GENERAL REMARKS UPON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE CITY OF JERUSALEM.
In the previous chapters I have put forward the results of my researches
upon the topography, antiquities, and principal edifices of Jerusalem. I
now proceed to give a general idea of those things which a person
intending to reside there, or even to visit it, would wish to know; and
I commence by giving some information which may be useful to the
traveller. Jaffa is the seaport at which most persons, who intend to
visit Jerusalem, land. The distance between the two places is about
28-1/2 miles. The mournful aspect of the former city generally drives
away visitors after they have made a short stay and hastily traversed a
few filthy streets; but those who wish to spend a longer time and
carefully examine the antiquities of the place, or repose after their
voyage, will find two tolerably comfortable hotels. Besides these, the
Latin convent of the Franciscans entertains gratuitously all who apply
without regard to their religious opinions. Nor do the Greeks and
Armenians refuse to receive strangers, though they are established
especially for the members of their own communities. An inn or the Latin
convent is most convenient for a European. Consular agents of different
nations reside in the town, and shew the greatest courtesy and attention
to travellers; and through their dragomans or _cavas_ (consular guards),
or through the servants of the convent, one can obtain horses without
fear of being cheated. A three hours' ride along an excellent road takes
the traveller to Ramleh, a town without any inns; but where he can pass
the night in either the Latin, Greek, or Armenian convents, and on the
morrow pursue his course with the same horse to Jerusalem, where he will
arrive after a journey of eight or nine hours. I do not mention the
price of the bridle, saddle, and other necessaries of the journey, as
these vary with time and circumstances.
In Jerusalem there are two inns kept by honest people; those, however,
who prefer availing themselves of the hospitality of the convents can do
so; but should of course make an offering before leaving, according to
their circumstances. This, however, is never demanded; nor will the
person who does not choose, or is unable to present it, be the less
kindly treated on that account. From the instant of his arrival the
traveller is pestered with interpreters and _ciceroni_. These it is
imprudent to engage without previous enquiries at their Consulate, or
from the Head of the religious community to which they belong; so too
with those who offer themselves to take charge of a caravan, or act as
escorts on journeys to the Jordan or Dead Sea, or other parts of
Palestine. The bargain should be struck with responsible chiefs alone,
at the Consulate, and all the conditions of the engagement should be
clearly stated in writing, so that no disputes may afterwards arise.
Persons who let out horses are not slow to offer themselves; but I
recommend the traveller to make good use of his judgment before hiring a
horse for a long period. After carefully examining it and its harness,
it is necessary to put down on paper all the terms of the agreement, in
the presence of two witnesses, to avoid having constant recourse to the
Consul's office. Generally, however, oral evidence is more esteemed in
the East than documentary, because the sense of words in a writing can
be easily altered.
In case the traveller wishes to change money, let him beware of the
petty money-changers in the bazaars, and go to the banks recommended by
his Consul, or by the Head of his religious community. In buying
anything from Arab dealers, unless accompanied by an honest guide, the
stranger is always liable to be cheated, and to pay double the proper
value, because it is usual for his conductor to receive a percentage on
what his master spends. Most of all, distrust the itinerant dealers who
call at private houses, or who are found in the lobbies of convents,
hospices, and inns, or in the court before the Church of the
Resurrection.
Any one who wishes to make a long stay at Jerusalem, and to hire a
house, should not treat with a _factotum_, but with some person in whom
he can place confidence. He will then get what he requires much more
cheaply. Before signing the contract he should ascertain the state of
the cisterns and their contents, the conduits, and the offices, unless
he wishes to find himself without water, or with leaky drains that will
make his house smell like a sewer. Let him also beware of foes, that lie
hid by day, but issue forth by night to murder sleep. Take care that all
defects observed in the scrutiny are at once repaired, for as soon as
the rent is paid, the proprietor will hold himself free to do nothing,
and will find a thousand pretexts to save himself from spending a
farthing, even though he be ordered to do it by the authorities. The
terrace-roofs are always in bad repair, so they must not be forgotten.
Let not a mistaken notion of economy induce the visitor to take an old
house; for in that case it is necessary to be always erecting barriers
against the rats and snakes, which the Arabs call the friends of the
house, and many other invaders. No one should hire a servant without a
character from a person of credit; and constant watchfulness is
necessary, especially when the domestics have the purchase of provisions
in their own hands: adulterated goods of all kinds are common enough in
Palestine, even to the refinement of black stones in sacks of coal, and
pebbles in soap. In a word, keep your eyes wide open, for the Arab is
omnivorous, and steals slowly, but steadily. Weights and measures are
not wanting in native shops, but such weights and measures! Every dealer
has a double set, and uses the just or the unjust according to
circumstances. The government officers appointed for this purpose do not
fail to visit the shops (politely giving notice of their intention
beforehand), and of course everything is then in order. Now and then a
victim is necessary, and the offence is denounced; but before the
offender is put in prison, it is made out to be a mistake on the part of
the police-officer, who is excused on the score of excess of zeal. These
things continually happen, and the evil is irreparable. With the
European dealers there is no danger of being cheated.
The butchers are great rogues, and cheat in every possible way. The
tariffs sanctioned by the Government are not observed, and whoever wants
good meat must pay the butcher's price. Only those who are in authority,
and can make their complaints heard, are supplied according to the
tariff. The rest of the people suffer, and can get no redress from the
badly-paid subordinates of the Government, who are bribed to be blind
and deaf; and not unfrequently the complainant, if unprotected by one of
the Consuls, is maltreated by the vendors and the vigilant guardians of
the peace.
The shops kept by Europeans are so well provided with the products of
that continent, that the stranger might easily forget that he was in
Palestine. Food and liquors of various kinds, clothes, and other
necessaries, come from England, Marseilles, and Trieste, and from many
parts of the East; so that any one of moderate means may supply his
wants sufficiently, but simply; and without these he can live on the
produce of the country at a cheap rate.
Vegetables are scarce and dear, but annual supplies, in a preserved
state, are sent from France. Beef and veal are seldom offered for sale,
and are not good. There is plenty of mutton, sheep and goat, and
sometimes of camel flesh; but the last two, with the inferior kinds of
the former, are only bought by the poor. The European also finds pork,
wild boar, hares and gazelles. Fowls, turkeys, ducks, and pigeons, are
plentiful in the market, which is sometimes supplied with partridges and
other game, and with fresh fish from Jaffa. Eggs and milk are plentiful;
cheese and butter are imported, only because the peasants do not know
how to make them, and will not take the trouble to learn. Oranges,
lemons, pomegranates, cucumbers, melons, figs, almonds, and grapes, are
very abundant; dates and bananas, the produce of the country, are less
plentiful. There are also peaches, apricots, plums, pears, and apples,
and many other fruits too numerous to mention. The wines of the country
are made at Hebron, Bethlehem, and S. John: these are very good, but
rather strong; and as they are insufficient for the wants of the place,
and those of France are very dear, Cyprus wine is much used. The bread
during the last few years has become pretty good, and that made by the
Jews is very fair, and would be still better if they had proper mills to
grind the wheat; those worked by horses and asses and by the hand all
belong to private owners. A single windmill, erected by Sir M.
Montefiore, has greatly improved the quality of the bread. The grain of
the country, when properly ground and prepared, makes excellent bread;
but many European families use flour imported from Trieste, which is
very good. The Arab bread, on which most of the people live, is
abominable, being badly made and full of grit. It is needless to observe
that the dealers pay no regard to the orders of the government, and sell
loaves either of light weight, or adulterated with cheaper materials.
When Surraya Pasha inspected the shops in person, on which occasion I
accompanied him, twelve offenders against the law were imprisoned; and
many others only escaped by having no more bread to sell; that is to
say, they had heard of the Pasha's coming, and had hidden their stock.
There is no lack of watchmakers, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, tailors,
bootmakers, and cabinetmakers, who can supply not only the necessaries,
but even the luxuries of life. There are excellent building materials to
be obtained, and good quarrymen, stonecutters, and masons. Wood is
rather scarce in the country, but can be got from Egypt or Beyrout,
where the yards are overstocked by the supplies from Trieste and
Lebanon.
The French, Austrian, and Turkish posts facilitate intercourse with
Europe and the East. The steamers also of the French Messagerie
Impériale and of the Austrian Lloyd arrive at the port of Jaffa on
alternate weeks. The Turkish post is very badly managed; for the courier
is often robbed of his mail-bag, and when it arrives in safety, the
distribution of its contents is conducted so carelessly, that the first
comer may possess himself of any letter he pleases; so that nothing
valuable should be entrusted to it.
The commerce of the city is on a very small scale, nor are there many
merchants who speculate; and such as there are, except the Europeans and
some few of the inhabitants, are more to be feared than the Bedouins who
infest the open country. The value of money changes from one moment to
another, according to the bankers' caprice, without the Government
taking any notice of the matter. The legal rate of interest is 10, and
sometimes 12 per cent., but this is disregarded; the usurers, who are
numerous, demand 25 and even 30 per cent. Business in Jerusalem is
transacted slowly, not only owing to the nature of the inhabitants, but
also because Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, are the days of rest to the
Mohammedans, Jews, and Christians, respectively; not to speak of the
other numerous festivals which each community keeps holy during the
course of the year.
If a European wishes to remain in good health, he should wear flannel,
and avoid using linen, because the mornings and evenings are damp, and
the temperature is frequently liable to considerable changes. When he is
obliged to expose himself to the sun, he should cover his head with
white cloth, and thus he will escape unhurt. When on a journey, and
exposed to great heat, he should wear white clothing, and eat and drink
very sparingly, not taking much water while _en route_.
It is well to be aware that all the gates are shut at sunset, excepting
the Jaffa Gate, which remains open an hour longer; so that the traveller
who arrives too late may be obliged to sleep in the open air, unless he
have taken the precaution to furnish himself with an order from the
Commandant.
Whoever goes out into the streets by night must carry a lantern, not
only because it is so ordered by the authorities, and a person breaking
this rule is liable to be arrested by a patrol or by the police, but
also because it is otherwise impossible to avoid stumbling in some ill
repaired part of the road, or being attacked by the packs of dogs, who
guard and infest the streets of the city.
Having thus given some general information and advice, I proceed to make
a few remarks on the present state of the city. A walk through the
streets, when undertaken without a special purpose, is more oppressive
than refreshing. They are narrow and dark, frequently arched over, and
almost deserted. They are paved with stones, ill joined and uneven.
These are not easy to walk on, as their surfaces are smooth and
slippery, especially in the rainy season; and on horseback they are very
dangerous, as I experienced myself the first time that I saw them. As
the city slopes from west to east, the streets generally fall in the
same direction; so that the upper are less filthy than the lower, which
in the rainy season are horribly foul, since the dirt all lodges in
them, and no one takes the trouble to remove it. Surraya Pasha issued
strict orders to the street police, and frequently inspected them
himself; but it is very hard work to keep the Arabs from their beloved
mud. In the more frequented parts of the town the shops are generally
mean in appearance, and disgust rather than amuse the spectators. The
houses are built with small stones, some black with age, the rest light
grey. Most of them have no windows outside, and those which have
resemble prisons or monasteries, as the apertures are small and barred.
This produces a very dull and oppressive effect, until the eye becomes
accustomed to it. The entrance-doors are generally low and narrow, and I
recommend the stranger not to form his opinion of the internal
arrangements from what he sees on the threshold. The houses have
terrace-roofs, many of which are covered with slabs of stone well
united; but the generality are formed of small pieces mixed with cement,
beaten into a solid mass, which however does not possess much power of
resistance, as it cracks with the heat of the sun, and admits the water
in rainy weather; consequently many of the houses are damp, and their
inhabitants liable to fevers. These terrace-roofs are surrounded by a
wall five or six feet high, serving as a parapet. It is formed of small
earthenware tubes, making it look like the side of a dovecot; but by
this means the women, by whom the roofs are used as places for exercise
and amusement, can see, without being seen.
Heaps of ruins and filth are seen in the public places, and no one
frequents them for business; beggars crave an alms, lepers exhibit their
sores, vagrant curs snarl over their booty. Camels crouched down await
their burdens, and fill the air with a disgusting odour, caused by the
ointment with which they are smeared to cure skin-diseases. Disgust,
fear, hypocrisy, slavishness and distrust, are the common expressions in
the faces of the men, shewing the different races of which they are
composed; opposed one to another in religion and fortunes, victors and
vanquished, jealous and distrustful one of the other. The women are
generally covered with a white cloth, looking like ghosts, or if
uncovered, would look better veiled. If wearied with the dullness
within, we go outside the walls, we find a few olive-trees on the
north-west, a few young plantations on the west, and the rest barren and
desolate. Everywhere deep valleys or steep hills, stony and rocky roads,
impracticable for carriages, difficult for horses, and painful for
foot-travellers. Wherever we go the memorials of the dead are before our
eyes; for the cemeteries are the places of general resort. Escaping,
however, from the city, from its bad smells and loathsome and
importunate beggars, we can ascend the hills, and contemplate a
panorama, where every stone is a witness of God's revelation, and every
ruin a monument of His wrath. On these bare summits high and ennobling
thoughts fill the mind, bringing a calm that is found with difficulty in
bustling and crowded cities. He who is careless or unbelieving, he who
travels only from curiosity or to kill time, had better take my advice,
and avoid Jerusalem. There he will have no amusement beyond taking a
ride, or smoking and drinking bad coffee in an Arab _café_; watching the
languid passers by, or listening to Arab songs accompanied on tuneless
instruments. He, however, who has a family or business to care for, or
is occupied in studying the inexhaustible riches of the soil, will live
in Jerusalem as agreeably as in any other place.
There is but little pleasant social intercourse in Jerusalem, owing to
the jealousies among the rival sects; so that the conversation generally
runs upon the failings and faults of the members of the communities
which are not represented at the party; and scandalous stories and ill
natured remarks are retailed to the visitor, who is soon wearied and
disgusted.
Hence it will appear that Jerusalem offers but slight attractions to one
who is not contented with the memories of the past, and the love of
archæological research. These, however, supply an unceasing field of
enjoyment and constant occupation.
Jerusalem is not inhabited by a people; it is a great field wherein are
collected members from every nation, brought there by their religious
belief, and about to depart when their end is accomplished. No city
resembles less a fatherland, none is more like a place of exile. The
Turks, after impoverishing and governing the land after their own
fashion, give place to new magistrates, and return home with full
purses; the Arabs, who acquire there an idea of civilization, depart in
search of a place where they can lay out their property to advantage;
while those who remain barbarians, after gaining a moderate sum, retire
to the desert to end their days. The European missionaries and
travellers, after a long stay, desire at length to die in their native
land. The Western and Eastern pilgrims make but a brief sojourn, and
though many of them bewail leaving the Holy Places, certain it is they
never remain. The Jews replace one another constantly, coming to ask
leave to die in that fatherland, which in life they have been unable to
regain. The few families established at Jerusalem are not ancient. Each
speaks of the date of his arrival, but is uncertain of the length of his
stay. In the Holy City, therefore, the population is constantly
changing, renewed daily by the pilgrims, and oppressed by a
disheartening uncertainty caused by the despotism and incapacity of the
Government of the Sublime Porte. This of course tends to prevent the
formation of intimate friendships and the fusion of the different races.
