Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 2 (1897).djvu/595

 APPENDIX 569

been superseded by the discussion of F. Gérres in the Zeitsch. f. wiss. Theologie, xvi. 1890, p. 454 sqq. ‘‘ Ritter St. Georg in Geschichte, Legende, u. Kunst.” [There is no question that the Acta (in Act. Sanct. 23rd April) are ei ae and legendary. They are remarkable for the horrible descriptions of scenes of martyr- dom, which might serve as a text to elucidate the pictures on the walls of the curious round Church of San Stefano on the Esquiline.] Gdérres arrives at practically the same conclusion as Tillemont (Mém. eccl., v. 185-9, 658-60). AU the details of St. George’s martyrdom are uncertain ; but St. George existed and suffered as a martyr in the East in some pre-Constantinian persecution. Tillemont established the reality of St. George by the existence of his cult (he was a MeyaAsuaprvs) in the sixth century ; Gérres proves that it already existed in the fifth century. (1) The round Church of St. George at Thessalonica is not younger than the fifth century and possibly belongs to the fourth; (2) Venantius (Carm. ii. 12, p. 41, ed. M. H. G.) mentions a Gallic basilica to St. George, founded by Sidonius Apollinaris; (3) the decree of Pope Gelasius de libris non recipiendis, at end of fifth century, condemns the Acta of St. George as apocryphal, but confesses his historical existence.

The connexion of his name with a dragon-slaying legend does not relegate him to the region of myth. For over against the fabulous Christian dragon-slayer, Theodore of the Bithynian Heraclea, we can set Agapetus of Synnada and Arsacius, who though celebrated as dragon-slayers were historical persons.

Gibbon’s theory which identifies St. George with George of Cappadocia has nothing to be said for it ; but Gérres points out that it is not open to any objection on the ground that George of Cappadocia was an Arian. For there are examples of Arians admitted into the Martyrologium: he cites Agapetus of Synnada and Auxentius, afterwards bishop of Mopsuestia. (It is to be noted that one recension of the Acta 8. Georgii was edited by Arians.)

23. THE CHURCHES OF CONSTANTINE AT JERUSALEM—(P. 455)

In regard to Constantine’s Churches at Jerusalem it may be said, without

entering upon the question as to the true positions of Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre, that it is certain that these Churches—(1) the round Church of the Anastasis which contained the Sepulchre, and the (2) adjacent Basilica, dedicated to the Cross—stood on the site of the present Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Injured by the Persians (614 a.p.) they were restored some years later, and a plan of the buildings drawn up, towards the end of the seventh century, by the pilgrim Arculfus is extant, and is of great importance for the topography. Some traces of the old buildings still remain. ‘‘The relative position of the Churches is the same ; the circular Church of the Anastasis has preserved its form ; the south wall of the Basilica can be traced from ‘ Calvary’ eastward, and one of the large cisterns constructed by Constantine has been discovered” (Sir C. Wilson, in Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, new ed., 1893, p. 1654). Mr. Fergusson’s theory which identified the Church of the Resurrection with the mosque known as Kubbet-es-Sakkra, the Dome of the Rock (within the so-called ‘‘ Haram area”), is now quite exploded. _ The Dome of the Rock has its own question, but has nothing to do with Constantine. Is it of Saracenic origin dating from the end of the seventh century—built perhaps by a Greek architect? or was it originally a Christian Church, and converted into a mosque? It has been identified by Professor Sepp with a Church of St. Sophia built by Justinian. Sir C. Wilson thinks that it stands on the site of St. Sophia, which was destroyed by the Persians; ‘‘that it was rebuilt with the old material by Abdul-Melik who covered it with a dome, and that it was again repaired and redecorated by El Mamiin” (zb., p. 1657).

The adjacent mosque el-Aksa ig gr the site of the mosque of Omar. It was built by Abd al-Malik, ‘‘out of the ruins of Justinian’s Church of St. Mary” (Wilson, 7b.), which is fully described by Procopius; but there is a difference of opinion whether the Sgr was on the same site as the mosque or

VOL. II.