JERUSALEM.
Ever since the days of David Jerusalem has been the chief city
of Palestine, and although so small a city now that it would go
conveniently into Hyde Park--and perhaps never much larger than at
present--it has been the theatre of great events, and it claims an
attentive study. Small as it was, it stood upon several hills, which
were more or less easy to defend by fortifications, and offered
some choice to the monarch desirous of building a palace, a tower,
or a temple. The variety of local features, of hill and ravine
and water-course, finds frequent mention in the history, and is
sometimes so much intertwined with the events related, that it becomes
necessary to look at the topography before we can hope to understand
the narrative. For instance, when David wrested the city from the
Jebusites:--
“David took the strong hold of Zion.... And David dwelt in the strong
hold, and called it the City of David. And David built round about from
Millo inward” (2 Sam. V. 7-9).
“So he took the Lower City by force, but the Citadel[20] held out
still.... When David had cast the Jebusites out of the Citadel, he
also rebuilt Jerusalem, and named it the City of David”--Josephus,
Antiquities, vii. 3, 1-2 (Whiston’s Translation).
Here we should like to know at least which part of Jerusalem was
called the City of David; because David built a house there, and most
of the kings of Judah were buried there.
Again, in 1 Kings i., “Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fatlings by the
Stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-Rogel,” and sought to get himself
proclaimed king. But when Nathan the prophet, and Bathsheba the mother
of Solomon, had acquainted David with the proceeding, David gave orders
to place Solomon upon the king’s mule, and “bring him down to Gihon,”
and proclaim him as king. There the trumpet was blown, the people piped
with pipes, and Adonijah and his guests heard the noise. Before we can
fully realise these scenes we must know all the localities, and how
they stood related to one another, and to the position of David’s house.
The Old Testament history is full of such local references, and so are
the Books of the Maccabees; and perhaps most of all, the chapters of
Josephus which describe the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. Let us then
try and make ourselves acquainted with the features of the ground, and
learn to apply the names to the proper localities.
1. _The City as it is._
_Its position._--Jerusalem is well described in Smith’s Dict. of the
Bible. It lies near the summit of the broad mountain ridge, or high,
uneven table-land which extends from the Plain of Esdraelon to the
desert of the south. This tract is everywhere not less than from
20 to 25 miles in breadth, and has a surface rocky and uneven. Its
height at Jerusalem is 2500 feet above the Mediterranean Sea; but it
continues to rise towards the south, until, in the vicinity of Hebron,
the elevation is nearly 3000 feet. The city occupies the southern
termination of a table-land which is cut off from the country round it
on the west, south, and east sides, by ravines more than usually deep
and precipitous. These ravines leave the level of the table-land, the
one on the west and the other on the north-east of the city, and fall
rapidly until they form a junction below its south-east corner. The
eastern one--the Valley of the Kedron, commonly called the Valley of
Jehoshaphat--runs nearly straight from north to south. But the western
one--the Valley of Hinnom--runs south for a time, and then takes a
sudden bend to the east until it meets the Valley of Jehoshaphat, after
which the two rush off as one to the Dead Sea. How sudden is their
descent may be gathered from the fact that the level at the point
of junction--about a mile and a quarter from the starting-point of
each--is more than 600 feet below that of the upper plateau from which
they commenced their descent. Thus while on the north there is no
material difference between the general level of the country outside
the walls and that of the highest parts of the city, on the other
three sides, so steep is the fall of the ravines, so trench-like their
character, and so close do they keep to the promontory, at whose foot
they run, as to leave on the beholder the impression of the ditch at
the foot of a fortress, rather than of valleys formed by nature.
[Illustration: PLAN OF JERUSALEM
_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._]
The promontory thus encircled is itself divided by a longitudinal
ravine--called the Tyropœon Valley, running up it from south to north,
rising gradually from the south like the external ones, till at last it
arrives at the level of the upper plateau, dividing the central mass
into two unequal portions. Of these two, that on the west--the Upper
City of the Jews, the Mount Zion of modern tradition--is the higher and
more massive; that on the east--Mount Moriah--is at once considerably
lower and smaller, so that, to a spectator from the south, the city
appears to slope sharply towards the east. The central valley, at about
half-way up its length, threw out a companion valley on its left or
west side, which made its way up to the general level of the ground at
the present Jaffa Gate.
One more valley must be noted. It was on the north of Moriah, and
separated it from a hill on which, in the time of Josephus, stood a
suburb or part of the city called Bezetha, or the New-town. Part of
this depression is still preserved in the large reservoir with two
arches, usually called the Pool of Bethesda, near the St Stephen’s Gate.
All round the city are higher hills: on the east the Mount of Olives;
on the south the Hill of Evil Counsel, rising directly from the Vale
of Hinnom; on the west the ground rises gently to the borders of the
great wady; while on the north, a bend of the ridge connected with the
Mount of Olives bounds the prospect at the distance of more than a
mile. Towards the south-west the view is somewhat more open; for here
lies the Plain of Rephaim, commencing just at the southern brink of the
Valley of Hinnom, and stretching off south-west, where it runs to the
western sea.
This rough sketch of the _terrain_ of Jerusalem, which I take mainly
from Sir George Grove, will enable the reader to appreciate the two
great advantages of its position. On the one hand the ravines which
entrench it on the west, south, and east--out of which the rock slopes
of the city rose almost like the walls of a fortress out of its
ditches, must have rendered it impregnable on those quarters to the
warfare of the old world. On the other hand its junction with the more
level ground on its north and north-east sides afforded an opportunity
of expansion, of which we know advantage was taken, and which gave it a
remarkable superiority over other cities of Palestine, and especially
of Judah, which, though secure on their hill-tops, were unable to
expand beyond them.
The western side of the city is more than 100 feet higher than the
eastern; but the Mount of Olives overtops even the highest part of the
city by more than 150 feet.
_The Walls and Streets of the City._--Jerusalem is surrounded by
walls some 40 to 50 feet high, imposing in appearance but far from
strong. For the most part they were erected as they now stand by
Sultan Suleiman, in the year 1542, and they appear to occupy the site
of the walls of the middle ages, from the ruins of which they are
mostly constructed. On the eastern side, along the brow of the Valley
of Jehoshaphat, the section of the wall south of St Stephen’s Gate is
of far earlier date, and is constructed in part of massive bevelled
stones. A great stone at the south-eastern corner is estimated to
weigh more than one hundred tons; and this block is one of a course of
stones, 6 feet in thickness, which extends along the south wall for
600 feet, though not without gaps. The walls nearly resemble York and
other ancient cities in England, having steps at intervals leading up
to the battlemented breastwork; and the circuit of them, according
to Robinson and others, is something less than 2½ English miles. The
form of the city is irregular, the walls having many projections and
indentations; but it is easy to make out four sides; and these nearly
face the cardinal points.
There are at present five open gates in the walls of Jerusalem--two
on the south and one near the centre of each of the other sides. They
all seem to occupy ancient sites, and are by name (1) the Jaffa Gate,
or Hebron Gate, on the west, to which all the roads from the south and
west converge. (2) The Damascus Gate, or Gate of the Column, on the
north, from which runs the great north road, past the Tombs of the
Kings, and over the ridge of Scopus, to Samaria and Damascus. (3) St
Stephen’s Gate, or Gate of my Lady Mary, or Gate of the Tribes, on the
east, whence a road leads down to the bottom of the Kedron, and thence
over Olivet to Bethany and Jericho. (4) The Dung Gate, or Gate of the
Western Africans, on the south, and near the centre of the Tyropœan
Valley. A path from it leads down to the village of Siloam. (5) Zion
Gate, or the Gate of the Prophet David, on the summit of the ridge of
the hill now called Zion. Besides these, there are two gates now walled
up, one being the Gate of Herod, on the north side, about half-way
between the Damascus Gate and the north-east angle of the city; the
other the Golden Gate, in the eastern wall of the Haram. The Arabs
call this the Eternal Gate, and it is sometimes called the Gate of
Repentance.
About one-sixth of the area of the city is occupied by the Haram or
Sanctuary, on Mount Moriah, within which stands the great mosque,
called the Dome of the Rock, and where also there is ample breathing
space.
Jerusalem is not a fine city according to western ideas. It is badly
built, of mean stone houses: and its streets and lanes are narrow,
dirty, and ill-paved. There are, however, some beautiful bits of
architecture; there are the grand walls of the temple area; and there
is, above all, the intense interest of its Scriptural associations.
Entering the city by the Jaffa Gate we find on our right the citadel,
with the so-called Tower of David. The street right before us is now
called the Street of David, and descends eastward to the principal
entrance to the Haram. Another main street commences at the Damascus
Gate and traverses the city from north to south, passing near the
eastern end of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and through the
principal bazaar, and terminating a little eastward of the Zion Gate.
