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 Another Random Document on
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 But the great attraction within the mosque is the celebrated rock
called by the Arabs es-Sukhrah. Situated directly beneath the dome,
it is unquestionably the summit ridge of Mount Moriah, and consists
of a naked limestone rock of a grayish color, sixty feet long, fifty-five
wide, and rises five feet above the surrounding floor. Over it,
suspended from the piers, is the war-banner of Omar, made of the
richest crimson silk; around it is an iron railing, with arrow-headed
points tipped with gilt, and on it stand metallic candlesticks
resembling Syrian lilies.

The fertile imagination of the Asiatic has invested this rock with
peculiar sanctity. According to a Mohammedan legend, it descended
from heaven when the spirit of prophecy was withdrawn from earth,
and attempted to return to its native quarry when the Prophet
ascended to glory, but was only restrained by the powerful arm of
Gabriel. Refusing to touch the earth again, it remains suspended in
the air seven feet above the top of Mount Moriah! Arrogant in their
spirit as they are legendary in their taste, the Moslems believe that
all the water on the earth flows from beneath this rock; and that in
one of its unvisited caves are still preserved the armor of
Mohammed, the saddle of his favorite beast, the scales for weighing
the souls of men at the last judgment, the birds of Solomon, the
pomegranates of David, and a silver urn which was thrown from its
pedestal by Gabriel’s wing on the ever-memorable night of the
Prophet’s ascension.

Reached by a flight of stone steps is the “Noble Cave,” excavated

in the heart of the rock, which is of irregular shape, eight feet high
and sixty in circumference. To deceive the unwary, and sustain the
story that the rock is suspended in the air, a plastered wall incloses
the sides of the vault, which, on being struck, emits a hollow sound,
indicating a vacant space beyond. In the centre of the floor is a
marble star, said to cover the mouth of Hades. It is more probably
the entrance to that great cavern beneath the city, which, according
to tradition, extends to this point.
 Rejecting the idle tales of a false faith, the es-Sukhrah has a
history replete with interest to every Christian. Forming the ridge of
Mount Moriah, here Abraham offered his son;124 here stood the
destroying angel when about to smite Jerusalem for the offense of
an ambitious king;125 here was the threshing-floor of Ornan, which
David purchased to offer thereon a sacrifice to stay the hand of the
avenging messenger;126 and on it rested the altar of burnt-offerings
in the first and second temples.127 Viewed in this light, the “Noble
Cave” was no doubt the cess-pool of the altar of burnt-offerings, into
which the immense quantity of sacrificial blood was conveyed by the
drain that encompassed the altar.

From the southern portal of the Mosque of Omar a paved pathway

leads to the Mosque of El-Aksa, lined on either side with olives,
palms, and acacias. Near this avenue is the elegant Pulpit of David,
from which prayers are offered for the health of the Sultan and the
triumph of his arms. Extending a distance of 350 feet, the path
terminates at the porch of El-Aksa. Standing near the southwest
corner of the Temple area, and close to the southern wall, this
mosque covers an area of 50,000 square feet. Measuring 280 feet
long and 180 wide, its aisles and nave are forty-eight feet high, and
its dome 130. Though in its general appearance the architecture is a
compound of the Gothic and the Saracenic, yet, owing to the
frequent alterations and numerous additions of the mosque, it is
difficult to assign it a classification. Facing the north, the imposing
porch extends the entire breadth of the building, and is divided into
seven sections by arches supported by slender columns. It is paved
with marble, and is reached by eight steps worn smooth by the feet
of twelve centuries. The façade is penetrated by seven portals
opening into the interior, which consists of a grand nave, three aisles
on either side, and a transept surmounted with a noble dome. The
aisles and nave are formed by forty-five marble columns, resembling
the imposing colonnades in the magnificent basilicas of Santa Maria
Maggiore and San Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome. Springing from these
columns are arches connecting aisle with aisle, and supporting the
roof and dome. The pavement, now of stone, was once adorned
with beautiful mosaics, the remaining fragments attesting the
pristine grandeur of this ancient temple of Christian worship.
Beneath the dome is the elaborately-carved Pulpit of Saladin, and
near it is the gallery for the singers. Deriving their name from the
daughter of the Prophet, the Fatimites ordered a large section of the
mosque to be partitioned off and appropriated for the devotions of
women. In the western end of the transept are two polished marble
columns standing ten inches apart, and designedly arranged to
discover the faith of him who essayed to pass between them; no
one, according to the legend, but a true believer in the Koran could
hope for success. Once regarded as an infallible test, the charm,
however, is now broken, as many a Christian has succeeded in the
attempt. Within this mosque is a fountain called the “Well of the
Leaf,” receiving its name from the circumstance that centuries ago,
one of the faithful, having descended to the bottom to recover a lost
bucket, unexpectedly found a door opening into the delightful
gardens of Paradise, into which he walked, and, plucking a leaf from
one of its fair trees, returned, bearing with him the celestial
memento, which proved its heavenly origin and nature by retaining
its freshness.

With the ever-changing fortunes of the Holy City, the Mosque of

El-Aksa has passed from master to master. Originally a Christian
basilica, built by order of the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century,
and by him dedicated to “My Lady,” the Virgin Mary, a hundred years
thereafter it was converted into a temple of Moslem worship. Four
and a half centuries later, Tancred and his brave knights drove out
the Arabians, and reconsecrated the Church of Justinian to the
Blessed Virgin. In 1119 A.D. Baldwin II. gave it to his followers,
whom he was pleased to call “the poor fellow-soldiers of Jesus
Christ,” and for whose accommodation he erected on its eastern side
a dormitory, refectory, and infirmary. A gift so humble was the
beginning of the wealth, power, and glory of the Knights Templars,
whose mystic kingdom afterward extended to the farthest limits of
Christendom, and who received the benedictions of pontiffs, the
homage of kings, and the donations of the pious. Beneath the green
sod in front of the venerable basilica were interred, in the year of
our Lord 1170, the four knights who, at the instigation of Henry II.,
assassinated Thomas à Becket in the ancient cathedral of
Canterbury. Remaining in the possession of the Crusaders for eighty-
eight years, in 1187 A.D. Saladin marched against Jerusalem,
captured the city, put the Templars to the sword, and reopened the
portals of the mosque to the children of the Prophet.128

Whatever pleasure is experienced in recalling the ever-shifting

fortunes of Moslem and Christian, and in reciting the legends of the
one and the traditions of the other, the traveler turns away from
scenes and memories so romantic to explore with deeper interest
the works of Solomon.