The greater part of the land does not belong to its occupants, but is
the property of the mosques or of the churches, and is therefore called
_Wakf_. There is the _Wakf_ of the _Haram es-Sherîf_, the property of
the great mosque; the _Wakf el-Tekiyeh_, the property of the Hospital of
S. Helena (as it is commonly called); the _Wakf Franji_, the property of
the Latin convent; the _Wakf Rûmi_, the property of the Greek convent;
and in the same way they speak of the _Wakf_ of the Russians, Armenians,
Greek Catholics, Armenian Catholics, English, Prussians, Copts,
Abyssinians, and Jews. Another part of the ground falls by law to these
public bodies in case of the extinction of the families who possess it,
or a failure of the male line. These are called _mulk maukuf_ i.e.
mortmain. Hence it comes that the smaller part only of the soil is
private property (_mulk_); so that, owing to these restrictions, a
single small estate belongs to several owners, and there are many
difficulties and much danger of being cheated in buying land.
I will now offer a few remarks upon the condition of the different
religious sects, premising that they entertain the bitterest feelings
one towards another, and are only restrained from greater excesses by
the fear that the Turks will profit by their quarrels, and listen to the
highest bidder. The Consuls of the different nations have hard work to
keep the peace, finding themselves of but little power in allaying
strifes; not for want of will and moral courage, but because their
authority only extends to small matters, and they are not properly
seconded by the spiritual heads of the communities, who rather stir up
the disputants and increase the difficulty of restoring peace.
The most wealthy and powerful, and, in times past (and sometimes even
now), the most distinguished in these contentions are the Latins,
Greeks, and Armenians; and the Turks are never sorry to see them at
strife, as they reap a harvest from both the losers and the winners.
Scarcely had the tempest of war caused by the Crusades passed away, when
these communities began to struggle at the court of the Sublime Porte
for the possession of the Holy Places. Each produced _firmans_ given by
Mohammed, Omar, Saladin, or various Sultans; and the ministers at the
court always decided in favour of the highest bidder, so that the same
place was assigned by different _firmans_ to the Latins, the Greeks, or
the Armenians. In consequence it has happened that one party, believing
itself to be the true proprietor of a particular Sanctuary, has declared
the other an impostor, until the sight of a _firman_ of older date has
shown the vanity of its claims.
The enmity of the clergy has descended to the people, and frequently,
upon the most futile pretexts, the churches and Holy Places have been
the theatres of fatal encounters between rival nations. The Pashas of
former times (now it is different) gladly interfered on these occasions,
to impose heavy fines upon the weaker party, and to sell impunity to the
strong, who were quite ready to begin fresh disturbances the next day.
At one time the Greeks were driven from the Holy Places by order of the
Porte; now the Latins were subjected to the utmost annoyance; while the
Armenians profited by the discord to establish themselves in the
Sanctuaries belonging to one or other of the disputants, whose claims
they pretended to be supporting. The Catholic Governments lacked the
means, and perhaps the inclination, to interfere directly in such
questions. The ministers of France, Spain, Venice, and Austria, in
Constantinople, sometimes listened to the complaints of the religious
fraternities, to whom the custody of the Holy Places had been confided.
But whether their own governments failed to support them, or whether
that of the Sultan was not found tractable, certain it is that their
applications were seldom heeded; and, in fact, cases occurred of even
personal violence being employed against the French Ministers and the
Venetian _Baili_, or still more frequently, against their subordinates.
Until within a few years past, money was the only way of succeeding in
negotiations with the Porte. Hence it may be understood, as regards the
Latins, how it is that the guardianship of the Holy Land has been so
expensive to Europe[898]. The Franciscans had also the privilege of
acquiring real property and disposing of the alms of the Faithful; until
the Propaganda began to view with dislike such large sums removed
entirely from its control; so in order to inaugurate a fresh system, a
Patriarch was established at Jerusalem in 1847, and assigned as his
revenue the fifth part of the alms received by the Guardians. This
arrangement gave him the right of examining the accounts, and to the
Propaganda upon the management of affairs. He was, however, so
obstinately opposed by the monks, that he was obliged to make a
compromise with them, in which the interests, if not the minds, of the
two parties were somewhat reconciled. The Greeks also were reduced to
the same situation as the Latins; for a community which is obliged to
support its influence at the Turkish Court by the aid of money alone, is
compelled to have recourse to expedients of every sort in order to
obtain it. Consequently, either from the piety of the faithful or the
activity of the monks, the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem has amassed a
very large property, consisting of possessions in Wallachia, Bessarabia,
Greece, and other countries, besides its estates in Palestine, and
especially in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, which are being
continually augmented. The secretary of the Greek convent of S.
Constantine, the Archimandrite Nicoferus, has purchased in the last few
years a number of estates, the value of which is not less than 6,000,000
piastres, or about £48,000. The property of the monasteries is almost
entirely derived from the legacies left by the monks, who purchase in
their own names, to leave to the convent, which always inherits their
possessions, except a small allowance to the parents of the deceased, if
they are living. The purchase-money, however, must come from the common
chest of the convent, for it is of course impossible that a poor monk
should have the means of buying land to such an amount. However this may
be, the convent ultimately obtains the property, and thus its rent-roll
increases. It still keeps on receiving the offerings of the faithful,
which it lays out in the purchase of real property. This the Franciscans
are now forbidden by the Propaganda to acquire; they are therefore
obliged to subsist, maintain their Sanctuaries, and entertain pilgrims,
on the alms which, to a greater or less amount, are sent to them from
Christendom.
The revenues of the Armenians are chiefly supplied by landed property,
by the money which they have out at interest on good security, and by
the alms and dues of the pilgrims. They possess the best establishment
in Jerusalem, and their revenues are well administered; but in spite of
that they would not have so much influence as the Greeks and Latins,
were it not for those of their religion who fill high places in the
Turkish government.
No part of the population furnishes so many subjects for reflexion as
the Jews, who dwell in the land of their fathers, without seeking to
imitate their example. A remnant of their nation, they stay in their
ancient capital, to pray, to weep, and to die, in the land that should
be their own. The greater part live without working, upon the gifts sent
by their industrious brethren in Europe and the East. From this
circumstance it will be easily understood how it is that misery and
indigence prevail among them, because they depend not on labour but on
alms, which diminish year by year, on account of the increasing numbers
who flock to Jerusalem to share them. When these supplies are
distributed slowly, or are scanty, they begin to murmur, and utter the
most unreasonable and shameless complaints against their benefactors.
The sole source of revenue of the Jewish community is the almsbox; and
when its contents diminish, the different congregations assemble and
choose persons, who are provided with papers from the Rabbis,
countersigned by the Consuls, and start as collectors, returning after
long journeys with the fruits of their wanderings. The alms thus
obtained are carelessly and thriftlessly distributed, and not applied to
any useful purpose, consequently these collections are constantly
repeated. Nor are they fairly divided; the truly poor, the sick, the
widows and the orphans, too weak to complain or resist, are often
neglected and defrauded; they cannot write, and therefore are not
feared; but those who can cry aloud and make their discontent heard, who
can give trouble or annoyance by complaints and intrigues, are attended
to and served. Those too who are appointed to distribute the alms are
utterly unfit for the duty, giving no heed and making no endeavours to
qualify themselves for it, since they are neither able nor willing to
make the best of the means committed to them, and secure its being
bestowed on deserving objects. In a word, the Jews at Jerusalem are
unfortunate in those who manage their affairs, for they are men who
neglect good advice, who are servile flatterers when they hope to gain,
and discontented grumblers when they get nothing. Hence it is their own
fault that the Jews are degraded and miserable, because they do not
attempt to repress the abuses that prevail. If the constant arrival of
idle paupers was prevented, the funds would be sufficient for those who
really want. Again, most of those who come are aged men, and unable to
resist the demands of certain Arabs, who term themselves their
protectors. If only the Jews would act with energy against their
oppressors, the Government would attend to them; but, rather than claim
their rights, they submit to those who rob them of their scanty alms.
Formerly they were also oppressed by the Government, which was enough to
account for their unfortunate condition; but since 1855 they have had no
ground of complaint on this score, for Kiamil Pasha and Surraya Pasha
treated them as fairly as all the other religious communities, by
affording a ready ear to their complaints, by discomfiting their enemies
at Hebron, and making the roads safe which they frequent on their
pilgrimage. These Governors have also made laws enforcing cleanliness in
the Jewish Quarter, have protected their rights in the purchase of land
and houses, have admitted them to their parties, and visited their
principal men; so that it is not now the fault of the Pashas if the Jews
still live in dirt and degradation. It would be well if there were a
Board in Jerusalem, commissioned to investigate the motives which bring
settlers into the country, and prevent those from coming whose sole mode
of subsistence would be the alms of others. They might also employ part
of the money entrusted to them in succouring real misery, and the rest
in supporting useful institutions, in purchasing lands, and bringing
them under cultivation. Thus might the Jews be rescued from their
degradation, and at length rendered happy instead of miserable.
We must also say a few words on the Protestant Mission to the Jews. This
was established in 1840, but can scarcely be said to have met with the
success that the efforts it has made, and the sums it has expended,
deserve. I do not believe that the number of converts, during the 23
years that the Mission has been in operation, amounts to 150; and a very
small number of these has been won in Jerusalem. Most of them, after
being converted in some part of Europe, come to Palestine to find
occupation, which they have lost in their native country from deserting
the creed of their fathers. On arriving they are assisted and employed
by the Mission; but, were they not thus cared for, I fear that many of
them would relapse. In fact, though these converts read their Bibles,
and rigorously conform to the observances of their new faith, they do
not appear to understand it, and the benefit of the change only shews
itself in their children, who have been brought up in the bosom of the
Christian Church, and are thus free from the memories of the Synagogue,
and not actuated by the interested motives which in some cases have
influenced their fathers. Impostors also have contributed to swell the
ranks of the converts, who have been excommunicated by the Rabbis, or
who wish to avail themselves of some of the advantages the Mission
offers, and who, after they have gained their points, return to their
former allegiance. Nor do the Missionaries meet with much success among
the Jewish residents in the city, or among those who come there to die;
their convictions and their interest are opposed to a change of faith.
Munk[899], himself a Jew, wrote thus a few years ago: "It is needless to
say that the attempts of Bishop Alexander, sent to Palestine under the
auspices of England and Prussia, have up to this time met with no
success;" and I can assert the same of Bishop Gobat. Truth compels me to
state that the Mission has not been successful at Jerusalem, and will
not be (in my opinion) if the wealthy Jews in Europe take care that the
affairs of their brethren in Jerusalem are properly managed. If the
conversion of the Jews be desired, I believe that more success will be
obtained among the larger numbers resident in Europe, than among the
little band of those more strongly attached to their ancient faith, who
are resident at Jerusalem. Since their efforts against Judaism have
failed, the Missionaries have attempted to make proselytes from the
other religious sects, but with little success. I do not wish to enter
fully into the subject, but simply state that the few converts, which
have been won from the other Christian communities, have to be
maintained at the expense of the Mission, or they would be soon lost;
and that the Mission has thus excited the jealousy of the other bodies,
and exposed itself to secret and open attacks. True it is that it
circulates copies of the Bible in all the languages spoken in the
country; but this is not a result of so much value as it appears at
first sight to be. Very many volumes indeed are given away, or purchased
(and that too at a very low price); but how many of them fall into the
hands of men who cannot or will not read, or are bought or taken away by
the monks, and destroyed? Many copies in different languages are thus
lost, which would be most valuable if distributed among more highly
civilized people. It may be doubted, too, whether it is wise to
circulate the entire volume, for often the reader comes upon some
passage which shocks his prejudices, and so the book is cast away in
disgust, because he is not yet able to bear a doctrine so different to
what he has always been taught.
I conclude this subject by declaring that, in the above remarks, I have
not been actuated by any party spirit, but by the desire of speaking the
plain truth; and I confidently appeal to those who are acquainted with
the real state of affairs at Jerusalem, to bear me out in what I have
felt it my duty to say.
A few words must also be devoted to the Turks and the Arabs. The former
govern the country; the latter endure their rule, and frequently rebel
against their authority. As slaves they thoroughly hate their masters,
still they are frequently reconciled by common interests, when there
seems a chance of conjointly extorting money from the Christian
communities. It should, however, be said, that there has been a great
change for the better since 1857, owing to the excellent rule of
Surraya Pasha; but still the Mohammedans are a hindrance and an evil in
the country. This is not so much due to any fault in individuals, as to
the bad administration of the Turkish Government at Constantinople.
Their appointments are often bestowed upon the highest bidder, and again
taken away when a higher appears; consequently the man who obtains a
governorship of a province, a judgeship, or any other post, has invested
a portion of his capital in the quest, and comes to his duties with
every intention of refilling his coffers as quickly as possible, since
he cannot reckon upon his stay in office. The subordinates too are
miserably paid, and have hardly a shilling for the necessaries of life;
consequently they have greedy palms, and so oppression, venality,
injustice, and all kinds of evils, are perpetrated. The religious
communities, however, do not suffer as they once did, owing to the zeal
and moderation of Surraya Pasha, the energy of the Consuls, and the
resistance which some of the Ecclesiastical Dignitaries have offered to
grasping cupidity and unjust demands. Among these, however, we cannot
reckon the Orientals, who still submit slavishly, and pay whatever is
demanded, as they are dependent upon the Sublime Porte, and so must
comply with the custom of the country. In conclusion, I may add, that
money is all-powerful with the Turks and Arabs in Jerusalem: gold calms
fanaticism, humbles the proud, renders justice uncertain and the police
blind, opens the prison-doors; in a word, in that city everything has
its price. The effect of this is that self-interest, as I have already
said, prevents any outbreak of fanaticism against the Christians or the
Jews, as the Mohammedans know full well that by this means they would be
greatly the losers.
A few words must also be said about the proselytes among the different
Christian sects. The insane rivalries among these, far more than true
conviction, produce the greater number of converts from one party to
another. Of this there are many sad examples in Jerusalem. Whenever a
person (I do not refer to Europeans) thinks he is wronged by his own
community, he turns to another, and goes where he expects to find the
greatest advantages. No one can form an idea of this commerce in
religion who has not lived some time at Jerusalem and seen it for
himself. The most trivial matters are enough to make a man change his
creed; but happily the Missionaries and Convents are beginning to open
their eyes to the true state of the case, and do not so readily admit
the new converts into their church, without making previous enquiry into
their character, and the reasons which have produced the change.
One of the things which excites commerce and brings a little money into
Jerusalem is the system of pilgrimages; and on these I purpose to say a
few words, without entering into details--an endless matter. The
European pilgrims are not so numerous as those from the East, and most
of them are poor, so that they bring more expense than profit to the
Franciscans, in whose convents they are lodged and fed, and by whom
they are conducted to the spots consecrated by the events of the Old and
New Testament. For this the monks ask nothing, though they accept any
gift that is offered; consequently the presents are unfrequent, and
seldom compensate for the expense that the donor has caused. Every
pilgrim is allowed to remain a month in the hospice at Jerusalem,
without any other recommendation than his passport and three days in the
others in different parts of Palestine, provided he be in good health.
When he is ill, according to his rank, he is nursed in the hospice, or
in the hospital, without anything to pay for doctors, druggists, or
attendants. It is plain, therefore, that this philanthropic undertaking
of the Franciscans is on too large a scale, and is a burden to the
convents, besides encouraging knaves and vagabonds, who go on
pilgrimages to pass away the time and live in idleness. A judicious
reform of this unlimited hospitality, and a careful scrutiny of the
papers of such as appear to be vagrants, would be a beneficial change.
Those who think that the pilgrims supply, in great part, the revenues
which enable the Fathers of the Holy Land to bear these heavy expenses,
should know that these come mainly from the different Christian nations,
with whose alms the churches, schools, and houses in which the pilgrims
are lodged, are maintained, and the poor and pilgrims supported. In
order to give an idea of the number of the pilgrims who have availed
themselves of the hospitality of the Franciscans during the last ten
years, I print the following extract from the Archives of the Convent of
S. Saviour:
Year. | No. of Pilgrims | Length of their
| received. | stay (days).
| |
1850 | 3611 | 16373
1851 | 3797 | 28580
1852 | 5696 | 20109
1853 | 5574 | 21364
1854 | 4620 | 18144
1855 | 6874 | 23522
1856 | 5470 | 21302
1857 | 7196 | 26280
1858 | 5809 | 25800
1859 | 7116 | 27792
Therefore in these ten years 55,763 pilgrims have been admitted into the
different convents in Palestine, who were supported during 229,346 days,
and their offerings cannot have been enough to entertain them for a
third part of their stay, so that the Friars cannot be said to derive
any advantage from them.
