Geography is one of the principal Parts of History. It is almost impossible to read it with Pleasure, and relish it without having all the necessary Knowledge of the Places, Towns and Cities, at least of the Countries, where the Particulars related were transacted. Now this Knowledge is to be acquired only two ways; one, by travelling, and running over the Country we would speak of: But every one is not in a Condition, or has not an Inclination to travel. The other is to inform ourselves of the Situation of Places and Countries; which is done by reading the Authors who have treated of them, whether as to Sacred or Profane Matters. We confine ourselves to Sacred Geography, which alone belongs to our Subject.
It is necessary to consult the Commentators on the tenth Chapter of Genesis, and the Book of Joshua, and to see our Dissertation on the Geographical Map of the Holy Land, which is prefixed to our Comment upon Joshua.
Eusebii Cæsariensis Liber de locis Hebraicis, sive Onomasticon cum versione Latinâ D. Hieronymi, & Notis Jacobi Bonfrerii, & Joan. Clerici, fol. Amstelod. 1708. Eusebius’s Work being of use to those only who understood Greek, St. Jerome thought it convenient to translate it into Latin. He made some Alterations, or Additions to it: So that he has been both the Author and Interpreter of it, as he himself says, in his Preface. The long abode he made in Palestine, and the particular care he took to inform himself of every thing that might contribute to the illustrating of the Sacred Writings, enabled him very much to perfect this Work. He did not, however, make it so compleat as it might have been: Bonfrerius having examined it, observed many Omissions in it, and believed it might be put into better Order; which engaged him to publish a more correct Edition of it, as he did in 1631, in fol. with his Comment upon Joshua.
F. Martiany has also given it us in his new Edition of St. Jerome, and corrected many of either Bonfrerius’s or the Printer’s Faults.
Lastly, M. le Clerc has made use of both their Emendations to make his own more compleat. He has added new Notes to those of Bonfrerius; and altho’ these Notes refer principally to the Greek Text of Eusebius, he nevertheless inserts several Critical Remarks upon the Translations.
The Order wherein he has disposed every thing in this Edition is very commodious: Every Chapter is divided into three Columns, with the Greek Text in the Middle, St. Jerome’s Version on one side, and Bonfrerius’s on the other. At the Bottom of the Pages are Bonfrerius’s Notes, and those of le Clerc in smaller Characters. The last, for the most part, are very short: Those of Bonfrerius are of a just Length, and abound with Erudition.
We find afterwards a Geographical Map of the Land of Promise. It is that of Adrichomius, but so altered by Bonfrerius as scarce to be known again. This learned Jesuit gives his Reasons for these Alterations, in a Discourse which goes along with the Map. We have here likewise the Description of the Holy Land, by Brocard, who speaks of things as an Eye-witness.
Sancti Hieronymi, de 42 Mansionibus Israelitarum in deserto, Epistola ad Fabiolam, in tom. 2. p. 586, of the new Edition. See the same Father in his 86th Letter ad Eustochium, p. 966. where there are several Remarks upon the Places in the Holy Land. See his Title.
Brocardi Monachi Ordinis Prædicatorum, Descriptio Terræ Sanctæ, at Basil, 1555, in fol. in the Onomasticon we have been speaking of, and in the new Edition of Menochius by F. Tournemine, tom. 2. at Paris, 1719, in fol. Grynæus had the care of this Impression at Basil. Adrichomius had a great Esteem for this Work, because the Author had himself observed exactly all the Places which he speaks of, and he confesses that he made use of it in his Theatre of the Holy Land.
It is divided into thirteen Chapters: The first gives us a general Idea of Syria, Phœnicia, Palestine, and Arabia; the second includes a Description of the Town of Acra, or Ptolemais, where this Monk settled, as the Center of all his Excursions, of Tyre, and some others, &c. In the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, there is mention of the Cities and Places in the Holy Land, which lie to the North, East, and South, of the Town of Acra; the eighth describes the City of Jerusalem, and the ninth the Mountains that encompass it; here likewise he makes several Remarks upon Joppa, Bethlehem, Rama, &c. The tenth treats of the Places which he disposes to the West of Acra, viz. Elijah’s Cave, Elisha’s Dwelling, the City of Cæsarea, &c. towards the End the Author describes the Extent of the Holy Land; the eleventh treats of the Fertility of this Country; and in the twelfth the Author speaks of the People who in his Time inhabited Palestine. Here he gives us, in few Words, the Character of the principal of these Nations; the thirteenth Chapter contains a Description of Egypt.
