Dimensions of the Modern City. Ground within the city, and in its environs. Its picturesque appearance. Continuation of our visits. Via Dolorosa. Sentence of the Saviour from Salignatius. House of Veronica and Picture of the Napkin. House of “the Rich Man.” Arch of the Ecce Homo. Pilate’s House. Mosque of Omar. The Locked-up Stone. Pool of Bethesda. Place of Stephen’s Martyrdom. The Golden Gate. The Emperor Heraclius in a dilemma.

The modern Jerusalem is about three fourths of a mile at its greatest length, and about two thirds of a mile in width.[54] It contains a population of about 20,000 persons; namely, 10,000 Mahomedans occupying principally the northern and eastern portions; 6,000 Jews living on what was formerly the Acra; 3,500 Greeks and Catholics, around the church of Calvary; and about 500 Armenians, in and about their great convent on Mount Zion. Of the last eminence only a small portion is included within the limits of the present city.

Seen from the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem appears to stand on a plain declining gently towards the east; but the ground is far from being an unbroken level. On the contrary, it is quite uneven, though in no part rising into hills, unless the remains of Mount Zion be entitled to this name. The steep descent from Zion on the eastward I have already noticed. Passing from Calvary to the south-east, we begin immediately to descend, and towards the site of the ancient castle of Antonia the slope is very rapid; then succeeds a piece of low ground for the space of 100 feet; and next as we reach the site of the castle is an eminence fifteen or twenty feet in height, with a rapid ascent from the west, but sloping gradually down towards the gate of St. Stephen (marked c) in the eastern wall. From Calvary, northward and westward, the ground ascends by a gentle inclination, with the exception of the rapid slope already mentioned, at the line which I have marked for Agrippa’s wall. But this slope does not continue far.

Without the city on the south and west, after crossing the valley of Hinnom, we find ourselves on an open and rather barren plain ascending gently as it recedes from the city, and stretching off for a distance of two or three miles; on the northward the ground is rolling for a few miles, when it begins to ascend, and at the distance of about five miles attains considerable elevation; there was probably the Scopus of ancient times.

On this, the northern side, Jerusalem as it is approached appears to the best advantage, as the cultivated grounds, the olives scattered thickly around, the verdant slopes of the Mount of Olives, towering upward just on the left, impress the visitor favorably with the environs of the city; while the walls of the city itself, at the northern end battlemented in a fanciful manner, and by numerous angles broken in a picturesque form, produce, with their numerous towers, a very favorable effect. Jerusalem, however, seen from a great many points of view, is a highly picturesque city; and I can say for myself at least, that I found it presenting on the outside a more imposing appearance than I had anticipated. War and the earthquake had left the interior wretched indeed; nor, as far as we could judge, have its narrow streets, and its low rude houses, even in better times, any thing very attractive; but from numerous places without, and particularly as we wound along the valleys below, its battlements, and castles, and towers, rising from the edge of the high steep bank, and brought into strong relief against the sky, sometimes overhanging our path, and sometimes stretching off to a distance, appearing and disappearing along the uneven ground, had a very picturesque effect. When viewed from the Mount of Olives, the whole city appears like a map at our feet. The houses, which are of stone, are seldom more than two stories in height, and on the exterior are rude and without any pretensions to beauty; but when seen from an elevated spot, the city has a singular appearance, in consequence of the domes, with which every dwelling is covered. Sometimes every chamber in the house has its dome; and as these are whitewashed on the exterior, when we look down upon it from the Mount of Olives, the whole city appears dotted over with these excrescences. A couple of open green spots just within the walls, a few trees rising here and there, the tower of the church of the Holy Sepulchre and its large domes, several minarets, and close to us the extensive open court of the mosque of Omar, with its trees, and in the centre the handsome mosque itself, complete the view as seen from the Mount of Olives.

The walls of Jerusalem are twenty-five or thirty feet in height, and are flanked with numerous towers, both circular and square; and at the Jaffa gate are still further strengthened by a mass of buildings forming a castle. There are four principal gates; and on the north and south two smaller ones or posterns, which, however, I believe are seldom used.