The Latin Patriarchate, though its revenues are small in comparison with
the expenses it has to support, practises largely the virtue of
hospitality, and knows well how to succour the poor and destitute.
The Protestant Mission relieves the poor, but does not offer to
travellers or pilgrims of its own faith the same advantage as the heads
of the Latin community, who bestow their benefits upon members of other
religious sects with as much care as upon their own.
The Jewish community relieves its pilgrims from the moment of their
arrival, admitting them into houses appointed for that purpose; but if
the strangers are without means of their own, they have no great cause
to praise the welcome and hospitality they receive.
The great mass of pilgrims to the Holy City comes, every year, from the
East, consisting of Russians, Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Copts,
Abyssinians, Maronites, and Mohammedans themselves. The greater part of
these arrive at Jaffa in steam-boats or trading vessels, in which they
are stowed like merchandise, or like negroes in a slave-ship. Not only
men, but also entire families, women, girls, and boys, the aged, the
sick, and the maimed, make the long pilgrimage. These all expose
themselves to bad weather by sea and land, to great privations, and to
all kinds of exactions. They assemble in large companies, carrying their
provisions along with them, besides merchandize for driving bargains,
together with mats for bedding, and cooking vessels, which they load
upon camels, mules, and asses. They, however, in many cases walk, often
bare-foot, making short stages, sleeping in the open air, or crowded
together in a convent; enduring all these fatigues in order to worship
in the places which Christ has consecrated by His sufferings. When they
arrive at Jerusalem they betake themselves severally to the convents
belonging to their own community, and there, after certain formalities,
are distributed into lodgings; where, if Greeks, they are crowded
together in heaps; if Armenians, they are more comfortable; and if
Russians, they have every comfort. I will not weary the reader by
relating what the arrangements of the different communities are with
regard to their pilgrims; but will only describe those of the Greeks, as
they receive the greatest number of all.
The Greek pilgrims of high rank are conducted into apartments assigned
to them, where they are well lodged and nourished, according to their
importance and dignity. They are not asked for money, but are given to
understand the wants of the community, and the needs of the Church; so
that they pay liberally for the hospitality they have received, and for
the churches and Sanctuaries they have visited. The common pilgrims,
after reposing two days in the great convent of S. Constantine, are
presented to the Patriarch, who receives an offering from each, under
the name of a contribution to the wants of the churches and convents of
his diocese. They are then conducted into the Church of the
Resurrection, where they pass a night in prayer, and make other
offerings to the Guardian of the Sepulchre for the maintenance of the
Sanctuaries. On being brought back into the convent, a plentiful repast
is provided for them, and their names are enrolled for the pilgrimages
to the Jordan and Nazareth, for which they pay a tax. They are then
conducted to their lodgings, or rather dens, in one of the numerous
convents in Jerusalem. On taking possession of these, they pay a sum
proportionate to the expense of their pilgrimage, amounting only to
eight or ten shillings. They must, however, make a present in addition,
to the church of the place, to those who have brought them, to the
Superior who receives them, and to the laics who assist to instal them
in their new quarters. When they are settled, they are taken to visit
the Tomb of the Virgin and all the churches of the convents, where they
pay. They make pilgrimages to Bethlehem, and all the other remarkable
places. They buy relics, ask for prayers and blessings, but always pay;
so that after being entertained at their own expense for four or five
months, and after having expended their resources, many are obliged to
sell their baggage to return to their native lands, taking back with
them the articles they have acquired with so much toil, all of which
however have received a blessing. That they are crowded together, and
may be said to occupy dens rather than lodgings, appears from the fact,
that sometimes eight persons are quartered in a room 16 or 18 feet
square, who have not unfrequently met for the first time, and are from
different countries; so that the reader may easily conceive the
inconveniences they suffer, and the maladies that are caused by the
straitened accommodation, especially when the winter happens to be more
rainy than usual. Notwithstanding all the observations that have been
made on this barbarous manner of lodging, they are always tenacious of
their ancient customs; but as Russia now provides well for her own
pilgrims, it is to be hoped that the Greeks, having more space, will
find some better manner of accommodating theirs.
With the Armenians the pilgrims are better cared for in every respect;
but they have to pay for everything, as with the Greeks.
The pilgrims of the different communities are on no better terms one
with another than the convents themselves; consequently quarrels break
out every year, in which, though life is not lost, bruises and blows of
sticks are plentifully bestowed. These contests are most frequent
between the Greeks and the Armenians; and the monks, instead of
attempting to allay the strife, rather excite it.
I conclude by giving a list of the schools, hospitals, hospices, and
other establishments, belonging to the different communities in
Jerusalem.
The Jews possess:--
8 Schools (now perhaps more).
1 Hospital, bearing Rothschild's name.
2 Houses used as Hospices (now perhaps more).
1 Large building for lodging the poor, called after Sir
M. Montefiore.
The Mohammedans:--
1 Military Hospital.
1 Hospice, called after Saladin.
1 Hospice of the Kusbeck Dervishes.
1 Tekhiyeh el-Khasseki-Sultane, where the poor are supported.
A number of unimportant Schools.
Several ruined buildings in the _Haram es-Sherîf_, in which the
poor are lodged.
The Lepers' Quarter.
The Orthodox Greeks:--
1 Seminary, called after the Holy Cross.
2 Boys' Schools.
1 Girls' School.
1 Free Dispensary.
18 Convents for accommodating Pilgrims.
A number of houses used for the same purpose, and many others for
the poor of the community.
1 Printing Press.
The Latins:--
1 Patriarchal Seminary at Beit-jala.
1 Boys' School, kept by the Friars Minor.
2 Girls' Schools, one kept by the Sisters of S. Joseph; the other
by the Daughters of Sion. 1 Hospital of S. Louis.
1 Hospice of the Casa Nuova.
1 Hospice, called after the Flagellation.
1 Hospice (the Austrian).
1 Printing Press.
1 Carpenter's shop.
1 Forge.
Several houses for the poor of the community.
The Armenians:--
1 Seminary.
1 Printing Press.
1 Boys' School.
1 Girls' School.
Magnificent Lodgings for Pilgrims.
Houses for the poor.
Protestant Missions:--
1 Boys' School.
1 Girls' School.
1 Girls' School, managed by the Prussian Deaconesses.
1 Hospital under the same care.
1 Hospice (Prussian).
1 Hospital (English).
1 Carpenters' School.
1 Reading Room.
Some houses belonging to the Prussians.
Russians:--
1 Hospital.
Magnificent Lodgings for Pilgrims.
Copts:--
1 Hospice.
Houses for members of their community.
The other communities have only their convents.
In a population of only 20,453 inhabitants, where there are so many
schools and so many establishments, it is a great misfortune that no
progress is seen, and that there does not appear to be even the hope of
obtaining it for a long time to come.
FOOTNOTES:
[898] To show the sums received by the reverend Franciscan Fathers of
the Holy Land, I think it will prove interesting if I give the following
account published in a pamphlet, _L'Eco Francescano_, printed at Madrid
in the year 1854. It is an authentic statement of the sums sent by the
Catholic states to the Holy Land between the years 1650 and 1850. I do
not add the details of the manner in which the amount was expended,
because I have not the necessary papers; but I do not exaggerate when I
say that those who have derived the greatest advantage from it have been
the ministers of the Ottoman Porte and their dependents.
Spanish Reals.
Spain sent 146,362,280
The Austrian States (Lombardy and
Venice are not distinct) 18,361,680
France 2,499,420
Naples 14,091,560
Portugal 39,685,480
Sicily 5,275,000
Rome 2,205,660
Tuscany 3,290,800
Island of Sardinia 1,137,700
Island of Malta 1,439,360
Piedmont 5,578,120
-----------
Total 239,737,060
About 11,996,883 francs, nearly half a million sterling, of which not a
centime remains.
[899] Palestine, p. 653.
NOTES.
NOTES ON CHAPTER I.
NOTE I. See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. IV. 2 sqq.; and his book on the
Martyrs of Palestine, chap. 11; Dio's resumé of the history of the reign
of Hadrian; S. Jerome, Letter to Paulinus.
NOTE II. Neby Samwîl (Prophet Samuel) is a village on the N.W. of
Jerusalem, at a distance of about three hours from the city. From its
summit the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea are visible, and it commands a
magnificent view of Palestine to the East and West. This is not the
place to say anything of this site in its connexion with ancient
topography; I will merely state in passing that I dissent from the
opinion of Dr Robinson, who would identify the place with Mizpeh, the
frequent meeting-place of the Jews (Judges xx.; 1 Sam. vii. 6, 12, x.
17, 24); I believe it to be Ramah. For here is found the sepulchre of
the prophet Samuel, which I have myself seen, and from the earliest
times to this day the Israelites have constantly undertaken pilgrimages
in order to touch even the outer walls which enclose the tomb.
Accordingly I identify the Ramah mentioned in 1 Sam. xxv. 1 and xxviii.
3, and the Ramah of Josephus (Ant. VI. 13, § 5), with the Arab village
of Neby Samwîl. In my book on the tombs of Machpelah, Ephratah, and
Ramah, this point will be discussed at length.
NOTE III. "He removed thence (from Gabaoth Saul), and came to a place
called Scopus; from whence the city began already to be seen, and a
plain view might be taken of the great temple." (Josephus, Wars, V. 2, §
3.) Titus himself, with 600 horsemen, had made a reconnoitring
expedition before he encamped at Scopus, during which he was intercepted
by a body of the Jews, and had a very narrow escape with his life.
Scopus was, however, the first place from which the main army obtained a
view of the city.
NOTE IV. Above each of the gates of Jerusalem is inserted a stone
bearing the following inscription, which was translated for me from the
Arabic (Plate VII.): "The Sultan our sovereign, the most potent king,
and illustrious monarch, the lord of the nations, the king of the
Greeks, Arabs, and Persians, the Sultan Solyman (whose reign may God
render happy and immortal!) caused the building of these holy walls, in
the year 941;" of the Hejra, that is, corresponding to 1534 of the
common era.
NOTE V. I subjoin the following note for the information of travellers,
that they may not have to pass the night outside the Jaffa gate, or on
Fridays lose valuable time.
The gates of the city are all closed at sunset, the Jaffa gate a little
later, that being the one by which all foot-passengers enter the city,
and by which the inhabitants of the city go out for their walks. A
person reaching Jerusalem after all the gates are closed can procure
entrance by the Jaffa gate only, on obtaining a permit from the
governor.
Every Friday at the hour of prayer (i.e. from noon to 1 P.M.) all the
gates of the city are closed, and it is difficult to obtain permission
to have them opened. This is done to allow time to the guards in charge
for their devotions.
NOTE VI. The following are the names of the principal streets of
Jerusalem:
_Harat bâb-el-'Amud_ (the street of the Column-gate), crosses the city
from North to South;
_Souk el-Kebir_ (the street of the Grand Bazaar), runs from West to
East, and is the same which in the time of the Crusades was called the
Street of David;
_Harat el-Alam_ (the _Via Dolorosa_), starts from the gate of S. Mary,
passes to the barrack on Mount Moriah, then after bearing for a short
way to the South in the Tyropoeon valley, takes again a Westerly
direction as far as the Porta Judiciaria;
_Harat el-Naçâra_ (the street of the Christians), from the Holy
Sepulchre to the Latin Convent;
_Harat el-Arman_ (the Armenian street), on the East of the Castle;
_Harat el-Yahud_ (the Jews' street) is situated on the Eastern slope of
Mount Sion;
_Harat bâb Hotta_, the street that runs parallel to the Temple in the
central valley;
And many others, which are little frequented, and are not worthy of
mention.
NOTES ON CHAPTER II.
NOTE I. The drainage system of the city is divided into the Southern,
Northern, and Eastern sections, the division of the two former being
marked by the street called the Street of David. The keeping in repair
of the Southern section is the business of the local governor, and in
consideration thereof he receives a fixed annual sum from the Armenians
and the Jews, as inhabitants of that quarter. The Northern section as
far as the central valley is kept in repair by the Latin and Greek
convents, this district containing the quarters of their respective
nations. All the drainage on the Eastern side is under the sole charge
of the governor. The Arabs very seldom take the trouble to look after
their own sewers, but are zealous enough in enforcing the execution of
repairs which belong to the Christian communities; and since the latter
have them executed with an ill-will, and employ men of no experience for
the direction of the works, the drains are choked and flooded almost
every year, and are constantly being opened for repairs; a cause of no
slight annoyance in the city. It was during these works that, for eight
successive years, I had the opportunity of examining their formation,
their respective inclines, and directions, from which I found that they
all run into the central valley (the Tyropoeon Valley of my map), and
thence drain away to the S.E. outside the city, as far as the large
pool, now filled up, below the fountain of Siloam.
The Christians have been obliged to accept the performance of these and
other foul works since the commencement of the supremacy of the Arabs
and Turks, who have submitted them to the most severe humiliations, and
to the most vile and oppressive tasks.
NOTE II. On the subject of "cubits" and stadia, I transcribe the remarks
of M. Munk, in his book entitled "La Palestine," subjoining an account
of my own special observations on the subject.
"The measures of length, called _Middoth_, are generally referred to the
hand and arm; the following are mentioned: (1) _Eçba_ (Jer. lii. 21),
_the finger_, i.e. the breadth of the finger or thumb; (2) _Tephach_ (1
Kings vii. 26), or _tophach_ (Exodus xxv. 25), the _hand-breadth_, i.e.
the breadth of four fingers; (3) _Zereth_ (Exodus xxviii. 16), the
distance between the tips of the thumb and little finger, or the _span_;
(4) _Ammah_, the whole length of the fore-arm, or _cubit_. The relative
value of these measures is not indicated in any part of the Bible; to
fix it, we must consult Josephus and the Rabbinic traditions. In Exodus
xxv. 10, the dimensions of the ark are stated as follows; length 2-1/2
cubits, breadth 1-1/2 cubits, height 1-1/2 cubits. Josephus, in the
Antiquities (III. 6, § 5), represents the 2-1/2 cubits by 5 spans, and
for 1-1/2 cubits puts 3 spans: hence the span was the half of the cubit.
The Rabbins agree with Josephus; according to them the zereth is half a
cubit, referring to the mean cubit[A] which contained six hand-breadths,
each hand-breadth being equivalent to four fingers. These data may be
adhered to as exact, because the same proportions recur in other ancient
systems. Thus for example the Greeks had their cubits of 1-1/2 feet,
which made six hand-breadths or 24 fingers; Herodotus (II. 149) speaks
of a cubit of six hands in use amongst the Egyptians. We have then for
the relative values of the Hebrew measures the following table:
_Ammah_ 1
_Zereth_ 2 . 1
_Tephach_ 6 . 3 . 1
_Eçba_ 24 . 12 . 4 . 1
"The knowledge of the absolute value of any one of these would therefore
be sufficient to enable us to deduce those of the rest; but since on
this point we have no positive datum, in the writings either of Josephus
or of the Rabbins, we must be contented with an approximate estimate by
the aid of the Egyptian measures, which modern discoveries enable us to
fix with a certain precision. It is probable, besides, that the system
of the Hebrews was borrowed from that of the Egyptians. The Rabbins
determine their measures of length by the breadth of grains of barley
placed side by side--a custom which also prevails amongst the Arabs and
other Eastern tribes. It is easily seen that there is an uncertainty in
this method of measurement, owing to the unequal sizes of the
barley-grains. Maimonides, who has made minute calculations on the
subject, has found that the Eçba of the Bible is equal to the breadth of
seven average-sized grains of barley[B], which gives for the _Ammah_
168. It is found by calculations sufficiently exact that the Arab cubit,
which is estimated at 144 grains of barley (that is, twenty-four fingers
of six grains each), when reduced to (Paris) lines and decimal parts of
lines, gives 213.050[C], which would give for the Hebrew _Ammah_ of 168
barley-grains 248.564 (about 560 millimetres, or 22 inches). This result
is not thoroughly exact, but it will be seen that it does not differ
much from the probable value of the Egyptian measures;--at any rate it
may serve to establish the connexion which existed between the measures
of the Hebrews and those of the Egyptians.
