Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/635

 JERUSALEM 615 tiooes surpassing in size those of any other an- cient temple. The whole structure was of white marble, the roofs lavishly adorned with gold, and the high and massive walls of the en- closure made it the stronghold of the Jews during the siege hy Titus. The hill is now covered with greensward, and planted sparing- ly with olives, cypresses, and other trees, and is the most beautiful feature in the city. About the middle of this enclosure is a large and nearly rectangular platform, about 10 ft. high, 500 ft. long, and from 460 to 500 ft. in width. On this platform stands the grand mosque, Kublet es-Sakhra, " Dome of the Rock." The building is an octagon, each side of which measures 67 ft. It is surmounted by a light and graceful dome, terminated by a tall crescent. Its exterior walls are covered with tiles of white, blue, and yellow glazed porce- lain, with intricate arabesque patterns and in- scriptions. The lower parts of the walls are further decorated with slabs of marble, few corresponding to each other ; they are said to have been taken from the ruins. Four doors, facing the cardinal points, lead to the interior, which is about 150 ft. in diameter. A corridor 13 ft. wide runs round, having on its inner side 8 piers and 16 marble and granite Corinthian columns; the columns do not appear to oc- cupy their proper places, and the Arabs say that they were lying about among the ruins when the mosque was built. 'Within these is another corridor 30 ft. wide, with 12 larger columns and 4 great piers, which together support the dome. Under this dome is the rock, which varies in height from one foot to five feet from the surface. Under the rock is a cave, partly excavated, which is entered on the southeast by a flight of stairs. Here are pointed out the altars of Solomon, David, Abraham, and St. George. In the centre of this chamber is a circular slab of marble, which on being stamped upon gives a hollow sound ; the Mohammedans call this the " well of souls," and believe that the souls of believers descend there after death. The legend is that Moham- med, in his midnight visit to heaven, first alighted on this rock, from which he continued his journey, whereupon the rock raised itself to follow, but was prevented by the angel Ga- briel ; it therefore remained suspended in the air. About 450 ft. S. from the Sakhra, in the S. W. part of the enclosure, is the mosqne Aksa (end or extremity, used figuratively, as akasi el-ard, "the ends of the earth "). Its form is that of a basilica of seven aisles ; it is 272 ft. long by 184 ft. wide ; in front there is a porch 20 ft. wide. The piers and columns in the in- terior are inferior to those in the Sakhra. At the S. end is a Saracenic dome similar to the Kubbet es-Sakhra, but much smaller. To the left, on the east, a door leads into a smaller mosque, said to have been the only one built by Omar. In front of the Aksa is a large basin with a fountain in the middle. The water that issued here was conducted from the pools of Solomon, 6 m. S. of the city ; but the aqueduct has lately been broken by the Arabs, who supply the city with water from the well En-rogel, near the junction of the valleys of Jehoshaphat and Hinnom. The building of the two mosques, the Sakhra and Aksa, is ascribed to Abdelmalek in 686 ; but some writers say that the emperor Justinian built the Aksa, then the church of St. Mary. Between this place and the E. wall are extensive subterranean cellars, called the stables of Solomon, nearly 200 ft. long and 100 ft. wide, supported by col- umns about 25 ft. high. In the centre of the E. wall is the Poi-ta Aurea, a double gateway (lab ed-Dahariyeh, the Eternal gate), a magnifi- cent portal with finely sculptured arches, which have been sadly defaced by travellers since the mosque was opened to Christians. When the crusaders held the city, a procession of Chris- tians bearing palms entered by this gate on every Palm Sunday. The whole enclosure, in- cluding the mosques, is called Haram esh- Sherif. In this enclosure are immense tanks, calculated to hold nearly 8,000,000 gallons of water, which, together with the supply from the Virgin's fountain and the cisterns in the houses, would last during a protracted siege. The actual spot where the temple stood has not yet been ascertained. The Porte, although it has granted the English engineers permission to excavate around the city and in parts of it where no injury will be done to the dwell- ings, has not been able to overcome the super- stition and fanaticism of the natives so far as to allow them to dig within the precincts of the. Haram. On the S. W. side of the Haram a portion of the temple wall is still standing, known as the Jewish wailing place ; in this wall are five courses of large bevelled stones in a very good state of preservation. Here the Jews assemble every Friday to lament the woes of their country. The pool of Bethesda (now Birket Israit), N. of the Haram, near St. Ste- phen's gate, is a reservoir about 360 ft. long, 130 ft. broad, and 75 ft. deep. The church of the Holy Sepulchre is situated almost in the heart of the N. part of the city, where the empress Helena is said to have discovered the true cross. (See CROSS, vol. v., p. 513.) Con- cerning the authenticity of the sacred places a great deal of controversy has existed and is still kept up. Dr. Robinson, in his " Biblical Researches," arrives at the conclusion "that the genuineness of the present site of the holy sepulchre is supported neither by well authen- ticated historical facts, nor by prior tradition, nor by archaeological features." His main ar- gument to this effect attempts to show by the topography of Jerusalem that the present lo- cality of the sepulchre was within the walls of the city at the time of the crucifixion, and con- sequently could not be near the place where Christ was crucified, which is stated in the Gospel to have been without the gates. Most Protestant and a few Catholic investigators agree substantially with Dr. Robinson ; while