The entrance to the city of Jerusalem is from the west, under the citadel of king David, by the gate which is called the gate of David. The first place to be visited is the church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is called the Martyrdom, not only because the streets lead most directly to it, but because it is more celebrated than all the other churches; and that rightly and justly, for all the things which were foretold and forewritten by the holy prophets of our Saviour Jesus Christ were there actually fulfilled. The church itself was royally and magnificently built, after the discovery of our Lord's cross, by the archbishop Maximus, with the patronage of the emperor Constantine, and his mother Helena. In the middle of this church is our Lord's Sepulchre, surrounded by a very strong wall and roof, lest the rain should fall upon the Holy Sepulchre, for the church above is open to the sky. This church is situated, like the city, on the declivity of Mount Sion. The Roman emperors Titus and Vespasian, to revenge our Lord, entirely destroyed the city of Jerusalem, that our Lord's prophecy might be fulfilled, which, as he approached Jerusalem, seeing the city, he pronounced, weeping over it, "If thou hadst known, even thou, for the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children with thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another."[75] We know that our Lord suffered without the gate. But the emperor Hadrian, who was called Ælius, rebuilt the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple of the Lord, and added to the city as far as the Tower of David, which was previously a considerable distance from the city, for any one may see from the Mount of Olivet where the extreme western walls of the city stood originally, and how much it is since increased. And the emperor called the city after his own name Ælia, which is interpreted the House of God. Some, however, say that the city was rebuilt by the emperor Justinian, and also the Temple of the Lord as it is now; but they say that according to supposition, and not according to truth. For the Assyrians[76], whose fathers dwelt in that country from the first persecution, say that the city was taken and destroyed many times after our Lord's Passion, along with all the churches, but not entirely defaced.