Leaving the church of the Holy Sepulchre, we turned down a street at right angles to the one by which we had come, and leading towards Mount Moriah. It forms a portion of the “Via Dolorosa,” or way by which, they tell us, our Saviour came, bearing his cross, from the judgment hall to the place of his suffering. The street is narrow and badly paved, and at the distance of about 600 feet from the church, is crossed, for a space of twenty feet, by a low heavy arch, which, they say, is a remnant of the ancient gateway. I suppose this arch is near the line of the northern wall of Acra, but, apart from what is said in Josephus, (de Bel. lib. vii. cap. i. § 1.) this arch wants the massive character of that wall; and the account is not at all probable. They call it the Puerta Judicaria, and point to a broken column as one on which the Roman authorities were accustomed to stick the sentence of persons condemned to death; and they quote from Salignatius that of our Saviour as posted here. “Jesus of Nazareth, a subverter of the kingdom, a derider of CÆsar, and a false Messiah, as is proved by the evidence of the chief men of his nation, is to be led to the place of common punishment, and with mock majesty is to be crucified between two thieves; hasten, Lictor, and prepare the crosses.”

We pass on, and again they try to tax our credulity by pointing to a house on the left, about two hundred feet below this gate, as the veritable house of Veronica, a pious woman living at the time of the crucifixion. They say that as Jesus passed by this dwelling, his face covered with blood streaming from the crown of thorns, Veronica offered a napkin, which, having been pressed against his face, when given again to her was found to present an exact copy of his features. Pictures of the Saviour are to be seen in all Catholic countries, represented as painted on a towel, and said to be copies from this.

Though we cannot believe it, yet there is something pretty in the tradition; and the same may be said of a great many of the traditions which they relate to us, but it would require an excess of credulity to suppose that this is her house, when we know that by the infuriated soldiers of Titus every dwelling was destroyed;[55] and the appearance of the building itself must satisfy us that it is comparatively a modern dwelling.

Still lower down they put a climax to all this by pointing out the very house in which dwelt “the rich man,” and the spot (on the opposite side of the street) where Lazarus used to recline. The house is a large good looking edifice, and I believe is now occupied by Aboo Ghoosh.

Here the Via Dolorosa bends, for a short space, to the left, and then, turning again in the direction of St. Stephen’s gate, ascends a low eminence, and terminates at what they call the ruins of Pilate’s house. At this place is a lofty arch over the street, with two windows above, in which, they tell us, the Roman governors were accustomed to address the people; and which they call “Ecce Homo,” from a tradition that the Saviour was there brought out before the Jews, when they cried out, demanding his crucifixion. (John xix. 5.) Here, too, they showed us the place from which were taken a suite of marble steps, now shown at Rome, as then belonging to the Judgment Hall, and which I have seen in that city, where no one is allowed to ascend them except on his knees. Indeed, all the region around this spot is fruitful in their traditions; some of which are sufficiently curious, but the reader has probably by this time had enough of them. I will only add, that the windows over the arch had formerly a pillar between them; but that on one occasion a deputy of the Sultan being on a visit to the cities of Syria, on his arrival at Jerusalem the Father Guardian of the Latins neglected to carry him a present, on which the deputy ordered him to carry this pillar on his shoulders to the mosque of Omar. “But for this he was well chastised; for, on departing from Jerusalem, he fell from his horse and broke a leg; so at least it is affirmed by many.”[56]

Pilate’s house stands a short distance from the street leading to St. Stephen’s gate; and we turned aside to it, not to speculate upon their traditions, but for the advantage offered by the lofty terrace that forms its roof for getting a good view of the mosque of Omar. The Turks will allow no Christian to enter even the court of this mosque, and as the edifice from which we had our view forms a part of its boundary, we were able, from our elevated position, to overlook the whole of it.

This court stands at the south-eastern angle of the present city, the walls of which bound it on the east and partly at the south. Its dimensions are 1500 feet by 1000; and it therefore occupies considerably more ground than the ancient Mount Moriah, which was, I suppose, towards its southern extremity. Its clean grounds, and the shade trees which are scattered over them, make a very pretty appearance. The platform in its centre is ornamented along the edge on either side by a species of triumphal arch; and the mosque itself, which stands towards the southern end of this platform, is a very handsome building. It is octagonal, and is built of light colored marble with blackish veins, into which are set pannels of a darker shade. The other portion of the building, and the lofty cupola, are ornamented with various colored tiles disposed in fanciful patterns; and below, at each of the entrances, is an ornamented porch attached. The interior is enriched with twenty-four columns and pilasters, and also with carving and gilding.

