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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

s d.
CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE. With
an Exposition of the Hiero
glyphics ... ... ... ... 2 6
FRESH LIGHT FROM THE
ANCIENT MONUMENTS. By
A. H. Sayce, LL.D  3
RECENT DISCOVERIES ON THE
TEMPLE HILL AT JERUSALEM.
By the Rev. j. King, M.A. 2
BABYLONIAN LIFE & HISTORY.
By E. A. Wallis Budge, M.A. 3
GALILEE IN THE TIME OF
CHRIST. By Selah Merrill,
D.D  2
EGYPT & SYRIA. Their Physical
Features in Relation to Bible
History. By Sir J. W. Dawson,
. F.R.S  ;.  3
ASSYRIA : ITS PRINCES, PRIESTS,
AND PEOPLE. By A. H. Sayce,
LL.D  3 0
THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.
By E. A. Wallis Budge, M.A. 3 0
THE DISEASES OF THE BIBLE.
By Sir J. Risdon Bennett, M.D.,
F.R.S. , Ex-President of the
Royal College of Physicians ... 2 6

W?%$&&

Frontispiece.

iSy patfje of ISittlr MnotuIrOgr
in
"recent discoveries

TEMPLE HILL AT JERUSALEM

BY THE
REV. J. KING, M.A.
Authorised Lecturer to the Palestine Exploration Fund

WITH HAP, PLANS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS

FOURTH EDITION

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
56, Paternoster Row, and 65, St. Paul's Churchyard
1891

CM4-3 K5B3r \?3l

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.

THE object of this little volume is to place within the
reach of all readers interested in the subject, in an
attractive form, the results of the excavations made on
the Temple Hill at Jerusalem during the last twenty
years. The skill and energy of the Engineers of the
Palestine Exploration Fund overcame almost insuper
able obstacles, and although all that could be desired
has not yet been done, and many points are still
doubtful which further excavation might settle, they
have fairly earned the gratitude of all Biblical students.
The wonderful evidences that have been brought to
light of the architectural skill and building power of
Solomon and his successors not only confirm in the
strongest manner the Sacred Records, but they help
us more vividly to recall the buildings and ceremonials
of the remote past.
The visitor to Jerusalem can now, if so disposed, see
the very stones placed in position by the masons of
Solomon. He can explore the surprising system by
which water was brought to the Temple Hill and
stored there. He can' walk about Zion and go round

6 PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.
about her,' and can appreciate yet more fully than
past generations that her 'foundation is in the holy
mountains.' Across the intervening centuries he seems
to touch the men of Solomon's time when he looks upon
the very foundation stone which they laid amid the
rejoicings of a nation.
And those who cannot go to look upon these things
with the bodily eye can at any rate gain fairly clear
and accurate ideas about them from accounts like those
contained in this little book.
The author is indebted to the courtesy of the Com
mittee of the Palestine Exploration Fund for per
mission to use almost all the plans and illustrations
contained in the work.
In issuing a third edition the writer desires to
acknowledge the many friendly press notices of the
previous editions, accompanied in some instances by
wholesome criticism.
For instance, a reviewer in ' The Saturday Review
thought that the volume ought to contain a full account
of the ' Dome of the Rock,' a suggestion analogous to
saying that a work on ' Recent Discoveries of Roman
London ' ought to contain a full description of West
minster Abbey.
We had an opportunity, while sojourning in Jerusalem,
of examining the stonework of the ' Kubbet es-Sakhra.'

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. 7
or ' Dome of the Ro.ck,' and, in a future work on the
present buildings standing on the Temple Hill, we hope
to furnish an exhaustive historical account of this ancient
mosque ; but our readers will readily perceive this hand
some edifice cannot be regarded as a modern discovery,
and therefore does not legitimately come within the
scope of ' Recent Discoveries on the Temple Hill.'
Another reviewer contended that the writer had not
established any theory on the Temple Hill problem,
but had confined himself to narrating recent discoveries,
without pointing out their bearing on the Temple site
controversy. This criticism he must acknowledge to be
perfectly just, and he accepts it as a compliment, inas
much as it faithfully sets forth his guiding principle,
namely, to show the results of recent excavations with
out attempting to establish any preconceived theory.
Nevertheless, in deference to wishes that have been
expressed, he has added, at the end of the book, a
chapter on The Theories about the Site of Solomon's
Temple, although the primary object of the book is to
set forth the work of the Royal Engineers, and indicate
the bearing of their discoveries on the Inspired Word,
not to discuss theories.
The plan of the book has met with almost general
approval, and Professor Sayce, the eminent Assyriologist
and Semitic student, in a letter to the author, says : —

8 PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION,
'Recent Discoveries on the Temple Hill is a work
greatly needed for giving a succinct and clear account
of what has been done in the way of excavating on the
Temple Hill, apart from controversies and disputed
questions. What the general reader wants to know is
not what has been said in favour of this or that particular
theory, but what are the ascertained facts. I know of
no other book which will satisfy his needs so well.
Unless we are able to excavate within the Haram
enclosure itself, and beneath the cemeteries at its side,
a good number of the questions in dispute must remain
unsettled.'

CONTENTS.

Chap. I.
II.

III.

IV.

V.
VI.
VII.
VIII. IX.

The Royal Quarries 
The East Wall of the Temple Area . . .
i. The Tower at the North-East Angle
ii. The Golden Gate 
iii. The East Wall South cf the Golden Gate
iv. The Red Heifer Bridge
v. The South-East Angle 
vi. The Great Corner Stone
vii. The Lower Courses
viii. Emanuel Deutsch's Report
ix. The Jar and Fragments found at the South-East
Angle ...
The South Wall and Solomon's Stables
i. The Wall of Ophel 
ii. Solomon's Stables
iii. The Single and Triple Gates ...
iv. The Great Course
v. The Double Gate 
vi. The South-West Section of the South Wall
The West and North Walls of the Temple Area
i. Robinson's Arch
ii. The Wailing Place
iii. The West Wall of the Haram, north of the Wailing
Place 
iv. The North Wall of the Haram A-ea .
Herod's Temple 
The Ancient Water Supply of Jerusalem
Ancient Reservoirs on the Temple Hill
The Outflow from the Temple Cisterns
Theories about the Site of Solomon's Temple

PAGE 13
2222 29353»
40 49 5154 58
66
66 677i 747780

99
»3 118
120138153168186

The Golden Gate itispiece
Map of Jerusalem 12
Plan of the Noble Sanctuary 22
The so-called Castle of Antonia 26
The South-East Angle ... 41
Gallery at the South-East Angle 44
Incised Characters on the Stones 51
Marks on Stones at the South-East Angle 54
Inscribed Jar Handles 61
Solomon's Stables... 68
Robinson's Arch ... 91
Voussoir of the Fallen Arch 04
The Wailing Place 101

RECENT DISCOVERIES
ON THE
TEMPLE HILL AT JERUSALEM.

CHAPTER I.
The Royal Quarries.
Every traveller who makes a sojourn in Jerusalem
should visit the Royal Quarries. They are vast caverns,
reaching far underneath Bezetha, the northern hill on
which the Holy City is built, and not only do they throw
light upon the stonework of the Temple, but their vast-
ness at once impresses the mind with some adequate
idea of the gigantic character of the sacred edifices that
once crowned the summit of Moriah.
About one hundred and fifty yards east of the Bab-al-
Amud, or Damascus Gate, the wall has been built on a
rugged rock fifty feet high. At the foot of this rock is
an entrance to a cave, so low that it can only be entered
by stooping. The passage for some distance is nearly
blocked up with an accumulation of earth, partly swept
in by the wind. While the ceiling is high enough to
allow the visitor to stand upright, a light is struck, and
the traveller is furnished with a long lighted taper : and
thus provided, he follows a native guide, and explores
the hidden recesses that reach far into the bowels of
the earth, beneath the northern hill of Jerusalem.

14 THE ROYAL QUARRIES.
Near the entrance the stratified rock is seen overhead
and on each side, and this, combined with the fact that
fragments of the rock lay scattered around, suggests that
the entrance at least is part of a natural cave. The floor,
however, seemed to be composed of accumulated earth
and sand, and soon it deflects from its horizontal position,
and becomes a steep descent. The size of the cave in
creases rapidly, and a glance at the great rocks around
shows that it is no longer a natural cave, but an un
derground place excavated by the hand of man. The
rock is no longer stratified, but has been cut away with
sharp tools, and rises up perpendicularly from floor to
ceiling. Dark tunnel-looking cuttings diverge in various
directions, and colossal masses of rock, which were
rough hewn and left as columns to support the roof, are
seen. Walking cautiously, lest his feet should stumble
into some dark abyss, the visitor comes to the edge of a
precipice that threatens to put a stop to his explorations,
but at length, by means of some rude steps cut in the
rock, he descends t6 a lower level.
On raising a shout the deep sepulchral sound of the
human voice shows that the traveller has penetrated to
the midst of mammoth caves, and the dim glimmer of
the candles only serves to make the surrounding dark
ness more visible. By igniting a magnesium light, the
effect gained is truly wonderful. The ramifications of
the subterranean quarries are seen to run in all direc
tions ; the rocky pillars left to prop up the roof resemble
the massive columns of a Norman Cathedral, while nave
and rude aisles end in darkness. The stone walls, rocky
roof and rugged archways, prostrate blocks, earthen
mounds, sharp precipices, rock-cut steps leading to dark

THE ROYAL QUARRIES. 1 5
amphitheatres, and above all the weird appearance of
fantastic shadows cast by the bright light, form a spectacle
never to be forgotten. Amid the silence and darkness,
a continual dropping of water can be heard, and such
parts of the roof as have been exposed to the action of
water are covered with sparkling stalactites, while the
percolation of water has caused sections of the rock to
be encrusted with a glistening coat of carbonate of
lime. On making a close inspection of the stone, it is found
to consist of a hard limestone, which when polished is
almost as pure and beautiful as marble. Of such a cha
racter is the stone referred to by the Psalmist, when he
expresses the wish that ' our sons may be as plants
grown up in their youth ; that our daughters may be
as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a
palace.'1 Large fragments of quarried stones lie around
in wild confusion, and several massive blocks half cut
still adhere to the wall.
There are deep niches here and there in the rock,
which turned out on closer examination to be perpendi
cular cuttings, or incisions made in cutting the stones.
These niches are from three to six inches wide, and seem
to have been made by means of a pick or some such
instrument with a long handle. The incisions were made
to the required depth, both from the front of the rock
and from behind, while similar cuttings were also being
made at the top and bottom, before the block was sepa
rated from the native rock. The process must have been
slow and simple ; but it was ingenious, and the stones
when severed would be then roughly cut and squared.
1 Psalm cxliv. 12.

1 6 THE ROYAL QUARRIES.
On the side of each cutting, and on, the edge of each half-
cut block, is a tiny cup-shaped hollow, evidently designed
to hold oil and wick to give light to the mason. The
smoke has blackened the white limestone ceiling, as well
as the front and side of the stone, and the cunning work
man was evidently in the habit of turning the wick round,
so as to throw light into the incision. Indications are
found also of wooden wedges or planks employed to
remove the stones when cut from their original position.
In some places the marks of the pick and chisel are so
clear and fresh in appearance, that one has little difficulty
in imagining that King Hiram's skilled quarry-men are
still engaged in cutting the stones, and have only retired
from the quarry for their usual mid-day meal.
In a retired corner, some distance from the main
thoroughfare of the quarry, may be seen a well or basin
scooped out of the rock designed to collect the water
that percolates through the roof and fissures of the lime
stone walls. On the floor around the basin Dr. Barclay
found fragments of pottery scattered about, as if the
drinking vessels had been suddenly dashed out of the
hands of the workmen, who had come to the well to
quench their thirst. Remains of human skeletons have
been found in various parts, but as neither sepulchral
ledges nor loculi for the dead are anywhere visible, it is
evident that these subterranean caverns were not designed
for purposes of sepulture. During the Middle Ages the
quarries may have been used for burying the dead, but
it seems more likely that these skeletons were the remains
of people who lost their way amid the labyrinthine pas
sages and, their lights having gone out, died in the dark
caverns. What gives this suggestion an appearance of

THE ROYAL QUARRIES. 1 7
probability is the fact that of late years several amateur
explorers, their lights having been extinguished, managed
to scramble to the entrance with a narrow escape of
their lives.
It seemed strange that the very existence of these
quarries was unknown to Franks at least for more than
three hundred years, and little more than a quarter of
a century has elapsed since Dr. Barclay discovered the
obscure entrance, and explored their hidden depths. The
Arabs call the cavern, Naghara-el-Cotton, that is, ' Cot
ton Grotto,' but why so named is unknown, and the
natives seem to have been aware of its existence previous
to Dr. Barclay's discovery. The city wall standing above
the entrance is the work of the Ottoman Sultan Sulei
man I, who built or rebuilt the northern wall of Jerusalem
in 1542 ; and certain indications of masonry at the
entrance itself suggest the thought that the mouth of the
quarries was built up at the same period. Twenty years
before the above date, that is, three hundred and fifty
years ago, a Jewish traveller from Italy who visited
Jerusalem says : —
' Not far from the Bab-al-Amud (Damascus Gate) is
the Cave of Zedekiah, which extends underground to the
mountains of Jericho. Several persons told me that
they themselves walked a mile in the same. It is so
spacious that a man on horseback, with a lance in his
hand, can ride through it quite comfortably.'
Two centuries before, Mejr-ed-Deen, an Arab writer of
the thirteenth century, speaks thus of the subterranean
quarries : —
' Opposite to and south of Zahara, and below the
northern gate of the city, is the great oblong excava-
¦ii B

1 8 THE ROYAL QUARRIES.
tion called the Maghara-el-Kattan : some say that it
extends even below the Sakhra.'
These quotations acquaint us with the prevailing
opinion in olden times regarding the vastness of these
caverns, and lead us to ask what is the real extent of
them ? The guides speak with mysterious vagueness,
and the common idea among the natives is that the
excavations extend to the Haram Area. The extent
suggested by Sir Charles Warren and the first Engineers
of the Palestine Exploration Fund is much too limited,
as has been proved by the explorations of Herr Schick.
It ought to be noticed that the Royal Quarries and
the Temple Hill belong to the same ridge of rock, and
that both are situated immediately to the east of the deep
valley that runs north and south through the centre of
ancient Jerusalem. The excavations extend towards the
south-east, and approach very near to the rock-cut
tunnels lately discovered under the Convent of the Sisters
of Zion. The tunnels run close to the northern wall of
the Haram ; so that there seems nothing extravagant in
the idea that in ancient days the Royal Quarries were
connected by subterranean passages with the Temple
Hill. It has been suggested that the blocks of stone, after
being dressed in the quarry, were taken to the entrance
of the cavern, and thence conveyed to the Northern Gate
en route for the Temple Hill. Now while this may have
been done by Sultan Suleiman I, three hundred years
ago, and while the same route may have been in use
even in the days of Herod, yet it is manifest that no
such road could have been used in the days of King
Solomon. The Damascus Gate, which forms the northern

THE ROYAL QUARRIES. 1 9
gate of the city, is the work of Suitan Suleiman, and
occupies the site of the old gateway, and both gateways
were built upon the de'bris that fills up a deep ravine.
This depression, known as the Asmoncean Valley, was
filled up by the Maccabees ; but, being in existence in the
days of Solomon, it is highly improbable that the masons
of Solomon's time conveyed the massive blocks down
into a considerable ravine, and immediately dragged
them up the western slope of Mount Moriah. There is
reason for supposing that the subterranean caverns,
spacious though they be, are only part of the original
quarry. The rugged rock, fifty feet high, on which the city
wall now stands, seems to have been scarped for defence
or some other purpose. Moreover, a fosse formed by a
cutting in the rock had extended outside the walls from
the Damascus Gate as far as the Burg Laklak, or Stork
Tower, which stands at the north-east angle of the city
wall, and thence the fosse has been continued as far
south as St. Stephen's Gate. The fosse opposite the
mouth of the Royal Quarries is partly filled up with
some thirty or forty feet of rubbish. At a distance of
about five hundred feet, looking north, what looks like
the counterscarp to the rock on which the wall stands is
seen. This counterscarp and cave at its foot is at pre
sent known by the name of Jeremiah's Grotto, and
although it contains some rock-cut tombs and vaulted
sepulchres, it is clearly an old quarry.
The intermediate space between the scarp and counter
scarp is covered with a vast accumulation of rubbish, such
as stone chippings, and over the top of this de'bris passes
the present road outside the city walls. This rubbish
B 2

20 THE ROYAL QUARRIES.
may be from fifty to one hundred feet in depth, so that
all the space from the counterscarp at Jeremiah's Grotto
to the most southern part of the subterranean caverns
has formed at some period one immense quarry.
When it is remembered that nearly the whole city of
Edinburgh has been built out of Craig Leith Quarry,
and that many a town in England has been built of stone
taken from one rock-cut excavation ; when, moreover, we
reflect upon the immense size of the Jerusalem quarries,
we are led to the conclusion that all the stonework of the
Holy City, including the Temples of Solomon, Zerub-
babel, and Herod, the gigantic walls of the Haram, as
well as the walls encompassing the city, have been
excavated from one and the same spot, namely, from the
Royal Quarries underneath the north part of the Holy
City. This supposition gathers strength from the fact
that all the stonework, speaking generally, is of one
formation, and corresponds to the hard limestone rock of
the aforesaid caves.
Sir Charles Warren, in his work, Underground Jeru
salem? speaking of Solomon's Temple, says : —
' The stones for this great work were brought down
from the Royal Quarries under Bezetha, north of the
Temple, one entrance to which is still to be seen in the
outer wall of the modern city. The Temple of Solomon
was built of the beautiful white stone of the country,
the hard missae, which will bear a considerable amount
of polish.'
There is a prevailing notion that the polished blocks
of Solomon's Temple were sent by Hiram from Lebanon
or Tyre, but such a notion receives no proof either from
1 Page 60.

THE ROYAL QUARRIES. 21
Josephus or the Bible. It is expressly stated in the
Books of both Kings and Chronicles that Solomon re
quested Hiram to send cedar trees and fir trees from
Mount Lebanon. ' And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying,
I have considered the things which thou sentest to me
for, and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of
cedar and concerning timber of fir.'1
It is also intimated that Hiram, the renowned mason
king, sent cunning masons and stone-squarers to help
Solomon's cunning workmen to cut, square, hew, and
polish the stones for the sacred edifice ; but nowhere is it
stated that the blocks were forwarded to Jerusalem. The
prevailing notion, therefore, seems a popular delusion.
Indeed, the limestone around Jerusalem is so abundant,
and so excellent in quality, that it would have been folly
to send stones from a distance, as well as an immense
labour to have transmitted blocks, such as now appear
in the Haram wall, from Phoenicia to Jerusalem.
1 I Kings v. 8.

22

CHAPTER II.
The East Wall of the Temple Area.

i. The Tower at the North-east Angle.
Passing out of Jerusalem through St. Stephen's Gate, the
tower that forms the north-east angle of the Haram Area
is seen. According to De Vogue's theory, the whole of
the vast platform now called the Haram was included
within the precincts of the Temple ; and if this be so, then
it follows that the north-east tower can boast great
antiquity. This tower has erroneously been called the
Tower of Antonia and the Castle of Antonia, and
although it had nothing to do with the ancient Tower and
Castle of Antonia, yet for convenience sake the name is
applied to the north-east angle by the Engineers of the
Palestine Exploration Fund.
The tower projects above seven feet beyond the
Haram wall, and the face overlooking the Kedron Valley
is eighty-seven feet in length. Five courses of masonry
above ground are still in their original position, as well as
portions of six courses above at the northern end of the
tower. The blocks of stone are large, the courses being
from three to four feet high, and one stone is about
twenty-four feet long, while others measure from seven
teen to twenty feet. Recent excavations have shown
that there exists a vast accumulation of rubbish round
this so-called Castle of Antonia, and that the tower

THE TOWER AT THE NORTH-EAST ANGLE. 23
now visible above ground is only the top part of a
colossal wall of ancient masonry.
The excavation carried on at this part proved to be a
laborious work, arising from the immense deposits of
de'bris and the loose nature of the rubbish. The inde
fatigable efforts of Sir Charles Warren and his fellow
labourers overcame all obstacles, and it has truly been
observed that their labours are without parallel in the
history of excavation. One cutting alone, continued
through shafts and galleries, was six hundred feet long.
The most important shaft was sunk about one hundred
feet east of the tower, and, after descending a con
siderable depth, a horizontal gallery was driven towards
the Sanctuary wall, striking the tower at a point about
forty feet beneath the surface, and six paces south of the
north-east angle. A gallery driven along the wall showed
that underground there is no break in the wall running
northwards, and consequently the north angle of the
tower, which at the surface projects seven feet beyond
the wall, has no existence forty feet below the ground.
At a considerably greater depth the foundations were
reached, and it appears that the rock is cut away to form
a level bed for the stones. Everywhere on the native
rock were traces of the work of men who may have lived
in the early days of the Jewish monarchy.
The rock rises with a steep gradient towards the north,
so that at St. Stephen's Gate, only two hundred feet
north of the tower, the rock is only twenty feet below
the surface. It falls rapidly past the tower, and the
foundation under the south angle is one hundred and ten
feet deep. It still continues to descend rapidly, until it
reaches the bed of a ravine at a point twenty paces south

24 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
of the tower, and at the enormous depth of one hundred
and twenty-five feet below the present surface. The
foundations of the tower are laid upon the rock, and an
excavation of the buried masonry shows that in the
lower depths the so-called Castle of Antonia is merely
a part of the main east wall ; for the masonry north and
south is flush with the face of the tower. The wall rises
upwards from the rock in an unbroken mass for about
fifty feet at the south side of the tower, and sixty-three
feet above the bed of the ravine. The blocks here have
marginal drafts and very rough faces. Projecting, as
they do, from twelve to twenty-four inches, they have a
curious appearance, and are altogether different in
character from the rough-faced stones found in other
parts of the Sanctuary wall. In the rough-faced masonry
a strong batter is formed by each course being set back
four inches behind the edge of the course below, and
this batter must give strength and solidity to the sus
taining foundations.
On the third course from the rock, and above one
hundred feet below the surface, some Phoenician charac
ters were seen painted in red colour on the surface of one
of the stones. In one character a trickling of the paint
was seen on the upper side, and this fact shows that the
characters were painted before the stone was placed in
its present position.
The rough-faced masonry rises up from the rock in
an unbroken mass to a height of fifty feet above the
foundations of the south end of the castle, but at that
elevation a complete change takes place in the charac
ter of the masonry. At this height, which corresponds
with the top. of the fifteenth course of the stones, +1-e

The so-called Castle of Antonia.

THE TOWER AT THE NORTH-EAST ANGLE. 27
development of the tower proper begins. This is effected
by setting back the courses of the wail from four to seven
inches, while each succeeding course in the face of the
castle is set back little more than an inch, so that when
the surface is reached, which is sixty feet higher, the
tower has a clear projection of seven feet from the
wall. The stones, moreover, which form the face of the
tower, beginning with the seventeenth course, have
marginal drafts and fine-dressed faces, like those at the
Wailing Place ; while the stones in the wall proper have
rough projecting faces from the foundation to the
surface, and the style of masonry probably extends
underground from the Castle of Antonia to the Golden
Gate. The rock in the bed of the ravine, above alluded
to, is about one hundred and twenty-six feet below
the present surface outside the wall ; and as the ground
of the Haram Area here is thirteen feet higher, it follows
that the immense deposits of rubbish in this quarter go
down to the enormous depth of about one hundred and
forty feet.
It now appears from recent excavations that a valley
extended from the closed portal of Bab az Zahire, or
Gate of Flowers, in the northern wall of the city, in a
south-eastern direction, and passing through the so-
called Pool of Bethesda, which occupies a section of
valley, it next crosses the ground at present forming the
north-east section of the Noble Sanctuary.
Immense deposits of rubbish must have been made to
raise the vast platform of the Haram to its present height,
which, as already noticed, is about one hundred and
forty feet above the bed of the ravine. The so-called

28 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
Castle of Antonia is built on the northern slope of this
valley, and not only does the main east wall cross the
ravine, but the wall extending westwards from the tower,
and forming the northern wall of the Haram, has also
crossed another section of the same valley.
The rubbish passed through in the shafts sunk at the
north-east corner is composed for the most part of red
earth, stone chippings mixed with fragments of pottery,
and near the rock a layer of dark earth. In the deepest
shaft, at a depth of above one hundred feet, some rude
tesserce were found, and even below this some pieces of
pottery were picked up by the Engineers. The masonry
of the tower is composed of stone which for the most
part is not so hard and compact as that at the south-east
angle, and the chisel work is inferior to that found in
some parts of the Sanctuary wall.
The line of wall extending from the corner tower to
the Golden Gate is above one hundred and twenty yards
long. An examination of this section shows that the
upper part of the wall now visible above ground is a
work of reconstruction, probably the work of the Otto
man Sultan. The masonry as it exists at present is only
three centuries old, yet many of the stones bear marks
of great age, and, although the wall shows careless con
struction, yet it stands upon an ancient wall of much
solidity. Several ancient courses can be seen rising from
the ground, and these courses seem to be in situ. The
old stones are not so massive as many found in the
Haram wall, but there is one magnificent block about
midway between the tower and gate, eighteen feet long
by five in height. Several ancient stones are much
worn, and it is difficult to recognise any marginal draft.

THE GOLDEN GATE. 29
For about twenty paces north of the Golden Gate the
lower courses, though evidently ancient, are very roughly
hewn, their rugged faces projecting about two feet.
This rough-faced masonry probably extends the whole
length of the wall, from the foundations up to the
present surface.
From the bed of the valley the rock rises gradually
towards the south, attaining its highest elevation about
the Golden Gate, where it comes within thirty feet of
the surface. According to Sir Charles Warren, this
section of the wall, together with the north-east corner
tower, is of high antiquity, and may be the work of the
Jewish kings. ii. The Golden Gate.
The Golden Gate occupies a conspicuous position in
the east wall, and is situated about midway between
St. Stephen's Gate and the south-east corner. Viewed
fro.m the summit of the Mount 'of Olives, the Golden
Gate, with its projection, double portals, and lofty
masonry overtopping the adjoining battlements, forms
the most prominent feature in the course of the eastern
wall. The gateway projects six feet beyond the wall,
and measures above fifty feet across the face. It con
tains two portals, surmounted by semicircular arches
profusely ornamented. The jambs are seven feet wide,
and each is composed of five courses of large stones four
feet high, so that the capitals are twenty feet above
the sill of the entrance. The capitals are four feet high,
and are richly ornamented with sharp acanthus foliage.
The entablature has the same ornamentation as the
capitals, and an architectural feature somewhat uncom-

30 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
mon is formed by this entablature being curved round
the arches. A large four-horned Corinthian capital,
ornamented with three rows of acanthus leaves, projects
horizontally from the masonry above the arches, and
occupies a position sixty feet from the ground.
The interior of the gateway, entered from the Haram,
is found to consist of a vestibule both spacious and im
posing. A row of Corinthian columns with exaggerated
capitals divides the large portico into two equal parts,
while corresponding pilasters stand in the walls on each
side. Reasoning from the gradation of styles, as traced
in the gradual progression of architectural details,
Mr. James Fergusson considers that the ornamentation
shows that the gateway belongs to a period about mid
way between the times of Hadrian and Justinian, that
is, between the second and sixth centuries.
' Had it been as early as the time of Hadrian, the bent
entablature which covers both the external and internal
openings could not have existed ; while had it been as
late as the age of Justinian, its classical features would
have been exchanged for the peculiar incised style of
his buildings.'
The ornate character seems to indicate that it was a
festal entrance to some sacred or palatial edifice, rather
than a fortified gate of the city. It, moreover, appears
to answer to the description given by Eusebius of the
propylea or gateway leading to the atrium or sacred
precinct in front of the basilica erected by the Emperor
Constantine on the Temple Hill. Eusebius says that
propylea leading to the basilica opened ' iirl 1% TrXa-
Teta? ayopa? ' ' upon the broad market place,' a public
area formed in front of most sacred places in the East.

THE GOLDEN GATE. 31
The present gateway, therefore, probably dates from
Constantine's reign, and probably occupies the site of .
an ancient entrance which led to the Sacred Enclosure.
Such an entrance in the east wall is spoken, of in
Ezekiel : ' Then he brought me back, the way of the
gate of the outward sanctuary, which looketh toward
the east ; and it was shut. Then said the Lord unto
me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and
no man shall enter in by it : because the Lord, the God
of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.
It is for the prince, the prince he shall sit in it to eat
bread before the Lord : he shall enter by the way of
the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way
of the same.'1
These prophetic words received a striking fulfilment
when Christ, as the ' Prince of Peace,' rode in triumph
on Palm Sunday, amid the Hosannas of the multitude
on His way to the Temple, and entered the sacred
enclosure through a gate that probably occupied the
site of the Golden Gate. In the spacious porch may yet
be seen two huge monolithic jambs, now used as pillars,
one being twelve feet and the other fourteen feet in
length. These two monoliths are vestiges of an ancient
gateway that existed long anterior to the present.
According to tradition, the ' Beautiful Gate of the
Temple,' spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles,
stood here ; and it is a singular fact that the present
title, ' Golden,' is a mis-translation for Beautiful. The
Greek word 'Slpcua,' beautiful, was incorrectly trans
lated by the Latin word aurea, golden, perhaps from the
resemblance of the two classic words : and common
1 Ezekiel xliv. 1-3.