Thirty feet to the east from the Mosque of El-Aksa is the entrance
to a subterranean passage-way. A flight of stone steps leads down to
a broad and well-made avenue 259 feet long, forty-two wide, thirty
high, and having a gentle descent of 200 feet. Extending through
the centre are two rows of monolithic columns, connected by arches
supporting the ceiling, which is composed of flattened domes. These
domes are formed of large blocks of limestone, and each one has a
circular keystone six feet in diameter—a style of architecture
nowhere else to be found, except in some of the ancient tombs
beyond the city, indicating a contemporaneous age. Guided by the
light of our wax tapers, we advanced a distance of 259 feet to a
flight of nine steps leading down into an entrance-hall fifty feet long
and forty-two wide. In the very centre stands a massive column
twenty-one feet high and six in diameter, consisting of a single block
of limestone, including a foliated capital, on which is carved a palm-
branch. From this central pier, and from pilasters on the sides of the
hall, spring arches on which rests a vaulted ceiling of extraordinary
workmanship. And corresponding, both in its size and grandeur, is
the original gateway in the south wall of the city, the exterior of
which is seen in part where the city wall joins that of the Haram.
Having a breadth of forty-two feet, it is divided in the centre by a
rectangular pier eight feet broad, and, extending inward twelve feet,
has a pillar-shaped termination. Both the pier and jambs of the
gateway are constructed of bevel stones of great size and well
finished. This is evidently one of the approaches to the ancient city,
and no doubt up through this colonnaded avenue Christ and his
disciples often passed to the House of the Lord. In some lateral vault
leading from this covered way, the Jews believe the treasures and
furniture of their Temple are now concealed; and so prevalent is this
opinion, that a breach has already been made in the wall to discover
the place of concealment.

SOLOMON’S SUBTERRANEAN PASSAGE-WAY.

Standing in the southeast corner of the Temple area is the Mosque

of Issa (Jesus). It is a small, dome-like building, containing a large
marble basin, not unlike in form a sarcophagus, called by some the
“Cradle of Jesus,” by others the font in which the infant Savior was
washed previous to his presentation in the Temple. Through this
chamber is the true and easy entrance to the great substructions of
Solomon’s day; but, hoping to deter us from exploring them, the
guide led us to an opening in the area, down which we were
compelled to leap more than ten feet. Nothing daunted, each in turn
made the leap, and turning to the right, we stood beneath those
grand vaults, unequaled in strength and grandeur by any thing of
the kind either in Greece or Rome.

Originally the summit of Mount Moriah naturally and rapidly

declined from the great rock which forms the ridge toward the
southeast, leaving a narrow and uneven surface. To elevate the
surface of the hill to a common level, Solomon constructed vaults
supported by piers.129 Standing ten feet apart, and extending east
and west 319 feet, and north and south 250 feet, are fifteen rows of
massive columns, composed of beveled stones five feet square, and
connected by semicircular arches, on which rest the vaulted ceiling,
five feet thick, supporting the pavement above. These piers are from
ten to thirty feet high, according to the elevation and depression of
the ground, and on some of them has been chiseled a mason’s
compasses, opened at an angle of forty-five degrees, but whether
ancient or modern the silent sign of the honorable craft gives no
response. The eastern wall of these substructions is the eastern wall
of the Haram inclosure, the blocks of which are of the same material
and of similar finish with those seen from without. Through openings
in an arched gateway, now closed, the Valley of Jehoshaphat is
distinctly seen. Through the thick vaults above some olive-trees have
forced their powerful roots, which have taken hold on the soil below,
uniting, by ligaments of life, the upper and lower surfaces, while the
more slender roots hang like graceful pendents from the ceiling.
Running along the wall in the western aisle is a large pipe, of similar
material to Solomon’s aqueduct, which no doubt formerly served as
a waste-pipe to carry off the refuse water from the Temple; and near
it is an oval well, twenty feet in diameter. In the south corner of this
aisle is a triple gate of curious workmanship, consisting of an arched
central doorway and two lateral ones, so arranged as to form an
obtuse angle. In the centre is an octagonal column two and a half
feet in diameter, from which spring the arches of the side gateways.
Though well preserved, this beautiful gate is now walled up. In the
palmy days of Jerusalem it opened to the villages on the south of
the city, and there is still a gradual ascent to the open area above,
up which the victims were driven to the Temple for sacrifice.

Whether we consider the grandeur of these works or the wealth

expended in their construction, they reflect alike the wisdom and
glory of Solomon. The original declination of the hill—the
measurements of the Temple area as given by Josephus—the size of
the stones of which they are constructed, and the manner in which
they are dressed, together with the absence of any information that
either Herod or any of his successors ever touched the foundations
of the sacred inclosure, suggest that these substructions are coeval
with the Holy House.

