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JERUSALEM. 



JERUSALEM. 



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Offence, on which Solomon erected altars for idolatrous worship ; and 

 in the southern valley, between the mounts • of Offence and Evil 

 Council, is a deep well, called the Well of Nehemiah, or Job, and 

 supposed to be identical with Enrogel, or the Well of the Spies, 

 situated on the border of Judah and Benjamin. (Josh. xv. 7.) There 

 is scarcely any incident mentioned in Scripture, as connected with 

 Jerusalem and its neighbourhood, of which the site is not pointed out. 

 " The houses," says Chateaubriand, " are massive squares, very low, 

 without chimneys or windows ; they terminate in flat terraces or in 

 domes, and have all the appearance of prisons or sepulchres. The 

 whole would present a perfect level to the eye, were it not for the 

 belfries of the churches and the minarets of the mosques." The 

 streets, narrow, unpaved, and gloomy, rise and fall with the inequalities 

 of the site. In the dark vaulted bazaars are a few miserable shops. 



The Moslems have appropriated the site of Solomon's Temple to 

 their own worship. The renowned mosque built by the Khalif Omar 

 is an octangular structure surmounted by a dome, and stands upou 

 an elevated platform paved with polished marble. This is in the 

 midst of a grand quadrangle called Haram-es-Sherif, or the Noble 

 Sanctuary (1489 feet by 995 feet), which contains at its southern 

 extremity another mosque, that of ElAksa, which was originally a 

 Christian ch\irch built by Justinian. The site of the ancient Acro- 

 polis, originally called Baris, but after its enlargement and embellish- 

 ment by Herod the Great, Antonia, stood in the north-west angle of 

 the Temple inclosure. It was at once a castle and a palace ; a defence 

 to the Temple, as the Temple was to the city itself. This building 

 was the official residence of the Roman procurator of Judaea and his 

 guards ; and its site is now occupied by the Seraiyah, which comprises 

 the official residence of the Turkish pasha who governs Jerusalem 

 and the quarters of the garrison. But to the thousands of Christian 

 pilgrims who yearly visit Jerusalem the great object of interest is the 

 church that contains the sepulchre of Christ, to redeem which from 

 infidel hands was the object of the Crusades. This church was one 

 of the numerous foundations of the empress Helena. As a whole 

 this extensive structure takes a prolonged oblong figure, with irregular 

 extensions in particular parts for the sake of comprehending the 

 various spots connected with the death and burial of Christ ; for this 

 church is not only supposed to contain the sepulchre, but the scene 

 of the Crucifixion. Among other noteworthy objects are the monas- 

 teries of the several Catholic communities, the Greek convent of 

 St Constontine near the Holy Sepulchre, and the Armenian convent of 

 St James, on the highest point of Mount Sion ; and the colleges or 

 hospitals of the Moslems in the vicinity of the mosques. The other 

 public buildings of Jerusalem are not of much importance. 



Jerusalem is in shape an irregular square ; it is surrounded by a 

 high embattled wall, built of cut-stone by the Sultan Suliman in 1542, 

 and has four gates facing the cardinal points— the Jaffa Gate on the 

 west, the Damascus Gate on the north, St Stephen's or St Mary's 

 (Bab-Sitti-Miriam) Gate on the east, and Sion Gate on the south. A 

 line drawn from the Damascus to the Sion Gate, and another drawn 

 from the Jaffa Gate to the southern part of the Haram-es-Sherif, 

 would divide the city into the four quarters by which it is usually dis- 

 tinguished. These are — the Christian quarter to the north-west ; the 

 Armenian quarter to the south-west ; the Jewish quarter to the 

 south-east ; and the Moslem quarter, comprising all the rest of the 

 city, west and north of the Temple inclosure. The city is about 

 2} miles in circumference. The fixed population of the city has been 

 variously estimated, some accounts stating it at 30,000, others at 

 10,000. About one-half of the population are Moslems, the other half 

 are Christians and Jews in about equal numbers. The number of 

 Chrii«tian pilgrims amounts to a few Uiousands. 



