Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/172

 154 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.ea. and friend of David ; whose olive and cypress groves and waving- corn may have been round about him, whilst the steep sides were partly filled and gradually built over. 1 Contemplation of the Englishplans, ele- vations, sections, etc., reveal the fact that before the plateau could assume its pre- sent conformation, a complete change must have taken place ; and that this was brought about by structures erected at various times that were of far greater im- portance than those whose experience did not extend to an underground Jerusa- lem could well ima- gine. Hence it was that even De Vogué did not apprehend everything, despite the scrupulous and minute care with which he examined the surface of the forming a complete Fig. 109. -Lie of Rock and structures on the Haram. p. 298. Recovery, haram, the cisterns, aqueducts, and drains, network under the superficial ground. 2 1 It is formally stated that Solomon began to build the house of the Lord on Mount Moriah, on the threshing-floor of Araunah (2 Chron.. iii. 1). That the threshing-floor stood on the hill may be inferred from the biblical narrative : for "the angel of the Lord stood between the earth and the heaven " (C/iron. xxi. 16). Now, the position of the angel is perfectly intelligible, if we suppose him to stand a few feet below the ridge. Threshing-floors, both in Palestine and Greece, are usually placed on mounds or on flat portions of the ridge, that they may catch every breath of wind, by means of which the corn is separated from the chaff.
 * De Vogué, Le Temple, chap. i. (Description Générale du Haram-esh-Chérif).