VI. TOWER OF HIPPICUS, AND OTHER TOWERS. Having thus obtained, in the substructions of the former temple, a fixed and definite point in the ancient topography of Jerusalem; and having found in the same a specimen and standard of the Jewish mural architecture; we afterwards turned our attention to other like remains, in the hope of being able to determine the places and the direction of some of the ancient towers and walls, which stood in connection with those of the temple. Hippicus. The most important spot in a topographical respect yet to be ascertained, was the exact situation of the ancient tower Hippicus; which Josephus, as we have seen, assumed as the starting-point in his description of all the city-walls; and which was to be sought for at the N. W. corner of the upper city or Mount Zion. Of this tower the historian has left us a tolerably minute description. It was built by the first Herod, and named after a friend of his who had fallen in battle. The form was a quadrangle, twenty-five cubits on each side; and built up entirely solid to the height of thirty cubits. Above this solid part was a cistern twenty cubits high; and then, for twenty-five cubits more, were chambers of various kinds; with a breastwork of two cubits and battlements of three cubits upon the top. The altitude of the whole tower, accordingly, was eighty cubits. The stones of which it was built, were very large, twenty cubits long by ten broad and five high; and (probably on the upper part) were of white marble.-It must here be borne in mind, that Josephus (as above mentioned) probably had no such specific measurements; he was writing, after the lapse of years, at Rome; 2) Ibid. V. 4. 3, 4. 1) See above, pp. 411, 413. Joseph. B. J. V. 4. 2. and the numbers here given must therefore be regarded only in the light of conjectural estimates.1 On the other hand, the solidity of the lower part of the tower is a circumstance so remarkable, and was probably of such publicity, that it cannot well be referred to the imagination of the historian. In On the same northwestern part of Zion, a little South of the Yâfa Gate, lies at present the fortress or citadel of the modern Jerusalem. It is an irregular assemblage of square towers, surrounded on the inner side towards the city by a low wall; and having on the outer or West side a deep fosse. The towers which rise from the brink of the fosse, are protected on that side by a solid sloping bulwark or buttress, which rises from the bottom of the trench at an angle of about 45°. This part bears evident marks of antiquity; and this species of sloping bulwark, of which we saw several other specimens in Palestine, I am disposed to ascribe to the times of the Romans. respect to the present instance, Adrian, in rebuilding and fortifying the city, would very naturally build up again a citadel upon the commanding site of the former one; and to his age I am inclined to refer these massive outworks.-At the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders in A. D. 1099, this fortress was the strongest part of the city, and the last to be surrendered.2 The historians of those times speak of it under the name of the Tower or Citadel of David; and describe it as built of large hewn stones and of immense strength. When the walls of the city were thrown down A. D. 1219 by the Muslims, this fortress was spared; and continued to bear among Franks 1) See above, p. 415. 2) Will. Tyr. VIII. 24. 3) Will. Tyr. VIII. 3. IX. 3. Jac. de Vit. c. 60, "ex lapidibus quadris caemento et plumbo fusili quasi indissolubiliter compaginatis constructam." VI. 4) Wilken Gesch. der Kreuzz. p. 238. only the name of the Tower of David down to the sixteenth century. It then apparently began also to be called the Castle of the Pisans; in consequence, it is said, of having formerly been rebuilt or repaired by citizens of the Pisan republic.2 Within this fortress, as the traveller enters the city by the Yâfa Gate, the northeastern tower attracts his notice; and, even to the unpractised eye, bears strong marks of antiquity. The upper part is apparently modern, and does not differ from the other towers and walls around; but the lower part is built of larger stones, bevelled at the edges; and apparently still occupying their original places. Among the Franks this is now known as the Tower of David; while they sometimes give also to the whole fortress the name of the Castle of David. Judging from the external appearance of this tower, and its situation in respect to Zion and the ancient temple, it early occurred to us, that the antique lower part of it was very probably a remnant of the tower of Hippicus erected by Herod; which, as Josephus informs us, was left standing by Titus, when he destroyed the city.3 This impression was strengthened as we daily passed and repassed the fortress, and became more at home in the topography of the city; and especially was this the case, after we had discovered the remains of the ancient bridge connected with the temple. We now repaired to the citadel, as 1) So Marin. Sanut. A. D. 1321, Secr. fid. Cruc. III. 7. 