Brocard was of the Order of Preaching Brothers, and a Native of Strasburg. He travelled to the Holy Land in 1280, and went by the Name of Burchard, which is the Reason that several have confounded him with Burchard of Mount Sion, a Dominican likewise, a different Person from him, though he lived at the same time; for he dedicates his Work to the former.
Eucherii, de situ Jerosolymæ & locorum S. S. t. 1. Biblioth. Nov. MSS. Labbei, p. 665. See in the general Article of Catholick Commentators who this Eucherius is, and his Title in the Index.
Beda Venerab. de locis sanctis. See likewise his Title in the Index.
Phocas, Epiphanius Hagiopolita, & Perdiccas, de locis Palæstinæ, ex Editione Leonis, nis Allatii in symmictis. The Description of the several Cities from Antioch to Jerusalem, abridged; together with that of Syria, Phœnicia, Palestine, &c. by Phocas, is in Latin in the Bollandists, under the Month of May, tom. 2. in the Beginning. He was a Greek, of the Isle of Crete, and a Monk, lived in the twelfth Century, about 1185, at which time he travelled.
Frederick Morel had before published Epiphanius’s Work. He was a Monk, and Priest of Jerusalem. We do not know when he lived. As for Perdiccas, he was Prothonotary of Ephesus. Ducange is of opinion that he is the same whom Pachimeres speaks of in the sixth Book and 24th Chapter of his History. He wrote in Iambick Verses.
Adamnanus Scotus, de locis Terræ Sanctæ, l. 3. ex Editione Mabillonii, t. 3. Act. S. S. Ord. Sancti Benedicti, parte 2. p. 502. & seq. D. Mabillon has here likewise published the Itinerary of Bernard a French Monk. See what he says of him in the Place above cited.
Itinerarium à Burdegalâ Jerosolymam usque. This was written above 1300 Years ago, was published by Peter Pithou, and printed with the Emperor Antoninus’s Itinerary, at Cologn, 1600, in 8vo. This is the best Edition.
Guillelmi Tyrii, Historia belli sacri, lib. 23. with a Continuation of it, by John Herold. This is a History of the Croisade, written in the twelfth Century, from 1099 to 1183. It is in the Gesta per Dei Francos, tom. 1. p. 625, to 1046, with a Prologue at the Beginning of it, by James Bongars. This Work was printed at Paris, 1611, in fol. William, otherwise Willerm, was by Nation a Syrian, or perhaps of Jerusalem itself. He was made Archbishop of Tyre in 1174, went to the Lateran Council, and died in 1190. John Herold’s Continuation was printed at Basil, 1557, in 4to. at Frankfort, 1600, in fol.
Marini Sanuti Torselli, Descriptio Jerosolymæ, in the Gesta Dei per Francos, tom. 2. p. 1, to 26. The true Title imports, The Secrets of the Faithful of the Cross, or, Means to recover the Holy Land; in three Books, containing fifteen Parts. This Marin Sanut, or Sanudo, was of Rivoalti in the State of Venice, and surnamed Torselli from the Name of an Instrument, whereof he is said to be the Inventor. He died in 1329.
Benjamini Tudelensis Itinerarium, written in the Year 1173, and printed, with a Latin Translation, by Arias Montanus, with Notes by Constantine l’Empereur, at Leyden, in 12mo. in the Year 1654, and before, in 8vo. 1633. The first Edition, without Notes, is of 1575, at Antwerp. Matthias Frederick Beck has likewise written Notes on this Itinerary, which have not hitherto been printed.
