Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/43

 JERUSALEM. This memorable siege lias been tlioupbt wortiiy of special mention by Tacitus, and his lively abridg- ment, as it would appear, of Jose])lms's detailed narrative, mast have served to raise his country- men's ideas, both of the military prowess and of the powers of endurance of the Jews. The city was wholly demolished except the three towers Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Jlarianme, and so much of the western wall as would serve to protect the legion left there to garrison the place, and pre- vent any fresh insurrectionary movements among the Jews, who soon returned and occupied the ruins. The palace of Herod on Mount Sion was probably converted into a barrack for their accommodation, as it had been before used fur the same purpose. (^Bell. Jml. vii. 1. § 1, ii. 15. § 5, 17. $§ 8, 9.) Sixty years after its destruction, Jerusalem was visited by the emperor Hadrian, who then conceived the idea of rebuilding the city, and left his friend and kinsman Aquila there to superintend the work, A.n. 130. (Epiphanius, de Pond, et Mens. §§ 14, 15.) He had intended to colonise it witii Jlonian veterans, but his project was defeated or suspended by the outbreak of the revolt headed by Barco- chebas, his son IJufus, and his grai;dson Komulus. The insurgents first occupied the capital, and at- tempted to rebuild the Temple : they were speedily dislodged, and then held out in Bethar for nearly three years. [Betiiau.] On the suppression of the revolt, the building of the city was proceeded with, and luxurious palaces, a theatre, and temples, with other public buildings, fitted it for a Konian population. The Chronicon Alexandrinum men- tions ra duo drifiSffia Kal rh ^tarpov Kal rh TpiKO.- jxepov Koi rh TfTpavvficpov Kal Tb SicSfKanvKov rh irplv ovo/xa^6fj.fvoi> ava^aduol Kal t))i/ KoSpav. A temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, from whom the city derived its new name, occupied tlie site of the Temple, and a tetrastyle fane of Venus was raised over the site of the Holy Sepulchre. The ruined Temple and city furnished materials for these build- ings. The city was divided into .seven quarters (a^<^o5oi),each of which had its own warden (d^<^o- Sdpx'/s). Part of Slount Sion was excluded i'rom the city, as at present, and was " ploughed as a field." (^AficaJi, iii. 12 ; St. Jerome, Comment, in he; Ititierarium Hierosol. p. 592, ed. Wesseling.) The history of Aelia Capitolina has been made the subject of distinct treatises by C. E. Deyling, " Aeliae Capitolinae Origines et Historia" (appended to his father's Ohservationes Sacrae, vol. v. p. 433, &c.), and by Dr. Hunter, late Bishop of Copenhagen (translated by W. Wadden Turner, and published in Dr. Robinson's Bibliotheca Sacra, p. 393, &c.), who have collected all the scattered notices of it as a pagan city. Its coins also belong to this period, and extend from the reign of Hadrian to Severus. One of the former emperor (imp. caes. traian. iiADRiANVS. AVG., which exhibits Jupiter in a tetrastyle temple, with the legend col. ael. cap.) confirms the account of Dion Cassius (Ixix. 12), that a temple to Jupiter was erected on the site of God's temple (Eckhel, Doct. Num. Vet. pars i. torn. iii. p. 443) ; while one of Antoninus (antoninvs. avg. Pivs. p. p. TP.. p. co.s. HI., representing Venus in a similar temple, with the legend c. A. c. or col. ael. CAP.) no less distinctly confirms the Christian tra- dition that a shrine of Venus was erected over the Sepulchre of our Lord. ( Vaillant, Numismaia A erea Iiiipernt. in Col. pt. i. p. 239; Eckhel, I. c. p. 442.) Under the emperor Constantino, Jerusalem, which JERUSALEJL 27 had already become a favourite place of pilgrimage to the Christians, was furnished with new attractions by that emperor and his mother, and the erection of the JIartyry of the Resurrection inaugurated a new aera of the Holy City, which now recovered its an- cient name, after it had apparently fallen into com- plete oblivion among the government officers in Palaestine itself. (t;useb. de Mart. Palaest. cap. ii.) The erection of his church was commenced the year after the Council of Nicaea, and occupied ten years. It was dedicated on the tricennalia of the emperor, a. i>. 336. (Euseb. Vita Comtantlni, iii. 30 — 40, iv. 40 — 47.) Under the emperor Julian, the city again became an object of interest to the pagans, and the account of the defeat of Julian's attempt to rebuild the Temple is preserved by Ammianus Mar- cellinus, an unexceptional witness (xxiii 1 : all the historical notices are collected by Bishop 'Waiburton, in liis work on the subject, entitled Julian.) In 451, the see of Jerusalem was erected into a patri- archate ; and its subsequent history is chiefly occu- pied with the conflicting opinions of its incumbents on the subject of the heresies which troubled the cluu-ch at that period. In the following century (cir. 532) the emperor Justinian emulated the zeal of his predecessor Constantine by the erection of churches and hospitals at Jerusalem, a complete account of which has been left by Procopius. (/)e Aedificiis Justin ani, v. 6.) In a. d. Gl-4, the city with all its sacred places was desolated by the Persians under Chosroes II., when, according to the contemporary records, 90,000 Christians, of both sexes and of all ages, fell victims to the relentless fury of the Jews, who, to the number of 26,000, had followed the Persians from Galilee to Jerusalem to gratify their hereditary malice by the massacre of the Christians. The churches were immediately restored by Jlodestus; and the city was visited by Heraclius (a. d. 629) after his defeat of the Per- sians. Five years later (a. !>. 634) it was invested by the Saracens, and. after a defence of four months, capitulated to the khalif Omar in person; since which time it has followed the vicissitudes of the various dynasties that have swayed the destinies of Western Asia. It remains to add a few words concerning the modem city and its environs. V. The MoDEnx Cixr. EI-Kods, the modern representative of its most ancient name Kadeshah, or Cadytis, " is surrounded by a high and strong cut-stone wall, built on the solid rock, loop-holed throughout, varying from 25 to 60 feet in height, having no ditch." It was built by the sultan Suliman (a. d. 1542), as is de- clared by many inscriptions on the wall and gates. It is in circuit about 2^ miles, and has four gates facing the four cardinal points. 1. The Jafta Gate, on the west, called by the natives Bab-el-Hailil, i. e. the Hebron Gate. 2. The Damascus Gate, on the north, Bab-el- 'Amud, the Gate of the Colunm. 3. The St. Stephen's Gate, on the east, Bab-Sitti- Miryam, St. Mary's Gate. 4. The Sion Gate, on the south, Bab-en-Nebi Daud, the Gate of the Pro- phet David. A fifth gate, on the south, near the mouth of the Tyropoeon, is sometimes opened to facilitate the introduction of the water from a neigh- bouring well. A line drawn from the Jaffa Gate to the Mosk, aJong the course of the old wall, and another, cutting this at right angles, drawn from the Sion to the Damascus Gate, could divide the