478 Proceedings o f the Royal Society 
south. The north face of the scarped block rises above an artificial 
trench, 50 feet deep and 140 feet wide, separating the Haram enclo- 
sure from the hill to the north. 
The existence of a great viaduct at the south-west angle (identified 
with a bridge mentioned by Josephus) has already been mentioned. 
At the south-east angle, Colonel Warren made two further discoveries, 
both of which are of the highest value. 
The great rampart wall here rises 160 feet from the rock founda- 
tion, of which height, however, only the upper half is at present 
visible above the surface. The ancient masonry is here found ex- 
tending from the foundation almost to the top of the wall, and 
Colonel Warren found on the six lowest courses Phoenician letters, 
painted with a red pigment, which appear to have been intended to 
denote by a letter or numeral the course for which each stone was 
designed, beginning with the foundation course. 
The secondhand yet more important, discovery made by Colonel 
Warren at this point was that of a great rampart wall extending 
southwards from the Temple wall at the south-east corner. The 
two walls abut together with a straight joint, which extends from 
top to bottom without any bonding stones, indicating that they were 
probably built at different periods. The newly discovered wall was 
traced southwards for nearly 800 feet, and although it is nowhere 
visible above the surface, was found to be standing beneath the 
rubbish to a total height of about 70 feet. A great projecting 
tower was explored along the course of this wall, 400 feet south- 
west of the Haram corner, and there can be no reasonable ground 
for doubting that Colonel Warren was right in identifying this 
magnificent fortification with the city wall which Josephus mentions 
as protecting Ophel, while the great projecting tower answers in 
position to the “ tower that lieth out ” mentioned in the Book of 
Nehemiah also in connection with the Ophel wall. 
The masonry of which the Sanctuary walls are composed may be 
divided into three principal varieties, belonging to distinct epochs of 
the history of the structure. Pirst come the magnificent drafted 
stones, of gigantic proportions, forming the foundation of the wall 
and extending upwards generally higher than the present surface. 
It is undisputed that this masonry belongs to the period prior to 
the great destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. In the second place, 