These two streets divide the city into four quarters. The north-east
is the Moslem quarter, the north-west the Christian quarter, the
south-west the Armenian, and the south-east the Jewish. The Church of
the Holy Sepulchre is, of course, in the Christian quarter, where also
we have the Latin Convent, very conspicuous from its lofty position
near the north-west angle of the city. In the Moslem quarter is the
Serai or palace, and most of the Consulates, and the beautiful little
Church of St Anne. The Armenian Convent, the largest building in the
city, occupies a noble site on the south-western hill. Near it, on
the north, is the English church. But by far the most remarkable and
striking building in this quarter of the city is the Citadel, whose
massive towers loom heavily over all around them. The Jewish quarter
has no structure of note with the exception of the new synagogues.
Jerusalem is not like Damascus, where the Moslem religion and oriental
customs are almost unmixed with any foreign element, but is a city in
which every form of religion and every nationality of east and west are
represented at one time. “So motley a crowd” (says Major Conder) “as
that which is presented daily in David Street and in the market-place
under David’s Tower, is perhaps to be found nowhere else. The chatter
of the market people, the shouting of the camel drivers, the tinkling
of bells, mingle with the long cry of the naked Santon, as he wanders,
holding his tin pan for alms, and praising unceasingly “the Eternal
God.” The scene is most remarkable in the morning, before the glare of
the sun, beating down on the stone city, has driven its inhabitants
into the shadow. The foreground is composed of a tawny group of camels,
lying down, donkeys bringing in vegetables or carrying out rubbish,
and women in blue and red dresses slashed with yellow, their dark
faces and long eyes (tinged with blue) shrouded in white veils, which
are fringed perhaps with black or red. Soldiers in black and Softas
in spotless robes are haggling about their change, or praying in
public undisturbed by the din. Horsemen ride by in red boots with red
saddles, and spears 15 feet long. The Greek Patriarch walks past on a
visit, preceded by his mace-bearers and attended by his secretary. Up
the narrow street comes the hearse of a famous Moslem, followed by a
long procession of women, in white “izars,” which envelop the whole
figure, swelling out like balloons, and leaving only the black mask
of the face-veil visible; their voices are raised in the high-pitched
tremulous ululation which is alike their cry for the dead and their
note of joy for the living. Next, perhaps, follows a regiment of sturdy
infantry marching back to the Castle, with a colonel on a prancing
grey--men who have shown their mettle since then, and fat, unwieldy
officers, who have perhaps broken down under the strain of campaigning.
Their bugles blow a monotonous tune, to which the drums keep time, and
the men tread, not in step, but in good cadence to the music. If it
be Easter the native crowd is mingled with the hosts of Armenian and
Russian pilgrims, the first ruddy and stalwart, their women handsome
and dark-eyed, the men fierce and dark; the Russians, yet stronger
in build and more barbarian in air, distinguished from every other
nationality by their unkempt beards, their long locks, their huge
fur caps and boots. Not less distinct are the Spanish, Mughrabee,
Russian, and German Jews, each marked by a peculiar and characteristic
physiognomy.”
Ten sects or religions are established in Jerusalem, and if their
various sub-divisions are counted they amount to a total of
twenty-four, more than half of which are Christian. The late Mr C. T.
Tyrwhitt Drake gives the different races and creeds as follows:--
1. Abyssinians.
2. Armenians: (_a_) Orthodox, (_b_) Catholic.
3. Copts.
4. Greeks: (_a_) Orthodox, (_b_) Catholic.
5. Jews: (_a_) Ashkenazim, (_b_) Sephardim, (_c_) Karaite.
6. Latin or Roman Catholics.
7. Maronites.
8. Moslems: _Sunni_,--(_a_) Shafii, (_b_) Hanefi, (_c_) Hambeli,
(_d_) Maleki. _Shiaï_,--Metawili, &c.
9. Protestants: (_a_) Church of England, (_b_) Lutheran.
10. Syrians: (_a_) Jacobite, (_b_) Catholic.
All these sects have their churches, synagogues, monasteries, hospices,
which take up no inconsiderable portion of the square half mile of
space within the city walls. Yet the population of Jerusalem was
estimated at 20,000 in 1878, and there has been further influx since.
But many of the new comers build dwellings outside the walls, and there
is now quite a large suburb on the north-west.
_The Haram esh Sherif_, or Noble Sanctuary, on Mount Moriah, is a
large, open space, of peculiar sanctity in the eyes of all true
Moslems. Its surface is studded with cypress and olive, and its sides
are surrounded in part by the finest mural masonry in the world. At the
southern end is the Mosque El Aksa, and a pile of buildings formerly
used by the Knights Templars; nearly in the centre is a raised platform
paved with marble, and rising from this is the well-known Mosque,
Kubbet es-Sakhrah, with its beautifully proportioned dome. Within this
sacred enclosure stood the temple of the Jews; but all traces of it
have long since disappeared, and its exact position was a fiercely
contested question before the time of the recent explorations.
The Haram is a quadrangle of about 35 acres in area. The angles at the
south-west and north-east corners are right angles, and the south-east
angle is 92° 30´. The true bearing of the east wall is 352° 30´
(general direction). The length of the south wall is 922 feet on the
level of the interior. The west wall is 1601 feet long; the east wall,
1530 feet. The northern boundary for 350 feet is formed by a scarp of
rock 30 feet high, projecting at the north-west of the Haram.
The modern gateways giving entrance into the interior are eleven in
number: three on the north and eight on the west. Of the ancient
gateways there were two on the south, now called the Double and Triple
Gates; while east of the latter is the mediæval entrance, known as the
Single Gate, beneath which Colonel Warren discovered a passage. On the
east wall is the Golden Gate, now closed; and two small posterns in the
modern masonry are found south of this portal. On the west wall the
Prophet’s Gateway (sometimes called Barclay’s Gate) is recognised as
the southern of the two Parbar (or Suburban) Gates, mentioned in the
Talmud; while the Northern Suburban Gate appears to have been converted
into a tank, and lies immediately west of the Dome of the Rock. (This
is Tank No. 30, Ordnance Survey.)
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE NOBLE SANCTUARY
SHEWING THE RESULTS OF THE RESEARCHES OF
Col. =C. W. Wilson R.E.= &c. Col. =C. Warren R.E.=
_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._]
The raised platform in the middle of the Haram enclosure has an area of
about 5 acres, and is an irregular quadrangle. The Kubbet es-Sakhrah,
or Dome of the Rock, on this platform, covers the sacred rock, which
rises 5 feet above the floor of the building, the crest being at the
level 2440 feet above the Mediterranean. The Dome of the Chain is
immediately to the east of the Kubbet es-Sakhrah.
The Jami’a el-Aksa, or “distant mosque” (that is, distant from Mecca),
is on the south, reaching to the outer wall. The whole enclosure of the
Haram is called by Moslem writers Masjid el Aksa, “praying-place of the
Aksa.”
Entering by the gate of the Cotton Bazaar we stand within the temple
courts. Before us are the steps which lead up to the platform where
shoes must be removed; for while the outer court, like the old court
of the Gentiles, is a promenade, the paved marble platform is a sacred
enclosure, not to be trodden except barefoot.
Over the outer arcade of the Dome of the Rock runs the great Cufic
inscription, giving the date of the erection of the building in 688
A.D. “The Dome of the Rock” (says Conder) “belongs to that
obscure period of Saracenic art when the Arabs had not as yet created
an architectural style of their own, and when they were in the habit of
employing Byzantine architects to build their mosques.”
From the bright sunlight we pass suddenly into the deep gloom of the
interior, lit with the “dim religious light” of the glorious purple
windows. The gorgeous colouring, the painted wood-work, the fine
marble, the costly mosaics, the great dome, flourished all over with
arabesques and inscriptions, and gilded to the very top--all this
splendour gleams out here and there from the darkness.
And in honour of what is this beautiful chapel built? A low canopy of
rich silk covers the dusty limestone ledge round which the “Dome of
the Rock” has risen. According to Arab tradition this Rock of Paradise
is the source of the rivers of Paradise and the Foundation-stone of
the world. From this rock Mohammed ascended to heaven (here is the
impression made by the hand of the angel Gabriel, who held the rock
down to prevent it from following the prophet), and this Rock is the
Place of Prayer of all the Prophets.
Even more mysterious than the Sacred Rock is the Sacred Well below it.
Descending a flight of steps at the south-east corner of the rock we
enter a cave, in the rocky floor of which is a circular slab of marble,
which returns a hollow sound when struck, but which is never uplifted.
