The city of Jerusalem

by C. R. Conder

The city, and especially the Ḥaram, are described in this age by El Muḳaddasi (“the man of the very holy city”), who was a native Moslem, and a great admirer of his home. He wrote under El ’Azîz, the fifth Fâṭemite, in 985 A. D. He says that the Syrians lived in fear of the Greeks; for the new Armenian emperor of Byzantium also took advantage of the weakness of Islâm. Nicephorus Phocas had been murdered by Zemisces, who reigned as John I. Nicephorus had recovered Tarsus, Antioch, and Aleppo; and Zemisces took Damascus, and marched nearly to Baghdâd. Antioch, Cilicia, and Cyprus were retained by the Greeks till just before the first Crusade. El Muḳaddasi, as a devout Moslem, was much troubled by the independent manners of Jews and Christians in Jerusalem, but bears witness to the prosperity of the town. The city was celebrated for enormous grapes and incomparable peaches, for excellent apples, bananas, raisins, cheeses, and cotton, almonds, oranges, figs, dates, and nuts, “besides milk in plenty and honey and sugar.” “In Jerusalem there are all manner of learned men and doctors,” yet he adds, “you will not find baths more filthy than those of the Holy City, nor in any town are provisions dearer. Learned men [of Islâm] are few, and the Christians numerous, and the same are unmannerly in public places.... Everywhere the Christians and the Jews have the upper hand, and the mosque is void of either congregation or assembly of learned men.” He refers to El Mâmûn’s work on the Aḳṣa Mosque, and to a “colonnade supported on marble pillars lately erected by ’Abdallah, son of Ṭahir” (that is to say, nephew of El Mâmûn), as also to the fine dome and pitched roof. Cedar doors, covered with bronze, had been sent by the mother of Muḳtadir-bi-Allah—the eighteenth ’Abbaside khalîfah—shortly before the Egyptian conquest, for he reigned (at intervals) till 932 A. D. This writer gives a correct account of the Ḥaram buildings, and of the measurements of the surrounding walls.

EL ḤÂKIM

It was perhaps on account of the growing power and independence of the Christians that the successor of El ’Azîz determined to destroy the Holy Sepulchre Church; but the excuse was that the “holy fire” was a scandalous imposture. El Ḥakim-bi-amr-Allah was the sixth Fâṭemite khalîfah, and acceded in Cairo in 996 A. D. There seems to be no doubt that he was insane—driven mad probably by mysticism—and about 1005 A. D. his eccentricities disgusted all his subjects. He was finally strangled by order of his sister in 1021 A. D., and was succeeded by his son Ed Ḍâher-li-’azaz-Dîn-Allah, who was followed by his son El Mostanṣir-bi-Allah; both these khalifs are connected with Jerusalem history.

The Fâṭemites were not orthodox Moslems, but belonged to the secret sect of the Ism’ailîyeh—one of the heresies which sprang up in Persia under the influence of Indian mysticism; and they held the doctrine of successive Imâms who were incarnations of God in various ages, accompanied by successive incarnations of the Word of God in the persons of successive prophets. The sect was closely connected with that of the Ḳarmathians, and recognised all the Fâṭemites as Imâms or divine incarnations, the founder of the dynasty being the eighth of these mystic personages. Ḥâkim accordingly proclaimed himself divine, but the strangest feature of these systems was that they were not the real beliefs of the higher initiates. ’Abdallah, the founder of the Ism’ailîyeh sect, was a sceptic, and while—like the leaders of many such secret societies back to Ḥasan of Baṣrah, who was hanged by ’Abd el Melek in 704 A. D.—he endeavoured to unite Jews, Christians, and Moslems by teaching the doctrine of successive revelations, which Muḥammad had proclaimed, he in reality renounced all creeds, and sought to rule men by what he regarded as their superstitions. Like all secret societies, these mystics failed in the end, but under the Fâṭemites they had real power, though the Sunnî subjects of Ḥâkim were deeply offended by his blasphemous heresies. He sought to propitiate them by concessions to their orthodoxy, but he did not extend his toleration to Christians, who were persecuted for several years. Finally, in 1010 A. D., as stated by Moslem and Christian accounts alike, the churches of Modestus were burned to the ground.[482]