32 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
usage has perpetuated the error down to the present
day, so we still name the entrance The Golden Gate.
It is stated in the Talmud that the ancient entrance to
the Temple precincts, on the eastern side, was the Gate
of Shushan. The word Shushan means a- lily, and,
while the entrance may possibly have been named the
Gate of the Lily, from some floral decoration repre
senting that flower, yet it was probably named after the
city of Shushan, the capital of ancient Persia. Cyrus
the Persian was the monarch that proclaimed liberty to
the Jewish exiles after the seventy years' captivity in
Babylon, and on the rebuilding of the second temple
the Jews, prompted by feelings of gratitude, probably
named the eastern gate Shushan, after the metropolis of
their royal benefactor. It is recorded that Heraclius,
Emperor of the East, and conqueror of Chosroes, the
Persian king, entered the Temple Area by the Golden
Gate. At the period of the Crusades, while the Chris
tians held possession of Jerusalem, this gate was opened
for a few hours on Palm Sunday, and the Patriarch,
riding on an ass, and accompanied by a great procession
carrying palm branches, passed through the Golden Gate,
in imitation of the triumphal entry of Christ.
After the Crusades, the victorious Moslems caused the
two portals to be built up, and there still exists a tradi
tion that one day, and that a Friday, a Christian con
queror will enter the city by this gate and wrest the
Holy City from the Moslems.
The Arabs now call the whole gateway Bab ed
Daheriyeh, the Eternal Gate, the northern arch being
called Gate of Repentance, while the southern arch
is called Gate of Mercy.

THE GOLDEN GATE. 33
The examination of the main wall beneath the Golden
Gate would probably yield valuable information ; but as
the narrow space extending along the outer side of the
Sanctuary wall from the corner tower to a point one
hundred yards south of the Golden Gateway is used as a
Muhammadan cemetery, it follows that any excavations
attempted in a place of sepulture would naturally arouse
the indignation of the natives. The underground
masonry of the east wall is consequently not much
known, and the only mode by which it has hitherto been
approached consists in sinking a shaft eastward of the
cemetery, and then driving a horizontal gallery west
wards towards the wall.
Sir Charles Warren, in Underground Jerusalem thus
describes the difficulties encountered : —
' There seemed at first no hope of ever reaching this
wall below the surface, for all along the front of it runs
the Moslem burial-ground, in which the blind men sit all
day, hired by disconsolate widows to lament over their
dear departed. But it was part of the work to be per
formed, and in consequence we commenced to sink a
shaft to the east of the burial-ground, and one hundred
feet away from the wall. At a depth of forty feet we
commenced mining in under the cemetery. The soil was
most treacherous, and we were in a critical situation ; for
had there been a bad fall in the galleries, and had the
graves been disturbed and exposed, the resentment of
the people would have known no bounds. I adopted on
this occasion a special form of gallery frame, and kept a
corporal always at the head of the gallery fixing them,
so as to ensure success. After many delays, many vexa
tious obstructions, we at last got across the cemetery in
C

34 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA
safety, and struck the Sanctuary wall eighteen feet south
of the north-east angle, and found the stones similar
to those at the Wailing Place.'
About fifty yards in front of the Golden Gateway a
shaft was sunk, the rock at the bottom of which was
eighty feet below the level of the sill of the present
gateway. A gallery was then driven up the face of the rock, and
soon a rough masonry wall was encountered standing
on the top of a scarp of rock. Continuing the gallery
up the hill, the Engineers struck upon a portion of a shaft
of a column at a distance of about eighty feet from the
Haram wall. The column is three feet in diameter, and
it was found standing erect among the rubbish, its lowest
part being three feet above the level of the rock.
When about fifty feet from the Sanctuary wall, and
fifty feet below the surface, the Engineers came upon a
massive masonry wall. It is built in courses, and the
stones are large, each course being two and a half feet
high, and the stones for the most part five feet long.
The stone is the hard limestone called missce, and
the blocks have marginal drafts and rough faces pro
jecting six inches. The horizontal joints are a foot
apart, and the space is filled up with six-inch cubes
welded together with a cement compounded of red earth,
oil, and lime. The masonry was pierced by the Engineers
for five feet, but as there appeared no sign of perforating
the entire thickness of the wall, the men desisted from
their arduous labour. They then ran a gallery along
the wall northwards for fourteen feet without meeting
any break in the masonry. Higher up the valley this
massive wall was encountered in another shaft, and it

THE EAST WALL SOUTH OF THE GOLDEN GATE. 35
was there found to be running in a north-west direction,
that is, with an inclination towards the Haram. The
rubbish passed through in these shafts was of a very
dangerous character, being composed of loose shingles
and dry boulders.
The buried walls on the slope of the hill were probably
sustaining walls for supporting terraces, and as the rock
is thirty feet below the surface at the Golden Gate,
there probably in ancient days existed a spacious pro
menade or terrace fifty feet broad in front of this
entrance. Terraced gardens also seem to have beautified
the slopes from the Kedron bed up to the high terrace
by the Temple wall.
iii. The East Wall South of the Golden
Gate.
From the Golden Gate to the south-east corner there
is a stretch of wall above a thousand feet long. More
than one hundred feet south of the gate there is a two-
feet projection in the wall ; and midway between the
gate and projection there exists a postern worthy of
notice. This small gate measures only ten feet by six. The
lintel is a large stone, but has evidently been inserted in
the wall, and there are no regular jambs. The postern
extends through three courses of stone, and looks as
if it had been formed by cutting through the wall.
The portals of the Golden Gate are built up, and seem
to have been so for many ages ; but when this was done
there existed no entrance to the Temple Hill throughout
the long course of the east wall. It seems only natural
to suppose that this postern was pierced through the
C 2

36 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
wall in order that foot passengers from Olivet and
Kedron might gain admission to the sacred enclosure
without having to walk a considerable distance round
the outer walls. This suggestion receives confirmation
from the fact that the ground inside the Haram is very
much depressed at this spot, being nearly on a level
with the sill of the postern. Between the Golden Gate
and the postern, a distance of fifty feet, .the two lowest
courses of masonry are composed of large stones with
marginal drafts and rough faces projecting nine inches.
South of the postern as far as the projection, the stones
are smaller, with plain chiselled faces, and here a curious
shaped stone, having the appearance of a piscina, is
inserted in the wall.
From the projection to the south-east corner, the line
of wall is nine hundred feet long, and, from some
striking characteristics, it may be conveniently divided
into three sections about one hundred yards each. Five-
sixths of this wall above ground is a reconstruction
made by Sultan Selim I three hundred years ago. His
work for the most part is made up of comparatively
small stones, almost square in form, with plain-dressed
faces. Many ancient blocks of great size, and generally
with rough-dressed faces, have also been used as old
material, and small granite columns are frequently built
into the wall transversely, their heads projecting from a
few inches to four feet beyond the masonry.
The stones in the northern section are in many cases
rude and irregular, and stand out beyond the main line
of the wall. In one place ten small granite columns,
laid transversely, are built into the masonry in a row,
their ends projecting four inches. It is difficult to con-

THE EAST WALL SOUTH OF THE GOLDEN GATE. 37
jecture what purpose these columns serve, except it be
ornamentation. The middle section, also one hundred
yards long, is distinguished for its smooth-faced yellow
stone. The south section, extending to the south-east corner,
is the most important part of the east wall, and several
features call for special attention. Sixty yards from the
south-east angle is a granite column projecting four feet
from the wall at a height of sixty feet above the ground.
Below it is a black circular-headed window, now blocked
up, and above it near the top of the wall is an aperture
presenting the appearance of an open door. According
to a Moslem tradition, Mahomet will sit on this pro
jecting column at the day of judgment, and will judge
the nations assembled in the valley below.
This part of the Kedron is called the Valley of
Jehoshaphat, and not only Moslems, but Jews also,
consider the place as the scene of the Last Judgment.
Hence the valley has been used from time immemorial
as a Jewish burial-ground, and there exists a strong
desire among the Jews to be buried in this spot. The
valley and the lower slopes of Olivet are literally paved
with flat tombstones on which are cut Hebrew inscrip
tions, recording the names and expressing the hopes of
the children of Abraham.
This belief is founded on certain passages in the pro
phet Joel : ' I will also gather all nations, and will
bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. . . Let
the heathen be wakened, and come up to the Valley
of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the
heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the
harvest is ripe. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of

3S THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of
de'cision.'1 Above a hundred feet north of the south-east corner
there is a break in the wall, not only in the masonry
above ground, but excavations have shown that the
break exists also in the buried wall far below the surface.
This break or straight joint separates two different
kinds of masonry, and indicates two building periods.
From Mahomet's Pillar to the break is a distance of
seventy feet, and the stones here are large in size, with
marginal drafts and rough projecting faces. South of
the break in the wall, and from this point to the south
east corner, a distance of above one hundred feet, there
is a complete change in the masonry. The stones are
magnificent blocks, with clean-cut marginal drafts and
finely-dressed faces, and are regarded as vestiges of the
most ancient masonry in the Haram walls.
iv. The Red Heifer Bridge.
At the break on the south side are two gigantic arch
stones bulging out from the wall. They are eighteen
feet long and curved below, and are situated in the
midst of masonry generally admitted to be of high
antiquity. The natural conclusion is that they are two
voussoirs of. an arch of a bridge that once spanned the
Kedron Valley. It has been suggested that these arch
stones may not be in situ, and may have formed part of
an arched covering of the ancient vaults inside the Haram.
This may have been the case, but, in the absence of more
certain authority, we are led to inquire whether the
voussoirs may not after all have been what their appear-
1 Joel iii. 2, 12-14.

THE RED HEIFER BRIDGE. 39
ance and position indicate — the sole vestiges above
ground of an ancient bridge across Kedron. Search was
made for the pier of the supposed arch : no trace of it
was seen. It ought, however, to be noted that the shaft
was not sunk to the rock, on which the pier would rest,
and on which rock vestiges might therefore still remain.
A more searching excavation of the rock surface alone
can settle the question.
It is, however, interesting to know that in ancient times
the Red Heifer Bridge spanned the Valley of Kedron,
and united the Temple precincts to the Mount of Olives.
In the Book of Numbers is an account of the institu
tion of the sacrifice of the Red Heifer, from which it
appears that the victim was a heifer without spot or
blemish. The sacrifice was performed by the high-
priest, and the blood of the heifer was sprinkled seven
times before the tabernacle. The ashes of the victim,
mingled with water, produced the ' water of separation '
used to purify from ceremonial pollution. From the
Rabbinical writings, and especially from the tract Parah
in the Talmud, a full account of the ceremonial that
accompanied the sacrifice of the Red Heifer is obtained.
Only eight times has the sacrifice been made since the
first celebration in the time of Moses, and the tenth
celebration will not occur until the coming of the
Messiah. The bridge known by the name of the Red Heifer
Bridge consisted of two tiers of arches, and was con
structed across the deep ravine of the Kedron Valley,
which separated the Temple from the Mount of Olives.
The heifer was led along this bridge by the high-priest,
preceded by the elders of the Senate, to the summit of

40 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
Olivet, which was exactly opposite the door of the
Holy House. Having slain the victim, the high-priest
sprinkled the blood seven times towards the Temple.
That the Red Heifer Bridge spanned the Kedron
seems sufficiently clear, but authorities are not agreed
as to the particular part where the bridge crossed the
valley. Sir Charles Warren, to whose indefatigable labours we
are indebted for our knowledge of underground Jeru
salem, thinks that it was opposite the Golden Gateway.
It ought to be remembered that a bridge opposite the
arch stones, near the south-east angle, would span the
valley at its narrowest part, and would reach a corre
sponding altitude on the slope of Olivet, at a point
about three hundred yards from the Sanctuary wall,
whereas a bridge crossing the valley opposite the
Golden Gate would be at least twice as long, from the
fact that the valley is very wide at this particular place.
The smaller bridge would be a work of considerable
labour, but even this is insignificant compared with the
gigantic masses of masonry seen in the Temple walls.
v. The South-east Angle.
From the arch stones the ground gradually descends
to the south-east corner, and the last sixty feet of
masonry .projects about six inches beyond the line of
wall. The stones in this part, as well as those round
the corner, are most beautifully executed, and form the
best preserved masonry in the Haram walls. At the
south-east angle there are fourteen courses of stones
visible above ground, ranging in height from three to six
feet. The coursed masonry is fifty-four feet high, and

:_ — ^^EEZz^^^jy^^f^^

The South-east Anele.

THE SOUTH-EAST ANGLE. 43
above this twenty-three feet of modern masonry, at
present in a dangerous condition, so that the total height
of the wall at the corner is above seventy-seven feet.
The large blocks have beautifully executed marginal
drafts, and the faces are finely chiselled, while the joints
are so close that no cement was required, so that the
masonry, when fresh from the hands of the cunning
workmen, must have presented the appearance of
gigantic relievo-panelling. It ought to be noted that
the marginal drafts and the projecting edges of the faces
have been dressed with an eight-toothed chisel, one inch
wide. The chisel marks are intersected by others at
right angles, forming what is called the criss-cross
pattern, a mode of dressing never found in Byzantine
work, and, as far as Palestine is concerned, confined
almost exclusively to the ancient work of the Temple
Hill. In November, 1868, a shaft was sunk at a point
twenty feet south-east of the angle. At a depth of
fifty-three feet a gallery was driven towards the Haram
wall, and after passing two rough masonry walls, one
running north and south, the other east and west, the
Sanctuary was struck at a point in the east wall six feet
north of the angle. On one of the stones three letters
painted in red were found. A gallery was driven south
wards to the angle, and the shaft continued towards the
foundation. Before the bottom was reached another
character in red paint was seen. The rock was struck
at the enormous depth of seventy-nine feet three inches
below the present surface, and as the wall visible above
ground at this corner is seventy-seven feet six inches
high, it follows that there now exists at the south-east

44 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
angle a wall of masonry one hundred and fifty-six feet
nine inches in height. In ancient days, surmounting
this masonry was the wall of the Royal Cloister, which

Gallery at the South-east Angle.
could not be less than fifty feet in height, so that at this
point in the days of Christ the Temple wall from rock
to summit would be considerably over two hundred feet
in height.

THE SOUTH-EAST ANGLE. 45
The rock is missce, but on the top it was found to be
soft and much decayed. The rock, however, is cut to
receive the stones, so that they rest on a solid firm
foundation. The lie of the rock slopes gradually
towards the north, but rises very abruptly towards the
west. It is level for eight or ten feet towards the east,
then it slopes down one in nine towards the bed of the
Kedron. A vast deposit of rubbish lies in this part of the
valley, and excavations have recently brought to light
the fact that the true bed of the Kedron is about forty
feet deeper than the present bed, and is situated eighty
yards due east of the south-east corner, and about
seventy feet nearer the Sanctuary wall than the present
bed. The lie of the rock shows that the true bed of the
Kedron is one hundred and six feet lower than the rock
at the south-east angle.
From these interesting discoveries it appears that a
person in ancient times standing on the wall of the
Royal Cloister would look down into the bed of the
Kedron at the astounding depth of upwards of three
hundred feet below. Thus the recent excavations tend
to prove that Josephus' account of the stupendous
height of the south-east wall is not so much exaggerated
as was generally supposed. The Jewish historian
says : — ¦
'The Royal Cloister deserved to be remembered
better than any other under the sun ; for while the
valley was very deep, and its bottom could not be seen
if you looked from above into the depth, this further
vastly high elevation of the cloister stood upon that
height, insomuch that if any one looked down from the

46 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMrLE AREA.
top of the battlements, or down both those altitudes, he
would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such
an immense depth.'
Probably on the top of the lofty wall, at the south
east corner, stood the pinnacle of the Temple mentioned
in the account of Christ's Temptation :
' Then the devil taketh Him up into the Holy City,
and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the Temple, and he
saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself
down, for it is written, He shall give His angels charge
concerning Thee : and in their hands they shall bear
Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a
stone.'1 Josephus states that the roof of the Royal Cloister
Was one hundred feet above the pavement, and if the
corner pinnacle towered fifty feet above the roof, then
from the top of the pinnacle to the bottom of the
Kedron Valley was three hundred and fifty feet. These
thoughts give a vividness to the words of the tempter.
' Cast Thyself down .... lest Thou dash Thy foot
against a stone.'
James the Less, the brother of our Lord; and first
Bishop of Jerusalem, was thrown down from the lofty
walls of the Holy City. A vivid account of his death
is given by Hegesippus, and the spot where St. James,
surnamed the Just, was killed appears to be somewhere
near the south-east corner. Shortly before the destruc
tion of Jerusalem by the Romans, the Pharisees, envious
of the progress of Christianity, compelled the venerable
bishop to stand on the outer sustaining wall of the
Temple, that he might address the multitude outside.
1 Matthew iv. 5, 6.

THE SOUTH-EAST ANGLE.
' Stand, therefore (cried the Pharisees), on the gable of
the Temple, that thou mayest be visible, and that thy
words may be heard by all the people, for all the tribes,
and even the Gentiles, are come together to the Pass
over.' Desiring him to speak against Christ and
Christianity, the venerable bishop replied, ' Why ask ye
me about Jesus, the Son of Man ? He sits in heaven
on the right hand of great power, and will come in the
clouds of heaven.' Whereupon the Scribes and Pharisees,
infuriated with rage, hastened through one of the south
gateways, and rushing up the sloping underground ramp
to the Court of the Gentiles, turning suddenly into
the Royal Cloister, they seized the aged bishop, and
cast him headlong from the lofty wall. He was still
breathing when he fell, but a fuller coming out of his
cavern completed the murder by striking St. James on
the head with a heavy club. The traditional rock-cut
tomb of St. James still exists on the eastern side of the
Kedron Valley, at a spot about three hundred yards
from the Sanctuary wall.
After examining the rock at the bottom of the shaft,
the Engineers made a search round the corner stone, to
see if there existed any means for getting under it.
Four feet north of the angle they noticed a cutting in
the rock adjoining the wall. The hole was semicircular
or horseshoe in shape, and two feet wide. It was filled
with dark mould, which, on being cleared out, showed
the cutting to be two feet deep. Probably the hole was
made to allow the machinery to work more easily when
the corner foundation was let down into its bed. ' Here
the Engineers noticed that the rock was comparatively
soft for two feet three inches, and the cutting was con-

48 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
tinued for five inches more into the hard rock, so that
the foundation course stands sure and steadfast on the
firm and compact rock. In all cases the ancient
builders have gone down to the native rock, and laid
the few deep substructions on a solid foundation.
The sure foundations of the massive walls of the
Holy City often form the theme of Hebrew poetry, and
the subject of spiritual instruction. The Psalmist's
words were literally true when, with exultant patriotism,
he proudly sings of Jerusalem, ' her foundations are
upon the holy hills.' Isaiah speaks of the ' sure founda
tion ' of Zion. Solomon, the builder of the first Temple,
and probably an eye-witness of the laying the founda
tion stone of the proud edifice, says, in his Book of
Proverbs, ' the righteous is an everlasting foundation.'
St. Paul speaks of Christ's Church as a spiritual
temple, and himself as a builder : ' As a wise master-
builder I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth
thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth
thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.'1 The abiding foun
dations of the Heavenly Jerusalem are spoken of in
antithesis to the temporary tents of the shepherd
patriarchs. As strangers and pilgrims, 'they looked
for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God.'
The same thought reappears in St. John's vision of
the great city, the Holy Jerusalem, for the wall of
the city, great and high, had twelve foundations.
1 I Corinthians iii. io, n.

THE GREAT CORNER STONE. 49
vi. The Great Corner Stone.
The foundation stone at the bottom of the south
east angle is the most interesting stone in the world,
for it is the chief corner stone of the Temple's massive
wall. Among the ancient Jews the foundation corner
stone of their great sanctuary on Moriah was regarded
as the emblem of moral and spiritual truths. It had
two functions to perform ; first, like the other foundation
stones, it was a support for the masonry above, but it
had also to face both ways, and was thus a bond of
union between two walls. The Sacred Volume abounds
in interesting allusions to this corner stone. The
Psalmist, alluding to Him who was despised and rejected
of men, thus sets forth the humiliation and exaltation of
Christ : ' The stone which the builders refused is become
the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing,
it is marvellous in our eyes.'1
The prophet Isaiah, when speaking of the Church of
Christ to be established under the new and brighter
dispensation, exclaims, ' Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner
stone, a sure foundation.'2
Christ, after narrating how the wicked husbandmen
slew the heir, applies the Psalmist's words to Himself:
' Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which
the builders rejected, the same is become the head of
the corner : this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous
in our eyes?'8
St. Peter boldly rebuked the elders of the Sanhedrim
1 Psalm cxviii. 22, 23. 2 Isaiah xxviii. 16.
3 Matthew xxi. 42. D

50 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
for their persecution of Christ, saying : ' This is the
stone~[Jesus Christ of Nazareth], which was set at nought
of you builders, which is become the head of the
corner.'1 St. Paul speaks of the universal Church under the
figure of a vast temple, wherein every Christian is a
stone in the spiritual edifice, and Christians are further
reminded that they 'are built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being
the chief corner stone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto an holy temple.'2
St. Peter reproduces Isaiah's words, and applies them
directly to Christ, ' Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner
stone, elect, precious : and he that believeth on Him shall
not be confounded.'3
Seeing, therefore, that the corner stone is a symbol of
Christ Himself, it ought to be regarded as the most
interesting stone in the whole world.
The Engineers, in order to ascertain the dimensions of
this foundation stone, worked round it, and report that it
is three feet eight inches high and fourteen feet in length.
At the angle it is let down into the rock to a depth of
fourteen inches ; but, as the rock rises towards the north,
the depth at four feet north of the angle is increased to
thirty-two inches, while the northern end seems entirely
embedded in the rock. The block is further described
as squared and polished, with a finely dressed face. It
does not appear to have any marginal draft at the,
bottom, and indeed this was not necessary, as the lower
part, being sunk in the rock, would always be hidden from
view ; but the absence of the lower draft indicates that
1 Acts iv. n. s Ephesians ii. 20, 21. 3 1 Peter ii. 6.

THE LOWER COURSES. 5 1
the block was dressed in the quarry in a somewhat
peculiar style, with a view to its being the foundation
corner stone. The draft on the upper margin of the
stone is four inches wide. Fixed in its abiding position
three thousand years ago, it still stands sure and steadfast,
a fitting emblem of the ' Rock of Ages,' that cannot be
removed, but abideth fast for ever.
vii. The Lower Courses.
The second course is more than four feet high, and has
proved of much interest, from the existence of painted
and incised characters found on the faces of the stones.
The first stone is more than ten feet long, with an ordi
nary draft at the bottom, but a narrow draft of one inch
at top ; it is very ' roughly dressed within the drafts.'
The second stone, about five feet long, has a broad
draft of about nine inches at the top, but only a narrow
draft at bottom. It has a well-dressed face, and near the

Incised Characters.

centre was found an incised character, cut about half an
inch deep, resembling our letter H. On the south side
near the lower angle of the stone there is another incised
D 2

52 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
character, somewhat like our English letter J. On the
face were noticed several flourishes with red paint, which
may be intended for monograms, but more probably
they are only fantastic forms.
The third stone of the course has proved to be most
interesting, from the numerous marks on its face. It
has no draft at top, but a very broad draft of about
seventeen inches at bottom. On it are seven letters or
characters, some of them five inches long. They are
painted with red paint, apparently vermilion, and they
seem to have been put on with a brush. They are
irregularly distributed over the stone, and easily rubbed
off with wetted fingers. There are also ' a few red
splashes here and there, as if the paint had dropped
from the brush.' The lower gallery exposed the whole
of the second course.
At forty-one feet from the south-east angle north
wards the rock rises abruptly, and here the first course
ceases, while the second course becomes partially
imbedded in the rock. The third course is above four
feet high, and is set back four inches. The corner stone
has no draft at top, but near the angle where the draft
ought to exist was found a mark in red paint, bearing
the likeness of the numeral 4 inverted. There is an
ordinary draft of four inches at bottom, and this draft
seems to be continued throughout the course. The
second stone ' is cut in a very superior style.' Stones
three, four, and five have a few red paint marks on them,
and the sixth has another mark like H engraved near the
lower south angle, which resembles the engraved character
on the second stone of course two. The fourth course
is three and a half feet in height, with a shallow draft

THE LOWER COURSES. 53
of nine inches above. In other respects the stones are
like those above ground. It is thought that the first
four courses were buried in rich loam, and were never
exposed to view after being laid in their deep founda
tions. The fifth course was examined from the upper gallery
driven along the wall at a depth of fifty-three feet below
the surface. The stones are laid with greater regularity,
and are ' similar in every respect to the best specimens
of stones found at the south-east angle above the sur
face.' On the second stone from the angle were found
three red painted marks. The sixth course is three and
a half feet high. It was seen on the south face, and the
corner stone was found to be twenty feet long from east
to west. Its western end is let into the rock, which rises
abruptly westwards from the south-east angle, and cuts
the upper edge of this great block eighteen feet from the
corner. The courses above are for the most part similar to
those described ; but more extensive excavations might
furnish us with very valuable information.
There is often a want of uniformity in the marginal
drafts, and rough-faced stones are found side by side
with those finely dressed. The dressing, however, has
been executed by cunning workmen, and the stones are
' in most excellent preservation, as perfect as if they had
been cut yesterday.' The drafts seem to have been
worked with an eight-toothed chisel, one inch wide, and
the long channels have been intersected by means of a
single-pointed chisel, the whole forming a fine specimen
of a ' criss-cross pattern.' The buried masonry, reaching
down through the rubbish to a depth of eighty feet, is

54 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
equal in quality to that above ground, and it is not sur
prising that the Engineers were struck with admiration
at the vastness of the blocks and the general excellence
of the workmanship.
On the polished surface of the stones they noticed
with considerable interest the incised marks and red
painted characters ; but the workmen were neither able
to decipher these strange figures, nor could they tell to
what language they belonged.
viii. Emanuel Deutsch's Report.
These underground discoveries were promptly com
municated to the Palestine Exploration Fund, and the
Committee at once sought for some student of Semitic

Marks on Stones at the South-east Angle.
literature, whom they hoped might prove competent to
interpret the mysterious signs. Such a student was

EMANUEL DEUTSCH'S REPORT. 55
found in Emanuel Deutsch, an Oriental scholar of Jewish
extraction, then an official in the British Museum.
At the request of the Society he examined the exca
vations then in progress at Jerusalem. On descending
the shaft, and being led to the massive foundations, he
examined by means of a taper and magnesium light
the hitherto undeciphered signs painted on the stones.
The learned student at once recognised most of them as
familiar forms, and without hesitation pronounced them
to be the marks or quarry signs of Phoenician masons.
Mr. Deutsch's report to the Palestine Exploration
Fund is full of valuable information. He thus writes : —
' I must now speak somewhat fully on a subject
which has engaged public attention for some time, and
has already given rise to many conjectures, namely, the
" writings," either painted on or cut into the stones, dis
covered lately on the bottom rows of the wall, at the
south-east corner of the Haram, at a depth of about
eighty feet there, where the foundations lie on the live
rock itself. I have examined them carefully in their
places — by no means an easy task. The ventilation at
that depth is unfavourable to free breathing ; nor is
the pale glimmer of the taper or the sudden glare of the
magnesium wire calculated materially to assist epi-
graphical studies. To add to the difficulty, some of the
characters are partly hidden by the framework, which,
let me add by the way, is about to be removed to some
other shaft, in order to save expense — a process whereby
the whole of these graffiti will be buried again, if not
totally destroyed. I have come to the following con
clusions : — First. The signs cut or painted were on the
stones when they were first laid in their present places.

