Selim, the Turkish sultan, reduced Egypt and Syria, including Jerusalem, in 1517, and his son Solyman built the present walls in 1534. It continues to the present day under the Turkish dominion, fulfilling the prophecy, that it "should be trodden down of the Gentiles." It is not, therefore, only in the history of Josephus, and in other ancient writers, that we are to look for the accomplishment of Christ's prediction; we see them verified at this moment before our eyes, in the desolate state of this once celebrated city and temple, and in the present condition of the Jewish people; not collected together into any one country, into one political society, and under one form of government, but dispersed into every region of the globe, and everywhere treated with contumely and scorn.
We now proceed to give some account of the city, as it now stands, from various travellers who have visited it; confining ourselves, however, almost entirely to what may be called its antiquities.
The following particulars in regard to the approach to Jerusalem are from the pen of Mr. Robinson.
"As we approach Jerusalem, the road becomes more and more rugged, and all the appearance of vegetation ceases; the rocks are scantily covered with soil, and what little verdure might have existed in the spring, is in the autumn entirely burnt up. There is a like absence of animal life; and it is no exaggeration to say, here man dwelleth not; the beast wandereth not; the bird flieth not; indeed, nothing indicates the approach to the ancient metropolis of Judea, unless it be the apparent evidences of a curse upon its soil, impressed in the dreadful characters just mentioned, whilst the 'inhabitants thereof,' are 'scattered abroad.' Oftentimes on the road was I tempted to exclaim, like the stranger that was come from a strange land, 'Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto the land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger[309]?'"
Dr. Clarke, however, was nevertheless struck with its grandeur. He says that, instead of a wretched and ruined town, as he had expected, he beheld a flourishing and stately metropolis, domes, towers, palaces, and monasteries, shining in the sun's rays with inconceivable splendour. "Like many other ancient places," says a French commentator on this account, "it no doubt presents two aspects; a mixture of magnificence and paltriness."
To the southward of the site of Bethlehem stands the city castle[310]. It is composed of towers connected by curtains, which form two or three enclosures, the interior successively commanding the exterior. A few old guns, mounted on broken carriages, are planted on its walls to keep the Arabs in awe. The castle is sometimes called the castle of Daniel; and sometimes of the Pisans, having been erected by that people when the city was in the hands of the Christians. From one of the windows looking north, travellers are shown the site of the house of Uriah; and a piece of ground attached to it, and just within the walls, an old tank, called Bathsheba's bath. But the place where the latter was bathing, when seen by the amorous monarch, was more probably the great basin lying in the ravine to the south of the castle at the foot of Mount Zion, and called the lower pool of Gihon.
The sides of the hill of Zion have a pleasing appearance; as they possess a few olive-trees and rude gardens, and a crop of corn was growing there when Mr. Carne visited it. On its southern extremity is the mosque of David, which is held in the highest reverence by the Turks, who affirm that the remains of that monarch, and his son Solomon, were interred there.
The palace of Pilate is now a Turkish residence, and stands near to the gateway by which Christ was led thence to Calvary, to be crucified. Here is pointed out the spot on which Pilate presented Jesus to the people, declaring he could find no guilt in him; the place on which he fainted under the weight of the cross, and where the Virgin swooned, also, at the sight; the spot where Veronica gave him her handkerchief to wipe his forehead; and lastly, where the soldiers compelled Simon of Cyrene to bear his cross. In the palace the monk points out the room where Christ was confined before his trial; and at a short distance is a dark and ruinous hall, shown as the arch where Christ stood till his judge exclaimed "Behold the man[311]!"
One of the streets is said to be the same where Christ made his first appearance after his resurrection; and in the same street stands an Armenian convent, erected over the spot on which James, the brother of John, was beheaded. This is one of the finest buildings in Jerusalem[312]. At a short distance is a small church, said to be erected on the spot where formerly stood the house of the high-priest Annas; and, a little farther on, another which marks the house of Caiaphas; while, just beyond the gate, the attention is directed to a mosque, where the house stood in which Christ ate his last supper.
The mosque of Omar, which occupies the site of the Jewish temple, loses nothing of its grandeur or beauty on a near approach. The spacious paved courts, the flights of steps, and surrounding arcades, the dark tall cypress-trees and running fountains, and the large octagonal body of the mosque, with its surrounding domes, produce altogether the finest effect, and increase the desire to enter its forbidden walls. It is said to be the most magnificent piece of architecture in the Turkish empire; far superior to the mosque of St. Sophia in Constantinople. By the sides of the spacious area in which it stands are several vaulted remains; and evidence is said to be capable of proving, that they belonged to the foundation of Solomon's temple[313].