210 MOSQUE AT OMAR. 



of the shaft, and double that size at the top ; the figure of Trajan 

 appears at least fifty times, and the bas-relief is highly prized, as 

 indicating the actual costume, warlike instruments, pontoons, &c. of the 

 period at which the column was erected. 



MOSQUE OF OMAR AT JERUSALEM (16.) 



" When we returned to the city (Jerusalem, says Clarke, Vol. 2., p. 

 601.), we waited upon the governor to thank him for the civilities we 

 had received. Upon this occasion we used all the interest we had with 

 him, by means of Djezzar Pacha's own interpreter, to obtain admission 

 into the Mosque of the Temple of Solomon, or Mosque erected upon the 

 site of that temple by the Caliph Omar, in the seventh century (A. D. 

 637). He entreated us not to urge the request, saying his own life 

 would certainly be required as the price of our admission. We were 

 therefore compelled to rest satisfied with the interesting view it afforded 

 from his own windows, which regarded the area of the temple. The 

 sight was so grand, that we did not hesitate in pronouncing it the most 

 magnificent piece of architecture in the Turkish empire, and, considered 

 externally, far superior to the Mosque of Saint Sophia in Constantinople. 

 By the side of the spacious area in which it stands, are certain 

 vaulted remains; these plainly denote the masonry of the ancients, and 

 evidences may be adduced to prove that they belonged to the foundations 

 of Solomon's Temple. We observed also that reticulated stucco, which 

 is commonly considered as an evidence of Roman work. Phocas 

 believed the whole space surrounding this building to be the ancient 

 area of the Temple, and Golius in his notes upon the astronomy of 

 Alferganes, says, the whole foundation of the original edifice remained. 

 As to the Mosque itself, there is no building at Jerusalem that can be 

 compared with it, either in beauty or riches. The lofty Saracenic pomp, 

 so nobly displayed in the style of the building, its numerous arcades, its 

 capacious dome, with all the stately decorations of the place; its exten- 

 sive area paved and variegated with the choicest marbles, the extreme 

 neatness observed in every avenue towards it, and lastly, the sumptuous 

 costume observable in the dresses of all the Eastern devotees passing to 

 and from the sanctuary, make it altogether one of the finest sights 

 Mahometans have to boast. Its supposed height is one hundred and 

 twenty-five feet. 