56 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
Secondly. They do not represent any inscription.
Thirdly. They are Phoenician. I consider them to be
partly letters, partly numerals, and partly special masons'
or quarry signs. Some of them were recognisable at
onct as well-known Phoenician characters : others,
hitherto unknown in Phoenician epigraphy, I had the
rare satisfaction of being able to identify on absolutely
undoubted antique Phoenician structures in Syria, such
as the primitive substructures of the harbour at Sidon.
No less did I observe them on the bevelled stones taken
from ancient edifices, and built into later work through
out Phoenicia. For a striking and obvious instance of
this, I would point to the ruined citadel standing above
Saida, the stones of which (old Phoenician stones to wit)
immured in their present place at subsequent periods,
teem with peculiar marks {Fantasias) identical with those
at Jerusalem. These signs have, to my knowledge,
never been noticed before, as indeed I was the first to
point them out to the very excavator of the famous
Ashmunazar Sarcophagus, himself a Syrian gentleman
resident at Saida, and well acquainted with all the extant
remains. It may not be superfluous to add that though
I found extremely well-preserved painted frescoes in
Phoenician tombs, all the stone marks just alluded to
were cut, not painted. I think all attempts to determine
the exact meaning of each and all of these technical
signs would, at least at this stage, be premature. If the
excavations are properly carried on, I venture to predict
the occurrence of similar signs on corresponding rows of
the wall, signs which, conjointly with those now dis
covered, may contain not only a full explanation of
their own purport, but also solve perhaps some other

EMANUEL DEUTSCH'S REFORT. 57
vital question regarding the plan of the whole building.
It may, however, be well to say a few words regarding
my opinion as to the numerals. You are aware that
the Phoenicians had special numerical signs or figures,
which they not rarely added to the number written out
in words (see the sacrificial tariffs of Marseilles, in the
British Museum, the tomb of Ashmunazar, in the Louvre,
the trilingual inscription on the Sardinian altar, &c).
The basis of this cypher system, probably derived from
Babylonia, is the simple stroke. One perpendicular
stroke stands for one, two stand for two, and so on up
to ten. The ten is expressed by a horizontal stroke,
either quite straight or curved. Two such strokes placed
upon each other form twenty. Of this figure, however,
there are many variations, according to the different
positions and combinations of the two tens of which it
is composed. It either appears as an oval, more or less
flat, with the ends either open or closed ; or something
like our own 3 ; or with the straight strokes placed per
pendicularly, and joined by a little slanting or horizontal
line, as a Latin N or a Greek H, and so forth. A
special sign for five had not as yet been found on our
scanty Phoenician remains. It occurs, however, very
frequently in Palmyrene, the figures of which are
undoubtedly taken from the Phoenician, and it occurs
among these signs on the wall. It consists of an oblique
stroke, divided by a smaller stroke, in other words, the
ten halved. To give an easy and clear specimen, I
would refer to stone B, in course five, which shows the
marks O Y O = 20 5 20. Whether these figures desig
nate cubits or inches, height or breadth, stones or
courses, must be left to the future to decide. It seems

58 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
superfluous to point out how much not only Phoenikology
but Semitic studies in general, would gain by an increase
of similar epigraphical discoveries. Only they must be
preserved intact, since no drawing, however careful, can
accurately render epigraphical monuments, and photo
graphy has in the present case proved a failure.'
The late Emanuel Deutsch was regarded as a student
of the highest authority in the epigraphy of Phoenician
inscriptions. Ashmunazar was a King of Sidon, who
died about 600 B.C., and his well-known sarcophagus
bears a long Phoenician inscription. The fact that some
of the painted marks on the substructions of the Temple
Hill closely resemble similar marks on this antique
coffin, affords a presumption in favour of their great age.
Phoenicia was at the height, of its glory in the days ot
Solomon, and the surviving vestiges of its ancient
buildings date from the days of Hiram, the great mason
king of Tyre, and contemporary of Solomon. Mr.
Deutsch's conclusion, that the marks were painted on
the stones by the worknien in the quarry, receives addi
tional confirmation from the fact already noted, that in
the case of a red painted mark found sixty feet below
the present surface on the wall of the north-east tower,
the trickling of some paint from a letter was found
above the letter itself, which certainly could not have
happened had the mark been painted after the stone
was placed in position.
ix. The Jar and Fragments found at the South-east
Angle.
Three feet due east of the angle a hole was found cut out
of the native rock, one foot across and one foot deep. It

THE JAR AND FRAGMENTS FOUND. 59
was filled with earth, which on being cleared away, one
of the Engineers pulled forth a small earthenware jar. It
had neither beauty of form nor value of material, yet
was standing in an upright position, and had evidently
been placed there for some purpose. We have already
noticed that the Jews bestowed great care upon the chief
corner stones, and as the dedication of the Temple of
Solomon was celebrated by a festival of surpassing mag
nificence, we may be morally certain that the foundation
stone of the edifice was laid in the presence of the king
and his court with ceremonies befitting the occasion.
The antique jar resembles some jars found in Cyprus of
Graeco-Phcenician pattern, while the late Dr. Birch, the
eminent English Egyptologist, asserted that it resembled
the common pottery of ancient Egypt. There are no
marks or special features on the jar itself by means of
which its precise age can be identified, and since its form
is the common shape found among many nations and at
divers periods, it follows that it may belong to any date
extending over a thousand years from the time of David
to Christ. While, however, internal evidence would thus
leave its age a matter of conjecture, yet its position,
eighty feet beneath the surface, and the character of
relics found close by, afford a presumption in favour of
the jar's high antiquity.
It was standing upright in a hole cut out of the rock
for its reception, and moreover, being placed near the
lowest corner stone, we are naturally led to suspect that
the jar had something to do with the ceremony of lay
ing the foundation stone. Under the old dispensations,
prophets, priests, and kings were set apart for God's
service by being anointed with holy oil. Our Saviour

60 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
is specially named the 'Anointed One,' while the
Hebrew word Messiah and the Greek Upto-ros, both1
mean anointed. The Tabernacle also, and all its furni
ture, was consecrated to God by being anointed with
the holy oil. We cannot doubt that the foundation stone
of the Temple would be anointed with holy oil, to
indicate that the sacred edifice was set apart for the
service of the living God. It is, moreover, thought that
this antique jar contained the holy oil for the consecra
tion of the foundations, and was subsequently placed by
the anointed stone.
On the occasion of laying the foundation stone of a
great edifice in our own day, it is customary to deposit a
bottle near the foundation stone, containing coins, news
papers, &c. If any objects were at first deposited, they
must have entirely perished, since nothing was found
inside the jar ; but it is interesting to know that while
numberless princes and myriads of pilgrims have walked
round the Sanctuary, this antique jar of pottery has
remained unmolested through countless generations,
close by the great corner stone of the Temple wall.
The mode of preparing 'the holy anointing oil,' is
stated in Exodus, and connected therewith is the threat,
'Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever
putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off
from his people.'1
Accordingto the Rabbins, the preparation of this oilwas
performed only once in the whole history of the nation,
the curse of penal death being dreaded, in case of its
repetition, even in extreme cases. ' The High-priest,
his eldest son, and the Messiah Milchama, or Deputy
1 Exodus xxx. 33.

THE ANOINTING OIL.

6l

High-priest, chosen to accompany the forces in time of
war, were anointed on the head and between the eye
brows, in the form of X. The Kings of the House of
David were anointed in the form of a crown on their
foreheads. The holy oil failed in the reign of King
Josiah, and the rite of unction has not been administered
since that time.' If the antique jar was a receptacle
for the holy oil, then the Rabbinical traditions respect
ing the oil afford another proof of the jar's great
antiquity. Lying on the rock was found a layer of rich earth or
fat mould of a clayey nature about ten feet thick. This
layer is not virgin soil, for amongst it were found several

Inscribed Jar Handles.
potsherds or fragments of broken pots, and also a long
rusty nail. The mould does not lie close up against the
Sanctuary wall, for between the two is a wedge-shaped
deposit of stone chippings. On the top of the rich
loam was found a bed of pottery two inches thick, con-

62 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
sisting of fragments of the pale red ware. Amongst the
fragments were picked up seven handles of jars, on six of
which was found an engraved figure. At first it was
thought to be a representation of a bird, but further
examination favours the idea that the figure is a winged
disc, probably an emblem of the Sun-god. These figures
were engraved inside the stamp on each handle ; and
after the handles had been sent to England, while the
dust was being carefully scraped off the relics, some
marks were noticed above and below the winged sun,
and these have turned out to be well-known Phoenician
letters. The jar handles have consequently been pro
nounced to be fragments of Phoenician pottery. The
winged disc, representing the sun and its refulgent
beams, was a common hieroglyph among the ancient
Egyptians. It was called Aten, and was an emblem of
the supreme solar deity. We know that the Sun-god,
under the name of Baal, was worshipped in Phoenicia,
and from that country the worship of Baal was introduced
into the kingdom of Israel.
On one jar handle were stamped the Phoenician letters
corresponding to L M K Z P H, and these have been.
translated by the late Dr. Birch, of the British Museum,
as standing for Melek, king, and Zepha, a proper name ;
this meaning King Zepha, or To King Zepha. We
have no historical reference to a king of this name.
1 Of what dynasty was he member ? of what country
was he king? He may have been a King of Tyre.,
Strange that his glory should have passed away ; he and
his country and his gods ; and that after the earth had
swallowed him up, this bit of broken pottery, found
under the Temple wall, should bring to light and re-

THE JAR HANDLES FOUND. 63
store to history his name, his regal mark, and his sacred
dove.' The winged sun has by some been thought to repre
sent a dove, because a dove was accounted sacred by
the Phoenicians of Tyre, and a dove with outspread
wings was the Tyrian symbol of empire, used as the
stamp and signet of the king.
On the second vase handle were found the letters
L K SH . . T, which the late Dr. Birch translated as
standing for Melek Shat, that is, King Shat, a person
concerning whom we are totally ignorant. On a third
handle were the letters L K, which probably are the
last letters of Melek. The letters following are uncertain.
On three other handles were seen traces of letters, but
these were so much obliterated that it was found impos
sible to decipher them.
M. Clermont - Ganneau, an accomplished Semitic
scholar, thinks that the letters on the first handle are
M L C HZ P H, and that these letters constitute one
name, Molochzepha, possibly the potter's name, while
the letters L K S H T, on the second, form part of
Molochshat, another potter's name.
Moloch was worshipped among the ancient Canaanites,
and was the national god of the Ammonites. His wor
ship was introduced by Solomon into Jerusalem, and a
high place erected on the Mount of Offence, south of
Olivet. This idolatry became widely spread in Israel, and
with cruel rites Moloch was worshipped in the Valley of
Hinnom for many generations. It was a common practice
among ancient nations to assume the name of their
national god as a part of their own name. Ethbaal, with
Baal. Jezebel, oath of Baal. Chemosh-gad, propitious

64 THE EAST WALL OF THE TEMPLE AREA.
Chemosh. In the same way Molochzepha and Mo'och-
shat may be names of potters, as M. Clermont-Ganneau
suggests, named after Moloch.
The manufacture of pottery is an art of great anti
quity, and was evidently well known, together with
moulding in clay, to the Jews at an early period. Of
some of the descendants of Judah it is said, ' These
were the posters.'1
In the second psalm David sings a triumphal song in
honour of his conquest of the Jebusites, and the estab
lishment of his throne upon the ' Holy Hill of Zion.' He
exalts God's absolute power over His enemies, saying,
' Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'
The magnificent brazen works of Solomon's Temple
were cast by Hiram, the widow's son, in clay beds, in the
Jordan Valley, between Succoth and Zeredathah. Isaiah
says, ' He shall break it as the breaking of the potter's
vessel that is broken in pieces ;' and Jeremiah makes
use of like imagery : ' Even so will I break this people
and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel.'
With regard to the foundations of Solomon's Temple,
we read, ' And the king commanded, and they brought
great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the
foundation of the house. And Solomon's builders and
Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stone-squarers :
so they prepared timber and stones to build the house.'2
The Biblical account is accurately descriptive of the
massive masonry now existing at the south-east angle,
and standing on the native rock, eighty feet below the
present surface. The Royal Engineers found buried
deeply among the rubbish of many centuries great
1 I Chronicles iv. 23. 2 1 Kings v. 17, 18.

THE JAR HANDLES FOUND. 65
stones, costly and hewed stones, forming the foundation
of the Sanctuary wall, while Phoenician fragments of
pottery, and Phoenician marks painted on the massive
blocks, seem to proclaim that the stones were prepared
in the quarry by the cunning workmen of Hiram, the
King of Tyre.
The immense deposits of rubbish consist of a layer
of fat earth ten feet thick, lying on the living rock, then
above a layer of fragments of pottery two inches thick,
and for seventy feet upwards the debris consists of stone
chippings alternating with layers of earth and rough
stones, many of them a foot in diameter. A colossal
mass of masonry might still be seen at the south-east
corner, if we could clear away all the rubbish ' that
clogs the splendid wall of Jerusalem, and lay open to
the sun and to the eyes of the world the long-covered
splendours existing below, after so many wars and fires
and razings and the gnawing of ruthless time.'

66

CHAPTER III.
The South Wall and Solomon's Stables.

i. The Wall of Ophel.

In the progress of excavation near the south-east
angle, the Engineers struck upon a wall, four feet below
the surface, of ancient date. It starts from the angle,
and abuts upon the Sanctuary wall with a straight joint.
This wall has been identified with the Wall of Ophel, so
often mentioned in connection with the Roman siege.
The stones are small compared with the adjoining mighty
masses just described. There is no batter, as in the
Sanctuary wall, and the foundations are not sunk into
the hard rock, but rest upon a layer of hard clay. Com
pared with the older work, the Ophel wall is poor in
material, and bears marks of having been reared in
haste. Ophel is the name of the ridge south of the Temple
Hill. Jotham built much on the wall of Ophel, and
Manasseh ' compassed about Ophel.'1 After the return
of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, the Ophel
wall seems to have been rebuilt under Nehemiah, and on
this wall appear to have been the ' water-gate ' ' and
the tower that lieth out.' Ophel became the residence
of the Levites. Josephus says that the ' old wall ' ran
1 2 Chronicles xxxiii. 14.

SOLOMON'S STABLES. 6j
from above the foundation of Siloam, and reached as far
as a certain place called Ophlas, ' where it was joined to
the eastern cloister of the Temple.' There can be little
doubt but that the wall found by the Engineers is the
Ophel wall of Josephus, and moreover this masonry is
probably part of the wall hurriedly built up by Nehe
miah. ii. Solomon's Stables.
On the occasion of a visit to the Noble Sanctuary,
the author had an opportunity of examining the ancient
masonry inside the wall at the south-east corner, as well
as the vast subterranean vaults, popularly known as
Soiomon's Stables. A small doorway, under a little
dome at the south-east corner, admits by a flight of steps
to a small chamber known as the Mosque of the Cradle
of Our Lord, from the existence of a hollowed stone
which somewhat resembles a cradle, and a tradition that
the Virgin Mary remained in this chamber for some time
after her Purification in the Temple. Passing through
the chamber, the spacious vaults, which extend over an
acre of ground, are reached. These subterranean sub
structures consist of one hundred square piers arranged
in fifteen rows, each pier being five feet wide and com
posed of large marginal drafted stones, placed singly
over each other. The rows are connected by semicir
cular arches, the intercolumniations of which range from
ten to twenty-three feet. The floor of these vaults is
about forty feet below the Haram Area, and more than a
hundred feet above the great foundation corner stone.
They are called Solomon's Stables by Franks, but the
Moslems call the place Al Masjed al Kadim, that is,
E 2

68 THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
The Old Mosque, These vaults were used as stables
by the Frank kings and the Knights Templar, and holes
in which rings were fastened can still be traced on some
of the piers.
Since the floor of Solomon's Stables is upwards of a
hundred feet above the foundation stone, it seems highly

mm

^^^S^f^^ 
Solomon's Stables.
probable that there exists another system of vaults below,
for the vast space from the rock upwards is not likely to
be filled up with solid earth.
Some allusion seems to be made to these vaults in the
writings of Procopius, a Greek historian of the sixth
century. He was born at Caesarea, in Palestine, about

SOLOMON'S STABLES. 69
500 A.D., and as a young man went to Constantinople,
where his eminent talents brought him under the notice
of the Emperor Justinian. In 529 A.D. Justinian built
a splendid church on the Temple Hill, in honour of the
Virgin Mary, and in the writings of Procopius there is a
full and detailed account of the edifice. The historian
relates that the fourth part of the ground required for
the building was wanting towards the south-east ; the
builders therefore laid their foundations on the sloping
ground, and constructed a series of arched vaults, in
order to raise the ground to the level of the other parts
of the enclosure. This account is eminently descriptive
of the subterranean vaults at the south-east portion of
the Haram, and, according to Mr. Fergusson, the stone
work of these vaults certainly belongs to the age of
Justinian. The Church of St. Mary, erected by the
Emperor, was, according to the same authority, situated
at the northern end of the vaults, and was ultimately
destroyed by Hakeem, the mad Khalif of Egypt.
Sir Charles Warren's account of the opposition he en
countered while excavating in the vaults is interest
ing :—
' Fortune favoured our enterprise, and in a few hours
an old parting wall in the rock-hewn aqueduct yielded to
our efforts, and we found ourselves in the substructures
of the Temple itself ; among the piers supporting the vast
vaults, called the " Stables of Solomon," below where
once stood the palace of that great king. Our progress
through these passages had been rapid, but unhappily
the hammer blows resounding through the hollow
walls in so unwonted a manner, alarmed the modern
representative of the high-priest. Infuriate with anger,

70 THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
the fine old sheikh would listen to no reasoning, but
repairing to the south-east angle of the Temple enclo
sure, mounted its battlements, and summoned the
Sheikh of Siloam to stand forth and answer for his mis
deeds. With full turban and long flowing robes, edges
tipped with fur, the old man stood on the edge of the
steep masonry, stamping his feet with rage, and shout
ing imprecations. This spot has historical associations,
and is the highest point of the old wall now in preserva
tion, the gaps being filled in with newer work. . . .
Such was the vantage point taken by the sheikh when
he wished to converse with his brother of Siloam at a
distance of five hundred yards, across a deep valley,
before all Jerusalem, on subjects which should not have
been mentioned above a whisper. After waiting some
time for him of Siloam, he thundered again across the
valley, and taking his long pocket-handkerchief out of
his bosom, carefully unrolled its vast length, cleared his
throat, and then as carefully rolled it up again. By this
time the Sheikh of Siloam appeared upon his house
top, far away and below us, who were on the slopes of
Ophel watching the proceedings. The mosque sheikh,
on viewing his victim, elevated his powerful voice, and
entered into a declamation lasting for nearly an hour, in
which he accused his brother of nearly every crime
under heaven, and threatened him with many punish
ments for having allowed his men to work for me.
Siloam's sheikh answered with spirit, and soon the
whole world might have heard a very distorted account
of our doings, echoing among the rocks and ruins of
Jerusalem.'1 1 Warren's Undergiound fetusaLm, p. 140.

THE SINGLE AND TRIPLE GATES.

iii. The Single and Triple Gates.
The south wall of the Haram must at one time have
presented to view a magnificent mass of masonry. It is
above nine hundred feet long, and is divided into three
sections, about one hundred yards each, by two entrances,
known as the Triple Gate and the Double Gate or
Huldah Gate.
The rock of Moriah is eighty feet below the surface at
the south-east angle, but it rises suddenly towards the
west, and comes within a few inches of the surface under
the sill of the Triple Gate, at a point about a hundred
yards from the anglel The rock then falls with a very
gradual descent towards the west. At the Double or
Huldah Gate it is thought to be forty feet under the
present surface. The fall continues until the rock reaches
the enormous depth of about ninety feet, and that point
is the true bed of the Tyropceon Valley, situated about
ninety feet east from the south-west corner. From the
true bed of the Tyropceon the rock rises rapidly west
ward, so that at the angle, only ninety feet distant, it has
risen about thirty feet. The masonry of the south wall,
adjoining the south-east angle, corresponds to that in
the eastern wall in all respects. The stones are massive,
with marginal drafts, and the courses of stones are con
tinued round the angle. Fourteen ancient courses are
visible above ground here, but of these the seven courses
at top only run a short distance westwards. They seem
to have been violently broken off, and their place has been
supplied with comparatively rude masonry. The ground
or present surface rises rapidly from the south-east angle

72 THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
westwards, and consequently the five lowest courses are
soon concealed in the earth.
Little more than one hundred feet west from the
angle is a closed gateway with a pointed arch. It is of
comparatively modern construction, and seems to have
been an entrance in former days to Solomon's Stables,
although the sill is four feet lower than the floor of the
vaults. It is called the Single Gate.
Two shafts were sunk south of the Single Gate, and
galleries driven in towards the Sanctuary wall. The
de'bris was composed of shingle or small stone chippings,
which ran like water, and rendered the work of excava
tion both difficult and dangerous.
Two entrances were discovered, one over the other,
and separated only by a course of masonry, immediately
under the Single Gate ; and by the lower opening are
indications of a swinging metal gate that once existed
here. Passing through the lower entrance the Engineers
found that they had penetrated into a great passage,
running perpendicular to the south wall. It proved to
be seventy feet long, three feet wide, and from twelve to
eighteen feet high.
The floor is thirty feet below the level of Solomon's
Stables, and ten feet above the rock. The sides and roof of
this great passage are composed of large marginal drafted
stones ; and the fact that the roof is made up of larger
bevelled stones, where they could scarcely be seen, seems
to indicate a reconstruction of old material. Sir Charles
Warren says there is neither a straight joint nor a break
of any kind in the masonry beneath the entrance in the
south wall. It is difficult at present to say for what purpose

THE SINGLE AND TRIPLE GATES. 73
this great passage was constructed. It may have been
connected with a lower series of ancient vaults, which
probably existed here to support the Sanctuary area. It
may have been an old water conduit ; and Sir Charles
Warren suggests that it was probably a passage that
carried off the blood of the sacrifices from the altar of
burnt offerings. The Great. Passage, and the Blood
Passage, are the two names by which it is generally
distinguished. About sixty yards west of the Single Gate, and about
one hundred yards west of the south-east corner, is a
well-known entrance into Solomon's Stables, called the
Triple Gate.
It consists of three entrances, now built up, that gave
access to vaulted passages running at right angles to
the south wall. Each entrance is thirteen feet wide,
surmounted by a semicircular arch, about five feet thick.
Inside are elliptical arches of wider span and eight feet
thick. The piers are each six feet wide, and on the
lowest stone of the western pier, which stone forms one
of a great course, there exists a kind of architrave
moulding, as well as some Hebrew characters on the face
of the stone. The jambs inside are formed of old
material, and portions of engaged columns on the west
wall of the west passage are plain indications of older
work once existing here. Probably there was in former
ages a large vestibule inside the Triple Gate, of the same
character as that inside the Double Gate. The floor of
the passages is the native rock of Moriah, and is coin
cident with the summit of the ridge. The Triple Gate
,is ascribed to the age of Justinian, and is manifestly of
jthe same date as the adjoining subterranean vaults.

74 THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
In front of the Triple Gate were found some large
slabs, which may have formed parts of steps leading up
to the gateway. About twenty feet under the Triple
Gate have been discovered two passages entirely cut out
of the rock. These were first noticed by M. de Saulcy,
and fully explored by Sir Charles Warren. They are not
channels for carrying off the refuse of the sacrifices, but
overflow canals, connected with cisterns VII and X. The
water, however, may have been used to flush the Blood
Passage, or it may have afforded the water supply to
the lower part of the city south of the Sanctuary wall.
In the western passage a duct is sunk in the floor,
eighteen inches wide, and the same in depth. Similar
ducts are cut in the floor of the Great Passage under
the Single Gate and in the Old Aqueduct, found near
the Ccenaculum.
The central section of the south wall, between the
Triple and Double Gates, contains only two courses of
largemarginal draftedstones above ground. The masonry
above is formed of small stones, some of which are plain
dressed, and some have drafts with rough projecting
faces. About midway between the two gates three
courses below the surface were bared, but the rock was
not reached. The stones exposed are similar in size
and dressing to those at the Wailing Place, and all the
underground masonry seems to be in situ.
iv. The Great Course.
As the rock of Moriah comes to the surface at the sill
of the Triple Gate, it follows that no course of masonry
under this level could run through from end to end of

THE GREAT COURSE. 75
the south wall. On a level with the ridge of the rock we
can trace the bed of a colossal course of masonry run
ning continuously from the south-east angle westwards
as far as the Double Gate, a distance of about six
hundred feet. It is distinguished by the name of the
Great Course, and also the Master Course. The stones
are immense blocks, being about six feet high, while
the drafted courses below are little more than three and
a half feet high on an average. They are also finely
finished, with plain picked faces, and drafts three inches
wide round the margins.
The Engineers noticed that the Great Course is not
quite horizontal, since there is a fall of thirty inches
from the Triple Gate to the south-east corner, a distance
of a hundred yards. The outer lines of spires and
columns, when perfectly straight, appear from some
optical delusion to be slightly convex, and in order that
they may appear straight, the outer surface must be
made slightly convex. The Greek architects of the
golden period of the building art, in striving after recti
tude in their exterior lines, made provision or allowance
for this optical illusion, and consequently in the Parthenon
and other temples all the exterior surfaces are slightly
convex. The rock of Moriah, on which the south wall
rests, is, generally speaking, of a semicircular shape,
and therefore the wall was constructed, as Tacitus ex
presses it, in modo arcis. On account, therefore, of the
peculiar nature of the ground, it is probable that a
fall from centre to flank was aimed at in the level of
the Great Course, to avoid offending the eye. This
Master Course has been found to be on a level with
the sills of the Double Gate, the Triple Gate, and the

J6 THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
Golden Gate ; and it is possible that in the original
masonry it extended as far along the east wall as the
last-named gate. At present it turns round the south
east angle, and runs along the east wall for twenty-four
feet. The corner stone of the Great Course at the south
east angle is a gigantic block, twenty-six feet long, over
six feet high, and seven feet wide. It forms the seventh
course from the ground, and is twenty-three feet above
the surface. It is on a level with the floor of the vaults
inside the walls, and consequently more than a hundred
feet above the foundation stone at this corner. This
colossal stone is composed of hard limestone, and weighs
over a hundred tons, and is therefore the heaviest though
not the longest stone visible in the Sanctuary walls.
It is questionable whether in this nineteenth century,
with all our boasted mechanical appliances, a mammoth
stone like the above could be hoisted to an elevation of
a hundred feet. For seventy feet west of the south-east
corner, the Great Course is continuous, and then there is
a gap as far as the Single Gate. There is only one stone
in its original position between the Single and Triple
Gates, but the course runs continuously with little inter
ruption between the Triple and Double Gates. Although
diligent search has been made, no trace of the Great
Course can be found west of the Double Gate, the
masonry of this part being only plain-dressed, without
any bevelling or marginal drafted work. The general
conclusion to be deducted from the presence and extent
of the Great Course seems to be that all the masonry
in situ from the south-east corner to the Double Gate
belongs to one period, and indicates a. unity of design in

THE DOUBLE GATE. -J-J
construction, while the masonry extending westwards
from the Double Gate is different in character, and
belongs to some other period.
v. The Double Gate.
The Double Gate, called also the Huldah Gate, because
it is thought to be the Huldah Gate of the Talmud, is a
very prominent feature in the south wall, and is situated
about a hundred yards from the south-west angle. The
gate consists of two entrances, now built up, separated
by a pier six feet wide. The whole width is forty-two
feet, each entrance being eighteen feet wide — the same
width as Barclay's Gate, south of the Wailing Place.
Unfortunately the exterior of the gateway is almost
entirely concealed by the city wall on Ophel Hill, abut
ting on the south wall at this point.
Only six feet of the eastern entrance can be seen from
the outside, and in the built-up masonry is a grated
aperture, by looking through which a long vaulted pas
sage can be seen inside the Haram Area. The pier
between the entrances is six feet wide and fourteen deep.
It is composed of large stones, like those at the Wailing
Place. Over the entrances are two large lintels with
broad drafts and fine worked faces. The jambs on which
the lintels rest, on the outer side, are made up of stones
plainly worked, without drafts. Over each lintel is a
relieving arch surmounted by a classical cornice. Im
mediately under the lintels are two highly ornamented
arches, that form no part of the wall, but have been
inserted subsequently, and made to adhere by means of
metal cramps. These architectural decorations, and the

78 THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
character of the details, which are classical, show that
they are a little more modern than the decorations of
the Golden Gateway, and older than the incised decora
tions of the age of Justinian.
Julian, surnamed the Apostate, became Emperor of
Rome in 361 a.d., about a quarter of a century after the
death of his uncle, Constantine the Great. Julian was
educated to be a Christian, but he afterwards embraced
Paganism, and became a bitter opponent to Christianity.
In order to falsify the prediction of Christ, he en
couraged the Jews to rebuild their Temple at Jerusalem.
Large sums of money were collected for the purpose, a
vast concourse of Jews assembled at Jerusalem, and an
immense mass of material was brought together for the
work. The work was pushed on for six months, both
with vigour and enthusiasm, but, according to historical
account, flames of fire belched forth from beneath, and
consumed many of the workmen. Thus the work was
suddenly brought to an end, and Julian's designs
frustrated. The ornamental adjuncts inserted in the
masonry of the Double Doorway belong to a period
shortly after the time of Constantine, and we may there
fore be morally certain that they form part of the
hurried work of the Emperor Julian.
Adjoining the eastern relieving arch, and therefore
above the level of the lintel, a stone is built into the
wall with an inscription turned upside down. The
letters, however, can be distinctly seen, and the inscrip
tion read by means of a magnifying glass. It is as
follows : — TITO AEL HADRIANO AUG PIO P P PONTIF
AUGUR D. D. Most of the words are abbreviated, and
in full the inscription would read : — Tito Aelio Hadriano,

THE DOUBLE GATE. 79
Augusto Pio Patri Patrice Potitifici Auguri Decreto
Decurionum. ' To Titus Aelius Hadrian, the August, by a decree of
members of the Senate, surnamed Pius, Father of his
Country, Pontiff, Seer.' This epigraph is commonly
known as the Antonine inscription, and the illustrious
person referred to is the successor of Hadrian, Emperor
of Rome.
/Elius Hadrian, in his old age, lived on terms of
greatest intimacy with one of his consuls, Titus Anto
ninus, whom he afterwards adopted as his son. After
his adoption he assumed the Emperor's name, and was
called Titius ^Elius Hadrianus Antoninus. Hadrian
died in 138 A.D., and Antoninus became Emperor. He
persuaded the Senate to confer divine honours upon
Hadrian ; and the Senate of Rome not only complied
with his request, but conferred upon Antoninus himself
the august titles mentioned in the inscription.
In consequence of the revolt of the Jews, headed by
Bar Cochaba, Jerusalem was destroyed by Hadrian,
and on its ashes was reared a Roman colony, named
after the Emperor and his god, ^Elia Capitolina.
Antoninus probably continued the work of Hadrian
at Jerusalem, and the tablet bearing the Antonine
inscription probably dates from the middle of the second
century. Two hundred years afterwards the tablet was
used as old material, in the attempt made by Julian to
rebuild the Temple.
The masonry of the Double Gate can also be seen
from the inside of the Haram Area. About ten paces in
front of the mosque, and east of the central portal, is
the entrance to a flight of eighteen steps, leading down

80. THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
to the subterranean vaults below the building. At the
bottom of the steps is a double-vaulted passage running
towards the south Sanctuary wall. The passage, two
hundred feet long, leads, by a gentle descent, to the top
of eight steps. Descending these, the visitor finds him
self in a vestibule or entrance hall, immediately inside
the Double Gate. The chamber is sixty-three feet long
and forty-two feet wide. In the centre is a huge mono
lithic column, twenty-one feet high and six and a half
in diameter. The capital is adorned with peculiar
ornamentation consisting of a stiff acanthus or perpen
dicular palm leaf.
According to Mr. Fergusson, this column is a vestige
of Jewish masonry, and probably dates from the time of
Herod. Around this vestibule are many stones of
cyclopean dimensions, which, together with the massive
masonry of the pier and jambs of the gateway, seem to
belong to an age of high antiquity.
This Double Gate, being the same as the Huldah
Gate of the Talmud, was the chief entrance to the
Temple Area from the south side ; and therefore our
Saviour on the occasion of the great festival, often
passed through this gateway to the Temple precincts.
vi. The South-west Section of the South Wall.
The south-west section of the south wall, extending
from the Double Gate to the south-west angle, is one
hundred yards long. The present surface of the ground
is almost level, although recent excavations have shown
that here, as at other places already noticed, are
immense deposits of the de'bris of many centuries.

