Jerusalem Explored Part 56

[Sidenote: Judas repairs the walls of Jerusalem.]

"Judas also rebuilt the walls round about the city, and reared towers of great height against the incursions of enemies, and set guards therein."

XII. VII. 7.

[Sidenote: Simon, master of the citadel of Jerusalem, razes it with the ground.]

"He also took the citadel of Jerusalem by siege, and cast it down to the ground, that it might not be any more a place of refuge to their enemies when they took it, to do them mischief, as it had been till now. And when he had done this, he thought it their best way, and most for their advantage, to level the very mountain itself upon which the citadel happened to stand, that so the temple might be higher than it." XIII.

VI. 7.

[Sidenote: Hyrca.n.u.s opens the tomb of David.]

"But Hyrca.n.u.s opened the sepulchre of David, who excelled all other kings in riches, and took out of it three thousand talents. He was also the first of the Jews that, relying on his wealth, maintained foreign troops." XIII. VIII. 4.

[Sidenote: Aristobulus causes the death of Antigonus.]

"Aristobulus yielded to these imputations, but took care both that his brother should not suspect him, and that he himself might not run the hazard of his own safety; so he ordered his guards to lie in a certain place that was underground, and dark, (he himself then lying sick in the tower which was called Antonia)." XIII. XI. 2.

[Sidenote: Antigonus killed in the tower of Strato.]

"So Antigonus, suspecting no treachery, but depending on the good-will of his brother, came to Aristobulus armed, as he used to be, with his entire armour, in order to show it to him; but when he was come to a place which was called Strato's Tower, where the pa.s.sage happened to be exceeding dark, the guards slew him." XIII. XI. 2.

[Sidenote: Pompeius approaches Jerusalem.]

"At this Pompeius was very angry, and put Aristobulus into prison, and came himself to the city, which was strong on every side, excepting the north, which was not so well fortified, for there was a broad and deep ditch that encompa.s.sed the city, and included within it the temple, which was itself encompa.s.sed with a very strong stone wall." XIV. IV. 1.

[Sidenote: Pompeius pitches his camp on the north side of the temple.]

"Pompeius pitched his camp within [the wall], on the north part of the temple, where it was most practicable; but even on that side there were great towers, and a ditch had been dug, and a deep valley begirt it round about, for on the parts towards the city were precipices, and the bridge on which Pompeius had gotten in was broken down." XIV. IV. 2.

[Sidenote: Aristobulus interred in the tomb of the kings.]

"His dead body also lay, for a good while, embalmed in honey, till Antonius afterward sent it to Judea, and caused him to be buried in the royal sepulchre." XIV. VII. 4.

[Sidenote: Troops of Herod and Sosius.]

"And they all met together at the walls of Jerusalem, and encamped at the north wall of the city, being now an army of eleven legions, armed men on foot, and six thousand hors.e.m.e.n, with other auxiliaries out of Syria." XIV. XVI. 1.

[Sidenote: Herod's siege.]

"The first wall was taken in forty days, and the second in fifteen more, when some of the cloisters that were about the temple were burnt, which Herod gave out to have been burnt by Antigonus, in order to expose him to the hatred of the Jews. And when the outer court of the temple, and the lower city, were taken, the Jews fled into the inner court of the temple, and into the upper city." XIV. XVI. 2.

[Sidenote: Herod's theatre, amphitheatre.]

"He built a theatre at Jerusalem, as also a very great amphitheatre in the plain." XV. VIII. 1.

[Sidenote: Herod's two fortresses.]

"He had now the city fortified by the palace in which he lived and by the temple which had a strong fortress by it, called Antonia." XV. VIII.

5.

[Sidenote: Dimensions of Herod's temple.]

"So Herod took away the old foundations, and laid others, and erected the temple upon them, being in length a hundred cubits, and in height twenty additional cubits, which [twenty], upon the sinking of their foundations, fell down; and this part it was that we resolved to raise again in the days of Nero. Now the temple was built of stones that were white and strong, and each of their length was twenty-five cubits, their height was eight, and their breadth about twelve." XV. XI. 3.

[Sidenote: Tower of Baris, afterwards called Antonia.]

"Now on the north side [of the temple] was built a citadel, whose walls were square, and strong, and of extraordinary firmness. This citadel was built by the kings of the Asamonean race, who were also high-priests before Herod, and they called it the Tower." XV. XI. 4.