Returning to the surface of the area, we turned to the northwest

to explore the great lake beneath the Mosque of Omar. Any one who
for a moment has reflected upon the quantity of water requisite for
the frequent ablutions of the priests, and for the other demands of
the Temple service, must have concluded that artificial means were
employed to meet the demand. Ever fruitful in inventions, the genius
of Solomon was equal to the emergency, and to the aid of nature he
brought the mechanical art of his day. Near the mosque there is an
aperture resembling the mouth of a well, down which an inclined
plane leads to a flight of forty-four stone steps cut in the living rock.
Descending, we found an excavation in the solid limestone rock
forty-two feet deep, 736 in circumference, and capable of holding
2,000,000 gallons. The form of the cavern is irregular, and the
rudely-arched roof is supported by large piers, which were
designedly left at the time of the excavation. These columns are
arranged to afford the greatest support, without regard to regularity
or beauty, and an attempt had been made to arch the intervening
rock, but the work is so crudely done as to give it a craggy
appearance. Both the arches and upper portions of the pillars were
formerly incased with brass, but the metallic covering has been
removed by the Vandal captors of the city. Formerly there were eight
apertures in the pavement above through which the water was
drawn up; but only one remains open, admitting the light to the
shades below. More than three feet of water now covers the entire
bottom, which is perfectly clear and of a sweetish taste. Though at
present the lake is partially supplied with rain-water, which flows
through a small tank, from the Mosque of El-Aksa, yet originally the
water was brought from Solomon’s Pools at Etham, seven miles to
the south of Jerusalem, and the ancient aqueduct through which it
flowed can now be traced to the western side of the reservoir.

Standing in such a cavern, where the light and darkness

alternately chase each other, where no sound is heard save the
measured tramp of pilgrim feet on the marble floor above, and
where History silently but triumphantly points to her works in
confirmation of her story, the mind is filled with admiration for the
past. Of all the works of Solomon, there is nothing remaining which
so impressively reflects his wonderful intellect, and so truly conveys
to the mind an idea of his unbounded resources as this lake. Of its
antiquity there can be no doubt; as to its design there can be no
dispute; and of the glory it reflects upon the memory of its founder
there can be no diversity of opinion. It was seen and described by
Aristeas in the century preceding Christ, and it is subsequently
mentioned by the Mishna, by Tacitus, and the Jerusalem Itinerary,
and it now invites the modern traveler to its cavernous depths to
drink of its crystal water, and thereby confirm those traditions which
the lapse of time had transformed into fables.130

Though permitted to explore the Temple area the second time, yet
I reluctantly left a spot where of old God had appeared to his
people, and where the Redeemer often taught as one having
authority. And where, on earth, have occurred events of greater
grandeur and of more powerful influence? Within an area of less
than forty acres the history of our religion may be said to have
occurred, and there all that is now real in our faith was once
foreshadowed by the most costly and imposing symbols; and to-day
Moriah bears testimony no less to the fulfillment of the prophetic
judgments demanded against her than to the veracity of her
historians. In less than forty years after the Savior’s prediction of the
destruction of the Temple, his words were fulfilled by Titus, who left
the holy fane a mass of scorched and smoking ruins; and now
spanning the Appian Way in ancient Rome, the Arch of Titus remains
the monument of his terrible work. After a period of desolation
lasting seventy years, the Emperor Adrian rebuilt Jerusalem, calling
it Ælia Capitolina—the former after the family name of the emperor,
and the latter in honor of Jupiter Capitolinus. Plowing up the surface
of the area, he erected on the site of the Jewish Temple one to
Jupiter, which he adorned with the colossal statue of himself, placing
the equestrian one on the very site of the “Holy of Holies.” Nearly
two and a half centuries later the Jews were permitted, by Julian the
Apostate, to rebuild their Holy House, but they were deterred in the
attempt by flames of fire bursting suddenly out from the earth upon
them, and by other manifestations of the divine displeasure. For
more than 150 years subsequently nothing is recorded of the Temple
area till the middle of the sixth century, when the Emperor Justinian
ordered the erection thereon of his magnificent church to the Virgin
Mary, which, in 636 A.D., Omar converted into the Mosque of El-
Aksa, and upon the site of Solomon’s Temple and of the Fane of
Jupiter he reared the famous mosque which now bears his name.
Subject to the sway of the False Prophet for 463 years, it was
rescued from the grasp of the Moslems by the brave Crusaders, who
converted the mosques into Christian churches, and who for eighty
years worshiped Christ where Jupiter and Mohammed had been
adored. Yielding to the victorious arms of its earlier captors, Saladin
retook Jerusalem in 1189 A.D., and the Crescent was again in the
ascendant on Mount Moriah, where it remains the symbol of
Mohammedan power and glory, to give place at no distant day to the
Cross of a world’s Redeemer.131
 CHAPTER IV.
Valley of the Dead.—​Tombs of the Judges.—​Of El-Messahney.—​Of the Kings.—​
Valley of the Kidron.—​Pillar of Absalom.—​Traditional Tombs.—​Jews’ Cemetery.—​
Funeral Procession.—​Mount of Offense.—​Virgin’s Fountain.—​Gardens of Siloam.
—​Bridal Party.—​Pool of Siloam.—​Of En-Rogel.—​Vale of Hinnom.—​Burning of
Children.—​Valley of Slaughter.—​Potters’ Field.—​Solomon’s Coronation.—​Pools of
Gihon.—​Pool of Hezekiah.—​Supply of Water.

