3M CLARKE 3 TRAVELS 
Faphian goddess, were one and the same divinity. When Jo- 
si as overthrew the heathen idols, and cut down the groves, 4 ' 
which happened rather more than six centuriesf before the 
time of our Saviour, the adytum, or crypt, appropriated to the 
rites of Astarotb, remained; for it is plainly stated in scripture, 
that the place was not destroyed, but “ defiled\ n and made a re¬ 
ceptacle for “ the bones of men /’ tfie greatest of all pollutions, 
as may be seen by reference to the history of the building of 
Tiberias upon the lake Gennesareth; when, on account of se¬ 
pulchres found there, it was necessary to grant extraordinary 
privileges to persons who would reside on the polluted spot.t 
To this species of pollution the crypt now described seems to 
have been condemned, from a very remote period; and it may 
be presumed, that a place which had once become an ossuary, 
or charnel house, among the Jews, would never be appropria¬ 
ted to any other use among the inhabitants of Judaea. If it be 
observed, that the painted stucco, with which the interior of 
this is coated, denotes a more recent epocha iu the history of 
the arts; then the walls of th ecryptae near the pyramids of 
Egypt, and in other parts of the east—nay, even the surface 
of the Memphian Sphinx,§ which has remained so many ages 
exposed to all attacks of the atmosphere—may be instanced, as 
still exhibiting the same sort of cement, similarly coloured, and 
equally unaltered.jj 
About forty years before the idolatrous profanation of the 
Mount of Olives by Solomon, his afflicted parent, driven from 
Jerusalem by his son Absalom, came to this eminence to pre¬ 
sent a less offensive sacrifice ; and, as it is beautifully express- 
f :)‘ And he brake in pieces the images, and eut down the groves, and Riled the;? 
places with the bones of men.” Ibid. voi. 14. 
“ 1 B. C. 624: 
\ See p. 286 of this Volume. Also Joseph! Antiquit. lib. xviii. c. 3- Colon. 1691. 
f The Author will have occasion to refer to this fact again, in the sequel. 
',j At the same time, in determining the real origin of the subterraneous conical 
■ rypt upon the summit of the Mount of Olives, the learned reader must use his own 
uidgment. For this purpose, it is necessary he should be informed, that it is not 
!>pon the spot which is-shown to travellers as the place of our SaviouFs ascension ; 
i his las.t being lower than the summit of the mountain. There are passages- in the 
writings both of Eusebius and of St; Willibald's biographer which seem to point at this 
place ; the first,, referring to a Cave (tw avrpw) honoured by Constantine as that of 
the ascension, situated itt\ tuj cbtpcopfias (Vid. cap. xli. lib. ill. de Vit. Constant. 
Paris, 1659.) and the last, describing this sanctuary as “ Ecclesia desuper patula efe 
sine tecto.” (Vid; Vit. S. Willibald, apud Mabillon. Act. Sanct. Ord. Benedict. 
Saecul. 3. Pars 2. p. 376. L. Paris. 1672.) But another of St. Willibald’s biographers 
•'Auct. Anonym.) alluding to the same sanctuary, says, “ hgdie etiam dominicorujvi 
vestigia pedum.” Vid. Mabiilcn. &c. tibi supra, p. 387.) and this remark does not 
apply. to the cryft 
