Jerusalem Explored, Volume 1—Text: Being a Description of the Ancient and Modern City, with Numerous Illustrations Consisting of Views, Ground Plans and SectionsPierotti, Ermete
History
Jerusalem Explored, Volume 1—Text: Being a Description of the Ancient and Modern City, with Numerous Illustrations Consisting of Views, Ground Plans and Sections
Pierotti, Ermete
Jerusalem -- Antiquities; Jerusalem -- Description and travel
be in the Prætorium? If the Antonia be placed outside the north-west
corner of the _Haram_, then the Prætorium would have been in the valley,
and the fortress could not have been defended on the north, in the way
Josephus says it was; and if (as I think) it be placed inside the
enclosure, then the gate and staircase could never have occupied the
positions now assigned to them. Again, we are told that all this part of
the city was utterly destroyed; therefore the Prætorium too must have
been swept away, and its ruins have helped to fill up the valley. In
fact, the door now shewn is only a fragment of some work of the time of
Saladin or Solyman.
Nearly opposite to the door of the 'Scala sancta' is a little opening
with an iron grate; this is the entrance to the Chapel of the
Flagellation; and beneath the altar in the middle they point out the
exact place where the Redeemer was bound to a column to be scourged.
Here Quaresmius[472] saw a small but handsome and well-preserved chapel,
which had been used as a stable by Mustafa Bey, son of the Governor of
the city. Abbé Mariti, who visited it A.D. 1767, says[473], that he saw
"a large square hall, covered by a high vaulted roof; the façade
resembled that of a church or oratory, and though the walls were very
black, traces of pictures could still be discerned on them. They assert
that the Saviour was scourged on this spot, but I do not see on what
grounds. As this building is in a way connected with the Prætorium, many
have given credence to this tradition; though, as I believe, it is only
founded on the reverence felt by the Christians for that chamber, which
no doubt induced them to build there a chapel in memory of the
Flagellation. Many miracles are said to have been performed here. The
people of Jerusalem, both Christian and Mohammedan, relate stories about
them, which remind us of the mediæval legends. The Mohammedans have
converted the place into a stable." The above shews that the tradition
itself is not ancient. The Franciscan monks relate that the chapel and
the adjoining land, occupied by the hospice, were given to them by
Ibrahim Pasha, and that they restored and enlarged the chapel in 1839,
aided by the liberality of Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria; but that the
expense of laying the foundations was very great, as they were extremely
deep, especially on the south side. The place therefore now pointed out
beneath the altar cannot be the exact spot where our Saviour stood,
because of the great quantity of earth above the rock. How, too, can
this site for the Flagellation be reconciled with the position of the
'Scala sancta' or of the Prætorium? It is quite impossible that they can
have been connected together in former times, because of the above-named
valley. The size also of the tower Antonia is an obstacle, for each of
its sides was only half a stadium, whereas, if we accept the traditional
site for the Flagellation, the Prætorium alone must have been nearly of
that size.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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