From time immemorial, nations have interred their dead with

extraordinary care. Along the dividing line separating the Libyan
Desert from the fertile plains of the Nile, the Egyptians constructed
tombs of marble and porphyry, and reared the stupendous pyramids
of Ghizeh, Abooseer, and Sakkara, for mausoleums for their
renowned kings. Beside their noblest highways the Greeks and
Romans placed the sepulchres and funeral pillars of their
distinguished citizens. And the Christian cemeteries of our own day
are as remarkable for the grandeur of their cenotaphs as for the
beauty of their situation. Not less sensibly affected by a passion so
tender, the Jews prepared the final resting-place of their beloved
dead with sincere affection. With them it became a religious pride to
beautify the sepulchres of their ancestors, and carefully preserve
them from age to age. Though like other nations in these
particulars, it is a fact no less singular than true that not a line has
ever been found on or in any of the ancient tombs in Palestine;132
hence their identification is now, as it ever has been, by tradition
rather than by inscription and epitaph. It is not therefore strange
that, with few exceptions, the sepulchres of kings and prophets are
either entirely unknown, or are identified by mere conjecture. Like
other works of art, Jewish tombs advanced from a crude beginning
to a state of artistic elegance. Originally they were natural
excavations in the rocks, as is the Cave of Machpelah;133 but in the
advancement of national refinement they were adorned with all that
art could invent and wealth procure,134 as are the Sepulchres of the
Kings. With slight variation in the details, there is a similarity of
construction in those of the latter class.

Usually a chamber was excavated in the living rock below the

surface, in the sides of which receptacles were prepared large
enough to receive a human form, and arranged in tiers with much
regularity; when these were occupied, a door was cut in the
perpendicular rock, and other chambers were adjoined either on the
sides, in the rear, or below.

Selected alike for its seclusion and its rocky sides, the Valley of
Jehoshaphat is a vast cemetery. At its head are located the “Tombs
of the Judges.” Though their origin is involved in mystery, they are
generally supposed to have contained the remains of the members
of the Jewish Sanhedrim, and the supposition is confirmed by the
seventy niches within them, coinciding with the number of members
composing that venerable tribunal. Excavated in the side of a low
rock, the entrance is reached by a descending path. The exterior is
tastefully ornamented with a pediment resting on plain but
handsome mouldings, adorned with tracery of leaves and flowers,
and with a blazing torch in the centre and one at either end. Over
the façade a few olives bend down their branches droopingly, and
before it are the accumulated mounds of many centuries.
Descending into the vestibule, which is thirteen feet long and nine
wide, we passed through a richly moulded doorway into an ante-
chamber eight feet high, twenty long, and nineteen wide. On the
sides of the vault are thirteen loculi, or receptacles for the dead. In
the southern wall a door opens to another chamber eight feet
square, having in its sides nine arched recesses. In the east wall a
second door leads to a similar vault, from which a flight of steps
descends to chambers below. Silence and darkness now reign
supreme in these mansions of the dead, and of all that was once
human not a bone remains.

TOMBS OF THE JUDGES.

Less than two miles to the northeast are the “Tombs of el-
Messahney,” discovered by our distinguished countryman of
Joppa.135 Around them are the remains of what was once a large
town, such as hewn stones and broken columns. The rock in front of
the tomb has been beveled in imitation of Jewish masonry. Formerly
an imposing entablature surmounted an open porch, but only a
portion of it remains. The entrance is through a large doorway
spanned by a round arch, and the spacious chamber within differs
from all others in Palestine by having a window. Of the seventeen
recesses which enter the wall endwise, there is one nobler than the
rest and twice as large. Here, no doubt, the lifeless form of some
distinguished person lay in state, under the light of the window, till
his successor in office became his successor to the tomb.
 Half a mile to the north from the Damascus Gate, and sixty yards
to the right of the Nablous road, are the “Tombs of the Kings.” In the
western side of a sunken court hewn in the rock, twenty feet deep
and ninety square, is a grand portico fifteen feet high, thirty-nine
wide, and seventeen deep. Formerly this portal was decorated with
two columns and as many pilasters, which, however, are now gone,
except a fragment of one of the capitals depending from the
architrave. Over the entrance was a heavy cornice and frieze,
adorned with clusters of grapes and wreaths of flowers, alternating
over a continuous garland of fruit and foliage, extending down the
sides to the ground. But time and plunderers have defaced this
elegant façade, leaving it a wreck of former grandeur. A solitary palm
now rears its graceful form near the spot, and ferns grow out of the
cracked face and sides of the portal, covering the broken
entablature.

TOMBS OF THE KINGS.

Entering the portico and turning to the right, we found the

entrance to the sepulchre to be at once peculiar and complicated.
Judging from what remains, the doorway was excavated below the
floor of the vestibule, and was approached by a covered passage-
way tunneled through the solid rock. At the commencement of this
subterranean way there was a trap-door which was secretly covered
with a slab. To secure greater safety against those who would
sacrilegiously disturb the repose of the dead, there was beneath this
trap-door a deep pit so located that none save the initiated, and
they only with the greatest caution, could land upon its brink as they
stepped upon it. The door of the tomb in turn was guarded with the
utmost secrecy. It consisted of a heavy circular slab which was made
to run in a groove. The groove inclined upward, and the slab could
only be turned by means of a lever. To add to the difficulty of turning
the door, both the groove and the slab were nearly concealed by the
side of the passage-way, and to the left of the end of the passage-
way there was a smaller slab sliding in another groove, which,
running at right angles with the former, served as a bolt, and, when
pushed in, was received into an aperture cut in the stone door, not
only rendering the door immovable, but defying all effort to open it
except by the initiated. Though to all appearance these precautions
were sufficient to protect this mansion of the dead from the hand of
the despoiler, yet, to render the repose of the departed doubly sure,
there was an inner door of great weight, so arranged as to fit exactly
in the deeply-recessed doorway, and so hung on pivots that it
yielded to the slightest pressure from without, while it immediately
fell back to its place as soon as the pressure was withdrawn, sealing
the doom of the unfortunate one who had entered, as it fitted so
exactly in its place that it was impossible to open it again from the
inside. The peculiar construction of the door and its rolling in a
groove explains the anxious inquiry of the Marys, “Who shall roll us
away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?”

