EL AKSA-MOUNT MORIAH.

273

of their religious structures. Their veneration for the sacred rock which gives name to the edifice, situated in the centre of the mosque, and under its beautiful dome, is unbounded, and second only to that which belongs to the great temple at Mecca. The external splendour of the edifice is worthy of all the praises bestowed upon it by the fondest devotees. I have never been so struck with the union and harmonious blending of grace and magnificence. In all but the services and dogmas of the false religion to the support of which it is consecrated, the Sakhara is a worthy successor to the Temple of Solomon.

The Mosque of El Aksa is at some distance farther south, near the southwest angle of the Haram. It was anciently a Christian church, said to have been built by the Emperor Justinian a century before the splendid erection by Omar. It is very inferior to that edifice in size and magnificence, though a noble structure, and highly venerated by the Mussulmen. Its form is oblong, and it may have a length of three hundred feet or more, by a breadth of two hundred.

The summit of Mount Moriah, which seems to have obtained a character of peculiar sanctity long before the establishment of the Jewish commonwealth, has been holy ground, and the chosen site of the most sumptuous religious edifices throughout all the revolutions in opinions and politics which have occurred during three thousand years. Solomon's Temple, burned by the Chaldeans and rebuilt by Zerubbabel, was replaced by the more magnificent structure of Herod. The Emperor Adrian, upon rebuilding Jerusalem after its fearful destruction by Titus, chose this noble summit as the site of a temple consecrated to Jupiter, and the triumph of Christianity was speedily followed by the erection of Justinian's church upon

the same holy ground. This has been converted into a Mohammedan mosque, which, taken in connexion with the Sakhara, constitutes at this day one of the holiest and most magnificent of the temples of the false prophet. Another revolution, which, judging from the signs of our changing times, cannot be remote, may restore this edifice to its primitive destination, and lower the crescent from the high pinnacles of the Mosque of Omar.

TOWER OF DAVID.

The present citadel of Jerusalem is situated quite on the west side of the city, forming, indeed, a part of the wall, immediately south of the Bethlehem Gate. The position is strong by nature, from its great elevation, as well as from its rapid slope towards the Valley of Gihon, the only side exposed to attack from an enemy who has not already become master of the city. The difficulties of an approach from that quarter are increased by a fosse and a glacis, or sloping wall of solid workmanship and apparent antiquity, which rises from the bottom of the trench, facing its eastern side. The enclosure within the city is made by a paltry wall, and embraces several square stone buildings, in the Turkish style, adapted for the use of both musketry and artillery in their defence. This fortress presents nothing worthy of special attention but the sloping exterior wall already mentioned, and a venerable-looking tower at its northeastern angle, which has the most decided appearance of antiquity, and a marked resemblance to those massive remains about the Haram, which must be regarded as unquestionable specimens of the Jewish style of architecture. The stones, though inferior in size to the masses in those ancient substructions, are yet very large-twelve or fifteen feet in length by four or five in thickness-and wholly unlike anything seen here or elsewhere in Saracen or Turkish constructions. They are bevelled also, which is an

TOWER OF HIPPICUS.

275

other circumstance characteristic of the Jewish style. This wall, which has an appearance of great strength and solidity, rises to the height of thirty or forty feet, and the tower is then completed by a Turkish addition, after the manner of the temple enclosure, presenting, like that, in striking contrast, the massive grandeur of the ancient workmanship with the frailty and paltriness of the modern.

It was no slight mortification to me that I failed to obtain admission into the citadel. I passed in and out at the adjoining gate almost daily during my stay in Jerusalem, and often stopped to admire this venerable monument of the former city; but, upon applying for permission to enter the fortress to take some measurements, and make a close examination, my request was not granted at the time, which was just previous to my final departure from the holy city, so that I had no subsequent opportunity to renew it. From a gentleman more fortunate in this respect, I learned that strangers are usually admitted to examine the citadel without any difficulty. The Turkish officers who have the charge of it say that the ancient part of the Tower of David is entirely solid, serving only as the foundation of the superstructure which it supports. This fact, for as such I believe it is generally credited, goes far to identify this structure with the Tower of Hippicus, as described by Josephus, with which, indeed, its position at the northern extremity of the city is also identical. That tower was "twenty-five cubits square and thirty high, and had no vacuity in it." "Over this solid building, which was composed of great stones united together, was a reservoir twenty cubits deep, and, still more elevated, a magnificent dwelling, surmounted with battlements."* This tower was built by Herod, and named in memory of a deceased friend. It is most likely, however, from the advantages of the situation, and from its juxtaposition to the important Gate of Bethle

* Wars, book v., chap. iv., sec. iii.

276

CONTROVERSY ABOUT

hem, upon what, from the nature of the ground, must always have been one of the most frequented approaches to the city, that a strong fortress existed upon the spot at a much earlier day. Herod may only have enlarged or rebuilt a more ancient Tower of David, or of some of the later kings of his dynasty.

CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE SITE OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

This tower possesses a modern and present interest, quite independent of the antiquity of its origin, and of the noble specimen of Jewish architecture which it presents to our inspection and admiration. The Tower of Hippicus is the starting-point of Josephus in his account of the courses and extent of the ancient walls of Jerusalem, and it thus becomes the basis of all the arguments of any value which have been brought into conflict with the claim of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to include within its walls the scene of the crucifixion. The importance of this controversy, in which most writers upon the Holy Land have taken part, will be variously estimated by different individuals, according to their intellectual habits and religious opinions. Το the great mass of pilgrims, whether Europeans or Orientals, Calvary and the Sepulchre, which are both included within this spacious edifice, constitute the centre of attraction. To this spot they rush in multitudes, upon their first arrival in Jerusalem, to pour forth their enthusiastic devotions, and hither they continue to resort for the indulgence of those feelings, whether of piety or superstition, which the place. and its associations are so well calculated to inspire. Many Protestants find it no easy matter to keep clear of the prevailing sentiment, and the skepticism which this class of visiters usually profess, with regard to the identity of the traditional with the real scene of our Saviour's passion, is often, perhaps, the result of closet speculations, aided by a