THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM AT VARIOUS PERIODS. 



125 



THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM AT VARIOUS PERIODS. 

 By Dr. E. W. G. Masterman. 



ri^HE site of Jerusalem is shut in by a triangle of higher hills. 

 J. On the north lies the great backbone of the Judsean range, 

 the city itself lying to the east of the water-parting. The 

 range of hills which culminates in the well-known Mount of 

 Olives, shuts in the city towards the east, and another range — 

 like the last, a southern projection of the central range — encloses 

 the city to the west and south-west. The one distant outlook 

 is a narrow break between these two lateral branches, through 

 which we have a glimpse of the wilderness of Judsea and of 

 the Moab range. 



The actual site of the city is demarcated from these higher 

 ranges by two famous valleys. The eastern valley con:imences 

 at some distance to the north of the city, and after sweeping 

 south-east under the name of the Wady el Joz ("Valley of the 

 Walnuts turns south and then south-west under the modern 

 name of Wady Sitti Miriam (" the Valley of the Lady Mary "), 

 called in Bible times the Nahl Kidron. Where this valley passes 

 the eastern walls of the city it is a deep gorge ; near its deepest 

 part rises the one true spring of the city, Ain umm ed Deraj, known 

 in the Bible as Gihon. South of the city this valley joins the 

 western valley to form the Wady en Nar the Valley of Fire 

 which runs a winding course, with sides of increasing precipitous- 

 ness, to empty its winter torrents into the Dead Sea. In one of 

 the wildest spots upon- its course is situated the famous Greek 

 monastery of Mar Saba. The western valley commences to the 

 west of the city, near the pool called the Birket Mamilla, and 

 after running east to near the Jaffa Gate it turns south ; on this 

 part of its course it is called the Wady el Mes, and contains the 

 great reservoir the Birket es Sultan. Below this it sweeps 

 gradually south-east under the name of the Wady er Rababi. 

 This is undoubtedly the Gai Hinnom — " the Valley of Hinnom," 

 Josh. XV, 8, etc. — also called the " Valley of the Sons of Hin- 

 nom " (2 Kings xxiii, 10). The name Gai Hinnom is the origin 

 of the name Gehenna — the type of hell — a came of evil portent 

 derived partly from the perpetual fires which once burnt here 

 to consume the city's rubbish, and even more because the 

 site was associated with the dark and idolatrous rites of those 

 who offered here their children in sacrifice to the evil Moloch 