Melchizedek, king of Salem, came forth to meet Abraham when he 

 returned from the slaughter of the kings ; and this Salem has been 

 identified with Jerusalem, as before stated, and as demonstrated in 

 an able article in the 'Christian Remembrancer' for October, 1849. 

 When the Israelites entered Canaan they found the place in the 

 occupation of the Jebusites. The lower city was taken and burnt by 

 the children of Judah (Judges, i. 8) ; but the Jebusites had so strongly 

 fortified themselves in the upper city, on Mount Zion, that they 

 niaiutained themselves in possession of it till the time of David. 

 That monarch expelled the Jebusites frorq Moimt Zion, and made 

 Jerusalem the metropolis of his kingdom, B.C. 1049. His son Solomon 

 built the temple on Mount Moriah, and further embellished the city 

 with palaces and public buildings, Jerusalem was sacked by the 

 Philistines and Arabs in the reign of Jehoram, about B.c. 884, and 

 subsequently by the Israelites about B.C. 808. When invested by the 

 armies of Sennacherib, who encamped on the hill of Bezetha, after- 

 wards the site of the new city, it was miraculously delivered B.c. 713. 

 (2 Chron., xxii. 21.) From the carrying away of Manasseh to Babylon, 

 it is probable that the Chaldicans captured Jerusalem about B.C. 650. 

 It was taken by Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, B.C. 600, after the 

 battle of Megiddo, corrupted into Magdolum by Herodotus (ii. 159). 

 The Egyptians held it two years ; it then passed with the whole 

 country under the sway of the Chaldscans, and Jehoiakim was carried 

 away to Babylon. Restored, he tried to regain his independence, 

 iind lost his life. Three months after the accession of his son, 

 Nebuchadnezzar again took the city (B.C. 698), and carried the king, 

 royal family, and principal officers captives to Babylon. The revolt 



of Zedekiah, appointed to the nominal dignity of king, brought 

 Nebuchadnezzar a third time against the city, B.C. 587, when the 

 Temple and all the buildings of Jerusalem were destroyed by fire, 

 and the walls levelled to the ground. The first decree of Cyrus 

 in favour of the Jews dates in B.C. 538 ; the decree contemplates the 

 restoration of the Temple, which however was vexatiously delayed 

 for about 120 years. The rebuilding of the city went on still mora 

 slowly, and it wafi not till B.C. 385 that the city and its walls were 

 completely restored. The city came (B.C. 332) under the power of 

 Alexander the Great, who, according to Josephus, visited Jerusalem 

 after the capture of Gaza. After Alexander's death the city and the 

 whole of Judaea fell successively under the Ptolemies of Egypt and the 

 Seleucida) of Syria, who conferred many favours on Jerusalem and 

 the Jews. The city for a long period enjoyed peace and pro.sperity 

 under these princes, until its internal dissensions subjected it to 

 Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 175, through whose tyranny the Temple was 

 stripped of its costly vessels, the city walls demoli.shed, and an idol- 

 altar erected in the Holy of Holies, whereon swine were offered in 

 daily sacrifice. The Jews were maB.?acred not only in Jenisalem but in 

 many parts of Judaea, and the most strenuous measures were taken to 

 extirpate the Jewish religion and to establish Greek paganism in its 

 stead. An insurrection headed by Mntathias and his five sons followed, 

 and resulted in a national revolution which secured for the Jews a greater 

 amount of independence than they had enjoyed since the captivity. 

