Jerusalem Explored Part 58

"Accordingly, after maintaining a long contest with their spears, and receiving many wounds from their opponents, but inflicting not fewer in return, they eventually drove back the party who had surrounded them.

The Jews, however, as soon as they began to retire, pursued them as far as the monuments of Helena, annoying them with missiles." V. III. 3.

[Sidenote: t.i.tus encamps opposite the Tower of Psephinus.]

[Sidenote: Another division opposite the Tower of Hippicus, and the tenth legion upon the Mount of Olives.]

"In four days, the interval between his post and the walls having been levelled, t.i.tus, anxious to forward in safety the baggage and the followers of the army, ranged the flower of his troops opposite the wall on the northern quarter of the city, and extending towards the west, the phalanx being drawn up seven deep. The infantry were disposed in front, and the cavalry in rear, each in three ranks; the archers, who formed the seventh, being in the middle.

"The sallies of the Jews being checked by such an array, the beasts of burthen belonging to the three legions, with the camp followers, pa.s.sed on in safety. t.i.tus himself encamped about two furlongs from the ramparts, at the corner opposite the tower called Psephinus, where the circuit of the wall, in its advance along the north side, bends with a western aspect. The other division of the army was entrenched opposite to the tower named Hippicus, distant, in like manner, two furlongs from the city. The tenth legion continued to occupy its position on the Mount of Olives, as it is called." V. III. 5.

_Description of the walls of Jerusalem._

"Jerusalem, fortified by three walls--except where it was encompa.s.sed by its impa.s.sable ravines, for there it had but a single rampart--was built, the one division fronting the other, on two hills, separated by an intervening valley, at which the rows of houses terminated. Of these hills, that on which the upper town was situated is much higher and straighter in its length. Accordingly, on account of its strength, it was styled the Fortress by king David, the father of Solomon, by whom the temple was originally erected; but by us the Upper Market-place. The other, which bears the name of Acra, and supports the lower town, is of a gibbous form. Opposite to this was a third hill, naturally lower than Acra, and formerly severed from it by another broad ravine. Afterwards, however, the Asmonaeans, during their reign, filled up the ravine, with the intention of uniting the city to the temple; and, levelling the summit of Acra, they reduced its elevation, so that the temple might be conspicuous above other objects in this quarter also. The Valley of the Cheese-makers, as it was designated, which divided, as we have said, the hill of the upper town from that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam, as we call it, a fountain whose waters are at once sweet and copious. On the exterior, the two hills on which the city stood were skirted by deep ravines, so precipitous on either side that the town was nowhere accessible." V. IV. 1.

"Of the three walls, the most ancient, as well from the ravines which surrounded it, as from the hill above them on which it was erected, was almost impregnable. But, besides the advantages of its situation, it was also strongly built; David and Solomon, as well as their successors on the throne, having devoted much attention to the work.

[Sidenote: First Wall.]

"Beginning on the north at the tower called Hippicus, and extending to what was termed the Xystus, it then formed a junction with the council-house, and terminated at the western colonnade of the temple. On the other side, towards the west, beginning at the same tower, it stretched through Bethso, as it was styled, to the gate of the Essenes.

It then turned, and advanced with a southern aspect above the fountain of Siloam, whence it again inclined, facing the east, towards Solomon's reservoir, and extending to a certain spot, designated Ophla, it joined the eastern colonnade of the temple.

[Sidenote: Second Wall.]

[Sidenote: Third Wall.]

[Sidenote: King Agrippa commences the third Wall.]

"The second had its beginning at the gate which they called Gennath, belonging to the first wall. It reached to the Antonia, and encircled only the northern quarter of the town. The tower Hippicus formed the commencement of the third wall, which stretched from thence towards the northern quarter, as far as the tower Psephinus, and then pa.s.sing opposite the monuments of Helena, Queen of Adiabene, and mother of king Izates, and extending through the royal caverns, was inflected at the corner tower near to the spot known by the appellation of the Fuller's Tomb; and, connecting itself with the old wall, terminated at the valley called Kedron. This wall Agrippa had thrown round the new-built town, which was quite unprotected; for the city, overflowing with inhabitants, gradually crept beyond the ramparts; and the people, incorporating with the city the quarter north of the temple close to the hill, made a considerable advance, insomuch that a fourth hill, which is called Bezetha, was also surrounded with habitations. It lay over against the Antonia, from which it was separated by a deep fosse, purposely excavated to cut off the communication between the foundations of the Antonia and the hill, that they might be at once less easy of access and more elevated. Thus the depth of the trench materially increased the alt.i.tude of the towers.

"The quarter most recently built was called, in our language, Bezetha, which, if translated into the Greek tongue, would be Caenopolis (New-town). Those who resided there requiring defence, the father of the present sovereign, and of the same name, Agrippa, commenced the wall we have mentioned. But, apprehending that Claudius Caesar might suspect from the magnitude of the structure that he entertained some designs of innovation and insurrection, he desisted when he had merely laid the foundations. For, indeed, had he completed that wall upon the scale on which it was begun, the city would have been impregnable. It was constructed of stones twenty cubits long and ten broad, fitted into each other in such a manner that they could scarcely have been undermined with iron, or shaken by engines. The wall itself was ten cubits in breadth; and it would probably have attained a greater height than it did, had not the enterprising spirit of its founder met with a check; but, subsequently, though the work was carried on with ardour by the Jews, it only rose to the height of twenty cubits; while, crowning this, were battlements of two cubits, upon parapets of three cubits in alt.i.tude, so that it attained in its entire elevation twenty-five cubits." V. IV. 2.

