The realm at this time was environed by perils.
At the moment when this doctrine had come to be generally accepted by the thinking part of the nation, the Jews found themselves dispersed among foreign communities, and from that time were a subject people environed by aliens, Babylonian, Persian and Greek.
The ancient walls and ditches, which formerly environed the city, were dismantled between 1881 and 1885, and the site of the old fortifications, bought from the government by the municipality, were converted into a fine boulevard, the Ring, nearly 4 m.
The southern part is environed by high and well-wooded hills, while on the northern side, where it debouches on the plain, the banks are flat and less attractive.
Its situation in a broad valley environed by limestone hills is somewhat dreary.