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DR. E. W. G. MASTERMAX. OX 



(2 Ejngs xxiii, 10). Almost everyone is familiar with these valleys 

 — the Kidron and ECinnom — but many Bible readers know little 

 of the very important valley which bisects the city's site. This 

 is known to-day as el Wad the Valley ") and is named by 

 Josephus the T}Topoean Valley, a name which he interprets as 

 the Cheesemonger's Valley," but which more probably means 

 the " Dimg " or " Sewage Valley/' as down this for long ages 

 has passed the main drainage of the city. Arising just east of 

 the JafEa Gate and running due east to join this main valley is 

 a branch which is of extreme importance in the topogi'aphy of 

 the city. It is marked to-day by the steep street known to 

 travellers as David Street," but in ancient days, when it was 

 much deeper than at present, it formed a northern defensive line 

 for the first wall of the city, which himg along its southern edge. 

 Before leaving these physical features we must briefly refer to 

 yet another valley which, beginning a little east of the site now 

 known to English travellers as " Gordon's Calvary," ran south- 

 east across the north-east corner of the modern city. Across 

 the breadth of this valley lies the Birket Israel, a deep reservoir, 

 now largely choked with rubbish, which used half a century ago 

 to be pointed out as the " Pool of Bethesda." Some have, for 

 want of a better name, called this "St. Anne's Valley," after 

 the church which lies there. It is only by getting the positions 

 of these valleys clearly fixed that anyone can intelligently under- 

 stand the position of the city's walls. 



The actual site of the city consists, then, of a tongue of land 

 sloping to the south-east, bounded east and west by the Kidron 

 and Hinnom Valleys respectively, and di\'ided longitudinally by 

 the T^Topoean into a western higher and broader hill, and an 

 eastern hill described by Josephus, not inaptly, as half-moon 

 shaped." The western hill is divided by the lateral branch of 

 the T^Topoean. just described, into a massive and lofty southern 

 hill, kno\vn since Christian times as Zion, but called by Josephus 

 the Upper Market Place or the Fortress of Da^-id, and a northern 

 part which has no definite name, except that Josephus, in 

 describing the second wall, which must have enclosed part of 

 this hill, refers to it as encompassing the " Xorthern Suburbs." 

 To-day the southern hill is largely the Armenian quarter, and 

 outside the walls contains the traditional " Tomb of Da\^d " and 

 several cemeteries ; while the northern hill is the " Christian 

 quarter," which clusters round the world-famous " Church of the 

 Holy Septdchre." 