Benjamin was a Jew, originally of the Kingdom of Navarre. He set about his Work after having travelled in all the Places where he thought that there were Synagogues, in order to inform himself of the State of his Nation. As he was very fond of it, he omits nothing that might help to raise the Glory and Lustre of it. He sometimes differs from the known Geographers and Historians, and has imagined new Countries, but he gives us, notwithstanding, a general Idea of the State of the Jews in his time, as well in the East as in the West.
Itinerarium Rabbi Petachiæ Sæculo xii. with Wagenseils’s Latin Version, which we meet with in his Exercitations, p. 161. See the Title of John Christopher Wagenseil, in the Index.
Abrahami Peritsol, Itinera mundi, with Thomas Lyde’s Notes and Version, at Oxford, 1691, in 4to. The Author wrote this Itinerary in 1525, at Ferrara. In it he cites p. 39. his Map of the World, which has not hitherto been published. He was a Jew of Avignon. He calls himself Abraham Mordecai Peritsol.
Joan. Lightfoot, Horæ Hebraicæ & Talmudicæ, in Evangelia, &c. With this he has joined a Chorographical Century on St. Matthew and the other Evangelists. All this is in the 2d Tome of his Works, printed at Utrecht, 1699, in fol. See his Title in the Index.
Hermanni Witsii, Historia Jerosolymæ, tom. 2. Miscell. Sacr. What he has written on this Subject makes the tenth and eleventh Exercitations in the second Tome of his Miscellanea Sacra, printed separately at Amsterdam, 1700, in 4to. and with his other Works, at Herborn, 1717, in 4to. 6 Vols. He gives us here the History of this City, from the Foundation of it to its Destruction by the Babylonians; and from the Restoration of it to its Destruction by the Romans. He was a Dutchman, a Calvinist, Professor at Leyden, not at Liege, as we read in F. le Long, and died in 1708.
Adriani Relandi, Palæstina Illustrata, printed at Utrecht, 1714, two Vols. in 4to. and at Nuremberg, 1716. This Work is divided into three Books. In the first, which takes up more than three quarters of the first Volume, the Author treats of the several Names of Palestine; of its Situation, Limits, Division, Waters, Mountains, Fields and Plains. In the second, he enquires into the Distances of the several Places of this Country; and with this he concludes the first Volume. In the second is contained the third Book of this Work, that is to say, an Account of all the Cities and Towns of Palestine, ranged in an alphabetical Order. At the End of the second Volume there are three very useful Tables, one of the Chapters, the other of the Passages of Scripture either cited or explained, and a third of proper Names, and principal Matters. It may be said to be a Work to be valued for the profound Erudition which runs through the whole of it, and for the Beauty of the Edition.
There are besides four very curious Dissertations relating to the same Subject, in the fourth Part of his Miscellaneous Dissertations, printed at Utrecht, 1706, in 12mo.
The first treats of the Situation of Paradise; which he places in Armenia, in the midst of the four celebrated Rivers of Phasis, Araxes, Tygris, and Euphrates, which, in his opinion, answer perfectly to the four mentioned in the second Chapter of Genesis, and which were so many primitive Rivers, as we may say, distinguished from one another, and had their Source in Paradise, from whence they flowed into different Countries. He shews all the Resemblance and Conformity of their Names and Situation. He finishes this Dissertation with demonstrating, that the Sources of these four Rivers are not very remote from one another.
The second is upon the Red Sea. In it he examines, 1. In what Place this Sea is situated. 2. How it came to be called Red Sea. In order to decide the first Question, he undertakes to prove, that in all Antiquity this Extent of Sea, which washes the Southern Coasts of Asia, was never called otherwise than Red Sea; and for Evidences of his Opinion, he cites the ancient Historians and Geographers. The true Situation of this Sea being thus determined, he seeks for the Original of the Name by which it goes in Greek and Latin; for the Hebrews never called it Red Sea. At the End of this Dissertation he explains two difficult Passages relating to it; one out of Pindar, the other out of Silius Italicus.