SOUTH-WEST SECTION OF THE SOUTH WALL. 8 1
Four shafts were here sunk close by the wall. The
rock descends rapidly from the Double Gate west
wards, until it reaches the enormous depth of ninety
feet, at a point about ninety feet from the south
west angle. It then rises abruptly one foot in three,
sp that at the corner the rock is thirty feet higher
than at the lowest point indicated. It is evident
from the lie of the rock that the true bed of the Tyro
pceon is at a great depth beneath the present surface,
and runs beneath part of the Haram platform at the
south-west corner. The Sanctuary wall is built across
the valley, and the foundation stone at the south-west
angle rests on the slope of the western bank ; so that
part of the colossal wall stands, not on the Temple Hill
itself, but on the base of Zion. Of the Temple plat
form the text is literally true : ' His foundation is in
the holy mountains.'1 The bevelled stones cease at the
Double Gate, and the wall for two hundred and fifty feet
westward is made up of large stones approaching the
square form, with finely dressed faces and marginal
drafts. Fifty feet, however, from the angle the large
bevelled stones reappear, and are continued round the
south-west corner.
The first shaft, sunk at a short distance westward of
the Double Gate, shows that the rock is here fifty-five
feet deep. There are fifteen courses of masonry under
the surface, and all the stones are drafted ; but the six
lowest courses have rough projecting faces, while the
upper nine have finely worked faces, like the blocks at
the Wailing Place.
The second shaft, at this section, was sunk close by
1 Psalm Ixxxvii. I. F

82 THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
the south wall, at a point ninety feet east of the angle,
and, with one exception, has proved to be the deepest
shaft sunk by the Engineers among the debris of Jeru
salem. At a depth of twelve feet from the surface they
struck upon a pavement of polished stone, which formerly
formed one of the streets of the city. The paving
stones are composed of hard limestone, called mezzelt,
and measure twelve inches by fifteen. Under this pave
ment the workmen passed through a stratum of sixteen
feet of concrete, made up of stones, bricks, and mortar.
Among the concrete, ten feet under the pavement,
and twenty-two under the present surface, was found a
signet stone or seal, with an inscription engraved in old
Hebrew letters : ' Haggai, son of Shebaniah.' The
inscription is arranged in two lines, and the seal, which
is small, is composed of hard close-grained black stone.
A close inspection of the letters shows that they belong
to the old Hebrew alphabet, used by the Jews, Phoeni
cians, and other Semitic nations from the time of the
Exodus until the Babylonish Captivity, a period of one
thousand years. During the seventy years' exile in
Babylon, the Jews became acquainted with the Chaldaic
letters, and on their return to Jerusalem they continued
to use these characters, which are identical with the
present square characters known as Hebrew. It thus
came to pass that the Chaldaic letters superseded the
old Hebrew ; but inscriptions belonging to the period of
transition partake of the characteristics of Hebrew and
Chaldaic. Ihe letters on ' Haggai's seal' are not as
round as those on the celebrated Moabite Stone, which
dates about 900 B.C., neither have they as much of the
rectangular character as the present Hebrew.

SOUTH-WEST SECTION OF THE SOUTH WALL. 83
They point to the transitional period, and are gene
rally therefore ascribed to the age of the Maccabees.
The question has often been asked, ' May not '' Haggai,
son of Shebaniah," refer to the prophet Haggai?'
Although a positive answer cannot be given to this
question, yet we commend to our readers the following
thoughts : — Haggai, the prophet, was one of the exiles
in Babylon, and on the termination of the captivity
returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, the governor,
and Joshua, the high-priest. He encouraged his
countrymen in the building of the second Temple. His
father's name is not mentioned, and, strangely enough,
Haggai is the only one of the Minor Prophets who
makes mention of a signet.
The last words of Haggai's book are the following
Divine message to Zerubbabel : — ' Thus saith the Lord,
I will make thee as a SIGNET ; for I have chosen thee,
saith the Lord of Hosts.'
The Engineers, after passing through the bed of con
crete, sank the shaft through a deep stratum of loose
stones and shingle. At the depth of about eighty feet
they alighted upon a large flat stone. There was little
light from above at the bottom of the deep shaft, and
on raising the flat stone a dark aperture was disclosed.
It was found to be only six feet deep, and proved to be
a passage or aqueduct running north and south. This
aqueduct or channel is formed of rough rubble masonry,
and the floor is about three feet above the native rock.
It was cleared out southwards for six hundred feet, and its
course was found to follow the bed of the ravine, which is
really the true bed of the Tyropceon Valley. The rock
.'rises abruptly on either side of the. bed, and . a .branch
F 2

84 THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
gallery from Ophel Hill runs into the passage about a
hundred yards south of the shaft. The aqueduct runs
northwards to the great foundation stones, and as the
Haram wall evidently cuts across the passage, it follows
that the aqueduct was there when the Sanctuary wall
was built.
The immense wall of underground masonry is a piece
of excellent workmanship. The large stones are well
fitted together, and the joints are so finely worked that
they are scarcely discernible, and so closely laid that
' the blade of a knife can scarcely be thrust in between
them.' Each course in ascending is set back one inch, so
as to give the wall a slight batter. The fourteen lowest
courses have finely worked marginal drafts, with rough
three-cornered faces, in some instances projectingeighteen
inches beyond the margin. This rough-faced masonry
reaches fifty feet above the true bed of the Tyropceon,
and the faces of the stones look as if they had never been
touched after leaving the quarry. Some of the courses
above resemble the stones at the Wailing Place, while
the three highest, immediately under the surface, are
plain dressed without drafts, like the stones above ground.
Sir Charles Warren's account of the deep shaft is very
interesting : — ' The shaft mouth is on the south side of
the Sanctuary wall, near the south-west angle, among
the prickly pears ; beside it, to the east, lying against
the Sanctuary wall, is a large mass of rubbish that has
been brought up ; while over the mouth itself is a
triangular gin with iron wheel attached, with guy, for
running up the excavated soil. Looking down the shaft,
one sees that it is lined for the first twenty feet with
frames four feet six inches in the clear ; further down

SOUTH-WEST SECTION OF THE SOUTH WALL. 85
the Sanctuary wall and soil cut through are seen, and a
man standing at what appears to be the bottom. An
order is given to this man, who repeats it, and then
faintly is heard a sepulchral voice, answering as it were
from another world. Reaching down to the man who
is visible is a thirty-four feet rope ladder, and on
descending by it one finds he is standing on a ledge
which the ladder does not reach by four feet. This
ledge is the top of a wall running north and south, and
abutting on the Sanctuary wall ; its east face just cuts
the centre of the shaft, which has to be canted off about
two feet towards the east, just where some large loose
stones jut out in the most disagreeable manner. Here
five more frames have been fixed, to keep these stones
steady. On peering down from this ledge, one sees the
Sanctuary wall with its projecting courses, until they are
lost in the darkness below, observing also at the same
, time that two sides of the shaft are cut through the soil,
and are self-supporting. Now to descend this second
drop, the ladder is again required ; accordingly, having
told the man at the bottom to get under cover, it is
lowered to the ledge, from whence it is found that it
does not reach to the bottom by several feet. It is
therefore lowered the required distance, arid one has to
reach it by climbing down hand over hand for about
twelve feet. On passing along one notices the marvel
lous joints of the Sanctuary wall stones, and also pro
bably gets a few blows on head and knuckles from
falling pebbles. Just on reaching the bottom one
recollects there is still a pit of unknown depth to be
explored, and cautiously straddles across it. Then can
be seen that one course in the Sanctuary wall, near the

85 THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
bottom, is quite smooth all over, the stone being finely
dressed, all other courses being only well dressed round
the drafts ; one also sees two stout boards lying against
the Sanctuary wall, under which the men retire when
ever an accidental shower of stones renders their position
dangerous. Having arrived at a depth of seventy-nine
feet, the men were breaking up a stone at the bottom of
the shaft. Suddenly the ground gave way, down went
the stone and the hammer, the men barely saving them
selves. They at once rushed up and told the sergeant
they had found the bottomless pit. I went down to the
spot and examined it. After dropping a rope down, we
found that it was only six feet deep, though it looked
black enough for anything. Climbing down we found
ourselves in a passage running south from the Sanctuary
wall, four feet high by two feet wide, and we explored the
passage. It is of rough rubble masonry, with flat stones
at top, similar to the aqueduct from Triple Gate, but not
so carefully constructed. The floor and sides are very
muddy, as if water gathers there during the rainy season.'
A third shaft was sunk close by south wall above
sixty feet from the south-west angle ; but it was not
continued down to the rock. Eight courses, however,
were exposed, and it appears that all the stones have
marginal drafts. Little more than fifteen feet deep the
workmen struck upon a pavement of stone — the same
pavement passed through in the deep shaft at a depth of
twelve feet.
The masonry above the pavement was somewhat
decayed from exposure to the weather, while that below
looked in a better state of preservation.
The fourth shaft was sunk close by the south-west angle

SOUTH-WEST SECTION OF THE SOUTH WALL. 87
and was continued down to the top of the rough-faced
masonry, which here is more than forty feet below the
surface. At twenty-three feet depth the workmen struck
upon the stone pavement seen in the other shafts. This
pavement extends eastwards from the corner along the
south wall, with a gentle rise for at least ninety feet, and
it has been found to be on a level with the floor of the
Prophet's Gateway, and with a pavement under Wilson's
Arch. Five feet below the pavement were found several
fragments of pottery, some of which were portions of
Greek lamps. One fragment had a Christian inscrip
tion upon it, resembling many inscriptions of the third
and fourth century of the Christian era. Twenty feet
deeper — that is, forty-three feet below the present surface
— a second pavement was discovered, and under this the
stones have rough projecting faces. Sir Charles Warren
is of opinion that the rough-faced stones were never ex
posed to view, while Sir Charles Wilson thinks that a
surbase of bold rugged masonry, surrounded by highly
finished stone-work, would present to spectators, looking
up from the Tyropceon, a grand and striking appearance.
From the above detailed account, we arrive at the
following general conclusions regarding the south wall of
the Noble Sanctuary.
The ridge of Moriah reaches the surface at the Triple
Gate, and therefore one-third of the wall stands on the
eastern slope of the mount, while about two-thirds
stands on the western slope. The rock falls rapidly
from the ridge on each side, and is eighty feet below the
surface at the south-east corner, and ninety feet deep
at a point near the south-west corner.
Though the present surface along the wall is nearly

88 THE SOUTH WALL AND SOLOMON'S STABLES.
level, yet an enormous accumulation of de'bris conceals
the natural features of Moriah, and hides from view the
greater part of the masonry. To remove this rubbish
would be an immense labour, but if it were removed from
the solid wall, there would be exposed to view an
enormous mass of masonry, rising in some parts from
the rock to the height of one hundred and fifty feet.
From nine shafts sunk along the wall, it appears that
all the stones below the present surface have marginal
drafts, and, moreover, that all the underground masonry
is in its original position. From the Double Gate to
the south-east corner — a space which comprises two-
thirds of the length of the south wall — the stones under
ground have finely-dressed faces from the surface down
to the rock. From the Double Gate extending west
wards to the south-west corner, the stones rising from
the rock to a considerable height upwards have rough
projecting faces. The Great Course, or Master Course,
fully described above, can be traced from the south
east corner as far as the Double Gate, and there
fore it appears to be co-extensive with the fine-faced
underground masonry ; but no vestige of it is found
westward of the Double Gate, although a careful search
was made for it in this section of the wall. These dis
coveries tend to show that the whole of the south wall
does not belong to one period of construction, and the
general opinion is, that the masonry eastward of the
Double Gate possesses a high antiquity, extending back
to the days of the Jewish monarchy, and probably is the
work of King Solomon, while the stone-work westward
of the Double Gate is the work of Herod, when that
monarch enlarged the Courts of the Temple.

89

CHAPTER IV.
The West and North Walls of the Temple
Area.
The west wall of the Noble Sanctuary runs almost
due north and south, and is over one thousand five hun
dred feet long. The most striking features in this wall
are, the remains of Robinson's Arch, the Jews' Wailing
Place, and Wilson's Arch, each of which must in succes
sion engage our attention.
The ancient masonry still seen above ground at the
south-west angle, and extending about fifty feet on each
side of it, may be classed among the finest and best
stone-work in the Sanctuary wall, and it has also the
appearance of being in its original position. The wall
at the angle is fifty-eight feet above the present surface,
and many of the blocks are of colossal dimensions.
Around this corner is a large open space overgrown
with cactus bushes, extending from the Haram Area to
the precipitous slope of Zion opposite, a distance of
above a hundred yards.
i. Robinson's Arch.
Thirteen paces north of the south-west corner three
courses of large stones project from the Sanctuary wall.
One stone is of colossal dimensions, and measures thirty-
eight feet nine inches, while it weighs over ninety tons.
This is the longest, though not the heaviest, stone yet

90 THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
met with in the ancient masonry of Jerusalem. About
forty years ago the same projecting stones were examined
by Dr. Robinson, the distinguished American Biblical
scholar, who spent many years in the investigation of
the antiquities of the Holy Land. On mentioning the
existence of the bulging blocks to a friend at Jerusalem,
they both came to the natural conclusion that the stones
were the sole vestiges of an ancient arch that formed
part of a bridge or causeway across the valley.
In ancient times Mount Moriah was separated from
Mount Zion by a valley or rugged ravine, called by
Josephus the Tyiopceon Valley. On one side of the
ravine rose the massive walls of the Temple, while on
the other rose the slopes and terraces of Zion, sur
mounted by the palace of the Kings of Judah. The
valley is well-nigh filled up now with the de'bris of the
city — the rubbish of many sieges — and, at the present
time, presents to the eye the appearance of a plain. In
days of old, however, the ravine was spanned by bridges
or viaducts, the most noted being Zion Bridge, which
seems to have formed a means of communication between
the Palace Hill and the precincts of the Temple.
The Royal Engineers made a thorough examination
of the projecting stones. It was found that the three
courses spring from an offset projecting fifteen inches
from the wall, which forms a kind of pier or buttress,
for the colossal stones. The offset is nearly on a level
with the present ground, and the bulging blocks extend
along the wall for exactly fifty feet. They were also
found to be curved on the under surface, but the stones
being much weather-worn, it was difficult to ascertain
the curvature with exactness. Under the impression that

Robinson s Arch.

ROBINSON'S ARCH. 93
they' were arch stones, Sir Charles Warren ascertained
from the curve what he conceived might be the span
of the supposed arch, and sunk a shaft about forty feet
from the Sanctuary wall. After excavating for a con
siderable depth, the workmen came upon three courses
of large blocks that formed the basement of the pier.
The stones were laid on the rock, which here is forty-
two feet below the surface, and the three courses,
reaching the height of eleven feet, are in their original
position. The pier is twelve feet thick and fifty feet long
The stones also are drafted with finely-worked face, and
some of them are of considerable size, one being fourteen
feet long, and weighing over ten tons.
On a level with the base of the pier, the Engineers
found a stone pavement between the pier and the Haram.
which probably formed the street, leading along the
Tyropceon Valley in our Saviour's time. Lying on this
pavement, and spread about in wild confusion, they
found the voussoirs or arch stones of the fallen arch.
Breaking through the pavement, the Engineers passed
through twenty additional feet of rubbish, and came
upon another large arch stone, which must have been
hurled with great violence from above, as it had in its
fall broken through the stone roof of a passage.
Working round the huge block, they descended into a
rock-cut passage about twelve feet high and four feet
broad, and therefore of sufficient size to enable a man on
horseback to pass through it. This passage runs north
along the Tyropceon Valley, but it soon contracts
towards the north. The roof is arched with stone, but
the sides are cut out of the solid rock. Southwards the
arch soon ceases, and the passage expands into a con-

94

THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.

siderable chamber, in the roof of which the workmen
noticed a square aperture, probably made for lowering
buckets in drawing water. It appears, therefore, that

£

Voussoir.of the Fallen Arch.

the chamber is a cistern, and the rock-cut passage not a
sewer, but a conduit for the flow of pure water. This
conduit was traced north and south for a considerable
-distance,and it probably is the same canal as that. through

ROBINSON'S ARCH. 95
which Sir Charles Warren noticed a stream of water
flowing two hundred yards further up the valley. The
base of the pier is forty-two feet below the surface ; the
top of the rock-cut passage is twenty feet lower, and,
consequently, the rubbish here is sixty feet deep. The
passage is cut eleven feet through the rock, so that the
floor of the passage is above seventy feet from the
present surface, ninety feet from what would be the
crown of the arch, and one hundred and thirty feet below
the top of the present wall.
It is not exoedient to speak with certainty respecting
the age of this viaduct, but it may interest our readers
to know that reference is more than once made to
bridgesthatspanned the Tyropceon. Josephus, the Jewish
historian, in his description cf the conquest of Palestine
by Pompey the Great, in the year 65 B.C., states that the
people of Jerusalem were divided into two factions, and
that 'the adherents of Aristobuius being beaten, re
treated on the Temple, breaking down ':he bridge which
connected it with the city.' It is evident from this
passage that a bridge spanned the Tyropceon Valley
before the Christian era, and was destroyed about half a
century before the commencement of the building of
Herod's Temple.
Josephus, in his description of Herod's Temple, thus
speaks of the wall overlooking the Tyropoeon : ' Now in
the western quarter of the enclosures of the Temple
there were four gates ; the first led to the king's palace,
and went to a passage over the intermediate valley.'
This royal passage that connected the Herodian palace
on Zion with the precincts of the Temple, probably
-ied into the Stoa Basilica, or Royal. Cloister, that

96 THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
abutted on the south wall of the Temple enclosure ; and
this being so, the royal roadway must have occupied the
same position as Robinson's Arch, the vestiges of which
have just been described. During the sanguinary fight
that took place on the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans in the year 70 A.D., we learn from Josephus that
Titus, the Roman general, having taken possession of
the Temple Hill, the Jewish rebels took refuge on the
opposite hill of Zion, and there bade defiance to the
Roman legions. 'Titus, such was the kindness of his
nature, and his desire of preserving the city from
destruction, that he placed himself on the western side
of the outer court of the Temple ; for there were gates
on that side above the Xystus, and the bridge that con
nected the Upper City to the Temple. This bridge it
was that lay between the tyrants and Cassar, and parted
them, while the multitude stood on each side ; those of
the Jewish nation about Simon and John, with great
hope of pardon ; and the Romans about Caesar, in great
expectation how Julius would receive their supplication.'
Titus called upon the Jews to surrender, reminding them
that by immediate submission they might still save their
city and their Temple. The infatuated rebels, however,
turned a deaf ear to Titus' entreaties, and accordingly,
when the hour of destruction came, their city and
Sanctuary were mercilessly destroyed.
The Bridge of Herod, across the Tyropceon, figures in
another scene in the Jewish wars. When the Jews at
Jerusalem became exasperated at the cruelties of Florus,
the most wicked of all the Roman Procurators of Judea,
Herod Agrippa used his powers in endeavouring to
appease his subjects, and thus avert a sanguinary conflict

ROBINSON'S ARCH. 97
with the Romans. ' He therefore called the people
together into the Xystus, and placed his sister, Bernice,
on the palace of the Maccabees, that she might be seen
of them, which palace was over the Xystus at the
passage to the Upper City, where a bridge connected
the Temple with the Xystus.' From this passage we
learn that the Xystus was like the Agora of Athens and
the Forum of Rome, namely, an open space where the
people of the city could assemble for public deliberations.
On one side rose the Temple, and on the other the
palace of the Herods, and the two were connected by a
bridge spanning the valley. The arch lately discovered by
the Royal Engineers, and usually known as Robinson's
Arch, was probably the same as Zion Bridge, mentioned
in connection with Agrippa and Titus. It would there
fore be a conspicuous feature of Jerusalem in the days of
Christ, and our Saviour and His disciples probably gazed
often upon this lofty arch crossing the ravine. This
structure may have been hurled down at the Roman
destruction of Jerusalem, and thus for eighteen centuries
every trace of it, with the exception of the broken arch
stones still adhering to the city wall, has been buried
amid the accumulation of rubbish.
The recent excavations at the south-west corner show
that the six lowest courses of masonry, reaching from
the rock up to the ancient pavement — a distance of
twenty feet — are composed of stones with marginal
drafts and rough pricked faces. The joints and drafts
are beautifully worked, and exhibit as much delicacy in
dressing as any stones throughout the Sanctuary walls ;
but the three-cornered projecting faces look as if they
had not been touched after they were dug out from the
G

93 . THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
quarry. They somewhat resemble the rough-faced
masonry found in the substructures of the north-east
section of the wall, but the mode of dressing is quite
different. This rough masonry extends along the west wall for a
hundred yards, as far as Barclay's Gate — called Bab al
Magharibe, or Moor's Gate, by the present inhabitants,
and the Prophet's Gate by the Moslems— a distance of
one hundred yards. Extending from the top of the
rough masonry up to the present surface, a height of
forty feet on an average, and in some places reaching
three or four courses above the ground, is a wall of
masonry made up of marginal drafted blocks with finely-
worked faces. The upper portion of the wall is of
various periods of construction, but, being comparatively
modern, is of little interest.
A solid ramp seems to have risen from the valley up
to Barclay's Gate, and formed a termination to the
rough-faced masonry.
Extending northwards to Barclay's Gate, as far at
least as Wilson's Arch, there is no vestige of rough-
faced masonry, the stones throughout, from the rock
to the surface, being marginal with fine-worked face.
There is a unity of design in the masonry reaching from
Barclay's Gate southwards to the south-west angle, and
rounding the corner as far as the Double Gate. This
masonry includes a hundred yards of the west wall, and
a hundred yards of the south wall, each section being
measured from the south-west corner, and it is probably
the. work of Herod the Great when he enlarged the
outer courts of the Temple.

*&>-

THE WAILING PLACE. 99
ii. The Wailing Place,
Proceeding northwards of Barclay's Gate, we come to
an interesting section of the wall known as The Jews'
Wailing Place, where the Jews assemble every Friday
afternoon. It is a small quadrangular area, roughly
paved with large square stones, situated between low
houses and the Sanctuary wall. It is further hemmed in
by walls on the north and south sides, and the area itself
is only of small dimensions, being about a hundred feet
in length and fifteen in breadth. The Temple wall
above ground at this spot is about sixty feet high, and
the lower courses of visible masonry are for the most
part made up of magnificent stones, venerable from their
high antiquity, and from the fact that they are veritable
remains of the old Jewish Temple. For many genera
tions, at least once a week the Jews have been permitted
to approach the precincts of their Temple, and it is a
touching sight to see them manifest affection to the
venerable wall, while they kiss the very stones and
bathe them with their tears.
The Psalmist's words were verily fulfilled : ' Thy
servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust
thereof.'1 Kneeling before the vestiges of their desolate
and dishonoured sanctuary, the Jews still raise the wail
of lamentation : ' God, the heathen are come into Thine
inheritance, Thy holy Temple have they defiled, they
have laid Jerusalem on heaps. . . . We are become a
reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them
that are round about us. How long, Lord ? Wilt Thou
be angry for ever ? Shall Thy jealousy burn like fire?'2
1 Psalm cii. 14. 2 Psalm lxxix. 1, 4, 5.
G 2

100 THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
The nine courses rising from the present ground are
made up of large blocks, and above are fifteen courses of
small stones plainly dressed. The four lowest courses have
marginal drafts about half an inch deep and from two
to four inches wide, and the faces of the stones are finely
polished. Some of the blocks are of great size, one stone
at the north end being sixteen feet long, and one at the
south end is thirteen feet, while most of them have been
dressed with great skill. The wall presents a solid face
of masonry, and rises without doors or windows from the
pavement to the domes and cypresses on the summit, a
height of about sixty feet. Near the south end of the area
may be seen some holes pierced through the Sanctuary
wall, which seem to indicate that at some previous age
vaulted chambers have been built against the Haram.
The masonry, as we have indicated, is highly
finished, and the drafted blocks are regarded as a
standard of comparison for other sections of the wall.
Moreover, it is generally admitted by authorities that
the large stones are of Solomon's date ; but Sir Charles
Wilson, while acknowledging this, thinks that as the
blocks are of very unequal quality, and as they are fitted
together in a somewhat careless way, the wall is a re
construction of old material. Much light and interest
are thrown upon this question by an examination of the
adjoining masonry, especially of that beneath the surface,
and long buried out of sight amid the rubbish of the
city. At the southern end of the area is a low modern
wall, about a hundred yards north of the south-west
corner. By climbing over the wall, the explorer will
find on the other side a small court, from which can be
seen a stone of colossal dimensions in the Haram wall,

The Wailing Place.

THE WAILING PLACE. IO3
about ten feet above the present surface. It has formed
the lintel of an old gateway, and measures twenty-
four feet in length and seven feet in height Twenty
feet of this gateway is buried among de'bris, and recent
excavations show that from the sill to the lintel the
height has been thirty feet. It is now called Barclay's
Gate, from Dr. Barclay, who discovered it in 1852 ; but
the natives also called it Bab al Mahomet, the Prophet's
Gate, and Bab al Magharib£, the Moor's Gate. It has
formed the entrance to a passage eighteen feet wide,
which by a gradual ascent led to the surface of the Haram
Area, and the gateway is probably one of the four which
Josephus mentions as existing in the west wall of the
Temple enclosure. The subterranean passage corresponds
to the passages leading up through the Double Gate
and Triple Gate to the precincts of the Sanctuary.
Outside Barclay's Gate, and close to the south end of
the Wailing Place, Sir Charles Warren sank a shaft, and
had to dig through rubbish to the enormous depth of about
eighty feet below the colossal lintel, before he came to
the foundation of the Haram wall. Beneath the surface
are twenty-two courses of excellent masonry, each course
being from three to four feet in height. The lowest
course is let into the rock, and each course is set back
about half an inch as it rises. The drafting of the stones
is very finely executed, and for delicate finish will com
pare favourably with drafted masonry in any other part
of the Temple enclosure. The courses and dressing
exactly correspond to those at the Wailing Place, but
the masonry is in a much better state of preservation,
and there can be no doubt that this magnificent under
ground wall is ancient Jewish work, probably of the age

104 THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
of Solomon. North of the Wailing Place the Haram
wall is hidden behind modern houses ; but Barclay,
Wilson, and Warren, who have examined the buried
stones, think that there is as much ancient Jewish work
in the west wall as in any other part of the Temple Hill.
The character of the rubbish through which the shaft
passed tends to establish the high antiquity of the
masonry. The first twenty-three feet of rubbish under
the surface consist of earth and pretty large fragments
of stone, some of the latter being a foot in diameter ;
then comes a drain constructed of masonry, about three
feet wide and six feet high, sufficiently large for a man
to stand upright in it. This drain is continued south
wards along the wall as far as the south-west corner.
Under the drain is a retaining wall, abutting on the
Haram masonry, and designed to act as a buttress. The
lower part of the shaft below the drain was for thirty
feet dug through rubbish made up of earth and small
stone chippings, which when tapped flowed into the
shaft like running water.
It is well known that in the time of the Maccabees
the fortress of Acra was cut down, and so great was the
undertaking that the work of demolition continued for
three years. Josephus' own words are : 'The other hill,
which was called Acra, and sustains the Lower City,
is of the shape of a moon when she is horned. How
ever in these times when the Asmoneans reigned, they
filled up that valley with earth, and had a mind to join
the city to the Temple. They then took off part of the
height of Acra, and reduced it to be of less elevation
than it was before, that the Temple might be superior
to it. Now the Valley of the Cheesemongers, as it was

THE WAILING PLACE. 105
called, and was that which we told you before distin
guished the hill of the Upper City from that of the
Lower, extended as far as Siloam, for that is the name
of a fountain which hath sweet water in it, and this in
great plenty also.'
Probably the stone chippings passed through in sink
ing the shaft were thrown into the Tyropceon by the
Maccabees when they cut down Acra, and thus partially
filled up the valley separating Mount Zion from the
Temple Hill. The gigantic wall goes down to the rock,
which at the foundation course slopes towards the west,
and before the valley was filled up by the Maccabees,
the Temple wall here must have been exposed to view
from the rock upwards. From the foundations to the
outer floor of the Haram Court -is eighty-four feet, and
surmounting this in ancient days would be the cloister
wall of Solomon, probably about fifty feet high, so that
this section of the wall would originally present to view
a stupendous mass of masonry scarcely to be surpassed
by any mural masonry in the world.
During a recent visit to Jerusalem, after an examina
tion of this part of the wall, the author took up his
position at the south end of the paved area, and watched
the appearance and movements of the increasing crowd.
Nearest to him stood a row of women clad in robes of
spotless white. Their eyes were bedimmed with weep
ing, and tears streamed down their cheeks as they
sobbed aloud with irrepressible emotion. Next to the'
women stood a group of Pharisees — Jews from Poland
and Germany. These are known by the name of
Ashkenazim, because they came from Ashkenaz — the
name given to Germany by the Rabbins. For the most

106 THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
part the Ashkenazim are small in stature and fragile in
form ; but their supercilious looks indicate the same self-
sufficient pride that characterised the Pharisees of old.
The old hoary-headed men generally wore velvet caps
edged with fur, long love-locks or ringlets were dangling
on their thin cheeks, and their outer robes presented a
striking contrast of gaudy colours.
Beyond stood a group of Spanish Jews, of more
polished appearance and dignified bearing. They are
called Sephardim, because, according to the Rabbins,
Spain is Sepharad. Besides these, there are Jews from
almost every quarter of the world, who had wandered to
Jerusalem that they might die in the city of their fathers,
and be buried in the Valley of Jehoshaphat under the
shadow of the Temple Hill. The worshippers gradually
increased in number until the crowd thronging the pave
ment could not be fewer than two hundred. It was an
affecting scene to notice their earnestness ; some thrust
their hands between the joints of the stones, and pushed
into the crevices, as far as possible, little slips of paper
on which were written, in the Hebrew tongue, short
petitions addressed to Jehovah. Some even prayed with
their mouths thrust into gaps, where the weather-beaten
stones were worn away at the joints. The explanation
given of this strange proceeding is that it arises from a
desire on the part of the worshippers that their prayers
may rise from holy ground, and, ascending like the
morning and evening incense, may, through the sacred
wall, rise to the God of Abraham.
The congregation at the Wailing Place is one of the
most solemn gatherings left to the Jewish Church,
and, as the writer gazed at the motley concourse, he

THE WAILING PLACE. 107
experienced a feeling of sorrow that the remnants of the
chosen race should be heartlessly thrust outside the
sacred enclosure of their fathers' holy Temple by men of
an alien race and an alien creed. Many of the elders,
seated on the ground with their backs against the wall
on the west side of the area, and with their faces turned
towards the Eternal House, readout of their well-thumbed
Hebrew books passages from the prophetic writings, such
as ' Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember
iniquity for ever ; behold, see, we beseech Thee, we are all
Thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is
a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our
beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned
up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O Lord ?
Wilt Thou hold Thy peace, and afflict us very sore?'1
About four o'clock a Rabbin stood up, facing the Sanc
tuary wall, and, resting his book against the stone, read
aloud from the Jewish lamentation service a kind of
litany. After each petition the assembly responded in a
peculiar buzzing tone, rocking their bodies to and fro,
after the manner of their fathers. The following litany
of eight petitions is often rehearsed : — ¦
The Rabbin reads aloud — All the people respond —
For the place that lies desolate : We sit in solitude and mourn.
For the place that is destroyed : We sit in solitude and mourn.
For the walls that are overthrown : We sit in solitude and mourn.
For our majesty that is departed : We sit in solitude and mourn.
For our great men who lie dead : We sit in solitude and moun\
For the precious stones that are buried : We sit in solitude and mourn.
For the priests who have stumbled : We sit in solitude and mourn.
For our kings who have despised Him : We sit in solitude and mourn.
1 Isaiah Ixiv. 9-12.

