Moriah. I have already remarked, that the part of Jerusalem lying between the Valley of Jehoshaphat and the valley running down from the Damascus Gate to the Pool of Siloam, may be regarded as one ridge, having on it the separate summits or hills Bezetha and Moriah; and corresponding further down perhaps to the ancient quarter Ophel. Moriah was apparently at first an elevated mound of rock, rising by itself upon this ridge, overagainst the eastern point of Akra. The temple was placed upon the levelled summit of this rock; and then immense walls were erected from its base on the four sides; and the interval between them and the sides filled in with earth, or built up with vaults; so as to form on the top a large area on a level with the temple.' This area or court of the ancient temple, as we shall see hereafter, was probably not very different from the present enclosure of the Haram esh-Sherîf. This is now separated from the rocky brow of Zion by the Tyropoeon; and from Akra by the valley which comes from the Damascus Gate. In passing along this valley through the present street towards the South, apparently just before coming to the Tyropoeon, one crosses over a small rise of ground. This is probably rubbish, the accumulation of ages; though the houses in the vicinity prevented us from ascertaining whether it extends quite across the valley. It is also possible, that this mound may serve to carry the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools into the area of the mosk; which is everywhere higher sage which Quaresmius cites from Josephus in support of it, (Antiq. XX. 8, 11,) contradicts it expressly. Josephus there relates, that Agrippa built a house or palace near the Xystus, whence he could see from his couch whatever was going on in the temple; and to VOL. I. 50 prevent this the Jews raised a high than the bottom of this valley. Indeed all the western entrances of the mosk are reached by an ascent; and some of them at least by steps. On the North side, Moriah is not now separated from Bezetha by any valley or trench; except in part by the large reservoir commonly called Bethesda. The street which leads to the eastern gate of the city passes here; ascending somewhat from the valley near the N. W. corner of the area, having the steep part of Bezetha on the left; and then descending gradually to St. Stephen's Gate. Ophel. This is the remainder of the ridge extending South from Moriah to Siloam, between the deep Valley of Jehoshaphat on the East and the steep but shallower Tyropoeon on the West. The top of the ridge is flat, descending rapidly towards the S. sometimes by offsets of rock; and the ground is tilled and planted with olive and other fruit-trees. At the northern end, just at the S. E. corner of the city-wall, (not that of the mosk,) the surface is already 100 feet lower than the top of the wall of the area of the mosk. From this point I measured 1550 feet or about 516 yards on a course S. 20° W. to the end of the ridge, a rocky point forty or fifty feet above the Pool of Siloam in the mouth of the Tyropoeon. The breadth of the ridge, as measured about the middle, I found to be 290 feet, or about 96 yards, from brow to brow. Chief Streets. The principal streets in Jerusalem run nearly at right angles to each other. Very few if any of them bear names among the native population.' They are narrow and badly paved, being merely laid irregularly with large stones, with a deep square chan 1) Chateaubriand in his Itineraire professes to give the names of all the chief streets; but our friends, who had resided several years in the city, and made frequent inquiries, had never been able to hear of any, except in one or two instances. nel in the middle; but the steepness of the ground contributes to keep them cleaner than in most oriental cities. Of those running down eastwards from the upper to the lower part of the city, the chief are, the one leading from the Yâfa Gate directly to the Haram esh-Sherîf, and that from the Latin convent to St. Stephen's Gate. This last includes the Via dolorosa. The principal streets running from South to North are, that just below the Pool of Hezekiah, those of the Bazar, and that along the hollow parallel to the Haram. Those on Zion seem in general to be less frequented. Circumference of the Holy City. One of the first measurements which I took in Jerusalem, was that of the circumference of the walls. This was done with a measuring tape of one hundred English feet, carried by our two servants, while I noted down the results. We measured as closely as possible to the walls, yet without regarding