A Natural History of Biblical Lands

Tarsus, the capital of the ancient province of Cilicia, is located near the eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Situated today, 10 miles (16 kilometres) inland from the sea, it served as a port city due to the Cydnus River (today the Tarsus Çayï) passing through Tarsus on its way to the sea. The river was navigable by ships from the Mediterranean coast to Tarsus.

After Alexander’s death in 323BC, his generals, the Diadochi, divided up the territory he had conquered. Seleucus I Nicator secured the territory of Syria, and he proceeded to found four ‘sister cities’ in north-western Syria, one of which was Antioch on the river Orontes near the Mediterranean coast, a city named in honour of his father Antiochus.Today the city lies in southern Turkey.

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323BC, the territories he had conquered were divided between his generals, and his friend Seleucus Nicator (r. 312–281BC) became king of the eastern provinces stretching from Lebanon to Afghanistan. In Daniel chapter 11 this territory and power was known as “the king of the north”. This huge dominion had two capitals, which Seleucus founded at around the same time (305BC), namely Seleucia in Mesopotamia (Iraq) followed by Antioch in Syria.

Carchemish was an important Hittite fortress and provincial capital located on the west bank of the Euphrates River. After the Hittite Empire fell in the 12th century BC, it became the centre of an independent kingdom until it was taken by Assyria.

The city is significant from a biblical pe…

There are three references to peacocks in Scripture, two of which speak of very similar events:

“For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks” (1 Kings 10:22).

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There are two different references to “Moreh” mentioned in the Scriptures.

The first occurs in Genesis 12:6. It was the first recorded halting-place of Abram after his entrance into the land of Canaan and whilst the AV has “plain of Moreh”, the Hebrew should more accurately be rendered, oak or oaks. This Moreh was close to “the place of Shechem” in the centre of the land.

Tabor is situated in Lower Galilee at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley in the Northern District of Israel, 17 kilometres west of the Sea of Galilee. Its elevation at the summit measures 575 metres above sea level and it is geologically called ‘a horst’ which is a non-volcanic fault block b…

The Jezreel Valley is a large valley in northern Israel which divides the hilly areas of Galilee and the open hills of Samaria in the centre of the land. It is sometimes called the Plain of Esdraelon, which is the Greek derivation of the Hebrew, Yizreʿel, meaning ‘God will sow’.
The plain is a…

These two herbs were mentioned together in Luke 11:42—“But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone”.

The Greek word for “mint” is heduosmos,…