Passing through the entrance, we find the piers and architraves of the doors composed of immense blocks, six in number, which resemble Jewish work. Their state of decay shews their antiquity, and they must have been exposed to the action of fire, being calcined and crumbling; for otherwise, from their great size and sheltered situation, they ought to have been in good preservation, like all the rest of the internal masonry of the gate; which I assign to the age of Justinian. The plan of the building is an oblong, the length being double the breadth, divided into two aisles by two large columns of grey veined marble and two half-columns, which, with the help of small pilasters, projecting slightly from the lateral walls, sustain the vaulting, composed of very narrow pointed domes; beneath this a magnificent entablature, carved in leaf patterns[305], is carried round the walls of the building. The west façade[306], inside the Haram, has a double doorway with round-headed arches, supported by a central column and two side pilasters. Their form and ornamentation resemble those on the east front. The outer roof is also a series of domes, which were built during some repairs about 60 years since. Not a few authors have attributed the architecture of this gate to the time of Herod, forgetting that Josephus states that the Temple and its cloisters were burnt and utterly destroyed by the Roman troops. How then is it possible that the walls, and still more the ornamental work, should have survived the fury of the soldiers? If the east cloister has so entirely disappeared, how is it that the gate, which stood in the middle of it, has escaped? Those few blocks in the piers of the door may be of the age of Herod, but not the rest of the masonry, and we cannot therefore on this evidence assign the whole building to that period. It is however very probable that they were found among the ruins of the ancient eastern gate and incorporated in the present. Nor can we believe that the two large monolithic columns were brought to Jerusalem by Herod. It is far more likely that they were sent by Justinian to adorn a spot sacred in Christian tradition as the place where our Saviour entered Jerusalem, among the shouts of one part of the populace, to keep that last Passover before he suffered[307]. I consider therefore that the present Golden Gate stands not only upon the site of the ancient east gate, but also upon its foundations, for we find its dimensions given in the Mishna, 'the east gate was 40 cubits long and 20 wide;' and a strong proof of the truth of this opinion is, that, on making an excavation near the north door, I discovered at a depth of 10 feet the foundations, of undoubted Herodian work. At the same time I saw that there have never been any steps leading up to the gate, and that a mass of rubbish is heaped against its east front, in the slopes of which are the graves of the Mohammedan cemetery.
There is a small doorway closed with masonry a little to the south of the Golden Gate, and besides this nothing else remains to be noticed on the east side, except that the whole length of the wall is covered with creepers, which flourish here luxuriantly and do constant mischief; breaches are already formed in some places, but the guardians of the Haram pay no attention to them; though in a few years they will not be so indifferent to the expense of the repairs, which will then be absolutely necessary. All the loop-holes were made in the time of Solyman.
After the south-east corner has been turned, the whole wall, both in its foundations and upper part, exhibits the same solid and magnificent ancient masonry as on the east face. A few yards from the corner is a doorway with a pointed arch, now walled up, which I consider to have been made at the time of the Crusades, and possibly then called the Gate of the Valley of Jehoshaphat. We shall hereafter notice the purpose for which it was used. A little distance to the west of this, we see three plain round-headed arches, supported by four pilasters, whose masonry differs both from the older and newer work in the immediate neighbourhood. Their general character is Roman, and I believe them to have been built at the time of Justinian, to communicate with the vaults within the Haram; which I shall presently describe.
Under the mosque el-Aksa is a gate not only built up, but also partly buried[308]. The arch is cut in two by the city-wall, which here turns to the south. Its architectural features both constructive and decorative resemble those of the Golden Gate; so that I consider it also the work of Justinian. Under its arch is a grated window; by climbing up to this, it is possible to look into a vaulted gallery below the mosque. A stone, bearing the following inscription, is built slantwise into the wall above and turned upside down.
TITO AEL. HADRIANO
ANTONINO AVG. PIO
P. P. PONTIF. AVGVR.
D. D.
No doubt it was picked up with many others in removing the ruins at the time of Justinian and built in here by the masons, and when the wall was again repaired in the reign of Solyman, the workmen, less careful and skilful than the former, placed it in its present position. The Mohammedans call this archway the Gate of the Prophetess Huldah[309], for what reason they cannot say, for they also consider it to have been the grand entrance to the stables of Solomon, and consequently hold it in great respect. I shall recur to this gate in my account of the vaults. I made several excavations in front of it, like those at the south-east corner, and after digging 10 or 12 feet through the rubbish, came upon the foundations laid in the age of Solomon, but could not discover anything to prove that a gate had then existed on this spot.
Starting from the Aksa the city wall goes to the south, and then turns again to the west down to the Dung Gate. Throughout the whole of this angle the lower part of the wall is Roman work, the upper Saracenic, of the time of Solyman. Although this gate is evidently only a few hundred years old, it is usually pointed out by the guides as that entered by our Saviour, when he was brought from the garden of Gethsemane to the house of Caiaphas. Ignorance of architecture and of the plan of the ancient city has allowed this tradition to exist[310]. Entering, and forcing our way through a thicket of cactus, we regain the south wall of the Temple enclosure, whose lower parts date from the reign of Solomon. An excavation made at the south-west angle gave, first the masonry of Solomon, secondly that of the Crusaders, and above these that of Solyman[311].
The ruins south of the Aksa belong to the choir of Justinian's basilica, which was thrown down by an earthquake between the years A.D. 775 and 785. They now await the last stroke of the hand of Time to bring them to the ground, when they evidently must injure in their fall the south wall of the mosque; but the Mohammedan fatalists never think of averting this by timely repairs.
The whole of the space between the walls of the city and the Haram was probably, at the time of Herod the Great, covered by the amphitheatre erected by that king[312].