Willis Eschenbach

The book "Palaestina ex Monumentis Veteribus Illustrata" was written in Latin in 1695. The author, Adriaan Reland, was a geographer, cartographer, traveler, philologist, and linguist who was well-versed in several European languages, Arabic, Ancient Greek, and Hebrew.

He meticulously documented nearly 2,500 settlements mentioned in the Bible. His research was conducted as follows:

He first created a map of Palestine and marked each settlement mentioned in the Bible or the Talmud with its original name.

If the original name was in Hebrew, he marked it as "pasuk" (a passage in the Holy Scriptures where the name was mentioned).

If the original name was of Roman or Greek origin, he provided the Latin or Greek equivalent.

In the end, he compiled a census of the population based on these settlements. Here are some key findings and facts:

The land was mostly empty, abandoned, and sparsely populated, with the primary population centers in Jerusalem, Acre, Safed, Jaffa, Tiberias, and Gaza.

The majority of the population was Jewish, with almost all others being Christians, and very few Muslims, mainly Bedouins.

The only exception was Nablus (now Shechem), where about 120 people from the Muslim Nashash family lived alongside approximately 70 "Samaritans."

In Nazareth, the capital of Galilee, about 700 people lived, all of whom were Christians.

In Jerusalem, there were around 5,000 people, mostly Jews, with a few Christians.

In 1695, it was well-known that the roots of the country were Jewish.
There was not a single settlement in Palestine with Arabic origins in its name.

Most settlements had Hebrew originals, with some having Greek or Latin origins, which had been adapted into Arabic names that held no meaning in the Arabic language. For example, names like Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Nablus, Gaza, or Jenin had no philological or historical Arabic roots.

Reland only mentioned Muslims as seasonal agricultural or construction laborers who came to the cities.

In Gaza, around 550 people lived, with half being Jewish and half Christian. Jews were engaged in successful agriculture, including vineyards, olives, and wheat, while Christians were involved in trade and transportation.

In Tiberias and Safed, Jews lived, but their occupations were not specified, except for their traditional fishing activities in the Sea of Galilee.

In the village of Umm al-Fahm, there were about ten families, all of whom were Christians (approximately 50 people). There was a small Maronite church in the village.

Reland's book thoroughly refutes theories about "Palestinian traditions" and a "Palestinian people" and establishes very little connection between this land and the Arabs, who even adopted the Latin name of the land (Palestine) and claimed it as their own.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 11:02 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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