VIII. 
JERUSALEM. 357 
observsiiions o^^drichomius"; who speaks of the chap. 
fane constructed by Solomon upon the top of the 
Mount of Olives, for the worship oi Astaroth, the 
idol of the Sidomans\ The Fenus of Paphos was 
represented by a symbol which had the peculiar 
form of this Crypt, that is to say, a cone ; but the 
Phoenician Astaroth, and the Paphian Venus, were 
one and the same divinity. When Josias over- 
threw the Heathen idols, and cut down the 
groves*, which happened rather more than six 
centuries^ before the time of our Saviour, the 
Adi/tum, or Crypt, appropriated to the rites of 
Astaroth, remained ; for it is plainly stated in 
Scripture, that the place was not destroyed, but 
** defied,^' and made a receptacle for " the hones 
of men;' the greatest of all pollutions, as may 
be seen by reference to the history of the 
(2) De Im. extra Urh. 192, apnd Tlocat. T. S. j). 170. Colo?}. 1628. 
(3) The three points, or summits, of the Mount of Olives, whereof 
the centre, being the highest, was set apart for the worship of 
Astaroth, are thus described as having been polluted by Heathen abo- 
minations : " And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which 
were on the right hand of the Mount of Corruption, (i. e. Mount of 
Olices,) which Solomon the king oi Israel hadbuilded for Jshtoreth, the 
abomination of the. Sidonians ; and for Cheuwsh,Xh& abomination of 
the Moabites; and for Milcom, the abomination of the Children of 
Ammon, did the king defile." 2 Kings xxiii. 13. 
(4) " And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, 
&Q<1 filled their places with the bones of men." .Ibid. v. 14. , 
<5) B. C. 624. 