The Arabs appear to regard it as the mouth of Hell, for they call it
the Well of Souls, and have a dread of the consequences if any evil
spirit should escape. It is a tradition that in the Temple the ark of
the covenant used to stand over this cave, and that it was afterwards
concealed in the cave, or below it, by Jeremiah, and still lies hidden
beneath the sacred rock.
The ground of the Haram enclosure is honeycombed with tanks, into some
of which the water finds its way by unknown channels. One of the tanks
is called the Great Sea, and would hold 2,000,000 gallons of water;
another would hold 1,400,000, and all the tanks together 10,000,000 of
gallons at the least. This would be more than a year’s supply for the
city in its best days, a valuable resource in times of siege.
_Solomon’s Stables._--Under the Haram area, at the south-eastern part,
are the vaults known as Solomon’s Stables--thirteen rows of vaults of
a variety of spans. They were used as stables by the Crusaders, and
the holes in the piers by which the horses were fastened may still be
seen. The name of Solomon’s Stables is supposed to have been given
by the Crusaders, who may, however, have been guided by some earlier
tradition. The vaults are in part ancient and in part a reconstruction,
probably about the time of Justinian (sixth century A.D.).
_The Jews’ Wailing Place._--Outside the Haram, on the west, and not
very far from the south-west corner, is the Wailing Place of the Jews.
From the Jaffa Gate we may reach it by going down David Street and
through the fruit bazaar, and then turning through a by-lane. The
Wailing Place is a narrow court, in which the temple rampart happens
to be free and exposed in the Jews’ quarter. Every Friday the court is
crowded with Jews who come to read and pray, and bemoan the condition
of their temple, their holy city, and their scattered people. The scene
is striking from the great size and strength of the mighty stones,
which rise without door or window up to the domes and cypresses above,
suggesting how utterly the original worshippers are cast out by men
of alien race and faith. Here we may see venerable men reading the
Book of the Law, women in their long white robes kissing the ancient
masonry, and praying through the crevices of the stones, Russian Jews,
Spanish Jews, German Jews, men, women, and children, with gray locks,
or blue-black hair, or russet beard, and dressed variously, according
to their country--strange and unique is the spectacle! “It reminds one
forcibly” (says Conder) “of the unchanged character of the Jews. After
nineteen centuries of wandering and exile they are still the same as
ever, still bound by the iron chain of Talmudic law, a people whose
slavery to custom outruns even that of the Chinese to etiquette, and
whose veneration for the past appears to preclude the possibility of
progress or improvement in the present.”
_Pools and Fountains of Jerusalem._--Jerusalem is at present chiefly
supplied with water by its cisterns. Every house of any size has one
or more of them, into which the winter rains are conducted by little
pipes and ducts from the roofs and courtyards. These private cisterns
are generally vaulted chambers with only a small opening at the top,
surrounded by stonework, and furnished with a curb and wheel. Many of
them are ancient.
But besides these covered cisterns in the houses and courts, there are
many large open reservoirs in and around the city. In the upper part
of the Valley of Hinnom, west of the city, is the _Birket el Mamilla_,
often called the Upper Pool of Gihon. Lower down in the same valley,
and not far from the south-western angle of the city wall, is the
_Birket es Sultan_, frequently called the Lower Pool. Because these
pools are clearly related to one another as upper and lower, it has
been usual to assume that they are upper and lower pools of Gihon,
which seem to be referred to in 2 Chron. xxxii. 30, and elsewhere. But
although the Sultan’s Pool has been called Gihon from the fourteenth
century downwards, it is known to have been constructed by the Germans
only two centuries before, and the word Gihon means a spring-head. From
the Sultan’s Pool we may ride down the deep valley, on the south bank
of which are the traditional Aceldama and the tombs of many Christian
pilgrims, till we come to _Bir Eyub_ (Joab’s Well), where the Valley
of Hinnom unites with the Valley of Kedron. The Crusaders, who were
never too well informed, identified Joab’s Well with the Biblical En
Rogel. From this place we ride northward to the junction of the Kedron
with the Tyropœon, and there, in a verdant spot, we find the Pool of
Siloam, with dry stone walls and a little muddy water. With the village
of Siloam on our right, we ride up the Kedron Valley some 300 yards,
and arrive at the Fountain of the Mother of Stairs, also called the
Virgin’s Fountain. Descending by a flight of sixteen steps we reach a
chamber, its sides built of old stones and its roof formed of a pointed
arch. Then going down fourteen steps more into a roughly hewn grotto,
we reach the water. _Mejr ed Deir_ states that the water of this
fountain was a great test for women accused of adultery; the innocent
drank harmlessly, but the guilty no sooner tasted than they died! When
the Virgin Mary was accused, she submitted to the ordeal, and thus
established her innocence. Hence the spring was long known as the
Fountain of Accused Women. Dr Robinson imagined that this was the true
Bethesda, because the water is considered to possess healing virtue,
and every day crowds of men and women, afflicted with rheumatism and
other maladies, descend the steps and wait for the moving of the
waters. The flow is intermittent--due, it is supposed, to a natural
syphon--and the waters rise suddenly, immersing the folks, fully
clothed, nearly up to the neck.
The water wells up in the cave, and when it has attained a height of 4
feet 7 inches runs away through a passage near the back, into a small
tunnel, and goes to supply the Pool of Siloam.
About 100 yards north-east of St Stephen’s Gate is the Pool of My Lady
Mary, outside the walls.
Within the city, on your left as you enter by St Stephen’s Gate, is the
_Birket Israil_, Pool of Israel, the traditional Pool of Bethesda (but
only so since the twelfth century). It is now a receptacle for ashes
and rubbish of all kinds; but it has at some time been used for water,
for Warren found the bottom lined with concrete 16 inches thick.
Sometimes the Virgin’s Fountain is spoken of as the only spring of
living water at Jerusalem, but it is possible, as suggested by Warren,
that another existed at the _Hammam esh-Shefa_, or Bath of Healing, in
the Tyropœon. The entrance to the fountain is by a narrow opening in
the roof of a house behind the bath.
We need only mention further the Pool of Hezekiah, a large reservoir
which lies in the centre of a group of buildings, in the angle made by
the north side of David Street and the west side of Christian Street.
It is stated that a subterranean conduit from the _Birket el Mamilla_
passes underneath the city wall near the Jaffa Gate, and supplies both
the Pool of Hezekiah and the cisterns of the citadel.
In ancient times water was brought into the city by two aqueducts, the
“low level” and the “high level,” but the course of the former can
alone be traced within the walls of the city. It crosses the valley of
Hinnom a little above the _Birket es Sultan_, and winding round the
southern slope of the modern Zion, enters the city near the Jewish
almshouses; it then passes along the eastern side of the same hill, and
runs over the causeway and Wilson’s Arch to the Sanctuary. The numerous
Saracenic fountains in the lower part of the city appear to have been
supplied by pipes branching off from the main, but the pipes are now
destroyed, and the fountains themselves are used as receptacles for the
refuse of the town. This aqueduct derived its supply from the Pools of
Solomon (near Bethlehem), from _Ain Etan_, and a reservoir in _Wady
Arûb_, and still carries water as far as Bethlehem; its total length
is over 14 miles, not far short of the length of the aqueduct which
Josephus tells us was made by Pontius Pilate.
The Pools of Solomon near the head of _Wady Urtas_ are three in number;
they receive the surface drainage of the ground above them and the
water of a fine spring known as the Sealed Fountain. The pools have
been made by building solid dams of masonry across the valley, and are
so arranged that the water from each of the upper ones can be run off
into the one immediately below it. The lower pool is constructed in a
peculiar manner, which appears to indicate that it was sometimes used
as an amphitheatre for naval displays; there are several tiers of seats
with steps leading down to them, and the lower portion of the pool,
which is much deeper than the upper, could be filled with water by a
conduit from one of the other reservoirs.
The “high level aqueduct,” called by the Arabs that of the Unbelievers,
is one of the most remarkable works in Palestine. The water was
collected in a rock-hewn tunnel 4 miles long, beneath the bed of _Wady
Byar_, a valley on the road to Hebron, and thence carried by an
aqueduct above the head of the upper Pool of Solomon, where it tapped
the waters of the Sealed Fountain. From this point it wound along the
hills above the valley of Urtas to the vicinity of Bethlehem, where
it crossed the watershed, and then passed over the valley at Rachel’s
Tomb by an inverted stone syphon, which was first brought to notice
by Mr Macneill, who made an examination of the water supply for the
Syria Improvement Committee. The tubular portion is formed by large
perforated blocks of stone set in a mass of rubble masonry; the tube
is 15 inches in diameter, and the joints, which appear to have been
ground, are put together with an extremely hard cement. The last trace
of this aqueduct is seen on the Plain of Rephaim, at which point its
elevation is sufficient to deliver water at the Jaffa Gate, and so
supply the upper portion of the city; but the point at which it entered
has never been discovered, unless it is connected in some way with an
aqueduct which was found between the Russian convent and the north-west
corner of the city wall.
