Bordeaux Pilgrim - Text 6: From Caesarea to Jerusalem

Pilgrims who visited the Holy Land between the IV and VII century

THE ANONYMOUS PILGRIM OF BORDEAUX (333 A.D.)

16.
The harbour
of Caesarea 17.
An ancient map of Palaestina (Judaea) 18.
View from the top
of Mount Garizim

The Text: 6. From Caesarea to Jerusalem

City of Caesarea Palaestinae (Kaisarieh) [pct.16], that is, Judaea [pct.17] - miles viii.
Total from Tyre to Caesarea Palaestina 73 miles, 2 changes, 3 halts.

Here is the bath (balneus) of Cornelius the centurion who gave many alms ( Acts 10:2; 47-48).

At the third milestone from thence is the [586] mountain Syna, where there is a fountain, in which, if a woman bathes, she becomes pregnant.

City of Maximianopolis - miles xviii.
City of Stradela (Jezreel, Zerin) - miles x.

Here reigned King Achab (Ahab), and here Helias prophesied (1 Kings 17,1ff). Here is the field in which David slew Goliath [ftn.1] (Ayn Jalud ?) ( 1 Sam 17:49-51).

City of Scythopolis (Bethshean, Beisan) - miles xii.
[587] Aser (Teyasir), where was the house of Job [ftn.2] - miles vi.
City of Neapolis (Nablus) - miles xv.

Here is the Mount Gerizim [pct.18]. Here the Samaritans say that Abraham offered sacrifice (Mount Moriah) [ftn.3], and one reaches the top of the mountain by steps, three hundred in number. Beyond this, at the foot of the mountain itself, is a place called Sichem. Here is a tomb in which [588] Joseph is laid, in the 'parcel of ground' (villa) 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 34:1-31). A mile from thence is a place named Sichar, from which the woman of Samaria 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 4:1-42); in which place are plane-trees, which Jacob planted, and a bath (balneus - baptistry) which is supplied with water from the well.

Twenty-eight miles from thence on the left hand, as one goes towards Jerusalem, is a village (villa) named Bethar (Bethel, Beitin). A mile from thence is the place where Jacob slept when he was journeying into Mesopotamia ( Gen 28:10-22), and here is the almond tree; here Jacob saw the vision and the angel wrestled with him ( Gen 32:22-32) [ftn.4]. Here was King Jeroboam when the prophet was sent to him, that he should turn himself to the [589] Most High God; and the prophet was ordered not to eat bread with the false prophet whom the king had with him, and because he was beguiled by the false prophet and ate bread with him, as he was returning a lion fell upon the prophet on the way and slew him ( 1Kings 13:1-34).
Thence to Jerusalem - miles xii.

Total from Caesarea Palaestina to Jerusalem 116 miles, 4 halts, 4 changes. [follows]

Footnotes

1. The site of the battle in which Goliath was killed by David is placed by the biblical text in the valley of Elah, west of Betlehem, in the territory of the tribe of Judah (1 Sam 17:1-2). On the Gilboa ridge another battle took place in which Saul died (1 Sam 31:1-6) but a Goliath fountain (Ayn Jalud) is found near Jezreel. back

2. More commonly a house, or tomb, of Job is pointed out in the Hauran, northeast of the Sea of Galilee. back

3. For the Samaritans Mount Garizim, not the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was where Abraham was about to sacrifice is son Isaac (Gen 22,2). back

4. The wrestling of Jacob with the angel took place when he came back from Mesopotamia, at the crossing of the Yabbok (Gen 32:24). The Yabbok river (now Zarqa) is found on the east bank of the Jordan, opposite Bethel. back

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