[Sidenote: Description of the third Wall.]

[Sidenote: Ninety towers in the third Wall.]

"On this wall were erected towers, twenty cubits in breadth, and the same in height, square, and solid as the wall itself. In the joining and beauty of the stones, they were nowise inferior to the temple. Over the solid alt.i.tude of the towers, which was twenty cubits, were sumptuous apartments; and above these, again, upper rooms, and numerous cisterns therein to receive the rain-water, and to each room wide staircases. Of such towers the third wall had ninety, disposed at intervals of two hundred cubits.

[Sidenote: The middle Wall had fourteen towers, the ancient sixty.]

[Sidenote: The Psephinus tower.]

"The middle wall was divided into fourteen towers, and the ancient one into sixty. Of the city the entire circuit was thirty-three furlongs.

But admirable as was the third wall throughout, still more so was the tower Psephinus, which rose up at the north-west angle, and opposite to which t.i.tus encamped. Being seventy cubits high, it afforded at sunrise a prospect of Arabia, and of the limits of the Hebrew territories as far as the sea; it was octagonal in form.

[Sidenote: Hippicus.]

"Over against this was the tower Hippicus, and near to it two others, all erected by king Herod in the ancient wall, which in magnitude, beauty and strength, exceeded all that the world could produce." V. IV.

3.

[Sidenote: Hippicus' Tower.]

"Hippicus, so called from his friend, was quadrangular, its length and breadth being each twenty-five cubits, and to the height of thirty cubits it was solid throughout. Above this solid part, which was constructed of stones formed into one compact ma.s.s, was a reservoir to receive the rain, twenty cubits deep, over which was a house of two stories, twenty-five cubits high, and divided into various apartments.

Above this were battlements of two cubits in height, mounted upon parapets of three; so that the entire alt.i.tude amounted to eighty cubits.

[Sidenote: Phasaelus.]

"The second tower, which he named Phasaelus, from his brother, was of equal length and breadth, forty cubits each, and the same in solid height. Over this, and embracing the whole of the structure, was a gallery, ten cubits high, defended by breast-work and battlements....

[Sidenote: Mariamne.]

"The third tower, Mariamne--for such was the queen's name--was solid to the height of twenty cubits; its breadth, also, being twenty cubits, and its length the same." V. IV. 3.

"Of this the entire elevation was fifty-five cubits." V. IV. 3.

[Sidenote: Site of the three towers.]

"But while such was the actual magnitude of these three towers, their site added much to their apparent dimensions. For the ancient wall in which they stood was itself built on a lofty hill; and higher still rose up in front, to the height of thirty cubits, a kind of crest of the hill; on this the towers rested, and thus acquired a much greater alt.i.tude....

"To these towers, which lay northward, was attached on the inner side the royal residence, which exceeded all description....

"The conflagration began at Antonia, pa.s.sed onward to the palace, and consumed the roofs of the three towers." V. IV. 4.

[Sidenote: The Temple.]

"The temple, as I have said, was seated on a strong hill. Originally, the level s.p.a.ce on its summit scarcely sufficed for the sanctuary and the altar, the ground about being abrupt and steep. But king Solomon, who built the sanctuary, having completely walled up the eastern side, a colonnade was built upon the embankment. On the other sides, the sanctuary remained exposed. In process of time, however, as the people were constantly adding to the embankment, the hill became level and broader. They also threw down the northern wall, and enclosed as much ground as the circuit of the temple at large subsequently occupied." V.

V. 1.

[Sidenote: Circuit of the Temple six furlongs.]

"The colonnades were thirty cubits broad, and their entire circuit, including the Antonia, measured six furlongs." V. V. 2.

[Sidenote: Dimensions of the Temple.]

"Advancing within, the lower story of the sanctuary received you. This was sixty cubits in height, and the same in length, while its breadth was twenty cubits. These sixty cubits of length were again divided. The first part part.i.tioned off at forty cubits." V. V. 5.

[Sidenote: Dimensions relative to the Temple.]

"The innermost recess of the temple measured twenty cubits, and was separated in like manner from the outer by a veil. In this, nothing whatever was deposited. Unapproachable, inviolable, and to be seen by none, it was called the Holy of the Holy." V. V. 5.

[Sidenote: Position of the Antonia Tower.]

"The Antonia lay at the angle formed by two colonnades, the western and the northern, of the first court of the temple. It was built upon a rock fifty cubits high, and on every side precipitous. It was a work of king Herod, in which he particularly evinced the natural greatness of his mind. For, first, the rock was covered from the base upwards with smooth stone flags, as well for ornament, as that any one who attempted to ascend or descend might slip off. Next, and in front of the edifice itself, there was a wall of three cubits; and within this the entire s.p.a.ce occupied by the Antonia rose to an alt.i.tude of forty cubits.

[Sidenote: Citadel in the upper town. Bezetha, north of the Temple.]

"... The upper town had its own fortress--Herod's palace. The hill Bezetha was detached, as I have mentioned, from the Antonia. It was the highest of the three, and was joined on to part of the new town forming northward the only obstruction to the view of the temple." V. V. 8.