The present supply of water is almost entirely dependent on the
collection of the winter rainfall, which is much less than has
generally been supposed, as, by a strange mistake, the rain-gauge was
formerly read four times higher than it should have been. According
to Dr Chaplin’s observations, the average rainfall during the years
1860-64 was 19·86 inches, the maximum being 22·975 inches, and minimum
15·0 inches.
In addition to Bir Eyûb, which has been described above, the
inhabitants draw water from the Fountain of the Virgin and the Hammam
esh-Shefa.
[_Authorities and Sources_:--Smith’s “Dictionary of the
Bible.” “Survey Memoirs,” Jerusalem volume. “The Recovery of
Jerusalem.” Sir Charles Warren. “Palestine.” Major Conder.
“Modern Jerusalem.” C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake. “Walks about
Jerusalem.” W. H. Bartlett. “Quarterly Statements of P. E.
Fund.”]
2. _The Sieges of Jerusalem, and the Fortunes of its Walls._
“In considering the annals of the city of Jerusalem,” says Mr W. Aldis
Wright, “nothing strikes one so forcibly as the number and severity
of the sieges which it underwent. We catch our earliest glimpse of it
in the brief notice of the first chapter of Judges, which describes
how ‘the children of Judah smote it with the edge of the sword, and
set the city on fire;’ and almost the latest mention of it in the New
Testament is contained in the solemn warnings in which Christ foretold
how Jerusalem should be compassed with armies, and the abomination of
desolation be seen standing in the Holy Place. In the fifteen centuries
which elapsed between these two points, the city was besieged no fewer
than seventeen times; twice it was razed to the ground, and on two
other occasions its walls were levelled. In this respect it stands
without a parallel in any city ancient or modern.”
The first siege appears to have taken place soon after the death of
Joshua. The men of Judah and Simeon “fought against it and took it, and
smote it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire” (Judges
i. 8). Josephus adds that the siege lasted some time, and that the part
of the city captured at last was “the lower,” but that the part above
them[21] was so difficult, by reason of its walls and from the nature
of the place, that they relinquished their attempt upon it. As long as
the strongest part of the city remained in the hands of the Jebusites
they practically had possession of the whole. The Benjamites followed
the men of Judah to Jerusalem, but they could not drive out the
Jebusites (Judges i. 21). A Jebusite city it remained until the days of
David.
Jerusalem was taken by David, _circa_ 1044 B.C. He took the
castle of Zion, which is the City of David, and dwelt in the castle (2
Sam. v. 6; 1 Chron. xi. 4). Then David built round about, from Millo
and inward, and Joab repaired the rest of the city.
As long as Solomon lived the visits of foreign powers to Jerusalem
were those of courtesy and amity; but with his death this was changed.
Rehoboam had only been on the throne four years when Shishak, king of
Egypt, invaded Judah, and advanced against the capital. Rehoboam opened
the gates to him, and Shishak did not depart without plundering the
temple and the palace. B.C. 886.
In the reign of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, the Philistines and
Arabians attacked Jerusalem, broke into the palace, spoiled it of all
its treasures, sacked the royal harem, and killed or carried off the
king’s wives and all his sons but one. This was the fourth siege.
B.C. 881.
Amaziah, king of Judah, victorious over the Edomites, was foolish
enough to challenge Jehoash, king of Israel. The battle took place
at Bethshemesh of Judah, 12 miles west of Jerusalem. Amaziah was
routed, and the victorious Jehoash, after the gates of Jerusalem had
been thrown open to him, broke down 400 cubits length of wall, from
the Corner Gate to the Gate of Ephraim. (This must have been at the
north-west part of the city walls, the favourite point of attack in
after times.) B.C. 857.
King Uzziah, after some campaigns against foreign princes, devoted
himself to the care of Jerusalem. He rebuilt the wall broken down by
Jehoash, and fortified it with towers. In Uzziah’s reign the city
suffered from an earthquake; a serious breach was made in the Temple,
and below the city a large fragment was detached from one of the hills
and rolled down the slope, overwhelming the king’s paradise or park.
B.C. 770.
The hill above En Rogel was called Ophel, and might be otherwise
described as the slope south of the Temple. The royal palaces were
there, and it was protected by a strong wall. We have no record of
the first erection of this wall; but Jotham, the son of Uzziah, built
much upon it, and also built the upper gateway to the Temple (2 Chron.
xxvii. 3). According to Josephus, he also repaired the city walls
wherever they were dilapidated, and strengthened them by very large and
strong towers. B.C. 740.
Before the death of Jotham the clouds of the Syrian invasion began to
gather, and they broke on the head of Ahaz, his successor. Rezin, king
of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, joined their armies and invested
Jerusalem (2 Kings xvi. 5). In a battle which took place outside the
walls Ahaz was defeated. This induced him to send to Assyria and
obtain help from Tiglath Pileser, whose vassal he became, and whose
sun-worship he adopted. B.C. 730.
And now approached the greatest crisis that had yet occurred in the
history of the city. Hezekiah reformed the worship and declined to be
a dependent on Assyria. Sennacherib had succeeded Tiglath Pileser, and
the dreaded Assyrian army approached. Hezekiah stopped the springs
round Jerusalem, repaired the walls of the city, breaking down houses
to get the material--even raised the wall in some places up to the
towers; and built a second wall at some exposed part, and strengthened
Millo (2 Kings xx. 20; 2 Chron. xxxii. 3-5, 30; Isaiah xxii. 10). On
this occasion it would appear that the city escaped, but at the cost of
the treasures of the palace and the temple. B.C. 700.
In the middle of the long reign of Manasseh Jerusalem was taken by
Assur-bani-pal, the grandson of Sennacherib, B.C. 650.
But Manasseh, in the latter part of his reign, sought to repair and
strengthen the city. He built a fresh wall, extending “from the west
side of Gihon-in-the-valley to the Fish Gate;” and he also continued
the works which had been begun at Ophel, and raised the structure to a
very great height. B.C. 640.
During the reign of Jehoiakim Jerusalem was visited by Nebuchadnezzar,
with the Babylonian army lately victorious over the Egyptians at
Carchemish, and it is thought that there must have been a siege, but we
have no account of it. Jehoiakim was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin,
and hardly had his short reign begun before the terrible army of
Babylon reappeared before the city, again commanded by Nebuchadnezzar
(2 Kings xxiv). Jehoiachin surrendered, and the city was pillaged.
Jehoiachin being carried off to Babylon, his uncle Zedekiah was made
king; but he was imprudent enough to seek the help of Pharaoh Hophra
of Egypt, and upon this Nebuchadnezzar marched to Jerusalem again and
began a regular siege. The walls and houses were battered by rams, and
missiles were discharged into the town. After some delays a breach
was made in the north wall, and the city suffered all the horrors of
assault and sack. Zedekiah had stolen out of the city on the south
side, but was pursued and overtaken. The Babylonians burnt the Temple,
the palace, and other public buildings, and threw down the city walls.
B.C. 577.
When Nehemiah obtained leave to return and rebuild the city of his
fathers he found heaps of disordered rubbish everywhere on the ground.
By his amazing zeal and energy he stirred up the people to work; and in
due time all the gates and walls were set up, on the old foundations.
B.C. 457.
* * * * *
There is no need for us to pursue the history in detail.
Further stormy periods succeed.
B.C.
Ptolemy, son of Lagus takes Jerusalem, 305.
Antiochus the Great takes the city, 219.
Antiochus Epiphanes takes the city without siege, 170.
Antiochus Eupator takes the city, 163.
Jonathan builds a new wall, 143.
Simon takes the Akra citadel, 139.
Antiochus Sidetes besieges Jerusalem, 134.
Aretas, the Arab, besieges the city, 65.
Pompey takes the city, 63.
Antipater rebuilds the walls, 58.
Herod and Sosius take Jerusalem, 37.
A.D.
Agrippa builds the third wall, 43.
Cestius Gallus attacks Jerusalem, 66.
Titus takes Jerusalem (fifteenth siege) and utterly
destroys it, 70.
Bar Cocheba revolts, 132.
Bar Cocheba is expelled, 135.
Rufus ploughs the temple site, 135.
Hadrian founds Ælia Capitolina, 136.
