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
A small valley, commencing on the north near Herod's Gate, runs into the
city, and terminates at the Pool of Bethesda, thus dividing Bezetha into
two parts. Inside the city it can hardly be distinguished, owing to the
quantity of rubbish by which it has been filled up. Its existence
however is proved by the water-courses that descend from the east slope
of the western part of Bezetha.
Let us now proceed to examine the exterior of the city. Ophel or Ophlas
is to the south of the _Haram-es-Sherîf_. Its position corresponds
exactly with the statement of Josephus[55], that it adjoins the Temple
on the south. Its form is that of a triangle with the base resting
against the south side of the _Haram_ and the vertex directed towards
the Pool of Siloam. It is bounded on the east by the sloping sides of
the valley of Kidron, on the west by those of the Tyropoeon valley.
Its defences were carefully attended to by different kings of Judah,
because its fortifications greatly increased the strength of the Temple,
which otherwise would have been exposed to an attack from the south. The
position is a sufficient argument for its identity.
The positions of Mount Olivet and the Mount of Offence are indisputable.
David[56] went up Mount Olivet, weeping, after crossing the torrent
Kidron, and the Mount of Offence[57] is 'before Jerusalem.' Olivet is
frequently mentioned in the New Testament, especially in the Acts of the
Apostles, where its distance from the city is fixed by the words
"Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath-day's journey[58]," that is,
a little more than 2000 cubits, according to the rabbinical writers; and
so we find it to be. We may also cite in confirmation the testimony of
Josephus, who says that it "lies over against the city on the east side,
and is parted from it by a deep valley interposed between them, which is
named Kidron[59]."
Authors differ about the site of Mount Gihon[60], or Guihon, but I place
it on the west, because we find that Hezekiah "stopped the upper
water-course of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of
the city of David[61]," and Manasseh "built a wall without the city of
David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in
at the Fish-gate[62]." This gate was probably the same as that of Jaffa,
which might very likely bear this name, because through it the produce
of the sea would be brought into Jerusalem. If Gihon does not correspond
with the hill on the west, outside the city, I cannot understand the two
verses cited above; especially since Hezekiah could not have brought
water into the city from any other point, without either cutting through
the hills with great trouble and expense, or making an aqueduct over a
valley.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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