2. F. Fabri in 1483; Reissb. p. 245. 2) Pisanum Castellum, Pisanorum Castrum, Adrichomius, p. 156. Cotovicus in 1598, Itin. p. 279.-The use of this name appears to have grown up in the sixteenth century. I find it first in the Itinerary of B. Salignac who travelled in A. D. 1522, (Tom. VII. c. 1,) from whom Adrichomius quotes it; and also in Helffrich, 3) Joseph. B. J. VII. 1. 1.—I was not aware at the time, that the same suggestion had been made on similar grounds, by Scholz, de Golgathae situ, p. 8. See also Raumer's Palästina, edit. 2. p. 349. Schubert's Reise, II. p. 532. already related; and, from a careful inspection and measurements, found our former impressions confirmed. This tower has been built up at the top like the other towers, in later times; and is of about the same altitude as the rest. It is quadrangular, though not a square; the eastern side measuring 56 feet 4 inches; and the southern side, 70 feet 3 inches. The bearings of the sides, taken from the S. E. corner, are N. 11° W. and W. 11° S. The height of the antique portion is 40 feet, but there is much rubbish in the fosse at the bottom; and an allowance must be made of from 5 to 10 feet more on this account. The large stones of which this part is built, have evidently never been disturbed; they have neither been thrown down nor relaid; and the general impression which they make upon the beholder, is precisely like that of the remains of the ancient walls around the temple. One of these stones measured 93 feet long, 4 feet broad, and 3 feet 10 inches high; another, 10 feet 2 inches long, 4 feet 1 inch high; a third, 12 feet long, 3 feet 5 inches broad. They are therefore smaller than the stones of the temple-walls; and although like them bevelled, yet the rest of the surface is only roughly hewn. These two circumstances indicate a less massive and less careful style of architecture; and probably imply a later date. The entrance of the present tower is in the western side, about half way up, in the upper or modern part. To the lower or antique part there is no known nor visible entrance, either from above or below; and no one knows of any room or space in it. The officer who accompanied us, said there was a tradition among them, that there was formerly an underground passage leading to it; but no one knew any thing of it 1) See above, p. 361. now. We made all our measurements in the presence of the soldiers; and some of them even went so far as to assist us. All these circumstances, compared with the account of Josephus, and taking into view the conjectural and exaggerated nature of his statements, tally well enough with the description of Hippicus; while the position of the tower and the apparent solidity of the antique part, leave little room to doubt of its identity. Towers of Phasaëlus and Mariamne. Josephus describes also two other towers,' built by Herod in the same general form, but of somewhat larger dimensions; one called Phasaëlus after his friend, and the other Mariamne after his favourite wife. They stood not far from Hippicus, on the first or ancient wall, which ran from the latter tower eastward to the temple, along the northern brow of Zion. This brow was here thirty cubits above the valley of the Tyropoeon, and added greatly to the apparent height of the towers. Connected with these towers and Hippicus, was the royal castle or palace of the first Herod, which was enclosed by the said wall on the North, and on the other sides by a wall thirty cubits high. The whole was finished with great strength and regal splendour; and furnished with halls, and galleries, and cisterns, and apartments without number.2 But of all this strength and splendour not a vestige now remains, except the lower solid part of Hippicus, as above described. Titus, indeed, on beholding the massive nature of these works, gave orders to let these three towers be left standing, as memorials to posterity of the impregnable nature of the fortifications, which Roman valour had been able to subdue. But not 1) B. J. V. 4. 3, 4. 2) Ibid. V. 4. 4. VOL. I. 58 3) Ibid. VI. 9. 1. VII. 1. 1, |