Hebron

A place in Palestine, about 20 miles a little west of south from Jerusalem, and one of the oldest existing cities in the world. The Maccabees recovered it from the Edomites, who had taken it after the Captivity. It was burned by an officer of Vespas i an just before the destruction of Jerusalem. It was taken by the Arabs in 637, and by the Crusaders about 1100; and ever since 1187 has been in the hands of its present masters, the Mohammedans.