Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2): With General and Particular Accounts of Their Rise, Fall, and Present ConditionBucke, Charles
History
Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2): With General and Particular Accounts of Their Rise, Fall, and Present Condition
Bucke, Charles
Cities and towns, Ancient
The Jews having, in the reign of Adrian, given way to a turbulent
disposition, that emperor resolved to level all things to the
ground--that is, those buildings which the Jews had erected to destroy
the towers, that were left by Titus for the convenience of the Roman
garrison; and to sow salt in the ground on which the city had stood.
Thus did Adrian literally fulfil the prophecy, that neither in the city,
nor in the temple, should one stone be left upon another. This final
destruction took place forty-seven years after that of Titus.
A new city, under the name of Ælia Capitolina, was soon after built,
where the presence of the Jews was absolutely prohibited. In this new
city, the Christians were sometimes persecuted, and sometimes
protected, by the Roman emperors, till the time when the empress Helena
came to visit the city; when, finding it in a most forlorn and ruinous
condition, she formed the design of restoring it to its ancient lustre;
and her son, Constantine, having embraced the Christian doctrine, he
issued an edict, that the old name of Jerusalem should be employed when
speaking of the city.
A few years after, an attempt was made to rebuild the temple by the
emperor Julian, an attempt which is recorded as having proved abortive,
from fiery eruptions escaping out of the earth, and dispersing the
workmen.
In the reign of Justinian, that emperor built a magnificent church at
Jerusalem; the foundation being formed by raising part of a deep valley.
The stones of a neighbouring quarry were hewn into regular forms; each
block was fixed on a peculiar carriage drawn by forty of the strongest
oxen, and the roads were widened for the passage of such enormous
weights. Lebanon furnished her loftiest cedars for the timbers of the
church; and the seasonable discovery of a vein of red marble supplied
its beautiful columns;--two of which, the supporters of the extensive
portico, were esteemed the largest in the world.
In 613, Jerusalem was taken by Chosroes, king of Persia. The sepulchre
of Christ and the stately churches of Helena and Constantine were
consumed; the devout offerings of three hundred years were rifled, "the
true cross" was transported into Persia; and the massacre of ninety
thousand Christians is imputed to the Jews and Arabs, who swelled the
disorder of the Persian march.
It was recaptured by Heraclius in 627. This emperor banished all the
Jews, and interdicted them from coming nearer to it than three miles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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