428

TRADITIONS CONCERNING MORIAH.

referred to was the "Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan," and mentioned in Genesis xxxiii. 18, as that to which Jacob came from Padan-Aram; but there is no authority in Scripture to warrant our believing that this was the city of Melchizedec. The site of the former is still discoverable on the road from Jerusalem to Nablous, a short distance to the N. E. of Beitin, the ancient Bethel; St. John informs us that the Baptist "was baptizing in Enon, near to Salem,” (John iii. 23,) and it is not probable that Josephus, who wrote about seventy-five years afterwards, would confound the Salem of Jacob with the original name of Jerusalem or the city of Melchizedec.

It is said, that fifty years after its first building, it was taken by the Jebusites, the descendants of Jebus, the son of Canaan, who erected a fortress on Mount Sion, a place that offered this warlike people an advantageous position for converting it into an acropolis, like that of most ancient cities. By these people it was first called Jerusalem, probably in memory of their forefather. Joshua, it is reported, made himself master of the lower city Acra, which the children of Israel retained in common with the original inhabitants, till David, in the eighth year of his reign, took the fortress of Sion, and drove the Jebusites down out of it, B. c. 1048 (2 Sam. v.); from which time it received the name of The City of David, to distinguish it from the lower city. It was included in the lot of Benjamin, and that of Judah ran by its walls on the southern side, through the valley of Hinnom. Here we have both Sion and Acra or Salem, as it was originally called, within the compass of Jerusalem. David fortified the acropolis, or upper city, from a place called Millo,* and inwards.

Solomon succeeded, and he commenced to build the temple on Mount Moriah, to the east of the then existing town. Concerning this hill there is a tradition among the Israelites to the present day; and it is also related in the Targum, that "Solomon began to build the house of the sanctuary of the Lord at Jerusalem, in the place where Abraham prayed and worshipped in the name of the Lord. This is the place of the earth where all generations shall worship the Lord. Here Abraham was about to offer his son Isaac for a burnt offering; but he was snatched away by the word

* Millo appears to have been that internal valley afterwards called Tyropœon.

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of the Lord, and a ram placed in his stead. Here Jacob prayed when he fled from the face of Esau, his brother; and here the angel of the Lord appeared to David, at which time David built an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor which he bought from Araunah, the Jebusite."

At this period we see that the three hills originally mentioned became enclosed within the city, which then attained to a splendour and eminence it has never since equalled. And now, in process of time, this city, after many unheeded warnings and denunciations, was wholly destroyed by that extraordinary instrument of the Almighty's power, Nebuchadnezzar, in the year of the world 3390, (2 Chron. xxxvi.) в. c. 610, and its inhabitants carried away into captivity. After seventy years a new epoch takes place. The Chaldean empire passes into the Persian, and Cyrus gives permission to Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple, which is afterwards accomplished under Darius, (Ezra, vi.) but the city walls remained prostrate, till the return of Nehemiah, B. C. 446. Now, at this time, though the walls and gates were broken down, yet their foundations must have remained, for not only was the prophet able to trace the walls, but afterwards the people took particular and defined portions, some of which they rebuilt —others we read, that they only repaired. As we know of no other destruction of the city, we must suppose that this same wall remained in situ up to the days of our Saviour and Josephus. We therefore refer to the description of the Jewish antiquary, and with a map so constructed, and studying the natural position of the ground, we shall be able to trace the respective portions built by the Jews after the return from Babylon. There is, however, one exception to this. We learn from authentic sources, that the city becoming so populous, that it was unable to contain its inhabitants within its walls, a large suburb sprung up on the sloping ground, to the north of Acra. This in time became a part of the metropolis, and as the wall which separated it from the southern town would be of little use, it was in all probability neglected. In process of time, when Judea became a Roman province, and wars and dissensions sprang up on all sides, Herod Agrippa encircled part of this northern suburb with a wall, which was afterwards completed by the Jews themselves by permission of Claudius. The part thus added was called Bezetha Cenopolis,

430

THE DESCRIPTION OF JOSEPHUS.

or the new city, in contradistinction to Salem, or the old city, or Sion, or the upper city. I introduce this here because it is a valid objection to all the maps, plans, and topographical dissertations that have ever been written upon Jerusalem in this country; for the persons who made those plans have fallen into the error of placing the gates and other landmarks mentioned by the early Scripture writers, and particularly by Nehemiah, in this outer northern wall of Agrippa, which was not built for many centuries after. Other geographers have marked separate portions of the wall, as that built by Manasseh, &c. but this appears to me to have been built round an internal portion of the City of David, on Mount Sion, probably between it and Acra, (2 Chron. xxxiii.) and both this wall and that of Hezekiah were before the time of Nebuchadnezzar's destruction, and they consequently merged into the walls of Nehemiah.