"But another question presents itself. The learned have attributed to
the Hebrews more than one kind of cubit[D], and while we reject mere
conjectures that have no solid basis, we must at any rate admit two
kinds; the one ancient or Mosaic, used for the measurement of sacred
things, the other modern, for common use. In the second book of
Chronicles (iii. 3), a 'cubit of the first measure,' or ancient cubit,
is spoken of as employed for the measurements of the Temple of
Solomon,--which implies the existence of a modern or common cubit. The
prophet Ezekiel (xl. 5, xliii. 13) in a vision in which he sees the
dimensions of the future temple, speaks evidently of a cubit containing
a hand-breadth more than the ordinary cubit, from which we may conclude
that between the two cubits there was a difference of a hand-breadth.
This difference the Talmud interprets in the sense, that the less
contained only five of the six hand-breadths of the greater[E]; but it
would be more consistent to give them the same ratio as the two
different Egyptian cubits had, i.e. that of 7 : 6, approximately.
Further, it is probable that each of the two was divided into six
hand-breadths; the Talmud speaks expressly of longer and shorter
hand-breadths[F]. The old Mosaic cubit was, without doubt, the royal
cubit of the Egyptians, and the different scales of this still extant,
together with the measurements of several Egyptian monuments, give for
its mean value about 525 millimetres[G] (or 20.67 inches). This result
appears less doubtful since it differs by only 35 millimetres from that
which was found by the very uncertain calculation of the breadth of the
barley-grains. Admitting this, we obtain for the value of the ordinary
cubit 450 millimetres or 433.5 (i.e. 17.71 or 17.07 inches), according
as we take the Egyptian ratio 7 : 6 or that of the Talmud 6 : 5. Each of
these two cubits was divided in the same proportion into two spans, six
hand-breadths, and twenty-four fingers.
"With measures of length may be classed those of distance, or
road-measures; but the old Hebrews measured their roads in a very vague
and uncertain manner; and as we shall not need to refer to their
measurements in this book, I leave the discussion of them to turn to
those which are necessary.
"In the Græco-Roman period the Jews reckoned by stadia and miles; which
measures are found in the Old Testament and in the Talmud, as is also
the _Sabbath-day's journey_ (Acts i. 12), which was about 2000 cubits."
Josephus also often quotes his measurements in stadia, so I will speak
of these. Three principal kinds of stadia are known; the Olympic,
equivalent to 184.95 metres (or 606.8 feet); the Pythian, equal to 147.6
metres (or 484.3 feet), and lastly the Philæterian, of 213 metres (or
698.8 feet). Through the whole of this work I have adopted the Olympic,
because in the measurements taken in Jerusalem itself, and its environs,
I have found that it alone corresponds with all the distances which are
cited in stadia by Josephus. That author, speaking of the Mount of
Olives, puts it at five stadia from the city, Mount Scopus at seven, the
monument of Absalom at two, Herodium at sixty, and lastly, Anathoth at
twenty stadia. All these distances I have verified, comparing them with
the Olympic stadium, and have always found them exact. Hence it is that
I employ this to measure the thirty-three stadia of the city's
circumference, and the thirty-nine of the lines drawn round it by Titus,
&c. For the sacred cubit of the first measure I have adopted the
Egyptian of 20.67 inches, and for the common cubit that of 17.71 inches,
as a result of the extended observation and study of measurements that I
have made on the old stones which are found in the Eastern wall of the
Temple, or of the Haram es-Sherîf; with considerable difficulty I have
managed to measure many such which have suffered no mutilation, and have
found them to correspond with the ordinary cubits and their aliquot
parts of spans, hand-breadths, and digits.
In case the reader should desire to examine more minutely the question
of Jewish measures, I refer him to the following works, to which the
numerals in the text above relate.
[A] David Kimchi's Dictionary, s. vv. 'Zereth' and 'Tephach;'
Maimonides, _Comment. on Mishna_, part 5, tract _Middoth_, ch. 3, § 1,
part 6; tract _Kilim_, ch. 17, § 9.
[B] Maimonides, _Mische Thorah_, or _Summary of the Talmud_, Bk. II.
sect. 3 (_Sepher Thorah_), ch. 9, § 9.
[C] Böckh's Metrologische Untersuchungen, p. 247. Bertheau, ch. 1, p.
60.
[D] Leusden, Philologus Hebræomixtus, p. 211, where four kinds of cubits
are mentioned; the _common_, the _Sacred_, the _royal_, and the
_geometrical_.
[E] Maimonides, Comment. on the Mishna, tract _Middoth_, III. 1;
_Mishna_, tract _Ketim_; the commentaries of Raschi and Kimchi on Ezek.
xl. 5.
[F] Babylonish Talmud, tract _Succa_, fol. 7, a. Compare Buxtorf,
Lexicon Talmudicum, coll. 900 and 2370.
[G] Böckh finds 524.587 millimetres, nearly 232.55 lines. See Bertheau,
c. 1, p. 83.
NOTE III. The Armenians, in the various new edifices that they have
built on Mount Sion, have found remains of walls, stones, reservoirs and
cisterns of the most remote antiquity, generally at a depth of eighteen
or even twenty feet below the surface, sometimes more. Before my arrival
in Jerusalem, whilst digging for foundations they found a large quantity
of small blocks of limestone of five and seven inches cube, dressed on
every side, and so many in number that they employed them to build high
and long unmortared walls, which to this day surround their property on
the south inside the city. These stones were found collected together in
one place, and were not scattered about: it is not impossible that they
had been prepared to line the walls of a large pool. I say this because
stones of this shape are now found in the pool of Bethesda, but in this
reservoir they are wrought with more accuracy and uniformity. In my own
time, in 1859, they discovered a pool, cut in the solid rock, which
shewed however that the work had not been completed; it was 18 feet
long, 10 broad, and 10 deep. In its neighbourhood were seen traces of
conduits that they had begun to cut out in the rock.
On the same site I have examined a wall made of blocks of stone roughly
squared, combined with others of a polygonal form; the size of the
stones for the most part being from two to four cubic feet, and all the
interstices between them on the two faces and inside being filled with
small stones well fitted together without any trace of cement. At an
angle where the stones were larger I observed that they were secured
together by means of tenons and mortises of parallelepipedal form cut in
the stone itself. The wall was about 5-1/2 feet broad by 6 feet high;
but it was evident that it must have been mutilated at some time. I
assign it to the age of the Jebusites.
Another wall, six feet broad, was composed of large irregular blocks of
stone of from four to eight cubic feet. In it could be distinguished
four rows placed one above the other, whose stones were fastened by
clamps of iron or of stone, and in each was discernible more or less
some trace of rude rustic work: in the interstices of the interior were
inserted small stones well packed together without cement, so that the
internal building of the wall formed a solid mass. To their discredit
the Armenians do not trouble themselves about antiquities, and
consequently take no pains to preserve such ancient remains as they meet
with, but destroy or hide them, or avail themselves of the materials for
the building of new walls.
NOTE IV. In the environs of the city, with the exception of the north
and north-west, are frequently found walls, conduits, and scattered
stones of large size, rusticated or not, and with or without marks of
clamps; but they have been constantly broken up because of the want of
will, and also of mechanical means, to make the most of them, or to
remove them. Owing to this vandalism, the most precious remains of
antiquity are daily disappearing from the soil of Jerusalem. Not seldom
trunks of columns, capitals, pedestals, have been found, but some rude
clown has broken them up, to be able the more easily to transport the
fragments into the city. Sometimes old walls have been broken up by
blasting, without any one's taking the trouble to preserve them, or even
to delay their destruction, so as to allow of some examination of them.
These cases are repeated daily on Mount Sion, on the east of the Mount
of Olives, and on the western side of the valley of Kidron; but never in
any part where it is not known from human memory, or received tradition,
that there have been found remains of Jewish buildings, or large stones
scattered over the soil.
On the north and north-west I have made various excavations in order to
recover, if possible, one of the Herodian stones of twenty cubits
(Josephus, Jewish War, V. 4, § 2); but after repeated and careful
research I have failed to find a single one, I do not say of twenty
cubits, but even of four: nothing is found there but rock and small
unshapen stones, which do not however give one the idea that they have
ever formed part of blocks of larger dimensions.
NOTE V. To facilitate the reader's understanding of the allusions in the
course of the work, it is necessary that I should indicate the titles by
which I characterise the different walls and stones which are found at
Jerusalem.
_Jebusite Walls_. This name and age I assign to those that are built of
unsquared stones of different sizes, some of which are fastened together
by tenon and mortise; the interstices being filled with small stones.
(See Note III.)
_Walls of David_. By this name I indicate those walls whose stones are
of considerable size and rudely squared, and which present some trace of
irregular rustic-work, and are always fastened by tenons of stone or
clamps of iron.
_Walls of Solomon_. (See Plate X.) Walls of Solomon I call those that
are composed of large blocks of stone, that have not all the same
breadth and height, and whose rude rustic-work, about two inches in
relief, is surrounded by a flat band of from two inches to two inches
and a half. They are fastened together by tenons and mortises in the
stone itself, or by cubical pieces inlaid, of a different stone from the
block itself, and contain no cement. The various layers of stone one
above the other are in one vertical plane, and diminish in thickness the
higher they rise; but the vertical joinings of the stones of any layer
do not correspond with any regularity with those of a higher or lower
layer (Fig. 1): this kind is especially found in the basement of the
east wall of the Haram.
By the _wall of Nehemiah_ I mean that which presents many blocks of the
same character with those of the walls of Solomon; but these are joined
together in an irregular manner, that is to say, the several layers are
not formed of stones of equal heights, some stones appear to be turned
upside down, in some the rustic-work is mutilated in places, many are
placed aslant, and lastly, not a few shew the holes where the clamps
have been (that is, the side is put in front); and besides, there are
mixed with these small stones which appear with a portion of
rustication, which shews that the large stones of the old wall have been
broken in order to place them more carefully in their position. I assign
them to Nehemiah, because the Bible informs us (Neh. iv. 17, 18, vi.
15), that he conducted the work in the midst of alarms, the workmen
being all armed, so as to render the walls fit to sustain the assaults
with which their enemies were threatening them every moment. Accordingly
to this they owe the irregularity with which they were formed (Fig. 2).
What I have described may be observed in the east wall of the Haram
towards the southern end.
_Herodian walls_ I judge to be those which present large squared blocks,
polished with accurate exactness, and joined together without cement,
but with the most delicate care: they have a rustication, much wrought,
standing two or three lines in relief, and surrounded by a band of about
an inch and a half wide. In these walls the sizes of the stones diminish
regularly as they rise higher from the ground, and the vertical joinings
of alternate layers correspond exactly throughout, and are at the middle
points of the stones which separate the two layers; lastly, every layer
is an inch and a half in rear of the preceding. Walls of this kind are
found at the S.E. corner of the Haram, and in its western enclosure
towards the south (Fig. 3).
_The Roman walls_ are formed of fine squared stones, well wrought,
joined by means of cement. They may be seen on the south and at the
south-west corner of the Haram (Fig. 4).
The walls built by the Crusaders, or by the old Arabs (Saracenic work),
reveal themselves at once by the economical proportion of the stones, by
the excellent way in which they are joined, and sometimes by their being
formed of rows of different colours, red, white, and black (Fig. 5).
The Arab walls of the present day are distinguished by their miserable
appearance.
NOTE VI. At the first entry of Omar into the city he was conducted by
the Patriarch Sophronius to visit the Holy Sepulchre. Whilst he was
lingering there, mid-day struck, whereupon the Khalif went out to
perform his devotions, and retired to the place where afterwards the
little mosque was built;--a remarkable instance of moderation on the
part of the Khalif, seeing that, if he had prayed in the Christian
church, it would by Mohammedan law have been converted into a mosque. It
is owing to this that the sons of Islam have left it to the Christian
worship. The adjoining minaret was built by the Mohammedans at the
expense of the Christians in the 13th century.
NOTE VII. M. Munk, in his book on Palestine writes, "We enumerate here
the gates of Jerusalem in their actual order, as ascertained, if not
with certainty, at any rate with probable accuracy, starting from the
North-west and passing thence to the West, South and East, so as to make
the circuit of the walls.
(1) The gate called the _ancient_ or _first gate_ on the North-east; (2)
the _gate of Ephraim_, or of _Benjamin_, on the North, leading to the
allotments of these two tribes; (3) the _Corner-gate_ on the North-west,
at a distance of 400 cubits from the preceding; (4) the _Valley-gate_,
on the West, leading probably to the _valley of Gihon_, and the
dragon-well (Neh. ii. 13); (5) the _Dung-gate_ on the South-west, 1000
cubits from the preceding (Ibid. iii. 13), apparently the same which was
afterwards called the _gate of the Essenes_; (6) the _Fountain-gate_ on
the South-east, so called from the fountain of Siloam (?), possibly the
same which Jeremiah (xix. 2) calls _Harsith_ (_Pottery-gate_), and which
led to the valley of Hinnom. On the South side, where Mount Sion is
inaccessible, there were probably no gates. There remain still five
gates, which must have been on the East or South-east of the Temple in
the following order from South to North; (7) the _Water-gate_; (8) the
_Horse-gate_; (9) the _gate of the Review_ or _numbering_ (vulg. Porta
Judicialis, Neh. iii. 31); (10) the _Sheep-gate_; (11) the
_Fish-gate_;--the _Prison-gate_ (Neh. xii. 39) appears to have been one
of the gates of the Temple."
NOTE VIII. The present castle is called by some the Castle of the
Pisans; and Adrichomius says that it was built by them when the Latins
were the masters of Jerusalem. His words are, "The castle of the Pisans,
surrounded by broad fosses, and by towers, was built on the West side of
the city by the Christians of Pisa in Italy, at the time when they
occupied the Holy Land. Where the Pisans formerly were, the Saracens,
and at the present time the Turks, levy a sacrilegious tribute on the
pilgrims to the Holy Land."
I cannot attribute to the Pisans the entire building of the edifice, but
I grant that they may have restored it in great part. It is certain that
Solyman repaired this castle in the year 1534; the inscriptions above
the entrance tell us thus much.
NOTE IX. Traditions in the East are very unwavering, a fact recognised
by all. For instance, we are told that the Judgment Hall was near to
the Temple, on the west side; to this day the Mohammedan tribunal is
there, and the Arabs say that their judges sit in the very Judgment Hall
not only of the Crusaders but of Solomon. I grant that the walls of the
building do not indicate that it is of the age of Solomon, but I shall
discuss this building more in detail hereafter.
NOTE X. _Description of Jerusalem by Tacitus_ (_H._ V. 10-12).
"Accordingly, as we have said, he (Titus) pitched his camp before the
walls of Jerusalem, and made a display of his forces, having drawn them
up in battle array. The Jews formed their line close under the walls,
where, if success attended them, they could venture further out, and at
the same time had a place of shelter ready, in case they should be
driven back.
