of Kerek, who entered the city with his troops, strangled the Christians, threw down the 
newly-raised walls, and added to the havoc, the dismantling of the Tower of David. 1 
But in this city of endless vicissitude, a new treaty, in 1243, gave the possession to the 
Christians without reserve; to the boundless indignation of the Mahometan inhabitants. 
The new possessors immediately repaired the fortifications; yet, within a year, Jerusalem 
was again stormed. The Kharismian hordes were now the assailants (a.d. 1244), from 
which period it has remained in Mahometan hands. In 1542, the walls were once more 
rebuilt. The chief interest connected with the modern walls, is, that they generally exhibit 
evidence of their having been raised on the site of others, going back to the ages of the 
Roman conquest, of the Idumasan dynasty, or perhaps even of the reign of Solomon, the 
last, a time all whose recollections are hallowed to the Jew, and not less to the 
Christian. 2 
1 Wilken. B. vi. 5 Biblical Researches, vol. i. p. 467. 
THE PILLAR OF ABSALOM. 
In the Valley of Jehoshaphat one of the most striking features is a group of four tombs, 
one of which has been traditionally named with reference to the Sacred record. “ Now 
Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a Pillar, which is in the king’s 
dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar 
after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom’s place.” 1 
Josephus mentions the “ pillar” 2 as about three furlongs from the city, which corresponds 
sufficiently to the distance of the present structure. But Absalom died on the east of Jordan, 
and was probably buried on the field where he fell. 3 
This monument stands close by the lower bridge over the Kedron. It is a square 
isolated block, hewn out of the rocky ledge. The body of the block is twenty-four feet 
square, having on each face two columns and two half columns of the Ionic order, with 
pilasters at the corners, and an architrave exhibiting triglyphs and Doric ornaments. To the 
top of the architrave the elevation is about twenty feet. Above this the work is masomy, 
consisting of a large layer, with a smaller one above it, and the whole surmounted with a 
small dome with a spire, gracefully expanding at the summit like the bell of a flower. 4 The 
tomb contains a small chamber. The entire height is about forty feet. The effect of the 
work is picturesque, and is of the same taste, if not of the same age, as those at Petra, in 
which the peculiarity exists, that the outer pillars join the pilasters at the angles. The 
numerous excavations along the whole line of rock appear, like those at Petra, to have been 
more probably dwellings than tombs. 5 The Mahometans, Jews, and Christians, as they 
pass, throw stones into the aperture of the tomb, as a mark of abhorrence for the memory 
of the rebellious son. 
1 2 Samuel, xviii. 18. “ Josephus, B. 20. 3 2 Samuel, xviii. 17. 
4 Biblical Researches, vol. i. p. 519. 5 Roberts’s Journal. 