Creeping through the low entrance, we lit our candles, and found
the interior to consist of five chambers, connected by narrow aisles,
and in the sides of the chambers are arched recesses for the dead.
The largest of these chambers is nineteen feet square. Its walls are
of solid rock, hewn smooth. On its south side are two low doorways
which lead to as many chambers, and on the north side a third
doorway opens to another vault, which is strewn with fragments of
elegantly sculptured marble. Here was found that magnificent lid of
a sarcophagus which is at present in the Louvre in Paris, where it
bears the name of “David’s Tomb.” Beneath these vaults are two
others, reached by an inclined plane and a flight of stone steps.
Being more concealed than the rest, and containing the most
elegant sarcophagi, they were designed, no doubt, for the final
repose of the most distinguished persons. But, despite such
extraordinary precautions, these tombs have been plundered, the
dust of the dead scattered, the sarcophagi broken, and the treasures
they contained extracted.

Though by common consent they are called the “Tombs of the

Kings,” yet there are no sepulchres beyond the walls of Jerusalem as
to the origin and founder of which there is such a variety of
opinions. On these points the tombs themselves are dumb, as they
contain neither device nor inscription; and, with one or two
ambiguous exceptions, history is likewise silent. M. de Sauley
declares them to be the “Tombs of the Kings of Judah;” Mr. Ferguson
pronounces their “architecture to be later than the reign of
Constantine;” Mr. Williams asserts them to be the “sepulchral
monument of Herod the Great;” Dr. Schultz identifies them as the
“Royal Caverns,” mentioned by Josephus as being on a line with the
Agrippian Wall; Dr. Robinson ascribes them to Helena, the widow of
King Monobazus, of Adiabene, who, with her son Izates, having
espoused the Jewish faith, settled in Jerusalem in the reign of
Claudius Cæsar, and her son, dying in the Holy City, was here
interred;136 while Dr. Thompson and Dr. Barclay regard them as
having been constructed by the Asmonean kings. The latter
conclusion is most in harmony with the facts of sacred and profane
history. The kings of Judah were interred on Mount Zion; Herod the
Great was entombed at Herodium, where there are other vaults for
his descendants; other caverns along the Agrippian Wall correspond
in location with the words of Josephus better than these; and the
thirty loculi within this mausoleum are twenty-eight too many for
Helena and her son Izates.
 Passing down the Valley of Jehoshaphat to the northeast corner of
the city wall, we entered the large olive-groves which cover the bed
of the valley and the sides of the adjacent hills. Attended by their
Nubian slaves, the women and children of Jerusalem spent the hours
of the day here, reclining beneath these trees. Opposite
St. Stephen’s Gate is the traditional rock where Stephen was stoned
to death. Above it, to the north, is the supposed site of Calvary.
Below it, to the east, is the stone bridge which spans the Kidron. It
is 140 feet long, and seventeen high from the bottom of the vale to
the top of the arch. It is firmly built, and as it has stood for
thousands of years, it will endure for ages to come, if not destroyed
by violence. The Brook Kidron is a winter torrent, or the
accumulation of streamlets from the hill-sides, formed by the rains of
winter. Though not seen in the dry season, the stream continues to
flow several feet below the surface of small loose stones, sending up
distinctly a low murmuring sound.

A thousand feet below the bridge is “Absalom’s Pillar.” It is of

limestone, cut out of the rock, and detached from the base of Olivet
by a path excavated in three of its sides. It consists of a square
platform, reached by a flight of steps; a basement of solid rock
twenty-four feet square, a square attic seven feet high, and a
circular attic, surmounted with an inverted funnel-shaped dome, the
point spreading out like an opening flower. Though its apparent
altitude is less than fifty feet, yet, owing to the accumulation of
stones around its base, its actual height is not ascertainable. The
exterior of the basement is ornamented with columns and pilasters,
on the Ionic capitals of which rests a Doric architrave. Above the first
entablature are two courses of large, well-dressed stones, on which
is traced a small cornice, and on the dome above is a cornice
resembling rope-work. Within are two chambers, reached by the
original doorway on the east, and by a breach on the west, which
has been made by the inhabitants of the city, who hold the memory
of Absalom in profound contempt. Within and around it are heaps of
stones, thrown there by Christian, Jew, and Moslem, in
condemnation of a son’s rebellion against his father, and, as a more
expressive mark of their disapprobation, they spit upon it as they
pass. This is probably the pillar which Absalom in his lifetime reared
up for himself in the “King’s Dale.”137 Being a mixture of Grecian,
Roman, and Egyptian architecture, the style is against the
supposition; but as it was customary in the days of Herod to
“garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,” so the admirers of the
rebel may have reconstructed his “Pillar” conformably with the
architectural taste of the Herodian age.

ABSALOM’S PILLAR (RESTORED).

A little to the north is the reputed tomb of King Jehoshaphat, from

whom the valley takes its name. It is a subterranean sepulchre,
extending several feet into the mountain. The entrance is through an
ornamental portal, consisting of four columns and a pediment,
adorned with foliage, cut in the face of the perpendicular rock.
Believing it contains a copy of their Law, and other valuable
manuscripts, the Jews guard this mansion of the dead with ceaseless
vigils. But this can not be the tomb of the king whose memory it
bears, as it is distinctly recorded that Jehoshaphat was buried with
his fathers in the city of David.138 The false location of his tomb has
given a false name to the valley itself. Both Josephus and the sacred
writers call it the “Valley of the Kidron,” which signifies “Vale of Filth,”
from the refuse matter that flowed into it from the cess-pool in the
rock beneath the Temple. Nor can this be the place to which the
prophet alludes when he declares that God will gather all nations
into the Valley of Jehoshaphat for judgment.139 Its limits are not
equal to such an assemblage. The name Jehoshaphat meaning
“Jehovah judgeth,” the allusion is metaphorical, the royal name
being applied to some unknown valley—the rendezvous of the
arraigned nations.

