Seven miles to the northwest, on the same road over which the routed Philistines fled, is Gath, the native city of Goliath. The conspicuous hill on which it stood rises 200 feet above the Plain of Philistia, and is now crowned with an old castle, a Mohammedan tomb, and a few huts, which compose the modern town. Besides being the birthplace of the famous warrior, it is also the scene of a singular episode in the life of David. Compelled to fly from the presence of Saul, he stopped at Nob, where, having obtained from Abimelech a supply of food and the sword of Goliath, he came to Gath, either in the hope of not being recognized, or, as a fugitive from Saul’s court, of receiving a welcome from the Philistines, with whom the king was then at war. Disappointed in both, and discovering that his fate was sealed, “he feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall upon his beard.” Madmen being privileged characters then, as they are now in the East, he was permitted to roam at large; and, embracing a favorable moment, he fled to the cave of Adullam, where he gathered a small army around him, and resisted the repeated attempts of Saul to take his life.[387] From Gath the road runs toward the southeast, and the next important place is Eleutheropolis, six miles distant. The path is rugged, and alternately crosses stony ridges and small valleys. The village occupies a nook in a green valley, and is surrounded by low hills. Though the ancient city is destitute of special Biblical interest, yet its ruins are extensive and unique. Within an inclosure 600 feet square are the remains of a castle, filling one third of the entire space. The interior contains arches, vaults, and marble shafts. Two hundred yards up a ravine, extending eastward, are massive foundations, and a fine well, more than seventy feet deep; but the chief attraction is the great caves, unequaled in extent by any in Syria. The largest of these caverns is 100 feet high and sixty-five in diameter. Lateral galleries connect it with adjoining caves, which are surmounted with domes, and ornamented with cornices. In another portion of the town is a vast range of bell-shaped chambers, connected by arched doorways and subterranean passages. While a few of them are entirely dark, most of them are lighted by a circular aperture in the top. Some regard these caverns as the work of Idumean Troglodytes, while others suppose them to have been excavated for cisterns; the former is the more probable theory.[388]