"The cavalry were sent against them together with the light-armed
auxiliaries, and fought with doubtful issue; but in time the enemy gave
way, and on the following days engaged in frequent skirmishings before
the gates, till by their repeated losses they were driven within the
walls. The Romans then prepared to carry the place by assault, thinking
it unworthy of them to wait till the enemy should be starved out, and
volunteered for the dangerous duty of the storming party, some from real
valour, many from a reckless bravery and coveting its special rewards.
Titus himself had Rome with its wealth and pleasures before his eyes,
which seemed to be retarded should not Jerusalem fall at once. But the
city, naturally difficult of access, was further strengthened by works
and defences which would prove sufficient protection even on level
ground. For two hills, which rise to a considerable elevation, were
enclosed by walls scientifically made to slant or bend inwards, in order
that the flank of a besieging party might be exposed to fire. The edge
of the rock breaks off in precipices, and the towers were built to the
height of 60 feet, where the form of the mountain added to the height,
and to a height of 120 in the lower ground, presenting a wonderful
appearance, and at a distance seemingly of equal height. There was a
second line of walls inside surrounding the king's palace, and the
conspicuous roof of the Antonian tower, so named by Herod in compliment
to Marcus Antonius.
"The Temple was a sort of citadel with walls of its own, superior to the
rest in construction and finish; the porticoes by which the circuit of
the building was made, forming themselves an excellent rampart. It
contains a spring of never-failing water, and large reservoirs hollowed
out under the soil, and pools and cisterns for storing the rain-water.
Its builders had foreseen that frequent wars must arise from the
singularity of their customs, and so had provided everything even to
meet a long siege; and when the city was taken by Pompeius, their fears
and experiences had taught them most of the necessary precautions. And
availing themselves of the greed of the reign of Claudius, they
purchased the right of fortifying the town, and built walls in time of
peace, in apparent anticipation of war--a medley population, its numbers
swollen by the disasters of other cities; for all the most headstrong
men had taken refuge there, and therefore they were more riotous in
their behaviour. They had three leaders, and three armies. The outermost
and widest line of walls was defended by Simon, the middle of the city
by John, the Temple by Eleazar. John and Simon had the largest number of
troops, and the most efficiently armed, while Eleazar had the strongest
position: but internecine fighting, treachery, and incendiarism were
rife amongst them, and a great quantity of corn was burnt. In time John
having sent a detachment of soldiers to murder Eleazar and his band,
under plea of offering sacrifice, made himself master of the Temple. In
this way the city split up into two factions, till on the approach of
the Romans harmony was produced by the war from without."
NOTE XI. _THE PILGRIM OF BORDEAUX'S DESCRIPTION OF JERUSALEM._
"There are in Jerusalem two large pools by the side of the Temple; to
wit, one on the right, and another on the left, which Solomon made.
Inside the city there be two pools with five porticoes, which are called
Bethsaida: there men with diseases of many years' standing were healed.
The water of these pools is somewhat turbid and of a reddish hue. There
likewise is a crypt, where Solomon was wont to torture the unclean
spirits. There is the corner of a very high tower, whither the Lord went
up, and he that tempted said unto Him, (Cast thyself down from hence);
and the Lord said unto him, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, but
Him only shalt thou serve. There is also the great corner-stone of which
it was said, The stone which the builders rejected. Also at the head of
the corner and under the battlements of the tower itself are several
chambers on the spot where Solomon had his palace. There too standeth
the chamber in the which he sat, and described Wisdom, which chamber is
roofed by one single stone. There are two large reservoirs for the
subterraneous water, and pools built with great labour. And in the
building itself where the Temple was, which Solomon built, you would say
that the blood of Zacharias on the marble before the altar had been shed
this very day; and the marks of the nails of the soldiers who slew him
are so plainly seen, that you would think they had been planted on wax
over the whole area. Also there be there two statues of Hadrian, and not
far from the statues is a stone much worn, to which the Jews come every
year, and anoint it, and bemoan themselves with sighs and rend their
garments, and so depart. There is also the house of Hezekiah, king of
Judah. Also as you go out into Jerusalem to go up mount Sion, below you
on the left in the valley hard by the wall is a pool which is called
Siloam. It has four porches, and another large pool without. Its spring
runs for six days and nights, but on the seventh is an entire Sabbath,
and it runs not by night nor by day. Continuing along the same road up
mount Sion, you may see the place where was the house of Caiaphas the
priest, and to this time the column still remains where they scourged
Jesus. Within the walls of Sion is seen the place where David had his
palace, and of seven synagogues which were there one only remains; the
rest are ploughed and sown over, as the prophet Esaias foretold. Then to
proceed outside the wall, as you go from Sion to the Neapolitan gate, on
the right in the valley below are the walls where was once the palace of
Pontius Pilate; there our Lord had hearing before He suffered. On the
left is the hill of Golgotha, where the Lord was crucified. About a
stone's throw thence is the crypt where His body was laid, and on the
third day He rose again: on this spot Constantine the Emperor has
erected lately a basilica, or church, of wondrous beauty, having at the
side reservoirs from which water is drawn, and behind it a bath where
children are baptized.
"Also at Jerusalem, as you go to the Eastern gate, to climb the slope of
the Mount of Olives, on the left is the valley, called the Valley of
Jehoshaphat, where are the vines, and the stone where Judas Iscariot
betrayed Christ; while on the right is the palm-tree from which the
children plucked the boughs, as Christ entered the city, and strewed
them in the way before Him. Not far thence, about a stone's throw, are
two monumental columns of wondrous beauty: on one was placed the statue
of the prophet Isaiah, a true monolith, and on the other Hezekiah, the
king of the Jews. Thence you ascend the Mount of Olives, where the Lord
taught His Apostles before His Passion. There a basilica was built by
order of Constantine. Not far thence is the mountain whither the Lord
went out to pray, when He took with Him Peter and John, and there
appeared unto them Moses and Elias. Eastward thence at 1500 paces is a
village called Bethany, in which is a crypt where Lazarus was laid, whom
the Lord raised to life."
NOTE XII. _Description of Jerusalem during the occupation of the Franks,
extracted from the Universal Geography of Edrisi, who wrote at the
middle of the 12th century._
"JERUSALEM.
"_Beït el-Mocaddas_ (Jerusalem) is an illustrious and ancient city, full
of ancient monuments. It bears the name of Ilia (_Ælia Capitolina_).
Situated on a mountain easy of access on every side," (Edrisi was
mistaken, or has been mistranslated), "it extends from West to East. On
the West is the gate called _El-Mihrab_; beneath is the cupola of David
(to whom God be merciful): on the East the gate called the Gate of
Mercy, which is generally shut, being opened only on the Feast of Palms;
to the South the gate of _Seihun_ (Sion); on the North the gate called
the Gate of _'Amud el-Ghorab_. Starting from the western gate, or gate
of _El-Mihrab_, you go in an easterly direction by a broad street, till
you come to the great Church of the Resurrection, called by Mohammedans
_Comamé_. This church is the object of the pilgrimage of Christians from
all countries of the East and the West. Entering by the western door you
find yourself under a cupola which covers the whole enclosure, and which
is one of the most remarkable sights in the world. The church itself is
beneath this door, and it is not possible to go down into the lower part
of the building on this side; the descent is made on the north side by a
door which opens at the top of a long staircase of thirty steps, which
door is called _Bâb Sitti Mariam_. At the entrance of the church the
spectator finds the Holy Sepulchre, a building of considerable size,
with two doors, and surmounted by a cupola of very solid construction,
built with admirable skill; of these two doors one, on the north side,
faces the door of S. Mary, the other faces the South, and is called _Bâb
es-Salubié_ (door of the Crucifixion): on this side is the peristyle of
the church, in front of which, towards the east, is another church of
considerable size and note, where the Christians celebrate their holy
offices and make their prayers and oblations.
"On the east of this church, by a gentle descent, you come to the prison
where the Lord Messiah was confined, and to the place where he was
crucified. The large dome has a circular opening to the sky, and all
round it and in the interior are seen pictures representing the
Prophets, the Lord Messiah, S. Mary his mother, and S. John Baptist.
Among the lamps which are hung above the Holy Sepulchre are
distinguished three which are of gold and are placed in a particular
spot. If you leave the principal church, and turn your steps eastward,
you will come to the sacred dwelling, which was built by Solomon the son
of David, and was a resort of pilgrims in the time of the greatness of
the Jews. This temple was subsequently taken from them, and they were
driven out of it upon the arrival of the Mohammedans. Under the Moslem
supremacy it was enlarged, and is (at this day) the large mosque known
to Mohammedans under the name of _Mesjid el-Aksa_. There is none in the
world which equals it in size, if you except the great mosque of Cordova
in Andalusia: for, as I am told, the roof of that mosque is larger than
that of _Mesjid el-Aksa_. To proceed, the area of this latter forms a
parallelogram whose length is two hundred fathoms (_ba'a_) and its
breadth a hundred and eighty. The half of this space, which is near to
the _Mihrab_, is covered by a roof (or rather by a dome) of stone
supported by several rows of columns, the rest being open to the sky. In
the centre of the building is a large dome, known as the _Dome of the
Rock_: it has been ornamented with arabesques in gold, and with other
beautiful works, by the care of different Moslem Khalifs. Beneath this
is the falling stone. This stone is of a quadrangular form like a
shield, one of its extremities rising above the ground to the height of
about half a fathom, the other being close to the ground; it is nearly
cubical, and its breadth nearly equal to its length, that is to say,
about ten cubits (_Zira'a_). Beneath is a cavern, or a dark recess, ten
cubits long by five wide, whose height is about six feet. It is entered
only by torch-light. The building contains four doors; opposite the
western is seen the altar on which the children of Israel offered their
sacrifices; near the eastern door is the church called the Holy of
Holies, an elegant building; on the south is a chapel which was used by
the Mohammedans, but the Christians made themselves masters of it by
main force, and it has remained in their power up to the time of the
present work (1154 A.D.). They have converted this chapel into a
convent, where reside certain members of the order of the Templars, i.e.
of the Servants of the House of God. Lastly, the northern door faces a
garden well planted with different kinds of trees, and surrounded by
columns of marble carved with much skill. At the end of the garden is a
refectory for the priests, and for those who are preparing to enter the
religious orders.
"Leaving this place of worship, and turning eastward, you will come to
the _Gate of Mercy_, shut, as we have just said, but near it is another
gate by which you can go in or out, and which is called _Bâb el-Asbat_
(or of the tribes of Israel). Within bow-shot from the latter is a very
large and very beautiful church under the patronage of S. Mary, known by
the name of _Djesmanié_; here is the tomb (of the Virgin) in sight of
the Mount of Olives, about a mile distant from _Bâb el-Asbat_. On the
road by which this mountain is ascended is seen another church, large
and solidly built, which is called the church of the _Pater Noster_; and
on the top is a large church where men and women live a cloister life,
awaiting thus the reward of heaven. On the south-east of the mountain is
the tomb of Lazarus, who was raised to life by the Lord Messiah; and two
miles from Mount Olivet, the village from which was brought the ass on
which the Lord rode on his entry into Jerusalem; this village is now
deserted and in ruins.
"It is on leaving the tomb of Lazarus that the road begins which leads
to the Jordan, which river is distant a day's journey from the Holy
City. Before arriving at its banks you will pass the city of _Erikha_
(Jericho), three miles distant from the river. Near the Jordan is a
large church under the patronage of S. John Baptist, served by Greek
monks. The Jordan flows out of the lake of Tiberias, and empties its
waters into the lake of Sodom and Gomorrah, cities which the Most High
drowned as a punishment for the wickedness of their inhabitants. To the
south of this river is an immense desert.
"As regards the southern side of Jerusalem: leaving the city by the gate
of Sion, you find, at the distance of a stone's throw, the Church of
Sion, a beautiful church, and fortified, where is seen the chamber in
which the Lord Messiah did eat with His disciples, and also the table,
which exists to this day, and is to be seen on Thursdays. From the gate
of Sion you descend into a ravine well known under the name of the
_Valley of Gehenna_ (Hinnom), near which is the Church of S. Peter. In
this ravine is the fountain of _Selwan_ (Siloam), where the Lord Messiah
gave sight to a blind man, who had not before known the light of day. To
the south of this spring is the field which was bought by the Messiah
for the burial of strangers. Not far from it are numerous dwellings cut
out in the rock, and occupied by pious hermits."
NOTE XIII. I may mention here that one day I caused a trumpet to be
played on Gihon, near the present Pool of Mamillah, and the site of the
Russian buildings, and I heard it distinctly, while standing myself by
the Fountain of Rogel, that is by the well situated at the S.E.
extremity of the Valley of Siloam, the _Bir Eyub_ (Well of Joab) of the
Arabs; while, on changing the position of the player, by sending him
more to the N.W., I heard nothing. Accordingly I can confirm in every
respect the Bible account (1 Kings i. 41), that Adonijah heard the
festive cries of the people and the sound of the trumpets which welcomed
the coronation of Solomon.
NOTES TO CHAPTER III.
NOTE I. The Haram es-Sherîf cannot be visited without the permission of
the Pasha, the Governor of the city, which, though almost always
granted, may be delayed for some days. The Pasha himself never gives
permission to enter the sacred enclosure without having first submitted
the question to the Council of the Effendis, who always give their
consent, not of their own free will, but through fear of displeasing him
who makes the request. When all this is arranged, it rests with the
keeper of the Haram to appoint the time for the visit: the time fixed is
always in the morning, because the place is then almost deserted, and
visitors can converse without fear of disturbing the devotion of the
worshippers. Travellers must apply for the permission in question,
through their respective consulates, and every visitor has to pay a fee
to the keeper and to the escort of police who accompany him, to protect
him from any insult, which at times would be sure to arise on the part
of some bigoted Mohammedan. The payment is fixed by custom at twenty
francs. When the visitors do not pay it themselves, the matter is
arranged by their respective consuls. The Europeans who are admitted to
see the Haram must provide themselves with broad Turkish slippers, or
with two pieces of canvas, to cover their ordinary boots; without this
precaution, they would meet with every opposition to their being
admitted to the places of greater sanctity: they should be careful to
carry no cigars with them, and to conduct themselves reverently, because
else some complaint might be lodged against them, in which case those
who came after them might, through their fault, be refused admission to
the ancient summit of Moriah. I speak from experience.
NOTE II. I said that by patience, perseverance, and no slight personal
sacrifice, I managed to obtain a knowledge of the Haram, because, though
I had the required permission, the strong protection of the Pasha, the
support of the Effendi, and Mohammedan sympathy, I was nevertheless
obliged to be continually satisfying the greed of my escort, and still
more of the keeper of the Haram, and, I may add, of his children, with
both money and presents. I was obliged also to see them constantly in my
apartments, enduring their company apparently unmoved, although they
threatened every moment to plunder my goods and eat me up with the
little that I possessed. Besides this, it was no rare thing for me to
arrange with the superintendent of the Haram to begin a work, and then
have to wait several months before I could finish it, simply owing to
the whim of a Mohammedan. Appeal to the Pasha was out of the question,
because any violent measure that he might in such case have taken would
have resulted in a thousand new difficulties thrown in my way, and I
should never have succeeded in my design.
NOTE III. There is an unvarying tradition amongst the Arabs that the
Holy Rock, _Sakharah_, covered by the dome of the mosque, is the same
stone on which slept Israil-Ullah, that is, the patriarch Jacob, and on
which he had the vision of the ladder. Omar himself, when he made his
triumphant entry into Jerusalem, caused a search to be made for it,
inquiring where the stone was that had served for Jacob's pillow. They
agree, moreover, in recognizing in it the ancient foundation of the
Temple of Solomon.
