The palace of Hyrcanus, at Arak el-Emir, and the fortifications of Jerusalem and of the Tower of Antonia, are purely Græco-Roman, and do not come within the sphere of our work. However, the English explorers discovered by their soundings on the slope of Ophel, above Kedron, a fortified wall which presents several kinds of masonry one above the other; the lowest masonry is perhaps earlier than the rebuilding of the ramparts by Nehemiah after the Babylonian captivity: in this case it would date, if not from the reigns of David and Solomon, at least from the time of Jotham and Manasseh. The base of the quadrangular bastions is formed of very regular courses, sometimes rusticated; the blocks are 8 ft. long by 3 ft. 3 in. high; the marginal draft is even found in places. This tradition of bevelled masonry has been already noticed in the Herodian substructure of the Temple; it is also to be seen in the wall of Hebron (fig. 183). In a country which generally lacks drinking water, the building of cisterns is a matter of importance, and this is the case in Judæa. One of the most remarkable works of this kind is that which carries the waters of the Fountain of the Virgin to the Pool of Siloam. In the tunnel an inscription has been found which enables us to fix the date of the work about the reign of King Hezekiah, and teaches us by what methods this subterranean canal, 1,750 ft. long, was successfully hewn in the rock. Two bands of workmen attacked the mountain on both sides at once, and the miners, after numerous windings, which increased the labour and the length of the tunnel, at last struck “pick against pick,” says the inscription, “and heard one another shout” on each side of the barrier. Thus the water was carried along a passage not more than 2 ft. broad and of a height which varies from 1 ft. 5½ in. to 14 ft. 7½ in. But bold as this work may appear in the hands of Jewish engineers, who possessed neither compass nor exact geometrical instruments, it teaches us nothing from the point of view of art, any more than the aqueducts hewn in the rock which are found in other parts of Palestine. [Illustration: Fig. 183.--The tomb of Abraham at Hebron (after Vogüé, p. 119).] § IV. TOMBS. Palestine and the north-east of Arabia are covered with sepulchral monuments, but there are few which date from the pre-Hellenic epoch. Abraham bought a cave called Machpelah from the Hittites of Hebron for 400 shekels of silver, and was buried there, as well as [Illustration: Fig. 184.--Absalom’s tomb (after F. de Saulcy, _Voyage autour de la Mer Morte_).]