GEOGRAPHY OF SYRIO-PALESTINE

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CHAPTER 2 GEOGRAPHY OF SYRIO-PALESTINE

The location of Syrio-Palestine and its neighbouring countries in the Near East, as well as the various geographic regions of the land and the topographic features which hindered or advanced cultivation by the peoples who settled there, are discussed in the sections below (section 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4). Two-thirds of the total geographical area is fit for human habitation and there is enough cultivable land, which is not very fertile or rich in natural resources (Grant: 1984: 9). The rest of the land comprises hostile terrain such as arid desert, steep mountains and gullies, infertile soil of the near-desert region, and rocky plateaus.

Political boundaries

The political boundaries of Syrio-Palestine have changed over the centuries as empires rose and fell. Today, the area is known as Israel, which is the main region under discussion. Lebanon lies to the north of Israel, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east and Egypt to the south-west. (See Map 2 below).
At the time of the United Kingdom under David and Solomon, the countries bordering Syrio-Palestine were Sidonia to the north-west, Philistia to the south-west, Arabia to the east and Egypt to the south. Hamath in the north was under Solomon’s control, and the lands of Aram, Ammon, Moab and Edom, which had been conquered by David, were included in the United Kingdom (Bimson 1985: 42). (See Map 3 below).
Under the Romans, the land was divided into the provinces of Idumea, Judea, Samaria and Galilee on the western side of the Jordan River and the Decapolis, Perea and the Tetrarchy of Philip, consisting of Gaulanitis, Trachonitis, Aurantis, Batanaea, and Caesarea Banias (Philippi), on the eastern side. Its neighbours were Phoenicia in the north-west, Syria in the north, the Nabateans and Arabia in the east and Egypt in the south (Aharoni & Avi-Yonah 1977: 140). (See Map 4 below).

Geographical regions

When describing the major geographic features, most authors use a west to east direction, some dividing the land into four, five or even six regions. Gardner (1981: 39) and Zohary (1982a: 16-21) classify the land into four regions: the coastal plain, the hill country, the Jordan valley and the eastern plateau sloping towards the Arabian Desert, while Aharoni and Avi-Yonah (1977:14) identify the Negeb, the hill country, the Shephelah and the wilderness. According to Bimson (1985:10), McNutt (1999:37) and Thompson (1986: 12- the land is divided into five different regions. Bimson and McNutt classify the area into the coastal plains, the central hills, the Jordan Rift Valley, the plateaus of Transjordan, and the desert, while Thompson’s classification differs in that he separates the foothills and hill country into two regions, but treats Transjordan and the desert as one region. Matthews and Benjamin (1993:37-38) maintain that ‘there are six clearly defined geographical and climatic zones’: the coastal plain with the foothills (or Shephelah) separating them from the second zone, the Judean hills. The third and fourth zones are the Jordan valley and Transjordan. They classify the fifth zone as the hill country and the sixth as the Sinai Desert and the Negeb.
Mazar (1990: 3), also uses a west to east direction but divides the country into ‘longitudinal strips’ that vary in ‘topography, breadth, and altitude’ but he identifies seven regions: ‘the coastal plain, the Shephelah foothills, the central mountain ridges, the Judean Desert (located east of the Judean Hills) the Rift Valley, the mountains or plateaus east of the Rift valley, and the eastern desert’. There is little disparity between the various classifications, but for the purpose of this study use has been made of Thompson’s classification, which includes aspects of soil types and their importance to cultivation. (See Map 5 below).

Coastal plain and foothills.

Along the relatively straight coast with few inlets or natural harbours, there is the narrow, flat sandy coast rising to chalk plains. Thompson (1986: 12-mentions three sub-sections to the plain region: the northern plain he calls the ‘Plain of Acco’ (Acre) which stretches from Mount Carmel to Rosh Haniqrah; the central plain, the Plain of Sharon, which was once covered with forest and swamp; and thirdly, the more cultivable southern plain, which Thompson calls ‘the Philistine Plain.’ The plain is fertile, except for the sand dunes (originating from the Nile delta) and which prevented the streams from flowing out to sea causing the land to become swampy and marshy in the rainy seasons.
The second region includes the lowlands or foothills cut by wadis or dry riverbeds and some intermittently flowing streams. The Shephelah, as it is known, is a narrow strip of land about 45 km long and 15 km wide consisting of ‘wide valleys and round, rolling hills’ (Hopkins 1985: 62). The eastern part of the region had the most fertile soil and was the main granary of biblical Israel (Zohary 1982a: 16).

Hill country.

