The city of JerusalemConder, C. R. (Claude Reignier)
History
The city of Jerusalem
Conder, C. R. (Claude Reignier)
Jerusalem -- Antiquities; Jerusalem -- History
The sites in and round the Temple enclosure, and that of St. Stephen’s
death, with some on Olivet, were equally liable to change in course
of time. Thus the Pool of Bethesda has been traditionally pointed out
in three separate places. From 333 A. D. down to 440 A. D. the “Sheep
Pool,” or Bethesda, is placed at the “Twin Pools,” which still exist
in the Antonia fosse,[26] and which may have been cut out of the rock
in the time of Herod or later. They are vaulted over with masonry,
probably of the sixth century A. D., and gradually disappeared from
sight as the level of the street was raised above them; thus already in
the sixth century the “Sheep Pool” is placed at some distance from the
“House of Pilate,” which immediately adjoined the “Twin Pools.”[27]
In the twelfth century Bethesda is always described as being at the
“Piscina Interior,” or “inner pool,” a large rock tank west of the
Church of St. Anne, which was rediscovered in 1888; but even in the
thirteenth century the Templars were showing another site, namely,
that which appears on the old map of Jerusalem (about 1308 A. D.),
and which is the same now pointed out--the Birket Isrâîl, or “Pool
of Israel.”[28] There was considerable difference of opinion also as
to where the Prætorium, or “House of Pilate,” should be placed. In
the sixth century it was at the Antonia site, where Justinian built
a chapel of St. Sophia--now the “Chapel of the Mocking”--inside the
Turkish barracks. In the seventh and early in the twelfth centuries it
was supposed to be on Mount Sion, but in the thirteenth it was replaced
at the north-west corner of the Ḥaram.[29]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account