103 THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
Another litany, written after the manner of an anti-
phonal psalm, is often repeated. It consists of five
petitions, offered up on behalf of Zion ; and, in response
to each petition, the assembly offer up a petition for
Jerusalem : —
The Rabbin prays thus :— The people answer—
We pray Thee have mercy on Zion : Gather the children of Jerusalem.
Haste ! haste ! Redeemer of Zion : Speak to the heart of Jerusalem.
May beauty and majesty surround Ah ! turn Thyself mercifully to
Zion : Jerusalem.
May the kingdom soon return to Comfort those who mourn over
Zion : Jerusalem.
May peace and joy abide with Zion : And the Branch of Jesse spring up
at Jerusalem.
The following is an account of a visit to the Wailing
Place by Dr. Frankl, a Jew, who visited the Holy City: —
' The Jews have a firman from the Sultan, which, in
return for a small tax, ensures them the right of entrance
to the Wailing Place for all time to come. The road
conducted us to several streets, till, entering a narrow
crooked lane, we reached the wall, which has been often
described. There can be no doubt but the lower part of
it is a real memorial of the days of Solomon, which, in
the language of Flavius Josephus, is immovable for all
time. Its cyclopic proportions produce the conviction
that it will last as long as the strong places of the earth.
Before we reached the wall we. heard a sort of howling
melody — a passionate shrieking — a heart-rendingwailing,
like a chorus, from which the words came sounding forth,
" How long yet, O God ?" Several hundreds of Jews, in
Turkish and Polish costumes, were assembled, and, with
their faces turned towards the wall, were bending and
bowing as they offered up the evening prayer. He who

THE WAILING PLACE. IC9
led their devotions was a young man in a Polish talar,
who seemed to be worn out with passion and disease.
The words were those of the well-known Mincha prayer,
but drawled, torn, shrieked, and mumbled in such a way
that the piercing sound resembled rather the raging
frenzy of chained madmen, or the roaring of a cataract,
than the worship of rational beings. At a considerable
distance from the men stood about a hundred women, all
in long white robes, the folds of which covered the head
and the whole figure — like white doves, which, weary of
flight, had perched upon the ruins. When it was their
turn to offer up the usual passages of the prayer, they
joined the men's tumultuous chorus, and raised their
arms aloft, which with their white robes looked like wings
with which they were about to soar aloft into the open
sky ; and then they struck their foreheads on the square
stones of the wall of the Temple. Meanwhile, if the
leader of their prayers grew weary, and leaned his head
against the wall in silent tears, for a moment there was
a death-like silence. I happened to be near him, and I
could mark the sincerity of his agitated soul. He gave
a rapid glance at me, and, without stopping short in
his prayer, said to me, " Mokam Kodesh," i.e., " Holy
place," and pointed to my covered feet. My guide had
forgotten to inform me that I must take off my shoes.
I now did so, and was drawn into the vortex of raging
sorrow and lamentation.'
The Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday evening at
sunset ; therefore, when the sun is sinking low in the
western sky, the worshippers at the Wailing Place some
times chant in Hebrew a plaintive hymn, known as the
Wailing Song. The melody is thought to date from the

IIO THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
time of Ezra, and, consequently, is accounted to be
amongst the oldest pieces of music extant. The follow
ing is a translation of the hymn : —
He is great, He is good.
He'll build His Temple speedily.
In great haste, in great haste,
In our own day speedily.
Lord, build, Lord, build,
Build Thy Temple speedily.
He will save, He will save,
He'll save His Israel speedily.
At this time now, O Loid,
In our own day speedily.
Lord, save, Lord, save,
Save Thine Israel speedily.
Lord, bring back, Lord, bring back,
Bring back Thy people speedily ;
0 restore to their land,
To their Salem speedily.
Bring back to Thee, bring back to Thee,
To their Saviour, speedily.
How long the Jews have assembled for lamentation
at the Wailing Place cannot be determined with cer
tainty, although there is historical evidence to prove
that they have assembled to mourn over their lost glory
and desolate Temple since the time of the Apostles.
After the merciless destruction of Jerusalem by Titus
in 70 A.D., the priestly families fled to Tiberias, on the
shores of the Sea of Galilee ; and the great men of the
Jewish nation found homes in Egypt, Cyprus, and other
places, while only the poor and the officiating priests
remained in the Holy City. Slowly Jerusalem rose
from her ashes, and for sixty years enjoyed such peace
as comes after the maddened din of warfare. During

THE WAILING PLACE. I I I
that period the Jews bewailed their downfall, and
nobody interfered with the poor inhabitants of the city.
At length after sixty years' freedom from accursed
warfare, a mighty insurrection arose among the Jews
against- the oppressive yoke of Rome. The insurgents
were headed by Bar Cochaba, the Son of a Star, the last
and greatest of the false Messiahs. After three years of
warfare and butchery, Bar Cochaba, with sword in hand,
fell down slain on the walls of Beth-er, near Bethlehem,
and forthwith the domination of the Romans was
restored. The Emperor Hadrian, filled with wrath at
the insurrection, again destroyed Jerusalem, and drove
the Jews from their hallowed city. He fixed a Roman
colony on Zion, built a heathen temple on Moriah, on
the site of the sacred edifice of the Jews, and dedicated
it to Capitoline Jupiter. When the colony had increased
in size he bestowed upon the new city the name of ALtia.
Capitolina, combining with his own family title of ^Elius
the name of Jupiter of the Capitol, the guardian deity
of the colony. Christians and pagans were permitted to
reside there, but the Jews were forbidden to enter the city
on pain of death ; and this stern decree remained in force
in the days of Tertullian, about a century afterwards.
About the middle of the fourth century, however, the
Jews were permitted to dwell in the neighbourhood, and
once a year — on the anniversary of the capture of Jeru
salem — they were allowed to enter the Temple enclosure
that they might approach the lapis pertusus, or per
forated stone, and anoint it with oil. ' There,' says an
ancient writer, 'they make lamentations with groans,
and rend their garments, and so retire.'
Jerome, the eminent Latin Father, who founded a

112 THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
convent at Bethlehem, and for thirty years led an ascetic
life in the Holy Land, when conimenting, about 400 A.D.,
on Zephaniah i. 14, ' The mighty man shall cry there
bitterly,' draws a vivid picture of the wretched crowds
of Jews who in his day assembled at the Wailing Place,
by the west wall of the Temple, to bemoan the loss of
their ancestral greatness. On the ninth of the month
Ab, might be seen the aged and decrepit of both sexes,
with tattered garments and dishevelled hair, who met to
weep over the downfall of Jerusalem, and purchased
permission of the soldiery to prolong their lamenta
tions, et mi es mercedem postulat ut illis flere plus liceat.
The perforated stone, called lapis pertusus, is probably
the Sakhra or sacred rock of Moriah, originally the
threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, and now covered
with the elegant sanctuary called Kubbet es-Sakhra,
or Dome of the Rock.
After the Moslem occupation of Jerusalem in the
seventh century, the lapis pertusus, or sacred rock of
Moriah, was invested with a sanctity second only to the
Kaaba of Mecca. This sanctity was afterwards extended
to the whole of the top of Moriah, and, consequently, the
heretic Jews were driven outside the Temple enclosure.
In course of time, however, they approached the outer
walls, and there continued to celebrate their lamentation
service. Thus for about twelve centuries have the Jews
assembled outside the walls of their ancient Temple ;
but it would be difficult, with our present knowledge,
to prove that the present Wailing Place has been
the identical spot of lamentation throughout the many
generations that have lived and died since the Moslem
occupation of Jerusalem under Khalif Omar in 637 AD.,

THE WEST WALL OF THE HARAM. 113

iii. The West Wall of the Haram, north of the
Wailing Place.
This ancient wall, extending north of the Wailing
Place for a length of one hundred feet, is hidden by
modern houses. Here stands the Council House, or
House of Judgment, where the Cadi or Judge tries the
several cases brought before him. It appears that the
Council House occupied the same spot in the days of
Josephus, when the first wall of the city terminated at the
western cloisters of the Sanctuary. North of the Council
House is the principal entrance to the Haram Area,
namely, the Bab es-Silsileh, or Gate of the Chain.
According: to a Moslem tradition, a chain was once
stretched across this entrance by King Solomon. This
chain could be grasped by a truthful witness with im
punity, but a link dropped if perchance it was touched by
a perjurer. The elegant little dome-shaped structure
in the Haram opposite this entrance is still known as
David's Place of Judgment. The present Gate of the
Chain is double, ornamented with twisted marble columns,
while in front of it is a pretty fountain surmounted
by a traceried wheel taken from some old church.
Starting from the Gate of the Chain, a great cause
way ran across the Tyropceon Valley in ancient times ;
and on the top of this causeway now runs the modern
David Street, from the Temple wall westwards to the
Jaffa Gate.
In front of the gateway and outside the Haram,
Dr. Titus Tobler discovered a large underground arch,
now known as Wilson's Arch, and so named after
H

114 THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
Sir Charles Wilson, the Director of the English Survey
at Jerusalem.
Josephus tells us that in the time of our Lord Jeru
salem was completely honeycombed with underground
galleries and subterranean passages, used not so much
for drainage or sepulture, as for purposes of war. Every
stronghold had its secret passage for escape in time of
danger ; so much so, that Titus and his Roman legions,
after fighting their way from the Temple Hill to Mount
Zion, killing and capturing their foes in the open, found
that so many fugitives had taken refuge in subterranean
chambers, that it was necessary to burrow underground
in search of the enemy.
' The Roman soldiers laid down sword and spear, and
seizing pick and spade began to burrow in the ground.
A hundred fights took place in the very bowels of the
earth. Two thousand dead bodies were found in these
tunnels, sewers, and secret chambers, all of whom had
fallen either by their own hands, the poniards of their
companions, or from want of food. A poisonous stench
came up from every trap and vent, so that the air of
the city was unfit to breathe. The open streets were bad
enough, but underground Jerusalem was a perfect charnel-
house. To stay the progress of disease, the traps and
vents were stopped. Shafts leading into tanks were
closed, and openings into secret passages walled up. Old
cisterns were in time forgotten, and the great gallery
leading underground from the citadel on Zion to the
Temple on Moriah was partly lost. I say partly lost,
because a legend long survived among the natives that
David Street above ground was so named from the fact
that it ran over and along a subterranean passage which

THE WEST WALL OF THE HARAM. I I 5
David had caused to be made from his great tower on
Zion to that part of the Temple which is now entered
by the Gate of the Chain.'
Sir Charles Wilson in his explorations brought to light
this secret passage. One day, while burrowing under
ground in front of this gateway, outside the Haram, he
came upon a pool of water, named by the Arabs El-
Burak, from the neighbouring mosque of that name. On
lighting a magnesium wire, Wilson found himself standing
under the roof of the arch previously seen by Tobler, and
noticed that it was formed of massive stones fixed
without mortar, like the blocks of David's Tower.
The arch, on measurement, was found to be forty-
three feet wide, with a span of forty-two feet, while the
stones composing it measured from seven to thirteen feet
in length. It springs from the Temple wall, like Robin
son's Arch, at a point six hundred feet north of the south
west angle. Sir Charles Wilson says that, ' Whatever
date is given to the masonry of the Wailing Place must
be ascribed to this.'
Sir Charles Warren subsequently pursuing investiga
tions at this spot, sank a shaft alongside the Sanctuary
wall, beneath the southern end of Wilson's Arch, and at a
lower depth of twenty-four feet he came upon the fallen
voussoirs of a more ancient arch. At a depth of fifty-
one feet below the spring of the arch he reached the
foundation-stones of the Haram wall, and found them,
as in other places, laid upon the native rock. Sir Charles
Warren is of opinion that when the first wall of the
Temple Court was built, in the days of King Solomon,
the valley of the Tyropceon was empty, and the stupen
dous western wall was exposed to view throughout it
H 2

I 1 6 THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
whole height, measuring, as it did, eighty-four feet from
the rock to the level of the pavementof the Outer Court,
and above this the cloister's wall rising high above the
Court. Thus the depth of the valley and the great
height of the wall seems to confirm Josephus' descrip
tion of the masonry — a description hitherto thought
strangely exaggerated. Further explorations brought
to light an extensive series of arched vaults adjoining
Wilson's Arch, and running westwards one hundred and
fifty feet, evidently connected with the viaduct or cause
way which in ancient times crossed the valley at this
place. Beyond the arches a subterranean tunnel twelve feet
wide was found, running westwards from the Temple
precincts in the direction of the citadel and the Jaffa
Gate. The explorers followed it for about a hundred
yards, but could not get farther. Probably by this secret
way troops were hurried down into the Temple Area
from the military barracks on Mount Zion, in tirhes of
emergency. Fifty feet below the causeway Sir Charles Warren found
an old city gate, and near to it an ancient building, which
from certain symbolical marks found upon the stones,
he named the Masonic Hall, This building has been a
very handsome structure in its day, built as it is of large
well-cut stones with marginal drafts, with carved double
doors, and at the angles inside pilasters surmounted by
carved Ionic capitals. The causeway spanning the
valley is thought by Warren to date from the days of the
Maccabees, while the Masonic Hall is probably of the
time of the Kings of Judah.
The west wall of the Haram north of the Gate of

THE WEST WALL OF THE HARAM. I17
the Chain "is almost entirely enclosed by buildings, so
that little or nothing has been done here in the way of
excavation by the Palestine Exploration Fund. There
are several entrances to the Sanctuary, which come in
the following order. Eighty yards north of Wilson's
Arch is the Bab el-Matera, or Gate of the Bath, named
from its proximity to a well called Hammam es-Shefa,
an intermittent spring, said by some to have fed the
Pool of Bethesda.
A very old tradition identifies the gate Bab al-Katta-
nin, or Gate of the Cotton Merchants, with the Beautiful
Gate of the Temple, where Peter and John healed the
impotent man. Hence Christians are permitted more
freely to approach this entrance than any other leading
into the sacred enclosure. The next gate is the Bab el-
Hadid, the Iron Gate, situated fifty yards north of the
Cotton Gate, and apparently of a late date. The Bab
el-Nazir, or Gate of the Inspector, is two hundred and
fifty feet farther north. It is near to the Serai, the resi
dence of the Pasha, and the State prison of Jerusalem.
The survey of the exterior western wall of the Haram
Area, from the Cotton Gate southwards to the south
west angle, a distance of six hundred feet, shows that the
foundations are of great antiquity. The masonry under
ground runs in courses, as in the southern wall, and in the
eastern wall as far north as the Golden Gateway ; and
this seems to indicate that the whole of that work con
stituted one building, probably dating from the era of
the Jewish kings.
Stones with marginal drafts and projecting faces are
found underground at the south-west angle ; but the
smooth-faced masonry, similar to that found at the

Il8 THE WEST AND NORTH WALLS.
south-east angle, occurs for the most part in the sub
structures of the western wall as far north as the Cotton
Gate. iv. The North Wall of the Haram Area.
At the north-west angle stands a pile of building
used as a barrack. The building stands on a rock
twenty feet higher than the Haram Area, and covers the
Haram wall for a distance of three hundred and seventy
feet, extending eastwards from the north-west angle. On
the eastern side of the barrack is a small entrance, known
as the Gate of the Secretary, and one hundred and fifty
feet farther east is a larger entrance, called Bab el-Hitta,
the intervening space being covered with old houses. It
is generally thought that on this rock, now covered by
the military barrack, stood the ancient Jewish fort of
Baris, which was situated at the north-west angle of the
Temple precincts. In 37 B.C. Herod the Idumaean
captured the city of Jerusalem, after a gallant defence
made by the inhabitants. The Jews, driven from
place to place, took refuge in the Baris, and obstinately
defended themselves until overpowered by superior
numbers. Herod, on becoming King of the Jews,
rebuilt the Temple, and re-fortified Baris, as it com
manded the Temple precincts. He caused the Castle to
be flanked externally with strong turrets, and named
the fortress Antonia, after his friend and patron Antony.
A short distance east of the Bab el-Hitta is a large
excavation, extending eastwards nearly the whole length
of the Haram wall. This excavation, called Birket
Israil, or Pool of Israel, is a huge fosse or tank, three
hundred and sixty feet long, one hundred and thirty feet

THE NORTH WALL OF THE HARAM AREA. 119
broad, and eighty feet deep. The sides and bottom are
covered with a thick coating of cement, which indicates
that it has been used as a reservoir. Roman Catholic
tradition and many modern travellers regard this reser
voir as the Pool of Bethesda, described as being by the
Sheep Market, where infirm people lay waiting for the
supernatural troubling of the waters. The bed of Birket
Israil is sixty feet below the level of the Haram Area,
Between the eastern end of this pool and the city wall
runs a narrow road or causeway from St. Stephen's Gate
to an entrance of the Haram called Bab el-Asbat, the
Gate of the Tribes. This portal adjoins the north-east
tower, the so-called Castle of Antonia.

120

CHAPTER V.
Herod's Temple.
The second Temple built by the Jewish exiles on their
return from Babylon stood on Moriah for about five
centuries ; but when Herod the Great became King of
Judea, the masonry in some parts was suffering from
decay. Herod was by birth an Idumaean, and on ascend
ing the throne he treated the Jews with considerable
severity, so that he became very unpopular amongst his
own subjects. As the monarch advanced in years, he
sought to ingratiate himself with his people, and being a
man of considerable taste in the art of masonry, and
knowing the deep veneration the Jews had for their
national sanctuary, he conceived the idea of rendering
himself popular by making a munificent offer to rebuild
the Temple on Mount Moriah. The king's proffered
munificence was at first received with doubt and suspicion,
but the Jews, having at length expressed their approba
tion of the design, Herod nobly fulfilled his promise, and
at great labour and expense erected on the Temple Hill
a proud edifice, which in many respects surpassed in the
splendour of its courts and wealth of its decorations the
ancient Temple of King Solomon. The Jewish exiles
on their return from Babylon had mourned over the
comparative insignificance of Zerubbabel's Temple, but
the heart of the nation must have rejoiced at the mag
nificence of Herod's stately sanctuary.

HEROD S TEMPLE. 121
We learn from Josephus that the sanctum of the
Temple ' was built by the priests in a year and six
months.' They altered not the sacred dimensions, but
wings or shoulders were added to the facade, making it a
hundred cubits wide, and it is said to have been one
hundred cubits high. The outer walls were of colossal
dimensions, and, according to the Jewish historian :
' The lowest part of the wall was erected to the
height of three hundred cubits, and in some places more,
yet did not the entire depth of the foundations appear,
for they brought earth and filled up the valleys, as being
desirous to make them on a level with the narrow streets
of the city ; wherein they made use of stones of forty
cubits in magnitude ; for the great plenty of money
they then had, and the liberality of the people, made
this attempt of theirs to succeed to an incredible degree ;
and what could not be so much as hoped for as ever to
be accomplished, was by perseverance and length of
time brought to perfection. Now for the works that
were above these foundations, these were not unworthy
of such foundations ; for all the cloisters were double,
and the pillars to them belonging were twenty-five cubits
in height, and supported the cloisters. These pillars
were of one entire stone each of them, and that stone
was white marble ; and the roofs were adorned with
cedar curiously graven. The. natural magnificence and
excellent polish, and the harmony of the joints in these
cloisters, afforded a prospect that was very remarkable;
nor was it on the outside adorned with any work of the
painter or engraver.'
Surmounting the south wall was the Royal Porch, and
within this the courts, like terraces, rose tier upon tier

122 HEROD'S TEMPLE.
up to the highest platform, on which stood the Temple
proper. The porch in front of the Sanctuary rose to
the height of one hundred and fifty feet, and was there
fore of greater elevation than St. Peter's at Rome. From
the living rock at the south-east corner to the apex of
the Temple front, there would be presented to travellers
approaching the Holy City by the Jericho road, an
enormous mass of masonry three hundred feet in height.
The recent excavations at Jerusalem have brought to
light the colossal remains of the Temple's sustaining
wall ; but while the vast masses of masonry excite our
wonder, it is nevertheless evident that Josephus has
exaggerated their dimensions. The great foundation
stone at the south-east angle is laid on the living rock,
and is eighty feet below the present surface. The sub
structures could never be deeper, and we find that from
the foundation stone to the top of the Sakhara Rock, the
highest point of Moriah, is one hundred and sixty-two
feet. Adding to this one hundred and fifty feet, the
height of the Temple facade, it follows that the masonry
from the rock upwards could never be more than three
hundred and twelve feet, a height which, though great,
is not equal to half the exaggerated dimensions of
Josephus. The Stoa Basilica, or Royal Porch, occupying the
south side of the enclosure, was specially magnificent,
and its vast proportions fill the mind with wonder.
Josephus says :—
'The fourth front of the Temple, which was south
ward, had indeed itself gates in the middle, as also it had
the Royal Cloisters, with three walks, which reached in
length from the east valley unto that on the west, for it

HEROD'S TEMPLE. 1 23
was impossible it. should reach any farther ; and this
cloister deserves to be mentioned better than any other
under the sun ; for while the valley was very deep, and
its bottom could not be seen if you look from above
into the depth, this farther vastly high elevation of the
cloister stood upon that height, insomuch that if anyone
looked down from the top of the battlements, or down
both those altitudes, he would be giddy, while his sight
could not reach to such an immense depth. This cloister
had pillars that stood in four rows, one over against the
other all along, for the fourth row was interwoven into
the wall, which also was built of stone, and the thick
ness of each pillar was such, that three men with their
arms extended fathom it round and join their hands
again, while its length was twenty-seven feet, with a
double spiral at its basis ; and the number of all the
pillars in that court was an hundred and sixty-two.
Their chapiters were made with sculptures after the
Corinthian order, and caused an amazement to the spec
tators by reason of the grandeur of the whole.
' These four rows of pillars included three intervals for
walking in the middle of these cloisters ; two of which
walks were made parallel to each other, and were con
trived after the same manner ; the breadth of each of
them was thirty feet, the length was a furlong, and the
height fifty feet ; but the breadth of the middle part of
the cloister was one and a half of the other, and the
height was double, for it was much higher than those on
each side ; but the roofs were adorned with deep sculp
tures in wood, representing many sorts of figures : the
middle was much higher than the rest, and the wall of
the front was adorned with beams, resting upon pillars

124 HEROD'S TEMPLE.
that were interwoven into it, and that front was all of
polished stone, insomuch that its fineness, to such as had
not seen it, was incredible, and to such as had seen it
was greatly amazing.'
There is no reason for supposing that this description
of the Stoa Basilica is overdrawn, for while Josephus is
prone to exaggerate, from national pride, the elevation of
public works that had partly or wholly been demolished,
yet his ground-plan measurements are generally found
to be stated with sobriety and accuracy. This may be
accounted for from the fact that exaggeration in ground-
plan measurements could always be rectified on the
spot, and the writer's errors exposed. Thus it follows
that the Royal Cloisters were at least six hundred feet in
length ; that is, longer than any cathedral in England ;
and it is a noteworthy fact that this vast porch was more
spacious than York Minster or Westminster Abbey.
Some think that the temples of Greece and Rome
rivalled in extent the proud edifice of Herod, but this is
a mistaken idea. The exact dimensions of the classical
temples are well known : the Parthenon, on the Athenian
Acropolis, was one of the grandest temples of Greece,
while the Capitol, on the top of M'ons Capitolina, was
the largest temple of Rome. The Parthenon and
Capitol, however, were small compared with the Herodian
Sanctuary at Jerusalem, and it seems wonderful to dis
cover that both these classical temples could have stood
under the roof of the Stoa Basilica.
Some temples on the bank of the Nile occupied a
greater space, but outside Egypt the Temple of Palmyra
in the desert was the only structure that could be
accounted a rival, although it had neither the beauty of

HEROD'S TEMPLE. 125
situation nor the wealth of decoration that was lavished
on Herod's Temple.
The main part of the new building was finished in
about ten years, but the work of embellishment and the
erection of the outer courts was continued throughout
the whole period of Christ's life. The glory of this latter
house was greater than that of former temples, for it was
the scene of Christ's labours, as predicted by the Prophet :
' The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His
Temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye
delight in : behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of
Hosts.'1 A pinnacle of the Temple was the scene of the
Temptation, and the magnificence of the polished blocks
attracted the attention of Christ's disciples, for ' as He
went out of the Temple, one of His disciples saith unto
Him, Master, see what manner of stones and what
buildings are here. And Jesus answering said unto him,
Seest thou these great buildings ? There shall not be left
one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.'2
When Christ drove out the buyers and sellers from the
Outer Court of the Gentiles, with the significant words,
' Take these things hence ; make not My Father's house
a house of merchandise,' the Jews demanded a sign of
His authority. 'Jesus answered and said unto them,
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this
Temple in building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three
days ? But He spake of the temple of His body.'3
At Christ's trial an accusation brought against Him
1 Malachi iii. 1.
2 Mark xiii. I, 2. 3 John ii. 16, 19-21.

126 HEROD'S TEMrLE.
was, ' This fellow said, I am able to destroy the Temple
of God, and to build it in three days.'1 At the crucifixion,
' they that passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads
and saying, Thou that destroyest the Temple, and
buildest it in three days, save Thyself.'2
The destruction of the Temple and the doom of
Jerusalem were foretold on the first Palm Sunday, when
our Saviour made His triumphal entry into the Holy
City. Standing on the ridge of Olivet, Christ looked
down upon the city of ten thousand sacred memories.
Beautiful in the days of our Saviour must have been
the view of Jerusalem from the Place of Lamentation.
Across the Kedron Valley rose the embattled walls of
the city, on Moriah's sacred top stood the proud edifice
of Herod, and on the north side the City of the Great
King, ' with its imperial mantle of proud towers.' Not
withstanding the beauty of the scene, ' when He was
come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying,
If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy
day, the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now
they are hid from thine eyes. For the day shall come
upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about
thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every
side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy
children within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee
one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the
time of thy visitation.'3
Had Jerusalem proved worthy of her name, she
would have possessed the promised vision of peace, for
humble villagers of Bethany and strangers at the Feast of
1 Matthew xxvi. 61. " Matthew xxvii. 39, 40.
3 Luke xix. 41-44.

