Bezeth
Be'zeth (Βηξέθ), a place at which Bacchides encamped after leaving Jerusalem, and where there was i a ' great pit" (τὸ φρέαρ τὸ μέγα, 1 Maccabees 7:19). By Josephus (Ant. 12, 10, 2) the name is given (in the account parallel with 1 Maccabees 9:4) as "the village Beth-zetho" (κώμη Βηθζηθὼ λεγομένη), which recalls the name applied to the Mount of Olives in the early Syriac recension of the N.T. published by Mr. Cureton-Beth-Zaith (which, however, is simply a translation of the name = Hebrew בֵּית זִיִת, olive-house). The name may thus refer either to the main body of the Mount of Olives, or to the eminence opposite it to the! north of Jerusalem, which at a later period was called BEZETHA SEE BEZETHA (q.v.). Pococke (East, II, 1, 19) speaks of seeing "a long cistern" in this quarter of the city, and several tanks are delineated here on modern plans of Jerusalem.
