Ostracine has recently been excavated by Clédat. It consisted of two parts, an inland part with a fortress and a church which have been excavated, and a maritime port, Ostracine Majumas, where Roman remains were found, including mosaics and sculpture, now transferred to the museum at Ishmailia. The buildings were not constructed of brick, but of stone, which points to a certain wealth. Here also there were the remains of a church. The name Ostracine signifies shell, a meaning reproduced in the Arabic El Flousiyeh the name of the village that now occupies the site of the inland part of the town. West of Ostracine lay the Serbonian bog which stood out in men’s minds as the scene of the disaster which befell the invading Persian forces in the year B.C. 350. On the northern side of the bog, beyond the break in the narrow strip of land confining it, lay Casium, which had a hill with a temple dedicated to Zeus Casius or Jupiter Ammon. On the flank of this hill a tumulus marked the place where the beheaded body of Pompey the Great was buried. Pompey was murdered when he landed on the coast after his defeat at Pharsalia; and Hadrian, at a later date, erected a monument to his memory of which remains were found near Pelusium. West of Casium lay Gerra, from Greek _gerrhon_, a shield, a name which corresponds in meaning with Shur, Hebrew for wall, in the Bible. “Shur that is before Egypt as thou goest toward Assyria” (Gen. xxv. 18). Brugsch identified it as the Egyptian Aneb.[137] Gerra was known also as the camp of Chabrias, the Athenian general, who entered the service of the Pharaoh Nectanebo (XXX 1, B.C. 378-61), and later commanded the forces of his successor Zeher (XXX 2), in opposing the Persian invasion of Egypt. The cities along the Mediterranean coast were at the distance of a Roman day’s march, about 14 miles, from each other. Titus on his march from Egypt for the conquest of Jerusalem, pitched his camp in succession near the temple of the Casian Jupiter, at Ostracine, at Rhinocorura and at Raphia, as recorded by Josephus (_Wars_, IV. 11, 5). On the _Table Peutinger_, the Roman road map of the second century, land and water are roughly marked with the stations along the roads of communication. On this Table along the shore of the Mediterranean we note _Gerra_ (?) miles to _Casium_, 26 miles to _Ostracine_, 24 miles to _Rhinocorura_, 28 miles to _Raphia_. CHAPTER X THE HERMITS IN SINAI A NEW era in the history of Sinai began with the advent of the Christian hermit. The desert has ever been the home of liberty. The desire to follow the New Way, coupled with the need of escaping the Roman governor, drove many Christians into the wilderness, where, remote from the claims and the unrest of citizen life, they embraced life in a form which meant reducing physical needs to a minimum.