HEROD'S TEMPLE. 1 27
the Passover united in doing honour to their Messiah, but
the proud city rejected Him, and the things that belonged
to her peace were hid for ever. Jerusalem's day of
grace had passed away, and when the Saviour thought
of these things, He lifted up His voice and wept.
Brief — very brief — was the existence of Herod's
stately Temple. Within forty years Christ's prediction
was terribly fulfilled ; for scarcely had the lofty gate
ways and glittering pinnacles of the sacred pile been set
up, when the day of destruction drew nigh. Titus, the
Roman general, although exasperated by the obstinate
hostility of the Jews, expostulated with them, with a
view to preserving the Temple from destruction. ' I
appeal to my own army (said Titus), and to those Jews
that are now with me, and even to you yourselves, that
I do not force you to defile this your sanctuary ; and if
you will but change the place whereon you will fight, no
Roman shall either come near your sanctuary or offer
any affront to it ; nay, I will endeavour to preserve you
your holy house, whether you will or not' When at
length the Roman legions entered the sacred precincts,
amid merciless slaughter and revengeful devastation,
Titus strove earnestly to save the sanctuary ; but ' one
of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and
without any concern or dread upon him at so great an
undertaking, and being hurried on by a certain divine
fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were
on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire
to a golden window, through which there was a passage
to the rooms that were round about the holy house on
the north side of it. As the flames went upward the
Jews made a great clamour, such as so mighty an afflic-

128 HEROD'S TEMPLE.
tion required, and ran together to prevent it ; and now
they spared not their lives any longer, nor suffered any
thing to restrain their -force, since that holy house was
perishing, for whose sake it was that they kept such a
guard about it. And now a certain person came running
to Titus, and told him of this fire as he was resting
himself in his tent, whereupon he rose up in great haste,
and as he was ran to the holy house, in order to have a
stop put to the fire. . . . Then did Caesar, both by
calling to the soldiers that were fighting with a loud
voice, and by giving a signal to them with his right
hand, order them to quench the fire ; but they did not
hear what he said, though he spake so loud, having their
ears already dinned by a greater noise another way, nor
did they attend to the signal he made with his hands, as
still some of them were distracted with fighting and
others with passion.
' And now, since Caesar was no way able to restrain
the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, and the fire proceeded
on more and more, he went into the holy place of the
Temple with his commanders, and saw it with what was
in it, which he found to be far superior to what the
relation of foreigners contained, and not inferior to what
we ourselves boasted of and believed about it ; but as
the flame had not as yet reached to its inward parts,
but was still consuming the rooms that were about the
holy house ; and Titus, supposing what the fact was,
that the house itself might yet be saved, he came in
haste, and endeavoured to persuade the soldiers to
quench the fire, and gave orders to Liberalius, the
centurion, and one of those spearmen that were about
him, to beat the soldiers that were refractory with their

HEROD'S TEMPLE. 1 29
staves and to' restrain them; yet were their passions too
hard for the regards they had for Caesar; ... and
besides one of those that went into the place prevented
Caesar, when he ran so hastily out to restrain the soldiers,
and threw the fire upon the hinges of the gate, in the
dark ; whereby the flame burst out from within the
holy house itself immediately when the commanders
retired, and Caesar with them, and nobody any longer
forbade those that were without to set fire to it, and thus
was the holy house burnt down without Caesar's appn>
bation.' The researches of the Palestine Exploration Fund
have brought to light several vestiges of Herod's stately
Temple. It has been already noticed that the massive
substructures of that section of the south wall, extending
from the Double Gate to the south-west angle, and also
the similar substructures of the west wall, extending
from the south-west angle northwards to Barclay's Gate,
are the work of Herod when he was extending the
courts of the Temple, The vestibule within the Double
Gate, already described, is Herodian work ; and the
following account of the roof of this vestibule, from the
pen of a high authority on the gradation of architectural
styles, is interesting: — ¦
' Of all this splendour only one little fragment is
now left. Beneath the platform of the Temple proper
one gateway still remains, which may certainly be taken
as ah example of what Jewish art became under Roman
influence. It is the Gate Huldah, and consists of a
long passage, measuring forty-one feet in width. At the
distance of thirty-eight feet from the outer wall a
splendid monolith supports four arches, dividing the
I

I30 HEROD'S TEMPLE.
vestibule into four equal compartments, each surmounted
by a flat dome. All were originally covered with
ornaments, but one alone still retains it in anything like
completeness. It would be difficult to find a more
curious illustration of what is sure to happen when
people are employing a style which is new to them,
and which they do not understand. The ornamentation
is of a class that does not belong to domed or curved
surfaces at all. What is Roman is wholly misplaced,
but the vines and the foliage, which are Jewish, run
through the whole, and bind together a design which
without them would be ridiculous. As the only speci
men of a class, it is curious. It is not, however, Jewish,
and is so nearly Roman, that we cannot but feel that it
is introduced here before its time in a history of the
successive developments of architectural arts.'
Perhaps the most important vestige of Herod's
Temple, discovered by the Palestine Exploration Fund,
is a genuine tablet belonging to that monarch's stately
sanctuary. One day, while M. Clermont-Ganneau,
then a Commissioner of the Society, was inspecting the
decayed stones near the north-west angle of the Haram
wall, he approached a small graveyard, which occupies
a plot of ground near this corner. The graveyard is
regarded with much veneration by the Moslems, in
asmuch as several sheikhs of the Haram lie buried in
this sacred spot. M. Ganneau, on passing through
a low gateway to enter the graveyard, noticed some
letters on the face of a stone near the ground. On
scraping away the soil he was pleased to see an inscrip
tion of seven lines in Greek characters. To appreciate
the value of this inscription, the following historical fact

HEROD'S TEMPLE. I 31
ought to be borne in mind. When Herod contemplated
the erection of his Temple, he was conscious that many of
his subjects resident in Jerusalem were Egyptians, Greeks,
Romans, and members of other nations. Although in the
ancient Temple of Solomon, Jews only were admitted
within the walls, yet Herod felt that, even on the ground
of policy, he must appropriate some part of the Sanctuary
for the use of strangers of all nations. Accordingly a
large outer court was constructed, open to all who wished
to walk and converse in this cloister, which was there
fore called the Court of the Gentiles. Adjoining this
court was that of the Israelites, into .which no Gentile
was permitted to enter on any pretence whatever.
Josephus states that these two courts were separated by
a low wall or balustrade about four and a half feet high,
with thirteen entrances or openings. On the top of this
partition stone square pillars were placed at intervals,
each bearing an inscription in Greek that no stranger
should pass the wall, and threatening death to any
transgressor. The Jews called this balustrade Soreg,
from p"!.^, to intertwine, and thus, according to Buxtorf,
Soreg means interwoven, perhaps so named from some
floral decoration, such as the intertwining foliage and
tendrils of the vine, a common Jewish decoration.
Josephus calls the partition walWpvtyaicTO';, or ApvcfxiKTos,
from 8pu?, an oak, a term applied originally to an oak
fence, and afterwards to any fence or barrier.
M. Ganneau soon noticed that the inscription was
not written in pure Greek, and it occurred to him
that the words were such as were used in the time of
Christ, when the purity of the Greek tongue had passed
away, and a number of degenerate or barbarous words
12

132 HEROD'S TEMPLE.
were in common use among the residents of Jerusalem.
The inscription is as follows :
Text.
MHOENAAAAOrENHEISnOPEYESOAIENTOSTOYIIE
PITOIEPONTPY#AKTOY KAI
UEPIBOAOY OSA'AN AH
<t>0HEAYTOIAITIO2E2
TAIAIATOE3AKOAOY GEIN 9AN0TON

Translation.
No foreigner to proceed
within the partition wall
and enclosure around the
Sanctuary, whoever is
caught in the same
will on that account be liable
to incur death.
The above text is a fac-simile of the inscription, and
it will be noticed that, with a few exceptions, there is no
division between the words — the general form of Greek
writing in ancient times. All the letters are capitals, a
style adopted in the case of important epigraphs. In
order to simplify the inscription, we append the follow
ing text, transliterated into small characters, with a divi
sion between each word : —
MijOeva aKXo^evrj ecairopeveaOai £vto? tov Trept to tepov
TpvtfiaicTov Kai ireptf3o\ov oa& 'av \7j(p0rj eav'Tig anio9 iaTai Sia
to e^aKoXovOeiv OavaTOV.
The first passage in Josephus referring to the parti
tion wall and tablet is in the Antiquities of the Jews,
Book XV., chap. xi. 5.
' Thus was the first enclosure. In the midst of which,
and not far from it, was the second enclosure, to be
gone up to by a few steps : this was encompassed by a
stone wall for a partition, with an inscription which
forbade any foreigner to go in under pain- of death.'
The second allusion to the partition is in Josephus'
description of the Temple, given in his Wars of the Jews,
Book V., chap. v. 2.

Herod's temple. 133
' When you went through these first cloisters into the
second court of the Temple, there was a partition made
of stone, all round, whose height was three cubits ; its
Construction was very elegant ; upon it stood pillars at
equal distances from one another, declaring the law of
purity, some in Greek and some in Latin letters, that
" no foreigner should go within that sanctuary," for that
second court of the Temple was called the sanctuary,
and was ascended to by fourteen steps from the first
court' The third reference is in the Wars of the Jews,
Book VI., chap. ii. 4, where Titus, expostulating with
the Jewish rebels, says : —
' Have not you, vile wretches that you are, by our
permission put up this partition wall before your
sanctuary ? Have not you been allowed to put up the
pillars thereto belonging at due distances, and on it to
engrave in Greek, and in your own letters, this prohibi
tion, that no foreigner should go beyond that wall ?
Have not we given you leave to kill such as go beyond
it, though he were a Roman ? And what do ye now do,
you pernicious villains? Why do you trample upon
dead bodies in this Temple? and why do you pollute
this holy house with the blood both of foreigners and
Jews themselves?'
Doubts have been cast on the truth of Josephus'
statements, because it seemed improbable that a tolerant
people, such as the Romans, would empower the Jewish
high-priests to put men to death simply for trespassing
in the inner courts of the Temple. These doubts, how
ever, are dispelled by Ganneau's discovery, and the
statements of the Jewish historian are confirmed. There

134 HEROD'S TEMPLE.
can be no doubt that the inscribed tablet recently found
is one of the identical tablets described in Josephus ;
and, strange though it seem, this Greek inscription has
been brought to light after being buried in oblivion for
nineteen centuries.
Not only is this inscription a test of other writings of
this period, and a proof of the accuracy of Josephus, but
it throws much light upon many passages in the Bible.
In the account of our Saviour's purging of the Temple,
it appears strange that Christ — under the eye of hostile
priests and Levites, and immediately under the shadow
of the Tower of Antonia, with its Roman governor and
Roman garrison — should have sufficient authority to
drive out the buyers and sellers and money-changers
from the precincts of the Temple.
' He drove them all out of the Temple.' The word
Temple here is, to lepov, the identical word used in
Ganneau's tablet, and the word translated Sanctuary in
Josephus, who explains — as already quoted — that to lepov
was applied in a specific sense to the inner court, that is,
the Court of the Israelites.
The whole difficulty vanishes when we realise that the
trading strangers had extended their operations beyond
the balustrade, and, although their transgression might
be connived at, yet any zealous Israelite had the power,
and was justified in ordering them back beyond the
wall into the outer court of the Gentiles. Being tres
passers, and knowing that the law-abiding Romans were
at hand to carry out the legal enactment, on the question
being raised, the money-changers had no appeal, and
lest they should incur further punishment, they quietly,
at Christ's command, retired from the Temple, that is,

HEROD'S TEMPLE. 1 35
the to lepov, or inner court, and took up their position in
the Court of the Gentiles.
The tablet also helps us to understand more clearly a
dramatic incident in the life of St. Paul. On one occa
sion he took with him to Jerusalem one of his converts
named Trophimus, not a Jew, but an Ephesian.
Whether the apostle took Trophimus past the partition
wall into the Israelites' Court or not is uncertain ; but
the Jews evidently thought he had done so, for, seeing
St. Paul in the Temple, they stirred up all the people
and laid hands on him, crying out : ' Men of Israel, help !
This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere
against the people and the law and this place, and
further, brought Greeks also into the Temple (to lepov),
and hath polluted this holy place. For they had seen
before with him in the city Trophimus, an Ephesian, whom
they supposed that Paul had brought into the Temple
(to lepov).'1 Then followed a great uproar, and the apostle
was roughly assaulted by the mob, who, for the sup
posed crime, demanded his life, as forfeited to the law.
If Paul had taken Trophimus, a foreigner, into the
Israelites' Court, the Jews were technically right — his
life was forfeit to the law. The chief captain of the
Roman guard, seeing the tumult, rushed down from the
Tower of Antonia with a band of soldiers, and with con
siderable difficulty rescued St. Paul from the violence
and murderous assault of the infuriated Jews.
The tablet also throws light upon an important pas
sage in the Epistle to the Ephesians. It will be remem
bered that St. Paul, as the great apostle of the Gentiles,
founded all his teaching upon this fundamental principle,
1 Acts xxi. 28, 29.

136 HEROD'S TEMPLE.
that while the old Dispensation was primarily designed
for the Jews, the gospel of Christ was designed for Jews
and Gentiles alike. According to St. Paul, God was no
longer the Father of a section only of mankind, but
the Great Universal Father of the whole human race.
Christ shed His blood not for the 'chosen people' only,
but for the healing of the nations : Christianity, in fact,
had established a great universal brotherhood, and offered
its blessings alike to Jews and Gentiles, to bond and free.
This doctrine he inculcated in various modes, but per
haps in no way more effectively than when he declares,
in the Epistle to the Ephesians, chap, ii., that the Gentiles,
though in time past aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel, are brought into covenant by Christ. ' For He is
our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us.' What
wall of division did St. Paul allude to when he makes
mention of the middle wall of partition, ' to p.eo-oToc^ov
tov ^pay/Mov''} The apostle in his frequent visits to the
Temple had doubtless often noticed the partition wall,
with the inscribed tablets threatening death to strangers,
that separated the Court of the Gentiles from that of the
Israelites, and regarded it as a standing monument of
that exclusive spirit of Judaism opposed to the uni
versality of Christianity. He had been suspected of
taking Trophimus, an Ephesian, beyond the partition
wall, and on that account narrowly escaped with his life
from a Jewish mob. Already had this dramatic inci
dent, together with the character of the balustrade, been
made known to the Ephesians by Trophimus, their
fellow-townsman ; and this being so, we may be morally
certain that ' the middle wall of partition ' is the

herod's temple. 137
balustrade upon which Ganneau's inscribed tablet
formerly stood. This opinion receives confirmation
from the fact that St. Paul concludes the argument by
imagery drawn from the chief corner stone and the walls
of the Temple. ' Now therefore ye are no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and
of the household of God, and are built upon the founda
tion of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief corner stone ; in whom all the building
fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the
Lord.'1 Ephesians ii. 19-21.

138

CHAPTER VI.
The Ancient Water Supply of Jerusalem.
The vast cisterns beneath the Temple Hill obtained
their chief supply of water in ancient times from the
hill country of Judea ; and in this chapter the author
desires briefly to describe what remains he saw of the
ancient water system when in Jerusalem. On passing
Rachel's Tomb on the Bethlehem road he left the main
route, and followed on the right side the path that leads
into the mountainous district. The hill-tops were bleak
and bare, and seemed to be composed entirely of grey
rock ; but the valleys often smiled with ripening corn,
and blooming wild flowers in many places carpeted the
limestone slopes. Numerous flocks of goats supply the
natives with milk, and the joyous humming of bees
among the wild flowers recalled that primitive descrip
tion of Canaan which speaks of it as a 'land flow
ing with milk and honey.' On reaching the summit
of the mountain flank, a plateau was crossed, and
presently there came in sight an extensive battlemented
castle. This is a Saracenic building, probably erected
in Crusading times, designed both as a defence against
the enemy and a hospitable khan for native wanderers.
It is now kept by a solitary Arab, who spends most of
his time in attending to numerous hives of bees. Riding

ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM. 139
along under the cool shade of the west wall, and turning
the corner, a gladdening sight burst upon the view, for
in the valley were seen three large open cisterns, known
as Solomon's Pools. They were brimful of living
water, and reflecting as they did the blue of a cloud
less sky, formed a pleasing contrast to the stony hill
tops of this thirsty land.
Solomon's Pools are situated at the head of a valley
called Wady Urtas, and their direction is nearly east and
west. They differ in size, but they average four hundred
feet in length by two hundred and,twenty feet in breadth,
and their average depth seems to be from twenty to
thirty feet. It will thus be seen that their superficial
area extends over about seven acres, and that they are
capable of holding a vast quantity of water. Each pool
is in the form of an oblong, although a little wider at its
western end.
About two hundred yards north-west of the Upper
Pool, standing in an open field, is a small building that
covers the entrance to a spring called the Sealed Foun
tain. From this spring the pools derive their chief
supply, and it is well worthy of a visit. The circular open
ing, resembling the mouth of a well, is usually covered
with a large flat stone. Twenty-five steps cut in the rock
lead down to a vaulted chamber forty-five feet long by
twenty-five feet wide. Adjoining this is a smaller
chamber, and both are covered with ancient stone
arches. The water at four points issues from the side of
the hill, and by means of small ducts is collected in a
basin, thence it is carried along a vaulted passage
towards the Pools. The flow from the spring is not
uniform, and during the dearth of water at Jerusalem in

140 ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM.
1870, it was observed, strange to say, that the supply at
the Sealed Fountain was more abundant than usual.
This fountain is only six miles distant from Jerusalem as
the crow flies, and Sir Charles Warren has proved that
the altitude of the spring is two hundred feet higher than
the area of the Noble Sanctuary. It could thus supply
water to the highest point of the Holy City, and in fact
could carry it nearly to the summit of the Mount of
Olives. The Sealed Fountain formed part of the water
system of King Solomon, and probably is alluded to in
Canticles iv. 12, where the holy spouse is likened to 'a
spring shut up — a fountain sealed.' According to tra
dition, King Solomon shut up these springs, and kept
the door of them sealed with his signet, to the end that
he might preserve the water for his own drinking in their
natural freshness and purity. .
The conduit from the Sealed Fountain to- the Upper
Pool was partly explored by Sir Charles Warren, who
describes it as a large subterranean passage. After
passing along with difficulty for five hundred feet, he
found the obstacles so great that it was impossible
to proceed further. The water and mud stand two
feet deep, and a number of bats driven down the
passage flapped about in a frantic manner, put out the
candles, and got entangled in the explorer's hair, so that
Sir Charles Warren, after stamping the Engineer's mark
on the stone wall, was obliged to retreat. The passage,
however, has been found to terminate in a vault
situated at the north-west corner of the Upper Pool,
and over this vault, on the surface, is a small building
with a pyramidal roof. The vault has been found to
measure twenty-five feet by five feet, and in appearance

ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM. 141
resembles the well-known souterrain under the Convent
of the Sisters of Zion, at Jerusalem.
It has now been ascertained that in the subterranean
vault the stream from the Sealed Fountain is joined by
another stream of water flowing from the south, and
deriving its supply from a valley on the Hebron road,
called Wady Arrub, a place about six miles south of
Solomon's Pools. The water of this latter stream is
collected chiefly from the rocks in the valley of Wady
Arrub, and conducted through a rock-bored tunnel
four miles long, which passes beneath the bed of
another valley called Wady Byar, and thence on
towards the Sealed Fountain. At the junction above
indicated the aqueduct tapped all the water from the
Sealed Fountain, except a scanty overflow conveyed
through a square duct into the Upper Pool. This
aqueduct, known as the High Level, though by the
Arabs called the Aqueduct of Unbelievers, is one of the
most remarkable works of ancient Palestine.
With the increased water of the Sealed Fountain, the
High Level passes along ; the northern side of Wady
Urtas, near the summit of the valley side, then cutting
through the water parting, it follows the western slope
of the hill, leaving Bethlehem on the east It then
descends into the valley by Rachel's Tomb, and
instead of passing along a causeway, as it probably
would have done had it been constructed by the
Romans, the water flows through an inverted stone
syphon, and forces its way up the slope on the
northern side of the valley. This syphon is constructed
of perforated stone blocks set in a mass of rubble
work. The blocks are firmly united by the fine jointing

142 ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM.
of the stone and the use of an extremely hard cement
The syphon was first noticed by Mr. Macneill, who
examined the course of the aqueduct for the Syrian
Waterworks Committee ; and it clearly indicates not
only considerable skill as a piece of masonry, but it
shows also that the makers possess some knowledge
of hydrostatics — a knowledge either forgotten or not
known to the Romans for many generations. The
immense arched structures in the neighbourhood of
Rome, built for conducting water across valleys and
depressions, indicate that the builders of these colossal
bridges were ignorant of the hydrostatic principle that
water flowing through a tube can be made to rise to the
level of its source.
Sir Charles Wilson in 1865 traced the High Level
Aqueduct from its source in Wady Arrub to a point
north of Rachel's Tomb ; and Sir Charles Warren, con
tinuing the research, found further traces of it on the
plain of Rephaim, on the east side of the present road
leading towards Jerusalem. An ancient tank and part
of an aqueduct have lately been found in the Russian
ground, near the north-east corner of the city wall, and Sir
Charles Warren is of opinion that these remains formed
part of the High Level. If this be so, this aqueduct
in olden times supplied the Pool of Upper Gihon, now
called Birket Mamilla, and thence flowing through the
channel still existing at this part, entered the Holy
City at the Jaffa Gate. Having furnished a supply to
the citadel, it would flow on to the Pool of Hezekiah,
now called Birket Hammam, and thence along the
whole course of the Tyropceon Valley, till it joined the
waters of the Pool of Siloam.

ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM. I43
The Engineers working under the auspices of the
Palestine Exploration Fund are of opinion that the
High Level Aqueduct dates from the earliest ages of
the Jewish occupation, and is probably part of the great
water system of King Solomon. It ought to be noticed
that its sources of supply were the springs of Wady
Arrub and the Sealed Fountain, and that it never
received any water from Solomon's Pools. It is pro
bably many centuries since the High Level was used ;
and in consequence of Moslem jealousy it is not likely
to be restored while the land remains under Turkish
rule. During the water dearth of Jerusalem in 1870, Sir
Charles Warren pointed out to the Sheikh of the Noble
Sanctuary that there was sufficient water at the Sealed
Fountain to supply the pools and aqueducts with
abundance of water ; and the Baroness Burdett-Coutts
made the munificent offer to the Moslem authorities to
put the latter into a state of repair. This offer was,
however, foolishly rejected by the Mejelis, partly from
jealousy, inasmuch as Jews and Christians would obtain
an abundant supply without being dependent, as at
present, on the Moslems, who possess the sole right to
the Haram Cisterns, and partly through fear that the
reparation of the High Level might seriously affect the
water supply of the Low Level Aqueduct.
The Pools of Solomon are wonderful architectural
remains of the old Jewish monarchy. They are partly
excavated in the bed of the limestone rock, and partly
constructed of massive blocks of masonry, which form
three dams across the valley. The Lower Pool is the
largest, and, judging from the tiers of seats and steps
leading down to the water, seems to have been used for

144 ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM,
swimming or aquatic displays. The Pools, three' in
number, are situated at the head of the Wady TJrtas,
the Upper Pool being within a short distance of the
ridge forming the watershed of the district, and bounded
on the west side by the road leading from Jerusalem to
Hebron, As the valley of Urtas descends somewhat
abruptly towards the east, the constructors of the pools
doubtless perceived that it was not possible to make one
large reseivoir of sufficient size without also making an
embankment of colossal dimensions extending right
across the valley. They therefore prudently made three
pools at a distance of one hundred and fifty feet from
each other, each pool being twenty feet below the level
of the one above it. As they occupy the bed of the
valley, which zigzags considerably at this part, the pools
themselves do not lie in a straight line. The conduits
connecting them were so arranged that the lowest pool
was first filled' with water, then the other two in succes
sion, and the discharge was effected in the same order,
each pool when empty being refilled from the one above it.
The Upper Pool is three hundred and eighty, feet
long, with an average width of two hundred and thirty
feet, and consequently covers an area of more than two
acres. Its greatest depth, which is at the east or lower
end, is twenty-five feet. The bottom and sides are
hewn in the limestone rock, and at the lower end a dam
of masonry, made up of large blocks, stretches across
the valley, flying buttresses being also used for the sup
port of the wall. A stone staircase leads down to the
water at the south-west corner.
The Middle Pool is four hundred and twenty feet
long, with an average width of two hundred feet,, and

ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM. 145
therefore covers an area of about two acres. It widens
considerably towards the lower end, and therefore in
shape is more like a truncated cone than an oblong.
The pool is almost entirely hewn in the limestone rock,
and steps cut in the rock descend to the water in the
north-east and north-west angles. The dam of masonry
at the lower end is very massive, and is supported by a
second wall, with a strong buttress in the form of steps.
Near the north-east corner may be seen the mouth of a
conduit, which seems to be a branch of the High Level
Aqueduct The Lower Pool, the largest and finest of the three, is
about six hundred feet long, with an average width of
about one hundred and eighty feet, thus covering an
area of about two and a half acres. At the east end it
is about fifty feet deep. It is partly hewn in the rock,
and partly constructed of masonry, with flights of stone
steps descending at the north-east and south-east
corners. The Avail, built across the valley at the lower
end of the pool, is made up of large blocks arranged in
the form of steps, and is penetrated by an open passage
leading to a chamber. On descending to this chamber
the explorer will observe a channel, which conducts water
from a natural spring called by the natives Ain Farujeh.
The inner walls of the pool are supported by several
flying buttresses, and on the south side is a conduit for
the reception of rain water. Another natural spring,
called Ain Etham, is situated a short distance from the
Lower Pool, so that with the Sealed Fountain, Ain
Farujeh, Ain Etham, and a spring within the walls of
the Saracenic Castle, there are four natural springs near
the. pools, independent of each other. K

146 ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM.
On the supposition that the average depth of the
pools is twenty-five feet, it follows that these magnificent
reservoirs, covering nearly seven acres of ground, were
capable of containing about three million gallons of
water, and the engineering skill displayed in their con
struction would still do credit to similar works of the
nineteenth century. Their extent and massive character
indicate that these gigantic reservoirs were made in the
prosperous reign of some energetic king, while their
venerable appearance leads the mind back to the early
days of the Jewish monarchy. During the last half-
century there has existed a growing feeling in favour of
their high antiquity, and in accordance with this feeling
Dean Stanley says, that ' while Bethlehem and Hebron
are pregnant with memorials of King David, the mag
nificent reservoirs in the Wady Urtas bring to our minds
in a lively manner the great works of the peaceful reign
of Solomon.' This opinion has been stamped with
the impress of certainty by the recent investigations of Sir
Charles Wilson and Sir Charles Warren. The latter, in his
Underground Jerusalem, says : ' I examined the aque
ducts which surround that great centre of supply above
the Pools of Solomon. What a pleasure to come across
something ancient, of which we may feel quite certain,
and especially when that something is water in a
thirsty land ! That the water supply to the Holy City
existed from the very earliest ages of the Jewish
occupation, there is a general concurrence of opinion,
and we may believe without reservation that the Pools .
of Solomon existed or were constructed in his own day.'
These seem, therefore, to be the pools spoken of in
the Book of Ecclesiastes ii. 6, where Solomon says :

ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM. 1 47
' I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood
that bringeth forth trees ; ' and other passages of Scrip
ture seem to derive their imagery from this ancient
water supply. The eighty-fourth Psalm refers to Jewish
pilgrims, journeying from the distant parts of the king
dom to present themselves in the courts of the Temple
at Jerusalem on the occasion of one of their great feasts,
' who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well ;
the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength
to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth
before God.'
This Psalm is generally thought to be post-Davidic,
and therefore the pilgrims referred to belonged to the
kingdom of Judah ; and we may be sure that as the
caravans and companies journeyed from Beersheba,
Hebron, and the hill country of Judea, on their way to
the Temple Hill, they would halt on their toilsome
journey by the reservoirs of Solomon, and having
refreshed themselves with the rainfall that filled the
pools, they would go on with increased strength till
every one of them in Zion appeared before' God.
' Pilgrimages to the Temple at Jerusalem were a
great feature of Jewish life. Families journeyed to
gether, making bands which increased at each halting-
place ; they camped in sunny glades, sang in unison
along the roads, toiled together over the hills, and as
they went along stored up happy memories which would
never be forgotten. Traversing thus joyfully the road
to the great assembly, at the pools of water the happy
pilgrims found refreshment at intervals on their toilsome
journey.' In 2 Chronicles xx. is an account of a battle and
K 2

148 ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM.
victory which the pious Jehoshaphat gained over the
Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites in the wilderness
of Tekoa, the modern Tekua, situated a few miles
south-east of Solomon's Pools. On the fourth day after
the battle the king assembled his army in the valley of
Berachah, and gave praise to God for the victory over
his enemies.
Major Conder, who made an ordnance survey of
this region, thinks that Berachah is the modern Bereikut,
a mass of ruins five or six miles south of Wady Urtas.
It is, however, worthy of consideration that i~0"Vl
Berachah, properly rendered blessing in the margin of
our English Bibles, means also a pool ; and when we
consider that the victorious army was on home march to
Jerusalem, and moreover that armies and companies on
march through a thirsty land are obliged to halt by
springs or pools, there seems nothing unreasonable in
identifying the valley of blessingwith the valley of pools,
and concluding that Jehoshaphat's army celebrated their
victory by Solomon's Pools.
The Wady Urtas is watered, and always has been
watered, by streams from Solomon's Pools ; but recent
explorations show that the pools themselves were only
a part of a great water system primarily designed to
furnish ancient Jerusalem with an abundant supply of
water. It is generally thought that three aqueducts
conveyed water to the Holy City, but Sir Charles Warren
was not able to find any vestige of the third. The High
Level has already been described, but the best known
and probably most important aqueduct is that known as
the Low Level.
This aqueduct drew its chief supply from the Lower

ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM. 1 49
Pool, on leaving which its course lies along the northern
slope of the Urtas Valley. Not only does it give off
supplies to the Urtas gardens, but it furnishes also a
copious supply to the town of Bethlehem. From Beth
lehem its course is generally northwards, and after
crossing over the ridge of Mar Elias, it crosses the wide
green plain of Rephaim. Arriving at the neighbourhood
of Jerusalem, the aqueduct crosses the valley of Gihon
on a causeway immediately above the large reservoir
called Birket es Sultan, and then, sweeping round the
south side of Zion, enters the city walls near Burj Al
Kibryt. It then runs along the western slope of the
Tyropceon Valley, and turning eastwards, runs along the
causeway at Wilson's Arch, and entering the Noble
Sanctuary at the Bab es Silsileh, or Gate of the Chain,
communicates with the great cisterns under the Temple
Hill. It appears from Sir Charles Warren's testimony that the
Low Level was repaired a few years ago, and that water
flowed direct from Solomon's Pools to the Haram
Cisterns, as it flowed in days of old ; but so imperfectly
were the repairs effected that the flow was soon im
peded, and at present water is very seldom if ever found
in the Low Level north of Bethlehem.
During the Roman occupation of Palestine some im
provements were made in the Jerusalem water supply,
for Josephus says : ' Pilate undertook to bring a current
of water to Jerusalem, and did it with the sacred money,
and derived the origin of the stream from the distance
of four hundred stadia. However, the Jews were not
pleased with what had been done about the water, and
raised a sedition respecting it,'

150 ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM.
This language implies that the Roman procurator
expended much money and labour on the water system ;
and when it is remembered that the aqueducts of
Solomon were then one thousand years old, it seems
highly probable that Pontius Pilate repaired and
brought into working order the ancient water channels
of the Jewish kings. Sir Charles Wilson has calculated
that, following the Low Level from Jerusalem to Bethle^
hem, thence by many meanderings as it winds among
the hills to Solomon's Pools, thence following the course
of the aqueduct that extends from the Pools to its
source in Wady Arrub, the distance traversed is about
forty miles- — the distance above stated by the Jewish
historian. There still exists evidence of repairs effected
by the Romans, and positive proof that the course of
the Low Level has been considerably altered. The
arched causeway built across the Gihon Valley, along
the top of which causeway the present Low Level runs,
bears manifest characteristics of Roman masonry, and
the hollow, tiles through which the water was designed
to flow bear a strong resemblance to Roman tile-work
found in England.
This opinion receives additional confirmation from
recent discoveries made by Sir Charles Warren, who,
during the progress of excavation on the south side of
Zion, came upon the original aqueduct leading from
Solomon's Pools to the Noble Sanctuary. It appears
that the channel is partly constructed of good masonry^
and partly cut through the solid rock. Its size varies con
siderably in different places ; in some parts the channel
is as much as six feet high, and even in the parts most
compressed it is still sufficiently large to allow a man to

ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM, -151
crawl through. The top of the aqueduct assumes in
certain places the shouldered form that appears in a
passage under the Triple Gateway, and which is seen also
in a water channel near Tekoa. The stones forming the
sides of the channel are occasionally of immense size,
some blocks measuring twelve feet by six. This ancient
channel is on the same level as the present surface
aqueduct, but being farther up the hill, it is much deeper
beneath the surface, in one place being as much as thirty
feet under the ground. The course was followed for
seven hundred feet, and Sir Charles Warren says that the
aqueduct is evidently a work of very ancient date, and
has no appearance of being Roman work.
The data now in our possession point to the conclu
sion that Pontius Pilate repaired and altered the old
aqueduct leading to Jerusalem, and moreover that the
gigantic water-system of King Solomon still exists, and
may be ranked among the most interesting of Biblical
antiquities. Much of the poetical language of the
Hebrew prophets has reference to the flow of living
water, and this is especially the case with Isaiah, the
Evangelical Prophet. He continued to be a teacher of
righteousness in the Holy City throughout the reigns of
four successive kings of Judah. He was well acquainted
with the territory of the Southern Kingdom, and speaks
of the Messiah as 'the Lion of the tribe of Judah.'
The prophet was doubtless familiar with the pools and
streams that fertilised the otherwise barren wastes of the
Judean wilderness ; and this thought gives increased
freshness to that imagery, never yet surpassed for poetic
beauty, whereby he sets forth the blessings of the
Messiah's reign : — ' The wilderness and the solitary

152 ANCIENT WATER SUPPLY OF JERUSALEM.
place shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall rejoice
and blossom as the rose. . . . For in the wilderness
shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And
the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty
land springs of water.'1 1 Isaiah xxxv. I, 6, 7.

