THE ENTRANCE TO THE CITADEL. 
In the description of the vignette of the “ Tower of David ” we adverted to its history, 
as forming a part of the Tower of Hippicus; we now proceed to give an outline of the 
history of the city walls. 
The ancient city was thirty-three stadia, or three and one-third geographical miles in 
circumference. The southern wall included the whole of Sion. The eastern ran probably 
along the bottom of the Vale of Jehoshaphat, and the northern passed about fifty rods 
north of the present city. The present circumference is about two and one-eighth 
geographical miles. 
The building of -/Elia, by Hadrian, seems to have occupied chiefly the site of the 
present city. But a large portion of Sion was probably then excluded, for Eusebius and 
Cyril, in the fourth century, speak of Sion as then fulfilling the prophecy, and being as a 
“planted field;” 1 the wall being carried across the brow of the Valley of Jehoshaphat on 
the east, so as to include the hill Bezetha, instead of bending southward, as formerly, to 
the Tower of Antonia. 
The walls of Hadrian seem to have remained until the Crusades. At this period the 
chief part of Sion was outside the walls. The Count of Toulouse pitched his camp between 
the city and the Church of Sion, “which was a bow-shot distant from the walls.” 2 In 
process of time, however, the walls fell into decay, and (a.d. 1178) contributions were 
demanded in Europe for rebuilding them. In 1187, the city was besieged by the Saracens 
under the famous Saladin, and captured after a courageous resistance. But the captors 
then began to tremble; the name of Richard Coeur de Lion threatened to shake the 
Saracen throne, and Saladin was indefatigable in fortifying Jerusalem. To excite the 
Moslem activity, he was constantly present at the labour, animated his troops by the sight 
of his chieftains engaging in it with their own hands, and even himself frequently brought 
stones to it on the pommel of his saddle. Six months of industry, thus encouraged and 
sustained, rendered the place nearly impregnable to the inartificial means of the times.” 3 
But, in 1219, the Sultan Melek of Damascus, dreading that it might be made a Christian 
fortress, ordered that all the walls and towers should be dismantled, except the Citadel and 
the inclosure of the Great Mosque; to the general chagrin of the inhabitants, many of 
whom abandoned it in consequence. In 1229, a treaty with the Emperor Frederick gave 
it up to Christian hands once more; with the stipulation, however, that the walls should 
not be rebuilt. But from some new alarm, in ten years after, the barons and knights began 
to restore the walls, and erect a strong fort on the west of the city. The breach of treaty, 
if breach it were, was suddenly and ferociously avenged by the assault of the Emir David, 
1 Eusebius, D. Evang. viii. 3. p. 406.—Edit. Colon. Cyril, Hieros. Catec. xvii. 18. 
2 Will. Tyr. viii. 5. 3 Wilken. Gesch. B. iv. 
