ning an
identification with Khan Minyeh at the north-west corner of the Sea of
Galilee, and another, represented especially by Sir C.W. Wilson,
supporting the claims of Tell Hum, midway between Khan Minyeh and the
mouth of the Jordan. Khan Minyeh is beautifully situated in a "fertile
plain formed by the retreat of the mountains about the middle of the
western shore" of the Sea of Galilee. Its ruins are not very extensive,
though they may have been despoiled for building the great Saracenic
Khan from which they take their name. In the neighbourhood is a
water-source, _Ain et-Tabighah_, an Arabic corruption of _Heptapegon_ or
Seven Springs (referred to by Josephus as being near Capernaum). Tell
Hum lies about 3 m. north of Khan Minyeh, and its ruins, covering an
area of "half a mile long by a quarter wide," prove it to have been the
site of no small town. It must be admitted that if it be not Capernaum
it is impossible to say what ancient place it represents. But it is
doubtful whether Tell Hum can be considered as a corruption of _Kefr
Nahum_, the Semitic name which the Greek represents: and there is not
here, as at Khan Minyeh, any spring that can be equated to the
Heptapegon of Josephus. On the whole the probabilities of the two sites
seem to balance, and it is practically impossible without further
discoveries to decide between them. The sites of the neighbouring cities
of Bethsaida and Chorazin are probably to be sought respectively at
El-Bateiha, a grassy plain in the north-east corner of the lake, and at
Kerazeh, 2 m. north of Tell Hum. According to the so-called
_Pseudo-Methodius_ there was a tradition that Antichrist would be born
at Chorazin, educated at Bethsaida and rule at Capernaum--hence the
curse of Jesus upon these cities.

On the site of Capernaum see especially W. Sanday in _Journal of
Theological Studies_, vol. v. p. 42. (R. A. S. M.)

CAPERS, the unexpanded flower-buds of _Capparis spinosa_, prepared with
vinegar for use as a pickle. The caper plant is a trailing shrub,
belonging to the Mediterranean region, resembling in habit the common
bramble, and having handsome flowers of a pinkish white, with four
petals, and numerous long tassel-like stamens. The leaves are simple and
ovate, with spiny stipules. The plant is cultivated in Sicily and the
south of France; and in commerce capers are valued according to the
period at which the buds are gathered and preserved. The finest are the
you