The Jews revolt and are excluded from the city, 339.
Eudoxia rebuilds the walls, 450.
Chosroes II. takes Jerusalem, 614.
Omar the Caliph takes the city, 637.
Caliph Moez takes possession of the city, 969.
Turkomans expel Egyptians from the city, 1094.
The Egyptians retake Jerusalem, 1098.
Crusaders take Jerusalem (nineteenth siege), 1099.
Walls of Jerusalem repaired, 1178.
Saladin takes Jerusalem (twentieth siege), 1187.
Saladin repairs the walls of the city, 1192.
Melek el Muazzam dismantles the walls, 1192.
Frederic II. rebuilds the walls, 1229.
Daud, Emir of Kerak, destroys the walls, 1239.
Christians obtain Jerusalem by treaty, 1243.
Soliman the Magnificent builds walls, 1542.
Muhammed Aly takes Jerusalem (no siege), 1832.
The Fellahin seize Jerusalem, 1834.
Syria and Jerusalem restored to Turkey, 1840.
In reflecting upon such a history as this, two things become very
clear; the first is that the details of the events would be much better
understood if we had an accurate map before us; the second is that the
events themselves--the successive destructions and rebuildings--must
have changed the city considerably from what it was. Even in the city
of London the floors of Roman dwellings are found 15 or 18 feet below
the present surface of the streets. In Jerusalem, we need not be
surprised to learn, the depth of _debris_ is much greater, and since
it has accumulated chiefly in the valleys, and very nearly obliterated
some of them, it has, of course, obscured the topography. An accurate
map of modern Jerusalem is in our hands, but it does not show us what
the ancient city was like. Therefore it is not sufficient to have this
modern map before us when we read the ancient history. We read in the
history that Zedekiah fled (from his palace) through the gate between
two walls and by the way of the king’s gardens; but in modern Jerusalem
there is no king’s palace or garden and no gate between two walls. The
history describes how Nehemiah rebuilt the wall, from the Sheep Gate to
the Tower of Meah, and thence to the Fish Gate, and the Old Gate, &c.,
but in modern Jerusalem we find no such places and names. We are still
worse off when we read in Josephus about Titus encamping within the
third wall, and then making a breach in the middle wall and encamping
in the middle city, and still having a wall between him and the Jews in
the Upper City: for the Jerusalem of to-day shows only one wall besides
the rampart of the temple. Naturally there has been much conjecture
concerning the ancient city, and the best authorities have differed
from one another in their ideas. It was with the hope of settling
the disputed questions as well as with the object of uncovering
antiquities, that the Palestine Exploration Society began the work of
excavation.
It has often been said that there is not a single topographical
question connected with ancient Jerusalem which is not the subject of
controversy. This is, however, rather overstating the case, for there
are points concerning which all authorities are in accord. First, as
regards the natural features of the site, it is agreed that the Mount
of Olives is the chain of hills east of the Temple Hill, and that the
valley beneath it on the west is the Brook Kedron. It is agreed that
the Temple stood on the spur immediately west of the Kedron, and that
the southern tongue of this spur was called Ophel. It is also agreed
that the flat valley west of this spur is that to which Josephus
applies the name Tyropœon, although there was a diversity of opinion as
to the exact course of the valley, which has now been set at rest by
the collection of the rock-levels within the city. It is also agreed
by all authorities that the high south-western hill (to which the name
Zion has been applied since the fourth century) is that which Josephus
calls the hill of the Upper City, or Upper Market Place.
The site of the Pool of Siloam is also undisputed, and the rock
Zoheleth was discovered by M. Clermont Ganneau at the present village
of _Silwan_. As regards the walls of the ancient city, all authorities,
except Fergusson, agree in placing the Royal Towers (of Herod) in the
vicinity of the present citadel, and all suppose the scarp in the
Protestant cemetery to be the old south-west angle of the city. The
Tyropœon Bridge--or stairway and arch--is accepted by all writers since
Robinson as leading to the royal cloisters of Herod’s temple, and all
plans of Herod’s temple start with the assumption that the south-west
angle of its courts coincided with the present south-west angle of the
Haram. All plans also agree in accepting the east wall of the Haram as
an ancient rampart of the city. We have thus various data to begin with
which must be considered as certain, because writers who differ on all
other points agree on these.[22]
The “other points” upon which writers have differed may be stated as
follows:--
1. What was the extent of the city on the north before the destruction
of A.D. 70?
2. What was the line of the second wall, which bounded the city on the
north, in those early times before there was any third wall, or any
need of one?
3. What was the line of the south wall in Nehemiah’s time, and again in
the time of the siege by Titus?
4. Which is the true Mount Zion or City of David?
5. On what spot did the Temple itself stand within the Haram enclosure;
and what were the limits of its courts, first in Solomon’s day, and
secondly, after they were enlarged by Herod?
6. Does the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stand upon the true site of
Calvary?
7. What is the probable site of the royal sepulchres where David and so
many other kings lie buried?
[_Authorities and Sources_:--Smith’s “Dictionary of the
Bible.” “Survey Memoirs,” Jerusalem volume.]
3. _Excavations at Jerusalem._
In the beginning of 1867 Lieutenant Warren, R.E. (now Colonel Sir
Charles Warren), began his work of excavation in Jerusalem, assisted by
several corporals of sappers, and employing native Arabs as labourers.
Scores of shafts were sunk through the accumulated rubbish, and were
always carried down to the natural rock. In cases where the miners came
upon artificial structures--arches, aqueducts, cisterns, or other works
of man--they were carefully explored and measured, and plans of them
made to scale. It was considered important to examine the underground
masonry of the Temple rampart; but as the walls are regarded as
sacred, and it was desirable not to offend the susceptibilities of the
inhabitants, this was accomplished by sinking shafts at a distance
from the wall and driving lateral galleries. Sometimes when an
unsympathising Turkish official came to inspect the works, a twist was
given to the rope as he descended, and so, having lost his bearings,
he could not be sure that he gazed upon the foundations of the Temple
when they were really shown to him. The work was continued until the
year 1870, and the results are recorded in the Jerusalem volume of the
Memoirs. Let us now glance at some of the more striking discoveries on
all the four sides of the Haram.
[Illustration:
SPRING STONE OF ROBINSON’S ARCH.
(_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
_In the Tyropœon Valley._--On the west side of the Haram, about 39
feet from the south-western angle, a great stone is seen projecting
from the wall. Dr Robinson, the American traveller, believed it to be
the spring-stone of an arch--perhaps the first arch of a bridge going
to the Upper City--but others took a different view, and the question
could only be settled by excavation. The span of the arch, as deduced
from the curve of the spring-stone, should be about 42 feet. At that
distance from the wall Warren discovered the pier of the arch, resting
on the rock at a depth of 42 feet. It is 12 feet 2 inches in thickness,
52 feet 6 inches in length (the spring-stone above ground is 50 feet)
and is constructed of long drafted stones, similar to those in the
wall, one of them being over 13 feet in length and weighing ten tons.
Three courses of stones were in place on the eastern side and two on
the western.
To the west of the pier is a rock-hewn channel, close to the pier, with
a perpendicular scarp below the pier of 4 feet; and on the east side of
the pier the rock is scarped down nearly perpendicularly for a depth of
about 18 feet.
[Illustration:
ROBINSON’S ARCH (SECTION.)
(_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
But nearly on a level with the base of the pier, on the east side, a
pavement extends from the pier to the Haram wall; and on this pavement
rest the fallen voussoirs of the arch. Below the pavement is a mass of
_debris_, and in the bottom of the space is an aqueduct cut in the rock
nearly 12 feet deep, arched over, but with the roof crushed in at one
place by the voussoirs of a more ancient arch.
Following the aqueduct to the south we presently come to a pool or
cistern, 16 feet in diameter; and beyond this the channel turns the
corner of the Haram and ends to-day in a drain. Following the aqueduct
to the north it brings us to another pool, and presently to a third,
this third one being partly underneath the wall of the Haram. The
channel was evidently intended to supply the city with pure water, for
after the _debris_ had accumulated, shafts were made from the pavement
before spoken of, to allow of buckets being let down.
The chief explorers, Warren and Conder, whose matured opinion is given
in the Jerusalem volume of the Memoirs, find “no grounds for supposing
that the roadway over Robinson’s Arch led up to the Upper City, either
by steps or by a bridge; it was probably one of the suburban entrances
spoken of by Josephus. There may have been other arches in continuation
of Robinson’s Arch, but there is no indication of this existing on the
ground.”
[Illustration:
WILSON’S ARCH.