 This state of things continued under the Maccabees until the conquest 

 of the country by the Romans with one short interval, about B.C. 135, 

 when the city in the reign of John Hyrcanus was taken by Antiochus 

 Sidetes, and the walls which had been restored by Judas Maccaboeus 

 were again demolished. Pompey captured Jerusalem B.O. 63, and 

 levelled part of the fortifications. Crassus on his way to Parthia 

 plundered the Temple, B.C. 54. The Parthians, who had been called 

 in by Antigonus to aid him against Herod, son of Antipater, sacked 

 Jerusalem B.C. 40. Herod, who had been apiiointed king by the 

 senate, gained possession of his capital only after a long siege in which 

 he was assisted by Roman soldiers. He built the fortress Antonia, 

 which was so named in honour of his patron Mark Antony, and 

 restored the Temple, but erected a theatre and circus, and instituted 

 games in honour of the emperor, after the usual pagan fashion. On the 

 death of Herod and the banishment of his son Archelaus, Judaea became 

 a Roman province within the prefecture of Syria, and was governed 

 by a subordinate officer called procurator, who however was invested 

 with the power of life and death. Coponius was the first procurator, 

 A.D. 7. Pontius Pilate, who was procurator (a.d. 26-36), and under 

 whom the Jews crucified the Saviour of mankind on the hill of 

 Calvary, which is now inclosed with the church of the Holy Sepulchre 

 in the Christian quarter of the city, seized the sacred Corban, and 

 constructed the aqueduct still existing, which crosses the valley of 

 Hinnom on nine arches to the north of the Birket-es-Sultan, and con- 

 veys water from Etham, or the Pools of Solomon, two miles south of 

 Bethlehem, to the great mosque. In A.n. 70 occurred the terrible 

 siege and destruction of the city by the Roman army under Titus; 

 the siege occupied 100,000 men from the 14th of April till the 8th of 

 September, as the three walls, the fortress Antonia, and the Temple 

 had to be taken in detail, so that the operation involved five distinct 

 sieges. By force or fire the whole city was utterly demolished with 

 the exception of the palace of Herod, which with its gardens occupied 

 the north-western angle of Mount Sion, and the three adjacent towers 

 of Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne, which stood on the northern 

 wall of the upper city to the north of the palace. These buildings 

 were spared to serve as barracks for a Roman legion which was left 

 to crush any fresh insurrection of the Jews who soon returned to 

 occupy the ruins. Sixty years after its destruction the site was visited • 

 by Hadrian (A.D. 130), who conceived the idea of rebuilding it; and 

 this idea he carried out, though thwarted for some time by insurrec- 

 tionary outbreaks. Palaces, a theatre, temples, and other public 

 buildings required for a Roman population, were erected. A temple 

 built to Jupiter Capitolinus occupied the once sacred inclosure on 

 Mount Moriah, and over the site of the Holy Sepulchre rose a tetrastyle 

 fane in honour of Venus. From the new city, which was styled M\m 

 Capitolina, part of Mount Sion was excluded as at present. Under 

 Constantine the city, which had already been a place of pilgrimage for 

 Christians, recovered its former name ; and the empress Helena added 

 new attractions to it by the erection of churches, and by the 

 designation of other sacred sites. The church of the Holy Sepulchre 

 was dedicated A.D. 336. The pagans again became interested in 

 Jerufalem under the apostate Julian, who pennitted the Jews to 

 rebuild the temple : the defeat of their attempt is related by 

 Ammianus Marcellinus (xxiii. 1.). The city was still further embel- 

 lished with churches and hospitals by Justinian. In a.d. 614 the 

 churches and all the sacred places of the city were desolated by the 

 Persians under Chosroes and by the Jews, who to the number of 

 26,000 accompanied him from Galilee to gratify their hereditary hatred 

 against the Christians, of whom they massacred 90,000 of all ages and 

 of both sexes. The churches were soou after restored by Modostus. 

 Heraclius visited Jerusalem in a.d. 629. In a.d. 634, aft«r an invest- 

 ment of four months, the city capitulated to the Khalif Omar ; and 

 with the exception of a short intoi-val, to be noticed presently, Jeru- 

 salem has since remained in the bands of the followers of Mohammed. 