the short angles and smaller zigzags. We started from the Yâfa Gate and proceeded first southwards and so around the city. 1. From the Yâfa Gate to the S. W. corner of the city, first descending and then ascending 2. Zion Gate, level 3. Dung Gate (closed), descending 1700 N. Easterly 4. S. E. corner of city-wall, nearly level 500 E. 5. Wall of area of Great Mosk, S. side, ascending 10. N. E. corner of city, level 11. Herod's Gate (closed), along the trench, level 12. Damascus Gate, uneven 13. N. W. corner of city, ascending 1990 S. Westerly 878 S. 40° E. 12,978 Feet, or 4,326 Yards. This gives for the whole circumference a distance of 2 English miles less 74 yards; or very nearly 2! geographical miles. III. ADJACENT VALLIES AND HILLS. Valley of Jehoshaphat. Brook Kidron. The deep valley on the East of Jerusalem appears to be mentioned both in the Old and New Testament only under the name of the Brook or Torrent Kidron. Josephus also gives it only the same name.' The prophet Joel speaks indeed of a Valley of Jehoshaphat, in which God will judge the heathen for their oppression of the Jews; but this seems to be merely a metaphorical allusion to the signification of the name. There is not the slightest historical ground, either in the Scriptures or in Josephus, for connecting it with the valley of the Kidron.3 Yet on this slender foundation appears to rest the present name of the valley; and also the belief current among the Catholics, Jews, and Muhammedans, that the last judgment will be held in it. The name Jehoshaphat, however, was already 1) 2 Sam. xv. 23. 1 Kings ii. 38. etc. The Hebrew word is b, which may be taken as nearly equivalent to the Arabic Wady. The Seventy, the New Testament, and also Josephus, have χείμαρρος, a storm-brook, winter-torrent; see as above, and John xviii. 1. Joseph. Ant. VIII. 1. 5. Josephus has also φάραγξ Κεδρών, B. J. V. 2. 3. V. 4. 2. 2) Joel iii. (iv.) 2, 12. Jehoshaphat, Heb. pin i. e. Jehovah judgeth. The reference sometimes made to 2 Chr. c. xx. has no bearing upon the illustration of Joel 1.c. 3) It is hardly necessary to remark, that there is likewise no historical ground for connecting this valley in any way with the Valley of Shaveh or the King's Dale, Gen. xiv. 17. 2 Sam. xviii. 18. 4) Doubdan Voyage, etc. p. 262. Quaresmius Elucid. Terr. Sanct. II. p. 156. Reland Pal. p. 355. Raumer's Pal. ed. 2, p. 327. Trav els of Ali Bey, II. p. 224. Hist. of Jerus. by Mejr ed-Din, Fundgruben des Orients, II. p. 381.-This latter writer calls the valley, or at least the part N. of the city, in allusion to the same belief, es-Sâherah; p. 133. But both he and also Bohaeddin in the twelfth century, give to the part along and below the city, the name of Jehennam (Gehinnom); ibid. p. 133. Bohaed. Vit. Saladin. p. 73. ed. Schult. applied to it in the earliest ages of the Christian era; for it is found in Eusebius and other writers of the fourth century. There is therefore no good reason, why we should not employ this name at the present day. The Arabs too have adopted it, under the form of Wady Yehoshâfât. It is remarkable that no writer (at least so far as I have been able to discover) has given the topography of the upper part of this valley; nor correctly described either the place of its beginning, nor its course below the well of Nehemiah. One of the latest and most exact travellers has even said, that it commences near the N. E. corner of the city. For this reason, the following details are here given. In approaching Jerusalem from the high mosk of Neby Samwîl in the N. W. the traveller first descends and crosses the bed of the great Wady Beit Hanîna already described. He then ascends again towards the S. E. by a small side Wady and along a rocky slope for twenty-five minutes, when he reaches the Tombs of the Judges, lying in a small gap or depression of the ridge, still half an hour distant from the northern gate of the city. A few steps further he reaches the water-shed between the great Wady behind him and the tract before him; and here is the head of the Valley of Jehoshaphat. From this point the Dome of the Holy Sepulchre bears S. by E. The tract around this spot is very rocky; and the rocks have been much cut away, partly in quarrying building-stone, and partly in the formation of sepulchres. The region is full of excavated tombs; and these continue with more or less frequency on both sides of the valley, all 1) Euseb. Onomast. art. Kolás, Coelas. Cyrill in Joel iii. (iv.) 2, 12. Itinerar. Hierosol. p. 594, ed. Wesseling. 2) Prokesch, p. 86. So also, by implication, Quaresmius, Tom. II. pp. 151, 155. |