DEDICATION v PREFACE vii CONTENTS xiii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv AUTHORITIES CONSULTED xvii I OLD TESTAMENT--DEUTERO-CANONICAL BOOKS--NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES TO GAZA 19 II SUMMARY OF CHIEF EVENTS RELATING TO GAZA, FROM 1503 B.C. TO A.D. 1913 28 SECTION I (1503 B.C.-30 B.C.). SECTION II (A.D. 41-A.D. 1913). III FRANKINCENSE (ARABIAN) AND GAZA 39 IV NOTES ON GAZA COINS 41 V THE JEWS AT GAZA 46 VI THE SAMARITANS 48 VII SOME EARLY BISHOPS 50 (1) OF GAZA. (2) OF MAYOUMAS. VIII THIRTEEN MARTYRS AT GAZA 56 IX ST. HILARION 58 X SOZOMEN--CHURCH HISTORIAN 61 XI THE ORTHODOX GREEK CHURCH IN GAZA 63 XII THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA--THE GAZA CHURCH "EUDOXIANA" 64 XIII THE CRUSADERS AT GAZA 66 XIV THE PASHAS OF GAZA 70 XV DAGON--THE NATIONAL GOD OF THE PHILISTINES 72 XVI THE GAZA JUPITER 74 XVII AN OLD SARCOPHAGUS AT GAZA 76 XVIII THE GREAT MOSQUE (AL JAMI-AL-KEBIR) 79 XIX GAZA--THE KEY OF SYRIA 82 XX GARDENS--OLIVE GROVES--BIRDS, ETC. 87 XXI HISTORY OF THE C.M.S. GAZA MISSION, 1878-1912 90 XXII EL ARÎSH AND C.M.S. MISSION 93 APPENDICES I PUBLIC GAMES AT GAZA 97 II DESTRUCTION OF THE EIGHT HEATHEN TEMPLES OF GAZA, A.D. 401 110 III BIBLICAL REFERENCES 115 INDEX 117 ILLUSTRATIONS _To face page_ FROM GAZA TO ASCALON[3] _Frontispiece_ THE MUSLIM MOSQUE--ONCE THE CRUSADER'S CHURCH 79 NATIVES WITHIN THE C.M.S. COMPOUND 90 FOOTNOTE: [3] Reduced and reproduced by permission of The Palestine Exploration Fund. AUTHORITIES CONSULTED _A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities_, _etc._, 1891. ALFORD'S _Greek Testament_, vol. ii, 1861. _Apocrypha_, revised version of, 1895. BÆDEKER'S _Palestine and Syria_, 1906. BARING-GOULD, REV. S., _Lives of the Saints_. BELL'S _The Saints of Christian Art_ ("The Great Hermits"), 1902. _Bible Educator, The_, vols. i and iii (no date). _Bible, Holy, The._ BRIGHT'S _The Age of the Fathers_, 2 vols., 1903.