Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/44

 28 JERUSALEM. city into the four quarters by which it is usually distinguished. These four quarters are: — (1) The Armenian Quarter at the SW.; (2) the Jew's Quarter at the SE., — both these being on Mount Sion ; (3) the Christian Quarter at the NW.; (4) the Mahometan Quarter, occupying the remainder of the city on the west and north of the great Haram-es-Sherif, the noble Sanctuary, which represents the ancient Temple area. The Mosk, which occupies the grandest and once most venerated spot in the world, is, in its architectural design and proportions, as it was formerly in its details, worthy of its site. It was built for Abd-el Melik Ibn-Marwan, of the house of Ommiyah, the tenth khalif. It was com- menced in A. D. 68S, and completed in three years, and when the vicissitudes it has undergone within a space of nearly 1200 years are considered, it is perhaps rather a matter of astonishment that the fabric should have been preserved so entire than that the adornment should exhibit in parts marks of ruinous decay. The Church of Justinian, — now the Mosk El- Aksa, — to the south of the same area, is also a conspicuous object in the modem city; and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with its appen- dages, occupies a considerable space to the west. The greater part of the remaining space is occupied with the Colleges or Hospitals of the Moslems, in the vicinity of the Mosks, and with the Monasteries of the several Cliristian communities, of which the Patriarchal Convent of St. Constantine, belonging to the Greeks, near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and that of the Armenians, dedicated to St. James, on the highest part of Jlount Sion, are the most considerable. The population of the modern city has been variously estimated, some accounts stating it as low as 10,000, others as high as 30,000. It may be safely assumed as about 12,000, of which num- ber nearly half arc Moslems, the other half being composed of Jews and Christiiuis in about equal proportions. It is governed by a Turkish pasha, and is held by a small garrison. Most of the Eu- ropean nations are there represented by a consul. VI. EXVIROXS. A few sites of historical interest remain to be noticed in the environs of Jerusalem : as the valleys which environ the city have been sufficiently de- scribed at the commencement of the article, the mnuntains may here demand a few words. The Scojjiis, which derived its name, as Josephus informs us, from the extensive view which it com- niauded of the surrounding country, is the high ground to the north of the city, beyond the Tombs of the Kings, 7 stadia from the city (5. J. ii. 19. § 4, v. 2. § 3), where both Cestius and Titus first iMicamped on their approach to the city Ql. cc): this range is now occupied by a village named Slu'tphat, — the Semitic equivalent to the Greek (TKOTTos. On the east of the city is the lilount of Olives, extending along the whole length of its eastern wall, conspicuous with its three summits, of which the centre is the highest, and is crowned with a pile of buildings occupying the spot where Helena, the mother of Constantine, built a Basilica in com- tiiemoration of the Ascension of our Lord. (Eu- sebius. Vita Constantini, iii. 12, Laudes, § 9.) A little below the southern summit is a remarkable gallery of sepulchral cliambers arranged in a semi- JERUSALEM, circle concentric with a circular funnel-shaped hall 24 feet in diameter, with which it is connected by three passages. They are popularly called " the Tombs of the Prophets," but no satisfactory account has been given of these extensive excavations. (Plans are given by Schultz, Krafft, and Tobler, in the works referred to below.) Dr. Schultz was in- clined to identify this with the rock -nfpiffTTipioi/, mentioned by Josephus in his account of the Wall of Circumvallation (fi. J. v. 12), which he supposes to be a translation of the Latin Columbarium. (See Diet Ant. art. Fumis. p. 561, b.) In the bed of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, im- mediately beneath the centre summit of Mount Ohvet. where the diT bed of the brook Kedron is spanned by a bridge, is the Garden of Get/isemane, with its eight venerable olive-trees protected by a stone wall; and close by is a subterrane;in church, in which is shown the reputed tomb of the Virgin, who, however, according to an ancient tradition, countenanced by the Council of Ephesus (a. d. 431 ), died and was buried in that city. (Labbe, Coticilia, torn. iii. col. 573.) A little to the south of this, still in the bed of tlie valley, are two remarkable monolithic sepul- chral monuments, ascribed to Absalom and Zechariah, exhibiting in their sculptured ornaments a mixture of Doric, Ionic, and perhaps Egyptian architecture, which may possibly indicate a change in the original design in conformity with later taste. Connected with these are two series of sepulchral chambers, one immediately behind the Pillar of Absalom, called by the n.amc of Jehoshaphat; the other between the monoliths, named the Cave of St. James, which last is a pure specimen of the Doric order. (See A General View in Uohj Cit;/, vol. ii. p. 449, and detailed plans, &c. in pp. 157, 158, with Professor Willis's description.) To the south of Mount Olivet is another rocky eminence, to which tradition has assigned the name of the Mount of Offence, as " the hill before Jeru- salem" where king Solomon erected altars for idola- trous worship (1 Kings, xi. 7). In the rocky base of this mount, overhanging the Kedron, is the rock- hewn village of Siloam, chiefly composed of sepul- chral excavations, much resembling a Columbarium, and most probably the rock Peristerium of Josephus. Immediately below this village, on the opposite side of the valley, is the inteiTnitting Fountain of the Virgin, at a considerable depth below the bed of the valley, with a descent of many steps hewn in the rock. Its supply of water is very scanty, and what is not drawn off here runs through the rocky ridge of Ophel, by an irregular passage, to the Pool of Siloam in the mouth of tlie Tyro- poeon. This pool, which is mentioned in the New Testament (5i. John, ix. 7, &c.), is now filled with earth and cultivated as a garden, a small tank with colunnis built into its side serves the purpose of a pool, and represents the "quadriporticum" of the Bordeaux Pilgrim (a. d. 333), who also mentions " Alia piscina grandis foras." This was probably identical with Hezekiah's Pool " between the two walls" (Zs. xxii. 11), as it certainly is with the " Pool of Siloah by the king's garden " in Nehemiah (iii. 15, ii. 14; comp. 2 Kings, xsv. 4. The argu- ments are fully stated in the Eoly City, vol. ii. pp. 474—480. M. de Saulcy accepts the identifi- cation.) The hi?ig's gardens are still represented in a verdant spot, where the concurrence of the three valleys, Hinnom, Jehoshaphat, and Tyropoeou