(_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
Proceeding from Robinson’s Arch up the valley, we come to the Gate of
the Chain, a chief entrance to the Haram. The street running westward
from it is the Street of the Chain, and would bring us, with one little
elbow, into David Street, whence we go straight to the Jaffa Gate. But
in front of the Gate of the Chain it is found that the Street of the
Chain passes over a fine arch (now called Wilson’s Arch) 42 feet in
span, like Robinson’s Arch lower down. From an old book, called “La
Citez de Jherusalem,” we learn that the street coming south from the
Damascus Gate to the Dung Gate used to pass under this arch in the
Middle Ages. The road passing over the arch is about 80 feet above the
rock. But the rock under the western pier is 10 feet higher than under
the Noble Sanctuary, and the lowest point in the valley is about 16
feet west of the Sanctuary wall. Westward of the pier the Street of the
Chain rests upon a Causeway, made up of a complication of structures
difficult to describe. There is a long passage or tunnel running along
under the street, which for convenience is called the “Secret Passage.”
North of this run two parallel rows of vaults, which are broken up by
more recent work, apparently Saracenic. But when the vaults were made
they interfered at one place with a very ancient chamber of drafted
stones, the “Ancient Hall,” which has all the appearance of being one
of the oldest buildings in Jerusalem. A shaft was sunk in the floor of
the chamber to a depth of 11 feet 6 inches, through rough masonry as
hard as a wall, but without finding rock. With regard to the Secret
Passage, an Arabic writer, Mejr ed Din, says that the Street of David
is “so named from a subterranean gallery which David caused to be made
from the Gate of the Chain to the Citadel called the Mihrab of David.
It still exists, and parts of it are occasionally discovered. It is
solidly vaulted.” It would, however, be unsafe to accept the Arab
writer’s opinion as to the date and use of the passage.
As touching the original contours of the ground, it appears from the
excavations in the Tyropœon that two valleys descend, one from the
Damascus Gate, the other from near the Jaffa Gate, and that they were
originally very deep, giving the lower part of the north-western hill a
rounded and gibbous form. The accumulation of rubbish at Wilson’s Arch
is 80 feet, at Robinson’s Arch it is still more, and the true bed of
the valley passes under the Haram and comes out on the south side at a
distance of 90 feet from the south-west angle. There is a steep scarp
from the Upper City down to the present Tyropœon, and thence the rock
shelves down to the ancient valley bed.
[Illustration:
SOUTH WALL OF NOBLE SANCTUARY.
(_By permission of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
_On the Ophel Hill._--Ophel is the southern slope of Mount Moriah;
and as we stand on the slope, looking northward, we face the south
wall of the Noble Sanctuary. Right in the middle of it is the Triple
Gate, from which the surface of the ground shelves down 22 feet to the
south-east angle, while westward it maintains its level. Yet really,
in that western part (hidden from us just now by the wall of the city)
the true bed of the Tyropœon runs out, and the depth of soil or rubbish
is 85 feet. At the Triple Gate itself the rock is found about 2 feet
below the sill; but at the south-east angle again we should have to
sink a shaft 80 feet deep to find it. Thus the original surface of
Ophel is all covered up, and its true contour disguised. Buried in the
rubbish Warren has found the Wall of Ophel, abutting on the wall of the
Sanctuary at the south-east angle. It is about 12 feet wide at the
top and 15 feet at the bottom; it runs southward for 76 feet, and then
makes a bend to the west, in which direction it extends for 700 feet,
and there ends abruptly. At the bend it is strengthened by a projecting
tower, and below the bend there are several towers, one standing out
very prominently. (_See_ Plan of Haram Area, p. 212.)
[Illustration: DEEP SHAFT AT SOUTH-EAST ANGLE OF HARAM.
(_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
The whole space of ground within this wall, wherever the spade was put
in, proved to be rich in antiquities of various dates. One of the most
interesting discoveries was that of a cavern with fullers’ vats, close
to the traditional spot where St James was thrown over the Temple wall
and despatched by a fuller’s baton.
[Illustration: JAR HANDLES FROM SOUTH-EAST ANGLE.
(_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
[Illustration: VASE FOUND AT S.-E. ANGLE.
(_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
_At the South-Eastern Angle._--At this corner the wall stands about
70 feet high above the ground. At a height of 22 feet we observe the
great stone which is estimated to weigh more than one hundred tons;
and the courses below that have the appearance of being ancient work.
But we still have to go 78 or 80 feet beneath the surface to find the
foundations of the wall. It appears that the lowest or foundation
course is partially sunk in the rock at the angle. When the builders of
the Temple came to work here, they found upon the rock an accumulation
of 8 or 10 feet of fat mould, abounding in potsherds. This they cut
through in order to lay their foundation stones on the solid rock. In
the red earth were found fragments of pottery and fat-lamps, which
probably are of the earliest type of lamp used in Jerusalem. Resting
on the red earth was a layer of broken pottery, and in this was found
a rusty nail, some charred wood, and several jar handles. Some of
these last had well-defined figures impressed on them, resembling in
some degree a bird, but believed to represent a winged sun or disc,
possibly the emblem of the Sun god. On each handle, above and below the
wings, are some Phœnician letters, corresponding in one case to LMLK
ZPH, and in the other to LK SHT. At 3 feet east of the angle a hole
was discovered scooped out of the rock, and in it was found a little
earthen jar, standing upright as though it had been purposely placed
there.
[Illustration:
MASONS’ MARKS, S.-E. ANGLE.
(_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
More interesting still, Warren discovered on some of the lower stones
near the south-east angle a number of marks in red paint, with two
or three characters also inscribed with the chisel. The late Emanuel
Deutsch declared them to be partly letters, partly numerals, and partly
special masons’ marks, exactly corresponding to some which he found
on the substructures of the harbour of Sidon, and the very oldest
ruins in the city of Tyre. As we know from the Bible that Solomon
employed Phœnician masons to build the Temple, this discovery was
thought at first to prove the Solomonic age of this part of the wall.
But further reflection warns us that it is not of itself sufficient;
the old alphabet might be but little changed in the days when Herod
rebuilt the Temple, and the forms of masons’ marks might be the same
with Phœnicians and with Romans. As, however, they appear to be quarry
signs, they seem to imply that the stones were shaped at the quarry,
and not upon the ground, and thus support the Scripture statement that
the Temple was erected without sound of axe or hammer. The same may
be said of the marginal drafts or bevels, which on some stones are
carried all round, on some round three sides, or only two, and exhibit
no pattern or design when we look at the wall as a whole. The quarry
whence the stones appear to have been brought is called the Cotton
Cavern; its entrance is outside the walls, east of Damascus Gate, and
it extends under the north-eastern part of the city for more than
a quarter of a mile. The cavern was not unknown in the time of the
Sultans, but it was afterwards lost sight of, until in the year 1852,
a dog scratching away the earth and stones, again uncovered the mouth
of it. In this quarry we go over ground covered with chips, we see some
blocks of stone in the rough, and others cut, and some only partially
severed from the rock. We see also the places where lamps rested to
give light to the workers. But in the fat mould at the angle of the
wall we do not find any stone chippings.
_In the Kedron Valley_ there is an accumulation of nearly 100 feet of
loose stone chippings and other _debris_, lying against the wall of the
Sanctuary, covering all the western side of the valley, and resting at
its eastern part upon the slope of Olivet. The true bed of the Kedron
is 40 feet west of its present surface bed. On the west side of the
true bed was found a masonry wall, 3 feet thick; and at intervals,
as the rock rises other walls are encountered, built apparently for
supporting terraces.
[Illustration:
EAST WALL OF NOBLE SANCTUARY.
(_By permission of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
From the south-east angle the foundation of the wall rises, to about
the middle of the eastern side, and then falls again, down to the
Golden Gate and beyond. The construction of the Golden Gate is still a
vexed question; it is possibly a reconstruction of comparatively late
date, but it stands on the ancient foundations of a gateway, which
in some measure correspond with those of the Triple Gate. North of
the Golden Gate the rock still falls, and the depth of rubbish in the
depression is in the deepest part 125 feet. Yet the wall is built up
from the bottom, and is carried across the depression to the higher
rock surface north of it. It extends beyond the north-east angle of the
Haram without showing any break at that point; and this seems to favour
the idea that a break may be found more to the south, where the Haram
terminated before Herod enlarged its area. In fact the masonry north
of the Golden Gate is of a rougher sort than that south of it. But it
is impossible to examine the buried portion of the east wall at all
points, because a Mohammedan cemetery covers the ground, and excavation
among the graves is forbidden. It was only by sinking shafts at a
distance from the wall, and employing a method of laborious tunnelling,
that the depth of the foundations could be ascertained. Warren’s work
hereabout has been pronounced by Sir Charles Wilson to be without a
parallel in the history of excavation. “In one shaft alone no less than
600 feet run of shaft and gallery was excavated.”
