Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

58G EXPLOBATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
when one had his doubts as to the trustworthiness of a tradition,
he was unable to furnish anything better than the
questionable tales from the monasteries. Robinson, on the
contrary, from the first took the position that only such
ecclesiastical tradition is to be regarded of value as is authenticated
by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures ;
or in
other words, only that which is traceable to contemporaries
and which has been constant from the beginning.
The other mistake was that travellers were ignorant of
the Arabic language and could hold intercourse with the
people only through interpreters ; accordingly they never
stepped off from the well-beaten paths which all their predecessors
had trodden.
In this way the valuable traditions,
which still continued to live among the people, escaped
them. Robinson found such sound traditions preserved especially
in the names of places. The Semitic names have
maintained themselves with remarkable tenacity among the
Semitic population of Palestine, even where the Romans
endeavored to replace them with new names. Lvdda, Emmaus,
Accho, Bethshean, and manv other places for a time
bore Roman names (Diospolis, Nikopolis, Ptolemais, Skvthopolis),
but with the downfall of the Roman government
these names almost entirely disappeared. Only the towns
Shechem and Samaria form an exception, their Roman
names Neapolis and Sebaste still remaining in an Arabicized
form (Nablusand Sebastiye). Robinson could appreciate
the value of these traditions and understood how to make
them render service. His companion at that time was Eli
Smith, an American missionary in Beirut, well versed in
linguistic knowledge. For years he had industriously gathered
proper names, from every available source, in order
that when the opportunity came on his journeys he might
test them on the spot. His trained ear kept him from hearing
out of the mouths of the Arabs the frightful
monstrosities
which had hitherto been paraded before the reader in
almost all works on Palestine.