153

CHAPTER VII.
Ancient Reservoirs on the Temple Hill.
Palestine, at the present time may be described as a
dry and thirsty land ; but that this has not always been
so, appears both from ancient remains and from the
inspired description of the country : —
' The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land,
a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that
spring out of valleys and hills.'1 Jerusalem — the capital
of the Jewish monarchy — occupied a lofty position, built
as it was on the elevated summit of a ridge of limestone
rock ; and recent explorations show that the water supply
was derived from three sources, namely, springs, wells,
and cisterns.
A spring or fountain — the Ain, or eye of the desert —
is a natural source of living water, which, bubbling up
from the ground, sends forth a perennial stream. Only
one such spring has been discovered at Jerusalem, and
that one is the Virgin's Fountain, in the Kedron Valley.
A well, or Beer, always carefully distinguished in olden
times from the natural spring, consisted of a deep shaft,
usually bored through the rock, and generally contained
in its deep bottom water that percolated through the
crevices of the rocky strata. Such wells were and still
are common in the land, as, for example, Abraham's
1 Deut. viii. 7.

154 ANCIENT RESERVOIRS
Wells, by Beersheba, and Jacob's Well, in the Vale of
Shechem. Strange to say, only one such well is found
in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and that is Bir
Eyub, which has been dug through the solid rock at a
spot in the Kedron Valley, south of the King's Garden.
Cistern, in its general sense, is applied to any recep
tacle made for the collection and preservation of water ;
but when it was of large dimensions and was exposed to
the open sky, it was named berachah, the modern birket
or pool. Such, for example, are Hezekiah's Pools and
the two Pools of Siloam. The cisterns of the Holy
City, however, are for the most part excavations made
beneath the surface ; and although those on the Temple
Hill are in a good state of preservation, yet numerous
cisterns, now dry and broken, in and around Jerusalem,
are a sad witness to the desolation that has fallen upon
that pleasant land.
The vast cisterns under the Temple Hill, first explored
and brought to light by the Engineers of the Palestine
Exploration Fund, rank amongst the most important
discoveries of the society. They are found to be -of
four different kinds.
First,, there are small retort cisterns consisting of a
long shaft cut through the rock, and at the bottom a
bottied-shaped excavation which collects the water.
These are generally of great antiquity, and although a
slight infiltration of water is always going on between
the strata of limestone rocks, yet their supply is almost
entirely dependent upon the rainfall, which is conveyed
from the surface to the bottom by means of small ducts.
. The second class consists of large excavations made
beneath the surface and roofed, with the natural rock.

ON THE TEMPLE HILL. 1 55
Many of this class are of great size and height, occasionally
measuring forty feet from floor to ceiling, and they are
all found in the southern part of the Noble Sanctuary.
They are now supplied with surface drainage, but their
ancient supply was brought from a distance, and was in
no way dependent upon the rainfall on the Holy Hill.
The third class includes those where the rock has
been cut down perpendicularly, and an arch or roof of
masonry built over the excavation. Such are the
cisterns near the Golden Gateway and those in the
northern part of the Haram. These cisterns are not so
ancient as the other two classes, although some of them
may date from the Herodian period.
A fourth class of cisterns, not found in the Noble
Sanctuary, but common in other parts of Jerusalem, are
those dug out of the rubbish and lined with masonry.
They are of comparatively modern construction, and are
supplied entirely by rain collected on the roofs and
terraces of the houses.
The great aqueducts which in days of old carried a
constant supply to Jerusalem from the hill country of
Judea are now out of order ; and the supply from Solo
mon's Pools, although extending to Bethlehem, never
reaches the cisterns of the Holy City, and consequently
the present inhabitants are almost entirely dependent on
the rains that fall in the winter months. Recent obser
vations prove that the rainfall in Jerusalem is only about
twenty inches per annum, and in consequence of the
long-continued drought of summer, when vegetation
droops andwithers, it becomes necessary for the inhabi
tants to collect and store up in cisterns the winter rain
fall. There exists no proper system of drainage an the

156 ANCIENT RESERVOIRS
city, and the water collected on the surface passes
through impure de'bris and uncleansed ducts, and there
fore is often unfit for human consumption.
The existence of large excavations beneath the
Haram Area had long been suspected, but it is only a
few years since they were examined, and their existence
proved beyond a doubt. Catherwood and Barclay saw
the cistern known as the Great Sea, and from the
presence of surface openings expressed an opinion that
many other cisterns existed. Signor Pierotti, in his
Jerusalem Explored, published in 1864, gave a de
tailed account of the excavations of the Haram ; but it
has since been proved that much of his account is not
reliable, and that many tanks described in his work
have no real existence. Sir Charles Wilson, in 1865, made
an ordnance survey of Jerusalem, primarily with a view
to ascertain the best means of furnishing a constant
water-supply to the city. On being admitted to the
Haram Area he examined, in some cases, as he states,
very imperfectly, about twenty rock-cut excavations,
and in his notes accompanying the ordnance survey
maps he has furnished us with much reliable and in
teresting information.
Sir Charles Warren followed up the labours of Sir
Charles Wilson, supplementing and greatly extending our
knowledge of these underground caverns.
From the united labours of the Engineers it appears
that thirty-five of these excavations have been explored
and examined. They are mostly cut out of the soft chalk
rock called maliki, and where the roof also is rock the
latter is composed of the harder overlying rock called
missae. Many are of considerable depth, their bottoms

ON THE TEMPLE HILL. 157
extending from forty to over sixty feet beneath the
surface, and so capacious is their extent that they could
hold about ten million gallons of water — a quantity
sufficiently great to supply Jerusalem in its palmiest
days for more than one year. They are connected by
passages, tunnels, and innumerable ducts, so that the
Temple Hill beneath the surface is honeycombed by a
complete net-work of vaults and cisterns.
During the spring of 1878, it was the author's good
fortune to be admitted within the sacred walls of the
Haram. On making a request to examine some of the
underground cisterns, the Moslem guide led the way to
a spot in front of the workshop attached to the east side
of the Mosque Al Aksa. Here he raised, by means of
an iron ring, a flat stone, and in the ground disclosed to
view a perpendicular hole just large enough to admit a
man. Pointing to the hole, he shook his head, as if to
indicate that the descent was neither safe nor inviting.
This proved to be the entrance to a cistern, and on
dropping down about seven feet we passed through an
excavated passage, and in comparative darkness de
scended, by means of rude steps cut in the rock, to a
depth of about forty feet beneath the surface Ap
proaching the edge of a cistern of water, we stopped, and
on lighting our candles noticed that the cavern extended
a considerable distance. On calling aloud, the voice
echoed and re-echoed through the vast cave, and stones
thrown into the water sank with a low sullen plunge.
Our visit was made after the winter rainfall, and there
fore we found more water in the cistern than is generally
the case. In the vast cavern our candles gave but a
feeble light, and therefore it was not possible to form an

158 ANCIENT RESERVOIRS
exact idea of its size and shape, but we noticed that the
roof is composed of the living rock, and is supported by
massive rocky piers, left standing for support when the
excavations were made.
It was afterwards discovered that the cistern is that
known as the Great Sea, the largest and best known
of all the excavations beneath the Temple Hill; and the
accounts of it given by both ancient and modern authors
have invested it with great historical and antiquarian
interest In the Book of Ecclesiasticus, 1. 3, we are
told that Simon, the High-Priest, having fortified the
Temple, proceeded further to make improvements on
this very reservoir : — ' In his days the cistern to receive
water, being in compass as the sea, was covered with
plates of brass.'
In the third century before the Christian era, Aristeas,
an Egyptian officer in the service of Ptolemy Philadel-
phus, was sent to Jerusalem to procure a copy of the
Jewish law for the Great Library of Alexandria. In a
letter to his brother, giving an account of his visit to
the Holy City, he makes mention of the waters of the
Temple Hill, and says that a large fountain sends forth
a never failing stream within the area, and that sub
terranean reservoirs of admirable workmanship extend
to a distance of five stadia round the Temple ; that they
have innumerable ducts and pipes for the regulation and
distribution of the waters, and that there are many
secret openings to them, known only to the servants of
the Holy House, through which the abundant waters,
rushing with violence, wash away all the blood of the
numerous sacrifices sacrificed.1
1 Aristeas de lxx, Interpretibus.

ON THE TEMPLE HILL. 159
' According to the Mishna also, the waters of
the Temple Hill were unfailing and abundant, and
Tacitus' testimony is that beneath the Temple area
exists ' a perennial fountain of water, mountains exca
vated underneath ; likewise fish-ponds and cisterns for
preserving rain-water.' The author of the Jerusalem
Itinerary, written in the fourth century, mentions
immense reservoirs and subterranean cisterns excavated
with immense labour beneath the Temple area.
The united traditions of Jews, Christians, and
Moslems affirm the existence of abundant supplies of
water beneath the Temple area ; and the vast extent of
the cisterns explored of late years by the Royal Engi
neers shows that the ancient accounts of their magni
tude, instead of being fabulous, as many were disposed
to think, are strictly correct. The systematic explora
tion of recent years proves that the Great Sea is the
largest of the cisterns, that the bottom is forty-three
feet below the surface, and that its floor is very uneven,
and consequently its depths are not uniform. Its shape
is peculiar, being composed of different-sized' chambers
separated from each other by massive rock piers
that support the roof. There is a curious circular
chamber in the north-west corner, and a large rock
channel enters from the east. There are many conduits
leading into it, but only three mouths are now in use,
and conduct rain-water from the surface. The roof is
principally made of natural rock, but large flat stones
form a covering in some parts, and there is also some
vaulting of later date. The masonry was probably no
part of the original work, and was made to support such
parts of the rocky roof as seemed to be giving way.

160 ANCIENT RESERVOIRS
The area covers eleven thousand feet, and it is estimated
that the Great Sea is capable of holding three million
gallons of water. It is marked No. 8 on the Ordnance
Survey Map.
East of the Great Sea is another large cistern, marked
7 on the Ordnance Map. Its shape is very irregular,
and though much inferior in size to the preceding its
depth is about twenty feet greater. The bottom is sixty-
two feet deep, but the chamber is not so lofty as might
be expected, from the fact that the solid roof is thirty
feet below the surface. In one part of the floor a rock
platform rises out of the water, and has the appearance
of an altar, and on the cemented walls figures of large
white hands were found painted, which were probably
designed to act as charms against evil spirits. Sir Charles
Wilson estimates that this cistern could hold seven
hundred thousand gallons.
The Well of the Leaf is the name of a considerable
cistern situated below the Mosque Al Aksa. It is
entirely excavated in the rock, and its bottom is forty-
two feet below the surface. It contains much water,
and its southern end is much deeper than the northern.
Sir Charles Wilson, while exploring this cistern, stumbled
into deep water, and the light being suddenly extin
guished, further exploration was found to be impracti
cable. The name is derived from a legend that an
Arab employed to clean the interior found a rock-hewn
passage. Entering, he passed along, and found that
the passage, at first dark, became lighter and lighter until
at length he was led to gardens of exceeding beauty
and brilliancy. From one of the trees of the garden he
plucked a leaf, and on his return the. leaf was declared

ON THE TEMPLE HILL. l6l
to be a leaf of a tree of Paradise. The Well of the
Leaf is marked io on the Ordnance Map.
North of this, and immediately east of the Mosque
Al Aksa, is a capacious cistern containing a large
quantity of water. It was visited before the winter rain
fall, but even then there was found to be in it eight feet
of water. Its bottom is about sixty-three feet beneath
the surface, and therefore it is the deepest cistern yet
explored. It seems to be very large, but as the Engi
neers did not explore its secret chambers, neither its
size nor shape is yet known. The position of four of
the five cisterns above described — the largest and oldest
in the Haram Area — fall within the area assigned by
Mr. Fergusson as the size of the Temple.
The central part of the Haram is occupied by a
platform standing sixteen feet above the surrounding
ground, and paved with large flagstones. This platform
covers five acres, and in the midst of it rises the elegant
mosque called Kubbet es-Sakhra, or Dome of the Rock.
Under the platform five cisterns of some importance
have been found.
North of the mosque is an oblong cistern forty feet
deep and one hundred and thirty feet long. It is mostly
cut out of the rock, but the roof is masonry, and forms a
plain semicircular vault. Sir Charles Warren is of opinion
that a passage passes southwards from this to a chamber
under the Sakhra Rock. East of this, near the north
east corner of the platform, is a cistern which seems of
large dimensions, but has not yet been explored.
West of No. i, and situated near the north-west
corner, is a cistern composed of three chambers, separated
by rocky piers left as a support to the roof. L

1 62 ANCIENT RESERVOIRS
The direction of the chambers in cisterns i and 3 is
such that were they prolonged the point of junction
would be on the edge of the platform, at a spot where
Sir Charles Warren would place Tadi, the northern gate
of Herod's Temple.
Cistern No. 4, on the west side of the platform, is
a small and retort-shaped tank ; but No. 5 is a cis
tern of importance. It occupies the south-east corner,
and part of it extends beyond the platform. It is of a
curious cruciform shape, and contains a long passage
running in the direction of the Sakhra Rock. Over this
cistern Sir Charles Warren thinks the Altar of Burnt
Offerings stood, and he is moreover of opinion that it
communicates with the Blood Passage he discovered
beneath Solomon's Stables, by the Single Gate. The
other cisterns scattered over the Noble Sanctuary are
comparatively modern. They seem for the most part
to be Moslem work, although it is possible that some of
the oldest belong to the Herodian period.
By far the most interesting cavern on the Temple
Hill is that situated beneath the Sakhra Rock ; but the
purpose for which this cave was constructed cannot be
known until it is ascertained for what purpose this pro
jecting rock has been left on the hill-top. The Sakhra-
is evidently the highest part of the Rock of Moriah —
the grey bare summit of the Temple Hill. Over it has
been reared the elegant Dome of the Rock, a building
so much admired by the Franks of the Middle Ages
that the Knights Templar not only adopted the hand
some building as part of their armorial bearings, but
they carried the plan of the building to various parts of
Europe, and the Temple Church, London, recalls to

ON THE TEMPLE HILL. 163
mind the beautiful mosque still crowning the Sacred
Mount. The Sakhra occupies the whole of the space under
the dome, and measures sixty feet by forty.
It stands six feet above the mosque floor, and is
composed of the hard limestone rock called missae.
The Sakhra and cave beneath have ever since the
Christian era been the subject of learned and earnest
controversies, but the prevailing opinion at the present
day seems to favour the idea that the rock is the veri
table threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. It is said
that an ancient threshing-floor would, like a modern
one, occupy the highest point of the hill, where the
breeze is felt from every direction. David bought the
threshing-floor of Araunah, and on it built the Altar of
Burnt Offerings, saying of the spot, ; This is the altar of
burnt offering for Israel.' By the threshing-floor the
Temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod were built,
and Josephus' testimony is that the Altar of Burnt
Offerings occupied the 'topmost plateau' of the
mount. We know from the Maccabees that the altar itself was
made of stone, and if it be granted that it was built on
the Sakhra, then it is easy to understand why this un
sightly projection has been allowed to remain ; for, being
the threshing-floor set apart to God, from that day
forward it would be regarded as the religious centre of
Israel's worship for all succeeding ages.
Before the Mahomedan occupation, the early Chris
tians regarded the Sakhra as the Eben Shatiyeh, or
Stone of Foundation, that existed in the Holy of Holies,
on which rested the Ark of the Covenant ; and Mahomet L 2

164 ANCIENT RESERVOIRS
himself invested the Sakhra with a deep sanctity, second
only to that of the Kaaba of Mecca. Beneath the
Sakhra is the celebrated cave, to which we descended
by a flight of steps cut in the south-east part of the
Sakhra. The chamber seemed to the author to resemble
many of the caves around the Holy City, and may either
have been a natural cave, or one artificially enlarged.
The average height of the ceiling is seven feet, and it
is sufficiently large to hold fifty persons. We found
Mahomedan women praying, for, according to their
religion, the sanctity of the cave is such that prayers
offered there are sure to be answered.
In the centre of the floor we observed a circular slab
of marble, which on being struck gives forth a hollow
sound, from the fact that beneath it is a deep well called
Bir Arwah, or Well of Spirits. The well is so named
from the belief that departed souls repose here from the
time of death till the morn of resurrection.
The cave has been the centre of many conflicting
theories. Mr. Fergusson thinks that it was the tomb of
the Holy Sepulchre, the rock-hewn tomb belonging to
Joseph of Arimathaea.
Another theory is that, being under the threshing-floor
of Araunah, the cave was the storehouse for the winnowed
corn, and in it Araunah hid himself when he saw the
king approaching. We read that ' Oman and his four
sons hid themselves,'1 from the angel apparently within
the threshing-floor ; and such a cave seems to meet all
the requirements of the case. According to the account
given in the Talmud, there was near the Altar of Burnt
1 I Chronicles xxi. 20.

ON THE TEMPLE HILL. 1 65
Offerings a receptacle for the offal of the sacrifices ; and
such were the arrangements that, by means of sluices of
water, all the refuse of the burnt offerings and daily
sacrifices, together with the blood, was carried off
through subterranean passages, so as to be completely
hidden from sight. Sir Charles Warren has assigned a spot
over the cruciform cistern at the south-east corner of the
platform as the exact place of the Altar of Burnt Offer
ings, and the Sakhra cave as the offal cavern spoken of
in the Talmud.
The Bir Arwah is near to the cruciform cistern, and
a duct probably connects the two ; and we have
already noticed a probable connection between this
cistern and the Blood Passage, found beneath the Single
Gate.
¦ With regard to the Haram cisterns, it is difficult to fix
their age with any degree of certainty. Those designed
only to receive surface water, and those constructed of
masonry, are not so old as others. Those with sides cut
down perpendicularly in the rock, and vaulted over with
stone roofs, may be of any date extending back to the
days of Herod. The large cisterns cut entirely in the
rocks, and deriving their supply through the aqueducts
from the hill country of Judea, probably date from a
time long anterior to the Herodian period. Speaking
of these last, Sir Charles Wilson says, ' that the labour
expended on mining out the underlying rock, and then
bringing it to the surface through small openings, must
have been so great that we may safely assign such
excavations to a period before the use of the arch was
known.' Now the arch was used by the Romans in
their masonry both in and around Jerusalem for many

T66 ANCIENT RESERVOIRS
years before the Christian era, and therefore the rock-
roofed cisterns would seem to belong to a period anterior
to the Roman occupation. Historical evidence proves
that they existed in the days of the Maccabees ; and the
fact that the Great Sea required repairs in the days of
Simon the High-priest, is a presumption that this cistern
was old even in his time. Thus are we gradually led
back to search for their origin in the early days of the
Jewish monarchy.
Under the Old Dispensation the ablutions were very
urgent and numerous. All the priests had frequently
to wash ; the victims sacrificed as burnt offerings had to
be cleansed, and all the vessels of the Sanctuary had to
be washed. It is manifest therefore that a vast quantity
of fresh water was necessary, and must have been sup
plied to the Temple Hill. At the dedication of Solo
mon's Temple, the king sacrificed 'sheep and oxen that
could not be told nor numbered for multitude ; n and as
burnt offerings and daily sacrifices were made without
intermission, we can readily understand why Solomon
caused Hiram, the widow's son, to make other append
ages to the Temple — such as a molten sea ten cubits
from one brim to the other.
There is abundant evidence to prove that Solomon
constructed the magnificent reservoirs at the head of
the Urtas Valley, south of Bethlehem, still known as
Solomon's Pools. The same monarch also constructed
the original aqueducts bearing water from the Pools to
Jerusalem, and we maybe sure that the reservoirs under
the Temple Mount are coeval with the aqueducts them-
1 I King- viii. 5.

ON THE TEMPLE HILL. 167
selves. We are thus led, both by external and internal
evidence, to the conclusion that the large rock-cut ex
cavations of the Noble Sanctuary are the works executed
by King Solomon.

1 68

CHAPTER VIII.
The Outflow from the Temple Cisterns.
Down the valley of the Kedron, opposite the village of
Siloam, and a thousand feet south of the Haram wall,
is an arched entrance leading to a large cavern known
as the Virgin's Fountain, but called by the Arab's Ain
Umm ed Deraj', that is, the Fountain of the Mother of
Steps. The name Virgin's Fountain has reference
to the Virgin Mary ; hence it is also called St. Mary's
Well, in Arabic 'Ain Sitti Maryam, or Spring of our
Lady Mary. This modern name is derived from a
legend of the fourteenth century, to the effect that the
Virgin Mary washed here the swaddling-clothes of her
Son, and drew water from this fountain.
Entering the cavern, and descending thirty steps, at
the bottom, which is twenty-five feet below the entrance,
the visitor finds a stream of clear water issuing from the
Temple Hill. The water flows in a copious stream, and
enters a channel cut through the rock. Recent explora
tions have shown that this channel winds in a zigzag
passage through the Hill of Ophel, and comes out at
the Pool of Siloam, which now, as in ancient times,
receives its water supply from the Virgin's Fountain.
The spring is intermittent. In the winter season the
water flows from three to five times daily, in summer
twice daily, and in autumn sometimes only once a day.

THE OUTFLOW FROM THE TEMPLE CISTERNS. 1 69
The spring apparently is not much dependent on rain or
drought, and is probably connected with a deep natural
reservoir in the heart of Mount Ophel, fed by some
never-failing stream flowing from under the Temple Hil).
The intermittent flow may thus be accounted for : the
outlet of water is connected with the natural reservoir by
a passage probably in the form of a syphon. The stream
will flow when the water of the reservoir has sufficiently
accumulated to fill the highest part of the syphon, and
will cease to flow when the surface of the water is lower
than the highest part of the syphon.
Palestine is a thirsty land, and therefore a never-
failing supply of fresh water is an inestimable blessing.
Amid the burning sands of the Egyptian desert, and by
the scorching shores of the Dead Sea, when the drinking
water failed in our earthen bottles, and man and beast
with parched lips longed for the cooling stream, then
did we vividly realise the force and beauty of such
passages — ' As the hart panteth after the water-brooks,
so panteth my soul after Thee, O God ;' ' Ho, every one
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no
money, come ;' ' With joy shall ye draw water out of
the wells of salvation.'1
The Scriptures abound in allusions to living waters,
and there are special references to the reservoirs under
the Temple Hill. They furnished a never-failing supply
necessary for the Temple ablutions, and proved a
constant support in many sieges, and an invaluable
treasure to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The patriotic
Psalmist speaks with kindling pride of the Holy City :
' His foundation is in the holy mountains. . . . Glorious
1 Psalm xiii. 1 ; Isaiah lv. I ; xii. 3.

170 THE OUTFLOW FROM THE
things are spoken of thee, O city of God. . . . All my
springs are in thee.'1 There now exists a prevailing
opinion that King Solomon had a palace on the
Temple Hill ; and he would therefore be familiar with
the wells and cisterns under Mount Moriah. This may
account for and give additional beauty to many
passages in his Proverbs : ' The mouth of a righteous
man is a well of life ;' ' The law of the wise is a fountain
of life ;' ' The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to
depart from the snares of death ;' ' Understanding is a
well-spring of life unto him that hath it ;' ' The words
of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the well-
spring of wisdom as a flowing brook.'2 A stream of
water flowing forth from the Temple vaults forms a
striking feature in the prophetic picture of Jerusalem :
' There is a river,' sings the Psalmist, ' the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of our God, the holy
place of the tabernacles of the Most High.'3 The word
rendered river in the Authorised Version is generally
explained as referring to the brook Kedron, which flows
down the valley of that name on the east side of Jeru
salem. ' The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most
High ' has, however, direct reference to the Temple on
Moriah ; and the river that makes glad this sanctuary of
God seems to allude to some perennial supply under
the Temple Hill. This idea receives confirmation from
the fact that the word rendered river in this passage is the
Hebrew "trUi Naltar, which denotes a perennial stream,
and therefore is not applicable to the brook Kedron,
1 Psalm Ixxxvii. 1, 3, 7.
2 Proverbs x. 1 1 ; xiii. 14 ; xiv. 27 ; xvi. 22 ; xviii. 4.
3 Psalm xlvi. 4.

TEMPLE CISTERNS. 171
which contains a little water only after the winter rain,
but otherwise is a dry watercourse during the whole year.
Under the Convent of the Sisters of Zion two pools
have lately been discovered cut in the solid rock, and
arched over with masonry, thus converting them into
souterrains. The pools are one hundred and sixty-five
feet long, and are separated by a wall of masonry five
feet thick, the width of the two pools, including the wall,
being forty-eight feet. The Engineers agree in thinking
that these pools are supplied by some subterranean
spring near the convent. Water is constantly flowing
from the pools through the north-west corner of the
sacred enclosure into the Noble Sanctuary, and although
the explorations have not yet followed the stream, yet
the water undoubtedly pours into the Temple area,
which is completely honeycombed with cisterns and
aqueducts. Have we not here 'the river, the streams
whereof make glad the city of our God ' ? Joel, speaking
of the final restoration of God's people, says : ' Then shall
Jerusalem be holy. . . . And a fountain shall come forth
of the house of the Lord.'1 Jeremiah, a teacher of
righteousness immediately before the Babylonish cap
tivity, and a native of Anathoth, in the neighbourhood
of Jerusalem, thus represents the Lord expostulating
with His people : ' They have forsaken Me, the fountain
of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken
cisterns, that can hold no water.'2 Fifty years later
Ezekiel was among the Jewish exiles who sat down by
the waters of Babylon and wept when they remembered
Zion. In his vision of the holy waters he stood on the
Temple Hill, by the door of the Holy House, ' And
1 Joel iii. 17, 18. 2 Jer. ii. 13.

172 THE OUTFLOW FROM THE
behold ! waters issued out from under the threshold of
the house eastward. . . . These waters issue out toward
the east country, and they go down into the desert, and
go into the sea, which being brought forth into the sea,
the water shall be healed. . . . And by the river upon
the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall
grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade,
neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed ; it shall
bring forth new fruit according to his months, because
their waters they issued out of the Sanctuary ; and
the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof
for medicine.'1 In this vision the water from the
Temple cisterns is expanded into a cataract rushing
down the Kedron Valley, flowing through the wilderness
of Judea, and healing the waters of the Dead Sea.
In the beatific vision of St. John, depicted in Revela
tion, the inspired writer makes use of imagery drawn
from the earthly Jerusalem in order to describe the
heavenly, and reproduces some of the features of
Ezekiel's vision of the holy waters : ' And he carried
me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and
showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem.' ' It had
a wall great and high, and had twelve gates. . . . And
the wall of the city had twelve foundations . . . And
I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the Temple of it. . . . And he
shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either
side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare
twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every
1 Ezekiel xlvii. I, 8, 12.

TEMPLE CISTERNS. 173
month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations. . . . Blessed are they that do His com
mandments, that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city. . . .
Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will let him
take the water of life freely.'1
What vigour and freshness is imparted to these in
spired passages by the recent discoveries of the water-
system of ancient Jerusalem ! The reservoirs beneath
the Temple Hill are of great antiquity, dating, as we
have seen, from the days of Solomon. They are
interesting to the archaeologist, as forming an important
part of the water-system of ancient Jerusalem ; but their
undying interest consists in the thought that their
perennial waters are the symbol of God's unfailing
grace— the imagery of the most sublime thoughts in
Hebrew poetry, and the source of the most exalted
visions of Christian hope. Beautifully have the Divine
allusions to the waters of the Temple Hill been expressed
in the well-known lines — ¦
' See the streams of living water,
Springing from eternal love,
Well supply her sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove.
Who can faint when such a river,
Ever flows their thirst to assuage ?
Grace, which like the Lord, the giver,
Never fails from age to age.'
The Virgin's Spring is, moreover, the only unfailing
fountain in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem ; and the
conviction therefore forces itself upon the mind that its
Revelation xxi. 10, 12, 14, 22 ; xxii. 1, 2, 14, 17.