NOTE IV. The Arabs maintain the belief, that under the Sakharah is a
large well (which they call _Bir-el-Arruah_, i.e. _well of souls_) which
communicates with the nether world; and there are a thousand Eastern
legends relating to it. It may be gathered from all these legends that
there is a well of considerable depth, divided into two parts. In the
lower part exists the universal fountain, which furnishes water to the
whole world, and near it stand the mothers of Jesus and Mohammed working
garments for the souls of the righteous. With respect to the two
cisterns on the north of the mosque they relate, that in ancient times
they served as a receptacle for the drainage, but that subsequently they
were cleansed, and that yet, notwithstanding, the waters are not good,
nor fit to drink. I shall shew further on for what purposes these
ancient cisterns of Araunah's threshing-floor were used in the service
of the different Jewish temples.
NOTE V. Those who desire more detailed accounts may consult in
particular the following works: Jacob Jehuda Leone, de Templo
Hierosolymitano (in Hebrew), Amsterdam, 1650, in 4to; translated into
Latin by Saubert, Helmstad, 1665; the same work in Dutch (Afbeeldinge
van den Tempel Salomonis), by the Author, Amsterdam, 1679. This author
has confused together in the same description the Temple of Solomon and
that of Herod. Also Bernard Lami, de Tabernaculo Foederis, de Sancta
Civitate Jerusalem, et de Templo ejus, Paris, 1720, in folio; A. Hirt,
der Tempel Salomons, Berlin, 1809, in 4to; Meyer, der Tempel Salomons,
Berlin, 1830, in 8vo; Winer, Realwörterbuch, Tom. II. pp. 661-670.
NOTE VI. The _bath_, according to Josephus, is equivalent to an Attic
_metretes_, or 72 _xestæ_ (sextarii), or about 8 gallons, 5 pints; (see
Josephus, Antiqq. viii. 2, § 9).
NOTE VII. "According to the prophet Jeremiah (xxv. 11)," writes M. Munk
(Palestine, p. 461), "the Babylonish captivity was to last 70 years. To
obtain this number they make the time fixed by the prophet to date from
the year 606, which, according to Jewish writers, is the first of the
reign of Nebuchadnezzar; and indeed it was in this same year that
Jeremiah spoke for the first time of the 70 years during which the
Babylonish government was to last (xxv. 12), a statement which he
repeats in the year 599, on the occasion of the banishment of Jehoiachin
(xxix. 10). But in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar there was no idea of
a Babylonish captivity."
NOTE VIII. See Josephus, Antiqq. XV. 11, § 1. According to the printed
text, the Temple of Zerubbabel wanted 60 cubits of the height of the
Temple of Solomon, which is unintelligible. The corrected reading of
several Manuscripts, which have "_seven_ cubits," is to be preferred.
(Cf. Havercamp's edition, Vol. I. p. 778, Note 7.)
NOTE IX. The two descriptions of Josephus leave much to be desired, and
the numbers appear in many instances to have been corrupted by the
copyists. They may be supplemented by a third, and more detailed
description, furnished by the _Mishna_, part 5, tract. _Middoth_
(published separately, with a Latin translation and notes, by
L'empereur, Leyden, 1630, in 4to.). Amongst modern writers the following
may be consulted: Lightfoot, _Descriptio Templi Hierosolymitani_, in
his works, Vol I. pp. 549 and following (chiefly after the Mishna);
Hirt, in the Historical and Philological Memoirs of the Berlin Academy
for the Years 1816 and 1817 (published in 1819). Hirt has exclusively
followed Josephus--his plan has several essential defects; M. Munk has
followed that of Wette (Archäologie, § 238), which is much more exact,
and has combined the accounts of Josephus and the Mishna.
NOTE X. According to tradition the folding-doors of the Nicanor gate,
which were of Corinthian bronze, had been brought from Alexandria by one
Nicanor, and miraculously saved from a shipwreck. This gate alone was of
bronze; the others were of wood, and plated with gold and silver. See
Mishna, part 2, tract. Yoma, chap. 3, § 10, and the Comments of
Maimonides; Babylonish Talmud, the same treatise, fol. 38. Compare
Josephus' Wars, V. 5, § 3.
NOTE XI. In the tower _Baris_ were kept the pontifical robes, which were
worn by the High Priest on solemn days: a practice established by the
Asmonean princes, who united in their own persons the chief civil and
religious authority.
NOTE XII. See Jeremiah lii. 12. According to Rabbinical tradition the
burning of the Temple of Solomon began on the ninth of the month Ab in
the evening; and it was moreover on the ninth of Ab that the Romans
burnt the third temple; accordingly, on this day the Jews, with the
exception of the Karaites, keep the anniversary of the destruction of
Jerusalem. Josephus, however (Wars, VI. 4, § 5), agreeing therein with
the book of Jeremiah, expressly mentions the tenth day of the month Loüs
or Ab. Possibly the date given by the Rabbins, as concerns the third
temple, may have been the result of a different calculation of new moons
from that of Josephus.
NOTE XIII. From the time of Hadrian, the Jews obtained, for a money
payment, permission to visit Jerusalem once in the year, there to bewail
their humiliation. See Euseb. Hist. Eccles. IV. 6. This state of things
lasted till the time of S. Jerome: the following words are from his
Commentary on Zephaniah, chap. i. "Even to the present day they are
forbidden to enter Jerusalem, and buy the permission to weep over the
ruins of their city."
NOTE XIV. See Gibbon, chap. 23. The silence which is observed on this
event by S. Jerome, who arrived in Palestine some years afterwards, is,
according to Gibbon, a proof that the pretended miracle had made far
less sensation on the spot than at a distance.
See also Ammian. Marcell. Hist. lib. 23, c. 1; Rufinus, Theodoret,
Socrates, and Sozomen, in their respective histories; the fathers of the
Church, who were contemporary with the event, admit the miracle, as S.
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem. See Clinton, Fasti Rom. A.D. 363.
NOTE XV. Some maintain that the building of this basilica is to be
attributed to S. Helena; but this opinion is not admissible, for
Eusebius who wrote the life of Constantine, makes no mention of it.
There are stronger reasons for attributing it to Justinian, according to
the account transmitted to us by Procopius, his panegyrist, who gives
minute details of its building. See Procopius, de Ædif. Justin. lib. IV.
cap. 6.
NOTE XVI. Omar found the old site of the threshing-floor of Araunah full
of impurities, and was the first to set the example of cleansing it; the
followers of Islam followed his example, and it was then that the Khalif
determined upon building a sumptuous mosque over the holy rock.
NOTE XVII. William of Tyre, Book I. Chap. 2. "There are, moreover, in
the same temple-building, within and without, very old monuments in
mosaic work, and in the Arabic character, which are believed to be of
that date, in which the author of the work, and the expense of it, and
the times at which the work was begun and finished, are evidently set
forth:" he adds that the mosque was the work of Omar, "which, after a
short time, being completed successfully to his mind, as it exists at
this day in Jerusalem, he (Omar) endowed with many and countless
possessions." This author repeats that in the interior, and outside the
building, was written the name of Omar its founder. "Moreover, in the
beginning of this volume, we have named the author of this building, the
son of Catab, who, third from the seducer Mohammed, was his successor in
his apostasy and his kingdom: and that this is so the ancient
inscriptions inside the said building and outside it plainly declare."
(Book VIII. chap. 3.)
NOTE XVIII. An Arab chronicler relates, that "Abd-el-Malek, khalif of
the dynasty of the Ommiades, gave orders for the construction of the
great dome which was then wanting, and sent letters everywhere to inform
the Emirs of his intention. Every one commended his design, and the
people invoked upon him the blessings of heaven. He set aside for this
work the tribute that he collected from Egypt for seven years, and
deposited it under the cupola of the so-called throne of David, which he
turned for the time into a treasury. The charge of this treasury he
entrusted to one Regiah-ben-Havuk, appointing besides, for the
superintendence of the works, Jazib-ben-Salem; and a part of the mosque
to the east having fallen, while the treasury was short of money, he
ordered that the plates of gold with which the dome was ornamented
should be converted into coin. This happened in the year 65 of the
Hejra, or 684 A.D. The mosque was opened to the public at that time
twice a week; on Monday and Thursday. From beneath the Sakharah, the
Mohammedans say, rises the spring of the four rivers of the earthly
paradise, whose waters have the virtue of washing away the sins of those
who drink of them. They believe, moreover, that an angel is appointed to
be guardian of the mosque." (Arab MS. in the library of the Kadi at
Jaffa.)
NOTE XIX. Khondemir, a celebrated Persian historian, who wrote in the
fifteenth century, attributes the enlargement of the building to Valid.
He is an author worthy of credit. He drew the materials of his history
from the famous library of the Emir _Aly-Schyr_, a virtuoso, and a great
protector of letters. The latter, in the year 904 (1498 A.D.), conferred
upon him the post of librarian. He it is who tells the story of the
cupola at Baalbec.
NOTE XX. The invasion of the Carmathians having stopped for a time the
pilgrimages to Mecca, the Mosque of Omar took the place of the _Kaaba_,
and for more than twenty years the crowds of pilgrims turned their steps
towards Jerusalem. This interruption of the pilgrimages began in the
year 317 of the Hejra (A.D. 929) under the Khalifate of Al-Moktadar, and
lasted till 339 (950). (See D'Herbelot, s. v. Cods.)
NOTE XXI. As regards the date of this inscription it is not necessary to
calculate rigorously, whether the works of the building took place after
that period, or began in that year, seeing that the Turkish and Arab
princes date the events of their reign from the day of their accession.
It is the same with the coins which are struck through the whole course
of their reign.
NOTE XXII. A Christian writer, an eye-witness, says, "that under the
dome, and in the porch of the mosque the blood ran up to the knees, and
up to the snaffles of the horses." Michaud, Histoire des Croisades, Vol.
I. p. 443. Fifth edition. Very inappropriately has M. Chateaubriand, in
speaking of the Crusades, repeated it as a truth, "that the spirit of
Mohammedanism is persecution and conquest, and that the Gospel, on the
contrary, preaches only tolerance and peace." The champions of the Cross
gave this doctrine the lie, written in blood. The Crusaders hardly
remembered even for a few moments that they had come to worship the
sepulchre of Christ; after prostrating themselves in the Church of the
Resurrection, they turned aside to renew the scenes of butchery, which
did not cease for a whole week. More than 70,000 Mohammedans, of every
age and sex, were massacred at Jerusalem: the Jews were shut up in their
synagogues and burnt. (Bibliothèque des Croisades, Tom. IV. p. 12.)
NOTE XXIII. This building was consecrated by Albericus, bishop at that
time in Syria, whither Pope Innocent II. had sent him as Apostolical
Legate. A number of noble and distinguished personages were gathered
together to witness the ceremony, among whom is mentioned Jocelin, Count
of Edessa, who had come to Jerusalem on the occasion of Easter. "The
legate therefore, having first taken counsel with the prelates of the
churches, on the third day after the holy Passover, together with the
patriarch, and some of the bishops, solemnly dedicated the temple of the
Lord. There were present on the day of dedication many great and noble
men, as well from beyond the seas as from the neighbouring lands,
amongst whom was the younger Jocelin, Count of Edessa, who at that time,
during the solemn festivals of Eastertide, was residing in great state
in the city." (William of Tyre, Book XV. Chap. 17.)
NOTE XXIV. It is at this period of the Crusades that the mosque began to
be known under the name of "Temple of the Lord," which has often caused
many writers to confound this "temple" with that of the Resurrection,
otherwise called that of the Holy Sepulchre.
NOTE XXV. The behaviour of Saladin to the Christians is deserving of all
praise: he gave liberty to a large number of poor persons who could not
pay a ransom; he distributed alms to a great number of people; he
allowed the Knights Hospitaler to remain at Jerusalem to take charge of
their sick; and his brother Malec-Adel paid the ransom of two thousand
prisoners. The generous conduct of the Mohammedan chiefs offers,
assuredly, an extraordinary contrast to the barbarous excesses committed
by the warriors of the first crusade: it is a difficult thing to justify
the latter. (See Gibbon, chap. LIX.; Michaud, I. p. 347.)
NOTE XXVI. Saladin, before reconverting the "Temple of the Lord" into a
mosque, had it wholly cleansed with rose-water, which he had procured
from Damascus. Then he removed all the ornaments and whatever else could
recall the Christian occupation, and set there himself the pulpit which
had been built by Norradin.
NOTE XXVII. When the news of the discovery of the fountain spread over
Jerusalem, all the people gathered in crowds to see it, but the most
eager were the Israelites. They rejoiced at the sight of it, and pressed
forward, anxious to touch the rock, to taste the water, or to take a
little of it in small pitchers, some in order to preserve it as a relic,
others to carry it to the infirm who could not crawl to the spot. From
the chief Rabbi to the old women, all ran to the place, and all gave
vent to cries of joy, or were moved even to tears. Why was all this? The
Israelites were influenced by a tradition deeply graven on their hearts,
to the effect that when certain springs in Jerusalem had been
discovered, the coming of Messiah was at hand, the temple should rise
again from its ruins, and with it the glory of their nation.
NOTE XXVIII. The sites where the stones are found greatest in length and
in cubical content in the walls of Jerusalem, are the following:
In the wall, which starts from the line of the eastern enclosure, at the
north-east corner of the quadrilateral of the Haram (Plate XVII.); one
is found which is about 23 feet in length and 3-1/2 in height.
Between this and the golden gate, in the wall, is another 12 feet long
and 5 feet high: and in the inner jamb of the golden gate, on the north,
one is found of nearly the same dimensions as the preceding.
At the south-east corner of the Haram there are some of large
dimensions; there are none greater in the whole city. Of the stones of
20 cubits in length, and 10 in height, of which Josephus writes (Wars,
V. 4, § 2), I have not found a single one on the soil of Jerusalem.
NOTE XXIX. It seems that the use of the two gates may be attributed to
their being situated in the most frequented part of the city; they
served for the passage, the one of persons going out, the other of
persons coming in, so as to avoid all crowding, and the stoppages which
might result from it. Indeed, on the eastern side of the temple, where a
great part of the Court of the Gentiles was, there must always have been
a great multitude of people. The real ground for its being closed
(though so many ridiculous causes are alleged) is that the Turks
consider the temple enclosure sacred in all its parts. Therefore, they
do not allow any trade to be carried on there, nor any buying or
selling, or transaction of business, or even walking for pleasure:
accordingly, the gate on that side becomes entirely useless, the more
so, that there is in its neighbourhood the gate of S. Mary.
NOTE XXX. There was a time when the Christians in Palestine adopted the
practice of representing the entry of Jesus into the Temple on Palm
Sunday, entering Jerusalem in procession by the Golden Gate. The custom
may be traced up to the time of Godfrey of Bouillon. On this subject the
reader may consult, as contemporary authorities, Albert of Aix (Book
XIII. Chap. 17) and William of Tyre (Book VIII. Chap. 3, and Book XI.
Chap. 35).
NOTE XXXI. In the times of Alberto Floresi, an Italian traveller who
visited Jerusalem in 1630, it was by the Dung gate (called also the gate
of the Mogarabins) that the procession entered, which some centuries
before, as I mentioned above, starting from Bethphage, and crossing the
Mount of Olives, passed through the Golden Gate. (MS. Travels of
Floresi, communicated to the Abbé Mariti by Dr Octavio Targioni
Tozzetti, L'État présent de Jérusalem, p. 21.)
NOTE XXXII. The Mohammedans say that the mare el-Borak was the steed
ordinarily ridden by the Angel Gabriel, who used often to lend it to
Mohammed to take his night-journeys. They portray it as having the head
and the neck of a beautiful woman, with a crown and wings.