If we might only explore freely within this cemetery Warren is
confident that we should come upon those huge stones--20 cubits long
and 6 cubits thick--which Solomon laid down on this side when he
built the temple (Josephus, Ant. xx. 9,7). One would suppose that the
present north-east angle, added by Herod, was of much later date than
the south-eastern; yet here again “Phœnician” masons’ marks are found.
Masons’ marks, however, may have a tendency to remain the same through
many ages. It is a curious fact that the red paint with which they were
put on has “run” in one instance, while still wet, and the trickling is
_upwards_ as the stone stands in the wall. This shows that the marking
was done before the stone was placed, and very likely at the quarry.
_North of the Haram enclosure._--The excavations just referred to were
sufficient to show that a deep valley once existed to the north of the
Temple, as described by Josephus, in “Antiquities” xiv. 4, 2 and “Wars”
i. 7, 3, where he states that Pompey found it a difficult business to
fill it up. This valley commences to the north of the city wall, passes
down west of the Church of St Anne, and runs into the Kedron, past
the Sanctuary wall, at a distance of 145 feet south of the north-east
angle. The great reservoir, called the _Birket Israil_, which extends
along the northern side of the Sanctuary for 360 feet, lies across this
valley. It is 126 feet wide and 80 feet deep. The west wall of the
reservoir is rock, and the east wall is partly rock and partly masonry;
while the south wall of the pool is at the same time the north wall of
the Sanctuary.
The excavations on all sides of the Sanctuary, and the examination
of the cisterns within the enclosure, show that Mount Moriah was
originally somewhat pear-shaped in contour, the rock shelving off on
all sides from the summit, which is now under the Dome of the Rock. At
the north-western corner, however, the rock was high, and there was a
narrow neck which joined this hill to Bezetha and made it a sort of
peninsula in form. This neck has been artificially cut through.
_The Tunnels from the Virgin’s Fountain._--From the Virgin’s Fountain,
about 320 yards south of the Triple Gate, and on the eastern side of
Ophel, a tunnel has been excavated through the hill to the Pool of
Siloam. The distance between these two places is not much more than 300
yards, but the tunnel winds about and its length is 1708 feet (or 569
yards). Robinson and others had been through it, and found it difficult
to traverse, for it is necessary to go part of the way crawling on
hands and feet. Colonel Warren, accompanied by Serjeant Birtles and
a fellah, patiently explored it, taking compass bearings at every
turn, and giving us at last an accurate plan of it. It was no easy
work crawling in three or four inches of water, recording observations
with pencil and paper, and carrying candles at the same time. Nor
was the business unattended with danger, for the flow of water being
intermittent, and an unexpected flow occurring while they were in the
tunnel, it proved very difficult to keep their mouths above water.
An inscription within this tunnel escaped the notice of all explorers
until lately, and was not detected even by Warren.
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE SILOAM TUNNEL.
(_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
The present Pool of Siloam measures about 55 feet, north and south by
18 feet east and west, and is about 20 feet deep. At the north end an
archway, 5 feet wide, appears, leading to a small vault, 12 feet long,
in which is a descent from the level of the top of the pool to the
level of the channel supplying it. In the year 1880 one of the pupils
of Herr Conrad Schick, the architect of the Church Missionary Society,
while climbing down fell into the water, and on rising to the surface
noticed the appearance of letters on the wall of the rock. The rock
had been smoothed so as to form a tablet about 27 inches square, which
contains six lines of writing on its lower portion. The inscription
is about 5 yards from the mouth of the channel, and is on the right
hand of an explorer entering from the Siloam end. It could hardly be
read at first, because a deposit of lime had formed over it. Dr Guthe
removed this by washing the tablet with a weak solution of hydrochloric
acid. Major Conder, with the aid of Lieutenant Mantell, expended
much labour and patience in taking a “squeeze,” sitting for three
or four hours cramped up in the water in order to obtain a perfect
copy, and repeating the experience in order to verify every letter.
Conder’s squeezes were the basis of the earliest correct representation
published in Europe. Professor Sayce, who had already visited the
tunnel and made a provisional translation of the text, was now enabled
to improve it; and the following is the translation:--
“1. (Behold the) excavation! Now this is the history of the excavation.
While the excavators were still lifting up
“2. The pick, each towards his neighbour, and while there were yet
three cubits to (excavate, there was heard) the voice of one man
“3. Calling to his neighbour, for there was an _excess_ (?) in the rock
on the right hand (and on the left?). And after that on the day
“4. Of excavating the excavators had struck pick against pick, one
against another,
“5. The waters flowed from the spring to the pool for a distance of
1200 cubits. And (part)
“6. Of a cubit was the height of the rock over the head of the
excavators.”[23]
The meeting of the two parties of excavators near the middle of the
tunnel accords with Warren’s discovery of two false cuttings, one on
either side, at a distance of 900 feet from the Siloam end.
The inscription is in ancient characters, very much resembling those on
the Moabite Stone, but possessing certain peculiarities. It is probably
the oldest bit of Hebrew writing on stone that we possess, and opens
out a new chapter in the history of the alphabet. It gives the first
monumental evidence of the condition of civilisation among the Hebrews
in the days of their kings; and altogether it is the most important
discovery of the kind since the finding of the Moabite Stone.
Major Conder says that the general impression resulting from an
examination of the conduit is that it was the work of a people whose
knowledge of engineering was rudimentary. It is well known that in
mining it is very difficult to induce the excavator to keep in a truly
straight line, the tendency being to diverge very rapidly to one side.
It is possible that this is the real reason of the crooked run of the
canal; but another reason may have been the comparative hardness of
the strata met in mining at a uniform level through a hill, with beds
having a considerable dip. It will, however, be observed, that, after
passing the shaft, the direction of the tunnel changes to a line more
truly directed on the Virgin’s Fountain. The excavators from the Siloam
end became aware, probably by the impossibility of seeing a light at
the head of the mine, when standing at the mouth of the tunnel, that
they were not going straight, and the only means they had of correcting
the error consisted in making a shaft up to the surface to see where
they had got to. After ascertaining this they went straight for about
140 feet, and then diverged gradually to the left; but their general
direction, nevertheless, agrees roughly with that of the rock contour,
which may be due to following a particular seam of rock.
[Illustration:
SHAFTS DISCOVERED AT THE VIRGIN’S FOUNTAIN.
(_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
It is recognised by Colonel Warren that the tunnel running southward
to the Pool of Siloam was not the first tunnel excavated in connection
with the Virgin’s Fountain. A channel had previously been made from the
Virgin’s Fountain due west, for a distance of 67 feet, into the heart
of the hill, and there communicated by a shaft and corridors with the
surface. When the longer tunnel came to be made the engineers wisely
availed themselves of the channel already existing, and began their
new excavation at a distance of 50 feet from the Virgin’s Fount. The
priority of the channel running due west to the shaft appears to be
undoubted; and it is clear that whatever mistakes of direction might be
made by unscientific engineers when they had got some distance into the
hill, they never would _begin_ by working due west from the Virgin’s
Fount when their object was to make a channel south-south-west to
Siloam Pool.
At the bottom of the shaft, which is 67 feet due west, Warren found the
rock scooped out into a basin 3 feet deep, for the water to lie in, and
at the top of the shaft an iron ring to which the rope of the bucket
could be tied. The shaft was 40 feet in height, and then the space
began to open out westward into a great cavern, there being a sloping
ascent at an angle of 45°, covered with loose stones of about a foot
cube. Warren says it was ticklish work ascending, for the stones all
seemed longing to be off, and one starting would have sent the mass
rolling, himself with it, on top of the serjeant, all to form a mash
at the bottom of the shaft. After ascending about 30 feet they got on
to a landing. The cave now opened out to south-west and north-west.
Following it in the latter direction they arrived at a passage 40
feet long, at the far end of which was a rough wall. Creeping through
a hole in this they ascended a steep staircase for 50 feet, passed
another wall, and found themselves in a vaulted chamber. The exit at
last was on the Hill of Ophel, a few feet from the ridge, and almost
certainly, some writers maintain, within the ancient walls. The object
of the cuttings was to get a supply of water from within; and perhaps
the piles of loose stones which were found in the long passage were
intended to be thrown down the shaft if an enemy should attempt to
ascend it. In the passage were found three glass lamps of curious
construction, placed at intervals as if to light the way; and in the
vaulted chamber a little pile of charcoal as if for cooking, one of
these lamps, a cooking dish glazed inside, for heating food, and a jar
for water. Evidently the place had been used as a refuge.
