Where is the biblical city of Jericho located today? We are in the West Bank, a few kilometers northeast of Jerusalem. Its origins are immersed in the mists of Time, its history holds secrets and curiosities not known to everyone.
The city of Jericho (or Jéricho), mentioned in seventy passages of the Bible, stands on an oasis in the Judean desert and is one of the main attractions of the Holy Land from a religious, historical and naturalistic point of view.
Let’s see the main curiosities about Jericho:
The oldest city in the world?
Various sources and various rumors attribute to Jericho the record of the oldest city in the world: its roots would even go back more than ten thousand years before Christ. Numerous archaeological discoveries have brought to light the antiquity of the first settlements, the first uses of agricultural techniques and the first institutions of complex economic and social systems.
Since 1979, the historic center of Jericho, bordered by Roman walls, has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and since 2023 the current Tell es-Sultan, an ancient urban agglomeration contiguous to today’s Jericho, has also been declared a World Heritage Site thanks to the findings of the archaeological missions of the Sapienza University of Rome.
However, not everyone agrees that Jericho is the oldest city in the world: the primacy is disputed with Damascus, the capital of Syria, also born around 10,000 BC. But if Jericho’s absolute victory is doubtful, what is certain is that its profile stands out far away on the horizon, in the mists of time.
The lowest city in the world?
Although the record of the oldest city is uncertain, Jericho undoubtedly holds that of an urban agglomeration located at the lowest altitude in the world: the city is in fact located about 250 meters below sea level, at the bottom of the Dead Sea depression.
The extreme place where the oasis of Jericho is located makes summers torrid: the air becomes heavy, burning the skin and breathing. In the past, Bedouin communities moved to Jerusalem or Ramallah when summer arrived, but after 1967 travel became difficult and risky; so the communities of Jericho and its surroundings had to find techniques to survive the heat of the desert (you can find them HERE!)
The Sycamore of Jericho
Walking in the city center you can come across an imposing tree, with a gnarled trunk and thick dark green foliage. It is a sycamore tree that is many centuries old, the same – according to some – on which Zacchaeus climbed to be able to see the passage of Jesus in his city.
This is the passage from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 19:1-5):
He entered the city of Jericho and was passing through it, when behold, a man named Zacchaeus, chief tax collector and rich man, was trying to see who Jesus was […] he ran ahead and, to be able to see him, he climbed a sycamore tree, because he had to pass over there. When Jesus arrived at the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”
Zacchaeus was in fact a small man of stature, who, overwhelmed by the crowd, could not untangle his gaze to identify the one he wished to look at. Thus, climbing to the top of the sycamore tree, moving the branches with his fingers, he managed to meet the gaze of Jesus, who turned to him and spoke to him, from the bottom upwards – redeeming, in some way, the usual condition of the little man.
The Rose of Jericho
The sycamore tree is not the only plant for which Jericho is famous: known and mysterious at the time, in fact, is the rose of Jericho.
At first glance, the rose of Jericho appears as a dead plant: a mass of dry, lifeless branches. With the passage of time and the right amount of water, however, the knot of branches opens up: the fronds slowly stretch, tinged with a more or less intense green depending on the temperature of the water from which it drinks.
This particular nature makes it a universal symbol of resistance and rebirth, so much so that it has been given the name of “resurrection plant“. In the absence of water, the rose closes in on itself, retaining the energy to survive; when the water returns to wet its leaves, it is able to open up again, becoming lush, green and alive. But how long does it take for the Jericho squad to reopen? It only takes a few hours to observe the wonderful spectacle of a plant coming back to life.
The rose of Jericho, originally from the desert areas of the Holy Land, is believed to have been brought to Europe by crusaders and pilgrims, accompanied by tales and legends. One of the best-known stories tells that this plant was able to provide water to thirsty travelers, helping them along their way: as the rose manages to survive in the desert, so it would give life to tired and powerless travelers. Some esoteric traditions even use it in rituals aimed at attracting luck and abundance.
The Bible also recognizes a link between Jericho and roses: in the Praise of Wisdom, the latter recounts its origins and says that “quasi palma exaltata sum in Cades, et quasi plantatio rosae in Iericho”: “I stretched out my branches like a palm tree of Cades, and like a rose plant in Jericho” (Ecclesiasticus 24:18).
The Dates of Jericho
The oasis of Jericho is rich in water, this together with its location in the desert helps to create the ideal conditions for the cultivation of date palms, so much so that Jericho is also known as “the city of palm trees”.
The palm tree is considered by many to be the first plant cultivated by humanity, and the Bible – as well as the Koran – is dotted with references to its presence in the Holy Land. Its fruits are known as “the gold of the desert”, a sign of the importance and preciousness they have for the survival of those who traveled in the desert: travelers, after eating a few dates obtaining nourishment and energy, used to spit out the stones in the places where they stopped to eat them. In this way, they helped to grow new palm trees all along their route, creating an oasis of salvation and nourishment for travelers to come.
So much so that date palms are characteristic of the area of Jericho and of Palestine as a whole, that there is an ancient local saying that tells how nothing is thrown away from the palm tree; everything can become a fundamental ingredient for the creation of useful tools for human life:
“Dates for food, fronds for prayer and praise, leaves for huts, raffia for making ropes, trunks for ceilings.”
The Moon of Jericho: the Moon-god
The etymology of the name “Jericho” is interesting: there are those who believe that its name derives from the Canaanite word reah, which can be translated as “fragrant” – perhaps establishing a further link between the city and the roses – and there are those who believe it is more likely that its origin is instead found in the word yareah, or “moon“.
In fact, it seems that an ancestral cult of the moon was practiced in these areas; the god of the Moon of the Canaanite religion is called Yarikh, the “illuminator of the heavens” and “of the myriads of stars”, “lord of the sickle” and bringer of the night dew. The latter would be the god’s gift to the desert of Jericho: the dew that waters the earth making plants and orchards bloom.
A statue depicting the head of a man was also found near Jericho: it was believed to be one of the oldest existing representations of a god, in particular the god Yarikh. The head of the illuminator of the myriad stars establishes the lunar bond between Jericho and the sky, alive since ancient times and made indissoluble by the presence of Jericho in the Bible and in the roots of the history of Christianity and the whole West.
By proterrasancta.org
Source Link: https://www.proterrasancta.org/en/news/jericho-between-roses-and-the-moon-all-curiosities
