JERUSALEM. ■ 
file prophecy, was cc at the descent of the Mount of Olives” al¬ 
though iu such a skuation that 16 he hcheldthe city , and wept 
over it.” Whether the tenth legion of the Rom^i army was 
stationed upon the summit or side of the mountain, cannot now 
be ascertained; neither is the circumstance worth a momentV 
consideration. We found, upon the top, the remains of several 
works, whose history is lost. Among these, were certain sub¬ 
terraneous chambers, of a different nature from any of the- 
cryptae we had before seen. One of them had the shape of a cone> 
of immense size; the vertex alone appearing level with the 
soil, and exhibiting, by its section at the top, a small circular 
aperture: the sides, extending below to a great depth, were 
lined with a hard red stucco, like the substance covering the 
walls of the subterraneous galleries which we found iu the sandy 
isle of Abotikir, upon the coast of Egypt. This extraordinary 
piece of antiquity, which, from its conical form, may be called 
a subterraneous pyramid, is upon the very pinnacle of the 
mountain. It might easily escape observation, although it is 
of such considerable size ; and perhaps this is the reason why 
it has not been noticed by preceding travellers.^ We could 
not find any appearance of an entrance, except by the circu¬ 
lar aperture, which is not unlike the mouth of a well, level with 
the surface of the mountain. This crypt has not the smallest 
resemblance to any place of Christian use or worship. Its 
situation upon the pinnacle of a mountain rather denotes the 
work of Pagans, whose sacrilegious rites upon “ ike high places” 
are so often alluded to in Jewish history. Perhaps some light 
may be thrown upon its history by the observations of Adri- 
chomius,! who speaks of the fane constructed by Solomon, up¬ 
on the top of the Mount of Olives, for the worship of Astaroth, 
the idol of the Sidoriians4 The Venus of Paphos was repre¬ 
sented by a symbol which had the peculiar form of this crypt ; 
that is to say, a cone ; but the Phoenician Astaroth, and the 
All hope of mtelligence from the monks of Jerusalem concerning antiquities not 
included in their catalogue of “ local sanctities,” (or “ stations,” as they sometime?, 
Called them,) is quite forlorn. The very search after Heathen antiquities is by th^hi 
deemed heretical and profane. Vid. Quaresmius “ de externa profona, sed detes- 
tabili ac vitiosa peregrinatione,” apudEIuc. T. S. lib. iii. c. 34. Antv. 1639. 
t DeLoc. extra Urb. 192. apud Theat. T S-P- 170. Colon. 1628. 
X The three points,-or summits, of the Mount of Olives, whereof the centre, be¬ 
ing the highest, was set apart for the worship of Astaroth, are thus described as hav¬ 
ing been polluted by Heathen abominations; “ And the high places that were before 
Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, (i. e. Mount of 
Olives') which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth, the abomina¬ 
tion of the Sidonians ; and for Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites; and for 
Milcom, the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.'’ 2 iEtegs*:- 
13- > 