NOTE XXXIII. Many are the stories which are told of the Golden Gate, as
well by Mohammedans as by Christians: I quote some of them.
The Mohammedans say that the two divisions of the Golden Gate were made
in memory of the _repentance_ of Adam and Eve, for having disobeyed the
orders which God had given them in Paradise, and at the same time of the
_mercy_ of God shown towards them. Hence they call the southern aisle
the Gate of _Mercy_, and the other, the Gate of _Repentance_.
There is a general belief amongst Mohammedans that a day will come when
Jerusalem will fall into the hands of a Christian prince, who will take
it on a Friday. This is one of the reasons why it remains a fortified
town.
The Christians have no less traditions on this head. For example, they
report, that when the Emperor Heraclius returned victorious to
Jerusalem, bringing back thither the wood of the Holy Cross which he had
recovered in Persia, he wished to pass through the Golden Gate on
horseback, and decked out in all the insignia of royalty, but that an
invisible hand held him back, whilst a voice ordered him to dismount, to
divest himself of his regal robes, and to pass that threshold in all
humility; whereupon he was able to pass.
NOTE XXXIV. "From Sion (we went) to the Church of St Mary, where is a
large body of monks, and countless companies of women, and where beds
for the sick can be provided, from three to five thousand. And we
offered up prayer in the judgment-hall, where the Lord had hearing, in
which is now the Church of S. Sophia. Before the ruins of the Temple of
Solomon, under the street, there runs water from the Fountain of Siloam.
Near Solomon's porch, in the church itself, is the seat on which Pilate
sate, when he heard the Lord. There is a square stone on which the
accused was elevated, that He might be heard and seen by all. On it was
our Lord raised when He had hearing of Pilate, and there remained an
impression of a small, handsome, and delicate foot. By the rock itself,
too, many miracles are wrought: they take the measure of the foot-print,
and tie it over a weak part, which is immediately healed." (Anton.
Placent. Itin. Sect. 23 in Ugolini, Thes. Tom. VII. page 1216.)
NOTE XXXV. In the year 1118 Hugues de Payens, and Geoffroid de St
Aldemar, and certain other knights, applied for a rule for the formation
of an order. In 1128 the Pope Honorius gave them a charter, which was
adopted at the Council of Troyes in Champagne. The members of this order
took the name of Templars, and wore a white robe with a red cross. Their
name was derived from their having their first house close to the
temple, for King Baldwin had given up to them a part of his palace, to
the south of the temple. (William of Tyre, Book XII. Chap. 7.)
NOTE XXXVI. The Mohammedans say that in this place King David, during
his life, administered justice in the following way. When he was sitting
in judgment, and wished to know if the deponents in their examination
were stating what was true, he made a chain descend from heaven, and
ordered that each of the two parties who had thus stated their cases
should touch it. When one of the parties had told a lie, at his touch a
ring fell from the chain, and so the wise king learnt which was in the
right. I may be allowed to remark that now the chain no longer descends
from heaven, so we may conclude that all the rings have fallen, from its
having been too much used.
It is on this same site that David will return to judge the people of
Israel at the final judgment.
NOTE XXXVII. The keeper of the mosque relates, that when Solomon wished
to build a Temple to the Lord, he called not only men to his aid, but
also the living creatures of the earth. All came together to help him
with all their power; but the _magpie_ sought to disobey Solomon,
whereupon the great King turned it into stone, to be an example to all
those who were disposed not to execute his orders. This is the stone
that the keeper shews.
NOTE XXXVIII. The mosaics which adorn the interior of the mosque
_es-Sakharah_ above the pointed arches that spring from the columns, and
in the drum which supports the dome, date, according to Mohammedan
Chronicles, from the time of Selim I. and Solyman, but I imagine they
are of still greater antiquity. The internal ornamentation of the dome
has a thoroughly Saracenic character; I conclude that it is perhaps
anterior to Solyman, though there is no doubt that he restored it a good
deal. All the other decorations are of Solyman's time. The Count de
Vogüé has just completed a long examination of the mosques
_es-Sakharah_, and _el-Aksa_, and we may fairly expect that he, with his
clear judgment, and ready intelligence, will not deprive science of the
result of his labours.
NOTE XXXIX. The Mohammedan traditions concerning this rock are numerous;
I quote a few of them. It has been the scene of the prayers of Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Mohammed, and many other prophets, and
here they have received their inspiration from heaven. The rock retains
the imprint of the foot of the patriarch Enoch, who was the handsomest,
and the wisest man that lived upon the earth. He was learned in
astronomy, in which he made great discoveries, and, to publish them,
invented printing. God loved him so that he would not let him die, but
translated him to heaven. The patriarch had such an attachment to
Jerusalem, that he wished to leave some memorial of his having lived
there, which accounts for his foot-print being there.
The rock is guarded by an army of Angels, who keep watch there night and
day, in prayer to God. The canvas covering which is found on the rock is
the same which was used by Adam and Eve, when the former found the
latter after their separation of a hundred years, consequent on their
expulsion from Paradise.
The stairs which lead into the vaults of the mosque contain the stone
called _the tongue_, because it announced to Omar, that this was the
rock on which Jacob had the vision.
NOTE XL. The Mohammedans say that it is supported in the air by the
following cause. When Mohammed died, and ascended to heaven, the sacred
stone wished to follow him, but the prophet ordered it to return to its
place; whilst it hesitated the angel Gabriel pressed it down (this is
the reason why they show the impression of his five fingers on the
rock), and then it lowered itself again; but when it was already in
contact, as it were, with the ground, and received no further orders, it
remained in the position in which it is now found.
NOTE XLI. By the side of the _Minbar_, the Mohammedan guide, with all
seriousness, points out the place where is an invisible balance, which
is called _Wezn_, and tells how at the end of the world there will be
three ages: and then Israfil, who has charge of the celestial trumpet
(called _Boru_), will blow it the first time to give notice of the
universal death. It will sound for the second time 40 years afterwards,
and then all the dead of past ages shall rise: on that day Jesus, with
the other prophets, will descend from heaven with their attendants, and
when they have come to the _Haram es-Sherîf_ Jesus will sit upon His
throne for judgment: but not being sufficient in Himself for all, He
will depute David and Solomon to judge the Jews, Mohammed to judge the
Mohammedans, and will retain the Christians for His own jurisdiction. In
this great Judgment the balance _Wezn_ will be used to decide who are to
enjoy eternal felicity, and who to be punished by being appointed their
portion for ever in fire with the fallen spirits. All those who are to
undergo this trial will be gathered together in the Valley of
Jehoshaphat.
NOTE XLII. Terrace-roofs have always been in general use in the East,
even for ages; compare Judges xvi. 27, where we are told that there were
people on the roof when Samson made the temple of Dagon fall. Assuredly
if it had not been flat, 3000 persons could not have remained upon it.
NOTES TO CHAPTER IV.
NOTE I. The Holy City, by the Rev. George Williams, B.D., Fellow of
King's College, Cambridge; Second Edition, including an Architectural
History of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, by the Rev.
Robert Willis, M.A., F.R.S., Jacksonian Professor in the University of
Cambridge, 2 Vols. 8vo. 1849; Les Églises de la Terre Sainte, par le
Comte Melchior de Vogüé.
NOTE II. List of the bishops of Jerusalem, extracted from Michel le
Quien's Oriens Christianus, Tom. III. pp. 139 sq. Paris, 1740.
A.D.
30. S. James, the Apostle and brother of our Lord.
60. S. Simeon, or Simon, the Martyr.
107. Justus, or Jude I.
111. Zacchæus, or Zacharias.
Tobias.
Benjamin.
John I.
Matthias, or Matthew.
Philip.
125. Seneca.
Justus II.
Levi.
Ephraim.
Joseph.
Jude II.
All the above are of Hebrew extraction. The following are of Gentile
origin. The former were bishops of Jerusalem, properly so called, the
latter bishops of Ælia Capitolina, who are counted as bishops of
Jerusalem.
136. Marcus.
156. Cassianus.
Publius.
Maximus I.
Julian I.
Caius I., or Gaius.
Symmachus.
Caius II.
Julian II.
Capito.
185. Maximus II.
Antoninus.
Valens.
Dolichianus.
Narcissus.
Dius.
Germanion.
Gordius.
Narcissus (a second time).
212. Alexander, martyr.
250. Mazabanes.
265. Hymenæus.
298. Zabdas.
302. Hermon.
313. Macarius I. During his episcopate Constantine laid the
foundations of the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem.
335. Maximus III., who consecrated the Church of the Resurrection.
NOTE III. Eusebius, Life of Constantine, book III. chap. 27 and
following (English Translation, Bagster and Sons, London, 1845). After
giving an account of the demolition of the temple of Venus, he proceeds,
"Nor did the Emperor's zeal stop here; but he gave further orders that the
materials of what was then destroyed should be removed, and thrown as far
from the spot as possible; and this command was speedily executed. The
emperor, however, was not satisfied with having proceeded thus far: once
more, fired with holy ardour, he directed that the ground itself should be
dug up to a considerable depth, and the soil, which had been polluted by
the foul impurities of demon worship, transported to a far distant place.
This also was accomplished without delay. But as soon as the original
surface of the ground, beneath the covering of earth, appeared,
immediately, and contrary to all expectation, the venerable and hallowed
monument of our Saviour's resurrection was discovered. Then indeed did
this most holy cave present a most faithful similitude of His return to
life, in that, after lying buried in darkness, it again emerged to light,
and afforded to all who came to witness the sight, a clear and visible
proof of the wonders of which that spot had once been the scene."
Chap. XXXI. (_Continuation of a Letter from Constantine to the Bishop
Macarius._) "It will be well therefore for your sagacity to make such
arrangements and provision of all things needful for the work, that not
only the church itself as a whole may surpass all others whatsoever in
beauty, but that the details of the building may be of such a kind that
the fairest structures in any city of the empire may be excelled by this.
And with respect to the erection and decoration of the walls, this is to
inform you that our friend Dracilianus, the deputy of the Prætorian
Prefects, and the governor of the province, have received a charge from
us. For our pious directions to them are to the effect that artificers and
labourers, ... shall forthwith be furnished by their care. And as to the
columns and marbles, whatever you shall judge, after actual inspection of
the plan, to be especially precious and serviceable, be diligent to send
information to us in writing, in order that whatever materials, and in
whatever quantity we shall esteem from your letter to be needful, may be
procured from every quarter, as required. With respect to the roof of the
church, I wish to know from you whether in your judgment it should be
ceiled, or finished with any other kind of workmanship. If the ceiling be
adopted, it may also be ornamented with gold."
Chap. XXXIII. "This was the emperor's letter; and his directions were at
once carried into effect. Accordingly, on the very spot which witnessed
the Saviour's sufferings, a new Jerusalem was constructed, over against
the one so celebrated of old, which, since the foul stain of guilt brought
upon it by the murder of the Lord, had experienced the last extremity of
desolation, the effect of Divine judgment on its impious people. It was
opposite this city that the emperor now began to rear a monument to the
Saviour's victory over death."
Chap. XXXIV. &c. _Description of the Holy Sepulchre._ "This monument,
therefore, first of all, as the chief part of the whole, the emperor's
zealous magnificence beautified with rare columns, and profusely enriched
with the most splendid decorations of every kind. The next object of his
attention was a space of ground of great extent, and open to the pure air
of heaven. This he adorned with a pavement of finely-polished stone, and
enclosed it on three sides with porticoes of great length. For at the side
opposite to the Sepulchre, which was the eastern side, the church itself
was erected; a noble work rising to a vast height, and of great extent
both in length and breadth. The interior of this structure was floored
with marble slabs of various colours; while the external surface of the
walls, which shone with polished stones, accurately fitted together,
exhibited a degree of splendour in no respect inferior to that of marble.
With regard to the roof, it was covered on the outside with lead, as a
protection against the rains of winter. But the inner part of the roof,
which was finished with sculptured fretwork, extended in a series of
connected compartments, like a vast sea, over the whole church; and being
overlaid throughout with the purest gold, caused the entire building to
glitter as it were with rays of light.
"Besides this were two porticoes on each side, with upper and lower ranges
of pillars, corresponding in length with the church itself; and these also
had their roofs ornamented with gold. Of these porticoes, those which were
exterior to the church were supported by columns of great size, while
those within these rested on piles of stone beautifully adorned on the
surface. Three gates, placed exactly east, were intended to receive those
who entered the church.
"Opposite these gates the crowning part of the whole was the hemisphere,"
(apparently an altar of a hemicylindrical form,) "which rose to the very
summit of the church. This was encircled by twelve columns, (according to
the number of the apostles of our Saviour,) having their capitals
embellished with silver bowls of great size, which the emperor himself
presented as a splendid offering to his God.
"In the next place, he enclosed the atrium which occupied the space
leading to the entrances in front of the church. This comprehended, first
the court, then the porticoes on each side, and lastly the gates of the
court. After these in the midst of the open market-place, the entrance
gates of the whole work, which were of exquisite workmanship, afforded to
passers by on the outside a view of the interior, which could not fail to
inspire astonishment."
Such is Eusebius' account of the first Church of the Holy Sepulchre at
Jerusalem: he makes no mention of Calvary, and I make no doubt that, if
its site had then been discovered, the historian of Constantine would
not have passed it over without notice.
An eye-witness of the magnificence of Constantine's Church is found in
the Pilgrim of Bordeaux, who visited Jerusalem about 333 or 334. He
speaks of it in his description of the Holy City, quoted in the notes to
the first chapter.
NOTE IV. _Description of S. Arculf, who visited the Holy places in 680_
(Acta Sanctorum ordinis S. Benedicti. Sæc. III. part 2, p. 504).
"On these points we have inquired very particularly of S. Arculf, and
specially concerning the Sepulchre of our Lord, and the church erected
over it, the plan of which he drew for us upon a waxen tablet. It is a
large church built entirely of stone, forming a perfect circle, and
rising from its foundations with three walls. Between each pair of walls
is a broad space forming a corridor, and at three points in the middle
wall are three altars of wonderful workmanship. This round church is
occupied by the three altars above mentioned, one facing the south,
another the north, and the third towards the west. It is supported by
twelve stone columns of wondrous size. It has eight doors, or entrances,
through the three walls with the corridors intervening, four of which
doors face the south-east, while the rest face the east. In the middle
space of the inner circle is a round grotto cut in the solid rock, in
which nine men can pray standing, and the roof of which is about a foot
and a half above the head of a man of ordinary stature. The entrance to
this grotto is on the eastern side, and the whole of the exterior is
covered with choice marble, the apex being adorned with gold, and
supporting a golden cross of considerable size. Within, on the north
side of this grotto, is the tomb cut out of the same rock: but the floor
of the grotto is lower than the level of the tomb, for from the former
to the lateral margin of the tomb is a height of about three palms.
"In this place we must mention a discrepancy of names between the
monument and the tomb; for the round grotto mentioned above is otherwise
called the Monument of the Evangelist: and they say, that to the mouth
of this the stone was rolled, and from it rolled away, at our Lord's
resurrection; while the name of sepulchre is applied to the chamber
within the grotto that is on the north side of the monument, in which
the Lord's body lay wrapt in fine linen. The length of this S. Arculf
measured with his own hands, and found it to be seven feet. This tomb is
not, as some persons wrongly imagine, divided in two by a stone cut out
of the wall, itself forming a space for two legs and thighs, by coming
between and separating them; but is undivided from the head to the foot,
with sufficient room for one man lying upon his back, so forming a kind
of cavern with an entrance at the side opposite to the south part of the
monumental chamber. It has a low apex projecting above it, carved in the
rock, and contains twelve lamps burning continually day and night,
corresponding to the number of the twelve apostles. Four of these are
placed at the foot of the sepulchral couch, and the other eight towards
the head, on the right hand side, all of them being constantly fed with
oil.