Thompson’s third region is the ‘hill country’. The land consists of limestone and, although much of it was not easily cultivated, it was the main area of Israelite settlement. Jerusalem and Samaria were two cities in the hill country. The Galilee region of the hill country is divided into Upper and Lower Galilee. Upper Galilee is mainly mountainous, but to the east where it is more level, some agriculture takes place in the Buteha Valley, north-east of the Sea of Galilee. Lower Galilee has some level basins and gently sloping hills which allows settlement and more agriculture in the Plain of Gennesaret, to the north-west of the Sea of Galilee. The Valley of Jezreel forms a break between the mountains of Galilee to the north and the hill country of Samaria to the south. It is through the Jezreel Valley that important trade routes passed, although in the wet season the land became swampy. It is in the hill country of Samaria that wheat, fruit and olive trees were, and still are, grown.
Further south is the hill country of Judea with numerous wadis. It is on the western slopes of the hill country that adequate rain falls for the cultivation of crops, with irrigation farming and terraced fields. On the eastern side near the Dead Sea it is semi-desert and is called the Wilderness of Judea. Finally, in the southern region of the hill country below Beersheba, the land slopes towards the Negeb Desert which is an extremely inhospitable area (Thompson 1986: 15).

The Jordan Valley.

The Jordan Valley is the fourth geographic region according to Thompson and forms part of the Syrio-African Rift Valley forming the lowest part of this area. The Jordan River starts in the north on the western slopes of Mount Hermon (2814 metres above sea level) and flows into Lake Huleh 71 metres above sea level. By the time it enters the ‘mildly saline’ Sea of Galilee it has fallen to 210 metres below sea level (Thompson 1986: 16). In ancient times the entire Jordan Valley was under water as it was the floor of an inland sea. A string of oases are situated along the valley at the fresh-water springs and brooks which occur from north of Jericho southward as far as En-Gedi and Zoar (Zohary 1982a: 21).
According to Matthews (1991: xxvi) the further south the Jordan flows the more saline it becomes, thus dividing the north, which is agriculturally richer and produces wheat, from the south, where more salt resistant barley is grown. The river twists and turns on its way down to the Dead Sea. Due to low rainfall, the river by this time is thick with brine, with very little plant life growing along its banks. The Dead Sea, into which the Jordan flows, is the lowest point in the earth’s surface, about 390 metres below sea level.
Esse (1991: 4) maintains that the Jordan River valley has two ‘morphological units’ – the ghor which is the wider valley bottom flanked by the hills of Palestine and Transjordan; and the narrower zor, which is the actual river bed of the Jordan. Packer and Tenney (1980:201) state that the lower Jordan consists of three plains, the ghor (furthest from the river and continuing from the upper Jordan), the qattara or badlands, as the soil is salty from the ancient deposits of sediment left behind and which today is being reclaimed, and the plain closest to the river, a few kilometres wide, known as the zor, extremely saline and covered by thickets of tamarisk and poplar.

Transjordan and the desert.

The fifth region is the Transjordan plateau on the eastern side of the Jordan. The Gilead Mountains are situated between the Yarmuk and Jabbok rivers and then the land begins to slope gently to the south. In biblical times forests covered the hills and where rain falls on the higher plains agriculture is possible, although the mountains are barren (Thompson 1986: 18). Zohary (1982a: 21) notes that the rivers Yarmuk, Jabbok, Arnon and Zered crossing the Transjordan Plateau and flowing into the River Jordan, the Dead Sea and the Arabah Valley divide it into three natural blocs: Bashan north of the Yarmuk River; Gilead and Moab between the Yarmuk and Zered Brook; and Edom between Mount Seir and the Gulf of Elath. This area incorporates Bimson’s fifth region, the desert, which includes ‘the tableland of Bashan’ (the Golan Heights of today), ‘the level steppes of Ammon and Moab’ and beyond the Edom mountains to the east and south of this area, the Syrian and Arabian deserts.

Introduction
Chapter 1 GENERAL OVERVIEW
Chapter 2 GEOGRAPHY OF SYRIO-PALESTINE
2.1 Political boundaries
2.2 Geographical regions
2.3 Factors affecting vegetation
2.4 Geographical distribution of vegetation
Chapter 3 SETTLEMENTS
3.1 Settlement patterns from an historical perspective
3.2 Settlements: their relationship to the environment
Chapter 4 AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES AND TOOLS
4.1 Agricultural activities
4.2 Agricultural tools
Chapter 5 CULTIVATION OF SPECIFIC PLANTS
5.1 Grain
5.2 Vines
5.3 Olive trees
5.4 Fruit, vegetables and nuts
5.5 Flax
Chapter 6 USES OF PLANTS
6.1 Food crops and other uses
6.2 Woods and their use
6.3 Clothing and other uses of flax
6.4 Perfumes, ointments and cosmetics
6.5 Medicine
Chapter 7 CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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