca. 160 stadia from Jerusalem), Kiryat Anavim (66 stadia from Jerusalem on the carriage road to Jaffa), Coloniya (36 stadia on the carriage road to Jaffa), el-Kubeibeh (63 stadia, on the Roman road to Lydda), Artas (60 stadia from Jerusalem) and Khurbet al-Khamasa (86 stadia on the Roman road to Eleutheropolis). The oldest identification that is currently known is Emmaus Nicopolis.
The New Testament reports that Jesus appeared before two of his followers in Emmaus after his resurrection.
Ephesus
City in Asia Minor (Turkey)
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor in Izmir Province, Turkey.
It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era. In the Roman period, Ephesus had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC, which also made it one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean world.
The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Emperor Constantine I rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths. Following the Edict of Thessalonica from emperor Theodosius I, the temple was destroyed in 401 AD by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom
The town was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD. The city's importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor was slowly silted up by the Cayster River.
Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia that are cited in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written here. The city was the site of several 5th century Christian Councils, see Council of Ephesus. It is also the site of a large gladiators' graveyard.
Galatia
Roman Province in Asia Minor (Turkey)
Galatia was the name of a province of the Roman Empire in Anatolia (modern central Turkey). It was established by the first emperor, Augustus (sole rule 30 BC - 14 AD), in 25 BC, covering most of formerly independent Celtic Galatia, with its capital at Ancyra.
Galilee
Region in Palestine (part of Israel)
Galilee is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District and Haifa District of the country. Tr
aditionally divided into Upper Galilee, Lower Galilee, and Western Galilee, extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the ridges of Mount Carmel and Mount Gilboa north of Jenin and Tulkarm to the south, and from the Jordan Rift Valley to the east across the plains of the Jezreel Valley and Acre to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Coastal Plain in the west.
The Galilee region was presumably the home of Jesus during at least 30 years of his life. The first three Gospels of the New Testament are mainly an account of Jesus' public ministry in this province, particularly in the towns of Nazareth and Capernaum. Galilee is also cited as the place where Jesus cured a blind man.
Gaul
Roman Province (France)
Roman Gaul consisted of an area of provincial rule in the Roman Empire, in modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and western Germany. Roman control of the area lasted for more than 500 years.
The Roman Republic began its takeover of Celtic Gaul in 121 BC, when it conquered and annexed the southern reaches of the area. Julius Caesar completed the task by defeating the Celtic tribes in the Gallic Wars of 58-51 BC and the Romanization that ensued was quickest in the cities; Latin was spoken by a majority of Gauls in the third century AD but with some remains of the Gallic language.
The last vestige of Roman rule was effaced by the Franks at the Battle of Soissons (486); displacing the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse in 507, the Franks brought most of Gaul, except Septimania in the south, under the rule of the Merovingians, the first kings of France.
The city of Lugdunum (now Lyon) had long been the capital of the Gaul.
Gennesaret
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias), is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately 53 km (33 mi) in circumference, about 21 km (13 mi) long, and 13 km (8.1 mi) wide. The lake has a total area of 166 km2 (64 sq. mi), and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m (141 feet). At 211.315 meters (693.2 ft) below sea level, it is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake overall (after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake). The lake is fed partly by underground springs although its main source is the Jordan River which flows through it from north to south.
The Sea of Galilee lies on the ancient Via Maris, which linked Egypt with the northern empires. The Greeks, Hasmoneans, and Romans founded flourishing towns and settlements on the land-locked lake including Gadara, Hippos and Tiberias.
Much of the ministry of Jesus occurred on the shores of Lake Galilee. In those days, there was a continuous ribbon development of settlements and villages around the lake and plenty of trade and ferrying by boat.
Hellespont
Strait that links the Aegean to the sea of Marmara
The Dardanelles, formerly known as Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus.
The strait is 61 kilometers (38 mi) long but only 1.2 to 6 kilometers (0.75 to 3.7 mi) wide, averaging 55 meters (180 ft) deep with a maximum depth of 103 meters (338 ft). Water flows in both directions along the strait, from the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean via a surface current and in the opposite direction via an undercurrent.
Like the Bosphorus, it separates Europe (the Gallipoli peninsula) from the mainland of Asia. The strait is an international waterway, and together with the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
Herculaneum
City in Italy (close to Naples)
Herculaneum (in modern Italian Ercolano) was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 A.D., located in the Italian region of Campania in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.
It is most famous for having been lost, along with Pompeii, Stabiae, Boscoreal and Oplontis, in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 which