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Jericho (City of the Canaanites)

a city of the Canaanites, in a plain on the W. side of the Jordan, JEROBOAM II. near its mouth. It was destroyed by Joshua, rebuilt in the time of the judges, and formed an independent frontier fortress of Judæa. It was again destroyed by Vespasian, rebuilt under Hadrian, and finally destroyed during the crusades.

The site of Jericho has usually been fixed at Rihah, a mean and foul Arab hamlet of some 200 inhabitants. Recent travelers, however, show that the probable location of Jericho was 2 miles W. of Rihah, at the mouth of Wady Kelt, and where the road from Jerusalem debouches into the plain. On the W. and N. of Jericho rise high limestone hills, one of which, the dreary Quarantana derives its name from the modern tradition that it was the scene of our Lord's 40 days' fast and temptation. Jericho was captured by British forces under Gen. Allenby in February, 1918.