174 THE OUTFLOW FROM THE
cleansing waters suggested to the prophet Zechariah the
imagery by which he proclaimed the forgiveness of sins :
' In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the
house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for
sin and for uncleanness.'1 The same thought, founded
on the prophet's words, reappears in Cowper's well-
known hymn —
' There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.'
A subterranean tunnel cut through Ophel Hill con
nects this fountain with the Pool of Siloam, situated
about a quarter of a mile further down the Kedron Valley.
Forty years ago, Dr. Robinson, hearing a report from
the natives that the subterranean passage connected the
Virgin's Fountain with Siloam, determined to explore
the tunnel. Entering by the Siloam end, he found that
the roof gradually decreased from fifteen feet to three
feet in height, and after pursuing his way for eight
hundred feet, the cutting became so low that he was
obliged to crawl, and fearing to go further turned back.
Returning another day better prepared, he entered by
the Virgin's Fountain, and passed along the channel for
some distance. The difficulties increased as he pro
ceeded, and his own testimony is : ' Most of the way we
could advance on hands and knees, yet in several places
we could only get forward by lying at full length, and
dragging ourselves aiong upon our elbows.' In spite of
the difficulties, however, Dr. Robinson accomplished the
journey, and emerged at the Pool of Siloam, thus proving
1 Zechariah xiii. I.

TEMPLE CISTERNS. 175
beyond a doubt the correctness of the native report that
there is a connection between the Virgin's Fountain and
the Pool of Siloam.
The Engineers of the Palestine Exploration Fund
have recently explored this subterranean channel, and
furnished many interesting particulars respecting it.
The rock-cut passage, strange to say, winds and zigzags
through the heart of Ophel, a distance of six hundred
yards. The direct distance between the fountain and
the pool is about one thousand one hundred feet, while
the length of the serpentine tunnel is one thousand seven
hundred and fifty feet : in other words, while the nearest
distance is considerably under a quarter of a mile, the
bore through the rock is above a third of a mile. On
each side of the winding passages Sir Charles Warren dis
covered short cuttings into the rock, which seem to
indicate either that the' workmen lost their way in
excavating, or more probably that both the winding
channel and its lateral culs-de-sac were used as hiding-
places in times of warfare. The height of the roof varies
from sixteen feet to a foot and a half. The lowest part
is about the middle of the tunnel, the Engineers here
experiencing much difficulty in exploring.
'At a distance of eight hundred and fifty feet from
Siloam, the height of the channel was reduced to one
foot ten inches, and here our troubles began. The
water was running with great violence one foot in
height, and we, crawling full length, were up to our
necks in it. Another fifty feet brought us to a place
where we had regularly to run the gauntlet of the waters.
The passage being only one foot four inches high, we
had just four inches breathing space, and had some

176 THE OUTFLOW FROM THE
difficulty in twisting our necks properly ; when observing,
my mouth was under the water.'
Near the upper end of the tunnel, and only fifty feet
from the Virgin's Fountain, the Engineers came upon a
lateral passage cut in the rock, and extending westwards
nto Ophel Hill. The passage was nearly choked up
with hard mud, but being cleared out was found to be
seventeen feet long, leading into a small chamber, with
the floor scooped out in form of a basin. This basin is
evidently a receptacle for water, and being three feet
lower than the bottom of the tunnel, the supply was
obtained from the Virgin's Fountain. Over this small
chamber is a large shaft cut through the solid rock, forty
feet in height. At the top was found an iron fixed
in the rock overhanging the shaft, to which ring a rope
would be attached for hauling the water up in a bucket.
From the shaft a great corridor leads to a staircase, and
that again leads to a large passage with a vaulted roof.
The entrance to this passage was from the top of Ophel
at a point a few feet below the ridge, a place almost
certainly within the ancient walls.
About three-quarters of the way up the hill, due west
from the Virgin's Fountain, is a vault running north and
south, the crown of which is twenty-two feet below the
surface of the hill. During the progress of exploration
the Engineers came upon several relics. In one passage
they found three ancient glass lamps of curious con
struction placed at intervals, as if to light up the passage
leading to the wall or shaft. In the vaulted chamber
they found also a small pile of charcoal, a cooking dish
glazed inside, for heating food, and a water jar. In
another chamber they found two perfect jars of red

TEMPLE CISTERNS. 177
pottery. The great rock-cut tunnel and its lateral
passages, connected as they are with shafts, passages,
and vaults on Ophel Hill, form part of a great system of
waterworks, probably constructed by King Hezekiah,
and used by the Jews as places of refuge, when Jerusalem
was besieged and taken by the Romans under Titus.
From the Virgin's Fountain a footpath leads down
the Valley of Kedron, on the west side of the bed of the
brook for about a quarter of a mile ; then turning sharply
to the right, we rounded the southern point of Ophel,
which projects southwards in the form of a long tongue.
Following the little footpath that runs on the western
side of the overhanging cliff for about three hundred
feet, we came to the Pool of Siloam. Of all the pools
spoken of in Scripture, this is the most celebrated,
although it is only four times alluded to in the Inspired
Word. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of Judah's king
dom, says, ' Forasmuch as this people refuseth the
waters of Shiloah, that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin
and Remaliah's son, now, therefore, behold, the Lord
bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and
many, even the King of Assyria and all his glory, and
he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all
his banks.'1 Here the humble and despised house of
David is compared to the waters of Shiloah, that go
softly, while the might of Assyria is likened to a strong
river. Nehemiah says, ' But the Gate of the Fountain repaired
Shallun, the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of part of
Mizpah : he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors
thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the
1 Isaiah viii. 6, 7. M

178 THE OUTFLOW FROM THE
wall of the Pool of Siloah by the king's garden.'1 It is
generally believed that the old wall of Jerusalem included
Siloam ; but Major Conder is of opinion that Nehe-
miah's wall passed over the middle of Ophel, while a
pair of parallel walls might run southward as far as the
pool, after the manner of the Long Walls of Athens,
that stretched down to the port of Piraeus.
Our Saviour, teaching the need of repentance, said to
His hearers, ' Or those eighteen upon whom the tower
in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were
sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?'2 The
tower here referred to was probably a watch tower at
the corner of Nehemiah's Wall, near Siloam, and if so,
then the tower in Christ's time would be five hundred
years old. The sacred regard which we cherish for
Siloam, however, arises chiefly from the fact that Christ
said to a blind man, ' Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam,
which is by interpretation, Sent. He went his way
therefore and washed, and came seeing.'8
Milton, in his sublime invocation of the Holy Spirit in
Paradise Lost, has given an additional interest to the
waters of Siloam —
'Or if Zion's hill delight Thee more,
And Siloa's brook, that flowed past by the oracle of God,
I thence invoke Thy aid to my adventurous song.'
When inspecting the Pool of Siloam, the author found
at the northern end of the pool a large opening in the
rock, which somewhat resembles a rude archway. Enter
ing this, he descended a few steps cut in the rock, and
stood by the edge of a small basin about six feet in
diameter, which receives the water flowing from the
1 Neh. iii 15. - Luke xiii. 4. 3 John ix. 7.

TEMPLE CISTERNS. 1 79
Virgin's Fountain. Passing suddenly from the fiery
glare of the sun's rays as we did into the rocky excava
tions, we were unable for some time to see anything in
the tunnel : but as we approached the basin we heard a
splashing noise in the water. It proved to be caused by
a native of the neighbouring village of Silwan, who
during the heat of the day had entered the cool cave,
and was by a strange coincidence washing himself in
those very waters inseparably connected with the
Saviour's words, 'Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.'
Seated on the rocky steps, we listened with delight to
the gurgling music of the waters, rushing through the
underground channel, and being sheltered from the fierce
rays of the midday sun, the words of the prophet came
vividly to our minds, 'Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment ; and
a man shall be ... as rivers of water in a dry place, as
the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.'1
We found the pool to be oblong in shape, fifty-two
feet long from north to south, eighteen feet wide, and
nineteen feet in depth. The walls are constructed of
masonry laid in courses, though the stones are small,
and are probably the work of the Crusaders. At the
south-west angle is a flight of rude steps leading to the
bottom, but we were sorry to notice that these are
rapidly going to ruin. By means of some projecting
stones we were able to descend to the edge of the water,
which at the time of our visit was about four feet deep.
The stream was flowing through the pool, and the water
disappeared in an aperture at the south end. Some
pieces of paper were thrown into the upper basin, already
1 Isaiah xxxii. I, 2.
M 2

l8o THE OUTFLOW FROM THE
described, and after disappearing for a short time, re
appeared at the upper end of the pool. Near the water's
edge, on the east side, is a ledge of masonry about two
feet wide, on which stand in an upright position frag
ments of some granite columns. These fragments are
older than the Crusaders' time, and probably formed
part of a basilica built on this spot about 600 A.D.
Jerome, writing in the fourth century, says : ' Siloam is
a fountain whose waters do not flow regularly, but on
certain days and hours issue with great noise from
caverns in the rock.' Chrysostom also refers to this
phenomenon in one of his homilies : ¦ ' The apostle
speaks of the desert rock, and that rock was Christ ; so
Siloam had a spiritual character, the sudden rise of its
waters being a silent figure of Christ's unexpected
manifestation in the flesh.' These and similar passages
are readily understood, knowing as we now do, that
Siloam receives its wafer supply from the intermittent
spring at the Virgin's Fountain. The flow and ebb of
the water has led to the belief that Siloam is also
Bethesda, or House of Mercy. Intermittent springs are
still thought by the natives to possess healing powers,
and the Mahomedans say that Zemzem and Siloam are
'the two fountains of Paradise.' Josephus frequently
alludes to Siloam, and is explicit with regard to its
locality, saying that ' the Tyropceon Valley extends to
Siloam.' The identity of Josephus' pool with the
present Siloam, therefore, cannot be mistaken ; and more
over since our Saviour's time the exact spot has been
preserved by an uninterrupted continuity of evidence.
The Engineers have lately discovered that the pool is
only a little below the level of the Virgin's Fountain,

TEMPLE CISTERNS. l8l
and they therefore think that the excavations made at
these spots date from the same period, and are probably
the work of King Hezekiah.
, Siloam has lately been spoken of by a modern writer
as ' a most disappointing pool, with dry stone walls, and
a little muddy water below.' We were in no way dis
appointed on our visit to this sacred pool ; its desolate
appearance and ruinous condition invested it with an air
of deeper veneration, and the richness of association
rendered it, to us at least, a spot of intense interest
Seated by the pool, under Ophel's overhanging cliff, we
were enabled to re-echo the beautiful thoughts of
McCheyne : — ' Beneath Moriah's rocky side,
A gentle fountain springs ;
Silent and soft its waters glide,
Like the peace the Spiut brings.
The thirsty Arab stoops to drink
Of the cool and quiet wave,
And the thirsty spirit stops to think
Of Him who came to save.
Siloam is the fountain's name,
It means one " sent from God ; "
And thus the Holy Spirit's fame,
It gently spreads abroad.
O grant that I like this sweet well,
May Jesus' image bear,
And spend my life — my all to tell,
How full His mercies are ! '
In ancient times the waters of Siloam were used in
the service of the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles.
Lightfoot thus speaks of the custom : ' When the parts
of the sacrifice were laid on the altar, then was there

1 82 THE OUTFLOW FROM THE
the pouring out of water upon the altar mingled with
wine, and the manner thus : one of the priests, with a
golden tankard, went to the Fountain or Pool of Siloam,
and filled it there with water. He returned back again
into the court, through that which is called the Water
Gate, and when he came there the trumpets sounded.
He goeth up to the side of the altar, where stood two
basins, one with wine in it, and into the other he puts the
water ; and he pours either the wine into the water or
the water into the wine, and then he pours them out by
way of libation. ... At the time of this libation did
the music and the song begin, and that song which they
sang all the days of the feast was " Hallel," that being
renewed daily, as their lulabh or branches were renewed
daily. When they came to the beginning of Psalm cxviii.,
" O give thanks unto the Lord," all the company shook
their branches. Towards night they began " their re
joicing for the drawing of the water," which mirth they
continued far in the night, and thus their rejoicing was
of so high a mirth that they say that he that never
saw the rejoicing for the drawing of water never saw re
joicing all his life. Remarkable is that passage in the
Jerusalem Talmud upon this question. Rabbi Levi
saith, " Why is the name of it called the drawing of
water ?" Because of the pouring out of the Holy Ghost,
according to what is said, " With joy shall ye draw water
out of the wells of salvation." '
The Pool of Siloam and the great tunnel cut through
the rock from the Virgin's Fountain to the pool are un
doubtedly of high antiquity, but it is difficult to fix with
certainty the date of their construction. They certainly
existed in Isaiah's time, and were probably the work of

TEMPLE CISTERNS. 1 83
King Hezekiah, as has already been suggested. During
the reign of that monarch, Shalmaneser, King of
Assyria, came up against Samaria, and besieged it.
After three years' siege the city was taken, and the
Israelites were led away into captivity in Assyria. The
inhabitants of Jerusalem would naturally feel alarmed
at the power and ambition of Assyria, and take measures
for the defence of their own city. Eight years after the
fall of Samaria, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, came up
against the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. When
Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he
was prepared to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel
with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters
of the fountains that were without the city. ' So there
was gathered much people together, who stopped all
the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst
of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria
come and find much water ?'x Hezekiah moreover re
built the broken-down walls of the city, raised strong
towers, repaired the breaches, made darts and shields in
abundance, and for three years made extensive warlike
preparations for a determined encounter with Assyria.
Before the construction of the serpentine tunnel
through Ophel and the Pool of Siloam, the spring at
the Virgin's Fountain would issue forth into the Valley
of Kedron, when it might be used by soldiers encamped
outside the walls. Hezekiah, however, stopped all the
fountains outside the walls, and brought the water in
side. This language applies completely to the diverting
of the water from the Virgin's Fountain by the rock-cut
canal and the Pool of Siloam ; and the ancient water-
1 2 Chron. xxxii. 4.

184 THE OUTFLOW FROM THE
system under Ophel Hill was in direct communication
with the same never-failing fountain.
About sixty yards south-east of Siloam is a large
reservoir, fifty yards long and thirty yards wide. It has
been formed by building a dam across the mouth of the
Tyropoeon Valley, which at this point joins the larger
Valley of the Kedron. This reservoir has been named
the Lower Pool of Siloam, and it has probably been
constructed to receive the overflow or surplus water
from the Upper Pool. This supply, however, has been
cut off for many centuries, and the bed of the reservoir
is nearly filled up with rich soil overgrown with small
fig trees, so that at present it more resembles a fig yard
than a pool. The natives call it Birket-el-Hamra, that
is, Red Pool, probably named from the colour of the
soil. It is thought that Isaiah refers to this reservoir by
the name of the Old Pool, and it appears from Josephus
that from the Lower Pool of Siloam the waters flowed
sweet and copious in gentle rills to water and fertilise
the King's Garden, which now, as in ancient times,
covers a great part of the Kedron Valley, close by the
pool. At the south end of the reservoir, standing im
mediately outside the embankment, we noticed a large
spreading mulberry tree, enclosed by a heap of stones,
designed to protect it. This tree marks the spot where,
according to tradition, Isaiah was sawn asunder, by
command and in the presence of King Manasseh. The
tradition of the martyrdom, though not the locality, is
alluded to by some of the early Christian Fathers, and
may be referred to in the Epistle to the Hebrews :
' They were stoned — they were sawn asunder.'1
1 Heb. xi. 37.

TEMPLE CISTERNS. 1 85
The water from the Upper Pool has its present outlet
at the south-east corner of the tank. By a subterranean
passage it crosses the present footpath, and reappears
flowing in a deep channel under the vertical cliff of
Ophel. By means of several ducts the water is con
veyed to the gardens in the Kedron Valley ; and from
the days of Solomon down to the present time the same
water from the Temple Hill is the cause of the freshness
and fertility of the King's Garden.

1 86

CHAPTER IX.
Theories about the Site of Solomon's Temple.
The Haram esh-Sherif, meaning ' sacred enclosure,' is a
place of peculiar sanctity in the eyes of both Christians
and Moslems. It consists of the raised plateau on
Moriah, supported by massive walls on every side,
which at three of the corners rise from the living rock
to the immense height of over one hundred and fifty feet.
The Haram measures one thousand six hundred feet
from north to south, with a mean width of about one
thousand feet, and forms an irregular oblong with an
area of thirty-five acres. The surface, which slightly
inclines towards the north-west corner, is studded with
cypress and olive trees. Near the centre of the area is
a raised platform of about five acres, raised sixteen feet
above the surrounding ground and paved with large
slabs. On this raised platform stands the celebrated
mosque known as the ' K'ubbet es-Sakhra,' or ' Dome
of the Rock.'
Within the Haram enclosure stood the Jewish Temples ;
but their exact position has been a subject of keen
controversy for the last half-century. At the present
moment there are several conflicting theories before the
public regarding the site of Herod's Temple.
I. M. de Saulcy, Count de Vogiie", and others say that

THE SITE OF SOLOMON'S TEMPLE. 1 87
the Temple and courts occupied the whole area of
the Haram.
2. Mr. Williams maintains that the Temple was nine
hundred and fifty feet square, and covered the northern
part of the Haram, while the masonry now found on the
southern part is the work of the Emperor Justinian.
3. Robinson, Barclay, and Porter, and others think that
the Temple courts occupied the southern portion of the
Haram, and formed a square of above nine hundred feet.
4. Tobler and others maintain that the Temple was
six hundred feet square, and stood on the space now
occupied by the raised platform standing on the centre
of the enclosure.
5. Fergusson, Thrupp, and Lewin, and others contend
that Herod's Temple occupied a square space of six
hundred feet at the south-west angle of the Haram.
6. Warren and other explorers are of opinion that the
courts of the Temple of Solomon occupied a rectangular
space, above nine hundred feet from east to west, and
six hundred from north to south, its southern side being-
three hundred feet north of the present south wall of
the Haram. According to the same authority, Solomon's
Palace occupied the south-east portion of the Hill,
extending from the Double Gate to the south-east angle,
and from Solomon's Temple enclosure to the present
southern wall. The area of the Palace would thus be
six hundred feet from east to west, and three hundred
from north to south. A square area of three hundred
feet each side at the south-west angle is thought to
be the site of the extended courts of Herod the Great,
who also is said to have built the bridge usually
designated ' Robinson's Arch,' which connected the

1 88 THEORIES ABOUT THE SITE OF
Temple Hill with Mount Zion. King Herod's Temple,
according to this theory, is made to cover the site of
Solomon's Temple and Palace, together with the square
of three hundred feet at the south-west angle. The
Temple courts were therefore about nine hundred feet
square, and occupied the southern portion of the Haram.
Warren's theory does not differ materially from that
of Robinson above explained.
The last two theories at present claim the greatest
attention, and therefore it seems desirable to give a brief
exposition of the arguments by which the validity of
each theory is sought to be established.
Fergusson's Theory.
What is now generally known as ' Fergusson's Theory '
has been abundantly set forth by Mr. James Fergusson,
in his essay on ' The Topography of Jerusalem ' in
Smith's Dictionary of the Bible under the articles
' Jerusalem ' and ' Temple,' and latterly in his Temples
of the Jews.
The author in. these works contends that Herod's
Temple occupied a square of six hundred feet at the
south-west part of the Haram.
It appears from Josephus (says Mr. Fergusson) that
the Temple was rectangular, that the ' Stoa Basilica,' or
' Royal Porch,' stood on the northern wall overhanging
the valley, that the area of the Temple was a square of
a stadium, or six hundred feet each side, that the western
wall contained four gateways.
It is urged that the existing remains clearly indicate
the site as stated by Josephus, and show that the south-

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE. 1 89
west section of the Haram was the site of Herod's
Temple. The south-west angle is the only right angle of the
present walls. Proceeding eastward from this angle
along the present southern wall, the area is filled up
perfectly solid, until at a distance of six hundred feet
a wall turns northward at right angles, and forms the
eastern boundary of the solid space. Beyond this point
westwards are the spacious vaults now known as
' Solomon's Stables.' These vaults contain a series of
light arches, so slight in construction that neither the
' Stoa Basilica ' nor any heavy building could ever have
rested upon them. According to Josephus the ' Stoa
Basilica' contained one hundred and sixty Corinthian
pillars arranged in four rows, forty in each row, so that
if the porch extended the whole length of the southern
wall, that is, above nine hundred feet, the columns must
have been spaced twenty-three feet apart, which accord
ing to Our knowledge of ancient masonry, is said to be
architecturally impossible.
The western wall, according to Fergusson's theory,
extended from the south-west angle northward to the
' Bab es-Silsileh,' or ' Gate of the Chain.'
The general character of the masonry, as seen at the
Wailing Place and south-west corner, points to the fact
that this wall formed the substructures of Herod's
Temple, while three of the old gateways in the western
walls are indicated by Robinson's Arch, Barclay's Gate
way, and Wilson's Arch.
The position of the northern wall is identical with that
of the southern wall of the raised platform on which the
present ' Dome of the Rock ' stands.

190 THEORIES ABOUT THE SITE OF
Warren's Theory.
Warren's theory makes Herod's Temple cover the
whole southern space of the Haram, forming a square
of above nine hundred feet
On behalf of this theory it is urged that the present
west wall of the Haram is coincident with the west
wall of Herod's Temple, because Robinson's Arch lead
ing from the Temple Hill to Mount Zion is evidently
part of the bridge on which Titus parleyed with the
Jews in the Temple courts after he had taken Jerusalem.
The northern wall of the Temple must have been co
incident with the present northern wall of the ' Dome of
the Rock ' platform, for, judging from the lie of the rock,
at this part is the edge of the great valley described in
Pompey's attack on the older Temple. Its eastern wall
must have coincided with the present east wall of the
Haram enclosure, for thus only could it have overlooked
the Kedron Valley, as mentioned by Josephus. The
substructures of the present eastern wall bear marks of
antiquity older than Herod's time, and if this enormous
wall had only been the outer wall of the city the Temple
cloisters could not have overlooked the Kedron ravine.
The southern wall of the Temple must have been co
incident with the present south wall of the Haram,
because the wall of Ophel, lately discovered, is seen to
join the present southern wall near the south-east angle,
according to Josephus' testimony, which states that the
Ophlas wall was joined to the eastern cloister of the
Temple. It is also urged that the south wall is of one
construction from the south-east angle extending west
ward for six hundred feet as far as the ' Double Gate.'

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE. 191
Excavation, Past and Future.
A few years ago the author made a careful inspection
of the ancient masonry of the Haram : he examined the
rocky cavern under the ' Dome of the Rock,' and the
vast cisterns under the Temple Hill : he explored the
subterranean chambers, and the spacious vaults known
as ' Solomon's Stables.' After weighing on the spot the
evidence for and against the conflicting theories, and
endeavouring to harmonise each with the evidence before
his eyes, he was driven to the conclusion that a more
thorough excavation requires to be made before we
have sufficient data to speak with authority on the
validity of any existing theory, and formulate an accurate
reconstruction of the ground plan of the Jewish Temples.
Such data does exist, but at present it lies buried under
a vast accumulation of rubbish, the de'bris of many
centuries, and until such is brought to light we feel
certain that it is not in the interests of truth to dogmatize
on what at present cannot reach beyond probability.
This being the state of the case, he has felt it his duty
in the foregoing pages to confine his attention to facto,
and not to fancies, carefully setting forth the finds of
the explorers, without abetting or vindicating any pre
conceived theory.
The excavations at Jerusalem have yielded important
results, but much yet remains to be done before an
authoritative reconstruction of the Jewish Temple can
be made. The exact course of the ancient walls has yet
to be traced, the underground masonry of the Noble
Sanctuary has to be explored more thoroughly, and
considerable vestiges of the buried walls of Hiram,

192 THE SITE OF SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.
Solomon, and Herod the Great require to be disen
tombed from the vast accumulation of rubbish amongst
which lies hidden the gigantic stonework of the ancient
mason kings. The Rabbins have a tradition that the
original copy of the Law is buried within the sacred
enclosure of the Haram, and it is commonly believed
that 'The Ark of the Covenant,' which suddenly dis
appeared, and was never seen after the destruction of
Solomon's Temple by the King of Babylon, was con
cealed and still lies hid in some cavern beneath the
Temple Hill. Somewhere within the walls of the Holy
City there is the royal sepulchre of the Kings of Judah.
In that royal vault rested the dust of David, and round
about him on either side would be ranged the successive
princes of the House o.f David who were buried in the
same sepulchre. ' They slept with their fathers, each
king lying in glory, every one in his own house.' It
may be reserved for our day and generation to bring to
light this regal sleeping chamber of the successive Kings
of Judah. The Committee of the Palestine Exploration
Fund are sensible that much yet remains to be done
before the completion of their important undertaking,
and it is their earnest desire to explore thoroughly the
Temple Area, and bring to light those colossal vestiges
of the Jewish monarchy, witnesses of the authenticity of
that Sacred Volume which is the anchor of our souls
and the source of o,ur brightest hopes.
THE END.

^ Harrison and Sons, Pnnters in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St. Martin's Lane.

BY-PATHS OF BIBLE KNOWLEDGE.
"The volumes which the Committee of the Religious Tract Society is issuing under the
above title fully deserve success. Most of them have been entrusted to scholars who have a
special acquaintance with the subjects about which they severally treat."— The Athenaum

i. Cleopatra's Needle. A History of the London Obelisk,
with an Exposition of the Hieroglyphics. By the Rev. J. King,
Lecturer for the Palestine Exploration Fund. With Illustrations.
Crown 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth boards.
" Mr. King's account of the monument seems fairly full and satisfactory." Saturday Review.
2. Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments. By A.
H. Sayce, LL.D. A sketch of the most striking confirmations of the
Bible from recent discoveries in Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Palestine,
and Asia Minor. With Facsimiles from Photographs. 3s. cioth boards.
" All who wish to understand the Bible, and all who take an interest in ancient
history, ought to procure it," — Leeds Mercury.
3. Recent Discoveries on the Temple Hill at Jerusalem.
By the Rev. J. King, M.A., Authorised Lecturer for the Palestine Ex
ploration Fund. With Maps, Plans, and Illustrations. 8vo., 2s. 6d.
cloth boards.
" An interesting little book, well deserving of perusal. '' — Literary Churchman-.
4. Babylonian Life and History. By E. A. Wallis Budge,
D. Litt., Assistant in the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British
Museum. Illustrated. Crown 8vo., 3s. cloth boards.
" An admirable addition to this excellent series of ' By- Paths of Bible Knowledge.'
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5. Galilee in the Time of Christ. By Selah Merrill,
D.D., author of ' ' East of the Jordan," etc. With a Map. Crown 8vo.,
2s. 6d. cloth boards.
" Will be of great service to all who desire to realise the actual surroundings amid
which our Lord spent His life on earth, and will be specially useful in correcting some
false notions which have obtained wide currency, e.g.. the common idea that
Nazareth was a small, obscure, and immoral place." — Congregationalist.
6 Egypt and Syria. Their Physical Features in Relation
to Bible History By Sir J. W. Dawson, F.G.S., F.R.S., President
of the British Association, 1886. Crown 8vo , 3s. cloth boards.
" We know of nothing at all comparable to it as giving a succinct, clear, and con-
etantlv instructive account of the geological features of Egypt and Syria in their
relations to the Bible, by the hand of a practised geologist."— Record.
" This is one of the most interesting of the series to which it belongs. It is the re-
u if ™.rsonal observation, and the work of a practised geological observer.'
suit ot persona. British Quarterly Review.

7. Assyria: Ita Princes, Priests, and People. By A.
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ments," "Introduction to Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther," etc. Illus
trated. 3s. cloth boards.
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popular form, all that is of most essential significance in the realised information
respecting that old-world history and life." — Christian Leader.
8. The Dwellers by the Nile. Chapters on the Life,
Literature, History, and Customs of Ancient Egypt. By E. A. Wallis
Budge, M.A., Assistant in Department of Oriental Antiquities, British
Museum. With many Illustrations. Crown 8vo., 3s. cloth boards.
" A little book that contains a vast amount of information respecting that historic
land, Egypt. .-. . The history and explanation of the hieroglyphics and the dis
covery of their interpretation is lupidly and ably told.''— TVwzat.
g. The Diseases of the Bible. By Sir J. Risdon Bennett,
Ex-President of the Royal College of Physicians. Crown Svo., 2s. 6d.
cloth boards.
10, Trees and Plants of the Bible. By W. H. Groser,
B.Sc. Illustrated. 3s. cloth boards.
11. Animals of the Bible. By H. Chichester Hart,
Naturalist to Sir G. Nares' Arctic Expedition and Professor Hull's
Palestine Expedition. Illustrated. Crown 8vo., 3s. cloth boards.
12. The Hittites ; or, The Story of a Forgotten Empire. By
A. H. Sayce, LL.D. Illustrated. Crown 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth boards.
13. The Times of Isaiah, as illustrated from Contemporary
Monuments. By A. H. Sayce, LL.D., author of " Fresh Light from
the Ancient Monuments," " The Hittites : a Story of a Forgotten
Empire," etc. With Map. Crown 8vo., 2s. cloth boards.
14. Modern Discoveries on the Site of Ancient
Ephesus. By the late J. T. Wood, F.S.A., author of "Discoveries
at Ephesus.'' With thirteen Illustrations. Crown 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
15. Early Bible Songs. By A. H. Drysdale, M.A., author
of ''Paul's Epistle to Philemon." Crown 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth boards.
16. The Races of the Old Testament. By A. H. Sayce,
LL. D. With Illustrations from Photographs by Mr. Flinders Petrie.
Crown 8vo., 3s. cloth boards.
17. The Life and Times of Joseph in the Light of
Egyptian Lore. By the Rev. II. G. Tomkins. Crown 8vo., 2s. 6d.
cloth boards.
18. Social Life among the Assyrians and Babylonians.
By Professor Sayce, LL.D. Crown 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth boards.
(Other Volumes are in Preparation.)
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