A few paces to the south of “Absalom’s Pillar” is the traditional

tomb of James the Just, where he concealed himself during the
interval between the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord, and
where he was finally interred after his martyrdom. It is a cavern fifty
feet long, fifteen deep, and ten broad, with an entrance high up in
the face of the rock consisting of four Doric columns.

Just south of this apostolic tomb is the monument of Zachariah,

who was stoned to death in the reign of Joash,140 and who is
alluded to by the Savior as having perished between the Temple and
the altar.141 Unlike the others, it is solid, designed merely as a
sepulchral monument to the memory of the martyr. It is a
monolithic, four-sided pyramid, whose height is equal to its base,
each side measuring twenty feet. Separated from the parent rock by
passage-ways on three sides, it is ornamented with columns and
pilasters, each crowned with a plain Ionic capital, and above which is
an entablature of acanthus leaves.

From the bed of the Kidron Valley to the Bethany Road on the
crest of the hill, and from the “Pillar of Absalom” to the village of
Siloam, is the cemetery of the Jews. Each grave is marked with a
plain slab imbedded in the earth, and bears a Hebrew inscription.
National love and religious superstition induce the descendants of
Abraham to seek a place of sepulture within this vale. Expecting the
restoration of their kingdom, they desire to sleep in death beneath
the sceptre of their posterity. Believing that the final judgment will
take place here, and that to have a part in the resurrection of the
just they must here be interred, in their old age many come from
distant lands to be entombed beside their countrymen. If so
unfortunate as to expire in a strange land, they die in the faith that
their bodies will burrow their way through the earth to this
consecrated spot. Here, morning and evening, venerable men
prostrate themselves upon the ground in anticipation of death, and
hither Jewish women come to weep over buried affection.

TOMBS IN THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT.

On the opposite side of the valley, covering all that portion of

Mount Moriah not included within the Haram wall, is a Moslem
cemetery of great age. The graves are covered with two layers of
hewn stone, with an open space between them in the centre, and
ornamented with two upright shafts, one at either end. The material
is limestone, and, according to a custom prevalent in Eastern
countries, the tombs are whitewashed, illustrating the
appropriateness of the Savior’s comparison when he likened the
Scribes and Pharisees unto “whited sepulchres.”142
 While standing here a funeral procession came out of
St. Stephen’s Gate. The bier was borne upon the shoulders of men,
and, in marching to the grave, the procession rushed on
tumultuously, chanting, in a low monotone, “God is God, and
Mohammed is his prophet.” Believing there is virtue in bearing the
dead to the tomb, each man in rapid succession became a pall-
bearer. Being persons of different height, the corpse rose and fell
according to the altitude of the bearer. On reaching the grave a
confused circle was formed, a funeral hymn was chanted, and, after
the interment of the dead, an almoner, who had been appointed by
the deceased, distributed paras to the throng of beggars who always
attend funerals.

Near the grave stood a group of women, swinging their arms,

striking their breasts, and howling in the most frantic manner. They
were the hired mourners so frequently alluded to in the Bible. When
a Moslem dies these mourning women are sent for, who recount, in
an extempore chant, the virtues of the dead. They are persons past
the pride and beauty of womanhood, and are held in high esteem by
the community. Weeping being their profession, tears are at their
command at the shortest notice. Their wail is the harshest sound
that ever fell on mortal ear, and the habitual contortions of the face
render them the impersonation of ugliness. As in all other vocations,
the woman who weeps the freest, howls the loudest, and contorts
the ugliest, is the chief mourner, and has the most extensive and
lucrative practice. To these persons Solomon alludes in his
description of death—“and the mourners go about the streets;”143
and St. Matthew refers to them in his account of our Lord’s visit to
the ruler’s house, “Who, when he saw the minstrels and the people
making a noise, he said unto them, Give place, for the maid is not
dead, but sleepeth.”144

This cemetery is a place of frequent resort, where, at all hours of

the day, groups of females may be seen lamenting some departed
friend. As of old, they carry a tear bottle, consisting of two small
vials incased in a cushion, and so adjusted that the necks of the vials
touch the eyes to catch the falling tear. Though as extensively used
by the Mohammedans as they were by the Greeks, yet they are not
so graceful as the tapering lachrymaries of the latter. The material is
coarser, and the manufacture cruder, indicating a lower civilization.
To these lachrymaries David alludes in those tender words of his,
“Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears into thy bottle.”145

Descending the dry and stony bed of the Kidron, the path soon
diverged, leading to the wretched town of Siloam, clinging to the
rocky sides of the Mount of Offense. In the hill are natural and
artificial caves, used in former times for sepulchres, but now
inhabited by 200 Troglodytes, who dwell in poverty, filth, and crime.
As a befitting background to such homes of woe, the Hill of Scandal
rises up behind them. It is long and high, rocky and barren. On its
summit Solomon reared altars to Chemosh and Moloch, and burnt
incense and offered sacrifices to strange gods.146 From an offense so
abominable the hill takes its name. Unable to express their
detestation for the idolatrous acts here performed, topographers call
it “Mount of Corruption,” “Mount of Offense,” and “Hill of Scandal;”
and, as if to typify the moral desolation of that great man’s heart,
Nature has planted neither shrub, nor flower, nor grass thereon, but
on all its sides, and over all its summit, her sterile hand has
scattered fragments of flint.

Directly opposite the village of Siloam is the famous Fountain of

the Virgin, situated at the base of Mount Ophel. It derives its name
from the monkish legend that here the mother of Jesus was
accustomed to wash her linen. The Turks, however, call it the
“Fountain of the Dragon,” from the superstition that, as it is a
remitting fountain, a dragon lives within it, who stops the water
when awake, but when he sleeps the water flows. The reservoir is a
tunnel-like cavern, twenty-five feet deep, excavated in the southern
side of Ophel. Sixteen steps lead down to a platform twelve feet
wide, over which a chamber has been built of old stones ten feet
high and eighteen long. From this platform there is a flight of
fourteen steps, from beneath the lowest of which the water issues,
which, after rising to the height of three feet, flows over a pebbled
bed, and, passing through a channel, mingles with the waters of
Siloam. Penetrating the mountain, this winding channel is two feet
wide, from four to twenty high, and more than 1750 long.