In the third he speaks of Mount Gerizim, gives the Signification of this Word, and shews where this Mountain is situated. Here he proposes likewise some ingenious Conjectures concerning the Original of the Word Sichar, which in the Gospel denotes Sichem. He endeavours here to justify the Samaritans from the Reproach with which the Jews charge them, of having adored the Figure of a Pigeon upon Gerizim, and other Idols hidden under this Mountain.
The fourth is upon the Land of Ophir, whereof there is frequent mention in the Holy Scripture. He endeavours to describe the true Situation of it, which in every Particular agrees with what the sacred Books say of it: And he believes it to be a Country near Oupara, or Sophara, a Town mentioned by Ptolemy, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Arrian. In reality, there is a perfect Resemblance between it and what the Scripture says of the Land of Ophir. As to the Author, see his Title in the Index.
Anselmi Descriptio Terræ Sanctæ. This is Anselm of Poland, of the Order of St. Francis, who lived in 1505. His Descri ption of the Holy Land was printed at Cracow, 1514, in 4to. and in Canisius’s Lectiones antiquæ, tom. 6.
Christoph. Cellarii Geographia, antiqua, two Vols. in 4to. Lipsick. The first Tome was published in 1701, the second in 1706. His Nucleus Geographiæ had been published by him before, at Jena, 1676, in 12mo. See his Title in the Index.
Frederic. Spanheim, Introductio ad Geographiam antiquam, t. 1. oper. Leid. 1701. in fol. See also his Title, ibid.
Samuelis Bochart, Phaleg, & Chanaan, at Caen, 1646, in fol. at Frankfort, 1674, in 4to. See also his Title.
Salom. Deyling, Fertilitas Terræ Chanaan, t. 2. Obser. sacr. See also his Title, ibid.
Bened. Ariæ Montani, Phaleg, Chanaan, Caleb, & Nehemias, in his Antwerp Polyglot. See the Article Polyglots, and his Title, ibid.
Christiani Adrichomii, Theatrum Terræ sanctæ, in fol. with Figures, at Cologn, 1590, 1612. He has published in particular a Description of the City of Jerusalem, in the Condition it was in at our Saviour’s time, ibid. 1588, in 8vo. 1597. the third Edition. The same in Spanish, at Valentia, 1620. in 8vo. the second Edit. He was of Delph, born in 1533, and made a Priest in 1561. He returned to Cologn, where he died in 1585, at 52 Years of Age.
Nicolai Samson, Geographia Sacra, ex vet. & nov. Test. with Notes, and a Preface, by John le Clerc, at Amsterdam, 1703, in fol. The whole Work is divided into four Tables, or Maps. The first contains the Parts of the World mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. The second, the Land of Promise, or the Partition of the Ten Tribes. The third and fourth, the Country, Dwellings, and Journies, of Jesus Christ, St. Peter, and St. Paul. To this is added a Description of the Land of Canaan, the Life of Jesus Christ, and of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, Notes upon the Tables, and a Geographical Index.
In M. le Clerc’s Preface we have a List of those who have made Descriptions of the Holy Land, from Aristæus to Spanheim, with a Critick of the Authors: This is followed by Samson’s Preface, with Remarks upon the Map of Judea, the number of Towns in each Tribe, their Situations, and Distances. M. le Clerc has added Remarks, wherein he corrects Samson’s Mistakes. Lastly, we have in it a small Treatise by the same Samson, entituled, Judæa, where he gives us, in few Words, a History of the several Inhabitants who have successively possessed the several Parts of it.
The Preface which M. le Clerc has inserted in the Beginning of this Volume is curious, and very well adapted to the Subject. Herein he makes a kind of Catalogue of the several Authors who have described the Holy Land either entirely, or in part only; and he mentions a great number of them.
As for Samson, he begins his Work with Remarks upon Adrichomius and himself. His Discourse upon Judæa is an exact, tho’ an epitomized History of this Part of the Earth.
The Maps are very neat, and perfectly well engraved. The Alphabetical Table, which goes along with them, and serves for an Explanation of them, is very methodical. Samson was of Abbeville, and a very learned Geographer.
