It has often been said that there is not a single topographical question connected with ancient Jerusalem which is not the subject of controversy. This is, however, rather overstating the case, for there are points concerning which all authorities are in accord. First, as regards the natural features of the site, it is agreed that the Mount of Olives is the chain of hills east of the Temple Hill, and that the valley beneath it on the west is the Brook Kedron. It is agreed that the Temple stood on the spur immediately west of the Kedron, and that the southern tongue of this spur was called Ophel. It is also agreed that the flat valley west of this spur is that to which Josephus applies the name Tyropœon, although there was a diversity of opinion as to the exact course of the valley, which has now been set at rest by the collection of the rock-levels within the city. It is also agreed by all authorities that the high south-western hill (to which the name Zion has been applied since the fourth century) is that which Josephus calls the hill of the Upper City, or Upper Market Place. The site of the Pool of Siloam is also undisputed, and the rock Zoheleth was discovered by M. Clermont Ganneau at the present village of _Silwan_. As regards the walls of the ancient city, all authorities, except Fergusson, agree in placing the Royal Towers (of Herod) in the vicinity of the present citadel, and all suppose the scarp in the Protestant cemetery to be the old south-west angle of the city. The Tyropœon Bridge--or stairway and arch--is accepted by all writers since Robinson as leading to the royal cloisters of Herod’s temple, and all plans of Herod’s temple start with the assumption that the south-west angle of its courts coincided with the present south-west angle of the Haram. All plans also agree in accepting the east wall of the Haram as an ancient rampart of the city. We have thus various data to begin with which must be considered as certain, because writers who differ on all other points agree on these.[22] The “other points” upon which writers have differed may be stated as follows:-- 1. What was the extent of the city on the north before the destruction of A.D. 70? 2. What was the line of the second wall, which bounded the city on the north, in those early times before there was any third wall, or any need of one? 3. What was the line of the south wall in Nehemiah’s time, and again in the time of the siege by Titus? 4. Which is the true Mount Zion or City of David? 5. On what spot did the Temple itself stand within the Haram enclosure; and what were the limits of its courts, first in Solomon’s day, and secondly, after they were enlarged by Herod? 6. Does the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stand upon the true site of Calvary? 7. What is the probable site of the royal sepulchres where David and so many other kings lie buried? [_Authorities and Sources_:--Smith’s “Dictionary of the Bible.” “Survey Memoirs,” Jerusalem volume.]