Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/199

 Materials used in the Wall of the Enclosure. 181 Herod was prevented, for reasons given in another place, to extend his building proclivities from east to west ; but he was free to do so towards the south of the sanctuary, where the soil is artificially made, and was supported by a system of arches which the English explorations have brought to light (Figs. 108 and 1 19). 1 This great canal is undoubtedly coeval with the oldest structures in Jerusalem ; shown by the two fallen voussoirs belonging to the system of monumental stones with wrought face (Fig. 107). 2 The foundation wall crossed the Tyropceon at its narrowest point (south), closing the ravine ; and would have stopped the outflowing of the rill or canal, but for connections in masonry that were raised to guard against so untoward a contingency. 3 If the acqueduct and the old bridge are prior to the captivity, the south-west wall and the upper bridge, seen in the body of the same, were certainly due to Herod. If further proof as to the date of these structures were needed, we should find it in the stately royal porch, with its three parallel walks formed by rows of single pillars running from east to west, which occupied a terrace with face to the Kedron. Nobody has ever contested their Herodian origin, nor their being coeval with the structures under notice. The wall supporting the cloisters was necessarily very high, and rebuilt from the foundations. 4 "If from the top terrace one looked down into the depths of the Kedron ravine," says Josephus, " the head swam and the eyes refused to search into the abyss below." 5 The area of Moriah had been added to on the north by the Maccabees, when they erected the Tower of Baris, providing it with courts, outbuildings, and gardens, so as to have a domestic dwelling as well. 6 Herod gave it additional strength, and its dimensions were much increased in order to give accommodation to his family. This citadel was well-nigh impregnable, and could have defied the might of Rome had not the Jews, by their mutual discords, played into the hands of the enemy. If the stones on the south front be accepted as Herodian, the same origin may be claimed for those on the north-east angle, exhibiting similar characteristics. Hence the development of the 1 Recovery of Jerusalem, loc. cit. 2 Ibid., pp. 107, no. 3 Ibid., pp. 104, 105. 4 'Ac [xXv (crroàs) âi'WKO^ôfJirjcrev ê/< 0e/*eÀ<W (Bell., I. xxi. 1). 5 Ant. J ml., V. v. 1. 6 Ibid, XV. xi. 3.