Joan. Nicolai Quistorpii, Nebo, seu de Terrâ Sanctâ, apud Crenium fasc. 9. This Work had been printed before, at Rostoch, 1665, in 12mo.
Petri Danielis Huetii, de Navigationibus Salomonis. See our Lists upon the Books of Kings. He has also written of the Trade and Navigation of the Ancients. Paris, 1716, in 12mo. See his Title in the Index.
Gaspar Bareirii, de Ophira Regione, at Antwerp, 1600 in 8vo. See his Title in the Index. See our Dissertation on the Land of Ophir, before Genesis. Lucæ Hostenii, Ep. ad Berthold. Nibusium, de fluvio Sabbatico, de quo Joseph. in Bell. Jud. l.7. c.24.
Joan. Buxtorf, Lexicon Thalmud. ex Rabbinis. We have already spoken of him. See his Title in the Index.
Nicolaus Fullerus, de Fabuloso flumine Sabbatico, or Sambatione.
Alphonsi Tostat. liber de situ Terræ Sanctæ. We do not find that this Work is printed. Nicholas Antonio is the only one who speaks of it, in his Bibliotheca Hispanica. See the Article of general Catholick Commentators, and his Title in the Index.
Christoph. Heidman, Palestina, sive Terra Sancta. This was printed first at Helmstadt, 1623, in 8vo. afterwards at Wolfembuttle, 1655, in 4to. with Augmentations; and at Hanover, 1689. The Author was of Helmstadt, a Lutheran, Professor of Eloquence, and died in 1627.
Didaci Martinez, Descriptio Idumææ. It does not appear that this was ever printed. Southwel is the only one who speaks of it, and of the other Books of this Author, which are only in Manuscript. He is different from another Didacus Martinez, a Carmelite. He whom we are speaking of was a Spanish Jesuit, of Cordoua. He entered into the Society in 1585, and died in 1645.
Jacobi Ziegleri Terræ Sanctæ Descriptio, printed at Strasburg, 1536, the second Edition, in fol. and at Frankfort, 1575. He was of Bavaria, a Geographer, and died in 1549.
Joan. Brissellii, or rather Bissellii, Terræ Sanctæ Topothesia brevis. He was a Jesuit of Swabia, and a Divine, who flourished in 1659. His Description of Palestine was printed at Amberg, 1659, in 8vo. and at Dilinguen, 1679. F. le Long, in his Bibliotheca Sacra; and Lipenius, in his Bibliotheca Theologica, call him John Bissel.
Joan. Perusini, Descriptio Terræ Sanctæ. This, as Possevin says, is as yet only in Manuscript. He speaks of Perusinus, in his Apparatus Sacer. The Author was an Italian, of Peruse, whence he took his Name.
Michael Aitsengeri, Terra promissionis topographicè & historicè, &c. in 4to. at Cologn, 1382. This Author, who flourished in 1382, was a German, and a Catholick. It is of use to have the ancient and modern Travellers. Christophori Pezelii, Theatrum Terræ Sanctæ. John Zwallart Mayeur, of the Town of Aeth, his Journey to Jerusalem, Antwerp, 1608, in 4to. with Cuts.
Fretellus Archdeacon of Antioch. What he has written of the holy Places is only a Manuscript, as F. le Long tells us, and in the Library of Clairveaux.
James Pantaleon, Patriarch of Jerusalem. We know nothing of his Description of the Holy Land, but by what Adrichomius says of it, who made use of it in his Theatre of the Holy Land. He was Pope, and called Urban IV. He was of Troyes in Champagne, and died in 1264.
Hermanni Borculoi, Civitatis Jerusalem, & locorum sacrorum Dissertatio; at Utrecht, in 1538.
Tilmanni Stella, Jerosolymitanæ Civitatis & totius Terræ promissionis, Tabula; printed in 1557. He has also published, Typus Chorographicus locorum in Regno Judæ & Israel, at Antwerp, 1580, and at Amsterdam, by Janson. He was a great Geographer.
