Palestine

or THE HOLY LAND, (pal'es-tin,) that S. portion of Syria which forms the modern pashalics of Gaza, Acre, and the S. part of that of Damascus; bet. N. Lat. 30° 40′-33° 32′, E. Lon. 33° 35'-36° 48′, b. S.E. and S. by the Arabian Desert and W. by the Mediterranean; length 193 m., average breadth 75 m. Area, 11,000 sq. m. Its surface is intersected by spurs of the Lebanon chain, Mt. Hermon (q. v.) being the highest point. Within its limits are also found the Lake of Tiberias, the Dead Sea, and the river Jordan. The name P. derives from the Heb. Peles cheth (" Land of the Philistines "), and in remote times was known as Canaan. Under the reigns of David and his son Solomon, it constituted a flourishing kingdom. The subsequent history of P. is identical with that of Judæa and of the Jewish people, until its subjection by Rome. The country remained in the power of the Romans till the conversion of the empire to Christianity, when it be came an object of religious veneration. In the 6th cent. it fell under the sway of the Mohammedans, which gave occasion to the Crusades. Jerusalem was taken by the European forces, and was under Godfrey of Bouillon erected into a Latin kingdom, which endured for above 80 years, during which the Holy Land streamed with Christian and Saracen blood. In 1187 Judæa was conquered by Salad in, on the decline of whose kingdom it pa ed through various hands, till, in 1517, it was finally added to the Turkish empire. [s. 678]