Gaza (2)
Gaza
Full descriptions of this ancient and still important city may be found in Porter's Handbook for Syria, page 271 sq.; and Badeker's. Palestine, page 312 sq. The latest is that of Conder (Tent-Work, 2:169 sq.): "This ancient city, the capital of Philistia, is very picturesquely situated, having a fine approach down the broad avenue from the north, and rising on an isolated hill a hundred feet above the plain. On the higher part of the hill are the governor's house, the principal mosque (an early Crusading church), and the bazaars. The green mounds traceable round this hillock are probably remains of the ancient walls of the city. Gaza bristles with minarets, and has not less than twenty wells. The population is now eighteen thousand, including sixty or seventy houses of Greek Christians. The Samaritans in the 7th century seem to have been numerous in Philistia, near Jaffa, Ascalon, and Gaza. Even as late as the commencement of the present century, they had a synagogue in this latter city, but are now no longer found there. There are two large suburbs of mud cabins on lower ground, to the east and northeast, making four quarters to the town in all. East of the Serai is the reputed tomb of Samson, whom the Moslems call 'Aly Merwan or "Aly, the enslaved." On the northwest is the mosque of Hashem, father of the prophet. The new mosque, built some forty years since, is full of marble fragments from ancient buildings, which were principally found near the sea-shore. The town is not walled, and presents the appearance of a village grown to unusual size; the brown cabins rise on the hillside row above row, and the white domes and minarets, with numerous palms, give the place a truly Oriental appearance. The bazaars are large and are considered good." (See illustration on following page.)