FOUNTAIN OF THE VIRGIN.

The source of this fountain is unknown. Though subterranean

water-courses, which penetrate Zion, Ophel, and Moriah, have been
explored, yet it has never been ascertained whether the water flows
from a fountain beneath the Temple area, or from some great
central reservoir in the heart of one of the hills, from which are
supplied, by lateral conduits, the numerous wells, cisterns, and
fountains that here abound. For ages it has been a remitting
fountain, flowing at intervals two or three times a day, and
suggesting to the mind of some that this is the Pool of Bethesda. Its
location, however, is more in harmony with Nehemiah’s description
of the King’s Pool.147 For centuries the taste of the water varied at
different seasons of the year, being at intervals sweet, bitter,
brackish, and tasteless, which arises from the mineral and vegetable
substances through which it flows, or from the waters of the bath,
coming down from above and mingling with that of the fountain.
 Winding round the foot of Ophel, we entered the delightful
gardens of Siloam, called in Scripture the “King’s Dale.”148 They
extend from Kefr Silwân to the Pool of En-Rogel, and cover an area a
mile in length and 150 yards in breadth. Unequaled in fertility, these
gardens surpass in beauty any other spot in the environs of
Jerusalem. Irrigated by rills from the neighboring fountains, they
yield abundantly the most delicious figs, almonds, and olives,
together with many varieties of Syrian vegetables. Rented by many
tenants, the land is divided into small plots; and when viewed from
an adjacent hill-side, where is seen to best advantage the deep
green of the herbs, the maroon color of the soil, and the bright hues
of the flowers, it has the appearance of an elegant carpet.

As in happier days, so it is still the scene of festivity and delight.

Here children frolic in all the freedom of Arab life, and here the
veiled beauties of the city recline in sweet repose beneath the shade
of fruit-trees. On the green slopes of Ophel a group of Jewish
maidens were dancing to the sound of the timbrel and song. It was
a bridal party celebrating the nuptials of a happy couple on their
ancient hills, and in the golden light of their ancestral sun. The scene
recalled the triumphal song and dance of Miriam and her women on
the shores of the Red Sea.149 One charming creature, more
beauteous than the rest, led the song and dance, while her fair and
joyous maidens responded in chorus with voice and instrument, and
followed in the merry dance. Unlike the veiled and seclusive Moslem
women, these fair daughters of Abraham were exceedingly affable,
and with open, happy faces bade us welcome to the festive scene.

Less than 500 yards from the Fountain of the Virgin, the Tyropean
Valley descends, dividing Mount Zion from Mount Ophel, and
intersecting the Vale of the Kidron. Its mouth is fifty feet higher than
the bed of the latter, and is reached by verdant terraces. Two
hundred and fifty feet up the valley, and situated in a nook in the
mountain, is the Pool of Siloam. The water flows from Mary’s
Fountain, through an irregular and semicircular stone conduit,
conducting it into a rectangular reservoir fifty feet long, fifteen
broad, and nineteen deep. The pool is constructed of masonry, now
green with the moss of ages. In the southwest corner a flight of
stone steps leads to the edge of the water. Though the western side
is much broken, yet time has dealt more gently with the opposite
portion, in which are six marble columns half imbedded in the wall,
apparently designed to support an arch or roof over the fountain. In
the centre of the pool is “a nameless column, with a buried base.” In
the northeast end a flight of steps leads down to a vaulted chamber
excavated in the rock, where the water is gathered, flowing in from
the Virgin’s Fountain. From this reservoir it flows beneath the steps
into the pool, where, having accumulated to the depth of three feet,
it falls through an aperture into a subterranean aqueduct,
conducting it to the gardens of Siloam below.

POOL OF SILOAM.

With unusual accuracy the inspired writers refer to this celebrated

pool, leaving us without doubt as to its location and identity. By a
bold metonymy, Isaiah substitutes the “waters of Shiloah that go
softly” for Jehovah, and the waters of the Euphrates for Rezin and
Remaliah’s son, reminding the Jews, as they had rejected the former,
that those of the latter should overflow their land.150 Referring to
repairs made by Shallun, the son of Col-hozeh, Nehemiah speaks of
the rebuilding of the “wall of the pool of Siloah by the king’s
gardens;”151 and hither Jesus sent the blind man to “wash in the
pool of Siloam.”152

Some suppose this to be the Bethesda of the New Testament, and

there are many circumstances favoring the supposition.153 Owing to
the difficulty of the descent, the impotent man could have justly
said, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into
the pool.” It is certainly the fountain to which the Savior sent the
blind man, intimating thereby that here the infirm were gathered;
and, in view of its natural scenery, it is a beautiful place for an angel
to come.

A few feet to the south are the remains of a larger reservoir,

separated from Siloam by an embankment, and bounded on the
south by a causeway extending across the mouth of the Tyropean
Valley. It is now dry, and used as a garden. On the causeway stands
an aged mulberry-tree, marking the traditional spot where Isaiah
was sawn asunder by order of King Manasseh. Its trunk is gnarled,
bent, and hollow, and supported by a circular wall of loose stones.
As if tenacious to perpetuate the memory of the greatest of
prophets, new limbs have grown from those which are nearly
decayed. Here, on a mound of unhewn stones, the villagers of Kefr
Silwân hold their court, which in derision the Franks call “Congress
Hall.” The court was not in session when we were there, but the
judges, old, ragged, and filthy, were wrapped in their coarse
garments, sleeping beneath the prophetic tree. In plucking a leaf
from this ancient shade, I unfortunately stumbled over one of them,
extorting a most uncourtly grunt. Asking his pardon as my only
reparation, I hastily retreated, leaving him and his companions to
their slumbers.

