IV. APHEK, a City of Syria, one of the 1 Kings xx. 26, & seq.principal in Ben-hadad’s Kingdom, near unto which the battle was fought between Ahab and Ben-hadad, wherein the Syrians were worsted; and as they retreated with precipitation into the City, the wall fell upon them, and crushed in pieces seven and twenty thousand. It is probably in this very City of Aphek, or Aphaca, situated in Libanus, upon the River Adonis1, where the famous Temple of Venus the Aphacite was to be seen. This City lay between Heliopolis and Biblos, and is that probably which Paul Lucas speaks of2, as swallowed up in a Lake of Mount Libanus, which is about nine or ten miles in circumference, wherein he says there are several houses all intire under water. See our Comment upon Josh. xix. 30. and upon 1 Kings xx. 26.
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