The mosque of Omar, called by the Arabs El Sakhara, or the “Locked-up,” owes its high sanctity to a large stone in the centre, apparently a portion of the native rock of the mountain. It is rough as when hewn from the quarry, is surrounded by a wooden railing about four feet high, and covered by a cloth of green stuff and satin. This is the Hadjr-el-Sakhara, or the “Locked-up stone.” The Turks relate that it fell from heaven when the gift of prophecy was bestowed on man, and was used as a seat by the ancient men who were thus endowed. But when the prophets were at length compelled to abandon it and fly to other countries, the stone showed also a disposition to take its departure; on which the archangel Gabriel came, and, grasping it with his hand, held it in its place until Mahomet had flown from Mecca, and firmly attached it to the mountain. The Caliph Omar afterwards built around it the present mosque. They show on it the marks of the archangel’s fingers, made in the struggle to detain the rock.

Beneath the mosque is a cave about eighteen feet square, with niches, called by the names of Abraham, David, Solomon, Elias, Gabriel, and Mahomet, but containing nothing remarkable.

In the south-eastern angle of the large court is another edifice of an oblong shape, 162 feet in length and 32 in width, called by the Turks El Aksa, and used by them as a mosque. It is enriched by a great number of columns within, but has a plain exterior; the Latins say it was the church used in the Presentation, but it probably belongs to the times of the crusades.

Immediately without the court of the mosque of Omar, on the north, is a rectangular pit, about 150 feet long and 40 wide, and 12 or 15 in depth, walled around with hewn stones, evidently placed there in very ancient times. It is called the Pool of Bethesda; but though I should like to consider it so, I know not of any sufficient evidence. The sides are perpendicular, and the plan is altogether different from that which the Scriptures would lead us to expect. See John v. 2.

A little beyond the Pool of Bethesda we come to the eastern gate of the modern city, called after St. Stephen, from a belief that this proto-martyr met his death on the slope, by which, just without this, we descend to the brook of Kedron. A rock about half way down the declivity, projects a little; and some stains, produced by an oxide of iron in the rock, are pointed out to the pilgrims as caused by his blood.

This gate is at present the only outlet on this side of the city; but there was formerly another gate opening from the court of the mosque, about 230 yards further south. It was called from its splendor “the Golden Gate;” but it is now walled up, in consequence of a tradition current among the Turks, that the city will one day be taken by the Christians, and that they will make their entrance through this gate.

Connected with it is also a Christian legend, somewhat fanciful, and of no bad moral, but destined to little credit in these severe and searching times.

In the year 608 Cosroes, king of Persia, conquered Jerusalem; and after plundering the city and desecrating the holy places, returned to his kingdom, carrying back with him the true and venerated cross. The emperor Heraclius, fourteen years after this, was fortunate enough not only to regain possession of the city, but following up his conquests, recovered also the sacred relic. Returning to Jerusalem, his intention was to enter the place by “the Golden Gate;” and after having proceeded in grand cavalcade to the churches, and having purified them, to restore the cross to its original site. Attired in robes all glittering with royal gems, and followed by a long train of courtiers and nobles, he advanced with gladness, and was about to enter through this splendid gate, when an invisible but steady hand pushed him back. Twice again he essayed to enter, but as often was brought suddenly to a stand; nor could any force succeed against this unseen and mysterious power. At this moment Zacharias, the patriarch of Jerusalem, came up; and seeing at once how matters stood; exclaimed, “Say, O emperor, art thou adorned with these splendid robes, and in this triumphant procession,—art thou imitating Him who, in humility and sorrow, bore on his shoulders this sacred wood? Doff thy jewelled garments, put on a coarse and humble dress, and quickly shalt thou find an entrance, and be able to effect thy pious desires.” The emperor hastened to comply, and the invisible hand ceased to obstruct his way.[57]