HERMON: The Old Testament name for a moun tain which bounded the Amorite kingdom of Og on the north (Deut. iii. 8; iv. 48) and also the territory of East Manasseh (Josh. xii. 1). It must therefore be sought in the neighborhood of Dan and the sources of the Jordan. The Targums on Deut. iii. 9 and Cant. iv. 8 call it ,für taiga, "Snow moun tain," corresponding with Jabal al-Talj, the modern name of the mountain north of the Jordan sources and east of the Wadi al-Taim. According to Deut. iii. 9 the Phenician name was Siryon and the Amoritic name Senir, the latter corresponding with the Assyrian Saniru where Shalmaneser II. defeated Hazael of Damascus and denoting the Anti-Lebanon range, applied therefore to Hermon as connected on the north with Anti-Lebanon. The Siyan of Deut. iv. 48 is suspected to be a mistake for Siryon. The Hebrew name, Hermon, comes from a root meaning to be forbidden, implying that the moun tain in early times was a celebrated sanctuary or holy place. The main body of the mountain runs north and south, with the highest point very near the middle; to the south it slopes to the Jordan sources, the upper portion falling off to the Nahr Banias. It therefore overlooks on the south the upper Jordan valley and the table-land of the Jaulan. On the north its summit sinks to a highland 3,600-4,000 feet above sea-level. The east and southeast sides are abrupt, the western and northwestern sides slope more gradually. On the summit is a small table-land 435 yards in diameter, from which rise three peaks, two on the east and one on the west. The one on the southeast still shows traces of ruins, which from their character suggest that they are the remains of a sanctuary, in all probability belong ing to the sun-god. Genealogical Table. I. Herod the Great.

Ancestry and Youth (§ 1).

The Winning of His Kingdom (§ 2).

II. His Family. First Period of His Reign, 37-27 B.C.

Archelaus (§ 1).

(§ 3). Herod Antipae (lf 2). The Herods were an Idumean family whose prom- son of a temple slave of Ascalon. His real ancestry inence began under Antipas, was enhanced under is given in the accompanying genealogical table. his son Antipater, and reached its height under his His family had note among his own son Herod, called the Great. This family succeeded r. Ancestry people, who had been Judaized under the Hasmoneans in the temporal control of the and Youth. John Hyrcanus (see Hasmoneans). Jews, and was in power during the life of Jesus His ambition and energy were legit Christ and the period of the founding of the Chris- imate heritages from his forbears. His grand tian Church. father and his father had gained influence with the I. Herod the Great; By his historian, Nicolas of government of the Jews before they had received Damascus, Herod was declared to be of pure Jewish part in that government. Antipater had become stock, while the story current in Jewish and Jewish- the counselor of the weak Hyrcanus II., had aa Christian circles was to the effect that he was the sisted Caesar in the latter's campaign against Egypt,

The formation of the mountain is limestone, with outbreaks of basalt both on the east and the west. At Mejdel al-Shema the lower Syrian Jura rocks come to the surface. The upper part is either entirely bare and decomposed into rubble by atmospheric influences, or in places clothed with low shrubs. At an elevation of about 3,750 feet there is a thick growth of trees, partly firs, partly fruit-trees, with stretches of tragacantha and shrubs. On the lower slopes vineyards are numerous, at least on the western and southern sides. The winter snow-line begins at an elevation of 3,250 feet; but the summer sun melts all away except in the deep clefts. The upper portions are hollowed out into underground reservoirs which furnish the sources of the streams of the region, particularly of the Jordan. The region is noted for its refreshing dew (Ps. cxxxiii. 3) and for its wealth of animal life (Cant. iv. 8). The western elopes support great flocks of goats.

Only the western and southern slopes have his toric significance. Peoples passed by its northern aides to live at the south; so the early Amoritea and Hivitea (Josh. xi. 3), the Itureana in the second pre-Christian century, and in the seventeenth cen tury the Drusea, all of whom have left traces in the present religions of the region. Baal-hermon is to be sought at the eastern or southeastern foot (I Chron. v. 23), and denotes a sanctuary, perhaps the Paneion of the Greeks, the modern Banias. Baal gad, also a holy place, lay in the Lebanon valley north or northwest of Hermon (Josh. xi. 17). Miz pah is probably to be sought on the west slope (Josh. xi. 3, 8).

(H. Gtrrae.)

Bibliography: Reland, Palaeatina, pp. 323 sqq.; J. L. Porter, Five Years in Damascus, i. 287 sqq., London, 1856; C. R. Conder, Tent Work in Palatine, chap. vin., New York, 1880; W. M. Thomson, The Laud and the Book, vol. ii., New York, 1882; Te Survey of Western Palestine, Jerusalem, published by the PEF, London, 1884; J. G. Wetzstein, Dos bafandische G iebelpebirpe, pp. 9-13, Leipsic. 1884; F. Noetling, Der Jura am Hermon, Stuttgart. 1887; G. E. Poet, The Flora of Syria, Palestine and Sinai, Beirut, 1898; K. Baedeker, Palestine and Syria, New York, 1908. Robinson, Bibls cal Researches, iii . 357; DB, ii. 3b2-353; EB, u. 2021-23; JE, vi. 3bb-358; and the literature under Bashan.