330 €LAKKE 9 S TEATi’Lg.. 
Theodora!, and even of the Itinerary from Bourdeaux to Je¬ 
rusalem,” in the middle of the fourth century. From the time 
of the emperor Adrian, when the crucifixion and burial-.of our 
Saviour was almost in the memory of man, unto the age of 
Constantine, an image of Jupiter marked the site of the Holy 
Sepulchre,* and Mount Calvary continued to be profaned by 
a statue of Verms.f This powerful record of the means used 
by the Pagans to obliterate the rites of Christianity, seems to 
afford decisive evidence concerning the locality of the Tomb, 
and to place its situation beyond the reach of doubt. Theodo- 
ret affirms, that Helena, upon her arrival, found the fane of 
Venus,^ and ordered it to be thrown down. To what then 
can be attributed the want of every document within the build¬ 
ing now called the church of the Holy Sepulchre, which might 
denote the site of such a monument? The sepulchres of the 
Jews, as has been already maintained,§ were, in the age of the 
Crucifixion, of a nature to withstand every attack of time : 
they were excavations made in the heart of solid rocks, which 
even earthquakes would scarcely remove or alter. Indeed, we 
have evidence from the Gospel itself, that earthquakes, in cer¬ 
tain instances, had no power over them; for the sepulchre of 
Joseph of Arimathea, made before the earthquake which ac¬ 
companied the crucifixion, is described,|| after that event 
had taken place, as “ his own new tomb, which he had hewn 
tiere cited, that its existence, as far back as the time of Constantine, cannot be dis¬ 
puted. See Travels in Greece , Palaestine , &c. vol. II. p. 19. Lond. 1811. 
' # Doubdan, from De Sponde, mentions the year of Adrian’s life when this happen¬ 
ed ; it was the last but one, A. D. 137. Adrian died A. D. 138. De Chateaubriand 
quotes the author of the “ Epitome of the Holy Wars” to prove that, “ forty six years 
after the destruction of Jerusalem by Vespasian and Titus, the Christians obtained 
permission of Adrian to build, or rather to rebuild, a church over the tomb of their 
God.” (Set Travels in Greece, Palaestine , &c. vol. II. p 18. Lond. 1811.) This can 
hardly be true, consistently with the facts related by Sozomen, (lib. ii. c. 2.) and by 
Jerom, (Epist. ad Paulinum) concerning the profanation of the holy places by that 
iimperor. 
t “ Ab Hadrian) temporibus, usque ad Imperium Constantini, per annos circiter 
^centum octoginta, in Loco Resurrectionis simulacrum Jo-vis, in crucis rupe statua 
sx marmore Veneris & Gentilibus posita colebatur ; existimantibus persecutionis 
auctoribus, quod tollerent nobis Sdem Resurrectionis et Crucis, si loca sancta per 
idola polluissent ” (Hieronymus Epist. ad Paulinum ; de Instit. Monac. c. 2. tom. I 
ISeealso Sozomen. Hist lib. ii. c. 1.) Sozomen relates, that the Heathens sur¬ 
rounded Mount Calvary with a wall, first covering the holy places with stones ; then 
erecting a temple of Venus ; and, lastly, placing in it the image of the goddess. Dio 
Cassius (in Vit. Hadrian.) says, that Adrian built a city upon the site of Jerusalem, 
which had been ruined, giving it the name of JElia Capitolina ; and that in the place 
where the temple of God had been, he erected one to Jupiter. 
j Theodoret, lib, i. cap. 18. Paris, 1642. This Greek Father also mentions the age 
•f Helena, at the time she visited Palaestine. The journey took place a short time 
feefore her death, when she had attained her eightieth year. Few octogenarian ladies 
exhibit equal enterprise. 
* See the observations in the last Chapter concerning the Sepulchres of Sa 
jmaria. 
jl Mattfi. xxvii 6D- M'arkv JLuke, xxiii, 53. Job©, xix. 41. 
