Places of Section 5: Mount Ephraim and Benjamin: 35. Neapolis

35. Neapolis - (Nablus)

Below the toponym, a portion of the town of Neapolis surrounded by a city-wall. We can recognise the east part equipped with: two main doors; a big porticoed street in east-west direction; a porticoed dome on the outside, supposed to be a public fountain; a church in conventional appearance; and a non-identified edifice in the south-west, probably a theatre.	City of Neapolis - miles XV from Aser. Here is the Mount Gerizim. Here the Samaritans say that Abra-ham offered sacrifice, and one reaches the top of the mountain by steps, one thousand and three hundred in number. Beyond this, at the foot of the mountain itself, is a place called Sechim (Sichem). Here is a tomb in which Joseph is laid, in the 'parcel of ground' which Jacob his father gave to him (Jos 24:32). From thence Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was carried off by the children of the Amorites (Gen 34:2). A mile from thence is a place named Sichar, from which the Samaritan woman came down to the same place in which Jacob dug the well, to draw water from it, and our Lord Jesus Christ talked with her (John 4:5-30); in which place are plane-trees, which Jacob planted, and a bath (baptistry) which is supplied with water from the well. (Itinerarium Burdigalense, 587-588)