JERICHO, or HIERICHUS, (anc. geog.) a city of Judea; situated between Jordan and Jerusalem, at the distance of 150 stadia from the latter, and 60 from the former. Josephus says the whole space from Jerusalem is desert and rocky, and equally barren and uncultivated from Jericho to the lake Asphaltites; yet the places near the town and above it are extremely fertile and delicious, so that it may be justly called a divine plain, surpassing the rest of the land of Canaan, no unfruitful country, and surrounded by hills in the manner of an amphitheatre. It produces opobalsamum, myrobalans, and dates; from the last of which it is called the city of palm-trees, by Moses.