"As to the stone which after our Lord's crucifixion and burial was
rolled to the mouth of the said monument by the united efforts of many
men, Arculf relates that he found it broken in two parts. The lesser
part, squared by the chisel, forms the altar which stands before the
entrance of the aforesaid round church, while the larger, also chiselled
like the former, is the square altar, covered with linen cloths, on the
eastern side of the same.
"As regards the colours of the stone out of which the aforementioned
grotto is hollowed by the tools of the stone-workers, with the Lord's
Sepulchre on its north side cut from the same rock as the grotto itself,
Arculf told me in answer to my questions, that the said grotto of the
monument of our Lord, being covered with no ornament within, bears to
this day upon its vaulted surface the marks of the tools used by the
masons and stone-workers in the work: but the colour of the said stone
appears not to be uniform, but a mixture of two, to wit, red and white,
and the said stone is shewn as the stone of two colours.
"This round church, so often mentioned above, which is called the
Anastasis, or Resurrection, and is built on the spot which witnessed our
Lord's resurrection, is joined on the right by a square church dedicated
to S. Mary the mother of God.
"Moreover another large church is built on the eastern side on the spot
which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: from the ceiling of which is
suspended by ropes a brazen wheel with lamps, and beneath it is a large
silver cross fixed in the very place where stood the wooden cross on
which the Saviour of the human race suffered.
"Adjoining this square-built church on the site of Calvary, on the east,
is the famous stone church built with great magnificence by the Emperor
Constantine, and called the Martyrdom, erected, as they say, in the
place where the cross of our Lord and the other two crosses were found
by divine revelation, two hundred and thirty-three years after they had
been buried. Between these two churches is the famous spot where the
patriarch Abraham built an altar, and laid upon it the bundle of wood,
and seized the sword already drawn from its scabbard to sacrifice his
son Isaac; where is now a wooden table of moderate size, on which the
offerings of the people for the poor are deposited.
"Between the Anastasis or round church so often mentioned above, and the
basilica of Constantine, a short open street extends to the church on
Golgotha, in which are lamps burning night and day. Also between the
basilica on Golgotha and the Martyrdom is a seat, in which is the cup of
the Lord, which, after blessing it with His own hand during the supper
before His passion, He Himself handed to the Apostles that sate at meat
with Him. It is a silver cup, holding about a French quart, and having
two handles set over against each other on opposite sides. In this cup
is the sponge, which they that crucified our Lord filled with vinegar,
and put upon hyssop, and held up to His mouth. From this same cup, it is
said that our Lord drank in company with His Apostles after His
resurrection."
NOTE V. _Extracts from the description of Sæwulf._ (Translated in Mr
Wright's "Early Travels in Palestine.")
"The entrance to the city of Jerusalem is from the west, under the
citadel of King David, by the gate which is called the Gate of David.
The first place to be visited is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
called the Martyrdom, not only because the streets lead most directly to
it, but because it is more celebrated than all the other churches.... In
the middle of this church is our Lord's Sepulchre, surrounded by a very
strong wall and roof, lest the rain should fall upon the Holy Sepulchre,
for the church above is open to the sky.... In the court of the church
of our Lord's Sepulchre are seen some very holy places, namely, the
prison in which our Lord Jesus Christ was confined after He was
betrayed, according to the testimony of the Assyrians; then, a little
above, appears the place where the holy cross and the other crosses were
found, where afterwards a large church was built in honour of Queen
Helena, which however has since been utterly destroyed by the Pagans;
and below, not far from the prison, stands the marble column to which
our Lord Jesus Christ was bound in the common hall, and scourged with
most cruel stripes. Near this is the spot where our Lord was stripped of
His garments and clad in a purple robe by the soldiers, and crowned with
the crown of thorns, and they parted His raiment amongst them, casting
lots. Next we ascend Mount Calvary, where the patriarch Abraham raised
an altar, and prepared, by God's command, to sacrifice his own son;
there afterwards the Son of God, whom he prefigured, was offered up as a
sacrifice to God the Father for the redemption of the world. The rock of
that mountain remains a witness of our Lord's passion, being much
cracked near the hole, in which our Lord's cross was fixed, because it
could not suffer the death of its Maker without rending, as we read in
the Passion, 'and the rocks rent.' Below is the place called Golgotha,
where Adam is said to have been raised from the dead by the stream of
the Lord's blood which fell upon him, as is said in the Lord's Passion,
'And many bodies of the saints which slept arose.' But in the Sentences
of S. Augustine, we read that he was buried at Hebron, where also the
three patriarchs were afterwards buried with their wives; Abraham with
Sarah, Isaac with Rebecca, and Jacob with Leah; as also the bones of
Joseph which the children of Israel carried with them from Egypt. Near
the place of Calvary is the church of S. Mary, on the spot where the
body of our Lord, after having been taken down from the cross, was
anointed with spices and wrapt in a linen cloth or shroud.
"At the head of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the wall outside,
not far from the place of Calvary, is the place called _Compas_, which
our Lord Jesus Christ Himself signified and measured with his own hands
as the middle of the world, according to the words of the Psalmist, 'For
God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.'
Some say that this is the place where our Lord Jesus Christ first
appeared to Mary Magdalene, while she sought Him weeping, and thought He
had been a gardener, as is related in the Gospel.
"These most holy places of prayer are contained in the court of our
Lord's Sepulchre, on the east side. In the sides of the church itself
are attached, on one side and the other, two most beautiful chapels in
honour of S. Mary and S. John, who, sharing in our Lord's sufferings,
stationed themselves one on each side of Him. On the west wall of the
chapel of S. Mary is seen the portrait of the mother of our Lord, who
once, by speaking wonderfully through the Holy Spirit, in the form in
which she is here painted, comforted Mary the Egyptian, when she
repented with her whole heart, and sought the help of the mother of our
Lord, as we read in her life.
"On the other side of the church of S. John is a very fair monastery of
the Holy Trinity, in which is the place of the baptistery, to which
adjoins the chapel of S. James the Apostle, who first filled the
pontifical chair at Jerusalem. These are all so composed and arranged,
that any one standing in the furthest church may clearly scan the five
churches from door to door.
"Without the gate of the Holy Sepulchre, to the south, is the church of
S. Mary, called the Latin, because the monks there perform divine
service in the Latin tongue; and the Assyrians say that the blessed
mother of our Lord, at the crucifixion of her Son, stood on the spot now
occupied by the altar of this church. Adjoining this church is another
church of S. Mary, called the Less, occupied by nuns who serve devoutly
the Virgin and her Son. Near which is the Hospital, where is a
celebrated monastery founded in honour of S. John the Baptist."
NOTE VI. William of Tyre, VIII. 3. "On the eastern slope of the same
hill is the Church of the Resurrection in the form of a rotunda, which
being situated on the slope, and almost over-topped by the hill close to
it, and so darkened, has a roof composed of beams placed upright, and
wrought together by wondrous art into the shape of a crown, uncovered,
and always open, by which the necessary light is conveyed into the
church. Under this opening is the tomb of our Saviour. Beyond the
entrance for the Latins is the scene of our Lord's passion, which is
called Calvary, or Golgotha; where it is said that the wood of the
life-giving cross was found, and where our Saviour's body, having been
taken down from the cross, is said to have been embalmed with spices and
wrapt in fine linen, as was the Jews' custom of burial. Beyond the
limits of the Calvary aforesaid are many small houses of prayer. But
after that the Christians, by the help of the divine goodness, occupied
the city with a strong hand, the aforesaid building appeared to them too
contracted, and by enlarging the church with most solid and excellent
work, and enclosing the old building within the new, they succeeded
wonderfully in putting together in one the aforementioned places."
John of Würtzburg, who visited the Holy Land in the twelfth century,
when the Crusaders had already completed their works in the Church of
the Resurrection, has transmitted to us a valuable detailed description,
the principal passages of which I quote: "Whilst everything was in
preparing for the crucifixion," he says, "our Lord was kept bound in a
place at some distance from Calvary, which served as a prison: this
place is marked by a chapel, and is called to this day the prison of our
Lord, and is on the side opposite to Calvary, on the left of the
church.... To the right of the entrance in the greater church is a place
forming a portion of Calvary, in whose upper part is shewn a rent in the
rock. In the same is depicted in fine mosaic work the Passion of Christ,
and His burial, together with the testimony of the prophets, agreeing on
all sides with the fact.
"In the middle of the choir, not far from the site of Calvary, is a spot
where an altar has been formed of raised slabs of marble, supported by a
trellis of iron. Beneath these slabs are some small circles traced in
the pavements, which, they say is the centre of the earth, according to
the saying, 'In the middle of the earth He hath wrought salvation.'
"A building of large dimensions, erected in a circular form round the
monument, has at its further end a continuous wall adorned by different
statues, and lighted by several lamps. In the inner circle of this
larger building are eight round columns, on square bases, adorned on
the outside with the same number of square slabs of marble, and erected
all round the building, so as to sustain the weight of the building and
the roof, which, as we have said, is open in the middle.
"We have said that the columns are placed round the building to the
number above mentioned, but towards the east their positions and number
have been altered, owing to the addition of a new building, which has
its entrance-door on that side. This new church, just added, contains a
wide and roomy choir, and a spacious chapel, in which is the high altar,
consecrated to the honour of the Anastasis, or Resurrection, as the
mosaic above it distinctly proves. For in it Christ is depicted as
having broken the bars of hell, and rising again from the dead, and as
bringing back thence our first father Adam. Without this chapel, and
within the cloisters, is a wide corridor leading round the new building
and also the older building of the monument aforesaid, suited for a
procession. At the head of the said new church, towards the east and
close to the choir-screen, is a well-lighted subterranean passage like a
crypt, in which Queen Helena is said to have found our Lord's cross.
Accordingly there is within an altar dedicated to the honour of the said
S. Helena. The greater part of the sacred wood she took with her to
Constantinople, the remainder however was left at Jerusalem, and is
carefully and reverently kept in a certain place on the other side of
the church opposite to Calvary."
NOTE VII. The whole of the dome has been covered with sheet-lead, which
has disappeared on the south-west side (Plate XXXI.), where are the
Greek terrace-roofs. Consequently the damp is every day destroying the
wooden supports, and in the absence of such covering the ground below is
flooded in the rainy season. Throughout the rest of its circumference,
on the side of the Mohammedan terrace, the dome is in good condition,
and the lead is intact. Why then, it may be asked, is it thus damaged
only on the side belonging to the Greeks? We are told in reply, that the
wind detaches the sheets of lead, (which, be it observed, are fastened
by nails,) and carries them away; but it must be remarked that it is the
north wind only, and not the others, which blows with great force over
the city. It may be inferred from this how necessary it is that the
whole covering of the Holy Sepulchre should belong exclusively to the
church, and that no one should come near it or use it, in which case
disputes would diminish, and the interior of the building would be less
injured by damp.
NOTE VIII. The two gates, the one on the west, the other on the east,
through which the square in front of the Church of the Resurrection is
reached, are very narrow and low, so that strangers are surprised to
find such a form used in places frequented by many visitors. This is not
the work of the Mohammedans, but was done by agreement of the different
religious bodies, in order to prevent beasts of burden from penetrating
into these sacred places. Without some such precaution their owners, and
especially the camel-drivers, would not fail to instal them there for
the night, simply because of the convenient situation of the square.
Besides this, these two gates form the barrier for the Jews of
Jerusalem, beyond which they cannot pass without exposing themselves to
insults, and perhaps to blows, or even worse, from the Christians of
Jerusalem, who imagine the place profaned by the passing of a Jew:
though they themselves think nothing of behaving irreverently while the
holy offices are being celebrated. If, however, a Jew is accompanied by
some one who can inspire them with fear or respect, these good
Christians will perhaps mutter and grumble, but venture no further. If a
slight _bakshish_ be administered, they will even salute him, and call
their correligionists a set of ignoramuses, though they themselves held
the same views before receiving _bakshish_.
NOTE IX. The fact that there is only one entrance to the Church of the
Resurrection is the cause of many serious accidents at times when there
is any great gathering of people, particularly at Easter. This is
especially the case when the times of the celebration of this festival
by the different sects coincide. During the eight years which I spent at
Jerusalem, not an Easter passed without some such casualty. Some were
suffocated; some fainted in the crush, were trampled upon, and received
serious injuries; some had their limbs broken. These accidents are
constantly repeated, yet no one ever thinks of taking any means to avoid
them, though it would be so easy to open the other door. It is well
known how in 1836 Ibrahim Pasha attended the Greek service of the Holy
Fire, and a quarrel arose betwixt the Greeks and the Armenians: the
whole multitude sought some way of escape, and such was the crowding at
this the only single door, that the conqueror got out with much
difficulty by passing over thirty dead bodies that lay there, the
victims of the crush. (See Curzon's Monasteries of the Levant, chap.
16.)
NOTE X. The following is Edrisi's account of the western gate. "The
church is entered by the western gate, and the traveller finds himself
under the cupola, which covers the whole of the enclosure, and which is
one of the most remarkable things in the world. The church is lower than
this door, and it is not possible to descend to the lower part on this
side of the building. Entrance is to be had on the north side by a door
which opens at the head of a staircase of thirty steps, which door is
called Bâb-Sitti Mariam."
NOTE XI. The Abbé Mariti, who visited the Sepulchre before the fire of
1808, found in Adam's Chapel, on the right, the tomb of Godfrey de
Bouillon, and on the left, opposite the former, the tomb of Baldwin I.,
his successor; they were of marble, or of a kind of stone which much
resembles it[900]. The following is the inscription on Godfrey's tomb:
HIC JACET
INCLITUS DUX GODEFRIDUS DE BULLON
QUI TOTAM TERRAM AQUISIVIT
CULTUI KRANO CUI ANIMA REGNET CUM XRO
AMEN.
_Here lies the illustrious Captain Godfrey de Bouillon, who won all this
land for the Christian faith. May his soul reign with Christ. Amen._
That engraved on Baldwin's tomb is as follows:--
REX BALDEWINUS
IUDAS ALTER MACHABEUS. SPES PATRIE VIGOR
ECCLIE VIRT' UTRIUSQ' QUEM FORMIDABANT
CUI DONA TRIBUTA FEREBANT CEDAR EGYPT' DAN.
AC HOMICIDA DAMASCUS
PROH DOLOR
IN MODICO CLAUDITUR HOC TUMULO.
_King Baldwin, a second Judas Maccabæus, the hope of his country, the
strength of the Church, the mainstay of both, to whom Kedar, Egypt, Dan
and the murderous Damascus in fear brought gifts and tribute, is pent
up, alas! within this narrow tomb._
He also found in the same chapel an old tomb without any inscription,
fastened into the wall, which he was told was the _tomb of Melchizedek_.
It is known that the place was formerly intended to serve as a
burial-place for the Latin kings, and we are assured, says the Abbé,
that besides Godfrey and Baldwin I., there have since been buried there
Baldwin II., Baldwin III., Almericus I. (Amaury), Baldwin IV., and
Baldwin V. The tomb of the last-mentioned still exists amongst those
which are to be seen in the neighbourhood against the south side of the
choir of the Greeks, i.e. opposite to the Stone of Unction, on the
north side. On it is the following inscription:--
SEPTIM' IN TUMULO PUER ISTO REX TUMULAT'
EST BALDEVINI REGUM DE SANGUINE NAT'.
QUEM TULIT E MUNDO SORS PRIMÆ CONDITIONIS
UT PARADISIACÆ LOCA POSSIDEAT REGIONIS[901].