THE DRUZES

The memory of Ḥâkim is kept alive to the present day in Palestine among the Druzes, who still regard him as having been an incarnation of God, and as destined to appear again in the last days.[483] Neshtakîn ed Derazi, from whom this remarkable sect are named, was a disciple of Ḥamzah Ibn ’Aly, one of the Ism’ailîyeh of Khorasan. He went to Egypt and preached the divinity of Ḥâkim, but being expelled by the orthodox, retired to Hermon, where he gathered disciples, most of whom seem to have been Persians. Ḥamzah himself remained in Cairo till the murder of Ḥâkim, after which he disappeared; for the khalîfah’s son was an orthodox Moslem. It is still the belief of some 100,000 Druzes that Ḥâkim and Ḥamzah, as incarnations of God and of the Word, will return in triumph from China at the end of the world; and this strange idea shows the connection of the Druzes with the Mongol mystics of Central Asia, and with the later school of Buddhism. Yet Ḥamzah himself and his higher initiates had no such belief, and their secret teaching substituted seven laws for the seven taught to the lower grade, including “economy of truth,” mutual aid, the denial of all creeds, separation from others, the unity of God, submission to His will, and resignation to the appointed ḳismah or “lot.”

When this strange episode in Moslem history ended in 1021 A. D., the relations between Christians and Fâṭemites improved. Palestine had been torn by civil wars under Ḥâkim; by riots at Damascus; and by rebellion at Tyre, where a Greek fleet appeared to aid the oppressed Sunnîs, but suffered defeat from the Ḳarmathian governor. The Greek emperor Romanus III. obtained, in 1028 A. D., the consent of Ed Ḍâher, son of Ḥâkim, to the rebuilding of the churches.[484] The news of the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre had spread with returning pilgrims to Europe, and had excited great indignation. Funds were no doubt easily collected for the restoration, but it seems that the new buildings were small and poor, as compared with those that preceded them. They were still standing in 1099 A. D., when the Crusaders arrived, and were included in the new cathedral later. They were complete by 1048 A. D. under El Mustanṣir, but William of Tyre[485] speaks of the Golgotha Chapel as “a very small oratory”; and the Russian abbot Daniel (about 1106 A. D.) says, “This was once a large church, but is now only a small one.”

From these accounts, and that of Sæwulf, we find that several additions were made to the four churches of Modestus. The sepulchre still stood in a rotunda, and south of this were three chapels, while to the north was a fourth, all of which now exist, with apses to the east. The northern one is now the Latin Chapel of Mary Magdalene. The chapel nearest the rotunda on the south, over which the Norman belfry—built later—still rises, was then consecrated to the Trinity, and became the Latin baptistery. South of this was the Chapel of St. John, and the fourth, at the extreme south end of the buildings, was the Chapel of St. Mary, having a great fresco of the Virgin painted outside on its west wall. East of the north side of the rotunda was an arcade of pillars, which may have belonged to the “Paradise” of the seventh-century church. It does not run quite parallel to the axis of the Norman cathedral, and the later piers can still be seen added on the line of the Norman choir. At the end of this arcade, on the east, was the small chapel of the “Prison,” which is now mentioned for the first time. Calvary was a separate chapel on the old site, and another square building stood over the crypt, where the crosses were said to have been found by Helena.

THE ROTUNDA MOSAICS

The rotunda was decorated by the munificence of the Byzantine emperor, Romanus III. The Russian abbot Daniel says that the dome—supported on twelve pillars and six piers—was open to the sky above, as before, and as it continued to be in the Norman cathedral. There were galleries round the building, and the walls of the rotunda were adorned with mosaics, as were those of the Golgotha Chapel. The tomb itself was surmounted by a cupola, on which the Franks afterwards placed a silver statue of Christ, which must have been a grievance to the Greeks. The mosaic design on the east wall of the Golgotha Chapel represented the Crucifixion, the figures being larger than life. But the most remarkable mosaics seem to have been those on the drum just below the dome of the round church.[486] These were still visible as late as 1586, as described by Zuallardo. On the east was a figure of Christ as a child, with the Virgin on one side and the Angel Gabriel on the other (the Annunciation); on the left was Saint Helena, with six prophets holding scrolls on either side, the thirteenth prophet (probably Isaiah) thus facing the Christ, side by side with the archangel Michael, next the apostles. On the right was Constantine enthroned, and flanked by six apostles on either hand. The names were written to these pictures in Greek and in Latin. The new buildings were completed just before the Turks took possession of Jerusalem.