The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-04-18
Ben Hur.

WHeH tue MuSSClIldn WITH Il loren
wiped out the great Alexandrian Ii
brary, much of the written records of
the world in which Ben-Hur lived and
loved persisted in the flames. 1t was
the most destructive fire ever started.
For centuries the college professor
had been trying to piece out the
worlds history with the pen by delv-
ing into ancient writings. Today he
has forsaken booksand ancient ton.
CUES. and, arming himself with a
spade. he has plunged into the wilder
nesses of Palestine and Egypt and is
digging out of heaps of rubbish and
stone the confirmation of the stories
of the Bible. The inscriptions, uten-
sis and fragments of armor, have re-
vivcd the interest of the thinking
world in the reading of the novel
"Bcn-Hur" and seeing the play, which
is the only one on the stage which de-
picts accurately the life and times
of the beginning of the Christian
world
The Palestine Exploration company
has made the newest find-that of the
ancient city Of Gezer, 1t is toward the
ruins of this capital of an old world
that the mother of Hur and Tirzah
wander when stricken with leprosy.
In the Bible the first mention of
GeZcr. is Joshua X. 33: Then Horam,
King of Gezer, came to help Lachish /:
and Joshua smote him and his people
until he had left him none remaining
Solomon captured and rebuilt the
city. The story is told in I Kings. TX,
1917: And this is the reason of the
levey which King Solomon raised, to
build the house of Jehovah and his
own house. and Mill. and the wall of
Jerusalem and Hazor and Meggido
and Gezer Pharaoh. King of Egypt.
had gone up and taken Gezer and
burnt it with fire and slain the Can
aannites that dwelt i'm the city, and
given for portion unto his daughter.
Solomon's wife. And Solomon built
Gezer.
The search for the city has gone on
for many generations. All clues TO its
situation were vague. The city's i'm
portance is realized when its site on
the great highway between Egypt and
Jerusalem is observed.
a few years ago il was agreed gen.
orally that Tell JaZcr, near the village
of Abu Shureh, four miles from Am,
was a point lying on the road from
Jaffa 10 Jerusalem. About twenty
miles from Jerusalem was the site of
of the city.
Excavations were made and remains
of various civilizations found from the
mud walls of houses occupied by the
successore of the cave jewellers to the
dressed stone laid down by Solomon's
workmen. Stone affairs were found on
which the Canaanites sacrificed chill
dren and the socket in which stood
the sacred tree of the Canaanites. for
these people worshipped tree. A
row of jars was unearthod, in which
were the remains of sacrificed infants
In u circular pit close 10 the shrine of
a brazen snake was found. showing
that in the pit had been kept the holy
snakes.
The investigation of PSYCHOLOGISTS in
Palestine, Egypt and Assyria, are con-
stantly adding notifications TO the bib
lical narrative. but il is not often that
SO interesting and Variable "A find is
announced as the site of the ancient
city of GeZer
l, is only by watching the reports of
finds and copying the descriptions of
utensils. houses. etc. that klaw and
Erlanger, the directors of "Ben.Hur."
can alter and reproduce accurately the
details of the costumes, armor and
homes of the Ancient Holy Land as
they do in "Ben-Hur." Klaw and En-
hangers agent in London sends each
month full report of the secretary of
Palestine and Egyptian companies.
The bulletins are interesting reading
and "Ben-Hur" becomes almost as
modern as play of the Civil war.
haS