From this artificial mound the path winds round the base of Mount
Zion, and, after rapidly descending into the valley, terminates at the
Fountain of En-Rogel. This fountain is situated at the junction of the
Kidron Valley and the Vale of Hinnom, and is the oldest and largest
one in the environs of Jerusalem. Quadrilateral in form, and
constructed of large hewn stones, it is 125 feet deep, and is inclosed
with a small rude well-house, around which are several watering-
troughs. Though the usual depth of the water is fifty feet, yet in the
rainy season the fountain overflows. Its source is unknown. It is the
favorite well with the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thousands of
gallons of its sweet waters are daily carried into the city in goatskins
on the backs of donkeys.

By the Arabs it is called the “Well of Job;” by the Franks, the “Well
of Nehemiah;” but in Scripture it is known as the “Waters of En-
Rogel.”154 Neither history nor tradition gives a reason for calling it
after the illustrious sufferer of Uz. Job may be a corruption of Joab,
the famous warrior, who, with others, here conspired against the
king, and the well may have been so named from this circumstance.
According to the apocryphal book of the Maccabees it is called after
Nehemiah, as here he found the holy fire, which the priests had
secreted prior to their captivity in Persia.155 In partitioning the land
into tribal possessions, Joshua fixed the boundary-line between
Judah and Benjamin at this fountain, and called it En-Rogel, or the
“Fullers’ Well”—the place where fullers were accustomed to tread
their clothes.156

During Absalom’s rebellion it was around this fountain that

Jonathan and Ahimaaz secreted themselves, waiting instruction from
Hushai, which was brought to them by a “wench;”157 and years
after, when the venerable David was sinking into the grave, his
ungrateful son Adonijah conspired against the youthful Solomon, and
was proclaimed king “by the stone Zoheleth, which is by En-
Rogel.”158

At this well the Valley of the Kidron and the Vale of Hinnom form a
conjunction, after which the valley passes between the Hill of Evil
Council on the west and the Mount of Offense on the east, pursuing
its course through the wilderness of Judea to Mâr Sâba, where it
takes the name of Wady en-Nâr, and thence continues
southeastward to the Dead Sea. From En-Rogel the Valley of Hinnom
runs due west for half a mile, when, turning abruptly northward, it
extends as far as the Yâffa Gate, from which point it gently inclines
westward to the Upper Pool of Gihon.

The generic name of this deep winding gorge is “The Valley of the
Son of Hinnom,” so designated by Joshua as bounding Jerusalem on
the south.159 Who Hinnom was, or why this valley bears his name,
are facts on which sacred and profane historians are silent. He is,
however, one of those men who have left to posterity a name
without a biography.

Historically this vale is divided into two sections. From En-Rogel to

the southwestern spur of Mount Zion it is known in Scripture as
Tophet—meaning “tabret-drum”—from the custom of beating drums
to drown the cries of those children which were here burnt in
sacrifice to Moloch. Here, in this deep retired glen, stood the brazen
image of the idol of Ammon, with the body of a man and the head
of an ox. Within the statue was a large furnace, into which, at the
appointed time, and amid the wild shouts of the multitude and the
beating of drums, the tender victims were thrown. First placed on
the burning arms and legs of the idol, they were then caused to fall
into the devouring fires within. Significantly does the name of this
monster imply “Horrid King,” as here, at his shrine, were practiced
the most revolting rites ever witnessed under the sun. It is to such
scenes Jeremiah refers in his denunciation of the children of Judah:
“They have built the high places of Tophet, which are in the Valley of
the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire,
which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.”160
Revolting at such a sight, Jehovah sends the same prophet to curse
the ground for man’s sake: “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the Valley of the
Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they shall bury in
Tophet till there be no place.”161 In less than fourteen years from the
announcement of these fearful words the valley was defiled by King
Josiah, who filled it with the bones of the dead, and thereby
rendered it ceremonially unclean, so that no Jew could enter it.162
But a more terrible doom awaited it, and a more literal fulfillment of
prophecy was to take place. Here, where the shrine of Moloch had
stood, the last struggle between the Jews and the Romans
occurred,163 and from the carnage of that bloody scene the vale
received the name of “The Valley of Slaughter.” The dead were here
interred till there was no room to bury others, and the historian
verifies prophecy by this ghastly picture: “Manneus, the son of
Lazarus, came running to Titus at this very time, and told him that
there had been carried out through that one gate no fewer than
115,880 dead bodies, in the interval between the fourteenth day of
the month Xanthicus, when the Romans pitched their camp by the
city, and the first day of the month Panemus. This was itself a
prodigious multitude; and though this man was not himself set as a
governor at that gate, yet was he appointed to pay the public
stipend for carrying these bodies out, and so was obliged of
necessity to number them, while the rest were buried by their
relatives; though all their burial was this, to bring them away and
cast them out of the city. After this man there ran away to Titus
many of the eminent citizens, and told him the entire number of the
poor that were dead, and that no fewer than 600,000 were thrown
out of the gates, though still the number of the rest could not be
discovered.”164

It was in view of the detestable custom of burning human beings

to Moloch in this valley, together with the perpetual fire kept burning
to consume the filth from the city thrown here, that the latter Jews
regarded it a fit emblem of hell, and applied the Greek name of the
valley—Gehenna—to the place of future torments. The receptacle of
the dead carcasses of beasts and of refuse matter, both animal and
vegetable, here the worm sought its food, which, together with the
perpetual fires of the vale, suggested to the Savior’s mind those
solemn words, “Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not
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