British Quarterly Review, American Edition, Vol. LIII: January and April, 1871Various
History
British Quarterly Review, American Edition, Vol. LIII: January and April, 1871
Various
English periodicals
If the Tyropoeon valley extended from Damascus Gate southward, and the
city of David was on the eastern side of it, north of the temple, then
the water which Hezekiah diverted from its course, and brought down to
the west side of the city of David (2 Chron. xxxii. 30), and yet _into_
the city of Jerusalem (2 Kings xx. 20) was probably brought in at
Damascus Gate, and ran towards the Kedron, either on the west side of
the temple, or by the Maccabean valley, on the northern side. In the
southern half of the Tyropoeon valley, outside the west wall of the
Haram, Captain Warren has found, at a depth of seventy or eighty feet, a
rock-cut aqueduct, twelve feet deep and six feet wide, with round
rock-cut pools at intervals, and shafts which indicate that pure water
was drawn from it. As Hezekiah brought the stream down from 'the upper
watercourse of Gihon,' this discovery has a direct bearing on the
question of the position of 'the upper pool,' and of 'Gihon, in the
valley,'where Solomon was anointed king; but as the upper part of the
Tyropoeon has not been excavated, it remains uncertain whether the
water came in by Damascus Gate or Jaffa Gate, and consequently what
position of Zion is favoured by the finding of this aqueduct.
The search for the old walls of the city has only been partially carried
out. Here, again, we have Josephus's explicit description, and the usual
differences among the commentators.
'The city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on such parts as
were not encompassed with unpassable valleys; for in such places it had
but one wall.... The old wall began on the north at the tower called
Hippicus, and extended as far as the Xistus, a place so called, and
then, joining to the Council-house, ended at the west cloister of the
temple. But if we go the other way westward, it began at the same place,
and extended through a place called Bethso to the Gate of the Essenes;
and after that it went southward, having its bending above the fountain
Siloam, where it also bends again towards the east at Solomon's pool,
and reaches as far as a certain place which they called Ophlas, were it
was joined to the eastern cloister of the temple. The second wall took
its beginning from that gate which they call Gennath, which belonged to
the first wall; it only encompassed the northern quarter of the city,
and reached as far as the tower Antonia. The beginning of the third wall
was at the tower Hippicus, whence it readied as far as the north quarter
of the city, and the tower Psephinus, and then was so far extended till
it came over against the monuments of Helena (which Helena was Queen of
Adiabene, the daughter of Izates); it then extended farther to a great
length, and passed by the sepulchral caverns of the kings, and bent
again at the tower of the corner, at the monument which is called the
monument of the Fuller, and joined to the old wall at the ravine called
Kedron.'[27]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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