The city of Jerusalem

by C. R. Conder

DOME AT THE DOUBLE GATE.

From de Vogüé.

Besides these remains of the walls we have those of the south-west gatehouse, which is now known as the “Double Gate,” and these are of peculiar interest as regards the architectural character of Herod’s Temple; for Fergusson, de Vogüé, and other authorities regard the interior hall at this gateway as being of the Herodian age. The original gate was double, with a central pier supporting two great lintel stones, to which an arched cornice was added above in the Byzantine age, on the outside. The hall floor is on the level of the rock outside, and the gate was underground, a passage leading up north from the back of the gatehouse to the surface of the courts within, under the royal cloister. The present “Triple Gate,” which was altered later, seems originally to have had the same plan, and these two gates were called Ḥuldah (“mole”), because of their subterranean character. The Double Gate hall has a monolithic pillar in its centre, of such girth as to agree with the description by Josephus of columns “such that three men might with their arms extended measure round”[250]—a fact which I verified by experiment. The hall measures 40 feet (30 cubits) east and west, by 54 feet (40 cubits) north and south. Flat arches spring from the central pillar on each side, and four flat domes are thus supported, forming the roof of the hall.[251] The capital of the pillar is remarkable, with acanthus leaves and lotus leaves in low relief. One of the domes has also a very interesting ornamentation with geometrical designs connected by a vine: an outer circle of corn ears and rosettes, with other details, present just that style which we find in the Jerusalem tombs of the Herodian age—half Greek, half Jewish.

THE SI’A TEMPLE

This interesting hall compares also in general style with another temple built in the time of Herod the Great. Jehovah was not to him the One God: at Samaria and Cæsarea he erected shrines to the genius of the “divine Augustus,” and at Si’a in the east of Bashan he was honoured in a temple to the Syrian deity Ba’al-shemîn, which still exists in ruins planned by de Vogüé, with Greek texts and fragments of others in Nabathean characters (like those just considered), which were copied by Waddington. This building is of such importance for comparison that a short description may be given.[252] This temple was 40 cubits (54 feet) square, with steps on the east leading down to a court of the same size, having a single cloister on each side, except where the porch of the building opened to the court. The temple gate (24 cubits wide) was adorned by a vine sculptured above it and on the sides; a dove perches on the vine, and an eagle spreads its wings under the soffit of the cornice. The side pillars have semi-Corinthian capitals with human busts between the volutes, and the design of the bases is very like that of the capital at the “Double Gate.” The steps are guarded by small lions. The head of the heaven god (Ba’al-shemin), surrounded with rays, was over the gate, and flanking pilasters of Ionic order are surmounted by other busts. Gazelles and a saddled horse are elsewhere carved, and the whole is clearly a pagan structure, though in many respects it recalls Herod’s Jerusalem temple. The masonry is well squared and of good size, but not drafted.

There are here seven Greek texts, the first of which was on a statue of Herod which has been entirely destroyed by some one who hated the tyrant. Only a foot remains, whereas other busts at the site have not been injured. The inscription is complete: “I, Malikath, son of Mo’aîru, put up this statue at my own costs to the Lord Herod the King.” No other Herod save the son of Antipater reigned in this part of Bashan, and the text must (from the word Kurios) have been written during his reign. The second inscription is later, but hardly less interesting, referring to Agrippa II. (48–100 A. D.). “To the great king Agrippa, friend of Cæsar, the pious, the friend of Rome, born of the great king Agrippa, the friend of Cæsar, the pious, the friend of Rome, Aphareus a freedman and Agrippa a son placed this.” The third text runs: “The people of the Obaisenes [dwellers in the dry region] in honour of Malikath, son of Mo’aîru, on account of justice and piety, placed this on the temple.” The fourth says: “The people of Si’a in common put this up to Malikath, son of Ausu, son of Mo’aîru, because he made the temple and what surrounds it.” The name of the founder occurs in two other short texts, on a cornice and above the temple gate.

GREEK TEXT OF HEROD’S TEMPLE.

From the Palestine Exploration Fund Photograph.