[Sidenote: Tower Antonia.]

"... when Herod the king of the Jews had fortified it more firmly than before, in order to secure and guard the temple, he gratified Antonius, who was his friend and the Roman ruler, and then gave it the name of the Tower of Antonia." XV. XI. 4.

[Sidenote: Four gates to the north of the temple-enclosure.]

"Now in the western quarters of the enclosure of the temple there were four gates; the first led to the king's palace, and went to a pa.s.sage over the intermediate valley; two more led to the suburbs of the city; and the last led to the other city, where the road descended down into the valley by a great number of steps, and thence up again by the ascent; for the city lay over against the temple in the manner of a theatre, and was encompa.s.sed with a deep valley along the entire south quarter." XV. XI. 5.

[Sidenote: Herod's subterranean gallery from the Antonia tower to the eastern gate.]

"There was also an occult pa.s.sage built for the king; it led from Antonia to the inner temple, at its eastern gate; over which he also erected for himself a tower, that he might have the opportunity of a subterraneous ascent to the temple, in order to guard against any sedition which might be made by the people against their kings." XV. XI.

7.

[Sidenote: Herod opens the tomb of David.]

"... he had a great while an intention to make the attempt; and at this time he opened that sepulchre by night and went into it, and endeavoured that it should not be at all known in the city, but took only his most faithful friends with him. As for any money, he found none, as Hyrca.n.u.s had done, but that furniture of gold, and those precious goods that were laid up there; all which he took away. However, he had a great desire to make a more diligent search, and to go farther in, even as far as the very bodies of David and Solomon; where two of his guards were slain by a flame that burst out upon those that went in, as the report was. So he was terribly affrighted, and went out, and built a propitiatory monument of that fright he had been in; and this of white stone, at the mouth of the sepulchre, and at a great expense also." XVI. VII. 1.

[Sidenote: Pilate constructs acqueducts.]

"But Pilate undertook to bring a current of water to Jerusalem, and did it with the sacred money, and derived the origin of the stream from the distance of two hundred furlongs. However, the Jews were not pleased with what had been done about this water; and many ten thousands of the people got together and made a clamour against him, and insisted that he should leave off that design." XVIII. III. 2.

[Sidenote: Jesus Christ.]

"Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the princ.i.p.al men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day." XVIII. III. 3.

[Sidenote: King Agrippa begins to fortify Jerusalem, but is prevented from proceeding by Claudius.]

"As for the walls of Jerusalem, that were adjoining to the new city [Bezetha], he repaired them at the expense of the public, and built them wider in breadth, and higher in alt.i.tude; and he had made them too strong for all human power to demolish, unless Marcus, the then president of Syria, had by letter informed Claudius Caesar of what he was doing. And when Claudius had some suspicion of attempts for innovation, he sent to Agrippa to leave off the building of those walls presently.

So he obeyed; as not thinking it proper to contradict Claudius." XIX.

VII. 2.

[Sidenote: Pyramids of Helena three furlongs from the city.]

"But Mon.o.bazus sent her bones, as well as those of Izates, his brother, to Jerusalem, and gave order that they should be buried at the pyramids which their mother had erected; they were three in number, and distant no more than three furlongs from the city of Jerusalem." XX. IV. 3.

[Sidenote: Agrippa's palace, whence could be seen all that pa.s.sed in the temple.]

"About the same time king Agrippa built himself a very large dining-room in the royal palace at Jerusalem, near to the portico. Now this palace had been erected of old by the children of Asamoneus, and was situated upon an elevation, and afforded a most delightful prospect to those that had a mind to take a view of the city, which prospect was desired by the king; and there he could lie down and eat, and thence observe what was done in the temple: which thing, when the chief men of Jerusalem saw, they were very much displeased at it; for it was not agreeable to the inst.i.tutions of our country or law, that what was done in the temple should be viewed by others, especially what belonged to the sacrifices.

They therefore erected a wall upon the uppermost building which belonged to the inner court of the temple towards the west, which wall, when it was built, did not only intercept the prospect of the dining-room in the palace, but also of the western cloisters that belonged to the outer court of the temple also, where it was that the Romans kept guards for the temple at the festivals." XX. VIII. 11.

[Sidenote: The younger Ana.n.u.s, high-priest, puts S. James to death.]