We now turn to the text of Josephus, which, as it has often been tortured and perverted, I shall here introduce verbatim. The bare reading of the description given of the city in the fourth chapter of the fifth book of the "Wars of the Jews" will not, however, put us in possession of all that the learned antiquary knew or related of the situation of the different walls and towers; for in numberless other places he enters into a detail of the parts attacked and defended, from which we learn more than from those particularly allotted to their explanation.

"The city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on such parts as were not encompassed with unpassable valleys; for in such places it hath but one wall.* The city was built upon two hills, which are opposite to one another, and have a valley to divide them asunder, at which valley the corresponding rows of houses on both hills end. Of these hills, that which contains the upper city is much higher, and in length more direct. Accordingly it was called the Citadel by King David; he was father of that Solomon who built this temple at the first, but by us it is called

*Many persons, and among the rest, Dr. Robinson, understand this to mean three concentric walls; and that in some places, all three existed opposite onea nother; whereas, not one of the walls encompassed more than half of the city. (See Map.)

THE DESCRIPTION OF JOSEPHUS.

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the Upper Market-Place.* But the other hill, which was called Acra, and sustains the lower city, is of the shape of a moon when she is horned; over against this there was a third hill, but naturally lower than Acra, and parted formerly from the others by a broad valley. However, in those times, when the Asamoneans reigned, they filled up that valley with earth, and had a mind to join the city to the temple. They then took off the part of the height of Acra, and reduced it to a less elevation than it was before, that the temple might be superior to it." And in another place, describing the temple he says—" At first the plain at the top was hardly sufficient for the holy house and the altar, for the ground about it was very uneven, and like a precipice; but when King Solomon, who was the person that built the temple, had built a wall to it on its east side, there was then added one cloister, founded on a bank cast up for it, and on the other parts the holy house stood naked. But in future ages the people added new banks, and the hill became a larger plain." This hill is Mount Moriah, and these pillars and supports still exist, and were seen by Maundrell, Richardson, and others, and it is also stated by Josephus that it was joined to Mount Sion by a bridge, of which I shall have to speak heareafter.

"Now the valley of Cheese-mongers (or Tyropœon), as it was called, and was that which we told you before distinguished the hill of the upper city from that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam; for that is the name of a fountain that hath sweet water in it, and this in great plenty also."

Of the fourth hill, he says, "for as the city grew more populous, it gradually crept beyond its old limits, and those parts of it that stood northward of the temple, and joined that hill to the city, made it considerably larger, and occasioned that hill, which is in number the fourth, and is called Bezetha, to be inhabited also."

Having now become acquainted with the ground on which the city stood, let us endeavour to follow out its walls and towers. The lines marked RED in the map, show the walls of the modern city, except along the eastern side, which, being also the boundary

* This was undoubtedly Mount Zion ; but Josephus, as has been frequently remarked, never uses this word in any of his descriptions.

432

THE TOWER OF HIPPICUS.

of the ancient city, I have retained in BROWN, which colour marks the ancient wall.

The same Jewish historian tells us that on the outside the hills of Jerusalem were "surrounded by deep valleys, and by reason of the precipices to them belonging on both sides, they are every where unpassable." He informs us that there were three walls, which he describes in their numerical order, as regards their age; but in his account of the siege, he reverses them, and makes the third or Agrippa's wall the first, because it was first taken by Titus.

The first wall began at the tower Hippicus. This tower I have placed in the western wall, and believe that if it be not the same as that now called the Castle of David, or the Castle of the Pisans, and in which we find a most remarkable foundation of solid ancient masonry, that it at least stands on the basement of this ancient building. The stones of this tower are put together in that manner denominated "revealed rustic," having a deep groove or bevelling at the joinings. This method of building seems to be of very ancient date, though not at all peculiar to the Jews. It indeed appears more truly Grecian than any other I know of, and is frequently found in different ruins of that country, and is well exhibited in some parts of the walls of Mycenae. It is, however, of much later date than some other, and more purely Jewish or Phoenician masonry, that I hope to point out hereafter. This tower was erected by Herod Agrippa, and it agrees in every respect with the description of the historian, except that it is a little more southward; a mistake rectified by giving it a northern position, with regard to the upper city on Mount Sion; and it is remarkable that Titus, we are told in two places, left this same tower standing, being struck with the strength and beauty of the work.* It is situated on the northern rise of Sion, to the right of the Jaffa gate, and is surrounded by a deep trench; and outside, the valley of Gihon or Raphaim turns by it to the west along the causeway, that here leads by the turning of the wall, and on which

*Josephus, Wars of the Jews, b. vi. chap. 9, and b. ix. chap. 1. It must, however, be borne in mind that the works of this historian were written at Rome many years after the destruction. The "Wars of the Jews," it is supposed, were written about the year 75, and the "Antiquities" eighteen years later.