A similar arrangement for closing the entrance to a spring, and using
a secret passage from the hill above, has lately been discovered at
_El Jib_ (ancient Gibeon),[24] and only a few years ago at ’_Amman_
(Rabbath Ammon). In connection with the latter, Conder quotes Polybius
to the effect that when Antiochus the Great besieged the forces of
Ptolemy Philopater, at _Amman_, in 218 B.C., the garrison
held out until a prisoner revealed a secret communication with a water
supply outside the walls.
_Difficulties of the Work._--It is impossible to read the detailed
accounts of Warren’s work at Jerusalem without feeling an admiration
for the courage and patience of the explorers, and without being
sometimes amused at the ludicrous predicaments into which they
occasionally got. They have been jammed in aqueducts, wedged in chasms,
and walled up behind falling heaps of _debris_. They have had to go
down ladders too short for reascending, to squeeze down apertures that
have taken the skin off the shoulders, and have been half drowned in
cisterns at the bottom. In the Tyropœon the soil is so soaked with
sewage that it poisons the flesh wherever it touches a scratch. In the
Kedron Valley the soil is so loose that it rushes into the galleries,
almost flowing like a fluid, and drives the men out. In the Siloam
tunnel they more than once ran the risk of being drowned. In the Ophel
shaft a loose stone, weighing eight cwt., threatened momentarily to
fall upon their heads. Once when the Arab labourers had gone down a
shaft, where the ancient bed of the Tyropœon runs out, 90 feet from
the south-west angle, they had descended 79 feet when they came upon
a stone slab. They began breaking it up with a hammer, when presently
the pieces fell in, the hammer disappeared, and the men, in terror lest
they should fall into unknown depths, rushed to the surface, sought out
the serjeant, and assured him that they had found the bottomless pit!
The awful depth proved to be just 6 feet more to the solid rock!
Warren had often to dig in people’s gardens, or to mine under their
houses, or sink shafts near to their sacred places, and it required
much tact to deal with the prejudices of the Mohammedans, and to
satisfy all claims for compensation. In the neighbourhood of Jerusalem
a piece of garden ground may belong to one man, be rented by another,
while a dozen people claim an interest in the crops that grow upon
it. Sometimes Warren’s labourers have been dragged before the judges
and threatened with imprisonment, or told that they shall be sent to
do forced labour on the Jaffa Road. When Warren was working at the
Virgin’s Fountain there was much commotion among the people of Siloam.
Work was to be resumed in the morning; but one cantankerous sheikh,
taking it into his head that Englishmen had no business out of their
own country, effectually stayed proceedings by sending a bevy of
damsels to the Fount to wash. On one occasion a Turkish officer of
Engineers, dressed in full uniform, approached, in no friendly spirit,
to examine one of the shafts. If he had chosen to give an adverse
report the work would have been stopped. He knew that Warren was in
command, but he marched magnificently past him without deigning to
notice him, and was going straight for the head of the shaft. But
Warren passed on rapidly before him, threw over the ladder which some
lady visitors had been using, blew out the light, and descended by a
rope. The Turk, hearing a crash, and seeing Warren disappear in the
darkness, was afraid that something terrible had occurred, which he did
not wish to be responsible for, and lost no time in turning his steps
away. But, after all, when we consider that the Sanctuary at Jerusalem
is as sacred to the Mohammedans as the precincts of Westminster Abbey
to ourselves, it is marvellous how much Sir Charles Warren succeeded in
effecting, and with how little friction he did it.
[_Authorities and Sources_:--“Quarterly Statements of P. E.
Fund.” “Recovery of Jerusalem.” Sir C. Warren. “Tent Work in
Palestine.” Major Conder.]
4. _Jerusalem as it was._
_The Hills and Valleys._--Sir Charles Warren was the first to point
out the necessity of ascertaining the depth of the rock below the
present surface, in as many places as possible, and of referring all
the measurements to one fixed datum, the level of the sea. In the study
of the ancient topography the original appearance of the ground is the
first consideration, for although a certain amount of soil may always
have existed, still the ancient surface must have conformed far more
closely to that of the rock than does the present.
To this work very great attention has been given, first by Warren
himself, in his exploration of numerous tanks and sinking of scores
of shafts; next by Herr Schick, who, in his professional capacity of
architect, has measured the position when sinking foundations for
houses in every quarter of Jerusalem. Contours had also been given
in the Ordnance Survey conducted by Sir C. Wilson in 1864. At length
Conder was able to take all the data and send home a plan of rock
levels for the entire city. From this he also prepared a reduced
shaded sketch of the original rock site of the town. The sketch
is here reproduced, and by the help of it the reader will find it
comparatively easy to understand Josephus’s description, as well as
the reconstruction of the ancient city which will be attempted in this
section.
Josephus says--“The city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls,
on such parts as were not encompassed with unpassable valleys, for in
such places it had but one wall. The city was built upon two hills,
which are opposite to one another, and have a valley to divide them
asunder, at which valley the corresponding rows of houses on both
hills end. Of these hills that which contains the Upper City is much
higher and in length more direct. Accordingly it was called the Citadel
(φρούριον) by King David, but it is by us called the Upper
Market Place. But the other hill, which was called Akra, and sustains
the Lower City, is curved on both sides (ἀμφίκυρτος).[25]
Over against this was a third hill, but naturally lower than Akra, and
parted formerly from the other by a broad valley. However, in those
times when the Maccabees reigned, they filled up that valley with
earth, and had a mind to join the city to the temple. They then took
off part of the height of Akra, and reduced it to be of less elevation
than it was before, that the temple might be superior to it. Now the
Tyropœon Valley, as it was called, and was that which we told you
before distinguished the hill of the Upper City from that of the Lower,
extended as far as Siloam.” (Wars, v. 4, 1.)
[Illustration:
ROCK SITE OF JERUSALEM.
(_By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]
In the next section Josephus tells us that as the city grew more
populous it crept beyond its old limits, “and those parts of it that
stood northward of the temple and joined that hill to the city, made it
considerably larger, and occasioned that hill, which is in number the
fourth, and is called _Bezetha_ (or New City), to be inhabited also.
It lies over against the Tower of Antonia, but is divided from it by a
deep valley, which was dug on purpose, and that in order to hinder the
foundations of the Tower of Antonia from joining to this hill.”
When we read these descriptions in the light of our plan, things become
tolerably plain. The south-western hill was the Upper City--a large
flat-topped hill surrounded with deep valleys, and having a level of
about 2550 to 2500 feet above the sea. The eastern hill is known to
be the Temple Hill, which is number three in Josephus’s description.
Bezetha (number four) is distinctly described as the hill north of the
Temple Hill, and only divided from it at one point by an artificial
cutting. The explorers have found this cutting, carried through a
narrow neck of high ground, at the north-western corner of the Haram.
Thus there is no room to question that “the second hill, which was
called Akra and sustained the Lower City” is the hill projecting down
from the north-west like a promontory, gibbous in its form. The Upper
City was divided from Akra “by a broad valley,” now partly filled up,
which was called the Tyropœon Valley, and beginning near the Jaffa
Gate, “extended as far as Siloam Fountain.” The summit of Akra is not
more than 2480 feet above sea level--considerably lower than the Upper
City--and looks lower than it is, because the whole site of Jerusalem
is tilted up from the west like an inclined plane, and because the
valleys about the Upper City are deeper. Josephus says the Akra hill
used to be higher, and sustained the Macedonian fortress called the
Akra, which dominated the Temple. Being so near and so high, it
enabled the garrison to look down into the Temple courts. They used
also to run out and molest the Jews who were passing from the Upper
City into the Temple by the western gate (Joseph. Ant. xii. 9, 3; 1
Macc. i. 36; and Warren in “Transactions of the Society of Biblical
Archæology,” vii. 314).
The Macedonian fortress was a thorn in the side of Jerusalem until
Simon Maccabæus captured it and demolished it. At the same time he cut
down the top of the hill itself; and perhaps it was with the material
so obtained that he filled up the valley between Akra and the Temple.
By the filling up of this valley, which it is convenient to call the
Asmonean Valley, the two hills were joined together; and it would not
be surprising if the terms “Akra” and “Lower City” soon after began to
have an extended meaning, and to embrace all the buildings on both the
hills which were now united into one.
Having now a definite conception of the original lie of the ground,
and knowing the four hills of Jerusalem by name and location, we can
proceed to plant a few of the ancient buildings in their proper places.
_The Temple of Solomon._--We have already seen reason for placing the
Temple over the very summit of Moriah; but we must now make our reasons
quite conclusive, and also show the limits of the Temple courts.