Petri Lackstan, Descriptio antiquæ & novæ Urbis Jerosolymorum, Cælcuriæ Clivorum, 1570.
Lastly, F. Pezron, who is not to be omitted, has written a Dissertation upon the ancient Limits of the Promised Land. It is printed in the way of Letter, in the Memoirs of Trevoux, for the Month of June in the Year 1705. It is very long, and worthy of so learned an Author. We speak more particularly of it, upon the Book of Joshua. It may be advisable to have likewise, or to consult, the ancient and modern Travellers to the Holy Land; some of whom we shall mention, as Witnesses of what they relate of it.
James de Vitry may be reckoned of this number. In his History of the East and West, he speaks of the sacred Places of Palestine. It is divided into three Books; the two first whereof were printed at Doway, 1597, in 8vo. The Preface, which was not inserted in this Edition, is in Canisius’s Antiquæ Lectiones, tom. 4. p. 27. of the last Edition, in fol. The first and third Books are printed in the Gesta Dei per Francos, by Bongars, p. 1047. Dom Martenne has since published the third, in his Anecdotes, t. 3. p. 268. It is different from that which is in the old Editions.
This History contains, in pretty good Latin, a large Description of the Holy Land, of the Manners of the Inhabitants; of every thing that was to be seen, and had been transacted there, to the Year 1218. This James de Vitry was of Argenteuil near Paris. He became a Canon-Regular in the Monastery of St. Mary d’Oignies near Namur, went into Palestine about 1230, and died in 1244.
John Mandeville, in Latin, de Montevilla. See the Title of his Voyage, Itinerarium in partes Hierosolymitanas, in 4to. as Lipenius reports it in his Bibliotheca Theologica. Another specified by him in his Bibliotheca Philosophica & Peregrinationum in Terram Sanctam, & aliorum experientiarum Libri, 5. at Strasburg, in 1507. The first was printed at Antwerp, in 1564, which Lipenius has not taken notice of.
Rodolphus Langius, printed at Cologn 1517. Gerard Kuinretorf, his Journey to Jerusalem, printed at Campen, in 1520. Bartholemew de Salignac, printed at Lyons, 1526. Lipenius mentions him in 1593, in 4to.
Bernard de Breidembach, at Spire, 1502, 1490, in fol. at Mentz, 1586, in fol. in Flemish at Utrecht, 1488. He was Dean of Mentz.
Francis Quaresme, wrote a large Book upon the Holy Land. This Author was a Minor Brother, and flourished about 1640. Otto Dapper, or Tapper.
F. Eugenius Roger, his Travels to Palestine, at Paris, in 4to. with Cuts. John Paschal, a Carmelite of Mechlin, published a Description of the Holy Land, at Louvain, 1563, in 4to.
A Voyage beyond Sea, to the Holy Sepulchre, by Anthony Regnault, a Citizen of Paris, 1573, with wooden Cuts, pretty well designed.
Peter Appianus, Gerard Mercator, Wolfang de Weissembourg, John Ceverio de vera Cruz, their Travels to the Holy Land.
With these we may join John Cotovicius, whose Travels were printed at Antwerp in 1619, in 4to. in Latin. He was of Utrecht, and a Lawyer.
John Drubdon’s Travels into the Holy Land, in French; published at Paris, 1661, 1666, in 4to.
Joannis Dubiulii Hodæpericon peregrinationis Jerosolymitanæ, at Cologn, 1600, in 8vo.
M. Maundrel’s Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, translated out of English, and printed at Utrecht, 1705, in 12mo. As this Piece has been well received, there have been several Editions of it.
Adami Reisneri, Descriptio Jerusalem, Germanico in Latinum versa, per Joan. Heydenum. Francofurti, 1563, in fol.
M. de Beauveau’s Voyage to the Levant, at Toul, 1608. and again in 1619, with Cuts, in 4to.
Morizon, Canon of Bar-le-Duc, his Voyage to Jerusalem, in 4to.
See the List of Authors cited by Adrichomius at the End of his Description of Jerusalem, printed at Cologn in 8vo. 1585.